Chapter 7: Rise of Infinite Part 2
Eggman flies to Angel Island alongside Metal Sonic and his new ally Infinite. Eggman has an idea, much to the surprise of his followers.
"Doctor. This is Angel Island. Why are we here? I thought you said we wouldn't need the Master Emerald. And that the Phantom Ruby is all we need." Infinite expressed confusion.
"I did. And you have a good memory. I don't need the Master Emerald. There is something in the Master Emerald itself. Something dangerous. A monster named Chaos." Eggman tells him.
"Who is Chaos?"
"A water-like monster that resides within the Master Emerald. I shattered it to free him and took him under my wing. He was a god of destruction. The more Chaos Emeralds he absorbs, the stronger he gets. Even in his weakest state, he has immeasurable powers. Not only that, legends tell that he only appears during a dangerous crisis. He will be useful alongside Metal Sonic."
"Interesting. And how do we summon this Chaos creature?"
Before Eggman could explain, Metal Sonic beeps and boops and is picking up a life form signal. He points down and sees Knuckles returning to his island.
"Right on time, Knuckles." Eggman smiles.
"Would you like for me to destroy the red idiot, doctor?" Infinite asked.
"No. You are the main event, Infinite. Let's have Metal here be an opening act. Besides, I have a couple of better ideas for you."
"Saving the best fights for me, I see. Yes. I love a challenge regardless. I like a good show too. Let's see how Metal will do against this knucklehead."
"You heard him, Metal Sonic. There's your punching bag. Show him what you're made of." Eggman ordered.
Metal Sonic nods to him as he flies down to challenge Knuckles. The guardian glides and lands on his home. He shrugs off the dirt on his leg as he smells the air of home.
"Ah. Home sweet home. Good to be back guarding the Master Emerald for a while." Knuckles sighed with some relief.
As Knuckles says that, he sees a laser firing right at him. Knuckles barely jumps out of the way, does a handstand before jumping again and climbs one of the pillars. He looks up and growls to see Metal Sonic. Knuckles jumps up to punch him, but Metal swiftly avoids the hit and Knuckles lands in front of the Master Emerald. Metal descends down and lands on the ground.
"Metal Sonic! Decided to come crawling back to Eggman, huh? Speaking of which. Eggman! I can see you up there! Come down here and fight me! You and your new buddy next to you!"
"Oh, I'd like to, Knuckles. But you'll have to get past Metal Sonic here. If you can, that is. Hahahahahahaha!" Eggman laughed.
Infinite looks down with interest. He's very keen to know how Metal Sonic will do against the likes of Knuckles thanks to his new power. Knuckles cracks his fists, ready to fight.
"Challenge accepted. I beat him before, I can do it again. Get ready for the scrapyard, Metal Scrap." Knuckles challenged him.
Metal Sonic's eyes light up to match the Phantom Ruby. Knuckles does take notice but could care less. Knuckles throws rapid punches at Metal Sonic, but he swiftly dodges all of them and grabs the last punch and kicks him in the air. Metal Sonic flies up to unleash his Maximum Overdrive attack. The robot lights up and surrounds himself into an electrical field and charges at Knuckles. Knuckles recovers and sees this. He grits his teeth and drills into the ground, burrowing within it. Metal Sonic stops and suffers the big drawback of the attack: short-circuitry.
Knuckles comes up from the ground and sees this and smirks.
"Ha. Big mistake, Metal. Using your attack always makes your circuits fry. Which gives me time to do this."
Knuckles puts his fists together and they glow purple. And then moments later, purple aura surrounds him entirely. He is about to unleash his Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack. He jumps on top of another pillar and jumps off of it, charging at Metal Sonic in the air.
"Take this!" Knuckles shouted.
Knuckles charges a fist and was about to unleash his powerful punch at the robot doppelganger. Metal Sonic suddenly recovers a lot more quicker than expected and looks at Knuckles, much to his surprise. Metal Sonic suddenly uses his black shield, and unlike any other time, the shield electrocutes Knuckles, sending him flying, leaving smoke trails. Metal Sonic suddenly appears behind him and backhand strikes Knuckles to the grass, making him slide down. Knuckles has a bit of a hard time getting back up, but was able to.
"What the? How did you recover so quickly?" Knuckles asked, trying to shrug off the pain.
"Surprise! Metal Sonic has received upgrades thanks to my new ally here. But that's not it. See what else he can do." Eggman announced.
