First things first, I wanna say I'm changing the name of this story. Sonic Forces was too lazy and I advised by friends to change it, so now we are "Trials of War: A Sonic Forces Rewrite." I changed the name after the update so that it didn't confuse anyone in their email. But now… yeah. Hope everybody's okay with this change.
The name "Trials of War" actually comes from whenever I listen to the opening guitar riff in the "Escape From Null Space" version of Fist Bump. The words, "Trials of War" always came to mind when I listen to that part and I figured it'd make a good name for this story so… yeah.

And we're back for another round of Sonic Forces. Good to be back everyone. I'm loving where this story is going and with this, we'll have even more as we return to the Classic Sonic trio, but before we do that we've got another scene and the review replies to tackle, so let's go.

SpiderDom321:
We'll be seeing an increase in the resistance very soon.
As for Metal, I'm so glad you enjoyed the fight. I was honestly pretty worried about that one and am glad that it came off well. It was so much fun to write. The Metal fight is what pushed me to write this story in the first place. Although, I mean it when I say don't expect him to return. I currently have no further plans for him and am pretty adamant as keeping him as the first step. But maybe… I might change my mind.
Hope to please you with this chapter. Thank you, it's always a lot of fun to hear your thoughts.

SharpDragonKlaw:
I hope to please with this chapter.
Thank you so much for your understanding. I really appreciate it.
I'm glad you love the Metal fight! And as for others, I can't wait to dish them out and write them.

Infinite's Ruby:
Thank you! And hey, don't worry about it. I'm always happy to see reviews from you.
Thanks so much. I'm glad you all really liked the Metal Sonic fight, like I said with Spiderdom321, I was pretty worried about it. Like I said, Metal was such an important scene and I'm glad he did well.
Oh yes, things are definitely going to begin to start changing in the world. Our first foothold against the Eggman Empire, now will we sink or swim?
I hope you enjoy what I've got this time.

Tekina Fiction:
First, it's good to see you on this story again. We already talked, but I just wanted to say thanks again.

Alexandria Prime, bajy and Raila Tatylrye: Thank you!

And a huge special thanks to Alexandria Prime for being my fiftieth review for this story. Fifty reviews! Woo!

Sonic Forces
Chapter 9:
Let's do the Green Hills Again!

Eggman hovered down to the very bottom of the prison, grumbling as he did so.

In just the span of a few hours, everything had gone wrong. Sonic had been broken out of prison and the resistance was on the rise. It was only a matter of time before Sonic would get to work at dismantling his empire. Things were not looking up for him and he was going to have a wonderful time with all of these new developments.

But right now, he had a mess of an alliance to deal with in the hulking form of a Zeti that was lying at the bottom of the pit. Things had always been dicey for their little alliance, that was for sure. But they always managed to have a united front. But the amount of insubordination Zavok showed on the Death Egg that night was unacceptable.

Eggman landed his pod on the bottom next to the passed out Zeti and hopped off of the pod, his feet making a light clank on the cold metal floor.

As soon as he got a good look at him, he knew exactly what to do.

In record time, the doctor reared back and gave a swift kick to the red behemoth's side causing him to immediately shoot up from his position and let out a loud roar at the struck.

His eyes darted around to look for the offender only to find none other than the scowling face of Doctor Eggman to which he put on a scowl of his own.

Tentatively, he offered, "Good morning, Doctor…"

"Good morning!" The doctor chirped. "Did you sleep well? You must've had quite the rest after you were pummeled by the blue rat, thrown into one of the force fields and sent falling twenty storeys. And all because you couldn't follow orders! How does it feel?"

Zavok furrowed his brow and glared at him. "I made the decision that was best for the good of the empire! We had Sonic in our grasp for six months and you decided to let him rot here in containment where he only seemed to get stronger!"

