25 - Don't Make Me Upset - 25

Morning, 7:00 AM

"ENOUGH!"

Suddenly, both the blue hedgehog and the jackal were shoved backwards from each other as Shadow got in between them.

Hissing with great frustration, anger and a little embarrassment, the biohog glared at them both. "...I hadn't realized I was surrounded by a couple of bratty high school girls." He snarled. "The only thing that's pathetic is you two! This has nothing to do with whomever I give myself to, nor is it anyone's business but my own!" He pointed a sharp glower at Infinite. "You. You're a death row criminal who attempted to destroy Empire City and murder thousands in the wreckage. While it failed, and while you may have done it against your will, you are still a merciless mercenary who steals and hurts innocents. As far as I'm concerned, I've no further business with you other than having your ass firmly put in prison." He then scowled at Sonic, who returned the glare back with more anger. "And you. I don't know what the hell your problem is-"

"My problem?" Sonic repeated with a growl. "Shadow, I know you don't understand things when it comes to intimacy, but you've gotta be fuckin' kidding me. That guy's been lusting after you this entire time, and he was just trying to manipulate you!" He yelled as he stepped closer to the striped hedgehog. "I could smell his hormones the moment we walked in the door. He fucking stinks of it! Look at him!" He gestured to the jackal, whose face was indeed quite red from being outed. "Doesn't that look familiar to you?" He asked rhetorically. "You know what being in a rut does to you, and it's that—except he's pointing it at you. Sorry for putting your business out there, but I can only take so much one-sided flirting right in front of my God damn face!" The hero shouted angrily. "I dunno what kind of relationship you guys had, but I don't appreciate it interfering with ours!"

...Shadow was taken aback.

That's what this was?

That's what Infinite wanted from him? He didn't just want him to join him, he...wanted him? That way? Was that why he kept looking at him that way, and rubbing his finger into his palm like that? Oh God. Chaos, what did he get himself into? It was so obvious, all the signs were there. Damn it, he should have never shown that guy any form of sympathy, he misconstrued it as having feelings for him. How the hell was he supposed to fix this? His headache grew a hundred times worse. Slowly, the biohog gently grasped Sonic's hands with an apologetic expression. "Sonic," He addressed respectfully in a low voice. "I...Listen, I didn't realize that was happening. I know my obliviousness is infuriating, but like you said I'm...I'm really bad at this, so it's hard for me to see that someone else other than you is flirting with me. Especially since, well, I genuinely didn't expect something like this to happen. It was never my intention to offend you, I'd never purposefully do that. And I certainly wouldn't betray you like this. I shouldn't have let him insult you like that either, I should have silenced him the second he dared to stain your name. If I were you, I'd be upset as well." His hold on his hands tightened. "Forgive me."

Watching this with a surprised expression, Infinite just looked back and forth between the two in silence. The anger in Sonic's face slowly dissipated into guilt. "No..." He sighed while looking away. "I'm the one who should be apologizing, I shouldn't have said all that and embarrassed you. That was wrong...I just got so pissed, but, that's no excuse for telling someone your whole business like that. I'm sorry, too. And I don't mean to be a pain, but this guy is really trying to trick you. You've been used before," He pulled Shadow a little closer, his eyes apologetic and his voice much more submissive. "And I just don't want that to happen to you again, y'know? I don't want anybody to hurt you like that."

Tenderly, the elder hedgehog caressed the side of the hero's face with a small smile. "With you at my side, I know that won't happen. It seems we both made a mistake, but I'm sure we can make it up to each other later."

Blushing a little, Sonic made a sheepish grin as Shadow gently rubbed his thumb underneath his bottom lip. "Stooooop...Don't do that in front of company, you're makin' me all red..."

"Oh my God," Infinite whispered, causing the two hedgehogs to look in his direction. "You have him eating out of the palm of your hands..." He murmured while slowly backing away into the desk chair, his finger pointing at Sonic with a shaky arm. "You...You..." He shook his head in disbelief. "How did you...How did you brainwash him like that...? Shadow's mind is too strong, I've seen it myself first hand. Did you use chaos energy? Are you mind controlling him? What did you do!?" He suddenly hollered.

"Okay," Sonic's eye twitched a little. "What the fuck are you talking about!?"

"You must have tainted him with your filth, you bastard!"

