Shining Beacon Zone - Act 4

STAGE 03: FLYING BATTERY || RIVAL BATTLE: TEAM CURRANT

Holoska - Frozen Junkyard - 7:49 AM

A large field of failed Eggman robots and other robotics are haphazardly piled on top of one another. Barely functioning robots spark to life but are unable to move. On the ground, GUN Hunters and Beetles scour the junk pile.

Miles away, a large airship filled with huntsmen-in-training descends, opening its bay doors. The people inside shiver in the harsh conditions. Some of them have fur or clothing that allows them to deal with the sharp winds and intense cold, but others are unable to go outside without turning into a shivering mess.

"Remember," A voice comes from the speaker system, belonging to James Ironwood, commander of the Guardian Units of Nations and headmaster of Atlas Academy, "Your task is to reach the center of the Frozen Junkyard and return as quickly as possible. If you are unable to complete it, you will be escorted off the premises, and rejected from Atlas Academy. Good luck."

Now Playing… Shadow's Infiltration

The first prospective student out is a black hedgehog with red markings on his quills, arms and legs. He skated across the ice and snow effortlessly with his hover shoes, and is seemingly unaffected by the harsh conditions.

"Are you sure that this 'huntsman academy' will give me the answers to my past?" He asked under his breath, just in case the Beetles or Hunters had recording devices attached to them.

"No doubt about it," Rouge answers. "What really happened at the ARK all those years ago has to be GUN's database. I just need you to give me an opening to see what I can find." Shadow frowns, dashing through a decommissioned E-2000 and avoiding gunfire from various Hunters.

"Query: Was Shadow enrolling in Atlas necessary for this plan to work?" E-123 Omega asks. His voice was so loud that Shadow had to hide his communication in his chest fur to muffle the sound.

"No. I just thought it'd be funny!" Rouge replies with what Shadow assumes to be a smirk, based on her voice.

"I'm pulling off your wings when I get back," Shadow half-heartedly threatens, a bored expression on his muzzle as he passes through a set of dash rings. He shakes his head and smiles afterwards.

Vale, United Federation - Beacon Academy - 8:30 AM

As the sun brightly in the sky, its warm light slowly flooding Team Aureolin's room. The Gaia Spawn in the forests began fleeing into caves or other shadowy areas. It's much safer for them to hide away and sneak attack during the day.

The sunlight eventually reached Weiss' sleeping form. Her ear twitched, and she eventually got up. Stretching her arms, she let out a cute yawn and put on her school uniform, styling her hair and washing her tail. Once she got out of the bathroom, Yang sleepily stumbled towards Weiss and gently pushed her out of the way. Weiss frowned and dusted her shoulder.

She was about to wake up Tails, until she noticed that his bed looked like it hadn't been slept. Curious, she raised an eyelid and started looking through the closet and underneath his bed to try and find. Eventually, she found a note folded in half on his pillow.

"Sorry, but there's an Eggman situation out in Westopolis. Can I ask one of you to take notes for me? Thanks! - Tails."

Weiss huffed and crumpled up the paper. Who does Tails think he is? He is a liability to this school and this team. Just because he hangs with Sonic all the damn time he thinks he's better than everybody else?

"Hey, where's fox boy?" Yang asked, drying her fur with a towel as she walked out of the shower.

"Out in Westopolis, presumably with Sonic and Knuckles. Apparently, Eggman is making the rounds again," Weiss answered, tossing Tails' note in the trash bin. "He asked one of us to take notes for him."

"Oh, well can you do it then. I don't really take notes. Or study, actually,"

Great. She's stuck with an entitled brat for a leader and a stupid mutt for a partner. She turned around–

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU NAKED?!"

"What's the problem? You just said that Tails isn't here. Besides, we're girls! You cannot tell me that you're so sheltered that you'd never seen another pair of tits before?" Yang asked with a predatory smile, crossing her arms under her above average chest and bunching them together. Weiss let out a small whine as she hid her muzzle under her hands.

"A-At least put your gloves on!" Weiss cried.

A similar situation was happening in Team Cobalt's and Team Carmine's team. Ruby was bawling her eyes out, believing that Sonic left because she bothered him too much last night, constantly asking questions about his life and Eggman's robots and even top government secrets that would definitely put her on GUN's hit list. Gadget tried his best to cheer up the younger wolf by offering to let her inspect his weapon, which he called the "Variable Wispon," though he took it back when she tried to take it apart.

In Team Carmine's room, Blake and Pyrrha didn't seem worried about Knuckles, though she was curious as to what Eggman could be doing. They expected the news to be up in arms about another Eggman appearance, maybe even GUN sending their troops over to Westopolis.

Regardless, they went on with their day, not thinking much about the disappearances of each team's respective leaders.

Spagonia - GUN Air Fleet - 9:23

Aboard the Cyclone, Team Sonic flew through the air at high speeds. Sonic's confidant smirk grew wider as he got closer to the Air Fleet.

"You told them we were coming, right? They're not going to blast us out of the sky?" Knuckles asked with a raised eyelid.

"What about it? I think we can take 'em!" Sonic smirked, stretching his legs on the aircraft's wings.

"Yep. We only got five minutes with Roman though, since we aren't actually part of the military. Also, any information we do get out of him has to be reported to the authorities," Tails said, pursing his lips.

"And what we don't want is GUN learning about the Chaos Emeralds, but we came here to ask what Roman knows about 'em? Think you can disable the cameras, or at least take out the audio for a few seconds?" Sonic asked.

"Probably. The most I can do is probably 30 seconds without drawing suspicion. But with that short of a time frame, can you even get Roman to reveal anything about the Emeralds?" Sonic thought about this for a moment, scratching his chin quizzically.

"I mean, why don't you lead Roman on about the Emeralds," Knuckles suggested. "You don't have to switch gears immediately during that 30 second time frame. Ask questions about stuff he's stolen, and then gradually build up to asking about the Chaos Emerald. Or maybe even the name of the panther chick he was with that day?"

"Y'know, that's not a bad idea. Nice going, Knucklehead!" Sonic says, giving the echidna a thumbs up.

Knuckles scratches the bottom of his nose with his thumbs and mutters, "Well, I try."

The Team manages to board the Air Fleet without much issue. A few of them asked for Sonic's autograph, but that was really the only disturbance they encountered that day. A large and bulky water buffalo and a colorful parrot with white, pink and brown feathers escorted them to the holding cells, explaining standard procedure that Team Sonic most definitely will not be following. During the explanation, Tails took out his Miles Electric, explaining that he was looking for any bugs in the system. The water buffalo shrugged, but the parrot looked at the fox strangely, with a predatory look in her eyes.

"Just remember, anything you say in there will be recorded and used in court. Try not to get arrested again… My son was this close to rioting when he found out," The buffalo pleaded.

