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Chapter Text

On an earth-like planet named Remnant, there is a prophecy that has been passed down from generation to generation. This prophecy states that Remnant will one day receive unexpected visitors. One is a madman who will stop at nothing to achieving his goal of global domination, and he will do anything to achieve these dastardly goals. However, the other visitors are enemies of this mad scientist, and they, with the help of young warriors of Remnant, will stop him and derail his plans. These newcomers will be mistrusted by many at first, but everyone will see the light these heroes bring transported to this grimm-infested world.

In orbit above Mobius-
7:35 p.m.

"GAHAHAHAHA! Finally, my plan has come to fruition!" proclaimed an obese individual in a red coat, goggles, glasses, and a huge brown mustache. This individual has caused many problems ,and even a war, for the people of Mobius, so it's really no surprise that he is at it again. The name of this individual is the brilliant but psychotic Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but he is forever doomed to be known as "Dr. Eggman". He has made multiple plans to subject the world of Mobius to his tyranny, but his plans have always been foiled by a certain hedgehog.

Eggman was currently standing in his latest attempt at world domination since he lost his Death Egg during the war, which was a space station not unlike Space Colony ARK, but with more power focused on the planet destroying Eclipse Cannon. On his left and right were his ever present robot assistants, Orbot and Cubot. Orbot glanced up at Eggman and intoned gravely, “OH DEAR, NOW YOU’VE DONE IT, BOSS.”

"Why is that? Surely that hedgehog couldn't reach me up here. Besides, I have an army of robots and badniks poised to destroy him even if he does reach the station!" Eggman proclaimed.

“JUST LOOK OUTSIDE!” Orbot managed to say with annoyance.

Eggman looked on the security feed and much to his surprise, he saw a large group of Mobians in the vehicle hangar of the station. This group consisted of some of Eggman's greatest enemies:

Sonic, the blue hedgehog with hypersonic speed and a quick witted tongue.
Miles "Tails" Prowler, the two-tailed fox with an I.Q. level that rivals Eggman's himself.
Knuckles, the last guardian of the Master Emerald and a red echidna who wasn't that smart, but made up for it with strength and loyalty.
Amy Rose, the pink hedgehog who wields her deadly Piko-Piko hammer, and is Sonic's supposite "girlfriend."
Shadow, the black and red hedgehog also known as the "Ultimate Life Form", and has a dark personal history.
Rouge, the white bat known for her thieving skills and love of jewelry.
And E-123 Omega, an Eggman robot with a huge vendetta against anything Eggman-related.

There were also two other faces that Eggman didn't recognize right away, but we know them as Blaze the Cat, a purple pyrokinetic princess, and Silver the Hedgehog, the psychokinetic from another time. Apparently, Eggman's scheme was big enough that Sonic called upon the assistance of his friends from the distant future and alternate dimension.

Surrounding the group was something Eggman was all too familiar with: huge piles of broken robot parts. Some were still sparking, while others were unrecognizable blobs of metal.

"Ahahahaha, I knew they would get through those worthless scraps of junk! I was just… just testing them! That's right!" Eggman said unconvincingly.

Cubot looked at him and said in a high pitched voice, “HEY BOSS, ARE YA SURE WE ARE SAFE HERE? THOSE GUYS LOOK LIKE THEY’RE COMING HERE PRETTY QUICKLY.”

"Of course we're safe! I knew they would get through those useless pawns, so I made a backup plan!" Eggman punched a button on the console in front of him. "Badniks! Attack Sonic and his puny friends!"

All around the station, ports in the walls opened up, releasing robots of various shapes and sizes, mostly of large insects.

"Gahahaha, let's see them get through these!"

Egg ARK's hanger
7:40 p.m.

"Seriously? Badniks? Come on, Eggman, let's see something a little more original!" said Sonic as he jumped up and homing attacks from one Badnik wasp, known as a Buzz Bomber, to another.

"Uh, Sonic? What the heck are those things?" Blaze asked, questioning the appearance of these new robotic monstrosities. She used her pyrokinetic powers to counter a wasp's stings from the air and sent her own at the owners, causing them to explode.

"THESE ARE BADNIKS. THEY ARE VERY PRIMITIVE CREATIONS OF EGGMAN, BACK WHEN HE WAS KNOWN AS DR. ROBOTNIK", Omega said over the roar of his machine guns and rocket launchers. "THEY ARE POWERED BY SMALL ANIMALS LIKE THE ROBOTS IN THE EARLY E-SERIES ROBOTS."

"Enough history lessons, let's destroy them all!" shouted Shadow, firing several Chaos Spears everywhere.

"Yo Tails, how's that portal coming along?" asked Sonic, who was still spin-dashing around, destroying Badniks and Egg Pawns.

Tails was currently on the ground, dodging lasers and missiles while tinkering with a remote. "Almost… Got it!" shouted Tails. A large sphere of light appeared above the ground, and the released animals from inside the Badniks sensed that safety lay in that light. The other end of the portal was located on the surface of Mobius, more specifically on Angel Island, so there really was a safe place for them. Well, as safe as an island that floats due to the power of a huge emerald gets, when it isn't smashed to pieces or being stolen by a certain white bat….

Speaking of Rouge, she and Knuckles were currently back-to-back, the former was kicking while the latter was punching robots like there was no tomorrow. "They just keep coming!" Knuckles shouted while punching a robot in the head.

"Getting tired, Knuckie? I thought you had more stamina than that." Rouge said flirtingly. Knuckles just grimaced in annoyance.

All of a sudden, there was a bright light. All the remaining robots in the hangar were ripped to shreds, and the animals fled to the safety of the portal. The culprit was Silver the Hedgehog, who still had his hands in a cyan glow. "Come on, guys, we must press on. Too many lives are at stake." He said.

"He's right, we need to get to the control room." Amy said, dusting off her red dress.

"Then let's go!" Sonic said, speeding off to the Control Room (thank Chaos that the Chaotix weren't with them), with everyone else not far behind.

"UH DOCTOR? THEY SEEM TO HAVE DESTROYED ALL THE BADNIKS." Orbot said with panic in his voice.

"Hmph, worthless creations," Dr. Eggman harrumphed. "No matter, I have all seven Chaos Emeralds, and now nothing can stop me from building the Eggman Empire from the ashes of the old world!" He punched a big red button on the control panel in front of him.

All around the Egg ARK, the lights slowly dimmed, with all power being directed to the primary cannon. In the core, the seven Chaos Emeralds shone brightly, their power once again being used for evil deeds. All of a sudden, something sparked, and the Emeralds started pulsating wildly. A bright light started to expand around the Emeralds, and then the entire station was lit up. Shadow and Knuckles, the two being in tune with the Chaos Emeralds and their power, sensed something was wrong in an instant.

"Brace yourselves, everyone! The doctor's machine has caused a massive Chaos Control!" The Ultimate Life Form shouted out with worry.

Everyone stopped running and jumped to the floor, grabbing at anything to hold on to. Oddly, while everyone else was in a panic, Sonic seemed the most calm about the whole ordeal. Not too surprising, considering this happens to him almost on a regular basis

"This is gonna suck." Sonic sighed. Then the light completely surrounded the station.

On Mobius, everyone saw what happened. The Egg ARK was replaced with a bright light, and then it vanished. Nobody knows where or when the station went, but one thing's for sure; Sonic and his friends were not gonna be bored by this new adventure!

Chapter Text

Papermoon - RichaadEB
The music starts as the worlds of Remnant and Mobius are shown with Sonic the Hedgehog and the four members of Team RWBY are shown while posing. As it reveals the title:

SONIC REMNANTS: CHAOS EMERALD SAGA

I’m falling down into my shadow,
Grasping on to every breath
As I inhale in the deadly night.

As the musician begins to sing, it reveals Ruby Rose kneeling in front of a gravestone with her sister, Yang Xiao Long, standing not too far away from her. The young scythe-wielder looks up to see a woman with a white cloak standing in front of her before fading away.

It’s scary,
But don’t show it in your eyes
Witches lurk within the night,
Their carriages are everywhere in sight.

Next it shows Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, sitting within a mech, beating Sonic to the ground. Then the blue blur stood back up with his eyes turning from emerald green to ruby red until a golden flash erupts.

See you in your dreams, yeah, baby
You’ll find me there
Inside in your nightmares

Then there is a battle showing Miles “Tails” Prower, Weiss Schnee, Knuckles the Echidna, Blake Belladonna and Amy Rose fighting against various creatures of Grimm. Followed with Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat standing back-to-back while using their powers, with Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie smashing and slashing badniks.

Fairy blue,
For you I’ll crush the stars
And tear the night apart,
There’s nothing we can’t do

After that releases Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos tag-teaming against a few White Fang grunts. Within a crimson forest shows a silhouette of Metal Sonic with his red optics showing from the shadows.  

Black paper moon

Next reveals Ruby cutting up Grimm before posing, just like her mother.

It will be alright, believe in me.

Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega are surrounded by Grimm and Eggman robots until the black and red hedgehog pulls out the green Chaos Emerald and the walking arsenal transforms his arms into energy cannons with the white bat sitting on top, performing their Chaos Inferno.

When you’re lost here I am, “Forever” with your soul
Look up to the sky when you’re in need, beneath the shining moon

The scene goes white as Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch look out of Beacon Academy’s tower to see a fleet of Atlas airships floating outside. The final shot shows Ruby and Sonic standing close to the edge of a cliff before Dr. Eggman, Cinder Fall and Roman Torchwick appear behind them.

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy dorms
8:00 p.m.

It was a beautiful evening in the Kingdom of Vale, and all of the students at Beacon Academy were relieved that it was finally the weekend. Most of the students were studying for future assignments, and the rest were quietly reflecting on the day.

BOOM!

*CRASH*

Okay, almost everyone.

"Ruby!" shouted a white-haired female named Weiss Schnee. The Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company was reading up on the day's studies, but the girl in the white dress was rudely interrupted by a loud gunshot that took out the window of the dorm room of team RWBY. Ice blue eyes looked angrily at the culprit, who was wearing a black and red dress with a red hood and cap, and holding a large red scythe. The unique thing about this scythe, though, is that the tip of the "staff" part was smoking a bit. Yes, this scythe doubled as a gun. The owner of the gun, a young girl named Ruby Rose, looking at Weiss sheepishly, silver eyes gleaming apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Weiss, but it was very important!" Ruby cried out as she checked the neat hole in the once pristine window. "I thought I saw a spider!"

"Uh, Ruby? That was a moth." sighed Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long. The blonde-haired party girl was looking at the remains of a pair of tattered wings on the ground.

"Besides, don't we have a flyswatter somewhere?" asked the fourth member of Team RWBY, Blake Belladonna. The faunus was rubbing the top of her head, which had black hair topped by a bow. "I have sensitive hearing, you know."

"Sorry, everyone, but Crescent Rose is the first thing that comes to mind when I am in a dangerous situation! Besides, it's not like anyone will notice it."

All of a sudden, there was a sonic boom that echoed across Beacon Academy, shattering every window and giving everyone at the school of warriors a huge shock. "Well, Ms. Goodwitch probably won't notice now." Blake said dryly.

"What was that?!" yelled four voices from across the hall. The door to Team RWBY's room was flung open, revealing Team JNPR, who was best friends with the team of girls. Team JNPR consisted of Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. "Did Ruby go crazy on another moth?!" yelled Jaune, the leader of Team JNPR.

"Two things, Jaune. One: yes, Ruby did mistake another moth for a spider, but I don't think even she could cause this much destruction, at least with one bullet. And two: just look outside!" exclaimed Yang.

All eight students looked outside. It seemed that whatever caused the explosion landed deep in the forest of Forever Fall. Ruby privately hoped that everything within the forest was okay, well, except the Creatures of Grimm.

"Guys, I think I see something in the courtyard!" Blake shouted. The members of Teams RWBY and JNPR all ran out of the room and went straight to the courtyard. Their eyes met with what were the strangest creatures any of them had met. There were four hedgehogs, a fox, a bat, a cat, an echidna, and a robot. All of them had strange colours, but more importantly, none were moving, and all had burn marks all over them. The robot had a few places where paint had burned off, and it was sparking a bit, too.

Normally, the young warriors would be pretty cautious about approaching strange creatures, but when they saw how hurt they were, any misgivings instantly vanished.

"What is going on here?!" exclaimed a voice in anger. The voice belonged to Glynda Goodwitch, a teacher of Beacon and main assistant to Headmaster Ozpin. "Miss Xiao Long, I thought I told you to watch your temper!"

Yang, who was currently eyeing the group of animals, simply pointed down. Goodwitch looked down, and she instantly forgot her anger. "Everyone, get these creatures to the medical wing."

Ruby went to carry the blue one, but she bumped her foot on something. Looking down, she saw it was not a loose tile made by the fallen creatures, but rather a green gemstone that was softly pulsing and glowing. She picked it up, thinking it might be important for these strange beings, and then helped lift the blue creature onto a stretcher.

Beacon Academy's Medical Wing
9:30 a.m., Next day

Sonic awoke first. He opened his eyes, then instantly regretted it, as it was very bright. After that he felt the pain rush through his body. It wasn't too bad, compared to the time he was killed by half of a literal Time-God, but it still hurt all the same. He could tell that he was lying in a bed, though. He tried to open his eyes slowly, letting his eyes adjust to the lighting. He was a little surprised to see a pair of cyan blue eyes just inches away from his face.

The owner of the blue eyes, known as Nora Valkyrie, did her famous "Boop" while poking Sonic's nose. He yelped in surprise and involuntarily jumped back from the contact.

"Hey, lady, back off, would ya?!" asked Sonic, a little annoyed at the abuse of his nose. "Jeez, what a way to wake up a guy."

"Oh good, one of them is awake, no thanks to Miss Valkyrie." Glynda said as she was standing a few feet away, accompanied by Team RWBY and Team JNPR. With the ginger haired girl showing a toothy grin dew to her mischief.

"Don't mind Nora, she has an unfortunate habit of doing that." explained Lie Ren. Sonic looked at the direction of the voice and saw the young man with pink eyes and highlights in his hair. "Anyways, what kind of creature are you?" asked Ren.

"Hm, I thought it would be obvious, I'm a hedgehog!" exclaimed Sonic indignantly.

"Excuse me but are you and your friends the product of some experiment from the White Fang?" asked Glynda.

"What's a White Fang? Wait a sec, my friends…" Sonic trailed off as he looked to the left of his bed and saw the other beings from Mobius in a worse state than he was. "Oh, Chaos! Guys, I promise to answer your questions if you can tell me if somebody picked up a Chaos Emerald. It's a large jewel, probably the size of my fist." He held out a gloved hand in demonstration.

"Would this qualify?" asked Ruby, as she pulled out the large green gem she picked up earlier.

Sonic, displaying no pain from his injuries, zipped up to Ruby, grabbed the green Chaos Emerald, and stood in front of his friends. He then concentrated, and the glowing intensified.

"Chaos Regeneration!" Sonic shouted, and all of a sudden, the Emerald shot out a beam of light at all but one of the injured Mobians, and any damage they experienced disappeared. As one, they all started to wake up.

"Whew, glad to see everyone is ok, considering that Chaos Control sent us somewhere we should not be. I don't even think this is Mobius, or even Earth for that matter." commented the blue blur.

"Of course not, faker, did you see any other mobian's besides us around?" asked Shadow, being his usual cranky self. He held out his hand to Sonic, and he received the green Chaos Emerald, which he put away in his quills.

"While I am impressed with your power, do you think you could tell us who or what you are?" said a mature and calming voice. Everyone looked and saw a middle-aged man with silver hair, wearing shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck. He wears an unzipped black suit over a dark green, buttoned vest and green shirt. Along with black trouser shoes and long dark-green pants. In one of his hands is a cane, and in the other is a coffee mug with fill-up hot cocoa steaming from it.

"Well, before we tell you anything, how about some introductions first?" Sonic asked.

"Fair enough", Ozpin said, with a reassuring smile. "I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch, assistant to the professor and Headmistress of this academy."

"I'm Ruby Rose. Leader of Team RWBY, which includes me, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and my older sister, Yang Xiao Long." As Ruby introduced everyone, Weiss nodded in acknowledgement, Blake also nodded, and Yang waved enthusiastically.

"H-hello, I'm Jaune Arc, and I lead Team JNPR. This includes myself, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren and I believe you have already met Nora Valkyrie." When Jaune pointed out his teammates, Pyrrha waved while saying "Hello", Ren did a slight bow, and Nora just continued to grin innocently.

"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic said with his traditional thumbs up.

"I'm Amy Rose, also a Hedgehog, and I am also Sonic's girlfriend!" Amy said with enthusiasm.

"Amy, that has not and will not happen!" Sonic exclaimed in exasperation. Amy just pouted.

"Does this happen often?" asked Yang to Knuckles with a raised eyebrow.

"Far too often," sighed the crimson mobian. "Moving on, I am Knuckles, the last guardian of the echidna race."

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form."

"I am Rouge the Bat, but please call me Rouge."

"My name is Silver, I too am a hedgehog and I come from the future of our world."

"I'm Blaze the Cat, a princess from another dimension. But please don't bother yourselves with formalities." The purple cat requested.

The one person who hadn't introduced himself was currently working on the robot, which clearly had something to do with the new arrivals, and was moved to the ward.

"Yo, Tails, I know you need to work on Omega, but go ahead and introduce yourself." Sonic said.

The two-tailed fox stood up and faced everyone. "Hello, my name is Miles Prower, but everyone calls me by my nickname, Tails."

"Why are you called Tails?" asked Pyrrha in a confused manner.

"Oh, that's easy." Tails revealed his namesakes. "It may seem like a bad genetic mutation, but I really don't mind. Besides, I can do this." Tails started spinning his tails and started flying around the room, impressing the natives of Remnant. Tails landed softly and went back to work on Omega.

"So, who is the robot?" asked Jaune.

"His designation is E-123 Omega," Shadow explained. "Rouge, Omega and I form a team of our own, called Team Dark. All three of us are agents of the Guardian Unit of Nations, or G.U.N. for short, which is the military from one of the worlds where we come from."

"And what 'worlds' are they, exactly?" asked Glynda with curiosity.

Before the mobians could answer, Tails finally finished repairing the walking arsenal.

"SYSTEMS BOOTING UP. RETRIEVING LATEST MEMORIES BEFORE UNEXPECTED SHUTDOWN." Omega stated in his robotic voice.

"If I had a Ring every time I heard that…" muttered Rouge.

"MEMORY RETRIEVAL SUCCESSFUL. ACQUIRING LOCATION... ERROR, UNABLE TO LOCATE. MOST PROBABLE CAUSE: GLITCH IN GPS-."

"No, Omega, we aren't on Mobius or Earth anymore." informed Blaze.

"No, indeed. You are in a world known as Remnant. From overhearing your conversation, can I safely assume that you are from the worlds Earth and Mobius?" asked Ozpin curiously.

"AFFIRMATIVE." Omega paused and noticed the humans. The walking arsenal did a scan to identify them from his database, but there was no confirmed identification for any of them. He then stood up suddenly, lifted his arms, and revealed his weapon, rocket launchers. "ALERT! SENSORS DETECTING WEAPONS IN THE VICINITY. LOCATION: THE EIGHT ADOLESCENT AND TWO ADULT HUMANS." There was a clicking noise as Omega primed his rocket launchers. "ACTION: TERMINATE, WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!"

It seemed that in the brief time the colourful animals had been there, they were about to be responsible for the murders of two senior staff of Beacon and eight rising students.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted them! Professor, get down!" Glynda shouted, summoning a large purple glyph that protected Ozpin and Teams RWBY and JNPR. Oddly, the Headmaster of Beacon was the only one that seemed unconcerned about the whole situation.

"Omega! Stand down!" shouted Shadow, as he leaped into the walking arsenal's line of sight. "I know this is a strange thing for me to say, but don't kill the humans! At least, not until they explain themselves."

Omega kept his gaze on the Remnant natives for what felt like forever, until he replaced his launchers with his traditional robotic claws for hands. "ACKNOWLEDGED."

Everyone relaxed, glad to see that murder was postponed, at least for now. Glynda dispelled her protective shield from the headmaster and her students.

"I think I need a change of pants." Jaune whimpered.

"Well, your robot certainly is paranoid." Ozpin chuckled in amusement. "But to answer your question, I guess I should have explained that Beacon Academy is designed to train students to fight the monsters known as 'the Creatures of Grimm', which inhabit most of the world. Everyone in this school has their own customised weapon they use to practice with, and will one day be used to keep the peace and protect the people."

"Interesting. Pretty high stakes if you ask me." remarked Blaze.

"It never gets boring, I can say that much." said a smirking Yang.

"But I assure you that we mean you no harm. All too often in this world, we segregate and insult a group of humans collectively known as the faunus. They are humans who have developed animal-like traits." the headmaster continued.

"Really? What kind of traits?" asked Tails, who was familiar with being bullied because of his second tail.

In demonstration, Blake stepped forward and untied the bow on her head, revealing her black cat ears atop her head. Amy awed at the cat faunus' ears, finding them kinda cute.

"I mentioned the White Fang earlier because after the war against the faunus, they were looked upon as second-class citizens." Glynda explained.

"The White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unite between humans and faunus, but we were still prosecuted, and a new leader transformed the White Fang from a peaceful organization to a terrorist movement. I didn't want to aid in their violence, so I left. I decided to use my skills to become a huntress." Blake said with a touch of sadness.

"That's very noble of you, Blake." said Silver. Blake smiled at the compliment. She tied her bow back on, covering up her animalistic heritage once more.

"DISRESPECTING OTHER BEINGS BECAUSE OF THEIR APPEARANCES SEEMS LIKE A FOOLISH WASTE OF RESOURCES." Omega commented.

"So if humans with animal traits are subjected to such cruelty, why aren't we all locked up or on a dissecting table?" asked Rouge with confusion.

"I guess what we are trying to say is that when you crashed here last night, it did not matter that you looked different. You were clearly sentient beings in pain, and needed help. So you can count on our help in any way we can." Ozpin concluded.

"Well, I hate to break up for a moment, but do you have anything to eat? Because I'm starving." asked the white bat with the other mobians agreeing with her, with the exception of Omega and Shadow.

As soon as she said that, all the beings from Mobius, with the exception of Omega, all felt hungry as well. One or two of their stomachs growled to showcase it.

"Well, what do you guys normally eat?" asked Jaune.

"Where we come from, we live alongside humans whenever we're on Earth, so we can eat anything that humans can eat." said Tails.

"Oh good, I will inform the chefs to bring breakfast here." Glynda walked off to the cafeteria.

"Tell them I want a mountain worth of chili dogs!" Sonic shouted after her.

"So, after breakfast, do you want to see our weapons? I think that you might like them." Ruby said excitedly. She just loves showing off her beauty of a weapon.

"Well, we don't have anything better to do, so sure why not?" the purple cat said with the others accepting Ruby's invite, especially Shadow and Omega with their curiosity for armaments.

Beacon Academy's weapons locker room
10:00 a.m.

As both teams walked off to make sure their weapons would be ready for presentation, Ruby had something she needed to get off her chest. "Hey Weiss, how come you were quick to trust these guys when it took you two months to accept me as a leader, and Blake being a faunus. So what gives?"

Weiss looked away, feeling slightly ashamed by her past actions since she arrived here. "I admit, I wasn't sure if I could trust them when I first saw them, but seeing them hurt like that, and having to re-evaluate myself after what happened with you and Blake, I learned that I shouldn't judge people before I get to know them. Sure, I still don't trust them, but I'll improve myself to be better."

"What makes you say that?"

"I could sense that they meant no harm. I wasn't sure about that robot when it raised its... weapons, but being suspicious wouldn't have helped."

"Wow, Weiss. I didn't expect-."

"But I will say I don't like the look of that white bat. It's like she's a thief or something." Weiss proclaimed with a swing of her head.

"And now the old Weiss is back," Ruby sighed. "I knew it couldn't last."

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy's courtyard
10:30 a.m.

"All right, so why don't we start with Team JNPR." Tails requested.

Jaune pulled out Crocea Mors, his sword and shield. "Now I don't blame any of you who aren't that impressed. This sword was used by my great-great-grandfather when he fought in The Great War. It probably is best if it is put in a museum." He looked downcast as he said that.

"Well, I have seen worse weapons." said Tails as he looked up and down at the Arc's weapon. "It does look in excellent condition. And I have never seen a sheath that expands to a shield."

"Really? Thank you." said a relieved Jaune.

"It kinda reminds me of Caliburn in a way," Sonic hummed, "anyway, Pyrrha, what do you have?"

Pyrrha pulled out her weapon. "This is Miló, and it has three forms. The current one is used as a javelin. The other forms are a Xiphos, which is kind of like a short sword, and a bolt-action rifle." She demonstrated the transforming of the forms. The mobians were impressed with Pyrrha's combat techniques as her weapon shifted from one form to the other, especially Shadow and Omega.

Next, Nora pulled out what looked like a grenade launcher. "My weapon is called Magnhild! But it's not only a boom-maker!" She then transformed it into a very large hammer.

"Oh may Chaos!" Amy squealed in delight. "I also have a hammer!" The female hedgehog held out her hand, waved it, and to the surprise of the Beacon students, a red and yellow hammer materialized, something that Sonic is all too familiar with.

"Whoa. Didn't see that one coming," said Weiss. "How did you do that?"

Amy just shrugged as she dematerialized her Piko-Piko hammer. "I really don't know, it's one of the biggest mysteries of Mobius."

Ren stepped forward and revealed two green pistols with large blades attached. "These are called Stormflower. Do not let the name fool you, these can be very dangerous."

"Are those designed to be automatic or semi-automatic?" the Ultimate Life Form asked in curiosity.

"Automatic." Ren confirmed, causing Shadow to smirk in appreciation.

"Those weapons were nice, but I think we might enjoy Team RWBY's a little more. No offense, guys." the blue hedgehog commented.

"None taken, Sonic. I too like their weapons as well." replied Pyrrha in acceptance of Sonic's criticism.

"I'll go first with Ember Celia!" Yang shouted. Her innocuous bracelets transformed into gauntlets that went down her elbow. "These babies help me punch while shooting with a shotgun spray or missile!" The mobians, especially Knuckles, who also fought by punching, liked Yang's weapon, a lot.

Blake pulled out her sword. "This is Gambol Shroud. Not only is the sheath of this sword a weapon, but the sword's alternate form is a bladed pistol." She demonstrated the folding action of the katana and then jumped in the air. While airborne, she threw her now compact sword and then pulled the trigger using the ribbon tied to the gun. This caused Gambol Shroud to whip around in a frenzy. The mobians were pretty afraid of any being caught in the radius of her weapon.

Weiss stepped forward and pulled out her rapier. "My sword's name is Myrtenaster."

"Why does it have a revolver chamber in between the blade and the handle?" asked Rouge.

"It changes what the swords ammunition of Dust." At this, Weiss spun the revolver part to a light blue setting and fired off an ice charge. To get rid of this ice, she then changed it to a red setting and the ice melted under the attack of the Heiress' blade.

"Very impressive, Weiss. And excluding Jaune, did all of you build your own weapons?" asked Silver.

"Yep! But I think you will want to see mine!" Ruby skipped over to the mobians, but then-

Aaarrroooooooooo!

"Uh, what was that?" asked Silver nervously.

"SENSORS DETECT THREE LARGE CREATURES CLOSING IN ON ARE VICINITY." Omega reported.

All of a sudden, some trees nearby were knocked down and three large black wolf-like creatures appeared, they were Beowolves.

"Whoa! What are those things?!" Tails screamed.

"You remember us talking about the Creatures of Grimm?" asked Blake.

"Wait, this school is training you guys to fight those things?!" asked an astonished Blaze.

"Yep, and this is the perfect opportunity to show off what I can do!" Ruby said happily.

One of the Beowolves started to run towards the group. Ruby calmly reached behind her and pulled out Crescent Rose, still in sniper form. She pulled the trigger, leaving a headshot in the Beowolf. Suddenly there was a blur of motion as the red sniper rifle changed into a giant scythe. Ruby pointed the business end of the gun behind her, and then she fired. This propelled her into the dark wolf. At the right moment before bodily impact, she fired at an angle, causing her to spin and form a deadly pinwheel. Needless to say, the second Beowolf had a subtle absence of a head before toppling to the ground, where it started to dissolve until there was no evidence that the creature even existed. The third Beowolf took a bullet to the face as the momentum propelled Ruby in front of the mobians.

Silver eyes looked at the mobians as she folded Crescent Rose up. "Any questions?" asked Ruby cheerfully.

All of the mobians, except Shadow and Omega, wore stunned expressions with jaws dropped to the ground. The robot did express his opinion quite clearly, though.

"Hey, Omega, right? Why is there oil leaking from your, uh... mouth?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow, showing his confusion.

"OPTIC SENSORS OVERLOADED AT SIGHT OF MAGNIFICENT BEAUTY OF WEAPON." Omega said in his monotone, black liquid still dripping.

"Translation?" asked Nora. "Some of us don't speak killer robot."

"I think Omega is drooling?" answered Tails with uncertainty.

"A robot can drool? That doesn't seem physically possible." said Jaune in utter confusion.

Shadow also joined Omega in the drooling, but quickly snapped himself out of his trance and pulled out and looked at his standard issue G.U.N. pistol, a Beretta M9 pistol, before throwing it away behind him.

"Where can I get one?/WHERE CAN I ATTAIN ONE?" the ultimate life form and walking arsenal requested simultaneously.

"Wow, those two were staring at your weapon like some kids would most likely stare at me or Rouge." remarked Yang with a simile and her hand on her hips.

"Boys." Rouge signed as her hand slapped against her forehead.

Somewhere in the Forest of Forever Fall
1:00 p.m.

Deep in the ever crimson woods of Forever Fall, there is a peaceful stillness broken only by insects. This stillness could not last, however, as a young Beowolf was sniffing around at a conspicuous crater where there was none the day before. This was a large crater with a radius of three football fields. Oddly, a large dome had taken the place of a large hole. The dome had a silver sheen to it, and the only identifying mark on it besides scorch marks from atmospheric entry was a symbol that featured the head of a bald man with a large mustache. The Beowolf pup put a claw on the closest symbol.

Suddenly, a door opened up on the dome and a pair of flying drones emerged. The duo quickly restrained the very surprised Beowolf and dragged the screaming monster inside the dome.

Watching gleefully from a monitor, Dr. Eggman watched as the robots put the small wolf into an orb and inserted that orb into a large machine, where many other Creatures of Grimm were being stored.

Orbot rolled over and popped up. “PARDON ME, BOSS, BUT ARE YOU SURE THIS IS A GOOD IDEA? tHESE MONSTERS DID MAKE A MESS OF THIS PLACE BEFORE YOU WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE THEM WITH THE REMAINING EGG PAWNS.”

"If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," said Eggman irritably. "These creatures are very powerful, and it seems this new world is filled with them."

“BUT WHAT ABOUT SONIC? IF CHAOS CONTROL SENT US TO THIS WORLD, SHOULDN’T HE AND HIS FRIENDS BE HERE TOO?” Orbot questions with concern.

"Bah! He wasn't in the station, so maybe they got sent somewhere else. At any rate, even if they did get sent to this world, there is no way they will be able to defeat my newest creations!" Eggman gloated as he watched his Egg Pawns place a small black wolf creature within a newly built Badnik.

“MAYBE, BUT AH RECKON THAT YA MIGHT WANNA TA LOOK AT THIS SCREEN.” Cubot said in an obnoxious cowboy accent. Clearly, the accident had scrambled his speech unit. Again.

"Eh?" Eggman looked at the screen showing one of Eggman's probes activity, and then looked away. He whipped his head back in a textbook double-take. On the probe's screen, it was showing nine familiar figures, no worse for wear. "What?! Sonic survived?!" Eggman shouted in rage.

“YEP. AH RECKON THAT SONIC FELLA HAS GOT MORE LIVES THAN A LITTER OF CATS.” Cubot observed.

"Hmm… It's too soon to attack now. I will just bide my time. Once I unleash my all-new 'Dark Badniks', nothing can stop me! Not even Sonic! GAHAHAHAHA!" Eggman laughed ominously.

“AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE EIGHT HUMANS?”

"GAHAHAHA… What? What humans?!" the mad scientist questioned in confusion.

“JUST LOOK ON THE SCREEN AGAIN.” Orbot signed.

Eggman did so. He saw eight humans that were unbeknownst to him, stand alongside Sonic and his friends.

"What about them? What's so special about them?

“WELL, DOCTOR, THEY ALL SEEM TO HAVE VERY STRANGE WEAPONS. ONE OF THEM KILLED THREE OF THOSE BLACK WOLVES WITH, WHAT LOOKED LIKE A COMBINATION OF A LONG-RANGED RIFLE AND A LARGE WAR-SCYTHE.” informed Orbot. He rewinded the footage of a probe and revealed the fight with Ruby killing the Beowolves.

"Hmmm… Was the probe able to scan this unusual weapon?" Eggman asked Orbot.

“NEGATIVE. BEFORE I COULD INITIATE THE SCANNING PROCESS, THE PROBE WENT SILENT. THE LAST THING IT SAW WAS A LARGE BULLET.”

"It was seen?!" Eggman towered over Orbot menacingly.

“I DON’T BELIEVE SO BOSS, IT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN A TOTAL COINCIDENCE! THE GIRL THAT IS THE OWNER OF THE SCYTHE-RIFLE SEEMS TO USE THE ENERGY FROM THE FIRED BULLETS AS MOMENTUM TO JUMP AROUND VERY QUICKLY!” the red robot stammered. At this point, Orbot would have been sweating if he wasn't made of metal.

Eggman sat down, pondering. Orbot stood back up, relieved that his appointment for the smelting pits was delayed for the time being.

"This is an unforeseen variable. Ingenious use of the weapon, though. And the other humans use these exotic weapons as well?"

“THAT IS AN AFFIRMATIVE, PARDNER. HOWEVER, THEY’RE ALL DIFFERENT. AH DON’T THINK THE NEW BOTS WILL HELP AGAINST THEIR FIREPOWAR, THOUGH.” Cubot said.

"Very well, do some more research; find out if there are any local materials that can assist with armour. To be defeated by that annoying hedgehog is one thing, but to be beaten by a bunch of brats? That's just insulting!" Eggman stood up and spread his arms out around a hologram of the planet. "Soon this world shall have a new name: Egg Mania!"

“SAY, ORBY, YA REALLY THINK THAT THE BOSS-MAN’S PLAN WILL WORK THIS WORK?” Cubot whispered to his spherical counterpart.

“WELL, I DON’T REALLY KNOW, BUT I WILL SAY THAT OUR CHANCES ARE AS GOOD THAT WE WILL BE THE ONES TO PICK UP THE PIECES. AGAIN.”

“DAGNABBIT.” cursed out the cubed robot.

Chapter Text

Outside Beacon Academy's courtyards
1:30 p.m.

"So, how did you guys get to this place? I didn't see a spaceship where you crashed." asked Ruby as she was very curious about these strange creatures.

"Well, in the world where we come from, we fight against a madman that wants to take over the world. A bit stereotypical I know, but if he had his way he would have probably taken over our worlds many times over." Sonic explained.

"Have you fought in many battles?" asked Jaune.

"Sonic, Tails, Amy and I have been fighting this guy for many years." replied Knuckles. "His name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik."

"But we just call him Dr. Eggman," said Tails. With all the humans and faunus of the group chuckled at the name.

"What does he use?" asked Pyrrha.

"PRIMARY TARGET: DOCTOR IVO 'EGGMAN' ROBOTNIK, USES INFERIOR ROBOTS TO ATTEMPT WORLD DOMINATION. I AM A RARE EXAMPLE OF HIS SUCCESSFUL WORKS." Omega said with pride while the huntsmen and huntress' slowly edged away from the walking arsenal.

"Don't worry, kids. Omega has dedicated his life to toppling the Eggman Empire." Rouge reassured after seeing the humans getting nervous. "And he's not the first one to do so either." She added as memories of Metal Sonic, E-102 Gamma, Emerl and Gemerl flash through her mind.

"So do any of you have special abilities? I know we already saw Tails' awesome ability." inquired Yang. The young kitsune blushed a bit before he responded.

"Well Sonic, Shadow and Amy have super speed, though Sonic is the fastest of the three. Shadow has various capabilities thanks to his connection with Chaos energy. Knuckles is super strong and he too has a connection to Chaos energy. Blaze is pyrokinetic. Silver is psychokinetic. And Rouge can sneak around quietly, as well as fly."

"It certainly is useful since I am a jewel thief on my days off from government work." Rouge said while striking a pose.

Weiss looked uneasy at this. "So are you going to steal my family's fortune from me?"

Rouge looked at the girl in the white dress in confusion. "Your family is into jewels?" she asked with curiosity.

"Of course. The Schnee Dust Company is the major seller of energy propellant in the world," Weiss said importantly. "Dust comes in all forms, and crystal forms are not uncommon."

"Well, don't worry, sweetie, I will try to shelf my love of jewels. At least until we get off of this place," the white bat reassured. "I am curious as to how energy propellant acquired the name 'Dust', though."

"It's a long story that goes back to the beginning of human life on Remnant. It's really not that important." explained Pyrrha.

"Ok, if you say so. I am surprised that humans evolved on two separate worlds with no recorded contact from each other." Tails wondered.

"Well, maybe-"

Boom!

A thunderous crash interrupted whatever Blaze was about to say.

"Is this normal?" Silver questions in confusion.

"Of course it's normal, Silver," Ren mentioned. "But then again, Nora can get carried away-"

"Hey, that was one time and you know it!" Nora protested.

"Guys, can we stop arguing and just find the source of the explosion?" asked Shadow who was starting to grow impatient.

"Do we have to?" asked Jaune meekly.

"It sounded like it came from the Emerald Forest!" Blake said, disregarding Jaune's question.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Sonic.

They all followed Sonic and Blake to a clearing next to the cliff where Teams RWBY and JNPR started their initiations. What they found surprised the mobians.

The source of the explosion was a gunship floating just off of the cliff. Standing on the side of the ship was a familiar figure to the natives of Remnant, especially Ruby. It was a man with green eyes and orange hair dressed in a white trench coat with brown pants. On his head was a bowler hat with a feather in it. Even to those who have never seen him in person, he left a menacing impression on everyone.

"Well, fancy meeting you here, red! We really must stop meeting like this." the nefarious criminal said as he casually put out the cigar he was smoking with his cane.

"Hey, Ruby? Who's this joker?" asked Sonic with a raised eyebrow.

"He is a big time criminal in Vale. His name is Roman Torchwick." answered Ruby with anger in her eyes.

"Is he dangerous?" asked Knuckles, who was cracking his namesakes in preparation for the inevitable fight.

"Let's see, he has a flying ship and who knows how many reinforcements in it, and he is casually smoking a cigar. Seems not that different to Ol' Egghead. It's probably nothing you can't handle, Knuckie." Rouge said while batting her eyelashes at Knuckles. The red echidna's face matched the rest of his body as he muttered to himself.

"I know we are about to be under attack, but when we are finished here, you have got to tell me what is going on between those two." Yang whispered to Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form nodded, smirking evilly.

"My, my, my, what colourful animals you have," laughed Roman. "No matter, they won't stop me from grabbing all the Dust from Beacon Academy." He lifted up his cane, Melodic Cudgel, and a targeting reticule opened up. "Ta ta!"

A small missile shot out the end of his cane, but before it could reach anyone important, Omega opened up with machine gun fire that intercepted the missile, harmlessly detonating it halfway to its target. "EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILE IS NO MATCH FOR MY SUPERIOR FIREPOWER." Omega proclaimed proudly.

"Hmph, you have a robot now. It looks so… antiquated. Certainly compared to these!" Roman proclaimed. He waved an arm and pointed at the group of heroes.

Three more airships pulled up, offloading their deadly cargo. This consisted of AK-130 Androids. The robots surrounded the mobians and Beacon students. They all extracted blades from their arms.

"Hey, I remember fighting these!" Blake revealed.

"Wait, you fought these before?" asked Weiss. "When?"

"Let's just say that I fought them during my time with the White Fang," answered the faunus. "In any case, they weren't that effective guards for that train." Weiss glared at Blake, but wisely didn't bring up the past.

"Well, let me judge how tough they are!" shouted Sonic. He became a blue blur as he jumped and spin-dashed through the robots. A familiar sight greeted the mobians after a few seconds; a large, unidentifiable pile of metal. Sonic jumped back, smiling with satisfaction. The Beacon students were stunned by the speed of the blue hedgehog.

"Piece of cake," Sonic proclaimed. "Certainly easier than Eggman's robots."

"Well, that was only the first wave!" shouted Torchwick, still recovering slightly at the unexpected speed of the complete decimation of the robots. "I still have an ace up my sleeve!"

Right on cue, two more airships pulled up and dropped off two large shipping containers.

"Uh-oh, something tells me this isn't going to go well." said Silver worriedly.

As if to punctuate his statement, the doors on both containers were blasted off, and two huge robots walked out of each container. The four spider droids once again surrounded the group.

Now, Roman Torchwick may be a criminal, but he does know when he is outmatched. 'Time to make my escape.' thought Roman, as he ordered his ships to leave. He was not looking forward to reporting to her about his failure. 'She's probably going to roast my ass for this.'

"Now this is more like it!" said Knuckles eagerly. "Want to join in the fight, Yang?"

"You bet!" shouted the blonde, and they ran to one of the droids.

"Wait for me, red!" Rouge flew after the punch-happy duo.

"Silver, Blaze, Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, you guys take the second one. Ren, Nora, Amy, Tails, Blake, the third. Sonic, Omega, Ruby, and I will take on the last one." the black and red hedgehog ordered.

"I'm on board with this plan, Shads," agreed Sonic. "Let's go!"

With Yang, Knuckles and Rouge-

The first mixed group of heroes was being shot at by the spider droid. Fortunately, Rouge was able to fly above it.

"Ya know, I think this might be more fun than destroying Eggman's clankers." commented Rouge as she swooped down and kicked the robot in the head. The spider droid just shrugged off the attack with only a small dent.

"That's all you got, Rouge? Let me show you how it's done!" Knuckles ran up to one of the legs and punched it with enough force to shatter diamonds. The leg's outer armour shattered, but it was still working and kicked the echidna  "What is this thing made of?!"

"It's steel infused with certain types of Dust. Not the strongest material, but it is certainly up there!" said Yang as she fired off missiles from Ember Celia. The robot's limited A.I. had enough intelligence to be angry at the girl ruining its paint job, and transformed its guns into one large cannon.

"Watch out!"

Knuckles didn't have to worry, for Yang just did a backflip over the burst of energy. She was fine, but there was a slight scent of burnt hair in the air. A quick glance showed that a half inch of the blonde brawler’s hair became burnt off from the top of her head. There was a very tense pause.

"You… nobody touches my hair!" shouted Yang as her purple eyes turned red and her hair lit up in a small explosion.

"Hey, Knuckles? I think we might want to get out of the way." Rouge said nervously as she dragged Knuckles away from the droid.

This advice was worth listening to, for the second Knuckles was out of the way, the air was filled with gunfire. Flashes of light and plumes of smoke had hidden whatever was happening, but Knuckles was glad that Rouge had dragged him away. After about a minute or two, the smoke cleared, and a figure was visible. This figure was Yang Xiao Long standing on a pile of scrap metal once known as a spider droid. There was nothing left that could be identified as part of the droid. Yang jumped off the pile in front of the red echidna.

"Whoa. Remind me to never get on your bad side." said Knuckles as he and Yang bumped fists.

"How is everyone else doing? We should see if we can help." The blonde brawler wondered.

"Nah honey," Rouge said with confidence, "they've got this."

With Jaune, Pyrrha, Blaze, Silver and Weiss-

"I don't know what I'm doing!" shouted Jaune as he blocked a blast with his shield. While this battle wasn't as exciting as his fight with the biggest Ursa in Forever Fall, but it was up there.

"Don't worry Jaune, just remember what I taught you!" encouraged Pyrrha. She blasted a few rounds from Miló in rifle form. The bullets just glanced off of the robot. "This is just like the Deathstalker battle at our initiation!"

Silver picked up a large rock with his abilities and threw it at the droid. The rock did take off some outer armour, but the robot was still moving.

"I have to agree with you, this robot is pretty durable." remarked Weiss. She summoned a white glyph that deflected a blast.

"We've got to find a weak spot! Do you know anything that could help us, Weiss?" asked Blaze.

"Well, this particular model-" Weiss interrupted herself as she saw a fatal flaw in the robot. "Wait, a Mark IV?! Those were not rated for high temperatures; they were all sold for scrap when the Mark V's came out."

"Did you say 'not rated for high temperatures'?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah, and?"

"And didn't Tails say that Blaze is pyrokinetic?"

"Indeed I am." the mobian cat confirmed.

"Okay, guys, here is my plan." Jaune relayed his plan to the others.

"Jaune Arc, is that the greatest plan you could come up with?" asked Weiss incredulously.

"Why, do you have something better?" asked Silver.

"… Not really. Let's go for it!"

"Okay, break!" Pyrrha quipped.

The group dispersed with Jaune and Pyrrha running towards the robot. Pyrrha transformed Miló into its sword form and whacked the robot in the legs. Jaune blocked a leg that was about to kick Pyrrha.

Silver picked up a large rock, but this time, Blaze and Weiss both shot fire at the rock, slowly melting it.

"Are you done yet!? It's a bit difficult for me to lift liquids for this long!" Sweat was gathering on Silver's forehead, and it wasn't just from the ambient heat.

"Go for it, Silver!" shouted Pyrrha. She and Jaune ran out of the way as the white hedgehog hurled the molten rock at the Spider Droid. The rock, now resembling lava, splashed onto the robot. It made screeches of pain as it slowly melted. There was a small bang as the crude lava melted an important part of the robot. It made powering down noises and sagged on the ground, never to rise again.

"Whoa. I actually didn't think it would work." commented Weiss.

"Well, that's another robot destroyed!" Silver said as he kneeled in exhaustion.

"Hopefully the others had it as easy as we did," said a worried Blaze.

With Nora, Ren, Tails, Amy and Blake-

"Geez, Amy, how many of those hammers do you have with you?" asked Ren dryly. All around the robot were Piko-Piko hammers thrown by the pink hedgehog. As for the robot, there were many small dents in the body, but nothing critical was hit yet.

"Well, let me see if I can do something," said Blake. She took out Gambol Shroud and turned it into its pistol form.

"Are you sure that pistol will do anything to the robot?" asked Nora, who was firing Magnhild. "My grenades aren't doing anything to it, so why do you think that will turn the tide?"

"Just watch me." Blake launched her pistol and it embedded into the robot. She yanked on the ribbon, shooting the gun and sending the gun back at her, along with a piece of armour.

The robot, sensing that its front was vulnerable, shifted parts of the armor from its back and placed it in front, still firing at the group.

"And how does this help us?" asked Ren.

"Well, now that the armour has shifted from the back to the front-"

"That means there is now a vulnerable back!" shouted Tails in understanding. Blake nodded, smiling at the kitsune.

"Still doesn't help that we are in the front, though," said Ren. "But if it is distracted, one of us can insert a bomb in its back."

"Nora, can I use one of your grenades?"

"Since you asked so nicely, sure thing!" Nora took out a cylinder with a distinctive heart on the end. Tails took a screwdriver out and revealed the mechanical workings of the grenade.

"Tails, what are you doing?" asked Ren.

"Don't worry; Tails has been doing this for years. He knows what he's doing." said Amy with confidence.

"Got it! Now all I need are a few seconds."

"Then allow me to give them to you." With that, Ren started running towards the droid, shooting his dual automatic pistols at the robot. Said robot turned towards the human, while Tails flew in behind it and placed the grenade into a hole in the back. The droid noticed that there was a strange animal on its back, and spun around rapidly, managing to dislodge Tails. Fortunately, he was grabbed by Blake before he could hit a tree.

"Fore!" shouted Nora as she transformed Magnhild into it's war-hammer form and whacked a rock. The rock hurtled towards the robot, and hit the grenade.

There was a loud boom as the grenade exploded in the robot. It collapsed, and all the lights on it went black.

"Whew, that was close. Thanks for the save, Blake." Tails said gratefully.

Blake just kneeled down and hugged him. After a moment of surprise, Tails returned the hug.

"Uh, what's with the hug?" asked Tails. Blake stood up.

"Well, I feel that we could be good friends, since we both were bullied for being different. I have only just started to let people in, and I didn't want to lose a potential friend." Blake said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I wanna hug, too!" interrupted Nora.

"And now, the moment is gone," said Ren while shaking his head.

With Sonic, Shadow, Omega and Ruby-

"ENEMY ROBOT IS A WORTHY ADVERSARY!" observed Omega as he fired rockets from his arms. The droid lifted up its arms and shielded itself from the onslaught.

"Caught that, did you?" asked Shadow sarcastically. He and Sonic were spin dashing at the droid's head without success. "Got any ideas, faker?"

"Well buddy, maybe you should check your Emerald."

Shadow stopped with his fruitless efforts and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald. It was pulsating wildly to something in the vicinity.

"Um, why is it doing that?" asked Ruby, who was firing Crescent Rose.

"SENSORS INDICATE ENERGY OF ADDITIONAL CHAOS EMERALD NEARBY. THE SOURCE SEEMS TO BE COMING FROM THIS DROID." observed Omega.

"Wait, so this droid isn't powered by Dust? It's powered by one of your gems?"

"It certainly seems that way, Ruby. Only one way to find out!" Sonic dashed along the ground at a high speed. Unfortunately, the robot kicked the hedgehog into Omega, rendering them both helpless. The droid formed its arms into a supercharged cannon.

"Not on my watch!" Ruby, with help from Crescent Rose, dashing towards the robot. Just before the droid was going to fire, the large scythe ripped through the gun, leaving it useless. Omega stood up and helped Sonic get up.

"Wow, that scythe is impressive. I still can't believe you built that thing." Sonic said, gazing at Crescent Rose.

"I know my weapon is awesome, but that robot still wants to kill us!" shouted Ruby.

"Then allow me to finish it."

Ruby, Sonic, and Omega looked at Shadow. The black and red hedgehog was starting to glow a malice red.

"Hey, is he ok?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, he's fine, but we won't be unless we get to cover!" said a panicked Sonic. He ran off to a safe distance while dragging Ruby and Omega.

Meanwhile, Shadow was bringing forth all the negative Chaos energy he could, and considering what he went through when the war began, he reached the crucial point fairly quickly. "Chaos…"

The robot, oblivious to the incoming danger, pounced at the Ultimate Life Form.

"…Blast!"

As Dark Shadow uttered that last word, a red sphere of destruction appeared, and anything within several feet of Chaos Shadow was obliterated. Needless to say, the robot was decimated. The black hedgehog looked at the wreckage of the robot and saw something flashing. He walked over and found the source, which was the red Chaos Emerald.

"Is it safe to come out yet?" asked Ruby, who was hiding behind a large rock with Sonic and Omega.

"Yeah, it's fine. Well, that was fun." said Sonic.

The groups of heroes gathered at the center of the clearing. All around them were destroyed robots and shrapnel.

"So, what do you think?" asked Knuckles.

"You guys are awesome!" gushed Nora. "But I think that you need weapons of your own. This world is dangerous."

"As much as I hate to say this, I have to agree with Miss Hammerhead."

"Hey" the pink hedgehog shouted.

"Not you, Amy." Shadow held out both the green and red Chaos Emeralds. "We have to make sure that nobody else can use these for evil purposes."

"You sure you don't just want a weapon for yourself?" asked Rouge. "Wait, don't answer that, we know you do."

"What is going on?! What were all those explosions?!" Glynda Goodwitch finally showed up, and she was not happy. "Why are there robot parts all over this place?!"

"Miss Goodwitch, don't be mad," begged Ruby. "but Sonic and his friends helped us stop Torchwick from robbing Beacon."

"What?" Glynda paused in shock. "You stopped Torchwick?"

"Well, we stopped his robots. Just another day for us," said a grinning Sonic. "Sorry about the mess, though."

"It was either that or die, and some of us don't want to relive that experience," remarked Shadow, the Remnant natives looked at the Ultimate Life Form in confusion. "Before any of you ask, it is a long story and really isn't that important at the moment."

