Shining Beacon Zone - Act 1
Legends.
Stories gathered through time; mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that they are remnants: byproducts of a forgotten past.
Mobians, born from chaos, are strong, wise, and resourceful, but they were born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness, the creature of destruction, Dark Gaia, set their sights on Mobians and all of their creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed that the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence into the oceans of Chaos.
However, even the smallest flicker of hope is enough to drive change. In time, Mobius' passion, resourcefulness led them to the tools that would help even the odds.
The Chaos Emeralds.
Nature's wrath in hand, Mobius lit their way through the darkness, sealing the dark creature in the center of the planet. In the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life.
But, even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker away, and die.
And when they are gone, darkness will return.
So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called "free world," but take heed.
There will be no victory in strength.
—
Empire City, United Federation - East Side - 10:00 PM
Now Playing… Empire City - Night (Sonic Unleashed)
"Man, I forgot how big this place is!" A young wolf muttered to herself, walking through the winding streets of the United Federations largest city under the light of the shattered moon.
The wolf wore a high-collared black jacket and a corset with red strings, a black and red frilly skirt that mostly covered her fluffy tail, combat boots, a red hood that covered most of her face, and a black belt with a silver rose emblem on it. Her black fur reached her neck, slightly covering her striking silver eyes. There was a metal device strapped to her back. As standard for all Mobians, she also wore a pair of white gloves, though they did have black cuffs with a red stripe.
But perhaps, victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a simpler, more honest soul.
Ruby hummed along to her favorite song that blaring through her headphones, inadvertently making her unable to hear the rest of the world, not that she minded. Empire City was notoriously noisy, even during the night, so a brief escape from the constant honking cars and loud, cursing city folk was a decent excuse to have the volume cranked up to the max.
"Now, what am I going to do about Yang's present?" She asked herself. Her older sister was accepted into Beacon Academy, one of the best combat schools in all of Mobius, and she was leaving the next day. After having dinner to celebrate with their dad, Ruby excused herself to go find a suitable present.
Now, the question was: "What in the world was she going to give her?"
"Dad already gave her those glasses she always wanted. I can always just upgrade Ember Celica behind her back," Ruby considered. "But, I'm not sure if she'd want what I have in mind," Yang was a brawler by nature, and she enjoyed bunching the lights out of those Gaia monsters.
…Also, Ruby would have to figure out a way of implementing EggTech into her gauntlets. The wolf is a certified weapon nut and a decent weaponsmith, but she wasn't a technological expert. She tried repairing one of Eggman's robots in her living room, but it ended up blowing up in her face, literally.
The worst part was that she had to pay for all the damages with her own rings.
As she crossed the street, Ruby's silver eyes landed on a small shop with lights still on.
"Alright! Maybe I can get her some Chaos Drives before she leaves!"
At least, that was the plan. When she entered the shop, she noticed the rack of magazines by the corner, and her silver eyes widened. "Heavy Weapons Talk! That doesn't come out on Westside Island until next week!"
Empire City - Night - Fade Out
In the darkly lit halls of the city's alleys, another figure took notice of the dust shop. From the shadows, an orange ferret emerged, with green eyes and bangs that covered one of his eyes, and a striped white and orange tail. He wore an expensive white suit, black fedora, and black gloves. In his hands were a cigar and a black cane. He was accompanied by Mobians of various species, each of them wearing black suits with red ties and glasses.
The ferret took a long drag on his cigar and exhaled.
He and his goons walk in, and he points his cane at the shopkeeper, revealing that it was actually a gun in disguise. The others inside the store fled, running out as fast as they could, leaving only Ruby inside.
Once the other shoppers had fled, Roman places his cane down and stares at the owner, an old hawk.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a drive shop open this late?" Romans asks politely, like he's trying to make small talk with the old bird.
"P-please! Just take my rings and leave!"
Roman hushed the shopkeeper. "We're not here for your money," He tells him, and then turns to his associates. "Help yourselves."
One of the goons, a black armadillo, reaches one of the drive containers, but stops when he notices the red-cloaked wolf. The armadillo unsheathes a poorly made machete and walks up to Ruby.
"Alright kid, put yer hands where I can see 'em!" He shouts. Ruby was playing her music so loudly that she didn't even hear the other shoppers panic and flee, so she definitely didn't notice a Mobian pulling his weapon on her.