Metal Sonic suddenly appears in front of him, faster than before. Then much to Knuckles' confusion, Metal Sonic changes size and he is two times bigger than before. Knuckles tightens his fists and was ready, but he wasn't ready for what comes next. Several Motorbugs and other pieces of metal appear and circle around Metal Sonic. Metal throws his arms forward and all of the things are hurling towards the red echidna. Knuckles dodges three of them and does a spin attack on two of them and lands on the ground. He punches two of them, backhands a third and uppercuts the final one. But before he could hit the ground, Metal Sonic swiftly punches Knuckles in the face, elbows his back and does a backflip kick to the chin, sending Knuckles in the air and he lands on the ground in great pain. Knuckles was able to wake up, but has lost too much of his strength to fight as he is defeated.
Metal Sonic tightens his claws and spreads them out, victorious. Knuckles barely manages to get to a knee as he tries to get back up.
"HAHAHAHAHA! How do you like that, Knuckles? Tasting the dirt? Now you know how I feel! And soon, Sonic will suffer worse than what you have been through. Ha!" Eggman boasted.
"This… this isn't over. Don't count your eggs just yet. Sonic. He will stop you. Just like he did before. You, Metal and your weird one-eyed friend there." Knuckles coughed.
Knuckles jumps off the island and glides as far away as possible.
"Let him go. I want him to warn Sonic. Warn him that we are coming. Very soon. But first, we have much work to do. Infinite, it's time to do your thing." Eggman said.
"As you command, Doctor Eggman. I cannot wait to try this new power."
Infinite floats down and hovers in front of the Master Emerald. The big jewel lights up and neither the three of them are fazed or blinded by the glow. Eggman puts on a smile as he sees something watery coming out of the Master Emerald. They know who it is. It's Chaos.
Chaos forms and stands. He looks around and does not see Knuckles, unaware of what happened. He senses a big crisis and looks up and sees the great threat. He recognizes Eggman and his green eyes glow in anger, remembering what he put him through.
"Hello, Chaos. Remember me? Your old buddy Eggman?"
Chaos glares at the mad doctor and he pulls back and thrusts his right arm forward and tries to grab the doctor, but Infinite suddenly appears and grabs Chaos' hand.
"Keep your hands off of him." Infinite told him.
With all of his strength, Infinite takes his arm and pulls him in and throws him down into the ground hard. Chaos lays in a small crater within the ground but he manages to recover. Infinite slowly descends down to the ground to confront him. Chaos swings both of his stretchy arms in place as he steps forward. Infinite dodges backwards and fires a laser from his hand and it hits his small visible brain, stunning Chaos in place.
"Too easy. From now on, you belong to Doctor Eggman once more. Have a taste of this ultimate power." Infinite holds out another sphere as he did before with Metal Sonic and fires it right into Chaos' chest. Chaos holds his chest like he is in a lot of pain and suffering.
The water monster falls to his knees and hands as he tires. Then he stops shaking. Chaos looks up at Infinite and his eyes briefly glow from green to magenta-like eyes for a few seconds before it becomes stuck in between colors. Eggman and Metal Sonic approach him.
"Good, Infinite. Good." Eggman praised. "Now, Chaos. Bow before your master as you have before."
Without hesitation, Chaos bows to Doctor Eggman as well as Infinite. Infinite chuckles lightly, amazed by his powers. Eggman once smiles with glee.
"That's one down, two to go. Say, Infinite. Who did you say who hired you and your squad again? I like to hear it."
"I'm glad you asked, doctor. And I think they will be useful to your cause. I promise you will like it."
Infinite whispers something into Eggman's ear as the latter listens with interest. Eggman looks at him and smiles. Whatever suggestion Infinite made, Eggman likes the idea already. The three fly off with Metal Sonic holding Chaos by his arm as they depart for their next destination. But the question is where?
The Lost Hex. Home of the Zeti. A continent floating in the sky. Made up by hexagons that include actual land and sea. It has numerous ecosystems including grassy meadows, snow mountains, lava and volcano valleys, deserts, tropical coasts and dense forests. It was conquered by Eggman for a short time and built several factories and conquered the Deadly Six and forced them under his control. But after Sonic got rid of his Cacophonic Conch, the Zeti rebelled, forcing Eggman and Sonic to team up and defeat them.
Zavok is the leader of the Deadly Six. He is a red muscular zeti, the strongest and a wise one. He is more cunning than Eggman and is willing to destroy the world and he despises both Sonic and Eggman, and can't stand waste and incompetence. The more times he was defeated by Sonic, the more he grew to hate him. He cares about his own kind, but is not afraid to put anyone, sans Master Zik, in their place.
