A Red Rose in the Blue Wind

by Iron117Prime

Sonic and his friends have come to a new world, one Dr. Eggman hopes to conquer. Meeting new friends? That is to be expected of our heroes. New enemies? Also to be expected. But being caught in a war between two immortals? Not the strangest thing that's happened to them, but definitely something new. (Blood and minor swears)

12. Let's Dance

Hi everyone, welcome back to the story. I'm glad the last chapter was so well-received, now we're dealing with the aftermath of what the heroes have learned and seen and how they're reacting to it, with some special and action-packed moments thrown in too. I'm sure you'll like what I have in store here. Now, with all that being said, let's get started.

Let's Dance

"Beacon has been infiltrated?!" Glynda questioned as she and Ironwood stood alongside Ozpin, who sat at his desk in his office. Facing them was the combined group of Teams Sonic and Dark, having told the professors and general what they learned from their fight against Eggman and his allies. They left out the involvement of Teams RWBY and JNPR because they didn't want to get them into any trouble, and the kids all had enough to deal with right now.

"Yeah, that's what Fifer said." Sonic confirmed.

"And how can you be certain he wasn't attempting to deceive you?" Ironwood questioned skeptically.

"He was a child." Shadow narrowed his eyes at the general. "His life was taken when he tried to share that information with us. Do you truly believe that a child would throw their own life away to try and deceive us?"

Ironwood's expression softened slightly. "No, that's… that's not what I meant… I." He took a deep breath before continuing. "What happened to that boy was regrettable, and I'm sorry if I sounded… insensitive."

Ozpin, while he did indeed feel a great deal of pity for the young man who had his life taken, especially when he was about to take the first step in changing his life for the better, also felt the need to learn all that he could from this encounter and decided to continue.

"Please, what can you tell us of this assailant whom you pursued?" The Headmaster of Beacon urged.

"It was a woman." Tails explained. "We didn't see her face; she had a motorcycle helmet; but I think her Semblance had some control over fire or heat. She could shoot flames from her palms and feet and superheat her own body temperature."

"She had a weapon that seemed a mix between a bow-and-arrow with short-blades." Shadow added. "She was even able to use her power to superheat her tools as well."

"You remember that lady from the ship who helped Torchwick back when you and I first met Ruby?" Sonic asked Glynda specifically. "I think it was her."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah." Sonic nodded. "I didn't see her face either of those times, but the way she was fighting and the powers she was using… unless she has a twin sister who's got the same kind of powers, I think it's the same chick."

"Nobody has the same Semblance." Ozpin shook his head. "Even siblings or family members who develop similar abilities have some form of differentiation in their Semblance's development."

"There are very few exceptions where the power is hereditary, however." Ironwood added, having known about the Semblance of Winter's family. "But the odds of it being the case here are also unlikely. What I am wondering is how they were able to infiltrate Beacon in the first place."

"Fake transcripts." Shadow said, gazing at Ozpin as Tails looked away slightly with a knowing expression in his eyes. "Others have attempted to enter this school through that method, correct?"

"True." The Headmaster of Beacon confirmed, being reminded of his talk with Shadow in regard to Jaune's attempt to do the same thing. "But I suspect that it wasn't as simple as that."

"The Vytal Festival." Rouge spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Think about it." Rouge explained. "Hundreds of other students from the other Academies come here to participate in that tournament, right? Instead of just trying to get into Beacon… they sneak in through one of the other schools, probably using fake transcripts as Shadow suggested, and just blend in with all the other hundreds of students that come here."

"Essentially a needle in a haystack." Knuckles understood. "That's pretty clever."

"Did you get a description of who these infiltrators may be? Or even how many there were?" Glynda asked.

"Negative." Omega replied. "The Faunus known as Fifer was terminated before any critical information could be given. However, his exact words were 'I think they're human', which suggests they are more than one; and these infiltrators are human and do not have any affiliation with the White Fang."

"But they are working with Eggman." Sonic said. "Fifer said that a woman was talking with Eggman, maybe it was the same one we chased down… but I don't know for sure."

Ozpin contemplated all of this. "This is… disturbing. And with so many students here at Beacon from the other Academies… it is indeed the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack as Knuckles pointed out."

"Not to mention that they probably know we're onto them, now." Knuckles added. "So they're going to be extra careful."

"However, if they've gone to such measures to infiltrate Beacon, it's for a specific reason." Shadow said, gazing at Ozpin. "They're after something. As this is your academy, do you have any ideas as to what it may be?"

"There could be a number of reasons." Ozpin answered. "They may be after a piece of information, or perhaps to take the life of a specific individual, or an act of sabotage of some sort."

Shadow knew Ozpin at least had some idea of what a potential target was but was intentionally leaving out any specific details. Shadow's suspicion of Ozpin was a given, but Sonic himself was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. He remembered what he heard from Penny about her being needed to save the world from an unknown force and that Ironwood was directly involved somehow; but the fact that Ozpin gave a somewhat vague answer also told him that Ozpin himself was involved as well. But they'll think on that later, there was no need to create any tension when they had bigger things to worry about.

"Well, let's think about any possible ideas." Amy suggested. "Maybe there's a way we can use that to lure the bad guys out."

"Instead of searching and looking into the records of virtually every Huntsmen student on the planet… let's make them come to us." Rouge added.

"What do you have in mind?" Ozpin asked.

As Sonic tried to think, he also remembered how the tower they were standing in was also the central hub for Remnant's communication in Vale: The Cross-Continental Transmit System. Each of the four Academies had one. A grin formed on his face as an idea came to mind.

"Hey… isn't there some kind of dance going on later this weekend?" The blue Hedgehog asked.

---

The Next Day

Beacon had been infiltrated. By whom? What were they seeking? Those were among the many thoughts that occupied Pyrrha's mind, but she couldn't dwell on that too much. She trusted Sonic and the others to handle this, it was best to focus on her studies at this time, or in this case, her combat session against all of Team CRDL, which she just won single-handedly. All four members laid defeated on the ground of the arena as the session came to an end.

"And that's the match." Glynda said as she walked up.

"Lucky shot…" Cardin grimaced before falling over.

"Well done, Miss Nikos." Glynda congratulated. "You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

"Thank you, Professor." Pyrrha smiled.

"Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparing match. Any volunteers?" Glynda looked up to the other students attending this session, among them included the four members of Team RWBY, with Emerald and Mercury happening to sit behind them. The professor noticed that Blake was more interested in whatever she was reading than the session.

"Miss Belladonna." That startled Blake as she swiftly closed her book. "You've been rather docile these past few classes. Why don't you…?"

"I'll do it." Mercury raised his hand, volunteering.

"Mercury, is it? Very well. Let's find you an opponent." Glynda went to her scroll, but Mercury spoke up.

"Actually… I wanna fight… her." He pointed right to Pyrrha, much to her own surprise.

"Me?"

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished a match." Glynda stated. "I recommend you chose another partner."

"No, it's fine." Pyrrha didn't seem to mind before looking up toward Mercury. "I'd be happy to oblige."

It didn't take long for Mercury to get down into the arena, and quip his personal weapon, Talaria, a pair of boots with guns built into them. He stood on the opposite end of the ring to face off against Pyrrha, both combatants at the ready.

Mercury made the first move, rushing Pyrrha to lunge a kick forward, which she blocked with her shield before swiping Milo at his other leg to knock him off his feet. But he quickly recovered, spinning his legs in the air before flipping back a few times to land back on his feet and face Pyrrha again.

Pyrrha rushed again as Mercury threw out a series of kicks, which she blocked and parried with Milo and Akouo. She slashed at him with Milo, but he kicked it down and shot his foot at her, which she blocked again with Akouo, slicing again, only for him to kick the blade down; but Pyrrha lunged forward, knocking her shield into him to push him backwards. He skidded to a halt on his feet and gave an amused chuckle.

"Hey, your friend's doing pretty good." Ruby smiled to Emerald, who smiled back, but when Ruby turned to watch the fight again, Emerald rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Mercury leapt into the air, delivering a spinning axe-kick toward, Pyrrha, which she parried with her shield while moving backwards to gain some distance, locked herself down as she brought Milo and Akouo together, using the shield to take the majority of his kicks, until it seemed like he kicked Milo from her hands. When he tried to press his advantage and deliver a kick toward her, she blocked it with her free arm. Mercury looked in surprise for a second before he narrowed his eyes and tried to kick at her again, but she spun around to collect Milo while it was still airborne and parried all his strikes with her sword and shield, only for Milo to get kicked from her hands again and left impaled in the ground and away from her grip.

He smiled triumphantly and tried to kick toward her face, but she raised her hand and channeled only a bit of her Polarity power to his boot and force him to miss his kick, causing him to nearly trip up, though he stabilized himself as he landed on his hand and knee, taking a moment to think about what just happened before understanding.

Pyrrha charged him again as he stood up, lunging both his feet at her, which she blocked with Milo right as he fired the guns in his boots as she pushed him back. He landed to see her charging again, but before she even closed the distance…

"I forfeit." He said, startling Pyrrha and halting her advance as she stopped just past him.

"You… don't even want to try…?" She asked in confusion.

"What's the point? You're a world-renowned fighter." Mercury shrugged. "We're obviously leagues apart."

Pyrrha couldn't help but look a tad suspicious at that remark, or rather how casually he said that. She could tell that this Mercury was actually a very decent fighter and something of a challenge for her. It didn't quite seem like he was giving himself enough credit… or rather… that was the impression he was trying to give.

"In that case, Pyrrha Nikos is the victor of the match, again." Glynda announced. "Next time, you might want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." She said to Mercury.

"I'll be sure to do that." Mercury waved before walking away.

The bell rang, ending the class, while also waking up Blake from her little catnap. "That is all for today." Glynda said to the students as they began to stand up and collect their belongings. "And remember, the dance is this weekend. But you all have your first mission on Monday, I will not accept any excuses."

Emerald waited outside for Mercury as she watched the other students, including RWBY and Pyrrha, leave the room before Mercury finally showed up.

"Learning is so much fun." He said in a somewhat sinister tone.

---

Team RWBY exited from the Amphitheater and outside before they heard somebody call to them. "Oh, hey guys! Wait up!" They turned around to see Sun and Neptune approach them, with two other individuals right behind them.

