Sonic & Tails: Frames of Animation

Chapter 3
A Warrior Will Soon Run Wild

(Uploaded on June 19, 2018)

Last time…

A squadron of familiar robots – specifically Egg Pawns and a couple of Nebulas (those circular green bots with propellers we've been seeing since Westside Island) – stood bunched together in front of the house. The Egg Pawns came equipped with a bunch of lances and shields, and there were even a few purple ones with rocket launchers.

Leading the crew was a face Sonic and I hadn't seen in years (or more accurately, hadn't seen again until Sonic Mania became a thing) – it was an blue Egg Robo with an outfit much like a police officer's, with a siren on its head and red optics for eyes. He was flying off the ground with a jetpack strapped to the back of his head, a rectangular rocket launcher in his left arm.

It was the first of Eggman's Hard-Boiled Heavies – the Heavy Gunner.

[BOSS] Heavy Gunner (Lv. 8)
Officer of Heavy Chaos
HP: 160/160, FP: 60/60

"Oh great," I heard Sonic mutter under his breath. "Eggman's rehashing Badniks from not even a year ago."

"Citizens of this household!" the Heavy Gunner began to speak, its robotic tone loudly laced with authority that I'm pretty sure it didn't have. "We know that you are housing Robotnik public enemies Sonic and Tails within the vicinity!"

"Public enemies?" Taiyang said aloud.

"Well, I suppose that's one way to put it," I commented. "I mean, we've only been fighting him for over twenty-five years…"

"If enemies Sonic and Tails come out and surrender to our forces now," the Heavy Gunner continued, "then we may just leave your house alone and untarnished. But should they refuse or no response be given…"

The elite Egg Robo cocked its rocket launcher menacingly. "…we will have no choice but to use force to enforce our ruling! And let me tell you a little something…

"I wouldn't mind a little property damage with all the chaos, if you get my drift!"

[Ruby]

Patch – Xiao Long-Rose House

"WHAT!?" me and Yang exclaimed aloud. P-Property damage!? T-T-They can't d-do that, right? Mom and Dad spent so long making this house! We- We can't just let it be destroyed like that, by these crazy robots!

"So that's how they want to play," Sonic said. "Alright then - we'll show 'em who's boss, just like last time!"

"Are you really sure about that?" Dad asked, a worried look appearing on his face. "Those weapons look dangerous. Just going in and tackling them doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Hey, it'll be fine!" Sonic assured him, wearing a sort of cocky grin. "We've handled stuff like this before several times! We'll take them down easily, don't worry!"

"This won't take too long," Tails added. "Just sit here and wait for us!"

Without another word, Sonic and Tails quickly opened the door, dashed outside, and closed it behind them. They seemed pretty confident about their odds, but judging by their stories about Eggman's current plot, they might be in trouble.

I heard Dad muttering something under his breath – I think it was "I don't get paid enough for this" or something similar – and then he said to me and Yang, "Girls, you know where you keep your weapons, right?"

"Of course!" I replied, a little indignant. "I would never forget where I put my sweetheart! That'd be like not eating any cookies, ever! You just don't do that!"

"Ignoring how Ruby's comparing weapons to cookies, yes," Yang answered after me.

"Alright, get dressed into your combat clothes and get your weapons. We can't just let those two out there fight alone."

Using my Semblance, I dashed up the stairs and into my and Yang's bedroom. Despite the current situation, I was actually pretty excited. I mean, going into a fight together with Sonic and Tails of all people? That's like every fan's dream!

Oh, and it'll be even better, because I'll have my sweetheart with me! Ohhhhhhh, I've always wanted to use these against actual enemies! Uncle Qrow, your teachings won't be in vain! (Maybe I'll even get to use some cool karate moves, like in those movies we watch sometimes!)

Yang came in a little after me. "Gee, Ruby!" she teased. "I know you're excited, but you don't have to run up here so fast!"

"I can't help it!" I said, my hands clasped together, fingers twiddling with eagerness. "I mean, it's Sonic and Tails!" As I was speaking, I dove under my bed, whipping out my baby in its compact storage form. "And we're going to join them in style, aren't we, Crescent Rose?" I cooed to my weapon. "Yeah, that's right – we're going to be heroes, just like them!"

…what? I really like weapons!

Don't look at me like that, it's perfectly natural!

Honest!

Yang sighed in a long-suffering fashion. (Pfft, she thinks she's suffering? I have to sit through all her puns, all the time!) "I still don't get your obsession with weapons, Rubes," she stated, pulling out her own gauntlets from her drawers by her bed. "Like, I get that they're our primary forces against the Grimm as Huntresses, but you don't need to romanticize them so much, you know?"

I gasped dramatically. How could she say that!? "Yang! You know that weapons are an extension of us! They're like a part of our souls! There's nothing else in the world that can compare to them! Like, where would you be without Ember Celica! You'd just—"

"Alright, alright, I get it, I get it," Yang halted my explanation. "You don't need to go on another long rant about weapons. I think I've heard that, what, thirty times already?"

"It's thirty-two times, thank you very much!" I corrected her. Jeez, if she's gonna count that of all things, she can at least get the number correct! "Now let's hurry up!" I ran to my closet, throwing my usual Huntress outfit onto my bed. "I want to help out with defending our house, too! Show up all cool and BANG! SHAPOW!"

Yang chuckled. "You don't have to rush that much, but… if you say so!"

[Sonic]

Patch – Xiao Long-Rose House (Outside)

I jumped from the porch to right in front of Eggman's latest batch of Badniks. "Yo, Heavy Gunner!" I called out to the group. "You've got some nerve, coming in and threatening to blow a house like that. Someone could get hurt, you know!"

"That's the point!" Heavy Gunner exclaimed, raising his hands in the air. "What, you expected a warm welcome and some nice treats?"

"It would be pretty hospitable," Tails said, hovering behind me. "I mean, come on! Nothing for Eggman's greatest enemies? I would've expected maybe a Shield Monitor or something!"

The Heavy Gunner made a noise that sounded something like a snort. (Man, I didn't know Eggman's robots could do such a realistic snort.) "A Shield Monitor? Do you believe us robots are stupid, or something?"

