AY, IZ ME.. MR. MEME, HERE TO TELL YOU THAT I'M TRYING SOMETHING NEW.
SPECIFICALLY I'M TAKING THE COMPLAINT OF PARAGRAPH SPACING TO HEART AND TRYING IT OUT MYSELF.
THIS MAY OR MAY NOT SUCK SO BARE WITH ME.
8:21 A.M. Resistance Base, Special Forces Special Bunks, Exercise Room.
Rookie, who had been practically forced to lay down on a weight training bench, stared at the barbell that was being held over him by Bunnie and Newt. Rookie swallowed a lump of fear as Bunnie said "You ready?" he couldn't back out now, even though he wanted to "Y- Yeah, s- sure." Bunnie looked at Newt before Rookie reached up and grabbed onto the barbell's bell, Bunnie and Newt both slowly let go of the weight and Rookie strained to keep the barbell over his head. He could feel that the barbell was pushing against that shard in his hand and he could feel it begin to silently vibrate for some reason, Rookie began the process of weight training but sadly that wouldn't last long because he could feel that his arms were beginning to melt, he was also having trouble breathing so that wasn't helping either, Newt crouched down next to Rookie "Are you alright? You can stop if you want to." Rookie strained himself to say "I- I'm f- fine!" but he really wasn't, he could barely lift it up as he said that.
While Rookie continued to strain himself to continue to do his reluctant weight lifting the fear of him dropping the barbell on top of himself grew stronger and stronger. As that fear grew stronger the shard of the Phantom Ruby in Rookie's hand began to vibrate even more, and even stronger, he had to do something before the shard did something itself sadly that something was coming fast because Rookie could see that the gem was slowly beginning to glow through his glove, and as far as he could tell no one else had noticed yet.
He had to think of something fast, he had to. Luckily the voice of the Knuckles came over the base's PA system and said "I need everyone to come to the Briefing Room, now!" Bunnie and Newt both nodded at each other before grabbing onto the weight plates and letting Rookie let go of the barbell. Newt and Bunnie both worked together to put the barbell away before everyone walked out of the Special Forces Special Bunks and up to the Briefing Room
Once they entered the room they saw that the Chaotix had also entered the Briefing Room, and once the Special Forces, Newt, Rookie, and Matty entered the room Knuckles wasted no time in turning around and facing the group of soldiers "Listen up! We just got word that Eggman's forces are undermanned at his headquarters in Metropolis!" Espio walked over to the grey table and said "They're probably staging somewhere else as part of Eggman's plan. This could be our only chance to take the city." Knuckles nodded "Exactly! That's why we're focusing on a full frontal assault on Metropolis! I'm calling it 'Operation Big Wave'!" Silver hopped off of a crate he was sitting on and said "Who cares what it's called? What's important is to have a well thought out strategy." Knuckles nervously scratched the back of his head as he said "I thought up this strategy in about a minute and a half." he sighed before continuing "We're going in hard and fast, and we're not going to stop till Eggman's army's destroyed. Sonic is busy fighting Shadow, but the rest of us can do this! We've got strength and the spirit to win. There's no finer group I'd want to fight with." Knuckles sighed "Sadly I can't fight along side you in Metropolis, but I will be guiding you from here with Amy and Tails." Vector stepped forwards "Ha! Great speech! Let's give Eggman an old-fashioned beat down!" Tails had been scratching the bottom of his chin while Knuckles talked.
"They have more in sheer numbers, so the idea of a quick, focused, attack isn't bad. We also have Blue, so I have no doubt we can do this!" Tails then walked forwards and over to the grey table "Also, if we can destroy the Phantom Ruby, we should be able to send the the other Sonic home! At least I hope so... This is all new territory for me..." Knuckles nodded an obvious smile on his face "Okay, let's head straight for Eggman's HQ! Time to save the world people!" the other soldiers in the room let out cries of excited agreement before running out of the room and out into the city where four transport trucks sat outside the base. Everyone climbed into the transport trucks and they quickly lurched forwards before speeding out of the city and towards Eggman's Head Quarters.
