Hey guys!
Sorry I'm getting this out to you this late. I wanted to make sure that it was gonna be good for you. Just out of curiosity, how do you guys feel about the pace of the story? As far as I know, we're *maybe* halfway through the story. Like I have said many times, I'm making this up as I go along.
Saw the first episode of X-Ray and Vav. I liked how Gavin's powers are "Slo-Mo" hands. Lindsay's character was pretty cool, too.
Speaking of Lindsay Jones, I've noticed a disturbing trend on the Let's Plays that feature her. A lot of Youtubers have commented about her presence, saying that she should get out, she doesn't belong, etc. I keep thinking, geez, why can't Lindsay join in on the fun? A few people also say that the newer guys, Matt and Jeremy, also don't belong with the Achievement Hunters. WTF? I mean, just because they aren't part of the "A-team" (pun intended), they can't play games with them? Christ, Lindsay voices RUBY ROSE! Can't youtubers just give them a chance?
Ahem... For those still reading the intro, thanks for staying as I rant about the injustice of it all. I just had to say something about that.
I don't own RWBY or Sonic. I only own my OCs. Enjoy!
Beacon Academy, Team RWBY's dorm, 2:00 p.m.
"The guys sure have been gone a while, haven't they?" wondered Weiss.
Because of the disturbance of the communications systems, the teachers at Beacon allowed the students to return to their rooms. However, the members of Team RWBY couldn't help but worry for their leader.
"I'm sure Ruby's fine, Ice Queen," said Rouge from her spot on the ceiling. She and the rest of the Mobians decided to keep the team company while they waited for Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby to come back.
"Besides, Sonic's with them!" Amy gushed. "Nothing can stop him! Oh, my Sonic…"
Blake wasn't convinced. "I highly doubt that whoever caused these problems will be easy to take down. Also, I can't help but wonder why someone would want to disrupt communications," she said behind her book.
"Well, at least we have help from Captain Shepard," said Yang. Zwei, who was sitting beside her, yipped in agreement.
"Right. And how long will we have help from him?" asked Weiss dubiously. "From what I recall, he's doing this for a contract I gave him. What happens if he gets a contract from Torchwick's gang that's worth more? He may be doing good things now, but in the end, he's just a pirate."
"Hey, I prefer the term, 'beneficial mercenary,'" Shepard said from the entrance to the room.
Weiss jumped in surprise. "Wha-?"
"How long have you been standing there?" asked Silver.
Shepard ignored the question. "Let me tell you something, Miss Schnee. My crew and I may be doing the things we do for money, but that's a secondary objective. We run extensive background checks on all the jobs we are approached with as well as the clients who sent them. And that's only after the government decides to send the contract to us.
"Believe me, we have had plenty of occasions where ne'er-do-wells seeking our services. Heck, Torchwick himself tried to hire us once under a false identity. Wanted us to assassinate General Ironwood."
"Really?" asked Blaze, intrigued. "What did you do?"
Shepard chuckled at the memory. "When we discovered it was Torchwick that requested the job, we sent him a return message saying, 'Even if we did do assassinations, you didn't pay enough up-front.' He paid a substantial amount of money, too."
Blake smiled. "I bet that he wasn't too happy about that."
"Nope. Especially since we told the police where he was at the time. Seeing his face on the news as he was arrested was worth it. Shame he escaped a few months later."
"What did you do with the money he gave you?" Knuckles asked.
"We gave half of it to several orphanages, a quarter to the Atlas military, and the rest was used in the purchase of ammunition for the stationary guns on the Normandy.
"My point is, we never take jobs from criminals. If ANYTHING in the job description sounds bad, we give a tip to the local police, and donate money used for beneficial purposes."
Weiss looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, Captain…"
"Call me John. Don't worry, Miss Schnee, you aren't the first person to judge my character." Shepard stepped forward and took Weiss's hand in both of his. "Just know that my crew and I are dedicated to the betterment of life in Remnant."
Weiss nodded. "Sorry if I offended you, John. It's a habit I'm working on."
Shepard laughed as he released the heiress' hands. "That's good! And don't worry, I've been called much worse than 'pirate'."
"You are doing better at bein' open-minded, hon," said Rouge encouragingly.
"Okay, now that that's out of the way, I wanted to let you all know that the Atlas military is sending someone you know to help your friends in the Digital Realm. They should be almost finished in there anyways, so you won't have to wait much longer for Ruby and the hedgehogs to come back."
