1:16 A.M. Angel Island, Hidden Palace Zone.

Knuckles and the Master Emerald suddenly reappeared in the Nocturnus temple in a bright flash of light. He jumped off of his prized gem, his various necklaces and bracelets jingling as he did, once he landed on the ground the spirit of Tikal came out of his body and his tribal clothes disappeared, and so did his staff. Knuckles sighed slightly "Kinda liked that stuff."

Tikal giggled "If you would like to have them back at a latter date, then just let me know. But for now, I must rest."

She then flew over to the Master Emerald and into it as well. Knuckles took in a deep breath and let it out before clapping his hands together "Alright.. Now that that's done. We can go back to our real mission, taking down Egghead's empire!"

Rouge nodded "And thanks to Blue, we actually have a chance at charging straight into Metropolis now that the Phantom Ruby's powerless."

Shadow grinned slightly "That should effectively put a stop to the Doctor's greatest weapon."

Vector nodded "Yeah! And on top of all that! It made an opening for us! We can't just let that go to waste."

Tangle punched her fist into her open palm before saying "This is the moment we've been waiting for. Time to settle the score!"

Sonic suddenly spoke up "I call dibs on taking down tall, dark, and Phantom Ruby-less!"

Blue nodded "And I call dibs on smashing Eggman into an omelette!"

Rouge giggled slightly at the two Sonics "Don't count your chickens before you smash your eggs."

Blue rolled his eyes but Sonic nodded "Yeah, even though Infinite doesn't have a working Phantom Ruby, that doesn't mean he isn't dangerous. Same goes for Egghead. Which means we can't let our guards down."

Amy sighed "I just want everyone to get home safe, okay?"

Knuckles nodded "Alright, fine. Everyone get your game face on! The target is Eggman at the Metropolis Central Tower!"

Espio suddenly spoke up "I hate to sour the moment. But how do we plan on getting there? Our fleet can't transport us there due to just how much damage they took during the Egg Carrier's attack, which means they've become flying death traps. We don't have any more ships to travel across the sea now that Beta Base is down, and we can't make anymore without the proper tools. About the only ones who can take us off of this island would be Shadow, Silver, and Sonic, but they might risk growing tired transporting us all back to West Side."

Knuckles sighed "You're right Espio.. We don't really have a way back to West Side right now.. B- But I know we can think of something here soon!"

Suddenly a massive doorway appeared in the wall that's to Knuckles' left, and everyone else's right. That doorway lead into a large room ruffly smaller than the one they were in currently, and it looked to be more circular, not only that but there was also a giant crystal ball hanging from the ceiling of that room, said ball was made up of the same red crystals from the Echidna Teleporter, and there was a large circular space of stone underneath the ball. Everyone looked over to Knuckles, all of their looks meaning "What?"

And Knuckles simply said "I- I guess the Nocturnus were always advanced."

Everyone walked into the room and saw that the giant crystal ball was being held up by a single, giant, stalactite. As Knuckles stared up at the crystal ball a strange pedestal rose out of the ground in front of him, it was made of crystal much like everything else in there, and once it stopped a holographic keyboard with runes instead of letters appeared on it. Knuckles stared at his glove which had all of his fingers except for his thumb in one pocket, Amy then walked over to him and he got out of her way which allowed her to inspect the holo-keyboard "Wow, this is cool!"

Knuckles nodded "Yeah... And I think this place likes me."

Sonic then said "How do you know?"

"Because I am currently being forced into a thrown"

Everyone looked over to him and saw that the ground was sprouting a crystal thrown, and Knuckles was to weirded out to move out of the way of the thrown so he was being forced to sit in it while it grew. Eventually the thrown stopped growing and Knuckles was actually sitting pretty comfortably on it before saying "I think its because I'm the guardian of the Master Emerald."

Amy shrugged "Or it could just be that you're the only Echidna in here that isn't a ghost."

Knuckles climbed out of the thrown "Yeah, or that."

Suddenly Bunnie spoke up "We using this thing or what?"

Which caused Amy to say "Oh! Yes, right. Well from what I can tell this keyboard thing is for inputting coordinates into that crystal ball, which will then teleport anyone, anywhere they want.. Hopefully."

Sonic sighed "That didn't sound to confident."

"And you have any other idea what that thing does?"

Sonic raised his hands up in a defensive gesture "Just making an observation."

Rotor suddenly said "So long as it works, we don't have anything to fear about it."

