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)

3. Trials of the Emerald Forest

Hi everyone, thanks again for waiting. This is one chapter I have been wanting to write since I started this fic, one of many in the future. Sonic and his friends are in Beacon and are about to take the same test as the first years so Ozpin and the others can get a better understanding of their abilities. Things are going to get interesting as this chapter will see the start of new friendships that will help shape this story and the events to follow.
With all that being said, let's get started.

Trials of the Emerald Forest

"Wake up, Lazy bum! It's morning! It's morning! It's morning! It's morning!" Nora Valkyrie, a teenage girl with orange hair and aqua eyes, exclaimed to her childhood friend, Lie Ren as they awoke for the day of their initiation with the other first years. Nora wore a black sleeveless dress with a white shirt over it and heart-shaped cut out over her breast line, white detached sleeves on both her arms and pink fingerless gloves. She also had a pink skirt with a white layer underneath and white boots with pink laces.

Ren, a young man with magenta-colored eyes, black hair, with a single magenta streak on his left side, stood up, already fully dressed in his clothing. He wore a dark green, diagonally-button, long sleeved tailcoat with black and gold trimming, as well as white pants and black shoes. As he prepared for the day, he listened silently to Nora's excited ramblings about their acceptance to Beacon.

"I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full twenty-four hours! Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything, I mean you're the perfect student and I'm well… I'm me! But it's just crazy, ya know? We've been friends for soooo long! What are the odds we'd still be together? Well not together-together, not that I'm saying you're not handsome, you are handsome, but that just be weird. Right? Right, what was I thinking? But so, I hope that we still end up on the same team together! Oooh! We should come up with some sort of plan, to make sure we end up on the same team together! What if we bribe the headmaster? No, that won't work. He has a school."

Her ramblings continued even into the locker room as they collected their gear. "I know! We should have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal! Oooh! A secret signal so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?"

"Nora?" Ren finally spoke.

"Yes, Ren?" She asked as he slid his weapons into his sleeves.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." Ren told her.

She paused for a moment. "That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect we're working together!"

"Come on, Nora. Let's go." Ren said as they began to leave the locker room.

"But not together-together…" She continued as they passed by Ruby and Yang, who were also gathering their equipment from their respective lockers.

"Wonder what those two are so worked up about." Ruby observed.

"Oh, who knows?" Yang brushed off. "So, you seem awfully chipper this morning."

"Yep!" Ruby grinned excitedly as she pulled out Crescent Rose from her locker. "No more awkward small talk or getting-to-know-you stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." She caressed her beloved weapon.

"Well remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation." Yang told her younger sister. "If you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn how to work together. And no, that imaginary blue hedgehog guy doesn't count."

"I keep telling you, he's a real guy! Professor Ozpin himself spoke to him!" Ruby replied harshly.

"Okay, whatever you say." Yang held her hands up defensively, a playfully skeptical smile on her face.

"And what does meeting new people have to do with fighting, anyway?" Ruby continued. "And I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang asked.

"Um… I don't know." The youngest sister looked away rather shyly. "I… I'll just be on your team or… something."

"Maybe… you should try and be on someone else's team…" Yang brushed her own hair somewhat nervously.

"My dearest sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me!?" Ruby narrowed her silver eyes with a pouty expression.

"What?! No! Of course, I do!" The eldest sister quickly replied. "I just thought… I don't know… maybe it would help you break out of your shell."

"What!? I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely…

"Ridiculous!" They both heard Jaune's shout of frustration as he tried to find his assigned locker, looking at the assigned sheet in his hands. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday, I would have remembered to count that high! Oooh, why does this have to happen today?"

He also happened to pass by Weiss, who was gathering her own gear alongside another young woman She had long red hair tied back in a pony tail, with green eyes. She wore golden and bronze armor similar to that of an Amazonian warrior, complete with a breastplate and thigh-high armored greaves, with black skirt and a red sash tied over it.

"So Pyrrha, have you given any thought as to whose team you'd like to be on?" Weiss asked her. "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong individual, such as yourself."

"Hmm, I'm not quite sure." Pyrrha answered. "I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could be on a team together." Weiss suggested.

"Well, that sounds grand." Pyrrha smiled.

"Great!" Weiss beamed while also having comically sinister thoughts in her head. 'This will be perfect! The smartest girl in class combined with the strongest girl in class! Together, we will be unstoppable! I can see it now! We'll be popular! We'll be celebrities! We'll get perfect grades! Nothing will come between us now!'

"Ya know what else is great?" Jaune said, literally coming in-between them, trying to act like a cool ladies' man. "Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

"You again?" Weiss questioned irritably.

"Nice to meet you, Jaune." Pyrrha greeted in a friendly manner.

"Yeah, yeah." He seemed to direct his attention toward the Schnee girl. "So Weiss, I couldn't help but hear your fondness of me the other day." He flexed his arm, while she simply ran her hand down her face in annoyance.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed." Jaune continued. "So, been hearing rumors about teams. I was thinking you and me would make a good one. So, what do you say?"

"Actually, I think the students are comprised of four students each." Pyrrha said. "So…"

"You don't say." He then directed his attention toward Pyrrha. "So, hot-stuff, play your cards right, and maybe you could join-up with the winning team."

Weiss quickly came in-between them. "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?'

"Not in the slightest, Snow Angel." He answered.

"This is Pyrrha Nikos." Weiss introduced.

"Hello again." Pyrrha gave a friendly wave.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum." Weiss continued.

"Never heard of it." Jaune shrugged.

Weiss scoffed. "She's won the Mistral Regional Tournaments four years in a row! A new record!"

"The what…?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow.

Weiss' eyelids lowered before shouting. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes Box!" She comically waved her arms in frustration.

Jaune gasped. "That's you?!" He pointed to Pyrrha in overly dramatic fashion. "They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." Pyrrha looked away with a shy smile. "Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" Weiss pointedly asked Jaune, causing him, and even Pyrrha, to look down slightly.

"I guess not. Sorry."

"Actually Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader." Pyrrha told him, trying to help raise his spirits, which seemed to work.

"Oh, stop it!" He comically blushed.

"Seriously, stop it." Weiss said seriously. "This kind of behavior should not be encouraged."

"So, Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune." He said to Weiss, going back to his cool ladies' man façade. "Spots are filling up quick. I'm not supposed to do this but, maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you, what do you say?"

"Alright. That's a bit too close." Weiss had to push him back slightly. "Pyrrha, a little help please!"

Pyrrha's sent her spear forward to pin Jaune by his hood to the locker on the other side of the room. "I'm sorry!" She quickly said to him.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation."

"It was nice meeting you." Pyrrha told Jaune as she retrieved her spear and left the locker room with Weiss.

"Likewise..." He said dejectedly.

"Having some trouble there, lady killer?" Yang asked as she and Ruby walked up, the latter offering her hand to help Jaune stand up.

"I don't understand. My dad said, 'all women look for is confidence.'" Jaune said in a defeated moan. "Where did I go wrong?"

"'Snow Angel', probably wasn't the best start." Yang said as they were among the last to leave the locker room.

"Come on Jaune. Let's go." Ruby told him.

---

Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were in their own dorm room that Ozpin had set up for them as they were preparing to head out to the Emerald Forest as well.

"All and all, this place doesn't seem too bad." Amy said, looking out the window at the entire campus. "It's got plenty of dorms, a nice view, a well open campus, a cafeteria, a library, pretty much everything you'd see at an ivy league college. Looks like a mix between Soleanna and Spagonia University back home."

"Except back home, kids aren't trained to fight blood first monsters." Knuckles said.

"Still on about that, Knux?" Sonic questioned. "Look, we all get it and we don't like it either; but at least this way, people are getting the training needed so they can fight and win. Plus, Remnant's people even got superpowers for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, I know." Knuckles replied. "Like I said, I get it. I understand why they have to do it, and I respect the fact that these kids are also given a choice to become these so-called Huntsmen. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Yeah, I can see why, especially when you consider the monsters they have to fight." Tails said as he looked over all the data on the Creatures of Grimm that Ozpin gave them, which he downloaded to his Miles Electric. "These Grimm things are real nasty. Beowolves, Ursai, Sabyrs, Nevermores, Death Stalkers…"

"Who comes up with these names?" Amy questioned rhetorically.

"I think there's even some kind of three-headed giraffe here!" Tails continued.

"Yeah, those things are definitely messed up." Sonic said.

"I'm a little more concerned about what Eggman's gonna try to do with them." Knuckles put in. "Knowing him, he's already planning on scooping up a bunch and trying to weaponize them."

"Yeah, combine them with his Badnik army, and we got a real problem." Sonic also expressed concern.

"That's all the more reason for us to work with Ozpin and these Huntsmen to help fight them, right?" Amy said. "It's also why Ozpin is having us take this test of his with those first-year students; not just to test our abilities, but to see what their capable of."

"Sonic, didn't you say you met a girl who got accepted into this school?" Tails asked.

"Yep, her name is Ruby." The blue Hedgehog began. "Kid's got some skill, apparently her uncle trained her. She looked like she was fourteen or fifteen, but she wielded some kind of gun-scythe hybrid like a pro, and she's pretty fast too. Well not as fast as me, but still pretty fast. And apparently, Ozpin admitted her two years ahead of other students like her, so she seems like a special case."

"Guess we'll just have to see what these kids can do then." Knuckles said with a slight shrug.

"We should get going. Ozpin's probably expecting us and it would be rude to keep him waiting." Amy stated.

"Eh, we'll be there in no time." Sonic said as he leapt out the window. "Race you guys there!" He challenged as he fell causally before running down the side of the building; with Tails flying after him, Knuckles gliding on his own, and Amy leaping down to use her own speed as well.

---

All the first-year students, including Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren, had all assembled at Beacon Cliff, facing the forest below as Ozpin and Glynda began to give them their instructions for the test.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors." Ozpin began. "And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Glynda added. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates, today."

"…What…?" Ruby muttered nervously.

"These teammates will be with you the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin continued. "So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." This only caused Ruby to look even more nervous. "That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with after landing, will be your partner for the next four years."

"What!?" Ruby exclaimed.

"See? I told you!" Nora said to Ren.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin explained. "You will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." Now it was Jaune's turn to look nervous as he gulped. "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Um… yeah. Sir…?" Jaune nervously raised his hand, but Ozpin appeared to ignore him.