One was a young man skin with red hair over his right eye in a complete undercut, only revealing his left eye as a green color with several red markings around it. He wore a primarily white outfit with a red military pelisse-like jacket draped over his left side.

The other was another young man with dark skin, gold eyes and green hair. He had tattoos of wings on his chest and roman numerals all around his neck. He wore a white long coat with a golden pauldron on his right shoulder along with a pair of black pants.

"Hey, Sun." Ruby waved.

"I want you guys to meet the rest of my team." Sun introduced. "You already know Neptune; this is Scarlet and Sage. We're Team SSSN."

"Hello." Scarlet greeted formally.

"Hey there." Sage waved.

"Nice to meet you all." Ruby waved.

"So, Blake…" Sun moved to get her attention, apparently oblivious to the fact that she looked incredibly tired. "I hear there's this dance going on this weekend. Ah, sounds pretty lame." He scoffed slightly. "But you and me, I'm thinking… not as lame, huh?"

"What?" Blake questioned.

"The dance! This weekend! You wanna go or what?" Sun asked excitedly.

She gave him an unamused glare. "Is that a joke? Tell me you're joking."

"N-no, not a joke. I mean, I do make jokes, you know I do, but… I'm serious here, you want to go to the dance?" Sun asked, this time looking a bit more nervous from the tone she spoke to him with.

"Did you just so happen to forget what happened recently?" Blake reminded. "A madman has taken control of the White Fang, providing them with weapons of mass destruction more advanced than anything Atlas can come up, this school's been infiltrated, a someone was killed right in front of us!" She exclaimed. "You saw that, remember?!"

"Y-yeah, you're right! I was there!" Sun held his hands up defensively. "That was really messed up!"

"So why would I waste my time on a stupid dance when there are more important things going on right now?!" Blake shouted, causing her own teammates and that of Sun's to look with a mixture of awkwardness and concern.

"I-I don't know… a little bit of fun with your friends…?" Sun winced.

"You and I are not friends!" She got up close and pointed to his chest to get her point across. "When we first met, you stalk me all the way back to Beacon, then you butt in on not only my personal matters but a mission that you weren't even asked to be involved in! I might have told you about my reasoning for going against the White Fang, but that doesn't automatically make you my friend! You wanna waste your time at that dance, go ahead, that's your call. Just leave me out of it."

Blake turned around and began to walk away, leaving her teammates surprised and stunned at how she spoke to Sun. Blake may not be all sunshine and rainbows, but they never expected her to say something like that. Ruby glanced with concern towards Sun, who only looked down with a hurt expression.

---

Later that evening, Team RWBY went to their dorm to meet up with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles; the group sitting around on chairs and their bunkbeds.

"You guys said you wanted to talk to us?" Ruby asked.

"Does it have anything to do with finding Eggman?" Blake questioned eagerly, which everyone noticed.

"We'll get to that, I promise." Sonic assured. "But first things first… Fifer." The mention of the young pig Faunus caused many in the group to look uncomfortably, or angry in Blake's case. "How are you guys holding up from that?"

"I… It's just… just…" Ruby couldn't find the right words, even as Yang reached out to put a hand on her younger sister's shoulders.

"It's the first time somebody was killed right in front of you?" Knuckles assumed. Ruby only gave a single nod; Knuckles saw the look in Yang's eyes that silently suggested the same thing for her. They may have seen news reports and stuff on tv, but actually seeing someone die right in front of them, especially in such a brutal way, was a different experience all together.

"How are you doing, Weiss?" Tails asked.

"I… honestly don't know." The heiress replied, shifting her feet slightly as she sat on the bed. The words of hate he said to her were still fresh in her mind. "You… all know how I feel about the White Fang. What they do is wrong… but I can at least acknowledge why they feel they do what they do but… what happened to his brothers… and the fact they were killed in my company's mines… but the fact that he himself didn't get any kind of compensation…!? I don't blame him one bit for hating me!"

"But Weiss… it's not your fault." Ruby tried to tell her.

"Maybe not but… the way my family company's acting… how people are getting hurt and dying… Something has to be done." Weiss stated. "I… I can't stand the way the SDC is. I've known it's gone in a dark direction ever since my father took over but…"

"When you actually hear the voice of a victim who was directly hurt by them, it puts things into a different perspective, doesn't it?" Sonic assumed.

"…Yes." Weiss confirmed. "I… I know accidents and fatalities are high in the Dust mines… and I don't approve. But… hearing reports is different than… actually meeting a victim."

"That poor kid lost the only family that he had." Yang muttered. "And when he was ready to accept our help… somebody killed him!" Yang clenched her fists in anger, a feeling that Blake also felt. Truth be told, if Fifer was able to walk away from the White Fang, Blake would have tried to find a way to help him find a new path in life, but now that was no longer possible. All the more reason Eggman had to be stopped.

"Listen… this is the sort of thing that happens in this line of work." Knuckles told all four girls. "When you fight, or go up against someone as dangerous as Eggman, people can get hurt… sometimes even killed."

"Has that ever happened to any of you?" Ruby asked softly. "Have… you seen… people die…?"

The three of them shared looks with one another before Tails answered. "Yes, it has." All four girls listened as the fox continued. "We always try to help as many people as we can. But the truth is… no matter how smart, strong, or fast we are… no matter how many friends we got… there's always going to be someone that's outside our reach and… things outside our control. Sometimes, it may be one or a small group of people… Other times… it's a catastrophe. Where there are too many casualties to count."

Sonic and Knuckles instantly thought of what happened at Station Square when Perfect Chaos was unleashed. Many people in the city had evacuated when Eggman attacked, but not everyone was able to get out in time. When Perfect Chaos arose… so many people died. It was probably in the thousands at least; men, women, maybe even children. The only other incident that likely raked up more casualties was when Dark Gaia was unleashed, and the planet broke apart. The chaos that erupted from that incident was far greater.

Sonic happened to pay a glance at the bracelet on his right wrist, the silver ring with the green jewel on it as he thought about Chip. Though he knew Chip wasn't technically dead, just in slumber alongside Dark Gaia for the next cycle; but he would likely never see him again. And it wasn't just Chip; he remembered Shahra dying in his arms, as well as Caliburn breaking apart, and both happened because they were trying to save him. Granted, they were both resurrected shortly after he defeated Erazor and Merlina respectively, but he would never forget what happened. He knew that their resurrections were only under special circumstances and stuff like that, including Shadow's survival after their stopping of Space Colony Ark's crash into the Earth, would most likely not happen again. Dying is, for the most part, permanent.

"Even the fastest thing alive… can't always save everyone." Sonic said with a serious expression, causing all the girls to look at him. "This is kinda the reason why some of us weren't in favor of you helping us. Look, I'm going to be blunt here; stuff like this is probably going to happen again, especially if Eggman's involved. We'll try and save as many people as we can… but we can't always save everyone. And it might be a bit much for you guys. So… if any of you want out… just say the word now. I promise, we won't hold anything against you."

Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and even Blake all glanced at each other, considering what Sonic said. The look in Blake's eyes made it clear that she wasn't backing down, something Knuckles was expecting as he knew how personal this was for her.

"I know being a Huntress isn't easy." Ruby began, getting all their attention. "Maybe we will be dealing with hard stuff like… innocent people dying… and maybe we can't save everyone. But if we quit trying just because it gets hard… then we've already lost. People like Eggman, who think they can hurt people and do whatever they want and get away with it… we can't let them have their way. Someone has to take a stand and stop them. I know you can do it, Sonic. You and all your friends, but this is our home. We have to take a stand and defend it, because that's our duty. We're supposed to be the protectors of this world, so we're in this all the way. We're not backing out."

"Absolutely." Weiss nodded in agreement, surprised and impressed with how mature and resolved her leader and partner was.

"You guys aren't getting rid of us that easily." Yang said with her grin, with a determined look in her eyes.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles looked with smiles, proud and impressed with the resolve of these girls. Despite what they went through, they refused to back down. Maybe they did have the potential to be great heroes after all.

"Alright, try and keep up." Sonic said in his titular confident tone.

"So, what is our next step?" Blake asked eagerly, something everyone noticed. They all knew how invested Blake was with this. But as much as they wanted to tell her to stop, they at least had to sum up the information they gathered.

"Thanks to you, Knuckles, Rouge, and Sun; we know that Eggman and the White Fang are based somewhere outside of southeast Vale." Tails explained. "We don't have a specific location yet, but it does give us a general idea of where to look. What I'm more concerned with is what we found with the Schnee Dust records."

"What did you guys find?" Yang asked.

Weiss moved closer to Tails as the young fox pulled out his Miles Electric and brought up all the files that Weiss had previously acquired.

"The Schnee records point out that Vale has been the primary target for Dust robberies." Weiss revealed. "But, with the kind of weapons Eggman is building, not to mention all the robberies that were thwarted, mostly by Shadow and his team, there is no way Torchwick or the White Fang were able to secure the necessary amount of Dust for Eggman to build the force he's promising the White Fang. So… I decided to expand the search a bit, and with help from Tails, we found a very… disturbing inconsistency with the numbers of lost Dust."

"Lost Dust?" Ruby asked.

"As all of you know, Dust is a very volatile substance." Weiss continued. "And despite what precautions are taken, or how secure the transportation is, accidents are bound to happen when moving Dust over long distances. There are even cases involving Grimm attacks or robberies in transit. Any Dust that doesn't make the full trip from the central distribution center in Atlas to the other warehouses or stores across the other Kingdoms is qualified as lost Dust."

Tails pressed a button to show a holographic projection of a grid table to show the records and numbers of lost Dust. The grid contained a long list of recipients from across the other Kingdoms that would receive the Dust, with the highlighted parts showing the largest quantities of Dust that had been lost in transit.

"This is the recorded number of lost Dust from the past three fiscal years of the Schnee Dust Company." Tails said. "I'm not exactly a business major or anything, but I know numbers. For the most part, it seems pretty stable with only a few huge accidents here and there. Now this right here, is the record for the current year." Tails added another column to the table to show the lost Dust quantity had only increased by at least one, two, maybe three points for each recipient.

"It doesn't seem all that bad." Ruby said.

"Yeah, like maybe only a few extra crystals were broken or something." Yang added.