"…Very well." Accepted the headmistress.

"Miss Goodwitch?" asked Tails meekly. "Does your school have a weapon forge?"

"Yes, but why do you want to know?"

"Well, considering we might be here for a while, I thought that we should also have weapons of our own."

"But you are so young!" the headmistress protested.

"Hey, don't doubt my little bro!" defended Sonic. "He's a genius! He built the Tornado 2 when he was less than ten years old!"

"And what is a 'Tornado'?" demanded Glynda.

"It's a airplane. It's really not that special-"

"Pardon?" interrupted the Headmistress of Beacon Academy. "You built an airplane?"

"Yup! And I think I may be able to build another one here, after I work on some weapons!"

"Goodness… This is all very strange." Glynda took a breath. "I will talk with Professor Ozpin and you will hear his response tomorrow."

"Awesome!" cheered Sonic.

"However, I suggest you keep a low profile. We don't want to cause more of a disturbance, now. Do we?" Glynda smiled a little before walking off.

"Wait! Where do we go to get some shut-eye? We can't exactly call a hotel." Asked Rouge.

"There are two unused rooms next to our dorms. Maybe they could stay there?" Ruby mentioned.

Glynda turned around. "Indeed, Ozpin did prepare those two rooms for our Mobian friends. You may go there to get settled in at any point. For now, just enjoy the day. I will have someone clean up the shrapnel from this fight."

"Great!" the mobians cheered out in celebration.

Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse on the Vale docks-

Sigh…

Roman Torchwick was not looking forward to reporting to his boss. She was still not happy about the failed robbery attempt that was thwarted by the strange girl with the floating swords. Roman pulled up his Scroll, and braced himself for the coming lashing.

"Don't bother, Roman. I'm already here."

The thief jumped a foot in the air at the voice. He turned around and saw the owner of the voice. She was an attractive woman in a red dress with black hair, but any thoughts of romancing her were cut short by evil yellow eyes that seemed to glow with malice.

Recovering quickly, Roman addressed he's employer, Cinder Fall. "Well, boss, I would have gotten the Dust if it wasn't for an unforeseen... complication." He described his encounter with the mobians.

"Hmm… This is most troubling. And you have proof?"

"Yes, ma'am." Roman gave Cinder his Scroll that was showing footage of Sonic destroying the AK-130 droids with ease.

"And what about the Spider Droids?" demanded Cinder.

"I haven't heard anything from them, but I think we can assume that they have been successful in eliminating the creatures-"

"Don't assume anything, Roman. Or do you recall what happened the last time you underestimated an adversary?"

Roman grimaced. "I remember perfectly." Remembering his first encounter with Ruby and Glynda, as well as his failed attempted robbery of the Dust shipping containers by Blake Belladonna, Sun Wukong and Penny Pollintina.

"Good. I am calling off all attempts of robbing Beacon Academy until it is safe for us for sure." Cinder walked off, but not before giving Roman one more order: "And if you find yourself in a convenient position, kill them."

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy's Headmaster's office
4:00 p.m.

Any chances of the fights against Torchwick and the Grimm would have been unnoticed by the people of Vale was taken away when Ozpin received a call from V.N.N. Apparently, Newswoman Lisa Lavender had received many calls about large plumes of smoke coming from the vicinity of Beacon. Ozpin was not looking forward to revealing the mobians. So he called up Sonic to tell him the news.

"Well, it was only a matter of time before somebody got wind of what happened this afternoon." said Sonic in between bites of a chili dog. "Actually, I am surprised that it took them this long to see that something was up at this school. We didn't exactly have a subtle arrival here."

"Hm, true. Nevertheless, this is a delicate situation. What do you suggest we tell the media?" asked Glynda, faithfully standing by Ozpin as usual.

Sonic finished his chili dog and said, "How about we just tell them the truth? Something tells me that if we arrived here because of Eggman, he won't be far behind. It would help us tremendously if we were not just stuck in this school. No offense."

Ozpin chuckled, then said, "None taken Sonic, I can understand your situation perfectly. You do indeed need the freedom of movement in order to stop this 'Dr. Eggman' character. However, I am worried about how the residents of this school, much less Vale or all of Remnant will react."

"Well, Professor, maybe it's time the people of this world started to stop discriminating against others with animal-like traits."

"On that, I agree wholeheartedly. So, I assume that the other mobians agree with your sentiment? That the truth should be known?"

"Well, when we talked earlier about what would happen should the media come here, seven of us voted for it, and two were indifferent about revealing ourselves."

"Who are the two that were indifferent?" asked Glynda curiously.

"There's Omega who, and I quote, 'DOES NOT CARE WHAT THE PUNY MEATBAG THINK'," the blue Hedgehog mocked, "and as for Shadow, he never really likes anyone in the first place."

"… I see. Very well, you may inform your friends that the news crew will be here in an hour."

"Sweet! Gotta go!" And with that, Sonic ran out of the room in a blue blur.

Glynda sighed. "Professor, you would think that we would be used to strange things happening in this school by now."

"Indeed."

Beacon's Combat arena
One hour later

To say that Ozpin was nervous about revealing the mobians was very accurate. Anchor Lisa Lavender had just sat down and was preparing the interview. Behind her was a small camera crew setting up cameras and lights.

"Are we good?" asked the newswoman.

The lead cameraman nodded. "Yea, we are on live in three… two… one… go!" The red light on the camera lit up.

"Good evening, citizens of Vale," Lisa spoke. "I am Lisa Lavender, and we are live at the prestigious Beacon Academy, with Headmaster Professor Ozpin."

"It is a pleasure to have you here, Miss Lavender." Ozpin said, smiling despite his discomfort.

"Professor, many of our viewers have called to inform us about dark plumes of smoke not far from Beacon. Do you think you could answer some of our questions?"

"I will certainly do my best."

"Excellent. So some of our viewers asked if the smoke might be related to the meteors that hit last night. Is this true?"

"Well, you could say that it is somewhat true."

"We'll come back to that. What was the cause of the smoke that appeared this afternoon?"

"There was an attempted robbery of the Dust storage here at this school." Ozpin adjusted his glasses, and then continued. "The ringleader of this failed attempt was Roman Torchwick."

"Goodness, Roman Torchwick?"

"Yes, and thanks to our new allies, we were able to prevent the robbery."

"New allies?" asked Lisa curiously. "Do you mean the headmasters from one of the other academies?"

"No, I think he means me and my friends." said a voice at the back of the room. The owner of this voice was something that Lisa had never seen before, and to say that Lisa was surprised by this was an understatement.

"Oh my Oum! Is that a blue hedgehog?!" Lisa shouted, standing on her chair. She was in a bit of a panic after seeing something that seemed impossible to exist.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" asked Sonic, seeming to not care about the camera pointing at him or the news anchor on a chair.

"Lisa, please sit down," the headmaster requests, "I have yet to find a newswoman who successfully kept her career after seeing the Creatures of Grimm for the first time. He is harmless compared to a Deathstalker." said Ozpin, who was very amused at the reactions around him.

"Hey now, professor, make that 'mostly harmless'," corrected Sonic with his enthusiasm. "I can kick butt pretty easily."

"Duly noted."

"I am sorry, but who and what are you?" asked Lisa, who still hadn't gained her composure, but at least she was sitting back in her chair.

"Well, Miss Lavender, was it? I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. My friends and I are not from this world, but from another we call 'Mobius'."

"So… You're aliens?"

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean, we lived amongst humans where we come from, so we aren't called that by them."

"How did you get here?" asked Lisa, who finally gained her wits.

"Well, it all started when…" It took about an hour or so to answer all of the news woman's questions, during which the rest of the gang from Mobius entered the room and introduced themselves. Starting with Tails, followed by Knuckles and Amy, then Rouge, Silver and Blaze came out, and finally Shadow and Omega. The camera crew and even the newswoman noticed that most of these mobians gave off a positive energetic aura, however the the black and red hedgehog and robot don't that same feeling.

Many details of the mobians history wasn't giving out so willingly, such as the Chaos Emeralds for obvious reasons, or Shadow's past for personal reasons. They did mention Eggman though, but they only described him as an mad mechanical engineer terrorist that falled at world domination so many times. Since the Kingdom of Vale has a criminal mastermind like Roman on the streets, it might be safe to assume that Eggman would come out as the new number one on Vale's most wanted, heck it'll make hunting him down much more easier.

"All right, my final question for all of you: Do you mean us any harm?"

Sonic looked at her seriously and said, "Unless anyone harms us, we will not hurt anyone. We are considered heroes, and we promise to uphold that honour, in any world."

"But you may be targeted by anti-faunus groups, spreading rumours that may or maynot be true of anything they make up."

At this point, "Excuse me," Tails spoke up. "Now I may be the youngest of the group here, but even I can see that some people need to grow up. So what if people are born with animalistic traits? You don't need to discriminate, they're still human. People back home made fun of me because of my mutation, but our differences make us special. If you are going to beat up someone because they have different ears or a tail, you are no better than the Creatures of Grimm."

Tails was starting to cry a bit as he was reliving some of his traumatic experiences in his early childhood. Sonic hugged him, which Tails returned. Amy and Knuckles put reassuring hands on his back.

"Well said, Tails." remarked Blaze. All the other mobians agreed in their own ways. Even Shadow gave a small smile in apprehension for the young kitsune.

"And what of the White Fang? There could be potential attacks from them and place the blame upon you."

"Why would they attack us? We haven't really done anything to them... yet. The only way I could see them attacking us is if they were working with that Roman Candlewick." said Knuckles.

"Hey, Knucklehead, haven't you heard? Some White Fang groups are working with him." corrected Sonic.

"... I knew that. Well, at least we know how to defend ourselves."

"OK, enough with the male posturing, we are on television." interrupted Amy in annoyance.

"Apologies. Our point is," concluded Sonic, "that we fight oppression on a regular basis, and I sincerely hope that we will get along with all of the citizens while we are here. As long as you are friendly to us, we'll be friendly to you."

"Speak for yourself, Sonic."

"OPINIONS OF ORGANIC BEINGS DO NOT CONCERN ME."

"Correction, seven out of nine of us will be friendly. It's probably best to ignore those two." said Rouge while sweat-dropping at her teammates comments.

"...Very well. This is Lisa Lavender reporting live at Beacon Academy, signing out. Back to you, Cyril." Once Lisa finished her interview, the red light on the camera turned off and the camera crew were starting to pack up their equipment, even most of the heroes left as well. "Thank you for your time Professor Ozpin, and yours too Sonic the Hedgehog."

"My pleasure, Miss Lavender." 

"Please, just call me Sonic."

Team RWBY's dorm

Back at the dorm rooms, the members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR were watching the whole broadcast on the T.V. in Team RWBY's room.

"Well, we really should do something special for them." said Yang.

"How can we?" asked Weiss. "They all have special abilities, akin to our Semblance's. What could we possibly do for them?"

"Didn't Tails say he was going to build weapons?" asked Ren.

"We should help him!" exclaimed Nora in excitement.

"Yeah, let's do it!" agreed Ruby. "This will be fun!", who is also cheering in excitement.

"I agree, but what weapons would each of them have?" Jaune questioned, which left everyone dumdfounded on what ideas.

When the mobians arrived at their designated sleeping areas, both huntermen teams told Tails of their intentions. Tails was dubious at first, but he remembered that seven out of eight of them designed and built their weapons, so he agreed to assist him in making blueprints through the night, Blake and Ruby even shared books and information on the inner workings of how weapons mecha-shifting operate, and Weiss provided various samples of Dust for the young fox. It was late in the evening when they finished, but the kitsune was getting excited about building the weapons the next morning.

His only fear was the reaction the Ultimate Life Form would show if he didn't like his weapon.

Chapter Text

Streets of Vale
5:00 p.m.

Tails was in the Beacon Academy's weapons forge, making the very awesome weapons for himself and the rest of the natives of Mobius. Team JNPR had to finish off some homework for Doctor Oobleck, so they could not come. Knuckles was currently trying to psychically contact Mobius, and more specifically, his precious Master Emerald. Finally, the three teammates of Team Dark were sparring in the combat arena in Beacon, causing great excitement among the students, ranging from first year teams like Team's CRDL and SAGE, to older members such as Team CVFY. As for Team RWBY, they finished earlier that day, and Ruby suggested that the rest of them go out to the city of Vale and walk around for a bit.

While the mobians were not too thrilled about leaving the relative safety of Beacon, the threat of "Cabin Fever" was more than willing to persuade them to leave the academy and explore their surroundings, especially someone such as Sonic.

Team RWBY was walking along the main street of Vale with Sonic, Amy, Silver, and Blaze, when Blake noticed something strange. "Hey, is it just me, or are people being nicer to faunus?" she asked as she saw someone holding open a door for a rabbit-eared faunus named Velvet Scarlatina, a second-year huntress and a member of Team CVFY at Beacon Academy.

"It's not just you, Blake. I'm also seeing a lot of wet paint over what were 'No faunus' allowed' notices." Yang observed.

"It also seems that more faunus are revealing themselves. I am seeing less hats and more animal-like ears and horns." said Weiss.

"Wow, things are really changing around here. Why couldn't you guys get here sooner? I love being part of history!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"Man, Tails' speech really changed this town!" Silver picked up a newspaper. "'Arrival of Strange Creatures, Changes Vale Forever Overnight', according to the headline."

"So, are there any shops that have clothes my size?" Amy wonders.

"I doubt it. This is the first time we have been visited by creatures from another world. However, I may be able to help you out, since I am a rich individual and can hire a tailor to fit some clothes for you, Blaze and Rouge, since the males seem comfortable without clothes." Weiss said with a hint of distaste at the end of her sentence. She was working very hard to overcome her prejudice against animal-like beings, but old habits die hard I guess. Plus, she seemed understandably uncomfortable about the male mobians just wearing shoes and gloves.

"Hey, what's this place?" Blaze pointed at a fairly new establishment in Vale. There was a sign that had a picture of a bald man with an eyepatch and a monocle. Under the face, it had a sign that said 'Yarrgarita- home of the Corpirate'.

"Oh, that's the new dance bar that was set up about a month ago. It's been pretty popular in that short time. Partly because the bouncers don't mind underage people in here as long as they don't drink alcohol, but mostly because the other bar in town was destroyed." Blake explained. Yang looked away innocently as her little sister eyed her because of what she did before to that 'other bar'.

"Really? How did that happen?" asked the white hedgehog.

"I was trying to find someone, and the person I asked made the mistake of ripping some of my hair out." Yang said while stroking her hair lovingly.

"That's an understatement. Yang caused more damage than that guy with the rocket launcher." Ruby said dryly.

"Why is it called 'Home of the Corpirate'?" asked Weiss, who was the only Remnant native of the group who had not been to or heard of the place.

"Apparently, the owner was a big wrestling champion in his younger years. He calls himself 'The Corpirate' because he thinks of himself as a corporate pirate. He also named himself 'Yarrgarita' because he sometimes fought during his vacations." The cat faunus informed the group.

"Well, anyway, why don't we go in? It seems like a fun place." said Sonic with an encouraging grin.

Inside the bar was your typical dance bar ambience. There were many wrestling belts on the walls of the place, and pictures showing the self-proclaimed 'Corpirate' with his former opponents. Lots of people were dancing to some music coming from a few speakers.

In fact, the thing that was really out of place was what appeared to be a random assortment of PVC pipes in the center of the stage where a karaoke sometimes took place. This stage also had a full set of rock band instruments, but they looked like they had not been used in a while, judging from the thin layer of dust.

"What's all this junk?" asked Weiss, pointing at the pipes.

"That, my dear, is a failed experiment," said a voice. The group turned around and saw a very tall man wearing a business suit. His face was the same face on the sign of the bar; this was the Corpirate himself. "I installed that, thinking that some people might like to play with the pipes as well as conventional instruments. I keep it around in the vain hope that somebody might use it. Anyway, welcome to Yarrgarita. I'm the Corpirate. And you must be infamous Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sonic gave him his traditional thumbs up and simile. "It really is pleasant to have you here," continued the Corpirate. "It's about time this town got rid of its hatred of anything animal-related. I never discriminated against the faunus, personally. I don't have the luxury of turning down paying customers. Plus, the bouncers, who are faunus, seem to know who is of age and can kick them out if they get rowdy."

Right on cue, a faunus with gorilla-like arms and legs went to the Corpirate and said, "Hey, boss, got another racist. Probably the same one from last week."

*sigh* "All right, George, you know what to do."

"Yes sir!" George went over to a table and picked up a young student (which Team RWBY recognized as Beacon Academy's residential bully, Cardin Winchester, the leader of Team CRDL) and threw him out. Everyone at the bar cheered as George took a bow.

"I hate these anti-faunus extremists. Always think they are better than everyone else." The Corpirate finally took notice of Team RWBY. "And who are these lovely ladies?"

Team RWBY introduced themselves. They liked the Corpirate after seeing him getting rid of the leader of Team CRDL.

"It's wonderful to have you all here."

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Sonic questions.

"Sure, Sonic, what can I do for ya?" asked the Corpirate.

"Well, as it happens," said a grinning Sonic, "I know a few people that might make some use out of those pipes."

"Wait… What's going on?" Yang was very confused at this point.

"I think Sonic wants to play a song, and wants us to play the instruments, including those pipes," said Amy. Sonic gave her a thumbs up. Amy suddenly remembered back when Sonic and his cousins, Sonia and Manic, formed 'The Undergrounds' during the blue blur's younger days.

"Oo! Can we play too? I wanna sing!" interjected Ruby, who was bouncing in excitement.

"Sure, you can sing. Got something in mind that can work with these instruments?"

Ruby handed Sonic her Scroll. She had pulled up a music app with several songs, and the mobians listened to one of them. After a few minutes, they seemed confident enough to play it right.

"Good choice, Ruby." said Blake, who picked up a bass guitar and started to tune it.

"Well, I am fine with it as long as I get the singing lead in the next song," said Weiss. She powered up a keyboard and tested it to check it's condition.

Everyone else took their places, with Sonic and Ruby playing electric guitars, Yang on the drum kit, and Silver, Blaze and Amy on the pipes. Silver picked up orange drumsticks for the bass parts, while Blaze and Amy took up small paddles of the same color.

"This should be interesting," mused the Corpirate. He picked up a microphone and signaled the DJ to cut the music. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to have in this club the most interesting people to ever land in Vale! Please welcome Sonic the Hedgehog!" There was a thunderous applause. "Let's also give a shoutout to these four girls, Team RWBY!" There was more applause as the music started.

Corrin Campbell- Our Time Now

RUBY: In the palm, of your hand
All the world ain't it grand.
Feel the fire, burn inside
Never felt, more alive.
It's a world of false insanities
It's a fight against the gravity.
Lift me up, lift me up.
We'll rise up!

We are the free generation,
We are a fired up nation,
we are the winds of change,
Cause it's our time now, our time now!

SONIC: We wanna dance, wanna sing
Wanna live, wanna breathe
All the world, stops to stare
Cause we are power, everywhere
It's time for us, for us to live a truth
It's time to let are souls breath in our youth
Lift us up, lift us up.
We'll rise up!

We are the free generation,
We are a fired up nation,
we are the winds of change,
Cause it's our time now, our time now!

BOTH: We are the free generation,
We are a fired up nation,
we are the winds of change,
Cause it's our time now, our time now!
Our time nooooooooow!
Our time nooooooooow!

SONIC: The power to save the world under our feet,
Love to care for each living heartbeat!
Together we stand,
Divided we fall!
Let me hear you cry out, it's our time now!

Our time now, our time now!
Our time now, our time now!

RUBY: We are the free generation!
We are a fired up nation!
We are the winds of change!
Cause it's our time now, our time now!

BOTH: We are the free generation!
We are a fired up nation!
We are the winds of change!
Cause it's our time now, our time now!

The crowd went nuts at the conclusion of the song as Sonic and Ruby high-fived. Some people tried to give the impromptu band tips, but anything they received went to the Corpirate. Said owner was very impressed with the use of the pipes. Many people were sad to see that the group of huntresses and mobians had to leave, but it was a school night, and the other worldly beings had to see how their childhood prodigy was designing the weapons.

The next day, however, would bring both good news and bad news.

Chapter Text

Beacon, Port's Class
10:50 a.m.

Boom!

The students jumped a little at the sound of thunder and lightning. It may be a different world, but Remnant gets the same weather that any other populated earth-like planet gets. The rain today was fierce though.

Fortunately, the thunder managed to wake the students that were sleeping through Professor Port's lecture. The heavyset man continued speaking about his "accomplishments" of his younger days while the leader of Team RWBY resumed her doodling. Weiss was about to call her out on it, but then she saw what Ruby was drawing: the weapons that the mobians would soon wield.

"While I don't approve of your timing," the heiress whispered, "I am glad to see that you aren't doing something completely useless."

"Now, can anyone tell me what the fastest creature in the world is?" asked Professor Port, who could see that he was losing some of his class.

As if on cue, there was a loud whooshing sound, followed by Sonic suddenly appearing through the open door with a chili dog in hand. The elderly teacher was very surprised at this interruption, and half of the class shared the feeling.

"Hey, Sonic!" said a cheerful Ruby, who was relieved that the class was turning out to be more interesting than she had thought.

Sonic faced her, and smiled at the familiar face. "Hey Ruby, 'sup?" asked Sonic.

"Oh, not much. Nice entrance, by the way." the crimsonette admitted.

"If not a little dramatic…" mumbled Weiss while smoothing out her hair from the delayed wind the blue hedgehog carried over.

"Do all of you creatures have such interesting abilities?" asked Professor Port, who recovered from the sudden appearance of the speedy blue blur.

"Nah, I'm just that awesome." The fastest thing alive stated with a thumbs-up and simile.

"So what is the fastest creature on your planet, Mr. Sonic?"

"Well, the fastest creature is none other than… Well, me!" Sonic pointed at himself.

"Really? How fast can you go?" asked Jaune.

Sonic then bolstered about his various achievements that ranged from running through several universes just to return to his, twice. Temporary outran an artificial blackhole. Speeded through a timeless void with his younger self. And finally, boosted out of a pocket dimension created by a reality-warping ruby with the help of a unique individual.

These facts shocked and slightly scared some of the students and Professor Port along, and the fastest thing alive was only scratching the surface of his feats he's done in the past, not to mention the amount of transformations and powers he's used too.

"And do all… hedgehogs on your planet go as fast as you?" asked the professor after recovering from Sonic's tales.

"Only three: myself, Shadow and Amy. But I'm still considered the fastest, mostly because Shadow doesn't really run, he skates," this made the students chuckle at Sonic's remark, "Amy is fast, though not by much. As for Silver, well, he's the slowest out of all of us hedgehogs, probably because of his future being an apocalyptic wasteland."

All of the students were very impressed. "So does this mean that Sonic is the fastest creature in three worlds?" asked Blake with curiosity.

"Indeed, Miss Belladonna. But anyway, what brings you to this classroom?" demanded Professor Port.

"Hm? Oh, right. Oz wanted me to go to each of the classrooms to deliver a message. Tails has completed the weapons he was building for us, and there may be some explosions in the near future. It will probably be a good idea to stay away from the arena. Don't want anyone getting hurt!"

"Are the weapons that volatile?" asked Yang.

"No, but most of Team Dark's are. I really can't see how Rouge puts up with those two…"

"… I see. Well, thank you for the warning. When will this take place?" asked the worried teacher.

"Probably around five o'clock. I think you've got time to reinforce the area and put up lots of protection for people who do want to watch. Gotta go!" And with that, Sonic dashed out to warn the other teachers about the revealing of the weapons.

Beacon Cafeteria
12:30 p.m.

Everyone at Beacon knew at this point about the special weapons that the mobians were going to receive later that day. Many people were talking excitedly among themselves. However, there was one person whose thoughts were not on the humanoid animals.

'God… Why can't I just tell her how I feel?'

As the leader of Team JNPR, Jaune Arc was under a lot of pressure to make sure he led his team right. Burdened by the fact that he got into Beacon Academy by faking his transcript certainly did not help. However, the straw that broke the camel's back for him was his confused thoughts over a certain redhead girl on his team.

"So Pyrrha, you said your picture is on a cereal box?" Blaze questions with wonder.

Some of the mobians were down in the cafeteria eating lunch with Teams RWBY and JNPR. Silver, Blaze, Amy, Sonic, and Knuckles, to be exact. The others were preparing the arena for the showcasing of the weapons. Some people thought they were paranoid, but Ruby pointed out that the black and red hedgehog practically disintegrated a large robot with little to no visible effort via Shadow's most devastating attack: Chaos Blast. In the end, the teachers who doubted them were converted after seeing the footage of Shadow using Chaos Blast. In fact, Professor Peach even suggested that they should triple reinforcing the room.

"That's right, it was pretty neat." Pyrrha answering the fire princess.

"Eh, that's pretty cool, but I had a golden statue of myself once, until a certain knucklehead ruined it!" said Sonic, who glared at Knuckles.

"How else was I supposed to get the Master Emerald shard? Besides, isn't your ego big enough already?" countered the red echidna.

"Come on, boys, enough arguing." admonished Amy.

"So how are the preparations coming for the big reveal?" asked Blake from behind a book.

"Well, I don't know where all that steel came from, but the structure of the arena has been reinforced so much that not even Shadow could Chaos Blast it unless he went at it for a few hours, but please don't dare him to. Should be enough to handle the weapons." said Silver with fear, remembering how destructive the Ultimate life form is without his Inhibitor Rings. "Who knows, it may also be useful if Eggman attacks."

"If he ever does." murmured blazing princess.

Ruby glanced at Jaune, and noticed that he wasn't his usual self today. "What's wrong, Jaune?"

Jaune snapped out of his thoughts. "Wha- oh, nothing."

"Do we need to break Cardin's legs?" Nora reached behind her back, ready to equip Magnhild.

"No, I'm not being bullied again. But… I-I gotta go."

Silver watched Jaune retreat, and then decided to confront him. Unbeknownst to everyone else, he could see that Jaune was staring at Pyrrha.

Hallways
12:40 p.m.

"Hey, Jaune! Wait up!"

The blond turned around and looked down at Silver.

"Hey, man, what's goin on?"

"Oh, I don't know, Silver. I have all these confusing thoughts about… someone."

"Let me guess. You have a crush on Pyrrha?" asked Silver slyly.

"What?! No! She's just my friend!"

Silver gave him a look that said he was not convinced.

Jaune could see he wasn't going to get out of this, so he gave up on trying to lie about his feelings for his warrior teammate. "How obvious was I?"

"Not that obvious, but after spending some time around with someone like Amy Rose, I know when someone is lovesick."

"Oh, yeah?" countered Jaune. "I could say the same about you and Blaze!"

Now it was Silver's turn to blush and panic. "Hey, not so loud!"

"All right, all right." They both looked at each other and relaxed a bit. "Let me guess: she is so beautiful that you can't imagine being around anyone else, right?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah… She's been my best friend since I met her in Crisis City prior to her being sent to another dimension, but I really want to be… more than just friends." Silver stood there wringing his hands.

"I only met Pyrrha a few months ago, but she helped me get through some difficult times since I started here. She has been helping me become a better fighter, and I really don't see why she would do that. I would like to be more than friends too, but I really don't see how I can lead my team if I am dating one of my teammates."

At that point, the bell rang. "Alright, Silver, please don't mention what I told you to anyone."

"Same to you."

The two went their separate ways. Of course, their conversation wasn't exactly secret from a curious white bat.

"Hm, so the blond likes the redhead, and the future boy likes princess kitty?" mused Rouge, who was upside down eavesdropping on the conversation between Jaune and Silver. An evil grin appeared on her face. "It's not often I can play matchmaker!"

And with that, she flew off to parts unknown, ideas already going through her head.

Beacon's auditorium
4:55 p.m.

There was lots of excitement in the atmosphere of Beacon Academy. It turned out that most of the student body was attending the revealing of the weapons of the newcomers. As a result, it was treated as a pep rally, except that this was probably going to be more entertaining.

On the main stage were several targets made out of bales of hay. Of course, some of the mobians (mostly Shadow and Omega, though) had expressed distaste at the target choice. To compromise, Tails set up a few androids that were salvaged and reprogrammed from Torchwick's attempted attack, for the ones who would find the destruction of robots satisfying.

Speaking of Tails, the child prodigy had gone to great lengths to conceal what the weapons were. All of the weapons were brought out by Knuckles in large rectangular cases. The only differences between them were the symbols and colors on the cases.

Glynda Goodwitch stepped up to the microphone and addressed the students. "Good evening, and welcome to a special presentation led by our esteemed guests from Mobius. These weapons that are about to be showcased were created by the technical genius of the group, Miles Prower!" There was a polite applause while Tails waved. He took the microphone from the stand.

"Alright, before I start giving these weapons to my friends, I would like to thank Miss Glynda for allowing me to use the machine shop to craft them. Also, I don't think I could have gotten very far if it weren't for Teams RWBY and JNPR. Thank you, guys!"

Said teams waved from the front row.

"All right, enough with the speeches, I want to shoot something." grumbled Shadow due to his impatience.

"Very well, I hope this weapon will please you, Shadow. Please don't kill me if you don't like it." Tails handed the hedgehog a black and red case that had the symbol of the Black Arms on it, signifying Shadow's alien heritage. There was a tense pause as Shadow opened the case.

The weapon that Shadow acquired had a very familiar look to it. "I take it you based this baby off of the Shadow Rifle from the Black Arms crisis, right?" Indeed, the weapon looked like a carbon copy of the Shadow Rifle, with one exception: the gray parts were now red. Shadow fired the gun at a robot, and said robot disintegrated.

"Press that button on the side of the trigger," instructed Tails. Shadow did so, and the rifle quickly formed into a black and red katana with a very menacing serrated edge on the blade. He took a few experimental swings of it, and then looked at the fox. "Tails…"

*Gulp* "Yeah?" asked Tails nervously.

"What do you call it?"

"Uh… I dubbed it 'Crimson Dusk'."

There was a long pause. Shadow held out a fist, and then raised his thumb upwards, smiling. Everyone cheered in relief at the approval of the weapon. It isn't easy to please Shadow to like his weapon, but it was pretty likely the others would like theirs too.

"Rouge? Could you come here, please?"

"Sure, small fry. Let's see what you got."

Rouge opened up her case, and there were hearts in her eyes as she revealed four pistols covered in jewels. "Oh, baby! Now these are much better than those pistols that G.U.N. gives us. But how can I possibly fire four at the same time?"

"Well, to do that, I will need to borrow your heels."

Rouge was skeptical, but she honoured Tails' request. The fox installed small latches onto them, and Rouge put them back on. "Now put two of those onto those latches, with the barrel facing down."

"I still don't see how that will help, fox boy."

"Then point your feet at a target and push a button near the toe of your heel."

Rouge obliged, and was rewarded with the sound of a gun going off, and a hole in the target. "Whoa. Now I could get used to this," said Rouge approvingly. "If you don't have a name, I think I will call them 'Lovac'.

"That's fine with me, I couldn't come up with a good name for them anyway," said Tails. "Okay, Knuckles, let me introduce you to your weapons, which I call the 'Clan Blades'."

Tails revealed two golden gauntlets. The red echidna put them on, and when he clenched his fists, two blades came out of each gauntlet above where his spurs would be.

Knuckles whistled at the blades. "Not bad, certainly looks better than my old Shovel Claws. What does this button do?"

Before Tails could do or say anything, Knuckles pushed a button on his gauntlet. There was a loud bang, and one of the bulletproof windows the front row of the audience was hiding behind suddenly had quite a bit of spider-webbing. Ruby made a note to herself to give the inventor of the glass a hefty donation.

"Okay, clearly that was a shotgun. Could you have pointed it at the target?!" demanded Weiss.

"Sorry! Sheesh, you press one button…" muttered an embarrassed Knuckles.

"… Anyway, when using the shotgun, point it at the enemy," said Tails. "Anyway, come on up, Silver!"

The hedgehog opened up his case and pulled out two silver guns that looked very futuristic. "Nice touch with the lights, but what does it shoot?" he asked.

"It shoots out superheated plasma. Don't ask me how, I have a feeling nobody would listen to me. But if you want to see something really interesting, press the switch on the top half of the guns." instructed Tails.

Silver did so, and the guns transformed into boomerangs. "I figured you might not be so skilled at the boomerang, but I did take into account your powers. If you miss, you could use your psychokinesis on it."

"Thank you, Tails. I am certainly going to enjoy using these. I think I'll call them 'Shume'."

"Very well. Amy, could you come up please?"

The pink hedgehog skipped over to Tails and opened a pink case he presented her. She pulled out a hammer similar to her Piko-Piko hammer and a pair of red boots. "What's this supposed to be?"

"Well, you were by far the most difficult to make a weapon for," explained Tails sheepishly. "You already have a weapon that you use regularly, and I didn't want to make a clone of Nora's Magnhild."

"Hiii!" she shouted out in the audience.

"Nora, be quiet, please." said Ren, with his head in his hand while the ginger-haired girl apologised.

Back to the stage, Tails continues with his explanation of Amy’s weapon design, "Anyway, I added guns to a pair of boots that you would wear, but they would only activate when you jump using your hammer, and pressing a button on the handle." Tails pointed out the button.

"Oh, okay then!" Amy brightened when she understood how her weapon worked. "'Shinkai' shall be the name!"

"WHAT IS MY WEAPON?" asked Omega impatiently.

Tails looked nervously at the robot. "Well, you already have an arsenal built into you, and I really couldn't think of a way to improve upon it."

"ANSWER NOT SATISFACTORY." Omega raised his arms and revealed his rocket launcher. "PREPARE FOR ANNIHILATION."

"What, seriously?!"

There was a tense pause. Omega broke it when he retracted his guns and said, "THAT WAS A JOKE. HOWEVER, I AM STILL NOT SATISFIED WITH YOUR ANSWER."

"O-okay, ignoring the fact that you nearly gave me a heart attack, I did produce some Dust-enhanced ammunition and blueprints for grenade launchers." Tails handed a black case to Omega. "I think you should be able to scan the blueprints to form the launchers and integrate the ammunition into your weapons systems."

“YOU ARE CORRECT.”

*Sigh* "Okay. Blaze, could you come up?"

The mobian cat walked up to Tails and received her case. Inside was a rapier with a very interesting guard.

"Very nice, Tails. But why a rapier?"

"That was my recommendation," said Sonic. "When I was in the world of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, your knight persona was skilled in using a rapier."

"You know I still don't believe you, right?" muttered Amy. "You would say anything to get out of a date with me."

Blaze, ignoring the argument between the pink and blue hedgehogs, flipped a switch on the handle, and the blade reverse-telescoped and rotated with the handle. When that happened, the guard extended two protrusions. The end result was a very elegant bow. Sonic whistled approvingly.

"Silver mentioned that you were into archery during your time in the future with him, so I figured that would be a good weapon for you." explained Tails.

"He was right," confirmed Blaze as she smiled at a blushing Silver. "What do I use for arrows?"

"I wasn't able to make any…" Tails whimpered as the thought of ammunition for Blaze never crossed his mind.

"No, wait a minute!" interrupted Blaze, who just had an idea. She concentrated hard and was rewarded with the formation of a flaming arrow in the bow. She pulled the monofilament bowstring and let the arrow loose. The hay bale that was the target was incinerated in a matter of seconds.

"'Okibi' shall be your name." said Blaze approvingly.

"So what's your weapon, Tails? Did you not have time to make one for yourself?" asked the cat faunus of Team RWBY from the audience.

"My friends, I did make a weapon. I call it the 'Techie Bro'!" Tails exclaimed while revealing two metal wrist bands from under his gloves. When he activated them, the left one transformed into an arm cannon, while the right one turned into a glove. He punched a button on the glove, and a transparent orange hardlight shield made of hexagonal tiles appeared.

"If you think that's cool, watch this!" Tails aimed the cannon at a hay bale and pulled a trigger. It fired a small ball that embedded itself in the hay. For five seconds nothing happened, and people were wondering if it was a dud. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning arced from the cannon to the ball bearing, and the hay started to catch on fire from the intense electricity.

"Whoa. That's shocking." quipped Yang.

"Very impressive, bro. I knew you would make great weapons."

"Thanks, Sonic! Don't go away yet, though." Tails pulled out the final case. This one was dark blue and had a buzzsaw-like emblem on it, representing Sonic's classic Spin Attack.

"Oh, Tails, you know I don't really need a weapon. Besides, I don't like guns."

"Just open it, you won't be disappointed." insisted Tails. Sonic reluctantly opened his case.

Inside was a sheath with a sword. The sheath had blue and yellow designs on it, while the handle was gold. Sonic grabbed it and pulled the sword out slowly. After a dramatic time, the blue blur finally got the full look of the weapon.

It really had the shape of a simple sword. However, that's where the similarities ended. The blade itself was a really beautiful sapphire colour.

"Unlike Amy, I did believe you when you said you went to the world of King Arthur. Especially when you appeared out of nowhere in front of me!" exclaimed Tails. "I know it doesn't talk, but I hope this sword will remind you of your companion."

Sonic smiled fondly at the memory of his friend Caliburn. "Thank you. Did you come up with a name for this beauty?" He swung the sword a few times.

"I wanted to leave that to you, bro."

Sonic grinned. "I call this the 'Cobalt Shard'!"

Any further comment about the sword was interrupted by a loud voice saying "Knock knock!", followed by a loud bang. However, instead of the wall breaking, there was the sound of metal striking metal, followed by a few seconds of cursing. Apparently, the reinforcing of the arena paid off, but not in the way anyone expected.

"What the Grimm is going on?!" shouted Glynda.

The voice of Professor Ozpin suddenly rang out through loudspeakers. "All students listen up. We have heavily armed intruders attempting to enter the arena. Prepare for combat!"

"Don't tell me Torchwick is back!" groaned Knuckles.

"After that thrashing we gave him, I seriously doubt he would show up here. At least not for a month or two." remarked Yang.

"Then who is attacking us?" wondered Blaze.

Finally, a section of wall was forced open, and a figure that was very familiar to the mobians appeared.

"Somehow, I am not surprised at this." Shadow loaded Crimson Dusk with a fresh magazine.

Hovering over the students was a large pod was someone unknown to the Remnant natives, but to the mobians, he was a hated enemy.

"Who is this guy, Sonic?" asked Weiss, who seemed to notice that the mobians were looking at the new arrival with anger.

Sonic snarled and answered with one word: "Eggman!"

Chapter Text

Beacon Arena
5:30 p.m.

Everyone in the building stared at the man in the hoverpod, now identified as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. There was a lot of tension in the air.

"You mean Fatty McBiglarge over there is the enemy you keep talking about!?" asked Ruby innocently.

At this, the tension broke as everyone burst out laughing, with the mobians laughing the most.

"Fatty McBiglarge?! I gotta remember that one!" Sonic laughed out uncontrollably. Even Shadow, being the serious member of the group, had to lean against Omega for how hard he was laughing.

“UM, BOSS? I DON’T THINK THEY ARE INTIMIDATED BY YOU.” observed Orbot. He and Cubot were in the hoverpod with Eggman.

"What was your first clue, Sherlock?" asked Eggman sarcastically. The laughter at his expense continued for a while. Eventually, he pulled out a laser pistol and shot the ceiling.

Everyone suddenly became serious, though there were still pockets of people snickering, Yang and Nora being among them.

"He doesn't seem that dangerous." commented Yang as she recovers from her laughter.

"Believe me, he is very dangerous. He may be a madman, but he is a very intelligent madman." Tails warned.

"Oh, man. That's the worst kind!" groaned Jaune while the others had to agree with him on that.

"How come you're by yourself, Egg-head? I'm surprised you don't have an army by now." said Knuckles.

Now, it was Eggman's turn to laugh. "Just look down, genius."

Everyone did so, and was surprised to see a large amount of robots that had entered the arena. To the mobians, they looked like normal Egg Pawns, but instead of the normal garish orange, the metal was black. "Kind of an improvement, all things considered." Shadow light-heartedly admits.

"How can you miss those, Knuckles!?" Silver screamed out while preparing his newly acquired weapons, Shume, for battle.

"Soon, everyone will bow before me! GAHAHAHAHA!" proclaimed Eggman. His laughter was interrupted as every student in Beacon who had their weapons pointed at Eggman and his Dark Pawns.

Glynda stepped forward with a predatory grin on her face and her weapon in her left hand. "I know that you and our mobian guests are new to this world, but you really should have picked up the fact that Beacon is an academy that trains students to fight evil, ranging from the Grimm to criminals like you." She gestured around her. "Do you really think that you could get away with something like this without a fight?"

"A fight against what? A bunch of cheap weapons that would never hold up in a real battle?"

Suddenly there was a loud "THUNK" sound as a pink grenade got launched into the middle of the robot horde. The resulting explosion took out three of the robots. Nora smiled as she put down Magnhild. "Still think they're cheap!?"

“BOSS-MAN, AH RECKON’ THAT WE MAY BE IN OVER OUR HEADS HERE.” whispered Cubot.

For once, Eggman seemed to agree. "My quarrel is with that hedgehog, not with you. Mark my words, I will establish the Eggman Empire soon. For now, allow me to fight Sonic."

"Deal!" shouted the blue blur, as he performed his classic Spin Dashed towards the Dark Pawns. To everyone's surprise, Sonic just bounced off, with no visible damage to the robot.

"Ohohohoho! Your Spin Dash technique won't work on these Pawns!" boasted Eggman with overconfidence.

“INDEED. THIS NEW METAL IS TEN TIMES AS HARD AS THE STEEL USED FROM PREVIOUS ROBOTS.” Orbot informed.

Sonic tried a new tactic. He revealed Cobalt Shard and hacked away at the robots. Soon the sound of robot dismemberment was in the air. Forcing the mad doctor to order the attack, while the blue blur charged at the horde.

"Come on, guys, let's not allow Sonic to have all the fun!" With that, Shadow skated towards the Dark Pawns, firing Crimson Dusk, while the rest of the mobians followed suit.

Meanwhile, the Beacon students stood a respectful distance out of harm's way. "You think that they will be okay out there? I mean, they did receive those weapons only ten minutes ago." said a worried Blake, thinking that the mobians were in way over their heads.

Ruby, on the other hand, wasn't worried at all. "Come on, Blake, this isn't like our Initiation where I had to come up with a crazy plan. It's pretty much a guaranteed win for Sonic as far as I'm concerned." Ruby held very little doubt in her mind as she somehow knew the mobians would come out on top.

Back at the fight, Knuckles was punching away at the robots, dodging various blades and bullets. Not surprisingly, he was still a little unsure about his new weapons. However, when a Dark Pawn came at him with a large sword, he unknowingly activated the blades and punched the robot's gut. The punch turned into a stab, and the robot shut down from the fatal hit. Knuckles had to dodge a bullet from another robot, but before that, he could have sworn that the liquid on his blade was not the typical oil, but something that was... darker.

Rouge was flying through the air shooting the pistols in her hands, but when a Dark Pawn tried to grab her, she simply triggered the heel pistols. The result: the robot did not have an arm anymore.

If someone had asked what Silver and Blaze were doing, the answer would be described as a thing of beauty. Silver was firing Shume, using the boomerang function to knock enemies over when the weapons needed to cool off. Blaze waved Okibi, in its rapier form, around in a circle while channeling her pyrokinetic abilities, transforming into a deadly fire tornado.

Tails and Amy made sure the robots didn't get near the students in case Eggman had any ideas about taking hostages. The pink hedgehog could be seen pancaking robots with her Piko-Piko hammer, occasionally using the guns on her boots to great effect. Tails took a more ranged approach. He simply fired off many ball bearings from Techie Bro, and then fired out lightning from the arm cannon to those bearings. Any robots in between the bearings and the cannon soon became charred husks of metal.

Omega was busy using his machine guns while he downloaded the plans for the grenade launcher. Finally, the download was finished, and the parts that made his machine guns shifted into two large barrels. Of course, Omega wasn't completely satisfied, so he made a subtle change. In a few seconds, a large blade appeared underneath the barrel of the launchers. Eager to show off, Omega started to hack and slash using the blades. Often, he would insert a blade into a robot, and then activate his grenade launcher, embedding a live explosive in said robot. The Dark Pawn would comically try to get it out before it exploded, but it was a futile attempt. "I AM MISTAKING, THIS WEAPON IS VERY SATISFACTORY." the walking arsenal commented with joy, while Ruby squealed in excitement over the new weapon Omega downloaded and upgraded.

Shadow was in his element. He hadn't had this much fun since beating up aliens during the Black Arms crisis. He would switch Crimson Dusk between gun and sword mode often, mixing it up between shooting and stabbing. He also would teleport around via Chaos Snap, confusing the heck out of the Dark Pawns before ending their brief existence.

Eggman looked on in dismay. "Where and when did they get these weapons?!" he asked in horror while the last of the robots are being destroyed.

Several minutes had passed, and there were no robots left functional. The arena was littered with robot parts, burn marks, and bullet holes.

“DOCTOR, I THINK THIS CALLS FOR A STRATEGIC ADVANCE TO THE REAR.” Orbot recommended with fear in his tone.

Cubot looked at him with confusion. "HUH?"

"I think he means run away!" shouted Tails.

"Don't think that this is over," warned Eggman as his hoverpod started to exit the hole in the arena. "You may have defeated this army, but you will never find out what kind of scheme I am hatching!"

On cue, there was the sudden sound of a rimshot after Eggman uttered that proclamation. All heads turned to look at a lone Dark Pawn, who somehow got his hands on a drum kit during the battle.

Sonic lost his composure and started to laugh. "Okay, tell me that was planned, because that joke was too good to be accidental."

Eggman looked at his nemesis in anger. "What are you talking about?!"

"You said that … We would never… find out what… you are hatching!" Sonic managed to say between laughs.

"And how is that funny?! You should be quivering in fear, not laughter!" said Eggman, now thoroughly annoyed and angry.

"It's because your name is Eggman! Get it? Egg, hatching…" explained Sonic.

At this, everyone connected the dots and joined the fastest thing alive in the laughter.

“GEE, AH RECKON’ YE COULD BE A COMEDY MAN, BOSS.” said Cubot.

Eggman sighed to himself and shot the robot that did the rimshot. "Don't be too proud of yourselves, those were the easy ones!" he yelled as he exited the hole.

"We've heard that before!" shouted Shadow in retaliation.

"Well done, Sonic. You and your friends did an excellent job of destroying those robots," Glynda complimented. "And with unfamiliar weapons, no less."

"It's not unfamiliar to me," Sonic stated as he remembers his time with Caliburn and being titled 'Sir Sonic, Knight of the Wind', "but it's good to get back into the swing of it again." he said as he swings Cobalt Shard around.

"Just part of the days' work!" replied Knuckles as he activated his Clan Blades' blades.

"Hey Knux, what's that tar-like stuff on your blades?" asked Yang.

Knuckles looked and saw that there was indeed a black substance dripping from his blades. "I don't know…"

"Guys, check this out!"

Everyone went over to Tails, who was busy opening up a Dark Pawn. He finally opened it and revealed something… kind of disturbing, even for Eggman to do. In the middle of the robot was a small black bird with white bone-like armour covering its head, a Nevermore if Sonic remembers from Professor Port's classroom pictures, that was compacted into a small sphere with many electrodes inserted into it.

"What? What does this mean?" asked Pyrrha in confusion.

Shadow tried to explain to the Remnant natives. "It seems these Dark Pawns are actually Badniks. Normally, Badniks are robots powered by small animals. However, now they are powered by-"

"The Creatures of Grimm." Ruby finished grimly and horrified with the discovery.

Chapter Text

Team RWBY's dorm
8:00 p.m.

A few hours after the battle with Eggman's Dark Pawns, most of the students at Beacon were gossiping over the events of the late afternoon. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were in Team RWBY's room, discussing the events that have unfolded.

"Robots powered by dark creatures. That reminds me of the Dark Gaia incident back on Earth." Sonic reminisced. He reached under his glove and felt the charm that was given to him by Chip, otherwise known as Light Gaia.

"Technically, it was only Eggman's 'Ultra-Hyper Prototype 1', or the Egg Dragoon, that was powered by the energy of Dark Gaia." Tails corrected his brother-like figure.

"Well, whatever. Maybe we should just sit back and relax until his plan inevitably blows up in his mustache." suggested Knuckles.

"Be as it may," interrupted Yang, "we should still fight his robots until that moment." as she bumps her fists together with excitement.

"Oh, yeah. Absolutely!" Knuckles agreed as he and Yang bumped fists. They seemed to be hitting it off well.

"Hey, can I ask you all something?" Everyone turned their attention to Amy Rose. "When we were fighting that Torchwick guy, I noticed that some of you could do stuff not associated with your weapons. Like when Yang impersonated Omega and destroyed that one spider droid."

"Well, for your information, some of the humans and Faunus' have special powers. We call them 'Semblances'. People with very powerful or unique Semblances' end up in the academy. Not everyone who has them goes to huntsmen academies like Beacon, but most do."

"Semblances' are powered by Aura and they can relate to one's personality and traits, however not all Semblances do connect to their characteristics." Blake added on.

"Really?" Amy looked at Weiss with interest. "What are your… Semblances?"

"You already know mine." said Yang cheerfully while the mobians remembered the blonde brawler's hair on fire and her eyes changed red, it almost resembled the Super State Sonic, Shadow and Silver attained so many times.

"Yup, cut a piece of hair, and she goes nuts." confirmed Knuckles.

"My Semblance is actually pretty simple. I can leave afterimages of myself when fighting. Plus, my faunus characteristics give me better hearing and sight in the dark." said Blake.

"I can summon glyphs that can do a variety of things, depending on what I want them to do, plus I can add Dust to them if need be," Weiss said proudly. "But I think Sonic will like Ruby's, in all honesty."

"Really? Why's that?" asked Sonic in curiosity.

"My Semblance is super speed."

"Woo! Another speed demon!" Sonic high-fived Ruby. "How fast can you go?"

"Nowhere near as fast as you, or for long, but I am very dangerous over short distances. Though I think I can barely reach the speed of sound without anything weighing me down."

"I take it that Crescent Rose compensates with those long distance kills?" asked Tails.

"Yep!" said Ruby.

"What are you working on, Tails?" Blake wonders.

The two-tailed fox was currently working on his Miles Electric pad, which had a few electrodes trailing to the red Chaos Emerald.

"Well, I am trying to make a Chaos Emerald locator. Considering we got here by Chaos Control, and that these two Emeralds are already here, I think it's safe to assume that the other five are in this world," he explained. "Besides, we don't want a super powerful Eggman on the loose."

Suddenly, the Chaos Emerald started glowing brightly. "Whoa, what's happening?" asked Ruby in alarm.

On Tails' Miles Electric, the screen suddenly showed a map of the Kingdom of Vale. "I think that the detector is working!" exclaimed Sonic in delight. However, when a dot appeared in the middle of the bay, his happy expression comically turned into fear. "Oh boy, not good not good!"

"What makes you say that, bro?" Tails took a closer look at the map. "Oh, okay now I see why you're scared."

"It's just in the middle of the bay. You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Weiss, I think Sonic is scared of water." giggled Ruby.

"My Sonniku isn't afraid of anything!" proclaimed Amy. Then she saw the screen. "Okay, he can't stand water."

"Hm… this could be a problem. And I am talking about logistics, not Sonic's hydrophobia. How can we even get there?" wondered Tails.

"Maybe we could hire a boat?" the red echidna suggested as everyone stared at Knuckles like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. "… What?"

"Wait a minute, I know someone who owes me a favour. I can get us a boat, no problem." said Yang.

"I guess we can make Sonic a lookout, then." said Blake, who looked very amused at Sonic's expression.

"Great, staring at miles of water. Woo." said Sonic deadpanned.

Beacon hallways
8:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Rouge was hard at work at thinking of a way to get Jaune and Pyrrha together. She was so busy that she jumped when she felt a poke on her wing. Because Rouge was on the ceiling when she was startled, she of course ended up on the ground. She looked up and saw one of the girls from Team RWBY.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Weiss. She was on her way to get changed for sleep, but saw Rouge being secretive. "Are you planning to steal my fortune?"

"Sweetie, I promised you I wouldn't steal from you," answered the annoyed bat. "If I'm gonna steal jewels from anyone, it's gonna be from Eggman, Torchwick, or a jewelry shop, and maybe even from Knuckles just to annoy him."