Shadow could sense this was going to get bad. He had never seen Infinite act like this, except for when he broke down in tears at the news of his family potentially being dead. But this was a far worse reaction than before, and he seemed to be completely out of his mind. Calmly with defensive hands, Shadow tried to take a step forward. "Infinite, you're delusional. I think you may have suffered a psychotic breakdown. You need to get a grip-"

"Stay back!" The jackal slammed his hand onto the dashboard of the desk. His heterochromic eyes became magenta, a surge of the ruby's power seeping all throughout the room. The door suddenly shut tightly, and the window was immediately shuttered with thick chrome. "It's alright Shadow," Infinite replied with a whisper. "I'll get you back, I won't let it end like this."

With a bright magenta light blinding the two hedgehog's eyes, they turned away and shielded their faces with their arms. When the light died down and they peeked to look, they suddenly saw a reddish-purple colored mist drifting throughout the room. Even worse, the pipe holding the mega mack liquid was suddenly pouring down on top of Sonic. A strong hissing sound echoed throughout the room as it began to seep onto his fur, and soon his skin. The hero yelled in pain, his body wincing from the chemicals. Shadow immediately tried to reach for him. "Sonic...!" But he was suddenly grabbed from behind and yanked backwards. He was thrown onto the floor, but he instantly pushed himself up. When he did, Infinite stood in front of him with a new light in his irises. They were no longer pleading, they were demanding. "Infinite..." Shadow growled. "If even a single scar is left on his body, I'll-"

The jackal moved forward to grasp Shadow's shoulders. "Shadow. I'm going to show you exactly what this monster is. Then, you'll see." He then pointed to Sonic, who, Shadow realized, wasn't being splashed with anything at all. The pipe was nowhere near Sonic, actually. The hero was suffering, but to nothing. Shadow blinked a few times to try and get his vision correct, but it didn't matter how many times he looked. Sonic never actually got hurt. "You see? This ruby, it creates illusions and warps someone's very perception of reality. Right now, he thinks he's burning alive in that acidic mega mack. But he isn't. When I trigger the right emotion," His expression darkened. "You'll see the real Hero of Mobius." He scoffed at the hero, who was falling to his knees in agony. He then tapped his finger on the ruby, causing Sonic to believe that another wave of mega mack was submerging him. He writhed on the floor, grabbing at his limbs to try and stop the pain that wasn't even there in the first place. "Hahahaha," He laughed as he walked over and crouched down to watch his expression contort with pain. "What's wrong? No more shit to talk?"

Shadow immediately reached out to grip the back of Infinite's dreadlocks. "Let him go now!" He yelled, his free hand charging with amber red chaos energy. "I'll make you suffer if you don't!" Infinite sighed and simply allowed the ruby to do the job for him. Suddenly, metal bars fell from the ceiling and entrapped Shadow with barely any space to move. He seized the bars and hollered for Infinite to cease. "Infinite, I'm warning you!" His hands were still charged with plenty of power. But then, Infinite turned around and casually tapped his finger on Shadow's knuckle, the magenta mist flurrying around his wrists. When he did, the chaos energy was gone. It wasn't like before when Zonic drained their power, no—It was as if Shadow never concentrated the energy in the first place. It was like it just disappeared. "...!?" Even when he tried to focus on using it again, he couldn't. It was like pulling at a phantom muscle that just wasn't there. His chaos powers were gone.

"I didn't want to have to do that, but you forced my hand, Shadow. You'll have to be put in an illusion too." Infinite made a sympathetic smile. "You're still being played, but that's okay. I'll just keep you there for you to watch. It'll all be over soon."

Grunting in pain, Sonic lifted his head with an annoyed expression. "An illusion, huh?" He challenged while eyeing the ruby on his chest. "And the ruby's doing it...Gotcha." Even though it was an illusion, Sonic could still feel the pains of the pink water burning him consistently. However, he pushed through it and smirked at the pain. He snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the jackal looked down at his chest to see several small blue spines sticking in and out of his fur. When did he stick his spines on him? Blue electricity zapped against the jackal's torso, making him flinch in alarm. "I can tell just from looking at that thing that the ruby's strong, maybe even more powerful than a chaos emerald. But you aren't. So all I gotta do-" It electrocuted Infinite immediately. "-Is take you outta the equation!"

"Ngghh!" Infinite tried to touch the ruby, but when he did, blue chaos energy zapped him. The magenta light the hedgehogs saw earlier flickered before completely vanishing. The matching colored mist, was gone. He took away Shadow's powers for now, but he didn't take away Sonic's. He abruptly felt the feeling of something grabbing onto his tail from underneath his legs, agonizingly pulling thin, tiny strands of hairs out of his flesh. He looked down to see the blue hedgehog grinning at him menacingly.