"And that's exactly what you're supposed to think." Weiss said. "Speaking for each individual recipient, they've lost like maybe one, two, possibly three Dust crystals at most. It doesn't seem like that much of a loss individually…"

"But if you add it all together…" Tails pressed a few buttons, causing the holographic display to shrink and show the total number of lost Dust altogether. The difference between the current year and past three was staggering! It was within the tens of thousands mark, much to the group's surprise.

"That's… a big rock collection." Sonic noted.

"I'm guessing one could do a lot with that much Dust?" Knuckles assumed.

"That right there would supply the entire Atlas military for a whole year!" Weiss stated.

"Definitely enough to build an army of Dust-powered weapons of mass destruction." Blake's tired eyes narrowed even further.

"So, all those robberies done by Torchwick and the White Fang…" Yang began.

"A false trail, all meant to throw us off." Tails finished. "In fact, that warehouse that Sonic, Shadow, and I almost got blown up in… I think that's where all that stolen Dust that Torchwick got was stored."

"Could Eggman do something like this?" Ruby asked Sonic.

"He can… but it's not quite his style." The blue Hedgehog answered. "All this subtlety, using the White Fang, getting only bits and pieces from the SDC, heck even sending in people to infiltrate Beacon… none of this is Eggman's forte. There's definitely somebody else involved in all this."

"You really think there's somebody else out there? Someone bigger than the White Fang?" Yang asked.

"We ran into Penny earlier. Turns out her dad works pretty closely with Ironwood." Sonic revealed. He, Ruby, Tails, and Amy wouldn't say anything about Penny being an android as that was a personal matter and she should reveal it when she feels comfortable. "She said that the general was getting ready to protect Remnant form something, something other than Eggman or even the Grimm, didn't say what or who though."

"Why not simply ask him then? Him and Ozpin?" Weiss questioned.

"Because we don't want to get Penny in trouble." Sonic answered. "That, and we don't have a clear picture. We need more information before we start asking questions like that."

"Isn't that all the more reason to find Eggman and make him give us the answers?" Blake questioned.

"We'll get our answers but Blake… you need to take a break." Knuckles told her, much to her surprise. "Don't try and deny it, you've been running yourself ragged with this investigation. When was the last time you ate a full meal or even got a full night's rest? The bags under your eyes certainly don't help your case."

"Of course I'm restless! In case you've forgotten, Beacon has been infiltrated!" Blake exclaimed. "We have no idea who they are or what they're after!"

"We know, we were there!" Yang stated. "We heard what Fifer said!"

"Then why are we just sitting around?! Why not look for them?!" Blake questioned.

"Do you even have a plan, Blake?" Weiss responded. "There are hundreds of students here! People you don't even know! How are you going to find a spy from all of that? If you at least have a plan, you should tell us! So, what is your plan?"

"I…" Blake was unable to come up with anything.

"You don't even have a plan." Weiss pointed out. "All the more reason for you to stop."

"I'll think of one! I'll…" Blake tried to respond, only for Ruby to quickly come up and gently but firmly hold onto Blake's hands.

"Blake, we understand." The young leader or Team RWBY told her. "We know how personal this is for you and we want to stop Eggman, too. But you're not going to be able to help anyone if you can't keep your eyes open. I'm not saying stop, just take some time to eat and sleep, get some rest. Maybe even go to that dance. You don't even have to bring a date, just have some fun with your friends, that's what I'm doing."

"It'll be fun, we're even planning the whole event!" Yang added in a more enthusiastic tone.

"Excuse me?" Blake questioned.

"Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected." Weiss explained. "Yang and I volunteered to pick up where they left off, even Amy decided to lend a hand."

"Even this little genius has got some tricky ideas he's gonna share with everyone." Yang ruffled Tails' head, causing him to chuckle.

"You're all getting involved in this?" Blake looked towards Team Sonic questionably.

"I know what you're thinking, we're wasting our time planning this whole thing when we could be looking for the spy." Sonic summed up. "But what if I were to tell you, this is actually part of our plan?"

"What…?" Blake questioned, sounding confused.

"Pop quiz: if you were supervillain hoping to conquer Remnant and you infiltrated Beacon, what do you think would be the best thing to target?" Sonic asked all of Team RWBY. Blake tried to think of an answer, but given how tired she was, she didn't seem to be drawing anything.

"The Cross Continental Transit System." Weiss answered, her inner student speaking out. "Not only does it allow communication between the other Kingdoms; if one tower goes down, the whole network fails."

"Bingo, and you get extra credit." Sonic joked, causing Weiss to giggle slightly.

"That network would be the perfect target for Eggman." Tails added. "Either he destroys it and shuts down all the Kingdoms' communication, or he takes control of the entire network for whatever he's planning."

"And nearly everyone would be at that dance, including most of us." Knuckles put in, gesturing to Sonic and Tails for emphasis. "With nobody else at the tower, it would be the perfect opportunity for a spy to slip in and do what they need to do."

"Except… For Shadow and Omega." Sonic grinned causing Blake to look in surprise. "While everyone else is partying, those two will be at the tower waiting for the spy to make their move. When they do, the Edgehog and walking weapon of mass destruction will catch them red-handed."

To say Blake was surprised was an understatement. "You… planned this…?"

"Of course, we're concerned about Beacon being infiltrated, which was why the first thing we did when we got back was talk to Ozpin." Sonic said. "We came up with the plan, now all we gotta do is wait. Best case scenario, we catch the spy. Worst case, they get away but we may learn more about what they're up to and stop them later." He went up to Blake and put an assuring hand on her shoulder. "Blake, we got this. We've got good and solid plan. All you gotta do is get some rest this week, then have a little fun at the party. And even if we don't catch the spy, you'll be rested and ready for the next bout. But right now, you gotta slow down." He snorted slightly. "When I'm telling someone to slow down, you know something's wrong."

Blake took the moment to think. She didn't expect Sonic and the others to come up with such a plan so quickly, and it was actually a really clever strategy. And even if they didn't catch the spy, they could stop them or at least learn more about them, so it seemed like a win-win. And the fact they were taking this matter seriously showed that Sonic and his friends knew exactly what they were doing. And that made her feel more at ease.

"Okay… maybe I… could use a break."

That caused everyone to look in relief, particularly Yang and Knuckles.

"Well, there is one other thing you have to do." Ruby said to Blake. "You gotta apologize to Sun. Maybe he did kinda butt in on our mission, but he's a pretty decent guy. What you said to him was kinda hurtful."

Blake winced with regret. "Yeah… I was a little too harsh back there."

"On another end, I do like how you put your foot down toward him." Weiss pointed out. "Even if it was a bit harsh."

"I'll apologize." Blake assured.

"Good." Ruby nodded with a smile. "Now as your leader, I'm ordering you to get a good night's sleep for today, have a big breakfast tomorrow, and have a nice time at the dance this weekend."

Blake chuckled. "Yes ma'am."

The group shared a small laugh with each other as Blake felt an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

They heard a knock on their door, and Weiss happened to be the one to walk up and open it, but she looked in shock to see who it was on the other side; with the rest of the group being surprised at the sound of a guitar being played.

"Weiss…!" Jaune began to sing as he strummed his guitar and gave a wink. Only for Weiss to close the door to his face.

"Oh, come on." Jaune complained on the other side, knocking on the door again with Weiss rubbing her hand down his face. "Open the door." He knocked once more. "I promise not to sing."

Weiss rolled her eyes, but before she made a move to open it, Sonic quickly came to her and held her hand a bit, grinning and silently shushing her while mouthing the word 'Wait.' Sonic then went up to the window on the other side of the room to access his comns. "Shadow, are you there?"

"What is it?"

"Can you come to RWBY's dorm real quick?" Sonic asked. "And come in through the window."

Looking out the window, Sonic saw a streak of red energy make its way across the campus and up the building before Shadow the Hedgehog appeared at the windowsill.

"Yes?" He asked somewhat skeptically.

"Someone's at the door for you." Sonic said, doing his best to hide his grin while everyone else looked in confusion.

Shadow went to the door and opened it.

"I lied!" Jaune sang as he continued to play his guitar, keeping his eyes closed for some reason. "Weiss Schnee! Will you accompany me!? To the dance…. On…" He drew a blank, unable to think of a rhyme before singing anyway. "Sunday!"

He finally opened his eyes, but his eyes bulged out and he sucked in his own mouth when he saw just who it was that he had sung to.

Shadow only had a blank expression, clearly unamused as he took the guitar, snapped it half with one hand, and handed both halves back to Jaune before closing the door. He then turned around to glare at Sonic, who was already laughing along with Yang, even Ruby laughed so hard she fell back on the floor, kicking wildly into the air. Tails was also chuckling as he kept his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud, even Weiss was chuckling a bit while Knuckles grinned in amusement, as did Blake.

"Anything else?" Shadow asked.

"N-no… That's it… you're good…" Sonic said in-between laughs, prompting Shadow to walk toward the window and leave.

"W-wait… Shadow wait…" Ruby got his attention as she tried to stop laughing. "Sonic told us about the plan, what you and Omega are doing. Let us know if you need anything, we're in this too."

"Noted." The black Hedgehog acknowledged before leaping out the window.

"Okay… that was flipping hilarious!" Yang laughed on. "Did you see the look on his face?!"

"Whose?" Knuckles smirked. "Shadow's or Jaune's?"

"Both!" Yang laughed before Ruby resumed her laughing as well.

As the group laughed and smirked over what just happen, Blake couldn't help but feel all the more relaxed. Being with these people, not just with how quick they were to get on top of the situation, but how they all interact with one another… it just felt good. A genuine and happy smile graced her face.

---

Jaune had returned to his own team's dorm where Amy and Rouge also were, having a similar talk with JNPR over the situation surrounding Fifer's death, as well as the reveal of the plan to use the dance as cover to catch the spies that have infiltrated Beacon.

"I'll admit, that is a rather ingenious plan." Pyrrha nodded.

"Very clever." Ren added.

"It kinda sucks though that I'm not part of the team to take down the bad guys." Nora said.

"Why, cause you want in on the action?" Rouge said with a grin.

"Mostly because I want to get back at the one who killed that poor kid." Nora said in a serious tone of voice, causing the group to look with concern and even a bit of grief. Ren reached out to put his hand on Nora's shoulder, which she appreciated as she placed her own hand over his.