"No promises!" Sonic said with a cheeky smile, prompting the echidna to playfully punch him in the shoulder. And into a wall. "Tails, you coming?" Sonic asked casually while pulling himself out of the indent. The fox nodded and followed him inside, while Knuckles would stay outside with the captain and parrot.

Roman Torchwick was muttering angrily to himself, not noticing the duo enter because of the two way glass that stood in front of him. He had a cigar in his mouth and playing cards in his hands, playing what looks like solitaire. Sonic looked to Tails, who shrugged while still typing away on his device.

They waited for a few moments, until Sonic kicked upon the door, startling the criminal ferret.

"HEY ROMAN, LONG TIME NO SEE!" Sonic shouted as loudly as he could, making the ferret drop his cigar and playing cards.

"Jesus, christ! What the he–S-Sonic?! We-he-hell, I didn't expect to see you around these parts!" Roman said, vaguely gesturing around the holding cell. "Normally, it's the cops that try to rough me and spill my secrets, not a fox kit or a hoglet."

"What? Can't I just come in whenever I want to have a chat with you? Don't tell me you're that paranoid? How's your head doing, by the way?" Sonic snarks back, making the ferret flinch slightly, tipping his bowler hat to darken his eyes.

"My point still stands; what do you want, Hedgehog? It's not like you to be a part of interrogations, much less leading them. What's your game here?" Roman asked, a scowl forming on his muzzle.

"We want to know what you're up to, obviously," Tails cut in. "Chaos Drives are being stolen left and right all over the United Federation, enough that prices are starting to go up because of the lack of supply. Some of them are being stolen by the Freedom Fighters (Sonic noticed the way Roman's tail bristled), while others are being stolen by men in black suits. All of them have connections to Junior Hei Xiong, and there have been reports of you going to Casinopolis, where Junior's bar is located. Why?"

"Well, you know how Chaos Drives are all the rage these days. Buffs to power and speed, healing and regeneration, not only that, they are also cheaply made by the Schnee Drive Company! What's not to love about 'em? Obviously, unsavory types like us would want something to go head to head with trained huntsmen and GUN robots!"

"Okay, yeah, cool, but like you said, Chaos Drives are pretty cheap these days," Sonic said with his arms crossed.

"Junior makes a lot of money from Casinopolis alone. Can't he just use that money to pay for the Drives? It'd also save a lot of men from being arrested for armed robbery," Tails continued, showing various graphs on statistics on the screen of his tablet.

"Unfortunately for you, the earnings in Casinopolis are just a tad misleading," Roman retorts. "Not only does he have to repair the damages done by that mutt, but he also has to pay for food, drinks, his men and the like. You know how expensive good alcohol is?"

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why Junior's sending his men to Drive Shops," Sonic responds. "He runs a casino, he doesn't need Chaos Drives in the first place. And another thing, Junior's an informant for the criminal underworld, and he's stated multiple times that he's neutral in all gang related conflicts."

"Not only that, but Casinopolis is right by Bingo Highway. It gets really bright at night, so Gaia Spawn shouldn't be a problem over there. Meaning that stealing the Chaos Drives for defense isn't a valid reason," Tails explains before Roman could say anything. The ferret's muzzle turns into a scowl, his tail, ears and eye twitching. A drop of sweat fell from his forehead and off his nose.

Suddenly, Roman gets up from his seat and starts pacing around the room, stomping his feet on the floor a few times.

"Well, Sonic, Tails, when you hear that the Freedom Fighters are starting to steal Chaos Drives, not only from the UF, but also Spagonia, Holoska, and Mazuri, it makes people like us anxious. I mean who knows what they could be doing with all those Chaos Drives? Building an army? A doomsday device? For all we know they could be planning a coup on Holoska, and bring down the SDC!" Roman said as animatedly as possible.

Sonic raised his head and scratched his forehead for a few seconds. "You know, that actually makes sense…" Internally, Roman let out a sigh of relief.

"However!" Sonic said dramatically, pointing a finger at the ferret's nose. "Over 87% percent of the Freedom Fighter's members come from either Shamar or Mazuri, the two poorest continents on Mobius. The Freedom Fighter's entire shtick is getting better pay and working conditions for those working in the Anarchy Beryl mines the SDC owns. So, would they be stealing from their own people?" Roman took a step back while Sonic smiled cockily.

"Roman, you're stealing more Chaos Drives than what one could reasonably need. Why? And for that matter, why are you working here?" Tails asked, turning the Miles Electric around so that Roman could see the screen.

"Not a bad drawing, huh? Before we went to talk to you, we had a friend of ours draw a picture of the panther girl the day I kicked your butt. Who is she, and how come she isn't Neo?" Sonic questioned.

"I don't know her name, unfortunately. She simply requested my services, offered a decent rate, and she hired me. I'm more concerned as to how she got away. I'm mean, a criminal escaping from the self-proclaimed fastest thing alive? It seems that the world truly is ending!" Roman retorted, his face growing slightly panicked.

Bingo.

"That's been confusing me too… How do you know that? I'm pretty sure I knocked you unconscious?" Sonic muttered, making the ferret flinch. Sonic reached for his quills and looked at Tails. The fox nodded and tapped a button on his scroll. Both he and Roman tapped their feet rhythmically.

Camera down. Audio down.

"So, which is why I want to ask you why she had this on her," Sonic asked with a confident smirk. "She raised it in the air and poof! Gone without a trace! You know why this happened, Roman? Want to explain how you know that?"

Wait a moment, no, they couldn't possibly…! Dammit, dammit, dammit! Forget Prison Island, Cinder's going to burn his fur off if Sonic of all people found out about her plans! Even worse, she said drained the Emerald of its power! What the hell is it doing here, glowing like that never even happened.

"So, you do know what it is?" Tails commented, noticing the sudden change in Roman's behavior. "If that's the case, can you explain why it allowed the panther to disappear."

"I… Well… The thing is…" Roman suddenly slammed his boot into the and cried out in pain, a sound loud enough to deafen any other sound. "Sorry, sorry! I just slipped!" He whined, rubbing his foot tenderly.

"No problem man. I sometimes stub my toe when I'm running," Sonic sympathized, confusing Roman. "Also, you should make it less obvious when you're trying to mask a sound. Our ears aren't just for show, y'know!" Immediately after he said that, Knuckles burst through the door and punched the open air. The sound of shattered glass was accompanied by pink glass shards falling to the ground, and a brightly colored parrot with pink, brown and white feathers being slammed into the wall by the force of Knuckles' attack.

"Next time, try not to make your clones move so stiffly!" Knuckles snarked, pounding his fists together as Neopolitan the Parrot rose to her feet. She mouthed something to the echidna, either cussing him out or taking his advice to heart. You never know with a mute assassin.

"So, Roman. We ruined your escape attempt, and have your partner locked up with you. So, why don't you explain what this is and why you need all those Chaos Drives?" Sonic walked closer to the ferret, his grin going from mischievous to near feral.

