Author's Note:
Hello! Here is part 2 of that other chapter! :D Thanks again for all of your feedbacks! You guys are amazing! So, I decided to upload this fanfic a bit early than usual. I have also decided to update a few chapters in this fanfic to help understand a bit when the Phantom Ruby(s) are activated. I do not have much to say other than... enjoy along with the title of this chapter! :D
Shout-outs:
Bajy - Yes, it was a bit short and I apologize for that. ^^; Now, we have a longer chapter here. :P
RagingWolf2124 - Thanks. Although I admit, doing some romance stuff for this story was a bit difficult while keeping the plot of Sonic Forces in check. I mostly wanted the game to show more on the "Power of Friendship" scenario a bit more and some redemption for Infinite. ^^;
Guest - Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the development of the two! I'll try my best to keep that improving a bit.
Thanks for Reading and PLEASE Review! :)
Chapter 23: Don't be Scared, Speak Up
Sonic and Saura arrived at another arena, this time with no glass nor water involved. Sonic sighs in relief when there isn't a single drop of water in sight. He lets go of Saura as Knuckles, Silver, and Amy arrive from a different hallway. "Guys, be ready! Infinite is heading this way," the blue hedgehog says to his friends!
Silver frowns a bit at the thought of Infinite heading this way especially with the behavior the jackal is showing. "But how can we beat him? From the way he's attacking us lately, Infinite seems to be stronger than before," he says with concern.
Saura looks back to the hallway her and Sonic came out from. Infinite's behavior also has her concerned. It's almost like he's lost some control a bit. She turns towards the group as they come up with a plan until Amy points to her. "You," the pink hedgehog says with hope. Saura flinches a bit from being pointed at while showing a confused look. "You can stop him," Amy added with a smile.
Saura shows a shocked expression while everyone else looked confused still. "Amy, what can Saura do against Infinite?" Silver asks with a confused look.
Amy shakes her head. "Saura won't be against Infinite, but she can stop him," she replies as she looks towards Saura. "After all, you love him, and he loves you," she added with a smile. Amy's smile vanished when she sees Saura shake her head as she looks away from the group. "What do you mean? Isn't it true, are you in love with Infinite?" she asks.
Saura flinches as a small blush appears on her face but also a frown. It's true she does have feelings for Infinite; however, can her friends accept that aside from Amy? And besides, Infinite doesn't love her back…
"Go on Saura, just tell them how close you and that pathetic jackal are. Unless, you want to see the looks of disappointment and rejection on your "friends'" faces just like what the jackal did to you."
Saura shivers a bit as her frown deepens. She doesn't want her friends to reject her. And yet, she doesn't want to lie to them. Having tears in her eyes once again, the wolf lowers her head, so her bangs can cover her eyes as she nods slowly. She hears gasps of shock which causes her to wince.
Knuckles glares a bit at Saura as he walks up to the wolf. "Rookie, you have a lot of explaining to do! That behavior is-"
"-so adorable," Amy shouts with excitement! Sonic and Silver gave Amy a shocked expression with Knuckles. Before he had a chance to yell, the pink hedgehog shoves the red echidna away as she has both of her hands on Saura's shoulders. The wolf stares at Amy with shock and a little scared. "Tell me, how did this all happen?" Amy asks with a big smile on her face. Saura continues to stare in shock but stops as she remembered the last conversation she and Infinite had. Not to mention, there was the anger Knuckles showed just a moment ago. She looks down and shakes her head to Amy. Amy saw this and frowns. "What's wrong?" she asks with worry.
Sonic notices the look of sadness in Saura's eyes. He recognized the wolf being in this similar situation, back at Metropolis. The blue hedgehog shows a sad smile as he walks to Amy and Saura. He looks to Saura as he places a hand on her head. "Hey, remember what I told you and Tails back at Metropolis?" he asks the wolf. Amy looks to Sonic curiously while Saura looks towards him with a confused look with a few tears in her eyes. "Well, my statement stays the same. You're still my friend, no matter what even if you have a crush on the enemy," he says to the wolf with a smile. "And I'm not your only friend, you also have Tails," he added so he can continue to cheer up Saura.