"You mean, you made the best decision for yourself. I had the perfect plan that would have made us gain the upperhand on the Resistance. We could've captured their leader and those so called heroes that the rabble have been looking to. We could've made public examples out of them, showing them what the Eggman Empire is capable of! But no! Instead, you were selfish! And that selfishness has lead to the enemy regaining the greatest asset that they could possibly have against us!"

"And what if I had succeeded?" Zavok snapped back. "We finally would've been rid of Sonic! You would have been free of your greatest adversary. You should be thanking me for what you so clearly do not have the strength to accomplish!"

"And that's not the point!" Eggman retorted. "You know full and well that Sonic was going to be destroyed once my empire was complete. With his escape, he'll be tearing it down piece by piece. All we've worked for is now threatened due to your rash behavior!"

"Accusing me for poor judgement when you yourself continue to show the same yourself only further brings your poor leadership into question. I have half a mind to take this empire for myself and give it the rightful ruler it deserves!"

"So that your Lost Hex no longer falls under protection?" He questioned. "Off me, fine. But you know full and well that Infinite is only loyal to me and will make sure to act on you and your people accordingly should something go wrong."

Zavok glared at the doctor again, to which he turned away from him and chuckled. "Or perhaps you're not fit for the empire at all? I have half the mind to remove you from your position and act on your insubordination right now."

"You wouldn't!"

"Four of the Zeti may be able to hold their own against me, sure. But what of dear old Master Zik? Do you really think that he'll be able to stand against the might of the empire even with your protection? Are you confident that the remainder of your pitiful race will survive the might of the empire, let alone Infinite?"

Eggman turned back to him to see that Zeti's glare had fallen. Sadly, the Zeti shook his head and bowed to him. "I apologize emperor, this won't happen again."

"Good." Eggman nodded.

At that moment, the others appeared. Metal flew in, Chaos slunk towards them and both Shadow and Infinite appeared in their respective flashes of light. Shadow and Infinite gave each other nods before looking to the dictator.

"What is our next move, Doctor?" Shadow asked.

Eggman sighed but spoke as he started to climb on his Eggpod. "The resistance is soon to make a move now that they have Sonic back with them. Each of you will be sent to some of the world's capitals in preparation for their interference. Do not engage or even make your presence on earth known until I say otherwise. Infinite, you're with me, we need to talk."

Infinite nodded. "Of course, master."

Together, the rulers of the world walked to the hangar where they would return to the surface.

~Sonic Forces~

Bright blue skies, large rolling green hills and sand everywhere? But this was Green Hill Zone.

It didn't make sense to the smaller Sonic as they stood atop the elevated checkerboard platforms that would've had water lapping up against them as the sun beat down. But the water was drained from the place, leaving large checkerboard rock formations scattered about along the sand.

There, Sonic, Tails and Omega walked, looking around at the faded memories before them.

"This is Green Hill Zone?" Sonic asked confusedly as he looked over the edge of the platform they were on, down at the sandy dunes below.

Tails gave a sad nod. "It is. Or at least, it was. When Eggman took over the world, he completely drained the place of all its water. It's been like this ever since."

Sonic frowned. "That's messed up. Eggman can't ruin one of my favorite spots like this!"

Tails felt a pang of pain at that, remembering that Sonic had reacted the same way when he had seen what Eggman had done to the zone. He gave the smaller Sonic a sad smile.

Classic returned with his own concern. "Tails… buddy? Did I say something wrong?"

Tails couldn't help but feel another pang of guilt at being called buddy. But he shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. It's just… Sonic said the same thing and now he's…" He chocked. "Well… you know."

Sonic couldn't help but look down at the ground as well.

"I failed Sonic and Eggman's monster got him... Now he's gone and it's all my fault."

Sonic looked up at him and shook his head. He put his hands on his shoulders and stated. "It doesn't matter. I'm here now and I'm not letting anything else happen to the future."

"But Eggman's monster-"

"Is gonna be toast. There's always a way remember?"

Tails still looked down at the ground.

