As everyone returned to headquarters, you could feel the excitement. Everyone was so happy that things were turning around. I hadn't seen so many smiles since I joined the Resistance.

"Mission accomplished," said Rouge, "The Phantom Ruby's signal has gotten much weaker."

"This should effectively put a stop to the doctor's greatest weapon," smiled Shadow.

"The Sonics have made an opening for us," said Vector, "We can't just let that go to waste."

"This is the moment we've been waiting for," cheered Silver, "Time to settle the score!"

"Now that the Phantom Ruby is out of the way," said Knuckles, "We can finally smash Eggman into an omelet!"

"Hey, don't count your chickens before you smash your eggs," smiled Rouge.

"Rouge is right," said Sonic, "The fact that Eggman and Infinite still around means we can't let our guard down."

"Eggman and Infinite won't give up," I reminded, "Whatever they've got planned, they will do whatever it takes to stop us. If we can take Eggman out of the equation, Infinite could be vulnerable."

"I just want everyone to get home safely, okay?" said Amy.

"All right, fine," nodded Knuckles, "Everyone get your game face on! The target is Eggman at Central Tower!

"Once Eggman is pulled away from Zero, I might be able to convince him to stop this," I thought as we all prepared for battle.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The goal was to pull Eggman's forces towards our army, while Sonic and Tails rushed in to find Eggman. I was to go in and act as recon, just like I did the first time we were in Metropolis.

"We're fighting to get our world back now," said Knuckles, preparing his troops, "Don't stop. Don't look back! Just focus on the task ahead no matter what! Let's do this everyone! Charge!"

"Nice speech," I smirked, "Hope you have another one when we win this."

"If we can capture Eggman, we win," said Knuckles, "Find out where he is at, Rookie!"

"Just got him now," I said, observing him and Infinite just sitting on a building, waiting, "Sonic, I've got Eggman. He's at the center of Metropolis, with Infinite."

"Copy that, buddy," said Sonic, "Tails and I are on our way."

"We'll provide as much cover as we can," said Rouge.

"All right," said Sonic, "Chasing Eggman is what I do best! I'll track him down in no time."

"I'm afraid it won't be much of a chase," I said, "He's just sitting there."

Suddenly an explosion hit by where the Resistance was fighting, then Sonic said, "There's a big battle going on."

"It's okay," assured Amy, "We can hold for now."

"Our other forces are on the move, too," explained Knuckles, "We can pull this off!"

"Sonic, your approaching Eggman now," I said, "Please be careful you guys."

"Aren't I always?" asked Sonic.

"No, you're not," I thought, "With Infinite there too, I don't know if Sonic can handle this all by himself. I'll go to their position to give them back up."

I quickly swung across buildings to catch up to where Sonic and Eggman were. When I arrived, Sonic stood before Eggman, ready for a fight, while Tails stayed in cover behind some vents. Then I saw Infinite release a small purple vortex of some kind.

"What is that?" Sonic asked.

"Har har," laughed Eggman, "That, my spiky little frenemy, is null space."

"Null space?" asked Sonic.

"It's a little something the Phantom Ruby cooked up," explained Eggman, "A closed-off space where absolutely nothing exists! Good-bye, Sonic, my soon-to-be-eradicated nemesis. Enjoy all the nothing!"

Just before Eggman and Infinite left, Infinite made the vortex bigger. The vortex then began to pull in parts of the city into it. Sonic was starting to lose his footing.

"HANG ON, SONIC!" I screamed, jumping down to grab his hand before Sonic got pulled in. I then grappled to a nearby building to try to pull us out.

"Buddy! Don't! You'll be sucked in too!" warned Sonic. I struggled to hold Sonic, but then my wire snapped, pulling us both in. This Null Space was a dark void of literally nothing. Sonic and I managed to land on a glowing, purple, cube-like floor as the entrance we came in disappeared.

"Buddy are you okay?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said looking around for a way out, "Any ideas on how we're getting out of here?"

"Actually I have one," he said smiling at me, "You up for a Double Boost?"

"A Double Boost?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's what I call our combo we did when we fought Metal," smiled Sonic, "Now what do you say?"

"Other than you hurt my head?" I laughed, "Let's do this."

The two of us charged up our move, Sonic spun rapidly and I prepped my Asteroid. Then Sonic yelled, "Ready? DOUBLE BOOST!"

We charged into the Null Space void, using everything we had to boost through. Then I noticed a light up ahead, "Sonic there!"

"We've got this!" said Sonic, "Keep it up, partner! Nothing can contain the two of us at max power! Not even Null Space!"

"We won't let this Null Space stop us!" I said using every ounce of strength. Then as the light shined, we were back in Metropolis. The two of us were falling down into the city, I quickly used my wire to pull us to some railing to grind on.

"Sup, everyone?" said Sonic with a smile on his face, "I missed this place."

"What happened Sonic?!" asked Knuckles, "The two of you just up and disappeared!"

"Nothing happened," said Sonic, "Literally. Now let's track down Eggman! How's the battle going?"

"We've got them on the ropes," explained Amy, as I began scanning the camera's for Eggman "If our fleet can keep the upper hand, we should have things under control soon."

"You're gonna miss out on the fun if you don't hurry, Sonic," said Rouge.

"Sonic, I've found Eggman just up ahead," I said.

"Great work, partner," smiled Sonic, "Now hang on!"

The two of us jumped off the railing to land on a building top, where Eggman was. Eggman hadn't seen us yet, but one of his robots that was resting on Eggman's carrier did.

"Excuse me?" said the robot tapping on Eggman's shoulder, "Boss."

Eggman turned around annoyed, until he saw us, "What?! It can't be! It's impossible to get out of the Phantom Ruby's Null Space!"

"Maybe by myself," smirked Sonic, "But I had a little help from my friend. Something you wouldn't understand since you don't have any friends!"

"Grr... Seems like my Death Crab didn't dispose of you after all," growled Eggman.

"Next time, don't send a robot to do a wolf's job," I smirked, getting a slight laugh from Infinite as well.

"This changes nothing," growled Eggman, "Dr. Eggman will still have the last laugh!"

As Eggman and Infinite retreated towards his tower in the mountains, Sonic said, "Maybe he'd have more friends if he didn't talk about himself in the third person."

I rolled my eyes, laughing a bit, "Come on let's catch up, with the others."

"Negative rookie," called Knuckles, "We've got less than an hour before Eggman's plan goes down."

"There's no time," said Shadow, "We have to break into the fortress now."

"Indeed," agreed Silver, "This is it. Our last opportunity to bring peace back into the world."

"But..." said Tails, "When the battle ends, we'll have to part with Sonic-- I mean this Sonic-- won't we?"

"Yes," said Amy, "If the Phantom Ruby is gone. I guess he'll be returned to his dimension."

"Thank you for everything Sonic," thanked Tails, "I'll never forget what you did for us."

"Save the sentiments for later," said Espio, "This is not over yet. We still have a battle to fight."

"Exactly," said Knuckles, "This is our last chance. Give it everything you got!"

"Go on ahead Sonic," I said, "You'll get there faster without having to worry about me."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, "Go get em."

Sonic nodded before rushing off, leaving me to my thoughts, "This is it. The last stand. I have to stop Zero from destroying the world and himself. I just hope I live to see this through."