I put my fingers beneath my chin in faux speculation. "I dunno, you guys have a lot of mob mentality and all… And that's not even mentioning the limited amount of defenses Eggman tends to give you guys. Is it really that surprising that things usually turn out that way?"

Tails chimed in, "You're a lot like Eggman himself – no common sense whatsoever! Or enough intelligence. Or any cool abilities. Or…"

"Enough!" the elite 'bot shouted, totally enraged. You could actually see some cartoon smoke coming out of his head (probably from overheat, or something). "You have insulted the name of Robotnik long enough!"

"Robotnik?" I remarked. "I thought he retired using that name a long time ago. What, is he really trying to get into the rehashing spirit?"

"Shut your spindly mouth!" Heavy Gunner snapped, pointing a shaking finger at us. "Badnik squad! In the name of our great emperor… ATTACK!"

The Egg Pawns and Nebulas blindly charged forth, as was custom for Eggman robots at this point, as Heavy Gunner started hovering high above the battleground, aiming his rocket launcher. Typical cowardly robots; they're all bark and no bite, just like Eggman.

Tails whipped out his tablet and scanned the enemies in front of us.

Egg Pawn (Lv. 2)
Modern Mook of Eggs

HP: 22, ATK: 5, DEF: 5, SPD: 5

Eggman's modern-day typical minion, designed to be very reproducible and energy efficient. They don't even require animals to power them! Isn't that just kind of him?

Egg Pawns are designed to be versatile in their combat methods, but this particular brand fights exclusively hand-to-hand. They're basically Motobugs but reskinned, so you should treat as such.

[OK]

Nebula (Lv. 2)
Chase You to the Skies

HP: 14, ATK: 3, DEF: 3, SPD: 8

One of many mass-producible Badniks by Eggman. These are pretty old too - they go back as far back as 1992!

Nebulas can fly relatively fast and drop spike balls on their foes. In addition, their mobility allows them to be able to slam into enemies with relative ease. Keep your guards up around them!

[OK]

"These shouldn't be too difficult to defeat," Tails informed me, "but that doesn't mean we should let our guards down. Who knows what kind of upgrades Eggman's given them?"

I eyed Heavy Gunner carefully, his 60 Frame Points taunting me above his head. "You don't have to tell me twice," I said. I got into a battle stance, my fists tightened. "Now, let's dance!"

I jumped toward one of the Nebulas and slammed my foot against its side. Said Nebula went vertically spinning away, a bunch of damage being dealt to it. In response, one of the Egg Pawns dived toward me, swinging its arms in a vain attempt to get at me.

Of course, I wouldn't let myself be hit by such an easily avoidable attack. (I mean, do you think you could see me slamming into so many walls whenever I dash through Spagonia? Fat chance!) With ease, I sidestepped outta the way, stepping on the Egg Pawn's foot while I was at it.

I laughed a bit ("Ha ha!") as I watched the Egg Pawn flinch in obvious pain, holding its foot and hopping around all about the place. It was hilarious! I honestly didn't know Eggman programmed his 'bots with 'pain receptors', as I heard Tails refer to them once. Maybe once this is all over, I can go perform a bunch of pranks at them at one of Eggman's bases or something.

Deciding to put the poor Badnik out of its misery, I bounced onto the guy multiple times, making sure to perform several successive Action Commands while I was at it. (Too bad I don't get any bonuses for this.) A cloud of smoke indicated to me that the Egg Pawn was downed – which was great and all, but there was quite a ways left to go before we were done.

A bunch more Egg Pawns and Nebulas tried to swarm me, but Tails easily knocked quite a number of them back with his—well, tails. Throwing a Dummy Ring Bomb to distract them, he opened out his hand for me to grab. "How 'bout we do a Thunder Shoot?" he suggested.

"I like the way you think!" Taking his hand, the two of us flew into the air, several spiked balls (and Egg Pawns) missing us in the process. In rapid succession, Tails rocketed me toward several of the enemies, my spines tingling with electricity in the process. For the Badniks, it was no contest who'd be fast enough to dodge: that is to say, none of them.

"YAHOOOOOO!" I cried, feeling the rush of several enemies destroyed. Landing back in Tails' hands, we were about to do another Thunder Shoot when a freaking giant rocket interrupted us at really fast speeds, blasting us away.

I got back onto my feet relatively quickly, noting my HP value seemed to be dramatically lower than it was five seconds ago.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Lv. 3)
The Fastest Thing Alive
HP: 20/28, SP: 19/19

"Sweet mother of Chaos!" I swore. "What kind of attack was that!?"

And then I remembered the Heavy Gunner, and looked up. Sure enough, there he was, still hovering over the battlefield, only now his rocket launcher was very obviously smoking. I noticed him gearing up to do it again, and I immediately sidestepped out of the way again in time to see another rocket firing at breakneck speeds.

Like, sheesh! Dude needs to learn some courtesy!

"Hey, you can't just shoot us when you're doing no actual fighting!" I protested loudly.

"Oh, but I can!" Heavy Gunner replied, barely even caring out my very valid complaints. "Why would I sit around and let you easily defeat me?"

"Again, you're not even in this fight!"

"Pfft, small details! Just stand there and let these rockets hit you! It won't cause too much damage!"

"Fat chance!" Again, I got my feet moving, another cloud of smoke just barely missing me. And all the while, the other Badniks had taken the time to prep their attacks. (I guess talking no longer counts as a free action, then.)

Tails spin dashed by my side, tails twirling behind him as he ran. "Sonic, what do we do?" he asked, his gaze pointed at the cheating gunner. "If we try to take him down now, he'll just blast us out again!"

"I have no idea," I admitted. His crazy rocket launcher wasn't the only problem either; his 60 Frame Points means that he'll be fast enough to avoid any hit we try anyway. Why the heck did Eggman throw a Wake-Up Call Boss nowof all times, anyway!? We've only just begun this adventure! You don't throw those type of bosses until we're Level 12 or something!

That's Basic Game Design 101!

…then again, this is Sonic Team we're talking about…

Another rocket, and this time Tails targeted the thing with another of his Dummy Ring Bombs. Meanwhile, I homed in on some of the Nebulas in an attempt to take them out first – I mean, we already have an annoying flying enemy up there, we don't need more.