"What's wrong? No more shit to talk?" The hero retorted as he pulled his tail to yank the jackal down to the floor, landing directly onto his face.

Since the mercenary's power was interrupted, the illusions he placed on them were both gone. The ultimate life form rushed from behind to wrap an arm around the jackal's neck, placing him in a chokehold. "I asked you not to make me do this the hard way, Infinite." Shadow scowled. "I wanted to respect you, I wanted to trust you," He squeezed his forearm more into his neck as the jackal's back arched in pain from being pulled and choked from behind. "But you hurt the very thing that I hold dear, and now I'll make you pay dearly! If you don't back down, you won't be walking to Prison Island. You'll be arriving in a body bag!"

Infinite attempted to grab and scratch at Shadow's arms. "N-No...You...Don't...Under...Stand...!"

"I understand plenty. I understand that you're hurting someone I care about, and I'm not going to let you continue doing as you please anymore. It's over!" He glanced up at Sonic, who was finally standing on his feet, albeit a little winded. "Sonic, do you have your phone?" He saw the hero nod. "Text Rouge. Tell her to contact Tower and call for back up to this location immediately." He slammed Infinite's face against the floor as he squeezed his arm against him more, his body weight entirely on top of the jackal. "The bastard's halted my chaos energy. I still have it, I just can't use it." He could feel Infinite's resistance slowly give out. "He must have forgotten that I don't need chaos energy to defeat him. After all," He leaned close to his ear to hiss some information that his former criminal ally evidently omitted from his mind. "I didn't need it when I defeated you the first time, did I? Like faker said, you're miserably pathetic."

Just as Sonic was about to raise his hand to his quills, Infinite forced himself to look up from Shadow's assault, his eyes directly connecting a gaze with Sonic's. Magenta washed over the blue hedgehog's vision, causing him to wince and back away. It felt as if smoke was going directly underneath his eyelids. As he was distracted, Infinite struggled with Shadow violently to get in a better position. He managed to get himself on his knees, before forcing his head to turn to Shadow's direction. His eyes flashed magenta and met his amber irises. That same colored light from before blinded the ultimate life form, and he lost his hold on Infinite's body. He could see nothing but purplish-reddish mist, attempting to swing his arms around to cause the mist to disperse. But it was no use, it completely filled his vision and the entire room around him as he knew it. Suddenly, two extremely heavy chromium-grade cuffs were slapped onto his wrists just beneath his limiter rings. Feeling it's weight pressing down on his arms, Shadow lost balance and nearly fell over. A black furred arm with clawed gloves suddenly reached out from behind to wrap itself around Shadow's neck, putting him in nearly the exact same position as the biohog put the mercenary just seconds ago. However, it didn't choke him, and it wasn't too rough with it's hold. It slowly pulled Shadow backwards until he felt something sharp jab him from behind.

Shadow turned around and saw the ruby poking at his back, with Infinite right behind him. "I didn't want to hurt you," The jackal frowned. "But you're making me do this. You need to see reason, Shadow." The mist suddenly disappeared, and Shadow could see that Sonic was in a strange daze. He was too distracted to see what was happening. Infinite took this chance to quickly push Shadow along towards the back of the desk. He pressed a button underneath, and the floor below their feet suddenly lit up with magenta light. They then began to descend from the room, serving as a tiny elevator. Shadow was absolutely discombobulated at the moment, as he was extremely angry, but he was trying his hardest to keep his balance from the heavy weighted cuffs. He was stuck, and he couldn't get to Sonic. When the floor finally stopped descending, Shadow saw that they had traveled to a room beneath Eggman's personal office. He looked around, seeing that this was a bedroom. It had plenty of space, and the interior itself looked very modern, almost futuristic. There was a window here too, but it wasn't as large as the one upstairs. It was barely large enough for someone of Shadow or Sonic's stature to escape out of.

He shoved Shadow farther into the room, to which he finally completely lost balance and fell onto his side. Gritting his teeth, he slowly looked up at his attacker with supreme hatred and distrust. "I should have never trusted you...I was a fool to show you any amount of remorse or compassion."

Infinite just shook his head at him before walking past him and holding his hand up to the gem on his chest. A cloud of magenta surrounded his hand and muzzle as he began to speak. "Jackal Squad, things went awry, plan B's a go. I left the blue hedgehog in the office. He's trapped in an illusion, finish him off." He was using the ruby almost like a transmitter. He then glanced down at the biohog with pity. "I don't know what he did to your head, but I'll fix it."

