A Red Rose in the Blue Wind

by Iron117Prime

Sonic and his friends have come to a new world, one Dr. Eggman hopes to conquer. Meeting new friends? That is to be expected of our heroes. New enemies? Also to be expected. But being caught in a war between two immortals? Not the strangest thing that's happened to them, but definitely something new. (Blood and minor swears)

11. Painting the Town Red and Blue

Hi everyone, welcome back. Before we begin, I have something very important to say…

I am truly grateful to all my supporters, and I am always willing to accept constructive criticism…. Please, please, please, please do NOT clutter my reviews with arguments and insults towards one another. If you do not like my story, simply do not read it. I also will not accept any profanity either. Once again, I'm grateful for any support and always willing to accept constructive criticism… insults, arguments, and profanity will NOT be tolerated. That is FINAL!

Thank you.

Now, last where we left off, the group consisting of Knuckles, Blake, Rouge, and Sun have located Eggman and are now being chased by him in his Egg-Wyvern with Metal Sonic and Torchwick in the stolen Paladin on their tail. Hopefully the others will be able to help out. Without further delay, let this action-packed chapter begin!

Painting the Town Red and Blue

The four of them were able to give their pursuers the slip and find a brief hiding spot in a sewage pipe just outside the docking warehouse from where they escaped from. But it wouldn't be safe for them much longer.

"Wait… what's going on?!" Sonic questioned over the comms.

"There's a robot… and a bigger robot… and a smaller robot chasing us! We need help!" Sun exclaimed.

"Give me that!" Rouge took the scroll from Sun's hands and spoke into it herself. "Eggman has a new Dust mech, one that can fly! He's looking for us, and he's got Metal Sonic and that Torchwick looser in an Atlas mech hunting us down. We found some shelter, but we can't stay here forever."

"We need a more open space where we can fight and not endanger any civilians." Knuckles stated.

"I think I saw an old Dust processing plant during one of my jogs." Sonic replied. "It's way more open, and it's abandoned so we don't have to worry about people getting in the way."

Blake pulled up the map on her scroll and found the spot that Sonic was talking about. "That's not far from here. If we hoof it, we should be able to make it without getting caught."

"Alright, I'll let the others know. We'll meet you there. Be careful." Sonic said.

"Rodger." Rouge signed off. "And that is how you call for back-up." She told the Monkey Faunus.

"Excuse me for being a little freaked out here!" Sun exclaimed.

"Another reason why we didn't want you to come in the first place." Blake said in a low growl.

"No arguments, we gotta move now!" Knuckles told everyone as they quickly made their way through the pipe and deeper into the sewers.

"Oh man… this is so gross." Sun felt like he was going to puke as they walked into the more open area of the sewers before breaking out into a run. "Why do we have to go through the sewers again?"

"Because it's the most direct way to get to that factory without being spotted." Blake answered. "And we don't want people getting swept up in all this. Count ourselves lucky were in one of the most remote and less populated areas of the Kingdom."

"Get used to the smell, kid." Rouge said to Sun. "Beats getting shot at."

Sun rolled his eyes in response as they continued to run. "How long till we get there?"

"If we keep up this pace, not long. Provided we don't run into any trouble." Knuckles answered.

Almost in direct response to that statement, the ceiling above them was broke apart as something small and hard landed in front of them, blocking their path.

Metal Sonic gazed at them with his terrifying red optics. Even though he was incapable of speaking, one look at his optics screamed 'murder', even more so than a Grimm. It was enough to make Blake and Sun's hairs stand on end.

"You just had to say it." Rouge's eyelids lowered to Knuckles, who immediately leapt at Metal with a punch, but Metal quickly threw up his Black Shield to block the strike. Using this, Rouge threw up one of her bombs towards the ceiling to blow a hole clean through before grabbing Sun and flying straight up, with Blake leaping and using a shadow-clone to propel herself even higher. Knuckles was the last to make it up before the four broke out into a run on the empty streets.

Metal Sonic was quick to fly back up and give chase. Not long after that, the Egg-Wyvern flew down from the skies just as Torchwick's Paladin caught up as it ran through the streets.

"Don't end the chase just yet, Metal." Eggman instructed his most prized creation. "We'll need them to bring in the rest of the rodents and school kids, then we can go in for the kill."

Metal Sonic gave a digital signal of acknowledgement as he maintained a relatively normal speed, while the four fled for their lives.

Knuckles' own speed wasn't nearly as fast as Sonic, but it was still enough to at least keep a distance away from the three pursuing enemies. Rouge flew over him as she directed Blake and Sun toward the buildings on opposite ends of the street. Both nodded in acknowledgement as they leapt toward their opposing row of buildings before Blake tried to fire Gambol Shroud at the Egg-Wyvern. She knew it wasn't nearly enough to damage it, she had hoped it would at least keep Eggman's attention on them and avoid minimal collateral damage.

The Egg-Wyvern then aimed its targeting lasers toward Blake from the tips of its wings before firing bolts of lightning toward her. She was able to leave a shadow-clone behind to take the hit before getting back to the streets. At the same time, Torchwick fired the rockets from his Paladin mech at Sun.

"Yikes!" Sun was able to just barley avoid the resulting explosion before making it back to the streets.

Knuckles happened to spot a pair of smokestacks in the distance near the end of the street. "I can see the factory! We're almost there!"

But Torchwick kept up pursuit, even going past Metal Sonic to try and get in close.

"Torchwick, you idiot! Don't advance yet!" Eggman told him.

"Not a chance! I'm taking these animals out, now!" Torchwick's Paladin was just about on the quartet, and Knuckles was more than ready to fight back…

*SMASH!*

Something small but powerful impacted the Paladin's side with enough force to send it crashing into an old building, one that was fortunately abandoned.

The culprit was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog as he leapt in midair and fired a hail of Chaos Spears towards Metal Sonic, forcing the robot to slow down and avoid getting caught in it. While still airborne, Shadow threw another larger Chaos Spear towards the Egg-Wyvern, but the flying mech swerved to the side to avoid it just as Shadow landed and caught up with the others.

"Shadow!" Blake acknowledged.

"Nice timing back there." Rouge grinned.

"We know the plan and destination. Just keep moving." Shadow told the group as they got closer.

Coming up from right under the Egg-Wyvern and right behind Metal Sonic was Yang on her Bumblebee motorcycle with Neptune riding in the back. The blue-haired young man drew his weapon, Tri-Hard, in its gun configuration.

"Think I can shoot that thing down?" Neptune aimed his weapon at the Egg-Wyvern.

"Something that size? No dice. I'll try and get you close to the smaller one." Yang sped up Bumblebee, closing the distance between them and Metal Sonic, who noticed their incoming approach. Before either of them could act, Metal quickly reached out onto the front wheel of the motorcycle and ripped it clean out, sending Yang and Neptune flying off and tumbling across the street.

Just before they got to the factory, the commotion already drew the attention of Shadow and the others as they turned around to see what was going on.

"Yang!" Blake exclaimed.

"Neptune!" Sun also shouted.

"I'll get them!" Shadow was about to pull off a rescue, but the Egg-Wyvern soared above them, aimed its tail at them before firing a large missile at their location. They had no choice but to leap toward the factory premises and avoid it just as the missile hit the ground and exploded in a flurry of ice. All except Sun, who had leapt over the ice to try and get to his teammate.

"My baby!" Yang exclaimed at seeing her bike in pieces before Metal Sonic mockingly tossed the wheel that he tore out toward her. Already her eyes were burning red at the robot who dared trashed her prized motorcycle. "You…! You metal bastard!" Her Ember Celica's at the ready, she leapt toward Metal Sonic with what she thought would be a flurry of rapid punches…

Only for Metal Sonic to time and intercept them all with parries of his metallic hands, causing all the punches and resulting shotgun blasts, from even touching him. Yang was so shocked that not a single one of her attacks had even struck him, that it left her open for Metal to grab her by her hair and slam her face-first onto the pavement.

"Hey! Hands off the lady!" Neptune's Tri-Hard converted into its Guandao mode just as Sun came up from the other end, his own weapons Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang merged in its staff configuration, at the ready.

"Let's get him at the same time! No way he can stop both of us at once!" Sun stated as he and Neptune tried to strike Metal with both their respective weapons…

However, Metal Sonic was able to catch both weapons by their respective staffs and halt their combined attack, much to their shock. Before they could even react, Metal flew straight up into the air, well above the rooftop level, at least forty feet airborne, with both Sun and Neptune dangling from their respective weapons that Metal kept a firm grip on. He gazed at both of them with his red optics, causing them to look more than a little nervous.

"Uh… timeout?" Sun asked hopefully.

Metal then spun his body around rapidly, spinning both his victims at such insane speeds that when he let go of their weapons, he sent them both flying to parts unknown.

Yang had managed to pull herself up, only to gasp as Metal sped down toward her, his claws at the ready… but a blue streak was able to pull her away just as Metal slashed at the empty ground.

"S-Sonic…!" Yang was startled to find herself in his arms as he sped toward the factory.