As Shepard walked out of the room, the humans, Mobians, and one Faunus looked at each other in confusion. "Someone we know in the Atlas military?" wondered Blake.
Tails jumped up, the expression on his face one of excitement. "Don't you see what this means?"
"No, not really," responded Knuckles.
"There's only one person we know! They're sending in-"
Digital Realm, Central Communications Hub, same time
"Penny?!"
To say that Ruby was surprised at seeing the synthetic girl was like saying her sister was mildly upset when her hair was shortened without her consent. A pretty large understatement, in other words.
"Oh, hello there, Ruby!" greeted Penny, oblivious to the fact that her mode of transportation crushed some Dark Pawns underneath it.
"What the- Who the heck is this brat?" Eggman managed to ask through his surprise.
"I wouldn't mind knowing, either," said Chief. Sentinel and his programs nodded in agreement.
"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Um, Aeromi? There's a girl here that arrived through the ceiling. Is she the backup I requested?" Chief asked through his communicator.
"Yep, that's her. Don't worry, Chief, she's stronger than she looks," Aeromi responded.
Eggman, having seen enough, ordered an Egg Brute to confront the girl. The robot walked towards Penny, towering over her. The robot sized up the girl, and coming to the conclusion that she wasn't a threat, raised a large foot. However, just before it was about to squish her, Penny raised both hands and caught it, arms straining with the effort of holding it. Penny then pushed off of the ground, toppling the Brute.
"What?" said Sonic in awe. "Even Knuckles couldn't do something like that."
"If I recall correctly, she's supposed to be the first synthetic person capable of generating an aura, so she's bound to have a lot of strength," Shadow commented. He took another look at the Brute lying on the ground. "That was pretty cool, though."
"She can generate an aura?" asked Chief, who wasn't aware of Penny's capabilities and origins. "I thought only beings with souls could generate aura."
"Just because Penny's creation was artificial doesn't mean she has no soul," Ruby retorted. "Besides, from what I've seen, you A.I.'s also might have something close to a soul."
"Wait… That girl's a robot? With a SOUL?!" gaped Eggman. "That's not possible! Why, even in all my years of research and experiments, none of my robots acquired anything close to a soul!"
"Tsk, tsk, for a genius, you don't have very good memory," said Shadow, shaking his head. "Need I remind you about your 'failed' robot, E-123 Omega?"
Orbot popped up. "He does have a point, Doctor. And don't forget about Metal So-"
"Shut up!" Eggman yelled. "Gah, I'm sick of listening to this blasphemy. Attack that abomination!"
All the Pawns in the room started to rush the robot girl. The programs and organic beings prepared to help Penny out, but it seemed that their help wasn't needed as a compartment on Penny's back opened up, and about fifteen swords flew out and floated just behind her head.
As the first Pawns reached her, Penny wove her hands in a sweeping pattern, and the swords behind her arranged themselves in a saw-like formation. They then swept through the lines of Pawns, slicing them open and killing the Creatures of Grimm inside of them. A few of them opened fire at the girl, but Penny directed her swords to spin around her, blocking all the bullets.
"Whoa. I knew that Penny was a robot, but I really didn't expect… this," said Sonic.
Shadow couldn't stand still any longer, and decided to help the android by spin-dashing through most of the robots that were shooting at her, Crimson Dusks' red blade slicing through robots with ease. Sonic and Ruby joined the fray, slicing any robots in their way. Penny nodded her thanks, then felt a rumble behind her. She looked and saw the Brute she toppled earlier rising up. It raised a huge fist, intending to crush the girl. However, the compartment on Penny's back opened up again and released two more swords that connected with her via very strong monofilament wire. These swords were launched into a wall, and they reeled Penny in like a fish, taking her out of the path of the metal fist.
Sentinel and his programs started to rush to help the robot girl, but Chief held out a hand. "Wait. I want to see how she handles this."
The Egg Brute's internal processor was seething with rage at its inability to hit the girl, and started to run at her, crushing any Pawns that got in its way. Penny calmly held her hands out in front of her, and her swords rushed in front of her, the "handles" shifting parts. They started spinning rapidly, a ball of green energy building in the center.
When the energy reached a sufficient level, Penny thrust her hands forward. This triggered a firing mechanism on the spinning swords, and the energy was released in several laser beams. The energy of the beams hit the Brute as well as most of the Pawns behind it. The Brute stood still for a few seconds, then the left side of it's body fell one direction, while the right side fell the opposite direction, exposing the evaporating Ursa inside. Penny straightened up, a satisfied smirk on her face.