"Hey! I said hands in the air!" The armadillo shouts irritably, walking up the wolf and grabbing her shoulder. "You gotta death wish or somethin'?" Ruby turns around, confused. The armadillo points to his ears, and Ruby takes off her headphones in realization.
"Yes?"
"I said put yer hands in the air, now!" He shouts, placing the blade next to Ruby's neck.
"...Are you robbing me?"
"YES!"
"Ohhhh…"
Now Playing… Fight for My Own Way (Sonic Adventure)
Ruby quickly plants a kick into the armadillo's unprotected stomach, knocking him into the display at the front of the store and into unconsciousness.
Roman looked at her with mild interest, and nodded his head to the hooded girl, silently instructing his goons to attack. He was disappointed to see the second armadillo be knocked unconscious as well.
Ruby and the armadillo burst out of the building through the window. She grabs the device on her back and unfolds it, causing it to transform into a large scythe taller than her. With a slightly confused look, Roman blinks.
"Okay…" He mutters, and then turns to his goons. "Get her!" He says, like it was the most obvious thing to do.
Another armadillo, two raccoons, and some sort of bird rush outside and charge. The armadillo curls up into a ball and charges at her. Ruby slams her giant scythe into the ground and flips around on it, kicking the armadillo like a ball and making him run over the bird.
The two raccoons race up to her at the same time. Ruby releases her scythe from the ground, and places it over her shoulder. She presses the trigger to get a sudden burst of speed, and hits the first raccoon with the dull edge of her scythe. She fires again, but this time uses her over sized weapons to sweep the raccoon off his feet, and smashes the butt of her scythe into his stomach.
The armadillo, this time not as a ball, jumps up and slashes downward. Ruby jumps out of the way and spins the scythe with a flourish, using the butt of her weapon to jab the armadillo multiple times. Before she can knock him out, he retreats into his shell. Instead of kicking it away like before, she instead uses her scythe as a hammer, and embeds the armadillo into the road.
The armadillo isn't knocked out, but he is stuck, and can't uncurl himself to get out.
The bird begins firing from his gun, and Ruby simply uses her Chaos Power, Petal Burst, to avoid the gunfire and trip the bird and knock him into the air. Ruby herself jumps up and slams both feet into the bird's stomach, dropping him in front of Roman.
"You were worth every ring, truly you were," The ferret groaned, dropping his cigar and grinding it with his cane.
"Well, Red I think we can all say this has been an eventful evening. But, as much as I'd love to stick around," Roman says, pointing his cane at the wolf. "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
He clicks a button, and an explosive flare is fired from it. Ruby points her scythe to the ground and pulls the trigger, launching her into the air as the ground underneath her explodes.
When the dust settled, Roman had disappeared. Ruby looks frantically around, and spots the ferret climbing the fire escape on the side of an apartment complex. Ruby narrows her eyes, and launches herself using the scythe again.
"Hey!" She shouts, but the ferret doesn't bother turning around.
"Persistent," Roman mutters, as the wind begins to whip wildly. A bullhead descends, and Roman enters the flying machine and turns back at Ruby, with a mischievous glint in his eye. "End of the line, Red!" Roman shouts, tossing a Chaos Drive to the ground.
Ruby's eyes widen and soon after closes them shut as the weasel fires another flare from his cane, hitting the Chaos Drive and causing a huge explosion.
Fight for My Own Way - Cut Off
"Are you okay?" A voice asks as Ruby was gently placed on the ground. She cautiously opens one eye, and her mouth drops to the ground soon after.
Now Playing… Sonic Appears (Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)
Standing protectively in front of her was a blue hedgehog wearing only his white gloves and red gold-buckled shoes. He looks back at her, gracing her with his emerald green eyes as he gives her a thumbs up.
"End of the line, Roman!"
"Shit!" Roman fires more flares, all of which were quickly dodged by Sonic. Tauntingly, he grabs one and throws it back at the bull head, causing one of the engines to explode.
"It's Sonic! Get us out– Blargh!" Sonic jumps up to the bullhead and nails a roundhouse into Roman's head, knocking him off the floating vehicle and down into the ground.
With a smirk, Sonic moves to the pilot's cabin and taps the shoulder of the driver. He bends backwards as a ball of fire was thrown in his direction, nearly searing his nose off.
