Ruby spent another night in the hospital wing. Thanks to her Aura, she recovered quickly and was able to walk the next morning. She was standing in front of her bed doing some stretching exercises when the door opened and Vanilla's daughter Cream walked in.
"Ms Rose I have your clothes here, freshly washed and folded. My Mama said I should bring her to you. Also, Tails is waiting for you outside."
Ruby smiled at the little bunny girl.
"Thanks Cream. And you can just call me Ruby."
"Oh, okay Ruby." Cream placed the pile of clothes on Ruby's bed and left the room. The human girl changed quickly, then left the hospital wing as well.
Or rather a room of it. Other rooms in the wing weren't nearly as empty as the one Ruby had been in. Waiting among all these white doors was Tails.
"Hey Ruby, how did you sleep?"
"Alright I guess. Didn't have any nightmares related to dying."
Tails wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried about Ruby being so casual about the whole experience.
He decided to go with: "Well… I´m glad you´re feeling healthy. I wanted to introduce you to the others. They want to talk to you."
Ruby smiled excitedly. "Meeting other people that are as awesome as you? Well, what are we waiting for? Let´s go!"
Tails chuckled about Ruby's enthusiasm, but was smiling nervously and scratching his head.
"Heh heh… yeah, I just hope everything will go smoothly."
Ruby´s smile faltered when she heard that. "Tails, everything alright? These are your friends, right? Why wouldn't it go well?" Silver eyes filled with a slight amount of fear. "Wait, are they suspicious of me because I'm from the same world as Cinder and they suspect me of being in cahoots with her?"
"What? No! No, don't worry. This isn't about you, but about me. The last time I really talked with them was before I… ran away during my mission. And with Sonic when I ran away from him and the villains."
Ruby realized now where her friend anxiety came from. Forgetting her own fears, she knelled towards him and gave him a gentle smile.
"Hey, it´ll be alright. They are your friends, right? While I don't know them, I know my own. Me and my teammates had our… difficulties at the start. But despite our differences and problems we all managed to form a close bond with each other. So I'm sure once you explain everything to them, they will forgive you."
"I…" Tails couldn't help but smile back at the silver eyed girl. "Thank you Ruby. Me and the others also had our rocky phases during our friendships, but we always managed to pull trough. It´s just… I'm still a bit nervous."
"Hey its okay. Social anxiety's and being responsible, I get that. Been there. But if you can take on killer robots and a crazy pyromaniac from another world, than you´re courageous enough for this. Tough I am surprised that you didn't try to talk to them during my recovery."
"I told you: I was so worried, I couldn't leave your side. Feel kind of responsible of getting you back home alive and well, you know?"
The smile that was now appearing on Ruby´s face almost split her face in two.
"Aww Tails, you´re so sweet. Thank you!"
Before Tails knew it, Ruby was hugging him.
While surprised at first, he returned the hug.
"You´re welcome."
The two friends let go from each other. "I guess we shouldn't wait any longer. Let's go."
Tails led them trough the cement corridors of the main Resistance base into the central room. Humans and Mobians were present there. Several groups bent over tables and discussed tactical war plans, resource management and other important stuff. People wandered back and forth, handing out documents, equipment or transporting weapons.
One wall of the room was completely taken up by a giant screen showing a map of the world. Most of the world was red, but there was also a significant amount of blue spots. At a certain table, a trio were talking excitedly to each other. It consisted of a red Mobian whose species Ruby could not identify. The other two were hedgehogs, one blue and male, the other pink and female. Tails took a deep breath to collect himself and then led Ruby to the trio.
"H-hey guys," the yellow fox said while approaching them. He wanted to say more, but the moment they heard his voice, the three Mobians stopped their conversation and turned in sync to wards the yellow fox. Then they instantly stormed towards him and
took him into a group hug.
"Tails! Its really you!"
"Where have you been? Are the rumors true of you encountering otherworldly people?"
"Tails, I´m so glad you´re alright! I was so worried when everyone told me that you went missing!"
Hearing all these words, feeling the warmth of their hugs, Tails fears and worries vanished like shadows in the sunlight.
"I… I was worried as well." He broke away from the group. "When Infinite and his allies had beaten you up… had beaten me up… I just felt so scarred. It hurt a lot and I felt so confused. But I know I shouldn't have just ran away. On both occasions. I-"
"Hey", Sonic interrupted Tails´ rant with a soft voice and a hand on the shoulder. "If you didn't run, no one would have been warned and the Resistance never formed. And you shouldn't be ashamed of being scarred. I myself was plenty of scared back at this moment and during my imprisonment. I know you cant always be brave, that's just how life goes sometime. But even though you let fear get the better of you, you still found your way back to us. And…" Smiling his typical smirk, Sonic turned from Tails to the newcomer he had brought with him. "… I´ve heard you also managed to help and bring someone else here as well."
