Lash's pov
I keep running through the jungle, my speed making it easy to flow through the dense area, following the signature, and i open my amythest eyes as i hide behind a large vine, seeing the black jackal hovering above, and he softly comes down, landing softly and i stay deathly silent, watching my soon to be advisary, as a smooth, deep, chilling voice rings out," who might you be? A new fighter has entered the ring where many have failed." I chuckle, he'd sensed me, so why not introduce myself?" My name is Whiplash, Fastest Hedgehog alive, you? I like to know names, helps me understand my advisary, although you feel like a cold blooded, Ice filled Hater." " how creative." I leap over the vine and i lean back with a smirk, letting the enviroment fade away, not letting anything distract me." I am Infinite, not that you'll live long enough to tell it." " heh. You and what copies? I know my fears, i can face them, my old advisaries? Beat them a million times, and most are my friends." "Like the simpleton Knuckles?" Knuckles indeed forms with the pulse of the jewel, but i flat up ignore it and it fades away." Interesting, you came with a goal in mind, what is that? To fail as you did with your friend SkyKnight? I've seen her grave,* the bravest mobian alive* what.... childish values." I sigh, shaking my head," while yes that was a failure, do you mind if i tell you just how she died? She died saving error and i, being decimated in the Void, along with a being who only used her voice to control others. Tell me Infinite, how did you start? Surely you didn't start as such a mindgamer?" A deep chuckle rings out," quite the ringmaster with your tounge as well as your feet. I have other matters to attend to, good day, Whiplash, enjoy your death at my hand soon enough." He floats into the air and i spindash at him, grabbing his leg and i shove him down to earth with a flip, kicking his head straight down." Not done with you yet Infinite." He growls as he stands from the dirt." Value your death so soon? Just as error tried to do on the Ark?" I chuckle," egghead told you everything about me huh? My past doesn't define me, i'm a hero, it's who i am, and i will not die at the likes of you. Now bring it" Infinite waves his hand as the energy washes over the clearing and red runed cubes appear in the air, and hundreds of them form together into a creature made of water." Interesting pick, who exactly is this?" " you don't know him? Despite all your usings of the Chaos emeralds? You've never met the one trapped inside the Master emerald? The one and only Chaos?" I shake my head," but i know this isn't the real version, so i'm happy for that. Cause if i met the real deal, i would actually be terrified." " ah right, your greatest fear." I tense up, and i dodge as the water creature attacks, but i'm just barely faster then it. The spike on it's head is what catches my amyethst eyes, the pale pink brain floating inside and i smirk, dashing onto a tree, i spring off the bark into a spindash, hitting the brain dead on and the thing dissolves into smoke. Infinite growls and i feel my ear flick as i hear it, smirking and i leap into the air, but i miss my grab on infinite and i grab a tree branch, climbing onto it with a flip. I launch at infinite, but he dodges, the time for words passing as he launches red cubes at me and i focus allowing time to slow to a crawl. Time to move. I parkor over every cube, the cubes sending a wash of painful energy through me and i cry out, landing on a branch, ok, that hurts, but infinite is nowhere near as fast as me, so i still have time to get to him.
I parkor across the forest with ease, before i jump onto the jackal and my momentum sends us both carrening toward the ground, so i twirl him so he takes the impact as he hits the ground and i grab the edges of the gem. Overwhelming pain hits me and time speeds back up to normal, and i stumble back, breathing heavily from the utter shock that had given me, and infinite groans as he comes to his feet." Did you really grab the Ruby? What a simpleton, it is bonded to me, permenatly. Or unless i choose to reject it." I growl." Ok, so that'll make destroying it harder, not gonna stop me though!" "Thats your plan? I'll admit, smart thinking, but poor execution" i cry out as he launches a wave of energy, the energy feeling like i got stabbed with hundreds of needles at once, i need to leave, now." Sayanora Infinite!" I leap into the dense forests and i channel all of my energy into running, the ruby's energies keep striking me and making it hard to think, but i push through, and it soon disperses as i reach my old house, i collapse, hitting the ground on my hands and knees, and i check myself over. No physical injury, but the soreness remained. That would pass, once my healing factor sets in. I wince as i bring myself to my feet, i better get back, with the info i've now learned, we now have an upper hand, i burst off into a run, taking many detours, before i open a ring to the hq, as i didn't want infinite following me there. I stop once i'm through the ring, panting slightly as sans says," you're back! Did you see what you needed to?" I nod, making sure the ring closes before i say," i saw what i needed and more, our illusionist is named Infinite, the gem is bonded to him, making them a symbiotic combo almost. He's a mindgamer, but seem rather annoyed at how well i kept up." Sans smiles," yes! Thats just what we needed to know, at least with a name we can start profiling him better, any more you can tell me?" " he's been told about all of our adventures, even those with SkyKnight. He's seen her grave even, so he knows all about us and what we can do." "But how well did he hold up against you?" " barely held up his own, if the ruby hadn't rejected me the instant i touched it, i'd have won." " how aggressive was the rejection?" " a pretty sturdy shock, i'm decently sore from the fight all in all, but i bolted before i could be caged up." Sans nods as he documents what i said, and i sit down," what hurt worse is the blast attack he hit me with right after, it was really hard to keep running." " he likely had illusions bound in the blast to slow you down so he could catch you, but likely didn't expect you to be more determined then his illusions." I nod, worn out a bit." I'm gonna go sleep, the sun was going down outside, so you make sure to sleep too sans." " i will as soon as i'm done analyzing your vitals off your communicator, just to see how his attacks affects those." I nod and i walk to the bunks, and i lay down in the tight bunk, pulling the blanket over me, and my eyes shut as i slip into sleep.