For good measure, I uncurled and dropped an Air Cracker on the floor, blowing up several more Egg Pawns who were unlucky enough to try swarming my position. (Good AI, Eggman. Really.) The remaining Nebulas took this chance to fire more spike balls at me, which I avoided through a hard Stomp.

And then they all started rushing at me right after.

My eyes narrowed in annoyance. Great. Now all of them aren't playing fair.

I crouched down in preparation for a Spin Dash, but then I was interrupted by the sound of several gunshots going off, followed by half of the Nebulas falling down and turning into scrap. "W-Wait, what!?" I yelped. Last I checked, Tails' cannon fired Energy Balls, so who could've that been?

The sound came from behind me, so I turned around and—

That is one huge-ass scythe.

Ruby stood on the porch, her pajama clothing replaced with a black blouse and skirt with red highlights, not to mention a long flowing red cloak behind her. She also wore some sort of brown stockings, accompanied by similarly black-and-red boots.

But the most noticeable thing about her at the given moment was the giant freaking scythe of doom being held casually in her hands, handled with experienced ease. The frame of the scythe was a striking faded red with black trims, and the crescent shape looking extremely sharp in design.

Strangely, Ruby was holding the thing with two hands, holding it as if she were aiming it. My questions on why she was holding it that way were answered when more bullets came out of it and struck more of the Nebulas.

It's also a gun!? I realized. Sweet Chaos, what kind of things do this world's Huntsmen and Huntresses fight to require stuff like that!?

I'd rather face Tabuu again!

Similarly, Tails was staring in amazement – likely from the weapon's complex design. (He's always been a mechanic, so I guess I can't blame him.) "Whoa…" he awed. "That's cool…"

"What in the name of Robotnik!?" I heard Heavy Gunner exclaim. "You can't just join in the fight with such a weapon! That is considering cheating!"

"Hypocrite!" Tails yelled appropriately.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to blow up our house!" Ruby shot back. "Besides…" She twirled her scythe with a single hand – again, I realllllllly don't want to be caught within that thing's range – before aiming it at the Heavy Gunner. "…what kind of Huntress would I be if I didn't fight against evil?"

"You said it, Ruby!" Behind Ruby stepped out Yang. Much like her sister, Yang was very differently dressed. She was wearing a brown jacket with a yellow crop top underneath, both showing off her midriff and cleavage quite prominently. Her brown belt was also accompanied by the world's shortest pair of shorts (plus some cloth hanging off both sides), not to mention her long brown boots and an orange infinity scarf.

Actually, that scarf looks pretty cool. I mean, it really compliments her outfit and fits around her neck quite snugly. I've always appreciated scarfs even if I don't wear them a lot. (Boom!Me's pretty good in that department, if I must say.)

…wait, where was I?

Noticeably, there were two bright yellow bracelets over Yang's hands, and they were rather metallic and plated in nature. My mind told me it had to be a weapon, much like Ruby's big-ass scythe, though what it was remained the question. Likely, it was something akin to Knuckles, judging by how Tails described her as a sort of Berserker. (Wonder if the gauntlets having random spikes, too?)

"Besides, I'm itching for a fight anyway," Yang continued, "and you look like a good target to punch my first through!"

Heavy Gunner snorted in amusement. "You can try all you might," he declared, "but you'll never be able to defeat me! I'm just like Air Man – an unstoppable force of nature!"

"I dunno what an 'Air Man' is," Ruby stated ("Seriously?" I overheard Tails mutter. "I could've sworn Mega Man was still a popular thing…"), "but that doesn't matter! We're gonna prove you wrong! Nothing is unstoppable so long as we're together!"

"Yeah!" Yang said, even though she was snickering. (It might have something to do with Ruby's rather cheesy statement, but hey I thought it was pretty neat myself!) "You heard her!"

"Does it look I care?" Heavy Gunner retorted. "You're just another target to be blown up!" Without another word, the Heavy Gunner guy aimed its pencil sharpener gun and shot a rocket at the two.

And the fight began again.

[Ruby]

This is it!

This is my first battle as a real Huntress!

I'm actually going to be fighting real enemies and saving people!

Sure, I'm still in training, and sure, I'm saving our own house, and sure, the enemies I'm fighting are robots from a villain that used to be fictional…

…but that doesn't matter, because at this point, I'm taking my first step to becoming a real Huntress, just like mom!

YEAH!

And here I am, triumphantly standing in front of our house with my trusty Crescent Rose (That's my weapon. Ain't it so cool!?) in hand, shooting down a bunch of Badniks and helping out Sonic the Hedgehog himself! How can you not think this is awesome!?

(Though I did see some of those robots head behind the house, but Dad can take care of it. He's strong! He always gives Yang a run for her money, so he'll be fine!)

And that rocket the weird elite robot guy fired? That was child's play! I effortlessly shot down the rocket and it blew up with aplomb (Woooooooo!), but that didn't stop Heavy Gunner from firing more rockets at us.

Eh, he can try, but I've got plenty of bullets! I kept shooting down the missiles, my scythe's sniper function firing on all cylinders, and I'm pretty sure I saw Heavy Gunner steaming in rage. In terms of making villains mad, I guess that's score one for me!

Yang was rushing straight toward a bunch of the Egg Pawns, her Ember Celica having transformed into their gauntlet forms. With an excited yell, she slammed her fists into them, knocking them back with a shockwave. Heh, typical Yang. Always running in head-first.

Sonic and Tails, meanwhile, seemed to finally get over their shock (Eeeeee! They're actually surprised over my own weapon! Using a scythe really was the best decision I've ever made!) and started fighting alongside Yang.

"Hey, you're pretty good!" Sonic complimented, kicking away an Egg Pawn.

"Thanks!" Yang replied, blasting away another flying enemy. "Man, this is good exercise!"

The Heavy Gunner, looking totally peeved, started firing his rocket launcher at rapid speeds, sending several missiles rocketing through the air. (And jeez, what was with their directional paths? That's not how missiles are supposed to work at all!)

Gripping my scythe, I spun it into several of the incoming projectiles, and KABOOM! Its sharp blade took them out immediately! Then I fired downward and propelled myself into the air, spinning vertically and destroying even more of them.

