Hi everyone, welcome back to another update for "A Red Rose in the Blue Wind", and right on the week that RTX begins, with the second season to "Sonic Prime" right around the corner. Pretty crazy, huh? Hopefully at RTX we'll get a solid release date for Volume 10 and not have to wait too long like last time.
Oh, and one slight detail that I probably should have mentioned some time beforehand. One reviewer a while back pointed out that Ren didn't have grapplers in StormFlower till after they got to Atlas in canon. I actually looked it up and saw that it was indeed the case. A tiny little detail that slipped my mind, but not too important to the overall plot. If you need an explanation here, Tails provided Ren with a slight upgrade at his request given how dangerous Eggman's Badniks were compared to the Creatures of Grimm. Sorry for any confusion.
So anyways, quite a bit happened in the last chapter from the appearance of a certain someone, to all the mind games that Mimic pulled on some of the young heroes. We got a few regroups and counters in the making, but Merlot has one last surprise up his sleeve. We are now at the climax of the Grimm Eclipse arc and it's gonna be one explosive battle!
With all that being said, let's get started!
Final Examination and Extermination
A group of about a dozen heavy androids kept up their pursuit of Ren and Nora, firing their heavy guns at the pair as they tried to keep their distance from the round of explosions that erupted at the ground behind them, blasting them both back. Ren was quick to recover and pull Nora around the corner for cover before he returned fire with StormFlower. He fired precise shots at the head of one robot to disable it, but the others resumed their fire, forcing him to take cover and avoid the deadly blasts.
"We're not getting anywhere like this." Ren stated.
"I'll go in from above and break them up! You take the stragglers!" Nora told him.
"Wait… Nora! Mimic's still…" Ren didn't get a chance to warn her as Nora had already slammed Magnhild down onto the ground to launch herself up and above the robots. While airborne, she raised her mallet with the intent to smash them all…
Only for one robot to actually leap up into the air and meet her, grabbing the hammer, before said robot changed its shape to reveal Mimic, much to Nora's surprise before he kicked her in the face and chest, forcing her to let go of Magnhild as they landed behind the robots.
"Nora!" Ren tried to run and assist her, but the nine remaining heavy androids converged their fire on Ren, forcing him to backflip and avoid their shots.
As she pulled herself up, she looked in surprise to see Mimic taking her own form and standing in front of her downed Magnhild. "Which one of us is the real deal?"
"I am! Only I can pull off my own face!" Nora proclaimed as she stood up and tried to rush him with a punch, only for Mimic-Nora to deflect her strike with a chop to the arm and deliver a kick to the side of her leg to bring her down before performing a roundhouse to her face and knock her back down.
"Not too good without your fancy mallet, are you? And would he be able to tell the difference?" Mimic-Nora taunted, referring to Ren as he continued to dodge the gunfire from the robots that kept them apart.
"You don't know us!" Nora told him as she pushed herself back up. "He knows me, and I know him!" She tried to punch him again, but he ducked and swept her feet to knock her over and then proceeded to kick her in the stomach while she was down.
"True. Like I said before, you two are kinda X-factors." Mimic-Nora admitted. "But you do know each other, so maybe your pretty little face might let me get close enough to finish him off. Maybe even hesitate a little bit." He continued to stomp relentlessly on her. "I mean, who really would know?"
Suddenly, Mimic-Nora was struck in the back by a rapid slash, causing him to falter over as he reverted back to his real form. He and the real Nora looked in surprise to see who it was holding her bladed weapon out.
"I would." Blake glared before rushing to slice Gambol Shroud repeatedly, which Mimic desperately tried to dodge. Though he was able to use his tentacles to snag her wrists together, allowing him to grab her by the throat, this also gave Nora the opportunity to retrieve Magnhild and strike him in the side to knock him off.
"Let's see how you like an unfair fight?" The hammer-wielding girl stated as she and Blake proceeded to double-team him.
Ren had brought the blade of one StormFlower into the throat of one android to disable it, but when the other eight were about to open fire on him, he was forced to use the android in front of him as a shield to block their blasts. Though the robot was quickly blown to pieces and the resulting explosion blasted him back to the wall. He groaned as he glanced up to see all eight robots closing in on him, ready to unload their heavy artillery and obliterate him right then and there.
Only for a dash of pink to rush in and send all eight of them flying up before a tornado-like strike caught them all and sent them crashing to the wall on the other side of the hallway.
"Need a hand?" Amy smiled as she offered Ren her hand, which he took with an appreciative smile.