"Apparently I got a thing for saving damsels." Sonic grinned, that damsel comment caused only Yang to pout with crossed arms. "Awe, are you pouting? That's kinda cute."

"Shut up." She muttered.

As the flying Egg-Wyvern fired its lightning bolts into the abandoned factory district, trying to get a solid hit on Shadow, Knuckles, Blake, or Rouge, all of whom were able to dodge and find cover in some way, the Cyclone's plane mode flew in from behind with Amy riding in the backseat, while Ruby and Weiss held onto and stood the wings on the side.

"First a three-headed robot dog, now a bird-dragon?" Weiss questioned with indignation. "Where he does he come up with stuff like this?!"

"Eggman's got a real twisted imagination." Amy replied. "Which only makes him all the more dangerous."

"Think we can shoot that thing down?" Ruby asked as she had Crescent Rose converted into its rifle-mode.

"Maybe if we focus our fire-power, we can crack through its outer armor." Tails replied. "But right now, let's just focus on getting Eggman's attention and away from our friends till everyone else arrives."

Tails activated the Cyclone's weapon systems and began to shoot rapid-fire munitions made from fire Dust. Ruby and Weiss followed suit as the former fired her Crescent Rose's rifle-mode while Weiss swung Myrtenaster to send waves of Dust attacks. All three were able to strike the Egg-Wyvern in various places, drawing its attention as the larger mech turned to fly after them, returning fire with its double-barrel guns mounted on its jaws.

"Hang on!" Tails exclaimed as he pulled the Cyclone up to avoid the fire, prompting Ruby and Weiss to hang on tight along with Amy. The fox tried to fly the Cyclone away, but also making sure to circle around the aerial perimeter of the factory, in order to stay close to their friends, with the Egg-Wyvern flying in pursuit.

This dogfight got the attention of the others in the factory. "Looks like company's arrived." Knuckles commented.

"Good, now maybe we can…" Blake was interrupted as Torchwick's Paladin broke through the brick walls surrounding the factory's perimeter.

"Here's Torchy!" Roman said from inside. All his weapons were at the ready, with Shadow and Knuckles more than ready to fight back; but a large explosion erupted from behind to send the Paladin flying above the group.

"Yee-haw!" Nora sang with a wide grin, indicating it was her and Omega who had fired a round of grenades and missiles respectively, after smashing their way through the permitter wall.

"Exclamation of enthusiasm!" Omega declared alongside her as they entered the area with Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren right behind them through the hole their explosive partners made.

"Calvary's here!" Sonic stated as he appeared before the group, still carrying Yang as he set her down.

"Yang, are you okay?" Blake asked with concern.

"I'll live." She grumbled.

"Not if he has anything to say about it." Rouge pointed toward the incoming Metal Sonic.

Immediately, Shadow zoomed in to intercept Metal, drawing Arondight to slice at him, only for Metal's right arm to suddenly open up and extend a large and thick, single-edged broadsword, with three holes in it, which he used to block Arondight. Metal and Shadow zoomed back and forth across the area, leaving streaks of red and dark blue as they clashed their respective blades.

As they locked weapons and glared at each other, Metal noticed Sonic coming in from the side. Tracking his angle and trajectory, Metal's left palm opened to reveal a gun-like configuration, which began to surge with yellow electricity, the same kind he uses to power his V. Maximum Overdrive, before firing electric spheres at Sonic.

The blue Hedgehog noticed the incoming attacks and managed to evade them just as they struck the ground and ignited multiple electric explosions.

"Huh, looks like Metal's upgraded." Sonic noted as he zoomed in close just as Metal shot a point-blank electric blast to force Shadow back. Sonic swung Caliburn at Metal, who blocked the strike with his sword-arm. "Hey Metal, how'd you like a taste of my metal." Sonic then swung Caliburn rapidly at his robotic double, who proved quick enough to block and intercept all of Sonic's strikes.

In the skies, Ruby and Weiss tried to fire at the Egg-Wyvern with their respective ranged attacks as the mech continued to give pursuit to the Cyclone. But their attacks didn't seem to do much damage as the Egg-Wyvern picked up its speed to ram into the Cyclone with its head, sending it tumbling through the air, and knocking off Amy, Ruby, and Weiss.

Fortunately, as they fell, Weiss was able to conjure some Glyphs for all three to land on, which they used to leap toward the smokestacks at the top of the factory's main building. Ruby used Crescent Rose's scythe-mode to catch one smokestack and spin around it to slow her descent before landing as Weiss conjured another Glyph to jump off of and land herself, while Amy spun her Piko-Piko around to generate a tornado-like effect around herself and slow her own fall before she too landed safe and sound.

Neither of the three girls had a chance to regroup as they saw Metal unleash a large surge of yellow electricity around him to blast away both Sonic and Shadow, knocking them both off different sides of the rooftop.

"Come on! Let's go!" Ruby used her Petal Burst to go in for the attack.

"Ruby… Wait!" Amy tried to stop her, but it was already too late.

Ruby had appeared before Metal Sonic, swinging Crescent Rose toward him, but Metal moved only slightly closer toward her to avoid the scythe-blade and caught the weapon by its pole, halting Ruby's attack, much to her shock before delivering a point-blank Homing Attack to push her back, forcing her to let go of Crescent Rose as Metal held it in his left hand.

Weiss was next to attack as she conjured a Glyph underneath herself to speed directly at Metal, but he was quick to react with his sword-arm, catching the thrust of Myrtenaster in the middle hole of his sword. He then flew upwards, taking Weiss with him before shooting back down to slam her into the roof and swing his sword arm to send her flying as well, crashing into Ruby and causing them both to fall of the roof and into a pile of boxes on the ground.

"Oooh boy…" Amy winced as she was alone on the rooftop, facing Metal Sonic, who held both Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster in his hands, taking a brief moment to scan and understand their configurations and abilities. When he looked for Amy, he only then noticed she was gone.

The pink Hedgehog was already on the ground help the girls up. "Ruby, Weiss, are you two okay?"

"Yeah… I think so." Weiss shook the cobwebs from her head.

"D-did… did he just… did he just steal my Crescent Rose?!" Ruby exclaimed in surprise before her look became one of anger. "He just stole my Crescent Rose!"

Suddenly, Metal appeared in front of them, both stolen weapons still in-hand, causing Amy and Weiss to look nervous, while Ruby pointed to him in accusatory fashion.

"Hey! Get your own cool weapon! That one's mine!" She shouted at Metal.

"I really don't think he's keen on listening to you, Ruby!" Weiss told her partner. "And he stole mine too!"

Before Metal could make a move to attack, Omega had appeared to unleash his rapid fire-machine gun at his fellow robot, only for Metal to protect himself, and his stolen weapons, with his Black Shield. Nora and Knuckles appeared from behind just as Omega ceased firing, prompting Metal to drop his shield. Nora tried to bring Magnhild down onto him as Knuckles swung one of right Galatine blade from the side. But Metal had parried Knuckles' blade strike with Myrtenaster in one hand and caught Magnhild just below its mallet with the curved scythe of Crescent Rose, all without even turning around. He then spun his body around rapidly, accessing the Fire Dust within Myrtenaster to create a ring of fire to push both Knuckles and Nora back.

Blake and Ren both leapt over Omega, pulling out their weapons of Gambol Shroud and StormFlower in their gun configurations and shot at them alongside Omega. But Metal Sonic zoomed directly at them, avoiding most of the fire before unleashing his sphere of yellow energy around himself to shock and blast back Omega first. Blake and Ren tried to swing the blades of their weapons at close range, but Metal parried each of them easily with his stolen weapons before catching Ren by his leg with Crescent Rose and slammed him into Blake.

Pyrrha had suddenly appeared, having run on the brick wall of the permitter next to Metal and leapt in front of him, drawing her sword and shield of Milo and Akouo, going on the attack, with Milo, which Metal parried and blocked with the pole of Crescent Rose before thrusting Myrtenaster at her, which she blocked with her Akouo-shield, just as she planned. With their weapons locked, Pyrrha channeled her Polarity semblance through her sword and shield and was able to fling Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster from Metal's hands. However, this only left her open for Metal to seize her by the throat and fly towards the building, slamming her into the wall. He pinned her there with one hand to the throat and used his other to punch her rapidly into her gut.

His attacks were halted as Shadow slammed into him from the side, forcing him to let go of Pyrrha and send him crashing and rolling across the ground before recover.

"Thank you, Shadow…" Pyrrha tried to stand.

Ruby and Weiss had already recovered their weapons as the former looked in complete and utter surprise at how fast Metal was recovering.

"That… robot… just threw us all around like rag dolls…" She stuttered, feeling more than a bit nervous. "Took mine and Weiss' weapons… knocked back most of our teammates… all by himself."

Even Weiss looked a bit nervous herself, the fact he overpowered Pyrrha, Knuckles, and Omega so quickly was crazy enough, but the fact he was able to match Sonic and Shadow together was terrifying.

