Hey guys!

Well, last Sunday had a bit of a triple surprise concerning the weather. First of all it was snowing; Second, it's the middle of November; Third, I live in TEXAS. I mean, it was just a slight coating that made the road damp, but it was snow nonetheless. How crazy is that? North Texas does get snow sometimes, but that's usually late in the winter. I sure am glad I bought some warm clothes from the Roosterteeth store a few months ago.

I don't own RWBY or Sonic. I won't have any closing comments and the end of this chapter this time around because it would ruin the cliffhanger. So, remember to leave a favorite if you like this story, and leave a review!

Digital Realm, Communications Hub, 1:45 p.m.

The group quickly made their way through the building that housed the communications systems of Vale, sneaking past large groups of Dark Pawns when necessary. Sonic wasn't used to all this sneaking around, but he understood that being hasty could ruin their chances of getting it done quickly. Ruby and Shadow felt the same.

"How much further, Chief?"

The A.I.'s helmeted face looked at Shadow. "Not too long, now." He peeked around a corner with his Master Key in it's "Cornershot" mode, and pointed out a large hallway with an equally large door on the screen. "The Central Control Room is in there. I'm picking up a lot of movement inside, though."

"Then Eggman must be in there!" Sonic said excitedly.

Chief held up a gloved hand, signalling silence. "Let's get inside before we jump to hasty conclusions about who might be in there, although your suspicions may be correct. However, there are a lot of Pawns guarding it, and I don't want to use an EMP this deep in the building."

"Why not?" asked Ruby.

Sentinel answered her question. "The equipment in that room is unshielded, and the electromagnetic pulse might make the repair times increase from, in your time units, six minutes to six days. I imagine that Vale is chaotic enough already without communications, so just think of what a few days might cause. For example, there could be a breach in the borders, and no one would know about it until a raging Ursa slices your door open and- well, you get the idea."

Chief nodded at Sentinel's explanation. "Exactly. But while the room is unshielded electronically, we will still be able to fight in hand-to-hand combat." He glanced at Sonic's sword. "Do you know how to use that thing?"

Sonic twirled Cobalt Shard around a few times, the light from the blade making a very nice light show before securely grabbing the hilt, smirking. "What's to understand about 'swish, swish, stab'? It's a sword, not a fighter jet."

"Just try and stop me," said Shadow evilly, changed Crimson Dusk from rifle to katana.

Ruby looked nervous. "I'm not sure how much use I'd be. I use pretty powerful ammunition for Crescent Rose, and I might put a hole in something important."

Sentinel motioned a program from his unit forward. He had a dark brown complexion, and he had a lot of muscle- probably needed to carry around the large rotary gun on his back. He was also very tall- not as tall as Chief, but pretty close, though. "Jericho can help you with that. Jerry, let's give Miss Rose some modifications to her ammo."

"Yes, sir," Jericho answered in a deep, cultured voice. He knelt down in front of Ruby so that her silver eyes were level with his dark green ones. "May I see your ammunition?" he asked politely, which was surprising, coming out of an intimidating figure

Ruby took out a magazine from her belt and handed it to the big program. Jericho put it on the ground in front of him and pointed an arm at the magazine. A grid formed around it, and the program started typing into his S-tool. A holographic loading bar appeared above the magazine, and it quickly finished.

"What was that?" asked Ruby.

Jericho picked up the magazine and handed it back to Ruby. "I modified your ammunition. With my upgrade, you'll be able to use you weapon's potential to the maximum without endangering the equipment inside. Any bullet you fire will go through any target, but it won't penetrate anything important."

"That's smart thinkin'," said Sonic. "And here I thought you were just here for destroying things. I didn't realize that you were-"

"Smart?" Jericho laughed. "I was originally part of a program that designed weapons for the Atlas military. When they upgraded their software, they donated it to Vale, and I was rewritten as an antivirus program, but I still retained some of my functions from my previous job."

"And believe me, it has come in handy many times," said Sentinel. "Okay, I think we're all ready, Chief."

The A.I. nodded and shifted his weapon to "Keyblade" mode. "Alright, let's get this thing done. Sonic and Shadow, show these program what Mobians can do."

The hedgehogs nodded and ran out of their cover, the lights on their swords blazing. Sonic spin-dashed through a group of Pawns, caused them to be propelled into the air. Shadow took care of those when they landed, Crimson Dusk glowing brightly as it sliced through them.

Chief joined the fray, blocking any bullets directed at him with Master Key. The few shots that did get through didn't penetrate the A.I., for it seemed that his suit had some kind of personal shielding which glowed before fading. He switched modes and launched a grenade into a large gathering of Pawns. There was a satisfying explosion that left an equally satisfying pile of robot parts.

Sentinel's security programs managed to corner a few robots with shields. Axis and Sentinel were firing their rifles while Mayd was throwing a ridiculous amount of knives from an unknown source. The knives that stuck into the ground at various places blinked softly until the blonde program pressed a button on her S-tool. A huge electrical discharge occurred, paralyzing all the Pawns and causing weapons and shields to drop out of their hands. Jericho, not to be outdone, took out his rotary gun and mowed them down

Out of nowhere, a few flying Eggman robots appeared and started firing at the group. They were high enough that neither Sonic nor Shadow could reach them. Sonic was preparing to run up the wall to take them out when a shrill "YAAAAAAHHH!" caused him to look to Ruby as she launched herself up to the ceiling with Crescent Rose. She pushed off and used her scythe to accelerate her body towards the flying Dark Badniks, then slammed her boots into one of them. She repeated this tactic a few times, mimicking Sonic's homing chain attack the best way she could.