Before the robots had a chance to recover, Amy and Ren were already on them. The former smashed her Piko-Piko into the body of one robot before swiping to knock off the head of a second. Two had already gotten up around her, but she spun the Piko-Piko outward with enough speed to smash them to pieces. At the same time, Ren had jammed the blade of one StormFlower into the back of one robot's neck before firing in the face of a second with his other weapon to disable it. When a third was up, Ren ran to deliver a spinning kick into it to knock it into the fourth, where he proceeded to gun them both down with his weapons.
Mimic tried to dodge Nora's mighty hammer swings, but this caused him to back into Blake as she tried to slash him with Gambol Shroud. But when he leapt up and over her, Blake had used her Semblance to quickly close the gap between them and slash at his sides to knock him to the ground. However, when she noticed the energy sparks at his injuries where blood should be, she realized it was another Bioid like the one she encountered, which only caused her to grunt in frustration.
"He's just a robot. Blow him up." Blake told Nora.
"With extreme pleasure!" She grinned as she converted Magnhild into its grenade launcher mode and opened fire to blast the Bioid to smithereens in glorious fashion. "So Mimic was a robot the whole time?"
"No, that wasn't the real Mimic. I met one earlier." Blake answered.
Nora noticed the glare in Blake's eyes, causing her to look with concern. "Blake, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She dismissed, but Nora could see through that. Contrary to what most people think, Nora can be quite perceptive of others and could tell that Blake was angry. No doubt that Mimic had got inside her head and managed to hurt her.
Nora then put a hand on Blake's shoulder and offered a smile. "Let's go find the real one and smash him into calamari. You love seafood, right?"
Blake stifled a chuckle at Nora's joke and attempt to cheer her up. "Calamari is squid and I prefer fish but… thanks."
"Good to see you two." Ren said as he and Amy met up with them. "Any word on the others?"
"No." Amy shook her head. "Can't call em either. Guess we got no choice but to search this place ourselves."
"This is a freaking maze! How are we supposed to find anyone?" Nora questioned.
"The old-fashioned way, I guess. Not like we have a choice." Blake replied.
"Let's go." Amy took lead as the group of four quickly ran further down the hallway.
Meanwhile, the group that consisted of Shadow, Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha proceeded further into the facility. So far they had yet to run into any opposition, but that didn't mean they shouldn't be careful. Shadow was currently on point, with Ruby in the middle. Yang however lagged behind, closer to Pyrrha. The red-haired girl was covering their rear, but at the same time, she was making sure that Yang stuck with them with how slow she had been moving lately, though she had a good idea why the blonde huntress-in-training was in a dour mood.
As Ruby hung in the middle, she felt she was in an incredibly awkard position. Up ahead of her was Shadow, whom had yet to say anything to her. She always had an idea that Shadow was the professional-type, not exactly making small talk like how Sonic would, and took things very seriously. However, ever since Mimic had taken the form of that one girl, causing Shadow to snap in anger, Ruby wanted to keep her distance and not provoke any more anger that she felt he might be feeling. But at the same time, Yang herself hadn't said a single word either, and while she couldn't exactly read Shadow, Ruby knew her own sister to have a good idea what was going through her head.
Ruby made eye-contact with Pyrrha, looking toward the older girl with a gesture to switch places, something Pyrrha understood as she nodded and proceeded to move into the middle where Ruby was while she moved closer to her sister. Ruby could tell that Yang noticed her presence, but she only looked away, not even greeting her.
"Yang…" Ruby spoke softly. "We need to talk…"
"About what?" The blonde muttered.
"About what happened back there." Ruby said.
"Then talk, go ahead and tell me how I screwed up." Yang said.
"That's not…" Ruby tried to say something, but Yang wasn't done.
"Tell me how I let my temper get the better of me. Tell me how Knuckles was right all along and I've been using my crappy Semblance as a crutch my whole life. Tell me how it was all going to blow up in my face sooner or later… tell me how I almost got you killed… again!" Yang raised her voice, causing the group to stop as Pyrrha looked towards in sympathy Yang as she continued to break down, while Shadow just paid a slight glance. "Just like before… I was stupid…! You almost died because of me… and I… I…!" Yang fell to her knees as she clutched her head in despair, tears of frustration and grief were already falling down. "I almost killed my sister again! Why does this always happen?! Am I… Am I just a jinx!? Is that why she left!? Is that why they both left!?"
"Yang…" Ruby wanted more than anything to comfort and hug her sister, seeing her break down like this honestly made her own heart break. But before she could do anything.
"You made a mistake."
