Ruby was standing on the flat roof of a building. In the distance she could vaguely see the outline of the burning and collapsing factory. Smoke billowed up into the sky, where the first airships of the Resistance could already be seen.

Despite Tails´ best efforts, he had gained nothing from the system. And then, when the self-destruct system inexplicably activated, she and the Mobians had to flee. Now they waited for the rest of the Resistance to appear after informing them about destroying Neo Metal Sonic so they could free Apotos.

"Do you think any of the other missions were successful in gaining information about Infinite?", Ruby wondered aloud. Sonic, who was sitting besides her and let his legs dangle over the edge of the roof, shrugged his shoulders.

"Probably. I mean what are the chances that they ran into the exact same problem with the system we did?"

"There may be a high chance", Tails said. He was standing close to his friends, tapping on the Miles Electric. "I got several messages that many other teams buildings and bases they intended to gain information from, self destructed. I think Eggman has build in a fail-safe in the case of our troops trying to hack into his system."

"Does that mean we won´t find any information on how to bring me home?" The concern was clear in Rubys voice. Sonic tried to reassure her.

"Hey, I mean if Infinite is a dead end we can still bring you to your homeworld with Chaos Control. Right Tails?"

"I would be more surprised if the Chaos Emeralds couldn't bring Ruby back to Remnant. But we would require all seven of them and we just got three. And the rest must be still in the empires grasp."

After that an uncomfortable silence hung between the team. Tails sighed.

"I´m sorry I couldn´t do more, Ruby. Maybe if I had used a different approach in hacking…"

"Tails, it´s alright." The human girl gave the fox a reassuring smile. But he noticed how it didn't quite reach her eyes. He shook his head.

"No it´s not. I know you want to go home, but as of now I don't have any idea of how to do it."

Sonic stood up and faced is friends.

"Hey guys, what´s with the sudden mood drop? I know we kinda failed at the task we came here to do, but this mission was far from a failure. We freed the people here and gained another Chaos Emerald, while at the same time took down another powerful enemy. Things don´t look to bad and we´ve gotten out of tighter situations before. We find a solution to this problem as well."

"I know." Ruby opened her mouth to continue, but hesitated for a bit. Looking at her friends curious and gentle looks, she decided to open up. "I… I do miss my home a lot. Not that I don´t enjoy being here, on the contrary. Despite this war I have a lot of fun hanging out with you. But…" Ruby put her arms around herself. "I just miss my sister. I´m worried about my friends. And I don't want to know how my dad will react with me disappearing. Just like…"

The fifteen year old suddenly stopped. Sonic and Tails looked at each other and then at Ruby.

"Are you okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"… not really."

Sonic went towards her and put a hand on her arm.

"If you don't want to talk about it that's fine. But remember: We´re all here for you. You´re not alone."

Ruby smiled. It again didn't quite reach he eyes.

"Thanks, but I don't want to just dump every bit of my personal stuff on you guys."

Sonic shook his head. "There is nothing wrong with opening your heart. Constantly putting others before you isn't good. You have to live for yourself as well."

Ruby was once again taken by surprise by such wise words from the blue hedgehog. They made her lower her head in thought. She always had put her feelings aside in serious situations. Having a stressful childhood with her mother missing and her father and sister struggling with that, even as a child she didn't want to cause further trouble and instead helped out as best as she could whenever problems had arisen. But a the same time… many of these problems happened because her father had closed himself of. Things only went better as he decided to open up. About his feelings and inner struggles. And Ruby…

"I have to think about it. But thank you for your offer."

Ruby gave Sonic a smile. This time it reached her eyes. He smiled back.

Tails was pondering what his brother had said to the silver-eyed girl. There was nothing wrong about opening ones heart.

Nothing wrong with telling others about my problems, he thought. He took a deep breath and asked: "Sonic… about the day were I ran away from Infinite… were you ever mad about it? Me never trying to fight back?"

The hedgehog turned around and looked at his friend in slight shook and confusion. Ruby gave the fox a worried glance as well.

