Penny gasped in fright as Infinite lunged at her, and she quickly dodged. While she fought and dodged his attacks, strange glitches happened while she fought. She didn't know what they were. but she knew one thing...it scared her.

Hearing feet pattering behind her, the human girl quickly turned heal and fired her Wispon at him, but she missed.

Infinite chuckled. "You put up quite a fight. I underestimated just how desperately the feeble cling to life."

"Shut. UP." She hissed, staggering to her feet. She was loosing consciousness...she wasn't used to this much combat. But she knew she had to defeat him. To avenge Sonic. She forced herself up to her feet.

She gasped as Infinite shot flares at her, and she used the remaining strength she had to dodge each and every one. While she dodged the last one, the Phantom Ruby fell from her pocket.

"No..." She gasped, her eyes wide as she fought to stay awake and fight.

"I remember you." Infinite began, staring at the struggling girl. "You ran from me before. You survived then, but you throw it all away. Curious."

She grunted, reaching out and grabbing the gem securely in her hands, struggling to her feet. When she finally got to her feet, she glared at Infinite as he continued.

However, she realized her luck ran out when he moved his missiles directly at her.

"This will be goodbye."

The girl gasped in fear, quickly bracing herself for the death, but something strange happened. While she awaited for the blow, she felt herself flicker. Curiously, she opened her eyes and turned around in surprise to see the missiles exploding behind her.

What the...

Infinite coughed, completely stunned as well. "What?! How is this possible!?" He asked, putting a hand to his chest as he began glitching. "It can't be...how did you?" He shook the thought away and quickly fired his missiles at her, knocking her off her feet.

Penny groaned, desperately trying to stay awake.

"No matter." Infinite said once everything went back to its normal color. "There will be two days left. Let them complete the inevitable until I end this once and for all."

He walked out, leaving Penny alone.

The girl gasped, shakily reaching for her walkie talkie to call for help. She pressed the button, and for a second, no one answered. She felt her heart racing, fear taking over her.

Finally, finally someone answered. "Penny? Is that you?"

"S-S-..." she stuttered, coughing.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked, sounding distressed. "Penny, are you okay?"

"I-Infi-" she gasped out, too terrified to speak.

"Hang tight, I'll be right there." The hedgehog said.

She didn't know how long she laid there, but the last thing she remembered seeing was Sonic's blurry form in front of her, scooping her up in his arms before everything went black.

...

When Penny came to, she found she was back at the Resistance. She winced as she felt her head.

"Whoa, Rookie-I mean, Penny. Take it easy. You took a big hit back there."

Penny glanced up to see Amy glancing worriedly at the human girl.

Penny groaned, blinking a bit. "Where am I?"

"The Resistance." Amy replied, taking a rag and pressing it against Penny's wounds again. "Sonic practically carried you in with a look of fear on his face."

Penny wasn't sure if she imagined it, but she was sure she heard jealousy in Amy's voice as the pink hedgehog wrapped extra bandages on her arm.

Knuckles was talking on the other side of the room, and Penny turned to him, hoping that listening to his speech would take out the aching pain she was going through.

"Things were going well with Operation Big Wave, but then everything fizzled out when that Phantom Ruby kicked in."

Penny winced, turning away. She felt Sonic walk up to her and put a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

"That fake Shadow was created using the Phantom's power, right?" Silver asked. "Even if it's a visual reality projection, it's as strong as the real Shadow."

Shadow shook his head and turned to Rouge. "Rouge, have you found the intel I was looking for?"

Rouge shook her head, sighing. "No, not yet. But I have reports that Eggman's database is located at the Chemical Plant. If we can check that out, we might find something there."

"That sounds like a promising lead." Sonic said. Penny glanced at Sonic as he continued. "We have to figure out the secret behind Infinite's power and virtual reality. Tails, can you handle this?"

Tails nodded. "Got it. I'll take Sonic-I-I mean the other Sonic with me and we'll head to the Chemical Plant!"

Sonic glanced at Penny. She seemed to be doing a bit better, despite her worried frown. He walked up to her and sat down, taking her hand. "Hey. What's up?"

"N-nothing." Penny said, quickly looking away. "Just thinking."

Sonic nodded. "You've been doing that a lot lately, is Infinite tugging at your thoughts again?"

"Yeah," Penny nodded, lightly touching her bandages and wincing at the contact. "He scares me. I wish I knew how to defeat him properly, but I don't know how...he's too powerful."

Sonic nodded. He was about to say something of his own when Knuckles groaned in annoyance, and the two teens turned to him. "I don't like sitting on the bench, but there's nothing to do until Tails gets back."

"Way to jinx it," Amy said, putting away the rest of the medical supply. "Metal Sonic has been spotted in the city!"

"Is it another fake?" Shadow growled softly, crossing his arms.

"Why would they bother making another fake out of something that already isn't real?" Sonic asked. "Couldn't they just build more?" He sighed, turning to Penny. "Hey, are you okay about joining me on this one?"

Penny glanced down. She wasn't sure, Infinite scared her.

Sonic smiled gently, putting a hand on her knee. "Hey, I'll make sure nothing happens to you. Cross my heart."

Penny took a deep breath, nodding. "Okay."

Sonic grinned. "All right, then, let's go."