Neo raised her weapon, a parasol with a blade hidden in the tube and rushed forwards. Sonic lazily reached into his quills and pulled out a ring, throwing it with enough force to send Neo's strike off course, the sword impaling itself on the wall just a few inches away from Sonic's face. The hedgehog then struck her chest and face with his elbow, and then slammed his heel into her face, knocking her away.

"C'mon, Neo! You know better than to go toe-to-toe with me!" Sonic teased, placing his hands on his hips. His expression dropped when she got up once more, but this time with a wild grin on her beak.

"Then it's a good thing that was only a distraction," A deep voice came from behind. The room exploded in bright red light, blinding Team Sonic as a strange and distorted whirring sound played in the background. Once the red light disappeared, Neo and Roman had disappeared, and their problems had only just begun.

Sirens started blaring all over the Air Fleet, each hallway of the airship bathed in red emergency lights. From Roman's cell, they could hear GUN robots being deployed and soldiers grabbing their weapons, even gunfire. Instantly, Team Sonic ran outside to see the water buffalo from before, bleeding from a head injury and his left horn missing the tip. Sonic quickly checked his pulse, confirming that he was alive.

Knuckles meanwhile grabbed one GUN soldier, some type of rodent, and pulled him towards him. "What the heck is going on?" The echidna nearly shouted.

"Eggman's attacking! It's the Flying Battery!"

All three members looked up in shock. An explosion rocked the entire Air Fleet. Sonic gritted his teeth, but it quickly turned into his signature smirk.

"Don't worry; We'll show ol' Egghead what for! You guys ready?" Sonic asked, looking back at his two partners.

"You know it!" Tails cheered, pumping out his fist

"Alright!" Knuckles responded.

Sonic flashed both of them a quick smile as they took off, trying to find the conflict before it could get any worse.

"Okay then, let's blast through with Sonic Speed!"

Now Loading…

Stage 03

FLYING BATTERY

Mission: Reach the center of the Flying Battery to capture Roman before he gets away!

Now Playing… Flying Battery Zone - Act 1 (Sonic Mania)

With his friends spinning around his fists, Knuckles burst through one of the bay doors of the Air Fleet, running as fast as he could down the dull gray halls. Looking past the window, the last echidna could see a massive yellow warship, with mad doctor's insignia slapped all over the fleet. However, he found it strange that he couldn't see any of Eggman's machines.

"Knuckles, Nightmare, 10 o'clock!" Tails' voice suddenly shouted out. Knuckles thrust his fist forward, smashing Sonic's spinning body on the lizard monster's head, shredding it to bits. However, they disappear in a shower of red cubes rather than black and purple smoke.

"What the heck are Nightmare's doing here! It's the middle of the day!" Knuckles shouted in confusion, jumping in front of Dark Master to protect a GUN soldier.

"Well, contrary to popular belief, Dark Gaia's Minions don't actually die off during the night. They actually go into a state of hibernation–"

"Not the time for a science lesson, Tails!" Sonic shouted as Knuckles pounded the fox into a nearby Deep Nightmare. The blue hedgehog then uncurled himself from Knuckles fist and took the lead, Knuckles and Tails moving behind him so that they wouldn't hadn't deal with wind resistance.

They make a sharp turn to the left and manage to make it outside the Air Fleet. Knuckles takes the lead once more, Sonic and Tails moving on either side of him. They jump and perform a Triangle Dive, using the Air Fleet's turbines to float to the top of the airships. They change again to Fly Formation, Sonic grabbing a hold of Tails' hands while Knuckles does the same with his shoes.

The two-tailed fox started spinning his namesakes rapidly, moving much farther and faster than Knuckles' Triangle Dive. He expertly flies in between gunshots and energy balls, tossing both Sonic and Knuckles at Dark Frights and Dark Bats to destroy and to make more room for Tails to safely fly. Interestingly, there are Evil Flowers growing on the hull of the Air Fleet, firing blasts of dark energy at GUN Beetles, Hornet's and Flying Dogs.

Sonic taps Tails' shoulder and points over to a GUN Sky Hawk. Tails nods and descends, landing on top of as the aerial machine attempts to ram into a Dark Master. Knuckles moves forward as Sonic wraps himself around the echidna's fist, the combined force of the spin and power utterly decimating the wizard monster. As the duo protect the Sky Hawk, Tails tears off a piece of metal and gains access to its circuitry, taking out a pair of tweezers and a screwdriver to hot wire the machine. After a few seconds, Tails takes out a Dreamcast controller and plugs it in, gaining control over it.

Knuckles and Sonic move back to let Tails see as he begins to steer the Sky Hawk away from the battle, and towards the Flying Battery. With a harsh jerk of the joystick, Tails causes the flying machine to suddenly change directions, just narrowly avoiding a handful of Rexes being thrown at them from a Big Mother. The red and blue rodents do their best to keep as many monsters off of them as possible. Sonic jumps off the Sky Hawk and Homing Attacks multiple Dark Bats out of the sky, and uses techniques like Wild Rush and Sonic Boom to snipe enemies out of the air. Knuckles meanwhile punches away any enemies that get too close, and sometimes helps Tails steer the Sky Hawk by pulling on the wings.

"Sonic!" Tails shouts. Sonic jumps back on top of the Sky Hawk and looks at where Tails is pointing, seeing another group of thrown Rexes. With a smile, Sonic jumps in the air and kicks his feet wildly, sending out blades of pressurized wind to completely and utterly destroy the group of Rexes. When he lands back on the GUN robot, Sonic starts charging a Spin Dash, making sure to relax his quills so that he doesn't accidentally cut through the Sky Hawk. Tails unplugs the controller and does the same, though without fear of slicing the machine. Without the controller, the Sky Hawk regains control of itself and flies toward the Flying Battery

Knuckles crouches down and rears back his fist, slamming it into Tails body, who shoots forward and slams into Sonic, the added force causing the blue blur to shoot fast enough to break the sound barrier, causing a massive burst of wind the temporarily knocked every single aircraft off balance, save for the Air Fleet and Flying Battery.

Speaking of the giant warship, Sonic slams directly into the metal armor, stiffening his quills so that he could stick to it. Using the momentum from Rocket Accel, Sonic spins around in a wide circle, creating a literal opening inside the airship. Aerial GUN machines, Sky Hawks, Beetles, Hornets, Flying Dogs and Big Foots started entering the Air Ship in massive numbers, while Tails and Knuckles managed to hitch a ride on a Blue Falcon. Sonic landed next to them as the Blue Falcon started firing from its various rocket launchers, eliminating Gaia Spawn from their newly made entrance.