"Good. Now, take your positions." He instructed as the students each took some form of position on the individual platforms that they were each standing on.

"Uh sir… I've got a question…" Jaune still had his hands raised as the platforms began to launce each of the students out one-by-one, Weiss being the first. "So, this landing strategy thing… um… what is it? You're like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling." Ozpin answered as more of the students were launched into the forest.

"Oh… I see… So, like… did you hand out parachutes for us?" Jaune asked as Nora was launched next, followed by Ren.

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy" Ozpin replied.

"Uh-huh, yeah." Jaune nodded nervously.

Yang was about to be launched next as she gave her sister a friendly wink, put on a pair of sunglasses, and was launched. Ruby was next with a smirk before she too was launched, leaving only Jaune.

"So… uh… what exactly is a landing strategeeeeeeeyyyyyyy!" Jaune screamed as he was launched as well.

Ozpin took a sip of his mug before a blue blur appeared before him, which happened to be Sonic as he looked toward the forest and saw all the kids launched into the air.

"Ya know, I feel there should be some kind of joke to this. But I'm coming up blank. That's a first for me." Sonic said as the rest of his friends arrived shortly behind him.

"Did you just seriously catapult those kids into a Grimm-infested forest?" Knuckles questioned. "And before you say anything…" He looked to Glynda specifically. "I already know why you gotta train them, world infested with monsters and all that, but why do you have to catapult them?"

"Yeah, I gotta agree with Knuckles on this one." Amy added. "Why not just have them climb or slide down on a ramp or something?"

"There are scenarios in which a Huntsmen or Huntress end up falling from great heights, and this is a way for them to practice a landing strategy in which they do not die from said fall." Ozpin explained.

"That's… oddly specific." Tails commented. "But it's your school and we'll respect how you run it."

"So, we kinda overheard what you're having those students do for this test, but what about us?" Sonic asked. "I mean we're not technically students so…"

"Much like our students, the four of you will enter the Emerald Forest and make your way to the abandoned temple." Ozpin explained. "However, you do not need to guard any relics, as those are our way for assigning the students into teams. Just make your way past the Grimm to the temple and return to the cliff. We will be monitoring you to see how you fight and get a better grasp of your capabilities. You may choose to help the students if you wish."

"However, just as they must learn to work with others, it is also important for them to handle themselves and not become too dependent on outside parties for help." Glynda added. "As the professor said, you can help them, but it is not required. This test for them is to assess their abilities and teamwork, we are just simply observing what you can do."

"So, get to the temple and back and smash the Grimm." Sonic summed up. "Nice and simple. And we're probably gonna help the kids anyway. Helping people's kind of our thing."

"If that is what you wish, just be certain you don't do their work for them." Ozpin said.

"Sounds fair." Amy accepted.

"Let's get this party started." Sonic zoomed down the cliff and shot into the forest, leaving a blue gust of wind in the path he led. Tails simply flew toward the forest while Knuckles leapt to glide down. Amy pounded her Piko-Piko hammer into the ground to propel herself into the air before falling toward the forest.

"This should certainly be interesting." Ozpin commented.

"Sir, are you sure it is wise for them to take this test alongside our students?" Glynda asked. "While they could be mistaken for Faunus, one close look at each of them and they will find that is not the case. They will never have seen anything like them."

"True, but given what they've told us of this Dr. Eggman and the threat he poses to Remnant, Sonic and his companions will likely have to take an active role in this world and work alongside us and our allies. This will help test not only how they are willing to work with us, but how our people are willing to work with beings like them."

"Of course, you know there will be other consequences." Glynda told him. "Eggman is not our only enemy."

Ozpin could only sigh. "Yes Glynda… I know."

---

After a successful landing, Ruby immediately ran off deeper in the forest with only one thing on her mind. 'Gotta find Yang! Gotta find Yang! Gotta find Yang!'

"Yang! Yang!" Ruby tried calling out for her older half-sister but got no response as she ran further and further into the Emerald Forest.

'Oh this is bad, this is really bad!' Ruby thought to herself as she continued to run. 'What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first? There's always Jaune. He's nice, he's funny. I don't think he's very good in a fight though. Oh! What about Blake? So mysterious, so calm… plus she likes books! Well, then again, I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a conversation with her. Ugh! Okay, who else do I know in this school? There's Yang, Jaune, Blake, and…'

Her train of thoughts came to an end as she stopped herself from running into the only other person that she met at Beacon so far: Weiss.

Both girls stared at each other for a moment, a small and hopeful smile forming on Ruby's face. However, Weiss immediately turned around and walked away without saying a word.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Ruby questioned, before looking down dejectedly. "We're supposed to be teammates…"

Weiss pushed past some bushes, hoping to find somebody else that could serve as her partner. But, she happened to glance up at the sounds of struggling to see Jaune hanging by his hood, impaled with Pyrrha's spear to the tree. No doubt she used that to keep him from crashing. He glanced down toward Weiss and waved nervously.

Deciding to pick a less embarrassing option, Weiss turned back around to meet up with Ruby. "By no means does this make us friends." She told the younger girl as she began to drag her away by her own hood.

"You came back!" Ruby cheered as she was literally dragged away.

"Hey, wait! Come back!" Jaune called to them, but they were both out of earshot already. "Who's gonna get me down from here?!"

"Jaune?" He looked down to see none other than Pyrrha looking up to him with crossed arms and a smirk. "Do you have any spots left on your team?"

"Very funny." He pouted before smiling slightly. "So… uh… a little help here?"

"Hang on, I got you."

Both looked up in surprise to see none other than Tails hovering down toward them before grabbing the spear and pulling it out with a yank. Jaune gave a yelp as he fell and landed on his rear. "Ow."

Jaune and Pyrrha wordlessly looked toward Tails as he brought himself down to the ground before handing the spear to Pyrrha. "I'm guessing this is yours?"

"Um… yes. Thank you." Pyrrha took back her weapon as she absentmindedly helped Jaune up to his feet. "And you are…?"

"Name's Tails." The young fox introduced with a friendly smile.

---

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Ruby asked as Weiss walked on ahead, almost as if she was trying to lose Ruby despite begrudgingly accepting her as her partner.

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow!" Weiss told her. "I swear that if I get a bad grade because of your…" Ruby suddenly appeared in front of her, much to Weiss' surprise. "What the…!?"

"I'm not slow, see?" Ruby said. "You don't have to worry about me!"

"When did…" Weiss double-backed to make sure she wasn't seeing things. That really was fast.

"Weiss, just because I don't exactly know how to deal with people, doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters." Ruby said as she put her arm around her shoulder, trying to act confident and friendly. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss! And after it's all over, you're gonna be like, 'Wow, that Ruby girl is really, really, cool. And I wanna be your friend.'"

She then dashed away, leaving a trail of rose petals which Weiss brushed away from her face, right before she heard the some of the bushes around her creak and crack. "You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" Weiss called out but looked concerned when she didn't get a response. "Ruby?" More bushes were ruffled around her, causing her to look somewhat nervous. "Ruby…?"

Weiss found herself completely surrounded by a pack of Beowolves that growled and snarled at her with deadly intent. The one in front of her lashed out with its claws, but she immediately drew her sword, Myrtenaster, and parried the strike, the force sending her skidding back on her feet as the pack surrounded her.

'Remember your training, Weiss.' She thought to herself. 'Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward… not that forward! Slow your breathing, wait for the right time to strike and… Now!' She shot herself forward, Myrtenaster pointing forward, ready to attack the Beowulf in front of her.

Only for Ruby to suddenly appear in front of her and cut that same Beowulf down with Crescent Rose. "Gotcha!"

Weiss gasped as she stopped herself, slicing Myrtenaster the other direction, sending a trail of flame along the ground to ignite a nearby tree. This alerted Ruby and left her distracted to get sliced by a Beowolf, sending her tumbling into Weiss.

"Hey, watch it!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Excuse me!" Weiss exclaimed back. "You attacked out of turn! I could have killed you!"

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that." Ruby muttered as they came back-to-back, facing the entire back of Grimm as the largest one, the Alpha, gave a howl, and the fire from Weiss' accident began to spread around the area.

However, before anyone else could make a move, a blue streak shot forward to strike down the nearest Beowolf, before moving toward a second, a third, fourth, and fifth, already taking down half the pack as a certain blue hedgehog appeared in mid-air after the fifth homing attack.

"Sonic!?" Ruby recognized him immediately as he landed on the ground with his trademark smirk.

"Hey Ruby, hold the reunion one sec." Sonic said as he went on the attack again. He gave a boost to bash through another Beowolf, using his speed to quickly take out all the others one-by-one, save for the Alpha whom he saved for last. He was about to attack that one, only for a burning tree to land in front of him and stop him in his tracks. He quickly noticed the flames around the area and decided to handle that instead. He ran into, around, and through the flames to stomp them out while also moving with enough speed to keep himself from getting burnt. In a matter of seconds, the flames were already put out before the fire could spread further.

"Remember kids, only you can prevent forest fires." Sonic cracked as he stood on the log of the fallen tree.

Ruby looked with stars in her eyes and a wide smiley, practically squealing at the display while Weiss was rendered speechless. "I… uh… who… what… what?"

Sonic turned around to where he spotted the Alpha Beowolf and found that it was already gone. "Hmm, must have left. Ah well, pretty sure we'll see it again." He hopped down and met up with the two girls.

"Hey Ruby."

"S-Sonic! Oh, that was so cool!" Ruby beamed. "You were so fast! Fast like me! And… you just bashed through those Grimm like bam! Pow! Bang!" She continued to squeal.

"Hey, I try." Sonic shrugged before looking toward Weiss. "So, see you made a new friend."

"Who or what are you?!" The heiress questioned pointedly. "I know there are Faunus out there that bear more animal-like appearances compared to others, but you are for more animalistic than even they! And what kind of Semblance is that lets you just bash your way through a pack of Grimm?! You are clearly no ordinary person! And this place is private property of Beacon Academy! I know I didn't see you on the cliff with the other students, so where did you come from?!"

One would think Sonic would be annoyed or intimidated by the interrogation-styled questioning that was just presented to him, but he was neither. If anything, he looked more amused.

"Okay, in order… My name is Sonic the Hedgehog. No, I'm not a Faunus, and I don't have a Semblance, that's just my own speed-power, and I've used it to beat up a whole bunch of different monsters before, so this is nothing new to me. And I was invited here by Ozpin who's testing me and my friends, but we're not students, we've got a mutual agreement going on. Does that answer all your questions?"

