Hey guys. Sorry, but this chapter is a gonna be a little shorter this time around. The reason is a combination of writer's block and issues at work. Boy, there are issues.

Okay, normally at work, it's okay for people to talk on the phone during slow hours. However, these past few days have really tested my patience with my coworkers. There is a coworker that has really gotten on my nerves. On wednesday, she let her post to show a video on her phone to a few other coworkers, leaving me alone to do a lot of orders when it's almost time to clock out. As if that wasn't bad enough, the next day, she calls someone, then, apparently exhausted by that conversation, takes a 15 minute break to call someone else, leaving little ol' me to take up the slack. Again. And it's not just her, there were 2 others that pulled the same stunt.

Now, I don't have much of a social life, but talking to someone on the phone when there's work to be done? WTF?! Normally, I would take it in stride, but any more of this, and I might explode. I drove home angry and on the verge of tears twice this week, and I used 5 days worth of gasoline in two days.

As to why this relates to the shorter chapter, I can't really write anything good while really stressed and upset, so I had to partake in some therapeutic Minecraft playing to settle down.

I don't own RWBY or Sonic.

Beacon Academy workshop, 4:15 p.m.

After classes, Team RWBY was planning to just kick back and relax after a hard day. However, Tails requested their presence, along with Team JNPR. Thinking it was probably more important than researching the different variants of Dust crystals (and because Weiss was their resident Dust expert), they went ahead and joined the Mobians. Silver came a little later due to carrying a long package.

"All right, we've all got some news we need to share with each other," Sonic began. "Silver, go ahead and share what I think everyone knows, but we'll say anyway, just to be on the same page."

Silver nodded and took King Mogar's diamond sword out of the package and placed it on a table. "All right, Your Highness, come out and meet everyone."

A small bright ball floated out of the sword and flashed once, taking the form of the Faunus king. "Greetings, mortals of various races… Wow, and I thought that Silver was a strange color."

The reactions of the group were varied; Jaune leapt out of his seat and into Pyrrha's arms, Yang prepped Ember Celia for a fight, and Blake put a hand on Gambol Shroud. Everyone else nodded in respect. When Jaune, Yang, and Blake saw that the ghost wasn't going to harm them, they apologized profusely.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Mogar said. "Your reactions are actually better than what I expected. Now that it's out of the way-"

"Hold on a sec," interrupted Tails. He wheeled up a few gauges on a cart. "Forgive me, but I need to check if this really is King Mogar, and not some holographic trap set up by the White Fang."

Mogar had to ask, "What's the fox with two tails doing?"

"Relax, Your Highness. Tails is a child genius, and, well, to be honest, we haven't dealt with many ghosts," said Silver.

"He isn't wrong," said Sonic. "Between all of us from Mobius, we've only had three adventures where we encountered ghosts."

"You've seen ghosts before?" asked Ruby.

"The event following Shadow's awakening, the Haunted Mansion during the Metal Sonic crisis…" Knuckles counted. "Wait, what's the third one?"

"It was during the Dark Gaia disaster. I'll tell you about it later," said Sonic.

"Wait, wasn't Tikal a ghost?" asked Amy.

"She was more like someone whose spirit was trapped with the Master Emerald," said Knuckles.

"Soo…. She was a ghost?" wondered Ren.

Knuckles shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

Tails checked the gauges on the sword, then the ghostly figure. "High psychic signature, unknown energy readings, no electronics implanted on the sword…" he mumbled to himself.

"So, what's the verdict, Tails?" Blake wondered.

Tails faced the group. "He's a ghost," he confirmed. He gestured to Silver, letting him resume his introduction.

"Okay, for anyone who doesn't know yet, this is King Mogar. He was the warrior king that first vanquished Dralux, the largest Creature of Grimm to walk Remnant," Silver informed. "Mogar, we heard from Tali Williams that the White Fang has successfully taken the energy of Dralux from your tomb in the mountains."

"That's correct. And Silver, before you get all remorseful that you weren't able to protect my tomb, let me say something. From what brave Miss Williams told me, the town of Vale was the victim of- what was it?"

"A communications blackout," supplied Tails.

