Chapter 2

"I was weighed down by pain, couldn't get away…"

Sonia grimaced, her fingers slipping off of the guitar's strings. After thinking for a second, she tentatively started over.

"I was afraid to be lied to, so I never got close…"

With a sigh, she leaned back in her chair and kicked at the vanity set before it, spinning herself around. "It still doesn't feel right."

Watching from across the dressing room, Lyra commented, "It's been a while since you've had such trouble writing lyrics."

Sonia kicked again to combat her slowing momentum. "I don't know what it is. I just haven't been able to pin down the feel of this song, I guess."

"Perhaps you're preoccupied?"

Sonia's spinning began to slow, and this time she didn't do anything to stop it. As she faced the mirror once more, she found herself looking at the picture tucked into the corner of the frame: it showed her and Luna at a wintery Vista Point, grinning and holding each other close enough that they could share a scarf, while glittering diamond dust snow drifted down behind them. She could feel a subtle chill as she stared at it.

"I'd be happy to listen, you know," Lyra said.

"I know," Sonia said, coming to a complete stop. "And thanks. But…I don't have anything new to say."

"Even after your duet? Nothing?"

Sonia traced the outline of her guitar, eyes still fixed on the picture. "…We came closer…I thought that maybe we'd finally…" She turned and shook her head. "Listen to me. I shouldn't be talking like that."

She hopped to her feet.

"Either way, nothing's really changed. Besides, I don't want to bring myself down! I want to make sure everyone has fun today!"

"Hm. Well, you know I don't have much advice to offer you on this matter…but I think I know someone who does."

Sonia glanced in the mirror, lightly touching up her make-up. "…I'll think about it. Just, not today."

"Alright."

She smoothed out the wrinkles in her costume, a school uniform with a light grey shirt and a long, solid dark blue skirt. Hearing a knock, she headed for the door, opening it to find Luna there holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Hey!" Sonia greeted, instantly smiling. "Wow, are those for me?"

Luna's arms jerked a bit as she held out the flowers. "I-Is it too much? I wasn't sure, but I thought I should do something, so…"

"No, they're beautiful!" Taking the bundle of red and yellow roses, Sonia paused to smell them, and then added, "Thank you!"

Luna smiled, letting out a short breath. "Sure. I'm glad you like them!"

Sonia backed up to search for a vase. "Is everyone here?"

"Mostly. Amy's bus hasn't arrived yet, so I said I'd come get you while the others waited."

"Ah, I guess she is a bit farther out. Well, let's go!"

Once Lyra returned to her guitar, Sonia stepped into the hall and closed the door behind her. She and Luna headed for the lobby—her hand moved towards hers instinctively, but she hesitated before she reached her, and ended up pulling back.

"This place isn't as busy as I expected," Luna commented as she surveyed the halls.

"We're the only ones shooting today, and we only have one last scene to do," Sonia explained. "It's a nice change, really: most days it's so crowded I have to dart and weave through the halls. I should be an expert at dodging next time I fight someone."

"Don't get too sure of yourself, dear," Lyra warned. "It's been some time since you've had a real fight, and avoiding hallway collisions doesn't take quite the same combat sense."

"Come on, it was just a joke."

Luna chuckled. "Well, here's hoping you won't have to find out any time soon."

Up ahead, someone emerged from another room: the girl looked about the same age as Luna and Sonia, and had brown hair pulled into a ponytail on one side of her head. She wore a dress that was light green and off-white, with blue pants beneath. Following behind her was a small blue Wizard carrying a clipboard in her hands.

"And don't forget!" the Wizard said. "You have that interview next week, so we're going to need to go over some wardrobe options later!"

"I know, Ice," the girl said. She turned to say something more when she spotted Sonia. Stopping and waving, she called, "Hey, Sonia!"

"Morning, Belle!" Sonia greeted. "Good morning, Ice."

"Hmph," the Wizard snorted. "Belle, we need to go."

"Just a second," Belle said, "I should at least introduce myself."

"Right!" Sonia said, gesturing towards Luna. "This is Luna, my…one of my Brothers."

"Oh, so you're Luna! I've heard so much about you it almost feels like we've already met. I'm Belle, Sonia's co-star!"

"Nice to meet you!" Luna said. "I watch the show every week—you're phenomenal!"

"Ah, that's so nice of you! Sonia's the really incredible one."