Saura's tears increased, but she does have a smile replacing her frown. "And you've got another one right here too," Amy says with a smile and wink. Saura's eyes widen in surprise. "And Silver and Knuckles are your friends as well," she added. She turns to Knuckles and Silver who looked at her with shock. "Right guys?" she asks along with a little threatening glare to get them to agree without letting Saura see her.
Silver was about to object; however, when he sees Sonic and Saura look back to him, he sighs quietly and nods a bit. "Y-yeah, of course," he says. He watches the wolf's tears increase as her smile got a little bigger and then she tries to wipe the tears away. The white hedgehog frowns a bit but then smiles sadly.
Knuckles glares at Amy until he noticed everyone in the room staring at him. Groaning, he crosses his arms as he looks away from the group. "Yes, we're friends," he says while looking a bit embarrassed.
Saura looks to the group as she tries to wipe away all of her tears; however, they kept on coming. She can't even believe what she's seeing. The wolf wonders if this is all real or if it will just become another illusion from her mind and then-
"Aww, your friends appear to have forgiven you, how sad. It's too bad I can't say the same for the jackal. Unlike the folks around you, the jackal rejected you. Then again, I'm not surprised since you did get angry at him, some friend you are."
Saura's frown returns as the thought of Infinite had made a comeback to her head. Sonic sees the frown on the wolf's face. "Hey, is there something bothering you?" he asks. The blue hedgehog waits for the blond wolf to reply, but he notices Saura shakes her head a bit. "Saura," he calls out to the wolf. Sonic gently has the wolf look at him and the group. "Don't be scared, speak up. We're not going to make fun of your voice not even Nevil can stop you," he added with a smile. Saura's eyes widen in shock as more tears appeared in her eyes.
"That fool! You know he can't stop me! No matter what happens I'll-"
Saura suddenly feels Sonic hugging her. "You have to let that go. Don't let your fear own you," the blue hedgehog added.
Saura shivers as she took in Sonic's advice as Amy joins in on the hug. When Silver finally joined in, the wolf let it all out. She hugged the three hedgehogs and cried. "Sonic, Amy, Silver," Saura cries as she finally lets her emotions go!
Silver frowns as he hears Saura cry. She must have been through a lot if she's pouring out this much. The white hedgehog looks to Sonic and Amy who are frowning as well and then to Knuckles, who is watching with a frown as he lets out a sad sigh. The red echidna walks to the group and he pats Saura's shoulder.
Saura looks to Knuckles as her crying dies down a bit. She wipes the tears out of her eyes while releasing Sonic, Amy, and Silver. She looks the Knuckles once she calms down a bit. "I-I'm sorry Commander. I didn't m-mean to waste t-time," she apologized.
Knuckles looks to Saura with surprise. Aside from the communicator and warning in the other arena, this is the first time the wolf spoke to him. The red echidna shakes his head. "Don't push yourself Rookie. It had to be out," he says to Saura with a small sad smile.
Saura smiles a bit to Knuckles, but then Infinite had came back in her head. Frowning a bit, the wolf looked towards Amy. "Amy, y-you may be r-right about me falling in l-love with Infinite, but I don't th-think Infinite feels the same f-for me," she says to the pink hedgehog. "W-we had a little a-argument and I c-confessed my feelings t-to him out of anger," she added with sadness.
Amy frowns as she pats Saura's shoulder. "Then what did he say after you confessed?" she asks the wolf.
Saura looks to Amy as she gets ready to answer; however, Knuckles interrupts them. "Look, I understand you two want to talk about this, but that can be done later. We have to find the reactor and destroy it to prevent anymore Phantom Ruby illusions," he says to the females.
The group suddenly hear someone coming! Looking at the source, they see Shadow and Rouge along with a red robot following them. "Hey, it's Shadow, Rouge, and Omega," Silver says with relief.