When all the flying robots were dealt with, Ruby landed on a Dark Pawn in front of Sonic, caving said Pawn's head in, before she did a back-flip off of it, landing perfectly. "So, how was that?" she asked.

Sonic took a second to pick his jaw off the floor before answering. "A little sloppy on the turns, and your form needs practice."

"Everyone's a critic," replied Ruby, rolling her eyes.

Sonic chuckled. "Joking aside, that was probably the best homing chain I've ever seen from someone that's not a Mobian. When we finish up here, I'll give you some pointers."

Ruby paused. "I was that good?" she asked, astounded.

"Judging by the fact that we're not being fired on by flying robots and you're still alive to ask about it, I'd say you're a natural."

Sonic and Ruby high-fived before joining the others at the large door. Chief was checking his S-tool intently. "My motion tracker is detecting only one being behind this room. However, since he or she is the cause of the disturbances in the real world, we must take the necessary precautions."

Everyone nodded in agreement as the A.I. put a hand to his ear. "Aeromi, we're about to stir the hornet's nest. Are all the civilian programs out of harms way?"

"Aye aye, Chief. We've even picked up some reinforcements," she responded

Chief raised a hidden eyebrow. "Reinforcements? From where?"

"I relayed our plight to General Ironwood in Atlas, at Professor Ozpin's request. He's sending in some backup that should be arriving soon."

Chief had to ask: "What form of backup?"

"The general just said, 'What I'm sending will change the world.'" Aeromi let that information sink in. "Yeah, I thought that was weird, too."

"That's… unexpected, not to mention cryptic as heck. Give him my regards, and keep a safe distance. Move in when you see the signal."

"Affirmative. Wait, what's the signal?"

Chief thought about it. "If you see big plumes of smoke and fire, we could probably use some help."

"Ah, right. Goin' with the insane approach, I see. How about I wait ten minutes instead?"

"That'll work. Chief out."

The Normandy's A.I. got his Master Key in a ready stance. "Well, let's not delay any longer. Everyone ready?"

Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby nodded, as well as Sentinel's group of programs. Chief told everyone to get on either side of the door.

"Okay, here we go. Three… Two…"

On "one", Chief kicked the door open and quickly stepped out of the way as bright beams flashed from the entrance, exploding further down the hall. Very soon, smoke filled the entrance to the Central Control Room. It was so bad, Chief silently showed the speedy trio how to activate a breath mask function so they could breathe easily. At one point, Sentinel took out a cigar from his pack and lit it using the beams that rushed by.

"Did I get them?" asked voice from inside after a few minutes of blasting the hallway.

"Missed, sucker!" heckled Sonic.

"What the- Orbot! I thought you said the calibration was complete!" the voice exclaimed in an irritable manner.

"If I recall," replied another voice, "you were the one who decided to send this robot without any testing. I said the calibration of the weapons systems was INcomplete."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"'Orbot, get me something to eat.' 'Orbot, go see if our guests need anything.' 'Orbot, shut up, I don't have time to listen to progress reports.' Does any of that ring a bell?"

A third voice joined in, this one having a bit of a Southern accent. "As for me, Ah was busy workin' on mah voice chip."

There was a brief clang, followed by the first voice muttering, "That ought to shut you two up for a while."

Seeing that the culprit was distracted, the group quickly rushed into the room. Like the rest of the captured portions of the city, this room was lit up with orange lights, which meant corruption of some kind. There were many tables with touch pads on them, and their function was a mystery to the speedy trio. However, their focus turned to the center of the room, where a large robot crocodile sat in front of a large seat. Normally, this seat would be used by an overseer-type program that monitored communications in Vale, but now it was occupied by a large man and two small robots, both of which had large dents.

"Eggman!" shouted Sonic. "I knew you had something to do with this!"

"What was your first clue, the Eggman robots?" asked Shadow sarcastically.

Chief stepped forward. "Doctor, what did you hope to accomplish with disrupting the communications network of Vale?"

Eggman eyed the armored figure suspiciously. "That's none of your business. This is just one step of many towards building my empire!"

"Actually," interjected Sentinel, "it IS our business. Especially since you de-rezzed innocent programs just for some megalomaniac scheme!"

"So? What are a bunch of measly programs compared to my genius?" Eggman proclaimed.

Orbot popped up into view. "Doctor, I'd like to point out that-"

"Attack, my robots!" the mad doctor ordered. A wave of Pawns appeared and quickly surrounded all those who would defy Eggman. The mixed group of programs and organic beings got in a circle, weapons at the ready.

Before the Pawns could fire, Chief put his weapon away and punched the ground. This activated a bubble shield, protecting everyone inside it.

"So… How long is this going to protect us?" asked Ruby conversationally, even though she was worried about the large amount of robots surrounding them.

"It only needs to protect us for five more seconds," responded Chief, watching a countdown on his S-tool.

On "zero", a large ball the size of a person crashed down from the ceiling, crushing a few robots when it landed. Chief's bubble shield dissipated, but the Pawns were more interested about the ball that just arrived instead of killing the occupants of the former bubble.

The large sphere started shifting parts, disassembling itself as a figure emerged from it. The person's identity was hidden by the large amount of smoke, and no one could tell who or what it was until a familiar voice was heard, saying just one word:

"Sal-u-tations!"