"Wow. I'm not even a student here, but people are picking fights with me," The pale hedgehog sounded more intrigued than upset.
Sonic observed the new hedgehog, noticing that his quills were long, splitting into two distinct arcs at the back of his head. Five distinct strands ran up from his forehead.
The newcomer's companion had her hair tied up. Sonic saw a tiny red gemstone on her forehead. She also wore an expression of displeasure.
"It's rude to challenge someone without introducing yourself," The new girl retorted.
"Fine. I'm Knuckles. Now quit stalling,"
"I'm Sonic. Apologies in advance for Knuckles's behavior,"
"Well Blaze, what do you think?" The pale hedgehog inquired.
"I'm not really interested in entertaining two hotheads,"
"What's the point of complaining about intros when you didn't want to fight anyway!" Knuckles barked.
"I just felt like letting you know that you're making a fool of yourself," Blaze glowered.
Fuming, Knuckles marched forward until Sonic stopped him.
"If we're going to do this, can you take it down a notch?"
"I'm tired of this. Are you two fighting or not?" Knuckles complained.
"Blaze, I'll take them on by myself,"
Blaze responded with an indifferent wave. Her companion took off his suit coat and handed it to her before approaching his challengers.
"My name is Silver. I'm a Death Scythe. Ready when you are,"
"Are you okay with us fighting you two-on-one Silver? I don't want you getting seriously injured," Sonic asked.
"Come at me with all you've got. I'm not worried," Silver smiled.
"If he wants to act cocky, I'm fine with smacking him," Knuckles concluded. He transformed into a gauntlet. Sonic put it on.
Shadow, Amy, Tails, and Cream were off to the side of the academy courtyard turned battlefield. The newly formed Team Rose had been watching the show from the beginning.
"Knuckles better not get Sonic hurt," Amy huffed. Cream nodded in agreement, observing the fight with concern.
"They should be fine. Sonic's better at using Knuckles than me at least," Tails said, a bit disheartened.
Shadow wasn't thrilled that Sonic was using Knuckles as his weapon, but he watched with interest. He was so close to becoming a death scythe himself; the only difference between him and Silver being one witch soul. How much of an impact could a single soul have on a weapon?
Sonic made the first move, charging straight ahead and lining up a simple punch to get a feel for the fight. Silver sat in place calmly with his hands behind his back as Sonic got close. He turned his torso only slightly. Knuckles's gauntlet form seemed like it was still on course, but at the last second the blow missed. Sonic stumbled past Silver clumsily as he felt his arm shift awkwardly. He caught himself with a few more steps and saw Silver had turned toward him again. He was still waiting patiently.
"What did you do?" Knuckles asked.
"Me? I could have sworn that was you," Sonic replied. "But I think it's actually him. Let's find out what's up,"
Closing in again, Sonic threw out lighter punches and kept his stance grounded. Silver continued making slight adjustments to his posture, dodging with ease. Sonic threw out his strikes in a pattern, hoping to lull Silver into a dodging rhythm and lower his guard. Then, he quickly changed direction in anticipation of Silver's movements. Sonic felt his heart leap after seeing his calculation was correct; his fist was hurtling straight at his opponent.
Knuckles crashed not into Silver, but into the ground at Silver's side instead, his metal spikes cracking the stone bricks below. Sonic's weight shifted dramatically as he felt his arm being pulled downward. With his right arm now on the ground, Sonic twisted his body and brought a kick around. Silver took the hit at his side, stumbling a bit. Sonic came at him with another punch attempt. Metal clashed against metal. The gauntlet stopped completely. Silver's right arm had gained a sharp edge.
Silver knocked the gauntlet out of the way, then launched a kick of his own back at Sonic, who retreated a bit and locked eyes with the death scythe.
"You can move things without touching them,"
Silver nodded. "Psychokinesis. That kick you landed was a good move. You're a pretty talented meister," Silver pointed at Knuckles. "He's not your usual weapon partner, is he?"
Sonic exhaled with slight annoyance. Was it really that obvious? It's not like this battle had lasted very long.