"What? Of course not! I told you to run away and was glad that you did! We already talked about this, so why bring it up again, Tails?"

"I know, I know. It´s just… back when I saved Station Square from Eggman I felt so liberated. Like I was free from all of my worries and fears. That I could do anything. But after what Infinite did, I don't feel the same."

"I don´t think it´s wrong to be afraid from someone that could and would easily kill you", said Ruby. She felt a slight ache from the scar Cinder´s knife had left on her back.

"I´m very nervous when I think about encountering Cinder again. She destroyed an entire city, killed one of my friends who was the strongest fighter I knew back then, and almost killed me if it weren't for you and Omega and the Resistance. But… working together with you guy gives me the hope of besting Cinder one day. That she is not unbeatable. When we met you were a bit timid. Holding yourself back in battle. But I saw how you acted more and more brave. Even when things became very dire, you stood by my side."

"Exactly!", added Sonic. "I mean, look how you held yourself against Neo Metal Sonic. You had mine and Ruby´s backs and no problem fighting against him. Being brave, being scared, being brave again, it´s all part of growing up. Sometimes you take one step forward and two steps back. As long as you never stop running, you will come far in life. I say despite your hurdles that you´ve already come far, buddy."

Sonic gave him a thumps up and Ruby an encouraging nod.

Tails just looked at his friends with open mouth, blushing from all that praise. Flustered and still unsure he looked away.

"I still feel… I don't know… weirdly inconsistent. I mean even before this war started, I was being difficult during our adventures on the Interstellar Amusement Park and the Lost Hex."

Sonic snickered.

"Well Tails, you´re twelve. So expect puberty to start make you act angsty and moody sometimes."

Ruby had to snort at that sudden jab. It reminded her of some bickering Yang and Qrow had when the older of the sisters had a phase in her early teenage hood.

Tails became even redder and crossed his arms, muttering: "I´m not an angsty teen."

Sonic just smirked and pointed a finger at his little brother.

"Careful. If you keep this up, you´ll end up as a second Shadow."

This started to make Tails snort as well and he dropped his sulk. The mood lifted around the group and the younger heroes felt a weight lift from their hearts.

It was true that both Tails and Ruby had went trough some hard stuff. But with the help of each other and of their friends they can grow from their hardships.


Shadow leaned with crossed arms and closed eyes on a tree. It was close enough to the Resistance´s base that he could hear if there was an announcement or another type of commotion. At the same time it was deep enough into the nature of Angel Island that Shadow had some quite time from other people.

After liberating a city from the Eggman Empire the black hedgehog had gone here to relax. He didn't expect anyone to come and bother him. So the Ultimate Lifeform was surprised when he heart the Wooosh! from someone approaching him with Super Speed and stopping in close proximity to the Mobian.

Shadow opened his eyes. In front of him was Ruby Rose. She stood there, looking at the Mobian with an excited yet patient smile.

"Hey Shadow." She waved at him. "Remember what you promised me when I found my own Chaos Emerald? Well, guess who found what during her last mission."

She held out the white Chaos Emerald. Shadow outwardly didn't react except rise his eyebrow a little.

"How?", he asked.

"Some robot double from Sonic used it to become… what did they called it… right. Neo Metal Sonic."

This time Shadow could hide his surprise less. His eyes widened.

"You defeated Neo Metal Sonic?"

He remembered from his first time with Team Dark how dangerous that particular foe had been. The killer robot had tricked the Team into fighting it several times, scanning their Biodata and becoming the monstrous Metal Overlord. It was hard for Shadow to belief one single person, even with powers unknown to Mobius, could defeat the Neo form of Sonic´s doppelgänger.

"How did you do it?"

"I obviously didn´t do it alone. I would have been toast for sure. Me, Tails and Sonic had worked together to win."

She proceeded to describe the battle in close details, including some details about their new weapons and how they helped as well.