Nicole then added "Unless it doesn't like electronics and fries me, and Bunnie's systems."

Knuckles walked over to Bunnie, who was still carrying Antoine, who was still carrying Nicole, and said to them "That could be a big problem, so maybe you two might have to stay behind."

The other two were about to say something when suddenly Bunnie's feet began to get encased in crystal, and it wasn't stopping there, it just continued to crawl up her legs slowly. Knuckles quickly grabbed onto Antoine and pulled him out of Bunnie's arms as the crystal reached her abdomen, she tried to free herself from the crystals covering her but she just couldn't. That's when a stalactite came out of the ceiling of the room and touched the top of laptop Nicole's head, her screen turned off and she went silent right as Bunnie's entire body was finally covered in crystal, Knuckles carefully set Antoine down and was about to punch Bunnie out of the crystal when suddenly there was a quick flash of blue light before she suddenly was able to move again. Her body was still covered in crystal, but she could move, and talk again "What just happened?!"

Suddenly a figure come out of the ground and it began to change into the shape of Nicole and she too yelled that same question out. Knuckles stared at the two of them before saying "I- I don't know.. But the sooner we send you guys to Metropolis, the sooner we can leave this weird temple."

Sonic nodded before Amy started to hesitantly type away at the rune keyboard. Knuckles walked over to her and asked "You know what they say?"

Amy shook her head "No. Not really, but some of them look very similar to some the runes the ancient people of Apotos used long ago.. And they even look similar to ancient Shamarian hieroglyphs as well."

Sonic then said "We are just learning a whole lot about your species Knux."

Knuckles nodded and sighed "But we don't have time to learn much else, right now we have to save the world."

Just then Amy imputed the very last coordinate into the keyboard and the crystal ball began to glow. Everyone quickly scurried onto the stone platform, all except for Amy and Knuckles, before that platform suddenly began to rise up out of the ground and up towards the bottom of the ball. As they got closer a hole appeared in the part of the ball they were heading towards, and once they connected with it there was a bright flash of red light, and they disappeared, leaving Knuckles and Amy alone in the strange crystal temple hidden underneath Angel Island. Knuckles then looked over to Amy and said "You think you can get a message to our fleet?"

Amy nodded "I know I can."

Knuckles smiled "Good, tell them to set the city ablaze."

Amy also smiled "You got it!"

1:22 A.M. West Side Island, Metropolis Central Tower.

The screams of agony from Infinite as well as the sound of electrical crackles and pops were the only things that could be heard throughout the room. Which wasn't a problem for Eggman, because he loved to watch Infinite scream out in agony as Eggman used the Phantom Ruby's own properties against him. Eggman had programmed the ruby to only be able to fuse with Infinite, but Eggman could also use that against him, and thankfully it didn't drain any power away from its Virtual Reality abilities. Infinite tried to plead with Eggman to let him out of the restraints Eggman had forced him into, those same restraints had forced Infinite into an X shape due to his limbs being spread out in that way, and he was also being held in midair by them. Red electrical energy arched off of the Phantom Ruby and slashed across Infinite's metal mask, which caused his entire head to be hit by an electrical shock due to its conductive nature.

Other arches of energy slashed across his body and he continued to scream out in agony "Please! I only meant to avenge the destruction of your ship! I only took the Egg Hawk so that I would survive the explosion! AGH! PLEASE!"

Eggman shook his head "The fact that you couldn't defeat Sonic and his counterpart with my Egg Carrier's weapon systems is worthy of punishment.. Along side the fact you never gained permission to fly my Egg Hawk, and on top of all of that! You let the pint-sized Sonic damage it!"

Infinite let out another cry of agony before yelling out "He was faster than I had expected!"

Eggman glared at Infinite "Are you saying that my plane was to slow?"

He then held up a remote and pointed it at Infinite, Eggman's thumb hovered over a button that would magnify the amount of pain, but Infinite quickly yelled out "NO! I WASN'T! AAGGGH!"

Eggman lowered his hand "I thought so."

He then stared at Infinite for a moment longer before pressing a button that stopped the pain, and it also released Infinite from his restraints. He fell onto the metal floor of the room and once he got up onto his hands and knees, he placed his hand on top of his mask and felt the burn marks on it. He then attempted to stand up when Eggman suddenly said "Tsk, tsk, don't get up. Not yet, your punishment isn't over."