"Seems like you guys aren't having any luck with finding the reactor too," Rouge says with a sigh.
"Yeah, and Eggman and Infinite were on our tails. They know some of us are here," Knuckles says with a groan.
Omega, the red robot, had its eyes shine a bit. "TARGET MUST BE LOCATED. MUST GIVE PAYBACK. EXTERMINATION INITIATED," it says while it starts to walk. It didn't get far however thanks to Rouge. Saura watches the red robot as it walks with a frown. She didn't want Infinite to be exterminated… However, she did remember Infinite's story about his fight with Shadow and Omega. The robot wants revenge on Infinite that's for sure. She soon sees the robot look at her after Rouge stops it. Shivering, the wolf slightly hides behind Amy. "UNIDENTIFIED CREATURE DETECTED. SCANNING SUBJECT," Omega says as it continues to look at Saura.
Saura feels Omega's gaze on her as she hides further behind Amy. Amy sees this and smiles gently to Saura. "Hey, it's okay. This is Omega, he's on our side. He won't hurt you like Eggman's robots," she reassures to the wolf.
Omega soon made a beep noise. "SUBJECT IS A LIFEFORM SPECIE KNOWN AS A WOLF. GENDER FEMALE. NAME UNKNOWN," it says while continue to stare at Saura.
Amy smiles a bit. "Omega, this is Saura. She's our friend," she says to the robot. The pink hedgehog then moves away from the wolf as she slightly moves Saura closer to Omega. "And Saura, this is Omega," she added.
Omega continued to stare. "NO DATA FOUND ON SAURA. UPDATING DATA," it said while still watching Saura. It then walked a bit closer. "DATA UPDATING COMPLETE," it then added. The wolf continues to watch the robot closely while smiling a tiny bit.
Suddenly, Infinite finally arrives after he creates a hole through a wall that also created a smokescreen around it. Once he's out of the hole, everyone can see the jackal with red aura and red cube like auras around him with an angry look as the red color on his scleras are still there. Infinite looks to the group and noticed how close everyone, especially Amy and Omega, is to Saura. The jackal growls madly. "Don't touch her," he shouts as he spreads his red aura around the arena!
Everyone started to float when the red aura came into contact. It also has everyone scattered around the arena. Silver, being used to float around, controlled it just fine as he uses his telekinesis to hold on to Sonic and Amy. Rouge uses her wings to control as well while trying her best to hold on to Shadow and Knuckles. Omega used its hover boosters to keep straight. Saura uses her grabbling hook to cling on to the pole close to her. Infinite watches the group scattered a bit as he floats towards the wolf. Before the jackal could grab her, Shadow releases Rouge as he attacks Infinite. Thanks to the attack, the red aura around the arena faded and everyone was back on the ground. The black hedgehog glares at the jackal and then he completely recognizes him. "You, you're the leader of that squad who was defending one of Eggman's facilities," he says to Infinite as his glare deepens.
Infinite glares at Shadow as he gets up. "So, you finally recognize me Shadow," he mocks at the black hedgehog. "Too bad that will be one of the last things you will remember when I'm finished with you and your friends. You may have been able to escape the last few times, but now nothing will save you," he added as he starts to float up. The next thing anyone knew, Shadow and Infinite start fighting with each other as Omega shoots its green lasers at Infinite.
Saura quickly slides down from the pole; and then, she was soon stopped by Amy. "Saura, it's up to you to stop Infinite from this rampage before he blows up the fortress," she says to the wolf with worry.
Saura frowns as she looks nervous. "B-but, what should I d-do?" she asks. The wolf looks back to the fight as Shadow and Infinite continue their attacks at each other as the jackal have his red cube like auras after Shadow. "I-I've tried talking to him, b-but he didn't l-listen to me," she added.
