Hello everyone! I'm very excited to start this journey that is this story with all. It's been a while since I was last on this sight, but I'm ready to get back into it with my second story: The Terminal Paradox! I'm aiming for around 18 chapters(including the prologue and epilogue) and will try to get at least two chapters a month out. For a little context of this story, it is chronologically set after Frontiers and will feature the return of a certain character that I am really excited to work with. No point in spoiling it now though ;) If you like what you've read, I recommend my first story on this site, which was completed around two months ago. If you have any input to add or some constructive criticism, please don't shy away from sharing it. I'd always appreciate it! So why don't we get started, huh?
Prologue: Evil Reborn
Eggman's Base
Over the years, the Doctor has devised several schemes and plans to conquer the world and destroy Sonic the Hedgehog. They would normally fall flat due to said hedgehog's interference, but there have been many instances where he's come arm's reach to victory. Those plans are almost always kept in safe keeping, as to repurpose them later on. Infinite was no exception. It was probably the closest he'd ever been to beating Sonic, and in his mind, he did win for a brief period of time. So why wouldn't he store Infinite away after his initial defeat? He was just too valuable to give up. Eggman kept Infinite in a medical chamber where he could recover from the toll and exhaustion sustained from the Phantom Ruby, ensuring that no trace could lead the heroes back to him. His newest creation was especially helpful in contributing to that front, especially since Tails started to get nosey lately. She made a perfect firewall for anything the fox threw at them. Her name was Sage. An A.I. designed with the utmost care, partially inspired by his late cousin, Maria. She was the daughter he never had and a much-needed change of pace of assistance compared to Orbot and Cubot. "Status?" Eggman spoke to Sage. They were both observing Infinite's condition inside the fluid-filled chamber. He was afloat, unconscious, and unaware that he was being kept away.
"His vitals are reading stable." Sage responded in quick succession. "He should be regaining consciousness t-minus four minutes."
"Make sure that time is kept on track, Sage. You're doing a good job." Eggman brought his attention to a monitor positioned at the side of the room. It was displaying satellite surveillance over a dense jungle in the middle of nowhere. A quick scan from the satellite picks up an energy reading beneath the jungle's roof. Reading that proved to be of similarity to the Phantom Ruby. It was a hard pill to swallow, but Eggman would never write off that other rubies existed. He was just glad that he would get to it before anyone else did. Unfortunately, the scans were imprecise, and any drones sent in would deactivate if they got too close to the source. So Eggman decided to test out Infinite once more. If there was any trouble guarding the source, Infinite would have no problem taking care of it, but just in case he goes rogue, Eggman implanted a chip inside Infinite that would subdue him if it ever came down to that. And to be extra cautious, Sage will accompany him for the mission.
"Father, he's ready." The jackal's eyes swing open and he immediately panics. He tries to smash out, but his fists can't carry enough force through the liquid to make a crack. Bubbles erupt from his rebreather, which Eggman figures is Infinite trying to yell or scream. As much as he wanted to keep this theatric going, he didn't have time to kill.
"Release him." With a wave of her hand, Sage opens the chamber's seal, draining Infinite onto the ground. The jackal rips the rebreather off and gets a gasp of 'fresh air'. "Welcome back, Infinite. Ready to get back to work?" Eggman patronized.
"You…" Infinite grinded his teeth and stood up. He stomped over to the glass barrier between them and slammed his fist against it, trying to hit Eggman on the other side. "How dare you pull me away from the fight!" Eggman grinned as he pulled out a button to show, almost as if he was taunting Infinite.
"Ah, ah, ahhh." Eggman presses the button, and it sends a wave of jolts through Infinite's neck, neutralizing him as he falls to the ground yelping. "Know your place. I call the shots. I could see the futility in your battle against Sonic. The fact is that you weren't ready for everything they had to offer. So you better listen up, unless you wish to remain weak." The zaps coursing through Infinite cease, and he obediently rises. He can't even bear to look the Doctor in the eye. This is what he accepted. To be treated like mud, but to be molded into a sturdy pot. Sacrifice everything to become ultimate. Let the power you possess control your every action.