The other Mobians followed the blue hedgehogs gaze.
Ruby, who had respectfully stood back to let them have their moment, suddenly found herself in the epicenter of their attention. She froze up a little and gave an awkward wave.
"Uhm… hi?"
Trying to help her get out of her shell, Tails took Ruby by the hand and led her closer to the group. He started introducing everyone to each other.
"Everyone, this is Ruby. Ruby, these are my friends. Knuckles the Echidna, the leader of the Resistance."
The red Mobian nodded towards Ruby. She nodded back with a slight smile. She didn't know why, but something about the rather stoic looking echidna remembered her of Yang.
"This is Amy Rose, Knuckle's right hand woman."
"It's nice to meet you," said the hedgehog girl.
"It´s nice to meet a fellow Rose as well", Ruby said grinning. At first Amy and everyone else was confused by the humans comment. Then the penny dropped.
"Wait, your last name is Rose as well?!"
"Wow Amy, I didn't know you had a long lost, adopted human sister", remarked Sonic, to which everyone started laughing.
"Funny thing is, this isn't even the weirdest sister related comment I have heard in my life", chuckled Ruby, before turning towards the blue hedgehog. "Well, since he is Knuckles and she is Amy, then you must be that Sonic guy I heard so much about."
"Heh, the one and only!" The Mobian grinned. "Nice to finally meet the `mysterious girl from another world´ everyone's spreading rumor about. Thanks for watching my buddy while Eggman kept me busy."
"Oh Tails saved my butt several times. And the two of us most likely wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for Omega. Well, anyway…um don´t know what else I can say." Ruby rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, that was awkward. I'm not really cut out for social interactions."
"Don't worry, a lot of people here are like that. Knuckles would love to be an anti-social loner that perches by his shrine, but he has a sense of duty to help us when things get tight."
"Hey, guarding the Master Emerald is very important!" Knuckles said angrily. "And I'm not anti-social. But if the first stranger you meet is a crazy doctor who tricks you into his plans, then you become a bit suspicious!"
"Calm down Knuckles, Sonic doesn't mean it like that," Amy tried to calm the situation down. "We are all also very grateful to you for giving us shelter on Angel Island."
Ruby just stood there lost as she watched how the warriors and leaders of a Resistance against an industrial villain empire were suddenly bantering like her and Yang did from time to time.
Taking notice of her situation, Tails said: "Guys, maybe not now? This is supposed to introduce and make Ruby more comfortable around us, not confuse her."
Knuckles looked at said human girl.
"Right, sorry about that. It´s that some people are just..." Knuckles didn't finish the sentence, but gave Sonic a sideways glance that said more than a thousand words. The hedgehog just shrugged carelessly. The red echidna refocused on the silver-eyed girl. "Anyway, welcome to the Resistance. Like already mentioned there are rumors about your situation and what you, Tails and Omega went through. However, we would like to hear it again from your point of view. Especially the part before you came into our world."
"Oh…" Shuffling with her feet, Ruby tried to recollect everything that happened to her. "Well there isn't much to tell. Back on Remnant, which is the name of my world, me and my team went to a special academy to be trained as Huntresses to fight against dangerous creatures from our world. There was an attack staged by a person named Cinder Fall. I tried to stop Cindr from causing more damage and unleashed some weird silver light attack from my eyes. Then we were ripped out of our world. Next I woke up to a purple void and then found one of your Chaos Emeralds. After that, I used my Semblance's speed to escape from the void and crashed into Chaos at full power. Or its fake, I guess."
"And that's how we met," added the fox boy, deciding to take over from now on. "We defeated Chaos, activated Omega with the Chaos Emerald, and received signals from Eggman. We found him, narrowly won a fight against him and later migrated to Mystic Jungle. Where it turned out that Cinder was also in this world and seemingly allied with Eggman. And she also harbors a personal grudge against Ruby."
The fifteen year old shuddered at the memory of Cinder's knife penetrating her body. The pain and breathing difficulties had been extreme.
"Sound like you went trough a lot" Knuckles gave the two young fighters a sympathetic glance. "The both of you. I'm glad you survived the whole thing and found your way to us."
He turned to Tails. "Any idea what might have caused this...intersection of worlds?"