"Try again. And this time you're not alone. If things get out of hand, Sonic will save us all," Amy replies to Saura's question. The pink hedgehog watches the wolf look back to the fight and appears to be focusing on Shadow, Rouge and Omega. "Don't worry about them. I'm sure they don't mind how your voice sounds like," she answers the silent question.
Saura looks to Amy with an unsure look. But when she sees the pink hedgehog nod, the wolf takes a deep breath to calm down a bit as she nods back. "O-okay," Saura says quietly.
Amy smile a bit to Saura as she looks to Sonic, Silver, and Knuckles. "Guys, we need to stop Shadow and Omega from attacking. That way, we can get Saura close to Infinite," she says the blue and white hedgehogs and red echidna.
Silver gave a nervous look as he looks back to the fight. "But how, we all know how rough Shadow can be with that and Omega is just as the same," he says to Amy.
"There is no time! Let's quickly get this over with. You deal with Omega while Sonic and I deal with Shadow," Knuckles says to Silver. He then turns to Amy. "Let's hope this plan of yours works," he says to the pink hedgehog. The red echidna and blue hedgehog quickly made their way towards Shadow.
Shadow had managed to attack Infinite with a yellow energy spears; but before he could finish off the jackal, Sonic and Knuckles had tackled him to the ground! "What are you idiots doing?" he asks while glaring at blue hedgehog and red echidna.
Omega was about to give Shadow some help but was suddenly held down by Silver's telekinesis. Rouge sees what Silver, Sonic, and Knuckles are doing and looks confused. "Have you guys lost your minds?" she asks as she got ready to help her two friends.
Amy soon held down Rouge, so she wouldn't fly. Infinite watches the group with a dark chuckle. "You all are making this too easy," he says as he got ready to attack with red cubed auras. But then, Saura got in between him and the group. He watches her with surprise.
Once Shadow, Rouge, and Omega here held down, Saura immediately gets in the middle while facing towards Infinite. She watches the jackal look at her with surprise. She shows a nervous look as she looks back to Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Silver. When Sonic gives a reassuring nod with the others, Saura looks back to Infinite with a frown as she slowly starts walking towards him. "I-Infinite that's enough," she says gently to the jackal.
Infinite watches Saura a bit. As he tries to walk past her, the wolf will continue to block the jackal's way. He glares a bit as he continues to look at Saura. "Saura, move," he commands lightly.
Saura shakes her head. "No Infinite, y-you need to listen to m-me," she replies. "Wh-what's wrong with you? Why a-are you acting like th-this?" she asks the jackal.
Infinite glares a bit more as he got ready to use the Phantom Ruby to by pass Saura. Suddenly, Infinite feels something grab his arm. He looks down and sees Saura's grabbling hook on his arm. This got him a bit angry, so he just uses his Phantom Ruby to quickly get close until he's right in front of the wolf. He watches the wolf flinch, but she didn't back away. "Saura, for once obey me and stand aside," he commands again. Infinite noticed Saura shakes her head once again as she has her hands on to his chest and Phantom Ruby. Growling, the jackal got ready to attack the wolf, but he stopped when he noticed the wolf looking down along with trying to push him away from the others.
"Why are you still trying to talk to him Saura? You know he'll just reject you again like last time."
Saura's looks down in shame as she hears that. But she quickly shakes her head to snap out of it. The wolf suddenly sees Infinite remove her grabbling hook as he moves away from her to get to the others with a look of deep anger as the red aura around him starts to grow. So, Saura grabs Infinite's arm fast and starts pulling him away from Sonic and his friends. "Infinite please stop," she begged to the jackal.
Infinite glares down at Saura as he feels her pull him away from Shadow and the others. "Saura, let go of me now," he commands! He watches the wolf shake her head in response as she held on to him a bit tighter. This had the jackal growl more as the red aura starts to flow out faster. "I said let go of me Saura," he demanded loudly!
Saura continues to hold on tight to Infinite while shivering a bit. "N-no," she says to the jackal. "Infinite, you need to c-calm down. This anger a-and solution won't bring b-back your squad," she added.