Tails grabbed hold of Sonic and Knuckles once more and started flying up towards the Flying Battery's command deck, oftentimes switching to Power Formation and Triangle Dive to make use of the propellers and turbines inside the fortress. Switching over to Speed Formation, the trio dropped to ground and fell directly on a set of grind rails, switching left and right to keep the Dark Masters from sniping them.

Reaching a pair of springs, Team Sonic flew off the rails and into one of the main hallways of the Flying Battery. Switching back to Power Formation, Knuckles broke through the reinforced security doors and smashed the skulls of Gaia Monsters. One Big Mother was hiding in a corner, and tried to surprise attack the echidna once he came close enough. Unfortunately for the overweight monster, Knuckles easily vaulted over the attack and threw Sonic and Tails into the air, slapping them down like volleyballs, entering the beast through its stomach mouth and bouncing like pinballs inside, causing the monster to explode from the inside out.

Sonic led the charge, spinning his way through countless Gaia Monsters until crashing through one of the windows, grabbing Knuckles and Tails' wrist so that they wouldn't have to focus on keeping up with him. He then landed on and started to run up a wall, avoiding spikes and bombs as the whizzed by.

Suddenly, a laser grazed Sonic's sneakers, causing the blue blur to trip and lose his footing on the vertical wall. Tails' tails started spinning, slowing their descent as they looked around to see where the attack came from.

"Over there!" Knuckles shouted, pointing his fist a glowing jackal. It wore black pointed shoes and wore a metallic mask covering most of his face, except for a small glass visor over the left side, revealing a piercing yellow eye. The jackal had black gloves and black fur, maybe a bit darker than Qrow's own fur, and had white markings on his back that could resemble a rib cage. Most notably however, was the red and black striped gem stuck to his chest, radiating a power that both Sonic and Knuckles could feel.

With a wave of his hands, the red gem bathed the entire fortress in a distorted ornageish-black light. The jackal then thrust his hands downwards, and Tails' flight stuttered. Instead of falling down however, he fell upwards.

"What?! That guy just reserved gravity!" Tails shouted as his vision became distorted. He started spinning his tails to slow down their descent, though they still landed roughly on the ceiling.

The glowing jackal snapped his fingers and suddenly more Gaia Spawn appeared before them, including a Power Master. The dark wizard boosted the group's power as Sonic and Tails wrapped themselves around Knuckles fists again. Knuckles pounded his way through the Deep Nightmare's and Killer Bees, throwing Sonic and Tails at faraway Dark Frights. Tails grabbed Sonic's hand and started spinning a circle, then throwing the hedgehog at high speeds into the remaining monsters. Sonic then landed right next to a Nightmare near the edge of the platform, and gently tapped it with the tip of foot. The lizard monster fell down (up?) and was sent spiraling into the depths of space.

"Hold on, guys! Wouldn't want you falling into space!" Sonic says, grabbing a hold of Tails and Knuckles. With a sudden burst of speed, Sonic started running down the walls, making his way to the floating jackal. With a scoff, the masked figure started flying away, occasionally shooting a laser or two to try and trip up the hedgehog. This proved exceedingly difficult, as Sonic was now aware of the jackal's presence.

Sonic jumped up and let go of Tails, letting the two-tailed fox readjust his grip on the other two and fly towards the jackal. With a wave of his hands, the jackal spawned Dark Frights. Tails smiled and threw the red and blue duo as hard as he could, both of them curling up into balls and bouncing off of the flying monsters. The pair uncurled and started using their kicks and punches to send the Gaia Spawn towards the jackal, who swerved and flew around the incoming monsters. Sonic spun into a ball and homed in on Knuckles, who raised his fist slammed the hedgehog with enough force to ignite the hedgehog and send him straight to the jackal. Sonic struck the jackal in the chest with enough force to cause an explosion. The jackal released a guttural cry of pain, and gravity returned to normal as the floating creature was sent tumbling down.

Because of the sudden shift in gravity, Tails' flight stuttered again, causing him to crash into Knuckles. Thinking on his feet, Sonic started spinning around in a circle, creating a vortex as he went back to Knuckles, who used the Blue Tornado with his Triangle Dive to safely land on the ground.

As soon as Sonic's feet made landfall, he dashed off with his teammates in both hands, easily catching up to the floating jackal. Sonic tosses Knuckles into the air, who drops like a rock while spinning downwards, clipping the jackal's side. With a growl, the floating canine thrust his arms forwards and fired a stream of red and black cubes. Sonic easily jumps over the attack, while Knuckles swerves around, slowing down so that the hedgehog could grab him.

With both his friends in his hands, Sonic boosts forwards, using his Chaos Energy to cover his body in a blue shield made out of wind. He crashes into the jackal and smashes through a number of reinforced walls. The hedgehog jumps up and lands one final kick, sending the jackal through a glass wall.

Flying Battery Zone - Act 1 - Fade Out

Sonic grinds to a halt, his shoes creating skid marks on the floor. He let go of his two partners, and Team jumped in after the jackal. As they pass through, a giant metal door slams to the ground, unknowingly locking them inside.

Now Playing… Stage Clear (Sonic Unleashed)

TEAM SONIC

GOT THROUGH STAGE 03!

Time Bonus - 7000

Health Bonus - 5500

Enemy Bonus - 11350

Total - 23850

Rank - S

"Sonic! Knuckles! We did it!"

This was an arena, if Sonic ever saw one. A circular floor with smooth metal and a thick orange border, floating above a rather large drop, and crates littered around the edges of the border. It sort of reminds him of the time they got into a scuffle with Amy and her friends in Grand Metropolis. The door locking behind them definitely made this more obvious, but that was most likely the intention. It was a silent warning that somebody was about to get hurt.

Sonic smirked. It was usually the aggressors who went home with bruises all over their bodies.

Slowly, Sonic went from a run to a jog, letting go of Tails and Knuckles as they stopped at either side of him. With his fists on his hips, the azure hedgehog lazily walked around, waiting for whoever was hiding to come out and attack, or give out a villainous monologue and then fight. Sometimes, they surprise attack first, monologue, and then the fight resumes. Looking back at his companions, he could see Tails' twin-tails swishing anxiously, and Knuckles cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders.

A pair of shoes clicked slowly across the floor. Slowly, Team Sonic glanced at the cause of the sound. Tails and Knuckles sent Sonic a concerned look. The azure hedgehog drops his smile and crosses his arms, the quills on his head and back stiffening and becoming sharper as the owner of the sound comes closer.

Walking towards them was a male, wearing a black suit with coattails that reached his ankles. He had red fur with jagged black stripes on his exposed, bulky arms. On his hips was a sheath, modified to have a trigger and fire blanks. On his head were two black horns tha curved behind him, slightly covered by messy black and red fur. On his face was a white porcelain mask, designed to look like a Nightmare's face, though the goofy eyes were replaced by slitted visors.

Adam Taurus.

"Long time no see, Hedgehog," Adam says, his eyes trained solely on the hedgehog. Sonic's left hand twitches slightly.