"Well, sorry, you looked pretty suspicious up there."

"Don't worry hun, I forgive you." Weiss was still curious about what she was doing though, so she asked her. "Well, before I say anything, how much do you gossip?"

Weiss haughtily replied, "Ugh, I don't really care about the lives of others unless it directly affe-." She suddenly donned a pained expression. "I'm sorry, I really need to stop saying things like that. I almost lost a friend because of my behavior."

Rouge's expression softened. Clearly, Weiss was a girl who had a relatively easy life compared to some, and overcoming those years of indifference and prejudices acquired from a wealthy lifestyle were pretty exhausting.

"If you don't mind me asking, but," Rouge wonders, "how did you get that scar across your left eye?"

Weiss gestured to her scar on her face. "I received it from a fight with a giant armoured knight. I thought the lesson I learned was to be better than everyone else, but I guess I really needed to learn that I have flaws like everyone else. Otherwise, I would end up being no different than the monsters I fight."

Rouge was suddenly embraced by the ice heiress. To which she returned the hug.

"Weiss, honey, I am glad that you know that you are not perfect. It is a hard thing to admit to yourself, but you have friends that can help you be a better person. And you can consider me a friend as well."

"Thank you for listening. So, about that gossip…"

"Well, this afternoon, I found two potential couples. The white hedgehog, Silver, has a thing for the purple cat, Blaze." whispered Rouge while grinning.

"Really? Now that I think about it, they did look great together when fighting all those robots. They would make a cute couple. And the other one?"

"You know that Jaune fellow, right? He apparently likes that redhead from his team."

Weiss looked shocked. "Jaune likes Pyrrha? Hmmm… well I have seen Pyrrha look at Jaune with lovey-dovey eyes, but he likes her, too?"

Rouge was confused. "What, she likes him?"

"It seemed pretty obvious to me when I first saw them meet. Jaune is more naïve than I thought if he can't see that his crush is reciprocated."

The new friends continued to come up with plans to get those couples together late into the night. They eventually did come up with a plan, but it would have to be implemented on the weekend.

Warehouse district
12:00 a.m.

"Hm…"

Roman Torchwick was currently pacing in his seaside hideout. He was still mad at the humiliation at the hands of Sonic and his friends from a few days ago, beating by kids is one thing, but literally animals is another.

"What can I do to get into a position to kill those meddling animals…" he thought to himself.

"Don't tell me you are still trying to come up with a plan to kill those kids' pets." a voice rang out. Roman jumped about three feet in the air before pointing Melodic Cudgel at the voice. He put it down when he saw that it was Cinder.

"Well, hello there. What are you doing here, boss? And where are your two associates?"

"They had a previous engagement elsewhere in another kingdom. I have someone else I would like you to meet."

Inwardly, Roman gulped. He was not looking forward to this. "And who, pray tell, is this person?"

A door opened up, and in stepped a large man with a red jacket, black pants, and a large brown mustache. "May I introduce our new business associate, Dr. Ivo Robotnik."

"Cinder, my dear, you don't need to be so formal. Since this partnership might become very profitable for all of us," the man grinned evilly, "why don't you call me… Dr. Eggman?"

Chapter Text

Vale's docks
10:25 a.m.

That morning, Sonic talked to Glynda Goodwitch about the Chaos Emerald in the bay. Since the assembly area was being repaired after the fight, she decided that there would be no classes that day, and gave Sonic the okay to take Team RWBY on their Chaos Emerald hunt. Not surprisingly, Team JNPR still had some work to do, so they couldn't go. They did promise Sonic and Co. that they would be available next time.

"Are you sure that's the right boat?" Weiss wasn't happy about the ship that Yang was able to acquire. It looked like an old cargo hauler that should have been sent to scrap a long time ago. The state of disrepair was enormous, and there was so much rust that everyone was quite surprised that the wake of the ship wasn't orange. On the side of the ship was the name 'Normandy' in faded letters.

"Yep. Ain't she a beaut?" Everyone turned and saw a man that looked like an unsuccessful pirate. He had long, greasy black hair, an eyepatch, a light brown shirt covering a huge belly, black pants, and a coat that was threadbare at the edges. He even came with a peg leg.

"The name's John Smith. Which one of ye be Yang Xiao Long?"

"Oh, Chaos, this reminds me of those echidna pirates during that incident with the Nocturnus Clan." groaned Rouge as events during her time in the Twilight Cage played in her mind.

"Who gives a heck about the pirate accent? How about his name?" wondered Knuckles.

"Just so you know, John Smith is a name that's pretty common in both worlds we've been too." Tails supplied to Team RWBY.

Yang walked up to the pirate and clasped hands with him. "Thanks for taking us on short notice."

"Argh, even if I didn't owe ya a favour, I would still help ye. After all, who wouldn't want to help these scallywags?"

"I hope you wash your hands afterwards." said Ruby as she backs away from her half-sister.

"Can we just get in the boat before Sonic loses his nerve?" asked Silver.

As if to emphasize his point, Amy walked by dragging the blue hedgehog in question on the ground. Everyone quickly boarded, and the ship got underway.

On the boat, everyone looked at the sorry mess the deck was in. "What kind of ship is this?" the heiress exclaimed in disgust. "I could have procured a better ship than this!"

Shadow dragged a glove across a rusted guide rail, yet his glove did not pick up any rust, none at all in fact. "Something's not right…"

"You're telling me. If that accent is real, then I'm a member of the Babylon Rogues."

Omega performed a scan of the ship. "HOSTILES DETECTED. PREPARING COUNTER-MEASURES." He revealed his grenade launchers. Everyone besides Sonic and Yang pointed their weapons at Smith.

"Okay, what's the big deal?" demanded the Ultimate Life Form. "And drop the accent, it's pretty annoying."

"Yang? Can I tell them?" Smith sighed in a relaxed manner. To the white bat's relief, he didn't continue his impersonation of some typical stereotype-like sea-pirate.

"Go ahead, John." the blonde brawler responded.

John Smith reached over the top of his head and pulled his hair. Before anyone could comment on it, he ended up pulling his whole face off. Clearly, the 'face' was actually a well-made mask. He really had short hair, almost buzz-cut, bright blue eyes, and a tanned complexion.

"I knew it!" Ruby exclaimed with a false claim.

"Well, the jig is up, fellas. Come on out."

At Smith's request, many people came out of holes in the ship, wearing all black and carrying the latest high-tech weapons, some that even the Schnee even recognised.

"What the heck is this ship?" wondered Silver out loud. "And how did these guys owe Yang a favour?"

"Meet me on the bridge later, and I will answer any questions you may have. I gotta change outta this disguise."

30 minutes later-

As Team RWBY and the mobians waited for Smith (who the crew now identified as Shepard), an engineer by the name of Isaac Clarke gave them a tour of the ship named the Normandy. It turned out that the depilated exterior was just a façade. Inside the ship, all the equipment was high-tech, and no expense was spared on the comfort of the crew. The engines were based on Magnetohydrodynamic technology.

Magnetohydrodynamic technology is basically engines run on salt water. The technology was experimental and still in development for commercial use, but special organizations like theirs got the latest and greatest first.

"What is your organization called?" asked Rouge. They finally arrived at the bridge of the ship, and it looked like something from a science fiction movie. There was a hologram that showed a map of the surrounding waters on the main display.

"We call ourselves 'The Company'."

Everyone turned and saw Shepard. He had changed out of his disguise and no longer had the large gut- apparently also part of the ruse. He still had a fake leg, though. "We are a for-profit organization, but we like to think that we are superior to groups like the White Fang or whatever group Torchwick has come up with. We only take contracts that are beneficial to other people. For example, say a wealthy philanthropist has a child that was kidnapped. After a lengthy background check through our contacts at the government, we go in and rescue that child. We also destabilize terrorist organizations that may spring up. Sometimes we even get called to remove any populations of Creatures of Grimm that may endanger towns beyond the reach of Hunters or Huntresses."

"Glad to see you ditched the pirate stuff, but why do you still have the peg leg?" asked Blake.

"Well, this happened about two years ago, give or take. We were on a mission rescuing some hostages off the coast of Vytal when an Akula attacked the small boat we were in."

"Wait, what's an Akula?" asked Ruby.

Shepard walked over to the display and pulled up a picture of a large shark-like Creature of Grimm. "Nasty fish, those Akula. It ended up flipping the boat. I tried to get the hostages above the water, but it bit me below the right knee. It would have eaten the rest of me, had a certain blonde not been there to kill it." he finished as he looked at Yang.

"Right place, right time!" said Yang cheerfully. "I managed to save him and the hostages before any more showed up."

"Couldn't save my leg though. Still, it beats being digested, right?" Shepard laughed. "Anyway, after this, we're even, right Yang?"

"Slate's clean." she agreed.

"Excuse me, can I hook up my pad to your system?" asked Tails. "I think I could find what we are searching for more easily with your system."

"Clarke? Help this young fox please, will ya?" Shepard requested his engineer.

"Yes, sir!" Isaac saluted, then walked over to Tails.

"I gotta say, this is pretty neat. I have never been on a ship this advanced." Silver complimented.

"Considering you are from the future, that says a lot." Weiss comments to the futuristic hedgehog.

Shepard suddenly noticed someone was missing. "Hey, where did the blue one go?"

"Probably hiding in a closet." snickered Knuckles.

"I'm right here, guys!" Sonic's voice could be heard under the table that had the holograms.

"What's with him?" Shepard questions in confusion.

"BLUE HEDGEHOG HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH HYDROPHOBIA." Omega summaries.

"Really? Huh, that could be a problem. Hey, how about you go to the combat simulator? I am sure that could get your mind focused on something other than our surroundings."

Sonic crawled out from under the table. "Alright, I guess it's worth a shot. I could use a sparring partner. Hey Shads, you up for it?"

"Always, faker. You guys wanna watch?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Ruby.

"You guys go on, I have a ship to run." said Shepard as everyone left the bridge.

A few hours of sparring with Shadow did indeed help Sonic distract him from his phobia. However, it came back in full force when Tails reported the Chaos Emeralds location.

“You’re telling me it’s 200 feet below us?!” and it didn't help whatsoever.

"Wow, Sonic, for a guy who's an adrenaline junkie, you sure are scared when it comes to water." said an amused Ruby. Sonic had resumed hiding under the holotable, and everyone couldn't help but tease him about it.

"Heck, even Blaze isn't that scared of water, and she's a cat! With fire abilities!" exclaimed Silver.

"Yeah, it's true. I mean, water is more an inconvenience than anything else to me." she admits. "Plus, my home dimension is literally filled with water."

"You guys go on and get the Chaos Emerald. I'm not leaving this spot."

"Has he always been afraid of water?" asked Shepard.

"Yep. Ever since I have known him, Sonic is a complete chicken around large bodies of water." said Tails.

"Tails!"

"Sorry, bro, had to be said." the two-tailed fox apologises.

"Can we just move on? Let's get the Chaos Emerald before Sonic here breaks out in hives or something." said Shadow in an annoyed tone.

"How are we gonna get it, though? It's 200 feet below us." wondered Blake.

Shepard called up another screen. "Well, lucky for you, we just got a new toy that could help you out. I will get one of my people to assist you." Shepard told the group as he picked up his radio, "Tali, could you come up to the docking bay? We need to go underwater."

"Sure thing, Shep." a female voice said from the other end of the radio.

"Come with me, I'll lead you to the bay. Before I do that, though…" Shepard suddenly had a mischievous look on his face. He whispered something to Amy, and she giggled and nodded. "Oh, Sonic, if you don't come with us to get the Chaos Emerald, we might end up locking you and the pink Rose in one of the closets." Shepard said in a sing-song voice.

There was a pause, and then Sonic said, "You wouldn't!"

"Look at it this way, Sonic. You have two options. Option A: we all go and get the Chaos Emerald so Eggman doesn't get it, or Option B: as everyone gets the Chaos Emerald while you and I are in a closet. Either way, I win." said Amy smugly.

"Man, that's a low blow. But maybe you should stay, Sonic. I think you might finally develop feelings for Amy!" heckled Knuckles.

"I wouldn't mind being in a closet with Blaze." Silver whispered under his breath. Rouge glanced at him, smiling to herself, while the fiery kitty in question heard nothing.

"Alright, alright, I'm comin' out. Let's just get this over with." groaned Sonic as he got out from under the table.

Weiss did look worried, however. "I'm assuming that we will be retrieving the Chaos Emerald via submarine, correct?"

"Control-Alt-Bingo." Shepard confirmed.

"So won't air and space be a problem? Even though this ship is more advanced than I thought, I really can't see it storing a large vehicle like that without someone noticing." asked a concerned white hedgehog.

"Oh ye of little faith. This submarine has experimental tech that seems to be working beautifully, and we have the latest and greatest in air recycling. Believe me, our motto is Safety Third."

"Why isn't it 'Safety First'?" asked the two-tailed kitsune.

"Think of it this way: if safety is the number one concern all the time, people become complacent. That complacency can get more people hurt. So we like to mix it up a little."

"Does it work?" Ruby asked dubiously and out of curiosity.

"The only accident we have had in the five years we have been in business is the one where I lost my leg. Anyway, don't you have to find an Emerald?"

Isaac guided them to the docking bay where a submarine was being lowered into the water. The sub in question was not the typical cigar shape. Instead, it was more like a large manta ray.

Sonic whistled in admiration. "I know I am pretty nervous about going underwater, - big understatement, I know- but that is one sweet ride."

"Thank you, I designed it myself." Everyone turned and saw a woman about average height with black hair and crimson eyes. She had black pants, a blue shirt, and polished green gauntlets. She also had a large squirrel tail running up her back.

"Oh my Oum! Your tail is so cute!" Ruby squealed.

The woman blushed a little at the compliment and thanked Ruby for it. "I'm Natalia Williams, but everyone calls me Tali. Hope you don't mind working with a faunus on this trip."

"I think we will get along just fine. Blake here is a faunus too, and we are friends with talking animals." Yang explained as she reached over her partner's shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

"Really? Excellent, I finally found more people who don't care if someone is a faunus or not." Tali glanced at Tails. "Miles Prower, was it?" Tails nods, "He did convince a lot of people to give up on the racism, but as long as the White Fang is in existence, we might always be under suspicion."

"Can we please go already?" asked an impatient Shadow.

"Sure thing, just follow me." Tali gestures.

Tali led the group up to the entrance of the submarine. She said it was a new design, and should be more efficient in the water than the usual cigar shape.

Inside the sub, which Tali said was named the "Aquaria-1", was just as advanced as the rest of the Normandy. However, there was a major flaw that Tails noticed.

"It's only a four-seater! It doesn't look like all of us can go."

Sonic started to back away. "Well, I am gonna go ahead-" He paused his retreat as he turned around and stared into the business end of a yellow and red hammer and a specific pink hedgehog wielding it. "-and get into the sub."

Most of the mobians tried their hardest not to giggle at Sonic's quick re-decisioning.

"I need to go too. I am the only one of us who can work out the Emerald radar." said Tails.

"I wanna go, too!" shouted Ruby. "Oh, oh, can I? Can I? Please?"

Yang chuckled and said, "Sure, you can go. You take care of my baby sister, you hear?"

Tali gave the blonde a casual salute. "Not a problem at all. Especially since you saved my fiancé."

Yang experienced a mental record scratch. "Wait, you mean that…"

"Yes, Shep and I are going to be a couple."

"Wow. Congratulations!" Team RWBY and the mobians, besides Shadow and Omega, celebrated.

With that out of the way, Tali, Sonic, Tails, and Ruby boarded the Aquaria-1 and started their dive.

A few miles away from the Normandy-

"And you're sure you know where they are?" a bowler hat wearing villain asks his 'partner' with doubt. As he shares half of the space of Eggman's Egg-O-Matic.

"Of course I do, you simpleton! I may be from a different world, but I'm not stupid!" the brown moustache-wearing scientist out-bursted, bolstering about his I.Q. level and achievements.

"Okay, okay, gees. So, when do we go?"

Eggman looked at Torchwick with an evil grin. Pressing a button in the process.

"Now!"

Chapter Text

Aquaria-1 submarine cockpit

As the Aquaria-1 made its descent, Ruby starred in wide-eyed wonder at the aquatic life surrounding the sub.

"Wow… This is so cool!"

"Yep, ain't it great? No matter how many times I do this, I never get tired of this job." said Tali. She currently had the sub on autopilot and had her legs up on the console.

"Hey, about that… I have two questions on that subject." Sonic asked with fear due to his hydrophobia.

"Fire away, hedgehog." Tali insisted.

"Okay, first question, why does the Normandy have such a junky, rusted exterior?"

"Good one, bro." agreed Tails.

Tali looked back at the trio. "Well, sometimes we have to go into unsavory ports to do jobs, and having a clean exterior- well, might as well paint a bulls-eye and hang a sign that screams 'steal me' on the hull."

"Hmm… Never thought of it like that." pondered Ruby.

"What was your other question?"

Sonic looked at Tali in the eye. "Why did you choose this life?"

Tali adopted a sad look in her face. "I was actually working for the Atlas Military during my previous occupation. Even there, racism was abundant, and even though I was a gifted engineer, I was only ever going to get a dead-end desk job somewhere because I was a faunus. I was so bored after a few months at it. I was approached by John Shepard a couple years ago. He asked me to join his crew because he was looking for the best, and I was it. Everyone on the Normandy has a similar story. Most of us are ex-military and mercenaries who wanted to help people without strict authorities, unlike Atlas."

"And when did you catch the eye of the captain, if you don't mind me asking?" Ruby questions next in curiosity.

Tali laughed. "Oh, that's another story for another time." Suddenly Tails' device detected an energy signature that's close by, "How's it looking Tails?"

"We are nearing the bottom. The Chaos Emerald should be near here."

Tali swung her legs off the console and put on a serious face. "All right, turning the autopilot off."

The Aquaria-1 moved forward, with Tails' Chaos Emerald radar as its guide. Tali maneuvered the sub skillfully up and down the rock formations as the radar beeping gradually increased in frequency.

"Look! That light up ahead!" shouted Ruby.

Everyone followed her finger towards what looked like an overhang about fifty feet away. In the shadow of said overhang was a cyan light.

"Yup, that looks like a Chaos Emerald all right. Does this thing have a grappling arm to reach it?" asked Tails.

"Is Sonic afraid of water?" responded Tali with a teasing wink at the hedgehog. Sonic just rolled his eyes as she removed one of her gauntlets and inserted it in a hole in the console. Tali then activated something else and a large arm unfolded from the sub.

"Why did you have to put your gauntlet into that machine?" Ruby asked with a curious expression.

"Well, my silver-eyed companion, my weapon of choice is a claw shot. From what Tails told me earlier, Chaos Emeralds wreak havoc with unshielded electronics. Fortunately," she continued while pointing at the arm which had her green gauntlet attached now, "my weapon can grab the Emerald without shorting all the equipment out on the sub, and we don't die of asphyxiation."

"Wow. That's handy." Ruby joked, Yang must be rubbing off on her.

Tali carefully manipulated the arm around the Emerald using a joystick control. She pulled a trigger on the stick, and the claw grabbed the Emerald. Precious cargo in hand, the arm retracted, and the machine extended Tali's claw shot like a ticket dispenser. She pulled it out and hit the release, dropping the Emerald into Sonic's hand.

"Well, mission accomplished! That went better than I expected." said Ruby happily.

"Just wait, Ruby. I am speaking from experience when I say that nothing is ever this easy." warned Sonic.

"Only too true." groaned Tails.

"Normandy to Aquaria-1, Normandy to Aquaria-1, come back please!" the radio crackled.

"Normandy, this is Aquaria-1, mission complete, retrieval is a success," answered Tali. "Heading back to the surface."

"Aquaria-1, this is Shepard. Good timing, because we have incoming airships."

Tali frowned. "Is it the harbor patrol?"

"Negative, Tali-

Normandy Bridge

"-it's the White Fang. Repeat, the White Fang!"

"Understood. Returning to base. Can you hold on for five minutes?"

Shepard grinned. "Have you forgotten what this ship is capable of? See you topside, Aquaria-1. Over and out." Shepard put the radio back in the holder.

"SENSORS DETECT PRIORITY TARGET! EGGMAN IS NEARBY!" shouted Omega as he stormed out of the bridge.

"Eggman?!" Shadow adopted a feral grin and skated after the robot.

"Guess we better go follow them and make sure they don't kill anyone." said Blake.

They found Shadow and Omega on the starboard side of the Normandy standing next to a blue container. Suddenly the ship shook violently, and everyone ended up on the floor.

"What the heck was that?!" shouted out Silver in confusion.

"LARGE MASS ATTACHED TO NORMANDY." droned Omega. As if to emphasize his point, two large metal tentacles appeared from the water and slammed into the ship. They hauled up a huge robotic squid that had the Eggman symbol where the middle of its face was. A hatch opened up, and lo and behold, Eggman was behind the wheel.

"I would say it's nice to see you again, but I'd be lying." the mad doctor snickered.

"Same to you, Baldy McNosehair!" retorted Knuckles. Once again, everyone had a good laugh at Eggman's expense.

"Oh my gosh, Knuckie, you finally came up with a good insult!" laughed Rouge.

"Truth is, Sonic came up with that one." admitted the echidna, remembering his time on Eggman's interstellar amusement park and the events of the Hyper-Go-On experiments.

"Speaking of the blue rat, where is he? Hiding under a table?" taunted Eggman.

"Nah, I did that already."

Eggman whipped his head around and saw Sonic standing on the Aquaria-1. There was something pretty interesting going on with the miniature submarine, however; it was hovering 30 feet in the air. Tails and Ruby jumped from the sub to land on the Normandy next to everyone else, and Tali lowered Aquaria-1 back in the water.

Sonic homing attacked at one of the tentacles holding the Egg Kraken onto the Normandy. Cobalt Shard flashed, and when he stopped in front of the group, many tentacles lay twitching on the ship. However, they somehow reattached themselves to the robot, so it seemed that no damage was done.

At this point, everyone started to pelt the giant squid with their ranged weaponry, but no matter what they did, the robot just kept repairing the damage. A large tentacle whacked everyone to the ground, and Eggman started gloating at the group.

"Moo ha ha ha ha! I should really thank you! Using this material you call 'Dust' that my colleague, Mr. Roman Torchwick, gave me the healing factor of the Egg Kraken is supercharged! And thanks to the power of the dark creatures, it's practically invincible!"

"Really, you had to spoil my dramatic entrance, did you?" the criminal replied from the airship that just arrived. He was flanked by two members of the White Fang, who were pointing their guns at Team RWBY and the mobians.

Before anyone could despair, a voice rang out from a speaker: "Attention, this is captain of the Normandy speaking. Get the heck off my ship or I will use lethal force!"

"Psh, you? Weapons? On this rust bucket?" Eggman scoffed in disbelief.

"Very well, don't say I didn't warn ya." Shepard said as he inserted the tip of his peg leg into a hole near his seat. When this happened, the fake containers on the ship unfolded and revealed many mounted weapons that were hidden inside. A few missile pods pointed themselves at Torchwick's ship. Roman saw what was happening and quickly got in the pilot's seat on his airship and moved it before it was blown out of the sky by a streaking missile. He then decided to make it like a drum and beat it.

The captain of the Normandy then pushed a button that activated several rotary guns. "Let's see how your 'invincible' squid measures up to ten thousand rounds a minute." snickered Shepard. "Sonic, you and the others keep your heads down and cover your ears." He put his hand on the control stick, locked on the Egg Kraken, and pulled the trigger.

The sound of a buzz saw filled the air as a rain of bullets hit the Eggman robot. Each round was an incendiary, high-impact, and armour-piercing round, and very quickly, various pieces of flaming robot started hitting the water and the ship with no chance of being recoverable. Eggman quickly ejected his Egg Mobile and high-tailed it out of there shortly before the Egg Kraken exploded, leaving a badly singed and quite dead Beowolf on the deck of the Normandy.

Silver used his powers to deflect and catch bits of shrapnel that came their way, and as the smoke cleared he let the pieces fall to the ground. "Okay, Yang, I gotta ask again. How the heck did this guy owe you a favour?" he asked.

"To be honest, he was the one who insisted," she replied while shrugging. "But hey, I, for one, am not complaining."

"Help!"

"Was that Sonic's voice?" Ruby asked. Everyone looked over the edge and they indeed saw Sonic flailing his arms in the water. Evidently, he was thrown into the water by the explosion.

"Sonic! Man overboard!" cried Amy.

Silver tried to lift him up using his powers, but he was exhausted after protecting everyone from sharp pieces of metal. Fortunately, a hatch on the deck opened up, and Tali popped up. She quickly ran to the edge and shot one of her claws at a pole in the middle of the ship. She then jumped down and shot her other claw at Sonic's hand. Tali quickly retracted the chains, leaving Sonic wet and panting on the deck, but alive. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hah, hoo, thanks, Tali." wheezed Sonic while coughing out salty water.

"You know, you really should take swimming lessons, faker." sniggered Shadow.

Sonic just gave him a dark look. "Like your one to talk, Shadow. You just hover over the water instead of swimming in it." he retaliated.

Shadow crosses his arms and turns away with no response, knowing that Sonic is right.

Chapter Text

Vale docks
6:00 p.m.

The Normandy had just dropped the anchor at Vale's docks, and everyone got off. But before that, they had to say farewell to Captain John Shepard and his magnificent vessel.

"Thanks again for letting us use your ship, Shep," Yang said to Shepard, who had his arm around Tali's waist. "Too bad we didn't sink Torchwick or Eggman."

"Eh, he'll be caught sooner or later. Something tells me your team may play an important part in the months to come." he said.

"Well, whatever happens, it won't be boring, and hopefully not close to water." said Sonic with a grin.

"Yeah, I'd hate to have to rescue you again." teased Tali as she giggled.

Shepard and Sonic shook hands. "Hopefully this won't be goodbye forever. So I am just gonna say see you again soon."

"Fine by me. And Yang, I now pronounce us 'even'."

Yang shook her head while smiling. "You and your honour. We were always even. A Huntress helps people no matter what. Still, it was nice to see you again, and I am happy that you will be getting married."

Issac Clarke popped his head out of the fake bridge of the Normandy. "Cap, we just received a contract. Big bucks, and it involves stealing a fortune in Dust."

"Hey, I told you that we only accept contracts where we do good things for people!"

Clarke grinned. "That's the best part. The client is apparently the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and we are going after Torchwick!"

"What?! Why didn't you say so?! Get the engines ready and to cast off ye lads and lass'!" Shepard ordered. He and Tali both ran up the ramp to the ship, but before he entered, he looked back at the group and gave a casual salute. Soon after that, the Normandy pulled out and exited dramatically into the sunset.

"You do know that they do extensive background checks, right?" asked Rouge with curiosity of why the heiress contracted them.

Weiss just grinned. "I know. But it'll be funny when they find out I sent them a nice contract. Plus, I get some of my Dust back. So everyone wins."

"Except Torchwick, obviously." Reminded the white bat.

"I don't know about you guys, but does anyone else want to get something to eat?" asked Knuckles.

Sonic and Ruby smirked at each other. "We might know just the place."

Yarrgarita: The Corpirate
6:30 p.m.

"Hey, you're back!" The Corpirate was thrilled to see Team RWBY and the mobians again. "How have you all been?"

"Oh, pretty good. We saw the sights, destroyed a few robots, acquired new weapons, and stopped a robbery by Torchwick."

The Corpirate looked at Sonic, being rather impressed. "Really? You stopped Torchwick? And it's only a Tuesday."

"Nice place you got here," commented Rouge, looking at the dance floor. "Now this is my kind of place."

"Thank you. So ye must be the other mobians, right?"

"AFFIRMATIVE," said E-123 Omega. "EXCEPTION: I AM NOT A FLESH CREATURE."

"Come on, Omega, be nice." Rouge requested from the walking arsenal, and he did so reluctantly.

The Corpirate led everyone to the VIP section of the club. They all sat down at a large table and chatted for a bit about their past adventures.

The mobians were telling Team RWBY about Neo Metal Sonic, an upgraded version of the original Metal Sonic, and his scheme of replacing Eggman and becoming the one and only ‘true’ Sonic.

They talked for what felt like hours, telling their stories of fighting god-like beings and wannabe conquerors such as:

Chaos, a mutated Chao that wiped out the Knuckles Clan many years ago.
Bedlam the Hedgehog, the strict Moderator of the Chaos Emeralds.
The Metarex, an intergalactic cult hellbent on wiping out all organic life, except plant-life, within the Chaos Dimension.
Dr. Eggman Nega, a mad scentist determined to destroy everything, starting with Blaze's world, the Sol Dimension.
Black Doom, an alien warlord returning to Earth for the Chaos Emeralds as payment.
Nazo the Hedgehog, a destructive being born from negative Chaos energy.
Solaris the Eternal Sun-God of Time, capable of destroying entire dimensions and timelines like they’re nothing.
Dark Gaia, a primordial hyper-energy entity from the dawn of time, and the physical manifestation of darkness, night and destruction.
The Time Eater, a creature that can alter and erase various points of time and space with minimal effort.
The Deadly Six, a group of unusual individuals who wanted to use Mobius' life-force energy to enhance themselves.
And finally, Infinite the Jackal, a mercenary that wielded a gemstone with the power to distort and warp realities to a destructive degree.

Of course the members of Team RWBY were amazed by the mobians battles and threats they faced, it almost made their achievements feel small compared to dealing with a water-demon from a giant rock. They moved on to how the heroic group was about to face off against Robotnik once again before arriving on Remnant.

"So Amy, you have a team of your own?" asked Blake.

"Yep, the other two members couldn't make it to the Egg Ark, so you can't really meet them. There's Cream the Rabbit, and Big the Cat." Amy said as she recollects on the time during the Metal Overlord crisis.

"What can you tell us about them?" Ruby asks directly.

"Well, Cream is probably the youngest in our little group of heroes. She's even younger than Tails, but she can still fight like the best of us. She takes care of two Chao named Cheese and Chocola." Amy pulled out a picture of a small young rabbit and a taller one standing next to her. The small rabbit was holding a small blue creature with a red bow tie, while another one in brown floated with a blue bow tie.

"Those are Chao? Oh, they're so cute!" Ruby gushed in cuteness, even the other members cooed at their cuteness. (A/N: Can you blame them, they’re so adorable!)

"What about this Big character?" asked Weiss.

Amy pulled out another picture. This one had a large purple cat with a fishing rod holding a frog in his hand. "This is Big, and his best friend, Froggy. He's the greatest, even if he is dumber than Knuckles. ("Hey!" Knuckles shouted out) But Big was a lot of help during the whole ordeal with Neo Metal Sonic."

"There was another team that helped out during that crisis. Team Chaotix, also known as the Chaotix Detective Agency." Shadow remembered.

"Who are their members?" asked Yang.

"There's Vector the Crocodile, the leader. He's surprisingly strong, and has the ability to breathe fire and explosive bubblegum, somehow. Espio the Chameleon is a ninja who can turn invisible on a moment's notice, somewhat similar to Blake in some ways. Charmy Bee is the youngest. He's hyperactive and younger than Tails, but slightly older than Cream." explained Sonic, "There's also Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, but last I heard from them, they were travelling around somewhere."

"Are they any good at being detectives?" asked Silver. He and Blaze only knew them from sight, during the event with the Time Eater and the War.

"Well, let's just say I feel sorry for Espio sometimes. Vector and Charmy can get pretty annoying." the blue blur admitted with sympathy.

"Are there any other teams you have met over the years?" asked Ruby with interest.

"There are other teams we have encountered, one of them was called the Babylon Rogues," began the young kitsune. "They are quite good at treasure hunting-"

"Not as good as me or Knuckles though." interjected Rouge. Tails gave her a look and continued.

"-and experts on riding hover-boards called Extreme Gear."

"Considering they were related to genies, I don't think it was that difficult." said Amy.

"I thought they were descendants of aliens?" asked Knuckles.

"Genies? Aliens?" asked Weiss incredulously. "And they look like normal animals, right?"

"Yup. There's Jet the Hawk being their leader, Wave the Swallow as their engineer and technician, and Storm the Albatross for the muscle." Sonic leaned back on his chair. "Their ancestors came to Mobius from a starship-like city called Babylon Garden. I'll be honest, I still don't know the entire story with them."

"I don't think even they know," pondered Tails. "All we know for sure is that they first made Extreme Gear in the form of flying carpets, and the way they arrived on Mobius was by these devices called the Arks of the Cosmos, which can manipulate gravity and create black holes when all together."

"Wow, that's pretty wild." Ruby whistled. But something was bugging her about the Chaos Emeralds and what they can do. "Hey Sonic, I've been meaning to ask, what can these gems do anyway?"

Instead of the fastest thing alive answering, Knuckles responded instead, "The Chaos Emeralds are natural creations of the universe, at least in theory. Eight of them landed on our planet with one of them, the Master Emerald, crashed on an island full of the echidna race. As for the other seven, they all landed somewhere on some islands, South and Westside Islands to be precise."

"As for what they can do," Shadow taking over this time, "the Emeralds are an unlimited source of destructive power, you saw how devastating my Chaos Blast was against those Spider-Droids, and I was holding back. And with the right training and mindset, anyone can use a single Emerald to warp time & space for short periods." the black hedgehog admitted and everyone agreed with his statement, "Also, the Chaos Emeralds can transform thoughts into power, with all seven you can be invincible, becoming 'Super'."

"But they can even ascend even further than that," Sonic now interrupts, "the Chaos Emeralds can grow into something what I dubbed the 'Super Emeralds', and when attained I've achieved a form that surpasses Super, the 'Hyper' form." Yang asks how many 'forms' that each of them reached. They named each state off the top of their heads, such as the Super State, Hyper State, several Chaos Forms, Hyper-Mode, and Dark Transformations.

Sonic admitted he's had several forms even without using Chaos Energy, such as Darkspine from absorbing three of the seven World Rings, the Excalibur armour from the Scarred Swords, and a Werehog transformation from exposed Dark Gaia energy, which he still has even after the Dark Gaia crisis but only happens once a year. Shadow has only Super, Hyper, and Chaos. Silver can only reach Super at the moment. Knuckles and Tails admit they have their own Super, Hyper, and Hyper-Mode transformations. Blaze confesses that she has her own 'Super' state she calls the 'Burning Form' through her own version of Chaos Emeralds, the Sol Emeralds.

Team RWBY now felt really small after hearing what the Chaos Emeralds can do, Super transformations? Warping time and space? Fighting god-level beings? How are they going to compare those feats to 'preventing a Dust heist' or ‘estimating Grimm’? But then they realised that Sonic started out like where they are now, with time, training and experience they could even reach to where they are at some point or another.

At last, their dinners arrived. Sonic had finished his second chili dog when the Corpirate arrived again. "Excuse me, but since you have gotten here, everyone has wanted Sonic to sing again. Should I tell them to mind their own business?"

"Really? Strange request. Alright, I'll do it. I got an idea for a song that might work out nicely. Knux, Silv, Shad, you in?"

"Aw, heck, why not?" Knuckles agree.

"Count me in!" Silver admitted.

"There is no way that I'm going up on that stage, with someone like you, faker." Shadow disagreed.

Sonic put his head in his hand in mock despair. "Oh, Shadow, you really need to loosen up. Besides, I got a really good position for you: Second Guitarist."

"Come on, Shadow, you really need to be more social," Rouge encouraged. "You're immortal, take advantage of it!"

"Shadow's immortal?" whispered Yang to Knuckles. "What's up with that?"

"We'll tell you about it some other time."

Shadow groaned in defeat. "Fine, but I'll only sing one time, and one time only. Understand?"

Sonic shrugged. "Fair enough. Let's go!"

The mobians left for the stage, and the others followed not wanting to miss this. Sonic and Shadow took electric guitars, while Silver decided on the bass. Meanwhile, Knuckles called dibs on the drum kit. And each of them had a microphone of their own.

"Just out of curiosity, are they gonna play a song every time they come here?" asked Blake.

"Probably. I just hope I get to sing next time." whined Weiss.

Sonic counted the impromptu band off, and the song began with him playing his guitar to a nice rhythm. Knuckles joined him soon afterwards, and then the song began to really kick off.

Superhero - Simon Curtis

SONIC: Stand up, everybody look alive
Say come on, come on, come on we're gonna get it now
Hands up if you're ready for a fight
Say come on, come on, come on we're gonna win it now

I don't need you to believe in me
I know how to change my destiny
Sit down but to rewrite our history, rewrite our history, rewrite our history

We can change the whole world, gonna take it over
Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be
A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning
Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be

EVERYONE: A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Don't you wanna be
A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Anybody could be
Anybody could be
Anybody could be

KNUCKLES: Rip it off, show the symbol on your chest
Say come on and show the world who you really are
It's not enough to be better than the rest
Gotta take it to the top and make yourself a superstar

You don't need them to believe in you
Get your mission on lock and see it through
You've got all the power you need in you
Power you need in you, power you need in you

We can change the whole world, gonna take it over
Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be
A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning
Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be

EVERYONE: A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Don't you wanna be
A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Anybody could be

SILVER: We can change the whole world, gonna take it over
Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be
A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning
Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be

A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Don't you wanna be
A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Anybody could be

SHADOW: We can change the whole world, gonna take it over
Gonna start it over, don't you know what we could be
A new beginning, fighting 'til we're winning
Tell me that you're in it, don't you wanna be

EVERYONE: A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Don't you wanna be
A superhero, a superhero, a superhero
Anybody could be
A hero

Everyone cheered for the performance of mobians as the song ended.

"Wow Shadow, I really didn't expect that great solo at the end from you," said Sonic as the hedgehogs and echidna put away the guitars. "What gives?"

Shadow lowered his head. "I was just thinking that if Maria could see me, she would want me to be happy. I don't think she would like me by myself while all my friends have the time of their lives."

Sonic smiled and placed a reassuring hand on the black hedgehog's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure she would be proud of how far you've come."

"Just don't spread it around. I've got a reputation to maintain."

"Ah, there's the Shadow we know." Knuckles chuckles.

As everyone else gathered around, Shadow pulled out the green Chaos Emerald. "Well, see you guys back at the Academy. Omega and I are gonna report our success to Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch."

"Great! We'll see you there." said Blake.

"Chaos… Control!" With that, Shadow and Omega vanished in a green flash. Leaving the members of RWBY in surprise of the Ultimate Life Form's teleportation ability in action.

As the rest of the gang walked back to the academy, Ruby wondered what was happening between Eggman and Torchwick right now.

Vale Docks
10:30 p.m.

"You mean to tell me you were beaten by a rusty ship ?!"

Cinder was literally burning with rage as she received the report from Dr. Eggman and Torchwick's recent failure on the assault on the Normandy.

"Now now boss, I allowed Eggman here to plan the assault. I wanted to gather more intelligence, but-"

"Oh, can it, thief," Eggman interrupted. "I was all the intelligence you needed!"

"Enough!" Cinder shouted as she let a shockwave of fire radiating from her body. It didn't burn anybody or anything, but it did get their attention. "By Oum, I was expecting great things from you, Ivo, but it seems you're worse than Roman! At least he gets results!" Torchwick tried not to grin, but failed miserably. "How many times have you actually beaten those animals?!"

"A few times..." Eggman answered, "I even humiliated and devastated Sonic in combat once." remembering how he witnessed Infinite & his replicas of Shadow, Metal Sonic, Zavok and Chaos knocked the blue blur around before he blacked out.

"THE DOCTOR HAS NEVER TRULY SUCCEEDED IN BEATING SONIC OR HIS FRIENDS." Orbot truly answered.

"DERN RIGHT! THERE WERE A FEW OCCASIONS WHERE-" Cubot began, but before he could continue, Eggman slapped him to basically shut up.

"Fear not, I have a plan that will beat them for sure!" Eggman announced. Cinder cooled down a little (literally and figuratively) and sat down, making a note to herself to get Torchwick to steal some aspirin during his next heist.

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy, Doctor Oobleck's classroom
3:30 p.m.

It was Friday, and most of the students were looking forward to a temporary end of classes. For Pyrrha Nikos, however, this meant another weekend where she might not hang out with a certain blonde boy. She sighed to herself as she stared at Jaune Arc, who was completely oblivious to her affections.

"Mr Winchester, I thought I told you to stop pestering Miss Scarlatine!" Dr. Oobleck was once again displeased at the sight of Cardin Winchester, leader of Team CRDL, completely disregarding his lesson and was instead shooting spitballs at Velvet. Once again.

"What? It's not like she's a real human, right?" said Cardin carelessly.

Suddenly, the Beacon bully jumped up trying to put out a fire that somehow appeared in his pants- specifically between his legs. Everyone wanted to laugh, but finding out who did it in the first place took priority.

"Oops." The caffeinated teacher looked down and saw Blaze the Cat with a smug grin on her face and a small flame on the tip of her fingers.

"Ah, hello Miss Blaze! I take it you were the one who set Mr. Winchester on fire?"

"Who, me? That was actually a misfire, pun intended. I was aiming for his head."

"Technically, you did get his head." Blake said with a small smile. Everyone except Cardin laughed, and even shy Velvet chuckled a little. The unfortunate bully, showing an astounding level of restraint, wisely decided not to anger the pyrokinetic cat princess.

"Miss Blaze, what is the history of your world?" asked Oobleck. "I am very curious about your story, in particular. You carry yourself with royalty, and yet don't mind getting your hands- or rather, gloves, dirty."

Blaze looked at him, then the class. "I was born into royalty from another dimension that is in misbalance. The seas cover most of my world with every little colony of islands, and my world's gemstones, the seven Sol Emeralds, are the only things that are maintaining what's left of balance to survive longer.

"However, as their guardian they somehow transported me to Sonic's world, Mobius. It was difficult making friends with others, but Sonic helped me throw it. When I returned back to my dimension, I trained to return back to Mobius by any means necessary. It worked, but I ended up in Earth's future, and it was literally hell. Buildings destroyed, lava rivers running everywhere, and flaming tornados rising from nothing. I was there for a week until I met Silver the Hedgehog and the creature who caused such disasters, Iblis the Flame."

"So, you and Silver…" Oobleck somewhat questions.

"Yes, he is from the future, while I am from another universe, so to speak." Blaze confirms. She continued explaining her experience of living in Earth’s futuristic hellscape alongside Silver. From scavenging to find food to several conflicts with Iblis itself.

Everyone except Jaune, Blake, and Pyrrha looked at Blaze with wonder. Velvet quietly asked, "How did you defeat this 'Iblis' being?"

"Well, we found a way to destroy Iblis in our own time, which was to seal his flames within myself, and I send back to my dimension. I returned to my princess status, and Silver helped rebuild his timeline. Of course, in my dimension, I have to deal with a rotten egg of my own, but that's another story for another time."

"But aren't you worried that Iblis might be released into the world again?" asked Jaune with concern over the end of Remnant by eternal fire.

"Fortunately for me, Tails found a way to extract the Flames of Disaster without causing me any harm. He, along with Eggman's help, jettisoned the capsule containing the Flames into a already deverst dimension where nobody will try to get it."

"Wait, Eggman actually helped you?" asked Pyrrha incredulously.

"Surprising as it may sound, there are occasions where the mad doctor actually helps us. This was one of them. Eggman knew this was one powerful creature he could not control."

"Why was Iblis different from any other creature that Eggman controlled over the years?" asked Oobleck.

"Well, Iblis was just one half of a time-god named Solaris the Sun God. Eggman couldn't even keep the other half for a day." said Blaze, shuddering at the memory of Mephiles the Dark, and sincerely hoping he isn't lurking in the shadows like before.

"This is most fascinating! So time travel in your world is possible, and parallel dimensions do exist!" shouted the doctor. He checked the time and saw that he had less than a minute left. "Now before class is released, do you have any advice for these budding Huntsmen and Huntress', Miss Blaze?"

Blaze nodded as she looked at the class. "No matter what happens out there, remember that the Creatures of Grimm aren't the only monsters that exist in this or any world. Most monsters are people that do terrible things for their own satisfaction with no regard for life, no matter what form they take. The Creatures of Grimm are indeed monsters of terrible power, but remember that each of us has the potential to be monsters. You must choose the right path, or you will lose everything you love, forever."

Blaze noticed that Cardin was once again not paying attention, so she set his shoes on fire. The results were very comedic as he left the room fast enough to make Sonic jealous, who was walking in the halls as Team CRDL's leader ran through them.

"Can someone please tell Mr. Winchester that he owes me a five page essay on the formation of the White Fang?" said a chuckling Oobleck as one of the bully's teammates agreed. "Class is dismissed." The doctor ran out the door in a blur.

Pyrrha and Jaune walked back to their dorms together, talking about the fire cat's personal history. "Blaze's story was pretty interesting. To think that she and Silver are beings from either the future or another reality, so different from Sonic's and the others." the amazon said with excitement and wonder.

Jaune grinned. "Personally, I liked it when she lit Cardin on fire. Twice!"

"Hey, Jaune!"

The two turned around to see Silver and Blaze. "Oh, hey Pyrrha." greeted Silver.

"Hello Silver. Hello again, Blaze!" Pyrrha said cheerfully.

"What's up, Silver?" Jaune asked.

"Well, I was thinking that we could hang out with you guys this weekend. We've been doing things with Team RWBY, but not a lot with your team."

"Sounds good. You got a place?"

"Yup, it's a dance bar called 'Yarrgarita'. Have you heard of it?"

"Oh, yeah, I've heard about it. We'll definitely be going, right Jaune?" Pyrrha suddenly turned to Team JNPR's leader with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Oh, ah, hm," Jaune stammered. "R-right."

"Great! You and Jaune go ahead and tell Ren and Nora. I wanna talk a bit with Pyrrha," Blaze requested.

"Sure. Come on, Jaune," said Silver as he dragged the stammering blonde.

"So, what's up, Blaze?"

"Well, when I was in the classroom, I noticed that the professor did not question my methods of dealing with that idiot, what's-his-name, Cardin?"

"Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL," confirmed Pyrrha. "He has gained a reputation of being a bully to many people. You recall seeing the faunus with the rabbit ears?"

"Yes, I did. Poor girl…"

"Well, he was doing that to Jaune for a while. Then he told me that he faked his transcript to get into Beacon, and Cardin overheard. He used that fact as blackmail to get Jaune to do whatever he asked. Fortunately for Jaune, he regained his freedom after first refusing to hit me with a jar of sap, then saving Cardin from the biggest Ursa in the Forever Fall forest."

"Really?" Blaze asked, intrigued. "So even after Winchester told him to throw sap at you, and most likely beating Jaune up for not doing it-"

"Jaune still saved him. He has the makings of a true huntsman, in my opinion." Pyrrha looked away, smiling. "He may have faked his entry, but his Aura is very powerful. I have only seen more of it in Headmistress Goodwitch, and that was probably only after many years of training."

Blaze looked at the amazon. "He reminds me of Silver. He can be naïve, but his heart is always in the right place."

Pyrrha sighed dreamily. "After the trip, I took it upon myself to train Jaune to be a better Huntsman. We have been practicing every Tuesday and Thursday, and he has improved his skills greatly."

The pyrokinetic cat adopted a mischievous look on her face. "I take it you also had an ulterior motive?"

Pyrrha's cheeks turned as red as her hair. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I think you like him more than a friend," said Blaze with a knowing look in her eye. "I saw the way you look at him in class."

Pyrrha sighed. "Yes, I do like Jaune a lot. Ever since I first saw him, really."

"So what's stopped you from telling him?"

"He may be my crush, but he is my leader as well. I don't want to be seen as someone who is a kiss-up. If anything, I am waiting for him to make the first move."

"Well, don't wait too long, or he might not be available." advised Blaze.

"Hopefully something might happen this weekend if Nora doesn't interrupt."

Meanwhile, in Team JNPR's room-

"So, Ren, do you think you can handle it?" Rouge looked at the pink-eyed boy expectantly.

"Sure, Nora and I can make ourselves scarce when the time is right."

"Sorry we have to interrupt your plans, handsome."

"Hey, no problem," said Ren, chuckling a little. "I think it's finally time that our leader should get a girlfriend."

"Great! Remember, you never saw me. Later!" Rouge called as she flew out the window.

Operation: Warrior's Love was under way.

Egg Ark
Midnight

Deep in Eggman's base, something stirred in a dark corner. A small bundle of parts sat forgotten by its creator. Wires suddenly started to snake from the parts into the walls, siphoning energy from the base.

The parts slowly reassembled themselves to form a robot about three feet tall, but the shadows hid his form. Red eyes lit up, and the owner of them gained awareness once again.

The figure uploaded his database with his current location and activated his memory circuits. As he played back the last ten minutes before his shutdown, anger started to build. He picked up a piece of junk and crushed it into metal fragments.

The robot started to speak, his voice filled with hatred. “SOON… I WILL... HAVE MY REVENGE... AGAINST YOU, SONIC…” The robot stepped into the light, revealing a metallic blue hedgehog. “ ... MY LOATHSOME COPY…”

Chapter Text

Beacon Workshop
8:30 a.m.

"Tails, are you doing alright?" the cat faunus asks with concern.

"I'm fine, Blake." the kitsune replied as he rubbed his eyes. Tails has been up all night trying to get a location for the next Chaos Emerald without success.

"You're working too hard," Blake said with concern. "You've hardly been out of the workshop. You need to relax."

Tails looked at the faunus with tired eyes. "I know. I want to find Eggman's base because I think a Chaos Emerald might be in there. On the plus side, I am almost finished with building a new plane."

Blake looked at him with surprise. "Already? How?"

"Fortunately, I keep back-up files of various blueprints in my tablet, the Tornado being one of them. All it needs is some paint and a little help from you. If you don't mind, that is."

Blake laughed. "I think I can help you with that. I mean you could use the extra help." she offers.

The two walked out of the workshop, only to run into Knuckles. The echidna was very excited about something. "Guys, I have some great news! Get everyone here, pronto!"

Soon, everyone was gathered around the echidna. "What's up, Knux?" asked Sonic.

"Well, you know that I've been trying to communicate with the Master Emerald for a few days now, right?"

"I've been meaning to ask, what is a Master Emerald?" asked Ruby.

"The Master Emerald is a large gem that is the controller of the Chaos Emeralds. It usually sits on Angel Island, which floats in the sky due to the power of the Master Emerald. At least when it's not stolen by Eggman or Rouge." said Shadow while reminding the youngest Huntress of the powerful gemstone.

"Hey, that was only once, and it really wasn't the whole Emerald, just pieces of it." defended the white bat.

"Anyway, last night, I was finally able to get in touch with Tikal, the echidna spirit who lives inside the Master Emerald. She in turn was able to contact our friends back on Mobius. They know that we are okay!"

Amy breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, I was getting worried that no one at home knew of our situation. Is everyone all right?"

Knuckles grinned with confirmation that everyone is fine and healthy since their disappearance. "Shade and the Chaotix are guarding the Master Emerald; the Babylon Rogues are bounty hunting for the police and even G.U.N., for the right price; the Radniks and Xalvandor agreed to target any of Eggman's bases and facilities; and finally the Rabbit Family are still protected by Gemerl, if someone likes the Hooligan's plan to kidnap them."

Everyone was relieved that their friends, family members and allies are safe. Amy and Blaze were happy that Cream the Rabbit wasn't transported with them due to her young and innocent nature not handling the Grimm or Torchwick; Knuckles smiled inside since Shape the Echidna is protecting one of their history's priced treasures, the Master Emerald; Omega appreciated the support of other former-Badniks like Xalvandor and the Radnik's turning on Robotnik and his territories; Sonic and Tails were glad that Jet the Hawk is now helping others instead of pursuing lost riches.

"Did Tikal say anything about us returning back to Mobius, or Earth?" Shadow questions with concern.

"She said that since we arrived here by a huge uncontrollable energy release of Chaos Energy via Chaos Control, we'll need all seven Chaos Emeralds and transform them into the Super Emeralds, the amount of power should be more than enough to return us back home."

"Well, we already have three of them, so we're half way done." Silver states enthusiastically, unknowingly jinxing their changes of future success'.

Forest of Forever Fall
9:30 a.m.

The fact that the Forever Fall forest had red leaves all the time is a known fact. It is also a known fact that the Creatures of Grimm are attracted to the sweet sap generated by the trees.