"That wasn't very nice," Sonic comments, crossing his arms and slamming his heel into the console. Another pillar of fire was about to appear, but it was heavily telegraphed, and Sonic punched the panther in the muzzle before the flames could even form.
Gritting her teeth, the panther reached into her dress and pulled out a white gem cut like a diamond. Sonic eyes widened. "A Chaos Emerald!"
The panther disappeared in a flash of white light, temporarily blinding the hedgehog. The bullhead crashes into the ground shortly after, causing the floating vehicle to explode from the inside out.
"Sonic!" Ruby cries, reaching out a hand in vain. The remains of the bullhead begins to shake, and the blue blur jumps free, without so much as a scratch on him. He lands stylishly, with one hand on his hip and a concerned look on his face.
Event: Sonic Appears - End
"That girl, she had an Emerald…" Sonic says to himself. He runs around the bullhead's remains and stomps out the fires before they become too serious. Afterwards, the hedgehog groans and lazily throws his arms over his head. "Man… the old bird is really gonna throw a fit over this!"
Now Playing… Yacker's Plea (Sonic Colors)
Sonic turns around, and reels back when he says Ruby leaning forward, her silver eyes sparkling brightly.
"Um, hey there!" Sonic says, waving. He tries his best smile, but it quickly turns awkward when Ruby steps even closer.
"You're… You're!" Oh boy. She's one of those fans. "Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"You've been fighting Eggman ever since you were twelve years old! You stopped the Death Egg from launching, twice, and you're the youngest huntsmen in history! You defeated that giant flood monster in Station Square, and then you were framed by G.U.N. for a crime you didn't do, and even defeated a giant metal dragon!" Ruby takes a deep breath, and bows and a ninety degree angle. "It is such an honor to meet you, Sonic!"
Sonic stares blankly at her for a few moments, a drop of sweat falling from his brow. People still think I'm a huntsman? He thought to himself, before coughing into his fist.
"You act like it's a big deal to even stand next to me," Sonic says, pulling Ruby out her bow.
"That's because it is!" She says back. "You're a really big inspiration to me, and plenty of others, I'm sure!"
"I… guess so," He mutters, running a gloved hand through his spikes. "Anyways, nice job handling these goons! Thanks to you, Roman didn't get any Chaos Drives!" He congratulates her, patting the wolf girl on the shoulders. Ruby squeals at the complement, and then grabs Sonic by the hand and starts jumping up and down while practically shouting, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Sonic makes eye contact with somebody behind Ruby, and his mouth soon grows into a cheeky smile.
"In fact, I've got a friend who's so impressed, they want to talk to you!" Sonic tells her.
"Really?! Who?!"
"Right behind you!" Sonic spins Ruby around, the overjoyed expression still plastered on her face.
The smile quickly disappeared when somebody slapped a pair of handcuffs on her.
"Eh?" Ruby looks down at her wrists, with a confused smile on her face. A shadow envelops her, and she nervously looks up to see the face of a very, very angry yellow cat with glasses. "Um… Sonic?"
"See ya!" Ruby felt a rush of wind blow, and Sonic the Hedgehog had disappeared. Ruby slowly turns back to the yellow cat, and laughs nervously.
"You're a huntress, right? Can I, uh, get your autograph?"
The cat glares at her, unamused.
Yacker's Plea - Fade Out
—
Windmill Isle, Apotos - Windmill Hotel - 12:35 PM
Now Playing… Apotos - Night (Sonic Unleashed)
Tails' ears flicked when he heard the door to their hotel room opened, as he was tinkering on his Miles Electric.
Sonic yawns loudly as he plops onto the couch, and lazily pulls out his scroll. "Hey, Tails," The azure hedgehog greeted. Tails waves his wrench.
"Hey Sonic. Busy day today?" The fox kit asks, and Sonic shakes his head. "Not really. All I did was put Roman in prison. I also found a Chaos Emerald, sort of," Sonic says nonchalantly. Tails waits for Sonic to elaborate, but the hedgehog continues to look at funny chao videos on his scroll.
"So… did you get the Chaos Emerald back?" He asked.
"Nope. The chick Chaos Controlled away before I could get back," Sonic tells him, sounding a bit annoyed.
"Really? You want me to use the Emerald Radar to track her down? You might still have some residual Chaos Energy on you," Tails suggests.