"The energy of Infinite must have something to do with it. Reality manipulation might not only affect our world, plus Ruby spoke of a vibrating noise as she was sucked out of her world. Similar as to what people described in the battles against Infinite when he altered reality. What conflicts is the color scheme, the void Ruby speaks of is purple, while Infinite's powers are an intense red."
"Is Infinite the masked man's name?" Ruby asked.
Sonic gave her a nod.
"Yup, that's what he called himself when Silver and I confronted him in Mystic Jungle. In the fight against him, we also noticed something special: his power seems to come from a red gem that is attached to his chest. He doesn't seem to have always been like this, and has acquired these abilities in an unnatural way. Most likely by Eggman."
"But until we can say more about the situation, all of this remains only theories", Tails added, before continuing, "What we need is solid information so that our theories can become a hypothesis."
"That's actually kind of why I gathered everyone. I wanted to bring everyone up to date with our information."
Knuckles marched to a table positioned in the center of the room and called out, "Everybody listen, it's briefing time."
Immediately, everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and gathered around the table.
"First of all, I would like to clarify the following: Yes, what the rumors say is true. There were injuries again because Arnold didn't repair his gun properly again."
There was a collective groan, followed by, "It's always the same with Arnold."
"But to our luck the other rumors are true as well. Tails found his way back to us after getting separated from his group in a mission. And he brought help with him in the form of Omega, who he was able to fix, and young Ruby Rose here."
The red echidna pointed to Ruby. Everyone stared at the Huntress-in-training, some whispered, "She has silver eyes, I've never seen anything like it."
Ruby was more than a little nervous from all the staring and gave a shy, "Hello..." Knuckles noticed that the young girl was uncomfortable with the attention and immediately drew all pairs of eyes from her.
"Now to give everyone here a clear picture: The powers of Eggman's newest weapon/ally can alter reality and perceptions for people. However, these forces seem to affect not only our world, but others as well. Ruby is from a world called Remnant and was transported here to Mobius. Unfortunately, we don't have the exact details of how and why this all happened. We need files from Eggman's bases to find out more about his plans. In addition to Ruby, however, a dangerous person from her world has also been brought here. Ruby I need everything you know about this Cinder Fall for this."
Ruby was still a little nervous about having to speak in front of the whole crowd, but she pulled herself together.
"First of all I want to clarify that I don't know much about Cinder. I first met her at my academy, where she was posing as an exchange student. I've never had much to do with here and she rarely showed herself outside of her room. It wasn't until much later that she showed her true colors when the Vytal festival took place." Upon the confusing glances she received, Ruby added, "The Vytal festival is a special event from my world, where Remnant basically celebrates individualism and global union with a tournament. Cinder managed to hack into the communications system of the arena and also caused an accident that... took the life of a friend of mine."
There was a nervous and pitying murmur.
"Lots of people were attending during the Vytal festival and Cinder manipulated everyone into a mass panic. All the negative feelings attracted a lot of Grimm. Grimm are creatures from my world who embody death and destruction and are empowered by the bad aspects of humanity. They overran my town and me and my friends tried to fight back the Grimm. We underwent special training in our academy to protect humanity from these beings. But there were too many. Another friend of mine tried to stop Cinder, but... unfortunately she wasn't strong enough. I tried to rush to her aid, but I was too late. And then… the next thing I remembered was just waking up into a strange nothingness."
Tails gave Ruby a quick sideways glance, noticing the human girl skipping the silver-eyed part. But he decided not to say anything about it now.
"In the void I found a Chaos Emerald and then escaped from the void with the speed of my Semblance. Semblance is another thing from my world where people develop special abilities based on their soul."
Confused whispers from some people: "Semblance?"
"Soul energy?"
"She said speed, is she like Sonic?"
"When I escaped, I encountered Tails and got into a fight with a fake Chaos."
"Thanks, that's enough Ruby, at least regarding your adventure here on Mobius. Can you maybe tell us more about Cinder. How dangerous is she exactly?"
"Well her Semblance seems to be based on forming heat and fire. She can also create and control glass this way. In fact, I had gotten into a fight with her in my world, but she was wearing a mask at the time and I had never seen her fight, so I didn't recognize her. The strange thing is, when I met her here on Mobius, she said her power didn't come from her Semblance alone. Cinder said that it was empowered by the Fall Maiden's magic. Which is especially odd, since magic is nothing but fairy tales from may world."
"Wait, but aren't Semblances already magical?" someone called out from the crowd.