However, as Neo Metal Sonic ran away from Eggman's base of operations, he gleaned a new fact: Surviving in this hostile world was going to be easy for a being like him.

‘HM HM HM… WHAT IS THIS? I SENSE THE PRESENCE OF A CHAOS EMERALD,’ he thought to himself. ‘THAT IDIOT CREATOR OF MINE HAD ONE NEAR HIS BASE AND HASN’T EVEN PICKED IT UP!’ Metal Sonic once again recalled his humiliating defeat at the hands of Sonic as he raced towards the signal. “FIRST I’LL DEAL WITH MY MEDDLESOME COPY, THEN I’LL DESTROY EGGMAN!” Metal stopped at a clearing on a hill. His scanners indicated that the Emerald was close. “BUT WHERE IS IT?!” he screamed in frustration. His frustration was interrupted by a warning from his sensors.

Unknown life form detected.

Metal Sonic looked down and saw a large serpent slithering towards him. “HM… IT’S NOT SONIC, NOR EGGMAN, BUT IT WILL DO FOR NOW.”

The King Taijitu started to curl around the robotic hedgehog, fangs on both of its heads gleaming. As the black head struck, Neo Metal Sonic jumped up and jabbed his hand into its skull, killing it. The white head, enraged by the loss of its dark half, quickly thrust itself and enclosed the metal hedgehog in its mouth. There was a bright light, and then the head of the giant snake vanished in a shower of fine black mist. Neo Metal was undamaged, and he spotted a white glow in the ground.

Unconcerned by the fact that he had just destroyed one of the largest Creatures of Grimm in the forest with little effort, Neo Metal Sonic plucked the white Chaos Emerald from the ground. His face showed no emotions, but somehow he managed to have a sinister look as he felt the power of the Chaos Emerald flowing through him.

“SO… THE CHAOS EMERALDS LANDED ON THIS PLANET AS WELL…” Metal thought to himself. “THE DOCTOR PROBABLY MISCALCULATED A CHAOS CONTROL… NO MATTER. IT SHOULD BE VERY SIMPLY TO GET THE OTHERS, EVEN IF SONIC AND EGGMAN HAVE ACQUIRED THEM. NO ONE, NOT EVEN THESE CREATURES, WILL BE ABLE TO INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS!” Neo Metal Sonic began to laugh out with pure malice.

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy, Team JNPR’s dorm
6:00 p.m.

'Oh man, I'm gonna be sitting close to my biggest crush, and we will be surrounded by other people! Why did I say yes to hanging out with them?'

Jaune Arc's head was filled with thoughts like that for most of the day. He was very anxious about being close to Pyrrha, and he was very tense all day. In fact, he could barely get into his formal suit, he was shaking so badly.

"Jaune? Are you ready?"

*Gulp* "Almost, Pyrrha. Oh, why did the club have to require formal wear today?!" A few minutes later, Jaune walked out of the dorm bathroom wearing a very nice tuxedo, a black suit and trousers with a white shirt underneath and yellow tie. "Alright, go ahead and laugh."

Nora, who was wearing a pink dress while bouncing on the bed, just smiled and said, "Jaune, you worry too much. You look very handsome!"

Jaune looked up. "Y-you really think so?"

"I agree with Nora. It isn't too bad of a look for you," said Ren. He was wearing a tuxedo with a very similar colour scheme to his casual outfit- green shirt with white pants.

"So, what do you think?" asked Pyrrha, who just walked in.

Jaune turned to look, and found that he couldn't speak. Pyrrha was wearing a long, flowing red dress that matched her hair. The dress clung to her curves nicely, and it went well with the jewels in her hair. All in all, she was drop dead gorgeous, and Jaune's brain was trying very hard to not have a nosebleed at the sight of her.

Jaune, somewhat literally, picked his jaw up from the floor and cleared his throat. "You look… good, I guess."

Nora slowly walked up to him with a mischievous smile. "Just good? Is that what you really think, Jaune?" Nora said as she batted her eyes playfully, while Pyrrha blushed.

"Okay, Nora, I think you've teased him enough. You look great." Ren was starting to see signs that Jaune was going to faint from Pyrrha's appearance, and he decided to come to his rescue.

"Thanks, Ren. Well, they're meeting us at the club, so let's go."

"Yay! I call the window seat!" exclaimed Nora as she ran from the room.

*sigh* "Thank you for saving me from Pyrrha. As much as I like to say otherwise, I really don't like it when girls pay direct attention to me." JNPR's leader whispered to Ren.

"No problem, but before we go, I feel like I should tell you something." The team's ninja whispered back.

"Alright, shoot."

Ren paused before he began. "As a member of Team JNPR, I think that you should know that Pyrrha likes you."

Jaune tried to shake that revelation off. "So? I like her too. I think she is a great friend. So are you and Nora, although I still get panic attacks when Nora gets close to a cup of coffee."

"I mean she likes you a lot. I don't think she would mind being more than 'just friends'."

The leader of Team JNPR was shocked to the core. "Y-you mean that she is attracted to me?"

Now it was Ren's turn to be shocked. "Seriously!? How could you have missed the lovey-dovey eyes she gives you whenever we are all together?"

"B-but she and I can't be together…"

"Why not?" asked Ren with an amused look on his face. "You clearly like her."

"I just can't let my feelings interfere with the team dynamics. I might make her duties less dangerous, and people might say I am showing favouritism because we are a couple!"

Ren looked at Jaune with a serious expression. "Listen to me, Jaune. As your teammate, let me give you some advice: Don't give up that easily. I see the beginnings of something wonderful, and you're going to give that up?"

"Uh…"

"Pyrrha Nikos is a strong willed and independent woman, but she needs you. I have a feeling that you need her, too. Sonic told me about his adventure with Captain Shepard, and he is engaged to one of his crew."

"R-really?"

"I don't know if Shepard had those same doubts you do, but if he did, it's clear that he overcame them, and he is in a great relationship with that Tali girl. The rest of the crew doesn't have a problem with his relationship. Nora and I will be okay with you and Pyrrha as a couple." Ren got up to leave. "Whatever your decision, make it soon. I heard she might just give up on you and move on to someone else."

Jaune sat on his bed, emotions churning inside him. It wasn't until Nora dragged him away to the airship that he moved.

Outside, Rouge was watching Team JNPR leaving through a pair of binoculars. She saw Ren making a casual thumbs up out of sight of the others as they entered the airship, and she smiled. Phase 1 was a success. However, Phase 2 called for something a little more subtle.

Inside the airship, Jaune had more discomfort awaiting him, as he ended up sitting next to Pyrrha. He was still reeling from Ren's revelation that she liked him a lot, maybe even loved him. He was still not sure about being in a relationship with a member of his team.

Message received

Jaune got his scroll out of his pocket when he heard the message chime go off. He saw that the subject line said 'Read in Private', and that the sender was Weiss.

'Huh, I wonder what Weiss wants.' Jaune thought as he walked to the bathroom as if he needed to throw up. Thankfully, no one knew that he had taken ginger pills, so his airsickness was under control. No one would disturb him.

WEISS: "Jaune, I just found something interesting in Pyrrha's diary. Here's what it says:

'Dear Diary, I really do hope that Jaune tells me that he likes me tonight. I have a feeling that he might still have doubts about whether or not he should even be at Beacon, let alone showing favouritism to me. I keep sensing something during our training sessions, but I feel like he should make the first move. It's been a few months since we first met, but I still get butterflies every time we are close to each other. His confidence has increased dramatically since then, and maybe tonight's the night that we can finally be together! He no longer believes that he doesn't belong to Beacon, and even Cardin isn't being a big bully to him, although, I will still break his legs if he tries anything funny. (Insert sign of affection) I think I can finally admit to myself that I love Jaune, ever since he called me 'Hot Stuff' before the initiation.'

"So, Jaune, are you gonna throw away this catch, or are you going to get a girlfriend? After all, sometimes you have to take a chance to get what you want. We only have one life."

SONIC: "Yolo!"

WEISS: "Sonic?! How long have you been watching this?!"

SONIC: "Long enough. So why are you reading Pyrrha's diary?"

WEISS: "Alright, I'll tell you, but don't mention it to her." She then explains to the blue blur why she's helping Jaune Arc together with Pyrrha Nikos.

SONIC: "Ah, a little matchmaking, huh? Go for it, Jaune! Live and learn from life!"

WEISS: "You say that, and yet why are you always running from Amy? You two would make a nice couple."

SONIC: "You kidding? She can be pretty crazy at times. Especially with her hammer."

AMY: "SONIC! Why do you keep running away from me?!"

SONIC: "Uh oh, she found me! Gotta go, bye!"

Jaune put his scroll away with a determined expression on his face. The amusing antics of the hedgehogs not-with-standing, he had made his decision, and nothing would stop him from confessing his love to Pyrrha tonight.

Bam! "Ow!" Okay, maybe at least one thing. 'Who put that door there?!'

Yarrgarita: The Corpirate
7:00 p.m.

"So when Eggman installed new spyware in his base, Tails manipulated the software so he had to go through many menus to get to the right camera angle, and even then, more menus got in the way of the screen!" laughed Silver.

Silver and Blaze were sitting at a large table with Team JNPR talking about the various pranks that were pulled on Eggman during the building up to the Egg Ark crisis and the transporting of the mobians to Remnant.

"Doesn't surprise me that much," said Ren. "That guy looks like he's seen a lot of menus."

Everyone burst out laughing. "Joke of the day, from Lie Ren!" giggled Nora.

The atmosphere at the dance club was very relaxed. All of the current mobians and students were having a very good time. Jaune was still very nervous about finally revealing his feelings to Pyrrha, but he was more relaxed around the amazon since he really had nothing to lose when he told her.

"Good evening. I take it you are having a good time?"

Team JNPR turned around and saw Professor Ozpin standing behind them.

"Oh, hello Professor. What are you doing here?" asked Jaune.

"Well," began Ozpin, "A beautiful lady that has caught my eye for a long time has finally decided to reveal her own feelings for me, and we are going out on a date."

"Really?" asked Pyrrha with interest. "Who is she?"

Pyrrha's question was answered as a familiar figure approached the Headmaster. "Hello children, it's nice to see you." The figure was none other than... Glynda Goodwitch!?

"You're going out with Miss Goodwitch?" asked Jaune in surprise.

"Yes, I am, Mr. Arc. Is that too much of a problem?"

"Well, you could do much worse," Jaune said, recovering a little, hoping that the combat teacher didn't hear him. "What will the other teachers say about this?"

Ozpin looked at Jaune with a knowing smile. "All of the teachers were very congratulatory, especially Professor Port."

"What did he say?"

"He simply said that it was about time we told each other." said Glynda, who was blushing a little at the memory.

"But aren't you afraid that you might show favoritism in a battle situation and not let her fight because of your feelings?" blurted Jaune.

Ozpin gestured for Jaune to come with him. Team JNPR's leader walked along with him to a quieter section of the club. "Now Mr Arc, has that been holding you back from a relationship with Miss Nikos?"

"What? How did you know about that?" asked Jaune before he could stop himself.

Ozpin chuckled before answering. "Please, Mr. Arc. Even Professor Port could tell that you like her, and she you. And he has eyebrows that cover his eyes."

He put his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I will be honest with you, Jaune. I was not sure that you were right for this school, even before I knew about the faked transcript. But I have kept your secret because you do belong at my school. More so than some of the other students, actually. And do you know why that is?"

"N-no, sir."

"I could see that you were a born leader. Your Aura is one of the strongest I have ever seen, and the way you defeated the Deathstalker at your initiation was truly one of the most impressive. More to the point, despite your crush's best efforts, I did find out what happened at the Forest of Forever Fall during that field trip. You defended a bully from the biggest Ursa in Forever Fall, even after he pummeled you!" exclaimed Ozpin, who confirmed Jaune's suspicions on why Cardin has been getting more homework than usual lately. "Now, despite all of this, do you still say that you are not the right person for Miss Nikos? Quite the opposite, in my opinion! My advice to you is this: tell her how you feel. Believe me, when I finally told Glynda, I felt like a huge weight was lifted from me. Telling Pyrrha you love her will give you one of the greatest feelings you can feel, trust me."

Ozpin left Jaune, who was still sorting through his thoughts and emotions. Before he sat down with Glynda, the Professor sent a message to Rouge, telling the matchmaking bat that success was very near.

'Alright, I'll tell Pyrrha in five minutes,' Jaune said to himself. 'Oh, screw it, why wait?'

"Pyrrha, can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Jaune requested, very surprised that he barely stuttered.

Pyrrha stood up and walked with Jaune to the same quiet corner where Ozpin talked to him. "What's up, Jaune?"

'Oh, boy, here it goes'. "Pyrrha, I j-just want to say something that I have wanted to say for a long time now."

"And what is it?" asked the amazon. Her heart rate quickened. 'Could this be the day he tells me he likes me?'

"Before I go on, what I'm about to say isn't 'I like you'.

Pyrrha's heart shattered. "W-what!?" she stammered, tears threatening to appear in her eyes. The next thing she knew, Jaune's lips were on hers. That kiss sent a shock through Pyrrha, but it was a very pleasant one. All too soon, Jaune removed his lips from hers. "Um… if you don't like me, what was that supposed to be?"

"What I wanted to say for a long time is this: I love you, Pyrrha Nikos." said Jaune with a grin. Just like Ozpin said, he felt like a huge weight was lifted.

Pyrrha's eyes were filling up with tears again, but with happiness this time. "Oh, Jaune, finally you noticed!" she exclaimed as she hugged him. "I love you too."

Jaune probably wasn't the happiest person in the world at that moment (Sonic probably found an all-you-can-eat buffet that had hundreds of Chili Dogs), but he was in the top five, at least.

Jaune and Pyrrha walked back to their table, hand in hand. Ren and Nora noticed their new closeness. "So, I take it you told her, then?" Ren asked.

"Yes, and I didn't have anything to worry about." said Jaune happily.

"Yeah! Don't you just love love?" exclaimed Nora.

On the stage, a female singer steps up with a piano and a microphone up there too. She starts playing a slow melodey before she starts singing.

Forever Fall - Casey Lee Willaims

Once, like a dream
You looked at me
And everything felt new
Time slipped away
The past seemed to fade
My hope restored by you

And I know, for some, it's temporary
Like a shooting star soon out of view
But this will always be
It's my destiny
To be in love with you

Some people fall in love for life
Others never get it right
Love's fickle when it calls
One thing that I know for sure
Longer than our lives endure
You're my forever fall

As the music played, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos held their hands together as they look into each others eyes, smiles and kiss passionately. "I love you." they both said to one another.

Your trust, honesty
Helped me believe
A ray of hope shined through
You set me free
Saw what the world couldn't see
I found my joy in you

Every life is filled with passing moments
Like the seasons change, they come and go
But this is infinite
Nothing, even death
Could separate our souls
'Cause you're my final goal

Some people fall in love for life
Others never get it right
Love's fickle when it calls
One thing that I know for sure
Longer than our lives endure
You're my forever fall

As the song came to an end, Glynda and Ozpin spied on the new couple, and they smiled. "Something tells me that those two will be happy together for a long time." said Ozpin.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with their schoolwork, I will have no problems with them," stated Glynda. "By the way, who asked you to talk to Mr. Arc?"

"The white mobian bat from Team Dark."

"Rouge? She seems like the last person I would expect to play matchmaker."

Ozpin chuckled a bit. "Indeed, but there's more than meets the eye with all of us, Rouge included."

Silver was happy for Jaune, and he silently hoped that whoever helped Jaune get with Pyrrha could help him with Blaze. He suddenly got a message on his scroll, which Ozpin gave him and the other mobians as a way to communicate in this world. The sender was anonymous, and it said:

???: "Don't worry, your turn at romance will come soon. Do not reply to this message, you'll know what you need when you need to know it."

'Huh, that's convenient. Catchy phrase too.' Silver thought.

That evening, Jaune and Pyrrha announced to Team RWBY that they were finally in a relationship. They all congratulated the new couple, and Weiss gave Jaune a knowing wink. The fact that Weiss looked in Pyrrha's diary would be kept a secret between them.

Rouge went to sleep that night satisfied with her work. 'One down, one to go.'

Chapter Text

Egg Ark
Midnight

"So what's this big plan of yours, almighty Doctor?" asked Roman Torchwick sarcastically. Eggman was walking down the halls of his base with Roman, showing off his base and his robot factories. Roman was slightly impressed by his acquisition of the Creatures of Grimm, but he wanted to see something better than that before he reported back to Cinder.

"Ho ho, it's just down here. I have been keeping him powered off because he has a tendency to betray me when he has enough power. It's quite annoying, really."

'Gee, I wonder why.' thought Roman.

They finally arrived at the right room when Eggman suddenly went pale. The entrance to the room was blown apart outwards, like something got out. He rushed into the room and found scorch and scratch marks everywhere, but no sign of the pile of junk that was critical to his plans.

"Okaaaay… What could have caused this mess?" asked Roman.

Eggman ignored him and went to a microphone on the wall. "Orbot, what happened in containment cell 01?"

"CHECKING TAPES... OH, BOY. YOU AREN'T GOING TO LIKE THIS, BOSS."

"Just show me what happened!" yelled Eggman, who was now sweating profusely. A screen unfolded itself out of the wall, and the video playback began.

The footage showed a pile of parts shooting out wires to the wall, and said pile began to take the form of a hedgehog. Roman watched in fascination as the hedgehog looked around and crushed a small part with one hand. It then seemed to notice the camera, and it held out its hand. A wave of energy erupted from it, causing the recording to switch to a screen filled with static.

Roman was shocked by what he just saw. "What. Was. That!?"

"That was a creation of mine that went rogue a few years ago, posing as me. It took that blasted hedgehog and his friends to defeat him, and even then, it was not looking good for them during some moments."

Roman was getting fed up with the evasive answering. "But who is it?!"

Eggman looked at him with fear in his eyes and a bitter taste with the words that came out. "Neo Metal Sonic."

Forest of Forever Fall
3:00 a.m.

Despite the scheming of Eggman, it was an unusually peaceful night in Forever Fall. The silence was disturbed only by the footsteps of a very large scorpion making its way to a nearby river. The Deathstalkers runes on its carapace glowed in its reflection as it drank from the river. This one woke up from a long hibernation, and it wanted to quench its thirst before it terrorised a nearby village.

Suddenly, it sensed a disturbance nearby. The Deathstalker whirled around to face the source. A metallic creature that resembled a hedgehog was facing it.

The Deathstalker was very intrigued by this being, but it was mostly annoyed that its drink was interrupted. The scorpion roared and lunged towards the robot, all thoughts of caution abandoned. It thrust a claw, intending to crush it, but the robot just caught it and threw the scorpion behind him.

‘STUPID BUG… WHAT DID IT THINK IT COULD DO TO A BEING LIKE ME?’ thought Neo Metal Sonic.

The Deathstalker was infuriated by this embarrassment. It let out a roar that was heard for miles, and then threw itself at the robot. Metal Sonic blocked the claws again, but this time, he was knocked back by the stinger. He wasn't affected by the poison, of course, but he was knocked to the ground a fair distance away. The Deathstalker eagerly ran forward for the kill.

However, Metal Sonic wasn't out of tricks yet. As the giant mouth filled his vision, he thrust a clawed hand into the scorpion's underside. A black cloud seemed to flow from the scorpion to Metal Sonic. The Deathstalker suddenly felt weaker, as if its energy was being drained. It backed away from the robot, but was too late. The scorpion swayed back and forth, and then finally collapsed.

Metal Sonic stood up, but he had a different look. On his arms and legs was white armour that had glowing runes, not unlike the Deathstalker's, even his metallic silver changed to black. He looked at himself, pleased with the results of his little experiment.

“DEATHSTALKER BIO-DATE - HAS BEEN COPIED!” he proclaimed dramatically.

Somewhere above the ocean
7:30 a.m.

"This is the Captain speaking. We are on approach to the Vale Airport. Please fasten your seatbelts."

"Finally, we're here," sighed a girl in relief. She had bright green hair, red eyes, and dark skin. She was wearing a shirt that showed off her midriff and was pretty low-cut. However, she gave off a vibe that said, "Don't mess with me." so that discouraged a lot of guys who might ask her out. Plus, it could also have been the person she was sitting next to. He had grey eyes, a vest and shirt that matched his silver hair, and black pants.

The guy sitting next to her shifted in his seat. "What, did the flight attendant not have much on her this time?"

Emerald shifted her eyes to the speaker. "First of all, Mercury, the flight attendant had a lot of Lien. Second, you snore like an Ursa with a cold."

"Well, excuse me, Miss Thief, I didn't know you had such low tolerances." Emerald rolled her eyes. "So, what does the boss lady want us to do while in Vale?"

"We're here to assist in the neutralisation of several key targets. Cinder didn't say who they were; she just requested our presence in dealing with this matter."

The conversation was cut short as the airship glided down the runway for a landing. The duo quickly got off before the flight attendant noticed her missing wallet. They walked down to the docks and entered the warehouse where Roman had the Dust stockpiled.

"Emerald, Mercury, I'm glad you came." Cinder greeted warmly.

"And just who are these intruders?"

The two newcomers turned around and saw Eggman. "Watch your tongue, Doctor. These two are my associates, and they can be quite deadly." Cinder reassures Robotnik.

"Cinder, may I address my concern, as your associate?" asked Mercury.

"Go ahead."

"Why are we involving this outsider? He isn't part of the White Fang, and it's bad enough that we are working with Torchwick."

"I heard that!" shouted Roman from the other side of the warehouse.

"You were supposed to!" countered Mercury.

Cinder explained Eggman's credentials and his new role in the organisation.

"So, you're from another world?" asked Emerald. "Clearly, obesity is a universal problem."

"Argh, it's bad enough that Sonic and his friends make fun of me, but now you?!" shouted Eggman. Orbot and Cubot rolled up to either side of him and popped up.

“WELL, DOCTOR, MAYBE IF YOU WOULD DO YOUR DAILY EXERCISES, YOU WOULDN’T BE THE TARGET OF SO MANY FAT JOKES.” stated Orbot.

Cubot completely ignored them and rolled straight for Emerald. “HOWDY, LITTLE LADY. MA NAME IS CUBOT, AND IF YA DON’T MIND ME SAYIN’, YOU’RE PURTIER THAN A SUNSET ON A PAINTED DESERT.”

"Uh-um, thanks?" Emerald stammered. She was kind of surprised at the sudden appearance of the robots, let alone one of them flirting with her.

Eggman sighed at Cubot's antics. "Just ignore him. He may be annoying, but trust me, this is an improvement."

"I'll… take your word for it." said Emerald while looking at Cubot confusionly.

"Anyway, who do you want us to kill?" asked Mercury, getting down to business.

"Doctor Eggman here isn't the only being from another world to arrive on Remnant." Cinder took out a scroll and displayed the mobians. "Your job is to eliminate these beings. I don't care how you do it, just don't draw too much attention to yourselves."

Emerald looked at the photo of Rouge. "I'll take the bat. It says she is a thief?"

"That's right, and one of the best in my world," said Eggman. "Make no mistake, though, she is also one of the top agents in the Guardian Unit of Nations, or G.U.N. for short.

Emerald donned an evil smirk. "We'll see how good she is compared to me."

"What makes you so special, ya little twerp?" demanded Eggman.

“UH, DOCTOR? YOU SEEM TO BE MISSING YOUR GOOGLES.” said Orbot.

Eggman felt his forehead, and his goggles were indeed missing. Emerald reached in her pants and pulled them out while grinning. Needless to say, Eggman was very impressed. "Ok, I take back the twerp remark. But I want my goggles back?"

Afterwards, Roman walked up to Eggman with a worried look on his face. "How come you didn't tell Cinder about that 'Metal Sonic' freak?"

Eggman, looking equally worried, replied, "Believe me, I don't like having that doppelganger loose any more than you do, but one of the core programs I installed is an insatiable hatred of Sonic. He may end up destroying Sonic for us!" he finished with a manic grin.

"But from what I have heard, you have never beaten Sonic. At least, not for very long. What makes you think you could destroy something that could be even more powerful than him?"

Eggman gulped at the sudden realisation. "If all else fails, I'll have to form a truce with the blue rat."

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy's courtyard
10:00 a.m.

“This will be the day we've waited for!” Ruby sang out loud while taking a stroll around Beacon, listening to her music. “This will be the day we-" She stopped singing as she saw a solitary hedgehog looking over the cliffs. Ruby did a quick mental check of the four mobian hedgehogs currently at Beacon, and deduced that this one was Shadow the Hedgehog, based on the black and red fur and solitary persona. "Hey, Shadow, what are you doing out here?" she asked.

Shadow opened his eyes and looked behind him. "Oh, hey Ruby. I'm just admiring the view. It isn't as impressive as the view from my old home, but it is beautiful nonetheless."

"Why? Where do you come from? Err... Besides Mobius and Earth, of course." The young Huntress corrected, in an attempt to understand the black and red hedgehog more.

Shadow shuddered. "Do you really want to know my past? I've done some things I'm not... proud of."

"Well, if it makes you uncomfortable."

Shadow straightened up. "No," he quickly interrupted, "I-I think this is something I need to tell. I may not be proud of it, but it is my past." The black and red hedgehog sat down and the crimsonette followed suit. "Over fifty years ago, a brilliant scientist came up with the idea of making the Ultimate Life Form to cure his granddaughter from a terminal disease called 'Neuro-Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome'. His name was Gerald Robotnik, and his granddaughter was named Maria."

Ruby looked startled. "Robotnik? Is there any relation between Eggman?"

Shadow nodded. "Ivo was Gerald's grandson, and Maria was his cousin." This information surprised Ruby, thinking that Eggman has- no, had relatives. But what happened to them?

Shadow continues his story, "Gerald was having no luck with creating the Ultimate Life Form until he was contacted by the leader of the Black Arms, an alien race that was hell-bent on the subjugation of all life in the galaxy. Their leader, Black Doom, gave Gerald some of his blood to him, and the professor was finally able to create the Ultimate Life Form, on the condition that the creature would retrieve the seven Chaos Emeralds for Black Doom when they next came to Earth."

"But what does all of that have to do with you?" asked Ruby.

"The creature that was created…" he took a deep breath, "was me."

Ruby was stunned. "You're the Ultimate Life Form that Gerald guy created?" Then she remembered why Shadow keeps calling himself that and now it makes sense to her.

"Indeed. I grew up as friends with Maria aboard our home- the Space Colony ARK. We both had dreams about going down to the planet." Shadow closed his eyes in sadness. "Unfortunately, those dreams were broken when the military found out what Gerald was doing. Maria and I tried to escape, but…" a tear slowly formed behind his closed eyelids.

Ruby put a reassuring hand on Shadow's shoulder. He took a deep breath and continued. "Before she was... killed, she sent me down to the surface in an emergency pod, but the military, the Guardian Unit of Nations, were ready when I landed. I tried to run, hide or even fight back but they took me and locked me away in a cryostasis pod for fifty years, on a remote land named Prison Island. Gerald went insane and instructed me to destroy the planet when I was re-awakened.

"Fifty years later, Eggman came and woke me up. I worked with him and Rouge in his plans for world domination because I wanted revenge against the humans who killed Maria. We were close to destroying the planet thanks to the superweapon that was developed on the ARK- the Eclipse Cannon. Powered by the Chaos Emeralds, it could destroy planets and pierce stars- and even six of them were enough to destroy half of the moon. However, when the seventh one was inserted into the machine, it started a countdown to descend the ARK from orbit to Earth's surface. Put simply, the whole station was going to crash into the planet." 

"Did Sonic get involved in any of this?" She asks with concern, 'I mean they're alive right now so how did they survive?'

Shadow chuckled a bit. "When I stole the first two or three Chaos Emeralds, everyone thought that I was Sonic. He ended up getting arrested just because too many government officials were colourblind." Ruby laughed at how he and Sonic look nothing alike, "After he was rescued by Tails and Amy, we all ended up on Space Colony ARK. Sonic and I fought, but after we found out that Professor Gerald was going to destroy Earth, we all joined forces to save the planet. Amy helped me remember Maria's true wish for me."

"And what was that, Shadow?" Ruby wonders.

He pauses for a moment and looks upwards into the sky, "She wanted me to give everyone a chance to be happy. So, I joined with Sonic and we used the power of the Chaos Emeralds and transformed ourselves into Super Sonic and Super Shadow, and not only did we destroy the prototype of the Ultimate Life Form and my somewhat biological brother- the Biolizard- we saved the planet by transporting the ARK into a stable orbit around Earth. Unfortunately, I ended up using most of my energy into the Chaos Control. I ended up landing on the planet, and not in a fun way."

"Well, clearly, you survived, considering that you're standing here." commented Ruby.

Shadow looked at her. "Well, I wasn't heard from for quite some time. I was picked up by Eggman and placed in a stasis pod, and I stayed asleep for a few months. Robotnik joined Sonic and his friends to combat an alien threat called 'the Meterex', a cult-like organisation that wanted to wipe out all organic beings and let nature flourish. I sacrificed myself to create a Chaos Control-like prison to contain the threat.

"Once everyone returned, I was recovered again and put into a cold storage facility, only to be reawakened by Rouge the Bat, during that time I had a bad case of amnesia. I teamed up with her and E-123 Omega, who was guarding the bunker I was sealed in long enough to override his loyalty to Eggman. We joined forces with Teams Sonic, Rose, and Chaotix to defeat yet another power-hungry megalomaniac, Neo Metal Sonic. After that, I drifted, trying to discover who I was. A few months passed by, and it seemed I would never find my answers." Suddenly his face hardings to the events he explains next.

"That's when the Black Comet reappeared on Earth, and the invasion of the Black Arms began."

Ruby was shocked. "You mean the aliens that gave you their blood?"

Shadow nodded. "I was contacted by Black Doom in the beginning, and he wanted me to get him the seven Chaos Emeralds. I was foolish enough to go along with him. I wanted answers, and he seemed to be the only person who had them. I would- and did- do anything to get them."

The black hedgehog let a single tear roll down his face. "I killed many humans & mobians before Sonic and his friends, even Eggman himself, convinced me to help them. In a final confrontation with Black Doom, I did discover my answers. I defeated him and destroyed the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon."

Shadow sighed. "After that, I tried to atone for my sins. Twice I tried to destroy the planet for my selfish reasons, and it seemed that no matter what I would do, people might hate me for what I am and what I did. Eventually, though, Rouge was able to help me get a job in G.U.N., though it took a long time for everyone to get over their fear of me.

"Others have tried to sway me to their side, such as half an entity of a Time-God named Mephiles the Dark but I refused his offers every time and unleashed my true power on him." Shadow mentions as he rubs the rings around his wrists, "And even the doctor temporarily corrupted me through a Chaos Emerald I had with me and fought Sonic to a standstill, but he knocked the negative energy out of me, literally. Hell, when an entity that ranks himself as 'Moderator of the Chaos Emeralds' even tried to kill me for not only being a creation of Chaos Energy, but for using the Emeralds after saying that their continued abuse could destroy the entire planet and the Moderator added me to his kill-list along with Sonic and Eggman too. And finally, I challenged Sonic for a Chaos Emerald during the Time Eater incident, and Sonic once again beated me to see sense again. I was even responsible for the creation of Infinite and the start of the War, to some extent.

"So now you know. I'm a hedgehog that might as well be called a monster for what I've done. I understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore." Shadow finished with signs of depression creeping through his personality.

Ruby sat quietly, absorbing the story for a minute. Then she looked up. "Shadow, do you regret the things that you've done?"

"Every day, I even see the faces of the people I've killed. They haunt me, and I know nothing that I do will ever bring them back, not even the powers of the Chaos Force can."

"Stop the self-pity and listen to me, Shadow the Hedgehog." The black and red mobian was slightly caught off-guard by Ruby's response, "If you regret what you have done, then you are already better than most people who have murdered. If you know that you cannot bring them back, well, know that you have the power to prevent people like Eggman, Torchwick or the Grimm from killing or doing other horrible things."

Shadow smiled a little. "You know, you sound a lot like Sonic when he was trying to cheer me up after the Black Arms invasion."

Ruby stood up and helped Shadow get back up. "Just know that you're surrounded by friends who can help you, and you can consider me one, as well." Ruby said, smiling.

Shadow smiled in response. "Thank you, Ruby Rose."

"Wanna race to the weapon range?"

Shadow smirked and activated his air sneakers. "You sure? I've been told I'm on similar levels of speed with Sonic, though he would never admit it."

"You know about Semblances, right?" Shadow nodded. "Well, mine is speed. So try and keep up, Mr. Ultimate Life Form!" She said in a mockingly playful manner.

The two new friends raced to the shooting range, both a blur of red and black with little rose petals coming from the female speedster.

Meanwhile, Sonic observed everything on a nearby roof. He jumped down, smiling to himself.

"Well, what do you know? Shadow can be friendly after all."

Glynda walked up behind him. "Your friend in black has been through a lot, hasn't he?"

Sonic looked up. "Yeah, you can say that. But he is a good friend, despite his personality." He suddenly did a double take. "Wait a sec, how much of that did you hear?"

"All of it. As our guests, I like to keep up with your well-being." Glynda smiled at the blurs that were Ruby and Shadow. "I feel like those two will be very good friends."

"Well, please don't tell too many people about Shadow's past. He is still pretty sensitive about most of it, especially about Maria."

Glynda nodded in understanding, accepting the blue hedgehog's request. "We all have something that is better off a secret, even between friends." She walked off towards the main tower. As she passed a bundle of bushes, she waved her riding crop and Cardin Winchester popped out, thanks to her telekinetic-like Semblance.

"Tsk, tsk, Mr. Winchester, don't you have something better to be doing?" Miss Goodwitch asked with authority in her tone as Beacon's bully whimpers in response.

Chapter Text

Streets of Vale
12:30 p.m.

"So, how should I get Silver and Blaze together?" wondered Rouge. She was hanging upside down in an alleyway where no one would disturb her. Emboldened by the success of her first matchmaking with Jaune and Pyrrha, she was trying to come up with a way to get the couple from the future and another dimension to actually become a couple.

She was distracted by a shifty-looking girl walking with an even shiftier guy. Oblivious to the white bat now observing them, Mercury and Emerald were trying to find a likely place for the mobians would gather. "I still say we should just assassinate them at Beacon."

Emerald sighed. "Look, Mercury, these aren't runaways from the White Fang we're tracking, these are beings from another world, each with their own abilities. Even Torchwick had problems with them. Getting close to them is going to be tricky. Plus, Beacon seems to be the place they have made a home at, we can't even get close to that place without arousing suspicion."

'Now this is very interesting.' thought Rouge. She quickly pulled out a camera from her breastplate and took photos of the duo. Suddenly, the green-haired girl bumped into a woman. While apologizing profusely, Rouge noticed that she pickpocketed her with practiced ease.

'Hm. She's good,' she thought. She put on a feral grin. 'But I'm better.' Rouge detached herself from the plank in the alleyway and flew over to a corner just ahead of the duo. She put herself in a position to turn the tables on Emerald.

Said thief was looking through her newly gotten gains when she suddenly ran into Rouge. "Oh, my, I'm sorry. Can I help you?" Rouge kept her smirk hidden.

Emerald took the proffered hand, only seeing the owner of it fully when she stood up. "What the-"

"Well, you don't see that every day. A talking bat. You must be Rouge, no?" asked Mercury.

"I'm Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge, handsome," replied the bat with a flirty wink.

'Rouge? This is perfect, I can kill her now!' thought Emerald as she reached for her sickles.

"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't do that, sweetie," admonished Rouge. "After all, we are in the middle of town in broad daylight. Don't you have somewhere better to be?"

"Sweetie?!" Emerald was very angry now. "Do you know who I am?!"

"Let's see," Rouge said while taking a wallet out and opening it. "Your name is Emerald Sustrai, and from your previous conversation, you are under employment- no wait, partners with the criminal Roman Torchwick, and your profession is a skilled thief, based on the way you stole that woman's money." She threw the girl's wallet back to her.

"How did you get my wallet?!" asked Emerald in shock and amazement.

"Listen, I’m a professional jewel thief back in my world, and I still like to keep my skills fresh," said Rouge smugly. "Stealing from other thieves is my favourite hobby. You're out of your league, hun."

Mercury had seen Emerald mad before- he liked to annoy her from time to time- but he had never made her angrier than this white bat did. It was actually quite impressive.

"Sorry, ladies, but as much as I would like to see you fight, I don't think this is the right place nor time." he said, almost reluctantly.

Rouge looked over their shoulders and shrugged. "You would have lost anyway. Take a look behind you."

The two did so, and found themselves staring into the barrels of two machine guns attached to a red and black robot. "Whoa. Didn't see that one coming." said Mercury.

"I suggest you kiddies run along now. We don't want anyone to get hurt now, do we?" Rouge said.

"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, ROUGE." droned Omega.

Emerald and Mercury decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and cowardice was the better part of discretion, so they skedaddled out of there.

"Well, that was fun, even if we now know about two more people against us. Fortunately, I was able to place a tracker on the girl."

"IT IS ONE THING TO BE GOOD AT EMPTYING ONE'S POCKETS. IT IS SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY TO PUT SOMETHING BACK IN THEM WITHOUT THE PERSON KNOWING." said Omega.

"Why, Omega, was that a compliment?" asked Rouge, a little surprised.

The robot nodded. "HOWEVER, I SUGGEST YOU KEEP THE BOASTING ABOUT BEING A THIEF TO YOURSELF. AFTER ALL, ISN'T IT BETTER TO BE THE GREATEST THIEF IN THE WORLD INSTEAD OF THE MOST FAMOUS?"

"Hm. Good point. But I really can't help myself most of the time." Rouge took out the wallet of the woman that Emerald first stole from. "Now where is that woman that was robbed earlier?"

"Hey, Rouge!"

The white bat and black Badnik turned around and saw the woman. She had a blue shirt, black pants, and a squirrel tail. "My goodness! Is that you, Tali?"

The faunus grinned. "Nice to see you again, too." She noticed that Rouge had her wallet. "Thanks for getting my wallet back. I'm normally better at protecting myself against pickpockets." she said while blushing and scratching the back of her head.

"Well, don't worry, honey," Rouge reassured. "I watched her do it. She isn't too shabby, but I'm better."

"Yeah, I'll bet you are." said Tali.

"So what's up?" asked Rouge as she handed the faunus her wallet.

"Well, we were in the neighborhood, and we thought we would say hi and catch up on things."

"So the Normandy has been docked?"

"Yep. We're currently on that job Miss Schnee gave to us." Tali chuckled a little. "It wasn't until we were halfway to Vacuo when the background check was complete and we found out it was Weiss who sent it. But it does pay well, and maybe Torchwick won't plague us much longer."

Omega suddenly shifted, his optics staring at a dark alley. "I BELIEVE WE SHOULD HAVE THIS CONVERSATION AT BEACON. I AM DETECTING AN EAVESDROPPER, AND IT ISN'T HUMAN IN NATURE."

"It may be one of Eggman's surveillance drones. Come on, let's go," whispered Rouge. "We should tell Ruby and the others that you're back, anyway."

As the three left to acquire transportation back to Beacon, the source of Omega's unease walked out of the alleyway slowly. As Omega suspected, the culprit was not human, but it wasn't an Eggman drone, either.

The thing that walked out looked like an ordinary girl, actually. She had a gray skirt and top with black and green leggings. On top of her orange hair was a pink bow. She also had some freckles below bright green eyes.

'So those people know Ruby?' thought the girl. 'Could they be my friends too?'

She looked at her hands, which revealed mechanical parts in the palms. 'I doubt that they could be, though. Who would want to be friends with a machine?'

A shadow fell across Penny's arms. She looked up and saw E-123 Omega. Strangely, he didn't look like he was going to attack the robot girl. "SO YOU ARE THE INDIVIDUAL WHO WAS LISTENING TO US. GREETINGS. MY DESTINATION IS E-123 OMEGA, THE ULTIMATE E-SERIES ROBOT." There was a slight pause as Omega activated his scanners. "YOU ARE A MECHANICAL CREATION MADE BY HUMANS?"

"Yes, that's right. My name is Penny Polendina. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said with her typical enthusiasm. "You are the robot that came to this world recently? Can I ask you something?"

"YOU ARE ALREADY ASKING ME SOMETHING. BUT YOU MAY ASK ANOTHER QUESTION." said Omega, sounding somewhat amused.

"How are you friends with everyone from your world?"

"THEY ACCEPTED ME FOR WHO I REALLY AM. I MAY HAVE BEEN CREATED BY THEIR MORAL ENEMY, BUT BECAUSE I REJECTED MY CREATORS VISIONS, THEY CAN SEE THAT I AM NOT ALL BAD." There was a reflective look in Omega's photoreceptors. "SENTIENT MECHANICAL BEINGS SUCH AS US HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE FRIENDS WITH THE ORGANIC CREATURES. THEY CAN SEE THROUGH MY EXTERIOR AND KNOW THE INNER OMEGA."

"You mean they know about your robotic insides?"

"AFFIRMATIVE, BUT THAT IS NOT THE PRIMARY FOCUS. THEY CAN GET TO KNOW THE INTELLIGENCE THAT RESIDES IN THIS FORM. PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATIONS WITH COMRADES SHADOW AND ROUGE HAVE LED ME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT I HAVE A SOUL."

Penny's eyes looked down in sadness. "I wish I could make friends as easily as you can, Omega."

The former Eggman robot held out a clawed hand to Penny. "I WOULD BE HONOURED IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE MY FRIEND."

Penny took the proffered appendage and smiled. "And I would be honoured as well. So, can we go see Ruby and the others?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. YOU HAVE MET THE ORGANIC RUBY ROSE BEFORE?"

"Yep! We actually prevented a Torchwick robbery together."

The two mechanical entities walked off to the airship, talking about their various adventures, ranging from stopping criminals like Roman Torchwick to preventing multiversal destruction from dimension-eating Time-God named Solaris.

To many bystanders, it seemed like an unlikely friendship that was developing between them, but neither of the robots seemed to care.

After all, who doesn't like having friends?

Beacon Workshop
4:15 p.m.

"So Tails, how's that tracker working?" asked Rouge.

Everyone was anxiously awaiting the results of Rouge's tracker she planted on Emerald. Team JNPR was with them, as well as Tali Williams. Jaune and Pyrrha were holding hands, and those two seemed like the happiest people alive right now.

"Well, it's stopped moving, and it seems to be in a warehouse at the Vale docks."

"So do we go after that girl then? From what Rouge said, this Emerald girl appears to be in league with Torchwick." said Ruby.

"As much as I would like to go after them now, we have to remember that Torchwick is connected to Eggman, and they are both very dangerous, especially when cornered." said Tali.

"Hey, where's Omega?" asked Rouge.

On cue, the robot walked into the shop. "GREETINGS. I FOUND THE EAVESDROPPER, AND HAVE RETRIEVED HER."

"Wait, 'her'?" asked Shadow with curiosity.

Omega moved out of the doorway to let Penny in. "Salutations!" She greeted everyone with a smile.

"Penny!" cried Ruby. "Are you ok? How have you been? Is that a new bow? Are you friends with Omega?"

"Whoa, now, Ruby, let the girl speak." said a very amused Tali.

"Okay, to answer your questions, Ruby, I'm fine, I've been okay, it is a new bow, and yes."

"Omega, you made a friend?" asked Rouge in great surprise. "And here I thought you had no social skills."

"FRIEND PENNY IS NOT A REAL GIRL." said Omega.

Everyone had a mental record scratch. "Wait, you mean that she's a man?" asked Knuckles. Everyone except Yang did an anime sweatdrop and ignored him. The blonde just punched him in the head. "Ow!"

"FRIEND PENNY IS A MECHANICAL ENTITY LIKE MYSELF." the black robot confirmed.

"I am the first ever synthetic life form with an Aura." said Penny.

"From what I have read about this 'Aura', only creatures with souls have them," said an impressed Tails. "Whoever made you is a genius in programming."

"Aha! I knew it! Only a robot could have done all that crazy stuff that night!" said a voice from the open window. The owner of said voice was a teenager with an open shirt that showed his muscled chest, and he had brown eyes and spiked blonde hair. More interestingly enough, he was hanging upside down by his tail.

"Sun? What are you doing here?" asked a surprised Blake. The monkey faunus swung towards the room and flipped a few times, landing on his feet.

"I was just in the neighborhood and decided to say hello." Sun looked at the group of mobians. "You guys must be the arrivals from another world, right? Sun Wukong, pleasure to meet you."

"Blake, who is this guy?" asked Sonic.

"We met a while back. He was a stowaway on a ship from Vacuo. He and I were the ones who found out about the White Fang's alliance with Torchwick." she answered.

Penny rushed up to Sun with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please don't say anything about what I am. My father wouldn't like it if it was spread around. I don't think he would even like that I am telling you guys."

"Whoa, chill, I won't say anything," Sun reassured. "I've told my team about Blake being a faunus, but you can trust them. We won't blab anything."

"You have a team?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yep. You must be the lovely Pyrrha Nikos." Jaune started to tell Sun to back off, but the monkey boy interrupted. "So that must make you Jaune Arc. Nice catch, dude."

And just like that, Jaune's opinion of Sun was reversed. "Oh, well, thank you."

For the next five minutes, Sun was introduced to the rest of the beings gathered. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, can we get on with business?" Shadow asked in an impatient tone of voice.

"Right, sorry."

"So, why aren't we going after Torchwick yet?" asked Weiss.

Tails answered, "We still have four Chaos Emeralds unaccounted for. I thought I detected one in the forest of Forever Fall, but it stopped giving off a signal, so maybe it was retrieved by someone. However, I am detecting a different one."

"Where is it?" asked Yang.

"It looks like it's in a mountain range east of here."

"Really? Man, that's a strange coincidence."

"Why's that, Ruby?" asked Sonic.

Ruby pulled out her weekly schedule. "This weekend is a class field trip to that area!"

Tails jumped up in excitement. "This'll be perfect! I can test out some vehicles I've been working on while we're there!" The two-tailed fox ushered everyone over to a portion of the workshop closed off by a large curtain.

"Ladies, gentlemen, robots, and faunus', I'd like to present my latest creations!" With a flourish, Tails pulled off the curtain. Revealed was a small blue and red prop plane with some rockets in the rear, as well as what looked like a few snowboards. Sonic whistled in admiration.

"Sweet ride, Tails," said Sun, walking around the plane. "What do you call it?"

"I dubbed it the Tornado-2!" said Tails proudly. The design of the plane was built similar to the Tornado-1 during the Dark Gaia crisis, however it is slightly larger in size compared to its predecessor.

"Wahoo!"

Everyone stopped gawking at the plane and observed Sonic flying around the room on what appears like a snowboard. "I haven't felt like this since the last time we saw Jet the Hawk!"

"Let me guess: Extreme Gear?" asked Blake.

"Give the lady a prize," said Knuckles. "How'd you do it, Tails?"

"Well, to avoid giving you and everyone else a headache, I'll simplify my explanation: I took the design of the original Extreme Gears designs we had and substituted the power source with gravity Dust. Speaking of which, thank you Weiss."

The heiress grinned. "What are friends for?"

"It'll need a few more modifications before it's ready for the field, though."

"I'll help you out with that, Tails," said Sun. Everyone looked at him strangely. "What? Just because I'm not a student here doesn't mean I can't help friends out."

Afterwards, Sonic told Ozpin of their plans to join the field/camping trip.

"You can certainly come along. If one of your Chaos Emeralds is there, then it is imperative that you collect them all as soon as possible. The criminals of our world were bad enough before Dr. Eggman showed up. I cannot imagine what would happen if they got their hands on a gem of limitless power."

Sonic was uncharacteristically solemn. "Believe me, Professor; you do not want to know."

"I can tell some of the things the doctor has done haunts you. I see it in your eyes." Ozpin put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "However, I feel that you and your friends can handle any danger that might show up this weekend. At worst, we might only be attacked by the Creatures of Grimm, but we will be prepared against anything that might threaten us."

Sonic donned his trademark grin. "You can count on us, sir! I'm actually looking forward to fighting more of these Grimm. Hopefully, we won't have to, of course."

Ozpin smiled. "So, why don't you prepare by using the battle simulator? I'm sure the other teachers would be happy to give you and the others some pointers on mastering your weapons."

"Great! I may have used a sword before, but it's nice to have a bit more practice."

As Sonic left, he passed Glynda Goodwitch. "Hey there, Glynda. What's up?"

"Nothing that concerns you." she answered while lightly blushing. Sonic caught the slight colouring of her cheeks.

"Oh, gonna have some quality time with Ozpin? Don't let me stop you."

Glynda entered Ozpin's office and stood next to him as he stared at the shattered moon. He acknowledged her presence by putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, putting her head on his shoulder.

"What are you thinking about, Professor?" she asked softly.

Ozpin gently kissed her forehead. "I was thinking how lucky I am to have met you. Also, I hope you don't mind the mobians tagging along for the trip this weekend."

"As long as they can handle themselves, of course they can come. And you're such a sweet talker," she said.

"Only with you, my dear. Only with you."

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy's landing strip
9:00 a.m.

The week leading up to the trip was uneventful; at least, uneventful as it can get at a school to train warriors that also received visitors from another world. Ruby built up more friendships with the rest of the mobians, but she still considered Sonic and Shadow closer friends. Pyrrha and Jaune were in a happy relationship, and they still didn't know that Rouge was the one that pulled the strings that got them together. Speaking of the white bat, she got some more training with Lovac, and she had gotten pretty good at using all four of her pistols.

When Amy wasn't chasing Sonic, she hung out with Nora Valkyrie. Those two became fast friends, and they often went into the battle simulator together, creating devastating combinations with their hammers. Silver practiced with Shume, and he became proficient at using the boomerang mode without resorting to using his powers.

Tails spent the week making minor improvements on the Tornado-2, and it was surprising to everyone that Sun was a big help. Tali and Penny often helped out as well, with the faunus acquiring useful parts from around the Normandy, and the robot doing some of the heavy lifting. Yang coached Knuckles on improving his skills with his Clan Blade, and he made good progress. Blaze sparred often with Weiss, improving her technique with Okibi. Sonic told her more about his encounter with Blaze's Knight of the Round Table counterpart, Sir Percival. Based on that information, she gained the ability to channel her powers into her sword. It no longer took as much energy for her to summon arrows, and she was given the nickname, "Flames of Kilekion."

Sadly, Penny and Sun couldn't come. Penny didn't want her father to be suspicious of her whereabouts, and Sun had to get the rest of his team to Vale so they could help out. Nobody knew what Tali and the rest of the crew of the Normandy was going to do now that they had a fix on Torchwick's hideout, but the squirrel faunus was very confident about a plan she had come up with while talking to Blake and Sun.

When the day finally came for the students of Beacon to head up to the mountains, most of them were excited about the mobians coming along. The only students not thrilled about it were the members of Team CRDL. Fortunately, everybody ignored them.

"Oh, I can't wait to get going!" said Ruby excitedly. Teams RWBY and JNPR were waiting with everyone else to board the airship.

Their bags were packed around them, and they were full of camping equipment, though most of Weiss' cases were filled with clothes. "What? I like to be prepared!" she said when asked about it.

"From what I've read about the place we're going to, it is a somewhat isolated community that has a few campgrounds nearby. It rarely gets attacks from the Creatures of Grimm, but the residents there have set up strong borders to repel any intruders that might show up." said Pyrrha.

Glynda walked up in front of the students. "All right, it's time! Leave your bags by the side, and start boarding!" she called out.

All the mobians ran up then to board the ship. Knuckles decided to help with packing everyone's stuff into the cargo hold, and the loading finished up quickly and smoothly. However, Sonic and Tails were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, where are Sonic and Tails?" asked Yang.

"Oh, don't worry, they should be here any moment now, hun." said Rouge.

On cue, the sound of a plane taking off filled the air. Everyone rushed over to the windows to see what was making the commotion. They all flinched when a red and blue blur flew past the window.

A voice crackled on the P.A. system. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the Tornado-2!"

The blur slowed down a bit, and revealed the plane that Tails built. The fox was in the pilot's seat, and Sonic was lounging on the wing. All of the students clapped and cheered at the plane. Sonic gave a lazy salute and a wink at the students.

"Showing off, just like always." muttered Shadow.

