Spirit of the Phantom Ruby

Part 26 - Not So Powerful Now, Eh, Doctor?

The door burst open as the team of jackals stormed in, looking around the mostly empty room. Only a few people were still there, as the other members of the Resistance had left. Shadow, sitting and leaning against Omega's leg, looked over bemusedly upon their arrival.

"Where's Eggman?" Mathilda demanded, her voice carrying the entire area.

The Ultimate Lifeform just shrugged. "He's isn't in this room, I can tell you that."

Aaron noticed the infirm composure of the hedgehog and crossed his arms suspiciously. "What's up with you?"

"Shadow is recovering from exposure to high amounts of Phantom Energy." Omega stated dully, seemingly not very fond of being used as a back rest. "What's up with you?"

Aaron opened his mouth to retort, but then a familiar two-tailed fox walked in from across the room. His eyes lit up when he saw them, and he sped over. "Hey, you! Is everyone alright?"

By then, Sonic and Knuckles had caught up with their small party. The blue hedgehog quickly pulled him into a hearty hug before letting go and gazing fondly at his little brother. "I'm so glad to see you, Tails! We're all okay."

"...Well, almost all of us." Knuckles stepped forward, revealing the broken ruby.

Tails gasped, his eyes widening. "Oh no! Do you think...?"

"It can be fixed," the red echidna closed his hands, protecting the precious shards. "We just need to find Eggman and see if any damage was done to the diffuser."

"Oh, Eggman's over here!" Tails gestured for them to follow, and he led them across the broken and cracked floor back over to the doorway he had just left.

The doctor sat behind a desk at the back of the room, silently focused on the blue, scrunched-up hedgehog-like piece of steel that had once been Metal Sonic sitting on the tabletop before him. He looked up when he heard them enter and glared at them through his cerulean-tinted glasses.

"So I see I've been defeated..."

Sonic rubbed his nose defiantly, planting his other hand on his hip. "You betcha!"

"It's finally over, Eggman..." Mathilda growled, sneering at the sight of him. "Where's the diffuser?"

"It was probably damaged during the explosion," the doctor messed with the wires protruding out of his robot's head. "But it's two floors down from here, if you're planning on repairing it."

Mathilda strode briskly across the room towards him. "Not us, you!"

The doctor yelped in surprise as the entire team of jackals surrounded him and forced him out of his seat and through the door, holding their weapons dangerously close to his wide torso. He staggered forward and stopped when he saw that the entire back wall of his facility was gone.

"Holy Moley!" The mad scientist rubbed his bald head in disbelief. "Did Infinite do this?" He looked around. "Speaking of which, you seem to be one jackal short of the whole family..."

Knuckles' grasp on the gem shards tightened. "Less talking and more walking, Eggman. You're in no place to be asking questions right now."

Eggman withdrew from their penetrating glares and glanced at Shadow as he continued across the room. "Well, where is he? I mean, I kind of need him in order to diffuse him from the gem!"

"He's not doing so hot right now," Shadow called over, earning several dirty looks from the group of jackals following the doctor.

"Not doing so hot yourself right now, by the looks of it," Eggman chortled back, and the dark hedgehog's expression of insinuation was displaced by one of deplore. "Did the remnants of his Phantom Energy do that to you?"

"Eggman!" Sonic snapped, almost kicking him. "Diffuser, NOW!"

The doctor quickened his pace and led them across the facility and down a wide set of stairs which were missing several steps, courtesy of the damage done by the doomsday device. Everything seemed surreal and red-tinted from the hue of the sky outside shining in through the windows, but as they left the ground level and went deeper into the broken facility, things gradually grew darker.

"Looks like I'll need to start up the backup generator!" Eggman grunted, and he stopped to open a panel in the wall and flip a few switches. The long staircase immediately lit up with buzzing lights, and they resumed their walk.