2,385Hello and welcome! Here we are about to kick off the new year to the first chapter of a brand-new story that I have been waiting forever to write! Ever since I first started watching RWBY, I've been wanting to write a fanfic for it (mostly to cover and re-address certain plot points that were completely skipped over, Vols 4-5 being prime examples), but I was unsure what to cross it over with. But then, after seeing the first Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie, and reading the IDW comic series, it just seemed to click for me.
Sonic the Hedgehog was part of my childhood, my first time playing the series as "Sonic and Knuckles" on my PC when I was barley 10, and I really got hooked to the series playing "Adventure 2" and "Heroes". The characters, the storyline, what's not to love about it? But, following "Unleashed" and "The Black Knight", the series quality started to go downhill, such as consistencies with some of the characters (particularly Tails, Knuckles, even Shadow). But rest assured, I plan to fix that. (IDW comics and the live action movie however has more than redeemed the series for me). When I write my Sonic characters here, their personalities are shaped based on their experiences from past adventures and what they've learned from them; I'll go more in detail as we keep going with this story.
This story takes place after the events of "Sonic Colors" and is set within the game continuity, with characters and plot elements from the IDW comics thrown in there; so no Archie characters like Sally Acorn, Scourge the Hedgehog, or Snively. There may be some plot elements from the Sonic X series in there as well, but no characters (no Chris Thorndyke (thank God), or Cosmo or the Metarex).
And so, without further delay, let us finally begin "A Red Rose in the Blue Wind".
Disclaimer: all characters, settings, and plot points of RWBY and Sonic the Hedgehog belong to Rooster Teeth and Sega respectively.
New World – New Adventure
Space Colony Ark, created by Gerald Robotnik for a number of reasons. It has been used to try and both protect the world below and even destroy it. The history of this massive space station is complicated, to say the least. But perhaps new history is about to be made with it, as the once quiet and empty Ark is now lively with the sounds of battle.
Throughout the halls of the Ark, dozens of robots of all shapes and sizes; ranging from Egg Pawns to Egg Gunners and even Egg Fighters shot all their guns toward something that was moving at them with incredible speed. None of the bullets or lasers even made contact with a blur of blue energy that zipped through each of them, bashing its way through the front of the horde of robots to light them up with a powerful explosion before it made its way across the walls and leapt from wall-to-wall, bashing into each robot to destroy it with one strike before quickly making its way to the end of the hallway just as the last of the robots exploded.
This was the hero of his world, the fastest thing alive: Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Come on Eggman, is that all you got?!" Sonic called out with an eager grin; certain his nemesis was watching his whereabouts.
Almost in direct response to his taunt, the floor around Sonic opened up to reveal three hatches as three, much larger, Egg Hammer robots ascended to surround the blue blur.
"Oh hey, breaking out the hammer guys again? Can't beat a classic." Sonic said with a grin as he performed a homing attack on the Egg Hammer in front of him, only to bounce off its metallic chest and land on his back on the ground. "Literally…" he said with a groan. "Forgot how tough these guys were."
That very same Egg Hammer loomed over Sonic and tried to bring its massive mallet down on him, but before Sonic even made a counter, something red appeared in-between them to catch the hammer and halt it's strike with nothing but pure strength.
"Knuckles!"
"Sonic, take this seriously!" The red echidna scolded as he pulled back his fist and punched the hammer, sending it back up to somewhat crush the face of the robot wielding it, before Knuckles leapt into the air to bring his fists down on the hammer again to push it down hard and further crush the head of the Egg Hammer, destroying it.
Before the other two made an attempt to attack, both were shot in the back by machine-gun fire and turned around to face a blue bi-pedal mech-like device, being piloted by a certain two-tailed fox.
"Hey big guys, say hello to my equally-sized friend!" Tails declared as his Cyclone fired a salvo of missiles into the two Egg Hammers. The front most was one was completely obliterated, while the second was more heavily damaged, causing it to fall over on its back. Before it had a chance to get back up, a pink hedgehog in a red dress appeared over to bring her own hammer down on its short-circuiting face to destroy what was left of it.
"Tails, Amy, nice timing there." Sonic said with a finger-gun.
"Geeze Sonic, ever heard of the phrase 'look before you leap'?" Amy Rose criticized.
"Sure, but where's the fun in that?" Sonic said with a friendly shrug. "Seriously though, thanks for the save back there."
"No problem." Tails said with a nod and a smile as the four of them proceed to move faster through the halls of the space station.
"So, what do you guys think Eggman wants with the Ark this time?" Sonic asked.
"Hard to say, Eggman never re-visits any of his old plans, or rarely at best." Tails replied as the Cyclone ran alongside his friends. "And we haven't really seen much of him these past few months."
"Didn't you guys say he got sucked into some kind of black hole during that whole mess with the Wisps at his space amusement park or something?" Knuckles recalled.
"GUN actually spotted Eggman unloading one of his old bases." Amy answered. "Actually, nearly all his bases have been cleared out. Robots, parts, even his Egg Fleet has moved here."
"Maybe he's planning a vacation on some other alien planet. Be nice to get a break from him." Sonic assumed.
"Or he could be planning a massive invasion of another planet." Tails countered.
"Wait, can he even use the Ark for that?" Knuckles asked. "I get his fleet, but isn't this station supposed to be stuck in Earth's orbit?"
"Won't stop Eggman from messing around with it." Amy said.
"Unless we stop him first. We shouldn't be far from the control room." Sonic stated as the four of them came before a large door that opened up to reveal the outside area of the Ark, which would be a direct path to the control room, except for the fact that it was currently being swarmed by over a hundred Badniks such as the Egg Pawns, Egg Gunners, Egg Fighters, several Egg Knights, Flappers, even the larger variety Egg Hammers, Egg Guardians, and Egg Cannons.
"Yeah… just gotta beat our way through a hundred Badniks. Yep, typical Eggman." Sonic commented.
"No, you go on ahead Sonic, the rest of us can handle it." Tails stated, reading the Cyclone's weapons.
"You sure?" Sonic asked.
"We can handle these guys." Knuckles said, raising his fists. "Maybe you can actually stop Eggman's plan before he gets it rolling this time."
"Go and be a hero, Sonic. It's what you're good at it." Amy smiled, wielding her Piko-Piko Hammer.
Sonic smiled back, having total confidence in his friends. "Have fun guys." He said before rushing at his typical speeds past the Badnik horde. Before they had a chance to respond or try and stop Sonic, Tails already opened fire on them with the Cyclone's guns and missiles, drawing their attention as Knuckles and Amy charged forward with battle cry.
'Let's hope Shadow and the others manage to disable the Eclipse Cannon.' Tails thought. 'Best to get that out of the way before something bad happens.'
Meanwhile, in another area of the Ark, the Ultimate Lifeform known as Shadow the Hedgehog continued to grind on the middle rail with his companions on the rails next to him. On his right was the playful yet deadly treasure hunter, Rouge the Bat. On his left was the former Badnik, now destroyer of all Eggman-robots, E-123 Omega.
The trio of Team Dark continued to grind across the twisting rails along the outside area of the Ark, getting closer to their target of the Eclipse Canon. But of course, their way was barred by six flying Aero-Chaser robots.
"Heads up!" Rouge warned as the robots readied their lasers, but Shadow already had his plan in place.
"Omega, destroy the three in front. Rouge, get me above them." He instructed.
"You got it." Rouge said with a smirk as she grabbed Shadows hands and flew him upward.
"Affirmative." Omega moved to the middle rail as the Aero-Chasers on the left and right fired their lasers, which he was able to avoid. Before the middle one, got a chance to fire, Omega activated his thrusters to move in close and gun it down with his machine guns. He then switched to his rockets and extend both his arms in the right and left directions to destroy the other two Aero-Chasers.
Before the back three moved in to take their place of their fallen, Rouge and Shadow already appeared above them as she flung him to the one in the middle, before performing his own Homing Attack to destroy it. Rouge then spun her body around to build up momentum before delivering a powerful kick to the face of the right Egg Aero-Chaser, decapitating it and sending it falling, leaving Shadow to drive a lance of red Chaos Energy into the chest of the final Aero-Chaser, destroying it.
The three came to the end of the twisting rail, allowing them to leap off and move toward a platform where a pack of Egg Gunners and Egg Pawns, with an E-2000 in the center, all aimed their weapons at them. However, Shadow and Omega already launched a volley of Chaos Spears and Missiles respectively to obliterate all but the E-2000, which Rouge tried to attack with a kick, but the E-2000 brought up its shield to block her attack before she leapt over its head to land behind it just as Shadow and Omega landed at her sides.
"Buh-bye." Rouge waved with a smirk, as the bomb she had placed at the back of the E-2000's head exploded, destroying it.
"All Eggman robots have been eliminated from the area." Omega reported. "Eclipse Cannon less than a kilometer ahead."
"Good, so keep going?" Rouge asked her team's leader, who didn't answer right away as he stared from the platform to the bright blue planet down below. "Hey, Earth-to-Shadow. You okay?"
"I'm fine." Shadow responded.
Rouge gave a brief, yet sympathetic sigh. "Hey, look. I get it's not exactly easy being back here. After… ya know, everything."
"There's nothing to say." Shadow said, turning back. "We need to focus on the mission, anything else can wait."