Weiss simply blinked her wide eyes, not expecting her accusations to be answered so directly and calmly. "I believe so…"

"Good." He turned back to Ruby. "Didn't expect to see me again, did ya?"

"No I didn't, but I'm glad I did!" Ruby beamed before looking confused. "But, why are you here if you're not a student?"

"Like I said, Ozpin agreed to let me, and my friends join this test-thing to see what we can do cause we got an agreement going on. We know you guys gotta get these relics for your team, he said we could help if we wanted, so here I am. I'll explain the rest of the details later." Sonic summed up.

"Friends? You got friends here?" Ruby asked. "Are they all like you?"

"Similar but different and unique in their own way. Don't worry, they're all cool and you'll love em." Sonic said before turning back to Weiss. "So, what's your name, Snow White? You know mine."

"Weiss... Weiss Schnee." She replied, having taken in all Sonic said with, while still having trouble processing most of it. "Hold on, you said you don't have a Semblance? How is that possible?! How else could you move so fast?!"

"Cause I'm not from Remnant." Sonic answered.

Weiss blinked a few times. "Pardon me?"

Ruby gave a slight wincing smile, having already heard some of the basics of his story with Ozpin when they first met. "Would you believe us if we told you, he was an alien?"

---

Meanwhile, Yang walked through another area of the forest, and yet to find another student. "Hello!? Is anyone out there?! Hello?! I'm getting bored here!"

She heard some bushes ruffle behind her. "Is someone there?" She walked toward the bushes and pushed them away. "Ruby, is that you?" Her answer came in the form of a growl from the Ursa right in front of her. "Nope." She said, popping the letter p.

She quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the claw-swipe from the Ursa, getting back on her feet and reading her gauntlet-based weapons, Ember Celica. She then dodged out of the way of a second Ursa that tried to attack her from behind.

The first one lunged at her, but Yang delt a punch to its gut, Ember Celica firing a shotgun blast to knock it back and away. The second one tried to rush her, but she delivered an uppercut to its jaw, another shotgun blast from the punch to send it flying upward and dealt a kick to knock it back down.

"You guys wouldn't have happened to see a girl in a red hood, would you?" She asked rhetorically as the Ursa roared at her. "You could just say 'no'." She ducked under one claw slice and backflipped to avoid the second with a joking laugh. "Geeze, you two couldn't hit the broadside of a…"

Her smile faded as she saw a lock of her own blonde hair fall off, having gotten cut by the Ursa's previous claw slice. With that, all jokes and humor faded from Yang's mind. "You…" Her eyes closed and then re-opened to reveal they were bright red with rage. "You bastards!"

An explosion erupted around her whole body, her hair lighting on fire as Yang shot herself forward with her gauntlets, gunning for the closest Ursa, pounding it all over its body with punches and shotgun blasts from Ember Celica. It was sent flying, but she wasn't done with it yet as she propelled herself forward with blasts from her gauntlets to continue her merciless beatdown of that Ursa before delivering a strong enough punch to send it crashing through several trees before it died and melted away.

Yang then turned around to face the second Ursa as it charged at her. "What?! You want some too?!"

However, the Ursa was quickly impaled from behind, causing it to fall over dead. The one who killed it was none other than Blake, who began to retrieve her weapon, Gambol Shroud.

"I could have taken him." Yang said to her, her red eyes turning back to their natural lilac color.

Suddenly, three Ursa appeared on their right, breaking through several trees to roar and attack the pair.

"Looks like you may get your chance!" Blake said as she and Yang readied herself.

However, something quick shot past and in-between them to strike the first Ursa with enough power to send it crashing into the other two, much to their shock.

Knuckles grunted as he saw the Ursa get back up before he went on the attack. He punched the center Ursa in its face to shatter its skull before ducking under the slice of the second to punch it through its right shoulder and completely break off its right arm and delivered another punch through its side to kill it. He then swerved around the claw swipe of the third to punch at its feet and trip it up, sending it tumbling into an uppercut from Knuckles to its jaw, obliterating its head with one strike.

Knuckles stood with a satisfied smirk on his face as he saw all three of the Ursai bodies fade away, turning around to face the surprised Yang and Blake, both looking wide-eyed at what just happened.

"Hello." The red echidna waved.

"Hi…" The stupefied Yang absentmindedly waved back.

"My name is Knuckles, Knuckles the Echidna." He introduced himself. "And you two are…?"

"Blake." The black-haired girl said simply.

"Yang." The blonde also introduced herself in a similar manner.

"Nice to meet you." Knuckles said with a friendly smile.

"Hey uh… what's an echidna?" Yang asked Blake.

"It's a mammal that is often mistaken for a rodent, even though they are somewhat similar." She explained.

"Rodent… like a hedg…" Yang's eyes widened before wincing slightly as she looked back toward Knuckles. "Hey… you wouldn't happen to know a blue hedgehog, would you?"

That got Knuckles' attention. "You know Sonic?"

"No… but my sister does." Yang said with a groan, running her hand down her face. "And I'm gonna hear so many 'I told you so's."

---

Amy Rose walked through the foliage of the forest, her Piko-Piko at the ready as she looked around for any signs of Grimm, or students that may need some help. "Hmm, okay… so if I were an evil monster without a soul… where would I be?" She mused to herself, seemingly unaware of something large and dark slithering behind her. However, she merely smirked as the massive black snake-like head of a Grimm known as a King Taijtu lunged at her. But Amy was faster as she quickly struck the Piko-Piko to its side to knock it down.

"Right behind me." Amy smirked gloatingly toward the large snake. "Sorry pal, but I got experience with monsters trying to sneak up on me." She said, unaware of the Taijtu's second white head appearing behind her. "You're gonna have to try harder…"

The white head lunged toward her, but someone appeared in-between them, much to Amy's surprise as she turned around to see Ren holding the open fanged mouth back of the white Taijtu's head with his Aura alone. He then gave a flip-kick to knock the head back as he pulled out his dual weapons, StormFlower to fire automatic rounds at it. However, the black head had quickly recovered and tried to lunge at him, but Amy quickly tackled Ren out of the way as they both slid and recovered to face the two-headed snake-like Grimm.

"Whoa boy, I should have studied these things more." Amy chastised herself for letting her guar down. "Thanks, by the way."

"You're welcome." Ren simply nodded. Though he was surprised by the sudden appearance of a pink anthropomorphic hedgehog, he decided to put that away for the time being to deal with the threat in front of them.

"I take the black head; you take the white one?" Amy proposed.

"Deal." Ren nodded as they charged at the respective heads of the King Taijtu, dividing its attention and making it easier for them.

Ren got the attention of the white head by firing StormFlower at it, while Amy leapt into the air to strike the black head with her Piko-Piko in its right eye to knock it down. She landed in front of it as it recovered to lunge at her, but Amy quickly slid under the strike to appear behind it and swing her hammer into the left side of its neck. While it was disoriented, Amy climbed onto its body and ran toward its head, where she then proceeded to strike with her hammer multiple times with enough force and speed that the entire head shattered with one final hammer strike. Meanwhile, Ren slid gracefully around the white head as it lunged at him before leaping into the air, wrapping his legs around its neck near the base of the head, where he then brought the blades of his StormFlower into both its eyes to blind it before pulling them out to impale its neck, and with a spin of his whole body, quickly decapitated the entire head.

Both Amy and Ren observed the remains of the King Taijtu disintegrate into nothingness. "Well, that was fun." Amy commented. "Thanks again for the help."

"You're welcome." Ren repeated. "But I actually mistook you for a friend of mine." He said, initially spotting Amy's pink form and hammer from a distance, though he was ashamed to mistake his childhood friend for her, he was also glad to come to the aid of his stranger in time.

"Oh? So, what's this friend of yours like?"

Amy's answer came in the form of someone making a pour imitating of an animal's call from the canopy above them. Nora then appeared, hanging upside down from a tree branch with her smile practically glued on her face.

"I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like." Ren told her.

"Sloths don't really make any sound." Amy commented.

Nora appeared to ignore Amy for a moment before she lightly tapped Ren's nose. "Boop." She then leapt down from her spot and turned toward Amy. "Hi there. You got some good moves there, girl."

"Awe, thanks." The pink hedgehog smiled. "I'm Amy Rose. What are your names?"

"Nice to meet you, Amy. I'm Nora, Nora Valkyrie." She pulled Ren in, wrapping her right arm around him. "And this is my best buddy Lie Ren, but everyone just calls him Ren."

"Hello." Ren nodded simply.

"Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Those are very nice names." Amy smiled.

"Thank you." Ren replied.

Nora then gave a dramatic gasp as she saw the Piko-Piko. "You've got a hammer too!?"

"Yep. This is my pride and joy, the Piko-Piko." Amy held her beloved hammer over her shoulder proudly.

"Awesome! I've got this bad girl, Magnhild!" She showed off her own massive hammer. "It's also a hammer, and a grenade launcher!" She shifted her weapon to show its secondary configuration.

"Wow, that's cool!" Amy beamed. "My hammer can't turn into anything, but I like it the way it is."

"Hey! Since we're both pink and we have hammers, we can be hammer buddies!" Nora exclaimed joyously. "No wait… Hammer Harpies! Now that's a cool team name!"

"Hammer Harpies? Yeah, I like the ring of that. Put it there, Hammer Harpy." Amy said as she and Nora clanged their hammers together.

Ren couldn't help but shake his head with a slight smile. Though he still would like an answer on this stranger's appearance, he wasn't at all surprised by Nora's attitude, but he was certain she'd also like some answers as well. But given how friendly this 'Amy Rose' appeared to be, he had a feeling getting answers wouldn't be that difficult.

'This will certainly be interesting.'

---

Meanwhile, back at the top of the cliff, Professor Ozpin and Glynda continued to observe the progress of the students, as well as Team Sonic, through their scrolls that showed them what was happening in the forest below.

"Our last pair has been formed, sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren" Glynda reported to Ozpin. "And it would seem that Sonic and his companions have chosen to aid the students."

"Which speaks for their characters." Ozpin replied. "From what we've heard, the Creatures of Grimm, and by extension, Huntsmen Academies, do not exist in their world. So I imagine they must feel the need to protect those they perceive as young and inexperienced."