"Adam. Never thought I'd find you working with Roman. Or Eggman, for that matter, but I have a feeling you guys actually stole Flying Battery. Thought you were busy blowing up Beryl refineries to bother with them," Sonic deadpans, walking towards the crimson bull.

"You have no right to speak about our alliance, Hedgehog. Your little fox friend is in a Team with a Schnee. The family that damned an entire continent, and its people," Adam retorted, walking towards the azure hero. "However, I know that it was partially out of your control," Adam let out a nostalgic sigh, both the now bull and hedgehog standing inches away from each other.

"Sonic, you've proven yourself to be a protector of this world. Give us the Schnee, and we can put this whole farce behind us. You can fight for our freedom again, we can create a new world, together. Even now, your heroics inspire us, Sonic. Come back to us, to your friends, to your family," Adam pleaded, the hardness of expression slowly softening.

With a roll of his eyes, Sonic suddenly leapt onto the bull's shoulders and wrapped his legs around Adam's head. With a harsh pull, Sonic flips Adam to the nearest wall with enough force to form a crater.

"Nah, I don't really feel like it. I've got my own family to take care of," Sonic says, gesturing to his friends. Tails gave a small wave. "That, and I rather not be associated with fanatical terrorists who are as bad if not worse than the SDC." Adam falls from the hole and onto his knees, nearly frothing at the mouth from when he picked himself back up.

"You damned traitor!" Adam shouts, unsheathing his sword and launching himself towards Sonic. The blue hedgehog blocks the attack by raising his foot, the gold buckle clashing with a crimson sword. With a bored expression plastered on his muzzle, Sonic flicks his ankle and sends the bull into the air, curls up into a ball and Spin Dashes into his face, cracking the left side of his mask.

"Face it, Adam. You've never been able to beat me back then. What makes you think you can beat me now?"

"We've taken a page from your book. We have formed a team and combined our powers," A voice says. The voice that belonged to the person that blindsided them on the Air Fleet.

Now Playing… Infinite (Sonic Forces)

Sonic's ears twitched and his bright green eyes suddenly snapped to the ceiling, watching with mild intrigue as the floating jackal from before slowly floated down to the ground. A hand went to his mask, adjusting it slightly and sliding it further down his face.

"This wasn't part of my agenda, but I'm always happy to crush a hero. It keeps the rabble in line. Shows them that there's no hope," He said in an eerily calm voice. Sonic raised an eyelid and looked at his friends, pointing to the jackal with his thumb.

"Well then, looks like you wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time! Now, just give us Roman and we won't have to embarrass you in front of your boss, wherever she is!" Sonic says back with an easygoing smile. The jackal scoffs and starts walking in a wide circle around them, inspecting them from every possible angle with a hand to his chin.

"You feel that energy coming from him, right?" Sonic asked Knuckles in a hushed whisper.

"Yeah. It feels like Chaos Energy, but it's different," The echidna says.

"Unfortunately for you, my employer is not present," The jackal says with a disinterested shrug. "And this mission was not approved by her. I came here of my own volition, to satisfy this little bird." A shower of pink kaleidoscope appeared behind Team Sonic, revealing a smirk Neo with her parasol opened. She closes it and takes a bow, disappearing once more and standing next to the jackal.

Great. A gravity shifting jackal, a small pint sized parrot, and a bloodthirsty, thick headed bull.

"And in order to keep her around, the hob was to be freed from his prison. My employer initially declined, but unlike her, I can see the potential of our combined powers. Creating and subjecting the world to a new reality without escape," He explained, clenching his fist. Adam sheaths his sword once more, a cruel smile forming on his muzzle. Neo's smirk falters as she takes a step back from the jackal and bull.

"You may call me Infinite, in the brief moments that remain to you. When I am through with you, Sonic the Hedgehog, the world will be nothing but ash, from which a glorious empire will rise! And all resistance will yield to my power; all will submit!"

"As if! The only thing that'll be yielding is your mask when I'm through with you!" Knuckles shouted, jumping forward and spinning like a drill towards him. The gem on Infinite's chest and the lightning bolt on his mask started glowing a deep red, emphasized by the same distorted whirring sound they heard on the Air Fleet.

"Knuckles, get back! Abort!" Tails warned, but the echidna was moving too fast to stop. The entire room turned red as Infinite neutralized the pull of gravity. Sonic and Tails started floating in air as Knuckles slowed down, cursing as his spin stopped just a few inches in front of Infinite. The jackal backhanded Knuckles and sent flying towards the ceiling, and then thrust his hands upwards, causing Sonic and Tails to fall up as well.

Infinite - Fade Out

Infinite floated into the air, taking Adam and Neopolitan with him.

Neo had a frown on her beak.

Now Loading…

RIVAL BATTLE

Team Currant

Now Playing… Battle with Infinite - First Bout (Sonic Forces)

Sonic landed awkwardly on the ceiling, scraping his knee and elbow on the floor. Tails meanwhile, landed on his head, and Knuckles' foot slipped, and he landed on his tail.

After getting up and dusting themselves off, Infinite reappeared in front of them and let out a low chuckle, Neo and Adam floating behind him. He adjusted his mask as he let go of the two, crossing his arms over the gem on his chest.

Both sides immediately went into Power Formation, Sonic and Tails spinning around Knuckles' fists while Neo and Infinite spun around Adam's sword. Knuckles slammed Tails as hard as he could into Neo, the resulting impact causing a massive shower of sparks. Knuckles went for a right hook with Sonic, while Adam countered with upwards slash. The blow temporarily knocked Knuckles off balance, and the bull jabbed to take advantage of this, but Sonic suddenly stuck out his foot and kicked the sword away. As it fell to the ground, it shattered into shards of pink glass, and suddenly reappeared in Adam's hands. However, Knuckles had already regained his footing, and slammed Sonic into the thickheaded bulls chest.

Team Sonic shifted to Fly Formation and Tails started channeling his own Chaos Energy, covering Sonic and Knuckles in spheres of electricity. With all his might, Tails through the two partners, both curling up into balls and flying towards Adam.

Neo suddenly appeared in front of Sonic and opened her parasol, the reinforced and lacy fabric absorbing most of the force. As he bounced away, Sonic launched a series of Sonic Booms at her, but the parrot effortlessly flipped and cartwheeled her way to safety. Sonic lands on the ground and starts spinning towards her, uncurling before he makes contact to attack with a series of fast moving punches and kicks. Neo twists and turns her body like an acrobat to avoid. A kick grazes her shoulder, and Neo grabs Sonic's ankle and pulls. Sonic uses the momentum to wrap his legs around her waist and flips her, but the parrot lands gracefully with her knees bent.