Jungle
With a short briefing, Infinite was on the move. He dons his iconic mask and holds onto the Phantom Ruby, embedded in his chest once more. However, it has lost significant power since Eggman clocked it into overdrive in the Death Egg Robot. Once an unstoppable weapon is left only to hold a mere fraction of its potential. If that wasn't annoying him to no bounds, the constant following by Sage was starting to get to him. He didn't know what this thing was, or why the Doctor even made it, but it was tempting his nerves to explode. His HUD projected an estimated route to the energy source, but as he got closer, his connection started to diminish. Much to his disappointment, Sage remained unphased by the disruption. At least he was almost there.
What was left of the route led him to an opening beneath a pile of crumbled boulders and arched landscapes. It was pitch black inside, but the illumination from the ruby and Sage provided enough light to move forward. After a short walk, the two encountered something strange. A red glow met them at the end of the tunnel. Whatever it was, it was glaring without leisure, and it was just laid behind the end of the corner, where Infinite and Sage turned with hesitant advances. They couldn't believe their eyes once they saw it. A conglomerate of gemstones merged, spreading like a virus in a body. The pattern and color of the gems were alike the Phantom Ruby's. In fact, Infinite even noticed a cut within the mesh resembling the shape of his ruby. He couldn't fathom how this was possible. That the ruby he held onto was but a fragment of a much greater power. He was perplexed and enticed by the implication of its strength. It was like it was hypnotizing him, but even if he knew it was doing that to him, he wouldn't care much at all. He wanted to bathe in its might. He reached his hand out. "Great, we found the source. Now let's set up a position to contact the Doctor of our discovery." Infinite yielded his hand at Sage's words. Of course, if it was the Doctor's orders, he had to obey them. If left untested, this overwhelming power could be too much for him. It was reckless to take it now.
"Set… free.." A hushed voice whispered. Infinite looked around but saw no one around. Strangely, it seemed like Sage didn't even notice the voice at all. "Please… set me free…" Infinite could get a bearing on the voice. He couldn't believe it, but he thought it came from the giant gemstone. The voice enticed him to approach, despite his better judgment. He felt a comforting aura emanating from it. Like it was telling him that it would give him everything he needed. He stepped within arm's length away from it, feeling warmth course into his limbs. Once again, the whispers played inside his head, demanding a final decree. "Return…" Something clicked inside Infinite. Something that when looking back, seemed so obvious to miss. The missing piece from the gemstone was what he held close to his chest. This was the origin of the Phantom Ruby. Without a moment of hesitation, Infinite grasped the Phantom Ruby and ripped it from his chest. He slots the ruby into the gemstone perfectly and smoothly. The seams from the cut disappear as it is inserted without resistance. Now completed, the gemstone hums a harmonic whir, finally gathering the attention of Sage, who was surveying the rest of the cavern and was just about to contact Eggman of their discovery.
But that had to wait, as she spots Infinite overseeing the start-up of the full ruby. "What are you doing?" She called to the jackal. He wasn't aware of it, but Eggman gave Sage full permission for the electric chip. If it had to come down to it, Sage would not falter the moment to subdue him, but her naivety clouded her initiative, as she thought this could be settled with pleas. However, the jackal tilted his head back to look back at the AI with his eye.
"Answering my destiny." There was no sugarcoating that, he's gone rogue. Sage activates the chip and sends Infinite into a sequence of paralysis and pain. Although Sage had declawed him, her perspective was on him and him alone, not on the ever-brightening gemstone. In mere seconds, the gemstone bursts and shatters across the cavern. The energy released flows into Sage and starts to degrade her, pixel by pixel, while also disabling the chip inside Infinite. Seeing that if she stayed any longer, she'd be destroyed, Sage decides to retreat and escape the unstable power. All that was left was Infinite and the now broken ruby. As he stood up, he immediately noticed through the remains of the gemstone, that it was hollow. Whatever was inside was a thought he wouldn't have to dwell on for long, as particles traversed and condensed above him. The dust and fog are tinted a dark violet, while the core of the floating speck is a hardened black. It floats down and dances beside Infinite's head. "What are you?" Infinite asked.