"While that may be true, I hope they don't intend to carry the students all the way to the end of this exam." Glynda said. "We've expressed to them that the students cannot become dependent on others if they are to grow and be Huntsmen."

"I don't think we have to worry." Ozpin responded. "Based on what we're seeing, Sonic and the others are choosing to work alongside the students as equals, rather than simply handing all the heavy lifting. This shows they are capable of working with others outside their normal company. It is my hope that we are able to establish proper cooperation with them."

"Well, this test is not yet over." Glynda said. "There is still much that all of them have to do."

The two professors then proceeded to make their way back to the main campus, where Ozpin would be watching them all closely. He needed to see what Sonic and his friends could do, perhaps it could give him and his allies an advantage in the coming conflict.

---

"So… you're an alien?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha walked through the Emerald Forest alongside Tails. "Like from another planet?!"

"More like another dimension, but yeah if you want to put it simply." Tails said.

"I honestly thought that stuff only existed in fiction, but apparently not." Pyrrha commented. "So, Tails, is it? What are you and your friends doing here?"

"You mean here on Remnant or in the Emerald Forest with you during your exam?" Tails asked for clarification.

"Both, I suppose." She replied.

"Well, my friends and I got zapped here while fighting a dangerous enemy of ours." Tails began to give a brief explanation. "We ran into Ozpin and told him our situation, and he felt that us taking a test of our own against the Grimm could allow him to get a better understanding of our own abilities."

"You mean like your ability to fly? Pyrrha asked.

"Among other things." Tails answered.

"How the heck can you even fly if you don't have wings?!" Jaune questioned.

Tails then showed off his dual appendages and began to spin them around to allow himself to hover in the air in front of them. "My two tails are more than just for show. By spinning them at a fast rate like this, I'm able to generate a propellent force that allows me to hover. I can also generate a gust of wind that allows me to fly long distances."

"Uh…" Jaune looked as if he didn't understand any of that.

"His tails act something like propellors and fans." Pyrrha summarized as Tails set himself down.

"Oh." The blonde boy understood that.

"I imagine that must be a strain on your Aura." She said to the young fox.

"Oh, my friends and I don't have Aura." Tails revealed, much to Pyrrha's surprise.

"You don't have Aura?! How is that possible?!" She questioned as Jaune looked a little confused, not exactly following with their conversation.

"Professor Ozpin already explained to us that everyone on your planet has Aura, including animals and plants." Tails told them. "But my friends and I aren't from Remnant, and that might be the reason."

"I suppose that makes sense." Pyrrha seemed to accept it. "This would be the first time we've made contact with beings outside of Remnant."

"Um… yeah, Aura." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Pretty big deal here on Remnant." Both Tails and Pyrrha looked toward him strangely. "Well, I mean since everyone has it, it's not that big a deal, heh, heh."

"Jaune, do you know what Aura is?" Pyrrha asked with a slight knowing smile.

"Of course, I do." Jaune bluffed. "Do you know what Aura is?"

"We literally just had a conversation about it." Tails chimed in.

That caused Jaune to look away with a wince. "Right…"

Pyrrha giggled slightly, turning back to Tails. "I'm sure Professor Ozpin has already told you this, but Aura is the manifestation of our soul." She began as Tails figured out this was also a way to explain it to Jaune and simply continued to listen. "It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. With practice, our Aura can be our shield, and as it grows, your will manifest a Semblance; an ability that is unique to your own soul."

"So, everyone has a different Semblance?" Tails asked.

"For the most part, but there are some cases where people have similar abilities." Pyrrha answered. "And there are a select few Semblances that are hereditary, but it's incredibly rare."

"What kind of Semblances are there?" Tails asked with Jaune following along and listening closely.

"They come in all kinds of forms." Pyrrha continued. "Some are rather basic such as strength enhancement, speed, or even elemental based. And there are those that are more complex, depending on the person. The experiences we live through help to shape not only our identities but also our souls, and by extension, our Semblances."

"Fascinating…" Tails listened on. "So what kind of Semblance do you have?"

"My Semblance is Polarity." Pyrrha replied.

"Polar… wha?" Jaune didn't quite understand.

"Magnetism, control over metals." Pyrrha translated.

"That's amazing." Tails smiled.

"Thank you." Pyrrha nodded sincerely as they continued along the forest.

"I wonder… does your Semblance allow you control over electromagnetism?" Tails asked

"Not at the moment." Pyrrha replied. "But Semblances are capable of evolving, also depending on our own experiences, and manifesting new abilities. For instance, I was only limited to metals that were already magnetic, but practice, I can now control all forms of metal. So, I suppose electromagnetism is not completely off the table, but I wouldn't say it's set in stone either."

"This is all fascinating." Tails was practically entranced by this discussion. "I'd like to know more!"

"I'd be happy to answer whatever questions you may have, though I can't guarantee I have all the answers." Pyrrha said as they continued to walk on.

"Hey, wait up!" Jaune tried to catch up to them. "Can maybe you try to explain all this in English, please?"

---

Meanwhile, Ruby sat with a bored and annoyed expression on the ground, playing with a leaf, as Weiss tried to find the direction they were supposed to go.

"It's definitely this way." Weiss walked in one direction before turning around. "I mean, this way! It's definitely this way." She then walked back toward Ruby. "Alright, it's official, we passed it."

"Why can't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?" Ruby questioned as she stood up.

"Because I know exactly where we're going!" Weiss tried to defend herself. "We're going… to… the forest temple!"

Ruby groaned in annoyance. "Can't we just wait for Sonic? He said he went out for scouting!"

"Because I'm not going to let some weird alien rodent thing give me directions when I can easily figure it out on my own!" Weiss argued. "And it's not like you know where we are either!"

"At least I'm not pretending that I know everything!" Ruby shot.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Weiss questioned.

"It means you're a bossy, stuck-up, know-it-all, who can't seem to accept the fact that she might be wrong!" Ruby argued.

"I'm not bossy!" Weiss argued back. "I'm not stuck-up, and I don't know everything! And at least I'm not a child who snuck her way into this school!"

"I didn't sneak into this school!" Ruby exclaimed. "I didn't even ask to be moved up this far ahead! I'm not a show-off like you!"

"I'm not a show-off!" Weiss shouted.

"Oh right, little Miss Rich Heiress who throws a tantrum whenever something doesn't go her way, isn't a show-off." Ruby said in clear sarcasm.

"You listen up you little…"

"Knock it off!" Sonic suddenly appeared in-between them, pushing them apart. "What are you guys, twelve?!"

"She started it!" Ruby pointed to Weiss.

"I did not!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it now!" Sonic told them. "Look, you guys are supposed to be partners, right? Well maybe if you stop arguing with each other and try to find a way to actually work together, you might end up becoming the strongest team in this school; but it's not gonna happen if you're both constantly at each other's throats!" He took a moment to let the heat die down as both girls remained silent, having listen to what Sonic had to say.

"Alright… what do you propose we do then?" Weiss asked with crossed arms.

"Well, you can start by sharing what you can do with each other." Sonic proposed. "Your Semblances, your weapons, and maybe you can find a way to make them work together."

"I guess that makes sense…" Ruby said, rubbing her arm a bit.

Weiss gave a small sigh herself, seeing the logic to it. "Very well, then."

"Okay, Ruby, why don't you start?" Sonic offered.

"Well, my weapon is called Crescent Rose." The younger girl brought out her scythe. "It's a customized scythe that can be converted into a high-impact sniper rifle. My Semblance is called Petal Burst, it lets me move pretty fast. Not as fast as you, but still pretty fast." She said to Sonic.

"That's cool." Sonic nodded before turning back to the other girl. "Weiss, what do you got?"

She took out her own weapon. "This is Myrtenaster. It's a multi-action Dust rapier. As you might suspect, it is capable of utilizing Dust for various short and long-ranged attacks. Currently, I have fire, ice, lightning, hard-light, wind, and gravity Dust. As for my Semblance, it is known as Glyphs. It allows me to conjure Glyphs of various abilities such as propulsion, attraction, and I'm even capable of infusing Dust into my Glyphs for extra fire-power."

"So, you got a lot of options on you, nice." Sonic commented, sounding impressed.

"Thank you." Weiss nodded with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Okay, this is a good start." Sonic told them both. "What kind of relationship you two have is entirely up to you, but it should be a good one if you want this partnership to be easier to deal with. I'll mostly leave that to you, but you can at least start by finding ways to combine your powers and techniques together to take down the bad guys."

"I think I can get behind that." Ruby nodded.

"I do see the logic in it." Even Weiss found it acceptable.

"So…" Ruby offered her hand to shake and a hopeful smile. Weiss sighed before she accepted and shook her hand.

"We'll start with a professional partnership and… see where we go from there." The heiress said.

"Works for me." Ruby said while also fighting back the urge to give a delighted squeal.

"Great, now with all that settled, let's get to those ruins." Sonic told them.

"Wait, you found it?" Ruby asked.

"Yep. It's only about four miles here, max." Sonic answered.

"I'm sorry, only four miles?" Weiss questioned. "You make that sound like it's a walk in the park!"

"Well for me it is." Sonic said. "Here, let me show you." He grabbed Weiss and hoisted her up in his right arm, much to her shock.

"Hey, wait… what are you…?!" She questioned as Sonic also hoisted Ruby up in his left arm, carrying both girls.

"Hold on." Sonic smirked before zooming away, leaving a blue wind trail as he ran at his usual speeds, zooming through the Emerald Forest.

As he carried them, Ruby squealed with excitement as if she were riding a roller coaster, complete with holding up her arms up as the wind blew in her face, blowing back her hair and hood. While Weiss screamed with terror, holding onto Sonic tightly for fear she get flung away from the inertia.

It took only about two minutes for Sonic to reach the ruins with his passengers before coming to a complete stop and setting the girls down. "See? Told ya." He said as Weiss fell flat on her knees, looking rather dizzy while Ruby zoomed up to Sonic's face.

"Oh my gods, that was awesome!" Ruby ranted excitedly like a little girl. "You moved so fast! Faster then even me! Wait… can I even go that fast? We're both fast! We're fast friends!"

Sonic chuckled at her excitement, easily taking a liking to this girl. "Fast friends, literally. You're a cool kid, Ruby."

Ruby, once again, fought back a squeal of delight. 'He said I'm cool! He thinks I'm cool! Somebody other than Yang thinks I'm cool!'