"Take it you deal with that kind of stuff often?" Rouge asked seriously, understanding the tone in Nora's voice.

"We're both survivors." Ren answered. "But the problem with being a survivor… is that there are others around you who don't."

Jaune winced as he recalled what Nora told him about hers and Ren's lives growing up on their own, surviving the destruction of their homes and loss of their families, and just doing everything they could to survive.

"What happened with Fifer… was really messed up." Amy said to everyone. "And as much as we wish it were different… we can't change it. But we can try to avenge him and catch the ones responsible."

"On that, we all agree." Pyrrha nodded.

"Yeah… guys… I hate to say it… but, you ever think we might be biting off more than we can chew?" Jaune asked as the group looked toward him. "I mean… that last fight was pretty intense. I know that we won and all… but I also remember Metal Sonic wiping the floor with us. Heck, he was able to take down freaking Pyrrha and she's the best fighter on this team! Maybe even in the whole school!"

"I wouldn't say I'm that great…" Pyrrha admitted. "But… I do understand what you're saying, Jaune. Omega informed us of Metal Sonic being the most dangerous robot in Eggman's army."

"That's putting it mildly." Amy said. "Eggman built Metal specifically to kill Sonic, to surpass everything he can do."

"And Metal isn't the only threat. That Egg-Wyvern he whipped up? He's gonna go even bigger next time." Rouge added.

"So maybe Shadow is right." Jaune said. "Maybe this is too much for us. We're still just students and only first years."

"Do you want to back out, Jaune?" Ren asked.

"I… I don't know…" The blonde confessed honestly. "I mean… yeah, I'm scared. Eggman is dangerous and he's got robots that are probably way more dangerous than the Grimm. But… if we back out… doesn't that make us cowards?"

"No, it doesn't." Amy said immediately, standing up from her chair. "Jaune, it's okay to be scared. Being scared doesn't make you a coward; in fact, admitting it actually makes you braver than someone who tries to pretend they're not scared. I don't blame you for being nervous; you're right, Eggman is dangerous. If you really want to back out, that's perfectly fine. I promise that none of us, not even Shadow, would be upset with you."

Jaune took the moment to think about his current standing. His swordsmanship skills have been improving, mostly thanks to Pyrrha's help in training, and he's even been getting a bit better about controlling his Aura. Though his Semblance hasn't appeared, which was frustrating, but Pyrrha had urged him not to rush it and just to focus on what he can do at the moment, and that's what he has been doing. There was no doubt he's gotten better, but was it enough? His teammates were all so much more skilled than him, not that he had a problem with it, but he was also responsible for them as a leader, as he never once forgotten what Shadow told him. Team JNPR was a great fighting force, their fight against Torchwick's Paladin was proof enough of that. But Eggman's forces might just be greater. If any of his teammates, whom he would safely call his closest friends, were to get hurt or even killed because he made a bad call as their leader, he would never forgive himself.

"…What do you guys think?" Jaune asked the rest of his team. "Be honest, do you want to back out? Or keep going?"

The rest of Team JNPR shared looks with one another, as if they were silently reading each other's thoughts before they came to a conclusion.

"I say we keep going." Ren nodded.

"What he said." Nora agreed. "I'm ready to break some eggs!"

"I believe we should continue as well." Pyrrha said. "Eggman cannot be allowed to do as he pleases. I have faith that you and your friends are capable of stopping him, but I want to lend a hand as well." She said to Amy and Rouge specifically before looking toward Jaune. "But it's still your call to make, Jaune. You are the leader."

"Maybe, but I still wanted to hear what you guys thought. I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want too." Jaune said, which caused everyone to smile.

"Spoken like a leader, kid." Rouge complemented.

With a firm resolve, Jaune knew what he had to do. It may be dangerous, but if his friends were all in, then he was going to give it his all for their sake too.

"Team JNPR's in this all the way." He said with a fierce expression.

"Glad to hear it." Amy smiled. "But right now, take some time off to relax and have fun. Enjoy that nice little dance coming up. It is technically part of the mission."

"Right… the dance…" Jaune looked away, his resolve fading away.

"What's the matter?" Ren asked.

"Oh, he's pouty because he asked Shadow to the dance but turned him down." Rouge smirked.

"You asked Shadow to the dance?!" Nora exclaimed to the mortified blonde.

"What?! No! I meant Weiss and… how the hell do you even know that?!" He exclaimed to the grinning white bat.

"Sonic recorded it and sent it to me." Rouge pulled out her own personal scroll and replayed the video for all of JNPR and even Amy to see with Jaune playing the guitar and singing to Shadow, including the black Hedgehog snapping the guitar in half.

Once they saw it, Nora immediately fell to her back in hysteric laughter. Amy and Pyrrha did their best to hold back their own laughter as well.

"Sorry… I… I shouldn't be laughing…" Pyrrha struggled to keep her giggles down.

"You're pretty good with that guitar." Ren granted to Jaune, who only placed his hands over his face in embarrassment. "Though your singing could use some work."

"It was meant for Weiss…!" Jaune muttered into his hands.

"You really like her, don't you?" Rouge asked as she put the phone away and the laughter died down. "Is it because she's a rich girl?"

"No, nothing like that." He shook his head with a sigh. "I… I'm completely head-over-heels for her… but she's not even giving me a chance. She's cold but… she's also incredible. She's smart, and graceful, and talented…" he said with a smile. "I mean, have any of you heard her sing? And with how upset she's been feeling…" Jaune's smile faded. "What Fifer said about her family's company… You guys can tell that it did hurt her."

"The SDC does have a shady reputation." Ren said. "Even she knows that."

"But it still bothers her." Jaune continued. "I just thought… maybe I could take her to the dance and cheer her up… maybe even say something…" He sighed again and looked down slightly. "I just wish she'd take me seriously, ya know? I… I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up."

"Then do it." Pyrrha said, causing Jaune to look at her in surprise. "Tell her exactly what you've just said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines, just be honest."

"She's right." Amy added. "Just walk up to her and tell it straight. You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."

"But… what if she still doesn't like me?" He asked nervously.

"Then it's her loss." Amy answered. "You're a great guy Jaune, but if she's not interested in you… then she's not." The pink Hedgehog grimaced slightly before smiling. "But you still have to try and be honest. If she takes you seriously and says 'yes', the great. If she says 'no', then she says 'no'. Not every crush is mutual, but it's still worth a shot especially if you're honest; both with her and yourself."

"You're right." Jaune smiled, taking their advice to heart. "Thanks Amy, you too Pyrrha. Bet you got experience… probably lots of guys singing you songs or writing thousands of love notes to you, I can even see some girls doing it."

Pyrrha gave a slight chuckle, but Amy was able to notice the sad look in her eyes. "You'd be surprised."

"Oh please. If you don't get a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress." Jaune said.

"Holding you to that." Rouge joked. "Bet you got some rocking legs." That caused Jaune to look more than a little embarrassed as Nora chuckled once again and Ren simply smirked.

Amy then noticed Pyrrha looking away with an upset expression and decided to act on it. "Hey Pyrrha, how about we talk for a bit. Just us girls."

Though surprised, the redhead accepted the offer. "Um… sure."

---

Both Amy and Pyrrha were at the same rooftop where the later would often help Jaune in his training, seemed like the perfect place to speak in privacy on personal matters.

"What did you want to talk with me about?" Pyrrha asked.

"You have a crush on Jaune, don't you?" Amy got to the point, causing Pyrrha to look in surprise with a blush on her face. "I can tell by the way you look at him; and he is a nice guy, I actually do see you two being a cute couple together." She smiled.

"Thank you, but I don't believe it's going to happen." Pyrrha walked closer to the edge and sat down, with Amy joining her. "You heard him, he has feelings for Weiss. I'm not going to get in his way just for me to be happy."

"Well… there's no way of knowing how things will go with Weiss." Amy replied. "I know it kinda undercuts what I just said to him but… there is still a chance she could say no."

"Maybe, but I don't want to break his heart over it." Pyrrha responded.

"I wasn't suggesting anything like that!" Amy quickly said, seeing how what she said could be taken the wrong way. "I'm not saying you should sabotage him or Weiss! I…"

"It's alright." Pyrrha assured with a smile. "I know what you mean. I take it you have experience with this?"

Amy winced. "Yeah… when I was younger… I had a crush on Sonic. And I mean a really big crush. I think I was even borderline stalker level."

"It couldn't have been that bad." Pyrrha said.

"I would always chase after him, getting in the way of his missions, trying to marry him." Amy told Pyrrha, who looked in wide-eyed surprise. "And whenever he said no, I'd bust out the Piko-Piko, ready to smash him. Heck this one time where he got framed for something Shadow did, long story, don't ask, he was locked in prison. I said I would free him, if he agreed to marry me. As usual he said no, but I still let him out anyway. I wasn't horrible enough that I'd just leave him there for saying no… but you get the idea."

"Oh… oh my…" Pyrrha honestly had no idea what to say.

"Yeah…" Amy winced with a nervous chuckle. "Looking back at it now… I was pretty bad."

"But… you're with him now." Pyrrha pointed out.

"Yeah, as his friend and teammate. I've matured enough to not go stalker on him again." Amy said.

"But you still have feelings for him." Pyrrha could see it in Amy's eyes, who simply nodded in confirmation. "Well… perhaps he's noticed how mature you are now, and if you talk to him about it… maybe he'll consider it or even say yes. I may not know what Sonic was like at that time, but I can tell now that he's also rather mature and he cares about you a great deal."

"Like how Jaune feels about you?" Amy said in a partially joking sense, which caused the two to laugh slightly. "Guess we should both take our own advice, huh?"

"Probably." Pyrrha responded as their laughter died down.

"But you're worried that saying something to Jaune might make things awkward… or even ruin your friendship." Amy seemed to get the point. It was the same thing Amy felt in regard to Sonic. She knew that her unwanted advances back then often caused Sonic to run away from her. She valued the friendship she had with him, and she didn't want to risk ruining it like she almost did several times back then.

Pyrrha nodded. "Can I confess something with you, Amy? Something personal?"

"Of course." The pink Hedgehog urged.

"Aside from the rest of my team, as well as Team RWBY and even your friends… I don't have any other friends." Pyrrha began as Amy continued to listen. "I am incredibly famous and a well-versed fighter. But because of that… everyone just assumes I'm out of their league and it makes forming connections difficult… if not impossible. I'm so grateful now that I've forged meaningful bonds with you and everyone else, people who see me for me and not… the Invincible Girl."