"Hey, I'm here, buddy. And we're gonna make it through."

Tails looked up at Sonic and smiled.

"Y-you're right. We still have to keep fighting. We have to get to my lab down in the Mystic Ruins and fast!"

Sonic grinned. "That's the spirit, come on!"

With that, Sonic dashed off through the grassy plains ahead.

"WAIT UP!" Tails shouted as he and Omega quickly chased after him.

So with that, Sonic, Tails and Omega raced off through the Green Hills.

Sonic couldn't help but smile as he accelerated ahead of them, despite the fact that the place was now devoid of the calm blue waters that he knew, the familiarity of the place put him at ease after everything he had seen in the city the day before.

In just the span of a couple of days, he had gone from helping his Tails investigate strange readings on Angel Island to chasing after Eggman and his Ruby delusions to well… this. He was in the future now and the future had taken the absolute turn for the worst. Eggman had won and apparently his future self was dead? He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that the world had gotten this bad. But he was there, running through these Faded Hills with Tails and Omega, trying to save the world.

But now he was in a familiar place and couldn't help but feel a bit relieved at that. Whether or not Eggman had taken it over, Green Hill Zone was his territory. His. He always came running here, he always loved this place. And so he knew that he could take on whatever Eggman may have had there for him.

So with that he peeled out and ran up striped grass and past checkerboard rocks, letting out a proud smile as he did.

Tails couldn't help but feel elated at the sight of that. When they were together, Sonic never ran too far ahead and seemed that this rang true even with his younger self, as he kept a few feet ahead of him and Omega. Always, looking back to be sure that they weren't too far behind.

It was Sonic. He was really back, even if it was his younger self, he was so happy to have him back in his life. For the first time in what seemed like months, Tails really did believe that things would change and that they could stop Eggman. He wasn't alone in the world anymore and they could help turn things around.

It may not have been his, but Sonic was alive. It meant the world to him.

"Incoming hostiles." Omega droned, sending both of them out of their reprieve.

They looked ahead and true to his word, a pack of Eggpongs stood ahead of them. They had their blaster's trained on the trio and were ready to take them out.

Sonic couldn't help but smirk at this as he jumped up into the air and over their blasts, touched down and rolled into the group, mowing them over and leaving two behind, all without getting out of his ball form.

Tails slightly backpedaled at that. Never in his life, had he seen Sonic do that before. At least he didn't think so. He racked his brain, trying to think of a time, but couldn't recall. He wondered when he had picked that up.

With a smile, Sonic couldn't help but grin as he got out of his uncurled and began running ahead again. He loved drop dashing, it never failed. He looked back and saw that he missed two and called back to Tails and Omega. "Those two are all yours, guys!"

Tails once again snapped out of it and looked up just in time to see one of the Eggpongs fire out at him. He yelped and jumped up into the air, barely missing it before he quickly ran at it and swiped his namesakes at the thing, turning it to scrap metal.

Omega on the other hand, took his out by changing one of his hands into gun form, making quick work of it as bullets tore into the shell of the Egg Pong and leaving it to fall apart.

More robots came their way and they were taken care of with either a homing attack, a spin or drop dash, advanced weaponry or some tails. It was great.

Quickly, the trio found themselves on a rickety old bridge that looped down, deep into the caverns of Green Hill.

Gone were the little flecks of grass as they now stood atop eroded checkerboard rock, some of which jutted out of the ground all around them. A few rays of sunlight flickered down through the bits of cracks in the cave above.

Tails and Omega had a little bit of a hard time getting through, having to stop every now and again to make sure they didn't go face first into the rocks ahead of them.

Sonic didn't stop though, continuing on and dodging each and every one of the rocks ahead of them, weaving in between each and every one of them without need to stop as he always did when he was here. Each and every footfall he took were those ingrained in his memory from the multiple trips he had taken there.