"Don't sell yourself so short," Sonia said. "You've been acting a lot longer than I have, after all. I wouldn't have lasted til now without all the advice you've given me!"

"And don't you forget it!" Ice butted in. "Belle's the one who's carrying this show!"

Belle's smile weakened as she turned to her Wizard. "Ice, don't be like that."

Luna turned Ice's way as well, her eyes narrowing a bit. "So, your name is Ice? I can't say I've heard of you."

"I'm Belle's Wizard, and her manager. So I would appreciate it if you didn't do anything more to distract her."

"Oh, I didn't realize politely greeting someone was so distracting. I suppose I should tread more carefully."

"Yes. You should."

Belle nervously glanced between the two of them, while Sonia gently tapped Luna's shoulder. "Uh, we should probably get going, actually. I'll see you on set, Belle."

"Y-Yes," Belle said, quickly smiling again, "see you! Come on, Ice, I still need to get in costume."

It took a few seconds, but Luna and Ice complied and went their separate ways. When they were out of earshot, Luna mumbled, "I can see why Ice never came up."

"Yeah, I'm not good with her," Sonia said, scratching her head. "She doesn't like the fact that Belle and I actually get along well, but it's not like I want to change that, so I'm at a loss."

"Hrm. It's a shame someone as nice as Belle has to be stuck with a terrible manager…well, I guess you can relate."

Sonia shook her head. "No, it isn't really like that. Ice is definitely abrasive, but she really cares about Belle and wants her to succeed—she's always saying that Belle is 'too nice' and that she needs to be more aggressive to make it big. I don't agree with her, but she's just trying to help Belle, so I can respect that. That's way better than my old manager."

Luna thought for a moment before replying, "Alright, but if she keeps putting you down I can't be expected to hold back."

"Heheh. Duly noted."

They exited the building and came out onto a long path made of gray bricks, with a line of evenly-spaced trees on either side all the way from the studio entrance to the Wave Liner stop at the road. It wasn't long before they could spot the group hanging around the stop: Geo, Pat, Bud, and Zack all waited on the sidewalk, and they soon turned and waved to the two of them.

"Hi guys!" Sonia said as she ran up to the stop. "Thanks for coming!"

"Thanks for inviting us!" Geo said. "It's a little hard to believe we're really here. I'm kind of nervous."

"I know what you mean," Zack said. "Just thinking about all the important people around here is making me dizzy."

"There's absolutely no pressure!" Sonia said. "Pretty much everyone here is really nice—the worst they'll do is say hi to you."

"But what if I make a mistake in returning the greeting?" Zack said, adjusting his glasses. "I could end up disrespecting someone big, and then the next thing I know I have a bunch of enemies in high places…"

Appearing out of Geo's Hunter, Mega said, "Aren't all your enemies in high places compared to you?"

As Zack began arguing over how many inches he'd grown in the past year, Luna noticed Bud was still staring up the road. "Bud!" she called.

Snapping to attention, he said, "Huh?! O-Oh, yeah, I'm nervous too!"

"About Amy?" Sonia asked.

Bud glanced up the road again. "…Yeah, mostly. She's been out of the country competing for a while, and this'll be the first time I've seen her in person since she's been back. I want to show her how cool the new Taurus Fire is!"

"You don't really look all that different," Geo said.

"Oh…well, then I'll impress her with my skills! After all the training we did, I bet I can burn hotter than ever!"

"I'd say you burn hot enough already," Pat said. "We needed an awful lot of help putting out the school garden."

Bud slumped. "Y-Yeah…I'm still sorry about that."

With a burst of flame, Taurus appeared in the air next to him. "I'm sorry too, but it was still an accident! And we did everything we could to keep it from spreading."

Pat sighed. "I'm just glad it was out before Mr. Wolfe got back. He can get really scary when he's mad."

"He was scary. You're saying he can get worse than that?"

"Oh, definitely."

Giving Pat a concerned glance, Geo asked, "When did you see him get that angry?"

Pat chuckled. "It's, uh, kind of a long story…"

Before anything more could be said, Bud suddenly jumped. "There! That's gotta be her!"

Sure enough, a Wave Liner was on its way down the track. Everyone took a step back (though Geo and Zack had to pull Bud) and waited as it came to a stop, opened its doors, and slowly let its passengers out. Hidden within the small crowd was a tan girl with brown hair that fell to the sides of her face and also formed a geyser-like ponytail at the top of her head, wearing orange and yellow skirted skiwear and a large yellow headband. She glanced around as she stepped onto the sidewalk, but upon seeing Bud, she stopped where she was and smiled.