"A murmur, calling for you." A frail voice spoke from the dust. "The key to everything you ever wanted to be. The Phantom Ruby was a cocoon to prepare me, which I created with my dwindling power. But before I could finish, a piece of it was stolen, hindering my approach. But you… Infinite, have brought it back and restored me. For that, I shall reward your deeds." Already, Infinite was on board. This power had already granted him greatness, and he only had a taste of it before. What more could he want?
"I'm listening." He responded.
"See, we are much the same. Incomplete fragments that were meant for more. I can give you another boost in your prowess, more than the shard of my cocoon could've ever provided, and you help me find my… brothers. And once we are reunited, I shall reward you further." Infinite was getting antsy now. He couldn't wait for another second. This whole time, he thought Eggman was his sculptor, but the reality was that he simply had yet to meet the real deal… until now.
"All I needed to hear." Infinite welcomely gestures with his open arms, allowing The Murmur to release a fume from its drifting body. It burrows beneath his fingertips, penetrating the veins and flooding his blood with its essence. Creaking in bones, muscles snapping, everything in Infinite's body was resisting this invasive urge, but his mind allowed these changes to take place. Even after screaming his lungs out from the immense pain, he laughed it off as he knew he was getting stronger. Already, the finalization of Infinite's new form reaches an absolute. His eyes now tinted the same color as The Murmur and a menacing aura drizzles through his body to the ground, leaving an oily residue. Infinite examined his hand and felt the might channeling in. Perhaps a bit too much, as he grabs his wrist and inadvertently snaps it back to an unnatural position. Curiously, Infinite had no reaction of distress from the breakage, only wonderment. He bends his hand back into place and looks back up to The Murmur.
"Now… where do you wish to test my gift?"
Eggman's Base
The doctor paced around the room. Comms have been down for about half an hour, and he couldn't establish a signal back with Sage. With how things were going, he was starting to regret not coming with them in the first place to oversee everything. "What was I thinking? Leaving her with that freak?" He thought out loud. He eventually sighs in defeat as he raises his wrist to his mouth and speaks through his watch, using it as a radio. "Orbot, Cubot, prepare my ride. I'm going to find-" Suddenly, a blip of red and black glitches hijacks the monitor next to Eggman. Not before long, an easing voice stutters through and speaks to Eggman.
"Father?" Sage's voice cuts in as an icon of her head pops into the middle of the monitor.
"Sage!" Eggman rushes to the screen. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"I'm sorry. I couldn't stop him. I failed you." Eggman clenches his fist and a wrathful look envelops his face.
"What did that brooding failure do to you?" He growled.
"Never mind me. We have to get you out of here!" Sage prompted. "We found a bigger Phantom Ruby. It might have even been where our ruby came from in the first place. But before I could notify you, Infinite attuned to it by sacrificing our ruby. I had to escape before the blast erased me, but if he was able to gain all of its power then-" Sage is cut off by a loud thud striking the base. Alarms blare and red lights flash across the inside. "Oh no…" Sage mutters. "I detect a breach in the lab. I'll send units to slow them down, but you need to leave."
"Not without you." Eggman quickly thinks to insert a flash drive into the computer and upload Sage's consciousness into it. He holds the drive close to his chest as he makes a break for it into the hallway, passing a group of egg pawns scurrying past. As the pawns turn the corner, an explosion rocks the ground and flame erupts across. Eggman looks back and sees a figure float into sight. Infinite, impending in with his ghastly presence, stares down Eggman with a hateful yet taunting eye.
"Time for you to know your place, doctor." Infinite laughs as he holds out his arm. In an instant, the floor and wall around Eggman warp and fall apart, severing his escape route in a couple of seconds. As a last resort, Eggman whips out his blaster and fires a powerful laser directly at Infinite's head. However, his mask easily deflects the shot, and he continues to move forward with a low titter. "How pathetic this whole thing is. I can't believe I've never had the guts to put you down before. I could've been so much more without you, but I don't have to wonder about that anymore. So please try not to squirm too much. We wouldn't want your death to be that messy, would we?"