Weiss pulled herself up, shaking the stars from her vision as she regained her senses, looking toward the ruins and the various relics set up on pedestals. 'He got us here so quickly… crossing four miles in mere seconds…' She glanced back toward the blue hedgehog. 'Just how fast is he?'

"Well Weiss…" Ruby told her, getting Weiss' attention. "We're here, let's get a relic."

Weiss could only nod, deciding to put her curiosity toward Sonic aside for the moment as the test took first priority. She took a close look at each of the relics to find they were two sets of different chess pieces, a few white and the others were black.

"They're chess pieces…" Weiss muttered, trying to think of the significance behind them as she noticed a few empty pedestals. "It would seem we weren't the first ones here. A few relics are missing."

"Ah well, can't come in first every time." Sonic shrugged.

"Let's pick the horsey!" Ruby exclaimed as she grabbed the white knight piece.

"Why?" Weiss asked.

"Because I love animals!" Ruby replied.

"Can't go wrong with that." Sonic smirked.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"Sonic!" He and the girls turned around to see a certain red echidna gliding toward them, followed by another pair of girls that he had gotten acquainted with.

"Hey Knuckles. How ya been?" Sonic greeted as Knuckles landed in front of them.

"Oh you know, punched out a bunch of monsters, made some new friends, the usual." Knuckles replied. "Kinda like you, I'm guessing." He said, noticing Ruby and Weiss, while the later used her own speed to shoot herself toward her approaching sister.

"Yang!" Ruby appeared in front of her, as well as Blake. "See?! I told you!" She pointed to Sonic behind her. "He's real! Sonic the Hedgehog is real! I told you so!"

"Okay, okay, I get it! You were right!" Yang held up her hands defensively. "I'm sorry for doubting you and thinking he was imaginary."

"To be fair, anyone who hadn't seen someone like him before would assume the same thing." Blake commented.

"Yeah, so I wasn't out-of-line or anything." Yang said.

"But you did meet someone like him." Ruby said, gesturing to Knuckles.

"Yes… we did." Yang winced. "Again, I'm sorry."

"So, you're Ruby's sister." Sonic approached her. "Hmm, I don't see a resemblance. One of you adopted or something?"

"Or something." Yang said, not about to get into any familial issues with a person she only just met. "It's Sonic, right?"

"Yep, the one and only." Sonic smirked with pride as the group of six came together to allow Yang and Blake to collect their relic, which also happened to be a white knight piece.

"And you would be?" Weiss looked towards the red Echidna.

"Knuckles the Echidna, pleasure." He offered his hand to shake, which Weiss seemed to accept.

"How many of you are there?" She asked.

"Not counting Sonic and I, only two others. At least in this forest." Knuckles answered. "Wonder how they're doing."

---

Meanwhile, Tails, Pyrrha, and Jaune had been discussing more about Semblances and Aura. Well, to be more accurate, the conversation was mostly between Tails and Pyrrha as Jaune couldn't really make heads or tails (no pun intended) of what they were talking about, which Pyrrha kindly translated for him in a more simplified version. She even provided a demonstration for Tails in using her own Aura to awaken Jaune's, commenting that he had more than the average person, which did seem to give him something of a confidence boost.

Now the trio found themselves before a cave with a series of paintings on the wall just outside the cavern entrance. "Think this is it?" Jaune asked.

Tails took notice of the cave paintings, where he easily made out the illustrations to be people with spears fending off a giant scorpion, likely a Death Stalker Grimm.

"I'm not so sure." Tails said, getting their attention. "This painting right here feels like a warning."

"Hmm, maybe." Pyrrha observed as she ran her fingers down it. "Appears to have been painted here a long time ago. Maybe there was a battle here."

As they talked, Jaune had used his sword and a rock to create a series of sparks around a stick, igniting it and providing the group with a torch. "Well, if this battle happened a long time ago, then we got nothing to worry about now, right? Come on, let's go." He gestured for them to follow him into the cave.

Tails and Pyrrha share concerned glances but followed him, nonetheless. "Jaune, even if there's nothing to worry about here, I'm not sure this is it." Pyrrha told him.

Jaune gave a sigh. "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you guys maybe humor me for at least five more feet?" He then suddenly tripped, causing him to drop the torch into a puddle, extinguishing the flame and surrounding them in darkness.

"You were saying?" Tails told Jaune, causing him to groan slightly at his own clumsiness.

Pyrrha then felt the air around them. "Do… either of you feel that?"

"Yeah… it's warm." Tails also felt it. "And I don't think it's natural."

"Okay, okay, everyone grab hands." Jaune told them as he tried to reach out for any of their hands and managed to grab one. "I've got someone."

"That's me." Pyrrha said. "Tails?"

"I've got you." Tails was able to grab Pyrrha's free hand. "We should head outside; I don't think we're supposed to be here."

"Wait… I think I see something." Jaune saw a faint golden light deeper into the cave and made his way closer to it, taking Pyrrha and Tails with him as they were still linked hand-to-hand. The closer they were to the light, the clearer they could see each other. They found the source of the light.

"Is this… some kind of lantern?" Pyrrha asked.

"I don't think so." Tails shook his head. "Maybe some kind of bioluminescence. And if so, then we really should leave."

"Or it's the relic!" Jaune said as he tried to reach and grab it, but it ended up pulling back. "Hey! Bad relic!" He tried to grab it again, but it pulled back once again.

"Jaune, do you know what bioluminescence is?" Pyrrha told him as he still tried to grab it.

"Some kind of glowing relic?" He asked as he tried to grab it again, but Tails quickly pulled him away.

"No, it's not!" Tails told him. "Bioluminescence is basically a source of light that comes from a…" The light pulled close enough toward its source, which was revealed to be a giant Death Stalker. "Living…creature."

---

A loud high-pitched scream sounded off throughout the entire Emerald Forest; and even got the attention of Sonic, Ruby, Weiss, Knuckles, Yang, and Blake.

"Did anybody else just hear a little girl screaming in terror?" Sonic asked.

---

Tails flew out of the cave as fast as he could, carrying Jaune by his arms while Pyrrha held onto Jaune's legs. Less than a second after the three left the cave, a massive Death Stalker broke through with an angry hiss.

"IT'S NOT THE RELIC! IT'S NOT!" Jaune screamed as Tails flew them higher and higher into the sky and away from the Death Stalker's reach.

"Don't worry! I don't think Death Stalkers have ranged attacks, so we should be safe up here!" Tails said.

"They don't have ranged attacks! That's good thinking!" Pyrrha told him.

"HOW CAN YOU CARRY BOTH OF US!?" Jaune still screamed.

"Trust me! I've got plenty of experience literally carrying my friends!" Tails said as he continued to fly them away. But even though the Death Stalker didn't have any ranged attacks, it was not about to let its prey get away as it scurried after them on the ground.

---

Back at the ruins, the group of six heard a series of rocket explosions and pounding sounds, causing them to turn in the direction of the forest where several trees were knocked down to reveal a pair of Ursai, with Nora and Ren riding on one and Amy riding on the other.

"Yee-haa!" Nora cheered as she fired Magnhild's grenade launcher form into the back of her Ursa, causing it to explode as she flipped and landed gracefully on her feet while Ren landed face-first on the ground. At the same time, Amy pulled back on her Piko-Piko and swung it down to dislocate the jaw of the Ursa she rode before leaping down in front of her and spun her hammer around rapidly to trip the Ursa off its feet before sending it up in her Tornado-Hammer move before it fell down into a final upward swing from Amy to finish it off.

"Hammer Harpies!" Amy and Nora both cheered as they clung their hammers together again, while Ren struggled to pick himself up.

"Hey, you okay?" Amy asked, helping Ren up on his feet.

"Yeah…. Just please… let's never do that again." Ren said, causing Amy to chuckle. "Nora?"

"She's already gone." Amy gestured to the ruins where Nora spotted a white rook piece and took it in her hands.

"I'm Queen of the Castle! I'm Queen of the Castle!" Nora sung, balancing the white rook on her head.

"Nora!" Ren exclaimed, causing her to stop singing.

"Coming Ren!" She ran back to join her partner, while most of the present group looked somewhat perplexed at what just happened.

"Did they just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked.

"Looks that way." Knuckles commented.

"Hey Sonic!" Amy waved to the blue Hedgehog as she ran toward him. "I see you made it here alright. Not surprising cause it's you."

"Yep, see you made some new friends to." Sonic replied, noticing Ren and Nora.

"Yeah! These people are really fun!" Amy stated before turning to the other first-years present. "I'm Amy Rose, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

"Wait, your last name is Rose?" Ruby asked in surprise before a wide smile formed on her face. "That's my last name too! Ruby Rose!"

"Oh my gosh, that is so cool!" Amy exclaimed as she and Ruby clutched their hands together. "We're gonna be total BFFs! I know it!"

"Ooh boy." Sonic massaged his forehead, having a bad feeling about all this. "Looks like all we're missing now is…"

"Incoming!" Everyone looked towards the sky where Tails flew in, still carrying Jaune and Pyrrha. They quickly came to the ground where Tails let go, allowing Pyrrha to land on her feet, while Jaune tripped as he landed and fell face-first on the ground.

"That was certainly interesting… I've never flown before." Pyrrha commented.

"It's a lot of fun, trust me." Tails smiled.

"Not to me…" Jaune groaned, his face still in the dirt before he pushed himself back up.

"Did that fox just fly?" Blake questioned.

"You know what? That is impossible!" Weiss stated. "How can you fly if you don't have a Semblance or even wings?!"

"Those two tails he's got act like helicopter blades." Knuckles gave a brief explanation.

"Hey Tails, see you made some friends to." Sonic met up with his closest friend.

"Yeah, but no time for introductions." Tails told him. "Spotted a whole bunch of Grimm from the air and they're all coming here!"

"How many are we talking about?" Yang asked.

All twelve of them heard the sounds of a wolf-like howl as a massive pack of Grimm consisting of Beowolves, Ursai, Boarbatusks, and even several Griffons that flew in the air before landing with their brethren. The horde almost encircled the whole area, forming a line that separated Team Sonic and their student allies from the rest of the forest; and the one that appeared to be leading it was the very same Alpha Beowulf that Sonic, Ruby, and Weiss had encountered before.

"About fifty total, at least." Tails answered Yang's question as all the students looked surprised and even a little bit nervous while Knuckles and Amy had serious expressions on their face.