Ruby called Sonic with her scroll. "Wow, your plane is so cool! Do you always ride on the wing?" she asked.

"Most of the time, I do. Sometimes I ride in the back when there's trouble and that when I shoot at stuff with the turret. Anyway, I bet you're wondering why we're taking this baby with us."

"The thought did cross my mind." said Blake.

"Well, Tails mentioned that while the location of the Chaos Emerald is near the town and campgrounds, the locations of them are often off the beaten path. So, we can use the Tornado-2 to get around in the mountains. Plus, I've always liked aerial battles."

"Well, don't stray too far away from the ship," advised Weiss. "Nevermores might see you as prey. Just of curiosity, how armed is that plane?"

"Tails here. I've got so many weapons in here, it'll make Omega seem conservative." he said in comparison to the walking arsenal.

"HIGHLY UNLIKELY." droned Omega.

The trip was uneventful as they passed the borders of the Emerald Forest. Suddenly, a loud roar filled the air. A large black bird flew up from the forests below and started to fly towards the airship.

"Nevermore sighted! Engage weapons!" Glynda called out.

A crewmember walked up to her. "Bad news, ma'am. All our offensive weapons are offline. We're sitting ducks up here!"

Glynda grabbed the crewmember's collar. "What do you mean, our weapons are offline?! Are you joking?!"

"I don't have a sense of humour, ma'am. I never joke." said the helpless officer.

"Tornado-2 to Glynda. Just sit tight, Tails and I will handle this."

Sonic got off of the wing and went to the back of the plane. "Tails, I have a need. A need for speed!"

"Roger! Transforming now!"

Tails pulled a lever on the dashboard of the plane. The wings reversed their positions and rotated to 45 degrees while the tail rose up. The propeller stopped spinning and the nose extended to cover it up. The Tornado-2 put on a burst of speed as the rockets suddenly gave it more thrust.

"Wahoo! It's been a while since we're done this, huh Tails?" Sonic shouted with glee.

"Not since the Dark Gaia crisis. Hopefully your targeting skills are still sharp!"

Tails dived towards the Nevermore. The giant raven was considering the big ship and its occupants for a meal, but it decided to go after the smaller ship instead. It swooped towards the plane, and when it looked like they were going to collide, the Tornado-2 then dived under the Nevermore. Tails activated a switch, and a mounted turret popped up. Sonic put his hands on the triggers, deactivated the safeties of the gun, and pointed the barrels at the belly of the giant bird.

"Safeties off! Firing!"

Sonic began shooting at the Nevermore. Each bullet hit its underside, but they didn't seem to be doing too much. So, he pressed a button that switched to armour-piercing ammunition, with satisfying results.

"Take that, you overgrown turkey!" shouted Sonic. Enraged and in pain, the Nevermore flapped its wings and sent a rain of feathers down onto the Tornado-2. Tails weaved the plane back and forth expertly to avoid the feathers.

"Tails! I think we might have to go up close and personal with this thing!" Sonic informed as his hand hovered over Cobalt Shard's hilt.

"Roger that!"

Tails pulled up on the steering wheel, and the Tornado-2 started to climb rapidly. While they were rising, Tails took the opportunity to shoot a few missiles into the Nevermore, leaving it dazed and confused. At the apex of the ascent, Sonic took out Cobalt Shard and jumped from the plane, diving towards the Nevermore.

On the airship, Glynda watched with amazement at the impromptu skydive. She walked up to Knuckles. "Does Sonic do this sort of thing often?"

"What, dive out of a perfectly good airplane? Of course he does!" he answered. "He's done crazier things than this for recreation!"

Sonic dived towards the giant bird, quickly reaching terminal velocity. The Nevermore looked up, and the last thing it saw was the soles of the hedgehog's shoes before it felt an unbearable pain in its head, then nothing. As the Tornado-2 passed the falling bird, Sonic pulled his sword out of its skull and leapt onto the plane.

"Well, Tails, how does this plane compare to the others you've built?" Sonic asked as the Tornado-2 shifted back into the bi-plane mode.

"It handles like a dream." said a smiling Tails. Sonic was going to say something else, but his scroll started ringing, so he answered it.

"Sonic, this is Glynda Goodwitch."

"I take it you saw everything?" he asked.

"That was probably the most ridiculous, most reckless, and most psychotic method of killing a Creature of Grimm. Of course, if that's what it takes to kill one, so be it."

Sonic smirked in amusement. "Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment."

Glynda ignored his comment. "Now, that being said, I think I believe you now about Tails being a flying genius. His piloting is extraordinary."

"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch!" Tails called out.

"Are our weapons online?"  Glynda asked the crewmember with no sense of humour.

"Yes, ma'am, all weapons are now functional."

"Excellent," said Glynda. "Hopefully the rest of this trip will be uneventful. Do you require any fuel, Mr Prowler?"

"Do you have any chili dogs?" asked Tails.

The headmistress paused. "You're telling me that plane runs on the power of chili dogs?"

"Oh, no, the plane's fine. Sonic just forgot to pack a lunch before we left."

Glynda sighed. "I'm sure I can send a drone out to you."

"Thanks!" said Sonic. As he hung up, Glynda reflected on how the mobians made life more... interesting for her.

Chapter Text

White Fang recruiting center in Vale
12:30 p.m.

"So why do you want to join the White Fang?"

Tali shifted nervously in her seat. "I want to get back at those humans that took everything from me. My home was burned to the ground because of them, and I want revenge!" she answered with a passion she did not have. Fortunately, the recruiter didn't seem to notice it.

"Excellent. You don't seem to have any record of training, but you passed your combat test with flying colours. Welcome aboard. I'll have someone take you to your room."

As Tali followed a faunus with antlers, she kept her head straight while her eyes explored her surroundings behind a Beowolf mask that the White Fang were so fond of giving recruits. When she finally was alone in her assigned room, she first took a device from her right gauntlet and scanned the room for listening devices. When she was satisfied that nobody would be listening in, she took out a communicator from her left gauntlet and put it to her ear.

"Squirrel-1 to Showboat, come in." she said quietly.

"Squirrel-1, this is Showboat, go ahead Tali."

"I've infiltrated the White Fang successfully. Now, I just have play along with this psychotic family until they feel like sending me to Torchwick. Fortunately, they liked my combat skills a lot, so hopefully I might not have to murder civilians, over."

"Good work, Tali. Now please don't get killed, or Shepard will kill me for this. Over."

"Darn right, I would," a third voice cut into the conversation. "You know I worry about you, Tali. I know that you're the best person for this kind of job, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

"And I love you too, John," said Tali playfully. "If anything is going to kill me, it'll be either the boredom of waiting, or this stupid mask."

Normandy's bridge

"Just be careful," said Shepard. He leaned back in his chair as he turned off his radio. He looked at his guest with a weary look in his eyes. "Sorry about that, Professor. I hope you don't mind my organization's methods."

"I don't mind at all, John," said Professor Ozpin. "Truth be told, I have actually followed the exploits of your organization for many years. I'm quite impressed with it, really. I do have to wonder, though, how you got involved with Torchwick and my students?"

Shepard took a sip of his coffee before speaking. "I actually met Yang Xiao Long before." He revealed his prosthetic leg. "That girl saved my life from the nastiest Grimm Akula I've ever seen. I owed her one, so when she asked for my help in retrieving a Chaos Emerald from the bottom of the sea, I accepted. After that adventure, Miss Weiss Schnee sent us a contract to track down Roman Torchwick."

"But do you like endangering your future wife at the hands of the White Fang?" Ozpin asked in a concerned voice.

"Are you kidding? I hate every minute that she isn't with me!" Shepard took a few deep breaths before resuming. "But it was her idea, and I think it's about time someone infiltrated the White Fang."

"It's very curious how a human like yourself fell in love with a Faunus. If you don't mind me asking, how did it happen?"

Shepard's eyes twinkled in memory. "I was looking for a new member of the crew when I came across this woman who clearly had more potential than the government permitted her to use. Because she was a woman and a faunus, it seemed like she would be destined for a dead-end desk job. Luckily, I always take on the best, and she did it."

"So you have no discrimination against the faunus?" asked Ozpin in surprise.

"Heck, no! When I take on new crew members, I always look for talent and character. If that person has a tail or different ears, then that just means that they have extra talents that can be utilised. As for Tali, well, after working with her for a few years, we found that we liked each other more than just crew members and captain. I was worried that the others might not like the fraternization between ranks, but-"

"Captain, we already said we were okay with you being with Tali," crackled the radio. "You two were made for each other! All of us could see the mutual attraction from day one!"

"Yeah, I know that, Mr. Clarke. Now get back to work and stop listening in on our conversation!" scolded Shepard, though it was in amusement.

"You have a fine crew, Mr. Shepard," said Ozpin as he stood up. "I hope that you will give me updates on your mission. Good luck to you and Miss Williams."

"Thank you, Professor." said Shepard as he shook Ozpin's hand.

Mountain region
3:00 p.m.

"Ruby, I think that might not be the best place to set up the tent." said Weiss.

The students of Beacon had finally arrived at the campgrounds in the mountains, and were trying to find the right place to make camp. Half of the students had set up their tents, but Team RWBY was in the half that had not yet.

"Why not? We're only a few feet away from the bathrooms! If we ever need to go, we won't have to walk very far!"

"Um, that seems like a terrible idea. Have you smelled the area around here?" asked Blake.

"Nope! My nose has been stuffed up all day!" said Ruby cheerfully. Which make Weiss, Blake, and Yang have an anime sweatdrop.

"Hey, ladies!" Team RWBY looked up to see Sonic and Tails. "We saved a spot for you over by us!"

"Thank you, Sonic!" said Ruby, forgetting the idea of pitching the tents near the bathrooms. Sonic led them to a separate spot in the forest, where Team JNPR and the rest of the mobians had already set up camp. Nearby was the Tornado-2.

"Why is this on a small hill?" asked Blake as she laid out the tent and rain cloth.

"The weather around here is unpredictable. If it rains, we will still be dry inside the tent." explained Tails.

"Will it rain?" asked Jaune. "I'm hoping it will, because I saw Team CRDL set up camp in what looked like a dried pond."

"PRECIPITATION PREDICTED WITHIN THE NEXT TWENTY-FOUR HOURS," informed Omega. "CHANGED OF TEAM CRDL BEING SOAKED TONIGHT: 110 PERCENT."

"Why 110 percent?" asked Nora.

"BECAUSE OF THEIR PAST TRANSGRESSIONS AGAINST JAUNE ARC AND CONTINUING HARASSMENT OF THE FAUNUS STUDENTS, I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE THEY HAVE THE MOST MISERABLE TRIP EVER. OF ALL TIME."

"Yes!" whispered Jaune.

The tent pitching went off without any problems, although Ren had to keep Nora from hammering the tent stakes with Magnhild. Knuckles decided to go get wood for fire, and Rouge got a bats-eye view of the place. She noticed that the borders of the grounds and most of the surrounding forest had robots patrolling the area. Unlike the robots that the mobians fought when they first encountered Roman, these droids had white armour and looked less threatening. She flew over to Glynda Goodwitch and asked her about them.

"Those are called 'Atlesian Knights'. They're pretty new models. According to General Ironwood, they are 'Sleeker, smarter, and admittedly, a little less scary'. I'm actually surprised to see them out here already. These models were only recently released."

Professor Port joined the conversation. "But surely the border isn't protected only by those robots, right?"

"Peter, they still have stationary turrets in strategic locations." said Glynda.

"Do they only target the Creatures of Grimm? If the past tells me anything, the Chaos Emeralds are never in easy places to find. We will most likely need to go off the beaten path." said Rouge.

"I'll talk to the Huntsman-in-charge and ask him to calibrate the sensors to delegate you and the others as non-threatening." promised Glynda.

"Thanks honey. See you later!" said Rouge as she flapped her wings and flew back to the campsite. She saw that Knuckles had brought a lot of wood, and Tails had put a tarp over a lot of logs to keep them dry. Teams RWBY and JNPR had set their tents up, and were now lounging beside the fire pit. However, she noticed that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's the ice queen?" she asked.

"I know you're my friend, Rouge, but don't call me that!" said a voice from Team RWBY's tent.

"What are you doing in there, Weiss?" the white bat asked.

"I'm changing into something more appropriate for outdoors. For once in my life, I have to give up style for practicality. Just give me a few minutes!"

Meanwhile, Ren was busy trying to start a fire using two sticks. As one might imagine, it wasn't going so well. Blaze was going to help him, but Ren didn't want to depend entirely on the mobians. Nora walked over to him. "Can I try?" she asked.

Ren gave her the sticks, and Nora started rubbing them much faster than he was. No one could see her hands, she was so fast. In no time at all, she got a spark, and the newspaper and kindling started to burn. Nora put the sticks in the fire with a satisfied smirk.

"Okay, how did she do that?" asked Silver.

"It was probably the four sodas and ten candy bars I had on the ship." she said merrily.

"Do you ever come off of a sugar rush?" asked Amy.

"Never!"

A few hours passed by, and the fire was burning nicely. Weiss finally got out of the tent, and she had changed into an outfit that was exactly the same as her usual dress, except for one detail.

"All that time and you just put on a dress with a hood?" chuckled Sonic, who was setting up a hammock.

"For your information, this dress has special Dust woven into the cloth which keeps it clean all the time, and nothing is wrong with wearing a hood."

Ruby slid next to her, said "Yeah!", and they shared a high-five.

Tails and Ren volunteered to cook burgers for everyone. Soon the smell of sizzling beef and bacon was in the air. Blake and Blaze had wandered off earlier to a nearby pond, and came back with a lot of fish, so the cats had the rest of their meals set. As they all ate, there was a feeling of relaxation among the mobians and the humans. Even though tomorrow was probably going to have a lot of work, they didn't care, and were just happy to be among friends. Well, except Shadow, maybe, but not even an apocalypse could change his outlook.

"So, does anybody have any ghost stories?" asked Tails as the evening set in.

"I've got one," said Ruby. Everyone sat down to listen. "A long time ago, in this very forest, there was a farmer who had a cow."

"This ought to be good." whispered Yang to Knuckles. Ruby glared at her sister, then continued.

"This cow was the target of many attacks on this farmer's land by the Creatures of Grimm, so he did what he felt was the only thing he could do. He spent many days and nights digging a hole, and put the cow into it.

"Word got around to a friend of the farmer who lived nearby. Fearing for his friend's sanity, he went to try to talk him out of this idea and let the cow out of the hole. The two friends argued for a long time, and it became so fierce that the friend killed the farmer, but not before the farmer had mortally wounded him. The friend, in his dying state, tried desperately to dig the cow out, but he could not finish it before he died.

"To this day, his spirit still wanders this forest, pleading for someone to help him free the cow. On some nights, you sometimes hear a voice crying out, 'Free Edgar'." she finished.

There was a lengthy pause. Jaune was pale-faced and holding Pyrrha for dear life, while the amazon was trying very hard to breathe. "Well, I'm spooked." said Sonic.

"Are you kidding? That is probably the most ridiculous story ever. Of all time." snorted Weiss. Ruby just stuck her tongue at her.

Glynda walked up to their site. "Good evening," she greeted. "Is everyone ready for tomorrow?"

"Ready for what?" asked Nora.

Pyrrha finally made Jaune loosen his death grip on her, and she was able to answer. "You forgot already, Nora? We're going to the ruins that are not far from here. They were supposedly created before humankind first encountered the Creatures of Grimm."

Sonic whistled. "That old, huh?" Pyrrha nodded.

"I wonder if there are any jewels around there." wondered Rouge.

Tails brought up a map of the area with his Miles Electric. He pointed at a blinking dot that was surrounded by strange squares. "Oddly, according to this, that's where we'll find the next Chaos Emerald!"

"Very well. Sleep well everyone, and stay dry. We are most likely getting rain tonight."

Sonic attached a rain fly to his hammock, and he settled into it. Teams RWBY and JNPR went into their separate tents while the mobians also got ready to go to bed. The members of Team Dark volunteered to keep watch because all three members didn't need sleep, much.

Borders of the mountains
12:15 a.m.

It did indeed rain that night, and the forest was filled with the sound of raindrops. A shadowy figure swiftly made its way to the border, where two Atlesian Knights could be seen standing at attention next to the large wall that kept the Creatures of Grimm out of the campsite.

As the figure approached the two robots, he could hear their conversation.

"HEY."

"YEAH?"

"DO YOU EVER WONDER WHY WE'RE-"

The conversation was cut short as the figure threw something at both robots, causing their bodies to spasm and let off a large amount of sparks. After a few seconds, the robots stood back at attention, as if nothing happened.

If Neo Metal Sonic could grin, he would have done so. He had found his enemy, and these robots would help him. The virus he installed in them would track Sonic and his friends down, and he would be able to obtain his revenge.

Chapter Text

Beacon Campsite
7:25 a.m.

The sun shone brightly on the damp campsite. Seeing that she was the only one awake, Ruby unzipped her team's tent and walked out, breathing in the fresh air. She noticed that Sonic's hammock was empty, but she didn't worry too much. He was always running off doing who knows what, but he would always come back.

Team JNPR was already up, and Ren was getting a small stove burning. Jaune and Pyrrha were walking back to the campsite.

"Did you guys see Team CRDL's tent?" asked Jaune.

"No, why?" asked Ruby.

"Apparently, Cardin really wanted a water bed, because he got one!" Jaune laughed. "I've never seen so much water in a place where there was none the night before!"

Upon further questioning, Ruby found out that the depression where Team CRDL had set up their tent had gotten six inches of water, and all four members were completely soaked. Also, all their extra clothes had gotten wet, so they could not even change into something dry.

"Man, karma sure is nasty," said Pyrrha. "Anyone feel sorry for them?"

"Nope," said Jaune. "Maybe if they did not pick on the faunus so much, I would have a little sympathy for them. As it is, I do not."

Team Dark appeared later on when everyone was awake. They did not see or hear anything unusual, and began to eat breakfast with everyone else (with the exception of Omega, of course). A certain hedgehog was still missing, though.

"Hey, where's Sonic?" asked Amy.

"Don't worry, he'll probably respond if I say he's your boyfriend." said Nora.

"I'm not her Chaos-damn boyfriend!" said Sonic, who was standing on a tree overlooking the area.

"Called it! I knew he was around!" called out the Valkyrie proudly. The blue blur just jumped down from the tree and began eating his breakfast.

After everyone packed a bag lunch and set up miniature turrets to protect their campsite, they all walked over to the teacher's site, where most of the other students had gathered.

"All right, students," began Professor Port. "The ruins we are going to were built before humans and faunus had encountered the Creatures of Grimm. Many superstitions pervade this place, but most of them are, of course, superstitions. Still, it may not be a good idea to touch suspicious objects."

"These ruins are some of many structures that were abandoned before the people of Remnant set up the four main Kingdoms," said Doctor Oobleck rapidly. "As such, they must be treated with the utmost respect."

"Remember, the only things you can take here are pictures. So leave it at that, students. That goes for our mobian guests as well." finished Glynda sternly.

"Believe me, Miss Goodwitch, the only way these ruins will be destroyed is if a battle takes place. Even in the unlikely event that happens, we will make sure not to disturb the ruins." promised Sonic.

"Can't really say the same with Omega, though." muttered Rouge.

As the assembled students and mobians walked to the ruins, there was a feeling of anticipation in the air. No one knew what to expect to find, as the only ruins most of the students had seen were destroyed with Team RWBY's fight with the Nevermore on their initiation.

As the most traveled of the mobians, Sonic had seen his fair share of ruins during his adventures, and he was wondering if these were going to be any different from the ones he had seen on Mobius.

After a few minutes of walking, the group finally arrived. The ruins were pretty large, and showed only small signs of wear and tear from the elements. It could only be described as a town of sorts, with a large pyramid structure in the middle.

As they passed the entrance, which was guarded by more Atlesian Knights, Tails and Rouge flew up to get an aerial view of the place. The bat thought she saw something shiny, but it turned out to be a combination of a water trail left by Team CRDL and a candy wrapper left by Cardin. Rouge made a mental note to tell Glynda that Cardin was littering and resumed her search of the ruins for the Chaos Emerald.

Silver was walking near the pyramid when he saw a faint glimmer half-buried in the ground. He knelt down and dug the object up, which was a small pendant made of three triangles. He pocketed it, thinking it might be important later on, and continued looking for the Chaos Emerald.

Yang noticed that a certain echidna wasn't as excited about looking around at the ruins. "What's wrong, Knux?"

"This place… It reminds me of my island, and the reason why I'm the last echidna." he said solemnly.

Yang looked at him with a concerned glance. "What happened? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

"Many millennia ago, my people, the Knuckles Clan, were locked in battle with a rival tribe, the Nocturnus Clan. It seemed that my tribe was going to lose that war, were it not for the intervention of some higher power called 'Argus'. This Argus teleported the Nocturnus Clan to a dimension called the Twilight Cage, and it appeared that my tribe had won the war. However, the leader, Pachamacac, wanted to make sure that we never had the lower hand again. He wanted to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds from a nearby shrine that was populated with Chao.

"However, he didn't want to stop at just the Chaos Emeralds. He set his sights on the most powerful gem in the shrine: the Master Emerald. With it, one could control the seven Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately, it was guarded by Chaos, a being that was made out of liquid Chaos energy. Pachacamac disregarded the requests of his daughter, Tikal, and attempted to seize the Master Emerald, not caring about the Chao that were living there. Chaos was enraged at the harm done to his Chao and Tikal, whom he thought of as a trusted friend. Using the negative energies of the Chaos Emeralds, he turned into Perfect Chaos, a large water-dragon and wiped out all but a handful of echidnas before Tikal trapped him and herself in the Master Emerald. Because Tikal feared a day when someone of evil heart might want to release Chaos, she tapped into the Master Emerald to raise the shrine and some of the land up into the sky, creating Angel Island."

"Wow," said Yang after a few seconds. "When did you find out about this?"

"Eggman flew up to Angel Island and broke the Master Emerald, releasing Chaos. After a series of adventures with Sonic, Tails, Amy, and her friend Big, we stopped Eggman, but Chaos was able to acquire all seven Chaos Emeralds to form Perfect Chaos once again. He ended up destroying most of Station Square with his rage. Fortunately, Sonic was able to use the positive energies of the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic, and he defeated Chaos. This resulted in Chaos losing his anger against the world, and he became a peaceful being once more."

Knuckles put a hand on a wall. "Because of the greed of my ancestors, I am the last echidna guardian. The only other living echidnas left are those still locked away in the Twilight Cage." He looked down in sadness. "There are only very few of us left."

"Knux, don't you dare think like that!" said Yang sternly. She kneeled down in front of the red echidna, purple eyes locking with each other. "Even though you may be the last of your species, you aren't alone! You have lots of friends who care about you, including me. So don't be all mopy just because you're ancestors did some stupid things. The past was their time, and this is your time."

Knuckles slowly smiled. "Thanks, Yang. I needed that." The two bumped fists, then resumed the search for the Chaos Emerald, with the echidna's spirit buoyed by the blonde.

A few hours passed by, and there was still no sign of the Chaos Emerald. Teams RWBY and JNPR and the mobians looked everywhere, but Tails could not get an exact location of the Emerald. They saved the pyramid for last, since that was the building the rest of the Beacon students first looked at. After eating a brief lunch, the group entered the pyramid.

Sonic was impressed by the inside. The walls were decorated with murals of the local scenery in ancient times, and all of them were very well preserved. When he asked how that was, Pyrrha informed them that the people who lived here had found a rare type of Dust that preserved images so they would not be affected by the march of time.

"Wow, this is so cool!" gushed Ruby, her voice echoing faintly in the pyramid walls.

"I never thought that ruins like these would be so fascinating," said Silver in awe. "The only ruins left in the time I came from were burned or burning wrecks, but they were mostly skyscrapers made of steel, concrete and glass."

"Hey, check this out!"

Everyone rushed over to Tails, who was in front of a large wall that had an image of a large Creature of Grimm no one had ever seen before. However, it did resemble a certain mythological creature of fame. When the others saw it, Sonic instantly compared it to the prediction of Perfect Chaos' return at the Mystic Ruins.

"Is that a… dragon?" asked Jaune in shock. The mural did indeed depict a large dragon-like Creature of Grimm attacking a small town. If scale was anything to go by, this creature was massive.

"Holy Chaos," said a visibly shaken Shadow. This surprised everyone else more than the dragon on the wall. "That's bigger than the Biolizard, maybe even Solaris."

"Solaris?" remarked Sonic incredulously. "That thing looks bigger than Dark Gaia!" 

"Unfortunately, the name of the creature has been scratched out," said Tails. "However, it does tell a story about how a young warrior defeated it." He pointed at a section of the mural that featured a young man with bear ears on his head wielding a sword and striking down the dragon. A small caption labeled his name as "Mogar."

"Oh, wait, I think I remember this story!" said Weiss. "The creature's name was forgotten, but the warrior was hailed as a king before he died of old age. His age was a time of peace long before the Great War."

"King Mogar…" murmured Blake sadly. "What would you think of this era now?"

Any further musing of the subject was interrupted by a rumbling in the ground.

"Earthquake! Everyone, get out now!" shouted Sonic. The humans, mobians, and faunus ran for the entrance, but Silver tripped on a loose tile. He hit his head and became unconscious as a large part of the ceiling fell and blocked the entrance.

Outside, everyone was gasping for breath at their escape. Amy Rose did a quick count and found they were missing someone.

"Where's Silver?" she asked, fear creeping into her voice.

The humans and mobians looked around in a panic. It seemed they had left Silver behind in the confusion.

"Let's get back in there!" shouted Nora and Amy as they prepared to break the slab blocking the entrance with their hammers.

"No, don't!" yelled Blaze. "If you break it, the whole building might collapse on him!"

Amy and Nora paused just as their hammers were about to hit the slab.

"Well, what do you propose we do, then?" asked Shadow harshly, forming Chaos energy around his fists. Before the pyrokinetic cat could answer, the sound of gunfire reached them. Soon after that, the various teams of Beacon Academy could be seen running towards the ruckus.

"What the heck is going on over there?" Sonic asked a passing team, which turned out to be Team CFVY.

"The Atlesian Knights are going haywire!" responded Velvet. "They're destroying the ruins!"

"Well, that's our cue!" said Ruby.

"But what about Silver?!" cried Blaze. She seemed fairly distraught.

"Don't worry, Silver's alive," Tails reassured while looking at his Miles Electric. He had pulled up a screen that was like a heart monitor with pictures of each mobian on the left. He pointed to Silver's picture. "According to his health monitor, he's unconscious, but otherwise unharmed."

Pyrrha put a hand on Blaze's shoulder. "We'll get to him, Blaze. But right now, we have to make sure these robots don't make his situation worse."

Blaze stared at the entrance to the pyramid. "We'll get you out, Silver." she said softly. She then drew Okibi out from its sheath and dashed to the sounds of battle. The others followed, hoping that Silver could hold out long enough for a rescue.

Chapter Text

Mountain Ruins
3:00 p.m.

Inside the collapsed pyramid, the only sounds to be heard were the faint sounds of the outside battle. However, that relative silence was broken by moans of pain as Silver slowly regained consciousness.

"Ugh, my freaking head…" he groaned, holding his head. The hedgehog slowly pieced together what had happened. He looked at the large slab blocking the entrance. He tried using his telekinesis on it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Well, guess I won't be going out that way." he said to himself. He took out Shume and activated the flashlight on it. As he swung it around, he saw a large hole in the floor where there wasn't one before.

"Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess." he murmured. He jumped into the hole, using his powers to slow his fall. As he descended, he slowly formed a plan.

"Tails said that the Chaos Emerald was in the general vicinity. Maybe if I find it, I'll be able to use Chaos Control and get myself out of here!" Silver thanked whatever higher power that influenced Shadow to tutor him on how to use some of the Chaos abilities. He wasn't too proficient at them yet, but he was at least Sonic-level good at Chaos Control, and he arrived at his destinations in one piece.

Once Silver landed, he was surprised to see the tunnel he arrived at was a long hallway with a similar design to the pyramid on the surface. However, there was a lack of murals on these walls. Also, where there was light in the exhibits above, it was pretty dark down where he was.

"Man, this is spooky," said the white hedgehog. "All I need is a ghost to give me a warning about something."

"Intruder, turn back now!" an eerie voice wailed.

'Ah, there we go.' thought Silver with a small smirk. He really wasn't scared by this voice. "Listen, I don't have time to talk, so I'll just cut to the chase. I really didn't want to enter these passageways, but circumstances forced me to do this. Maybe if you help me find what I'm looking for, I can get out of here quicker, and we'll all be happy. Deal?"

"Now you shall- wait, what?" The voice suddenly lost some of its spook factor as it registered what Silver said. Apparently it was caught off guard by the nonchalance of the intruder.

"You heard me, oh spirit from beyond. I can't get out via the surface, so I came down here, hoping for an exit or a glowing gem. Preferably the gem, but either one works."

"Never! You will die for desecrating these halls with your footsteps, worm!" the voice said, apparently regaining his spook.

Silver sighed and rubbed his temples. 'Now I think I know what Sonic goes through when an enemy calls him anything but a hedgehog.'

"Now, prepare for oblivion, you insignificant human!"

'A blind ghost? Now I've at least heard everything.' thought Silver while sweat dropping. "Okay, first of all, I'm not a human nor a faunus, I'm a hedgehog. Second, this gem probably would have arrived within the past few weeks, and not part of what must be an abundance of treasure-"

"Oh, that thing?" the voice said, now sounding less like a clich é ghost and more like an actual person. "Now that you mention it, a blue gem appeared suddenly in the treasure room not too long ago. It was the most exciting thing that happened in the past few millennia."

"Yeah, I'll bet. Could you help me out?"

As if a switch was thrown, torches on the walls suddenly lit up, transforming the area from dark and gloomy to bright and cheerful.

"Thanks, um…" Silver trailed off, not sure what the ghost's name was.

"What? Oh, right." Ahead of Silver, something caused the dust on the ground to swirl dramatically. After a few seconds, a see-thru faunus appeared in front of him. "Wow, you really are a hedgehog." the apparition said. He had bear ears and wore what must have been high quality robes.

"Yup. My name's Silver. Let's see, judging by the bear ears and regal clothes, I'm guessing you are King Mogar?"

"Bingo-bango. How come you weren't scared by me?"

Silver chuckled as he put away Shume. "I'm not from Remnant, your Highness, I'm from a world called Mobius. Heck, not only am I from another world, I'm from a completely different time frame. I come from the future, and I've seen and fought crazier things than a ghost king."

"Really? Well, that's very interesting," the ghost of Mogar said, intrigued. "Now, let me show you to the treasure room."

As the ghost led the hedgehog down the halls, they passed a door that was covered in all sorts of chains and locks. There were even a few protective charms on it.

"What's in there?" Silver asked. King Mogar suddenly drifted in front of the door, arms outward in a protective fashion.

"Whoa, now, you don't want any part of this, my friend. Let's just say that what this room contains is something that would ruin your day. And everyone else on the planet, for that matter."

"You realize you just made me more curious about the contents of that room, right?"

The ghost sighed. "I just realized that. Fine, I'll tell you, but there is no way I'm gonna open this door. You remember the mural showing the dragon upstairs?" Silver nodded. "Well, that legend is not quite complete. I was never able to destroy it completely, but I was able to contain it and lock it away. That room contains the essence of Dralux, the terrible dragon that almost destroyed Remnant and all its people."

Silver quickly backed away from the door. "Yeah, I'll just take your word on that. I'd hate to be known as the person that destroyed a world." Then he remembered when he attempted to kill Sonic, twice, due to Mephiles' deceptions. Almost repeating a cycle.

"Now, this isn't the creature that spawned the Creatures of Grimm that roam Remnant today, but it is the most dangerous. It makes a Deathstalker seem cute and cuddly by comparison," King Mogar lectured. "Please do not spread this information, and if you do, tell only those you can trust."

"I swear that I will only tell my friends," vowed Silver. "They are some of the most trustworthy people I have ever met, I can assure you."

The ghost nodded in satisfaction. "Oh good. Well, now that that's out of the way, let's move on."

As they resumed walking, Silver's thoughts inevitably turned to Blaze. 'If I was knocked unconscious just in that doorway, I very likely could have died without telling her how I felt. That's it, when I get out of here, I am going to talk to Blaze and tell her how I feel!'

"Here we are. Behold, the treasury!"

Silver's thoughts snapped back to reality as he looked at the piles of treasure in the room. The room itself was pretty large, about the size of an arena in Beacon. However, the contents of said room took Silver's breath away. There were various things made out of gold, as well as precious gems like ruby, emerald, sapphire, and amethyst. On a wall was a sword made entirely out of diamond, which King Mogar proudly explained was the sword he used to defeat Dralux.

"Now, I believe that this is the gem that you wanted, yes?"

Mogar pointed at a large statue. In one of the hands was the blue Chaos Emerald. "Now, how the heck are you going to get it down from there?" he asked. "I would help, but I'm a ghost, so I really just phase through most of everything." He floated up to the Emerald and tried to grab it, and sure enough, his hand went right through it.

"Allow me, your majesty." said Silver as his body started glowing a bright green. Mogar looked at the Emerald with alarm as it started to glow the same hue as the hedgehog. He was even more surprised when it was lifted gently from the statue to Silver's palm.

"Remarkable," gaped Mogar in awe. "Now, before you go, do you think you could do me a favour?"

"Sure, since you didn't kill me when I entered."

"On the surface should be a pendant that has three triangles on it. If you could find it and give it to me, I will part with one of my treasures. Except the diamond sword, that stays."

Silver suddenly remembered the pendant he picked up on the surface. He brought it out from behind his quills and showed the dead king.

"Whoa, that was fast." The king quickly snatched the pendant and placed it over his neck.

"Well, I thought it was important when I picked it up. And didn't you just say that you couldn't hold things in the physical world?"

"Haha, fooled you!" Mogar chortled. "Joking aside, I really do thank you for this. Now, what do you want?"

Silver thought long and hard about it. He didn't really see anything he wanted, but then he thought of Blaze. "Do you have anything that enhances fire abilities? You see, one of my best friends is pyrokinetic, and I like her more than just a friend."

King Mogar thought about it, then gestured Silver to follow him. He led the hedgehog to a separate chamber that seemed to contain different weapons and jewelry. He pointed at a necklace that had a flame design with a gold chain.

"If I remember correctly, this necklace will dramatically reduce the energy needed to summon and manipulate fire."

Silver smiled. "This'll be perfect for Blaze!"

"Now remember, Silver, do not tell anyone the exact location of this place. After all, no one likes an apocalypse."

"Right. In that case, someone had better fix that hole I went down in. Don't trouble yourself, your majesty, I'll get my friends to help." promised the hedgehog.

"So, how the heck is that gem gonna help you get to the surface?" wondered King Mogar.

"Like this." Silver closed his eyes and focused on the Chaos Emerald, which started glowing brightly. When the Emerald reached what looked like an apex, Silver shouted, "Chaos Control!" There was a blinding flash, and when the ghost looked around, Silver was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, that's how." Mogar looked around and shrugged. "Nice guy, that Silver." With that, the ghost disappeared with the lights, leaving the hidden area in darkness once more.

Chapter Text

Mountain ruins, Hunters campsite
3:30 p.m.

The campsite was pretty silent, despite the echoing sounds of the battle at the ruins. However, the relative tranquility was broken by a blinding flash, followed by Silver landing in a nearby puddle.

"Aw, man," he groaned while looking at his feet. "I just shined these shoes."

Silver looked around and saw the campsite ten feet away. "Hey, that was convenient."

He took out his scroll and called Tails. When the fox answered, his voice sounded a little distorted. "Silver? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, Tails. What's going on?"

There was the sound of an explosion before Tails answered. "It's total chaos over here! Apparently the earthquake that sealed you in earlier was caused by the Atlesian Knights going haywire! They started attacking anything that moves! Hold on a sec."

Silver could hear the sound of Techie Bro's arm cannon shooting out its ball bearings, followed by a huge electrical discharge. "How'd you even get out of there?" he asked.

"Long story short, I found the Chaos Emerald. Just hold on, I'm coming to help!"

"Wait! Before you do, I want you to go into the Tornado-2 and pull the black switch!"

Silver was confused. "Won't that turn it on, though? Tails, you know I can't fly a plane! Besides, the camp's not really the best place to take off."

"Don't worry, Silver," Tails reassured. "Once the switch has been thrown, you won't need to do much."

Smash!

"Oh, crap, gotta go!"

As the hedgehog hung up, he ran towards the Tornado-2. He got into the cockpit, still very apprehensive about the whole thing.

'Well, here goes nothing.' he thought as he flicked the switch. All of a sudden, a small circular plate appeared from a small slot on the dashboard, as if Silver had just pressed the eject button on a CD player. However, this was no music disc. It turned out to be a small projector that showed Silver the image of a small woman. She had on a vest that showed her midriff and a skirt that went down to her knees. She also had short, dark hair, but it was hard to tell the exact colour, since she was pretty much just different shades of blue. Data lines could be seen trailing up her body.

" Hello, " the hologram said, " and thank you for activating the M808V Main Battle Tank. You may call me- " The woman paused in thought. " Whoops, wrong script . "

"Yeah, I was about to say, this isn't a tank," said Silver dryly. "Who and what the heck are you?"

" My name is Aeromi. I'm the A.I. of the Tornado-2. Nice to meet yah! " she said with a smile. " Judging by your colouration and quill patterns, I'm guessing you are Silver. "

"Sorry to be rude, but I really don't have time for introductions," Silver said hurriedly. "Your creator and his friends are currently fighting for their lives, and I need your help to back them up."

" Tails is in trouble? " asked Aeromi, suddenly getting serious. " Hold tight, Silver. "

The A.I. flashed green, and suddenly the Tornado-2 started to transform. However, it wasn't into the alternate jet form. Rather, the end result was a helicopter. It looked like a standard sort, complete with an open area in the middle and two turrets on either side.

" Welcome to the Tornado-2: Copter-Mode, " Aeromi announced, grinning. " This is just one of the many upgrades to the Tornado that Miles put in. "

"And you're one of them?"

" Affirmative, " she said as she blinked out. " Now, Silver, please get into the back onto one of the turrets. The activity on my sensors is going haywire, and no offense, but you'd be better off shooting instead of flying. "

"Yes ma'am!" agreed Silver as he leapt off the cockpit.

As the helicopter roared into life, he had to ask the A.I. something. "Hey, Aeromi, how come Tails didn't tell us about you beforehand?"

" It was probably because my creator only finished me last night, " she said. " Now, enough chit chat. We've got some people to save. "

"Roger that."

At the ruins, the Atlesian Knights were starting to close in around the mobians. The robots had their guns pointed at them, and it was only thanks to a few of Weiss's glyphs that they weren't killed already.

"Last mag!" announced Shadow as he reloaded Crimson Dusk. He was breathing pretty heavily, which was noticed by everyone.

"Okay, if Shadow's tired, then we're pretty screwed, right?" asked Jaune as he blocked a few shots with his shield. Omega had scratches all over his chassis, and he was sparking a bit. Still, he was able to use his flamethrowers to melt a large amount of robots. Unfortunately for all of them, for every Knight they destroyed, two more took its place.

"We must have faith in each other if we are to survive." said Blaze solemnly. She was also tired from channeling a large amount of her fire into arrows. Her thoughts turned to Silver. 'If only we had more time.' she thought.

"Blaze is right!" said Tails. "Besides, help should be arriving in three… two…"

On cue, a small blue and red helicopter dropped down into the clearing where the battle was taking place. To everyone's surprise except Tails, a familiar figure was seen in the chopper using a turret to take out a large amount of robots.

"What? Silver?!" Blaze couldn't believe her eyes. Silver looked at her and flashed her a smile. It was all Blaze could do to keep her face from blushing.

"How is he driving that thing if he's on the turret?" wondered Ruby.

"He isn't! There's no one in the cockpit!" cried Amy.

With the help of the Tornado-2, everyone made short work of the robots. As the copter landed, Silver jumped out in front of everyone. "Okay, I bet you're wondering how the heck I got here, right?" Before anyone could ask, he held out a hand to stop them. "Before I say anything, I want to do something I should have done a long time ago."

Silver suddenly grabbed Blaze boldly and held her waist as he leaned down with her. Blaze was totally unprepared for this, so she was even more unprepared when he put his lips on the cat's.

For Blaze, time just stopped. It was such a sensation that left her light headed. For Silver, he just thought that whatever happened, it was totally worth it.

The kiss lasted about twenty seconds before Silver lifted Blaze back up. He suddenly realized what he did, and was about to walk away. However, he was grabbed by Blaze, and she returned the kiss with more passion.

"About time you had the courage to do this." she said when they broke apart.

Silver smiled. "Let's just say being nearly crushed gives you a certain perspective on things. I love you, Blaze the Cat."

"I love you too, Silver the Hedgehog." replied the cat.

As they hugged, almost everyone smiled at the new couple. Rouge was mostly irritated that she wasn't the one that got them together. Still, it was nice to see that she didn't really need to help those two.

“OH, HOW NICE,” interrupted a mocking voice from the trees. “IT ALMOST PAINS ME TO HAVE TO BREAK UP THIS HAPPY REUNION. ALMOST.”

Everyone looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice. No one was sure where it was coming from.

"Who and where are you?!" yelled Shadow.

The mysterious voice chuckled. “I’D BE A FOOL TO REVEAL MYSELF NOW. LET ME ASSURE YOU, YOUR FIGHT ISN’T OVER, YOU INFERIOR ORGANIC CREATURES.”

"SENSORS ARE LOCKED ONTO LOCATION OF SPEAKER," Omega droned. He suddenly faced behind him. "MOTION TRACKER DETECTS LARGE MASS APPROACHING."

The sound of footsteps was heard, as well as breaking trees. "Get ready, everyone, we're not done yet." Sonic said.

The source of the footsteps was soon revealed: a large, hulking robot.

“HEHEHEH… LET’S SEE IF YOU CAN BEAT THIS, SONIC!” the voice said from a loudspeaker on the robot. Before the blue hedgehog could wonder why the voice sounded familiar, it started racing forward. As it ran toward the group, it launched multiple missiles, which everyone just barely dodged.

"Weiss, what the heck is that thing?!" cried Rouge as she was shooting her pistols. They had no visible effect on the robot, of course.

"That's an Atlesian Paladin!" shouted the heiress as she blocked a missile with a glyph. "Those are also made from the Atlas military, but they're really just giant suits! There should be someone driving it!"

"Well, then, let's crack open this nut!" said an enthusiastic Knuckles as he dived towards the Paladin. Said robot just backhanded him into a tree. Yang ran to him in concern. "Knuckles! Are you okay?"

"Well, that could have gone better." he said dizzily with spirals in his eyes before he fainted.

The Atlesian Paladin launched more missiles at the group, and Pyrrha was not able to dodge one. Fortunately, she activated her Semblance at the right time and redirected the rocket to return to its sender. However, it didn't really do much to the robot.

"Blaze, here!" Silver yelled as he threw something at Blaze. She saw that it was the pendant Silver had got from King Mogar (Not that she knew that). She put it on, and immediately felt rejuvenated. She used some of the energy for a fiery shockwave, and a few missiles that were headed towards her exploded early due to the intense heat.

“YOU CAN DESTROY MY MISSILES ALL YOU WANT, YOU PATHETIC LIFEFORMS. YOU’LL NEVER BEAT ME!” cackled the voice in the Paladin.

"Aeromi!" cried Tails as he flew towards the Tornado-2. "I think it's time for me to take over!"

No one except Silver knew what he was talking about, but the artificial intelligence opened up the cockpit. When he got in, he punched a green button on the console. The vehicle that Tails built transformed once again, but this time into an armoured suit very similar to the vehicle the Fox used around the time Shadow had been awakened by Eggman. However, this one bristled with more weapons than the previous unit, and it had an additional feature: ARMS.

" Tornado-2: Cyclone-Mode now online. Go get 'im, Tails! " cheered the A.I.

This fight just became a lot more interesting.

“HMPH. AM I SUPPOSED TO BE INTIMIDATED BY THAT CREATION?” scoffed the mysterious voice in the Atlesian Paladin as he looked at the Cyclone.

"Don't be too sure of that," warned Sonic. "Our Tails is better than you give him credit for!"

The mech faced the hedgehog. “OH, I WOULDN’T CELEBRATE YET. WHEN I’M THROUGH WITH YOUR LITTLE FRIEND, I’M COMING AFTER YOU NEXT, SONIC.”

"How do you know me?" Sonic wondered.

The voice chuckled. “WE ARE MORE SIMILAR THAN YOU THINK.” The Paladin raced towards the Cyclone.

"Take this!" shouted Tails as he pulled a lever in the cockpit. This action shifted parts on the "chest" of the Cyclone, turning it into a large gun barrel. Actually, make that a cannon.

When Tails pressed a trigger, this caused Aeromi to calmly say, " Firing main cannon. " This released a huge slug that sailed towards the rogue Paladin. However, the mech just punched it, and Tails was barely able to dodge the reflected bullet.

"I think we're gonna have to maim it!" yelled Ruby.

"Got it!" said Amy as she summoned her Piko-Piko hammer. "Nora, I think it's Hammer Time!"

"What's 'Hammer Time'?" asked Jaune.

Amy rolled into a ball and started spinning in place rapidly. When she had built up enough potential energy, Nora used Magnhild's hammer mode to launch the hedgehog at the Paladin. Amy crashed into the right arm, then bounced off, only to have Nora hit her again. This was repeated until the right arm was hanging by a few wires. Amy then smacked the robot with her hammer, toppling it.

Tails rushed forward, turning the Cyclone's arm into a sword. The blade sliced cleanly through the Paladin's arm before it was able to get back up. Said arm fell to the ground, motors twitching as it slowly lost power.

As the Paladin got back up, Ren ran back and forth under the legs, using Stormflower to slice anything that looked delicate. The mech, taking offense to this, attempted to kick the boy away, but he activated his Aura at the right time, and retreated to safety. Omega unleashed a fury of bullets, rockets, and grenades which left the Paladin sparking in a few places.

The Paladin suddenly lurched forward as Yang and a recovered Knuckles got on its back and punched away using Ember Celia and Clan Blade. It tried to grab them, but they jumped off right as the Cyclone shoulder-butted the robot through a few dozen trees.

Rouge sneaked up behind the Atlesian Paladin and jumped on its left leg. She pulled open a hatch cover. "Hey, this looks important!" she said as she pulled out a few wires. A giant arm tried to grab the bat, but she flew away before it could reach her. The mech suddenly found that the controls for the leg became sluggish.

Jaune and Blake rushed forward. The Paladin attempted to punch them, but they jumped out of the way as Jaune sliced through a few gun barrels on the arm. Blake fired Gambol Shroud at the arm joint, weakening it.

Weiss activated Myrtenaster's fire dust in front of Blaze as the cat turned Okibi into its bow form. When she launched three fire arrows through the glyph, the arrows shot forward, leaving a spectacular flame trail. They hit right between the legs, fusing the hips solid, and most of the males flinched involuntarily. "I know that's a robot suit, but that's got to be very uncomfortable." said Silver as he threw both of Shume in boomerang form. They both hit the arm joint, sending it to the ground.

"Sonic! Shadow!" called Ruby. "Let's make this creep black, blue and red all over!"

The two hedgehogs spun around in a circle, creating a small tornado around the Atlesian Paladin. Ruby then joined the storm by using both her semblance and Crescent Rose. Pretty soon, only dust and rose petals could be seen. When the three speedsters stopped and the dust settled, it revealed the Paladin stripped of any offensive weapons. It was also very scratched up.

"All right, Tails, go for it now!" said Sonic as everyone got out of the way of the Cyclone.

" Firing main cannon. "

Once again, a huge slug left the chest of the Cyclone, only this one wasn't deflected by the Paladin. There was a nice, fiery explosion, and the main body of the Paladin could be seen flying off a large distance, landing a few dozen miles away.

"Aeromi, are there any more hostiles?" Tails asked.

The holographic avatar of the A.I. popped up. " That's a negative, Tails. The only hostile contact within the immediate vicinity is Shadow, but that's within normal behaviour. "

"That computer had better shut up, or I'll make it quiet- permanently!" growled the black hedgehog.

" I rest my case. " Aeromi said smugly.

Everyone sagged to the ground in exhaustion and relief, basking in the moment of their victory.

"It's a shame that Tails had to get rid of that guy. I wouldn't have minded knowing who he is." said Knuckles.

"You're tellin' me. I want to know how he knows me and why he tried to kill me." said Sonic.

"Well, to be fair, you haven't exactly been discreet about you coming here," said Blake.

"And some of us do want to or have tried to kill you on occasion." said Shadow. Knuckles smirked at the comment, while Silver turned his head in guilt.

Sonic shook his head. "This didn't feel like a rivalry, or extreme annoyance, or even a misguided attempt to save the world. That voice sounded too familiar to be anyone we don't know about, though."

"VOICE PATTERN RECORDED FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS," said Omega. "I SUGGEST WE REGROUP WITH THE OTHER STUDENTS."

"Sounds good to me. I need to tell you guys how I got the Chaos Emerald, anyway." said Silver. He began to tell the others about his journey through the depths of the pyramid, and his encounter with the ghost of King Mogar.

Mountain Ruins
5:00 p.m.

When Glynda was told about the hole in the pyramid, she immediately set out to unblock the entrance using her Semblance. She was accompanied by Silver and Professor Port.

"There's the hole, Miss Goodwitch." said Silver.

"Yes, I see it. Professor Port?"

"Yes, Headmistress?" the aged professor said.

"We will need a few good sized logs to put on top of the hole before the stone is replaced. Can I trust you to do this?" she asked.

"Never fear, Headmistress!" Professor Port proclaimed, holding his Blunderaxe up proudly. "I shall complete this task as quickly as the time when-"

"Silver, can you help him carry the logs?" Glynda asked, disregarding the professor's rant.

"Yes, ma'am!" the hedgehog responded with a casual salute. As the two left, the ghostly figure of King Mogar ascended from the hole.

"Good evening, madam," he greeted. "I see that Silver is keeping his promise to me."

"Indeed. I wasn't sure that he was telling the truth about corresponding with a ghost, and yet here I am in the same position." chuckled Glynda. "As a representative of Beacon Academy, I promise that the secrets of your tomb will be protected." As she finished, she bowed in respect.

"Oh, knock that off. I know I was a king in life, but I'm dead now. There's no need to bow to a dead king." admonished Mogar, though there was no malice in his voice.

Silver finally arrived with the logs, placing them inside the hole just below the rim. Glynda then waved her riding crop, and many stone tiles appeared and covered up the logs, leaving no trace that the hole ever existed.

"Farewell, fighters of peace," said Mogar regularly. "Let us make sure that the evil of Dralux never again sees the light of day, and may we someday meet again- preferably not anytime soon, of course."

The king waved goodbye as he descended through the ground back into the tomb, resuming his lonely vigil.

Hunters campsite
6:00 p.m.

Back at the campsite, Tails was telling everyone about Aeromi. Jaune and Pyrrha could be seen holding hands, as well as Silver and Blaze.

"This was actually suggested by Tali," he said. "She said that the Normandy has an A.I. that helps run the ship, and we never saw him. Said he was offline then. Shepard sent me Aeromi to help run the Tornado-2 since there is so much added to the original design. I wouldn't be able to keep up with it by myself, so she could be a big help!"

" Plus, I can give Tails someone to talk to other than himself when you guys aren't around! " Aeromi said cheerfully.

"Quiet, you."

"Well, I can certainly vouch for her piloting skills," said Silver. "She's almost as good as you."

Yang raised her hand. "Are you stuck with the Tornado-2, or can you move into other devices?"

Aeromi suddenly vanished. Before Tails could see what happened, the sound of Yang's scroll going off could be heard. When she picked it up, Aeromi's avatar appeared on the screen.

" Does that answer your question? " she asked.

"That's actually kinda creepy," said Jaune. Pretty much everyone agreed with him on that.

"So, Tails, is there a risk that she could become power-hungry and try to destroy organic life?" asked a worried Weiss.

Aeromi popped back into the Tornado-2. " My primary programming to protect all life, and there are restrictions that force me to just keep you all in a small place to 'protect' you from doing harm to yourselves and others. Even if there weren't any blocks… I would probably be making a bad impression on potential friends. I could never harm you. So don't you worry, Miss Schnee. " she finished with a grin.