Eggman then ripped off Infinite's mask and threw it to the floor, he stared down at the Jackal's naked face which had a few burn marks on it. Infinite wanted desperately to lash out at Eggman for revealing his face, but in fear of going threw more pain, he didn't. Eggman then said "You'll get a new mask, fresh and clean. But, before we do that, here's a gift your you."

Eggman then stuck his hand into a pant pocket and pulled out a picture. He then tossed it at Infinite and Eggman began to walk away, kicking Infinite's mask away as he did. Infinite picked up the picture and stood up while looking at it, the picture showed him, along side people he wanted desperately to forget, people who died for him simply because he didn't stand up for them. He crumpled up the picture before tossing it away, he looked over to Eggman as he left the room before stomping over to his mask, he picked it up and stared down at ti. Yet another symbol of failure that was pinned to his back, along side the still living Sonic, and the person he had become, his grip on the mask grew tighter and tighter as he glared down at it before throwing it to the ground. He then began to stomp his right foot on it, the mask caved in slightly each time Infinite's foot hit the mask, three stomps latter and the glass lens of the mask shattered, he then lifted his foot up, and stomped it back down hard, causing the helmet to break completely.

He stood there taking in labored breaths of anger, glaring down at the remains of his old mask. Before slowly removing his foot from the pile of metal and glass, suddenly he heard Cubot say to him "Special delivery for... Pile of disappointment?"

Infinite looked over to the yellow robot and saw that it was holding a replica of his mask. He grabbed onto it and yanked it out of Cubot's hands, when he did he saw that there was a sticky tag stuck to its side, and that "pile of disappointment" line was written in Eggman's hand writing. He tore the tag off before sticking it on his face, he then began to stomp out of the room while Cubot followed behind him slightly. Meanwhile, Eggman stared out of the windows of the top of his tower when Orbot came into the room and said to him "Your sensors have picked something up in the edges of the city sir."

Eggman sighed and rolled his eyes before turning around and looking at Orbot, he then said "What is it?"

Orbot shrugged "Not sure, its just concerning."

Suddenly there were several green flashes in the air and the remains of the Resistance fleet appeared in midair. The ships then began to fire at the city, and Eggman yelled out "What?! The Resistance again?! I bombed that island down to the ocean! How are they still alive!?"

Orbot hesitantly said "S- Sir, your second missile never hit the island.. It was stopped by a Chaos force field."

Eggman spun around and glared down at Orbot "Rgggghhhh!... No matter, I can still crush them.. Tell Infinite to met me on top of the tower, we'll finish Sonic off there."

Orbot nodded as they both left the room. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Sonic appeared inside of a building in a bright flash of red light, he looked around his surroundings and realized he was alone, so that teleporter probably scatted the Resistance all around the city. He then quickly boosted forwards as the voice of Knuckles some how came over his earpiece "We're fighting to get our world back now. Don't stop, don't look back! Just focus on the task ahead no matter what!"

Suddenly, a line of Egg Pawns appeared in front of him and he boosted right through them before jumping over a gap in between what was apparently the fifth floor of the building. Once he landed on the other side he boosted forwards and through several more Egg Pawns before coming out some kind of fire exit and onto the roof of the building, while up there he looked around and saw the Resistance fleet raining bombs all over the city, fires peppered across the tops of skyscrapers, and Eggman's own fleet had yet to arrive. He grinned before saying "Cool, the fleet's here!"

Knuckles chuckled "Sure is! Even without that staff I can still command the Master Emerald's energy!"

Sonic then jumped off of the building and began to skydive down to a highway bellow, while he fell panels in the highway opened up and missiles fired up at him. Sonic dodged each of the missile before landing on the ground and running forwards, as he did the voice of Knuckles said "If we capture Eggman, we win. Find out where he is at Sonic!"

Rouge then said "We'll provide as much cover as we can."

Sonic grinned "Alright! Chasing Eggman is what I do best! I'll track him down in no time!"

He then turned a corner and began to boost forwards while Egg Walks ran away from him. He crashed right through the long legged robots and turned another corner where he saw that the end of the bridge hadn't been completed yet. He quickly jumped up into the air and Homing Attacked into a chain of Nebulas that lead him up to the side of a building, he landed on the building and began to wall jump from one to the other before landing on the roof of a skyscraper. He ran forwards and quickly Homing Attacked into three Egg Pawns that were in his way, and when he landed guard rails came out of the roof and stopped him from moving, suddenly a square section of the roof lifted up and three digital arrows appeared on the side of the little square he was standing on. It then suddenly sped forwards without warning and Sonic lurched back due to that, once it came to a stop at a side of a building he quickly jumped up and scaled it before climbing up onto the roof and running forwards again.