Amy looked in sympathy as Pyrrha looked down, the pink Hedgehog reaching out to gently grasp Pyrrha's hand in assurance.

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha. Really… nobody should have to feel so alone." Amy apologized. "But I promise you that you're not anymore. I know you already know, but Sonic, myself, everyone… we all see you as our friend and that's why we were initially hesitant about getting you involved with Eggman; because we don't want to see our friends get hurt. And you are our friend Pyrrha, my friend. Don't ever forget that." Amy said with a genuine and happy smile.

Pyrrha smiled emotionally as she pulled Amy into a hug, which she didn't hesitate to return. "Thank you, Amy."

"Tell you what…" Amy proposed as they broke off. "If you don't get a date to the dance, how about the two of us go together? As friends?"

"Really? You'd do that?" She asked in surprise.

"Of course. Nobody should go to a dance by themselves." Amy confirmed. "But let's try and put the emphasis on the 'friends' part, mostly cause I wanna see Jaune wear a dress."

Pyrrha snorted. "I'm sure he was only joking."

"You never know." Amy sang with a smile, which only caused Pyrrha to giggle even more.

---

"…And finally, Pyrrha Nikos." Emerald summed up as she, Cinder, Mercury, and the disguised Neo sat in their own dorm. "A total of eight students helping the rodents."

"Ah the Invincible Girl." Cinder mused as she sewed into her special outfit designed for a specific night.

"She's smart and tough, but I wouldn't say invincible." Mercury said as he read his comic book.

"Do tell." Cinder looked with interest.

"Her Semblance is Polarity, but you'd never know just by watching." Emerald explained.

"After she made contact with my boots, she was able to move them around however she wanted." Mercury added. "It's probably how she took down Torchwick's Paladin in that last battle; but she only made slight adjustments back then and with me in our sparing match."

"Just to make it look like either she's untouchable or that her enemies are pretty weak." Emerald put in. "She doesn't broadcast her powers, so it puts her opponents at a disadvantage."

Neo also recalled how she and Torchwick briefly engaged JNPR during their fight and she did have to admit that Pyrrha was skilled, but she wasn't invincible.

"Huh, people assume she's fated for victory, when she's really taken fate into her own hands. Interesting… add her to the list." Cinder instructed.

"But is she really the one we should be keeping an eye on?" Mercury questioned. "Those rodents are the bigger threat considering two of them can keep up with a motorcycle in their sneakers. You also blew up a warehouse full of Dust and they still walked away."

"I'll admit, I underestimated them." Cinder said with a grimace. "But until we accomplish our goal, overpowering them isn't an option. So instead, we'll get to them through those brats that they seem so close with. Sonic claims to value friendship? We'll show him just how much of a weakness that truly is."

---

The next few days went by pretty quickly. Blake had done as she was told, gotten plenty of rest and was able to eat more. Everyone seemed to have everything prepared for the upcoming dance. It was now the night before the dance as Jaune was ready to talk to Weiss and ask her out. He had a white rose in his hand and had seen her round the corner. But before he could make any sort of move, he spotted her with someone else.

"Neptune!" She called out to the blue-haired student, getting his attention.

"Oh hey, what's up?"

"I know this seems somewhat unorthodox and even last-minute but… I wanted to ask you something." Weiss said somewhat nervously. "Would you… like to accompany me to the dance, tomorrow?"

In that instant, Jaune had felt his heart sink. The girl he was head-over-heels for had asked somebody else out. His hope diminished, he dropped the white rose and walked away.

"Well, that's a bit of a gut puncher." He looked to the side to see Rouge leaning across the wall.

"Not now, okay Rouge? I'm not in the mood for any teasing…" Jaune continued on his way.

"I wasn't going to." She said. "In fact, I was actually thinking of escorting you to the dance."

Jaune was so taken off guard by what she just said that he almost tripped over his own feet and turned toward the white bat in shock.

"I… uh… what?!"

"Relax, not a date or anything." Rouge assured. "Just somebody to keep you company so you're not lonely. I do have a heart, ya know."

"Eh… I don't know…" Jaune seemed a bit unsure.

"Well, it beats just sitting in your dorm all alone, drowning your feelings with ice cream and watching some lame movie, right?" Rouge asked.

"…I guess you're right." Jaune felt about it for a second. A part of him honestly felt like he was being pitied and it didn't sit well with him, especially in the fact that Rouge herself reminded him of at least three of his sisters. But, he at least knew that his friends would be at the dance and having someone there to keep him company sounded better than just sitting in his dorm room alone. "Oh, what the hell? I got nothing left to lose anyway."

"That's the spirit." Rouge said. "And who knows? Maybe you'll meet someone else there. Maybe find another lonely girl to talk to."

"Yeah, yeah, don't tease me anymore." Jaune waved off.

---

It was now the night of the dance; most of the students had already arrived as Yang was at the entrance to greet everyone; she wore a white dress with heels. She saw her sister enter and practically squealed.

"Oooh! You look beautiful!"

Ruby currently wore a red dress with black lining at the edges along with dark nylons and black heels. The girl cringed as she struggled to walk in her heels.

"Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss and Rouge fight in these?" She questioned, briefly losing her balance.

"Awe, don't you look cute?" She turned around to hear Sonic's tease as he walked in with Tails. "Like a little cupcake." The blue Hedgehog wore a regular tuxedo with a dark blue tie, while Tails had something similar and a yellow bowtie.

"Well don't you look dapper, Mr. Blue Blur." Yang complemented before looking at Tails. "And you're even cuter than before!" She went over to ruffle Tails' head, causing him to chuckle.

"Yeah… Amy actually designed all our outfits; said we should look nice." Tails explained.

"And I'd say we pulled it off well." Sonic straightened out his jacket with a grin.

---

Outside, Sun was preparing to enter the hall, though his attire was rather casual compared to everyone else's as he wore a black dress version of his usual jacket with a white tie, which he struggled to try and loosen up.

"Ugh stupid… dumb neck trap…" He grimaced.

"You actually look good if you put some effort into it." Sun turned around in surprise to see Blake having arrived. She wore a dark purple dress with black heels and looked rather pretty.

"Blake…? I thought you weren't coming…" Sun said, not quite over his surprise.

"My friends talked me into it." Blake said before signing. "Speaking of which… I'm sorry for what I said to you. You're a good guy and… maybe someone who could be a good friend too."

Sun then rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… to be fair, I might have deserved some of that. Maybe I do have a tendency to butt in on other people's business but… I'm just trying to help."

"I know, and I appreciate that, but… just try and respect other people's boundaries and maybe the law too." Blake said.

"I'll try for the first, but I make no promises for the second." Sun said with a grin, earning a slight chuckle from Blake. "So… does this mean we're going together?"

"Technically, but not necessarily a date." Blake told him. "You're a good guy, but not quite my type. Just gonna relax and have some fun here."

"Sounds like a plan." Sun said as they entered the ballroom.

---

The dance was already in full swing as nearly everyone had partners and had begun to dance with each other; some people helped themselves to the food while others just hung around one another and made conversation. Though one particular individual who didn't appear to be having a good time, mostly due to her footwear, was Ruby as she still struggled to walk properly.

"Stupid lady stilts." She muttered before noticing Knuckles, who only wore a black nectkine and nothing else, sitting by himself at a table with some food and drinks around him. She made her way toward him and got his attention with her attempt at walking. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead." Knuckles welcomed with a smile, allowing Ruby to sit down with a sigh. "Not enjoying the party?"

"I wouldn't say that." Ruby replied. "I'm glad everyone is here and enjoying themselves… but I'm just not much of a dancy-pancy… dancy girl."

"I understand." The red Echidna nodded. "The food's great and I like the chance to relax a bit and not worry about fighting; but I've never been much of a party person, that's mostly Sonic's thing. My idea of a good time is a good old fashioned treasure hunt."

"I'd actually love to go on a real treasure hunt." Ruby smiled, happy to find some common ground with Knuckles. "Finding cool stuff, fighting bad guys and monsters, avoiding deadly booby traps! It all sounds like a lot of fun!"

Knuckles smiled at the girl's enthusiasm. "Tell you what? If you ever manage to come to our world, you should come over to Angel Island. That place is full of wild surprises."

"Really?!" Ruby beamed.

"Just don't touch the Master Emerald." He quickly said. "Kinda off limits."

"Totally fine." Ruby accepted.

"Besides, I got dibs on it already." The pair turned to see Rouge with Jaune behind her, joining them. The former wore a long black dress that stretched down to her ankles with a slight opening on the side while Jaune just wore a tuxedo.

"We both know how that's gonna go." Knuckles narrowed his eyes at the bat.

"Oh, lighten up, Knucklehead. I'm teasing." Rouge waved off before speaking to Ruby. "The problem with spending your whole life on an isolated flying island is that you're completely oblivious to jokes like Mr. socially awkward over there." She joked, which earned a chuckle from Ruby, while Knuckles simply shook his head.

"Well, to the socially awkward." Jaune said as he held a glass of punch and held it to Knuckles, who took up his own glass and clung to it.

"What she do to rope you into this?" Knuckles asked Jaune. "Blackmail? Stole an embarrassing picture or something?"

"You really think so little of me, don't you?" Rouge replied. "I only steal the most exquisite of jewelry, trivial things like embarrassing photos are beneath me."

"She's more pity-escorting me." Jaune said, not bothering to hide his disappointment. "Things didn't work out with Weiss."

"Sorry to hear that." Ruby apologized.

"Neh, it's fine." Jaune tried to brush off. "Neptune's pretty… cool. I get why she went with him."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Well, come on. How many people can pull off blue hair?" Jaune asked rhetorically. "That said, I'm surprised she didn't ask Sonic. Now that I think about it… he's actually the coolest person in this school."

"Don't let him hear you say that." Knuckles commented.

"No, Jaune… Weiss came to the dance alone." Ruby revealed, much to his surprise as he almost spat out his drink.

"W-Wha… what?!" He questioned as even Rouge looked in mild surprise.

Ruby gestured over to a table on the other side of the ballroom where Weiss, who wore a dance dress that wasn't too dissimilar from her combat attire, tried to help decorate it with some white roses. "Yeah, she said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys."