A bunch of the green guys also tried charging in, but I just activated my Semblance and dashed between them. The momentum produced caused said green guys to twist rapidly. Their flight paths quickly became unstable, and then they fell out of the sky and exploded.

"YEAH!" I exclaimed, landing back down on the ground. Score another one for taking the bad guys down! I didn't even lose any of my Aura, either!

…but man, these guys are actually kind of weak. Aren't the heroes' debuts supposed to be epic and hard? I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I would've liked my debut to be pretty cool.

Ah well! It's still hero-ing at the end of the day!

That missile I sent toward the big bad robot dude finally crashed into him, an explosion of fire knocked him from his comfort zone. "RAAARRRGHHH!" he bellowed to the sky (not sure how that helped). "What does it take to get rid of a few nuisances around here!?"

As the Heavy Gunner continued to seethe, Tails snuck up from underneath and tossed a weird box at him. Surprisingly, it actually blew up (Man, that's cool!), releasing a ton of Rings (But they looked kinda greyed out. Were they fake or something?) and also ticking off the guy a little more. "A lot more than you think, Gunner!" Tails taunted, much like how Sonic would.

"C'mon, you really should've expected this," Sonic added, "especially when you're trying to induce a Difficulty Spike too early in the game!" ...'Difficulty Spike'? What's that? Is it a really, really hard and sharp spike?

"FINE!" he growled. "Maybe I won't be able to defeat you this time… But I won't let you go without a little pain!" The robot's rocket launcher suddenly started charging some sort of green ball, getting bigger and bigger by the second.

Sonic's eyes suddenly widened in horror. "Oh sweet Chaos… don't tell me Eggman gave that to you too!" he exclaimed. I was confused. Wha? What's the robot doing? Is it that bad? That didn't leave me feeling great about that.

"What do you mean, 'you two'!?" Yang wanted to know, turning to Sonic. "You mean you've seen that before?"

To the side, Tails reached into… somewhere and pulled out a tablet out of literally nowhere. What the doo-doo? Where did that come from? What's with the weird stones on the antennae? Is it also a gun?

"It's the same color as Eggman's ART Gun!" Sonic explained, taking one of his weird landmines into his hands. "Tails, what can you tell us about this?"

Tails was tapping away at his tablet – and man, that thing looks bulky. Do they not have any Scrolls or Scroll-like technology in their world? …I'd forgive it if they were guns. "This is bad," Tails stated. "He's going to be firing a frame-stealing gun! It won't affect me and Sonic, but…"

"…that's not gonna help me or Ruby, will it?" Yang deadpanned.

"Nope," Tails confirmed. (Under his breath, I heard him mutter, "It's déjà vu, only faster. We just went through this!")

It didn't take me long for my mind to get the idea. I lifted Crescent Rose again and fired some more bullets, but the jerk just flew outta the way! And he didn't stop charging!

I kept firing a few more times and the same result happened; he's faster than I can hit him! How did Tails manage to land one on him, anyway!?

"I can't hit him!" I cried. "He's just too fast!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! You believe you can stop me? My duty as an officer of Robotnik's forces transcends your pitiful power!"

"Let me try!" Yang aimed her gauntlets to the floor and fired, propelling herself into the air in an attempt to try hitting the Heavy Gunner. The robot in response just flew upward, but that didn't stop Yang from firing a few of her own bullets at 'em. Again, the explosive shells didn't get any close.

"Time for you to perish, in the name of the law!" Finally, the Heavy Gunner fired his launcher, and a giant electrified green ball came right toward us.

It didn't look good.

Nor did it look like it would taste like cookies.

Ooh, now I want cookies.

…wait, that's right! The attack! OH CRAP!

"Brace yourselves!" Sonic exclaimed, inciting Yang to put up a defensive stance.

Unfortunately, my own reflexes weren't fast enough (I think Yang would call this irony?) to dash away, and guarding wouldn't exactly help me in this situation, and so I found our entire world was engulfed in emerald light. But… I didn't feel hurt at all?

In fact, I was feeling a surge of energy go through me! I haven't felt this powered up since Dad unlocked my Aura for me! "Whoa!" I yelped, gaping at the weird squares that were showing up everywhere. And what was with those computer noises?

"W-What is this?" Yang wondered.

Tails, meanwhile, were staring with wide eyes at all the weird stuff going on. "…is- is this how we're going to get new party members?" he asked Sonic. Party members? Huh?

Sonic's face was half-lidded, for some reason. "I can't tell whether or not this is better or worse than what Forces did. And I don't think I want to know."

And then a scroll window opened up in front of my face.

Ruby Rose
Level 3 (E-Rank)
Silver-Eyed Huntress

HP: 28/28
SP: 22/22
POW: 32 (18)
DEF: 22 (19)
SPEED: 45
COOL: 17

EXP: 0/120
To Next Level: 120

[Gear] [Rank-Up Bonuses] [Combat Abilities] [Passive Abilities]

[Back to Menu]

...wha? This is… wha?

"…okay, what is this supposed to be?" Yang echoed my thoughts.

She had a similar screen in front of her, and just like me, she looked like she had no idea what it was either. So on the bright side, at least I'm not the only one confused!

Yang Xiao Long
Level 4 (E-Rank)
The Burning Dragon

HP: 40
SP: 12
POW: 52 (40)
DEF: 44 (40)
SPEED: 37
COOL: 15

EXP: 0/160
To Next Level: 160

[Gear] [Rank-Up Bonuses] [Combat Abilities] [Passive Abilities]

[Close]

Tails looked like he just remembered something. He snapped his fingers. "Oh, right! We never told 'em anything about our new RPG system!" he realized.

"RPG system?" I asked, idly tapping the [Close] button on the weird screen. "We're not talking about guns, are we?"

"OH COME ON!" Heavy Gunner exclaimed in frustration, raising his hands to the sky. "Why won't you die!?"

True to form, Yang quickly lost her perplexed look and smirked. "That was supposed to take us down?" she questioned. "That didn't even scratch us! In fact, I feel better than ever!"

The Heavy Gunner growled. "Luckily for you, this has just put all our current strategies into disarray. Master Robotnik will need to be hearing about this." Does… Does that mean we won?

YEAH! My first battle as a real Huntress and we won! This is AWESOME!