"They were not exaggerating. Metal Sonic might truly be the most dangerous robot in Eggman's army." Weiss said as a drop of sweat fell down her face.

At the same time, in another area of the factory's permitter, Torchwick's paladin had already recovered as it was gunning toward Yang, who tried to fire her shotgun shells from Ember Celica at it, but it barley slowed Roman down as he closed the distance. Jaune quickly rushed in with his shield and tried to activate his aura, but the Paladin's impact sent both the blondes rolling across the ground.

Torchwick grinned from inside his cockpit, ready to finish the pair off.

"Hey there." Rouge's smirking face suddenly appeared upside down on the screen, causing him to yelp in surprise. Outside, the white Bat was hanging upside down by her bladed heels at the top of the cockpit. She crossed her Purple Hearts blades together, linking the hearts together before flashing a bright light that briefly blinded Torchwick, even inside the Paladin.

"Ugh! I can't see!"

Rouge used this as her chance to fly in, pick up the recovering Jaune and Yang and get some distance.

"How did you do that" Jaune asked.

"I put a little flash bomb inside my weapon. Handy for quick getaways." She briefly explained.

In the sky, the Egg-Wyvern continued its aerial pursuit of the smaller Cyclone, firing blasts of Fire Dust from its jaw-mounted turrets as well as lightning bolts from its wings, which Tails was barely able to roll around and dodge. As they flew closer to a set of smokestacks on the roof, they failed to notice a streak of blue moving up the building and up the smokestack before leaping off straight towards the head-unit of the Egg-Wyvern, striking it multiple times with rapid Homing Attacks, to disorient it before the attacker landed on the wing of the Cyclone.

"Sonic!" Tails smiled.

"Tails, get us down and with the others! We gotta regroup and get organized!" The blue Hedgehog instructed.

"On it!" Tails flew the Cyclone closer towards the ground, his targeting system locking on the recovering Metal Sonic before firing a pair of missiles, infused with Gravity Dust to increase their speed faster than Metal could dodge. He activated his Black Shield just as the missiles hit, unleashing a pulse of gravity power that knocked the shielded Metal Sonic up in the air and away from the group as Teams Sonic, RWBY, Dark, and JNPR regrouped around each other with the Cyclone hovering just slightly off the ground.

"None of this is working." Shadow quickly stated.

"Gee, ya think?!" Yang questioned sarcastically.

"Now is not the time to argue!" Pyrrha stated. "We have to rally and focus!"

As they talked, Ruby got a good look at their surroundings, including the factory itself as well as the current positions of their enemies; the Egg-Wyvern, Metal Sonic, and Torchwick's Paladin were all recovering.

"I think I got something." Ruby spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Shadow, if you and your team can get Metal Sonic inside that building, you think you can take him? The factory's gotta be more compact inside, so it should be harder for him to move around in, right?"

"That… could work." Rouge saw where she was going with this.

"The tight spaces would make it difficult for Metal Sonic to utilize his speed, neutralizing his advantage." Omega agreed.

Even Shadow recognized the logic in the plan. "We'll make it work."

"Alright; Jaune and your team take care of Torchwick, keep him from escaping or getting inside the factory." Ruby said.

Jaune looked towards Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha, all of whom nodded in agreement. "Alright, you got it."

"The rest of us will focus on Eggman." Ruby said to the rest of her team as well as Sonic's. "We'll keep him airborne and away from everyone else."

"Divide and conquer…" Knuckles grinned. "A good strategy."

"That's my sis." Yang smirked.

"Alright, we got a plan!" Sonic said as he looked to see their enemies had already recovered and were ready to attack again. "Let's take these guys down!"

With that, the conjoined group split off into their respective groups to deal with their assigned enemies.

Knuckles and Amy leapt onto the Cyclone as Tails flew them to the top of the factory's roof, once they stepped off, Tails converted the Cyclone into its battle-mode as Sonic and Ruby both used their respective speeds to make their way up as Weiss, Blake, and Yang did the same way with via their own methods.

"He's circling around!" Blake noted.

"Alright; Yang, Weiss, Blake, on the smoke-stacks!" Ruby told her team. "Just like with the Nevermore back at the forest! Shoot at him to draw him in! Tails, you do the same! Once he's close enough; Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy will try and get him at close range!"

"Got it." Amy nodded.

"Understood." Weiss agreed.

Team RWBY each made their way to a different smokestack just as Team Sonic readied themselves from below as the Egg-Wyvern spotted them.

"Fire! Open Fire!" Ruby ordered as she configured Crescent Rose into its sniper-rifle configuration and was the first to shoot, followed by Yang with Ember Celica, and Blake with Gambol Shroud, while Weiss swung and thrusted Myrtenaster to send waves of Dust attacks Eggman's way. At the same time, Tails in his Cyclone walker-mode, opened fire with Fire Dust bombs and even lasers of Lightning Dust.

All five attacks struck the Egg-Wyvern as it charged at them. They were barely able to deal any damage, but that wasn't their intent. Once it got close enough, Sonic sped off the roof, drawing Caliburn as he laid out a series of Homing Attacks across the head-unit, given an extra edge in cutting power thanks to his sword. This was enough to disorient it, halting its flight, allowing Sonic to go onto its back and rush up it, slicing Caliburn the whole way. Knuckles and Amy both leapt onto the right and left wings respectively, using Galatine and the Piko-Piko to damage the wings any way they could.

The Egg-Wyvern tried to pull up, but Ruby saw this as an opportunity. "Focus your fire on its underbelly! Let's see if it has a soft spot!"

She, Tails, Blake, Yang, and Weiss concentrated all their long-ranged attacks onto a single point at its underbelly, resulting in an explosion that shook up the entire mech.

Metal Sonic tried to fly in and provide aid, only for Shadow to strike him with a Homing Attack, causing them both to crash through an upper window of the building and into the factory itself. Metal quickly recovered and landed in between two conveyer belts to face Shadow, but the Ultimate Lifeform had already leapt into the air as a series of explosions tore through the floor to send Metal flying upward.

"My arsenal is far superior to yours!" Omega boasted, standing on an upper railing, having unleashed a volley of missiles.

Metal was able to stabilize himself with his jet boosters and would have attacked Omega, only for Rouge to fly in from behind and grab Metal, one arm was around his mechanical throat while the other pinned both his hands behind his back.

"I don't think so, shinny." She used the force of her own wings to shoot both herself and Metal to the ground, slamming her victim into it before leaping off as Team Dark circled the recovering robot, his optics flashing a dangerous and enraged glow of red.

---

Outside, Torchwick shot guns and missiles in all directions, forcing JNPR to try and find cover however they could. "We need some cover!" Jaune exclaimed.

"I got it!" Nora said as she configured Magnhild into its grenade-launcher mode and fired all around the Paladin, creating a large cloud of smoke that served as cover as JNPR tried to disappear. The smoke cleared as Torchwick tried to find the kids who disappeared. His targeting lasers looked in all directions, but he couldn't find a single person to lock onto.

"Its armor is too strong." Ren said as JNPR hid around the corner of the factory's main building.

"I bet if I get enough hits in, I can smash it up." Nora offered.

"He's not gonna let us get in close though." Pyrrha said.

Jaune happened to glance around the corner to look at the stalking mech. If it was heavily armored, then it had to be protecting something, right? Something other than the guy inside. He got a good look at the joints at each arm and leg and saw the they weren't as heavily armored before an idea came to him.

"Pyrrha, can you use your Semblance to pull its arms and legs apart?" Jaune asked.

"I'm sorry, my Polarity is not that strong." Pyrrha shook her head. "At the most, I might be able to re-direct its fire, force its weapons to aim in another direction."

That still gave Jaune an idea. "Why use it on the arms, when we can use it on the legs?" His rhetorical question got his team's attention. "Think maybe you can trip it up, get it to slip and lose its footing? It should be hard for something that big and clunky to aim its weapons if its knocked down, right?"

"Yes… I do believe that could work." Pyrrha smiled.

"Alright, here's the plan." Jaune began. "Nora, you help Pyrrha get up and close to it. Get it to focus on you and trip it up, see if you can target its joints too. Ren and I will come in from behind and try to do the same."

"Understood." Ren nodded.

"You got it, Captain Jaune." Nora grinned and saluted.

"We'll follow your lead." Pyrrha smiled and nodded.

Jaune smiled as well as he motioned for the two female members of JNPR to go outside and get the enemy's attention.

"Hey Torchy!" Nora called out. "Is that all you got!? My grandma can fight harder than that!"

"You little…" Torchwick growled as he aimed the Paladin's weapons on its right arm at the charging duo. But Pyrrha extended her hand to channel her Polarity onto the arm and force it to aim away from them just as he fired. "What the…!?"

This momentary shock was enough for Pyrrha to then direct her Semblance on the Paladin's left leg, and with a wave of her hand, it was forced to the side, causing the entire mech to trip up just as Pyrrha and Nora closed the distance, the latter's weapon changing to its hammer-mode.