He reached the end of the building and quickly jumped off of it and onto a highway that was literally right next to the end of the roof. He quickly boosted forwards and through a line of Egg Pawns in front of him, he then quickly hopped off of the highway and onto a the rails of a midair monorail. He grinded across the rail as it snaked around what looked like a broadcasting tower before Sonic quickly jumped off of it and onto a highway, he then boosted forwards and through Egg Walks that attempted to run from him, while he ran he said "There is a big battle going on."

Amy then said "It's okay. We can hold on for now."

Knuckles then added "Our other forces are on the move too. We can pull this off!"

Sonic then boosted forwards as he ran across a highway that snaked through a very densely built area of the city. He crashed through anything that got in his way, wither it be the remains of mechanical trees, robots, or even chunks of the metal buildings, he slowly began to approach a tower when Amy said "Be careful! I'm detecting Eggman just up ahead!"

Sonic grinned before jumping up into the air and using his momentum to fling himself up onto the side of the tower, he then scaled it and once he reached the top he was greeted by the sight of Eggman in his Egg Mobile, with Orbot and Cubot hovering next to him on either side. Eggman crossed his arms over his chest as he said "Welcome Sonic. Glad you could make it to your funeral!"

While Sonic squinted an eye in confusion Tails landed on the roof behind him. Eggman then suddenly stood up in his Egg Mobile and he thrust his hand out before yelling "Infinite! Do it!"

The masked Jackal descended from the air surrounded by his red aura. He then held his hand out and said "Take this!"

A small sphere of purple energy came out of his hand and it hovered over the center of the building's roof. The sound of electrical like crackles and pops could be heard from it and Sonic said "What is that?"

Suddenly the sphere expanded to a larger, yet still rather small, size. Eggman then sat back down on his leather seat in the Egg Mobile "Har-har. That my spiky little frenemy, is Null-Space."

While Orbot and Cubot cowered away from the sphere Sonic said "Null-Space?"

Eggman nodded "It's a little something the Phantom Ruby cooked up, a closed-off space where absolutely nothing exists! Think of it as.. An evil version of the Special Zone."

Sonic motioned for Tails to hid behind some kind of machinery that was on the roof as Eggman said "Goodbye, Sonic, my soon-to-be-eradicated nemesis. Enjoy all the nothing!"

The Egg Mobile began to lift higher up into the air as Eggman waved goodbye, he closed the hover craft's retractable glass top, and Infinite held his hand out again. Right as the Egg Mobile blasted up into the air, a sphere of red energy shot out of Infinite's hand and he too blasted away, suddenly the Null-Space portal expanded greatly, purple energy arched off of it and hit anything around it, and at the same time it also began to suck anything, and everything, in which also included Sonic. He attempted to resist its pull but it was just to great for him, he lost his footing and began to get sucked in, when suddenly Rookie grabbed onto Sonic's hand and kept him from being sucked in thanks to him using his grappling hook as an anchor. Sonic looked up to Rookie "Buddy! Don't! You'll be sucked in too!"

Rookie groaned slightly as the suction of the portal began to affect him too "I'm.. Not.. Losing.. Someone.. Else.. HERE!"

Suddenly his grappling hook's wire snapped and they both were sucked into the portal, which sealed shut right as it swallowed them whole. Tails fell to the top of the roof as the suction of the portal came to a stop, while came up to his feet he said "But we destroyed the Phantom Ruby's power source!"

Suddenly the voice of Eggman said "Tsk, tsk. Since you ALWAYS destroy the power source of my weapons, I decided to learn from my mistakes."

The Egg Mobile descended from the sky and Eggman made its glass roof retract as he said "I had a back-up power sources created all over the world. Not only that, but the Death Egg wasn't even one of them! In fact, it was actually a Phantom Ruby construct itself!"

Infinite descended from the sky and he held his hand out. But Eggman said "No.. Let him live, that way he can try to free Sonic and go mad while doing the impossible."

Infinite lowered his hand before him and the Doctor flew away from the building. Tails quickly scrambled over to the spot where the Null-Space portal was and he quickly pulled out his Mini-Miles-Electric and tried to figure out someway to reopen the portal again, while at the same time Eggman's fleet arrived over the city and began to fight off the Resistance's own fleet of ships.