"Amy!" Bud said, running towards her.

"Bud!" she said as he hugged her, lifted her up, and spun her around. "It's so great to see you!"

Light shot from her Hunter and onto the ground, soon shaping itself into the familiar form of Yeti. Clasping hands with Taurus, he said, "Taurus! How've you been?"

"Mrrrgh, not too bad!" the FM-ian replied. "And how about you? Haven't gotten rusty spending so much time riding around in a Hunter, have you?"

"Hey, I've been fighting my fair share of viruses! If you need to see it for yourself, I'd be happy to show you."

"Haha, maybe later. I'll give you a chance to prepare yourself."

As Bud set Amy down, she turned to the rest of the group. "It's great to see all of you! Thanks so much for the pass, Sonia—I wasn't sure when I was going to get the time to catch up with everyone."

"My pleasure!" Sonia said. "How was the competition? Set any new records?"

Amy held two of her fingers close together. "Almost. I'm going to need to shave off a few seconds if I want to get into the books, but I still managed to outpace my competitors by a good margin."

"They never stood a chance!" Yeti said.

"And it seems you've been doing well!" Amy said. "I love the show, though with all the travel, I am a little bit behind."

"Ah, I see," Sonia said. She raised one finger in front of her mouth. "We'll try not to spoil anything. This scene is just a normal conversation, so I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Amy laughed and nodded her thanks. Bud began to talk to her excitedly while Sonia turned towards Luna, who was staring off somewhere.

"…You okay?" Sonia asked.

Luna turned. "Huh? Oh, sorry, I just thought I saw…" She turned back for a moment, and then took a step towards Geo. "Hey, Geo. Am I seeing things, or is that…?"

She pointed, and Geo and Sonia both looked. Further down the sidewalk, near the edge of the property, a short boy with a mess of black hair, some sort of pendant, and an unusual purple jacket ambled about, occasionally making short glances in their direction.

Geo inclined his head. "Oh…no, I think that's actually Jack. What's he doing here?"

"Go ask him," Luna ordered. Geo reluctantly complied, and she turned back to Sonia. "Sorry, but I think that's someone from our class."

Sonia took another look at the boy. "Really? I don't think I've seen him around Echo Ridge before."

Luna shook her head. "He just transferred here. He's very…" She stopped, averting her gaze as she contemplated what she wanted to say. "Well, he acts a little like Geo used to, back before we all got to know each other. Just, with more of a temper."

Sonia nodded, watching as Geo started conversing with the other boy. "I'm guessing you're trying to bring him out of his shell?"

"More or less," Luna said. "…I was going to back off for a while, actually. But, if he's here, maybe…"

Soon Geo returned with Jack in tow. Hands in his pockets, Jack's eyes darted back and forth between everyone assembled, and he was hunched over in a way that seemed like he was trying to keep his guard up. After a pause, he quietly said, "Um…hi."

"I have to say, we're all a bit surprised to see you, Jack," Luna said.

Jack shrugged. "I was just…out walking around, and I noticed you guys were over here…so, I was thinking I might…see what you were up to?"

Sonia found herself frowning a little as she watched him. It was easy to see how much effort he was putting into those words—he clearly didn't want to interact with them at all, or at least that was how it seemed to her.

Does he even want to be anywhere near us? But then, why's he trying? Is it just to be polite? Or, maybe he actually wants to try to break out of his comfort zone?

Suddenly he glanced at her, and she felt a chill run down her spine. Smiling as fast as she could, she said, "Hi. I'm Sonia. Luna tells me you just transferred to Echo Ridge?"

Jack glanced away without answering. Luna said, "We're here to tour the studio, actually. Sonia here is filming a show, so she invited us to watch."

"I could get you a pass too, if you'd like," Sonia offered without thinking. "If you're friends with my friends, then you're definitely welcome."

He thought it over for a minute, and then mumbled, "I-If…if it isn't any trouble…"

"Sure, just wait here for a second and I'll be right back!"

Sonia doubled back towards the studio, leaving the others to keep Jack company. As she went, Lyra said, "What a charming fellow."

"I'm sure he has his reasons."

"Maybe. But, to tell you the truth, dear…there's something about him I find rather unsettling."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I can't say for certain. It's more intuition, I suppose."

