//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Phantom Portals 
// Story: Super Sonic Rainboom 
// by Starkeeper_Ponyfic 
//------------------------------//

"Is everyone okay?" Sonic asked as he finished off the last of the robots.

"We are, thanks to you! Cutting it kinda close, though, pal," Tails chuckled.

Sonic smirked as he kicked away a robot part in front of his foot. "Uh, yeah, that's kinda how I roll!" he pointed out smugly before turning to the extremely devious-looking Dr. Eggman. "Okay, let's finish this, Eggman!"

"It will be your finish, Sonic!" Eggman cackled. "Behold the power of my ultimate masterpiece!"

Sonic narrowed his eyes and prepared to attack the Eggmobile, but a reddish purple flash struck him back. Sonic stuck the landing and looked up to see Shadow standing in front of him, arms crossed and face scowling.

"Shadow!?" Sonic gasped. "You're... you're working with Eggman?"

Shadow made no attempt at a reply. Suddenly three other familiar faces dropped in.

"Zavok?" Sonic realized, tensing. "Metal? Chaos?"

Eggman cackled violently as a fifth figure descended imposingly. It appeared to be a jackal, with a long tail, a face mask with one eye covered, and a shimmering red gem in its chest. It glowed with a dark red aura and gave Sonic a condescending glare.

Sonic grunted, recovered from his momentary shock, and dashed at the new guy, who swiftly dodged and flew into the air.

Tails gasped. "This guy is faster than Sonic!" he exclaimed.

Sonic tried for a spin attack, but the jackal dodged, kicked him up, and sent him flying into a wall. Sonic groaned as he hit the ground before forcing himself back up.

Tails frowned. "No, wait, it's something else... Gotta scan this guy and figure him out," he murmured, pulling out a scanner and lifting it up toward the jackal.

Zavok charged up and threw out a punch, which Sonic blocked and returned, throwing Zavok back. Sonic tried for another strike at the jackal, but was denied and barely dodged Metal Sonic's flying attack. Chaos grabbed Sonic, who pushed back until the jackal rushed at Sonic's unprotected back and sent him careening into the ground.

"Nice!" Eggman crowed.

Sonic coughed as he pushed himself up. "...Tails, I need to know what's going on with this guy!" he pleaded.

"I'm trying, Sonic," Tails panicked, "but these readings are all messed up! They don't make any sense!"

Sonic dodged a tail swipe from the jackal, but was immediately thrown back into a wall, and Eggman's crew began a game of "Kick the Hedgehog" and threw Sonic around.

"Running! Out of time here! Tails!" Sonic yelped between kicks before he crashed to the ground, falling unconscious.

"SONIC!" Tails cried, dropping his scanner and clambering forward. He stood in front of the hedgehog, weakly raising his arms, before being knocked well away by a body slam from Zavok. The jackal descended in front of Sonic's unconscious form and laughed.





Eggman howled in cackles. "Excellent work! Now, let's get him onto the Death Egg!"

Infinite stared at Sonic, motionless.

"Infinite, what are you waiting for!?" Eggman demanded.

"Waiting for you to realize your plan is idiotic at best," Infinite replied gruffly.

"WHAT!?" Eggman roared. "You dare-"

Infinite zipped over to Eggman and loomed menacingly. "Sonic has bested you in every encounter. You really think he wouldn't be able to escape the Death Egg?"

Eggman stammered, "W-well, even if he were to escape his prison, which has a less than one percent chance of happening, mind you! But even if he escaped, he'd have no way of getting back to the planet!"

"Not alone," Infinite admitted, "but no matter how foolish it might be, his 'friends' are... astoundingly loyal. The little fox knew it was hopeless, I saw it in his eyes, but... he still tried to protect Sonic. Who's to say they won't attempt a rescue when they find out where he is? Because I'm certain they will."

"Attempt is the key word!" Eggman protested.

"And if they succeed?" Infinite challenged. "Say they get him back to the planet, but have to sacrifice one of their number. Now your archenemy is in a position to attack you, and very angry with you over his loss."

Eggman began sweating. "W...Well, do you have any BETTER ideas!?" he asked.

Infinite snickered. "Of course I do. Here's my plan: create an illusory perfect world for Sonic. Send him there, and then close the opening. Even if he's able to leave- which is unlikely- he won't even want to. Perhaps implant some false memories so that if one of his 'friends' somehow, by some stroke of sheer blind luck, manages to get into the illusory world, it'll be a 'my world versus your world' situation."

Eggman considered this. "Hm, it's got merit, I suppose. Fine! You do your plan, I suppose."

"Gladly," Infinite huffed before raising a hand to create the portal beneath Sonic.

Tails cried out and leapt at Infinite as Sonic fell into the portal, scratching the Phantom Ruby lightly during Infinite's brief moment of shock. The portal sparked briefly, but then faded. Infinite grunted, having recovered from his momentary shock, and glared at Tails.

"You have ten seconds to run before I obliterate you," Infinite warned.

Tails whimpered, trembling, and stumbled away. Eggman and Infinite's combined laughter echoed through the skies.