"Right, but when it's all done, you know you can talk to us, right?" Rouge offered. Shadow only gave a small nod in response, but it was all she needed to hear as a small smile formed on her face.
"Query. If the Eclipse Cannon is the most dangerous weapon present, why was it not simply destroyed beforehand?" Omega asked. "This way Eggman and others like him would not be able to use it again."
"Can't just blow the whole thing up without taking out the whole Ark." Rouge answered. "Best to disable it first, and then have GUN finally dismantle that damn thing."
"Agreed." Shadow said. While he still viewed the Ark as sacred ground, and he understood why the Eclipse Cannon had to be built, it was best to have it dismantled now that the main reason for its existence has long been destroyed. Aside from keeping a powerful weapon out of the hands of dangerous individuals, he knew deep down it is what she would have wanted.
"Let's keep moving." The Ultimate Lifeform instructed as he and the rest of Team Dark proceeded onward.
Meanwhile, at the Ark's control center of the Eclipse Canon, the overweight, bald, and mustached mad scientist known as Ivo Robotnik, as well as Dr. Eggman, continued to work at the central computer with his two robotic assistances present as well.
"All preparations are set, Doctor." Orbot said. "We'll be ready to proceed upon your word."
"Oh, this is so exciting!" Cubot exclaimed. "I wish I had a mouth and stomach, so I can eat loads of popcorn!"
"Good, good." Eggman rubbed his hands together anxiously with a mad grin on his face. "Now it's finally time to…"
"Give it up?"
All three whirled their heads around to see Sonic leaning casually at the entrance to the control room.
"Hey Eggman, been a while." Sonic casually waved. "How have you guys been since last I saw you?"
"Oh, we've been great, thanks for asking." Cubot replied. "In fact, we actually…!"
"Sshh!" Orbot shushed his fellow robot. "Don't give it away! Nobody likes spoilers!"
"Ah, Sonic." Eggman smirked at his nemesis. "So glad of you to join us. But it doesn't matter that you're here, you're still too late! The gears already turning! My latest genius plan is…!"
"Whoa, time-out." Sonic made a T with his hands, stopping Eggman's speech. "Before you start monologuing about your scheme, can I say something real quick?"
Eggman growled at the blue hedgehog, not too keen on being interrupted. "You're going to, anyway."
"Look, I actually like ya, Doc." Sonic began. "And by 'like ya', I mean I like destroying all your robots and saving the world from your grand delusions, but we've been at this forever. And I gotta tell ya… it's starting to get old."
"Pardon me?" Eggman questioned.
"I mean, there's already a pattern to this whole thing." Sonic continued. "You get this big idea to conquer the world and/or universe; you invent some crazy new contraption, or find a way to harness alien technology, cosmic energy, or some ancient Aztec whatever; I show up to try and stop you, sometimes bringing my friends along, even make new ones; we fight, big explosions; then when you and I go at it, whatever you've been messing around with proves to be too much for you to handle and ends up unleashing some kind of giant Lovecraftian monster or something that threatens to destroy the world and/or universe, and I gotta bust out the Chaos Emeralds and go gold to clean the mess you made, sometimes you even help out; then we get the big explosive finale and you run off shouting something like 'I'll be back, Sonic the Hedgehog', and we get a couple months off before we do the same thing all over again. Did I miss something?"
"Well, there was that whole incident with the Black Arms." Orbot added. "The Boss wasn't responsible for that mess."
"And Shadow was the one who went all gold and saved the world there." Cubot also added.
"True, but you get the idea." Sonic replied before turning back to Eggman. "Well Doc, what you say? As much as I loved our adventures together, after a while of the same thing, it starts to get really old. So, why don't we just skip the 'Final Boss' this time around and you come along quietly, and save us the apocalyptic-hassle? "
After a speech like that, one would think someone as short-tempered as Eggman would blow a fuse and threaten to pull out his own mustache in frustration. However, rather than throw a temper tantrum, Eggman said two words that the blue blur would never hear out of his nemesis' mouth.
"You're right."
"… Saywha?"
"You're right, Sonic." Eggman answered. "We've been doing this whole song-and-dance routine thing for years, and I'm just about sick of always loosing and wasting all that effort only for you to come tearing it down."
"So, you're actually gonna surrender this time?" Sonic asked.
"Hardly." Eggman scoffed. "I'm actually reconfiguring the Ark to serve as method of transportation." He then pressed a button on the console, causing a large metallic pillar-like device to rise from the center of the control room, revealing seven glowing colorful gemstones that Sonic recognized instantly. "With the power of the Chaos Emeralds, I'll be able to transport the entire Ark and my Egg Fleet to an entirely new world, and I'll use that as the new foundation for the Eggman Empire!" He declared with a maniacal laugh.
Sonic gave an annoyed sigh, rubbing his hand down his face. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. You do know I'm just gonna follow you and kick your butt there, right?"
"Oh, my beloved blue nemesis…" Eggman walked forward and leaned in close toward Sonic's face. "I'm counting on it."
Before Sonic even had a chance to respond, something attacked him. Something that moved at such insane speeds and carried him away from the control room, leaving Eggman alone with his robot helpers once more.
"Boss, are you sure about this? Transporting the Ark to an entirely new dimension?" Orbot asked. "We have no idea the damage the station could take from that."
"Not to mention this new world is really, really, really scary." Cubot shivered in place.
"I've never been more sure of anything!" Eggman declared as he began to type on the keypads at the console. "Beginning Chaos Energy extraction, activating Ark gyroscopes, commencing with Chaos Control protocol…!"
Team Dark continued to blast their way through more and more of Eggman's robots, with Shadow teleporting from Badnik to Badnik, destroying each mech with a single punch or kick, before landing on a long and winding bridge that stretched and curved in several directions. As Omega and Rouge continued to deal with the robots around him, Shadow took a moment to reminisce. This is the same spot where he fought Sonic, before they put aside their differences to stop the Ark's crashing into the Earth. Now here he was, helping Sonic once again with trying to stop Eggman for using the Ark for nefarious purposes. Funny how things work out.
His train of thought was interrupted as something hit him hard, sending him skidding across the ground as someone rolled along with him.
"That hurt…" Sonic groaned.
"Blue!" Rouge flew in with Omega arriving as well. "You good?"
"I'll live." Sonic pulled himself up before glancing down to look in surprise to see who he landed on. "Whops! Heh, sorry Shadow."
The black and red hedgehog only groaned in annoyance as he pulled himself up. "You were supposed to be dealing with Eggman."
"Well, I was…" Sonic said with a wince before glancing upward at the one who attacked him, with Team Dark following his actions. "But I ran into an old friend."
Hovering well above them was none other than the deadliest robot Eggman had ever created: Metal Sonic. And he also happened to bring with him at least thirty or so Egg Gunners, and the advanced Egg Buster version.
"Ah crap." Rouge cursed in annoyance.
Back with the rest of Sonic's friends, they continued to smash and destroy all the Badniks that came their way. Tails continued to man the Cyclone as he fired machine guns and rockets in several directions, reducing all the robots around him to scrap metal. The Cyclone was rocked by an explosion from behind, prompting Tails to turn around and see a group of three Egg-Guardians and two Egg-Cannons aiming all their heavy artillery at them.
"Activating Power Laser!" Tails pulled down on a lever in the cockpit, the front of the Cyclone opening up to reveal a large cannon that shot a massive energy beam from the Cyclone that shot at all five large robots. The middle three were engulfed in the massive laser and quickly destroyed, while the other two suffered irreparable damage as their sides were blasted off, resulting in them exploding.
Knuckles ran towards a group of Egg Pawns with an Egg Hammer behind them. He threw out his fists to smash through each of their heads and chests, destroying each Egg Pawn before focusing on the Egg Hammer.
"Come on! Let's go!" Knuckles taunted as the Egg Hammer lifted its massive weapon, which Knuckles dodged by running underneath its lower body just as the hammer was brought down before he swiftly turned around and threw out both his fists for a powerful shove that knocked the Egg Hammer off the edge of the platform and into the abyss of space below.
Amy gave a cry as she swung her Piko-Piko hammer into the side of an Egg-Gunner, crushing it before leaping up toward an incoming flapper to bring her hammer down onto it and send it crashing to the ground. She happened to land in the middle of a group of Egg-Gunners, Egg Knights, and Egg-Fighters, but before they even attacked, Amy spun her hammer around rapidly with enough force to generate a brief tornado, which expanded to knock back all the robots and send them flying and falling off the edge.
"See ya next fall! Amy waved to the falling robots, but she saw something that made her look a little worried. "Um guys… is the Ark moving?"
Knuckles and Tails had destroyed the last of the Badniks when they heard Amy's call for concern. They both looked over the edge to see what appeared to be the Earth being moved, at least from their perspective. But in reality, it appeared that the Ark was indeed moving. If one could see the whole space station, they would understand that it was slowly spinning downwards as the Eclipse Cannon was being pointed away from the planet.
"Why the heck is the Ark moving?" Knuckles questioned. "What's Eggman doing?"
Tails then picked up a sudden alert from inside his cockpit and pulled out his tablet-like device, the Miles Electric, and saw something that made him gasp in shock.
"Tails? What is it?" Amy asked in worry.