Sonia stopped to look back. Everyone was right where she left them, Luna patiently trying to talk to an unresponsive Jack. Sighing, she said, "If you think so, then I'll keep an eye on him. But, if Luna's decided to 'recruit' him, then I'd like to help her out."

Lyra chuckled. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to get in her way without a more concrete reason. Carry on, dear."

Sonia opened the studio door and made her way towards the desk. She did her best to stay optimistic, but Lyra wasn't the only one with a bad feeling.

"You're really sure about this, Sky?"

Sonia nodded, her back to Belle. "I've thought a lot about it, Aqua...my mind's made up." Turning and grinning, she added, "Can I still count on you?"

Belle smiled and said, "Definitely. We're Brothers, right?"

Sonia stepped forward to reply, but a loud sound cut her off before she could say her next line. Glancing back, she could see a plume of smoke rising up from behind the studio, and her expression changed in an instant.

"Wow," Bud muttered, "this finale's really shaking things up."

As the crew began to murmur worriedly, someone burst out of the studio and ran towards them. "Someone call the police!" they shouted. "A bunch of Wizards have started going crazy!"

"What?" one of the crewman said. "Hang on, what exactly do you mean by—"

Suddenly, a Wizard holding a camera cried out, their whole body spasming as sparks popped around them. The person who had come from the studio pointed at them, and that was enough to make the crew scatter.

Facing the malfunctioning Wizard, Sonia asked, "Lyra, can you tell what's going on?"

The EM being before her was morphing slowly—his torso was growing larger at a steady pace, while static-like energy oozed out from his joints and coalesced into globs in various places. His eyes went wide, blanketed by eerie yellow light, and one hand became coated in enough static that the energy formed into a long blade, while his other hand twisted and stretched until it came to resemble a triple barrel gun.

"Urgh…" Lyra grunted, sounding like she was about to be sick. "I'm not sure, dear, but I think we'll have to figure that out later."

The Wizard screeched. Sonia reached for her guitar immediately, but then stopped to look around and realized Belle and Ice were still nearby.

I might not have a choice but to transform in front of her, though.

Belle turned towards her for a second. Almost in response, she turned to Ice and said, "L-Let's get out of here. We need to make sure the police are on their way!"

Ice nodded fervently. "Oh! Good thinking, Belle! Let's go!"

As the two of them headed off, Geo and the others moved towards Sonia; she waved them back, trying to gesture towards the smoke behind the studio without drawing Belle's attention. They understood: there were more Wizards like this running around the studio, so it would be best if they split up and tracked down each one.

The group set off, Amy saying, "We can help out too, right Yeti?"

"Yeah, definitely!" the PM-ian said. "I can knock a few heads!"

"You just focus on keeping the innocent bystanders safe," Mega replied. "Amy, Zack, Pat, find somewhere to hide and let Yeti take care of anything dangerous."

Amy frowned. "But, we can help!"

"No need to worry, Amy—we've got it covered!" Bud said.

"Hey," said Luna, almost out of Sonia's earshot, "has anyone seen Jack? If we lost track of him, then…"

Another screech from the corrupted Wizard told Sonia she needed to focus on what she was doing. She smiled and swung her guitar forward, saying, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's roll! Transcode 004!"

In a flash, she was Wave Changed, and she took up a defensive stance as she watched her opponent. She didn't have to wait long—the Wizard lunged forward, swinging its sword hand, so she leapt to the side and played a few notes to see how it would react. The attacks hit their target dead-on, and the Wizard shouted and flailed a bit before turning to face Sonia again.

"Not too bright," Lyra said. "Perhaps the poor fellow just can't think straight as a result of whatever this is."

"So he's not in control of his own actions," Sonia mused, feeling a bit more reluctant.

The Wizard, on the other hand, had no such qualms. Shooting forward, he swung again, and again Sonia dodged, though this time she didn't strike back. She ducked as the Wizard fired a few bullets from his gun, and then heard another explosion from not too far away.

Right. In control or not, I need to disable him for everyone's safety.

She twisted one of the knobs on her guitar, and the pink energy flowing through it changed to a lighter shade. When she played more notes, the resulting energy blasts she summoned shot out much faster than before, battering the Wizard a dozen times in the blink of an eye and making him reel. Sonia jumped forward and took the guitar's neck in both hands, swinging upward and sending the Wizard flying with a solid blow from the instrument. He was wrapped in strings before he even hit the ground.