8:31 A.M. West Side Island, Metropolis Zone.
The transport truck that Rookie, Matty, and Newt were ridding in barreled down a metallic white highway and into the bright white city. Once they drove over the border of the city the truck ran over a spike strip and popped each of the tires truck and caused it to almost fall onto its side, Rookie, Newt, and Matty quickly jumped out of the truck and began to run forwards. While they ran Matty put her goggles and bandana over her face while Newt turned on her voice changing mouth piece, a missing shot from one of Eggman's ships in the Egg Fleet hit the area of the highway in front of them forcing the three to jump off of the street.
They quickly used their grappling hooks to swing themselves over to another highway underneath them. Once they landed the voice Knuckles came over the Resistance's Secured Network "All right! Time for Operation Big Wave! We'll surge forwards and sweep the enemy away!" Egg Pawns began to run towards Newt, Matty, and Rookie. The three of them took out their Wispons and began to mow through the robots in front of them while the voice of Eggman came through the hacked network "How absurd! What can that rabble do with an all-out attack? I'll smash them to smithereens!" the three of them then used their grappling hooks to drift past a turn in the highway when suddenly laser turrets sprout out of the highway and began to fire at them.
They dodged the lasers and quickly jumped off of the highway that they discovered had been blow apart. As they soared through the air Infinite appeared in between Rookie and Matty, Infinite looked over to Rookie and the red Wolf looked at Infinite as well, Rookie had a look of fear, while Infinite had a deadpan-esk look before Eggman said "Infinite! Activate the Phantom Ruby! Make them wish they'd never been born!" suddenly Infinite flew forwards and turned around to face the other three. Infinite then raised his hand up into the air and the Phantom Ruby went off causing gravity to change, Newt was pulled towards the building to her left, Matty was pulled towards the building towards her right, and Rookie to be pulled up towards a monorail above him.
While Rookie fell towards the monorail he passed by a massive metal head that was connected to a giant monster that's body looked like it was made of black water, it also resembled Infinite, if Rookie wasn't scared of Infinite now, he was defiantly terrified now. Knuckles then said over his earpiece "Stay calm! What you're seeing isn't real!" he then landed on the monorail and a Resistance soldier said "It's no use! Our troops are scattering in the confusion!" laser turrets sprouted out of the monorail and began to fire at him. Rookie jumped up into the air and used his grappling hook to swing over an entire line of laser turrets, once he landed Silver's voice came over the Network "This is bad! Our forces were all gathered together, and now they're plunged into chaos!" one of those massive Infinite monsters suddenly destroyed the section of monorail ahead of Rookie, fell off of the broken bridge and quickly used his grappling hook to fling himself into a building ahead of him.
Thanks to the strange gravity Rookie was stuck in once he entered the building he landed on the ceiling instead of the floor. As Rookie picked himself off of the ceiling Nebulas flew into the building and attempt to drop bombs on his head, but he was able to quickly roll out of the way of one of the bombs before he quickly jumped up into the air and use his Wispon to take them out. Once he finished destroying the Nebulas and after he landed on the ground he turned around and ran forwards, destroying more Nebulas that got in his way as he did when he suddenly came to a dead end that had been created thanks to the strange gravity. Then suddenly Infinite flew by the building and the Phantom Ruby went off again, that wave of energy caused the gravity to return to normal allowing Rookie to turn around and run forwards.
Egg Pawns then suddenly appeared in front of him and tried to fire at him. But he was able to take them out with his Wispon before they could, he then reached a door that led into a stairwell. He shoved the door open and ran down the stairwell to the lower floor where he was then met by laser turrets that came out of the floor and the ceiling, the laser turrets charged up and were about to fire before Rookie quickly jumped behind a pillar and hid behind it so that he could then wait for the lasers to be shut off just long enough to escape the building. Luckily a moment or two after he hid behind the pillar the turrets did just that, Rookie quickly ran out from behind the pillar and began to run towards a broken window ahead of him, and as he ran the turrets began to charge up again which forced Rookie to jump up and use his grappling hook to swing himself out of the building, once he flung himself out of the building Infinite flew by yet again, and the Phantom Ruby went off yet again, which caused the gravity to change yet again.