Very quickly, they found themselves out of the cavern and were greeted with the warm light of the sun again. Unfortunately for them though, they were also greeted with a pack of robots ready to spoil their fun.

A Roader approached, trying to bulldoze him down to which the little blur grinned. "Alright, let's party!"

Sonic jumped up into the air and homed in on the Roader, making quick work of it before drop dashing into an Egg Pong nearby.

Tails and Omega exited the cave only for one of the Buzzbombers to fire at Tails, just grazing him when Omega pushed him aside.

"Destroy all Eggman robots!" Omega bellowed as his arm transformed back into a gun and he fired at the Buzzbomber and tearing it to shreds.

Tails let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Omega."

At that, A Roader came speeding towards the two of them to which Tails jumped in front of Omega. Turning around, the fox quickly began spinning his tails in the direction of his foe. His tails acted like a fan and quickly sent it off course and into the wall where it crumbled into nothing.

Tails smiled at this and began flying up into the air while Omega took out one of the other Eggpawns.

Meanwhile, Sonic was spindashing on the ground, weaving in between blasts from a bunch of different robots that had their sights on him.

He first rammed into an Eggpong and used that to change his course and hit into a roader after that, he jumped up into the air and took another Buzzbomber.

When he landed on the ground, he couldn't help but smirk while dusting his hands off.

That is until a laser whizzed past him, just barely missing him to which he let out a yelp and staggered back. He looked in the direction of the blast, just in time to see Omega fire at the thing and tear it to shreds.

He gave the robot a thumbs up. "Thanks, big guy."

Tails was flying around, dodging shots from the remaining Buzz Bomber before finally getting up close and personal. Using his speed he elbowed it into the rock wall, causing it to fall apart on the ground nearby.

With that, the enemies were clear and they were able to rest easily at that and continue on their trek. Of course, more of the robots got into their way, but nothing could stop them.

Soon, the trio fell into a walk as they continued along the green landscape. Sonic and Tails fell into idle chit chat as they walked down one of the checkerboard roads.

Soon, they heard the strong rush of the gentle thrum of an engine in the distance.

The trio looked in the direction of the noise only for them to spot the Eggmobile, flying right towards them.

Sonic immediately stood his ground, fists clenched and ready to fight. But Tails didn't let him, quickly grabbing him by the shoulder and having them duck behind the rockwall next to them.

Sonic glared at Tails at this, to which the kit sadly shook his head, keeping his hand on Sonic's shoulders to keep him grounded.

Sonic sighed and stayed put.

Carefully, he, Tails and Omega peeked out to see Eggman land in the middle of the checkerboard road, sitting in his Eggmobile for a moment.

Sonic and Tails looked to each other confused at this.

Suddenly, the sound of distortion rang out as a flash of light appeared. Out of the flash, Infinite stood looking at the doctor with his arms crossed. Immediately, he kneeled before him.

At the very sound, the blood of the two hidden organics ran cold.

For Tails, the very sight of Infinite brought back terrible memories of his surrogate brother being beaten into the ground all those months ago, his helplessness, his cowardice and the lack of closure towards Sonic's fate as he ran and never came back.

For Sonic… it was much different. It was a sound that he was far too familiar with, having jumped from Angel Island all the way to the future thanks to that sound. But it couldn't have been possible that it was still here. Right?

But one look at the gem embedded on the jackal's chest confirmed his worst fears.

That thing was controlling the ruby somehow and he knew that whatever had happened to make the two end up together, it must've been the cause of the trouble in the world.

Tails protectively held a hand out to both Sonic and Omega's chests, making sure that both of them stay put as to not do anything they may regret, leaving Sonic to furrow his brow and watch the two speak.

"Infinite, what happened last night?" Eggman asked.

The masked one hung his head in shame. "Master, please forgive me. I had the resistance right where I had wanted them but those meddlesome Chaotix had intereferred before I had the chance to strike."

Eggman shook his head. "You were too focused on the task at hand, thereby leaving yourself to be open to attack."