Infinite flies downwards and crashes into Knuckles, the electricity from Tails' Thunder Shoot transferring over to the jackal and temporarily stunning him. Knuckles raises his fist and tries to shatter the gem on his chest, but Adam intercepts the blow with the flat of his sword. The bull swings his sword rapidly, and Knuckles does the same with his fists, using the spikes on his hands to block each sword swing. Infinite quickly recovers and opens his palm, ready to fire laser at the echidna, but as he charges the attack Tails flies in and drop kicks the jackal, launching him away.

The cuff on Tails right glove starts emitting a blue light, and his arm is encased in an orange arm cannon with a yellow muzzle. Tails thrusts the cannon forward, and a red and yellow boxing glove comes out from the barrel, slamming into the center of Infinite's mask. The glove then wraps around Infinite and drags him down, letting the fox slap his tails across the jackals face. Infinite corrects himself in midair, glaring at the young fox.

"Irritating pest." Infinite waves his arms as the gem starts glowing brightly. A multitude of red cubes form below him, and Tails quickly flies away before they could clamp down on him. The two canidaes fly around each, firing blue and red blasts of energy with as much force as they could muster, trying to snipe the other out of the sky.

Sonic's elbow crashes into Neo's parasol, and hedgehog jumps back ducks underneath a swing from her blade. Flipping back to his feet, Sonic tries for an axe kick, but Neo easily avoids the blow, opening her parasol and using the resulting wind pressure to back away from the azure hedgehog. Sonic easily runs up to her and spins circles around her, creating a larger version of Blue Tornado. The winds pull Neo into the air and Sonic uses his Wild Rush technique to enter his own tornado and crash into Neo's side. The parrot lets out a surprised squawk as she teleports out of the way, trying to jab her blade into Sonic's side, but he easily flips around and kicks the blade away. With a smirk, Sonic stomps and the soles of his shoes make contact with Neo's beak, the fake shattering like pink glass. The hook of Neo's parasol is wrapped around his waist, and Neo drags him towards her, slamming her knee into his stomach and knocking him away with a kick to the side of his head.

Infinite's expression darkens underneath his mask. With a snap of fingers, he creates a number of Dark Frights that orbit around him. Thrusting his hands forward, the Dark Frights launch themselves towards Tails. He is able to shoot down a few of them, but one of the monsters bites down on his tail, making the fox fall down. The masked jackal fired off multiple blasts of red cubes. Tails quickly flies out of the way, causing the cubes to land near Knuckles and Adam, knocking both of them off balance.

Adam swings his blade downwards, and Knuckles is able to clap the sword between his hands. The bull begins to knee the echidna in the stomach, but Knuckles does not budge. In fact, he actually drags Adam forward by pulling on his sword and then headbutts him in the nose, completely shattering the mask, letting everyone see the SDC logo branded onto his left eye. Knuckles lets go of the sword and launches a Chaos Powered haymaker to his face, indicated by the red electricity. The impact breaks Adam's nose; blood, spittle, and teeth are sent flying as the bull is knocked to the ground.

Just as Sonic and Neo were about to resume their fight, Infinite shuts off gravity once more. Using his powers, he drags Neo over towards him, and motions to Adam's broken form. With a roll of her eyes, red cubes and pink shards of glass begin to converge around Adam's face, and the bull is healed moments later, including a new mask to hide his face, though this one resembled a Titan instead.

Sonic clumsily floated in the air, spinning his body absently to try and avoid the various red cubes. His eyes caught one barrage flying at him at full speed, and tried to spin away in order to avoid. Luckily, Tails managed to grab him at the last second, snatching the hedgehog's wrist before the cubes could crash into him.

"That was a close one! Thanks for the save Tails!" Tails gives Sonic a thumbs up, and quickly grabs an agitated and cursing echidna.

"I hate anti-gravity!" Knuckles growls, a certain space colony coming to the forefront of his mind when he says this.

Before anybody could say anything else, Tails lets out a surprised yelp as he swerves around a spinning Adam, his blade outstretched to try and slice the fox in two. He does the same when Neo comes barreling towards them. Infinite snaps his fingers, and the red cubes appear from thin air that quickly transform into springs, sending the bladed duo back towards them. Tails tries to fly away, but Infinite creates a dash ring behind him, forcing the Fox to fly forwards at a rapid speed. Sonic creates a Sonic Boom, aiming it in a way that strikes Neo and sends her flying towards Adam. Both of them are sent ricocheting off into the opposite direction, with Infinite hastily creating another set of springs to send them back.

As he does this Sonic just looks back at his team with a wide smirk on his face, leaving Knuckles and Tails confused, until their faces flash in realization.

"You really think we can do that without the ground?" Tails asks.

"Who knows!" Knuckles nearly shouts. "But we have to take out Infinite first unless we want to deal with no gravity the entire time!" Reluctantly, Tails nods and lifts Sonic up, grabbing onto his ankles so that he doesn't float away, Knuckles doing the same with the fox's shoes. With all his might, Knuckles started spinning his entire body.

Neo temporarily uncurled herself, as did Adam. She did this because of the massive vortex forming just a few meters away from them, strong enough to pull them in if Infinite wasn't messing with their gravitational pulls. The parrot knew what was happening. She had been at the end of this attack before, it never ended pretty for anybody, robots or otherwise, that got caught up in the middle of it. She tapped Adam on the shoulder and bowed. Without an inch of concern for her "teammates," she shattered like glass and disappeared.

"That feathered freak! Where the hell did she run off to!" Adam seethed, having to sink his blade into the metal wall to keep him from being sucked in. Infinite said nothing however, his yellow eye glaring at the growing vortex in front of them. Then his thoughts went to Neo. She obviously knew what this was, whatever it was. She's a talented fighter, with a large enough ego to flee only when she was about to get curb stomped.

"Adam, we're leaving," Infinite cooly said, slowly floating both of them to the ground.

"What?!" Adam seethed, suddenly reaching and grabbing Infinite's to pull him back. "We are not done! Not until I–!" Whatever he was about went unknown, as the mask covering suddenly disappeared, and the injuries he received from Knuckles resurfaced.

"It takes the two of us to alter reality itself, Adam. I do hope you remember that next time." Infinite disappeared in a manner similar to Neo, though he skipped the theatrics, and disappeared instantly in a vortex of red cubes.

With his one good eye, Adam glared at the floating vortex, which disappeared as Knuckles tossed Tails and Sonic into the air. Sonic curled up into a ball as small lights appeared all around him, all of them flying into him and covering the hedgehog in a cool cyan glow. Tails appeared behind Sonic, his foot crackling with chaotic electricity, and kicked Sonic as hard as he could.

In the span of a millisecond, Sonic crashed into Adam's chest again and again and again, bouncing off walls to strike him everywhere; his head, chest, legs, and horns. The bull was being pummeled in midair, bouncing back and forth between blows from Sonic Overdrive until Sonic uncurled himself in front of Adam, raised his legs and landed a devastating axe kick in the center of his head, right in between his horns.