"A massive surge of Chaos Energy has been detected!" Tails informed. "Something this big could only mean that Eggman has the Chaos Emeralds, all of them!"
"But Sonic should have been there by now!" Knuckles stated.
Tails immediately accessed the comns channel. "Sonic! Sonic! Are you there?!"
"Yeah… just a little busy!" They herd Sonic's pained grunts as he appeared to be fighting someone. "Ran into Metal… I'm with Shadow and his pals just gotta… Ugh!" The transmission was cut off, but the group got the gist of it.
"We should get over there!" Amy stated. "Help Sonic and the others take down Metal Sonic , then we can go after Eggman together!"
"She's right Tails. Whatever Eggman's planning, we stand a better chance of stopping him as a team." Knuckles agreed.
"Yeah, I've already called in the shuttle. It'll get us to Sonic's location faster." Tails said.
In a few seconds, a red, streamline, triangular shaped vessel, flew toward them and hovered on the side of the platform they were standing on. The door on its side automatically opened, allowing Amy and Knuckles to enter before it closed. Tails then converted the Cyclone into its plane mode and flew out to re-attach it to the bow of the ship. Once it was re-attached, a dome encompassed the cockpit to better protect Tails to the vacuum. He then took the controls and flew to Sonic's location as fast as the ship could go.
Rouge flew out toward a group of flying Egg Gunners and Egg Busters, swiftly and gracefully avoiding the gunfire and missiles before spinning around to shove her feet through the chest of an Egg Buster, she then pulled her feet out and brought her right leg down to chop the right missile-arm off the now destroyed and falling robot. Rouge grabbed her newfound weapon and flew to get some distance, before opening fire with the missile-arm to blast away all the flying robots.
Omega shot himself toward a group of Egg Gunners, his own armor plating easily taking their gunfire before he made it to the central robot, obliterating it with a single punch before spreading out his arms to fire his own machine guns and tear through the remaining robots like tissue paper.
"Must destroy all Eggman robots!" The last of the E-100 series declared.
As the run-of-the-mill Badniks were being dealt with, Sonic and Shadow were busy dealing with the deadliest one of all. The two hedgehogs raced against Metal Sonic along the winding path, the robotic doppelganger appearing at the lead, but it wasn't long before Sonic caught up with him, blasting at him with a homing attack, but Metal Sonic swiftly dodged it and grabbed Sonic's leg as he was about to pass him. Metal then spun around rapidly, dragging Sonic with him before letting go to send him flying.
Metal was then struck in the back by Shadow, knocking him off the path, but Metal Sonic quickly flew back upwards and zoomed away with Shadow giving pursuit. The black hedgehog quickly caught up to him and threw out a series of Chaos Spears, but Metal quickly activated his Black Shield to protect himself from the attack. When he deactivated the shield, Shadow had caught up and lashed out with a volley of quick punches and kicks, but Metal reacted to all of them with perfect precision, using his metallic hands to block and parry each strike before going on the offense himself, striking Shadow with a swipe to the face, followed by a roundhouse kick to knock him back.
"Hey!" Metal was hit on his head by a homing attack from Sonic, disorienting him. "Don't forget about me!" With his robot double dizzy for a moment, Sonic laid out a series of homing attacks to strike Metal Sonic in all directions and send him skidding along the ground as Shadow recovered.
"Let's get him in the cross hairs while he's down!" Sonic called out, to which Shadow nodded. Both hedgehogs leapt into the air and prepared to strike him with a double homing attack, but before their attacks struck, Metal Sonic had recovered and super-charged his own internal circuits to unleash his V. Maximum Overdrive Attack. A massive and powerful energy field surged around Metal just as Sonic and Shadow struck, shocking them both and the force of the impact sending them both crashing across the ground in a smoking heap.
"Damn it…" Shadow cursed as he and Sonic attempted to recover, knowing Metal would have to recover from that attack as well. He happened to glance over the edge and looked in surprise to see the Earth was no longer in view. The only way that would be possible was if the Ark was moving, but why would Eggman move the Ark?
"You were with the Doctor." The Ultimate Lifeform got Sonic's attention. "What did he say his plan was? I'm certain he told you, the ego-maniac that he is."
Sonic winced, knowing Shadow wouldn't like the answer. "Well… he has all seven Chaos Emeralds and is planning on using them to transport the entire Ark and his whole fleet to another world."
"What?!" Shadow exclaimed in shock and anger, but they had little time to dwell on that as Metal Sonic had fully recovered and went on the attack again.
Control Room
"The Ark is in position, Boss." Orbot reported from a small console. "The coordinates are locked, and the Eclipse Cannon is primed and ready."
"Time to say bye-bye to Kansas!" Cubot added.
"Ho, ho, ho, ho!" Eggman laughed eagerly. "Then let's not keep my future subjects waiting! FIRE!" He slammed his fist down on the button that would trigger it all. The seven Chaos Emeralds began to glow brightly, a powerful aura of pure energy surged around them and throughout the entire system of the control room. Orbot and Cubot shook with fear as many of the computers were starting to short-circuit, but Eggman wasn't worried, in fact he looked more excited than ever before.
Outside, the Eclipse Cannon opened as it charged up with bright green energy, just before it shot out a massive beam that appeared to be heading straight into deep space. However, it didn't get very far before the beam stopped and opened a massive portal that was about as big as the Ark itself, if not bigger. The portal acted somewhat similar to a black hole as a powerful vortex began to suck up everything into it.
The first to be pulled into the portal were all of Eggman's ships form his fleet, followed by the Ark that was slowly being pulled into the vortex as well.
Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega tried to brace themselves and resist the pull as they saw the portal from even their position. Metal Sonic saw that the portal was up, which means it was time to get inside. He shot back towards the Ark as Sonic and Team Dark almost lost their footing.
"What in the hell is that?!" Rouge shouted.
"It is a massive distortion of space-time, not too dissimilar from Chaos Control." Omega reported. "Likely the result of Eggman channeling the power of the Chaos Emeralds through the Eclipse Cannon."
"Thanks for that, Professor Omega!" Sonic shouted sarcastically.
"Sonic!" They all heard Tails' voice call to them via a set of speakers as the Cyclone-controlled shuttle flew down towards them. The bay door opened up on the side as Tails called to them again. "Get inside! Now!"
Nobody disagreed with the young fox as Sonic and Shadow both leapt into the doorway with Omega and Rouge following them. Once they were inside, joining Knuckles and Amy, Tails closed the door and took the controls of the vessel, hoping to fly away and get some distance.
However, by the time they had flown out, the Ark was already half-way through the massive portal, with the strong vacuum pulling the much smaller vessel into the portal just as the Ark itself was completely submerged.
With that, the portal had closed shut, disappearing entirely, leaving nothing but the dead quiet of space.
The heroes braced themselves inside the shuttle, all kinds of bright neon-colored lights could be seen from outside. It was so bright they had to close their eyes, even Omega shielded his optics with his arms. Tails gripped the controls of the Cyclone so tight that his knuckles could turn white. So many theories about what was going on were filling his head, but he was unable to properly think in this insane circumstance. None of them could speak as whatever force was pulling them across space-time, emitted a high-pitched noise that drowned out any kinds of sound from around them.
A single planet floated peacefully in the vast emptiness of space. At first glance, one could mistake this planet for Earth; it was mostly oceans with several differently shaped continents, but it was not Earth. The continents were shaped differently if one got a closer look, especially a black continent that was shaped like a dragon. But what made this world stand out was its moon, and the fact that it appeared almost shattered; half of it appeared broken into pieces that floated around it and remained in perfect orbit with the rest of the moon.
Suddenly, the serenity was interrupted by a bright neon green flash that lit up the void like a sun had suddenly come into existence. The light vanished to reveal Space Colony Ark, having now positioned itself in orbit of this new world.
While most of the Egg Fleet remained close to the Ark, the shuttle piloted by Tails and containing the rest of his friends spun out of control and appeared to be heading toward the planet.
Back inside the control room, nearly everything had short circuited and shut down, save for a few monitors that reported the damage. The Chaos Emeralds remained where they were in the pillar, only now they were no longer bright and colorful, but pitch black, indicating they were completely drained of energy. Eggman sat in the command chair while Orbot addressed the damage, with Cubot floating all around the control room in a panicked state.
"That was crazy! I thought we were gonna die! Are we dead?! Is this Heaven?!" Cubot exclaimed, only for Orbot to come up and slap him in the face.
"Don't be ridiculous." Orbot told him. "We're still in the Ark and fully functional. And even if we did die, this can't be Heaven, because Eggman is here."
"Oh right." Cubot calmed down. "No way he's going to Heaven if he ends up kicking the bucket."
"I'm sitting right here, ya know!" Eggman exclaimed, startling Orbot and Cubot. "Report status!"
Orbot looked at one monitor. "Nearly all the Ark's systems, including the Eclipse cannon, have been overloaded. But life support remains functional. The Chaos Emeralds are also drained of all their energy, it'll be quite some time before they regain their power, maybe even a couple weeks."
"That's fine." Eggman waved off. "We did just transport a moon-sized space station and my entire fleet to an entirely different dimension. What about Metal Sonic?"
"In the Ark." Orbot reported, getting a lock on Metal's signal. "He is fully functional."