"But don't get too comfortable!" the Heavy Gunner snapped. "I'll be back to take you down before long. Soon, you and this entire planet will know the name of Master Robotnik's Empire, mark my words!"

At long last, the Heavy Gunner flew off into the distance, right into a red portal that had appeared in the far horizon. The remaining robots soon followed, warping away to… wherever Eggman's base was.

But that didn't matter, because we won! We won, we won, we won!

"That… was… awesome!" I declared, jumping up and down frantically. "We were like, actual Huntresses, Yang! Actual Huntresses!"

"You said it, Ruby," my sister agreed.

On cue, another screen popped up in my face.

VICTORY!

EXP Earned: 30
Rings Earned: 200

Items: Green Material x3

[CONTINUE]

"Look! Even the weird… Scroll… floaty-mabob agrees with me!" I said, pointing toward it with the greatest smile on my face. "I dunno what it's talking about when it says 'EXP Earned', but hey! It's something!"

"Weird… Scroll… floaty-mabob?" Sonic chuckled. "That's one way to put it."

"Hey, what else am I supposed to call it?" I protested with a pout. "I don't exactly know what this is, after all!"

"Hey, uh… You guys wouldn't know anything about these screens, do you?" Yang interjected, looking pointedly at Sonic. "You don't look too surprised over it."

"Yeah, I do—but I think we should wait for your dad to get over here first. Something tells me he'll want to hear this too."

Oh, right! We need to tell Dad about how awesome we were defending our house! What with Sonic dashing and Yang punching and me being all 'YAHOO!' and 'WAHOO!' and all that! I mean, we were like straight out of one of those movies!

…I should, uh… probably try to leave out the part about getting blasted, though.

Something tells me he won't like that.

[Yang]

Patch – Xiao Long-Rose House

Man, I'll admit – that battle gave me quite the rush! There's something to be said about how exciting fights can get, when you're allowed to punch as hard as you can, and really cut loose!

Sure, the enemies were just kind of… there, and we didn't actually get to punch the boss up there, but at the very least I got my adrenaline pumping a bit!

Of course, then Ruby and I got these weird Scroll screens. Like, what are they? They're not connected to our own Scrolls or anything, and they kind of just pop up whenever we think about it? And they mention HP and SP and something about COOL points? I know what stuff like what HP and POW – they show up in a LOT of games nowadays, and for all the comments about me being a hothead, I'm not that unintelligent – but what exactly are COOL points?

…well hopefully, we'll be learning all that in just a bit.

We're sitting back in our dining room – apparently Dad managed to take care of all the robots out back – and Dad looks like he has a lot of questions on his mind. I don't blame him, this is kind of crazy.

"So…" Dad began, one of his hands ruffling through his hair. "What are these Scroll screens about, and what are they doing to my daughters?"

Sonic and Tails had casually brought their own Scroll screens, looking the . "These 'Scroll screens' are basically telling you your daughters are video game protagonists now," Sonic explained. We're… video game protagonists now? That actually sounds pretty snazzy!

"Ohhhhhhh, that sounds AWESOME!" Ruby agreed with me.

"Video game protagonists?" Dad blinked in confusion. "…what does that mean?"

"It's, like…" Sonic proceeded to explain to the three of us what exactly Ruby and I had gotten into, with Tails chiming in here and there. Huh, you know… I always thought it'd be Tails who would be the explainer.

So, apparently now we're protagonists of the 'role-playing game' variety – like, the type of games with all the numbers and the level ups and the move-learning (though I could've sworn RPGs were more turn-based in nature). And this new power somehow that makes us immune to whatever it was that robot tried to blast us with.

…yeah, I don't get it either.

Of course, Dad didn't exactly care about much of the specifics; just that we were safe. "Well… at least my daughters are safe from whatever that madman of yours is planning. That's a relief," Dad said. "So… what exactly does this mean for Ruby and Yang?"

Sonic opened his mouth to elaborate, but then he was interrupted by another screen appearing out of nowhere. The five of us turned to read its contents.

[TUTORIAL]
Party Members

Throughout your journey, you'll find plenty of people who are immune to Dr. Eggman's frame-stealing and can also utilize the Frames of Animation™ engine. These people will be able to join you as party members.

Different party members can bring a whole host of new abilities to the table, be them combat or passive, to assist in your adventure. The more party members you have, the more versatile your party will be.

Each party member has their own set of equipment, unique abilities, Rank-Up Bonuses (we'll get to those later), and combat styles. Try experimenting with each party member to see what works best for you!

[OK]

"…well, that serves as a pretty good explanation," Tails noted. Under his breath, I heard Sonic mutter "That was convenient…"

"Soooo… Does that mean… we get to go on an adventure with you guys?" Ruby's face lit up so hard I was afraid it'd fall off, and her body was vibrating all about with excitement. "Oh man, this is the greatest day EVER!"

To be fair… I can't blame her. Ruby's always been fascinated with the stories of Huntsmen and Huntresses; she wouldn't pass up the chance to be a hero herself. I mean, that's why she's training to be a Huntress to begin with. (Me, I do it for other reasons, but that's not the point.) It helps that she's also a pretty good fan of Sonic to begin with – I can't tell you how many Sonic games we have, seriously – and who wouldn't want to travel with their favorite hero?

I don't think she really understands what it's really like to be a hero, but I don't really want to correct her about it yet. She's still innocent, after all. And it's my duty as her older sister to protect her.

I suppose, in a way, I should count myself lucky I got these powers too.

"Hey, I thought the day you got Uncle Qrow to start training you was the 'greatest day ever'," I teased, "and the day you finished building Crescent Rose." What? Just because I'm her older sister doesn't mean I can't tease her here and there. "And don't forget the time you—"

"Y-You know what I mean!" Ruby interrupted, blushing. "It's just that today was even better than that day! I mean, we have Sonic and Tails here!" Heh, it's still so fun to see her reactions. She's just so adorable, you know?

Sonic laughed good-manneredly. "Aw, good to hear that you care about us."

"In any case, I'm not certain about this whole 'adventure' thing," Dad put in, steering us back on topic. "We've already seen how dangerous it can get, what with the attack today. We can't be too certain if you'll always get a lucky break."

"Come on, Dad!" Ruby protested. "It won't be too bad! We have Sonic and Tails on our side! What's the worst that could happen?"