"Time to crack you open!" Nora tried to swing her hammer, but Torchwick swung mech's right arm to knock her back, though Pyrrha used her shield to slide under it just as Milo configured into its javelin form, which she used to jam into the joint of the right appendage, she used her Polarity to try and keep the mech down as long as she could.

"Nora! Nail it!" Pyrrha called to her teammate, purposely using the phrase Jaune used when they fought the Death Stalker in the Emerald Forest, hoping it would give her the idea.

"Oh yeah…" The recovered Nora did receive the intended message and rushed as fast as she could toward the struggling Paladin, pulling Magnhild back. Right as she came up to it, she swung her mallet right into Pyrrha's Milo with enough force to send it piercing through the joint, severing the Paladins' whole right arm.

Torchwick grunted as the alarms already sounded off in his cockpit. He attempted to pull the Paladin back up as Jaune and Ren came in from behind.

"You go up top and take care of its other arm, I'll hit the legs!" Jaune instructed.

"Right." Ren fired the grapplers from one of the StormFlowers at the Paladin's back as it stood up, pulling him in close from behind. Torchwick didn't have time to react as Ren used his free hand and other weapon to shoot into the joint directly, already causing severe damage to that limb just as Jaune came in from below to slice at the left leg while Pyrrha did the same for the right one.

Nora decided to provide Ren with aid as she slammed Magnhild on the ground, propelling an explosive from the impact to catapult herself over the Paladin. Ren had seen her go airborne and knew what was coming next. Hooking both parts of StormFlower onto the shoulder of the Paladin and activated their grapplers just as he kicked himself off. Nora fell down, hooked her legs around Ren's waist and held her hammer back as Ren's grapplers recoiled, pulling them both in as Nora slammed Magnhild into the left arm, obliterating the joint that Ren's attack had already greatly damaged and all but destroyed the left arm.

As the two leapt off, Jaune had sliced Crocea Mors at an exposed joint of the left leg as Pyrrha did the same at the right one, her Polarity enhancing the power of her strike to completely sever the whole leg, while Jaune's attack merely damaged it.

"Move back!" Jaune exclaimed as they saw the whole Paladin tipping over. The four young Huntsmen-in-training moved backwards as the disabled Paladin fell face-first on the ground.

The cockpit opened up in the back as Torchwick attempted to pull himself up, only to gasp as he saw Jaune point Crocea Mors at him with Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren having their weapons at the ready.

"It's over. You've lost." The blonde leader of JNPR declared.

"Where the hell do you freaky kids keep coming from?" Torchwick questioned.

Suddenly, a blade was shot towards Jaune's face from the right side, but Ren was quick to pick up on the hostile intent and quickly pushed his leader out of the way and used StormFlower's own blade to lock steel against the thrust of the Hush weapon that the suddenly arrived Neopolitan dealt.

Nora acted quickly to swing her Magnhild at her, but Neopolitan jumped backwards to regroup with Torchwick as they faced JNPR together.

"Looks like he brought company." Pyrrha noted as they readied their weapons.

---

Inside the factory, Omega fired his machine guns at Metal Sonic, prompting the robotic hedgehog to fly up toward the ceiling, where Rouge had already appeared to intercept. Metal readied his sword arm and sliced at her, but she was able to parry it by crossing the blades of her Purple Hearts before falling backwards to slam both her feet into Metal's face and disorient him, leaving him open for Shadow to strike with a Homing Attack combined with a slash of Arondight to send Metal crashing to the ground.

However, Metal Sonic was quick to recover as he aimed and fired his gun-palm, blasting electric pulses at Shadow and Rouge, forcing them to fly and dash around the interior to avoid getting caught in his attacks. The only issue with having Metal's moves constraint in such a compact space meant that they too were in the same boat. But on the positive side, they still had him outnumbered.

With Metal briefly focused on Rouge and Shadow, it left him vulnerable for Omega to blast at him with his rear jet-boosters, grab Metal by the face, before shooting himself to the wall on the other side of the building, slamming Metal's back into the wall before Omega heaved his fellow robot over and slammed him on the ground where Omega then proceeded to pummel him with both arms. That is until Metal activated his Black Shield to halt Omega's onslaught.

Metal Sonic unleashed his electric aura again to push Omega back. He, Shadow, and Rouge all watched as Metal Sonic prepared to unleash his V. Maximum Overdrive attack, already sending bolts of electricity in all directions before it threatened to explode.

"I don't think so." Shadow was quick to draw the green Chaos Emerald and make the first move. "Chaos Control!"

Time briefly slowed to a crawl for the black Hedgehog, allowing him with his already insane speeds to move in and dodge the electric blasts, where he leapt into the air and struck Metal multiple times with Arondight before jumping back to throw a Chaos Spear attack right before Shadow landed back with his team as time resumed its pace.

The combined inertia from Shadow's attack was enough to send Metal crashing out of the factory, where his V. Maximum Overdrive attack was unleashed, but fortunately nobody was around to get caught in it.

His circuits overloading, Metal struggled to pull himself up as his systems auto-repairs got to work, looking to see Team Dark was already on him.

---

Meanwhile, at the top of the warehouse, Sonic kept up his rushing and slicing across the Egg-Wyverns back, while Knuckles attempted to jam Galantine into the propelling blades of the right wing as Amy tried to slam her Piko-Piko hammer into that of the left wing. However, when they struck, a propulsive purple energy sent both of them flying off. The Egg-Wyvern gave a roar as it took to the air again, spinning its body around rapidly in an attempt to shake Sonic off, who tried to dig Caliburn in to maintain his holding. But the force was too strong as the sword was shaken off, sending Sonic falling. Fortunately, he was able to spin-dash while in mid-air to straighten himself out and land on his feet on the factory's roof, right after Knuckles and Amy had a rough landing as Tails and RWBY regrouped.

"That thing might be tougher than that last Dust mech he had." Amy pointed out.

"Why didn't you take out its wings?" Yang questioned. "If it can't fly, it can't fight back!"

"That's what we tried!" Amy replied. "Some kind of force pushed us away; but I don't think it was a shield though!"

"Of course!" Tails was hit with a realization. "Gravity Dust!" They looked up to see the Egg-Wyvern aiming its Lightning Dust weapons from its wings, as well as its Ice-Dust missiles from its tail, and Fire Dust guns on its jaw. All three attacks soared around the group as they dodged it however, they could as explosions of fire, lighting, and ice lit up the area. Though Tails quickly activated the Hard Light Dust shield on his Cyclone to protect himself as he continued his explanation.

"That thing is able to fly thanks to Gravity Dust! It also works as a repellent force if something weaker than the force of the gravity itself tries to strike it!" Tails continued. "But if an equal gravitational force were to strike it, such as the Gravity Dust missiles I got on board… both forces should cancel each other out and negate the effects of the Dust!"

"Great!" Ruby beamed as she hid behind a pillar to avoid the Egg-Wyvern's onslaught. "Now can you explain that again? And this time use smaller words?"

"It means if he hits it with his Gravity Dust missiles, he can stop it from flying!" Weiss translated.

"Oh…! Oh! That's perfect!" Ruby beamed.

"Go and do it Tails!" Sonic told him as his young fox companion converted the Cyclone back into its plane mode before it flew into the air and directly at the Egg-Wyvern. "Okay guys…" Sonic began to direct the rest of his friends. "Once that thing starts falling, hit it with everything you got!"

Tails flew at the Egg-Wyvern and shot at it with his Volkan Mini-Gun, armed with Fire Dust, to get the Mech's attention. The Egg-Wyvern they began to fly after Tails as the fox steered his Cyclone straight up, trying to get as high as possible, even as the Egg-Wyvern returned fire with its jaw barrel-guns. Once he saw he was high enough, Tails pulled up on the controls, causing the Cyclone to flip over and shoot down straight for the mech. His Cyclone's systems locked on to their intended targets.

"Fire away!" Tails fired two Gravity Dust missiles from the sides of the Cyclone, each one scoring a direct hit on the wings of the Egg-Wyvern, engulfing the entire mech in a wave of purple gravitational power before it all vanished completely just as the Cyclone flew past it.

True to Tails' prediction, all the Gravity Dust in the Egg-Wyvern's wings was rendered inherit, causing the mech to fall from the sky.

"Here it comes!" Blake warned.

"Alright; Yang and Blake, you smash up its right wing!" Sonic instructed. "Amy and Weiss, take the left! We can't risk it recovering! Knuckles, smash up its center. Ruby and I will take the head so Eggman doesn't fly away this time!"

Everyone nodded in understanding as they saw the Egg-Wyvern falling closer. Blake used a shadow-clone to leap up to the top of the smokestack, and tossed one end of Gambol Shroud towards Yang, who caught it while wrapping one arm around the ribbon as Blake began to spin around, with Yang building up momentum as she fired Ember Celica to increase the speed of the spin. At the same time, Weiss conjured three Glyphs above her, each one behind the other, and infused them with Gravity Dust as she aimed it at the right angle, with Amy leaping to the top of the upper most Glyph.

"Ruby, I'm gonna need a boost!" Knuckles told the girl.