Infinite's anger rose as he forces Saura to let go, so he can grab her arm. "What makes you so sure about that?! When you lost your parents, you wanted to destroy Eggman. Isn't that right?" he says while glaring down at the wolf.
Saura stiffens when she hears that question as she looks away. Yes, she did want to destroy Eggman when she heard about what happened to her parents but… "Yeah, I did," she admitted quietly. She then remembers the last conversation she had with her parents.
*Flashback*
Saura watched her parents going over their luggage one last time before they got ready. Saura didn't want to go because of how much the place there reminds her of Nevil. "Mom, do you and Dad have to go back there? Aren't Dad's parents still upset at us about what happened to… u-uncle N-N-Ne-Nevil?" she asks the older blond wolf with red eyes and red outfit.
The older blond wolf and brown wolf look at Saura with surprise. a bit, the older blond wolf walks up to the younger blond wolf and places her hands gently on the young wolf's shoulders. "Saura, your grandparents are not upset with us at all. I think they are worried about you just as we are," she says gentlyFrowning. She then gasps a bit with a deeper frown. "Saura, is that why you refuse to talk to anyone and let yourself be bullied?" she asks. The older blond wolf watches Saura nod a bit which caused her to have tears in her eyes. "Saura, please don't shut the world out. There will be someone out there waiting for you. They might need you one day, and you have to be ready for them. Don't let what Nevil say get the best of you. You can't let those sadness and anger emotions get to you or it could hurt you even more," she says to Saura as she hugs the young wolf. "Promise me you won't let that happen, okay?" she asks.
Saura had some tears in her eyes as she hugs the older blond wolf with a nod. "I promise Mom," she vowed. She then feels the older blond wolf let go with a sad smile, so she releases her too. She watched the two older wolves get their luggage ready. "B-but still, d-do you guys really have to go? Wh-what if that E-Eggman Empire attacks here or D-dad's parents?" she suddenly asks again.
The two older wolves look back to Saura and then at each other. Nodding, the older brown wolf with blue eyes walks to Saura. "You'll be fine Saura. Your mother and I will only be gone for a few days and then we will return with your grandparents and aunt. In the meantime, we need you to watch the house for us and make sure everything is good when we come back. Can I count on you to do that?" he asks Saura. He watches Saura look away another tear appears in her eye. Finally, the young blond wolf with blue eyes looks back to him and nods. "That's my little-" he says as he stops himself with a little chuckle. "I can't call you little wolf anymore. You're a fully-grown wolf ready to take on anything," he added with a smile. Once Saura smiles a bit back, he hugs the younger blond wolf. "We will always be with you Saura, even when we are apart. Remember that," he added. The older brown wolf releases the young blond wolf gently as he grabs his luggage. "We'll be back. We love you Saura," he says to Saura.
Saura smiles a bit as she gets the tear out of her eye. "I love you guys too. Be careful," she says to the two older wolves as they walk out of the house.
*Flashback End*
Saura had a tear fall out of her face. Suddenly, she looks back at Infinite with determination. "But then, I remembered a lesson my parents told me before they left. "You can't let those sadness and anger emotions get to you or it could hurt you even more." I didn't understand it… until the day I found out they died," she says to the jackal. She watches Infinite look at her with a confused glare. "You remember what I said about what happened after I found out my parents were gone?" she asked. The wolf watches the jackal's confused expression change to a surprise as the anger somewhat dies down. "That was out of sadness and anger in my part. I was sad for the loss and angry that I didn't go with them. And that was when Nevil told me to "end it,"" she says to add more to the silent answer.
Sonic and his friends listened to the conversation Saura is having with Infinite. Amy suddenly releases Rouge after the comment Saura threw out. Rouge was too focused listening to the conversation to move. Silver frowns as he continues to hold down Omega. Shadow continues to struggle against Sonic and Knuckles's hold. Knuckles looks down a bit as continues to hold down Shadow. Sonic listened with a frown and finally looks down. The blue hedgehog remembered the wolf telling him how long she had to deal with the torments from earlier. With that AND the fact about her parents' death, it's no wonder the wolf lost it when he, Amy, and Silver hugged her.