Dad looked uncomfortable. He looked like he wanted to say something. …it didn't take me long to figure out what he was thinking about.

"Hey, Dad, it's alright," I said. "We've trained for this, and the two over there—" I pointed a thumb to our resident visitors. "—have plenty of experience with this. Besides, we may be the only ones immune. Isn't it our duty as Huntresses to deal with situations like these?"

Dad deadpanned, "Last I checked, the villains we deal with typically don't turn people's lives into video games. Or try to steal people's 'frames of animation'." He sighed. "But… I know you two will just go through with this even if I say no."

"You know us all too well!" I grinned.

"So, at the very least… just come back in one piece, alright?"

That was basically Dad-speak for 'yes'. "We will!" I agreed.

With Dad's approval, Ruby and I can finally go on an awesome adventure. Heck yeah! I knew becoming a Huntress was a great idea. (…even if this wasn't the first thing I thought would happen.)

"Oh, this is going to be awesome! Thanks, Dad!" Ruby dashed up to Dad and gave him a hug that I'm pretty sure would be bone-cracking in someone else's hands. It was enough to make him stumble a little, though, but he didn't waste any time returning to hug.

"…you're welcome, Ruby."

I decided to join in. "Hey, I want to join in too! GROUP HUG!" I declared with the biggest grin on my face, jumping right onto the two. And then we fell over. Right onto the ground.

"Oof!"

"Y-Yang!"

Dad groaned. "I'm getting too old for this…"

Sonic and Tails laughed in the background. "I think this adventure's gonna be quite something," Sonic stated.

"You said it, Sonic," Tails responded.

Ruby and Yang have joined the party!

[QUEST CLEAR!]
Starting Up From Remnants

[REWARDS]
20 EXP
20 AP
100 Rings

[OK]

"…hey, we cleared our first quest, too!" Sonic noticed. "Yahoo!"

[Ruby]

Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to go out and start this adventure that will be totally AMAZING!, Sonic said that we should stay home for a bit get used to all the systems we just got.

Hearing that come out of Sonic's mouth was kind of weird. I mean, he is the 'Fastest Thing Alive'; he seemed like the type of guy to always be eager to be running outside. When I asked him about it, he told me: "Life's no fun if you never stop and smell the roses. There's no harm in slowing down every once in a while, you know?"

So here we are in our living room, our Wii U booting up on our TV screen. Tails and Yang were seated on the couch, a Wii Remote and Nunchuk in their hands. Me and Sonic were hanging behind the couch, watching from behind. "Man, these televisions of yours are pretty cool! They look so compact and efficient," Tails complimented, looking absolutely fascinated. "We're still using normal HDTVs back home."

"Wait, really?" Yang blinked in shock. "You have flying cars and space travel! How can you not have holographic TVs?"

"That kind of technology's kind of expensive, and pretty hard to figure out, even for people like me. Plus, uprooting the TV market wouldn't be a very wise idea, especially since we're still recovering from Eggman's last attack."

"Oh, right! You guys went through Sonic Forces," Yang remembered, snapping her fingers.

I remembered Sonic Forces. It had so much potential. It was also pretty weird. Like, what was with the reusing of Green Hill and Chemical Plant? That's like trying to make a new weapon solely out of parts from those of other people's.

"Say, what was Infinite like, anyway?" I asked.

"Hilarious," Sonic interjected. "He was trying so hard to be edgy it was embarrassing. Sure, he had the power of the Phantom Ruby, but his personality left a lot to be desired. As Shadow put it, he is 'but a mewling kitten' and a 'cute ball of fluff'."

"Pfft. Cute ball of fluff?" Yang snickered. "Oh, that's golden. That must've gave him… infinite burns, eh? Eh?"

"Oh, that's a good one!" Sonic replied, much to my exasperation.

"Ughhhhhh, no it isn't," I complained. Great, the punitude is spreading! This is terrible!

In an attempt to ignore the terrible puns, I decided to open up my menu. Maybe there's something there I can put my mind to instead.

Main Menu

Location: Patch – Xiao-Long Rose House
Play Time: 3 Chapters
Rings: 495

[Items] [Gear] [Abilities] [Party]
[Quests] [Memory Files] [Config] [Map]

"…hey, what's this '3 Chapters' thing?" I noticed, peering closely at the Play Time listed. "Shouldn't it say hours and minutes or something?"

Sonic blinked. "…oh, that's, uhhhh…" He scratched the back of his head. "I'm not entirely sure myself. It might be counting all the important time periods where events happen, or something. It's probably best to ignore it."

Well, if he said so. There are so many buttons here to try out! Out of curiosity, I tapped a few of the buttons – starting with the [Items] button.

Items

[All] / [HP Items] / [SP Items] / [Materials] / [Overworld] / [Battle Misc.]
[Key Items]

Page 1 of 1
[Ring Monitor (E-Rank)] x3
[Green Material] x3

[Back to Menu]

"Huh, there's not a lot of items here," I noted.

"Well, we only have just begun," Sonic said. "It's not like we'll have everything from the beginning."

"I thought you would've prepared some stuff from your world first?"

"Eh, would've taken too much time. Besides, there's nothing we can't do so long as we're together!"

Gear

[Sonic] / [Tails] / [Ruby] / [Yang]

[Boots] Trusty Shoes
A pair of boots that will stick by you through thick and thin, no matter what.
(POW +2)

[Weapon] Crescent Rose
A high-caliber sniper-scythe, created exclusively by Ruby.
(POW +14, SPD +6)

[Outfit] Reaper's Outfit
A black-and-red outfit fit for a Huntress, complete with a combat skirt.
(DEF +3)

[Back to Menu]

Sonic whistled. "Gee, that boost from your weapon's pretty good. Fourteen POW points is nothing to sneeze at." He read the description carefully. "You made it?"

"Of course!" Ah, I still remember when I was making my baby a few years back. All that time studying schematics and materials, and the day it all came together. "Everyone at Signal Academy makes their own weapons. I… may have gone a little overboard, though."

"Overboard's cutting it a little short, methinks. Still, it's pretty impressive."

"Heh heh… Thanks!" I could feel my face blushing red with appreciation. Sonic the Hedgehog likes my weapon! Oh, what a time to be alive!