"Oh hey, the Big Bad Wolf's back." Sonic recognized the Alpha Beowolf. "Guess he doesn't like unfinished business."

"Please tell me someone has a plan." Blake noted nervously as she drew Gambol Shroud.

"Maybe if we all stand together in a defensive…" Pyrrha began to suggest, but Sonic held up his hand to stop her.

"Nah, you guys just stay back, my friends and I got this."

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Weiss exclaimed. "That is over fifty Grimm!"

"We've had worse odds." Knuckles commented as he walked forward along with Tails and Amy to join Sonic.

"Wh-What could be worse than that?!" Jaune also exclaimed.

"You don't have to worry about us." Amy said, hoisting the Piko-Piko over her shoulder. "Your test was just to get those relics and make it back to the start line. Ozpin only had us come here so he could see what we can do, and we plan to show him just that."

"Leave this to us." Tails added. "We got plenty of experience fighting monsters."

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked with concern.

"Positive." Sonic turned back and gave a thumbs up with his trademark smirk. "Just sit back and enjoy the show."

"Someone's cocky." Yang said. "And that says a lot coming from me."

Team Sonic walked forward, closer towards the horde of Grimm before the Alpha Beowolf howled, sending all his brethren toward the heroes.

"You guys ready? Let's show em how it's done!" Sonic said before he went on the attack first, using his Spin Dash to carve his way through a group of Beowolves and a couple Ursa, before appearing in the center of a pack, where they leapt at him, but he quickly unleashed his Blue Tornado attack to send all of them flying and crashing into their brethren.

With the Grimm disoriented, the others quickly took advantage as Tails flew toward an Ursa, using his own Spin Dash with extra-cutting power from his tail to decapitate it before spinning his tails outward to generate a propelling force of wind to push back several Grimm. Knuckles came to Tails' front as three Griffons tried to fly down and claw at him, but Knuckles leapt to the center one and dealt an uppercut to its head and crush its skull. As he fell, he grabbed that Griffon by its talons and used his strength to slam it down into the second to knock it down hard onto the ground. Knuckles landed on his feet and swiftly turned around to punch through the body of the third Griffon and sent it crashing into two Beowolves from the force of his punch alone.

A Boarbatusk rolled towards Amy, but she had her Piko-Piko already primmed and waited for it to come in close before she swung her hammer like one would do in crocket to sent the rolled-up Grimm slamming into a pack of incoming Beowolves and Ursa, like a row of bowling pins. She then spun her hammer once again to generate a tornado-effect to pull in a pair of Ursa that tried to surround her, but the tornado sent them both flying straight up where Sonic met them with a series of Homing Attacks to take them out of commission before they even hit the ground.

One Boarbatusk tried to charge and ram Knuckles, but he ceased and grabbed it by its tusks, digging his feet in to halt the Boarbatusk's advance. He used his own strength to easily rip out the tusks, where he jammed one into the neck of the Grimm to kill it before he threw the other at a Griffin that flew down toward him, scoring a headshot to kill it as well.

As Tails flew around an Ursa to deliver an airborne Spin Dash to the back of its head, he and Sonic regrouped around Knuckles as they went for a Spin Dash attack toward him, but Knuckles caught them while they were still rolled up and leapt into the air to throw them into a pack of Grimm; the extra strength provided by Knuckles, combined with the gathered momentum of Sonic and Tails' respective Spin Dashes, created a powerful enough force that obliterated most of the Grimm on contact, while sending the others crashing into the trees around them.

While the three of them mopped up the remainder of the Grimm from the area, Amy found herself face-to-face with the Alpha Beowolf that lashed out its claws at her, which she parried with her Piko-Piko. She quickly dashed and slid under its legs while swinging her hammer at its left leg to trip it up. While it was down, Amy leapt into the air to slam her hammer down onto its back, causing it to roar in pain before jumping into the air again to deliver the final strike to its skull, shattering it and killing the head of the pack.

With the Alpha dead, the remainder of the horde fell into confusion and panic, not that it mattered since there were only six remaining. Knuckles grabbed one Beowulf by its foot and hauled it up to slam it into the ground before throwing it into a charging Boarbatusk, knocking them both down and allowing Knuckles the chance to finish them off with a charge and final thrust of his fist to destroy them. Tails flew up towards a Griffon and wrapped his tails around its neck before pulling it toward the ground, where he spun and sent it falling into an Ursa, before ending the pair with a Spin Dash that tore through both. Finally, Sonic faced two remaining Beowolves, which he was quick to defeat by striking multiple Homing Attacks.

"And that's how we do it, Team Sonic style!" Sonic grinned as he, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles exchanged a four-way high five.

The students could only look in shock and amazement, wide and circular eyes with lowered jaws, with Jaune's jaw looking like it was about to fall off completely.

"Whoa…" Yang was rendered speechless.

"They have every right to be cocky." Ren commented.

"That was incredible…!" Pyrrha looked in awe.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Nora shouted with a wild and joyous look on her face.

"That was over fifty Grimm… and they made it look like nothing…!" Weiss stuttered.

"They even took down the Alpha so it couldn't escape… impressive." Blake said.

Ruby said nothing, but her silver eyes sparkled at their performance, a smile clear on her face. One would expect more of a fangirl-like reaction out of her, and while that was what she was feeling on the inside, the idea of people like this existing; people who fight monsters and have such courageous hearts, this shows that even if they come from different worlds, there are good people in this world and beyond. That thought alone made her very happy.

However, all celebrations came to an end as a large caw drew all their attention toward the sky where they saw a Nevermore circling the area around them.

"Oh hey, another Tweety." Sonic grinned as he and his friends regrouped around the students, who had already drawn their weapons. "Guess the party's not over yet."

A different kind of roar was heard from the forest as the same Death Stalker that Tails, Jaune, and Pyrrha encountered had broken its way through the trees to hiss at the group.

"Oh no… not that thing again…!" Jaune's face paled.

"It's a Death Stalker!" Weiss stated seriously.

"A little beefier than the one we took down yesterday…" Sonic commented. "But I'm sure we can…"

The entire ground suddenly shook, which followed the sounds of large stomps echoing around the forest and a large moan. From the canopy of the trees, they could see a large shape making its way closer to them, breaking down all the trees in its path like they were twigs. It would soon enter the clearing to reveal an enormous elephant-like Grimm that dwarfed even the Death Stalker.

"Is that an Elephant?!" Knuckles exclaimed while Jaune screamed.

"A Goliath?! Here?!" Blake shouted.

Even Sonic winced, his smile fading as a serious look formed on his face. "Okay… that might be a problem."

Amy then turned toward the students. "You guys get what you need. We'll distract them."

"What?! But we can help you!" Yang protested.

"No, they're right." Weiss pointed out. "We didn't come here to fight these Grimm. We were sent here to retrieve the relics and make it back to the cliff, that is all."

"Yeah, there's no point in fighting where we don't have to." Ruby added.

"Run and live, that is an idea I can get behind." Jaune said with a relieved smile.

"More like live to fight another day, but basically yes." Knuckles agreed.

"But are you guys sure you can handle this?" Ruby asked Team Sonic. "Fifty Beowolf-sized Grimm is one thing, but these guys…"

"Worst case scenario, we'll retreat." Tails said. "We got enough experience to know when to fall back if we need to."

"Yeah, don't worry about us. You guys just worry about passing." Sonic told them before he and his team ran off to get the attention of the three large Grimm. "Hey Tweety! Dumbo! Mortal Kombat! Over here!"

This caused the terrible trio of larger Grimm to roar in fury as they chased the fleeing Team Sonic; leaving the students be as Jaune grabbed the white rook piece for him and Pyrrha. With all four pairs having retrieved their respective relics and make their way back to the cliff.

However, while the Goliath continued to chase Sonic and his friends; the Nevermore caught the sight of the eight students and gave a caw, which drew the attention of the Death Stalker. Both the flying and scorpion-like Grimm then turned away and went off in a certain direction.

"Uh oh, the Death Stalker and Nevermore aren't chasing us anymore!" Amy stated as she and her friends continue to flee the pursuing Goliath.

"They're going after the kids!" Knuckles pointed out. "I'll go and…"

"No, Knuckles we stick together!" Sonic told him. "If one of us splits off, we risk leading super-size here to the students and that's a bit above their paygrade!"

"Oh but a giant bird with razor sharp feathers and massive scorpion are just fine?!" Knuckles questioned. "They're only kids!"

"They're not only kids, Knuckles!" Tails said. "We've all seen what they can do! They're young, but they can handle themselves!"

"You're technically younger than they are, Tails." Amy pointed out. "But you're right, it's not like their helpless school kids lost in a forest of monsters. I've seen that at least Nora and Ren know what they're doing. They're trained."

"Same for Ruby and Weiss." Sonic pointed out. "Pretty sure you've seen it to, right Knux?"

Even Knuckles had to agree, it may have been a short time, but he could tell from his time with Yang and Blake that they could handle themselves. But a couple of Ursai was a different story than the likes of a Death Stalker and a Nevermore together; but he also had to concede that if they split up to help them, they would also run the risk of bringing the Goliath to them as well and that would be too much for them.

"Look, if it gets too much, we'll step in." Sonic said to his echidna friend, noticing his deep-thought expression even as they continued to run with the Goliath at their heels. "But this is their test, they gotta learn to take care of themselves without becoming too reliant on us. Ozpin had a point in saying that before we entered the forest, remember?"

"You're right." Knuckles admitted reluctantly. "I don't like it, but you're right. We'll let them handle those two, but if it gets too out of hand, we are stepping in to help!"

"Of course." Amy nodded.

"Absolutely." Tails agreed.

"Well, since we're all on the same page…" Sonic smirked as he turned around to run backwards while also facing the Goliath. "Come on, Dumbo! This is a chase, not a walk in the park!"

The Goliath roared in fury as it picked up its pace, motivating Team Sonic to do the same and find a good spot where they can fight this beast on their terms.

---

Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha, Yang, Blake, Nora, and Ren continued to run as they were getting closer to the cliff from where they started. The only thing separating them was a series of ruins, with a similar structure to an ancient castle, and a vastly deep chasm below.

However, Blake noticed a shadow flying overhead. "We have company!"

They all took notice of the Nevermore that flew over them, causing them to split up and take cover admits the ruins around them as the Nevermore perched itself at the top of the tallest tower as it gave a load caw, effectively blocking their path.

"Well, that's great. I thought our new friends were handling it." Yang recalled.