"Fool." Shadow curtly retorted. "Do you have any idea how stubborn that hedgehog is?" He struggled to get on his feet to stand up. "He doesn't give a damn what's done to him. Illusion or not, even in the worst pain imaginable, Sonic will break out of it and he will reach you. And when he does," Shadow then smirked. "God help you."

Infinite could tell Shadow wasn't just gassing up his hubby, he meant every word he said as both a lover and a rival. The jackal however, was undaunted. His ambitions were far too important to back out of now, and his true plans could only begin when he murders Sonic the Hedgehog. Maybe then, the wool he pulled over Shadow's eyes will be gone. "That remains to be seen. My jackals aren't the same as when you first encountered them. I used the ruby to empower them, to go beyond their limits." With a slight solemn frown, Infinite closed his eyes. "If they push themselves too hard, they won't even realize it until their bodies give out. They'll fight tooth and nail to kill that rat, even at the cost of their own lives."

With an enraged scowl, Shadow glared at him. "You're putting extreme physical pressure on your own men, willing to watch them die just to kill Sonic? I thought they were your family? You'd throw their lives away just like that!?" He took an angry step forward. "You bawled your eyes out when you thought they were dead, and you do this? What is wrong with you!?"

"The Jackal Squad is my family!" Infinite shouted back. "I..." He looked away. "When I turned them back into Mobians, they...They wanted this. When I showed them what that blue shit stain was truly capable of with the ruby, they asked me to do this. They knew that if they weren't strong enough to stand against you, they definitely wouldn't be able to confront him. They knew the risks. They asked for this, Shadow. That's how far they're willing to go not just to protect me, but to stop him!"

"Why?" Shadow yelled. "What is so dangerous about that damn hedgehog that you'd go this far!?" He tried to lower his voice, try one final time to reason with him, even in these damn cuffs. "Infinite, listen to me. Do you have the slightest idea what will happen if you kill Mobius' hero?" He walked closer, fearlessly looking into the mercenary's yellow and blue eyes. "First, his friends will find you. They will do everything they possibly can to avenge him, and you'll be lucky if all they do is imprison you. Next, GUN will come after you by order of the president himself, including other world leaders who literally have Sonic on speed dial. Then, the entire population of this very planet will want to sharpen your head on a spike. Even everyday citizens, even small children, will rush out of their homes in the streets to hunt you down for killing their hero. But before any of that?" The biohog lowered his voice darkly. "I'll be the first to try and kill you. With all of that in mind," He said slowly. "Why are you doing all of this? What in the world could that hedgehog have possibly done to terrify not just you and your squad, but Dr. Eggman as well?"

The jackal relaxed his arms, his posture loose. "...If you touch the ruby, you'll see the truth we all saw." He placed a hand over Shadow's wrist, causing the cuffs to fade away in magenta sparkles. "Go ahead." He nodded. "See for yourself."

Shadow furrowed his brows, wondering if this was a trick. But Infinite's posture was too relaxed for a trap. Cautiously, the ultimate life form hovered his now free hand over the gem. He closed his eyes to brace himself from what he may witness...

...

...

...

"...I don't see anything."

Shock instantly appeared on the jackal's face. "W-What?"

Unimpressed, Shadow snatched his hand away and took a step back. "I didn't see a damn thing."

"No! No, that's not right! We all saw it, you've got to believe me! Eggman and I-" His voice sounded frantic and panicked, desperate for the GUN agent to hear him out. "-We both saw it all! There were these things...Four entities that looked like spirits, different colors and everything." This caused Shadow's ears to perk up. "One was gold, one was this dark blue-almost black, the third one was scarlet red and the last one...it was this...strange white-pinkish color, but it had this weird spectrum glowing throughout it." This caused Shadow's eyes to widen significantly and with concern.

"'To the child who slumbers here, always remember the Divine Quadrant. The gold one, the dark one, the demon and the angel. If you wish for courage, look for the aurous sun. If you wish for acceptance, look for the melancholy moon. If you wish for madness, look for your mind's pandemonium. If you wish for true love, look for your heart's perfection. If you are ever lost, look to their eyes for guidance.'"