Rookie fell onto the side of a building and he heard someone yell at him "Rookie!" the red Wolf looked over to his right and saw Matty running towards him. Rookie ran over to Matty and the two stopped in front of each other, Rookie then said "Where's Newt?" Matty looked around and stammered out "I- I don't know. B- But we have to get out of here, now!" Rookie nodded "Yeah, let's go." he then turned to his left and ran forwards before jumping up into the air and using his grappling hook to pull himself over to a building in front of him. Matty then did the same as Rookie grappled to another building where he would then wait for Matty to catch up to him before running up the side of the building and towards its top. As they ran the voice of a Resistance soldier came over the Network "This is Eagle Squad! We're caught in enemy crossfire!" laser turrets then sprout out of the building ahead of them as a different soldier's voice said "Snake Squad requesting reinforcements!" Rookie and Matty jumped over a line of laser turrets as a completely separate soldier's voice said "This is Fox Squad! We can't hold out much more!" once they landed behind the laser turrets the voice of Sally came over the Network as well "This is the Special Forces! We've been pinned down by what looks to be a fake Shadow and a real Metal Sonic!" Amy then said "80% of our forces have been wiped out! And we've lost contact with the rest!" Rookie and Matty then jumped off of the edge of the top of the building when suddenly Infinite flew over their head and the Phantom Ruby went off again.
As gravity changed the voice of Vector came over the Network "One flip of the Phantom Ruby switch and everything falls apart on us!" Matty and Rookie landed on top of the building and quickly jumped off of it and down towards a set of train rails suspended in the air. As they fell towards the rails Knuckles' voice came over the Network "Rookie, Matty, and Newt are our only hope now." Rookie and Matty then landed on one of the train rails and began to grind across it. The train rail turned to the left and the two grinded across it and towards a docking station, sadly that docking station was destroyed by the hand of one of those Infinite monsters which caused Rookie and Matty to use their grappling hooks to swing themselves towards another set of rails bellow them and towards their right. They grinded across the train rails and towards another docking station when suddenly another Infinite monster destroyed it as well, the two of them fell off of the train rail and onto a highway bellow them, and as they did the voice of Knuckles said "Grr, we can't go on like this." once they landed the two began to run forwards as the voice of Espio responded with "As much as it pains me to say it, the best we can do now is to live to fight another day." as they ran Egg Pawns appeared in front of them and Matty quickly jumped forwards and used her Electric Wispon to destroy the robots.
While Matty destroyed the robots the voice of Charmy yelled out "Run for it!" right as Rookie and Matty returned to running. Rookie stepped forwards and used his Burst Wispons to take out two lines of Pawns standing in their way, once those robots were destroyed they entered some kind of gas station like area that's path curved just enough for the two of them to use their grappling hooks to turn the corner and continue to run forwards. As they ran out of the gas station the voice of Knuckles came back over the Network "Our Big Wave has washed out." laser turrets then sprout out of the highway ahead of them forcing the two to dodge any lasers that were aimed at them, at the same time the voice of Silver said "We haven't lost. Let's fall back and regroup." suddenly an entire line of laser turrets blocked their path and forced Matty and Rookie to jump over it and land on the highway behind the turrets.
A minute after they returned to running Matty skid to a halt and grabbed onto Rookie's arm forcing him to do the same. Rookie turned around and faced Matty "What? What's wrong?" Matty took off her goggles "W- We need to find Newt!" Rookie quickly looked around their surroundings when suddenly a grappling hook attached to the edge of the highway and Newt pulled herself up onto the highway. Matty ran over to Newt and so did the Bear, Matty quickly jumped up and Newt grabbed onto her before pulling each other into a kiss, once they pulled away from each other Matty said "Newt are you alright? What happened? Where did you go?" Newt spoke through her voice filtering mouth piece and said "After gravity changed randomly I ended up in some kind of building. After that I ran around aimlessly through the city until I got here." Newt then took Matty's goggles off for her and was about to pull her into another kiss when Rookie suddenly said "We need to get going! Knuckles has ordered us to retreat!" Newt nodded before putting Matty back down onto the ground.