"Yes."

"Never put too much focus on one single thing when on the battlefield! If not, you'll be sure to lose."

Hand to his chest, he bowed his head and pleaded with him. "Master, please forgive me!"

"You are forgiven. But understand that despite what the world believes, you are not invincible. The next time you let your guard down and allow an attack to get through, it could be fatal and I may not be there to save you. Do you understand?"

Infinite nodded. "Of course, master. It will not happen again."

"It better not. Between you, Zavok and Shadow, Sonic was allowed to escape with the resistance. We cannot allow something like that or worse to happen again."

Sonic and Tails gasped at that.

Sonic, or at least, the older one was alive!

Eggman heard this and looked at their hiding spot, scanning the area for any signs of trouble but didn't see anything, deeming the sound just his imagination.

"Infinite, your confidence in battle and the power of the Phantom Ruby is good. We still need that to keep control. Just understand that you cannot allow another slip up."

At that, Eggman's console beeped, alerting them both. Eggman looks down and turns it off before eying Infinite again. "Now's your chance to prove yourself again. We have a security breech in Studiopolis Zone. See to it and report back to me when the threat has been neutralized."

"With pleasure, master."

With that, the ruby on his chest glows and the sound of distortion rings out again before teleporting him away.

The doctor then brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Now… what should I do about Sonic…"

At the mention of his name, the little blue finally had enough and broke out of his hiding spot, too quick for Tails to grab him.

Making a mad dash towards the doctor, he leapt into the air, locked on and crashed into the glass hull of the Eggmobile.

Eggman was shaken to his very core by the attack, knowing the feeling all to well. His Eggmobile had been struck by a homing attack, leading him to believe one thing. Sonic was here already and wanted to get revenge. But there was no way Sonic could've found him so quickly.

He got his answer when the familiar blue ball landed and formed into his nemesis. Only… well he was absolutely shocked at what he saw.

Standing before him was Sonic the Hedgehog with his hands on his hips and his usual cocky smirk. Only… It wasn't a Sonic he had seen in years save for the one occasion a year prior. His lighter, sky blue fur, his pudgy stomach and coal black eyes revealed what he was. It was the younger Sonic!

Eggman was absolutely astounded at the sight. "Wha-What?! But how?! How are you?! What are you?!"

"Really? You're the one that sent me here, Doc. The Phantom Ruby, the Heavy King and now here I am!"

"Sonic!" A voice called out and both of them turned to see Tails and Omega step out. "Don't go running off like that!"

"Great… not only do I have a pest from the past to deal with but now I've got two previously obsolete targets right on my front doorstep."

"Well, if it's true that the older me escaped then it looks like you're havin' a real bad day, ey doc?"

Eggman growled. "Which is why I don't have time for this nonsense."

With that he pressed a few buttons on his Eggmobile and it began to hover into the air. "You three are more trouble than you're worth right now and I'll deal with you later. Tata!"

With that, Eggman flew off into the distance.

"You're not going anywhere!" Sonic shouted.

He dashed off after him, hopping atop the stone pillars at a breakneck pace.

"Sonic, wait up!" Tails called after him as he took off into the skies.

The trio was off, chasing after Eggman.

"Hey, Eggman! You're not going anywhere, buddy!" Sonic shouted.

Eggman looked back and let out a tsk at the sight of the little blur coming after him. "Can't you see I'm busy?! If you want to schedule an appointment with the emperor, I suggest you talk to Orbot."

"I don't know who that is, but I do know that you're messing with the Phantom Ruby again and have put the world in danger. So I'm gonna have to crash the party!"

"There you go again with the Phantom Ruby. How do you even know about that?"

"I saw that Infinite guy with it, so talk!"

Eggman frowned. He knew that Sonic wasn't going anywhere, no matter what he tried. He almost forgot that he was even more annoyingly persistent in his preadolescence than he was now. He was gonna have to fight. But the Eggmobile wasn't exactly his most combat ready, machine. If he was going to fight a Sonic, any Sonic, he was going to need something far more destructive.