No...Is that what he was talking about? Shit, that couldn't be a coincidence. Infinite continued. "They were all there, and that hedgehog was in front of them. He was covered head to toe in blood, and the entire country was a barren wasteland. The sky was dark grey, everything and everyone was dead, and..." He slowly glanced at Shadow. "His friends were lying dead around him in piles. Overlanders and other Mobians, women and children—All just masses of corpses. But you," He emphasized with a near whisper. "You were on your knees, dying. You were begging him to stop, clutching at his legs, but he ignored you and asked those weird ghost things: 'Could you reboot this? I wanna do it again.'"

"Bullshit."

"Damn it Shadow, I am not lying!"

"Bullshit!" Shadow stomped his foot, creating a small dent in the floor. "He would never-!"

"Why would I lie!?"

Shadow scoffed. "Like faker said, you're infatuated with me for some God forsaken reason. You'll tell me anything to go against him."

"This isn't just because of that!" He basically admitted it. "We will all die if we don't kill him now, can't you see that?"

With terse silence, Shadow adverted his eyes. He knew Infinite wasn't lying. Even if he was a good actor, nobody could fake emotion like that. He had so much fear in his voice along with genuine confusion, as if he didn't truly understand what he saw either, but it made a big enough imprint to scar his memories. Eggman was the same way, and not even Sonic could disbelieve the doctor's words. Infinite obviously hasn't been in his right mind ever since it was revealed that his family could have perished, but this wasn't manic rambling. Moreso, Shadow knew about the spirits he was referring to. Those colors described in the cave, it was almost as if Infinite spoke the text they found on the wall in that room word for word. And he knew very well he had never visited Christmas Island like Eggman did. First the incident three years ago that was corroborated by Sonic's friends who also referred to something looking scarlet, then Eggman, and now Infinite. It'd be one thing if this were only two coincidences, but three in a row? As much as he hated to admit it, there was at least some tiny amount of truth to all this and Shadow couldn't keep ignoring it. Sonic swore up and down he knew nothing, not even of his own early years of being a small child. Shadow could tell he was speaking the truth too, but perhaps...

...Perhaps Sonic wasn't supposed to remember anything from Christmas Island as a child.

Shadow himself had his own memories tampered with by his own beloved creator during his time of wrathful madness. Who's to say this didn't happen to Sonic? And if he wasn't meant to remember, then what else didn't he remember? Was he also not supposed to remember that he was to...destroy the world?

Oh Chaos...

He could only hope this wasn't true.

"Shadow," Infinite used his name affectionately, breaking the ultimate life form out of his train of thought. "You're really smart, I know you've seen things that don't make sense. You've seen cracks in that bastard's smile, it's all just a mask." He reached out to him.

"Stay away from me." Shadow hissed. He attempted to raise his free hand, until he felt harsh weight fall upon it again. He saw that the other hand was cuffed again. "..." He slowly looked at Infinite with horrid contempt. "Regardless of my feelings for Sonic, he's never blinded me to the truth. Even if we never got together, I'd still be questioning you with just as much doubt. Sonic is too pathetically soft to the point where it makes me gag, to be a villain. I admit, he's become a little more ruthless when it comes to his enemies, along with a lethal shit-talking mouth, but he's still the heroic blowhard that everyone knows and loves. He could never do the things you're saying, and I will retain that stance until I am actively proven otherwise." His tone wasn't that angry, it wasn't even opposing. It was simple, quiet and honest. "It is a hill I am willing to die on, and you can't change my mind." No matter what happens, Shadow will always believe in Sonic, because the hero believed in him and never lost faith. He would do the same for him in a heartbeat, boyfriend or not. This wasn't about feelings anymore, this was about the person he personally knew at heart. And Sonic just couldn't do that.

Sonic was not a bad person.

It appeared that Infinite was slowly starting to see that this wasn't some form of brainwashing, Shadow truly believed this. He believed in the heroic blue blur. "...I see," He finally said before looking away disgracefully, placing his claws on the ruby against his chest. "I understand your perspective, Shadow." He then walked away towards the window, watching the clouds above drift in the atmosphere above. "And that's all the more reason why I need to take you away and protect you from him. I don't care about anyone else except for my family. But you," He tightened his hold on the ruby. "I can't let him hurt you, either."

Shadow could only stare with disappointment. He never wished for things to happen like this. What a waste, Infinite could have had a chance at redemption.

He threw it all away.

"I'll make sure you're taken care of, just like when I was under your surveillance." The jackal said softly. "I'll make sure you're fed, clean, and healthy. And when this is all over, I'll...let you go."

...

...Shadow's eyes suddenly dilated when he saw a pair of red golden buckled sneakers smash through the window, and drop kick directly into Infinite's face.