Saura then looked down at the Lightning Wispon in her hand. To everyone's surprise, the wolf drops her wispon. Knuckles got ready to shout at Saura, but Sonic stops him as the hedgehog shakes his head. Infinite watched with surprise and flinches when the wolf looks back at him with a gentle expression. "Infinite, I understand what you're going through when you saw Shadow, but violence isn't the answer," she explains. Saura then has her free hand move towards Infinite's cheek but stops when the jackal moved away. She then feels something attack her from behind but doesn't flinch. Thinking who it might be, she ignores him as she continues to look at Infinite with a gentle expression.
"I know you felt that Saura. Just stop speaking and it won't happen again."
Ignoring that voice, Saura continues to try and finally places her hand gently on to Infinite's face. "Remember when you told me you can count on no one but yourself?" she says the jackal. "But sometimes in situations like this, it never hurts to have a friend help you," she added. "Can you let me be that friend for now like that time when we were in that room?" she requests with a small sad smile.
Infinite widened his eyes when he hears Saura's request. Before he can stop her, the jackal soon feels the wolf pull him to a gentle hug. Seeing Sonic and his friends watching, Infinite was about to shove Saura away, so he won't be seen as weak until he caught her scent again. That same smell that has been soothing him ever since he saw her in the Mystic Jungle. The jackal tries to fight it, but he remembers the last time he pushed her away. He doesn't want it to happen again… He wants Saura to stay with him… Infinite, once he gave in to Saura's scent along with it mixed with his, hugs Saura as the red aura starts to die down and the red cubes disappear. As he closes eyes and buries his muzzle into her neck, the scent became stronger as he takes in more of it. This caused him to tighten the hug a bit as a single tear appears and falls off his cheek. "Saura," he mumbles the wolf's name.
Sonic sees Saura hug Infinite, the same way he and his friends hugged her when she was needing friends. The blue hedgehog watched Saura continue to hug Infinite as she looks to Amy with a smile. He smiles when he sees the pink hedgehog smile back. "Sonic, if you and your friend do not release me now, I will do it by force," Shadow says with anger.
Sonic glares down at Shadow a bit. "We will if you stop fighting," he says to the black hedgehog. Knuckles watches Shadow as well to make sure he doesn't break loose. "Okay?" Sonic asks as he watches the black hedgehog.
Shadow hmphed as he suddenly vanishes from Sonic and Knuckles's grasp! The blue hedgehog and red echidna looked surprised as they looked around for the black hedgehog. They soon see him appear in front of them as he gets ready to attack Saura and Infinite. "Buddy," Sonic shouts to Saura with the nickname he gave her! Sonic quickly blocks Shadow's attack with his arm.
As the two hedgehogs glare at each other, Saura and Infinite stopped hugging each other. When Infinite opened his eyes, the scleras are back to normal as he sees Sonic defending him and Saura from Shadow. Saura saw what Sonic and Shadow are doing and looked shocked. "S-Sonic?" she questioned with a confused look. Saura suddenly felt the same attack from before; and this time, she couldn't stop herself from flinching. The wolf shakes her head to ignore it but was suddenly being held by the jackal. She yelps as she looked to Infinite.
Infinite, the moment he sees Shadow trying to get to him, knew he needs to get Saura away from the black hedgehog. He lost his squad by Shadow; he won't let that happen to Saura too. Not to mention, he noticed Saura flinched a second ago like she got hurt after she said the blue hedgehog's name...
"Wherever Saura goes, I'm always there with her inside her head. I may be dead in the physical world, but she can't get away from me mentally…"
Infinite showed a look of shock and worry as that sentence replays in his head like before. If that's the case, then Saura must have been mentally attacked by her uncle! He must save her from everyone! So, the jackal quickly picks up the wolf by having one arm around her shoulders while the other is around her legs. He also grabs Saura's Lightning Wispon as the red aura returns, so he can use the Phantom Ruby to float in the air. "Hey," Infinite hears Silver shout out!