"Good, wouldn't want anything to happen to my favorite weapon of mass destruction." Eggman sneered.
Cubot looked over to a monitor that showed the broken moon in this planet's orbit. "And there's the broken moon! Looks like we made it!"
"Yes, it appears our transportation was a success." Orbot said. "The Ark is in the planet's orbit, and it looks like the Egg Fleet is undamaged."
Eggman stepped up from his chair and looked at the monitor that flickered but showed the planet below. "Hello Remnant." Eggman smiled evilly. "Oh, the plans I've got for you. He, he, he, ha, ha, ha! Ha! Ha! HA!" Eggman's signature laugh echoed throughout the control room.
Tail's shuttle continued to spiral out of control as the planet's gravity pulled it toward the surface, the vessel was already catching fire as it entered the atmosphere.
"Come on! Come on!" Tails desperately tried to get his ship to stabilize from the Cyclone-cockpit, but the engines and steering were completely unresponsive. "We took too much damage in that portal! Everyone, brace for impact!"
Inside the vessel; Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Shadow, and Omega tried to brace and steady themselves however they could when suddenly, the windows began to crack up front just as the engines in the back began to overheat from the re-entry, threatening to explode. Both the windows and engines gave out at the same time. The ship was being torn apart just as a vacuum-like force threaten to suck away everyone in the cockpit.
Omega dug his feet and hands into the ground as Amy and Rouge held onto his arms to keep from flying, Knuckles punched the right wall and dug his own fist into it while Shadow did the same on the left wall, closer to the back. However… Sonic was not so lucky, being the closest to the window, the suction force pulled him out of the vessel, much to his friends' shock.
"SONIC!" Amy cried out, trying desperately to reach out to him, but he was already too far gone.
From outside, Sonic fell through the dark clouds and away from the flaming vessel that continued to spiral away in the opposite direction, right before it exploded even more and broke apart, much to his horror.
"No! Guys!" Sonic called out, but the dark clouds had already obscured his vision and he completely lost sight of them.
Before he knew it, he fell out of the clouds and saw that the ground below was coming at him really fast. No time to plan a safe landing, Sonic curved himself up into a ball and used the momentum and gravity to his advantage as he spun around like his signature Spin Dash, bracing himself just before he impacted the ground, and everything went black.
There was a loud ringing in his ear as his eyes slowly fluttered open. How long had he been out? It was hard to tell as he didn't get a good look at the environment around him before landing, or rather crashing. Sonic groaned as he tried to pull himself up, shaking off the flickies that flew around his head before his vision cleared up.
Taking the time to assess his body first, Sonic certainly felt sore and probably had some bruises even a few cuts, but nothing serious. None of his bones felt broken, so whatever injuries he had would heal rather quickly, which was a relief. He noticed the ten-foot-deep crater he was in and quickly climbed out to get a good look at his surroundings.
"And that makes two times I fell from orbit, courtesy of Eggman." Sonic muttered to himself. "I'll be sure to pay him back for that. Where am I, anyway?"
It was currently nighttime, evident by all the stars in the sky above him. He also appeared to be in the middle of a forest of some sort. The trees and plants that he could see appeared to be similar, if not identical, to his world.
"Hey Tails, you read me?" Sonic tried to access the comn in his ear, but he felt a crunch with his finger. He quickly pulled out the small comn device to see it was totally scrapped. "Ah nuts." Deciding to get a better vantage point, Sonic leapt to a nearby tree branch and leapt upwards from branch-to-branch till he reached the top.
From here, Sonic could see that the apparent forest he was in stretched in all direction with almost no end in sight, save for a clearing to his west. "For an alien world, it seems pretty Earth-like. No idea how long I was out, or how far away the ship crashed, but I think I could search the whole area if I…"
His musings were cut off by the faint sounds of screaming in the direction of the west-bound clearing. He quickly leapt back down to the ground and sped his way to the source of the screams. Sonic then appeared at the top of a cliff that overlooked a valley with a rather large village in the center, that appeared to be walled off with wooden gates and barriers and was surrounded and invaded by all kinds of monster-like creatures that broke through the gates and walls. He couldn't quite see the monsters from his location, but he could scarcely make out moving patches of black and white, as well as hear the monster-like growls, even a wolf-like howl.
"Tails and the others have been through worse before; they can handle themselves. Those people look like they're in trouble." Sonic prioritized. "Might even get a clue where I am. Time to save the day." He sped in the direction of the besieged village.
"RUN! EVERYONE INSIDE! CREATURES OF GRIMM HAVE BREACHED THE WALLS!"
Several people ran inside their houses and barred the doors shut as dozens of monsters had invaded and ran through the village. Most of them had the appearances of werewolves, others took the form of large bears; but they all shared the same black fur, bone-white outer armor, and evil red eyes.
"BEOWOLVES AND URSAS!" One man with a shotgun exclaimed as he and several other people armed with guns and spears tried to fight them off, but they found themselves outnumbered as they fell back to the center of the village, where a wounded mother, who was unable to get to her home, was clutching her frightened young girl. The people could only look in terror as they were surrounded by the Creatures of Grimm, and this terror caused appeared to have caused the Grimm to grow even more excited.
"Mommy…" The little girl looked to her mother in terror.
"I'm sorry baby…" The mother clutched her child tightly as she, and the armed men and women, prepared for the end.
Suddenly, a blue whirlwind encircled around the people, preventing the Grimm from getting in any closer. They, and all the people looked around in surprise before the wind stopped and the mother and her child looked toward the source of the phenomenon.
"My, that's a whole new batch of ugly." Sonic commented with a grin.
Before the people, or even the Grimm, made a move; Sonic was already on it. He struck with a Homing Attack toward a Beowulf, crushing its skull in one hit before zipping his way over to another to do the same, and then back and forth around the circle to crush and obliterate all the Grimm in this area of the village, blasting his way through the chest of the last Beowulf of the group, leaving a gaping hole in its chest before it disintegrated into black vapor.
"Everyone alright?" Sonic turned back to all the people, who could only look with wide and circular eyes. "You all get inside somewhere; I'll clear out the rest of the village!"
"B-But…" The man at the front was too slow as Sonic was already gone, leaving a trail of blue energy as he made his way all around the village. Every man and woman in this area were left completely speechless, save the little girl in her mother's arms as she could only look in wonder, a sense of hope filling her being.
Sonic ran at his usual speed, a blue aura surging around him as the force of his momentum bashed away every Grimm he came into contact with, sending them flying into the air to crash down hard on the ground with enough force to disintegrate. He noticed a trio of Ursai cornering a group of people. Sonic struck with a Spin Dash through the center Ursa's back, shooting himself straight through. He then turned to the other two, before they had a chance to strike, Sonic spun around to unleash his Blue Tornado attack, creating a vortex that pulled both Ursai up into the air before he leapt up to deliver a series of airborne Homing Attacks to destroy the two Ursai before they even hit the ground. He landed to the group of shocked villagers and gave them a smile, wink, and finger-salute before moving on to the rest of the village.
The blue Hedgehog ran on the rooftops of the buildings to see several Beowolves trying to claw their way inside to the people taking shelter. He immediately went to action, using his Homing Attacks again to strike the nearest Beowolf before moving on to the next, and the next, and the next, until the roofs were completely clear. He moved back to the ground to strike a Homing Attack into the back of the head of one Ursa, crushing its skull and killing it before facing off with a second.
"Hey there, tall dark and gruesome. Let's play tag. You're it." Sonic snickered. The Ursa roared as it swiped its claw at Sonic, but he swiftly avoided it as he jogged backwards with the Ursa chasing after him with a roar. "Such witty banter. Come on, move those stubby legs." He ducked under another swing. "Let's go, swing batta-batta-batta… swing?" He blinked in surprise, upon realizing that he had just backed himself near a water well and into a small pack of three Beowolves and another Ursa. "Yeah, okay. This one's on me."
All five Grimm leapt at him, hoping to gang up on him with a pounce. However, they looked in surprise to see that their prey was no longer there, only the well he had backed into. They heard a whistle, catching their attention to another nearby well.
"Hedgehog, noun. A burrowing animal." Sonic mocked, having just went through the village's well-system in a matter of seconds. He then leapt toward the wall of the nearest stone building and leapt vertically to the other, back and forth, crisscrossing through the five Grimm several times to finish them off, leaving only the evaporating dust in his path.
"Who's next? Who wants more the blue?" Sonic called out to any possible remaining Grimm. He got an answer in the form of a massive black feather that was shot in front of him like a dart. "Yikes!" He yelped in surprise, the feather piercing the ground less than a foot in front of him. He looked up in surprise to see a large black bird with a skull face circling the entire village. "Whoa, they got a flyer."
"Look out!" Someone from the nearest building called to him. "That's a Nevermore! Its feathers can slice right through you!"
Sonic looked at the feather that was in front of him as an idea came to mind. He then called out to the circling Nevermore. "Hey, Tweety! My grandma has better aim than you!"
The Nevermore gave an angry caw in response before launching several more spear-like feathers from its wings straight at Sonic. But he stood his ground before creating another Blue Tornado around him, generating a powerful vortex that pulled in all the feathers. Sonic then picked up his own pace, causing the winds of his Blue Tornado to move even faster.