Shadow nodded. What he heard made more sense to him than his initial presumption. Still, he was impressed with Ruby. If what she said was true, she had shown a good strategic head and keen eyes during battle. Not to mention interesting skills with her weapon. But Shadow wanted to see that for himself. He backed away from the tree and said: "Follow me."

He started walking towards the Master Emerald Shrine. Ruby did as he said.

"Soooo… uh, are you gonna teach me?"

"Maybe. First I want to test you abilities in combat to know what I´m working with. After that we test how well your Aura can harness Chaos Energy. Then I will decide if you have what´s necessary to learn about Chaos Control."

"Right now? I came back just a couple hours ago, my Aura hasn´t completely recovered. Or, well, me for that matter."

Shadow rolled his eyes.

"If you aren't ready you shouldn't have come to me now. Besides, our enemies won´t just wait every time until you are relaxed and in top condition. Sometimes you must fight with whatever strength you have left."

At first, Ruby wanted to object. Thinking it over for a bit, she realized the ebony hedgehog was right. So she just followed him without any other word. Shadow took her silence as compliance to his words.

The duo reached the altar of the Master Emerald. The mystical gem was pulsating and glowing softly. Shadow gave it a short look and then stood in front of Ruby.

"Before we start I want to make one thing clear: I´m not exactly teacher material. I've never really took an apprentice under my wing. So don't expect any type of training from me to have the same level of professionalism as the classes of your academy."

"So you're not going to spend a whole hour talking about boring stuff from your life that barely teaches anything?", Ruby asked, remembering the classes with Professor Port, who kept telling anecdotes about his past days as a Hunter.

Shadow stared at her a bit confused before saying, "No...I don't think I will do that."

"Awesome!"

The black hedgehog opened his mouth to ask, but then decided he didn't really care enough to know. Instead he chose to focus on what they came here to do.

"Now for the first part…" He took several steps back until there was a good distance between them.

"… attack me with all you´ve got."

Ruby looked at Shadow unsure.

"Just like that?"

He crossed his arms and stood there.

"Just like that."

Ruby´s hand reached for the folded up Crescent Rose. Only to stop and lower it back. The silver-eyed girl pondered the situation. Shadow was just standing there in the open. He was pretty much vulnerable from all sides. Ruby´s gut told her it couldn't be that easy. She recalled the stuff Silver and Omega had mentioned about Shadow.

You fight well, no question that, but Shadow is in a league of his own…

SONIC AND SHADOW ARE EQUIVALENT IN POWER…

The fifteen year old also remembered what Lola had said about him.

He´s fast like Sonic and throws energy spears…

And having fought side by side with the blue hedgehog and witnessed a glimpse of his true speed when he carried her, Ruby knew how incredibly high above her the Mobian was in terms of speed and power. Not to mention experience.

So if Shadow is like Sonic, but with some additional abilities… yeah, I´m gonna have my butt handed to me. However, he said he would test my abilities in combat, so maybe Shadow won´t go full out. Maybe…

Ruby was pulled out of her musings by Shadow´s voice.

"You know that our enemies also won´t just wait for you to make the first step. Are you going to do something or not?"

"Oh shut up. I bet you can´t wait for me to attack, only to turn the tide in a second and trash my butt! And it is also important to use your advantage in every situation. Whatever it´ll be. So I´m gonna take my time and come up with a strategy."

"Hmph", was all Shadow said. But for a brief moment the corner of his mouth twitched upwards in amusement.

So she has caught on. It still won´t change the outcome of the battle.

Shadow waited. Until…

Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and seemingly whispered some stuff to it. Then she aimed it behind her and pulled the trigger. The recoil gave Ruby´s Semblance added momentum and dashed towards Shadow.

The hedgehog leapt over the powerful strike, but Ruby had anticipated this. Quickly she brought the scythe blade down, stopping her momentum by digging it into the earth, and started firing heavy hits. Shadow dodged them as he ran towards Ruby. He jumped over another shot and fell with raised fist towards the human girl. He crashed hard into the ground, hitting just a few Rose Petals.