Chief looked at the remains of the Egg Brute as he called up Aeromi. "Hey, remember when I was dubious about our backup being a young girl?" he asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" the female A.I. asked.
"I take it all back."
"Why, what happened?"
Chief looked at the carnage caused by Penny. "Let's just say when Ironwood sends backup, he REALLY sends backup."
Eggman had seen enough. He hopped into his Egg Pod and inserted it into a hole on the robot lizard he had arrived in. On closer inspection, it appeared more like a black crocodile was silver armor plates. To top it off, the robot had glowing red eyes.
"Oh, great. What clever name did you come up with for that thing?" taunted Sonic. "The Egg Croc? Egg Gator?"
"For your information, you ignorant blue rat, this is the Egg Suchus!" Eggman bellowed.
"Big deal, it'll still smash up nicely all the same," said Ruby.
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that, flower girl," the mad doctor said in a menacing tone. The Egg Suchus turned its head toward Ruby and opened its very large mouth, showing an intimidating set of teeth. More importantly, however, was the buildup of energy that could be seen building up in the "throat". A huge laser beam shot out and would have hit Ruby if her semblance wasn't speed.
"Hahaha, take this!" All along the robot crocodile, gun ports opened up, and missiles started firing at anyone not aligned with Eggman. Everyone dodged the wave of missiles, but only just.
"Penny!" Chief called out as he ran towards the girl. "How long until your laser is charged up again?"
The robot girl was understandably intimidated by the armored figure as he stopped in front of her, but she sensed that he was not an enemy when he activated his bubble shield and protected them both from an incoming missile. "I can only use that technique once every twenty-four hours. It'll take too much energy for me to do it again this soon, even in this realm."
"Well, I didn't expect this to be too easy," Chief said, getting Master Key ready.
"We can't let that thing destroy any more of the room!" shouted Sentinel. "Another blast of that laser, and there won't be any communication systems left to fix!"
"I think I have an idea on how to get rid of that laser," said Sonic. "Chief, pass me one of those emps!"
"Emps? What do you mean emps?"
"Oh, fine, the E.M.P. grenade!"
To say that Chief was dumbstruck was an understatement. "Are you crazy? Having this go off in the room might be just as bad as the laser! Besides, an E.M.P. grenade might not be enough to stop that croc."
Sonic's expression turned into his trademark grin. "Well, thank Chaos I won't be blowing it up in the room, then!"
Chief was still understandably apprehensive about giving the grenade to the hedgehog. "What do you plan to do with it, then?"
"Relax, Chief," said Shadow. "I think I know what he's going to do. Pass him the grenade. Faker, I'll cover your approach."
"I'll help, too!" said Penny as she put a sword in each hand, the rest blocking the occasional missile that was sent their way.
"Do you even know how to use those swords in a… traditional manner?" asked Ruby.
Penny smiled. "What's to understand about swish, swish, stab? It's a sword, not a fighter jet."
"Hey, that's what I said," complained Sonic.
"What do you even plan to do with it?"
Sonic whispered his plan into Chief's helmet. The Spartan A.I.'s expression of understanding was invisible to everyone, but he handed the E.M.P. to the blue hedgehog. "Please don't make me regret this."
Sonic gave Chief a reassuring thumbs up. "No worries, I got this. Ladies, Shadow, let's do this!"
"I have no idea what you guys are planning, but we'll help in any way we can," said Sentinel.
"Blinding it ought to make things easier. Shoot out the optic sensors!" ordered Chief.
The programs dispersed and fired their various weapons, aiming for the "eyes" of the Egg Suchus. A few shots hit the right eye, which turned dark. The robot, which already had a blind spot on the front of its face because of its crocodilian similarities, became even more pronounced.
"What the- Why is the right side of the screen so dark?!"
Apparently, Eggman didn't take blindness into account when making this robot.
As for Penny and Ruby, those two were seen slashing through Egg Pawns. Gradually, they made their way to the Egg Suchus. Ruby used her scythe to destroy the missile launchers while Penny stabbed her sword into the other eye, giving Eggman total blindness.
The Egg Suchus opened its mouth, intent on charging and releasing another laser. However it only got to the charging stage when a blue blur was seen racing to the robot.
"BONZAI!" shouted Sonic as he threw the E.M.P. grenade into the mouth of the Egg Suchus. "Two points!"