Zazz is a purple, skinny zeti. He is a nasty and cruel zeti and can have some temper problems. He is the meanest yet most psychotic as he laughs like crazy. He can't stand disrespect, especially when Sonic insults him, leading to his hotheadedness. He loves a fight before he even knows what or who he's fighting. Zazz has an extreme appetite for violence and destruction.
Master Zik is an old, but wise blue zeti. He was the teacher of Zavok and founder of the Deadly Six and made Zavok as the leader while acting as second in command. Despite his age, he is the calmest and is extremely, but not overconfident in his abilities to the point where he is impressed by Sonic's abilities. He enjoys inflicting pain, torture and even bringing death on others. Like Zazz, he doesn't like disrespect. He does tend to remain calm, even saying the same to Zavok and like him, he does not like failure.
Zonom is a big and large yellow zeti. He is the largest of the group and dislikes being called fat despite his appearance. He has thick arms and legs and flat feet. Zonom is known for his large appetite for food and his idiocy. He is willing to eat anything or anyone. He can't stand being called fat as he is sensitive but has low self-esteem issues. Zonom is aware of his own stupidity but wishes to not look down on it, thinking he'll feel worse. But regardless, he is loyal to the Deadly Six and would do anything for food and destruction for the world.
Zeena is the only female green zeti. She is rather selfish, cold-hearted and lacks initiative. She prefers to look after herself such as her beauty and her nails rather than responsibilities, but is not completely lazy. Zeena can be persuaded by the other zetis such as Zavok when he compliments her beauty and speed and is strong enough to fight Sonic. Despite her lack of dedication, she acts serious. Zeena is very protective of her beauty, especially her nail art. She also finds women to be superior and felt ashamed when she was bested by Sonic.
Zor is the white zeti and a spy for the Deadly Six. He acts the most angsty as he is the shadows, physically and mentally. This means he finds everything so pointless and has no feeling for hope or life. He is shown to be heavily moody and rude. Despite his personality, he is willing to get his tasks done, especially when trying to capture Sonic, but accidentally captured Tails instead. In fact, he hates happiness, such as Sonic's positive attitude.
After their defeat at Sonic's hands, the Deadly Six recovered and plan their revenge against both him and Eggman. They wish to cause trouble, but trouble will come to them soon enough. Their new base of operations is one of Eggman's bases at the Lava region.
"Now that we have recovered from our last battle against the blue nuisance, it is time that we plan our revenge, my brethren. I will not let our reputation as the Deadly Six be painted in shame for eternity."Zavok announced.
"Point me in the right direction and I can rip him to shreds for you! Hahahahaha! I'll make him scream even! Hehehehe!" Zazz bursted out laughing.
"My only joy is the joylessness. That is music to my ears." Zor said.
"As long as we can do it quickly. I want to go back to my daily fashion. I got no time to waste on that jerk." Zeena could care less.
"Now, now. We have all the time in the world. We all have a bone to pick with him. Besides, your reputation and confidence have remained intact. Just like how I taught you, Zavok." Master Zik said to his former pupil.
"Yes. But unfortunately for us, the energy extractor machine has been destroyed by Tails when he short-circuited it beyond repair. Now the question is where to start?" Zavok wondered.
"How about turn around and see for yourself?"
The Deadly Six turn around and see Infinite hovering in the air, staring specially at Zavok.
"Who dares interrupt us? Who are you?" Zavok asked.
"Let's just say we have a mutual connection to one special person." Infinite said.
As soon as he said that, Eggman, Chaos and Metal Sonic come in after Infinite. Eggman smiles, glad to see the six zeti again. The Zeti on the other hand, are less than pleased to see the doctor's face.
"The fat doctor! I'll start with him first!" Zazz yelled.
Zazz jumps in the air to pounce at Eggman, but Chaos jumps in the air and punches Zazz in the chest, sending him away.
"Attack! Destroy the doctor and his followers at any cost!" Zavok ordered.
Zor walks over to Eggman while plucking a violet flower, but Infinite roundhouse kicks Zor in the head, sending him down on his back. But he actually likes the pain.
"Ah. That felt nice. Do that again." Zor shows a rare smile.
Zonom jumps and tries to sit on Metal Sonic, but he dodges backwards and uses his Maximum Overdrive attack, slamming into Zonom's stomach, sending him flying into the ceiling, making him burp out loud before he falls to the ground, defeated. Zeena jumps from wall to wall, trying to get the jump on Chaos, but he turns into a sphere of water, catches Zeena, spins in circles and throws her close to Zor.