"You got it." She held out her Crescent Rose as Knuckles perched himself on the flat of her scythe-blade before Ruby performed a similar action to Yang and Blake, using her own speed to spin her body around while staying in the same spot, building up momentum.

The Egg-Wyvern flew close enough to where Sonic could see the moment to strike.

"NOW!" He ordered.

With that, Blake pulled on Gambol Shroud, sending Yang flying; while Weiss thrusted Myrtenaster forward, unleashing the power of all three Glyphs to shoot Amy upwards; and finally, Ruby stopped her spinning and swung Crescent Rose to throw Knuckles upward.

All three of them hit their intended marks at the same time. Yang, with her hair set ablaze, punched her way through and smashed the joint of the right wing; Amy performed her own Spin-Dash, holding out the Piko-Piko to obliterate the joint of the left wing; and Knuckles held out his own fist to smash clean through the chest area and out of the back of the Egg-Wyvern. All three were caught mid-air by Tails in his Cyclone.

The severed wings and broken body of the Egg-Wyvern fell closer as Sonic held out his hand to Ruby. "Ready?"

She took it without hesitation. "Ready."

Ruby activated her own Semblance, surrounding her and Sonic as he added his own speed power to it. A twirling swirl of red and blue shot right at the neck area of the Egg-Wyvern and sliced right through, decapitating what was left of the Egg-Wyvern. The severed wings and broken body landed on the back-side area of the perimeter of the factory while the head-unit was sent crashing on the other side.

Sonic the Hedgehog and Ruby Rose both landed back on the factory rooftop dramatically right after the robot had crashed. They each grinned to the other before sharing a high-five.

---

The Egg-Wyvern's crash had caught the attention of Torchwick as he and Neo were forced back towards the factory with JNPR advancing on them. Metal Sonic suddenly appeared in-between the two opposing groups, but Team Dark had regrouped with Team JNPR as both teams aimed their weapons at the trio.

Metal then glanced at Torchwick, giving the silent impression it was time to retreat. He nodded subtly towards Neo before speaking out.

"Well folks, this has been fun. But I'm afraid it's time to jet." Torchwick gave a bow.

"Oh no, you don't!" Nora was about to rush them, but Omega held out his arm to stop her.

"Cease your advance!" The robot fired a round at what they thought was the villain trio… only for the bullet to shatter what one could only be described as a physical illusion. They all looked up to see Metal was already flying away, carrying Torchwick and Neopolitan by their arms. At that point, he was already too far and too fast to give pursuit.

"What was that?!" Jaune questioned.

"Likely that woman's Semblance." Shadow assumed. "She created a life-like illusion."

"My sensors were able to see past it." Omega stated. "Her Semblance cannot fool me."

"I also happened to hear Metal flying away, but it was too fast for me to react." Rouge added. "Guess her power only affects sight."

"Still disappointing they escaped." Ren commented.

"But at least the battle is over, and it would seem Team RWBY and Team Sonic had dealt with Eggman." Pyrrha said for some form of assurance.

"Let's make certain of that first." Shadow said.

Teams Dark and JNPR rounded around the corner where the Egg-Wyvern's severed head-unit was. Sonic, Ruby, Weiss, Amy, and Tails, who had dismounted the Cyclone, kept a close eye as Knuckles, Yang, and Blake tried to pull Eggman out of the wreckage.

Sonic saw both teams coming to their location. "Let me guess, Metal and Torchie got away?"

"Yeah." Nora pouted.

"There's also somebody else with them. A girl with weird illusion powers, but we'll talk about her later." Rouge added.

"But hey, at least we got Eggman!" Ruby said for the sake of optimism.

Right as she said that; Yang, Knuckles, and Blake had managed to pull out Eggman from the wreckage, who seemed unresponsive.

Suddenly, his head popped off his body, causing the three to drop it in a startle as both girls gave a surprised yelp, catching everyone's attention.

All four teams looked in shock to see that it wasn't really Eggman they pulled out, but a robot crafted in his likeness. Its head was connected to its body only by a metallic spring, with one of his eyes popping out in the same manner before a recording played from the chest-speaker.

"Muh-ha-ha-ha! Once again, you fools have been tricked!"

"What the… It's a fake?!" Yang exclaimed in shock and anger.

Knuckles rubbed his hand down his face in annoyance. "Ugh, not again."

Blake, however, seemed the most livid of them as she clenched her fists in rage, glaring at the fake Eggman.

"It's a copy?! But how?!" Jaune questioned.

"Must have switched out back at the warehouse." Rogue assumed; her eyelids lowered in annoyance.

"Hope you and your friends, new and old, enjoyed this little opening act, Sonic." The recording continued to play from the doll. "Because things are only going to get more exciting from this point forward. And this time, you can't stop me!"

Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha looked with worry at that warning; Amy, Weiss, Nora, Tails, Rouge, Pyrrha, Ren, appeared to be quite disappointed, as Shadow, Knuckles, and Sonic seemed completely unsurprised. Omega, Yang, and especially Blake were more than a little angry as Omega clenched his metallic fists while the red-eyed Yang punched and obliterated the fake Eggman with a yell.

"So, all of that was for nothing!?" The blonde girl shouted. "We fight for our lives and the bad guys still get away?!"

"Not all of them."

Everyone turned to look in surprise as Sun and Neptune entered the premises of what was left of the factory, the later carrying an unconscious White Fang agent over his shoulder.

"Dang… looks like we missed one heck of a party." Sun looked around at the collateral damage.

"Sun? Neptune? Wait… who's that?" Ruby asked, referring to the guy they brought in.

"When that robot sent us flying, we crashed into his car…" Neptune tried to explain truthfully, only for Sun to interrupt

"We caught this guy making a break for it, so we beat him up and brought him here!" The monkey Faunus tried to make it a bit more dramatic. "Thought you guys might wanna ask him some questions about what that Eggman-guy is up to."

Nearly all of them looked in surprise. They could all figure out that Sun and Neptune caught this White Fang agent by accident, but the fact they were not only able to capture him, but even have the foresight to bring him to them for interrogation was certainly impressive.

"Huh, not bad guys. Not bad." Sonic smirked as he gave them the congratulatory finger.

"Thank you." Neptune bowed with a grin, accidentally dropping his captive in the process.

"How's that for 'dead weight'?" Sun couldn't resist rubbing it in Shadow's face, who simply ignored him.

---

His eyes slowly opened as he regained consciousness. "Huh… what… where…?" The White Fang agent looked in shock to see he was not only inside the wrecked and abandoned factory, but was completely surrounded by Teams Sonic, RWBY, Dark, JNPR, and even Sun and Neptune.

"Sleep well?" Sun grinned.

He tried to scurry backwards, only to bump into a damaged conveyer belt. "Stay back… I…" He only then noticed his mask was missing, revealing his face was that of a teenage kid who looked fifteen or maybe sixteen at the oldest. He had the ears and snout of a pig, indicating he was a pig Faunus. "Where's my…?"

A breaking noise was heard as he looked to see Shadow breaking the Grimm mask the pig Faunus previously had in his grip with little effort.

"What do you all want with me?!"

"How about some answers?" Blake told him, getting to the point. "What is Eggman up to? Where is his base? Where is he getting all this Dust from?!"

He looked at the girl in front of him and saw her cat ears, as well as noticed the monkey tail on Sun. "You two are Faunus…? Why are you helping them!?" He gestured to everyone else around them. "These evil humans and their pet alien monsters!"

"Who are you calling a pet?" Amy questioned.

"We're evil?!" Yang questioned outrageously. "We don't go around robing stores, killing innocent people, or teaming up with a psycho scientist!"

"What can you possibly know about being a Faunus!?" The young pig exclaimed. "Everything you people have, you were born with! A home, food, all that stuff! But us!? We are born with nothing! We're lucky just to have clothes on our backs! You wanna talk about killing innocent people?! How many of our kind have you hunted for sport?! How many lynchings have all of you done?!"

"We don't do that!" Ruby exclaimed. "None of us are like that! We're not bad people!"

"You're with a Schnee!" He shouted. "That's proof enough!"

Weiss gave a gasp. "Me…?"

"Yeah, you!" The pig Faunus gazed hatefully at her. "Out of all the humans in this world, your family is the absolute worst! You destroy this world, ruin countless lives all to make a quick buck, and you don't care how many of our kind, or yours, have to die just to keep food on your table!"

"That's not true…!" Weiss tried to say.

"How many of our kind died working in your mines?!" He continued. "You work with Atlas to build an army of robots! Why not use them?! Why do we have to risk our lives working in that hellhole just for us to get our next meal, while you kick back in a mansion that's practically built from our bones! And when we tried speaking out!? When we tried to talk to you like reasonable people… you laughed at us at best and killed us at worst!"

"But I…" Weiss was becoming even more loss for words.

"JUST LIKE WHEN YOU KILLED MY BROTHERS!"

Nobody expected that. Everyone from Teams Sonic, RWBY, JNPR, even Shadow and most of Team Dark (save for Omega's whose own expression could not be read), had their eyes widen in shock. Even Sun and Neptune were caught off guard.

