Work Text:
The sounds of small explosions, frustrated grunts, and energy blasts filled the otherwise desolate halls of the pyramid. What was once a sacred burial place for long forgotten dynasties had now become a different kind of tomb, one of abandoned ambitions for a certain mad scientist. His creations, seemingly left behind to guard the abandoned base, had quickly begun to fall to the wrath of two very familiar intruders
“This is getting us nowhere ”, one of the intruders, a jet-black hedgehog, scowled as crackling green energy gathered in his hands before being fired at a nearby robot, immediately shattering it into innumerable pieces.
“Oh relax, will you Shadow?”, his batty, white furred partner teased back as she effortlessly dodged the last desperate charge of the long abandoned badnik, responding with a roundhouse kick that scattered its broken parts about the dusty pyramid floor.
“Tch” was the closest thing she got to a reply from him, as he dispatched the last of the forsaken sentries with a series of energy blasts and homing strikes.
“Well, that’s the last of them” the bat mused, taking a moment to stretch.
“And still no closer to finding what we’re looking for… Are you positive it’s even here, Rouge? ” . Shadow tapped his finger on his wrist impatiently, a habit he’d no doubt picked up from a certain blue pain in his ass .
“Oh I’m sure it’s here. A treasure hunter’s intuition is never wrong”
As they continued down the empty halls, Rouge suddenly stopped in her tracks, nestling up against a nearby wall, tapping each individual brick with her knuckles. “Come on, come on, I know you’re here somewhere….”
“And what are you doing?”
“ I’m trying to find….A- HA ! There you are!” she shouted excitedly, seemingly shoving one of the bricks deeper into the wall. As soon as she did so, the grating sound of stone grinding against stone filled the halls as part of the wall rose into the ceiling, revealing a secret passage.
“Like I said, never wrong” she shot Shadow a wink, one that he could only respond to by pointedly not doing so, instead choosing to storm down the newly revealed passageway
“You’re no fun..” Rouge pouted, before shrugging her shoulders and following him
The passageway was dark, with only the occasional torched sconce providing even the faintest sources of light. Luckily, the darkness was no stranger to either of them, especially not Rouge, who felt right at home here as she began regaling the hedgehog with the details of their supposed score
“So it’s called the Staff of Anan-Zeith-Horu, and apparently , it’s got the power to “banish evil” and ‘ascend the heavens’ or some mystic hearsay like that, which could help with them ” she grimaces at that, images of a rather obnoxious duo flashing through her mind before continuing. “Of course, I’m interested in what’s in it. It’s supposed to be inlaid with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, carnelians, even amethysts. ” The white-furried thief had to stop herself from practically salivating at the thought of such a gorgeous staff being in her possession. “Anyways, it was supposedly buried in the tomb of Pharaoh Akhetut’s beloved wife, but since nobody’s been able to find it, it’s laid unclaimed for millenia.”
“Buuut I’m not like the rest, so it’s ours for the taking”.
As she finished, the hallway ended in a large, brightly lit, elaborately furnished chamber. Gorgeous, meticulously detailed art decorated the walls, with glittering, golden statues being stationed around the center of the room, wherein sat the sarcophagus. But much to the pair’s shock and dismay,
“It’s open” Shadow remarked, equal parts frustrated and confused, a pair of emotions that, for once, put him in sync with his batty partner, who’d rushed over to the opened tomb and found it empty, save for a single, mummified body.
“But how? Nobody could have beat us here, that secret passage was completely sealed, unless..”
“Someone better and more beautiful beat you to it!” A raspy, mocking voice cut through the air of the chamber.
The chamomile thief grit her teeth. She knew that voice anywhere .
“Spectress” she growled angrily, turning her attention towards the roof of the chamber where, sitting on a now extinguished sconce, was a rather curvaceous figure bound in wraps, wearing an infuriatingly arrogant smile, tapping a very elaborate staff against her knee to the beat of a taunting hum.