Battle with Infinite - First Bout - Fade out

Adam landed with a harsh crash, the floor bending and creaking from the force. In the center, Adam tried his best to pull himself up, only for his limbs to give in and fail, and for him to fall unconscious shortly thereafter.

Now Playing… Boss Stage Clear (Sonic Unleashed)

TEAM SONIC

DEFEATED THE BOSS!

Time Bonus - 6200

Health Bonus - 4900

Enemy Bonus - 10000

Total - 21100

Rank - S

"Same as ever; all bark and no bite!"

Tails let out a breath he didn't he was holding in. Neo and that Infinite guy disappeared, so gravity went back to normal. Gently placing Knuckles down on the floor, he flew over to the crater that Sonic made and placed two fingers on Adam's neck.

He felt no pulse, but as soon as he was about to tell Sonic that, Adam's body started flickering, fading in and out of existence, until all that was left were red cubes and pink kaleidoscope. Tails took out his tablet to try and scan the cube, but they faded out of existence before he could even open the scanner.

"It's an illusion," Tails explained to Sonic as he got out of the crater. "Neo's Chaos Power and something else caused it, probably that Infinite guy."

"Well, that doesn't make sense. One person can only have a single Chaos Power. I thought his Power was messing with gravity?" Knuckles questioned.

"Unless it has something to do with that gem stuck to his chest. It glows a lot when he uses it, so it could be that he doesn't even have a Chaos Power, and all that because of that gem," Sonic theorized.

"You felt a power coming from the gem? Can you tell me what it felt like?" Tails asks Knuckles.

"What is there to tell? It felt like Chaos Energy, but it's not. It feels almost… distorted in some way, and not as chaotic," Knuckles shrugs. Tails nods and types something down on his tablet. "When we get back to Beacon I'll take a look around the library, see what I can find regarding illusions and magic rocks."

"First thing's first, we still need to deal with the Flying Battery. Let's split up and find some Gaia Spawn, then regroup back at the Air Fleet. Sounds like a plan?" Knuckles and Tails nodded in unison, and both were prepared to run off until Sonic stopped them.

"I might be goin' crazy, but… does anybody hear that?" Sonic asked. The other two looked at him confused, until they tried listening for the sound as well.

"It kinda sounds like the noise that the gem makes when it glows," Knuckles comments, leaning against the wall. Without warning, he phases through it and lands on his tail.

"What the…" Sonic mutters, kneeling on the ground and tapping on the floor. Sometimes it feels like he's hitting metal, but there are a few instances where his fist just phases through the floor. When he picks himself up, he notices red cubes floating into the air and the floor starting to fade away.

"Uhh, Tails? You might want to start flying!" With a nod, Tails grabs the others by their wrists, just as the entire Flying Battery disappears, fragmenting into small red cubes and pink glass until it all just fades away from existence. The only thing that was left were the GUN robots that were hunting down Gaia Spawn, but even they had disappeared into nothing. It was as if nothing had ever happened, almost as though the entire thing was an illusion.

"N-neo's Chaos Power isn't that powerful, is it?" Tails asked, flying his way back to the Air Fleet.

"I can see the potential of our combined powers. Creating and subjecting the world to a new reality without escape," Infinite had told them.

Sonic narrowed his eyes slightly, looking for Infinite if he was even still here. "No wonder Adam acted like he wanted me back. He wasn't even based off the real one, that's why!" He absentmindedly said. "Alright Tails, take us back to base!"

"You got it, Sonic!"

Vale, United Federation - Beacon Academy - 12:46

Gadget wasn't much of a talker, Ruby realized. Other than talking about his Variable Wispon, he hadn't made an effort to talk to her. And to be frank, neither did she. There was something about him that made him unapproachable, in Ruby's eyes. He was quiet and distant, and sat in the back of every single lecture hall, despite not having to worry about teachers calling on them suddenly and having a panic attack on whether or not you had the right answer.

Ruby picked up a handful of cookies and added it to her tray. Gadget raised an eyelid at the amount, but didn't say anything. That only made Ruby even more self-conscious about her cookie addiction.

"Soooo…" She began, trying to break the glacier between them, "where do you wanna sit?"

Gadget gave a noncommittal shrug. "Anywhere's fine." Ruby pouted at his very unhelpful opinion. Her silver eyes roved the cafeteria, looking for a nice secluded table so that she won't have to talk to anyone, sans Gadget. If he even decided to talk to her, that is.

Instead of that, she managed to find the cat that helped her the other day. Blake was her name, if she remembered correctly. Ruby fidgeted in place. She could try to strike up a conversation with her. It would be easier, since she successfully managed to work and talk with her during the initiation.

But what if she was waiting for her team? What would they think when they saw her? What if they assumed she was trying to take Blake away from them? What if she embarrassed herself in front of Blake's team and Gadget and then Sonic would learn about and hewouldbetooembarrasedtoassociatewithherand–

Ruby squeaked when Gadget started pushing her towards Blake's table.

"H-hey, wait!" Ruby cried, but the crimson wolf elected to ignore her.

"Your existential crisis is going to take all day, and I'm kinda hungry right now," Gadget responded in a deadpanned voice. Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of head in embarrassment. And the closer she got to Blake, the more she regretted her decision because sitting across from her was Pyrrha Nikos.

"Excuse me, but is anybody sitting here?" Gadget nonchalantly asked, pointing at the seat right next to Pyrrha. The rest of the cafeteria quieted down for a brief moment, and just stared at him. Ruby tried to hide herself deeper into her hood. Even the lynx seem surprised to an extent.

"Um, no. You can sit here if you'd like," Pyrrha politely said. Gadget muttered a thanks and sat down, having to drag Ruby to her seat since she was still frozen. The crimson wolf took a bite out of his sandwich, while Ruby still had her tray in her hands.

"Soooo, where's your third teammate?" Gadget asked, taking another bite.

"He's out in Westopolis. Something came up and he needed to go there," Blake explained, opening a can of tuna with her fork. Pyrrha also had a fish-themed lunch.

"Aren't you guys just feeding into the stereotype that cats only eat fish?" Gadget asked, having to push Ruby's tray down since she was still inactive. He's pretty sure he can hear her brain making the dial up sound old computers would make.

"I think fish tastes good," Pyrrha says defensively, and Blake nods in agreement. Gadget just shrugs and continues his lunch.

"Hey, Ruby!" The wolf girl finally moves to turn her head, seeing Yang waving at her while her other arm is dragging Weiss with her. Strangely, her tray was balanced atop her head.

"Yang?!" Ruby cried as her older sister dragged her out of her seat and gave her a tight hug. Ruby cringed, though she didn't know if it was because everybody was looking at her because of the loud noise Yang made, or her spine cracking from the pressure.

"So, how's your first day so far? Made any new friends?" Yang asked with a tilt of her head.