"What are you…?"

"YOU KILLED MY BROTHERS!" He shouted again and was about to lunge at her, but Shadow quickly moved to push him back down. "ENSLAVED AND KILLED THEM! Just like those two… right?!" He glared in the direction of Blake and Sun. "She and her family probably have you two wrapped around her finger! How?! Why?! Holding your families hostage?! Threatening to cut their bare minimum salary?! What?! Don't tell me you actually sided with her just to save your own skin and sell out the rest of us!"

"Hold on a second, that's not…!" Sun tried to protest, but Blake spoke up.

"Weiss is not like that!" She stated, causing Weiss herself to look to her teammate in shock. "The SDC is corrupt, and maybe they're responsible for a whole lot of our people's suffering… but Weiss is not a killer! She doesn't blackmail or take hostages or anything like that! She's a good person!"

"That's right." Yang stepped up too. "Heck, she even knows what's wrong with her company and wants to fix it!"

"She's our friend! We believe in her!" Ruby added. "You only think you know her because of her last name and what the rest of her family might be doing! You don't actually know Weiss for the person she is!"

Weiss almost couldn't believe it. Her teammates were actually defending her. A part of her had indeed expected it for that very reason… but to hear it out loud that they consider her a friend and defended her as a person, even differentiating her from the rest of the corruption within her company and even family. Even Blake of all people, arguably the one she disagreed with the most was the first to defend her. All of that, left a feeling in her chest she never felt before. And it made her genuinely happy and grateful.

"Maybe her family might be a bunch of jerks, but she isn't." Even Jaune stepped forward. "Besides, you're the one who put on a Grimm mask and decided to steal from and kill people!"

"I HAVEN'T KILLED ANYONE I'M NOT A KILLER!" The pig Faunus screamed. But in that instant, his voice began to crack as his emotions turned from angry to grief. "I… I don't… I don't want to kill I…"

Sonic noticed the expression on the kid's face, the look of grief and regret in his eyes that most people wouldn't notice. But he did.

"You really don't want to do any of this, do you?" Sonic asked, slowly stepping up as the pig Faunus gazed directly at him. "You never wanted to join the White Fang."

"I… I don't have a choice…"

"Oh really?" Knuckles questioned. "Blake here used to be a member. Heck, her dad was the founder." That took him by surprise as he looked towards Blake who nodded in confirmation. "But she got out when they decided to turn violent. So don't go acting like you don't have a choice, cause you do."

"She might have… but I didn't." He looked down, feeling emotionally drained and exhausted.

Sonic then kneeled down to be on equal level with the pig Faunus. "What's your name?"

"M-my… my name?"

"Yeah. Gotta call you something." Sonic said with a friendly smile.

He didn't quite answer at first, but gave his name regardless. "Fifer… My name is Fifer."

"Alright, Fifer. How old are you?" Sonic asked.

"I'm… Fifteen."

If they weren't surprised before, they were now.

"Fifteen?!" Tails questioned. Yang happened to glance at her younger sister, that was how old Ruby was.

"Fifteen and in the White Fang…?" Even Pyrrha was more than a little shocked. "I didn't know they recruited that young…"

"They didn't recruit me; I went to them." Fifer revealed, sounding more defeated than anything else.

Before anyone else could question in surprise, Sonic held out his hand, silently telling them to let him handle this.

"Okay… Fifer, why go to the White Fang?" The blue Hedgehog asked. "Was it because of what happened to your brothers? Tell me about them."

"Why…? Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Because I think we can find an answer to all of this that doesn't involve fighting or hurting each other." Sonic answered. "I want to help you Fifer, but you gotta tell me what happened."

Fifer could tell from the look in Sonic's eyes as well as the way he spoke that he was being sincere. So, with a deep breath, the young Faunus told his story.

"My brothers and I lived in Mantle…"

"Mantle? Don't you mean Atlas?" Jaune asked.

"No, I mean Mantle!" Fifer narrowed his eyes at Jaune. "Atlas is the floating city in the clouds, while the rest of us are stuck down in the cold!" That caused Nora to look uncomfortably, causing Ren to look at her with concern and understanding.

"Okay. Mantle, not Atlas." Sonic quickly got back to the matter at hand. "Go on…"

"Atlas basically left Mantle behind." Fifer continued. "Down there, most people tend to fend for themselves. We only got one group of Huntsmen, the Happy Huntresses I think… looking out for us. But that's it. I used to think that… since we were all in the same boat, we'd help each other. But no. The humans who live there, aren't any different from the ones up in Atlas. They see us as animals, lesser people. Most Faunus live in the crater."

"Crater?" Sonic asked.

"The crater that was made when Atlas left the ground and rose to the skies." Fifer answered. "But… while all the humans in Mantle had actual brick buildings to live in, the rest of us in the crater were lucky to build houses out of straw and sticks. At best, we could only build small tents and barely have enough food to share with each other. When my brothers were old enough, Fiddle and Pract went to apply for the SDC, thinking it was the best place to earn some kind of cash and provide for ourselves. Just like all other Faunus who work there, they were sent to work in the Dust mines. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! One wrong move and the whole place could explode with fire, lighting, or even shoot ice spikes everywhere! Almost every night, Pract and Fiddle came home with some kind of injury, sometimes even a broken arm or leg! I always feared that they would get hurt so bad, they'd never be able to walk again! But… that wasn't even the worst of it." Tears began to well up in Fifer's eyes. "One day… there was an accident… a huge cave-in at the mines….! Pract was crushed … Fiddle was blown away. P-Pract… died instantly but… Fiddle… he succumbed to his injuries… dying in agony…!" He was already crying.

Sonic looked in complete and utter sympathy at the crying kid, with everyone else behind him having similar expressions.

Ruby, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Pyrrha, Jaune, Sun, Neptune, even Rouge looked toward the boy in pity and sadness. Nora and Ren each knew exactly how he felt to lose everything as well. Yang also felt that kind of pain, the pain of knowing your family has a dangerous job as well as the real possibility that they might not come back… a possibility that became a reality for her. Omega was not exactly one to feel sympathy, but he knew the feeling of being used and discarded all too well.

Blake was instantly reminded of a similar story that her friend Ilia told her, her reasoning for joining the White Fang. Faunus killed in an accident in the SDC mine, and Atlas classmates snickering at the idea of it. Was it the very same accident that claimed Fifer's brothers? Possibly. But then again, accidents like that and fatalities were common in the SDC mines. But that didn't make it any less heartbreaking.

Weiss felt her eyes becoming glossy. Did this kid really lose his family in her company's mines? She heard about how accidents and even fatalities were common there, something she didn't approve of. But to actually hear the pain and loss from someone who worked more closely with those mines than she ever did? It was something else altogether. She happened to glance towards Shadow, remembering what he told her about the White Fang's reasoning for fighting the SDC. Those words said to her, and Fifer's story… it brought a sudden clarity to Weiss that honestly made her feel ashamed to be a Schnee.

"I'm sorry…" Sonic told Fifer. "Really… I am."

"I… I was alone… I couldn't even give my brothers a funeral…" Fifer continued to sob. "And the SDC… didn't care. Just… more expendable slaves in those horrible mines of theirs…! I heard what the White Fang was doing… taking a stand against the SDC and I… I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted… justice for what happened to my brothers! I… I just… didn't think…"

"You didn't think they'd resort to similar methods." Knuckles spoke up. "Stealing and killing. Only difference is that the White Fang are a bit more open about it."

"I… I never… wanted to hurt anyone." Fifer cried. "I… I don't want to hurt people! I… I don't want myself… or other Faunus like me… to be seen as the same as the Grimm…! But… what choice do I have now…?!"

"You can leave." Sonic told him, causing Fifer to look at him in surprise. "You can leave the White Fang. Right now. You don't have to stay with them. Blake was a member and she left, and you can too. In fact, a lot of my friends have made similar mistakes in the past… but they were able to move past it. I'm sorry about your brothers, really. Nothing you do can bring them back… but you know how you can honor them? By living a life that's full of happiness. Isn't that why they wanted to work? So, they can provide for you? Give you a life?"

Fifer gasped. With those words, he remembered that even though his brothers would sometimes come home hurt, they both had smiles on their faces, saying it was worth it. He always felt they meant it was worth it to earn some money… but maybe, what they really meant was that it was worth it to provide for their youngest.

Sonic could see Fifer wanted to take the next step and decided to give him a hand. Literally. The blue Hedgehog extended his hand to the pig Faunus with a smile.

"Come with us. Let's go to Beacon and we can get you a fresh start. Maybe even make some new friends."

The smile on Sonic's face was genuine. He was offering to give this kid a new chance at life and make something better for himself. He wanted to reach out and take it. But…

"Wait… did you say 'Beacon'? You're from Beacon?"

"Most of us are." Ruby answered. "But Sonic and his friends are just staying…"

"Listen to me, the academy's been infiltrated!" Fifer revealed.

That caught all of them by surprise.

