In the early morning, when the sun just barely began to peek over the mountains of the desert, a lone warrior with a Wispon trudged through the sand and rocks, solitary in their quest. At one time, they had just been a rookie in the Resistance, but now they were an experienced adventurer on the run.

Finally, a construct of Phantom Ruby energy blocked their path, and they bravely fired their Wispon at the source, but he just blocked their shots effortlessly. "You got lucky last time, weakling." Infinite cast an energy whip at the Wispon, and used it to toss the weapon aside. The hero, however, just stood firm in the face of certain death.

"Still as silent as ever, eh? I can almost admire that." Infinite cast an energy whip into the hero's chest, disintegrating them. Infinite laughed. The destruction of this hero had been an excellent bonus to his journey home. He still had to locate the final emerald, but his godhood was assured!

"Hey Infinite!" A voice from behind yelled out. Infinite turned to see that the voice belonged to Sonic the Hedgehog, with Shadow and a whole host of fellow heroes by his side. "You forgot to stick around! I didn't even get a chance to say hi!"

Infinite chuckled. "Well, I found YOUR home to be quite droll and boring, so I figured, why not go over to MY place?" With a snap of his fingers, an army of jackals arose from the nearby rocks, white and red masks covering their eyes. Their presence didn't even phase Sonic. "What, too afraid to face me mano-a-mano?"

"...As you wish, hedgehog." Infinite said, assuming a battle position. Shadow tried to step forward, but Sonic stopped him. "Stick to the plan."

"That plan you barely even told me?"

"Trust me, it's better to EXPERIENCE the plan than have it explained to you!" Sonic said, winking to Shadow as he backed up to face Infinite.

The two fighters stood, battle ready, fully aware of what the other was capable of, but neither willing to make the first move. Finally, Sonic broke the tension, leaping into the air in a spin that hit Infinite in the face. The jackal countered with swipes at the hedgehog, who just barely dodged before spinning a kick at Infinite's legs, sending him flying backwards before catching himself. Sonic leaped toward Infinite and then grabbed his wrists, concentrating until his will drew out the Chaos Emeralds Infinite was holding!

"FOOL! You can't possibly think you can overpower MY will long enough to use them!"

"Don't...need to do it...For THAT long!" Sonic said, smiling cockily as the emeralds suddenly disappeared, the burst of power knocking the two opponents backward. Shadow caught Sonic as he fell, while Infinite took a tumble. "My hero!" Sonic joked, before Shadow grunted and dropped him to the ground. "Ow!"

"The emeralds...I can't...WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

"I scattered them." Sonic replied simply, dusting himself off in pride.

"You did WHAT!?"

"Well, it wasn't like I could go Super with only six of 'em, and like you said, I couldn't overpower your will for long, so..." Sonic finished with a shrug.

Infinite roared with rage, before launching an energy whip at Sonic and disintegrating him on the spot, shocking everyone.

"SONIC!"

SONIC HAS BEEN DESTROYED!? Say it isn't so!

Or maybe it is! We won't know until next week's EPIC conclusion!