Ruby now stood a few feet behind him and started running around Shadow, firing lasers with her modified sniper rifle.

"Chaos Spear!"

A several rings of the energy projectiles appeared around the black hedgehog. Like golden lightning they shot forward, countering every single shot from Crescent Rose and with a few even hitting her owner. Ruby staggered, just like Shadow had planned, and he rushed towards her with another raised fist. She managed to get her bearings quick enough to get a solid stance and hold Crescent Rose´s pole across her to block the Mobian´s punch. It still had enough force to push her backwards several yards. Ruby used the trick she had at the beginning of this duel. With recoil and Petal Burst she practically flew towards Shadow.

He decided to evade it with the same tactic, wanting to see if the huntress-in-training had already learned something.

He jumped, but Ruby put more strength into her legs and jumped as well, her scythe aiming directly toward Shadow. The ebony hedgehog crossed his arms and blocked the strike with his inhibitor rings. He flew backwards and landed with a roll on his feet. He looked at the golden rings at his wrist. Its otherwise immaculate surface bore scratches from the upgraded, hyper-go-on blade of the weapon.

"Hm, not bad. Chaos Spears!"

Shadow send five of them hurling towards Ruby with a wave of his hand. She destroyed each of them with a shot, but couldn't dodge the Chaos Lance Shadow had send immediately after. It hit her and Ruby´s Aura flickered immensely. She tried to remain on her feet, but quickly realized that the projectile based attacks had just been a distraction. Using her brief staggering, Shadow had started running around Ruby. Just like Sonic he created a tornado, which send Ruby hurling around inside of it. She tried to remain focused, but several Spindashes from all sides not only reduced her bearings and Aura further, but it also made her drop Crescent Rose.

The tornado dissipated and dropped Ruby to the ground. Her weapon flew trough the air and landed with the blade in the ground a few feet away from her.

Ignoring her spinning head, Ruby tried to get up and ran toward Crescent Rose, but Shadow landed right between them.

"Tell me, how well do you fight without your weapon?"

Ruby tried desperately not to show how much the Ultimate Lifeform´s question scarred her. For the silver-eyed girl was utter garbage in the ways of weaponless fighting. She tried running around Shadow to reach Crescent Rose, but he always moved in the way and pushed or punched her back. Ruby tried in vain to block any attacks with her arms, but even if she stopped Shadow from hitting her body, her arms still hurt like they were maimed by a Beowolf. It reduced her Aura further and further.

Ruby regretted on waving Yang´s offer in training her of and pretty much ignoring any advice her big sister had given her.

She tried to dodge instead, but even with Petal Burst Shadow got in her way and pushed her back.

Unless…

She ran towards Shadow and raised her own fist. He wanted to grab it and pull Ruby into another punch, but all he got were rose petals. As a red cloud Ruby flew trough him and manifested behind him, Crescent Rose in sweet reach. The huntress-in-training took her weapon and aimed at Shadow. He raised his hands and clapped the tip of the scythe´s blade between his hands. But this was one of the things she had spoken with Kurtis about, before she had attacked the black hedgehog.

"Kurtis!"

The Wisp reacted and just like in the battle with Neo Metal Sonic, more thorn erupted from the blade. But since Ruby didn´t aim towards seriously damaging and crippling her opponent this time, she had told the alien to tone the attack a bit down.

Spikes shot from pink glowing metal. They weren't big enough to cause any serious wound, but they hurt. They hurt a lot.

Cursing, Shadow let go and even jumped back a little. Ruby made another strike with her scythe. Shadow ducked under it, but it managed to cut off some hair and quills on his head. It was a close hit, but it left the human girl open.

When Shadow jumped back up, he gave Ruby a headbutt that made her stagger backwards a bit. The ebony speedster started running around her.

"Not again", muttered Ruby. It was all she managed to do before she was thrown around inside another tornado. It was cool watching Sonic use it and multiple Spindashes to turning robots into scrap. It wasn't so cool anymore with Shadow using it on her.