"W-well, I have Gadget," Gadget waved, "And… that's about it?"

"What about her?" Yang asked, pointing at Blake. "Didn't you see she helped during the initiation, with all those Egg Hammers?"

"I did. She's a good fighter. Even managed to hold her own against a Big Mother and Cure Master last night," Blake complimented, making Ruby blush and Weiss look at her strangely.

"Cool! So anyways, my name is Yang Xiao Long, and this is my partner Weiss! Thanks for keeping my sister's butt safe last night!" Yang said with a slight bow.

"Don't mention it. I'm Blake, and my teammate is Pyrrha. But, I'm pretty all of you already knew that," Blake said, gesturing to the lynx. Pyrrha waved and politely said hello with an awkward smile on her face.

"It's an honor to meet you, Pyrrha," Weiss said, extending a hand that Pyrrha shook.

"There's a lot of famous people here," Gadget noted. Yang looked at him, confused. "Well, there's Pyrrha, the four-time champion of the Apotos Tournament, Weiss Schnee, heiress of the most profitable Drive company on earth, and then we have our leaders…" Gadget's voice slowly pewtered out when the doors to the mess hall opened.

Team Sonic had walked in, Tails and Knuckles wearing their blazers normally (minus the pants), while Sonic had his open, and the tie loose. Even the dress shirt underneath was partially unbuttoned. They were talking to each other in hushed whispers and grabbed their lunches. With even looking, they maneuvered their way towards where their teams just happened to congregate and sat down without skipping a beat.

"So, what'd we miss?" Sonic asked nonchalantly, taking a bite out of his chili dog.

"Well, we have after-school detention for three days, since you skipped the first half of the school day," Weiss said, giving the younger fox a disapproving look. "I'm assuming that also applies to the rest of you," Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all blink, looking at their other companions.

Ruby and Pyrrha chuckled awkwardly, while Gadget just shrugs and Blake gives the three of them a half-hearted glare.

"I still think it's unfair!" Yang exclaims. "I mean, this is Eggman we're talking about! GUN can barely deal with his bots! And besides, you three were out there saving the day, so why did any of us get detention!"

"Speaking of which, why was Eggman in Westopolis anyways?" Pyrrha asked Team Sonic. "I understand that he invades places with some sort of cultural influence, like the Mystic Ruins and Westside Island, but what drew him there in the first place?"

"Important government secrets," Sonic quickly lied. "I think he's looking for other places like the ARK, abandoned military bases with all sorts of experimental, and probably illegal, technology. But, don't worry! We trashed the place and sent old Egghead packing, so there's no need to worry about a stray nuclear missile aimed right for us! Well, not right now anyways." The others blanched and looked at Knuckles and Tails.

"It's happened once," Tails confirmed. Knuckles nodded with him, though he had no idea what the heck he was talking about.

"We'll talk to Glynda and see if you guys can get out of detention. You shouldn't have to deal with our flagrant disregard for school attendance policy these next 4 years," Tails said. Again, everybody fell silent and looked at them.

"What? You're going to class with a notoriously free-spirited and rebellious hedgehog, who also has to fight an evil scientist with egg-themed robots on the side. You really think I'm going to go to every single class in a day? At the very least, I'm going to the Team Formation workshops and sparring classes. Gotta teach you something, as somebody who's been doing the whole 'three-member team' thing for years now," Sonic told them. "So, ya guys gonna sit down and eat or what?"

"Oh, right!" Those who had been standing finally sat down. Ruby and the others were intimidated slightly by Sonic's presence, but after a while, he turned out to be a pretty chill guy. A bit snarky and overconfident sure, but a fun and friendly person to be around nonetheless. Tails cut back on the snark, and he seemed genuinely interested to get to know everyone. Knuckles didn't talk as much, but he was more vocal than Blake, and most of his time spent talking was making a small quip here or sarcastic comment there.

After a while, Ruby didn't realize why she was so intimidated by Team Sonic. Sure, they were heroes who have saved on what was more or less a yearly basis, but other than that, they were just… guys, for lack of a better.

Later that Night - Team Cobalt Dorm

"All right, I'm gonna go ahead and take a shower!" Sonic announced, kicking off his shoes and placing them under his bed.

"Okay, just don't use all the hot water!" Ruby replied, watching funny chao videos instead of doing her homework. Gadget just gave him a thumbs up, not looking away from his Wispon.

"No promises; these quills require god's touch!" Ruby and Gadget's heads looked up from their respective activities and glared at the hedgehog, who was leaning against his bed.

"Oh, no, don't you DARE–!" Sonic ran over to the shower and slammed the door in Gadget's face. Dear Gaia, he loved abusing super speed. On an unrelated note, that's the loudest he's ever heard the red wolf become. Must care a lot about personal hygiene.

Sonic turned on the shower and pulled off his gloves, waiting for the water to heat up. Tapping his foot on the floor, he absentmindedly turned his attention to his hand and groaned. The SDC logo was burned onto the back of his hand, flesh marred and burned like Adam's…

But in all honesty, he was more concerned about the length of his claws. He grabbed a nail clipper mirror from behind and started cutting his claws, not paying any mind to the brand burned on to his skin.

Unlike Adam, Sonic was actually willing to move on from traumatizing events. All that negativity and hatred would only slow him down.

TEAM SONIC:

Sonic the Hedgehog (L) - SPEED

Speed: 10/10

Flight: 2/10

Power: 7/10

Miles "Tails" Prower the Fox - FLYING

Speed: 6/10

Flight: 10/10

Power: 3/10

Knuckles the Echidna - POWER

Speed: 5/10

Flight: 7/10

Power: 10/10

TEAM BLAST - SONIC OVERDRIVE

VOCAL THEME - We Can (Sonic Heroes)

"Let's blast through with Sonic Speed!"

"OK!"

"Alright!"

TEAM CURRANT:

Neopolitan the Parrot - ALL AROUND

Speed: 8/10

Flight: 7/10

Power: 5/10

Infinite the Jackal (L) - ALL AROUND

Speed: 8/10

Flight: 10/10

Power: 9/10

Adam Taurus the Bull - POWER

Speed: 4/10

Flight: 2/10

Power: 9/10

VOCAL THEME - Infinite (Sonic Forces)

"Tell me, what do you really see?"

"Your time is up!"

"..."

TEAM DARK:

Shadow the Hedgehog (L) - SPEED

Speed: 10/10

Flight: 6/10

Power: 8/10

Rouge the Bat - FLIGHT

Speed: 7/10

Flight: 10/10

Power: 6/10

E-123 Omega - POWER

Speed: 7/10

Flight: 5/10

Power: 10/10

TEAM BLAST - CHAOS INFERNO

VOCAL THEME - This Machine (Sonic Heroes)

"I'm counting on you guys!"

"Hmph."

"Affirmative!"