Saura sees Silver flying towards her and Infinite. She noticed the jackal shows a smirk on his face as he gets ready to attack. Panicked, the wolf looks to the white hedgehog. "Look out Silver," she warns Silver! Before Silver could take in the warning, Infinite had already got behind him and kicks him to the ground close to Sonic and Shadow.
When Silver lands on the ground, his telekinesis wears off on Omega. The robot stands up completely as its metal hand transforms to a laser cannon. "PAYBACK INITIATED," it says while firing green lasers at Infinite and, while unaware of it, Saura.
Amy noticed Omega shooting lasers at Infinite and Saura! Worried, she quickly runs to the robot to stop it from shooting. "Wait, you'll hurt Saura too," she says with worry. Noticing Omega isn't listening, the pink hedgehog looks up to the jackal and wolf with worry.
Infinite soon noticed the lasers coming at him and Saura. He quickly dodges them while protecting Saura and glares at Omega. The jackal then notices he's surrounded since Sonic and Shadow had stopped their little face-off when they realized he snagged Saura. "You fools, thinking you can attack me with my guard down. How low of you and your friends Sonic," he says to Sonic with a glare. Infinite watches Sonic glare a bit; and then, he turns to Saura who is watching him with a frown. "As for you, you will not leave my side from now on," he reassures. The jackal carefully keeps a hold of the wolf's shoulders and legs as he allows more red aura surround him and the Phantom Ruby. "The rest of you shall stay out of my sight or else I will kill you all," he warns as he spreads the red aura out at everyone, except for Saura. Sonic and his friends were all slammed to the wall by the force of the Phantom Ruby's power. When that happens, Infinite quickly leaves the arena with Saura through the hole he broke out.
"No," Knuckles exclaims as he tries to break out of the Phantom Ruby's hold! Once Infinite had completely left, that was when the effects had worn off. The red echidna tries to run towards the hole to go after them but realizes how fast the jackal can be with the Phantom Ruby. Knuckles groans as he pounds his fist together. "Damn it, we were so close," he says in anger.
Shadow glares at Sonic and his friends. "Why did you all hold us back? We could've easily taken out Infinite and his Phantom Illusions," he says while crossing his arms.
"Because, Infinite might not be all bad. He saved Saura when Eggman attacked in the other arena," Amy says to Shadow with an annoyed look. "And Saura was doing just fine calming Infinite down to stop the Phantom Ruby until you jumped in," she added as her anger start to raise. Soon, the pink and black hedgehogs start glaring at each other.
"Enough guys," Sonic says as he looks to the hole Infinite went through. "Some of us should find the reactor while the rest will go after Infinite and Saura," he then says to the group.
"WILL LOOK FOR TARGET," Omega says to the group as it starts walking to the hallway close to the hole and turns on its boosters to go faster. Shadow and Rouge went on to follow the robot.
"Stop," Amy shouts to Shadow and his friends, but the group is already up ahead! The pink hedgehog looks to her friends with worry. "Guys, we need to do something quickly! There is a chance they could hurt Saura in the process," she tells the group!
Sonic nods in agreement. "Yeah, I think we should split in two teams," he suggests as he looks to Knuckles. "Knux, you and I will go find the reactor," he says to the echidna. The blue hedgehog then looked towards the other two hedgehogs. "Amy, you and Silver will go after Shadow and the others and try to do what you can help Saura," he says to them.
Amy frowns when she couldn't be able to go with Sonic, but time is running short and everyone is doing their best to help prevent Eggman from winning. With determination, Amy nods. "Alright," she says as she gets out her trusty Piko-Piko hammer. "Let's go," she shouts as she runs after Shadow and his friends. Silver follows her quickly with his telekinesis. Sonic and Knuckles went to the opposite hallway to find the reactor.