"Return to sender!" Sonic stopped his tornado at the right angle, shooting all the feathers back up at the Nevermore, piercing through its wings and body, causing it to screech out in pain as it fell toward the ground. Deciding to make sure it was down for good, Sonic leapt to a rooftop and watched as the Nevermore fell closer jumping and striking with a Homing Attack and unleashing a dozen of them all over the injured Nevermore before finishing off with a leap into the air and a falling axe-kick to the back of the Nevermore's neck, cracking it and finally destroying the monster. It had already turned to dust by the time Sonic landed on the ground to dust his hands.
"That all of them?" He did a quick run through village and around its perimeter before getting to the center where most of the people all gathered. "Yep, that's all."
"Y-You… destroyed that Pack… even a Nevermore… all by yourself…" The man who was apparently the leader of the village in looked in awe.
"I've had worse odds." Sonic said. "Your village doesn't look too bad, but that wall could use some work. But there are no casualties, so your people are safe."
"T-Thank you… thank you so much!" The leader praised. "How can we repay you?"
"I didn't see any communications equipment around your village, do you know if there's a city or something nearby that might?" Sonic asked. 'If this world has a city.'
The village leader looked in confusion. "Um… the City of Vale is the only place nearby…"
"Vale, huh? Okay, where is it? How far?" Sonic asked but saw the look of confusion on the leader's face. "Yeah, I'm not from around here."
"Oh… Vale's mountain borders are about three hundred miles west of here." The village leader answered. "We can try and arrange a transport…"
"Nah, I'm good." Sonic said with a wave. "Catch ya later, stay safe!"
"Wait!" He turned to see the same little girl he saved with her mother as she gave a friendly wave and a smile. "Thank you! Thank you for saving us!"
Sonic gave a smile and wave back before speeding off in the westward direction, leaving a blue trail behind him before it vanished.
After a few minutes, the people began to try and repair the damage done to their village. But suddenly, a large spotlight was shined down on the center of the village, getting everyone's attention.
"All citizens, please clear the area! We are landing!" The pilot of a large aerial transport announced as several people cleared the center, allowing the ship to land. The side doors opened to reveal a quartet of people stepping into the village. This group composed of two men and two women, and they were all dressed in a similar white and blue attire.
The leader of the group was a light-skinned man short brown hair, and teal green eyes. He also wore a four-leaf clover badge on his uniform. On his right was a large, muscular, tan-skinned woman with brown hair and brown eyes. On the woman's right was a thin man with pale skin, very short gray hair and blue eyes; he also had a third-eye tattoo on his forehead and one on his chin. On the leader's left was a shorter woman with brown skin, dark pink eyes, and a mohawk of brown and blonde hair.
"Who here is the head of this village?" The leader of the group asked.
"I-I am…" The man stepped forward and recognized the group instantly. "Y-You're from Atlas… right?"
"We are. We're the Ace Operatives. My name is Clover Ebi, and this is my team." The leader apparently named Clover introduced. "Elm Ederne, Vine Zeki, and Harriet Bree."
"I've heard of you… you're one of the best teams of Huntsmen in all of Atlas!" The leader stated.
"We're the best team in all of Atlas." Harriet said with a smirk, but a slight 'ahem' from Vine, caused her to straighten out, though she still maintained her smirk.
"We were called in to deal with a rather large horde of Grimm that have been plaguing this area of Sanus close to Vale." Clover continued. "We've already finished sweeping out most of the Grimm in the area, your village was the last place reported. We're here to assist with any defenses you may have."
"Um… Thank you for the offer but… someone already came by and took care of the Grimm." The village leader revealed, much to the Ace Ops' surprise.
"Someone else?" Elm wondered aloud.
"Another team of Huntsmen?" Clover asked the leader.
"No, sir. It was just one."
"A single Huntsmen dealt with an entire pack of Grimm?" Clover continued to ask. "Sir, could you please describe what happened?"
"Well… a large pack of Grimm attacked our village." The leader began. "There were maybe a three dozen Beowolves and a dozen Ursas, even a Nevermore. But this… Faunus arrived. I think he was a type of rodent, with blue fur."
"A rodent-Faunus with blue fur." Vine muttered.
"What kind of weapons did he carry?" Clover asked.
"He didn't have any weapons." The leader replied, causing the Ace Ops to look in complete and utter surprise.
"No weapons?!" Harriet questioned.
"What of his Semblance?" Clover asked again.
"I… I think it was a speed-type of Semblance." The leader tried to describe it as best as he could. "He moved so fast it was insane! All around the village in seconds, clearing out every Grimm he saw! Even when the Nevermore launched its feathers at him, he sped so fast he made a tornado that sucked up the feathers and thew them right back at it!"
Vine, Harriet, and Elm looked toward each other as the village leader continued to recount the events as Clover listened intently.
"He then asked about Vale, and I told him where it was, and he left." The leader finished.
"Did he have some form of transportation?" Clover asked.
"No, he ran in the direction of Vale."
Now even Clover's professional appearance had almost completely broken.
"He… ran to Vale?" Elm repeated, wanting to make sure she heard that right.
"That's right." The leader confirmed.
"Hold on!" Harriet walked up to him. "You're telling me that this, completely random stranger, took down an entire horde of Grimm, including a Nevermore, single handedly, and not only won; but is even trying to get to Vale with his Semblance alone!?"
"Harriet…" Clover pulled her back slightly, trying to get her to calm down.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!" The leader stated. "Ask anyone in the village, we all saw it!"
"It's alright, I believe you." Clover raised his hand and gave an assuring nod. "Do you know how long ago he left?"
"About four minutes ago." The leader answered.
"Understood." Clover turned back to his team. "Ace Ops, prepare to move out." With that, Harriet, Vine, and Elm climbed back into the Manta as the pilot prepared to take off, but Clover wasn't quite done yet. "Sir." He got the leader's attention, but the leader looked in surprise to see Clover bowing his head. "My deepest apologies for not arriving sooner. Things could have been really bad for your village, and we should have been here faster. So please, allow me to express my apologies."
The leader of a small and remote village could never have expected such a high-ranking Atlesian Huntsman to actually bow his head and apologize to him. But the leader didn't carry any kind of grudge.
"My village is safe, even if it wasn't by you, it's all that matters to me."
"I understand. Good luck with everything in the future." Clover said as he straightened out and got back into the Manta. It took off soon after and left the village.
"Pilot, head in the direction of Vale." Clover instructed the man in the cockpit. "And keep an eye out for a blue rodent Faunus."
"Rodger." The pilot acknowledged.
"Sir, what is our next move?" Vine asked.
"We are going to look for this mystery-Huntsman." Clover answered. "Get some answers."
"If he was able to destroy a horde of Grimm by himself, he must be a strong one." Elm commented. "And if his Semblance is capable of getting him to Vale…"
"There's no way!" Harriet interrupted. "Even if his speed is superior to mine, he can't run three hundred miles without completely draining his aura!"
"Not to mention the possibility of running into another pack of Grimm." Vine added.
"Exactly." Clover nodded. "If we find him and he's in trouble, we'll help him. So let me make this clear, we are only looking for answers. He saved a village, so I don't think this individual is hostile. If he's cooperative, we'll treat him with respect."
"And if he's not?" Harriet questioned.
"Then we detain him." Clover said. "Whoever this person is, we need to know more about him."
Sonic had already crossed more than fifty miles through the forest before making it out to a large valley, where he could already see the mountains rather far away. He honestly would have been at the mountains sooner, but he ended up running into more of those Grimm-monsters on his way there. Though there wasn't nearly as many as that one horde at the village, he didn't want to risk them attacking anyone else, so he dealt with them.
Now he sat on a treetop just outside the valley, looking up at the night sky and the shattered moon above him to try and recollect his thoughts on all that's happened.
"So, this is the world Eggman was coming too." Sonic voiced his thoughts aloud. "Seems pretty normal… except for the broken moon and all those monsters. I think they were called Grimm or something, well the name sure fits the build." Sonic had seen more than his fair share of monsters before, so he wasn't exactly scared of these Grimm, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. They actually reminded him a lot of those Knights of the Underworld from his time in Camelot, or even the Dark Gaia monsters he fought as the Werehog along with Chip.
"If there are more of those things out there; Tails and the others are probably going to run into them." Though Sonic was certain they could handle themselves, especially Shadow, it didn't mean he wasn't going to worry about them. "But why did Eggman come here? What does he want this time?" He gave a brief sigh. "I'll get my answers soon enough, but I better get to this Vale soon so I can contact the others."
He leapt down from the treetop and was about to speed his way along, that is until a large spotlight shined down on him, causing him to shield his eyes as he saw a large dropship hover in the sky above him and slowly descend. Sonic maintained a serious expression as the craft landed and the Ace Ops stepped out.
"So, you're the blue savior from that village back there?" Harriet questioned skeptically. "Funny, I thought you'd be taller."
Sonic said nothing and turned around, preparing to go on his way. "Hold on a moment, we're not trying to cause trouble, we just want to talk." Clover stepped forward. "You pulled quite the event back there. Saved an entire village from a horde of Grimm all by yourself, no weapons at all."
"I just saw some people in trouble and thought I'd lend a hand." Sonic replied.
"And you certainly left quite the impression." Clover commented. "Those people were practically praising you."