"Nah, don't bother. They were robbing a Drive store, and I had to tank an exploding Chaos Drive to protect somebody. I'm pretty sure that's excess energy gonna mess with the radar," Sonic says.
Tails tilts his head in a confused manner. "They were stealing Chaos Drives? But… if they have a Chaos Emerald, why would they steal Drives? They already have a source of unlimited power, so why bother with getting an inferior replica of that power?" Sonic shrugs.
"No clue, honestly. I was kinda hoping you'd have the answer to that." Sonic was about to say more, but his scroll and the Miles Electric both buzzed at the same time. The two looked at each other, confused, and checked the screens on their devices.
"That's weird… I never applied to Beacon. Heck, I dropped out of school in the sixth grade!" Sonic exclaims. "Some role model you are!" Tails chuckles, before turning back to his device. "I'm not even old enough to apply to Beacon, I'm still fourteen…" He mutters to himself.
Sonic's scroll buzzed again, but this time it was a call from a certain thick-headed echidna. "What's up, Knux?" Sonic chirped.
"Sonic! Is this another one of your pranks again?!" The echidna warrior shouts, causing Sonic to move his scroll away to protect his ears. "Knuckles, what're you talking about?" He asks, giving a shrug to Tails.
"I just got a message that I was accepted into Beacon Academy! I'm too busy protecting the Master Emerald to deal with your practical jokes!"
"Wait, you got an acceptance letter too?" Sonic questions, sitting up and the couch. Tails' namesakes swished around nervously.
"Yeah! Does that mean you also got a letter? I thought you were a drop-out?"
"I am! More importantly, how did you get a letter? You're not even a citizen of any continent!"
"How should I know?! I thought you were pulling my leg!"
Sonic sighs, and pinches his eyelids. "Alright, keep still for a second. I'll have Tails look into it," He says, giving the aforementioned fox a "you should probably hack into something illegally" look. The fox kit nods, and begins looking through Beacon's database using the Miles Electric. After a few minutes of searching, his eyes widened. Sonic notices this, and throws his scroll over to Tails, who catches it without looking
"Knuckles, it's Tails. I was looking over the list of accepted students, and we're definitely on it. I'll send you a picture."
"What the heck? How did I get accepted into a school that I can't even apply for?!"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out myself… It seems like we were accepted through recommendations, directly from Ozpin himself," Tails says.
"Ozpin? He knows I'm busy with the Emerald! I can't waste my time by going to school!"
Sonic takes the scroll back from Tails and laughs. "Please, nobody even knows the island is real! Everybody just thinks it's some sort of myth, like the twin gods and the Chaos Emeralds! And besides, you can just shrink the Emerald down and take it with you!"
"I know, but–"
"Yeah, yeah, the Master Emerald is safer on Angel Island. But, there's a reason why Ozpin sent us those letters, right? If it's Ozpin, and not Ironwood, then it probably has something to do with Salem and Dark Gaia, don't ya think?"
Knuckles is silent for a moment, but Sonic can hear the metaphorical gears in his knucklehead turning.
"I… I guess. But what does Ozpin want with us? Technically, we aren't even part of his inner circle or whatever. Why would he go to us, but not them?"
Sonic places a hand on his chin, and then looks at Tails. The fox had a determined look in his eyes, and nodded. "Honestly, I don't have a clue, Knux. That's what we're going to figure out together, as a team!" He exclaims, prompting a sigh/groan from Knuckles, and a soft laugh from Tails.
"Please tell me you're gonna lay off the cheese at Beacon," Knuckles borderline pleads.
"Nope! We're picking you up at 7, near the beach on the east side of the Island!" Sonic tells him. Knuckles grunts, still unsatisfied. "What about the Master Emerald?"
"I dunno? Just get Mighty or the Chaotix to babysit it for you," He tells him. Knuckles is silent for a few moments, but ultimately relents with a heavy sigh. "Fine, bring Mighty with you; I don't trust Vector or Charmy with protecting the Emerald. See you then." Sonic was about to say something back, but Knuckles hung up before he could say anything.
Sonic sighs and plops back on to the couch. He looks at the scroll once more, and looks at the acceptance narrowed with curious eyes, and his signature cocky smile.
"Just what're you up to this time, Ozpin?"
—
Outro
Live & Learn - Acoustic Version (Crush 40)