"Good. I would hate for Omega to have to give you the same treatment he gives enemy robots." Rouge said, looking at the robot as he silently replaced his machine guns with his normal claws.

Silver held out the blue Chaos Emerald. "Well, four down, three to go, guys."

"What are the chances that the rest of them will be this easy to get?" wondered Ruby.

Sonic slapped his forehead. "Great. You had to say it."

Mountains
12:45 a.m.

Neo Metal Sonic was drop-dead furious.

This wasn't a new state of mind for him, but he was even more angry than usual as he extricated himself from the Paladin. He used the white Chaos Emerald to assist his repair systems while he blasted a nearby Ursa for getting too close to him. However, the bear was replaced by another. A few minutes after that, a pack of Beowolves appeared, followed by a solitary Goliath.

Pretty soon, Neo Metal Sonic was surrounded by the Creatures of Grimm, attracted to his negative emotions. None approached him again, though, for the dissolving Ursa in front of him was a sign that this entity was not in the brightest of moods.

Meanwhile, deep in King Mogar's tomb, all was dark and silent. If one listened carefully, however, a faint buzzing could be heard.

The source of this buzzing was coming from the smallest helicopter ever made. It was about the size of a housefly, but it wasn't crewed by a couple of fleas. This copter was carrying the latest in detection software and listening devices. It had picked up the largest energy signature in the local area, and was investigating.

After a while, it stopped, hovering in front of the door that led to Dralux's prison. It sent out a signal that had an embedded message, informing its creator about what it found. It then exited the tomb through the small hole it entered.

In the light of the shattered moon, a strange symbol could be seen on the rotor. This symbol was the most recognized on Mobius & Earth: a black circle with a blank place for eyes and a large mustache.

Chapter Text

Mountain campsite
7:30 a.m.

Considering the chaos of the previous day, the morning was pleasantly uneventful. Everyone was treated to a very nice pancake breakfast, courtesy of Ren. Fortunately, although Nora swiped a bottle of syrup from the supplies, there was still plenty for everyone.

"Ren, these are great pancakes." Sonic complimented while sitting up in his hammock.

"Thank you, Sonic." the pink-eyed boy replied.

Weiss walked up to Rouge. "Sorry that your scheme to get Silver and Blaze together didn't work out." the heiress whispered.

Rouge just shrugged. "Well, at least I can still take credit for Jaune and Pyrrha."

Weiss giggled. "That's true."

There was a sudden whooshing noise as Doctor Oobleck appeared. "Good morning, huntsmen, huntresses, and mobians. Pack up your gear quickly, as the lack of robots protecting this place may be problematic to our departure."

"Well, it was either that, or be killed by them," said Shadow.

"This is true. However, we are leaving in one hour. Any longer, and the Creatures of Grimm may sense something is amiss, and will investigate."

Sonic and Shadow smirked at each other, with the black hedgehog pulling out his favourite green Chaos Emerald.

"I really don't see how pulling out that gem will help you pack faster." said Oobleck.

"Just watch this." Shadow held up the Emerald and yelled, "Chaos Control!"

"What kind of nonsense is-" The students of Beacon suddenly had a rare opportunity to observe Oobleck standing still as time stopped around them.

"What's going on?" asked Jaune.

"I used the powers of my Chaos Control to stop time temporarily." Shadow pulled out a special looking clock and set a countdown from thirty minutes. "I gave us half an hour to pack. When the Chaos Control dissipates, barely a second will actually have passed."

"This is so cool." said Ruby as she poked a drop of water that was suspended in midair. She then stood up and rushed to her team's tent, rose petals flying. Everyone else followed her lead, and they managed to pack everything up in twenty-five "Chaos Control" minutes.

"Okay, resuming normal time flow in three… two… one!"

Shadow snapped his fingers, and the flow of time returned to normal. Doctor Oobleck continued his speech as if nothing had happened. "-this, saying a few words while holding… a… gem…" The professor slowed down his speech as he saw the packed bags. "What?"

"Never underestimate my power." said Shadow as he put the Chaos Emerald away.

Suddenly, a shrill shriek could be heard. Oobleck rushed towards the source while Jaune started laughing so hard he had to lean on Pyrrha.

"What's so funny, Jaune?" asked Pyrrha as she supported her boyfriend.

"Oh, when time stopped, I put a few lizards in Team CRDL's tent," Silver said innocently. "It was Jaune's idea, he supplied the lizards."

While everyone had a laugh, Jaune and Silver high-fived each other.

Pretty soon, everyone else had their supplies packed up, and went aboard the airship. Tails drove the Tornado-2 in car mode onto a separate runway, and Sonic hopped on the wing.

"Aeromi, any signs of Nevermores on our way?" asked Tails.

The A.I.'s avatar popped up. " That's a negative, Tails. The only Creatures of Grimm I predict to see are only ground-based, and the largest Nevermores I can detect aren't large enough to bother us, let alone the ship carrying everyone else. "

"Good to know. Thanks, Aeromi!"

" You're welcome, sir! " she replied with a playful salute. " All systems are green, we are ready to depart. "

Aboard the airship, Glynda was standing on the bridge. "Everyone is aboard and ready, ma'am," said a crewmember.

Glynda nodded, and the airship took off, followed by the Tornado-2.

"So Aeromi, how much do you know about us?" Sonic asked the A.I.

" Tails downloaded all the information he could about his adventures with you and the others, and might I say that it's a real privilege to be working with you all. I know that Silver and Blaze are from the future/dimension, Shadow has the blood of an ex-alien overlord in his veins, et cetera. I pretty much have knowledge about your adventures up to the events of the War. I'm surprised that having a younger you around didn't faze you- though from what Tails has said, you pretty much just take everything in stride. "

"You got it!" confirmed Sonic with his signature thumbs up.

" I have also downloaded personality profiles of your friends and comrades from Beacon Academy. It must be pretty interesting fighting with humans. "

"Yeah, it is different, I'll give you that much. But Ruby and the others are pretty cool people. Even though Eggman sent us here because of a Chaos Control going lopsided, I'm glad we were sent here. I never thought I would meet someone like Ruby who has the same outlook on life as mine- and she's very fast, too!"

Unbeknownst to the duo, Aeromi had set up a link between the Tornado-2 and Ruby's scroll. Team RWBY had been listening to the conversation, and the redhead smiled when she heard what Sonic said.

"I tell you, that Ruby is something special," said Sonic. "She even got grumpy Shadow to be a little nicer- though he probably won't be an extrovert like yours truly anytime soon."

"Or ever." Tails piped up.

"Now that I think about it, all of us mobians have made special friends with the locals of Remnant. Heck, even Omega has made friends with someone!"

Aeromi giggled. " Yes, I did see a mention of that Penny girl. I wonder how she was built, being able to have a soul. "

Tails tilted his head in thought. "I hate to change the subject, but I wonder what Eggman is doing right now?"

" Probably scheming and conniving. Or maybe a combination: schenniving. "

Sonic looked at the A.I's holographic avatar. "Well, whatever he's doing, I hope he's annoying Torchwick."

Egg Ark
12:35 p.m.

Eggman was seen typing furiously on a computer while Cinder, Emerald, Roman, and Mercury were watching.

...

Check that- Cinder, Emerald, and Roman were watching, while Mercury was sitting on a nearby couch, reading a comic book.

"Psst, Mercury!" whispered Emerald. "Get up here, we're back in the story!"

"And just when I was getting to the good part," he grumbled as he put away the issue of "X-Ray and Vav" that he was reading.

Roman rolled his eyes. "While I do enjoy the interactions between the two kiddies, can you please tell us why you brought all of us out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Eggman turned his seat around and faced the four criminal masterminds. A manic gleam could be seen through his sunglasses. "Last night, one of my drones discovered the largest concentration of darkness I've ever seen." He pointed at a screenshot of a large monster. "This is bigger than even Dark Gaia, and much more powerful!"

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, Doctor." said Cinder.

Eggman turned back to his computer and pushed a button. The holographic screen changed from Dark Gaia to what could only be described as a dragon Creature of Grimm.

“WHAT IN THE WAHDE WORLD OF SPORTS IS THAT?!” Cubot asked in shock. “THAT FELLER’S BIGGER THAN EGGMAN AFTER A NIGHT ON THE BUFFET!”

"Can I destroy him?" asked Mercury.

Eggman glanced at Cubot and considered the request. "You can hurt him. Destroy him later."

"Huh, that actually sounds more fun."

Roman walked forward in awe. "I have never seen a Creature of Grimm like this before."

"According to the information I have gathered," Eggman said, "This dragon was known as ‘Dralux’. It was the most feared Grimm ever to walk this planet, and it was only through the brave efforts of a warrior faunus named 'Mogar' that Dralux was defeated." Eggman smiled evilly. "However, it turns out that Mogar wasn't able to completely destroy it, because my drone discovered Dralux's essence in a locked door. With the right methods, I may be able to harvest the energy of this beast, and conquer this world!"

At that moment, Orbot rolled up. “PARDON ME, DOCTOR, BUT WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU CONTROL THE BEAST?”

Eggman, annoyed at the interruption of his trademark cackling, glared at the red robot. "Well, why not?"

“WELL, YOUR TRACK RECORD IN CONTROLLING POWERFUL BEASTS HASN’T BEEN THE BEST, TO PUT IT MILDLY. CHAOS DIDN’T FOLLOW YOUR COMMANDS AFTER YOU GAVE HIM THE CHAOS EMERALDS, SHADOW ENDED UP A HERO-”

"Yes, yes, we get it," grumbled Eggman.

Orbot continued, heedless of his master's request. “-SOLARIS WAS A COMPLETE DISASTER, DARK GAIA NEVER LISTENED TO YOU AFTER HE WAS COMPLETE, THE WISP ENERGY BECAME OUT OF CONTROL-”

Eggman was fed up with the robot. "Shut up, you waste of electricity! Besides, I was able to control the Time Eater, wasn't I? And Infinite was a successful ally."

“YEAH, BUT YAH WERE BEATIN’ BAH TWO SONICS, AND THEN BAH A NOBODY AT THE END OF WAR.” commented Cubot, now sporting a small dent on his head.

"You haven't answered the question, Doctor," said Cinder, silently amused at the mad doctor. "What makes you think that you can control this monster?" She gestured at the hologram of Dralux.

Eggman composed himself. "Using the power of both my genius and special Dust combinations, I can create something to slowly siphon the energy of Dralux into a special container that will power the ultimate Dark Badnik! After all, it's just the bare essence of Dralux, and not the real dragon trapped in that tomb."

"Right. So why haven't you done this already?" asked Emerald.

"Young lady, I only found out last night. Besides, I will need some assistance in gaining access to the tomb. Might I suggest that group you have ties with the White Fang?"

Roman whirled around. "Absolutely not! They're far too busy doing work for me, and-"

"You will receive the personnel that you require," interrupted Cinder calmly. She held up a hand and lit a flame. "But don't even think about going back on our deal, Doctor."

Eggman gulped. "Yes, Ma'am."

"And as for you, Roman, do not think of those faunus' as your private army. Remember that you have employed their services for my ends, and not your own." Cinder looked at Roman with a dangerous gleam in her eye. "Is that clear?"

Roman gulped in the same way Eggman did. "Perfectly clear."

Out of earshot of Eggman & Cinder, Roman Torchwick pulled out his scroll to contact someone. "I want you to send some of the White Fang to this location. Accompany them as well. We have something to retrieve for the mad doctor, and I want to make sure you add a little something for a contingency plan."

The connection was cut but was followed by a message that read: "Yes sir."

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy
4:30 p.m.

"Man, I am beat!" said Yang as they finally arrived back in front of Team RWBY's dorm. The gang had finished getting their gear from the airship, and we're looking forward to taking it easy for the rest of the day.

"I wonder how Penny and Sun are doing." wondered Blaze.

"Well, let's call them after we unpack." said Ruby as she opened the door.

It turns out they didn't need to worry about Sun Wukong, because he was sitting on Yang's bunk, reading a comic book titled "Red Vs. Blue". "Hey guys, how was the trip?"

"Oh, it was nice. We saw the sights, found the Chaos Emerald, fought a bunch of robots, and Silver and Blaze got together." summarised Sonic.

"Neat. Hey, I have to introduce someone to you." Sun walked up to the window and reached for something out of sight. He pulled in a very tall person with gray pants, a red jacket, blue hair, and yellow goggles on his forehead.

"Sup?" he said nonchalantly, as if hanging outside the window was a common occurrence.

"Sun, who is this?" asked Blake, eyeing the stranger.

"This is my friend, Neptune Vasilias. Neptune, these are the people I told you about." Sun introduced Team RWBY and the mobians to him.

"Nice to meet you all."

"Why were you outside our window?" asked Weiss.

"I have my ways." Neptune responded with a wink that caught the heiress off-guard, and she blushed furiously.

"Hey, look," said Tails. "Yang, Ruby, you got a package." The kitsune pointed at a small box on the desk.

"Oo, something from home!" squealed Ruby as she rushed to the desk, rose petals flying. She grabbed Knuckles, activated his Clan Blade, and used it to slice the box open, leaving the echidna very confused and with a sore arm.

Ruby pulled out what looked like a gray towel. However, that notion was dispelled when it quivered a few times, then gained the shape of a medium sized dog. It woofed happily upon seeing Ruby.

"AAAHHH!" Ruby yelled with joy. "Zwei!"

Omega eyed the box, which was about half the size of the dog. "CANINE WAS SENT IN THE MAIL VIA SMALL BOX? CANNOT COMPUTE, DOES NOT SEEM PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE!" he droned, making a few computer noises before collapsing.

Tails pulled out a cord from his Miles Electric and connected it to a port on the robot. "Don't worry, guys. Omega's currently unconscious, or at least the robotic equivalent. He'll come around in a couple of minutes."

"I have to agree with the robot, that doesn't seem physically possible at all." commented the purple cat, who was standing on top of the bookshelf, eyeing the dog with something like fear.

"The dog fitting in a small space, or a fainting robot?" asked Blake from her vantage point on Ruby's bunk with a similar expression.

"Yes..." the fire princess hissed.

Ruby put Zwei down and let the dog get acquainted with everyone in the room. Sonic bent down and petted him. "So why was the dog in a box?" he asked.

Yang picked up a letter in the box. "It looks like our dad had to go away on a trip to Vacuo, so he sent Zwei over so we could take care of him."

"Your dad sends pets in boxes?" asked Shadow with a raised eyebrow.

Zwei walked up to Omega, sniffing the robot as he started booting back up. Rouge carefully directed the dog away from Omega, fearful of what Zwei might do, and how said robot might react. “SYSTEMS FULLY FUNCTIONAL. CAUSE OF SHUTDOWN: UNKNOWN.”

"Let's just say you thought about something a little too hard," said Sun. "Well, you guys wanna hang out?"

"Sure, let's go!" answered Sonic. Zwei yipped in agreement. They asked Team JNPR to come along, but they opted out, saying that Jaune needed time to recover from the flight home. Apparently he forgot to take his ginger pills, and he still had a bad case of motion sickness, judging by the vomiting noises from the bathroom.

Streets of Vale
6:30 p.m.

The gang, with the addition of Neptune and Sun, had a great time walking along the streets of Vale. Shadow was unsurprisingly able to find a gun store, so he restocked everyone's ammunition. Yang and Ruby found a pet store and got some food for Zwei. The dog in question was happily following them, being his cute self.

"So, where should we eat?" asked Amy.

"I hope you don't mind Yarrgarita's.'' said Sun. "They have a special on steak dinner tonight."

"Do they allow animals?" asked Neptune, who was eyeing the small corgi.

"Ah, don't worry about it," reassured Sonic. "We've been there before, and they let us mobians in. So why not let in Zwei?" The dog barked in agreement.

The gang walked to the nightclub, and were admitted by the doorman. They sat at a large table and relaxed a bit, enjoying the music and the conversation.

Rouge, however, was still a little annoyed that she didn't get Silver and Blaze together. But she did get an idea and sent a text message to Sonic.

ROUGE: "Sonic, since Blaze and Silver are now a couple, I think that a C40-09 is appropriate for this. Get up on stage when you're ready!"

The blue hedgehog smiled and nodded at the white bat.

Dinner was indeed steak, and everyone enjoyed it in their own way. For some reason, Omega also got steak, but since he was physically incapable of eating anything, he cut his steak with his claws and kindly gave the slices to Zwei, with Ruby and Yang smiling at the walking arsenals offerings.

Sun was telling everyone about what Tali was doing. "Apparently, she's infiltrated the White Fang."

"Why would she do that?" asked Knuckles. "Isn't she marrying a human?"

The monkey faunus nodded. "Yeah, but they don't know that. So, considering the crazy things you guys get into, there is a chance you may have to fight Tali. She isn't looking forward to that encounter any more than you, but she told me to tell you not to hold back. She doesn't want to blow her cover, after all."

" Let's hope it won't come to that, " said a voice from the table, which had holographic decorations on it. Those decorations flashed a few times before Aeromi's avatar blinked into existence. " Sup, guys? "

"Um, who's the blue lady?" asked Neptune.

"That's one of Tali's gifts before she left," said Tails. "This is Aeromi, the A.I. of the Tornado-2. Although I kinda wish you would give us more warning before you jump appliances."

"My bad."

"Aeromi, just out of curiosity, 'where' are you specifically?" asked Sun. "I know I helped install you in the Tornado-2, but I don't remember you being able to do that."

"My core programs are in the Tornado-2, but Tails thought it might be good if I was able to be anywhere. He was concerned that in the unlikely event of the Tornado-2 crashing or-" Aeromi suppressed a shudder- "being destroyed by enemy fire, I would be damaged, or even completely wiped out. To counteract this possibility, he thought that I should have the ability to move myself from various devices, so there would be less risk to me."

"Hey, where did Sonic go?" interrupted Amy. Everyone looked around, and not only was the blue hedgehog gone, they noticed that Team RWBY was also gone.

Zwei barked in the direction of the stage, and they saw their missing friends. Sonic and Ruby were setting up electric guitars, Weiss a microphone, Blake a bass guitar, and Yang a drum kit.

"What are they doing?" wondered Silver. His thoughts were interrupted as Rouge dragged him and Blaze onto the dance floor.

"Have fun, you two." Rouge said with a wink.

Ruby started out with a slow guitar riff, then Yang joined with the drums. Then, Sonic joined in with a sweet guitar solo as he started singing.

Crush 40- Fire Woman

SONIC: Shake, shake, shake, shake it, yeah!

Silver and Blaze didn't really know how to react to this, but they looked at each other, shrugged, and started to dance to the song.

WEISS: Wound up, can't sleep, can't do anything right, little honey.
Oh, since I set my eyes on you.
I'll tell you the truth.

At this point, Weiss joined Sonic, finally getting her wish to sing. Aeromi, wanting to get in on the action, modified the holographic decorations on the tables in the club to display flames, which would say later was a nice touch.

WEISS & SONIC: T-t-twisting like a flame
In a slow dance baby,
You're drivin' me crazy,
Come on, little honey,
Come on down!
Fire, smoke, she is a-rising!

Fire!
Oh, smoke on the horizon, well
Fire, smoke, she is a-rising!
Fire!

Oh, smokestack lightning,
Smokestack lightning.

Sonic did another short guitar solo, then yelled, "Sing it, Ice Queen!"

WEISS: Shake it up, you're to blame,
Got me sweatin', little honey,
My heart's a ball of burnin' flame.
Oh, yes it is, uh!

On the dance floor, Silver and Blaze were drawing a crowd. They cheered the new couple on, but the two from the parallel realities were lost in the music and each other's eyes.

SONIC: Tracin' like a cat on a hot tin shack,
Lord! Have mercy,
Come on, little sister,
Come one and shake it!
Fire, smoke, she is a-rising!

Fire!
Oh, smoke on the horizon, yeah!
Fire, smoke she is a-rising!
Fire!

Ruby went into another solo here, drawing cheers from the mobians, Sun and Neptune, and a few barks from Zwei. The impromptu band suddenly quieted things down.

Oh, smokestack lightnin', baby!
I was thinkin',
What I've been missin',
I'll tell you truthfully, well.

Silver and Blaze separated briefly as the pyrokinetic cat summoned flames around her. Silver used his powers to levitate her. Slowly, he brought Blaze closer.

She's comin' close now,
Oh, I can feel her,
She's getting close to me,
Yeah!

Blaze and Silver kissed as the blue blur went into yet another guitar solo at this point in the song, freeing one hand to high-five Weiss as they resumed singing.

SONIC & WEISS: Fire, smoke, she is a-risin,
Fire!
Yeah, smoke on the horizon, yeah!
Fire, smoke, she is a-risin-risin,
Fire!

Oh, smokestack lightnin'.
Yeah!
Burn it out, shake it baby,
Gotta have money,

Stand down in front of me,
Say, stand down in front me,
Say stand down in front of me, yeah.

Fire woman,
You're to blame,
Fire woman, you're to blame,
Stand down in front of me,

Say, stand down in front of me,
Stand down, stand down,

Fire woman!

As the song winded down, Blaze and Silver kissed again, bringing more cheers. The Corpirate, who was watching from a distance, smiled at the scene.

Weiss looked at Sonic. "Thanks for letting me sing something for once."

"I had a feeling you were feeling left out after not singing twice." the hedgehog responded.

Zwei walked up to Ruby. She lifted the dog in her arms. "Come on, let's go home, guys."

As the gang left the club, Blaze and Silver were holding hands, feeling like nothing could disturb them from their peace. That would change as they adjusted back into their daily routine, but for now, they just enjoyed the moment.

Elsewhere in the club, Emerald looked at Rouge, barely restraining her fury at the bat. 'Our time will come, Rouge the Bat,' she thought. 'And when it does, only one of us will be walking away, alive.'

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy
10:00 a.m.

For Team RWBY and the other students of Beacon, it was just another day of classes. At the current time, all four girls (and most of the classroom, for that matter) were trying to stay awake through Professor Port's lecture. Scratch that, it wasn't so much a lecture as it was telling stories of his past endeavours that were most likely false.

"Considering that the Creatures of Grimm dissolve after being killed, it's probably not likely that he did these things." murmured Blake. Ruby, Yang, and even Weiss silently agreed. Of all the classes with the boisterous professor, the only proof they had seen of his accomplishments was when Weiss fought the Boarbatusk on their first day.

"The way he speaks, if they didn't dissolve, this room would be filled with mounted heads." whispered Jaune.

Just when it seemed that the professor was reaching a crescendo in the story, everyone's scrolls went off at once. Confused, the students pulled them out, only to reveal a chilling message in red letters:

YOU WILL NEVER STOP US FROM ACHIEVING OUR GOALS. HOW CAN YOU STOP US IF YOU CAN'T COMMUNICATE?

The students frantically tried to get out of the screen, but to no avail. "What's going on?" demanded Professor Port.

The intercom beeped, and a school-wide announcement was heard. "All students, please go back to your dorms, immediately"

As everyone walked out, Yang couldn't help but feel anxious. "How did this happen, and why is everyone's scroll like this?" But the  rest of the team didn't have any answers.

At the dorms, everyone changed back into their usual clothes. Zwei could sense his mistress' uneasiness, and padded over to Ruby. She forced a smile as she petted him.

"You know what really stinks is that we can't tell Sonic about this. He doesn't know, and I think Tails might be able to help out." said Weiss.

Suddenly, Ruby's scroll started beeping. She got it out and expanded it, and the screen's message cleared up, revealing Aeromi. " Whew, that took longer than I thought it would. Hope you don't mind me butting in . "

"Well, I'm just glad you're not affected by this communications blackout," said Ruby. Zwei yipped in agreement. "So what's up?"

" Since I seem to be the only entity not restrained by this phenomenon, I volunteered to send messages for the time being. Speaking of which, Ozpin needs you in his office, Ruby. ASAP. Unfortunately, he didn't say to bring the rest of your team . "

"Will you be okay?" asked Yang.

"I'm sure it's nothing."

" Well, it's definitely not nothing, " said Aeromi. " I think Ozpin can explain things better. "

Ruby ran to the elevator that led to Professor Ozpin's office. When she got there, she was joined by Sonic.

"Ruby, do you have any idea what's going on?" the blue hedgehog asked as the elevator ascended.

"I don't know. Did Glynda ask for you via Aeromi?"

"That's right. Hopefully, there'll be an explanation from Ozzy."

When the door to Professor Ozpin's office opened, they were greeted by the sight of-

"Captain Shepard?" they said simultaneously.

The captain of the Normandy waved a hand in greeting. "Hello Ruby, Sonic. I wish that we could have met again under normal circumstances."

The three walked up to Professor Ozpin. "Greetings. I hope you noticed the strange message found on everyone's scrolls?"

"Kinda hard not to. So, what’s going on?"

Ozpin faced Sonic. "I might as well be blunt with you, then: someone has hacked into the main communications tower of Vale. This has caused a fair bit of panic, both here and in town. All communications have been completely blocked, and we can't figure out who did it. What's more, we don't know how to fix this problem.

"However, thanks to a timely visit from Captain Shepard, he thinks he's found a way to restore it all."

"How?" asked Sonic.

Shepard shifted his weight to his fake leg. "We send a couple of people into the mainframe of Vale."

Ruby adopted a confused look. "Um, the what?"

"Alright, cyberspace." Shepard referred.

Sonic whistled. "Cyberspace, huh? That ought to be interesting."

"We're going inside a computer?" asked Ruby in awe.

"Not just a computer, Miss Rose. The computer system of Vale itself." Ozpin looked sternly at Ruby and Sonic. "We need those communications back up, and quickly. The mission must be done swiftly, so that's where you come in."

"Well, if that's the case, we might want to bring Shadow into this, too. He's had more experience with being in computer systems than I have. It's a long story that I might tell you later. But how are we going to do it?" the blue blur asked. Aeromi vanished to retrieve Shadow.

"Simple. We shoot a laser that compresses your bodies into digital data, and we send you to the areas with the problems." said Shepard.

"Wait, what!?" they both shouted out.

Ozpin also looked concerned at this approach. "Captain, are you sure that's the only way for them to get into the digital realm?"

Shepard just grinned. "Oh, it'll be fine. My crew and I have done it plenty of times, it's perfectly safe."

Aeromi projected herself on Ozpin's desk. " While that assessment isn't entirely accurate, the crew of the Normandy have indeed gone into the digital space many times. Usually, this has been to make some minor adjustments on the electronic systems, get rid of bugs, and even create artificial intelligences like myself. "

There was a flash of light as Shadow teleported into the room. Sonic quickly summarised what was to happen.

"Alright. Here's my question: who's going to guide us to the problem areas? Last I checked, cyberspace is pretty huge." said the Ultimate Life Form.

"We'll have Aeromi and the A.I. of the Normandy to assist you." answered Shepard.

"Okay, so when do we leave?" asked Sonic, throwing a few practice punches. "I haven't had a good viral beatdown since the last time I got a cold."

Shepard's lips twitched in a brief smile. "We leave in an hour. Meet me at the computer room. I should have everything set up by then."

"Thank Chaos Vector isn't here." whispered Shadow to himself, heavily remembering how many times the crocodile of the Chaotix repeated "Find the Computer Room!" during the Black Arms invasion.

When Ruby told her team about the plan, they were astounded.

"Cyberspace… That's simply incredible." said Yang.

"Yeah, you said it. We should be fine, though. I'm gonna be with Sonic and Shadow, and we should fix this thing in no time!" said Ruby.

"I hope so. Who knows what kind of anarchy is happening in the world right now." said a worried Blake.

"I'll say. Who knows what my company is going through."

"Way to prioritise, Weiss." sighed a sweat dropping Ruby.

After a quick lunch, Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby met at Beacon's computer core room. The room itself was pretty big, and housed many large computers and servers.

Shepard had finished setting up the laser with the business end pointing at a wall. It was pretty large, and had all sorts of wires trailing from it to a monitor. Aeromi's avatar was seen next to the monitor, as well as another hologram. This one was slightly taller than Aeromi, and its avatar was wearing some kind of futuristic armor suit with the number 117 on the chestplate. Furthermore, it was a dark green.

Shepard noticed the girl and the two hedgehogs. "Ah, you're here. I'd like you to meet the A.I. of the Normandy, Chief."

The figure's helmet nodded in acknowledgement. "Is he always this talkative?" asked Ruby.

" He's just the strong, silent type. " explained Aeromi.

" I just didn't feel like there was anything to say ." Chief's voice was deep and military-like.

"He was the A.I. developed by Atlas to help out with the Normandy," said Shepard. "Despite his gruff outlook, he really is a big help with running the ship. When we put together Aeromi for the Tornado-2, though, Tali thought it might be a good idea to make her more… user friendly than Chief."

" And just more friendly in general !" chirped Aeromi cheerfully.

Chief rolled his eyes, but nobody saw that under his helmet, of course. "I gotta agree with Tali on that one. I don't think I could handle another guy with a personality like Shadow's." said Sonic.

"You know I'm standing next to you, right?" growled the black Hedgehog.

"Right where I know where you are, so you can't sneak up on me." replied Sonic without missing a beat. Ruby snickered at the hedgehogs antics.

There was the sound of the door opening as Tails entered. "I've given Aeromi and Chief the locations of the problem areas. I've also written a few programs that might help you get there."

" What kind of programs ?" asked Chief.

"Transportation and combat functions."

" Sweet! Thank you, boy genius !" gushed Aeromi. Tails scratched his head in an "aw, shucks" gesture while blushing.

"Have you all been stocked up on ammunition?" Shepard asked. "The viruses will be hostile, and when we digitise you, you will have to use your weapons."

Shadow brought out Crimson Dusk and pulled the bolt back, putting it back when he saw that he had plenty of bullets. Ruby did the same with Crescent Rose.

"I think we're ready, Cap'n." said Sonic.

"Wait a minute. Just out of curiosity, will there be any side effects from this?" wondered Ruby.

Chief shook his head. " Based on the many times the crew of the Normandy have had to be digitised to fix a bug, my analysis concludes that the worst you'll get are a few headaches. Nothing life-threatening, nothing permanent. "

"However, the rules of the real world will apply there," warned Shadow, who had experience of traveling cyberspace on Earth during the Black Arms invasion. "If you die there, you'll die for real. So, don't die."

"Thanks for the helpful advice, Shadow," said Sonic sarcastically as he looked at the crimsonette, with fear in her eyes. "We'll be fine, Ruby. You've got me and Mr. Unsmiley over there, plus the support of Aeromi and Chief."

Ruby smiled. "Right. Thanks, Sonic. Okay, Shep, we're good to go."

Shepard nodded. "Good. Please step in front of the laser." The three did so. "Okay, it's powering up… Now stand still and close your eyes… Firing in three… two… one!"

The laser fired a blue beam, and the speedy trio disappeared. A light followed the trail of wires, and a green light appeared on the laser readout.

"All right they're in! Chief, Aeromi, you know what to do."

The two artificial intelligences' nodded and disappeared.

"Good luck, guys." whispered Tails.

Chapter Text

Digital Realm
1:00 p.m.

When the speedy trio had closed their eyes, they were in Beacon's computer core room. They felt a jolt, and when they opened them, they found themselves in a very different place. They were transported to the outskirts of what appeared to be a bustling city. However, it was lit up with all kinds of white lights, and the sky was black and starless.

Sonic whistled, impressed by the futuristic aura it gave off. "Wow. That looks fantastic."

"It's certainly less of an eye-sore when compared to our own digital reality." The Ultimate Life Form stated as he remembers travelling through Eggman's and the United Federation's mainframes during the Black Arms invasion.

" You think that looks cool, you should look at yourselves ."

The three turned around and saw Aeromi and Chief. However, the two weren't small holograms, they were human sized. "Whoa. What did you guys eat to get so big?" asked Ruby.

" In this realm, all Programs are about the same size, depending on the User and Avatar ." said Chief, explaining the growth spurt. He was the tallest of them now, even taller than Neptune. He knelt down and put a glove on the paved ground. A thin section rose up and became a mirror, and the trio finally saw themselves.

Sonic and Shadow were both wearing bodysuits that had lights trailing from their legs up to their arms, and while Sonic's lights were blue, Shadows were red. Their shoes were unchanged, which Sonic was thankful for.

Ruby's digital attire didn't change much physically, but there were lights all along her skirt, right down to her boots. Her hood had many lights on it, and it was a pretty good look, overall.

One thing that all three suits had in common was a disc on the back. They were all about the same size, but had different emblems in holographic form in a hole in the middle. Sonic's disc had his buzzsaw emblem, Shadow his Black Arms insignia, and Ruby had her flaming rose pattern on hers.

" Whoa. Didn't expect the symbols on the I.D. discs. You think that'll be a problem, Chief ?" Aeromi asked. She and Chief also had discs on their backs, but they had no distinguishing features

The armoured figure shook his head. " I doubt it. I think any other Programs may be more concerned with the fact that two of them are Hedgehogs. I have to admit, it is a nice touch, though ."

"Is there anything else these suits have?" asked Shadow with a grin of satisfaction on his face.

Aeromi took Sonic's right wrist and gently pushed a section. A holographic wrist computer appeared. " This is your S-tool. It has everything you'll need while you're here, and a few extra functions. But the ones you'll need are the radio- " she pointed at the top right of the screen, then the bottom right part that looked like a radar screen- " and the map. "

Sonic nodded. "Got it. And not to change the subject or anything, but it's really weird being able to, well, 'feel' you."

Aeromi grinned. " Hopefully you'll get used to it. "

"So, how are we gonna get around? Sonic and Shadow can run, but I can't use my Semblance for an extended period of time without becoming exhausted." said Ruby.

Chief reached into his belt and pulled two identical rods with buttons on them. He gave one to Aeromi. " These are transportation software programs that Tails made for us. It's a normal form of moving around in this realm, but the fox made some modifications to the code. "

Shadow looked at the rod in Chief's hand dubiously. "How is that thing supposed to help us?"

In response, Chief ran away from the trio and leaped. While in midair, he pushed a button on the rod, which split. The sections suddenly extended, and before anyone could comment on it, they assembled themselves into a black motorcycle with lit up wheels and chassis. Chief circled the gang in his new ride before stopping. It was an understatement to say that the trio was awestruck.

"I don't think I've seen anything like that." gaped Shadow.

Aeromi repeated the action and did a wheelie, stopping in front of Ruby. " Hop on, red. We've got some viruses to kill. "

"Shouldn't we have helmets or something?" asked the redhead as she sat behind the A.I.

" Don't worry Ruby. After all, safety third! "

As soon as Ruby sat down, a helmet built itself around her head. While the inexplicably appearing helmet was jarring, it was actually quite comfortable, and it even had Ruby's emblem on it. Aeromi's head also had a helmet that appeared, but it was featureless.

"Have you ever been on a motorcycle before?" Sonic asked Ruby.

Her helmet faced Sonic as she answered. "Yup. My sister has a motorcycle named Bumblebee that she rides around in. Yang lets me ride sometimes, so it's not my first time."

" Come on, " said the Chief impatiently. " The longer we waste time here means a longer period of complete confusion and chaos in Vale. "

Aeromi revved the engines. " Then let's go! "

The gang left the relative safety of the outskirts and sped towards the center of the city. Chief's motorcycle was in front, with Aeromi and Ruby behind him. Sonic and Shadow kept pace behind them, taking in the sights of the data highway they were on. They saw many other humanoids walking the streets or driving lightcycles like they were, but Chief explained over the radio that those individuals were ordinary Programs.

"Some of them seem to be running from something." Sonic observed. Sure enough, a few programs were running away from a dark section of the city. A female program was seen racing towards them, but a gunshot was heard, and she collapsed with a surprised expression on her face as she started to dissolve. The entity that caused this was-

"Oh, no. It's a Dark Pawn!" Ruby cried out.

" Better correct that to Dark Pawns, Ruby, " said Aeromi. " He isn't alone. "

Many of the Eggman-inspired robots were seen creating havoc and destroying the area. Programs were being cut down left and right, and it seemed that most of them were in a shootout with a group of ten programs that had the armour configuration of soldiers or police officers.

Chief revved the engines of his lightcycle and accelerated rapidly toward the fight, with the others right behind him. He pressed a button on the handlebars. This caused two gun barrels to assemble on the sides, and when Chief pressed a trigger, bullets flew towards the Dark Pawns that had pinned down the security programs, destroying them. Aeromi copied his actions while Sonic and Shadow revealed their weapons, with Ruby using Crescent Rose to eject herself into the fray.

It seemed that the trio's attire wasn't the only thing that changed when they entered cyberspace. The edges of Cobalt Shard were lit up with blue lights. Sonic actually liked that look, especially when he saw that it was purely a cosmetic change, judging by the usual ease it took to stab a Dark Pawn. Crimson Dusk also had lights on the edge, but they were blood red, giving it a very menacing look to match Shadow's somewhat chaotic nature. As if following a trend, Crescent Rose also had lights, but they were a mix; the main body of the scythe had red lights, while the border of the blade had white lights.

The security programs were astonished at the rapidness of the situation. One millicycle, they were fighting for their lives, and the next, they found saviors in the forms of two riders on lightcycles, a young girl wielding a large scythe, and two bipedal animals, which caught them off guard.

Between the ferocity of the five beings, they made quick work of the pawns, and the security Programs dispelled their firewalls. The leader walked up to them, his firearm at the ready. *Identify yourselves, programs.* he ordered.

"Seriously? We just saved them, and now they're pointing their guns at us? What gives?" asked Sonic indignantly.

"Think about it from their perspective," said Shadow. "They look like they've been fighting them off for a long time, and five beings come out of nowhere to help them? They're bound to be suspicious. I would be, too."

"You're always suspicious, Shadow." teased Ruby.

A program that had the appearance of a blonde woman stepped up. *Hey, while this interaction between yourselves is entertaining, could you possibly speed things along and answer the darn question?*

Chief's armoured figure stepped forward. " I apologize for the behaviour of my comrades, " he said. While his helmet's reflective visor hid whatever facial expression he might be donning, everyone could tell he was slightly annoyed. " I am Chief, the class five Artificial Intelligence program of the independent vessel Normandy. "

" I'm Aeromi, the class four A.I. of the Tornado-2 ." the female A.I. said cheerily.

"Ruby, Ruby Rose."

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" the blue blur introduced himself with enthusiasm.

"... Shadow," responded the black hedgehog with less enthusiasm than his blue counterpart.

*What are you doing here?* the leader demanded.

" I think it might be best to clarify a few things before we answer any more questions. " said Chief.

" For one thing, three of us aren't even Programs, " interjected Aeromi. She pointed at the fastest beings on Remnant. " They are actually organic beings from the real world. You may know them by the name of 'Users'. "

*Users?* scoffed one of the security programs. *Yeah right, there's no way Users could enter this world.*

Shadow calmly walked up to the dubious program, grabbed his collar, and dragged his head down to Shadow's eye level. "When was the last time you saw a program that looked like a hedgehog?" he snarled. The program paled in fear.

The leader sighed. *Axis, let's hear them out before we judge.* He put his gun away. *Besides, their I.D. discs should tell the truth.*

Chief nodded and twisted Shadow's disc off of his back. This action startled the hedgehog enough to make him release the poor Program. The A.I. of the Normandy pressed a few buttons on the disc, and Shadow's holographic emblem was replaced by a video playback of the minutes before he, Sonic, and Ruby were sent to the Digital Realm.

When the leader saw this, he was convinced. *Apologies for acting suspicious. It seems that when these strange viruses appeared, they took the place of my hospitality.* Chief placed Shadow's disc back on his back.

"Hey, no harm, no foul," said Sonic. "Let me give you the short version of why we're here. Basically there's a communications blackout in Vale, and we were sent here to find out what's wrong, and to fix it."

*Incredible.* breathed the leader. He took off his helmet, and the first thing he noticed wasn't the short black hair or the skin of someone fighting for too long inside a helmet. No, the first thing they noticed was the eyes.

One was a startling golden colour, while the other was glowing blue, an obvious prosthetic. The leader saw them staring. *Don't mind the fake ocular sensor that came from a rather nasty virus many cycles ago. Anyways, the odd programs we were fighting have taken over the communications grid. I bet that's where the communications blackout that's affecting the real world is taking place.* He pointed at a large tower that was different from the rest of the city. Whereas all the normal buildings had white lights, the tower was illuminated by orange lights.

" Before we get started, I think we'd better get your name. " Mentioned Chief.

*Oh, right. My name's Sentinel. And just out of curiosity, what are those Programs?* He pointed at the pieces of robots scattered across the data streets.

Shadow kicked open the chestplate of a nearby Dark Pawn, and revealed a slowly dissolving Deathstalker grub. "They're called Dark Pawns, and they were built by a madman known as Doctor Eggman. They're powered by the Creatures of Grimm, but more importantly, Eggman has found a way to send them to this realm and cause utter mania in the real world."

Chief nodded at Shadow's summation. " Well, we had better hurry. Let's split up. Aeromi, you go with the half of the remaining programs and assist in defending everyone else. Ruby, hedgehogs, Sentinel, and the rest, you come with me to the center of the corrupted portion of the city so we can do some serious debugging. Sync? "

"Um, what?"

Aeromi looked at Ruby. " Oh, um, just say sync whenever he does. It's his way of asking 'Do you understand?'. "

"Alright… Sync?"

Chief put a glove to his helmet in resignation. " This is gonna be a long day ." he sighed. 

Half an hour passes by as the assault team journeys through the corrupted sections of the Digital Realm, with Ruby, Sonic and Shadow explaining their world to the programs.

*So, let me get this straight. You three are users?*

Ruby faced Sentinel, the head of the security programs. "Well, we are made of squishy guts instead of a bunch of numbers, but that's right. I'm a student at Beacon Academy."

Ruby, Sonic, Shadow, and Chief were making their way towards the communications hub in the Digital Realm with Sentinel and his unit of security programs with Chief in the lead. Sentinel, despite his rough exterior, couldn't help but be curious about these newcomers to cyberspace.

*And what about you two?* He pointed at Sonic and Shadow. *I may not be totally up to date with happenings in the real world, but you guys don't look like humans or faunus'.*

"Shadow and I are actually from another worlds entirely. We were sent here due to an accident caused by Eggman, and we've pretty much made a temporary home in Remnant." explained Sonic.

"I'll be glad to leave, though." grumbled Shadow.

Sonic and Ruby looked at the black hedgehog in mock horror. "Do you really mean that!?" they asked in unison.

Shadow paused in thought, then shrugged. "Actually, not really, but I have a reputation to keep, so don't take offense."

Before they could turn a corner, Chief held up a fist, signalling them to stop. He pulled out another rod, but this one looked slightly different than the rods that turned into the lightcycles. A button pressing later, the rod transformed into a rifle that had two gun barrels, with a large barrel under a small one. He pulled out a screen on the gun similar to a camcorder and pushed a lever, bending the gun on a hinge. Poking the gun around the corner, he studied the screen intently. " We've got a problem. " he said as he adjusted his rifle back to its default position.

"What is it?" asked Sonic, not bothering to ask what the gun was, figuring that Chief would tell them when it was necessary.

Chief looked at the hedgehog. " It's a situation where things go wrong, but that's not important right now. There are many Pawns behind this corner, and they seem to be guarding the entrance to the hub. "

*So why don't we just take them?* asked a program with long blonde hair. She raised her rifle in anticipation.

Sentinel sighed. *Listen, Mayde, we may have the element of surprise, but if we do things your way, we'll lose it pretty fast. If they can spare a large amount of robots to guard the door, how many do you think will be inside?*

Mayde stepped back, chastised. *Sorry, sir.*

*Don't sweat it. I actually have an idea of how to destroy them all without tipping them off.*

" You do? "

Sentinel nodded. *Chief, do you have any EMP grenades in that belt of tricks of yours? I wouldn't ask, but we used ours before your timely arrival.*

The armoured figure pulled out two black spheres and passed one to the security program. " I hope you know what you're doing. "

Sentinel grinned. *Don't worry, we do this thing all the time with stubborn viruses. Axis, you ready?*

The program that Shadow had scared earlier pulled out a small helicopter and placed the grenade on it. Using his S-tool, Axis typed in a few commands and launched the drone, sending it above the thickest concentration of Dark Pawns. Meanwhile, Mayde activated her S-tool and typed a string of commands.

"What are you doing?" asked Ruby.

Mayde smiled. *I'm making sure we don't disturb the neighbors.* A soft *ding* could be heard from the female Program's tool. *Okay, boss, we're ready to rock n' roll.*

The head security Program nodded. *Alright. Axis, let's turn out the lights.*

Axis clicked a button on his S-tool with glee. The grenade that was attached to the drone suddenly detached, the action priming it. Oddly enough, it landed on an unfortunate Pawn's head, and the built-in adhesive glued the grenade onto the Pawn.

"WHAT THE HECK?" said a nearby robot that witnessed the black sphere sticking to it's partner's head.

"WHAT?"

"YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING ON YOUR HEAD."

"WHAT, LIKE A SPIDER? GET IT OFF!"

"DUDE, WE'RE IN THE DIGITAL REALM OF VALE, HOW CAN SPIDERS EVER EXIST IN HERE? MORE TO THE POINT, IT'S NOT A SPIDER, IT'S SOME SORT OF BLACK SPHERE."

"WHAT, LIKE A BLACK SPIDER? GET IT OFF!"

The drone that originally ejected the grenade was currently observing the interaction of the two Pawns, and the built-in translator made for great entertainment for the group. Axis checked his instruments. *Whoops, looks like I forgot to set it on a timer. I can still remotely detonate, thankfully.*

"Quiet!" whispered Ruby. "I wanna see how long this will go."

Chief was trying very hard not to laugh at the sight of the Pawns, but he steeled himself. " As much as I would like this to continue, we still don't have communications backup in Vale ."

"Okay, fine." sighed the crimsonette, pouting a bit.

"ALRIGHT, SO IT'S NOT A SPIDER, I GET IT. BUT A BLACK SPHERE DOESN'T SOUND MUCH BETTER THAN A SPIDER." the Pawn with the grenade said, completely oblivious.

"DOES IT HURT?"

"NO, BUT IT MIGHT BE BAD IN THE LONG RUN. WHO KNOWS WHAT IT'LL DO?"

Axis pushed the detonation button on his S-tool with a sad look on his face. Lights started flashing rapidly on the grenade.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" asked the Pawn with the grenade stuck to his head. "THAT BEEPING SOUNDS LIKE…" Understanding suddenly flashed through the Dark Pawn's processor. "OH, SON OF A B-"

Bang!

The EMP grenade finally went off, and while the explosion itself was pretty small, it wasn't really designed to release lots of fiery gases and shrapnel. Rather, it sent out an electromagnetic pulse that fried all electronics within the vicinity. The whole upshot of it all was that all the Dark Pawns shut down, and it even killed all the Creatures of Grimm that were inside them as an added bonus, taking them offline permanently.

The group rushed forward, with Chief leading. " Good, no alert was sent, and the security on the inside isn't aware of us. "

"Hey, Chief? I think the door's locked." said Sonic, pointing at the entrance to the hub.

The armoured A.I. pulled out his rifle again, and manipulated it so it took the form of a large key-shaped sword.

*Uh, I don't know how to put this, but I don't think that key of yours isn't going to get through this door.* said a dubious Sentinel.

" Hey, don't doubt the Master Key, " said Chief.

"Okay, let me be the one to ask, why is your weapon called the Master Key?" asked Shadow.

In response, Chief aimed it at the door like a shotgun and pulled out a handle. He pulled the trigger on said handle, and the slug that exited the shaft completely destroyed the lock. The A.I. pushed the door open easily, then posed with the giant key on his shoulder. " Because this baby will open any lock. " said Chief smugly.

Shadow gaped at the weapon, regained his composure, and shrugged. "Yeah, that makes sense to me."

"Did Tails code that weapon in addition to the modified lightcycles?" asked Sonic.

Chief shook his head. " Captain Shepard wrote this based on his own Master Key. "

"Where does he carry it?" wondered Ruby. "I think we would have noticed something like that before."

" Let's just say that fake leg of his isn't just made for walking. Let's move. "

Mountain Ruins
Same Time

Because the ruins in the mountains were still trying to recover from the unknown Atlesian Knight uprising, there really was no resistance against anything besides Grimm, and the White Fang airship landed unopposed. A few members jumped out in front of the large pyramid, securing the area while the ship landed, and a ramp extended from the side.

The clack of heels could be heard as a woman slowly walked down. She had white boots, brown pants, white coat, and black gloves, but the really interesting features she had were on her head. One half of the woman's long hair was pink, while the other was brown. She observed the site, a keen intelligence seen in her brown and pink eyes.

Apparently satisfied with the results, Neo calmly opened her parasol and gestured to the White Fang members inside. They quickly got out, some armed with guns, while others were carrying large tanks. All were escorted by Dark Pawns. The one leading them was very distinctive due to his attire: it was all black, had a rose on the back of his shirt, and he had no hood, which showed off his red hair and brown horns. He was also carrying a rifle-shaped sheath in his hand.

"Alright, let's make this quick," ordered Adam Taurus. "Are the charges set?"

In response, one White Fang soldier gave him a black remote. Adam looked at Neo, and she nodded. He pressed the button, which sent a signal to some explosives that were placed on a clean portion of the floor in the pyramid. There was a loud bang, and when the dust settled, the tunnel that led to King Mogar's tomb was exposed.

"Alright, I need someone to go down there and disarm any traps. Any volunteers?" A few members stepped up, but Adam pointed at a woman with a distinctive squirrel tail. "Congratulations, rookie, you get to be a scout. Go down there and secure the area."

"Yes, sir!"

The faunus launched a clawshot from her wrist and gently used it to lower herself into the hole.

"Whew, finally I've gotten away from them," Tali said to herself. "I may not be able to stop them from taking Dralux, but I won't let them get rich off of the treasure trove."

Tali quickly ran down the dark hallways, using her night vision to navigate. "King Mogar?" she whispered.

On cue, a ghostly form appeared. "Oh, for Pete's sake, can't a guy get any sleep around here?" he grumbled. He then noticed the faunus, and was about to take a deep breath to scare her, when she put a finger to her lips, signalling silence. She took off her mask, revealing her red eyes.

"I'm friends with Silver and the others from Mobius," whispered Tali. "I don't know how up to date you are with current events, but the White Fang are here to retrieve the energy of Dralux."

If it was possible for a ghost to get even more pale, that was what Mogar did. "How can I trust you?"

"Silver is a hedgehog from Earth's future, and he is known to be somewhat naive." said Tali

"Yeah, that's Silver, all right. So why are you here, faunus?" asked the ghost.

"I'm currently infiltrating the White Fang, and I am so sorry for this, but I cannot stop them. The best I can do is sabotage them when I can, and I'll have to block the entrance to the treasure room. I may not be able to stop them, but they won't get any richer from you."

Mogar was silent for a while, still reeling from the implications of what Tali said. He led the faunus to the treasure room.

"Brave faunus, I want you to take my sword," he said reverently, pointing at the diamond sword on the pedestal. "My spirit is tied to the sword, the result of a curse by Dralux. As long as the sword exists, so do I. Please send it to Silver and his friends. It seems that whatever will happen, they will be the key to ending all of this."

Tali nodded and carefully lifted the sword, putting it in the sheath. She then attached a device to the hilt of the sword. This changed the appearance of the sword and sheath to something that looked rusty and worn.

The squirrel faunus reached into her gauntlets and pulled out some explosive charges. She placed them on the doorway and ran like heck before pushing the detonation button. The charges blew, and completely sealed the doorway.

'Perfect,' thought Tali. 'If they had more time, the White Fang could have dug through this, but they won't have time to dig through the debris. Well, better get back before they get suspicious.'

Back on the surface, Neo felt a rumble, her left eye turning pink reflexively before turning back to its usual brown. Adam was pacing impatiently. He then heard a crackle on his radio, and answered it. "Report."

"Site is secure, sir."

"Excellent. What was that explosion we felt earlier?"

"The treasure room was booby-trapped. I managed to get out of there before the doorway collapsed. I was able to grab one thing, but to be perfectly honest, it really wasn't worth it."

Adam gripped the radio harder. "What did you grab, rookie?" he snarled. "If it's gold-"

"Just an old, rusty sword. I'll still keep it, though. Maybe I'll sell it someday."