"You guys want something?" Sonic asked, getting right to the point.
"Straight to business, huh?" Clover replied before answering. "We just have some questions that we're hopping you'll answer. Like I said, we're not trying to cause trouble."
"Well, I'm kinda busy, got somewhere to be." Sonic said, gesturing backwards with his thumb in the direction he intended to travel to.
"Heading to Vale, I see." Clover acknowledged. "If you want, we can give you a lift, and have a chat along the way."
"No thanks, I can make do on my own. But thanks for the offer. Later." Sonic turned around and prepared to leave, but before he had the chance, Harriet had suddenly appeared in front of him. She had left a trail of yellow electricity behind her, her eyes briefly charged with the same energy before turning back to their natural color.
'So she's pretty fast.' Sonic thought to himself.
"We tried being friendly, but I'm gonna get straight to the point too." Harriet said in a strict tone. "In case you hadn't figured it out yet, we're the Ace Ops. As in, the best team of Huntsmen in all of Remnant. We've taken on all kinds of Grimm and other dangerous people, so if you're thinking about getting any funny ideas about shaking us off…" She leaned in close with narrowed eyes and a challenging grin. "Think again."
"Harriet…" Clover tried to talk her down, but Sonic beat him to it as he had a grin of his own.
"Best of the best, you say? Then how about a bet?" He challenged.
"Excuse me?" Harriet's eyes narrowed even further.
"I'll race ya to those mountains." Sonic began. "If you guys manage to catch me before I get there, I'll tell you everything I know. No harm, no foul. But if I make it before you guys do, I'll handle my business my way."
While Harriet looked more than ready to accept the challenge, it ultimately fell to her leader's decision as Elm and Vine looked toward Clover. "If you want to play it like that, then fine. But you better hold your end if we catch you."
"You can forget 'if'." Harriet stated.
Sonic's smirk only grew before he made a run for it, heading straight to the mountain range surrounding Vale as the Ace Ops quickly mounted the Manta.
"Pilot, go after him!" Clover ordered.
"Yes, sir!" The pilot had already powered up the Manta as it took to the air before flying off after the speeding blue hedgehog.
"Keep your eyes on him, don't loose him!" Clover told the pilot before turning to his teammate. "There was no need to provoke him, Harriet!"
"He was gonna go off on his own, even after you told him to come with us!" Harriet argued.
Clover gave a brief sigh. "We'll talk later, right now we need to focus on catching him. Vine, you take the starboard side, I'll take port. We'll try to reel him from a distance."
"Understood." Vine nodded as the side doors to the flying Manta opened, with Clover and Vine taking the left and right sides respectively as Clover took out his weapon, Kingfisher.
The Manta flew close to the ground with Sonic just ahead, the spotlight trained on him. Sonic appeared to be moving close toward the starboard side. Vine saw this as his chance as his arms began to glow a sickly yellow, before his arms appeared to stretch out and get close to Sonic.
"Yow!" Sonic dodged one stretched limb that tried to grab him before swerving to the right to avoid another. He swerved left and right swiftly, avoiding each and every grab attempt.
'Not only can he match the speed of a manta, but he can also even maintain and change his direction without backlash. Most impressive. He must have a strong Aura.' Vine thought to himself.
Deciding to avoid the stretchy-limbs, Sonic shifted his position from the right to directly under the Manta and on the vessel's left side, not appearing to change his speed. However, Clover was prepared as he threw out Kingfisher, which appeared to be a metallic fishing rod as the line extended and the hook attempted to snag Sonic's feet, but he dashed forward as the line reeled back to Clover. Smirking slightly, Clover briefly flicked his thumb against his clover-pin before flinging the line at Sonic once again, this time the hook snagged on his ankle and pulled Sonic back.
"Got em!" Clover was about to reel him in, but Sonic already had a counter in mind. He spun his own body like a corkscrew to shake the hook off his ankle and land back on the ground and continue with his run, still maintain equal speed with the Manta. "What…?!"
Sonic's smirk had not vanished. 'A fishing rod, huh? I know a cat who's just as good with his.' He picked up his speed slightly to move ahead of the Manta.
"Sir, he… he escaped you?!" Elm questioned.
"But nothing can escape Clover's Good Fortune! It's impossible!" Harriet exclaimed.
"First time for everything it seems…" Clover said, still more than a little surprised himself. A serious look formed on his face as he turned to another of his teammates. "Elm, get on top. Fired controlled shots around him, try and force him closer to the ship."
"Yes sir." Elm nodded as she turned to Vine, who nodded back. She ran and leapt out from the starboard door of the Manta, but Vine was able to catch her with his Aura Vines and stretched them to place Elm on the roof of the Manta, where she rooted herself in with her Aura Roots before drawing her own weapon, Timber, which was in the form of a double-barrel rocket launcher.
She looked through her target scope and fired a single rocket at Sonic's left, forcing him to move toward the right before she fired another at his right, forcing him closer to the center and closer toward the Manta.
'I get what they're doing.' Sonic thought before he decreased his speed and moved under the Manta. Elm turned around, looking through her scope and expecting to see him behind the ship, but that was not the case.
"What in... I lost him!" Elm exclaimed. "Pilot, do you see him on the radar?!"
"No, ma'am!" The pilot reported over the comns.
"He couldn't have just vanished." Elm said, looking around. "Where could he..?"
"Ahem." She turned around and looked down with wide and circular eyes to see he was standing casually behind her, on top of the Manta as well.
"Hiya." He waved in a friendly fashion. Acting on pure instinct, Elm's Timber converted into its hammer mode and she swung it at him, but Sonic jumped back to avoid it. "Whoa, so that's a bazooka and a hammer? Awesome!" He said with a grin.
"Thank you." Elm smiled back, taking pride in her weapon before swinging horizontally it at Sonic again, but he leapt toward the rear of the ship to avoid the swing. "You're pretty quick too."
"Quick enough to know you're not actually trying to hit me with that thing." Sonic replied.
"No, but I thought it might discourage you a little. I don't like hitting little guys." Elm said.
"Totally cool of you." Sonic said with approval. "But even if you were serious, I don't think you could hit me." He ran towards Elm as she tried to swing at him again, but Sonic limboed and slid underneath the swing and stopped just over the cockpit. "And that's not me being cocky or anything, I just got lots of experience avoiding girls with hammers." He said before jumping of from the front of the Manta and resuming his run, speeding ahead slightly and moving toward a rockier area as they were nearing the mountains.
"He's playing with us." Elm stated as she climbed back inside the ship from the upper hatch near the cockpit.
"Oh, nobody treats the Ace Ops like chumps!" Harriet growled. "Let me catch him, sir!" She told Clover. "I can use the speed of the Manta to boost my Semblance. I'll use the terrain to outpace him and grab him before he hits the next clearing!"
"Harriet, if you push your Super-Speed too far for too long, you know it will drain your Aura." Clover told her.
"Then I'll catch him before then! You know I got the best speed Semblance around, let me use it!" Harriet stated.
Clover gave a brief nod. "Go."
Harriet then moved to the port side of the Manta and took a stance like a professional track runner. Yellow electricity surged around her before she smirked and leapt from the ship and sped off the moment that she hit the ground, leaving a trail of electricity behind her as she ran.
Just as Sonic entered the area of rocks, he glanced behind to see Harriet was catching up to him. "So, you want an actual race, huh? Okay, let's go!" He told her before picking up his speed a little bit with Harriet chasing after him.
From a bird's eye view, one could see a blue wind-like surge being chased by one of yellow electricity, both maintaining an equal amount of speed. Sonic ran up a curved rock-wall and bounced from rock-to-rock, while Harriet sped underneath him, trying to push her speed even farther and beat him to the next rock just as he made contact. She ran up it and prepared to grab him, but he leapt over her and fell in an upside-down position, making brief eye-contact as he still smirked, which caused her to scowl even more before he flipped in the air and landed on the ground to speed along just as she leapt from her position and flipped in the air herself to land and continue her pursuit.
Sonic weaved through a lone line of rocks and boulders, leaving a curving s-like trail while Harriet sped up one rock and leapt from rock-to-rock, pushing her speed further. However, the more she pushed her speed, and the faster she went, the more her Aura drained. Too much strain and her Aura would shatter, but taking such risks was part of the job and she would never fail her duty. Harriet leapt to the ground and was about to catch up with her quarry. She would catch him no matter what. However, once she caught up to him, she saw something that almost hade her stop in her tracks as she audibly gasped.
"WHAT?!"
It was the blue hedgehog, running backwards. He was running backwards! His arms crossed, the same a confident and unflinching smirk was practically glued to his face.
"I… what in… how in… what in the actual hell…?!" Harriet stuttered.
"Harriet!" She heard Clover call to her as the Manta descended to her level. "Come aboard now!"
"I can still catch him!" She called back.
"That's an order! You're Aura's almost completely drained!" Clover ordered.
Already, her pink-colored aura was starting to flicker. It felt like it could snap and shatter at any moment. So, with great reluctance, Harriet used one final speed boost to leap up toward the Manta where Elm caught her and helped her inside just before she collapsed in exhaustion.
"Just what… the hell… is he?!" Harriet said in between breaths.
"Sir, we're nearing Vale's mountain border." The pilot reported. "If he gets in there, we won't be able to find him."