"Uh no, not really. Or at least we on Remnant don´t consider it that way. The legends of magic have always said that while magic also reside inside the soul, it is far more powerful than any Semblance. Magic is supposed to be usable in many ways and not have the limits that a Semblance has. Now that I think about it, I think I remember a certain legend, actually a fairy tale, about four maidens. It goes like this: On their travels they met an old wizard who lived a hermit's life. They helped him and gave him the joy of life back. In gratitude, the wizard bestowed parts of his magic to the maidens, each magic based on the four seasons. But I don't know anything more about it and, as I said, it's just a fairy tale."
"But there can be a grain of truth in every story," Knuckles said. "Believe me, many myths and legends have been proven true in our world. And maybe the story of the four Maidens of Season is based on a true event. The question is, how did Cinder get this magic."
"I really have no idea. Cinder hinted that the director of my academy was hiding things from me and the public, but… I really don´t know anything more than that." Ruby hung her head. "I'm sorry."
Knuckles gave her a supportive pat on the shoulder.
"It's okay, no one expects you to be a walking encyclopedia of your world, knowing every single detail and secret. You are just like many of the recruits here: a person who has been ripped out of their normal lives and now finds themselves in a massive conflict. I assure you that we will shelter you until we find a way to bring you back home."
Ruby smiled slightly. "Thank you." She addressed the crowd. "And I assure you that I will do my best to support you in the fight against Eggman."
Humans and Mobians looked at her in surprise.
"But… strictly speaking, this isn't your fight, you don't have to…"
"In my world, I wanted to become a Huntress to help people and make the world a better place. Why shouldn't I help the people of another world? It is the right thing to do."
Sonic smiled and leaned towards Tails, saying, "I'm starting to like your new friend more and more."
The young fox started to smile as well.
"Yeah, you two have a lot in common."
Knuckles broke up the meeting saying they would discuss next goals and strategies later. Tails and Sonic approached Ruby and the former asked, "Would you like a tour of the main base and surrounding area?"
After facing and talking to so many unfamiliar people, especially with recounting some rather unpleasant experiences, Ruby needed some kind of break. And a little tour trough an otherworldly resistance base sounded pretty neat to her, so Ruby nodded.
The two Mobians led the human girl through cement corridors, explaining where which rooms were. Ruby was of course very interested in the armory, but Tails told her, "Wait. I wanted to show you that in more detail later. You should know something special about our weapons and for that you have to come outside."
Ruby stared longingly at the thick steel door, but then followed her two guides.
They exited the base building and made their way outside. Green meadows and lush forests could be seen. What caught Ruby's attention the most were ruins of ancient temple complexes that looked similar to those of Mystic Jungle. She saw a huge pedestal, where there was a glowing gem, reminiscent of an over sized Chaos Emerald. Some sort of generator was connected to it.
"Wow what is that?" Ruby looked in awe at the magnificent crystal, its pulsating glow mystifying her.
"The ruins of an extinct Echidna clan. The gem there is the legendary Master Emerald."
"Master Emerald? So it´s some kind of super version of the Chaos Emeralds?"
"Well… not really, Super Emeralds are something different. The Master Emerald is able to disable the power of the Chaos Emeralds. This is how a malicious user of chaos energy can be incapacitated. In addition, the Master Emerald can do other things. It is the main key to maintaining this base and the Resistance in general. See that machine?" Sonic pointed towards the generator. "It uses the energies from the Emerald to create a kind of shield that makes it impossible for our enemies to find us. And it makes Angel Island change its location, making Eggman's job of locating us even harder."
Now, Ruby wanted to geek out again about Tails seemingly endless talent in tinkering and construction, but the last part of Sonic´s explanation left her a bit confused.
"How exactly does an island change location? Does it swim freely through the ocean?"
"Oh no. Angel Island is held in the sky with the help of the Master Emerald."
Ruby´s eyes widened. Flying island weren't uncommon on Remnant thanks to gravity dust, but the Huntress-in-training never had been to one of them before.
"So wait, we´re actually airborne right now?"
Sonic grinned.
"Yup. Pretty good place to hide from Eggman. Besides everything I just mentioned, the Master Emerald also provides us with power. It's pretty comfortable living here when you're not out on missions."
"I'm really glad Knuckles gave us shelter here, whether he's the leader of the Resistance or not. He's always so super fixed about keeping the Master Emerald away from everyone else."
"Come on Tails, Knuckles is a hothead, but he's not stupid or heartless. He knew we needed all the vital resources after Eggman and his forces defeated me and gained world domination."
"Speaking of resources, let's introduce Ruby to them."