Once again Ruby landed roughly on the ground, Crescent Rose out of reach. Shadow walked towards her and put a foot on her chest. Red eyes stared into silver ones.

"I don't know how much Aura you have left, but I doubt it will be enough to handle a Chaos Burst."

"What is that again?"

"An explosion of pure Chaos Energy."

"Uh, let me check." Dazed, Ruby pulled out her Scroll and looked at it. It showed her the levels of her Aura. It was already in the red level. Not enough to withold the kind of attack Shadow just described. She lowered her head on the ground in defeat.

"Crap", she sighed.

"You have indeed skill with your weapon, but without it you´re weak. If you were able to utilize the speed and momentum of your Semblance more, you could cause some serious damage with nothing but your body."

Ruby made another sigh. She could feel Yang´s `I told you so´ across time and space.

"But I have to admit, I underestimated you."

Ruby looked up in surprise. Shadow stepped back from her and offered the human girl a hand. She took it and let herself be pulled back to her feet.

"While your weaponless skills are more than lacking, you´re really good with it. You also show good experience with the additional ability your Semblance gives you, as well as your cooperation with your Wisps."

Not having expected such praise, Ruby muttered: "O-oh, thanks."

Shadow nodded.

"Now, shall we continue with the second part?"

Honestly, Ruby wanted to stop. She hadn't fully been recovered from her previous mission and now her entire body was aching and she had a slight headache. Shadow really didn't pull any punches.

But it also showed her how serious he was about this. He expected her to give it her all if she wanted to learn Chaos Control and be an ally in the war. And honestly? With everything Ruby had experienced during the Fall of Beacon and everything here on Mobius, she knew she needed to stay determined and push her limits.

"Yes. I´m ready."

"Very well. Get your Emerald out."

Ruby held the white Chaos Emerald in her hand. The gem glowed slightly.

"If I understood Tails correctly, you are able to activate the Chaos Emerald via your Aura. Just like these crystals from you world."

"Yes. In Remnant we have Dust and their elemental effects to use against Grimm or other enemies."

"And how exactly do you activate the Dust?"

"Erm… in my case I load it as cartridges in Crescent Rose and shoot. My Aura then simply activates the it." Ruby shrugged, unsure how she should describe it in words on how it feels like to use Aura in tangent with Dust.

"It´s a completely natural process."

"Well. Using the Chaos Emeralds is something like that for me. A natural process. Alright, here's how we do it: close your eyes and try to focus on the Chaos Emerald."

Ruby did as he said. She closed her eyes and tried to block out everything from her surrounding environment. Except for the powerful white jewel in her hand. Only it and its energies, they were all that made up her world. She could feel the power of Chaos tingle through her fingers as her Aura focused on the Emerald.

Remembering how she was able to escape the void with the green one, the silver-eyed girl tried to do something similar to activate her current gem. She started putting all her thoughts into her current task.

I have to focus on this power. It could be the key to my success, to my return towards home.

The warm tingle started to wander up her arm, into her entire body. It felt soothing for her aching bones and muscles.

I can do this. I just have to keep going, no, keep running like Sonic would say.

Shadow saw how the gem began to glow more intensely. The Mobian was about to tell Ruby that it was enough when he felt the Chaos Energy in the area increase drastically. Ruby literally exploded into a swirling cloud of petals, rushed wildly around like a hyperactive dragonfly. Shadow just stood there stoically while Ruby literally whirled around him. She darted toward the Master Emerald. As she smashed into the giant gem, the ancient artifact produced a green light, pushing the red cloud back.

Ruby fell onto the ground in a daze. The white Chaos Emerald now dim. Shadow rushed over to her and checked if she was okay.

"Everything alright?"

"I think I overdid it a little."

"That's exactly what I was worried about. Chaos Energy can be very overwhelming. This is why I chose to do this in close proximity to the Master Emerald. It neutralizes the Chaos Emeralds and would stop any mishaps before it got to out of hand. It is a good sign that you had reacted the way you did, it shows you have indeed the potential in mastering and controlling Chaos Energy. But if we want to properly train you have to be careful if you want to use it."