“ I figured you’d show up sooner or later. After all, a second rate thief like yourself can’t help but follow in the footsteps of their betters ”
The bat’s hands curled into fists, the sounds of stretching leather ringing in her ears as she snarled in response“You dirty cheating bi- ”
“Oh but where are my manners?” The maggotress interrupted haughtily, turning her gaze towards Shadow. “I almost forgot about you . But don’t worry, he hasn’t”. With the snap of her fingers, a pair of small blue flames appear, illuminating the room and revealing the form of a jackal perched on the opposite sconce, glaring daggers at the hedgehog. “Infinite Dear ... .or was it Zero? You love changing it, don’t you? But would you mind telling your friend exactly what’s going to happen?”
The jackal grumbled, momentarily glowering at his “partner”, loathe as he was to call her that, but he nevertheless obliged, venom dripping from his voice, his hatred rising with each and every word
“I’m going to rip you apart, hedgehog . I’ll splay the gore of your pathetic body across all of Mobius! I will cut you apart and have you beg for a mercy you don’t deserve! And I’m going to enjoy each. And every. SECOND of it!”
The Ultimate Lifeform merely scoffed in response. “Hmph. I’ve crushed you before, Infinite , and I’ll do so again”
“Well, there you have it folks!” Spectress cut in once more. “An empty grave…” Suddenly, her eyes went pitch black “And two dead fools to fill it!”. Laughing maniacally, she sent a barrage of blue fireballs hurtling towards the bat, whilst at the same time, Infinite leapt off the wall, lunging at Shadow.
Taking to the air, Rouge rushes towards the cackling sorceress, barely managing to weave through the onslaught of blue flames as she does so. Rapidly closing the gap, the bat throws an uppercut straight towards the maggot’s jaw, but it narrowly misses as, much to the bat’s increasing frustration, her opponent slips into the shadows of the wall, cackling all the while
“You’re going to have to try a lot harder than that, never-was~” she teases as she reappears on the other side of the room, smug as ever
“”But oh, it’s not nice of me to hog all the fun, now is it? Let’s fix that!” With a snap of her fingers, a barrage of small, wickedly grinning ghosts surround the sorceress.
She “pets” one of them, cooing all the while, pretending not to notice the bat dashing towards her “You’re so good, yes you are. Now do mommy a favor and hold her friend still ”. Planting a kiss on her spectral “pet”, she pushes it towards her opponent, with the rest of its companions following shortly behind
Rouge could feel every ounce of patience she had slipping away as the ghosts began to beeline towards her. There were too many of them for her to simply barge through them, so she’d have to play it patiently and play it smart . Looking up, a plan started to form in her head. She quickly began rocketing towards the ceiling, with the Boos giving chase. The chamber seemed endlessly tall, but it had to end somewhere , and if she could just break through, she could-
Her train of thought was suddenly and violently interrupted with Spectress’ grinning visage suddenly blocking her view, causing her to stop dead in her tracks
“Leaving so soon? I don’t think so~ “ With a hearty WHACK, the sorceress smashes the staff over Rouge’s head, smacking her down and stunning her long enough to be open to the flaming roundhouse that followed it, which sent her flying into the opposite wall with a resounding CRASH that shook the chamber. Before she could even hope to move, the Boos grabbed her, pinning her against the wall. She could only watch as Spectress floated over to her, delivering another nasty kick to the chest, before lifting her chin with the staff.
“I expected better, even from you . You disappoint me , Rouge .” she sardonically tutted. Rouge, to put it lightly, felt like shit. Her head was ringing from the pain, she could barely move, and she had to put up with this bitch taunting her. Forgoing any sort of witty banter, she simply chose to spit at the maggot, which for once, broke their grin, flipping it into a scowl and earning her another smack across the head.
“You impudent little- “ Spectress growled, before taking a deep breath and returning to that obnoxious grin she wore so proudly. Once again lifting the bat’s chin with the staff, she began teasing once more
“Oh well, it doesn’t matter. There’s not much you can do from this position, and as much as I’d love to finish you off here and now, I think it’d be more fun to watch our pets rip each other apart first.”