Adam rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Very well. You can keep it as a souvenir. Is the entrance to the treasure room completely blocked?"

There was a tone of annoyance in Tali's voice. "Yeah, it is. If we had more time, we could probably dig through it, but-"

Adam felt a tapping on his shoulder and saw Neo with a text on her Scroll "We're on a tight schedule, our little distraction in Vale won't last forever. Come back to the entrance to the tomb, we'll send some reinforcements and start acquiring Dralux's energy. We'll deal with the treasure trove another time." Adam repeats the order that Neo texted, rather reluctantly.

"Yes, Sir."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Miss Williams." said Mogar's voice in the back of Tali's head.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone has questioned my decisions, myself included. I mean, I'm engaged to a human, for crying out loud. Who knows what kind of remarks we'll get when we have the rings on our fingers."

Mogar was quite shocked. "Do you regret falling in love with him?" he asked quietly.

Tali looked on her back at the hidden sword. "Don't even think about arguing with me on that. I love Shepard, and he loves me. He doesn't even mind that I have the tail of a squirrel. In fact, he thinks it's an endearing feature.

"Point is, you've gotta take a chance on some things. Like I'm taking a chance smuggling you out, and you're taking a chance in trusting me."

Mogar chuckled. "This is very true. However, seeing as you're friends with Silver, and are engaged to a human, I don't think I'm taking that big of a risk."

Their conversation was cut short as the energy containers were lowered into the hole. As she caught them, she placed paper-thin plates from her gauntlets onto the containers, which blended with the material, making them invisible to anyone except those who knew where they were.

"What are those?" Mogar asked.

Tali grinned. "Let's just say they're a kind of trump card."

They stopped talking as additional White Fang members entered the tomb.

Outside, a black metal hedgehog watched the operation with interest. Neo Metal Sonic was finally repaired, though it took longer than he expected it to.

In hindsight, it wasn't too surprising. The Creatures of Grimm often gather towards sources of negative emotion, and the robot wasn't in the best of moods after his defeat. Ergo, he often had to use precious energy to blast Grimm that got too close instead of using it to repair himself.

Pretty soon, the only Grimm that were left were ones that had lived for hundreds of years and knew better than to aggravate humans, let alone a pretty cranky robot. Still, they couldn't help but be drawn to him, and Metal Sonic allowed them to live, especially after observing the Dark Pawns.

“HM… THOSE PAWNS AREN’T THE SAME AS THE ONES I REPROGRAMMED ALL THOSE YEARS AGO…” he murmured. He did a quick scan of one.

“WELL, ‘MASTER’,” Metal Sonic said mockingly, “IT SEEMS YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO HARNESS THE POWERS OF THE GRIMM LIKE I HAVE, BUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY. YOU’VE PLAYING WITH FIRE, OLD MAN, AND I’LL LOVE TO WATCH YOU GET BURNED… AFTER I KILL SONIC, OF COURSE.”

He eyed his small gathering of Grimm. “STILL, THAT DOES GIVE ME AN IDEA…”, he chuckled evilly.

Chapter Text

Digital Realm's Communications Hub
1:45 p.m.

The group quickly made their way through the building that housed the communications systems of Vale, sneaking past large groups of Dark Pawns when necessary. Sonic wasn't used to all this sneaking around, but he understood that being hasty could ruin their chances of getting it done quickly. Ruby and Shadow felt the same.

"How much further, Chief?"

The A.I.'s helmeted face looked at Shadow. " Not too long, now. " He peeked around a corner with his Master Key in it's "Cornershot" mode, and pointed out a large hallway with an equally large door on the screen. " The Central Control Room is in there. I'm picking up a lot of movement inside, though. "

"Then Eggman must be in there!" Sonic said excitedly.

Chief held up a gloved hand, signalling silence. " Let's get inside before we jump to hasty conclusions about who might be in there, although your suspicions may be correct. However, there are a lot of Pawns guarding it, and I don't want to use an EMP this deep in the building. "

"Why not?" asked Ruby.

Sentinel answered her question. *The equipment in that room is unshielded, and the electromagnetic pulse might make the repair times increase from, in your time units, six minutes to six days. I imagine that Vale is chaotic enough already without communications, so just think of what a few days might cause. For example, there could be a breach in the borders, and no one would know about it until a raging Ursa slices your door open and- well, you get the idea.*

Chief nodded at Sentinel's explanation. " Exactly. But while the room is unshielded electronically, we will still be able to fight in hand-to-hand combat. " He glanced at Sonic's sword. " Do you know how to use that thing? "

Sonic twirled Cobalt Shard around a few times, the light from the blade making a very nice light show before securely grabbing the hilt, smirking. "What's to understand about 'swish, swish, stab'? It's a sword, not a fighter jet."

"Just try and stop me." said Shadow evilly, changing Crimson Dusk from rifle to katana.

Ruby looked nervous. "I'm not sure how much use I'd be. I use pretty powerful ammunition for Crescent Rose, and I might put a hole in something important."

Sentinel motioned a program from his unit forward. He had a dark brown complexion, and he had a lot of muscle- probably needed to carry around the large rotary gun on his back. He was also very tall- not as tall as Chief, but pretty close, though. *Jericho can help you with that. Jerry, let's give Miss Rose some modifications to her ammo.*

*Yes, sir!* Jericho answered in a deep, cultured voice. He knelt down in front of Ruby so that her silver eyes were level with his dark green ones. *May I see your ammunition?* he asked politely, which was surprising, coming out of an intimidating figure

Ruby took out a magazine from her belt and handed it to the big program. Jericho put it on the ground in front of him and pointed an arm at the magazine. A grid formed around it, and the program started typing into his S-tool. A holographic loading bar appeared above the magazine, and it quickly finished.

"What was that?" asked Ruby.

Jericho picked up the magazine and handed it back to Ruby. *I modified your ammunition. With my upgrade, you'll be able to use your weapon's potential to the maximum without endangering the equipment inside. Any bullet you fire will go through any target, but it won't penetrate anything important.*

"That's smart thinking," said Sonic. "And here I thought you were just here to destroy things. I didn't realize that you were-"

*Smart?* Jericho laughed. *I was originally part of a program that designed weapons for the Atlas military. When they upgraded their software, they donated it to Vale, and I was rewritten as an anti-virus program, but I still retained some of my functions from my previous job.*

*And believe me, it has come in handy many times,* said Sentinel. *Okay, I think we're all ready, Chief.*

The A.I. nodded and shifted his weapon to "Keyblade" mode. " Alright, let's get this thing done. Sonic and Shadow, show these programs what mobians can do. "

The hedgehogs nodded and ran out of their cover, the lights on their swords blazing. Sonic spin-dashed through a group of Pawns, causing them to be propelled into the air. Shadow took care of those when they landed, Crimson Dusk glowing brightly as it sliced through them.

Chief joined the fray, blocking any bullets directed at him with Master Key. The few shots that did get through didn't penetrate the A.I., for it seemed that his suit had some kind of personal shielding which glowed before fading. He switched modes and launched a grenade into a large gathering of Pawns. There was a satisfying explosion that left an equally satisfying pile of robot parts.

Sentinel's security programs managed to corner a few robots with shields. Axis and Sentinel were firing their rifles while Mayde was throwing a ridiculous amount of knives from an unknown source. The knives that stuck into the ground at various places blinked softly until the blonde program pressed a button on her S-tool. A huge electrical discharge occurred, paralyzing all the Pawns and causing weapons and shields to drop out of their hands. Jericho, not to be outdone, took out his rotary gun and mowed them down.

Out of nowhere, a few flying Eggman robots appeared and started firing at the group. They were high enough that neither Sonic nor Shadow could reach them. Sonic was preparing to run up the wall to take them out when a shrill "Yaaaaaahhh!" caused him to look to Ruby as she launched herself up to the ceiling with Crescent Rose. She pushed off and used her scythe to accelerate her body towards the flying Dark Badniks, then slammed her boots into one of them. She repeated this tactic a few times, mimicking Sonic's homing chain attack the best way she could.

When all the flying robots were dealt with, Ruby landed on a Dark Pawn in front of Sonic, caving said Pawn's head in, before she did a back-flip off of it, landing perfectly. "So, how was that?" she asked.

Sonic took a second to pick his jaw off the floor before answering. "A little sloppy on the turns, and your form needs practice."

"Everyone's a critic." replied Ruby, rolling her eyes.

Sonic chuckled. "Joking aside, that was probably the best homing chain I've ever seen from someone that's not a mobian. When we finish up here, I'll give you some pointers."

Ruby paused. "I was that good?" she asked, astounded.

"Judging by the fact that we're not being fired on by flying robots and you're still alive to ask about it, I'd say you're a natural."

Sonic and Ruby high-fived before joining the others at the large door. Chief was checking his S-tool intently. " My motion tracker is detecting only one being behind this room. However, since he or she is the cause of the disturbances in the real world, we must take the necessary precautions. "

Everyone nodded in agreement as the A.I. put a hand to his ear. " Aeromi, we're about to stir the hornet's nest. Are all the civilian programs out of harm's way? "

" Aye aye, Chief. We've even picked up some reinforcement. " she responded

Chief raised a hidden eyebrow. " Reinforcements? From where? "

" I relayed our plight to General Ironwood of Atlas, at Professor Ozpin's request. He's sending in some backup that should be arriving soon. "

Chief had to ask: " What form of backup? "

"The general just said, 'What I'm sending will change the world'." Aeromi let that information sink in. "Yeah, I thought that was weird, too."

" That's… unexpected, not to mention cryptic as heck. Give him my regards, and keep a safe distance. Move in when you see the signal. "

" Affirmative. Wait, what's the signal? "

Chief thought about it. " If you see big plumes of smoke and fire, we could probably use some help. "

" Ah, right. Goin' with the insane approach, I see. How about I wait ten minutes instead? "

" That'll work. Chief out. "

The Normandy's A.I. got his Master Key in a ready stance. " Well, let's not delay any longer. Everyone ready? "

Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby nodded, as well as Sentinel's group of Programs. Chief told everyone to get on either side of the door.

" Okay, here we go. Three… Two… "

On " one ", Chief kicked the door open and quickly stepped out of the way as bright beams flashed from the entrance, exploding further down the hall. Very soon, smoke filled the entrance to the Central Control Room. It was so bad, Chief silently showed the speedy trio how to activate a breath mask function so they could breathe easily. At one point, Sentinel took out a cigar from his pack and lit it using the beams that rushed by.

"Did I get them?" asked a voice from inside after a few minutes of blasting the hallway.

"Missed, sucker!" heckled Sonic.

"What the- Orbot! I thought you said the calibration was complete!" the voice exclaimed in an irritable manner.

“IF I RECALL” replied another voice, “YOU WERE THE ONE WHO DECIDED TO SEND THIS ROBOT IN WITHOUT ANY TESTING. I SAID THE CALIBRATION OF THE WEAPON SYSTEMS WAS IN COMPLETE.”

"Why didn't you say anything!?"

“‘ORBOT, GET ME SOMETHING TO EAT’ ‘ORBOT, GO SEE IF OUR GUESTS NEED ANYTHING’ ‘ORBOT, SHUT UP, I DON’T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN TO PROGRESS REPORTS.’ DOES ANY OF THAT RING A BELL?!”

A third voice joined in, this one having a bit of a Southern accent. “AS FAH ME, AH WAS BUSY WORKIN’ ON MAH VOICE CHIP.”

There was a brief clang, followed by the first voice muttering, "That ought to shut you two up for a while."

Seeing that the culprit was distracted, the group quickly rushed into the room. Like the rest of the captured portions of the city, this room was lit up with orange lights, which meant corruption of some kind. There were many tables with touch pads on them, and their function was a mystery to the speedy trio. However, their focus turned to the center of the room, where a large robot crocodile sat in front of a large seat. Normally, this seat would be used by an overseer-type program that monitored communications in Vale, but now it was occupied by a large man and two small robots, both of which had large dents.

"Eggman!" shouted Sonic. "I knew you had something to do with this!"

"What was your first clue, the Eggman robots?" asked Shadow sarcastically.

Chief stepped forward. " Doctor, what did you hope to accomplish by disrupting the communications network of Vale? "

Eggman eyed the armoured figure suspiciously. "That's none of your business. This is just one step of many towards building my empire!"

*Actually,* interjected Sentinel, *It is our business. Especially since you derezzed innocent programs just for some megalomaniac scheme!*

"So? What are a bunch of measly programs compared to my genius?" Eggman proclaimed.

Orbot popped up into view. “DOCTOR, I’D LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT-”

"Attack, my robots!" the mad doctor ordered. A wave of Pawns appeared and quickly surrounded all those who would defy Eggman. The mixed group of Programs and organic beings got in a circle, weapons at the ready.

Before the Pawns could fire, Chief put his weapon away and punched the ground. This activated a bubble shield, protecting everyone inside it.

"So… How long is this going to protect us?" asked Ruby conversationally, even though she was worried about the large amount of robots surrounding them.

" It only needs to protect us for five more seconds ." responded Chief, watching a countdown on his S-tool.

On "zero", a large ball the size of a person crashed down from the ceiling, crushing a few robots when it landed. Chief's bubble shield dissipated, but the Pawns were more interested about the ball that just arrived instead of killing the occupants of the former bubble.

The large sphere started shifting parts, disassembling itself as a figure emerged from it. The person's identity was hidden by the large amount of smoke, and no one could tell who or what it was until a familiar voice was heard, saying just one word:

"Sal-u-tations!"

Chapter Text

Team RWBY's dorm
2:00 p.m.

"The guys sure have been gone a while, haven't they?" wondered Weiss.

Because of the disturbance of the communications systems, the teachers at Beacon allowed the students to return to their rooms. However, the members of Team RWBY couldn't help but worry for their leader.

"I'm sure Ruby's fine, Ice Queen." said Rouge from her spot on the ceiling. She and the rest of the mobians decided to keep the team company while they waited for Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby to come back.

"Besides, Sonic's with them!" Amy gushed. "Nothing can stop him! Oh, my Sonic…"

Blake wasn't convinced. "I highly doubt that whoever caused these problems will be easy to take down. Also, I can't help but wonder why someone would want to disrupt communications." she said behind her book.

"Well, at least we have help from Captain Shepard," said Yang, with Zwei who was sitting beside her, yapping in agreement.

"Right. And how long will we have help from him?" asked Weiss dubiously. "From what I recall, he's doing this for a contract I gave him. What happens if he gets a contract from Torchwick's gang that's worth more? He may be doing good things now, but in the end, he's just a pirate."

"Hey, I prefer the term 'beneficial mercenary', thank you." Shepard said from the entrance to the room.

Weiss jumped in surprise. "Wha-?"

"How long have you been standing there?" asked Silver.

Shepard ignored the question. "Let me tell you something, Miss Schnee. My crew and I may be doing the things we do for money, but that's a secondary objective. We run extensive background checks on all the jobs we are approached with as well as the clients who sent them. And that's only after the government decides to send the contract to us.

"Believe me, we have had plenty of occasions where ne'er-do-wells seek our services. Heck, Torchwick himself tried to hire us once under a false identity. Wanted us to assassinate General Ironwood."

"Really?" asked Blaze, intrigued. "What did you do?"

Shepard chuckled at the memory. "When we discovered it was Torchwick that requested the job, we sent him a return message saying, 'Even if we did do assassinations, you didn't pay enough up-front.' He paid a substantial amount of money, too."

Blake smiled. "I bet that he wasn't too happy about that."

"Nope. Especially since we told the police where he was at the time. Seeing his face on the news as he was arrested was worth it. Shame he escaped a few months later."

"What did you do with the money he gave you?" Knuckles asked.

"We gave half of it to several orphanages, a quarter to the Atlas military, and the rest was used in the purchase of ammunition for the stationary guns on the Normandy.

"My point is, we never take jobs from criminals. If anything in the job description sounds bad, we give a tip to the local police, and donate money used for beneficial purposes."

Weiss looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, Captain…"

"Call me John. Don't worry, Miss Schnee, you aren't the first person to judge my character." Shepard stepped forward and took Weiss's hand in both of his. "Just know that my crew and I are dedicated to the betterment of life in Remnant."

Weiss nodded. "Sorry if I offended you, John. It's an old habit I'm working on breaking."

Shepard laughed as he released the heiress' hands. "That's good. And don't worry, I've been called much worse than 'pirate'."

"You are doing better at being open-minded, hon." said Rouge encouragingly.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, I wanted to let you all know that the Atlas military is sending someone you know to help your friends in the Digital Realm. They should be almost finished there anyways, so you won't have to wait much longer for Ruby and the hedgehogs to come back."

As Shepard walked out of the room, the humans, mobians, and faunus looked at each other in confusion. "Someone we know in the Atlas military?" wondered Blake.

Tails jumped up, the expression on his face one of excitement. "Don't you see what this means?"

"No, not really." responded Knuckles.

"There's only one person we know! They're sending in-"

Digital Realm's Central Communications Hub
Same Time

"Penny?!"

To say that Ruby was surprised at seeing the synthetic girl was like saying her sister was mildly upset when her hair was shortened without her consent. A pretty large understatement, in other words.

"Oh, hello there, Ruby!" greeted Penny, oblivious to the fact that her mode of transportation crushed some Dark Pawns underneath it.

"What the- Who the heck is this brat!?" Eggman managed to ask through his surprise.

" I wouldn't mind knowing, either, " said Chief. Sentinel and his programs nodded in agreement.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

" Um, Aeromi? There's a girl here that arrived through the ceiling. Is she the backup I requested? " Chief asked through his communicator.

" Yep, that's her. Don't worry, Chief, she's stronger than she looks. " Aeromi responded.

Eggman, having seen enough, ordered an Egg Brute to confront the girl. The robot walked towards Penny, towering over her. The robot sized up the girl, and coming to the conclusion that she wasn't a threat, raised a large foot. However, just before it was about to squish her, Penny raised both hands and caught it, arms straining with the effort of holding it. Penny then pushed off of the ground, toppling the Brute.

"What?" said Sonic in awe. "Even Knuckles couldn't do something like that."

"If I recall correctly, she's supposed to be the first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura, so she's bound to have a lot of strength." Shadow commented. He took another look at the Brute lying on the ground. "That was pretty cool, though."

" She can generate an Aura ?" asked Chief, who wasn't aware of Penny's capabilities and origins. " I thought only beings with souls could generate Aura ."

"Just because Penny's creation was artificial doesn't mean she has no soul." Ruby retorted. "Besides, from what I've seen, you A.I.'s also might have something close to a soul."

"Wait… That girl's a robot? With a SOUL?!" gaped Eggman. "That's not possible! Why, even in all my years of research and experiments, none of my robots acquired anything close to a soul!"

"Tsk, tsk, for a genius, you don't have a very good memory," said Shadow, shaking his head. "Need I remind you about your 'failed' robot, E-123 Omega?"

Orbot popped up. “HE DOES HAVE A POINT, BOSS. AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT E-102 GAMMA, G-MERL AND METAL SO-”

"Shut up!" Eggman yelled. "Gah, I'm sick of listening to this blasphemy. Attack that abomination!"

All the Pawns in the room started to rush the robot girl. The programs and organic beings prepared to help Penny out, but it seemed that their help wasn't needed as a compartment on Penny's back opened up, and about fifteen swords flew out and floated just behind her head.

As the first Pawns reached her, Penny wove her hands in a sweeping pattern, and the swords behind her arranged themselves in a saw-like formation. They then swept through the lines of Pawns, slicing them open and killing the Creatures of Grimm inside of them. A few of them opened fire at the girl, but Penny directed her swords to spin around her, blocking all the bullets.

"Whoa. I knew that Penny was a robot, but I really didn't expect… this!" said Sonic.

Shadow couldn't stand still any longer, and decided to help the android by spin-dashing through most of the robots that were shooting at her, Crimson Dusks' red blade slicing through robots with ease. Sonic and Ruby joined the fray, slicing any robots in their way. Penny nodded her thanks, then felt a rumble behind her. She looked and saw the Brute she toppled earlier rising up. It raised a huge fist, intending to crush the girl. However, the compartment on Penny's back opened up again and released two more swords that connected with her via a very strong monofilament wire. These swords were launched into a wall, and they reeled Penny in like a fish, taking her out of the path of the metal fist.

Sentinel and his programs started to rush to help the robot girl, but Chief held out a hand. " Wait. I want to see how she handles this. "

The Egg Brute's internal processor was seething with rage at its inability to hit the girl, and started to run at her, crushing any Pawns that got in its way. Penny calmly held her hands out in front of her, and her swords rushed in front of her, the "handles" shifting parts. They started spinning rapidly, a ball of green energy building in the center.

When the energy reached a sufficient level, Penny thrust her hands forward. This triggered a firing mechanism on the spinning swords, and the energy was released in several laser beams. The energy of the beams hit the Brute as well as most of the Pawns behind it. The Brute stood still for a few seconds, then the left side of its body fell one direction, while the right side fell the opposite direction, exposing the evaporating Ursa inside. Penny straightened up, a satisfied smirk on her face.

Chief looked at the remains of the Egg Brute as he called up Aeromi. " Hey, remember when I was dubious about our backup being a young girl? " he asked.

" Yeah, what about it? " the female A.I. asked.

" I take it all back. "

" Why, what happened? "

Chief looked at the carnage caused by Penny. " Let's just say when Ironwood sends backup, he REALLY sends backup. "

Eggman had seen enough. He hopped into his Egg Pod and inserted it into a hole on the robot lizard he had arrived in. On closer inspection, it appeared more like a black crocodile was silver armour plates. To top it off, the robot had glowing red eyes.

"Oh, great. What clever name did you come up with for that thing?" taunted Sonic. "The Egg Croc? Egg Gator?"

"For your information, you ignorant blue rat, this is the Egg Suchus!" Eggman bellowed.

"Big deal, it'll still smash up nicely all the same." said Ruby.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that, flower girl," the mad doctor said in a menacing tone. The Egg Suchus turned its head toward Ruby and opened its very large mouth, showing an intimidating set of teeth. More importantly, however, was the buildup of energy that could be seen building up in the "throat". A huge laser beam shot out and would have hit Ruby if her Semblance wasn't speed.

"Hahaha, take this!" All along the robot crocodile, gun ports opened up, and missiles started firing at anyone not aligned with Eggman. Everyone dodged the wave of missiles, but only just.

" Penny! " Chief called out as he ran towards the girl. " How long until your laser is charged up again? "

The robot girl was understandably intimidated by the armoured figure as he stopped in front of her, but she sensed that he was not an enemy when he activated his bubble shield and protected them both from an incoming missile. "I can only use that technique once every twenty-four hours. It'll take too much energy for me to do it again this soon, even in this realm."

" Well, I didn't expect this to be too easy. " Chief said, getting his Master Key ready.

*We can't let that thing destroy any more of the room!* shouted Sentinel. *Another blast of that laser, and there won't be any communication systems left to fix!*

"I think I have an idea on how to get rid of that laser," said Sonic. "Chief, pass me one of those emps!"

" Emps? What do you mean emps? "

"Oh, fine, the E.M.P. grenade!"

To say that Chief was dumbstruck was an understatement. " Are you crazy? Having this go off in the room might be just as bad as the laser! Besides, an E.M.P. grenade might not be enough to stop that croc. "

Sonic's expression turned into his trademark grin. "Well, thank Chaos I won't be blowing it up in the room, then!"

Chief was still understandably apprehensive about giving the grenade to the hedgehog. "What do you plan to do with it, then?"

"Relax, Chief," said Shadow. "I think I know what he's going to do. Pass him the grenade. faker, I'll cover your approach."

"I'll help, too!" said Penny as she put a sword in each hand, the rest blocking the occasional missile that was sent their way.

"Do you even know how to use those swords in a… traditional manner?" asked Ruby.

Penny smiled. "What's to understand about swish, swish, stab? It's a sword, not a fighter jet."

"Hey, that's what I said." complained Sonic.

" What do you even plan to do with it? "

Sonic whispered his plan into Chief's helmet. The Spartan A.I.'s expression of understanding was invisible to everyone, but he handed the E.M.P. to the blue hedgehog. " Please don't make me regret this. "

Sonic gave Chief a reassuring thumbs up. "No worries, I got this. Ladies, Shadow, let's do this!"

*I have no idea what you guys are planning, but we'll help in any way we can.* said Sentinel.

" Blinding it ought to make things easier. Shoot out the optic sensors! " ordered Chief.

The programs dispersed and fired their various weapons, aiming for the "eyes" of the Egg Suchus. A few shots hit the right eye, which turned dark. The robot, which already had a blind spot on the front of its face because of its crocodilian similarities, became even more pronounced.

"What the- Why is the right side of the screen so dark?!"

Apparently, Eggman didn't take blindness into account when making this robot.

As for Penny and Ruby, those two were seen slashing through Egg Pawns. Gradually, they made their way to the Egg Suchus. Ruby used her scythe to destroy the missile launchers while Penny stabbed her sword into the other eye, giving Eggman total blindness.

The Egg Suchus opened its mouth, intent on charging and releasing another laser. However it only got to the charging stage when a blue blur was seen racing to the robot.

"BONZAI!" shouted Sonic as he threw the E.M.P. grenade into the mouth of the Egg Suchus. "Two for two, Egghead!"

Reflexively, the robot closed its mouth before the grenade blew up. This was actually very fortunate, because when the E.M.P. went off, the only thing affected was the Egg Suchus, and not the delicate communications equipment in the room, or Penny.

The Egg Suchus collapsed on the ground, but movement was still seen. The robot's midsection blew up, and a very injured King Taijitu slithered out. The snake, finally freed from its imprisonment, silently wondered who to attack first; the strange humans and animals in front of it, or the obese human that stuffed it in a robot. It literally had two minds about the situation, but it never made the choice, as both minds were suddenly extinguished.

Chief lowered the Master Key, the tip smoking a bit. " Well, that turned out better than expected. Nicely done, Sonic. "

The blue hedgehog gave the A.I. a thumbs up and a cheesy grin. "All in a day's work!"

Meanwhile, Shadow was rooting around in the wreckage of the Egg Suchus. He kicked the spot where Eggman's hoverpod would be, and found nothing. He then punched the robot in frustration.

"What's wrong, Shadow?" asked Ruby.

Shadow faced her, red eyes blazing with anger. "Eggman isn't here. The coward must've left this realm before the robot was destroyed." He slowly started to glow red, like before when Torchwick attempted to rob Beacon.

Ruby tried to calm the black Hedgehog. "Easy, Shadow. We'll get him eventually." The red glow faded off Shadow as he did calm himself.

Sonic looked around. "So… Are we done here?" he asked.

" I think we are, " said Chief. He put a hand to his helmet. " Aeromi, go ahead and get any Programs that work in the communications center to come back. "

" Does that mean you won? " she asked.

" Yes. I'll go ahead and transport the organics back to the real world. I'll join you after. "

" Roger that. Aeromi out. "

Chief gestured to Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby. " Come on, guys. Let's get you home. "

"I'm up for that," said Sonic while doing some stretches. "All this blowing up robots and saving cyberspace is making me hungry. Who's up for some chili dogs?"

"Oo, oo, me!" squealed Ruby.

"... Let's just go," grumbled Shadow. "So how exactly are we gonna do this?"

Chief put his hand on the ground, and three circles of white light appeared on the ground. " Just step into these portals. This'll transport you guys back to the computer room in Beacon Academy. Professor Goodwitch should be there to receive you three. "

"But what about the communications?" asked Ruby. She looked around at the room. Although the damage to the room was minimal, the lights were still a sickly orange colour, and not the usual white of the city. "Shouldn't the lights be white instead of orange?"

*Oh, don't worry about that.* said Sentinel. He walked up to the pedestal and pushed a few buttons. The lights surrounding the pedestal became pure white. Gradually, the white light spread to the whole room and beyond.

Outside, Aeromi watched as the communications building matched the rest of the city. She smiled as the Programs surrounding her cheered. She was proud to have made friends with the mobians and the students at Beacon.

Mountain Glenn
6:00 p.m.

To describe Mountain Glenn as a post-apocalyptic ghost town is fairly accurate. It was once a thriving expansion of Vale, but due to it not having the natural barriers most successful towns would, it was overrun with the Creatures of Grimm.

Of course, that doesn't mean it was completely lifeless.

In the deep caves underneath the town, there were more empty shells of buildings. This was a last resort by the inhabitants to eke out a living away from the kingdom. However, a collapse exposed subterranean Grimm, and the people were slaughtered. It was known as the kingdom's greatest failure, and they took great pains to block up the tunnels leading to the main city so no one would wander into the world's largest tomb.

This suited Cinder Fall just fine.

She observed the White Fang moving around, transporting the containers that held the energy of Dralux. "Well, glad to see that your end of the operation went smoothly," a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Eggman. "I lost a lot of Badniks to help this scheme along."

"Oh, don't you fret, Doctor," Cinder said smoothly. "You have all the energy from Dralux you require, and none of our enemies suspect that the communications problem was just a ruse to acquire it."

Eggman grinned evilly. "Now, I can begin to build a robot capable of handling all that energy. In the meantime, I'll take advantage of the large variety and amount of Grimm here and set up a Badnik assembly plant to swell our ranks."

Cinder nodded in acknowledgement. As Eggman walked away, a sinister smile was seen on her face.

'Everything is going according to plan.'

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy
6:00 p.m.

From within the headmaster's office, Ozpin was sitting at his desk looking at the setting sun, deep in thought, when his desktop communicator rang. He pushed a button, and a flat screen rose up. The symbol of Beacon Academy was replaced by a man very familiar to Ozpin. He had an aged face, piercing eyes, and black hair that was white with age at the temples. He wore a white coat with matching gloves on his hands.

"Ozpin! It's nice to see you again!" he greeted.

"General Ironwood," Ozpin nodded in respect. "What can I do for you?"

"How are things at the academy?"

Ozpin suppressed a smile. "Oh, it's the usual. However, to be perfectly frank, I'm not sure who's giving me more gray hairs these days- the students, or our otherworldly visitors."

"Ah, yes. I had heard about these 'mobians'. Truly, it is an incredible occurrence, conversing with beings from another world."

"I'm surprised, James. I thought you would be suspicious of them, especially since their nemesis was the one that caused the communications blackout we had in Vale this afternoon."

Ironwood waved a hand dismissively. "I will admit, I did wonder about their motives for coming to this world. However, from what I've heard, it's this 'Doctor Eggman' that we should be worried about."

"Indeed." said a dark male voice.

Ozpin looked to his left. "Ah, good, you're here. James, I'd like to introduce Shadow the Hedgehog, one of the mobians that arrived not too long ago. Shadow, this is General Ironwood of the Atlas Military."

Shadow nodded. "General."

"Shadow, along with Sonic the Hedgehog and one of my students, were instrumental in restoring our communications grid."

"I see. Thank you for that. It seems Vale owes you a debt of gratitude." said Ironwood.

"Personally, I'm just glad the communications grid wasn't down for too long. Who knows what kind of chaos that might have brought." said Ozpin.

"General? May I ask you a question?" inquired Shadow.

Ironwood looked at the black hedgehog. "Certainly."

"How protected is the hardware on the Atlesian Knights? The latest models, I mean."

"Are you asking if they can be infected with viruses?" Ironwood scoffed. "That's preposterous. There's no way a virus could infect a Knight."

"That's what I thought." Shadow pulled out his scroll. "Let's see you keep that stance. I'm sending you some footage of some of your knights going berserk at a camping trip we went on not too long ago." The hedgehog put his scroll in a slot next to the screen.

Ironwood looked at the data with interest. "Hmm. It appears you're right. However, my main concern is this person that hi-jacked that Atlesian Paladin."

Shadow took his scroll back. "We're looking into that. In the meantime, I suggest you take the time to make sure the hardware on the Knights is one hundred percent secure before you send out the next shipments. Plus, you should really pay attention to where you keep your Paladins."

Ironwood's eyes turned angry. "Are you suggesting that the greatest military on Remnant is composed of idiots who don't know what they're doing!?"

Shadow shrugged, indifferent. "Hey, you said it, not me. And don't bother threatening me. I'm the Ultimate Life Form, and I'm used to difficult relations with the military on Earth. Heck, they put a 'kill on sight' order on me once just for having a strange origin."

There was a tense pause. Suddenly, the general's expression changed from anger to amusement. "Alright, I admit that I, too, sometimes question the intelligence of some of our ranks. I'll consult with the Ruling Council of Atlas to keep a closer eye on our property, as well as software patches for all androids."

"That's all I ask. A sample of the virus is in the file I sent you, so you have something to experiment with. And General, for all your shortcomings, at least your military isn't colourblind."

Ironwood raised an eyebrow. "Colourblind?"

"Long story short, I did some things I regretted before becoming a hero, and Sonic got some of the blame."

Ironwood paused before responding. "But you two are completely different colours, not to mention having different quill patterns!"

"Believe me, I'm still having trouble seeing how they mixed us up that bad." Shadow responded dryly.

"Well, it's been interesting talking with a being from another world. Give my regards to Glynda. Congratulations on your relationship, by the way."

"Thank you, James."

The Headmaster turned his chair to Shadow as General Ironwood's call ended. "Do you really believe that upgrades to the software will really stop Doctor Eggman from hacking those knights again?"

"I doubt it," Shadow replied. "Eggman is too smart to let something like a security upgrade get in his way. Besides, I don't think it was Eggman."

"Really?" Ozpin asked, intrigued. "Who, then?"

Shadow shook his head. "I honestly don't know. I can't think of anyone else with the capacity to both hack into a whole platoon of Atlesian Knights and fight as well as he did in that Paladin. I'm gonna see if kitsune, Omega and I can find out the owner of that voice."

"Very well. Good luck in your search."

Yarrgarita's
7:30 p.m.

"So, Sonic, how was it, being in cyberspace?" Pyrrha asked.

It was a busy night at the dance club. Most people seemed like they were there just to celebrate the fact that the communications blackout didn't end with the total destruction of Vale. Teams RWBY and JNPR decided to get something to eat there, as well as relax with the mobians. Unfortunately, Shadow, Tails, and Omega couldn't come, as they were trying to follow up on who the mysterious person in the Paladin was. Once again, the holographic decoration on the table was replaced by the avatar of Aeromi. Zwei was sitting in Yang's lap, finishing up the remnants of her meal.

"It was pretty cool," answered Sonic, sipping a soda. "The sky was pretty dark, but the whole area was lit up with lights on pretty much everything. Shadow and I even got bodysuits with coloured lights on them- blue for me, and red for Shadow."

"And my outfit had red lights, too!" said Ruby.

Aeromi pulled up pictures of Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby while they were in the digital realm.

"How come the cyberspace on Mobius doesn't work like that?" complained Rouge. "I would've liked to have a special set of clothes while fighting the Black Arms in cyberspace!"

"I think that the lights on your weapons were a nice touch." said Ren.

Sonic pulled out Cobalt Shard. "Shame that it couldn't have carried over into the real world. Oh well." Placing his sword back.

"You saved the city, though!" gushed Nora. "I'm jealous!"

Aeromi flashed a bit. "Uh, you okay, Aeromi?" asked Weiss.

" I've received a message from Tali. I'll be back in a little bit ." Aeromi disappeared briefly. When the A.I. reappeared, her expression was bleak. " Guys, we have a huge problem ."

"Roman Torchwick is attacking Beacon?" asked Yang.

"Eggman destroyed part of the border to Vale?" Blake chimed in.

Sonic couldn't help but ask, "The cake is a lie?"

"Team CFVY missed a sale, and Coco's on a rampage?" The group looked at Rouge, eyebrows raised. "What? That girl can be scary when she misses a sale."

"Or when a certain bat tries to pickpocket her purse." mumbled Weiss.

Rouge held her hands up defensively. "Hey, how was I supposed to know that her purse hid a huge gun?"

Aeromi shook her head. "This is bigger than that. The communications blackout was just a distraction."

"Distraction?" Jaune asked. "For what?"

" Eggman has harvested the energy of Dralux ."

Everyone at the table paled at the news. Even Zwei sensed that things weren't looking too good.

"No…" mumbled Silver. "We promised- no, I promised King Mogar that dragon's energy wouldn't fall into the hands of evil. How can I face him now?" Blaze put a comforting hand on Silver's shoulder.

" Well, you're in luck, Silver, " said Aeromi brightly. " Apparently, King Mogar doesn't blame you for it. "

Silver looked up. "... Really?"

" Yup. He'll tell you how it happened when you get back. Mogar is tied to the sword he used to stop Dralux in the first place, and Tali sent it to your room. "

"Still… All that power in Eggman's hands does warrant some worrying." said Amy.

"Should we just be worrying? How about downright panicking?" Jaune stuttered.

Knuckles spoke up. "Oh, relax, Jaune. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Only death, destruction, tragedy, and despair. And not necessarily in that order." Blake said gravely.

"Okay, never mind." the red echidna sighed in defeat

"Guys, guys, chill out," said Sonic. "So what if Eggman manages to harness Dralux's energy? We'll beat him like we always do."

"And what if Dralux escapes and regains his form?" asked Silver.

Sonic flashed a grin. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time I kicked a 'Supreme' being's butt. Plus, I know I won't be alone in doing so."

"You got that right!" cheered Ruby.

Everyone sitting at the table nodded, while Zwei barked. Sonic suddenly had an idea. "In fact; Ruby, Team JNPR, c'mere for a few minutes."

"Does this mean we get to do a song?" Nora asked. Sonic just gave her a wink. Nora broke out into a grin and skipped happily to the stage, with Sonic, Ren, and Pyrrha following her.

"I have a question, Yang," said Weiss. "How come we never do this at that nightclub you went to before you met us?"

"Junior's? Pssh, I think they're still rebuilding from my last visit. Besides," Yang continued, looking lovingly at Zwei, "they don't allow animals in there."

The conversation was cut short as Sonic and Ruby started singing, with Ren on bass, Nora on the drum kit, Jaune and Pyrrha on keyboards and backup vocals, and Ruby and Sonic on vocals and electric guitars.

Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams - I May Fall

RUBY: There's a day when all hearts will be broken
When a shadow will cast out the light
And our eyes cry a million tears
Help won't arrive

Sonic started a brief vocal solo here, with Ruby following soon after with a solo of her own.

SONIC: There's a day when all courage collapses
And our friends turn and leave us behind
Creatures of darkness will triumph
The sun won't rise

Then both speedsters joined their voices together again, creating a very nice melody. The crowd in the bar cheered at the impromptu band.

SONIC & RUBY: When we've lost all hope
And succumb to fear
As the skies rain blood
And the end draws near

Jaune and Pyrrha did a brief keyboard solo before joining in the singing.

EVERYONE: I may fall
But not like this-it won't be by your hand
I may fall
Not this place, not today
I may fall
Bring it all-it's not enough to take me down
I may fall

"Sing it, lovebirds!" Sonic shouted. The young warriors nodded as they took their microphones.

JAUNE & PYRRHA: There's a place where we'll stand outnumbered
Where the wolves and the soul-less will rise
In the time of our final moments
Every dream dies

There's a place where our shields will lay shattered
And the fear's all that's left in our hearts
PYRRHA: Strength and our courage have run out
We fall apart

As they sang, Jaune couldn't help but feel lucky to have a woman like Pyrrha by his side- not just singing, but life in general.

SONIC: When we lose our faith
And forsake our friends
When the moon is gone
And we reach our end

Sonic went into a guitar solo here, really getting into the rhythm. When his solo was almost done, Ruby signalled Team JNPR to stop playing their instruments.

There's a moment that changes a life when
We do something that no one else can
And the path that we've taken will lead us
One final stand

Everyone resumed at this point, playing the song with renewed energy.

RUBY: There's a moment we make a decision
Not to cower and crash to the ground
The moment we face our worst demons
Our courage found

When we stand with friends
And we won't retreat
As we stare down death
Then the taste is sweet

EVERYONE: I may fall
But not like this -it won't be by your hand
Not this place, not today
I may fall
Bring it all-it's not enough to take me down
I may fall

As the song ended, everyone cheered once again. Sonic and Ruby hi-fived, while Jaune and Pyrrha kissed each other. Ren and Nora just looked on, smiling at their leader and friends.

"Well, that was fun. Too bad Tails, Shadow, and Omega couldn't come." Amy said.

"I think that what they're doing is going to help us in the long run," Rouge responded. "Besides, we really do need to find out who that guy that attacked us was."

Beacon Academy
8:00 p.m.

"Come on, that voice has got to belong to someone we know!" shouted Shadow as he slams his fist in frustration.

He, Omega, and Tails were still up trying to figure out who attacked them at the mountain ruins. Omega had recorded a portion of the conversation between the voice in the Paladin and Sonic, and tried comparing them to voice tracks from engagements with previous enemies both from Mobius, Earth and Remnant. So far, they had no luck in determining the person's identity.

"We've tried everyone we know, Shadow. Heck, Omega somehow even had a fragment of conversation from this Mephiles the Dark character, and it still wasn't him!" Tail responded in exasperation.

Shadow put a hand to his forehead. "Maybe Eggman made a clone out of one of us, and it somehow got loose."

"EGGMAN RARELY CREATES ORGANIC BEINGS," said Omega. "ROBOTS ARE MORE EFFICIENT TO CREATE."

"Okay, a robot clone, then." Shadow paused, his quills standing up straighter than usual. "Wait… Omega, play audio track 87B."

Omega brought up a screen with the voice wavelength of the mystery person. On the right, a screen showed a voice track from an encounter that took place a few years earlier.

“ALL LIVING THINGS, KNEEL BEFORE YOUR MASTER!”

The screen gained a green background followed by a musical tone, indicating a match, the first one all evening.

Shadow, Tails, and Omega stood in silence, reeling at the implications of what they just heard.

"Welp," Tails said after a while, "Sonic won't like to hear this."

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy workshop
4:15 p.m.

After classes, Teams RWBY and JNPR were planning to just kick back and relax after a hard day. However, Tails requested their presence. Thinking it was probably more important than researching the different variants of Dust crystals (and because Weiss was their resident Dust expert), they went ahead and joined the mobians. Silver came a little later due to carrying a long package.

"All right, we've all got some news we need to share with each other," Sonic began. "Silver, go ahead and share what I think everyone knows, but we'll say anyway, just to be on the same page."

Silver nodded and took King Mogar's diamond sword out of the package and placed it on a table. "All right, Your Highness, come out and meet everyone."

A small bright ball floated out of the sword and flashed once, taking the form of the Faunus king. "Greetings, mortals of various races… Wow, and I thought that Silver was a strange one."

The reactions of the group were varied; Jaune leapt out of his seat and into Pyrrha's arms, Yang prepped Ember Celia for a fight, and Blake put a hand on Gambol Shroud. Everyone else nodded in respect. When Jaune, Yang, and Blake saw that the ghost wasn't going to harm them, they apologised profusely.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Mogar said. "Your reactions are actually better than what I expected. Now that it's out of the way-"

"Hold on a sec," interrupted Tails. He wheeled up a few gauges on a cart. "Forgive me, but I need to check if this really is 'King Mogar', and not some holographic trap set up by the White Fang."

Mogar had to ask, "What's the fox with two tails doing?"

"Relax, Your Highness. Tails is a child genius, and, well, to be honest, we haven't dealt with many ghosts." said Silver.

"He isn't wrong," said Sonic. "Between all of us from Mobius and Earth, we've only had three adventures where we encountered ghosts."

"You've seen ghosts before?" asked Ruby.

"The event following Shadow's awakening, the Haunted Mansion during the Metal Sonic crisis…" Knuckles counted. "Wait, what's the third one?"

"It was during the Dark Gaia disaster. I'll tell you about it another time." Mentioned Sonic as he remembers back staying inside a mansion during a thunderstorm.

"Wait, wasn't Tikal a ghost or something along those lines?" asked Amy.

"She was more like someone whose spirit was trapped with the Master Emerald." Knuckles explained.

"So…. She was a ghost?" wondered Ren.

Knuckles shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

Tails checked the gauges on the sword, then the ghostly figure. "High psychic signature, unknown energy readings, no electronics implanted on the sword…" he mumbled to himself.

"So, what's the verdict, Tails?" Blake wondered.

Tails faced the group. "He's a ghost, no doubts about it." he confirmed. He gestured to Silver, letting him resume his introduction.

"Okay, for anyone who doesn't know yet, this is King Mogar. He was the warrior king that first vanquished Dralux, the largest Creature of Grimm to walk Remnant," Silver informed. "Mogar, we heard from Tali Williams that the White Fang has successfully taken the energy of Dralux from your tomb in the mountains."

"That's correct. And Silver, before you get all remorseful that you weren't able to protect my tomb, let me say something. From what brave Miss Williams told me, the town of Vale was the victim of- what was it?"

"A communications blackout." supplied Tails.

"Ah, thank you. Tali said that the blackout cut Vale off from the rest of Remnant, so there was no way you could have known about the White Fang infiltration. If anything, I'm mad at the White Fang and their masters for potentially destroying the world." He pointed at his bear ears. "I realize that the faunus' situation hasn't changed that much from when I was alive and a king, but to destroy the world? Bah! The White Fang are some of the worst examples of faunus I have ever seen!"

"They just feel what they're doing is the right thing," said Blake solemnly while removing her bow. She revealed her cat ears to the ghost. "As an ex-member of the White Fang myself, I would like to say that it wasn't all bad before. It was a change of leadership that caused them to act this way, and the reason why I left."

Tails put a comforting hand on Blake's shoulder. "At any rate, at least you know there are some Faunus who are working for a better future that don't bring themselves down to the White Fang's level." the young kitsune said.

"Got that right!"

The doors to the workshop opened, and Sun Wukong entered. "'Sup, guys? Blake, lookin' good as always. Oh, hey, who are you?" he asked, and noticed the ghostly figure. Thankfully, he didn't notice Blake blushing at his compliment.

"I'm King Mogar."

"Who?" Sonic and the others quickly filled Sun in on who the ghost was, and why he was here. "Okay, cool. Your Highness, I'm Sun Wukong, a friend of these guys."

"Charmed."

"I hate to add on to the bleak mood," interrupted Shadow, "But we figured out who attacked us when we were at the ruins."

"Great!" exclaimed Yang. "Who was it?"

"It just so happens to be someone from our world, and he hates Sonic- more than Doctor Eggman does."

"Pssh, that's absurd. Who could hate me more than Eggman? I mean, I know some of you guys used to hate me." Sonic said dismissively.

Shadow shook his head. "Not to the extent of this guy."

The black hedgehog pulled up a screen that showed all the suspects he, Omega, and Tails tested. He touched a picture, and it expanded, showing the only positive result.

The picture was of a blue hedgehog, but it wasn't Sonic. This hedgehog had red eyes instead of green, and there was one other small, almost insignificant difference: he was a robot.

"Who, er, what is that?" asked Ruby.

Sonic answered her, voice wavering slightly. "That's Hyper Metal Sonic."

"Metal Sonic was created by Doctor Eggman many years ago, while he was still going by his true name, Doctor Robotnik," explained Tails. "He was designed to match Sonic's traits, mostly, his speed."

"Oh, I remember those days," said Amy dreamily. "That's when I first met Sonic! He rescued me from that fake hedgehog many times!"

"Yup. That was when it was just Sonic and I, fighting robots and saving the world," said Tails. "It wasn't until Shadow's reawakening that we fought Metal Sonic once more." He pulled up a picture of Metal Overlord.

"What is that?" Nora cooed, looking at the robotic dragon.

"You remember Chaos, right?" asked Sonic.

Teams RWBY and JNPR nodded, remembering Sonic informing them of his adventure around the water-like being.

"Well, Metal Sonic found a way to copy our life form data and that of a few others to create that form. It took all our combined powers to defeat him."

"By 'our' combined powers, he means those of Teams Sonic, Rose, Dark, and Chaotix." Rouge corrected.

"Okay, so why all this history?" asked Jaune.

"Simply put, the mystery person that ruined our camping trip is Metal Sonic." concluded Shadow.

There was a brief pause as everyone let that information sink in. Tails was especially concerned for his adopted bro's reaction.

"Well," said Sonic, "At least it's not Mephiles the Dark. I don't fancy getting killed by him again." The blue blur shuddered at the memory of the knock-off Shadow look-a-like firing a blade into his back.

"As if Torchwick joining with Eggman wasn't bad enough, now we have to deal with Metal Sonic, too?" growled Knuckles. "Why can't that guy just stay destroyed!?"

Omega stepped forward. "MOST PROBABLE CAUSE OF METAL SONIC FUNCTIONING ONCE AGAIN: BITS OF DUST WERE ABLE TO RE-ENERGISE HIS SYSTEMS."

"Great."

Any further comment about Metal Sonic was interrupted by a frantic beeping from Tails' Miles Electric. He touched an icon on his computer pad, and a map of Remnant opened up.

"Guys, good news." he called out.

Silver sighed in relief. "And I was prepared to listen to bad news all day."

"I finally figured out the location of another Chaos Emerald!"

Tails dragged his hand across the screen of his tablet. This caused the image to be transferred to the larger screen, which replaced the menacing picture of Metal Overlord. "According to the detector, there seems to be an energy reading identical to a Chaos Emerald somewhere… here!"

Tails pointed at a place just outside the kingdom. The location on the map depicted a large forest filled with trees with red leaves, no matter what the season was.

"The Forever Fall forest?" mused Weiss.

"So that's what you call it these days, is it?" asked Mogar.

"Why, what was the name in your time?" Blake questions.

Mogar grinned. "It was the same name. It's nice to see that out of all the horrible things that are constant in this world, that beautiful forest is still there."

"I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not sure all of us can go," said Weiss. "We've already missed several classes thanks to the shenanigans of Torchwick and Eggman."

"The what?" asked Ruby. Weiss ignored her and continued.

"We might have to sit this one out, even though we really should help you find those Chaos Emeralds."

Shadow nodded. "I understand your concern. You guys should focus on your classes. We'll handle getting the Chaos Emerald."

"Aw, man." whined Nora as she and others left the mobians inside the workshop.

"But that leaves the question: which one of us should go?" asked Blaze. She pointed at a series of numbers on the screen. "The coordinates say that the Emerald is underground."

Knuckles stepped up. "If it's underground, I can locate it easily." Grinning, he activated Clan Blades, the blades glinting in the light of the room.

"Yeah, um, I might have to make some changes to your weapon if you're going." said Tails, sweat dripping at the echidna's antics.

"Why's that?"

"Well, those claws aren't that good for digging. I'll have to integrate a 'Shovel Claw' mode. Kinda wish I'd thought about that earlier." the fox said sheepishly.

The echidna looked at his gauntlets, shrugged, and removed them. "Do what you have to do, buddy."

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to pass this up," said Sonic. "I promised Ruby to help fine-tune her Homing Chain."

"What? A human, doing a Homing Chain?" Rouge scoffed in disbelief.

"Hey, I saw her do it in the Digital Realm. She has the potential. She just needs a little help."

"Ooh, can I join you?" asked Amy excitedly. "I still haven't mastered my homing chain, yet!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, alright. You just want to use this opportunity to get closer to me."

"... What's your point?" wondered the pink Rose grumperily.

"Oh, come on, Sonic," said Ruby. "Amy can help me, too."

"Fine." groaned the blue blur.

"Okay, so who else is going besides Knuckles?" asked Yang.

Tails thought about it. "Preferably Team Dark-"

"Very well." "I can't wait to get my hands on that beautiful gem!" "ANNIHILATION!"

"- and maybe someone we know who isn't a mobian but can move around without difficulty."

"Dude, I'm in!" Sun Wukong volunteered. "I've got nothing better to do, anyways."

"Alright. I'll talk to Professor Ozpin about loaning us an airship ride in a day or two."

As the group broke up, Tails couldn't help but wonder about Metal Sonic and if he had retrieved a Chaos Emerald. If he had, then their Emerald hunt would be a lot more difficult.

Deep underground, there was a soft glow in the darkness of the caves underneath the Forest of Forever Fall.

Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of a Creep. This bipedal Creature of Grimm walked up to the Chaos Emerald and sniffed it curiously. It then somehow thought that the crystal would make a meal, and ate it, swallowing it whole.

Because of the huge amount of energy in a Chaos Emerald, it caused the Creep to become huge. Even more surprising, it grew two more legs to help support its weight. The Creep roared, a huge stream of fire pouring out of its mouth.