"What do you know?" Knuckles's metallic voice rang across the courtyard. "Sonic, quit messing around. Get some actual juice behind a punch to break through his guard,"
"What do you think I've been doing?," Sonic sighed.
Sonic felt the weight of Knuckles's gauntlet begin to bear down on his arm. He was just about fed up, but decided to run in once more. Sonic did his best to resonate with Knuckles and draw out whatever power he could. The two barreled back over toward Silver, sparks flying out of the gauntlet along the way. There was a strength building as Sonic wound up, but his hand ached. The weapon felt so heavy. He sent out whatever power he'd built and was surprised by the speed of the strike.
Silver swiped his left arm in a horizontal line. Sonic's right arm was pulled along by his opponent's motion, negating any force that the gauntlet had accumulated while opening his guard up completely. Silver spun on his right heel counterclockwise and kicked Sonic square in the chest with his left leg. The meister was thrown onto the ground, landing on his back. After a brief pause, Sonic sat up and tried standing, but felt as if his right side was pinned. Knuckle's gauntlet was too heavy. He gave up after a few tries, then slipped his hand out. Knuckles shifted back to normal.
.
"What, that's it?"
"Yeah," Sonic leaned back and didn't bother looking up at Knuckles.
"Fine, I'll win by myself,"
Knuckles roared, sprinting at Silver who responded by holding his right hand straight out. Knuckles crashed into what felt like an invisible wall. After grinding to a halt, he felt the wall wrapping around his body. He was lifted up off the ground, constricted.
"Hah!" Silver exclaimed and swiped his arm through the air. Knuckles crashed into the large wall lining the front of the academy. Falling to the ground, he gasped and sputtered while recovering from having the wind knocked out of him.
"It's no use!" Knuckle's punched the ground with frustration.
"That's my line," Silver laughed. "Your soul wavelengths are so out of whack after that botched resonance that I could toss you around all day."
Knuckles growled but didn't come at Silver again.
"Nice work," Blaze handed him his suit jacket. He slipped it back on.
One pair of white gloved hands applauded from the academy entrance.
"What a lovely show. You really do live up to the rank of 'death scythe,'"
"Lord Death, you're here," Blaze said.
A tall human man appeared. His head and face resembled the stone faces attached to the academy. He wore spectacles over his eyes with goggles on his bald head. A long, chaotic mustache stuck out from under his nose. His rotund torso was draped in a black cloak.
"Eggman?" Sonic asked.
"Does he mean you?" Blaze wondered.
"Oh it's just a little nickname that the students here have for me thanks to that littleā¦" Eggman glared over at Sonic, who looked amused, then cleared his throat. "You've seen how rude they are firsthand, I can only apologize,"
"It's all good," Silver adjusted his shirt and tie.
Shadow broke from the rest of Team Rose, passing by Eggman, Silver, and Blaze to reach Sonic. Blaze glanced at Shadow briefly then took a second take, looking with interest flaring.
"A weapon from the Black Arm series? Here?" Blaze blurted, turning at Eggman. She'd hushed her tone enough that only Eggman and Silver could hear.
"You're a knowledgeable young lady. I'd expect nothing less from the princess of Sol," Eggman grinned mischievously.
"But how?" Blaze uttered through a haze of shock.
"Think of him as a family heirloom," Eggman laughed
Blaze was now staring with a look of determination. Silver felt worried; she looked like she'd seen a ghost or some monster. And he knew what Blaze did to monsters.
"How powerful is he?" The princess asked.
"Don't get too excited. He has no memories beyond the last year or so and he hasn't manifested any special abilities. To make matters worse, that blue headache is the only meister who can wield him. Such stagnant potential," Eggman ended with a huff.
Blaze thought quietly for a few moments.
"I'd like to make a proposal,"
Team Rose started approaching Sonic with Knuckles coming along as well. Shadow got to Sonic well before the others.
"What were you thinking? Charging in like that to take on a death scythe..." Shadow scolded Sonic with a soft tone.
Sonic let out a tired chuckle. "Yeah I guess that was pretty lame,"
Shadow held out his hand and saw that Sonic seemed just a bit surprised.
"Bring me next time,"
Sonic couldn't help but smile. "Yeah!"