"Infiltrated?" Tails questioned.

"By whom? White Fang?" Shadow asked the young pig Faunus.

"No… I think they're human." Fifer tried to explain. "I don't know who… but I overheard someone… a woman… talking with that Eggman guy. They said they were looking for…"

*PIERCE!*

A black glassed arrow suddenly pierced through Fifer's throat from the back to silence him; causing many to gasp as everyone, especially Sonic looked in shock. But that wasn't the end of it. The arrow exploded in a flurry of flames, killing and burning Fifer in one instant, much to many of their horror.

"Wha… what…?!" Ruby stuttered, horrified over what had just happened.

"What just happened?!" Jaune exclaimed.

"A projectile lined with Fire Dust was fired." Omega reported, his sensors tracking the direction from which the arrow was pointed before it exploded and quickly analyzed the angle upon which it could have been shot it. "Based on its trajectory, it was fired from that window at an angle of forty-five degrees vertically and sixty-three degrees horizontally." Omega pointed to broken window. "The assailant is likely attempting to escape the premises."

Shadow instantly broke out into a run, leaping from the broken window.

"Where's he going?" Sun questioned.

"Where do you think?" Rouge answered rhetorically.

"Come on! Let's go…!" Yang was ready to leap forward and help him.

"No, you guys head back to Beacon!" Sonic instructed. "Shadow and I will handle this! Tails, you come too! Get to the Cyclone and help with air support if we need it!"

"On it!" Tails flew back out the entrance.

"But Sonic…" Ruby tried to protest, only to find that he was already gone, vanishing in a dash of blue energy.

"He's right." Amy told Ruby. "Sonic and Shadow are the fastest ones here, so they can catch whoever did that and Tails can keep up with them in the Cyclone. The rest of us would just slow them down."

Even though several wanted to protest, they all knew she was right. Sonic and Shadow were the best ones to find and capture the assailant, and Tails' Cyclone could provide any additional firepower.

They all glanced toward the spot where Fifer once sat, only for a pile of ash to now lay in his place. He was only a kid, fifteen years old. He may have been part of the White Fang, but he was never bad. He was just lost, sad, and confused, having lost his family. But when he looked ready to turn his life around, someone cruelly cut him down. It was unfair. Sympathy and grief were felt by all of them, but there was also anger over whoever just ended Fifer's life. One thing was certain, all of them (even Ruby), wanted to find out who killed him. And make them pay.

---

Cinder had already mounted her personal motorcycle, the assailant clad in a black leather suit with a helmet to cover her whole face and a dark visor over her eyes, before she drove away from the factory. It was fortunate she was able to silence the literal swine before he revealed any critical information. Now all she had to do was get away as quick as possible.

However, as she glanced behind, she looked in surprise to see Shadow was already trailing after her, using his rocket skates to catch up to her. Right behind him, Sonic was also speeding to catch up, with Tails in the Cyclone flying after her as well.

Scowling, Cinder turned her motorcycle around the corner, kicking it up to high speeds as she went further down the streets of the area, making her way closer toward the expressways that circled the perimeter of the Kingdom.

"Tails, try and box em in! Keep em from turning!" Sonic told his friend over the comns.

"Got it." Tails activated the Cyclone's weapon systems again and fired the Volkan mini gun, now lined with Ice Dust, to shoot at Cinder. Though she did try to steer her motorcycle around the bullets, she ended up facing with large spikes of ice that shot out from the ground of each bullet impact. This forced her down the center of the streets as Sonic and Shadow attempted to flank her from both sides.

Cinder drew her personal weapon, Midnight, detaching one of the blades to swing on her left toward the incoming Sonic, who quickly drew Caliburn to block and parry. Shadow brought Arondight toward her from the left, but she quickly threw out her hand to blast a wave of flames to force Shadow back before charging the flames into her blade which she used to further parry against Sonic's Caliburn and then unleash a torrent of them from her blade, also forcing Sonic back.

Tails tried to cut off her path as he fired the Cyclone's ice bullets in front of Cinder's motorcycle, quickly creating a large wall of ice-spikes. However, Cinder was able to bring out Midnight in its bow-form, and quickly create a set of glass arrow with heat from her hands, and silicon that was dispelled from her gloves' palms. The tips of the arrows were super-heated with her own power before she launched them. They blew apart the ice wall as she continued down the road with her pursuers close behind.

"Fire…?" Sonic questioned to himself. Why did that sound familiar? "Hey Shadow, you think that was Dust she was using?"

"No. That attack came from her body, no weapon involved." The black Hedgehog replied.

Sonic's eyes widened as he remembered the night where he met Ruby and when they fought off Torchwick. There was somebody else there too, a woman who's face he could not see, but she had fire powers just like that.

'Someone else was working with Torchwick back then too. Is it the same person? She might be involved with Eggman if that's the case.' Sonic thought before speaking to his friends.

"We gotta catch this lady! She could be important to whatever Eggman's got planned!"

"Understood." Shadow nodded.

"You got it, Sonic!" Tails responded.

As the two Hedgehogs and young Fox in his custom plane continued to chase Cinder, she had already made it to the highway, speeding up the ramp and into the main road where all the cars and trucks were. Though this part of Vale wasn't as crowded as the more central part of the city, there were still enough cars that traffic could seem moderate.

Cinder was able to weave around the vehicles easily enough, though shaking the Fox in the plane would be difficult, all these cars should make it harder for the two speeding rodents to maintain or increase their speed and catch up. However, as she turned around, she was completely shocked to see Sonic and Shadow maneuvering around each driving vehicle with little-to-no issue. They would catch up with her soon, Shadow being the first as he boosted himself along the side of the freeway, and fired Arondight's semi-automatic gun at her; forcing Cinder to pull back on the brakes slightly, slowing herself down before throwing a wave of flame in Shadow's direction, forcing him to dodge.

But her slowing down proved to be a mistake as Sonic had managed to catch up to her from behind, leap over her and land at the front of the motorcycle, in-between the handles, Cinder's hidden eyes widening like circles.

"You know the rules of the road. See the blue, pull over." The blue Hedgehog grinned. "And have your license and registration at the ready, too."

In response, Cinder fired a point-blank blast of fire directly at Sonic, but he was able to leap over it, pull out Caliburn and slice at her, which she blocked with one hand drawing a Midnight blade, while the other hand was on her motorcycle handle.

"Not bad, but I know somebody who's way better with flames than you are." Sonic grinned

Growling, Cinder decided to play dirty as she briefly let go of the motorcycle's handles, reached into her pocket and pulled out a bomb which she dropped onto the road before it exploded.

A huge part of the freeway bridge exploded, causing pieces on each end to collapse as several incoming cars on the other side began to fall off, while others tried to come to a sudden stop, only to get hit in the back by the cars behind them and knocked over.

Sonic's eyes widened in shock as he immediately broke off from Cinder and ran back to help the people.

"Shadow! Help me here! Tails, you keep going after her!" Sonic quickly told them before he leapt off the side of the freeway where he spotted several falling cars. He quickly used his homing ability to move to one car, then another, then another before making it to the ground before a single car had hit.

Sonic then proceeded to run around quickly in circles as fast as he could and create a larger version of his Blue Tornado move to slow the descent of the cars. Shadow had then teleported directly into the tornado and used super speed to dash to one of the slow-falling cars, grab the driver and teleport him to safety outside the tornado before teleporting back in to repeat the process several times over. Most of the cars only had one driver, with some carrying one additional passenger, though there were a few that had whole families, even babies, inside; but Shadow as able to pull out every single one of them.

Despite that, Sonic kept up the large Blue Tornado, slowing his speed only slightly to make sure none of the cars crashed and exploded, which would cause only further collateral damage. Though the impact of all the vehicles on the ground was hard, and some would need to be completely replaced at an auto-shop later, that was the extent of the damage. Sonic stopped running, the Blue Tornado vanishing to reveal a large pile of broken and busted cars. On the side, Shadow had managed to save all the civilians, all gathered together as parents held their children, even husbands and wives holding to one another. There was not one single casualty.

---

Meanwhile, Cinder had found the exit off the freeway and sped down a descending ramp that would take her back to the main road, which would lead her to her intended destination. She locked in her motorcycle's mirror to see the Cyclone was still in pursuit. Fortunately, Cinder had spotted a tunnel further ahead. She picked up her motorcycle's speed and entered the tunnel.

'Good luck following me in here.'

However, Tails had already brought the Cyclone closer to the road as he converted it to its cart-mode, the wings folding inward and the tires coming out. By the time he got to the tunnel, Tails was already driving at the same speed he was flying at and making his way closer to the shocked Cinder.

'Are you kidding me!?'

Tails aimed his weapons again, this time firing lasers of Lightning Dust at Cinder, which she could barely dodge. One bolt managed to skid her side, causing her to yell in pain as her Aura flashed from the shot.

"That little…!" She scowled before pulling back on her motorcycle, bringing it right next to the Cyclone's cart-mode as she quickly drew one of Midnight's blades and sliced towards Tails, who gave a surprised yelp as he ducked underneath the slice. She then tried to lunge her blade at him, but Tails had already brought out his two tails and wrapped them around Cinder's arm, much to her shock.