"Ah, thank you. Tali said that the blackout cut Vale off from the rest of Remnant, so there was no way you could have known about the White Fang infiltration. If anything, I'm mad at the White Fang and their masters for potentially destroying the world." He pointed at his bear ears. "I realize that the Faunus' situation hasn't changed that much from when I was alive and a king, but to destroy the world? Bah! The White Fang are comprised of some the worst examples of Faunus I have ever seen!"

"They just feel what they're doing is the right thing," said Blake solemnly while removing her bow. She revealed her cat ears to the ghost. "As a former member of the White Fang, I would like to say that it wasn't all bad before. It was a change of leadership that caused them to act this way, and the reason why I left."

Tails put a comforting hand on Blake's shoulder. "At any rate, at least you know there are some Faunus who are working for a better future that don't bring themselves down to the White Fang's level," the young kitsune said.

"Got that right!"

The doors to the workshop opened, and Sun Wukong entered. "'Sup, guys? Blake, lookin' good as always. Oh, hey, who are you?" he asked, noticed the ghostly figure. Thankfully, he didn't notice Blake blushing at his compliment.

"I'm King Mogar."

"Who?"

Sonic and the others quickly filled Sun in on who the ghost was, and why he was here.

"Okay, cool. Your Highness, I'm Sun Wukong, a friend of these guys."

"Charmed."

"I hate to add on to the bleak mood," interrupted Shadow, "But we figured out who attacked us when we were at the ruins."

"Great!" exclaimed Yang. "Who was it?"

"It just so happens to be someone from our world, and he hates Sonic- more than Doctor Eggman does."

"Pssh, that's absurd. Who could hate me more than Eggman? I mean, I know some of you guys used to hate me," Sonic said dismissively.

Shadow shook his head. "Not to the extent of this guy."

The black hedgehog pulled up a screen that showed all the suspects he, Omega, and Tails tested. He touched a picture, and it expanded, showing the only positive result.

The picture was of a blue hedgehog, but it wasn't Sonic. This hedgehog had red eyes instead of green, and there was one other small, almost insignificant difference: he was a robot.

"Who's that?" asked Ruby.

Sonic answered her, voice wavering slightly. "That's Metal Sonic."

"Metal was created by Doctor Eggman many years ago, while he was still going by his true name, Doctor Robotnik," explained Tails. "He was designed to match Sonic's traits, mostly his speed."

"Oh, I remember those days," said Amy dreamily. "That's when I first met Sonic! He rescued me from that fake hedgehog many times!"

"Yup. That was when it was just Sonic and I, fighting robots and saving the world," said Tails. "It wasn't until Shadow's reawakening that we fought Metal Sonic once more." He pulled up a picture of Metal Overlord.

"What is that?" Nora asked, looking at the robotic dragon.

"You remember Chaos, right?" asked Sonic.

Teams RWBY and JNPR nodded.

"Well, Metal Sonic found a way to copy our lifeform data and that of a few others to create that form. It took all our combined powers to defeat him."

"By 'our' combined powers, he means those of Teams Sonic, Rose, Dark, and Chaotix," explained Rouge.

"Okay, so why all this history?" asked Jaune.

"Simply put, the mystery person that ruined our camping trip is Metal Sonic," concluded Shadow.

There was a brief pause as everyone let that information sink in. Tails was especially concerned for his adopted bro's reaction.

"Well," said Sonic, "At least it's not Mephiles the Dark. I don't fancy getting killed by him again." The blue hedgehog shuddered at the memory.

"As if Torchwick joining with Eggman wasn't bad enough, now we have to deal with Metal Sonic, too?" growled Knuckles. "Why can't that guy just stay destroyed?"

Omega stepped forward. "Most probable cause of Metal Sonic functioning once again: bits of Dust were able to re-energize his systems."

"Great."

Any further comment about Metal Sonic was interrupted by a frantic beeping from Tails' Miles Electric. He touched an icon on his computer pad, and a map of Remnant opened up.

"Guys, good news," he called out.

Silver sighed in relief. "And I was prepared to listen to bad news all day."

"I finally figured out the location of another Chaos Emerald!"