The heaviness he felt from the fight was gone once he grabbed Shadow's hand. He sprung up from the ground and looked towards the rest of the group.
"That was crazy! Are you okay, Sonic?" Tails asked.
"Still in one piece,"
"Wasn't really that much of a fight," Knuckles pouted.
"He is a Death Scythe after all," Amy added.
Sonic had stopped paying attention to the conversation, watching Eggman and the two newcomers instead. He had noticed Blaze's gaze the most.
"What's that new girl staring at Shadow for?" Sonic didn't remember getting her name.
"Are you sure it's him she's looking at? Or could she be annoyed at the two people who are out picking fights?" Amy questioned.
"No, it looked like she started talking about him just before you guys came over,"
"Uh-oh. They're coming this way," Cream observed.
Eggman walked ahead of the death scythe and meister with a look of annoyance. Sonic noticed that Blaze was still locked-on to Shadow.
"Is something wrong, Miss?" Sonic asked.
Shadow was surprised at the annoyance in his partner's tone. Blaze didn't respond, she merely looked up at Eggman who was about to speak.
"All right, before I make my announcement, I need to reprimand the two hooligans starting fights on my campus," Eggman pointed a finger at Sonic and Knuckles. "Our honored guests have graciously forgiven you two despite your actions. However, unsupervised skirmishes between weapons and/or meisters on school grounds are prohibited. You two, as well as your partners, will be participating in a remedial lesson before returning to your normal classes,"
"You mean we're gonna miss out on all the bird watching?" Sonic replied with fake disappointment.
"Bird watching?" Blaze raised an eyebrow.
"I-uh," Eggman coughed "He's joking, I'm sure,"
As if on cue, Professor Gamma arrived with the rest of his class following well behind.
"Greetings, Lord Death. Today's curriculum has achieved maximum levels of bird watching for a fully optimized educational experience,"
"For the love of...," Eggman cleared his throat then moved to address all the students. "Students! Two very talented individuals will be joining us here at the academy for the time being. I'll let them introduce themselves,"
Blaze stepped forward and bowed.
"My name is Blaze. Weapon meister, and princess of the Sol kingdom. I look forward to spending time here at the DWMA"
The students murmured amongst each other in response to finding out they were in the presence of royalty.
"She's a princess?" Amy cried out.
"Explains why she was so stuck up," Knuckles mumbled.
"You were being a jerk first, Knuckles. She's not stuck up for being short with some violent meathead!" Amy countered while whispering.
Silver stepped forward next.
"I'm Silver, her weapon partner. Also, I'm a death scythe," He almost forgot to mention the last part.
"In celebration of our new DWMA associates, I will now use this," Eggman pulled out a confetti popper. After pulling at the back, a burst of confetti cascaded outward with a fizzling horn.
"Why do they get real confetti?" Sonic sputtered.
"Uhm, I don't know if you were paying attention Sonic, but-" Eggman came up behind Blaze and Silver, pointing at Blaze with both hands. "Princess!" He then pointed both hands at Silver. "Death Scythe!"
Blaze seemed disinterested while Silver beamed. Eggman moved back to address the students.
"Class is dismissed for today. The curriculum will be undergoing revisions," Eggman walked off with the newcomers following. The class dispersed.
"I was hoping we'd learn some cool weapon meister stuff today, but I guess watching a death scythe fight is something." Amy commented.
"I'm glad we got out early, but now I'm stuck with remedial class. I didn't even do anything!" Tails whined.
Sonic waved before leaving with Shadow. "My bad, Tails. I'll try staying out of trouble, at least until the remedial class is over. Bye for now,"
The group went their separate ways.
"Sorry you got dragged into the remedial class too,"
"I'll wait to get upset until we find out what the lesson is. Good chance it'll be more exciting than bird watching," Shadow replied.
"Probably," Sonic laughed.
"What do you think Blaze and Silver are doing here? Eggman only just decided to address the teaching problem," Shadow pondered.
Sonic thought about Shadow's forgotten past. There was so much that neither of them knew. Blaze's demeanor only gave him more concern now.
"Good question. I guess we'll have to wait to find out,"