Clover made his way to the cockpit and looked out the window to see a pass in the mountains was coming up and their target was heading right toward it. Playtime is over, if they were going to catch him, it was now or never.
"Fire your missiles at the mountain, cut off his path." Clover ordered the pilot.
"Yes sir."
The Manta fired a volley of missiles that shot over the surprised Sonic and flew towards the sides of the mountain pass before exploding and causing a rockslide from both ends that threaten to close off the path.
'Either he'll stop or be forced to change directions, which should slow him down enough for us to catch him.' Clover thought. 'There's no way he can clear past that rockslide in time. This time, we've got him for sure.'
However, Sonic did the exact opposite of what Clover had hopped. He didn't stop or even slow down, he sped up! He moved with such speed that the second he reached the pass before the rocks hit, the Sound Barrier shattered, creating a large enough shockwave that it blew away all the rocks and boulders in all directions; several were heading toward the manta.
"BRACE YOURSELVES!" The pilot shouted as he pulled up on the Manta, flying straight upwards to avoid the flying rocks. Clover almost fell backwards but was able to catch the wall. Elm rooted herself to the ground and caught Vine, who stretched his Aura Limbs to the sides of the Manta as the doors closed. Harriet grabbed onto Vine's stretched right arm to avoid getting tossed back.
The pilot soon stabilized the Manta as everything calmed down and nobody was hurt, whether it was due to the pilot's skills, coincidence, or Clover's Good Fortune Semblance, anyone could guess, but nobody was complaining.
"Good work, pilot." Clover put a hand on the pilot's shoulder and gave a smile.
"Thank you, sir." The pilot nodded as Clover turned back to his team.
"Is everyone alright?"
"I'll live…" Harriet muttered.
"I'm okay." Elm said.
"We're fine, sir." Vine added.
"Good." Clover breathed a sigh of relief before they got back to the situation.
"What in the world just happened?" Elm questioned.
"That was a sonic boom." Vine said, his voice in slight awe. "He broke the sound barrier. No speed Semblance has ever accomplished anything like that before."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go after him!" Harriet stated.
"No." Clover shook his head, much to Harriet's surprise.
"No?!"
"He already made it into the mountains, we can't find him in there." Clover explained. "And with his speed, I think it's safe to say he probably made it into the city by now. If he was fast enough to surpass the speed of sound, there is nothing we have with us that can catch and contain him. And on top of that, we agreed to his terms."
"His terms?!" Harriet questioned.
"If we were to catch him before he reached the mountains, we would talk. But if he made it to the mountains first, he'd handle himself by himself." Clover recalled. "We agreed to that, and we lost. We need to honor our end."
"But…!?" Harriet tried to protest, but Elm interrupted her.
"Clover's right, and I don't think he was a bad guy." She said. "When I tried to catch him, it looked like he was having fun. Like actual genuine fun, even complemented my weapon."
"He even saved a village from a Grimm attack beforehand." Vine added. "I don't believe he has any malicious intentions either."
"So, we just let this go? Just forget about it?!" Harriet questioned.
"No, we don't forget about it." Clover told her. "I agree with Elm and Vine that I don't believe this individual is hostile; and like I said, we don't have a means to catch and detain him. That said, I would be a fool not to be concerned."
"Then what is our next step?" Vine asked.
"We get in touch with General Ironwood." Clover answered. "James will want to know about this."
Sonic had entered the City of Vale and appeared in a small business-like district as he sat on a rooftop over the street.
"Well, that was fun." He said to himself. "Those guys were pretty good; cool weapons and they even got some weird powers." He recalled how they said they were the best 'Huntsmen team in all of Remnant'. "The way they were talking though, it sounds like there are other people like them. Can everyone in this world do what they did?" He quickly discarded that theory, as those people in that village he saved didn't have any kinds of special weapons or powers. So not everyone was that skilled, but it did sound like there were a lot more people who could fight like that. People called 'Huntsmen'.
"Well, Eggman sure picked one heck of a world to try and conquer. These Huntsmen-guys certainly won't make it easy for them." He commented as he looked out at the city. "So, this is Vale? Seems pretty decent, looks a lot like a normal city back home."
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of glass shattering on the street just below. He looked down to see several men in black suits wielding red swords surrounding a girl who looked just barley in her teens. She wore a black and red dress with black tights and boots, along with a red hooded cape. He could also see she had black hair with red tips, but what really stood out was the large red mechanical scythe she carried casually over her shoulder.
She spun it around like a master before pointing it at the man who appeared in charge of the black-suited thugs, a man in a white suit and a black bowler hat with a cane in his hand and a cigar in his mouth.
"Get her!" The man ordered his thugs.
Sonic was about to step in and help, knowing these guys were likely trouble, but the girl already made a move first. Her blade dug in the ground, she held onto the pole and spun around to deliver both her feet into the face of the first man who charged her. She pulled out her weapon as she landed when the other men tried to attack her, but she pulled on a trigger and fired what appeared to be a large gun built into the scythe, giving it an extra boost as she swung her scythe to strike another goon and send him flying. As she spun it, she brought the back of her weapon down on the back of a third guy, slamming him face first into the pavement.
"Ouch…" Sonic winced slightly, but he also grinned at the show.
One goon pulled out a machine gun and shoot at her, but she zipped away with a boost of her own speed, dodging the gunshots before going on the attack herself to trip up the gun-wielding goon and dug her blade into the ground again to spin herself around and leap up to kick the falling man down before landing on her feet.
Sonic couldn't help but give an impressive whistle. "Nice, she's good. Got a little speed on her side too, and that scythe-thing is also wicked cool. Is she a Huntsmen? But she looks like a kid."
"Well, Red…" His attention was caught by the goon's boss as he faced the girl. "I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening." He dropped his cigar on the ground and squashed the bunt with his cane before aiming it at her. "And as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
His cane fired a large fire-like projectile at her, but she avoided it with a shot from her scythe that propelled her into the air just as the projectile exploded on the ground. She landed and looked to see the man had vanished.
The boss climbed up a fire-escape ladder to the top of a certain building, but just as he reached for the upper ledge, a gloved hand grabbed his own.
"Hey, need a hand?" Sonic said before spinning around, taking the boss with him before letting go to send him crashing into a smokestack, denting it. The man groaned as he pulled himself up to see the smirking hedgehog. "Snazzy little performance, ganging up on a kid like that."
"Mind your own business, Faunus boy!"
"Dude, that is the weirdest insult I've ever heard." Sonic commented, not knowing what the word 'Faunus' meant. Just then, the girl in red appeared on the rooftop as well, looking toward Sonic in surprise. "Hi there, nice little show back there by the way." He greeted casually.
"Um… thanks?"
However, their attention was caught by a large aerial transport that appeared over the side of the building, shinning a spotlight on both of them.
"Huh, déjà vu." Sonic commented. He knew it wasn't the same type of vehicle the Ace Ops had, but this was the second time tonight this thing had happened to him. The side door opened as the boss quickly climbed in before facing the pair with a smirk.
"End of the line, Red and Blue!" He held out a red crystal before throwing it at their feet.
"Really? He's throwing rocks?" Sonic questioned.
"Watch out! That's fire Dust!" The girl exclaimed.
"Fire what?!" Sonic questioned just as the man shot from his cane again at the crystal, causing it explode, almost encompassing the whole roof.
However, neither Sonic nor the girl were hurt as someone else had arrived on the scene. It was a woman with blonde hair, fair skin, green eyes under a pair of glasses. She wore a white long-sleeved top with a black and purple cape, a black pencil-skirt, black-brown stockings, and black boots. She held out what appeared to be a wand and projected from it a violet-colored glyph-like shield.
"Whoa…" Sonic looked more than a little impressed while the girl next to him was in awe.
She then flicked her wand to send several purple-colored bolts at the transport, shaking it up quite a bit and knocking the man back.
"We got a Huntress!" He told the pilot in the cockpit, who got up from her seat and forced him to take the controls.
The woman threw out her wand again to send a bolt over the plane, before a black storm cloud appeared over it, which began to rain down large ice-crystals over the vessels, further damaging it.
The three of them could scarcely make out a woman inside the ship as she stood just behind the open doorway. They couldn't see her face, but they saw her red skirt, long legs, and black heels. She then thrusted her palm forward to send a stream of fire the blonde woman's way, who conjured another shield to protect herself. The ground suddenly lit up and was about to explode, but Sonic quickly ran to carry her out of the way just before a column of flames arose from where she was standing.
"You good?" Sonic asked as he put her down.
"Yes." The woman answered simply before resuming her attack. She held out her wand to catch the fragments of the rooftop that explode it, spun the wand around to reform the fragments into a large javelin, which she shot at the craft; but the red-clad mystery woman inside thrusted her palms forward again to send scores of flames to break apart the javelin.
The blonde woman however quickly reformed her javelin again and shot it at the vessel, but it was angled so that it slid off the top and missed, but she was able to break the fragments apart again and form multiple chain-like constructs which spun around the vehicle to try and trap it.
'Dang, she could give Silver a run for his money.' Sonic thought.
However, the barrier was broken apart as a wave of fire and heat shot out from around the transport, incinerating the fragments. The younger girl choose to help as she converted her massive scythe into a medium-length rifle, which she shot at the vessel, but the woman inside seemed to block it with an invisible barrier; however, this gave Sonic an idea.