All eyes turned to Shadow as the black Hedgehog walked towards them, Yang slowly glancing up to see the serious expression in his eyes. But despite that look, there didn't appear to be any criticism or disappointment there.
"No one is immune to mistakes, no matter how strong they are." Shadow told her. "You are correct in that your anger got the better of you and Mimic took full advantage of that. There is no getting around what happened. The past can't be changed but is still the past, and you have a choice now. You can choose to stay in the past and let your mistakes define you, or you can learn from it and use it to make yourself stronger. If you need a focus for right now, channel that anger and frustration you feel now into stopping Merlot and Mimic because right now, that's what matters. Everything else can wait."
As Yang let all of Shadow's words sink in, she couldn't help but think back to what Knuckles and Sonic had said to before.
"Your part of a team, you have to get better."
"And I know that accepting that kind of help isn't easy… so, take your time and at least think on it. But, hey… at least your not alone in this."
"And when you feel you're ready to ask for help, all you have to do is just that. Ask. And I'll be right here."
All her grief and self-anger was still there, but she could still put it away for now and channel it into stopping this insanity. But more importantly, this gave her something of a clarity that she really needed, and she knew what she needed to do once this was all over.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself and keep all her grief back for the moment, Yang slowly stood up. "Alright. Let's do it."
Shadow nodded in approval.
At the same time, while Ruby seemed happy that Yang was at least putting this all to the side, she had listened to what Shadow said and it reminded her of the talk she herself had with Knuckles at Mountain Glenn.
"Hey Yang…" Ruby got her sister's attention. "When this is all over, let's talk."
"Okay." Yang nodded.
"And Shadow…" Ruby spoke to him now. "About before… I'm sorry."
"No." He raised his hand to stop her. "You didn't know what was going on and I should not have directed my anger at you."
"Well… it's still your business and I'll respect it, even if you don't want to talk about it. But if you do… I would be willing to listen." Ruby offered.
Once again, Shadow nodded in understanding.
Pyrrha smiled at how better things seemed to be getting with their own group and then got back to the matter at hand now that they were better focused.
"So, what is the plan, now?" Pyrrha asked. "We still can't establish contact and I don't think it's a good idea to split up given that Mimic is lurking around, and we don't know what else Merlot has in store."
"We have no choice but to move as we are." Shadow replied. "All we can do is hope that someone is able to establish contact or that we run into the others. Given our current situation, there aren't any other options."
"Then that's what we'll do." Ruby said. "Like you said, it's our only option. But knowing Sonic and everyone else, I think they're alright."
"Yeah. Let's just find Merlot and Mimic so we can beat the crap out of them." Yang pounded her fist into her palm.
Meanwhile, Sonic, Weiss, and Jaune had rounded one corner to come towards a near-identical hallway to the one they had just exited.
"Why the heck does this place have to be so big?!" Jaune questioned. "Seriously, there's only two people here! He doesn't need a freaking maze! Sonic, maybe you should speed on ahead?"
"With Mimic still out there? Not to mention probably more Mutant Grimm? We're better off sticking together and trying to regroup." Sonic replied. He normally would be able to comb this place with his speed with little issue. But given there is a dangerous and manipulative shapeshifter on the loose, they need to stick together if they have any chance of making it out in on piece.
Ever since they rescued her, Weiss hadn't really said much of anything to them after calming down. But she wanted to say something. She wanted to thank them, both of them. But was now a good time? In enemy territory with a possible ambush around every corner? The logical and pragmatic part of her told her to simply wait till they were done before thanking them. But ever since she had come to meet Ruby, Sonic, and everyone else, another part of her that she didn't know was there had slowly began to speak out. A part that wanted to be more like the amazing people that she's met. And it's only gotten louder. She knew that Ruby and Sonic were usually the types to say what they want whenever they wanted to, though Weiss wished Ruby had something of a filter. And given that the coast seemed clear for the moment, now seemed like a pretty good chance to say anything, it's not like Sonic would scold her for speaking out like how her father would.
"Listen… I…" Weiss got Sonic and Jaune's attention, though she hesitated for a brief second, she kept speaking. "This may not be the appropriate time but… I wanted to thank you. For… for helping me back there."
Sonic smiled. "No problem. It's what I do."
"But… still, thank you, and… it's not just for that." Weiss continued. "I realize I may have said this before… but thank you for… for being here for me. I know I might not be the easiest person to get along with and yet… you still managed to put up with me. So… thank you, for everything, Sonic."