Reflexively, the robot closed its mouth before the grenade blew up. This was actually very fortunate, because when the E.M.P. went off, the only thing affected was the Egg Suchus, and not the delicate communications equipment in the room, or Penny.
The Egg Suchus collapsed on the ground, but movement was still seen. The robot's midsection blew up, and a very injured King Taijitu slithered out. The snake, finally freed from its imprisonment, silently wondered who to attack first; the strange humans and animals in front of it, or the obese human that stuffed it in a robot. It literally had two minds about the situation, but it never made the choice, as both minds were suddenly extinguished.
Chief lowered Master Key, the tip smoking a bit. "Well, that turned out better than expected. Nicely done, Sonic."
The blue hedgehog gave the A.I. a thumbs up and a cheesy grin. "All in a day's work!"
Meanwhile, Shadow was rooting around in the wreckage of the Egg Suchus. He kicked the spot where Eggman's hoverpod would be, and found nothing. He then punched the robot in frustration.
"What's wrong, Shadow?" asked Ruby.
Shadow faced her, red eyes blazing with anger. "Eggman isn't here. The coward must've left this realm before the robot was destroyed."
Ruby tried to calm the black hedgehog. "Easy, Shadow. We'll get him eventually."
Sonic looked around. "So… Are we done here?" he asked.
"I think we are," said Chief. He put a hand to his helmet. "Aeromi, go ahead and get any programs that work in the communications center to come back."
"Does that mean you won?" she asked.
"Yes. I'll go ahead and transport the organics back to the real world. I'll join you after."
"Roger that. Aeromi out."
Chief gestured to Sonic, Shadow, and Ruby. "Come on, guys. Let's get you home."
"I'm up for that," said Sonic while doing some stretches. "All this blowing up robots and saving cyberspace is making me hungry. Who's up for some chili dogs?"
"Oo, oo, me!" squealed Ruby.
"... Let's just go," grumbled Shadow. "So how exactly are we gonna do this?"
Chief put his hand on the ground, and three circles of white light appeared on the ground. "Just step into these portals. This'll transport you guys back to the computer room in Beacon Academy. Professor Goodwitch should be there to receive you three."
"But what about the communications?" asked Ruby. She looked around at the room. Although the damage to the room was minimal, the lights were still a sickly orange color, and not the usual white of the city. "Shouldn't the lights be white instead of orange?"
"Oh, don't worry about that," said Sentinel. He walked up to the pedestal and pushed a few buttons. The lights surrounding the pedestal became a pure white. Gradually, the white light spread to the whole room and beyond.
Outside, Aeromi watched as the communications building matched the rest of the city. She smiled as the programs surrounding her cheered. She was proud to have made friends with the Mobians and the students at Beacon.
Mountain Glenn, 6:00 p.m.
To describe Mountain Glenn as a post-apocalyptic ghost town is fairly accurate. It was once a thriving expansion of Vale, but due to it not having the natural barriers most successful towns would, it was overrun with the Creatures of Grimm.
Of course, that doesn't mean it was completely lifeless.
In the deep caves underneath the town, there were more empty shells of buildings. This was a last resort by the inhabitants to eke out a living away from the kingdom. However, a collapse exposed subterranean Grimm, and the people were slaughtered. It was known as the kingdom's greatest failure, and they took great pains to block up the tunnels leading to the main city so no would wander into the world's largest tomb.
This suited Cinder Fall just fine.
She observed the White Fang moving around, transporting the containers that held the energy of Dralux. "Well, glad to see that your end of the operation went smoothly," a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Eggman. "I lost a lot of Dark Badniks to help this scheme along."
"Oh, don't you fret, Doctor," Cinder said smoothly. "You have all the energy from Dralux you require, and none of our enemies suspect that the communications problem was just a ruse to acquire it."
Eggman grinned evilly. "Now, I can begin to build a robot capable of handling all that energy. In the meantime, I'll take advantage of the large variety and amount of Grimm here and set up a Badnik assembly plant to swell our ranks."
Cinder nodded in acknowledgement. As Eggman walked away, a sinister smile was seen on her face.
'Everything is going according to plan.'
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little fight scene. That right there is the reason I took more time than usual to write this.
Concerning Penny, I feel like it takes a good amount of energy for her to do her huge laser blast, as seen in the finale of RWBY volume 1. As for using her swords by holding them in a traditional way- why not?
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