"I… yes. I will try to be more careful next time."

Before Shadow could reply, a door was literally thrown open by an enraged Knuckles.

"WHO DARE DISTURBING THE MASTER EMERALD?"

Ruby gave Shadow a panicky and nervous look. The Ultimate Lifeform merely folded his arms and braced himself for the coming storm…

… which was just Knuckles swinging his fist around in threatening gestures and holding an hour long lecture.

Shadow gave Ruby a tired look that asked: Is that what you meant with your comment about your academies professor?

The Huntress-in-training gave an equally exhausted look that answered the unspoken question with: Yes.

"… so if you really want to train with Chaos Energy and use the Master Emerald as a safety measure, ask me for permission first", finished Knuckles with a glare.

The two speedsters in black and red just nodded.

The echidna took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Well then. Now to the reason why I actually came here."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Me, Amy, Tower, Tails and many others had a long discussion about our next plans regarding our situation in gathering information. We finally decided to attack the one place of enemy knowledge Eggman wouldn't dare to blow up no matter what. It may sound insane, but me and the others came up with plans that could make the whole operation work."

"And what´s the place of enemy knowledge you speak of?", Shadow asked with a skeptical raised eyebrow. He had a bad feeling about this. So did Ruby. And it was very warranted for Knuckles answer was:

"Eggman´s main server in Metropolis."


Tails brought up one more time his anxiety regarding his `cowardice´ in this story and it being put to rest by Sonic, reassuring him that it is okay to be afraid. It may feel a little out of nowhere but that is the way the scene wrote itself. As for Ruby; one thing she has going on with her is that she puts other before herself. Especially when it is about her feelings. One example is when she lectures Jaune about what it means to be a leader in the first Volume of RWBY.

One of the things I want Ruby to learn here is that it is important to not just ignore your own issues. Being on Mobius will teach Ruby to slowly open up towards others. Be it about sharing some bad experiences with Tails… or one day talking about how much the disappearance of her mothers affects her. But that´s not all Ruby is learning.

She is officially starting in properly using Chaos Energy. And she will soon need it. I just want to make clear that she won´t instantly learn Chaos Control like Sonic did. It will take her a while. She may even just start to use it in the sequel I have in mind, but one thing after the other.

To Guest: True. But one has to consider if Metal Overlord would also be stronger if he scans the Biodata of the current Sonic.

To Guest: Glad that you liked it. And yeah, I wanted to show that Ruby is indeed fit to be the leader of Team RWBY.

Fixed it.

To Guest: Thank you for all of your corrections. I´m currently thinking about when I should make a sweep to give every single chapter an improved version.

Unfortunately I have no idea how to delete a review.

To ArguableReader: Thank you. The OVA line was a must, considering Neo Metal Sonic´s ability.

Infinite, oh I have plans and I don't want to say too much except: Things may not be what they seem to be.

To Haxorus knight: Unfortunately no. With the things I have planned it will take a long time for Sage to appear in the timeline.

To SuperSaiyanFever: Pride is considered the worst sin for a reason. Yes, with so many abilities at hand, Metal could barely use and cover them all. And also lacking true skill and experience with them.

This WAS the original Metal Sonic, upgraded thanks to the Phantom Ruby and the Chaos Emerald. But one day, when he may get repaired, he will indeed be busy for a while kicking his own ass for failing so hard.

To Monster King: Thank you.

To Xenozip: Well… here Sonic didn't get tortured. Eggman just taunted him constantly with his victory. After Sonic was freed by the Resistance he regretted not letting Infinite break his nemesis´ spirit at least a little.

To XelaZagity: That Ruby does. And she will adapt more of what Mobius has to offer.

Chaos Control is Plan B. Trying to get the Phantom Ruby into the Resistance hands is Plan A.

As far as Ruby is aware, Cinder is a standalone enemy. Neither she nor the Sonic cast (with the exception of Infinite and Eggman) are aware of Salem.