"Ugh! You jerk! You ruined my hair! And my nail art! You're as bad as Sonic!" Zeena pouted.
"Nice robot you have there, doctor. It would be a shame if someone were to take it from you." Master Zik said.
Master Zik puts two fingers to his head, hoping to use his powers to take control of Metal Sonic, but his eyes light up and his Phantom Ruby prototype activates, protecting him from Zik's powers. This causes his head to hurt, much to his own surprise. Master Zik jumps in the air and throws down his big wooden walking stick, but Metal Sonic grabs the end with both hands and jumps and slams Master Zik into the ground. All that is left is Zavok.
"Your new buddies won't save you, Eggman. I will say I am impressed once again. But this will not intimidate me. Prepare to die!" Zavok said.
Zavok jumps forward to try to punch Eggman in the face. But the doctor isn't even cowering one bit. Infinite gets in the way and Zavok punches his finalized Phantom Ruby instead, giving him an illusion. Zavok looks around and sees everything he desires. The world is on fire, the Zeti scaring everyone away, crushing their enemies while working with Eggman and are more powerful than before. The other five zeti see this as well and are all shocked. And it shows them overpowering Sonic before Zavok returns to reality.
"What? What is this?"
"That, my friend, is power. Reality. Illusions. My latest discovery. Oh yeah. I knew you were still here. My new ultimate follower Infinite told me." Eggman explained.
Zavok steps closer and looks into Infinite's eye and recognizes him.
"So you decided to work with Eggman instead. And you lost your squad under his command. How pitiful. I should've hired someone better than you." Zavok admitted. So he was the one who hired the Jackal Squad.
"On the contrary, Zavok. I grew bored of my previous life. My new life is fantastice. And I am going to help Eggman change the world with his Phantom Ruby and mine. And we have some recruits."
"So why come to us even though you know we hate you?" Zavok asked Eggman.
"Because we both have a common enemy. All of us in this room." Eggman answered.
"The blue hedgehog Sonic. And you want us to help you defeat him and conquer the world with this power." Master Zik said.
"Even if we do agree, I reckon that you give us something in return?" Zavok asked.
"Indeed! Indeed! In fact, after I discovered the Phantom Ruby, I made prototypes. One for Metal Sonic and one for Infinite. Chaos here also feels the power. How would you like a taste?" Eggman offered.
Zavok and the Deadly Six all look at each other and debate briefly. From what Eggman told them, they remembered that Eggman first told them about Sonic. Then Zavok realized something and turns back to Eggman.
"I see now. Because we both realize that despite our differences with you, doctor. It's Sonic and his friends we cannot stand more. I'm even more impressed with whatever this power is. We are in." Zavok agrees.
Zazz hisses in excitement as Master Zik looks on, pleased. Zonom listens while he is eating giant pretzels out of a bag. Zor is actually liking something for once. He wants to see fire everywhere around the world. Zeena likes seeing the terrified looks on people's faces, though Infinite is much more sadistic.
"Have a taste!" Eggman throws a prototype as well as a belt for Zavok and he quickly puts it on and the Phantom Ruby prototype records Zavok's DNA and only he can use it. He feels its power, though not as strong as Infinite's. Same with Metal Sonic and Chaos.
"This power. It feels great. Better than the energy we sapped away from the world for a while. Alright, Eggman. I'm in. What shall we do?" Zavok asked.
"We have to get one more major recruit before we set our sights on Sonic. Besides you and Metal, Sonic does not have any other major enemies. I'm not trusting my descendant Eggman Nega. He's crazier than I am." Eggman said.
Eggman thinks for a moment. When he looks at Infinite hovering in the air, he remembers how he got injured and how the doctor had to save his life. Then it hit him.
"Infinite. I have a job for you. You'll love it."
"I'm interested in anything you can give me, doctor. Tell me and I shall fulfill the job for you." Infinite is eagered.
"How would you like to know more about a certain someone who dishonored you and your squad. How would you like to know more about Shadow?" Eggman asked with an evil smirk on his face.
Infinite looks at Eggman. The doctor can see the anger in his eye, knowing that Infinite would want revenge on Shadow for what he did to him.
Note: That's how Eggman persuades Chaos and Zavok into joining his cause. Chaos is brainwashed while Zavok sees that he hates Sonic more than he hates Eggman. Instead of using replicas, I am using the actual characters. The replicas I will talk about a different time. And that's how Infinite was born in this redux. And Metal Sonic getting an upgrade is another big change. I thought I'd have Zavok be the one who hired the Jackal Squad to kill Eggman, since it would honestly make the most sense.