"Don't worry, father." Sage spoke through the drive. "Our rescue is coming." A crack in the air and the heat in a gust of wind catches Eggman's attention at the other end of the hallway. Boosting in was one of his most treasured creations, Metal Sonic. Metal made no attempt to fight back Infinite, as per Sage's instructions. She wanted her family all out alive and in one piece. And if they wanted to beat Infinite, it had to be another day. Metal picked up Eggman and dashed for an exit.
"No you don't!" Infinite fired a blast of his own. A hurling ball of purple fire is shot from his hand and narrowly passes Metal. The fireball explodes in front of them, blowing a hole through the wall and inadvertently leaving a path outside for Metal to go through. With Metal Sonic outside, all he had to do was to punch his boost into overdrive and not drop Eggman as they made a rush into the dense forest to lose Infinite's sight. The jackal soon follows through the hole in the wall and ascends into the air, firing more and more faded fireballs. Each of them leaves a crater in the ground as they explode, tossing sparks of flame into the trees and starting a wildfire. Metal uses the chaos in the fires to escape, and eventually, loses Infinite. The jackal is infuriated and lashes out on the base below him. He sends an energy ball into the middle of the base, causing an atomic blast that levels the whole building. Before Infinite could take his rampage further, The Murmur flies up to his ear.
"Save your rage for later. There is much to be done." It starts to fly away into the distance, where Infinite follows closely.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't use your gifts so carelessly."
"The time will come when your powers will be unmatched. But do not take it for granted. There are strong heroes in this world that wish to stop us. To combat them alone is suicide. But if we bolster our numbers just a bit, we could overwhelm them in an instant."
"What did you have in mind?"
Central City
Although he preferred hangouts and parties at night, Sonic wasn't complaining about a morning celebration at his favorite restaurant. Why? Well, did there have to be a reason? Eggman had been relatively quiet since the Starfall Islands, and there was nothing for the hedgehog to do until he made another move. Besides, it never hurts to hang out with friends. He sent out a memo to all his friends the day before that this was happening. So far, the people who did and didn't show up matched his expectations. Tails and Knuckles were eager to come along, while Shadow straight-up ghosted the whole conversation. Sometimes Sonic wondered if Shadow still even had his phone. But there were some surprises. For instance, Amy had to dip out because of an emergency happening across the world that she needed to go to, so she was out. But the biggest surprise of them all was that Sonic's buddy from the future, Silver the Hedgehog, made time to come. It shouldn't shock Sonic in the slightest, as Silver should have all the time in the world to hang out, but he always seems so busy.
All of that didn't really matter to him though, as he just cared about having a good time in the moment. He wished it never ended, that time would go on forever like the endless horizon. These glimpses of happiness and enjoyment resonate strongly with Sonic, but lately, he's been having trouble sleeping. He kept thinking: Are these moments meant to last? Some day, things will change that will make everything today an impossibility. He'd lose what makes life perfect. After that, what would he even do? Let whatever happens next flow through a murky river with no destination? In the end, it was just a thought. "This was great, everyone!" Silver said. "I had a lot of fun, but I have to get back home now."
"Come back whenever you like." Tails gleefully expressed. "I'd love it if you could tell more stories about the future." Tails slowly loses himself as he rambles further on about his eagerness of the future's technology. It all was a little much for Silver to respond to, as he promises to tell him another time.
"Well, I better get going." Silver gives one last wave before he heads outside. As it stands, he only had one way of traveling back between the past and future: The Time Stones. Once activated, Silver is able to go back and forth with little trouble freely. When he first got his hands on one, he had several questions regarding the rules of time travel. As it is now, he still knows very little. He shouldn't even exist in this world if the Time Stones truly affect the past and future alike. Truthly, it's very concerning, and the fact that no noticeable paradoxes have been created has only put his mind on edge. But now, he was focused on getting home. With a touch of his psionic powers, he can trigger its travel sequence. As he starts, something peculiar happens. The Time Stone doesn't react at all. Not even a hint of life comes out of it as Silver concentrates more of his energy to power it up. Still, nothing happens. A great uneasiness settles in Silver as he has no idea what to even do. This has never happened to him before and he can't think of why it refused to let him travel. The only thing Silver could come up with was a dark outcome, but it's the one thing his mind lays on. The future… might no longer exist.