"Gah-!" The jackal was slammed into the other side of the room, landing against the wall before slowly sliding down to the floor.

Speed walking across the chrome metal floor with blood stains and gashes sprinkled all over the blue hedgehog's body, Sonic spit out some blood onto the floor before charging forward and getting right in front of Infinite. He reached out to seize the jaw of his white muzzle with his dirtied gloves and yanked him close. "I noticed you've never called me by my name, so let's fix that, shall we?" He hissed with a dangerous scowl, his hands and arms emanating with blue chaotic aura. "Say my fucking name you shitty mutt!" The hero yelled as he pulled the jackal backwards, before swinging his arm and shoving Infinite's face against the wall. Blood splattered from his mouth, his face being crushed against the surface. "Say it!" Sonic cried as he lifted his leg and shoved it against his back, sending him flying through the wall, creating a large hole. Looking over, Shadow saw that he not only was flung through one wall, but several walls. Shadow couldn't even see how far down Sonic knocked him back. He slowly looked at the blue blur, who was obviously not only injured, but exhausted. Broken glass shards poked in his body, and strands of black and white fur were covered on his hands. He was fighting for his life back there, and harmed himself just to bust through the window-Which...How the hell did he do that? He was panting heavily, and he suddenly fell down to one knee. He coughed a few times, more blood dripping from his mouth.

Shadow rushed to his side and grunted as he lifted up his weight-ridden hands to his face. "Sonic," He called almost desperately. "You're hurt. Are you able to stand? How'd you even get in here, and how did you break out of his illusion?"

Panting a little slower, Sonic met Shadow's gaze and almost smiled that he was okay. "You're okay...Good." He fondly placed a hand over Shadow's right. "I'm okay, babe. Those damn jackals really know how to hit hard, lemme tell ya." With a smaller cough, he looked back at the window he broke through. "I was fightin' my hardest but they ganged up on me while I was dazed from the ruby, so I got a little scratched up. There's a shitload of these guys in the base. I used some chaos moves but I didn't wanna drain my energy. You know how tight these hallways are, so I ran out of the window on the floor above us, the big one. Thank Chaos I landed on a pile of robot trash but," He winced, and Shadow looked down to see that Sonic's left ankle was enflamed. He broke his ankle. "That's when I ran along the building's wall until I reached the window, and that's how I got all this glass on me. As for the illusion thing, it's simple." He smirked. "Meditation."

Shadow blinked because that was indeed a simple answer. "That's all?"

"Yup, yup. All you gotta do is push everything else outta your mind. Focus on yourself until there's nothing but silence. Once you do that, the illusion fades." He grunted as he slowly stood up along with Shadow. "Of course, I ain't that good at it like you, so I struggled a little. But thinking about you made it easier, and I was able to wake up before they could do any real damage to me." He smiled at Shadow. "If you hadn't taught me, they would have killed me for sure." He pressed a chaste kiss onto the biohog's lips, a little blood smearing against his tan muzzle. "Thanks, Shadow."

With a worried frown, the GUN agent shook his head. "You're covered in blood and bruises and you're thanking me?" He sighed, but he almost smiled. He was proud of him for taking Shadow's teachings seriously. "We need to get out of here. Infinite can control the entire base, and who knows what he-"

"Shadow...!"

In a magenta flash, Infinite appeared. Bloodied on one side of his face, he angrily stomped his way towards the blue hero. His eyes flashed a purplish-red, and that's when Sonic thought fast and closed his eyes while looking away. That's when Shadow caught what he was doing. Infinite's control only works if he meets his gaze with yours. Sonic must have figured that out the first few times he attacked with those illusions earlier. Realizing that his power had no effect on the hero, he cursed. "Damn you!" He reeled his arm back and rushed forward. Sonic quickly pushed Shadow out of the way and raised his arms up. Infinite moved with a strong lead, but Sonic was quick to dodge it. The two males swung their fists at each other back and forth, either dodging or blocking each attack with their own counter. As they fought, the sounds of several pairs of footsteps clanked against the metal floors behind them from the huge hole Sonic made with Infinite's body.

A wave of several jackals with melee weapons appeared to flood the room. If more got in, they would surround Sonic and kill him while he was distracted with Infinite. This made the ultimate life form growl. He'd show them that they should have just minded their business, and that they shouldn't have ignored the most dangerous thing in this room.

He may not be able to use his hands, but he could most certainly use his legs.

25 - END - 25