"So… Mr. Cool turned her down, huh?" Rouge commented. "Wow, what an idiot." Ruby looked towards Rouge in surprise. "Yeah… she asked him out last night, but apparently he said no."

"I… I didn't know… Weiss…" Ruby couldn't help but look in sympathy toward her friend in partner as even Knuckles' expression softened slightly.

Jaune turned toward another part of the ballroom where he saw Neptune himself hanging out with Blake and Sun, and even joking around with them, causing the pair to laugh. This really made Jaune mad.

"Hold my punch." He said to Rouge as she took the glass and watched him storm his way closer toward Neptune.

"Well, this should be interesting." Rouge grinned.

Jaune made his way through the crowd, more than ready to give Neptune a piece of his mind. But he noticed Pyrrha walking toward a flight of steps that led to the second floor with Amy right beside her. Pyrrha wore a long red dress that stretched down to her feet while Amy wore something similar. Despite the two being together, Jaune couldn't help but get the feeling that something was bothering Pyrrha. As much as he'd love to set Neptune straight for his treatment toward Weiss, his teammate's wellbeing took priority, so he decided to follow her.

At the same time; Sonic, Tails, and Yang sat at a table, which had a plethora of food set up for them, the blue Hedgehog helping himself to a majority of them. "Someone's hungry." Yang noted. "Be careful or you'll get a bloated belly."

"Eh, when you casually run over 700mph you burn a lot of calories, so I should be fine." Sonic waved off as he looked around. "Seems like everyone's having fun."

"Think your little plan will work?" Yang asked in a more subtle whisper.

"We'll find out by the end of the night." Tails said. "But if it doesn't, we'll just work with what we get. Best not to focus on it too much."

"Yeah, probably a good idea." Yang decided not to think about it and simply enjoy the night. She noticed Weiss still at the table all by herself. "Kinda sad how Weiss is all by herself."

Sonic and Tails shared concerned expressions before the blue Hedgehog picked up a tray of cocktail shrimp and quickly zoomed his way through the crowd, suddenly appearing before a surprised Weiss as he presented the tray, not a single shrimp was spilled or misplaced.

"Care for a shrimp, milady?" Sonic bowed jokingly.

Weiss shook her head. "I'm not in the mood, Sonic."

"Yeah, I can see that. So, you wanna talk about it?" He asked, making his way to the nearest set of chairs along the wall, still holding the tray of shrimp and patting the chair next to him, motioning for her to sit down with him.

Weiss could tell that Sonic was making a genuine effort to sit down and listen to some of her grievances. He was among the nicest guys she knew and seemed like the kind of person to listen to what she'd have to say, so she decided to accept his offer as she sat down beside him and helped herself to a shrimp.

---

Jaune had made his way up to the balcony where Pyrrha and Amy both were, the later keeping her hand on the former's back for comfort.

"Thank you, for coming with me, Amy." Pyrrha said, which Jaune overheard. "I apologize if I… hadn't made this isn't as fun as you had hoped."

"Looking after my friends is more important than me having fun." Amy assured, which earned a smile from Pyrrha.

"Um… is everything okay, up here?" Jaune asked, getting their attention.

"Oh, Jaune!" Amy looked in surprise.

"What are… you guys doing up here by yourselves?" He asked. "Party's downstairs."

"I just… needed some space." Pyrrha said, looking away. "Amy… would it be alright if… Jaune and I had a moment alone?"

"Sure." Amy said with a nod of understanding before walking back inside, leaving the two alone.

"So… Is Amy your date?" Jaune asked. "Not that there's anything wrong with it! If you're into girls, that's totally fine. My sister Saphron's married to a nice girl, so it's…"

"No, Amy's not my date tonight." Pyrrha revealed. "I don't even have a date tonight."

To say Jaune was surprised was an understatement. It may have been the biggest surprise of the night so far. "…What?!"

"Nobody asked me." Pyrrha told him, not making any attempt to hide the pained look in her eyes. "Amy volunteered to keep me company as a friend, but that's about it."

"B-but… but that's…" Jaune couldn't even wrap his head around the idea of nobody asking her out. "You're Pyrrha Nikos! How could nobody ask you?!"

"That's exactly why." She began as she turned around to look out toward the campus. "I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise… but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long… You become separated from the people who put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes that I'm too good for them, that I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people! That's what I like about you. When we met… you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else… and thanks to you… I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. Not just with you or Ren or Nora… but Ruby and the others… even Sonic and all his friends. Amy wanted to keep me company just because she saw me as a friend and nothing more than that. I guess… you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me."

She said nothing more as she turned around to walk back inside. Jaune honestly felt like a huge idiot. He assumed Pyrrha was so popular that she was already set in the social department, but after hearing what she just said… he never thought he'd feel so sorry for her. Did she really not have any real friends before they formed their team?

"W-wait…?" He tried to reach out to her, only to find that not only was she already gone, but Neptune of all people had walked up onto the balcony.

"Hey, Jaune right?"

"Yeah." He said in an annoyed sigh.

"This party's pretty lame, huh?" Neptune said. "I mean, ballroom dancing. Ptff."

"Yeah…" Jaune repeated.

"Cute girls, though." Neptune said.

That tore it. "Is that all you think about?!"

"Huh?"

"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on?!" Jaune exclaimed. "How they feel about you?!"

"Whoa! Where's this coming from?!" Neptune questioned, not expecting this at all.

"How could you just turn her down like that?!" Jaune accused.

"Wait… W-who?!"

"Weiss!"

"I… uh…" Neptune rubbed the back of his neck nervously, unable to find a proper answer. "It… uh… It just didn't work out, ya know?"

"What you think you're too cool?! Too many other options?!" Jaune continued. "Do you have any idea how difficult of a time she's going through right now?! This 'lame party' could have been something to take her mind off all that! She asked you to the dance and you turned her down! What in the world made you think that…?!"

"I can't dance!" Neptune interrupted, surprising Jaune.

"…Beg your pardon?"

"I can't dance, man!" Neptune confessed, looking away and sounding incredibly shameful. "I've tried and I'm a disaster! A 'trip over your own toes' kind of disaster!"

"But you're… so cool…"

"Thank you. I try really… really hard."

"You would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone, than just admit that you're not the world's best dancer?" Jaune asked.

"That about sums it up, yeah." Neptune confirmed.

"…Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself." Jaune commented as he turned around.

"Please don't tell anybody. Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours. I won't get in your way." Neptune said honestly.

Jaune turned back around and did consider taking him up on that. But… just because he liked her, doesn't mean she felt the same way. "Do you like her?"

"Yeah… I mean, I don't know her too well yet, but… she seems pretty cool." Neptune replied.

"Then just go… talk to her." Jaune said to him. "No pick-up lines, no swave moves, just be yourself. I hear that's the way to go."

"Yeah, but…"

"Hey." Jaune interrupted. "You don't have to look cool all the time. In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it."

"Yeah… okay." This actually helped Neptune to smile a bit.

"Go talk to her." Jaune encouraged with a smile of his own. "I guarantee it'll make her night."

"Thanks, you're a really cool guy, Jaune." Neptune said as he offered his fist for a fist-bump.

"Yeah, alright, don't lie to my face." The blonde responded as he returned the fist-bump, prompting Neptune to walk back inside. Jaune gave a sigh. "Alright. Only one thing left to do."

---

"Well, who needs boys anyway?!" Weiss ranted as she helped herself to yet another piece of shrimp, and continued to rant even as she chewed and swallowed. "I mean… I at least got real friends that I made on my own! And not someone that my father set up just because their parents are part of the business!" Weiss reached for another shrimp, only to find she had eaten the last of it.

Sonic chuckled at that, as Weiss ate the whole tray of shrimp, causing her to pout before he spoke. "Well, sorry things didn't work out. But hey, just because Neptune was a dead-end, doesn't mean it's hopeless. I mean, you got a whole world of people for you to meet. I'm sure you can find someone."

"Not if my father has anything to say about it." Weiss said, looking away.

"Your dad really that controlling?" Sonic asked.

"He tries to pretty much govern my whole life, like he owns me!" Weiss exclaimed, falling back in her seat in emotional exhaustion. "Sonic… is it alright if I confess something… personal?"

"Go for it." The Blue Blur encouraged.

"One of the reasons I applied to Beacon… was to get away from Atlas. To get away from… him." Weiss began. "I hate my father… he's a vile man. My entire life… he's never once shown me any form of genuine affection. I couldn't stand living in the same roof as him anymore. So… when I was old enough… I applied to this school. I know it sounds like I wanted to be a Huntress to get away from my father… and it partly is but... I just couldn't stand it anymore." She placed a hand on her face, causing Sonic to look in sympathy as he reached out to gently hold her shoulder.

"Sorry. But… you don't have to worry about him anymore." Sonic told her, getting his attention. "Even if you didn't go to Beacon or even want to be a Huntress, it's still your life. And your dad, no matter what he says or thinks, he's got absolutely no right to say what you can or can't do. You decide how you want to live your life, you are free to choose, and nobody can take that away from you. No one. It was your choice to apply to Beacon, right? Well look what you got from that? You got real friends that you made on your own; heck one of your friends is a Faunus who was part of the White Fang! Can you imagine ever making friends with someone like that?"

Weiss smiled. "No. And the odd thing is… I'm glad I met Blake and… Ruby and Yang and…. You."

"And you've got a whole world for you to explore and plenty of more friends you can make." Sonic continued. "You just gotta take that step forward and let yourself meet those people. Maybe not everything will work out the way you want, but you're still as free as the wind."

In that one moment, Weiss had gained a strong sense of respect for the blue Hedgehog that stood before her. She could tell that what he said spoke from his own personal experience. He lived his life as free as the wind, lived his own life the way he wanted to and was encouraging her to do the same. This was indeed her own life, and she could live it how she chose to.

"Thank you, Sonic. Truly. I'm glad to have made a friend like you." Weiss' smile only grew.

"I'm glad I met you too, Weiss." Sonic smiled back.

"Hey… uh…" They both looked up to see Neptune approaching them with a nervous smile. "Hello?"

"Neptune." Weiss greeted somewhat coldly, while Sonic simply said nothing but looked curious.