Back inside the restaurant, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles finish up paying out in peace until Silver comes barging back in. "Sonic! We have a problem!"
Tails' House
The Time Stone lies alone on the coffee table in Tails' living room. Silver had just put Team Sonic through a long-winded explanation of how the stones worked, and how their sudden failure to work is a great cause for concern. "Maybe it's the start of a paradox." Silver mentions, leaving Tails to ponder the idea of paradoxes in general, but more accurately, more perplexed by them. Tails goes out of his way to wheel in a whiteboard and markers.
"It's a guess." Tails responds as he draws a simple line across the board. "But the more I think about it, the more traditional paradox theories start to crumble." Tails draw a branching line arcing from the right side to the left side. "The first example is the grandfather's paradox. If you went back in time and stopped your grandfather from having children, it would cause a temporal anomaly displacing quantum stability to a point where the identity-"
"English, please." Sonic chimes in to get Tails back off his rambling, much to the dismay of the now-irritated fox.
"You wouldn't exist, and therefore you wouldn't be able to go back in time in the first place. But as we know, Silver isn't affected by such a law, and we can deem it unlikely." Tails erases the arching line and draws two separate lines forking out from the original one. "That makes me think we deal with multiverse theory, but even that falls completely flat as Silver shouldn't be able to come back to our timeline if he alters the future or past. So we can scratch that one out too." Tails ends up scribbling all of the line out. "Truth is that we won't know what we're dealing with until the time comes."
"So we just have to wait?" Knuckles questions with frustration. "I do not like what that implies for us."
"There might be another theory." Tails retorts. "Something I thought about ever since the first time we met Silver, but it might check all the boxes of what we might be dealing with." Tails erases all the scribbling and draws two parallel lines. "I call it the terminal paradox. It's when something appears in a timeline where it can't exist." Tails draws an arrow from one line to another. "The mere presence of whatever the entity is can destabilize the flow of time and unravel it into uncertainty." Tails draws loops and unpredictable swirls from the end of the bottom line.
"Wait, so if that was the case, wouldn't Silver violate the flow of time?" Sonic brought up. "He technically can't exist."
"Not quite." Tails was quick to answer back, in which Sonic now knew that he was in for quite a lecture. More likely than not, most of it might go over his head. "See, Silver shouldn't exist but he can. That's the main difference. If you think about it, there is a long ancestral line that could lead to Silver being born, therefore, it is possible that he can exist in our timeline. When regarding this paradox, I'm referring to something that is impossible to be, regardless of which point in time occurs."
"So how does that help us now?" Silver raised his voice. His sense of urgency was rising as he feared that they were now on borrowed time. "If this entity you're describing has made its way into our universe, then is there anything we can do?" Just as Tails was about to answer Silver, a tremor rumbled the ground for a few brief seconds. The sudden shift in the earth is enough for the heroes to check away from their hypothetical lessons. At first, they thought it might've been an earthquake, but after the same quakes returned at a higher intensity, and roars from shockwaves and debris falling in the distance, they knew something was up.
"We can worry about this later. Let's go check out who's making all the racket." Sonic announced.
GUN Prison
"We're under attack!" A human soldier yelled as he zips down the corridor, alerting the rest of his comrades. Everything today was going normal for them, a simple patrol and guarding the prisoner's cells was grunt work for anybody who worked at GUN's prisons. They've even been trained to handle riots if the prisoners managed to break free. But whatever was going on outside the prison must've been a full-scale assault. The soldiers took arms and locked down the entrance leading into the hall of cells. These prisoners were some of the most dangerous criminals that GUN has had their hands on. If they were lost, chaos would ensue shortly afterwards. However, not much choice was given, as the roof of the whole building was ripped clean off the wall, sending a blinding light from the sun inside. The crumbling of the roof sends debris that nearly squashes half the guards, but that wasn't the forefront of their worries. Descending from the skies and in front of the sun like an eclipse was the mysterious shape of a person, which would soon be the harrow to them all. It was Infinite, looking down at the guards like ants not worthy of his time. With a flick of his finger, he sends trails of blackened tethers that pierce through the guards, disintegrating them into a soft purple dust.