Luckily, he was close to one of his largest factories, so getting things together would be a sinch. He quickly typed out commands along his console while he flew. An Egg Dragoon would be the perfect tool to eradicate the three of them. But it would be a bit before it would get to them, so he needed to preoccupy them.

They were now along a stretch of land that lead off a steep cliff into the desert below.

Eggman turned the Eggmobile around and faced them.

All three came to a stop and looked at him as he let out his usual evil laugh before pointing at the trio.

With that, a large, spinning buzzsaw fell out from the bottom of his Eggmobile causing them all to scatter.

"So you want to know about the Phantom Ruby ey? Well, such power exceeds even my expectations! Ha! My own genius scares me sometimes."

Tails looked up at him as he chased after Sonic. He couldn't help but chuckle and snark, "That means you miscalculated. That's a failure in my book."

Eggman growled at this as he swung down at Sonic and missed again.

"To surpass expectations is the ultimate of genius! I wouldn't expect you to understand."

With him distracted by Tails, Sonic took the opportunity to hop atop one of the totem poles and then hopped off to land on top of the Eggmobile.

It shuttered a bit at that, throwing its occupant off and glaring but continuing his attack, wildly swinging around at both Tails and Omega.

"So rotten old Eggman bit off more than he could chew again?" Sonic asked. "What are you doing with the Phantom Ruby?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, you little brat?"

With that, they continued to fight, the three heroes dived and dodged each and every swing that he brought out.

Omega would fire shots at the eggmobile, Sonic would home into it and Tails would do his best not to get shot at.

But quickly, after one final blow from Sonic, the chainsaw broke off, leaving Eggman defenseless.

Sonic beamed at this. "Alright. It's over, Eggman!"

With that, he began to run at him only for the ground to shake around him, causing him to trip and fall flat on his face.

He looked up as he heard Eggman laughing hysterically. His mouth immediately hung open at what he saw.

Rising from the ground was a massive looming shadow of the Egg Dragoon rose onto the scene and Eggman flew into position on it. When the hull came up he flexed his fingers on the controls as he beamed down at them with his new advantage.

"What were you saying, Sonic?"

"You mean I have to fight the big thing that older me fought on our birthday…"

"That's right!"

Sonic's face of fear turned to one of excitement as he hopped to his feet. "AWESOME!"

"Sonic this is crazy, you're not strong enough to take on an Egg Dragoon yet!" Tails shouted.

"Just sit back and watch, Tails."

With that, he wagged his finger and dashed off to which the Egg Dragoon and the other two quickly followed after, making chase and trying to catch up with the over excited preteen.

The Egg Dragoon started off the fight by firing off a volley of lasers at them, short concussive shots that tore into the checkerboard path they were running on and made a mess of the place.

Quickly, Omega and Tails were able to catch up to him, while narrowly avoiding the shots from the massive machine.

"Took you guys long enough." He laughed as he ducked under a shot.

"Are you crazy?!" Tails asked.

Sonic laughed. "Haha! Come on, Tails. Don't tell me you lost that adventuring spirit, we do this sort of thing all the time!"

Tails frowned a little at that, but that went unnoticed as he turned to the hulking machine next to them.

"Hey, tincan! Mind giving me a lift?"

Omega turned to him, still running ahead and staring blankly at him.

"Throw me into the tikis and junk so that I bounce off and hit the Egg Dragoon, got it nuts 'n bolts?"

In response and without warning, Omega grabbed the small hedgehog and stopped dead in his tracks, taking position, while Sonic curled into a ball from where Omega held him.

"Preparing optimum trajectory! Fire!"

With that, Sonic was thrown into the air, bouncing off of tikis before he finally hit his target, landing in the hull of the Egg Dragoon, causing the robot to sputter for a moment.

