Phantom Ruby (2024)

The Phantom Ruby^[1] (ファントムルビー^[2] Fantomu Rubī^?) is an object that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is an interdimensional gemstone of incredible power that was fought over by several parties across a pair of different time periods.

Description[]

Appearance[]

The Phantom Ruby is a magenta icosahedron ruby with black ripple patterns along its surface. It is also small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.

Powers and abilities[]

While different from the Chaos Emeralds, the Phantom Ruby is still incredibly powerful^[3] and has been theorized to be a source of unspeakable power.^[1] When channeling its power, the Phantom King became powerful enough to bypass the invulnerability granted by a super transformation. Similarly, the Ruby itself can also restrain the Chaos Emeralds and cancel out a super transformation. The Phantom Ruby's abilities are said by Doctor Eggman to surpass even those of the Master Emerald,^[4] to the extent that it affected the Master Emerald's ability to keep Angel Island afloat, causing the island to fall back into the ocean.^[5] Because of its massive amount of power, it was implied that the Phantom Ruby's mere presence at the heart of the Eggman Empire was such that Eggman could afford to have a comparatively small amount of his own forces stationed at Metropolis, provided the gem was at full power. The Phantom Ruby was also capable of reviving at the very least robots, as evidenced by how it revived the fallen Hard Boiled Heavies. The Phantom Ruby is also remarkably durable, as it managed to withstand a direct blow from Infinite's sword, despite it being sharp enough to effortlessly cut down several Eggman robots.^[6]

The Phantom Ruby's exact powers are based on virtual reality manipulation. It takes control of people's visual and depth perception to feed false information to the brain creating a new reality for them and creates virtual projections that have mass and form to interact with the world around them. This includes empowering and altering beings (like the Hard Boiled Heavies, Metal Sonic and Infinite) or creating illusory places and entities that make it impossible to differentiate between reality and fantasy. Its powers can also warp the fabric of space-time,^[1] allowing it to create Dimensions such as Egg Reverie Zone and Null Space, as well as teleport entities from place to place. When used alongside the Chaos Emeralds' time-space powers, it transported Sonic and itself forward in time, and later sucked Dr. Eggman into a rift (the latter also causing the Titanic Monarch to collapse). As an extension of its virtual reality manipulation powers, its usage can also interfere with data analysis, which was best demonstrated during Sonic's first encounter with Infinite, where the Miles Electric ran into problems getting sensible readings on the latter.^[7]

When touched, the Phantom Ruby, as a default, seems to generate an illusion of whatever the person who touched it most desires, although these only last as long as it is being physically touched by the person. For example, when Infinite accidentally touched the gem, he was struck by images of a destroyed world of chaos, based on his own violent desire for change.^[6]

When used, the Phantom Ruby creates a by-product known as the Ruby Mist, a mist-like substance that distorts space-time within it.

The Phantom Ruby is also capable of assimilating Phantom Ruby prototypes, and anything directly connected to them; after being defeated, Infinite and his Phantom Ruby prototype were in pulled by the Phantom Ruby, consuming the prototype and Infinite along with it.^[8]

History[]

Sonic Mania[]

In Sonic Mania, the Phantom Ruby appeared on Angel Island after a dimensional breach occurred in the atmosphere,^[1] its effects causing Angel Island to fall into the sea again.^[5] Its unique energy signature was soon detected by Sonic and Tails who went to investigate it.^[3] Also detecting the gemstone was Dr. Eggman, who sent his team of elite Egg-Robos, the Hard Boiled Heavies, to retrieve it after theorizing its potential.^[1][2]

When Sonic and Tails arrived on Angel Island, the Hard Boiled Heavies were excavating the Phantom Ruby from the ground. As they did so, the gem warped space-time around them and catapulted Sonic, Tails, the Hard Boiled Heavies, and Knuckles the Echidna (who was relaxing nearby) to Green Hill Zone. In the process, the Phantom Ruby transformed the Hard Boiled Heavies into more powerful Egg-Robos with wills of their own.^[1]

The Hard Boiled Heavies promptly escaped with the gem which was soon taken by Dr. Eggman, whose usage of the gem sent Sonic and co. away when they caught up to him. When the trio later cornered Eggman in Press Garden Zone, the doctor used the Ruby to send them to Little Planet. At Stardust Speedway Zone, Dr. Eggman gave the Ruby to Metal Sonic who used its power to transform into Giga Metal in a bid to destroy Sonic's team. When the heroes defeated Metal Sonic however, the Phantom Ruby was returned to Dr. Eggman by a Dango before the heroes could claim it.

Eggman ultimately made the Phantom Ruby the power source of his Titanic Monarch, its power distorting space within Eggman's creation. When Sonic and co. faced Eggman, the doctor used the gem to power a battlesuit. Upon Eggman's defeat, the Phantom Ruby pulled the doctor and Sonic into a strange space where Eggman and the traitorous Phantom King fought over the gemstone, only for Super Sonic to defeat them both. In the aftermath, the Phantom Ruby reacted to Sonic's seven Chaos Emeralds, causing Sonic and the Ruby to be sent to the future.

