The beeping of an alarm clock pulled Sonic out of a very deep sleep.

A week had passed, and Sonic kept expecting some big, significant event to tell him that Autumn Wind had awakened. A sudden surge of strength, a tornado forming around him, something! But there had been no such occurence, not even a morning where he woke up feeling more rested than usual.

Sonic sat up in the bed, yawning as he ran a hand through his messy quills. "Well...Good morning, World..." He mumbled, slipping his shoes on and then fastening the buckles before wandering towards the bathroom. He turned on the faucet, splashing his face with some water to wake himself up further, then grabbed a towel and patted his face dry before looking up at his reflection in the mirror...

...It wasn't his.

"What the..." Sonic moved around, finding the reflection staying put like a portrait. It was of a hedgehog in his mid-to-late-thirties, and his shirt was torn and bloodied where he'd obviously been stabbed. Sonic reached towards the reflection.

"BOO!" The portrait suddenly shouted, his hands plastered on the glass like it was a window.

Sonic jumped back, nearly falling into the toilet, but catching himself on the wall. "Ah...Geez...!" He regained his footing as the reflection grinned. "What was that for!?"

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You're just so much fun to scare and I haven't had a chance to do it in ages...!"

Sonic's anger and shock faded, replaced by a smirk on his face as he came back up to the mirror. "Autumn Wind, I assume."

"Indeed, I am. Sorry for the abrupt transfer the other day, but when I saw you come into the ruins, I was like 'Ooh! He's a hero, and he's fast like the wind! Perfect!'"

Sonic chuckled. "So you talk to me through reflections?"

"Or psychically, if no reflective surfaces are around." He paused, looking at himself. "I...I probably should not mimic my appearance after Augustus... But I was melded with him for so long, I-"
He paused as both he and Sonic seemed to feel a cold, dark presence wash over them, one that made Sonic shiver. "...They're here."

"Who?"

"...The Obsidian forces sent to kill you. You need to get out of here, Sonic!"

"And go where?"

"Preferably somewhere out of the city. If we're lucky, I'll be able to teach you how to use your new abilities to combat them before they find you."

"Ha! I knew I'd get new powers!"

"JUST GO!"

Sonic nodded, quickly straightening his quills before taking off out of the house. He knew of some open fields outside the city where he'd have plenty of space to move.

"Morning, Sonic!" A pedestrian hollered as he passed.

"Morning, Detective Vector!" Sonic replied before picking up speed and dashing even faster. It almost felt like he was trying to outrun the dark presence, like it was chasing him. Perhaps it was.
In a matter of seconds, he reached the outskirts of the city, sliding to a stop in the wet, dewy grass and looking back towards the city. "So...Where do we start?"

Wind's voice responded, now seeming to echo in his head and much louder than it had been in the mirror. A simple blast of air...

"Are you sure a blast of air's really gonna do something against people with armor and swords?"

Have you ever stood behind a jet engine? Yours will be like that, but two to three times that force.

Sonic was still for a moment, then a smile crept onto his face. "Alright. How do I do it?"

The thing with air is that while it's not the most physcial element, it is one of the most versatile. To use it, you must use your imagination. Make a fist, and imagine air building up like a charging plasma blast from a gun barrel.

Sonic formed a fist, imagining it powering up and feeling the air brushing against his gloves.

Then throw your fist out and fire!

Sonic did as told, and his smile widened as he threw the blast in front of him, and it not only blasted blades of grass into the air, but slammed into a nearby rock and left a serious crater in the side. "Cool...! What else?"

That's up to you, Sonic. Combine your speed with your air attacks, and be inventive. As long as you're not in space, air is always at your disposal. And there's one more thing, it's about your-

The conversation was cut short as out of nowhere, three soldiers in black armor appeared, weapons drawn. "Sorry, Professor. Class is over for now..." Sonic whispered.

"Autumn Wind..." One of the soldiers sneered. "...A pleasure, as always."

"Wish I could say the same." Sonic replied, managing to keep his composure as he overlooked his new adversaries. Two were about his size and had swords, and the third was significantly larger, with a club. But he recognized the one that had spoken... The one who'd killed Nephrite for rebelling. "...Care to introduce yourselves?"

"Why?" The other smaller Obsidian asked.

"Oh, you know... So I know exactly which Obsidian butts I kicked this morning."

"Confident, are we?"

"Maybe just a little. Must bug you, though. To think you had gotten rid of us, only to have us come right back. Kinda makes your efforts pointless, doesn't it?"

The soldier's grip on his blade's hilt tightened. "We destroyed you once, we'll do it again!"

"Oh please," Wind responded, using Sonic's mouth to speak. "You and I both know Charge took you out before the battle even really got started, Jasper."

"He's right." The larger soldier asked.

"Enough!" Jasper shouted. "You're the only Amethyst active, so you can't summon your allies to you. You're outnumbered, so just accept your fate, and we'll kill you quickly."

Sonic smirked. "Nah." Then he threw both hands forward, having built up blasts the entire time they'd been bantering back and forth. Jasper and the other were thrown a few hundred yards away, but it had only knocked the larger one over. "Okay, now what?"

Tactic 2, go where they can't reach you.

"Which would be- Whoa!" He dodged a swing by the club, flipping backwards a few times. "Which would be what?" He finished.

Go airborne.

"Well last I checked, I can't actually fly unless I'm using the Chaos Emeralds to go Super Sonic." He formed a shield in front of himself to block another swing. "What's your solution to that problem?"

We'll go over that later. Spindash him in the face when he goes for another swing!

Sonic nodded, waiting a moment before jumping up and slamming into the larger knight's face. He hit the ground on the other side with a yelp, feeling himself before looking back. "I-I just-" his panicking ceased as he saw the knight had turned into a puff of smoke, being swept away by the breeze. "...He turned into smoke... Okay. For a second I was afraid I had completely blown through his head!"

You kind of did... Here come Jasper and Onyx.

Sonic turned back towards the two that had been blown away. "Back for more?"

"He's a novice and he's already taken down Tourmaline!?" Onyx shouted.

Sonic dug his feet into the dirt. "You know it...!" He shot forward, throwing a lesser gust into their faces to disorient them. He kicked Onyx to the side and blasted him into the rock he'd tested on prior, forcing the Obsidian to disappear in a puff of smoke. "That's just a little disturbing."

They'll just reform back in the World of Darkness.

"Well that makes me feel- Whoa!" He dodged a swing by Jasper, then formed a blade out of air that surprisingly met and stopped Jasper's next attempt. "Cool...!"

They pulled away from each other, getting into fighting stances.
"It's just the two of us now...!" Jasper hissed. "...You may have taken out Tourmaline and Onyx, but I don't need them to end you!"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Good luck, Jasper... Now that I know I'm not really killing you guys, I'm not gonna hold back!"
Their duel resumed, both of them swinging and blocking each other's attacks. "Not bad. Have you ever considered a career in butchery?"

"Isn't that what I'm doing...!?"

One stab shot past Sonic's ear, and he stumbled back, putting a hand to his head and bringing back some blood on his fingers. Too close...!
He vaulted into a spindash, air building around him as he uncurled at the last minute and slashed his razor wind blade into Jasper at full force. His feet slammed into the ground, and he looked behind him as the third Obsidian disappeared as smoke in the wind before collapsing into the grass.

He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the stinging coming from his cut. "...Well that was fun..." He whispered.

But this is only the beginning...They'll be better prepared for your abilities next time.

"Well then," He sat up again. "I guess I'll just have to do more research on them, too...Now, let's head back to the house. I didn't eat before all of this mess and I'm starved..."