She called to her partner in a raspy, sing-song voice “Oh, Infinite my dearrrrrr~! Mommy’s got things wrapped up over here, so do feel free to finish playing with your friend~!”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The jackal growled indignantly at the maggot’s call. Her voice was sandpaper to his ears, her demands were poison in his mind, and even her mere presence irritated him on every conceivable level. But he still needed her, because only she could help him return to being what he was meant to be. Right now though, he couldn’t focus on that, because the only thing he loathed more than her was standing right in front of him.
Slashing and clawing and swiping with his crimson blade, the jackal’s attack was relentless, and it was more than enough to keep his jet black opponent on the backfoot, though just barely. Shadow blocked, parried, and attempted to dodge the canine’s barrage, occasionally throwing out a punch or kick to give himself some breathing room.
Infinite wasn’t nearly as strong as he was with the Ruby, but he was certainly stronger, faster, and more driven than he was in their first encounter. It didn’t help that the chamber itself didn’t give the hedgehog much room to maneuver around him or throw out Chaos Spears. The same couldn’t be said for Infinite, though, who would occasionally jump off the walls to lunge at him, which, while easy to dodge, made positioning very awkward
A cursory glance upwards told Shadow that, as awkward as things were down here, they were much worse for his partner. Unfortunately for him, that glance finally gave the jackal the opening he needed to deliver a rather nasty slash across the hedgehog’s chest, causing them to stumble back slightly
“ Pathetic! You can’t even save yourself , what hope do you have to save your weak, pathetic FRIENDS?” Infinite snarls, his words practically pouring bile onto the floor
“That is why you’re WEAK! My greatest mistake was letting you live back then, after you’d taken everything from me, a mistake, I will rectify RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW!” he roars, lunging at Shadow
However, as Infinite closed the gap, he realized something far, far too late: he’d left himself wide open , which meant he could only watch as the target of his limitless vitriol parried his lunge, quickly countering with a devastating uppercut that sent the jackal flying.
Gritting his teeth, the hedgehog began a relentless assault of his own, hitting the airborne canine with a pair of homing attacks, a series of jabs, before finishing it with an axe kick that smashed him into the stone floor.
Infinite attempted to hobble to his feet, but quickly fell back down. “N-no, it can’t, it won’t end like this! NOT AGAIN!”
Standing over him, a hand still covering his bloody chest, Shadow scoffed
“ Hmph . Playtime is over , Infinite ””
\
-----------------------------------
“
Spectress watched the scene below her with disgust. Not only had he had exactly one job , but it was one he’d asked for. All that bluster, all that vitriol about “revenge”, just to fall flat on his ass. With a frustrated sigh, she called to him. “Do you need Mommy to bail you out again?”
Beaten, weary, and still fuming, the Jackal weakly but spitefully responded “After I’m done with him, you’re NEXT , YOU VILE #$%!”
“Someone’s ungrateful , maybe I should just leave you here to rot then, dearie ” she spits back, her attention fully turned towards the jackal, staff pulled away from the bat’s chin.
“Maybe…I’d rather die than have to listen to your #$%%^&!* ALL DAY LONG”
“ So be it, then ! I’ll just take my staff and my dearies and leave you to rot with the rest of these fools, just as soon as I’m-
“It always breaks my heart to see such a loving relationship fall apart like that ” A taunting snarl interrupts the pair’s bickering, as Spectress whips her head around just in time to see Rouge spinkicking her Boos away, having seemingly gained back some of her strength. Before she can even react, much less open her mouth to let out anything more than a started “WHA-”, she feels the tip of a very hard shoe meet her chin as she’s sent flying upwards towards the ceiling of the cave. Soaring up to meet her, Rouge throws out a flurry of punches and kicks, each one being punctuated by a frustrated, defiant fulmination
“I. HAVE HAD. ENOUGH. OF. YOU! %$!^ YOUR STUPID @$$ CHEATING POWERS, #%^&& YOUR ANNOYING @$$ VOICE, AND #@#^. YOU!”