"Maybe you and Tails could team up to make a weapon for me," he mused. "I'm good with my fists and feet and all, but I've always wanted to wield a sword again."

"I'd be glad to do so!" I exclaimed happily. Oh, I'm already dreaming of the possibilities! I could have it look like Caliburn (I always liked Black Knight. Hey, say what you want, those swords are so cool-looking!), except it can turn into a gun!

…what?

Guns automatically make weapons better. It's a fact of life!

It didn't take us too long to go through [Party] and [Quests] – we already got a look at all our party's stats, and [Quests] didn't tell us anything we didn't already know: go beat up Eggman. Really, it's that simple!

Next, we went through my Passive Abilities.

[Silver Eyes] LOCKED
They say that those with silver eyes are destined to be the greatest of warriors.

…wha? [Silver Eyes]?

"That's... pretty vague," Sonic noticed. "It sounds like it's important, too."

…Dad and Uncle Qrow's always told me about how I share the same eye color as Mom.

Could… could this be related to that?

And why is it locked, anyway?

…hopefully, it won't be anything too bad…

[Weapon Scan] Lv. MAX
You're a weapons geek, through and through! You have the ability to thoroughly analyze others' weapons and see how they tick – and even discover what special abilities they might have!

"Level MAX? Gee, they're not kidding with that description."

"Of course! Weapons are a practically a part of us on Remnant. They're just so fascinating!"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Sonic chuckled. "No need to be like Tails now."

[Weapon Handling] Lv. 1
Depending on what materials you have on hand, you can improve the stats of your weapon-based equipment. The higher the ability's levels, the better the upgrades will be!
(Lv. 1 allows basic modification abilities.)

"Awwwww… Only Level 1?" I pouted. I'm a master of weaponry! That's how I made Crescent Rose to begin with! They can't just put it at Level 1; it should be Level MAX like my [Weapon Scan] ability!

"Hey, look on the bright side!" Sonic assured me. "You've got something none of the rest of us have! It'll still be helpful!"

"Y-You really think that?" I asked, eyes shining.

"Of course! Besides, we can always figure out a way to upgrade it later."

By now, Yang and Tails were in the middle of a Smash match, but had since paused and turned to look at the menu I had opened. Yang whistled. "Dang, Rubes! This game really knows you well. They got the whole obsession over weapons thing correct!"

"Yanggggggg!" I whined. Come on, that was the first thing she noticed!?

The two of them looked at my first ability listed. "[Silver Eyes]?" Yang read. "What's that all about? I know your eye color's pretty weird—" So says the one with purple and red eyes herself! "—but why is that listed here?"

Tails shrugged. "Plot MacGuffin? Chekhov's Gun? Who knows? Maybe it's something post-game we have to unlock."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Will we even have a post-game to play in the first place? Our life may be a video game, but I don't think it extends that far."

"I'm not complaining!" Yang chimed in. "Just means that they'll be more adventure to go on." Then she thought of something. "Hey, since we're all looking at our abilities, what's mine look like?"

I flipped the tab to Yang's. Hilariously enough, there was only one thing listed.

[Damage Absorb] Lv. 1
Your Semblance allows you to absorb a portion of the energy from every blow you take to power yourself up and dish it back. The higher the level, the more power you'll intake each hit.

Just her Semblance.

Well, I can't say she uses a lot other than that, anyway.

"Hey, why is my Semblance the only thing listed?" Yang complained.

"Maybe it's because it's the only thing you ever use?" I deadpanned.

"Oh come on, I have a lot more than that! What about Bumblebee? Shouldn't that count?"

Sonic blinked. "Bumblebee?"

"It's my motorcycle," Yang explained. "It's pretty cool, if I do say so myself."

Tails smiled. "Neat! Hey Sonic, maybe you should try riding it yourself."

"Eh, maybe," Sonic said. "I've always preferred regular cars to cycles. Doesn't seem to stop Shadow from using them more though."

Next, we looked at the [Memory Files] section – which was a pretty weird name. All the other names made sense, but what could these possibly be?

Memory Files

*[Story]*
*[Glossary]*
[Game Records]
*[Character Files]*
*[Enemies]*
[Synthesis]
[Collectibles]
*[Achievements]*
[Tutorials]

[Back to Menu]

[TUTORIAL]
Memory Files

As your adventure progresses, you'll likely want to read up on all you've encountered (and maybe have yet to encounter). This is what the Memory Files are for.

Memory Files that keep track of the story as it occurs and also archives information about characters, enemies, game records, and miscellaneous. It can be a handy way of keeping track of your completion rate, for those players who care about 100%-ing the game.

If you ever want to catch up on something, try looking into the Memory Files!

(* will indicate new information added to a category.)

[OK]

"Oh, so it's a virtual diary!" Yang commented. "Or a school textbook."

I groaned. "Greaaaaaaat, we have homework to read. I thought the point of going on adventures was to avoid stuff like this."

"It's not like we have to read it now," Tails told us, "or even at all. It's just something there, as a 'just in case' thing."

"I'm more interested in the [Achievements] myself," Sonic said. "They're always fun to try and get."

"Blegh, I've never really cared for them," I admitted. "I don't really see much point in them." Still, I decided to see what was in the sub-menu.

[TUTORIAL]
Achievements

Nowadays, every game has achievements for you to unlock and brag about, and Frames of Animation™ is no exception. Luckily, we've taken a few cues from Nintendo, and getting achievements will net you extra prizes.

Several of our achievements are locked and hidden until you receive them, but some may let you know when you're on track to unlocking them. Always keep an eye out!

[OK]

[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED]
We All Have to Start From Somewhere

Clear the Prologue chapter.

[REWARDS]
20 AP

[OK]

Achievements

[Story] / [Combat] / [Special]

Page 1
[We All Have to Start From Somewhere]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]
[Unknown]

[Back] [Next]

[Back to Memory Files]

"Wow, there's a LOT of achievements here!" I was amazed, despite myself. And all of these have rewards for them? There's so much stuff that we can get! Maybe I can get more upgrades for Crescent Rose!

"There's three categories, too," Sonic noted. "I remember Mario had something like that – a bunch of achievements separated into three categories. Though, I don't think he had story achievements to worry about."