"May I… Join you?" He asked. Weiss looked toward Sonic, wondering what he thought, but he just silently shrugged which gave the message that it was up to her to say, 'yes' or 'no'. Deciding to at least hear him out, Weiss motioned for Neptune to sit in the chair on her right.

At the same time, Yang had joined Ruby, Knuckles, and Rouge at their table and took the time to observe the party unfolding around them. They saw Blake was having a good time with Sun, Ren and Nora were dancing together, they even saw Penny off to the side with some Atlas soldiers.

"Ya know, I think we really needed this." Yang said.

"Yeah, and you guys did such a great job planning it too!" Ruby beamed.

"Awe, thanks." Yang pulled her sister into a headlock. "Hopefully this means the other half of it would go smoothly."

"And you may have just jinxed us." Rouge commented.

"Nothing we can do about any of that." Knuckles put in. "As said before; if it works, great. It it doesn't, we'll work our way from there."

"Yep, tomorrow it's back to work." Yang said. "Hey, where's Tails?" She asked. "I haven't seen him since he came in?"

"He said he had a surprise coming up that he and Sonic planned out." Knuckles answered.

"Well, whatever happens next… I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us." Ruby said.

The group then looked in confusion as they heard the sounds of laughter coming from several people in the ballroom. They four looked to see what those people were laughing at… and no words could come to mind for what they saw.

"Except for… that." Rouge said.

Sonic, Weiss, and Neptune also saw what everyone was laughing at and were more than perplexed to say the least.

"Okay…" Sonic muttered. "For once… I've got no comment."

Confused at the sound of laughter behind her, both Pyrrha as well as Amy turned around and only looked in surprise at what they saw. It was Jaune. In a dress. A white dress that a girl would normally wear. How he got that was anyone's guess.

"Jaune…?" Pyrrha did not expect that at all.

"…A promise is a promise." The blonde said with an embarrassed smile.

Amy giggled as she leaned over to Pyrrha. "Told ya."

The redhead immediately broke out into a hysteric laughter with Amy right behind her. She then remembered when he said that if she didn't get a date to the dance, he'd wear a dress. She honestly felt like he was joking.

"Jaune…!" She laughed. "You didn't have to…!"

"Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word. Now do you wanna stand there and laugh at me? Or do you wanna dance?" He offered his hand.

With a happy smile, Pyrrha took his hand. "I would love to dance!" He pulled her in close and they immediately began to dance.

Sonic grinned as he saw that as his cue. "Yo Tails, it's time!"

"You got it, Sonic." The young Fox was at the DJ booth as he plugged in his Miles Electric and played the playlist Sonic had already put in titled 'Sonic's Awesome Playlist'. The first song that came on was none other than 'Uptown Funk' by 'Bruno Mars'.

Once the song hit, Sonic immediately appeared by Amy's side, much to her surprise. "Shall we dance?" He offered.

"Really?" Amy asked hopefully.

"Yep. Time to get freaky. You and me, and everyone else here." He said with a sincere and inviting smile.

Amy beamed as she took Sonic's hand. "Let's do it!"

"Ren! This! Is! Happening!" Nora shouted enthusiastically.

"Wait… what's happening?" Ren wondered before Nora grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the dance floor.

Tails worked the lighting as he shined multiple colored spotlights on the dance floor as Team JNPR took the central stage along with Sonic and Amy. The four Huntsmen in training had their own dancing beat as they synchronized perfectly with their moves, while Sonic and Amy had moves of their own that were different and yet seemed to flow perfectly with the others. All the students watched and clapped along with the rhythm of the song.

The combined group of six all spun around and danced together before splitting off in pairs to dance with their own unique styles: Ren and Nora, Sonic and Amy, and of course, Jaune and Pyrrha.

"I had no idea you were dancer!" Pyrrha said, having the time of her life.

"Yeah, these types of things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters." Jaune said as they continued to dance.

"Oh, no way I'm staying out of this!" Yang hoped over the table and joined the sensation, with Rouge doing the same.

"Come on, let's get in there!" Sun pulled Blake in, who merely rolled her eyes with a smile but still joined in anyway.

"Alright, back-up dancers!" Sonic grinned as the ten of them all danced together. It really didn't matter if any of them knew how to properly dance or even if their moves synced with one another. All that mattered was that they were having fun and that's exactly what they were doing. They even mix-matched some partners, which led to Yang and Blake dancing with one another as well.

"So, nice little break? Worth taking the night off?" Yang asked as they danced with each other.

"Yeah… It was." Blake nodded. "I'm really glad I came."

"Tomorrow, it's back to beating up the bad guys." Yang grinned, earning a chuckle from Blake.

Weiss smiled at the spectacle unfolding before her before addressing the young man she sat next to. "So, what made you change your mind? You said you were embarrassed. What made you come talk to me?"

"You're looking at him." Neptune gestured to Jaune as he continued to dance with Pyrrha while Sonic and Amy breakdanced with each other around them. "You've got some good friends looking out for ya."

"Yes, I do." Weiss said with a happy smile.

Meanwhile; on one of the upper floors, the festivities were being observed by Mercury, Emerald, and Neo (still in her Mary Poppins disguise).

"You gotta admit, blue boy knows how to have a good time." Mercury granted. "Good taste in music, too."

"Yep. Him and all his friends are enjoying themselves." Emerald said.

"How long do I have?" Cinder asked over the comns.

"We should probably be home by midnight, to be safe." Mercury responded.

---

"I'll keep my eye on the clock." Cinder responded. She was dressed in an all-black suit fit for a cat burglar, complete with a black domino mask. She then made her way across the rooftops, ready to set her plan into motion.

---

Ruby and Knuckles hung more by the entrance. Though neither of them were the dancing-type, they were still enjoying the evening and happy that their friends were having fun. Knuckles happened to glance slightly behind him, but his eyes caught something that took his immediate attention. It was Cinder in her black attire, running on the rooftops

He nudged Ruby and motioned her to look behind him, which she did, causing her to spot Cinder as well.

"Think that might be the spy?" She asked.

"Definitely." Knuckles confirmed, getting serious.

"I know you said Shadow and Omega got this but… think we should help them out? Just in case?" Ruby asked.

"Better to be safe than sorry." Knuckles confirmed. "Let's go." They both followed the spy, making sure to keep their distance and not be spotted.

---

Cinder had made it to Beacon Tower, sneaking in and taking care of all the guards was relatively easy. There were seven total, all Atlas soldiers and not trained Huntsmen. One outside, which she knocked unconscious and hid in the bushes; four in the main lobby, which she was swift enough to take down with her dual Midnight blades, and two in the elevator whom she knocked out easily enough in such a confined space.

She stepped out of the elevator and into the communications' room, making her way over to the central terminal. She took out a thumb drive and was ready to insert the virus…

Only to look in confusion to see a red dot on her hand, and then several all over her body. Her eyes widened in shock before she instinctively leapt from her chair, which was ripped apart by a rain of bullets.

"Infiltrator detected! Commencing capture operation!" Omega declared as he continued to fire his machine-guns at Cinder, who backflipped to avoid most of the bullets before getting to the wall, which she leapt up from and prepared to fire a long-distance attack, only to get struck in the back by a kick from Shadow.

Cinder fell to the floor, with Shadow immediately on top of her as he grabbed her right arm with both his hands, while keeping one foot on her right shoulder to pin her to the ground. Omega was already in front of her, aiming his guns at her face.

"You so much as think of using your Semblance, and I'll rip your arm from its socket. That's just for starters." Shadow threatened.

Cinder gritted her teeth as she glared in Shadow's direction. 'They knew?! They planned this!? That damn swine! I should have shut him up sooner!'

"Who are you? I won't ask again." Shadow began to twist her arm the wrong way, causing her to grunt in pain. Despite his warning, her eyes glowed as she prepared to use her power. Nobody makes a fool out of her! But before any moves could be made…

"Warning! Enemy signal detected! Arrival in one point three seconds!" Omega alerted.

True to his word; something exploded from the wall closest to them; forcing Shadow and Omega back as they released Cinder, who looked up in surprise to see none other than Metal Sonic hovering through the hole he just made in the wall that led outside.

"I didn't ask you for help!" Cinder told the robot, prompting Metal Sonic to play a recording of the instructions his creator had given him.

"The brat underestimated Sonic before, and I don't trust her not to do it again. Make sure she has a backup for when she screws up." The recording of Eggman played and then stopped as Metal directed his gaze toward her.

Cinder glared back, knowing he was likely mocking her with that look of his. But she would deal with that later; right now, they had some pests to eliminate.

Shadow and Omega quickly recovered and glared at the masked Cinder and Metal Sonic before engaging in combat.

---

From the bottom of the tower; Knuckles and Ruby could see flashes of light, fire, and other signs of battle from one particular area.

"That… doesn't look good." Ruby noted.

"What's going on up there?" Knuckles asked over the comns.

"Metal Sonic is here…! We…!" Shadow's warning was cut off.

"They might need some help." Knuckles told Ruby, who pulled out her scroll and pressed the command key, which signaled the launch of her personal locker. It didn't take long for said locker to land near them, which opened up to reveal Crescent Rose.

After claiming her weapon, and ditching her heels, Ruby followed Knuckles toward the wall. "What are you doing?"

Knuckles leapt up and dug his fists into the wall. "Grab on, I'll climb us up there."

Though confused, she did as she was told and wrapped her arms around him. "But wouldn't the elevator be faster?" To her surprise, Knuckles' climb up the wall was incredibly fast, digging his fists in and pulling them out rapidly. His speed of ascent up the wall was about as fast that it felt as Ruby herself would be with her Semblance. "Nope! This is faster! Much faster!" She exclaimed, clinging to him to avoid falling.

---

Shadow threw a Chaos Spear, which Metal countered with a blast from his gun-hand. The collision created a smokescreen, which Shadow used to his advantage as he delivered a homing attack to Metal, knocking him back. The black Hedgehog had drawn Arondight as he proceeded to try and press his advantage, only for Metal to extend his arm-blade and block Shadow's attack, clashing blades in rapid succession.

Cinder fired a volley of glass arrows from Midnight toward Omega, who shattered them with a swat from his arm before using his jet boosters to close the distance, prompting Cinder to break apart her Midnight bow into its dual short blades and slice at Omega repeatedly. Fortunately, his outer armor was too tough for the blades to penetrate. He tried to punch her, but she leapt above him and fired flames from her hands and feet to gain some distance, even as Omega fired beams of lightning from his arms, which she just barely avoided as she slid back toward the hole that Metal had made when he arrived.