With her last kick upwards, she sends Spectress crashing into the ceiling of the chamber, bouncing her off of it and giving Rouge enough time and space to fly above her, slamming her fists into her back and sending her careening into the chamber floor with a sonorous SMASH, not only silencing her, but also causing her Boos to dissipate and most importantly, sending the staff flying from her hands, before landing at Shadow’s feet. Remembering her initial plan, she reaches into a very specific kind of pocket, she then pulls out a pair of miniature, bat-shaped bombs. Chucking them upwards, they explode, blasting a hole into the ceiling and allowing sunlight to finally pierce the chamber, providing not only some much needed light, but further neutering the sorceress.
“ Never thought I’d say this, but thank Gaia for the Sun” she weakly mused to heavily
Rouge soon floats down to join her companion at his side, panting heavily as she does so, and looking far, far worse for wear than he does
“So…what do you want to do…about them? I vote we..kick them into the coffin and put the lid on, save us the trouble”
Shadow couldn’t help but give her an odd look. It’s not that he disagreed with the notion, but it seemed a bit off kilter compared to the bat’s usual tendencies. Though, as much as he wanted to shove them in the stone sarcophagus and be done with it, both he and Rouge knew that they’d likely have to bring them in, and at the very least, the powers that be would want Infinite alive at the very least.
Picking up the staff, he looked it over for a few moments. It almost perfectly matched Rouge’s description. It was elaborate, inlaid with various jewels that lined the staff, ending in a crook with the largest, most elaborate gemstones of all. If this were any other instance, Rouge would be practically fawning over it, but now was not the time or place. Nor was it the time or place to figure out exactly how this was meant to deal with Infinite or Spectress.
Turning to the battered bat, he responds, sternly as ever. “Restrain them. We’re taking them back”
Upon hearing this, the jackal couldn’t help but despair. “ No, it can’t end like this! I REFUSE! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!” he fumed in the depths of his mind. But he could barely muster the strength to move, much less fight back. However, he might have just enough strength to do one last thing. Looking to his fallen companion, it was clear she was out cold, which, while inconvenient for everything else, made this next part doable.
A part of him was thankful that her body was close enough that he didn’t have to crawl too far, and crawl he did, until he reached her broken body. Reaching inside her bandages, he desperately fumbled around, hoping that that bat nor that loathsome hedgehog would notice him before he could get it .
As fate would have it, they would notice, but it’d be far too late, as they could only watch as Infinite grabbed a familiar looking red ruby out of the maggot’s bandages
“That’s-..impossible!” Rouge could only weakly exclaim, as her partner immediately rushed towards the jackal, but it was too late
“This power, it is the ultimate, IT IS WITHOUT PEER!” Infinite snarled as he tightened his grip on the jewel, and suddenly the world around them went red and the chamber began shaking violently.
“ THIS. ISN’T. OVER. ” the jackal snarled in a violent, unyielding fury, before disappearing in a flash of red along with Spectress and the staff, leaving Shadow grasping at thin air. There was precious little time to bemoan their vanishing act, however, as not only did the passageway seal itself shut, but the very walls of the chamber began to close in on them.
“Dammit! Rouge, can you fly us out of here?!?”
“Not feeling too hot, but I can give it a shot!”
Grabbing Shadow’s free hand, Rouge tries desperately to fly up and out as fast she can, but unfortunately, she soon starts losing altitude, her injuries getting the best of her, causing them to begin floating back down
“No no no no no no. Come on, just a bit more ”, Mustering up just a bit more strength, she rockets out of the tomb with Shadow in tow, flying up, over, and out of the collapsing chamber.
With the last of her strength, Rouge manages to float both her and her partner unto the soft, surprisingly cool, desert sand nearby. Once they settle down, Rouge all but collapses onto her back, thoroughly exhausted. Shadow, on the other hand, turns on his comms
“This is Agent Shadow of Team Dark, requesting immediate pickup outside of the Egg Pyramid. We were unable to retrieve the Staff. We were ambushed by Infinite and Spectress and they escaped with it. They seemingly possess a Phantom Ruby prototype. Over.
“This is Sgt. Spellman. Read you loud and clear. We have your location and will be picking you up in 5 minutes. Over.”
“Understood. Agent Shadow Out”
The hedgehog sighs, shutting his comms. Their mission here was done, but he had a feeling that their troubles with the duo of Infinite and Spectress were only just beginning.