The three of them then began to run forwards again when suddenly Infinite landed on the road ahead of them. Except he wasn't paying any attention to the three of them, instead he put a hand on top of his mask and said "More ants to crush, I wonder if this world can offer me a real challenge." but he finally did notice them when he heard the sound of the three of them skidding to a halt and Rookie letting out a gasp of fear "And as if to answer, the world sends me trembling children." suddenly Infinite instantaneously sped towards Rookie in a flash of red light. Newt and Matty backed away from Infinite and Rookie froze in place due to his fear, Infinite's eyeless side of his mask somehow glared into Rookie's soul as he said "Are you going to fight and die here? Or, run away in fear again?" Newt stammered out "R- Rookie Wh- What's he talking about?" Infinite chuckled slightly as Rookie backed away from him "You haven't told them? You truly are pathetic." Matty clenched her fists and stepped forwards "No one calls Rookie pathetic!" Infinite rolled his eyes as he floated off of the ground.
He crossed his arms over his chest and said "Fine, you are ALL pathetic." Matty growled at Infinite before jumped up into the air and ignited her Wispon. She spun around in the air and whipped Infinite's stomach, then his back, as she fell back down towards the ground Infinite clenched his fists and once Matty did land on the ground, her back foot was then surrounded by a red cube. Newt yelled out "Matty!" before running forwards, but she was stopped by a wall of red cubes that appeared out of nowhere and blocked Newt and Rookie off from Infinite and Matty. The white Dog tried to free her back foot from the cube as Newt took out her Cube Wispon and began to slam it against the wall of cubes "Rookie! I need your help! We need to get to Matty before Infinite does something to h-" suddenly Infinite snapped his fingers and the red cube shattered, and so did her foot.
Matty screamed out in absolute pain as she fell down onto the ground. Newt yelled out Matty's name before slamming her hammer against the cube wall again, but much harder then before, Rookie ran over to Newt's side and used his Wispon to try and help Matty destroy the wall as well, Infinite then opened up his left hand and lifted up which caused Matty to be surrounded by a red aura before she was lifted up off of the ground, Infinite then held out his right hand and Newt yelled out "No wait! Please don't hurt her! Please!" Infinite chuckled as he looked over his shoulder and at Newt "...Begging won't get you anywhere." he then looked at Matty again before a bolt of energy shot out of his palm and into her chest. The bolt of energy blasted Matty back and she landed on the ground, she bounced off of it, landed on it again, and tumbled across the highway until her body came to a stop, that is where it would then remain, motionless.
Newt let out a blood curdling scream of no before rearing her hammer back and slamming it against the cube wall again. But this time her hammer burst through the wall and it crumbled in front of her and Rookie, the two then began to run towards Infinite and Newt yelled out "You monster!" as they ran, but then Newt was lifted up off of the ground and Infinite turned around to face her "Don't worry. You'll get to see her again very soon." Infinite then swiped his hand to the left and Newt was thrown away from the highway. The only thing left of her on the highway was her hammer, which she dropped as she was thrown away, Rookie raised his Wispon up and aimed it at Infinite "I'll say it again. Are you going to tight and die here? Or, run away in fear again?" Rookie's arms shook in fear, Infinite then suddenly made Rookie's Wispon fly out of his hands and off of the bridge "Maybe that will help you make your decision." Rookie stumbled back as fear began to eat him up inside.
But he couldn't give up, Matty died because of him, Newt had died because of him, he had to fight so he could avenge them. So what Sonic would say to him if they were both in this situation "Hey, don't be scared! This is your moment to shine!" Rookie clenched his right fist "Keep going. Don't let your fears own you!" Rookie then clenched his left hand before stepping forwards and taking a confident stance. That only caused Infinite to sigh "Fine. I will teach you fear, then pain, and then... Well, at least the fear and pain will end." Infinite then activated the Phantom Ruby which caused a blast of reddish orange light to come out of the gemstone and to transport the two of them away from the highway and to somewhere else entirely in the city.