Before there was anything to comprehend, all the guards had been dealt with. Infinite then sticks his hand out and forms a claw, sending a translucent force that bends the barriers of the cells, letting the prisoners free. Each of them come barreling out, but they all still hold a cautious stance as they stare up at the jackal. In no time, The Murmur appears beside Infinite and directly speaks to the prisoners. "Before we get down to business, take a moment to bask in the feeling of the sun. Its warmth. Its life. Now think about how your captors could leisurely spend every moment of their time reposing in it, while you're left in here to rot." Most of the prisoners close their eyes and feel the sun, while others look around for a way to slip out, but with Infinite watching each of them closely, it would be impossible to escape. "You have a choice today. You can either choose freedom, or you could take that anger you feel of this unjust world and weaponize it against your enemies, against the heroes that brought you here. All you have to do is step forward." There was hesitation in the prisoner's verdict, as most of them didn't want to be a part of anything bigger, they just wanted to leave. Eventually, one soul stood forward. A female leopard with sharpened teeth and a deranged smile crosses her face.
"Heh, sounds like fun." She mumbles to herself. "Okay, stranger! You have my attention." Two more step up, a pair of deer, with one missing his left antler, and the other missing his right antler. "Huh? Who do you guys think you are?" The leopard quietly utters to them.
"This is our chance, brother." One of the deer said.
"Agreed, let us take it together." With three offering themselves to The Murmur, the ball of fog hummed in an approving manner. After some time, no more prisoners took their chance with the others. All of them stayed perfectly still in a straight line.
"Infinite, would you offer them their freedom?" The Murmur orders, which makes Infinite give out a slight chuckle. He holds his hand up and aims at the rest of the prisoners. He fires another trail of tethers that strike down each prisoner. Some tried to run, but it was futile. Soon, there was no one else left, excluding the three that stepped forward, who were unphased by the deaths of the others. "Good, now that the cowards are out of the way, we can get-" Out from nowhere, a blue blur darts into the worn-down room. Sonic looks up in shock as he sees Infinite, who he firmly believed was gone for good.
"Infinite? How are you-" Tails, Knuckles, and Silver regrouped with Sonic soon enough to see what the hedgehog was baffled by. However, something else took the focus of their eyes, The Murmur. With one simple glance at it, their minds started to pound in excruciating pain. It was hard to explain, but it felt like they were trying to remember something, but thinking about it was hurting them. It was anguishing enough for them to let out audible cries and screams. Their agony on full display for Infinite and the prisoners. Infinite reaches out his hand, preparing to finish them all with one blast.
"Wait!" The Murmur stopped him. "Not now. They could be used later if we play our next moves correctly. But we're running out of time. Gather the prisoners and leave."
"Where are we going?" Infinite tested.
"To awaken my brother." The pain made everything a blur, as the heroes' brains scrambled to recollect themselves. Some of them saw memories. Memories that weren't theirs. A marble city surrounded by water and mountains. Fire overcoming the buildings and darkness rolling in to encapsulate the world in a void. And in a split second, it was over. Their minds were now clear from the pain and vision, but so were Infinite and The Murmur. Gone, and they've taken the prisoners with them.
"What is going on?" Knuckles frantically turned his head all around to verify that this was reality. "Did anyone else see that?"
"Why did that all seem familiar? Like we've been there before. I didn't recognize any of what we saw." Sonic stated. Before any of them could make sense of it, a soft ringtone emits from Tails' wristwatch. The fox lifts it to his eyes and processes whoever is calling him. His eyes widened in disbelief. "Who is it?"
"It's Sage. She's sending me a set of coordinates. I think she wants us to head there immediately." Tails explains.
"Great, so this is Eggman's mess. I'm surprised he hasn't made an announcement of his taking over the world campaign." Sonic remarked.
"I don't think that's it. I think this is a call for help."
To Be Continued…
Next up: Team Dark Finds Torment