She cautiously approached, saying, "I don't want to hurt you. Can you understand me? If you tell me what's wrong, I may be able—"

The Wizard opened his mouth and coughed up some sort of energy ball. It flew out and hit Sonia, releasing a paralyzing shock on contact, and the Wizard used the opportunity to struggle free of the strings restricting him. Sonia tried to get out of the way, but her muscles didn't respond fast enough to get her clear of the next slash. She rolled back up onto her feet, getting a trio of bullets in the face, and staggered back until she could regain her balance. In seconds, the Wizard was on top of her again. She was able to raise her arm and catch the sword on her bracelet, but he pulled back before she could hit him with her guitar.

"Shoot," she breathed, running past more bullets. "He's doing awfully well for a non-Battle Wizard."

As soon as the Wizard stopped his attack, Sonia planted her feet and threw her guitar at him. When it left her hand, the strings automatically extended and wrapped around her wrist; the instrument kept going until it hit the enemy, at which point Sonia grabbed the strings and they locked, allowing her to swing the guitar in a circle and get in three more hits before reeling the flail back in. The Wizard hacked up another energy ball, but this time Sonia unleashed a barrage of fast notes that dissipated it while also pushing her foe back. She ran forward then, twisting the dial in the opposite direction, and the light on her guitar darkened until it was deep red. The Wizard swung his sword, so she maneuvered her guitar so that the head blocked it. The next note she played produced one very large, if slow-moving, musical note directly in front of her, and a second later it touched the Wizard and released a devastating blast.

Sonia allowed herself a deep breath. She stayed put as she watched the Wizard, setting her guitar back to quick blasts just in case. The explosion had flung him back into a tree, where he still sat dazed, though it appeared the static-like energy he produced was starting to flicker and fade. A few seconds later it vanished entirely, and the Wizard returned to his original form and dropped onto the pavement with a moan.

"Are you alright?" Sonia asked as she stored her guitar and ran over.

"Ungh," the Wizard grunted, "I don't know…what happened? I was filming, and then…"

He put a hand to his head. Sonia looked to see if anyone who could help was nearby, and that was when she noticed something else falling from the tree: a card, roughly the same size as a Battle Card, with a stylized image of a sword printed on it. She picked it up and stared for a second, before pocketing it and turning her attention back to the Wizard.

"I'm going to get you some help," she said. "Just stay here and rest."

She got up and headed for the studio, ducking behind a tree to undo her Wave Change before she entered. "So he wasn't in control after all."

"Do you suppose that card has something to do with this?" Lyra asked.

"I don't know, but it can't hurt to hang onto it. I'll call Mr. Boreal once this is all under control—hopefully he'll be able to clear some of this up for us."

Notes:

You may recognize one of those lyrics. Sonia won't have that song ready for this scenario like she does in the game, but that's because I'm saving it for something else. It will look a little different, of course.

Amy won't be appearing in every scenario, but I did want to bring her back as a secondary character—it always seemed odd to me that SF2 set her up to be Bud's love interest and then she just dropped off the face of the Earth. By this point Yeti has more or less become her personal Wizard, and she's gotten the full briefing on EM beings and whatnot, so we'll see how she contributes going forward.

I wasn't entirely sure how to bring Jack in. Keeping him as a transfer student to Echo Ridge seemed best, but since that all happened off-screen I worry that his appearance here is a bit too abrupt. You've probably all played SF3, though, so I'm sure I don't need to go too in-depth into his first few days in class.

The name for Sonia's drama character was meant as a nod to the anime—the dub calls her Sonia Sky. For Belle I figured I'd go with a similar element theme naming, and since her Wizard is Aqua element that was the first thing that came to mind. If I ever expand on this show I'll probably just add in a Terra and a Blaze just to round it out. (I don't see that happening though.)

A simple Noised Wizard doesn't have quite the same flair as Taurus Fire, but it's sufficient to show off some of Harp Note's new abilities. The one we'll probably see the most is that she can adjust her guitar so that its blasts are faster but weaker, or stronger but slow-moving, sort of like the Mega Buster's rapid fire vs charge shot capabilities. As for the flail attack…well, I just thought it'd look cool. She has a couple more tricks that you'll see later, also.

Next time we'll delve deeper into this scenario, and see the stakes get raised dramatically!