Chapter Text
After the war against the Eggman Empire, things had returned to peace. Or at least, relative peace. There were still a bunch of rogue robots on the loose and Infinite had been missing for months. The resistance had made it their mission to track down the jackal and capture him for what he had done, but it seemed that he was nowhere to be found. After months of searching, they had come to the conclusion that he was gone for good and were able to put their focus back on Eggman’s robots.
Gadget had done the best he could to help out while he went off on his own adventures. After gaining his confidence with the resistance, the wolf took time to explore the world a bit more. He had kept an eye out for Infinite as well as Eggman’s robots along the way, but like the rest of the resistance, his search had come up short. After Gadget had finished his little solo adventure, he decided to settle down again. Exploring the world was fun, but Gadget had grown a little homesick. The busy noise of the city had become a little bit too much for Gadget, so he had moved out in the woods so he could have some nice peace and quiet when he wasn’t out fighting robots or exploring new locations.
Gadget was sitting back and relaxing. It was a nice day and he was going to make the most of it. He had made himself some tea and was about to take a drink of it when he was interrupted by his communicator. It was given to him when he joined the resistance and he had made sure to still keep in touch with the other resistance members after the war had ended.
Gadget grabbed the communicator and saw it was Tails calling.
“Hey, Tails,” Gadget greeted.
“Hey Gadget, glad you picked up,” Tails said.
“What’s going on?”
“There’s been more robots sighted in the city,” Tails explained. “Sonic, Amy and I are dealing with them, but I just wanted to warn you about them. There’s quite a lot of them and we’re worried there could be a bigger attack.”
“Do you think Eggman is back?” Gadget asked.
“Possibly,” Tails responded. “I think it’s still too early to tell for sure.”
“Are you gonna need some backup? I can get ready if you-”
“No, you don’t need to worry about it,” Tails cut him off. “We’ve got it handled for now, I just wanted to give you the heads up. If we do end up needing backup I’ll give you a call.”
“Got it,” Gadget responded.
He ended the call and leaned back in his chair letting out a long sigh.
“So much for peace and quiet,” he mumbled to himself. “If Eggman’s back, then-” Gadget shook his head. “No, I told myself I was gonna have a nice day today and I’m not gonna let thoughts like that ruin it.”
Gadget picked up his cup of tea and took a long sip of it. He turned to look out the window. He didn’t get to stare at the beautiful forest outside for very long as he heard a beeping sound coming from one of his belt pouches. He pulled out the small device and opened it up. Tails had given it to him before he left on his adventures. It was meant to track energy readings, but he had never really had to use it before so he had completely forgotten that he had it.
“What the?” Gadget questioned as he stared at the screen. The screen seemed to be glitching out slightly and it was impossible to read. Gadget was about to dismiss it when he heard a loud noise coming from outside. Gadget immediately ran outside and felt a gust of wind blow by briefly. Gadget looked around confused until he heard the device beeping again. He checked it again and this time, it was giving a much clearer signal. Gadget turned the sound off and started following the map that it had shown.
He wandered deeper into the forest, getting closer to the source of the signal. He looked around as he explored, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Maybe it was just a false alarm… Gadget started to wonder. He looked back at the device. It said that he was near the source, but he still didn’t notice anything. He was about to look elsewhere when he heard some rustling. Gadget tried his best to stay quiet as he didn’t know what was lurking in the forest. Crap! I should have brought my wispon! Gadget thought. It doesn’t matter. Whatever is out here, I’ll just have to face it with what I have.
Gadget scrambled through the bushes, unable to navigate quietly. The device in his hand began to vibrate, indicating he was very close to the signal. Gadget stared at it for a moment before looking up again and noticing a figure standing in the bushes, grunting as he stood up. Gadget’s eyes went wide as he recognized the figure.
“I-is that-”
The figure turned around, revealing his scarred face to the wolf.
“Infinite!?” Gadget yelled.
The jackal gasped before narrowing his eyes and growling. “You.”
Gadget was shocked to see Infinite again. He looked much different compared to the last time he had seen him. He was no longer wearing his mask, but Gadget was sure it was Infinite. He took notice that the jackal no longer had the phantom ruby on him. Instead, a large scar was on his chest where the ruby once was. His right eye had a scar over it, something that Gadget wasn’t sure if it was new or not. More interesting however was the fact that the sclera of that eye was a dark purple while his other eye appeared completely normal. The tips of his hair and tail were also now a vibrant ruby color and the fur under his gloves appeared to be purple.
“I thought I had seen the last of you after our last fight,” Infinite said.
“Same here,” Gadget replied, crossing his arms.
“So, did you come here to gloat?” Infinite asked. “To rub your victory in my face?”
“What? No!” Gadget denied. “I didn’t even know you were here! I heard some weird noises so I came to investigate.”
Infinite stared at the wolf with narrowed eyes for a moment before turning away.
“You’re foolish to come investigate a possible threat by yourself.”
“Strange, last time I checked I kicked your butt multiple times,” Gadget reminded. “So yeah, I think I’m fine.”
Infinite growled again, but he seemed much angrier this time. Small ruby sparks started to emanate from his body which made Gadget feel a little bit more concerned.
“You only got lucky last time!” Infinite yelled. “You are NOTHING compared to me! I will show you what I truly- erk!”
Infinite flinched in pain and his body seemed to glitch slightly. He fell down to his knees and grabbed onto his chest.
“Infinite?” Gadget got closer and kneeled down to check on the jackal as it was clear something was wrong. “Woah, are you ok?” Gadget reached his hands out towards Infinite, but he was quickly pushed away.
“Get away from me!” Infinite demanded.
Gadget stumbled to the ground and watched Infinite stand back up.
“I’m… fine…” Infinite assured weakly. “And I don’t need help, especially from someone like you.”
“Infinite, calm down,” Gadget said as he stood up as well. “You’re weak and you need to rest.”
Something seemed to snap in Infinite as Gadget said that.
“SHUT UP!” he shouted. He ran towards Gadget, ready to attack him, but before he could do anything, he let out a weak groan, stopping in front of the wolf and beginning to fall over.
“WOAH!” Gadget gasped as he caught Infinite’s limp body.
Infinite let out another quiet groan before going quiet. Gadget realized that he had completely passed out and was unsure what to do now. Gadget did his best to get a better hold onto Infinite so he wouldn’t drop him, but struggled a little bit.
“What do I do?” Gadget asked himself. “I can’t just leave him here!” Gadget thought for a moment about his different possibilities before letting out a slightly annoyed sigh. He started heading back to his house, doing his best to navigate while also carrying Infinite.