The blue Hedgehog could tell that despite her struggling to get some of these words out, that she was speaking sincerely. Given what he heard about her dad before, and what he just saw when that Mimic-android was tormenting her, it was clear that Weiss had a hard time growing up. But the fact that she was acknowledging her flaws and trying to improve herself shows that she's really starting to come around, she wants to come around. To Sonic, that always went a long way in his book.
He gave a genuine smile when he responded to her. "Hey, it's what friends do. Oh, and for the record, if you feel like you ever wanna say something, go ahead and say it. Freedom of speech and all that. That's a thing here on Remnant too, right?" He snuck in a joke.
Weiss gave a slight giggle before turning to the other person in their company. "Jaune… you too. Thank you for helping me."
Jaune was actually caught off guard by that. Did Weiss Schnee actually thank him? She spoke to him directly and thanked him! Well, of course even if she didn't thank him, he would still jump in to help her in a heartbeat if she ever was in trouble. But to hear her actually say the words 'thank you' to him and mean it was quite a surprise. But it was a good surprise.
Chuckling somewhat nervously he offered her his hand. "So… friends?"
Weiss maintained her smile as she clasped her and with his own. "Friends." This allowed a happy smile to form on his face. "But just friends. Don't get any funny ideas."
"Heh, heh… don't worry. I wasn't doing anything just… ya know…?" Jaune sputtered and as he did, Weiss gave Sonic a half-grin that seemed to match his own, earning a laugh from the blue Hedgehog.
"Sonic! Sonic! are you there?"
The group was taken by surprise by the sound of Tails' voice coming from Sonic's personal scroll, which he was quick to answer. "Tails…"
"Wait. Make sure that's actually Tails and not Mimic using his voice." Weiss urged.
Sonic nodded before speaking into the scroll. "How did we first meet?"
"Back when a couple other foxes were picking on me for having two tails, you came by and rescued me. Then Eggman attacked the island where I was living and I followed you, mostly because I've been following you since I've heard about you, and I wanted to be a hero like you."
That was all Sonic needed to know this was his best friend. "Thanks, sorry to doubt you."
"I get it. We're fighting an evil shapeshifter, gotta be careful." Tails responded as he remained in the same spot as before, using the Miles Electric to patch directly into the power line that Omega had provided for him, the former Badnik still guarding him and the parked Cyclone.
"I got Weiss and Jaune with me. What about you?"
"Just Omega, but I'm tracking the others right now." Tails said as the screen on his device showed the locations of the scrolls of all their allies. "Looks like Shadow's with Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha; Amy's met up with Blake, Nora, and Ren, and Knuckles and Rouge are together."
"Can you see if there's place where we can all meet up, maybe call Ozpin for a ride just in case we need an emergency out?" Sonic asked.
"I'm already on it." With Tails patched directly into the power line, it gave him the means to hack directly into Merlot's own communication network. It looked like there was a communication between here and Beacon, probably Merlot calling up Ozpin to mock him or something. But now, Tails had access to that same link. "Hello? Professor Ozpin are you there?"
"Tails…? Tails, I read you." The Professor responded on the other line, much to Tails' relief.
"Good. Man am I glad to hear from you, Professor." The young fox said.
"I feel the same. Where is everyone?"
"Kinda scattered, but we're regrouping." Tails responded. "I'm sending you our coordinates, do you think you can have a ship sent over here?"
"I just received your location. Fortunately, this facility doesn't seem to be all that far from the mainland." Ozpin responded. "I'll have a ship sent immediately, it should be there within an hour or so."
"Good. I'll let everyone else know. We'll try and do what we can here to stop Merlot." Tails answered before signing off and looking again at the data on his tablet. "Sonic, I think I found a place where we can all meet up, I'm sending you and everyone else the data."
"Got it. See you soon, buddy." Sonic said as Tails sent all the data and pulled his device out from the power line.
"Let's go." Tails told Omega as he got back in the Cyclone's cockpit.
"Since you patched directly into Merlot's main communication line to contact everyone, it is likely to assume that Merlot himself may have heard and will direct all his forces to intercept us at the destination you have relayed." Omega noted.
"Yeah, I kinda figured." Tails admitted. "But on the bright side, if we're all together we got a better chance. And you get to blow up more bad guys too, so that's a bonus for you."
"Affirmative." Omega responded eagerly as he readied his weapons.
With that, Tails drove the Cyclone in its cart mode down the hall, with Omega following him, the last of the E-series using his boosters to keep up.
It would seem that Omega's assertions were indeed correct. Merlot had sat in his personal control booth, having heard everything when Tails hacked into his communications. He had to admit that he was rather impressed with the young fox's capabilities. Truly an intelligent mind. Still though, Merlot not only heard everything, he knew exactly where many of his young adversaries were appearing. With that, he contacted his ally.