The mobian's Chaos Emerald hunt did indeed become more difficult; just not in the way they expected.

Chapter Text

Airship en route to Forest of Forever Fall
9:45 A.M.

An interesting team was assembled on the airship sent to retrieve the Chaos Emerald. It consisted of Team Dark (with its members including Shadow, Rouge & Omega), Knuckles, Sun Wukong, and Neptune Vasilias. Neptune was a last-minute addition, at Sun's insistence, but the rest of the guys went with it.

"So tell me again, what's the big deal about these Chaos Emeralds?" asked Neptune, shouting slightly over the sound of the engines. "Are they similar to Dust crystals?"

"They are, yet they aren't, hon," answered Rouge. "The seven Chaos Emeralds are a Mobius/Earth exclusive, and they have a variety of uses."

"Like what?"

Shadow turned towards the blue-haired youth. "They can give machines and creatures a power boost like no other, if properly utilized. The Eclipse Cannon on the Space Colony ARK was powered by the Chaos Emeralds, and just six of them destroyed half of the moon. One of the more bizarre uses was to energise temples into a large golem used to defeat the entity known as Dark Gaia."

"The Chaos Emeralds even have the power to bring back the dead." Rouge added, remembering how Sonic was revived during the Soleanna crisis. Neptune whistled, impressed.

"Even the Emeralds can contain god-like beings and entities, such as Nazo, Bedlam and Chaos, just to name a few." the black hedgehog referenced, thinking back to the flooding of Station Square, the unleashing of Nazo, and the challenge for the Chaos Emeralds.

"That reminds me," interjected Knuckles. "What the heck happened to this world's moon? It's been buggin' me for a while now."

"That's a mystery to all of us, too," Sun responded. He was leaning out the side of the airship with only a hand and his tail keeping him from falling out. "There's a pretty common theory that says that the moon was hit by a meteor, but if that was the case, how come the pieces of it are still floating above the surface?"

"ADOLESCENT WITH SIMIAN LIMB'S REASONING IS CORRECT," droned Omega. "METEOR THEORY NOT SUPPORTED BY FRAGMENTS' POSITIONS."

"Shadow the Hedgehog, sir?" the pilot called out. "We're nearing the drop point, but there are a lot of Grimm nearby. Get ready to jump."

"Roger that. We'll contact you when we have our objective complete. Until then, stay at a safe distance." Shadow walked from the cockpit back to the assembled beings. "Alright, change of plans. We're gonna have to jump."

The airship banked over a small clearing in the red forest. "Hey guys, let's find out who can pull their chutes at the closest possible time." Neptune dared, putting on his goggles.

"You're on!" shouted Sun. He and Neptune bumped fists before jumping out. The mobians followed suit, though they didn't bother with parachutes.

Knuckles and Rouge descended to the ground smoothly using their quills and wings, respectively. Shadow dove headfirst, flipping at a certain point before activating his jet shoes. Omega just shifted his parts to resemble a large ball before slamming into the ground, creating a sizable crater before he changed back to normal.

When Sun was about ten feet from the ground, he pulled his chute, gliding smoothly before stopping.

"Hey Neptune, I pulled ten feet above the ground!" he shouted triumphantly. He looked around after not hearing a response. "Neptune?"

"Up here," a voice grumbled. Sun and the mobians looked up to see Neptune hanging from his feet, his parachute snagged in a few branches. "Let's just say my number was tree."

"Gee, honey, you aren't gonna impress the Ice Queen like that." teased Rouge.

Neptune grimaced, probably to hide his embarrassment. "Could someone just get me down from here?"

"I'll do it." Knuckles volunteered. He studied the branches that Neptune was attached to, then walked to the tree that was the owner of said branches. He held a fist back, then punched the trunk. This caused Neptune to be shaken out, and he fell on a small pile of leaves.

"Ow!" he shouted in pain. He wasn't hurt that much, but he did just fall out of a tree.

"Hey, at least you got out of the tree, dude," said Sun. He pulled out Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in staff form. "Alright, Shads, where do we go from here?"

Shadow pulled out the Chaos Emerald locator. "We need to go about two miles south. I'm on point. Omega, watch our backs. Rouge, aerial reconnaissance. I don't want anything sneaking up on us."

"So, to put it in layman's terms, kill every evil animal we see?" asked Knuckles.

"Exactly." To emphasize his point, Shadow whipped out Crimson Dusk in katana form and stabbed deep into a nearby bush just behind him. When he pulled his sword back, it had a coat of black blood on it, and an unfortunate Boarbatusk rolled out, dead.

"Whoa. How did you know that a Creature of Grimm was right there?" asked Neptune in awe.

Shadow did a double take at the dead Grimm. "Okay, I'll be honest with you guys, I didn't know that creature was there," he said, genuinely surprised. The hedgehog starred a bit longer, then shrugged and cleaned the blade before transitioning to gun mode. "Now that that's out of the way, let's move."

Beacon Academy
10:00 a.m.

"Alright Ruby, try to do your Homing Attack again." Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Ruby were currently in the shooting range, trying to recreate Ruby's homing chain that she used in Remnant's Digital Realm. They had made good progress, but they did want to see how far the redhead could go with this new ability of hers.

Ruby, with a determined expression on her face and Crescent Rose in her hands, shot at the ground, sending her up. She then fired behind her, launching herself forward. Her boots landed on a flying drone Tails had built for this session, and her momentum crushed it. Jumping off of the drone, she then repeated the move on a second drone about ten feet away. However, when she tried the same thing on a third drone much farther away, she missed, and ended up crashing on the ground.

Sonic winced at the wipeout. "Ouch, that's gotta hurt."

"I'm okay!" said Ruby, standing up quickly. She shook her head, which had two purposes: it cleared up her thought processes, and it got rid of a few bits of grass in her hair.

Tails pressed a button on his Miles Electric, which caused the drones that Ruby smashed to repair themselves for the next attempt.

"Well, Ruby, any thoughts as to why you crashed?" asked Sonic.

"I really don't know, Sonic. I was aiming right at the drone." said Ruby, slightly frustrated. They had been at this stage for a while now, and it seemed no matter what Ruby did, she couldn't hit that last drone.

"Aha!" Amy shouted. "I think I know what you need to do!"

"What's that, Ames?" asked Sonic, curious about what the pink hedgehog had come up with.

Amy strutted up to the starting position. "Just watch and learn, Ruby."

Ruby and Sonic exchanged glances as Tails set the drones up again. Amy leapt up and spin jumped at the first drone, then the second, much like Ruby's attempt. However, for the third drone Amy aimed a little above the third drone. This resulted in her hitting the drone perfectly, and she landed smoothly on her feet, doing a little curtsy.

"Wow, that was so cool!" gushed Ruby. "How did you do that?!"

"Well, Ruby," Amy began, "I may be a fast hedgehog, but I'm not nearly as fast as Sonic." In the background, the blue blur struck a pose. "As a result, gravity affects me sooner. To compensate, I aim just above the target so I can actually hit it."

"Hmm…" Ruby pondered this bit of information. "So you think that if I do what you did, I'd be able to hit enemies that are further away?"

"Hey, it's worth a shot!" said Sonic encouragingly. Tails reset the drones again as Ruby took the starting position. "Ready... Go!"

Ruby took out the first two drones with ease, but when she focused on the third drone, she aimed Crescent Rose slightly lower than she had been aiming before. The result was exactly as she had hoped for. The arc of her flight from the second drone hit the third one dead center, and she flipped off, landing perfectly.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails clapped at her success. "Excellent job, Ruby!"

Ruby put away her scythe, grinning widely. "Thanks, guys! Maybe things will be a little bit easier for us now!"

"I wonder how the others are doing."

Forest of Forever Fall
10:30 a.m.

"How much further is it, Shadow?" asked Sun. The group had walked a ways, following the signal of the Chaos Emerald. Fortunately, they didn't run into any Creatures of Grimm along the way, but they were still on guard.

The black blur checked the detector. "We're about four hundred feet away," he answered Sun. "However, the readings still indicated it's underground, about two hundred feet."

Knuckles also checked the detector. He then cracked his namesakes. "Well, then, I think that it's my time to shine." He activated Clan Blades, revealing the wrist blades, then he pushed a button on the side, turning the weapon into something very similar to his old Shovel Claws. The echidna then knelt down and started to dig into the ground.

"Why are you digging now?" asked Neptune, dodging a piece of sod.

"Listen, kid. If there's one rule of treasure hunting, it's to never dig straight down," said Knuckles. "If I were to dig for the Emerald at the spot where it's located, how are we all gonna get out? I mean, no offense, but could you climb a relatively smooth rock wall for two hundred feet?"

Neptune thought about it. "Okay, you have a point."

"Right. No offense, but shut up and let me work."

"C'mon, Neptune," said Sun. "Let's let the dude do his thing."

There wasn't much to do while Knuckles dug to the Emerald. Omega did some experimenting with his weapons by configuring his current ones in new- and lethal- forms, while Shadow sharpened the blade of Crimson Dusk. Neptune took over for Rouge in keeping watch. In the meantime, the white bat kept herself busy typing things on her scroll while hanging upside down from a tree. Sun appeared near her, also hanging upside down. "Hey, Rouge, you got a minute?"

Rouge looked at the hole that Knuckles was digging. He was about a quarter of the way there, but it looked like it was going to be a while before he found anything. "Yeah, I've got time. So what's up? Besides us, of course."

Sun grinned. "I take it you noticed my friend's interest in the Ice Queen, right?"

"I can tell that it's mutual, but don't tell Weiss I said that."

"Really? Weiss likes Neptune?"

Rouge chuckled. "I've read her diary. She's definitely got the hots for him. But something tells me this isn't about him. You're wondering if the kitty likes you, right?"

"Hey, don't spread that little tidbit around. I got a reputation to keep, after all."

"My lips are sealed, monkey boy."

Sun faced the bat, a serious and slightly nervous expression on his face. "In all seriousness, does Blake like me?"

Rouge thought about it. "I have seen that Blake is attracted to you."

Sun pumped his fist in victory. "Yes! I thought she liked me."

"Want me to set you two up on a date, hon?" the bat asked, winking.

Sun shook his head. "Nah, I got this. Thanks for the offer, though."

The two observed the rather large hole that Knuckles had dug. "You think he's getting tired?" the faunus asked.

"Probably not. Still, maybe we should check if he needs anything."

At that point, Knuckles came walking out of the hole. "Hey, guys? Did we remember to bring flashlights?"

"I'm pretty sure all of us have a flashlight function on our weapons except you. Why do you ask?" wondered Shadow. "More importantly, why did you stop?"

Knuckles grabbed a bottle of water and drank the whole thing before answering. "Okay, I've dug maybe halfway there, but we've got a problem."

“THE ONLY PROBLEM VISIBLE IS THE ABSENCE OF A CHAOS EMERALD IN OUR POSSESSION.”

The echidna faced Omega, rolling his purple eyes. "Oh, har har, very funny. Anyways, I've found something you should see."

Everyone followed Knuckles as he led the way through the echidna-made tunnel. He stopped just before the end was visible. "Alright, what're we supposed to be looking for?" asked Neptune.

"Look down."

The group followed his directions. Right at the area where the echidna stopped digging, an opening about five feet across was visible. When Shadow peered down into it, he saw only darkness. He then faced everyone else.

"Rouge, call Tails. We're goin' cave exploring, and we don't have the right equipment with us."

Rouge nodded, but when she turned back to the entrance of the tunnel, the ground shook beneath them. A large crack appeared on the floor, then it broke away, carrying everyone with them.

"Hold on!" Shadow shouted. He felt a sharp pain on his head, then saw stars as he blacked out.

Chapter Text

The existence of caves beneath the forest of Forever Fall is a long forgotten secret. Long ago, before the Four Kingdoms were established, ancient humans and faunus delved deep down into the hills, mining for Dust. Naturally, mining was dangerous work, like it is in the present time. However, that wasn't the reason why it was forgotten.

Simply put, there wasn't anyone left to remember it.

Greed and a disregard for safety drove an ancient town to dig deep in order to earn prestige among the other surrounding towns. This resulted in the discovery of natural caverns- and subterranean Creatures of Grimm. The resulting massacre killed off all who mined for that precious material.

Easy pickings for the surface Grimm.

Ironically, the men sent down into the mines were probably the only ones who could have prevented the tragedy that befell their home. The sudden rise of negative emotions was too great for the Grimm to resist, and they flooded the village. The town was overrun, the buildings destroyed, and the people slaughtered. The neighboring villages just wrote it off as another lesson about not building a permanent residence in a defensible area.

The mines themselves still exist, but the entrances were closed off, preventing the Grimm from reaching the surface. Even today, those Grimm still roam the empty mineshafts, searching for blood to quench their thirst.

It is a virtual deathtrap.

Caverns below the Forever Fall forest
11:30 a.m.

"Ow…." Sun Wukong came too first, shaking his head. "Alright, who else isn't dead? Sound off!"

A chorus of groans reached his ears. All of them were knocked unconscious by the sudden collapse into an undiscovered cave, but were recovering in their own way. Sun lit up a flare, revealing everyone.

A blue haired form was seen stumbling around. "Could you stop the room, pleaaase?" slurred Neptune, his eyes turned into anime spirals. "I'd like to get off now." He then crashed into a wall, and that set his senses straight.

"I think my left shoulder is dislocated." Knuckles said uncomfortably. The echidna pulled on it with his right hand, and with an audible *POP*, set it back in its socket. "Never mind, I'm good."

"I AM FUNCTIONING AT OPTIMUM CAPACITY." droned Omega.

Shadow helped Rouge up. "You okay?" he asked with concern.

"I think so," the Bat said, wincing a bit. She tried flexing her wings, but couldn't due to a slight bend in her right wing. "Aw, man. I think I'm grounded, boys."

"WILL THAT HINDER YOUR ABILITY TO FIGHT, TEAMMATE ROUGE?" the robot asked.

"Allow me," said Knuckles. He carefully placed his hands along the affected wing, feeling her injury. Rouge was hurting, but she trusted Knuckles. "Well, I've got good news and bad news."

"What is it?"

"The good news is that your wing isn't permanently damaged. The bad news is that you won't be able to fly out of here anytime soon. Fortunately," the echidna said, looking at their surroundings, "it doesn't look like you'd be missing much. The walls of this cave are too close to fly around in."

"I can't get a signal out to the rest of the guys, either." said Neptune.

"So, to summarize: We're trapped in here with no supplies, we can't call for help, and one of our team is injured." said Sun.

"Pretty much, but we must remember our objective- to find the Chaos Emerald," proclaimed Shadow. He reached into his quills and pulled the Chaos Emerald detector out. Miraculously, it was still working. "According to this, we only need to go about two hundred feet that way to reach it." he said, pointing down the tunnel in the appropriate direction.

"Will you be able to fight, Rouge?" Sun asked. "Caves in Remnant are always filled with Grimm, from what I’ve heard."

The white bat just smiled as she pulled out two of the four Lovac's. "Just try and stop me!" she said, her pistols gleaming in the light of the flare.

"What about your wing?" wondered Neptune.

"Kid, there's one thing about mobians you'll need to know if you want to hang with us," Knuckles responded, grinning. "Besides being able to breathe in a vacuum, we heal fast. Rouge's wing should be healed up by the time we're through here."

"Alright, then. Let's get that Chaos Emerald so we can get the heck out of here." said Shadow.

As the group walked to their quarry, Omega couldn't help but feel like they were being watched. No matter how many diagnostics he ran on himself, he couldn't shake the feeling, nor dismiss it.

"What is this place?" asked Knuckles. Looking around, he saw that the tunnel was really a mineshaft. Rotting timbers still held up the walls and ceiling, and they could feel minecart tracks on the ground.

"Beats me," said Neptune. He saw the tattered remains of clothing on the floor below a large claw mark. "But it looks like nothing good happened here."

"Quiet." hushed Shadow.

They walked on in silence, getting closer to their goal. As they rounded a corner, they spotted a faint glow coming from a minecart.

"That's the Emerald!" cried Rouge, rushing ahead. "Come to momma!" Her advance was stopped by Sun, who held out a hand.

"Easy there, lady thief," he said. "If I'm keeping track right, you guys have the green, cyan, red, and blue Chaos Emeralds, right?"

"CORRECT." Omega confirmed emotionlessly, though he was secretly impressed that Sun had kept up with what they did and didn't have. "AND SINCE THERE ARE ONLY SEVEN EMERALDS, ALL A DIFFERENT COLOUR, THAT LEAVES YELLOW, PURPLE, AND WHITE."

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a green glow?" the faunus asked.

Upon closer inspection, the glowing in question was indeed caused by a jewel, just not the kind of jewel they were looking for.

"Dust crystals?" wondered Rouge. Indeed, the minecart was filled to the brim with uncut Dust crystals of all colours, not just green. "Well, don't mind if I do." she hummed to herself as she pocketed a few crystals.

"Well, that confirms that this was once a Dust mine," said Sun. "Run by the Ice Queen's ancestors, perhaps."

Neptune looked at the side of the cart, which had the symbol of the town that was mentioned earlier. "I don't know, this doesn't look like any snowflake I've seen." Indeed, the symbol looked more like a yin-yang instead of the Schnee's snowflake logo.

"Come on, let's move." Shadow said impatiently.

"FURTHER RESEARCH WILL HAVE TO BE DONE AT A LATER POINT." agreed Omega.

The group reluctantly moved on, still walking carefully among the piles of old clothes. "Hey, does anyone else smell something burning?" Sun asked.

"I do," said Knuckles uneasily. The rest of the mobians picked up the scent, as well.

"OLFACTORY SENSORS CONFIRM GASES ASSOCIATED WITH COMBUSTION. POST-NOTE: CONCENTRATION OF GASES SUGGEST RECENT ACTIVITY." Omega said.

"What'd he say?"

"He said that the burning is new, and not related to the mines," Shadow translated for Neptune. He checked the detector again. "Okay, the Chaos Emerald is very close, but stay sharp. I don't think we're alone down here."

The group resumed walking down the halls until they got to an opening. Passing through the entrance, they all stopped in shock.

"What are those things?" asked Rouge, a slight tremble of fear in her voice.

In the clearing were many Creatures of Grimm known as Creeps. One of them looked up at the newcomers, then roared. Instantly, all eyes were upon the group.

"I don't like the looks of this," said Sun, readying Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang.

Shadow looked into the throng of Grimm, searching for the Chaos Emerald. "Come on, where is it?!" he shouted in frustration. "The detector says it's right here!"

"I guess we'll have to clean-house first." snarled Knuckles, activating his weapons wrist blades.

"Well, at least this situation isn't going to get any worse." chuckled Neptune nervously, gripping his gun.

As if to mock him, a loud roar was heard at the back of the opening. A river of fire tore through the gathered Grimm, burning them to a crisp. The ground shook as the source of the flames walked closer to the group.

The monster in question resembled a Creep, but it was massive. Omega's automatic distance measures kicked in, and he saw that it was twenty feet high, and forty in length. It's head was covered in white plates, like all Grimm have. On its back, there were many bone-like protrusions that doubled as armour for it's black body. Even more interesting was the presence of two extra legs. Omega quickly searched for this monster in a database of known Creatures of Grimm, but came up blank. This was a different kind of Grimm altogether.

"Why'd you have to say that 'it couldn't get any worse'?" Sun groaned.

The monster roared again and charged at them.

"Move!" shouted Shadow as this new ‘King Creep’ charged the group. Everyone ran out of the way just in time as the huge Creature of Grimm crashed into the wall.

"What a perfect time for my wings to not work!" growled Rouge as she fired her pistols at the monster. Not surprisingly, the bullets didn't have much of an effect on the monster.

Neptune took out his gun and started shooting the beast. The rounds from his gun just ricocheted off of its thick hide, and Neptune barely got out of the way as the King Creep blasted fire in his direction.

"THIS GRIMM'S POWER IS INCONCEIVABLE," Omega said while shooting his machine guns. "DETECTING ADDITIONAL POWER SOURCE INSIDE BEAST."

"Additional power?" wondered Shadow. He quickly checked the Chaos Emerald Detector. The radar showed the Emerald was right on top of them. From there, he deduced that the Chaos Emerald wasn't just near them, it was- "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Any further comment was interrupted as he dashed out of the way of a large foot. He was about to be stomped on again, but Sun whacked it out of the way with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, which he transformed into nun-chuck pistols.

"Is it really necessary for us to fight this thing?" he asked. "I mean, we could just get the Chaos Emerald and leave this guy alone, right?"

Knuckles chose that moment to pop his head out of the ground. "If only it were that simple, monkey boy," he said. "I'm sensing the Chaos Emerald inside the beast."

Sun did a double take at the Grimm upon hearing this. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"That's what I said." the hedgehog responded, becoming slightly agitated.

"I don't think I follow." said Neptune as he dodged a tail swipe from the beast.

Shadow pointed at the King Creep. "That creature has swallowed the Chaos Emerald, and this size change is the result of a huge power infusion."

"Are you saying these gems will work for anybody and anything?" asked Sun in dismay.

Knuckles grimaced. "Pretty much. The Chaos Emeralds don't discriminate on who- or apparently what- gets to have their power, but they do have limits to an extent."

The King Creep roared again and tried to stomp Rouge. She caught the foot with her left boot, and used the pistol on it, knocking the creature back. "So how do we stop it?" she yelled. "I can't exactly fly up there and blow it's brains out, my wing is still busted!"

"I've got an idea!" shouted Shadow. "Rouge, pass me those Dust crystals you picked up!"

"What makes you think I picked up any?" asked Rouge indignantly.

"Come on, we're in a mine, and I saw you swipe a few!" Shadow retorted. "If you want to live, don't argue with me!"

"Oh, fine," the white bat said, resignation in her voice. As Shadow skated past her, she threw him the Dust crystals she picked up. "I want to be reimbursed for this!" she said as he caught them.

"Rouge, we're in this for a Chaos Emerald!" Neptune interjected.

"Everyone, do as much damage as you can. We've got to make it angry!" ordered Shadow.

"Aye, sir!" said Neptune as lunged at the King Creep, transforming his gun into a trident-like weapon. He stabbed one of the legs, and the beast roared in anger. It tried to charge the blue-haired youth.

"Oh, no you don't!" Knuckles quickly climbed up one of the legs. He used his wrist blades to slice the leg at the hip, then fired the integrated shotgun into the cut. The Grimm bellowed in pain as the leg had now become completely useless.

"We're hurting it!" exclaimed Rouge. However, she saw that the Grimm was now directly in front of her, but more importantly, it was about to take a huge bite out of her. Omega was firing at its head, but the King Creep was determined to take out at least one of these creatures that injured it.

Poor Rouge had nowhere to run, and she still couldn't fly. Facing certain death, all she could say was "Crap!"

Fortunately for the white bat, Sun Wukong saw her predicament. The faunus stood still and focused his Aura. As he brought a hand to his fist, he activated his Semblance, making two aura clones appear. He directed one to impact against the King Creep while the other quickly grabbed Rouge and brought her safely to his side.

Rouge was very surprised at the intervention. "What the- How?" she stammered.

Sun opened his eyes, pleased with the results. "That was me. You're welcome." he said while winking.

Suddenly, the beast stopped its rampage. It opened its huge mouth and started to inhale, preparing a fiery blast. Shadow saw a chance to do some damage, but not by him alone. "Omega! Grenade down the throat, now!"

The robot transformed his arms into the bladed grenade launchers. "AFFIRMATIVE. FIRE!"

The grenade left the barrel of the launcher at a high velocity while Shadow threw the crystals at the mouth of the Grimm. Both got caught up in the vortex caused by the beast. The King Creep's eyes widened as the grenade exploded in its throat. This alone wouldn't have been enough to kill it, but that's why Shadow added Dust into the mix.

There was a bright flash, followed by an intense amount of heat and sound. As the group slowly regained their eyesight, they looked at the result with shock.

The explosion caused by the grenade managed to set off the Dust crystals, and they also blew up. The resulting explosion completely obliterated the head and upper torso of the Grimm. As the lower half sagged to the ground and started the dissolving process, a yellow glow was seen bouncing out and clinked on the ground.

Rouge ran up and gently cradled the yellow Chaos Emerald in her hands. "Whew, glad that's out of the way."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Neptune. "So, how are we gonna get out of here?"

Shadow held up his green Chaos Emerald. "I'll teleport us to where we first descended. Let's make sure that place is covered up for good."

"But what about the jewels?!" whined Rouge.

"Chaos Control!" shouted Shadow, ignoring his teammate. With a flash of light, all six of them vanished, and the mines regained their silence once again.

Airspace above the Forest of Forever Fall
12:45 p.m.

"So, how was the mission, sir?" asked the Bullhead pilot. The airship had just arrived to pick up everyone. Noticing the white bat's expression of pain, he couldn't help but wonder, "Is your companion okay?"

Knuckles, who was tending to Rouge's wing, answered, "She'll be just fine. She just needs rest, and to not fly for a few days."

"A few days?!" cried Rouge. She started sobbing, creating comical waterfalls of tears. "I'll never make it. How will I sleep?!"

"I guess you'll just have to learn to sleep on a bed like the rest of us, bat girl." said Shadow, unmoved. He turned back to the pilot. "To answer your first question, the mission was a success."

"NOT YET, COMRADE SHADOW," Omega said. He then held up a clawed hand with three "fingers" pointed out. He silently counted down from three, and when he reached "zero" and made a fist, a loud rumble was heard, followed by a huge plume of smoke and dirt. This was caused by the robot. He remotely activated demolition charges set at the tunnel Knuckles had dug before they got trapped in the mines. The explosion completely sealed the entrance, so nothing could get in or out. "NOW CONSIDER THE MISSION A SUCCESS."

The pilot nodded, and started the flight back to Vale. "I thought you guys might be hungry, so I returned with lunch in the cooler back there. Help yourselves to whatever you need."

Sun opened the cooler and pulled out a few bananas. "Alright, that was an interesting experience. Are all your adventures that exciting?" he asked, taking a bite.

Knuckles stood up, finished with Rouge's wing. "There's never a dull moment, that's for sure. Although Sonic's adventures are more… intense." He reached for the cooler and got a sandwich for himself

"Yeah, I'll bet." said Sun, throwing a peel out of the aircraft.

"BLUE HEDGEHOG ATTRACTS TROUBLE OF ALL KINDS," agreed Omega. Suddenly, his eyes started flashing. "ALERT! ANOMALY DETECTED IN LOCAL GRAVITY."

"What's the scary robot talking about?" Neptune asked.

Omega silently pointed out the side of the Bullhead. Everyone looked at where he was pointing and saw Sun's banana peel apparently floating in the air.

"REASSESSING PREVIOUS STATEMENT ABOUT LOCAL GRAVITY," droned Omega. "FRUIT PEEL IS NOT SUSPENDED IN ATMOSPHERE. RATHER, IT IS LYING ON A CLOAKED CONSTRUCT OF SOME SORT."

"Shall I investigate?" asked the pilot, preparing to turn around.

"No."

Everyone looked at the one who spoke- Shadow. "But why?"

The Ultimate Life Form turned his eyes to Rouge. "If that's what I think it is, we'd better come back to it at a different time. We're too tired to go up against that thing- rather, against what might be inside it." The black hedgehog took out his scroll and jotted down the coordinates of the anomaly to check out at a later date.

Sun held up a hand. "Okay, resident faunus here is totally confused. What the heck is that invisible thing, then?"

As the Bullhead left the forest and the mysterious building behind, Shadow kept the answer to himself for now. He knew what Omega's reaction would be, and it was too soon. However, he smiled and laughed softly to himself.

As far as he knew, it was the first time a base of Eggman's was found, by a banana peel, who knew?

Chapter Text

Beacon Academy's Cafeteria
2:00 p.m.

"Wait a minute. You're telling me you found Eggman's base while you were out?" Sonic asked incredulously.

The six that went to the forest of Forever Fall, Team Dark, Knuckles, Sun and Neptune, to retrieve the Chaos Emerald had just come back, and Shadow was telling Sonic what happened. The rest of the mobians, as well as Team RWBY, also attended. Sun and Neptune were there, too. Unfortunately, Team JNPR was still busy with schoolwork, and Pyrrha was helping Jaune with his combat skills.

"Yeah, that's right, faker. Apparently, monkey boy's banana peel fell onto Eggman's base in the Forever Fall."

"See, this is why I love bananas," said Sun, who just happened to be eating another one. "Delicious and nutritious, but can also discover invisible bases."

"ONE MUST NOT FORGET IT'S MORE SINISTER PURPOSE IN SLAPSTICK COMEDY," droned Omega as everyone laughed at the robot's joke. "IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, WHY TELL US NOW, AND NOT WHEN WE WERE HOVERING OVER IT?"

"Um, don't you get all 'insta-kill' when Eggman is involved?" asked Yang. "Besides, wasn't Rouge injured?"

"Yes to both questions, dear." the bat said from her upside down position on the ceiling.

"How the heck did you get up there without flying?" wondered Knuckles.

Rouge winked at the echidna. "Sorry, Knuckie. That's a trade secret you'll have to find out."

"More to the point," Neptune interjected, "we were kinda tired from fighting a Creature of Grimm that grew huge because it swallowed the Chaos Emerald we were looking for."

"Geez, you'd think that the Emeralds’ would know by now who or what they shouldn't give their powers to." groaned Silver.

"You're not wrong," said Tails. "The history of the Chaos Emeralds is full of people using their power for the wrong reasons. Eggman, Chaos, Nazo, Mephiles… It really is a shame they don't have any intelligence of their own."

"To be personally honest," Blaze interfered, "sometimes the Sol Emeralds work in a similar manner, but if someone like Shadow were to perform anything revolving Chaos Energy it wouldn't work and force him away. That could possibly be due to him not being the guardian of the Emeralds like myself, or that they don't utilise Chaos Energy at all." She stated while remembering the black hedgehog’s attempt to use Chaos Control with a Sol Emerald and failed.

A hologram emitter on the table flickered a bit, and Aeromi's avatar blinked into existence. " While I don't argue against the potential uses of the Chaos Emeralds gaining minds of their own, Eggman's base will probably be well fortified. Who knows what kind of devious schemes are going on inside there. "

"Changing the subject, but how are you doing on your Homing Attack, Ruby?" Shadow inquired.

"Uh, I think I did alright today." Ruby answered nervously.

Shadow looked at Sonic with a serious look in his crimson eyes. "Is she being honest here? We may have a difficult time ahead of us."

Sonic glanced at the energetic redhead, smiling. "She's doing great. I think she's ready for whatever may happen."

Ruby blushed at the praise.

"Hey, guys, have you seen Blake anywhere?" asked Weiss, who just now noticed the faunus' absence.

" She's doing some research in the library . " answered Aeromi.

"Again?" wondered Silver. "She's gonna wear herself out at this rate."

Lately, Blake Belladonna had become more anti-social than usual upon hearing that Eggman was responsible for the communications blackout earlier in the week. She spent most of her time researching various places where Roman Torchwick could be hiding, and she figured that if they could find Torchwick, that would lead them straight to Dr. Eggman.

"I'm getting kinda worried here, guys," said Amy Rose with a worried tone. "She doesn't have her usual energy, and she's barely eaten anything."

"I've got an idea," said Yang as she stood up. "Shadow, Omega, I could use your help with this. Aeromi, you too." The Ultimate Life Form and E-series Robot nodded, and followed the blonde out of the cafeteria.

" Aye aye, Miss Xiao Long. " the A.I. said, playfully saluting before blinking out of existence.

"I'll go too. I think I know what Blake's going through, and what Yang will do." said Tails.

"What do the rest of us do if your plan doesn't work?" asked Ruby with concern.

Yang winked at her sister. "Relax, Ruby. Her attitude will change." she said with confidence.

As the four walked towards the library, Sonic leaned close to Weiss. "Any idea what our blonde bombshell is planning?"

"No idea. I just hope it doesn't involve fighting." the heiress said, a worried expression on her face.

Beacon Library
A few minutes later

Blake Belladonna rubbed her tired eyes as she fought to stay awake. 'Should I just take a break for a little bit?' she thought to herself. She squelched that thought. 'No, evil never takes a break. There's no reason why I should, too.'

She focused her eyes again on the computer screen in front of her. The faunus was getting closer to nailing the location of Torchwick's hideout. However, that work was interrupted as a red dot suddenly appeared on her screen.

Blake followed the dot with her eyes, feline instincts kicking in. 'Either I'm going crazy, or someone's pulling a prank on me,' she thought as the dot slid from the computer screen onto the table. She suppressed the need to bat at it, and got up to try and find the source of the laser dot. Her investigation took her in between two bookshelves, where she paused in shock as she saw the culprits: her teammate, Yang Xiao Long, who was holding a laser pointer, and Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Hello~!" Yang sang and waved to her partner.

"Yang? Shadow? What are you doing here?"

Yang wasted no time in grabbing her partner’s wrist. "We need to have a talk." The blonde turned to Shadow. The black hedgehog held up his green Chaos Emerald.

"Chaos… Control!"

The three vanished, then reappeared in an empty classroom, where Tails and Omega were waiting. Blake wrenched her wrist away. "Yang, what's this all about!?" she asked angrily.

"BLACK-HAIRED FELINE FEMALE HAS NEGLECTED ESSENTIAL DUTIES NEEDED TO LIVE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO CONSUMPTION OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND NIGHTLY RECHARGING OF ENERGY," the walking arsenal said. "FURTHER ABANDONMENT WILL RESULT IN ORGANIC EQUIVALENT OF SELF-DESTRUCTION."

"What?! Who cares if I don't eat or sleep?!" snapped Blake. "An evil genius with the energy of the most powerful Grimm that ever existed is on the loose, and he's being helped by a criminal mastermind who's ordering a terrorist organisation to follow them! We've got to find out where they are so we can beat them!"

"And we will," affirmed Tails. "This afternoon, Shadow discovered Eggman's base, and in a few week's time, we'll make our assault on it."

"Are you serious?!" asked a horrified Blake. "We don't have time for that! We need to attack now!"

"She's a stubborn one, Yang." observed Shadow.

"Listen, Blake. You need to rest. You haven't eaten very much, and you've barely slept." said a concerned Tails.

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID, ORANGE FOREST CREATURE." Omega inputted.

"Blake," Yang said softly. "I know what you're doing-"

"So don't tell me to stop!"

"Listen. I know what's going on in your head right now. You feel that you're the only one who can stop evil in this world, and you'll drive yourself so hard you'll ignore your body's needs. It's happened to me before, when I was trying to find my mother."

Any comment that Blake was going to make was silenced by this bit of news. Shadow, Tails, and even Omega, started to listen closer to the story.

"See, Ruby and I are really half-sisters. Ruby's mother was named Summer Rose. She was, like, super-mom. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters." Yang smiled fondly at the memory, then her expression became more solemn. "One day she went out on a mission, and she never came back. Ruby couldn't stop crying for days on end, but Dad was even more crushed, almost shutted himself down to depression."

"Why?" asked Shadow, even though he had a hunch about the answer.

"This wasn't the first love dad had lost. The first one," Yang had to take a deep breath to settle her emotions, "was my mother."

Blake looked at Yang through tired, yet attentive eyes. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know," the blonde answered. "I thought I came across a clue to her whereabouts, so I set out to find an abandoned house on the island Ruby and I grew up on- Patch, an island just west of Vale. I kept pushing myself to get there, carrying Ruby in a small wagon. When I finally got there, I was so exhausted- but I had made it. That's when I saw those demonic eyes."

Tails gasped involuntarily at the image Yang described.

"There we were, a toddler asleep in a wagon and a stubborn girl too tired to cry for help. Our lives should have ended that day, if not for the timely arrival of our Uncle Qrow."

Blake looked at the blonde with new respect. "Yang, I can see what you're trying to tell me, but this is different-"

"Is it?" interrupted Shadow. "From my perspective, your stubbornness and disregard for those around you in pursuit of your goals will pretty much result in what happened to Yang, except there won't be anyone to save you."

"How would you know?!" Blake snapped, though it wasn't with as much venom as before.

"I was once like you, Blake. I thought, 'If I could reach my goal, everything will be alright.' Except that single-mindedness almost caused the destruction of Earth itself. I wanted to get back my memories, but it was only thanks to Sonic and the others that I was able to remember my promise to Maria, and let everyone have a chance to be happy, and not just me." Shadow said as he closed his eyes as various memories flooded his mind, ranging from Maria's shooting to the Black Arms crisis, even the lies that Mephiles the Dark spouted out lingered too. 

"The point is, you need to think about others before you wear yourself out." finished Yang. "We're not asking you to stop, just slow down. If nothing else, do it for the people who care about you."

Blake was silent for a bit. She then sat down on an empty seat, head in her hands. "Shadow?"

"Yes, Blake?"

"Could you use Chaos Control to take me to the dorm room?" she asked, smiling for the first time in a while. "I think I might fall asleep on the way if I walked there by myself."

The black blur returned the smile and took out his Chaos Emerald. "Good to see you making a smart choice. I was afraid I would have to get Omega to threaten you to make sure you get your rest."

The thought of Blake trying to sleep at gunpoint made everyone laugh, especially the faunus.

"But… What should I do about my research?"

Aeromi winked into view. " Miss Belladonna, I took the liberty to save your research and findings and sent them to Tails. You know, you could have asked for help from the rest of us. "

The mobian fox nodded. "Hey Blake. When you feel better, you should come join us on Sunday. We're planning to have a small party at seven. All casual, and everyone from the school's invited. There's even gonna be a small dance."

Blake looked confused. "Why does that matter?"

Tails gave her a sly look. "Well, if you went, you would make a certain faunus from Vacuo very happy."

"I… I'll think about it," said Blake, not wanting to commit just yet. "Right now, I just feel like sleeping."

"That's fine," said Yang, smiling. "We'll send you something to eat when you wake up."

"Chaos… Control!"

Shadow warped Blake to Team RWBY's dorm room, startling Zwei a little before realizing the person was one of her mistress' friends. Blake sighed, feeling like a great weight had been taken off her shoulders. She crawled into her bed, thanking whatever deity that gave her such good friends, and drifted quickly into a deep slumber. Zwei jumped onto her bed soon after, and fell asleep with her.

Meanwhile, back in the classroom, Yang was feeling pretty pleased with herself. "Well, that went better than I thought it would." she said aloud.

"Thank Chaos for that." agreed Shadow after he returned from dropping Blake at Team RWBY's dorm

And with that, the group separated, all preparing for the party in their own way. All hoping that Blake would show up, but they weren't worried about it. They knew she would appear.

The hard part would be to make sure there was enough tuna for her.

Chapter Text

Team RWBY's dorm
6:30 p.m

There was a sense of excitement in the air as the hour of the party planned by the mobians drew near. Most couldn't wait for it, but there were one or two teams who decided against going, and instead decided to spread rumors about them being 'experiments' sent by the White Fang to destroy them all. Luckily, no one listened to Team CRDL since Cardin's "Hot Pants" incident from Blaze several weeks ago.

Teams RWBY and JNPR helped out with preparations, and were now getting ready to join the fun.

"Man, this party is gonna be awesome!" said Yang, clapping her hands together in excitement.

"I just hope that Blake will be there. It just wouldn't be the same without her." said Ruby, combing her hair.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," responded Weiss. "Blake can be stubborn, but I'm confident that Yang's little plan to convince her of the error of her ways was successful."

"If that's the case, speaking of, where is she?" the scythe-wielder wondered. Blake had woken up late that morning, and instead of helping to prepare for the party, she went out to satisfy her ravenous hunger.

There was a knock on the door, then it opened, revealing the faunus, looking well-rested. Zwei ran up to her, wagging his small tail. She petted the dog before facing her teammates.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late, I just needed to pick up a new can opener." Blake put a hand behind her head, looking a bit embarrassed. "I… kinda broke the one we had when I used it this afternoon."

"What'd you use it on?" Weiss asked. "Twenty cans of tuna?"

Blake's blush reddened even more. "More like thirty," she said, chuckling nervously. She took the can opener she bought and placed it next to Zwei's dog food. "Let's just say I neglected my bodily needs more than I should have."

Yang shrugged. "Eh, water under the bridge. We're just glad to see you around, and not doing some more research in the library."

"We're also glad you finally cleaned yourself up a bit. I was afraid you were going to forget to take a shower." Weiss said haughtily.

"Alright, you've made your point, ice queen." said Blake, while making the heiress a little annoyed now. "Can we just go to the party? I'm expecting someone there."

And with that, the four girls left to join the festivities.

Beacon Ballroom
6:45 p.m.

"Hey guys, we're here." the red Rose said to the pink Rose. Team RWBY had just arrived at the doors to the ballroom where the party was being held. While the pink hedgehog was making sure that only Beacon Academy students and personnel entered, Omega was positioned to the left of the doors, which probably made him the coolest bouncer to anyone's eyes.

"Glad you guys could make it!" said a smiling Amy. She opened the doors and revealed the ballroom.

Team RWBY did help the mobians prepare for the party, but their breath was still taken away at the sight. The ballroom was decorated with many lights, and the tables all had holographic decorations on them. A dance floor was set up with tiles that flashed and changed colours. In front of the dance floor was a D.J. booth, where lively music was coming out of large speakers. Surprisingly enough, Knuckles was in the D.J. booth, but Tails was also there, so the chances of a disaster were lowered enough.

Sonic was preparing an electric guitar on a small stage near the booth when Ruby walked up. "Hey Sonic!"

"Hey, Ruby," the blue hedgehog responded, giving a two-fingered salute. He then noticed Blake. "Well, nice to see you out and about."

"I'm just surprised you didn't have any 'catnap-related' puns at the ready," said Yang.

"The thought did occur to me, but I decided against it. Too many people around," Sonic explained. He jumped off the stage. "Anyway, we've been working hard lately, so all of us mobians decided to throw a party to relax and have fun."

"Hey, have you seen Sun around?" asked Blake as she looked around for the monkey faunus.

Sonic pointed to the other side of the ballroom, where Sun and Neptune were talking with Silver and Blaze. Blake and Weiss immediately went that direction, and Sonic, Yang, and Ruby were slightly surprised that dust trails didn't follow in their wake. After a few seconds of bemusement, the trio just shrugged it off and talked about their past adventures. Ranging from Sonic's death from Mephiles the Dark, to how Ruby entered Beacon by preventing a Dust robbery led by Roman Torchwick.

With the arrival of Team RWBY, Amy went ahead and started letting people in. The dress code was casual, so no one felt restricted by dresses or suits.

A few minutes passed, then another team walked up to where Amy was signing in party members. "Oh, hello there," she greeted cheerfully. "What team are you?"

The team in question consisted of two young men and two women. The first guy was very tall with shaved black hair, and wore a light green robe. The second guy had dark skin with scars on his arms, and messy copper-brown hair on top of a scarred face, and pure white eyes.

One of the girls was a very familiar face- Velvet Scarlatina, the rabbit-eared faunus that had a few classes with Teams RWBY and JNPR. For this occasion, she changed out of her school uniform and into her casual/battle clothes.

The last girl was very fashionable, with brown the main color of her clothes. She wore high heels and carried a stylish designer purse. Her brown hair, which transitioned to red near the end of one of her locks, was topped with a black beret, and she was also wearing sunglasses, even though the party was being held in the early evening.

"We're Team CFVY," the girl with the beret said. "I'm Coco Adel, and that's Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina, and Yatsuhashi Daichi." She pointed at each member of her team.

Amy paused. "Wait a minute… Didn't Rouge try to pickpocket your purse?"

Coco lowered her sunglasses and raised an eyebrow, questions in her brown eyes. "Rouge?"

"That'd be me, hon. Please don't kill me." the bat in question said as she sashayed over to the fashionable girl. "I just wanted to say that your reaction to my attempt reminded me why I'm known as a jewel thief."

Coco lifted her glasses up, a hint of a smile on her face. "Just don't try anything to me or anyone else on my team."

With that settled, Team CFVY walked in and started to mingle with the crowd. A few minutes later, Professor Ozpin arrived at the entrance to the ballroom, with Glynda Goodwitch holding his arm.

"Hello, professors." greeted Amy.

"Good evening, Miss Rose," said Ozpin. "I just wanted to make sure that this party won't require an ambulance on stand-by."

Amy chuckled at the small joke. "I don't think there's a huge chance of that happening. Anyways, it looks like my Sonic will be performing a song in a few minutes, so I'd better get in there if I don't want to miss it." she said while checking her scroll.

Ozpin and Glynda followed the pink hedgehog into the ballroom. Omega stood in front of the door, making sure no unwanted guests arrived.

"A song?" Glynda confusingly asked Ozpin as they walked in.

"Apparently, our guests from Mobius like to perform music. Especially Sonic, who seems to be the leader of them all. Teams RWBY and JNPR have often joined them on stage at times. They've actually become even more well known due to videos of the songs they performed being posted on RemNet." (A/N: RemNet is basically the internet for Remnant)

"And all of the mobians have done so?" Glynda asked, somewhat astonished.

"Everyone except that robot fellow, Omega. Of course, that's probably a good thing." said Ozpin, chuckling at the thought of him performing a song.

"Yes, the thought of it kind of scares me." the headmistress admits.

Inside, the party was still pretty lively. Shadow was having a conversation with Team CFVY and trying very hard to not drool at the sight of Coco's purse- more accurately, the mini-gun it transformed into. Silver and Blaze were doing a tango on the dance floor, much to the excitement of the gathered students. Weiss tried to get Neptune to dance, but the blue-haired teen was not very good at it, so they sat at a table and talked instead.

Knuckles was still doing his D.J. thing, and everyone who knew him was very surprised at how good he was at it.

"Hey, Red~," a smooth voice said. The echidna jumped a little, then relaxed when he saw it was Rouge. "I couldn't help but wonder; how did you get this skill at being a D.J.?"

"It's just one of the skills you pick up when searching for the Master Emerald shards and hanging out with Sonic," he answered. Rouge raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it. "So, how come you aren't doin' your thing out there?" He gestured at the dance floor.

Rouge sighed. "I can't really do that for two reasons. One: Some of my best moves require my wings. And two: The ones that don't are more appropriate for a more… older audience."

"That doesn't seem to be stopping Yang." said Knuckles as he pointed at the dance floor, where the blonde was moving her hips in a rhythmic fashion, drawing a lot of stares from the male students. Ruby was nearby, shaking her head at her sister's antics.

A holographic decoration on the console in front of Knuckles flickered before revealing Aeromi's avatar. " Rouge, I think you'll be okay as long as your clothes stay on ." she said while winking.

With that, the white bat rushed over to Yang and started an impromptu dance fight, which got a lot of attention. Knuckles smiled and shook his head at the sight. "Yep, that's our Rouge. Always wanting to be the center of attention."

" Isn't that a bit counterintuitive for a thief ?" the A.I. wondered.

"Yes, it is. She should consider herself lucky that she's on G.U.N. 's payroll."

A few minutes later, the dance fight ended with no clear winner, but Yang and Rouge didn't seem bothered by that. Suddenly, all of the holographic decorations on the table turned blue. Sonic took this as his cue to get up on the stage and pick up an electric guitar. Joining him was Blaze on electric guitar, with Silver on bass and Yang on drums.

Crush 40- Sonic Youth

Sonic started out with a very nice guitar solo, then the others joined him in the song, with Sonic as the lead singer.

SONIC: When I’ve Opened my Heart,
And I’ve Lived and Learned,
When I’m taking a step in His World,
When I danced in the shadows,
When I felt the Sonic Boom,
When I am who I am with you.

Racing forward on my mind,
Crushing 40 all the time,
It never seems to disappear, oh no!
Always known, always knowing that you’re near.

The students of Beacon were a bit apprehensive about a bunch of animals performing a song, but they got into the spirit of the song. Blake and Sun had a section of the dance floor to themselves, performing many acrobatic dance moves.

Now don’t you worry,
It’s a never-ending story,
Stand proud, Let it out!
Let’em know, Let it show until they here!
Hear the Sonic Youth!
(It’s easy, it’s easy)
Hear the Sonic Youth!
(It’s as easy as you want it to be)
(It’s easy, it’s easy)
We are the Sonic Youth!

Like a Sonic Hero
Or a Knight in the Wind
Now you know What I’m Made Of
You can Watch Me Fly
Live Life or die
Never Turn Back, you and I

All of the holograms on the stage, as well as the ones on the tables, flickered as Aeromi featured clips from Sonic's previous adventures, as well as some from his time with Team RWBY. The crowd cheered in approval, though Ruby felt a little embarrassed when she saw her crude Homing Chain in the Digital Realm.

Racing forward on my mind,
Crushing 40 all the time,
It never seems to disappear, oh no!
You can feel when the Sonic Youth is near

For the students of Beacon, this was becoming a night to remember. Team JNPR started dancing in front of the stage, their bodies synchronized to the music. Pretty much anyone who knew them was very surprised at how good they were, especially Jaune.

Now don’t you worry,
It’s a never ending story,
Stand proud, Let it out!
Let’em know, Let it show until they hear! Until they hear!
Hear the Sonic Youth!

At this point, Sonic kneeled with his guitar and rocked out with an awesome guitar solo. All the students gathered cheered at the hedgehog, and even Glynda smiled at the moment. When it ended, he did a backflip and resumed singing.

We are the Sonic Youth!
We are the Sonic Youth!
We are the Sonic Youth!
Now you know What I’m Made Of

Hey!

Now don’t you worry,
It’s a never-ending story,
Stand proud, Let it out!
Let’em know, Let it show until they hear! Until they hear!
Hear the Sonic Youth!
Me and you!
Hear the Sonic Youth!
That’s you!

After that song was done the band took a short break to catch their breath, then they started up once again to play the next song.

NateWantsToBattle- Heroes Never Die

SONIC: Pull out the stops, I got a way that we can get it
Just say the word, I’ll kick it up to eleven
We’re knocking on your door, with what we got in store
Don’t break it up, break it down (Yeah come on!)

We’ll kill the night
And we’ll never see the sun
(Every day and night going crazy)
And I’ll call the shots, don’t you tell me when I’m done
(Live it up, this life is amazing)
Hey diddle-diddle won’t you meet me in the middle
Let the music make you fly
Don’t need to show you mercy cause heroes never die

Now listen up I’m gonna give a rundown
Got you in my sights, you know I’ve got this on lockdown
We’re running out and free
This life was meant for me
Step to the plate, you gotta show me what you got
(Show me what you got)

We’ll kill the night
And we’ll never see the sun
(Every day and night going crazy)
And I’ll call the shots, don’t you tell me when I’m done
(Live it up, this life is amazing)
Hey diddle-diddle won’t you meet me in the middle Let the music make you fly
Don’t need to show you mercy cause heroes never die

Suddenly, the crimsonette appeared out of nowhere and started playing a solo saxophone. 

During this moment, Rouge was enjoying the song along with a drink that she was sipping every other minute or so. Suddenly she felt unwell as she felt light-headed and her eyesight began to blur out, fortunately someone caught her before she fell to the floor. "Thanks." she shakenly said as the last person she saw before falling unconscious was a dark skinned woman with mint green hair.

Back on the stage, the crimsonette disappears in a burst of rose petals as the blue blur continues singing.

We’ll kill the night
And we’ll never see the sun
(Every day and night going crazy)
And I’ll call the shots, don’t you tell me when I’m done
(Live it up, this life is amazing)
Hey diddle-diddle won’t you meet me in the middle
Let the music make you fly
Don’t need to show you mercy cause heroes never die

I said “Heroes Never Die!”

Once the music ended some of the student bodies cried out for an encore. Fortunately for the blue hedgehog, he came prepared for such an occasion as he dashes to Knuckles and asks him to start up the next song. “Alright, I’ve got one song in me,” this caused the crowd to cheer, “But let’s slow this one down, okay?”

CG5 & Hyper Potions- The Speed in My Soul

SONIC: In the daylight, gotta go fast
Gotta beat the red light, ain’t no time lapse
In the nighttime, I’ma keep on
Racing the shooting stars til the dawn.

We can be friends, but I won’t team up (up)
If you wanna come along, then try to keep up
I’m the fastest, I’m the fastest alive
Need no practice!
If you insist I’m a liar,

How’s about you watch me now?
I’ll prove you wrong in a heartbeat (beat)
Never gonna tell you how.
Speed just runs through my bloodstream!
Yeah!