"Who do you want to introduce me to?"
Now Ruby´s social anxiety was rearing its head again, just as it was put to rest. But her guiders reassured the human girls that she would like what she would see. Ruby was led into a dense forest. The trio followed a dirt track that led them to a large clearing. There were a multitude of creatures that were neither human nor Mobian.
"May I introduce: The Chao and Wisps."
"Awwww!" Ruby gushed at the sight of the cute little creatures. Chao and Wisps of all shapes and sizes flew in the air, played with each other, or splashed happily in a pond. A Chao approached Ruby, looked up at her, gave her a warm smile and waved at her. "Chao Chao."
"I think I'm about to get diabetes. He's so cute!"
Ruby knelt down to the little creature and petted it's head. The Chao clearly enjoyed the affection shown. Now some Wisps came flying and curiously circled around the silver eyed human.
"All of them are so cute. But who are the Chao and Wisps now?"
"The little rascal you are petting is a Chao. The creatures around you are Wisps. The latter, by the way, are one of our biggest aids in the fight against Eggman."
"Wait how?"
Tails started to explain: "Wisps possess a unique energy within them that gives them various abilities. If they allow themselves to be absorbed by another being or object, then they can transfer their energy to them. Our main weapons, the Wispons, are powered by the Wisps."
"You use them as...ammunition?" Ruby stood up. "To be honest, that sounds a bit morbid."
"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt them and they do it entirely voluntarily. The Wisps aren't big fans of Eggman either, and are eager to fight him just as we are."
"Don't tell me he was trying to hurt the little guys here and use their energy for his plans."
Sonic's signature grin slowly faded. With a serious expression, he said, "Unfortunately, that's what happened. Old Egghead had captured the planet of the Wisps and four others, all on the pretense that he just wanted to build a space amusement park because he felt `sorry' for his previous misdeeds. And yes, you heard that right: the Wisps are originally from another planet. They are aliens."
Ruby just nodded at this statement. Aliens, of course, why not? In this world, you could expect about anything.
"Anyway, I saw through Eggman's facade and thwarted his plans and freed all planets and Wisps from his greedy grip. Most Wisps then returned to their home planets, but some chose to stay on Mobius."
"An adventure in space…" Ruby muttered in awe and amazement. "I wish I could have arrived on Mobius then instead of this war. With my Team and friends replacing Cinder. We would've loved to help cute little aliens."
Sonic started grinning again.
"Well we have time until Knuckles rings in the next meeting. So why don't we make ourselves comfortable and I can tell everything to you in detail. And maybe then tell you about some of my other adventures as well."
Ruby's eyes lit up and she nodded excitedly like a little child hearing her favorite bedtime story. The human girl and the two Mobians sat down on the soft grass. The Chao trustingly jumped onto Ruby's lap and snuggled up to her while the Wisps curled up on the floor near Sonic. The blue hedgehog began to tell.
And here we have both of our speedsters finally meeting each other. I hope you found Ruby´s interactions with the other Mobians enjoyable, especially since this chapter was more focused on exposition and Ruby being formerly introduced to the Resistance.
To ArguableReader: Omega appearing during the last battle of Sonic Forces and shooting Infinite is seen by many as a failed Deus-Ex-Machina. So I tried to make him a better one here. In think the role fits his personality of just appearing and blowing up the bad guys. Oh, and while Cinder may have escaped him now, she and the last of the E-Series will cross paths again.
Deep inside him Tails is very brave, but he is also still young. Cinder, while similar in temper and madness compared to Eggman, is much more sadistic about it. Any child would be scared of facing someone like her. But as you pointed out he will always stood up for his friends and family and be a bigger person than the villains.
I´m not sure how to interpret your comment on Infinite.
Ruby saying `quite well´ was a bit of an oppsie on my part. But you could argue that after spending so much time with Weiss, Ruby picked up some of her mannerisms. But not enough to impress Winter.
Aura and its capabilities were shown rather loosely on the show. What I describe here are my own interpretation and head canons from it. But I'm glad that you seem to like it.
To Guest: I hope the chapters will become longer the more the story moves on. Also hope that this chapter was satisfying with the first meeting of the speedsters. And thank you for that. I think you will like what I have in store for them.
To Monster King: :)
To triscythe59: I think I already explained it to some other Reviewer, but the rest of Team RWBY wont appear, because of:
1) Them lacking the knowledge of where Ruby is
2) Remnant lacking means of dimensional travel
3) Eggman and Infinite wont bring potential allies for their enemies onto Mobius