We looked through several of the other categories, but they were all conspicuously filled with hidden achievements. Gee, that's a lot of hidden ones! They usually show most, if not all of the achievements on games for the PS4. I wonder what's changed here?

Backing out of the [Memory Files] menu, we decided to take a look at the [Config] menu before we stopped.

Config

Difficulty: [Experienced]
Tutorials: [ON] / [OFF]
Message Prompts: [ON] / [OFF]
Action Commands: [ON] / [OFF]
EXP Gain: [ON] / [OFF]

[Back to Menu]

There was… not a lot here. Like, at all.

"Gee, this looks pretty empty," Yang commented. "PC games have so many options and settings, so seeing this is kind of… weird."

"It's probably because this is real life too, not just a video game," Tails theorized. "Maybe that's why there's no stuff like Axis Sensitivity and Vibration in here."

"…wait!" I just realized something. "Why is our difficulty set on [Experienced]?"

"I… have no idea. When these windows started showing up, it just told us 'we've opted to play on Experienced' and didn't bother with an explanation past that."

I tapped the difficulty button to read up more on it.

[DIFFICULTY]
Experienced

For those who have played plenty of other RPGs before. Your party has a normal damage output, enemies have a slightly higher damage output, and some tutorials are skipped over.

Difficulties cannot be changed during a playthrough.

[OK]

"Enemies have a slightly higher damage output?" Sonic read. "Well, that explains a lot. That Heavy Gunner hit like a tank!"

"Hey, I thought this was supposed to be fair!" I said. "Why do the enemies get an advantage over us?"

"I blame Eggman for that. The way he kickstarted our systems probably let a glitch through, or something. I wouldn't be surprised; our universe can get pretty glitchy sometimes."

I blinked. "Glitchy? You mean, like Sonic '06?"

Sonic shuddered. "Y-Yeah, you could put it that way. Dang, I hope this game is more polished…"

"I don't really mind," Yang remarked, "the whole difficulty thing, I mean. If anything, it'll just make fights more interesting!"

"Oh, I like the way you think!" Sonic grinned. "Just because Eggman's tougher doesn't mean we won't be able to take him down like before!"

And with that, we'd basically seen most of the menu, and the way it'd be used throughout our journey. We can see our collection of items, change our gear as we go, upgrade our abilities, unlock achievements, et cetera. It was pretty cool!

"Man, all this is getting me pumped for the adventure we're going to be going on!" I whooped. "Ohhhhhhh, I just want to go out there and slice some robot limbs off!"

"Calm down there, Rubes!" Yang chided me. "You'll get a chance to do just that. But first, we've got a Smash match to finish!"

"That's right!" Tails remembered. "Heh, I still haven't gotten done beating your butt yet!"

"Oh, sorry, you think you can beat my butt?" Yang retorted, a grin on her lips. "I've beaten Ruby at every fighting game we have for years!" ("It's true," I grumbled. Someday, I will beat her… as soon as I start training. Sometime.) "I'm not gonna let a loss penetrate my winning streak now!"

Sonic hopped over the couch and landed right next to Tails. "Oh, this is going to be good. Go get 'er, Tails!"

"Yeah!" I chimed in, throwing my two cents in. "Beat up Yang for me!"

"Ruby!" Yang dramatically gasped, putting a hand to her heart. "How could you betray your older sister like that? Such shame!"

"Well, maybe you should've let me win a few times!" Sure, this was childish, but how else would I be getting the best revenge? This will be the fastest way to win! Sure, it'll be by proxy, but who cares? It's still technically beating Yang!

Man, is this adventure going to be great! Again, it's Sonic and Tails – two of my favorite fictional characters of all time! They proved that video games are real! And who knows what else we'll be seeing as we go? It's just so exciting! And we'll be there!

Ohhhhhhh, I can't wait!

NEXT TIME:

"Patching In These Colorful Hills"

Okay, this took a LOT longer than it should have. Part of that is because I was working on A Goddess in Reality (one of my Persona works) in the interim, and the other part is just a bit of writer's block in determining where this chapter was going to go. After I wrote the battle and the aftermath, I found out I was 2k words short of my general 8,000 word limit, so I found myself having to write a bit of filler in.

Thus, Ruby and Sonic explore the menu! It's a good excuse to see some of the elements of this 'game' that will be very prominent (or at least, will be showing up a lot) in the future. Items, gear, and even a showcase of some of Ruby and Yang's passive abilities. Of course, I also had to add in a bit about Ruby's Silver Eyes – and you fans of RWBY should know exactly what that's all about.

The Kingdom Hearts influence starts to show a bit in the [Memory Files] and the [Config] menus – Kingdom Hearts games typically feature both types of sub-menus in their games, and I've always appreciated how you're allowed to look back, read up on enemy documents, et cetera. It's something I think more RPGs in general need to have. I mean, what if you have barely an idea what's going on? Reading up on the story as the game itself tells it can be pretty helpful then.

I would've loved to have the Config menu feature a little more 'options' to pick from, but of course, most Config stuff has to with things like camera and control options, so I was a bit limited on what I could really put on there. Oh well, it's not like the Mario & Luigi series really has much of a Config menu anyway.

I hope the last section of this chapter is somewhat engaging enough for you to ignore the whole 'filler' aspect of it – and I can assure you that the next few chapters will be going to some interesting places.

Moving to a different topic, this chapter's battle sequence! It may feel a little too reminiscent of the first chapter's fight, but that'll be the last sequence to be doing that. After all, we are still in the introduction portions of this story – so you can forgive me a bit for still getting things up and ready.

I hope I got Ruby and Yang's combat skills and strategies are relatively down pat, as well as the fight against these Badniks in general. The first-person narration was pretty fun to do, if I'm honest, and Ruby's Big Damn Heroes moment was much the same. Oh yeah, Sonic, appreciate the sniper-scythe in all its glory.

I also had to write in a way to get Ruby and Yang properly into the party, so forgive me if the conversation with Taiyang feels a bit rushed (and hopefully it won't be that way, but I gotta stay realistic now). But on the other hand, GROUP HUG!

And as for AP... you'll find out what they do eventually.

Next time on Frames of Animation, the burgeoning Crash Crew starts hunting down information on Dr. Eggman's plans. Tune in next time for then!