"Gotcha!" Tails smirked. "Come here!" He tried to pull her off her motorcycle in an attempt to capture her.

Growling, her eyes glowed brightly underneath her helmet as Cinder channeled her powers into the arm that Tails had caught. He was shocked to feel the intense heat that was radiating from her arm. He quickly released her arm so his tails wouldn't get burnt. Her arms free, Cinder sped ahead as Tails continued his pursuit.

'She doesn't just shoot fire. It's like she can superheat her whole body.' Tails mentally noted. 'And if she can be precise enough to direct it toward one limb…?' The young fox looked deathly serious. 'She's no thug like Torchwick, or an even an amateur fighter like most of the White Fang we've met so far. She's way more dangerous. Sonic was right, we have to capture her.'

Cinder saw that even though the Fox was still in pursuit, she was nearing the end of the tunnel with her destination just past the exit. She could already see the large warehouse.

'Almost there.'

However, right as she exited the tunnel, something fast came down right in front of her path with enough force to shatter the pavement and send her and her motorcycle flying high into the air.

From a slow-motion standpoint, Cinder's eyes widened in shock as she spotted Shadow in the middle of the impact zone, scowling in her direction.

Before she could react again, a blue Homing Attack struck her motorcycle to completely destroy it, revealing the culprit to be Sonic as he too glared at her.

"That was not cool!" He stated, referring to her stunt on the freeway.

She was close! So close! She couldn't afford to be captured! Channeling every bit of her power as she could, streams of flame shot out from her palms and feet, blasting herself while in mid-air straight toward the warehouse in front of her, crashing through one of the upper windows and making it inside.

Shadow wouldn't let her recover as he already performed a spin-dash attack on the metal bay door directly in front of him, blasting his way into the building and skidding to a stop in the middle of the warehouse. Sonic entered a second later with the Cyclone speeding in as well.

Tails quickly converted the Cyclone into Battle Mode as the Hedgehogs drew their respective weapons, all three were ready for a fight as they circled up, looking in all directions for any sign of their mysterious assailant. But there was nothing. No sign of her at all. Just large shipping crates of Dust, all lined with the SDC logo on the sides.

"Where is she?" Sonic questioned. "Did we lose her?"

However, their attention was caught by the sound of a beep, then another, and another. Their eyes turned to the source of the sound, a metallic device attached to one of the cargo containers that had a countdown with only two seconds remaining before it reached one, and then zero.

*BOOM!*

---

The entire warehouse exploded, lighting up almost like a massive flurry of fireworks as fire, lightning, ice, gravity pulses, and other similar phenomena shot up into the sky.

From the top of the road that was just above the tunnel she exited out of, stood Cinder. Her helmet was in one hand, revealing her smirking face, while the other hand, she held a detonator that started the bomb's five-second countdown she had previously planted in just in case. It was originally intended to erase the so-called evidence of the Dust robberies Torchwick had committed, but it served a much grander purpose here.

Cinder gave a shallow and satisfying laugh as she saw what was left of the warehouse burn away. Behind her an Eggman stealth dropship had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, having been cloaked the entire time, one of its side doors opening.

"That's what you get for thinking you could defeat a chosen one." Cinder boasted aloud as she entered the dropship, the door quickly closing behind her as the ship re-engaged cloaking and quietly flew away.

While inside, Cinder couldn't help but feel smug at her apparent victory. 'Those rodents were tougher than I thought, but not enough to match me. I don't know why the doctor made such a fuss over them. He'd better be kissing my feet after this.'

Suddenly, a large hand had seized her by the throat, before slamming her whole body against the wall of the cloaked vessel.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Eggman yelled at her, a look of rage and fury on his face as he held her by the neck with only one hand, keeping her body off the ground and pinned against the wall.

Cinder was completely startled by not only his tone, but also Eggman's strength. His hand felt like steel cables around her throat. "W-What's the problem…?!" She winced as it felt like he was actually choking her with one hand. "Y-You wanted this… Right…?!"

"The Hedgehog is mine to destroy! It's not the job of some upstart, wannabe assassin, like you!" Eggman exclaimed, leaning his enraged face closer to hers. "I could carpet bomb him any day! Heck, I could use the Eclipse Cannon and Chaos Emeralds to obliterate not only Beacon, but also blow away half of Remnant and wipe him out in an instant! That's not enough! That's not the point! I have to beat him! I have to prove I'm superior! There's a right and wrong way to vanquish your life-long nemesis, and you did it very, VERY, WRONG!" He then threw her to the floor. "Don't ever pull a stunt like that again! You hear me?!"

Cinder coughed as she rubbed her throat. "W-what… are you talking about…? He's gone…! Him and two of his friends…!'

"Lucky for you, Sonic is too tenacious to die because of your barbarism." Eggman revealed, walking to a nearby monitor and turned it on to reveal live footage of the burning warehouse from one of his spy-drones.

The smoke had cleared to reveal Tails' Cyclone had projected a Hard-Light Dust shield in the form of a dome that protected not only himself and his vehicle, but also Sonic and Shadow.

"Whoa, nice timing Tails." Sonic congratulated. "Those are some hard-core shields, huh?"

"Thanks. Probably don't want to take our chances with anything else that big again though." Tails said humbly with a nervous chuckle.

"Our target escaped." Shadow said with a scowl.

"Ah well, we'll get her next time." Sonic assured.

Cinder's eyes widened in shock as she pulled herself up to see the footage. "Impossible…!"

"Told you." Eggman said as he leaned in close to Cinder's face again. "Now that you've had your first taste of battling that insufferable rodent, I'm sure you'll be cautious from this point forward. Get back to Beacon and proceed with the plan. But if you pull another stunt like that again, I'll put you on the chopping block myself and Salem will have to find someone else to take the Maiden powers! Am I clear?!"

She narrowed her eyes back at him. "Crystal."

"Good." Eggman turned around and walked away to the cockpit of the automated vessel. "Remember your place, brat."

Cinder clenched her fists tightly. She was tempted to end him right then and there, but she was also aware of how smart and prepared Eggman seemed to be. No doubt he had something on-board that could stop her if she tried anything. Otherwise, he wouldn't dare threaten her the way he did, let alone lay a hand on her.

'Just you wait, Doctor… and you too, rodent.' She glared at the paused image of Sonic on the monitor. 'When I get my full power… I'll show you both just how much of a nightmare I can be! Your time is nearing its end; Doctor Eggman, Sonic the Hedgehog!'

Done.

Wow that was so much fun! So much excitement and drama all in one chapter. We kick off with a bang as Teams Sonic, Dark, RWBY, and JNPR did battle with the Egg-Wyvern, Torchwick's Paladin and Metal Sonic.

The young Huntsmen-in-training now understand just how dangerous Metal Sonic is as he countered all their moves with little effort, and even utilized Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster together, tossing around RWBY and JNPR like ragdolls.

But we got to see some progress and skills on their side as well as Ruby shows off her leadership skills and tactical awareness once more, helping to organize the fight so that all four teams could work together and effectively neutralize their enemies. Even Jaune is improving in the same field, knowing how and when for his teammates to best utilize their skills.

We even had the fight take place away from civilians unlike in the canon episode where RWBY carelessly led Torchwick's paladin on a busy highway, resulting in a great deal of collateral damage. A lot of you warned me about that, and I agree that it was a reckless move. So I decided to change it up a bit to where the heroes could fight their enemies without anyone getting caught in the crossfire.

Yes, Metal Sonic now has a built-in sword and energy-gun. Sonic has a sword now, so it's only fair that Metal has one too. If you want a reference pic, look up "Mimic on Twitter: 'metal sonic but with the sick sword arm he deserves'"

I also added in an original character put in, Fidler, a pig Faunus, with him and his brothers loosely based off the Three Little Pigs as the RWBY series takes most of its characters and elements from other fairy tales and myths. But here, we once again see that the situation surrounding the White Fang and SDC isn't as black and white as originally thought. Not every Faunus in the White Fang is bad, some feel they have no choice but to do what they do because of the kind of lives they live, with the SDC having a huge part to play in those circumstances. That was one of the big issues when it came to the terrible story writing of Vol 4 and 5 where the White Fang was just made purely villainous, with only a select few exceptions. But I plan to fix things with not only the White Fang, but many other plots and ruined character arcs in Vol 4 and 5 later on.

And then, there was the motorcycle chase at the end with Sonic, Shadow, and even Tails pursuing Cinder. You just can't have a Sonic the Hedgehog story without a high-speed chase. :) Cinder has now learned first-hand just how tenacious Sonic and his friends can be, but it's not quite enough to curb her arrogance. Don't you worry though, she's going to get put through the humiliation and karma ringer hard when we get to Vol 3. (evil laugh).

But now, the heroes know that Beacon has been infiltrated, already branching this story from the canon. How do our heroes plan to respond to this? Find out next time. Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. Love you.