Sonic Forces[]

Several months prior to the events of Sonic Forces, the Phantom Ruby (though it had no name at the time) was found by Dr. Eggman after the sensors of his Arsenal Pyramid detected an unusual energy signature outside, prompting Eggman to investigate. Upon touching the Ruby, Eggman had a brief vision of Eggmanland. Intrigued, Eggman researched the jewel, eventually coining the name "Phantom Ruby". However, his base was soon attacked by the Jackal Squad. During the attack, Eggman inadvertently used the Ruby to materialize a troop of Egg Pawns to exterminate the squad. the Jackal Squad's captain then tried to kill Eggman, but struck the Ruby instead, causing him and Eggman to see a ruined world based on the former's own violent desire for change. Impressed with the captain, Eggman convinced him to join his empire so they could achieve their mutual goals.^[6]

Seeking to test the Phantom Ruby, Eggman went to Angel Island where he used it to create an illusion of the Pachacamac's village and have Knuckles the Echidna and Silver the Hedgehog fight a Phantom Copy of Chaos. Although Knuckles and Silver overcame the Phantom Copy, Eggman deemed the test to be a success.^[4] Eggman would afterward analyze the Phantom Ruby in his lab in Mystic Jungle in hopes of using it to take over the world.^[9][10] Using the data he gathered, Eggman created several, defective "Phantom Ruby prototypes"^[11] which he used to experiment on until he created a finalized version.^[12] That finalized Phantom Ruby copy was given to the Jackal Squad's captain, who, after a humiliating loss to Shadow the Hedgehog, cast away his previous identity and assimilated with the Ruby after a number of experiments, becoming Infinite.^[12][13] Under the direction of Eggman, Infinite sought to destroy the world with his Phantom Ruby and allow the Eggman Empire to rise to power.^[14]

While the original Phantom Ruby remained in Eggman's possession, he and Infinite put their plans into action by using the finalized Phantom Ruby to take over more than ninety-nine percent of Earth, sparking the War to Take Back the Planet. Six months later, the Resistance discovered that the Phantom Rubies relied on the Death Egg to provide them with the power they needed to work. As such, the Resistance destroyed the Death Egg, weakening the Rubies. However, Eggman had anticipated this and had a backup power reactor built underneath his empire's fortress.

At the climax of the war, the Resistance destroyed the backup reactor. Having anticipated this however, Eggman incorporated the original Phantom Ruby into a Death Egg Robot and its energy supply (making it an "invulnerable ruby") in an effort to defeat his enemies once and for all. By recklessly overclocking the Phantom Ruby, Eggman granted his Death Egg Robot powers beyond Infinite's, allowing it to create thousands of Phantom Copies to combat the Resistance with. During the Death Egg Robot's battle with Sonic the Hedgehog, his past self and the Avatar though, the Phantom Ruby was seemingly destroyed by the trio, which undid all it had wrought.

Sonic Mania Plus[]

In Sonic Mania Plus, although the Resistance had defeated Dr. Eggman, it turned out that the Phantom Ruby had survived the Death Egg Robot's destruction and had returned to the original time it came from. Upon returning to Angel Island, the Ruby floated away somewhere, with Sonic chasing after it. This led him to a capsule with old friends Mighty and Ray trapped inside. After Sonic set both allies free, one of them was revealed to be the Heavy Magician in disguise, who swiped the Phantom Ruby and passed it to the broken-down Hard Boiled Heavies, reviving them and sending the heroes back to Green Hill Zone. Thus, the heroes set off to chase the Phantom Ruby on another adventure similar to the first one.

After the Phantom Egg was defeated once again, the heroes got distracted by the Phantom Ruby as it floated there while Eggman snuck away. The Ruby then went out of control and created a space-time rift that began to suck in everything around it, including the Titanic Monarch. Eggman tried to make an escape, but the heroes escaped in their Super States and knocked him into the rift. It is unknown what has happened to the Phantom Ruby afterwards.

Trivia[]

• In SXSW Gaming 2019 expo, when three people won first, second and third places in the Sonic Mania: Time Trial Championships event, each participant received a custom award featuring a replica of Phantom Ruby on a golden finish base with 7 transparent chaos emeralds depicted on it.^[15]
• Between the releases of Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, it was heavily speculated whether Infinite and the Phantom Ruby were connected. The sound effects made by the Phantom Ruby in Sonic Mania were labelled as "RedCube_R" and "RedCube_L" in the game's data, sounding identical to the noises made by Infinite's cube attack in the Sonic Forces E3 trailer. Other similarities such as the poses made by Classic Sonic at the end of Sonic Mania matching the pose he made in the Sonic Forces reveal trailer furthered speculation until the connection was confirmed by Takashi Iizuka during the Tokyo Game Show 2017.^[16]
• Despite the Phantom Ruby's powers being described as virtual reality, the correct term for its primary usage would actually be augmented reality, which is when another reality is laid on top of another, whereas virtual reality is when an entirely new one is made.
• Despite the user making perfectly rounded (or sharp) mass forms, in Sonic Forces, the Phantom Ruby can only create cubes as a main geometry, but they merge together to create well balanced forms.
• In the early script of Sonic Forces, the Phantom Ruby was called "Valtron" and described as a blue sparkling pebble.^[17]
• The Phantom Ruby is included as an accessory with the Infinite 4" articulated figure by Jakks Pacific.

See also[]

• Phantom Ruby prototype

References[]