"Probably doubled back when it saw us." Ruby assumed. "But we can take it."

"Incoming!" Pyrrha exclaimed, alerting the students to the incoming Death Stalker as well.

"Ah man, run!" Jaune exclaimed, leaving the group of eight with little chance but to push on ahead despite the Nevermore blocking their path.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren told her. She nodded in response as she rolled out of the way of the Nevermore's razor-sharp feathers it sent her way, she quickly drew Magnhild and converted it into its grenade launcher to open fire on the giant bird-like Grimm. This seemed to work as the explosive projectiles forced the Nevermore to fly away, but the Death Stalker quickly came up behind her. Fortunately, Blake and Ren came to the rescue, swerving from opposite ends to slice at the front with their respective weapons. Weiss came to Nora's aid, conjuring a Glyph underneath both to allow them to jump and gain some distance.

As Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha continued to run on the stone bridge, they happened to glance to the far right at the sound of a roar and saw the Goliath chasing Sonic and his friends.

Team Sonic had emerged from the forest and were far enough from the ruins where the students were so they couldn't get mixed up in their own fight, but close enough to see the action. The four then came to a stop at the edge of the cliff and turned to face stampeding Goliath.

"Amy, Crocket-Bomber!" Sonic ordered.

"Tails, Fastball!" Knuckles also ordered.

"Got it!" They both nodded as Sonic curved up in a ball and prepared a spin-dash attack. Amy pulled up on her Piko-Piko and swung downward to send Sonic straight toward the charging Goliath like a cannonball. At the same time, Tails grabbed Knuckles by his wrists and spun his body around with an extra gust of wind provided by his spinning dual-tails, gathering as much momentum as he could before letting go to send Knuckles flying in the same direction as Sonic, fists-first.

Sonic and Knuckles both collided into the center of the Goliath's outer skull with enough force to stop its advance, and even crack the skull a bit, but it wasn't enough to do any major damage as both Hedgehog and Echidna saw when they landed.

"Barley made a dent in that thing!" Knuckles noted.

"Yeah, this feels like a real mini-boss, but we can take it." Sonic said. "Let's go!" He zoomed toward the massive elephant-like Grimm with his usual speed, literally running circles around it, all while delivering Homing Attacks across its body. However, the Goliath lifted both its front feet into the air before slamming them down to shake the ground with enough force and trip Sonic up.

However, Tails was quick to help as he had already picked up Amy and flew up over the beast to toss her toward the Goliath, allowing her to land on its back, where she proceeded to pound it with her hammer, while Tails joined up with Sonic to try and attack it from underneath. Knuckles had already leapt to climb up the Goliath's front left leg before leaping at the side of its face, digging one of his fists into the skull as he came close to its left eye, which he pounded in with his free fist.

While Team Sonic dealt with the Goliath, Pyrrha had turned back to provide covering fire for Nora, Blake, and Ren; converting her javelin, Milo, into a rifle and placing it over her shield, Akouo, and firing at the charging Death Stalker. This allowed the students to regroup as they ran across a stone bridge, but the Nevermore circled back around and delivered a headbutt into the bridge, breaking off a large piece of it and separating the students.

Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, and Nora ended up on the side near the tower with Ruby already pulling out Crescent Rose to shoot the Nevermore as it flew away; while Jaune looked back to see Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren facing the Death Stalker alone, and it was not going well.

"Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!"

Nora ran to his side. "Let's do this!"

"Yeah… but uh…" Jaune looked down into the chasm, noting how wide a gap separated them from their fellow students. "I can't make that jump!"

Nora merely smirked as she knocked him back with Magnhild before converting it into its hammer mode. She leapt into the air and slammed it into the ground, shattering that part of the bridge, while also catapulting Jaune over the gap.

"No! No! No!" Jaune screamed.

Nora then positioned herself on top of Magnhild's mallet and fired its grenade to send her soaring over the gap as well, using the gathered momentum to pull up on Magnhild and slam it into the Death Stalker. She saw its stinger about to lunge, but fired a grenade again to push her off and knock the Grimm further into the ground and avoid the stinger.

This action however, ended up pushing Blake off the edge and into the chasm. But she quickly threw one piece of Gambol Shroud, while it also fired to provide extra boost to embed the blade into a piece of the bridge, where she used the ribbon to swing herself under the bridge and vault herself toward the Nevermore, producing a shadow-clone to further close the gap, where she sliced at the Nevermore's face repeatedly, producing another shadow-double to land on the Nevermore's back, rushing down and slicing with her weapon before leaping off its tail feathers to land on the perch of the castle ruins alongside Ruby, Yang, and Weiss.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake said.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang stated as she readied Ember Celica.

Ruby briefly looked down toward Jaune's group fighting against the Death Stalker, while Team Sonic continued to do battle with the Goliath. One look told her that they could handle themselves, they needed to focus on their own objective.

Ruby, Yang, and Blake fired their long-ranged gun attacks from their own respective weapons, while Weiss swung Myrtenaster to send waves of fire, ice, and lightning at the incoming Nevermore. But the flying Grimm seemed to pass by or tank several of the attacks before flying down to ram the supporting pillars of the tower, causing the entire structure to collapse.

But the girls remained calm as they used their respective Semblances and weapons however they could to leap from each piece of falling debris before landing on the bridge.

"None of this is working!" Weiss noted, which Ruby agreed with. But she also took notice of Blake using Gambol Shroud's ribbon, as well as Yang standing on a broken pillar, firing shotgun shots from her gauntlets at the circling Nevermore.

"I have a plan! Cover me!"

Meanwhile, Sonic had leapt straight to the Goliath, performing repeated Homing Attacks between its tusks, but the Goliath was able to shake him off and send him falling into the chasm, but Tails quickly flew in to catch Sonic and bring him back up to solid ground.

"We might be able to crack its armor, but nothing we got can deal any severe damage!" Tails told Sonic as the blue Hedgehog looked to see Knuckles and Amy leaping up and around its sides to punch and pound at it, but this only seemed to anger the creature. But as he glanced past it, he also noticed piece of the broken bridge from the Nevermore's attack had landed nearby and was positioned just right, almost like a ramp. He then turned around to note how wide the chasm was before he smirked.

"I got an idea! You see that piece of rubble right there?" Sonic pointed for Tails. "Be sure to get Dumbo in front of it and as close to the cliff as you can, he's gotta be positioned just right! And have Knuckles weaken the ground just in case, I'll handle the rest!"

Tails saw where Sonic was going with this and agreed instantly. "You got it."

Sonic then ran past the Goliath, moving as fast as he can to get to where he needed to fast enough.

The Goliath lifted its upper right foot to stomp on Knuckles, but he stood his ground and caught the massive foot with both his hands. Despite the Goliath's incredible strength, Knuckles wouldn't budge, even with the ground caving in underneath him. It was a bit of a struggle for the Echidna as he groaned, sweat flowing down his body from the strain. But with a mighty yell, Knuckles pushed up hard enough to knock the Goliath back, causing it to back away and nearly trip up on its own feet.

"Easy there, David." Amy ran to his side and helped Knuckles up before he could fall on his knees. "Don't be a hero, that's Sonic job."

"Very funny." Knuckles said, getting both jokes.

"Guys, over here!" Tails called for them, prompting Knuckles and Amy to join him closer toward the edge of the cliff as the Goliath recovered and moved toward them.

"Where's Sonic?" Amy questioned.

"Getting enough distance to finish it!" Tails instructed. "But we have to keep it in this spot! Knuckles, dig in the ground and try to make it unstable, Amy we gotta keep its attention focused on us! We can't let it move away!"

"Alright!" Amy and Knuckles both understood as the Goliath was already on them. Knuckles then proceeded to use his natural digging ability to dig into the ground while Tails and Amy flew and ran literal circles around the Goliath with Tails flying in the clockwise direction while Amy ran counterclockwise.

Back with Jaune's group, the Death Stalker pulled its stinger back, causing what remained of the bridge that they stood on to collapse.

"We gotta move!" Jaune told them as the four quickly ran up the collapsing bridge, right as the Death Stalker lunged its right claw at them. But Pyrrha moved faster, using Akouo to parry and bounce the claw away, while Jaune used Crocea Mors' shield to block the left claw that swung at them. They both pushed back to clear the way and allow Ren to fire StormFlower at the Death Stalker's face before it lunged his stinger at him.

Ren dodged and grabbed the stinger as the Death Stalker pulled back, allowing him to shoot at the Death Stalker's back while Jaune and Pyrrha kept it distracted with their respective blades. Nora came in, firing more grenades from Magnhild, which the Death Stalker shielded itself from with its claws, also forcing Pyrrha and Jaune to slide back, though the later did fall on his back. But Pyrrha threw out Milo in its javelin form, which also fired to provide an extra boost to embed itself in one of the Death Stalker's eyes. This caused it to screech in pain, flinging its stinger to send Ren flying and crashing into a nearby pillar.

"Ren!" Nora exclaimed.

Jaune pushed himself up to see the Death Stalker's stinger was partially dislodged and got an idea. "Pyrrha!"

"Done!" She saw his intent and threw out Akouo like a frisbee, slicing off the stinger and allowing it to fall and slightly pierce the Death Stalker's head as the shield returned to its owner.

"Nora, nail it!" Jaune ordered.

"Heads up!" Nora converted her weapon into its hammer mode and leapt toward Pyrrha, who caught her with Akouo before jumping up and vaulting Nora, just as she fired Magnhild again. The combined momentum sent the girl flying high into the air with a laugh before coming back down. She fired again to provide a bigger boost as she spun around, gathering more momentum before slamming her hammer into the embedded stinger, completely piercing and shattering the Death Stalker's armor, as well as the remainder of the bridge underneath it.

This action also helped to catapult Jaune and Pyrrha over the collapsing bridge just as Nora launched herself over with another shot from Magnhild. All three landed near the recovering Ren before they collapsed in exhaustion, with Ren and Jaune landing face-first, Nora on her bum, and Pyrrha on her hands and knees.

---

Sonic had managed to make it back to the temple where the relics previously were, while also using his own speed and power to clear the way of trees, and even a few remaining Grimm, to literally carve a straight path from that spot all the way back to the cliffs where the Goliath was. He could even barley see it in the distance.

"Alright, time to roll!" Sonic spun his feet, gathering as much speed as he could, while also remaining stationary. He had to time this perfectly.