Tails dragged his hand across the screen of his tablet. This caused the image to be transferred to the larger screen, which replaced the menacing picture of Metal Sonic.

"According to the detector, there seems to be an energy reading identical to a Chaos Emerald somewhere… here!"

Tails pointed at a place just outside the kingdom. The location on the map depicted a large forest filled with trees with red leave, no matter what the season was.

"The Forest of Forever Fall, huh?" mused Weiss.

"So that's what you call it these days, is it?" asked Mogar.

"Why, what was the name in your time?"

Mogar grinned. "It was the same name. It's nice to see that out of all the horrible things that are constant in this world, that beautiful forest is still there."

"I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not sure all of us can go," said Weiss. "We've already missed several classes thanks to the shenanigans of Torchwick and Eggface."

"The what?" asked Ruby. Weiss ignored her and continued.

"We might have to sit this one out, even though we really should help you find those Emeralds."

Shadow nodded. "I understand your concern. You guys should focus on your classes. We'll handle getting the Chaos Emerald."

"Aw, man," whined Nora.

"But that leaves the question: which one of us should go?" asked Blaze. She pointed at a series of numbers on the screen. "The coordinates say that the Emerald is underground."

Knuckles stepped up. "If it's underground, I can locate it easily." Grinning, he activated Clan Claw, the blades glinting in the light of the room.

"Yeah, um, I might have to make some changes to your weapon if you're going," said Tails, sweatdropping at the echidna's antics.

"Why's that?"

"Well, those claws aren't that good for digging. I'll have to integrate a 'shovel claw' mode. Kinda wish I'd thought about that earlier," the fox said sheepishly.

The echidna looked at his gauntlets, shrugged, and removed them. "Do what you have to do, buddy."

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to pass up this Emerald," said Sonic. "I promised Ruby to help fine-tune her Homing Chain."

"What? A human, doing a Homing Chain?" Rouge scoffed in disbelief.

"Hey, I saw her do it in the Digital Realm. She has the potential. She just needs a little help."

"Ooh, can I join you?" asked Amy excitedly. "I still haven't mastered my homing chain, yet!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You just want to use this opportunity to get closer to me."

"... What's your point?"

"Oh, come on, Sonic," said Ruby. "Amy can help me, too."

"Fine."

"Okay, so who else is going besides Knuckles?" asked Yang.

Tails thought about it. "Probably Team Dark-"

"Very well." "I can't wait to get my hands on that beautiful gem!" "Annihilation!"

"- and maybe someone we know who isn't a Mobian but can move around without difficulty."
"Dude, I'm in!" Sun Wukong volunteered. "I've got nothing better to do, anyways."

"Alright. I'll talk to Professor Ozpin about loaning us an airship ride in a few days."

As the group broke up, Tails couldn't help but wonder about Metal Sonic and if he had retrieved a Chaos Emerald. If he had, then their Emerald hunt would be a lot more difficult.

Deep underground, there was a soft glowing in the darkness of the caves underneath the Forest of Forever Fall.

Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of a Creep. This bipedal Creature of Grimm walked up to the Chaos Emerald and sniffed it curiously. It then somehow thought that the crystal would make a meal, and ate it, swallowing it whole.

Because of the huge amount of energy in an Emerald, it caused the Creep to become huge. Even more surprising, it grew two more legs to help support it's weight. The Creep roared, a huge stream of fire pouring out of it's mouth.

The Mobian's Chaos Emerald Hunt did indeed become more difficult; just not in the way they expected.

Once again, I apologize for what I think is not one of my better chapters.

BTW, "Creep" is the name of the Creature of Grimm in the episodes "No Brakes" and "Breach" with two legs, according to the RWBY wiki. Pretty much a man-sized Dondongos from Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. However, since this one swallowed a Chaos Emerald, it now closely resembles King Dondongo.

Just so you guys know, I'll try to write a few chapters before Christmas Break, but don't be mad at me if I am unable to. I like to write chapters for you guys in a timely manner, but pesky real life often doesn't want things that way.

Please leave a review, and if you're a first time reader getting to this point, go ahead and follow me, I always try to upload a chapter once a week.