With the bad guys distracted, he used his speed to leap on the roof top behind the transport. He then leapt and delivered a Homing Attack at the right wing of the transport, dislodging part of it and causing the transport to careen out of control.
Sonic spun himself in the air and launched himself toward the open hatch to try and grab the bad guys inside, but the mystery-woman threw out both her arms to send a column of flame at him, forcing himself to Spin-Dash in mid-air and halt his attack. His Spin-Dash blew the flames around him so he wouldn't get charred, but he lost his momentum and fell back on the rooftop the girl in red and blonde woman were both standing on, where they watched as the transport crashed landed and skidded to a halt on the street below.
"Okay, I'll go get them before they make a run for it!" Sonic told his newfound allies before running off the rooftop to inspect the crash.
As the woman stared at his incredible feat of speed, she heard a slight squeal from the younger girl next to her. "You're a Huntress?! Can I have your autograph?!" She exclaimed with a wide grin and sparkling silver eyes.
Before she could make a response, Sonic appeared back on the rooftop. "Okay, so good news and bad news. Good news, the damage is only on the street, and no bystanders were hurt."
"That's a relief." The girl smiled as the woman gave a small nod.
"Bad news, the bad guys got away." Sonic revealed.
"Aw, what?" The girl complained, throwing her arms out.
"Yeah… just poof. Gone. No trace. Pretty weird." Sonic said before turning to the blonde woman. So, what now?"
Before they knew it, Sonic and the girl sat at a table in a dark room with a single light shined over them as the blonde woman gave a lecture. The girl had the decency to look ashamed, while Sonic appeared bored for the most part. Granted, he could have just ran off like he did with the Ace Ops, but given how he directly involved himself he was just as responsible as the girl next to him so he had to do this.
"I hope you two realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly." The woman, apparently named Glynda Goodwitch, scolded.
"They started it!" The girl exclaimed.
"I got no excuse." Sonic said with a slight finger-wave. "I got in the fight, and the plane crashing was my fault."
Glynda gave a small sigh as she looked in Sonic's direction. "At least you're willing to accept responsibility." She then turned to the girl. "As for you, we did get the testament from the owner of that Dust shop and you helped to prevent a robbery. If it were up to me, you'd both be sent home with a pat on the back…" The girl looked up with a smile, while Sonic expected a catch that would come at any second. "And a slap on the wrist!" She snapped her wand at the table, causing the girl to wince, but Sonic was not surprised, seeing that coming.
"But… there is someone here who would like to speak with the two of you." Glynda revealed, much to the girl's surprise, even Sonic raised an eyebrow. The woman cleared the way to reveal a man clad in a dark green suit with silver hair and brown eyes behind a pair of dark spectacles. He also carried two trays of cookies in his hands.
"Ruby Rose." He addressed the girl first. "You have silver eyes."
'Huh, didn't notice.' Sonic only just noticed the girl, apparently named Ruby, had eyes that were indeed silver.
"So, where did you learn to do this?" The man asked, as Glynda showed the footage of Ruby's fight on her tablet-like device.
"S-Signal Academy?" Ruby answered somewhat nervously.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" The man continued to ask as Sonic remained silent but listened anyway.
"Well… One teacher in particular." Ruby replied.
"I see." He set down the cookies in front of Ruby and Sonic, both exchanging eye-contact as Ruby helped herself to one, and then proceeded to eat all the others on her tray rather quickly.
"These things aren't laced, are they?" Sonic asked with a grin, which caused Ruby to stop chewing before looking more than a little nervous. The man and Glynda merely stared at him. "Kidding. That was just a joke." Sonic said before helping himself to one. "Hmm, not bad."
The man gave a small grunt before turning back to Ruby. "It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow."
Ruby gave a gargled answer that nobody understood, due to the cookies still in her mouth before she chewed and swallowed to speak clearly. "That's my Uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal."
'That's quite a coincidence.' Sonic thought as he continued to listen.
"I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like… hiya! Whoo! Ya!" Ruby made all sorts of bad martial arts sound effects and even gave chops with her hands for emphasis.
"So, I've noticed." The man said. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well, I want to be a Huntress." Ruby answered in a serious tone of voice.
That got Sonic's attention. 'Huntress? Like those Ace-Ops guys? They got schools to train them?'
"You want to slay monsters?" The man asked.
"Yeah, I only have two more years at training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon." Ruby explained. "See, my sister is starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress, cause I wanna help people. And my parents always taught us to help others, so I thought 'eh, might as well make a career out of it'. I mean, the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and I just…" She gave a squeal like an adorable schoolgirl to show just how excited she was. "Ya know?"
Sonic stifled a chuckle at the girl's excitement while Glynda looked with a slightly confused expression, while the man's remained unchanged. "Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the Headmaster at Beacon." Ruby answered.
"Well dang…" Sonic commented.
The man revealed to be Ozpin gave a half-smile. "Hello."
"Nice to meet you." Ruby nodded, not sure whether to be nervous or excited, so she was probably both.
"You want to come to my school?" The headmaster asked.
"More than anything." Ruby said without a hint of doubt or hesitation in her voice, showing how much she really wanted it.
Ozpin shared a look and a smile with Glynda, who rolled her eyes slightly before he gave his response. "Well, okay."
Ruby's silver eyes sparkled, and gave a grin widened to dumbfounded proportions.
"But, before we get started on that, I feel it is best to address our other guest in the room." Ozpin turned his attention to Sonic. "I've lived a long life and have seen many things, but I've never quite seen anything like you before. A short, blue-furred, Hedgehog-like Faunus, with a speed-based Semblance and an unusual fighting style that employs his own body as a projectile."
Glynda showed footage of Sonic's fight against the bad guys in the Bullhead before the he gave his reply.
"Yeah, I'm not from around here. It's a long story."
"I'd actually be very interested in hearing that story." Ozpin said. "But why don't we start with a name? You know mine, what is yours?"
He knew he needed allies if he was going to fight against whatever Eggman had planned for this world. And given what he learned in the short time he was here, these Huntsmen and Huntresses were this world's defenses, and this man ran what he could only guess was a well-known academy that trained such people. He was probably a fighter himself, but more importantly, he likely knew more about this world than anyone else in this room. It was time to start making some new friends.
"The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."
And so begins an all new adventure for the Blue Blur.
Sonic and his friends have traveled to Remnant, with the nefarious Dr. Eggman bringing the bulk of his empire with him. What does Eggman have planned this time? We'll find out soon enough.
I have been waiting to write this for so long and I'm already pleased with how this first chapter turned out. Sonic has shown off his skill facing off against not only the Grimm but even out-running the Ace Ops.
Let me just say right now that I am not downgrading the Ace Ops here. I know just how skilled they all are, their prestige as one of the best team of Huntsmen in all of Remnant is not exaggerated; but they've never faced anyone like Sonic who can break the sound barrier without breaking a sweat. He put them in a situation where they had total advantage and they were attempting to capture him. If their goal was to kill him, that would have been a different story.
I'm sure you all noticed that Marrow wasn't present here. He was the newbie on the Ace Ops team, and it's not specified when exactly he joined them. But we first meet him in Volume 7, which is more than two years after the start of the series, so I'd like to think he wasn't part of the team yet. Plus, his own Semblance would have made it easier for them to catch Sonic as well; this just seemed to make more sense.
And now Sonic has not only met RWBY's titular character but even Professor Ozpin. Let me also say that Sonic and his friends are not going to be students at Beacon, but they will be staying at the academy, treating it like a home-base while they deal with Eggman and the Grimm, and yes, they will get involved in that. There's no way they won't.
Also, the Sonic characters in this story will not be getting Aura or Semblances; with the abilities they each have, they don't really need any.
I'd also like to reveal the ages of the Sonic characters in this story (so far)…
*Sonic – 19
*Tails – 12
*Knuckles – 20
*Amy – 16
*Shadow – 50+
*Rouge – 22
*Eggman – Late 50s or early 60s
(Omega and Metal Sonic are robots, so they don't age)
So, the Sonic characters appearing so far are Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Dr. Eggman, Orbot, Cubot, and Metal Sonic. But don't worry, other well-known Sonic characters will be appearing in this story later on, including those from the IDW comics.
As for why I made the characters these ages, Sonic's 20th birthday was celebrated in "Generations" and this takes place shortly before "Colors", so I thought it would make sense to subtract a year. The official wikia notes Sonic as 15, so I added four years to him and did the same for the others.
One final note to make. This story takes place from the RWBY side at the start of Volume 1 and will follow it and Vol 2 mostly close to the canon with some subtle but notable changes due to the presence of Sonic characters being involved. After Volume 2 we've got an arc based off the "Grimm Eclipse" game, then we get to Volume 3 and that's when things really start to change. Some people who died in the canon RWBY series will be spared, some who were spared may die; others who died will still die, just a bit differently. The Sonic franchise is no stranger to death or getting dark with their stories (Shadow's whole backstory and the Metal Virus arc from the IDW comics are prime examples of that).
I hope you all enjoy this story as I write it, I am looking forward to what comes next, and I hope you all do as well.
Happy (belated) New Year to you all! Here's hopping this gets a TVTropes page.