---

Meanwhile, Yang continued to fire multiple shots from Ember Celica at the circling Nevermore, and even got a lucky shot at the side of its face. But this only angered the beast as it flew at Yang, who leapt straight at its open mouth. She used one arm to keep its upper beak from closing before firing several shots with her free hand down its throat.

"I! Hope! You're! Hungry!" Seeing the Nevermore about to close in on the cliff wall, Yang leapt off just in time, causing the Nevermore to crash into the cliffside before landing on the platform that Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were on as they had their own attack planned as well.

Weiss used her Glyphs to slide herself quickly across the bridge, gunning straight for the recovering Nevermore. She wouldn't give it a chance to fly away before using a Glyph to propel herself upward and lunge Myrtenaster into its tail feathers, creating a cluster of ice that kept the Nevermore pinned. Weiss then flipped backwards and used another Glyph to propel herself back to the main group.

Standing on a pillar, Blake threw out Gambol Shroud, extending its ribbon as Yang caught the weapon and embedded it into another pillar. Ruby then fired Crescent Rose to propel herself upward and land with the back of the scythe on the ribbon, her own feet on the weapon as well, while Weiss conjured a black Glyph to pull Ruby and the ribbon backwards, creating a massive slingshot that was aimed at the struggling Nevermore.

"Of course, you would come up with this idea." Weiss commented, readying herself.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

Weiss only smirked confidently. "Can I?"

That caused Ruby to look in confusion. "Can y…"

"Of course, I can!"

Ruby loaded up Crescent Rose, reading another round of shots, while also combing her own Semblance with Weiss, causing the black Glyph to turn red before they let loose. The Glyph turned white as Weiss shot Ruby straight toward the Nevermore with an extra boost provided by Ruby's Petal Burst. She continued to fire from Crescent Rose to close the gap before catching the Nevermore by the neck with her scythe's blade, still firing to drag the Nevermore toward the cliffside just as Ruby landed.

Weiss quickly created a long line of large Glyphs under Ruby, leading straight to the top of the cliff. That gave her more speed, before she shot herself upward as she combined the speed of her Semblance with shots from Crescent Rose to drag the Nevermore up with her, while also driving the blade of the scythe deeper into its neck. Right as she reached the top…

*SLICE!*

She had completely decapitated the Nevermore, flipping through the air before landing gracefully at the top of the cliff. The Nevermore's body already began to disintegrate just as what was left of its corpse fell.

---

Even from his position and building up as much speed and power as he could, Sonic could see what Ruby had done and gave an impressed whistle.

"Not bad. Let's see if I can top it."

Confident he built up enough of his power, Sonic shot himself down his own made path, leaving a bright energy blue trail as he ran.

---

The Goliath remaining, Amy and Tails kept flying and running over and under and all around it with such speed and moving in separate directions to keep it distracted and unable to move. All the while Knuckles dug in and out of the ground underneath the elephant-like Grimm repeatedly, causing the ground at the edge of the cliff to become more and more unstable.

As he flew over, Tails looked on to see a bright blue light moving in their direction. It was time.

"HE'S COMING! MOVE!" Tails called to his friends as Knuckles had just emerged back up and ran from under the Goliath along with Amy with Tails flying away as well. The Goliath was about to turn and chase after them, but it was already too late.

Sonic had zoomed down the path and up the piece of rubble he spotted before, using it like a makeshift ramp. While he was no physics expert like Tails, Sonic knew himself well, and how fast he needed to be to pull this off. Timing it just right and gaining enough momentum, that by the time he shot himself up the ramp…

*BOOM!*

The roar of the Sound Barrier breaking echoed throughout the forest, the force of it broke apart the ground as Sonic himself pierced through the Goliath's whole body like a bullet and flying straight up at the right angle to land gracefully on his feet and right hand at the top of the cliff next to the shocked Ruby.

With the force from Sonic's impact, and the ground shattering from the shockwave of the sonic boom, the Goliath had fell into the seemingly bottomless chasm. Even if Sonic's attack piercing through it wouldn't kill the beast, the fall will finish the job.

Tails and Amy both smiled as Knuckles merely crossed his arms with an unsurprised smirk; they totally expected something this dramatic and effective from their blue friend.

Jaune's group looked in shock and amazement. "Wow…" The blonde boy looked in awe, while Pyrrha and Ren's mouths had formed perfect O's, and even Nora had been rendered speechless.

"Holy crap…" Yang muttered as she stood with Blake and Weiss, the former holding her hands over her bowtie for some reason.

"H-He… broke the… sound barrier… t-that was a sonic boom…!" Weiss stuttered.

"Hence his name…" Blake said, recovering from the ringing she felt in her own ears, that her own friends didn't seem to feel.

Sonic dusted his hands with pride as he looked down the cliff. "And that, is how it's done." He turned to see Ruby, who held her hands near her cheeks as her silver eyes sparkled and a squealing sound was heard from her mouth, like she was ready to explode with joy.

"That… was… AMAZING!" She practically screamed. "How'd you do that?! That was so cool! You made a sonic boom! Oh, that's why you're called Sonic! I've never seen anyone go that fast! And you knocked that thing off the cliff! You're awesome! You're friends are awesome! That is so awesome!"

"Whoa-there…!" Sonic chuckled as he grabbed Ruby by the shoulders. "Calm down. Take a deep breath." He took one himself for demonstration, allowing Ruby to do so. It took three deep breaths to calm her down at least slightly. "Yeah, that was cool. Nice finishing move yourself, by the way. You got a natural talent there, Ruby."

"You really think so?" Ruby asked somewhat bashfully.

"Yeah, trust me. You got skill." Sonic confirmed before raising his hand. "Now give me five!"

Ruby smiled as she and Sonic exchanged a high-five.

However, there was another party watching everything that had been occurring in this forest. Hovering from high in the clouds, where nobody could see him, Metal Sonic had seen everything from Sonic and his team entering the forest with the students, to their battles with the Grimm. Metal Sonic had even managed to locate the Goliath that had been slumbering in the caves underneath the forest and awoken it, just to test what the Grimm were capable of and to see how Sonic and his friends would respond in this situation.

Feeling like he's seen enough, with both his old foes and the students, Metal Sonic flew away from the forest, and not a single soul would know he was here.

---

Back at the school, all the returning first years had gathered in the auditorium for the official formation of their team. Among them was a group of four young men that stood before Professor Ozpin as the holo-screen above showed the students names and faces, as well as their team name.

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark… the four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces." Ozpin announced. "From this day forward, you shall work together as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."

Following an applause from the audience; the newly formed Team CRDL stepped away and allowed Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren to step up next.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie… the four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc."

While Jaune looked in surprise, Nora leapt at Ren with a hug. "H-huh? L-Led by…?" Jaune did not expect to be made leader, but Pyrrha smiled

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin told him.

Pyrrha gave Jaune a friendly punch in the shoulder, but this knocked him down onto the ground, much to her surprise and the amusement of the audience before they stepped off and allowed the final team to step up.

"And finally; Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long… the four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose."

None were more shocked by that than Ruby herself, even as her older sister pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang declared.

At the same time, the ceremony was witnessed by Team Sonic as they stood from the highest part of the auditorium, out of sight of the audience. Though the rest of Beacon would probably come to know Sonic and his friends at a later date, it was still best to let the newly formed RWBY and JNPR have their moment, it was certainly well-earned.

"Teams RWBY and JNPR, huh? Sounds catchy." Sonic said.

"I've got a good feeling we'll be working more with them in the future, even against Eggman." Tails said.

"How do you figure?" Amy asked.

"Call it a hunch." Tails replied.

"Alright, I'll admit, those kids could handle themselves just fine." Knuckles said. "Maybe this Huntsmen Academy stuff isn't so bad. But, against Eggman, it's best they work with us. Fighting him and his robot army is completely different from a bunch of mindless monsters like the Grimm."

"Yeah, you're right Knux." Sonic admitted. "But with all of us working together, we can take em down. Just like always."

"Plus, there's still Shadow, Rouge, and Omega out there." Tails added.

"Once they join up with us and we fill them in, we'll be unstoppable!" Amy praised excitedly.

Sonic chuckled. 'Eggman, wherever you are… hope you're ready! Cause we're coming for you! Whatever you're planning, it's not gonna get off the ground!'

---

Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman sat back in a chair in an unknown location, looking at the holographic projection of the planet of Remnant with a sinister smile.

"Hey Boss!" Cubot called as he and Orbot entered the room. "Guess whose back?!" He moved to the side dramatically as Eggman's deadliest robot walked toward his creator.

"Oh-ho-ho, welcome back Metal Sonic. Enjoyed your little field trip?" Eggman asked as he swerved his chair around.

A small port opened in Metal Sonic's forehead to project a recording of Sonic fighting alongside Ruby and Weiss in the Emerald Forest, before its shifted to a clip of Knuckles, Yang, and Blake; then one of Tails, Jaune, and Pyrrha, then another of Amy, Nora, and Ren. Finally, he showed the recordings of their battle against the Nevermore, Death Stalker, and Goliath.

"It looks like Sonic and his friends are in Beacon, Boss." Orbot observed. "No sign of Shadow though."

"Oh, he'll show up soon." Eggman brushed off. "Hedgehogs do travel in Prickles."

"Wow, these kids look amazing!" Cubot beamed. "Those are some cool weapons, and they got superpowers to! It's almost like they're superheroes!"

"It seems that maybe Sonic is already befriending the students at Beacon." Orbot said as Metal Sonic turned off the projection.

"Let him make as many friends as he wants, it won't be enough." Eggman said as he swerved his chair around to see the Remnant hologram again. "He can't stop what I have planned for this world! No one can! Gaah ha ha! Oh ho hoho!"

Done.

This chapter was loads of fun to write! Team Sonic has already met and befriended the newly formed Teams RWBY and JNPR, establishing pretty good dialogue with them. Up next, the students will meet Team Dark as we finally learn what they've been up to. I can't wait to write the dynamic the teams will share with each other as they story continues on.

For the most part, the remainder of Volume 1 will be relatively short with only three chapters remaining, and it will remain somewhat consistent with the canon storyline, there won't be many changes; but we will be seeing some of that in Vol 2, along with the action. Either way, things are going to get interesting here as Sonic and his friends will have a large impact on not only Beacon but Remnant as a whole.

What's next for Sonic and his friends? Find out next time! Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there.