Eggman growled as he was able to get the controls back on his side again.

Quickly, he got back to firing back at the trio while they scattered again, avoiding all the shots that he fired from the barrel of the mech.

"Urg… you've got a lot of nerve for a pint-sized Sonic from the past. Still this Egg Dragoon has only lost 10% of its combat strength."

Tails, jumped into the air, flying away from some of the many shots and pointed at him. "You're lying."

"You won't have quite long to find out."

"Come and get some, Eggman!" Sonic grinned.

He jumped back up into the air and landed in Omega's grasp who threw him into things again that ended with him landing the hit, further frustrating the doctor.

This time, he decided to switch tactics and changed the mod he used on the Dragoon.

With that, the thing instantly fired a stream of ice around them, forcing the trio to scatter once more, making sure not only to avoid the spray and to not slip and slide on the ice.

Soon, Eggman had to recharge the ice, which gave Sonic enough time to use a slope to spin dash up and hit into the Egg Dragoon one more time.

Switching again, he took to using the drills and began firing off drills at the three. More and more pieces of the ground broke apart all around them when they dodged the drills, hitting thjings every single time.

But Sonic was quick to get to Omega with one final hit, the Egg Dragoon finally fell apart at the seams in a flurry of electrical explosions.

But to their surprise, a radiant glowing stone flew out of the Egg Dragoon and into the instinctively outstretched hand of Sonic.

"A Chaos Emerald?" Sonic asked surprisingly.

"What?! No!" Eggman roared. "That Emerald is not for you!"

"Come and get it!" Sonic proclaimed, as he stood proud and tall, clutching the luminous stone in his fist.

"Urg… fine! Keep the emerald, but know that I'll be back for you and the entire resistance, sooner or later!"

With that, he flew off.

Sonic and Tails cheered at this as they high fived one another, even getting Omega in on it too.

Soon, the cheers came to a stop as they finally calmed down. The trio discussed the events that just unfolded.

"We just got Eggman!" Tails announced. "We took him on all by ourselves and we won!"

"Heh, even after taking over the world with the Phantom Ruby, his butt is just as easy to kick."

"Yeah!" Tails smiled. But that quickly fell as it soon dawned upon him. "Sonic… you keep talking about this Phantom Ruby."

"Yeah, y'know the big gem that that Infinite guy had on his chest. It has the power to distort dimensions or whatever. I dunno you used a lot of sciency words when you to explain it to me and Knux."

"Right…" Tails said, still sounding confused.

Sonic looked confusedly at him, to which the fox quickly regained his composure.

"The Phantom Ruby, I'm gonna have to uh… dig up my old notes on it, make new discoveries so that we can figure out to defeat Infinite."

"And I'm sure you'll figure it all out. You always do, buddy."

With that, the two started walking off. "So what's the plan now? We've made our way through Green Hill and got a long way till we get down to the Mystic Ruins."

"Well… Eggman mentioned a breech in that Studiopolis place. "

"I know that place!"

"You do?"

"Sure, remember? I wasn't there too long ago with you and Knux."

Tails, still confused, nods. "Right. Of course. Well… it might be a good place to check out. After all, if you really are alive and he just got a breech in Studiopolis then it's bound to be you, right?"

"Sounds exactly like me."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Together, the trio ran off through the Green Hills and towards Studiopolis Zone. They still had a very long way to go before they reached their destination, but as they continued off, two of them couldn't help but wonder why Tails had been so offput by the Ruby and Studiopolis.

And we're done, this took a little longer than I thought it would, but we got it. So we did it. Not much else to say accept next time, we'll be with our other two main characters in somewhere entirely new along with a few other surprises. Oh also, I should note that we're not gonna see Green Hill for a long while in this story, I'm saving that for a major event later on. Should've said this earlier, but the same can be said for Chemical Plant, Death which I should've said during their respective chapters. But oh well… Can't wait to get into it, but until then R&R guys.