Before Cinder could make her next move, however… She heard an odd sound coming from outside and gasped to see a gloved fist coming toward her face, which she was unable to avoid. Her own Aura took most of the impact, but the force of the punch sent her flying through several computers and to the other side of the room.

Knuckles had arrived with Ruby by his side, already drawn Crescent Rose.

"Why is she here?" Shadow questioned, referring to Ruby as he leapt back to avoid Metal Sonic's electric blasts.

"I thought you could use some help!" Ruby stated.

"Doesn't matter. She's here, deal with it." Knuckles told Shadow, who shook his head in annoyance. "Ruby, you help Omega deal with the woman. Shadow and I will take care of Metal Sonic."

"On it." Ruby nodded as she used Petal Burst to move closer to Omega and see that Cinder had already recovered. Omega resumed his fire, unleashing his flamethrowers in her direction, forcing her to swiftly move and avoid the devastating flames. Ruby zoomed in to the spot where she was heading and sliced Crescent Rose at her, but Cinder was able to leap over her slice and land on the other side. Omega halted his flamethrowers to not accidentally burn Ruby, which Cinder tried to take advantage of as she brought her dual-blades out to slice at her enemy, forcing Ruby on the defensive as she parried the strikes with the pole of Crescent Rose.

Omega rushed toward them, prompting Ruby to slide backwards and avoid the devastating punch that broke through the wall. The last of the E-100 series then engaged Cinder at close range, swinging his metallic fists at her, which she could just barley avoid and tried to gain as much distance as possible. Ruby noticed the way Cinder was on the defensive around Omega and it gave her an idea.

"Hey, she can't get through your armor, can she?" Ruby asked as she came by Omega's side.

"Negative. Her projectiles are made from glass, they cannot penetrate my titanium shell." He replied.

"Okay, let's go for a sword-and-shield type of thing." Ruby offered as she stuck close to Omega's back. "You move in and let us close the distance, blocking her long-ranged attacks, and I'll hit her in at close range."

"Considering." Omega contemplated as he fired his machine guns at Cinder to keep her at bay. "My superior body will block all her attacks, your weapon and my strength will make it difficult for her to defend, increasing our chances for victory. Your method is approved. Stay behind me."

Ruby smiled almost giddily at her plan being approved of, especially by a super cool robot, but she kept behind Omega and stayed as close to him as possible as they both moved in to close in on Cinder. She tried to fire more of her arrows, superheating the bolts before letting them loose. Omega crossed his arms to block the attacks; even superheated, those arrows did little-to-no damage against Omega's titanium armor. When they were close enough, Ruby came in from above for a surprise attack to slice the blade of Crescent Rose at Cinder, forcing her to duck, but that left her open to an uppercut from Omega to send her straight up into the air. He then grabbed her by her ankle and slammed her down onto the ground before throwing her into a terminal, shattering it upon impact. Cinder struggled to pull herself up, but used her flames to fly away as she saw Omega and Ruby advance on her even further.

Shadow skated along the walls after Metal Sonic, who continued to shoot electric blasts at him, only for the Ultimate Lifeform to slice through all of them with Arondight, moving with the necessary speed and precision to deflect all the explosive bolts. This led Metal right to Knuckles, who was able to successfully land a punch across Metal's face to send him skidding along the ground. Knuckles tried to press his advantage as he tried to pound Metal while he was down, but the killer robot avoided the strike, prompting Knuckles to try and punch Metal again, but he both ducked and swiped his legs to knock Knuckles off his feet.

However, Shadow was quick to re-engage moving in fast to strike his feet across Metal's face and slice him repeatedly with Arondight and knock him back. Shadow detached his semi-automatic from the blade and opened fire on Metal, who was quick to activate his Black Shield and defend himself. Shadow then tried to engage in close combat, providing a series of rapid homing attacks across Metal's Black Shield to force him out. Metal dropped the shield and dodged under Shadow's next homing attack while also slicing at him with his arm blade to send him into the wall close to the elevator.

Metal Sonic heard a yell from behind and was unable to dodge a punch from Knuckles to knock him down. Metal tried to swing his arm-blade, but Knuckles caught Metal by his arm with one hand and grabbed his face by the other before rushing to pin him to the nearest wall where Knuckles went on to pound him in repeatedly with his fist to Metal's face. After the fifth punch though, Metal caught Knuckles fist in his metallic grip. Both the red Echidna and dark blue robot glared and pressed their own strength against one another. Metal then scanned the room to see the situation they were in. Shadow had already recovered, and Cinder was unable to find an opening with Ruby and Omega tag-teaming her.

During the fight, Ruby had sliced Crescent Rose at Cinder's side, slicing the pouch that had the thumb drive containing the virus, destroying it in the process.

They could not afford to keep this up. Metal had to execute the back-up now!

Knuckles was forced off by a strong electrical current. His eyes widened as he saw a surge of electrical energy build up all around Metal Sonic and realized what he was about to do.

"Take cover!" Knuckles shouted to his allies; prompting Omega to push Ruby back behind him as Shadow and Knuckles quickly moved behind the robot.

Just seconds before he would unleash his V. Maximum Overdrive attack, Metal aimed his left hand at the central terminal. One of his fingers opened up to fire a tiny nail-shaped projectile that struck the screen right as his V. Maximum Overdrive attack went off, sending a powerful of surge of electrical energy in the form of a small explosion that shook up the entire room and obliterated most of the terminals. Omega braced himself to tank the attack, and keep his allies safe behind him.

When it was all set and done, most of the terminals were all completely obliterated as the room itself was nearly flattened from the attack. Though Ruby was somewhat shaken up, she was still in one piece as were Shadow and Knuckles, though Omega fell to his hands and knees.

"Omega…!" Ruby looked with concern. "Is he alright?"

"He took the full brunt of that blast." Shadow explained. "He'll be fine, but his systems are undergoing self-repair."

"Looks like they got away." Knuckles noted as neither Cinder nor Metal Sonic where anywhere to be seen.

"So… did we win? We beat them back, right?" Ruby hoped.

Omega then stood up straight. "System rebooted. Power levels stabilized."

"Omega, scan the room. See if anything was left behind, we need to be sure." Shadow instructed.

---

Though the V. Maximum Overdrive would normally take a lot out of him, Metal Sonic's motor functions were still working properly, which he used to fly himself and Cinder to an alleyway in-between two of the campus' buildings, away from any openings. He dropped Cinder to the ground as Metal set down to let his systems get back up and running to optimal levels.

"This mission was a failure." Cinder scoffed in frustration. "They were waiting for us." She felt her side to find the thumb drive, only to find the pocket that was carrying it had been slashed. "We've lost the virus. What now?"

Back up and running, Metal Sonic stood up straight and projected a hologram from a port in his forehead to show a symbol resembling a black queen chess piece and a recording of his small projectile impacting the central terminal, telling Cinder what he had done.

"You… had a back-up copy of the virus?" Cinder asked in surprise, Metal giving a single nod in confirmation. The woman had a confident grin on her face. "Then maybe this night isn't lost after all. Get back to the good doctor, you don't want to be spotted here on campus. I'll blend in with the rest of the students."

Metal then flew back into the skies and rocketed away as fast as he could. He would make it past Beacon's perimeter and return to Eggman with no interference whatsoever.

Acting quickly, Cinder used her own Semblance and portion of the Fall Maiden power to burn away at her catsuit and don the black formal dress she wore underneath as she would make her way back to the ballroom from her current position.

'The hedgehog and his friends may have the advantage in power right now… but by the time they realize something's amiss, it'll be too late.'

---

"Foreign object detected." Omega revealed, getting the attention of Shadow, Ruby, and Knuckles. The robot was at what was left of the central terminal and picked up a small object from the rubble, handing it to Shadow.

"What is it?" Ruby asked. "It looks so small… like a needle."

"It is a data-drive." Omega answered. "Most likely deployed seconds before Metal Sonic's V. Maximum Overdrive Attack. A programing was likely created by Eggman to act within that split-second timeframe to upload a foreign programing into the tower's mainframe."

"What exactly does that mean?" Knuckles asked.

"It means whatever those two were sent here to do… they accomplished their goal." Shadow glared at the tiny data drive in his hand.

Done.

This chapter turned out to be longer than I thought, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. We had some heartfelt moments between the main casts of RWBY and Sonic, some good bonding, and a nice action sequence at the end.

Pointers to Sonic for coming up with a rather ingenious plan to catch the enemy off-guard, using the dance as cover to bait Cinder into a trap. If it weren't for Metal Sonic showing up, Cinder may have been captured. Sonic's not the type to waste any time, so he told Ozpin, came up with the plan, and told Blake specifically as he knew how personal she was taking this whole thing so that she wouldn't run herself ragged, and it worked.

Because of that, Yang didn't have her moment to tell Blake about her birth mother; but she will talk about that with not only Blake but everyone else at a later chapter. On a personal note, the Raven plot one of the biggest plot holes of the canon that I felt was incredibly poorly handled. The primary reason for Yang becoming a Huntress was to find her birth mother, but they completely omitted that in Vol 5, as well as Yang's PTSD from her canon encounter with Adam that cost her arm as well as her abandonment issues in general. I plan to properly address the Raven-situation in a way that I feel would best reflect the story, as well as changes to her own character that at least make her actions somewhat justifiable as someone who occupies the moral gray area, like how the White Fang originally was portrayed in the first Volumes of the show, but both were made purely villainous; even though that Raven was right about Ozpin and she was never brought up again! *Deep breath* Okay, rant over.
There are many flaws with the canon RWBY show, especially in Vols 4 and 5, with Raven's characterization being among the biggest, and I am hoping to fix those later on.

But back to the matter at hand, despite all the fun the heroes had and the heartfelt bonding moments they experienced with each other, Cinder and Metal Sonic succeeded in their goal in uploading the Black Queen virus.

However, Shadow and the others are aware that the villains have done something and that is going to have a huge impact later on.

Next chapter, the investigation into Eggman and the White Fang continues, and I have special plans for when we get to Mount Glenn and the battles that follow. Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. Love you guys.