"Mimic, it seems your bioids are destroyed, along most of my androids and experiments." Merlot said.
"Great. So, you got anything particularly helpful for me?" The mercenary questioned irritably on the other line.
"Yes. It appears that they're all converging on the lower testing grounds within my facility." Merlot replied. "If you would be so kind as to be there when they arrive? I have a little trap planned for them."
"Right, like all your other traps haven't been successful up to this point." Mimic pointed out.
"No need to be rude. If you wish to survive and possibly escape, please proceed there." Merlot instructed.
"Fine." Mimic groaned before signing off.
"Now then, while they get ready… let us see how our other guest is handling." The mad scientist mused to himself as he looked towards a screen that showed the fight that was taking place in the chamber directly behind him.
The masked woman had drawn her red sword, and dashed at the Mutant Kraken, using her sword to cut through all the tentacles that were shot at her, with each severed tentacle burning from the slice. When she got to the central pillar that the beast was currently attached to, the mutant lashed out all its remaining tentacles at her, but she was far too quick as she spun and sliced with such precision and speed that all the tentacles were severed quickly. The woman then leapt up and gave a straight vertical slice up the Mutant Kraken's face with the intent to slice it completely.
However, her eyes widened in shock beneath her mask as she saw not only the wound she just inflict heal almost instantly but all the tentacles that she had severed were regenerated just as quickly. All the tentacles shot directly at her, forcing her to bring her blade up and block it, the blade itself shattered upon contact from the blunt force and then exploded from the Fire Dust that it was made of. The force of the blast pushed the woman back to where she slammed into the wall, but she landed on her feet upon recovery and looked to see the tentacles that had been damaged from that explosion were already healed.
'Damn it.' She cursed to herself as she brought the hilt of her seemingly broken sword towards her scabbard and drew a blue blade this time. When the tentacles stretched forward and lashed out to her again, she sliced them all to beat the front most back before driving the blade down into the ground to create a large wall of ice spikes to block the onslaught as she quickly ran around.
This whole thing turned out into an even bigger mess than she had planned. Though the enemy didn't see her face and was unaware of her identity, he was still aware of her presence. She needed to get to him and possibly silence him, depending on how in-deep Merlot was with this whole thing. Of course, this Mutant was particularly annoying with its regeneration. If she stopped holding back, she could destroy it. But she couldn't risk exposing her trump card unless she had no choice. And she couldn't escape without drawing the attention of the children or their alien friends. Yeah, this was going to be quite the problem for her, and that only made it more irritating. She had no choice but to kill this abomination with the weapon she had on hand and do it quickly.
The masked woman rushed the Mutant Kraken once more and just like last time, she used her ice-blade to slice and freeze all the tentacles that were lashed at her. When she made it to the pillar, she leapt up and drove her blade directly in-between the Mutant Kraken's eyes in an attempt to freeze it from the inside out.
But the process wasn't quick enough as one of the monster's tentacles had already regenerated and lashed out to wrap around her waist and pull her back and away. The Mutant thrashed its body to break off the frozen parts before all its wounds regenerated, much to the woman's frustration.
Mimic had arrived at the location that Merlot had instructed him to go to. The testing grounds that resided in the lower area of the facility, and it was a rather enormous chamber, so much so that one could fit a whole army in there. But it was too spacious, there were no places for him to hide or find cover. Why would Merlot tell him to go here?
Suddenly, a large door on the side had been broken down, turning around Mimic looked in surprise to see it was Shadow with Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha right behind him. And it wasn't just them, Sonic, Weiss, and Jaune had exited out of a large tunnel on the other side of the chamber, with Ren, Nora, Amy, and Blake exiting out of a tunnel on the left side, with Tails in his Cyclone and Omega emerging out of one on the right.
"Hey guys! Over here!" Ruby called out to everyone.
Mimic at first tried to make a break for it to a nearby exhaust port, only for Shadow to teleport directly in his path and slug him in the face and knock him back to the center of the testing grounds. The shapeshifter looked up to see that he was surrounded on all sides by the heroes, all of whom were glaring down hard at him, especially Weiss, Blake, and Yang, the latter already had her eyes burning red.
"Is it the real one?" Weiss questioned.
Omega performed a brief scan. "Affirmative."
"Good. Let's see if he breaks just as easily as those robots." Nora cracked her knuckles.
"Uh… Doc… a little help here?" Mimic muttered into his comms.
"Welcome to the testing grounds, young heroes!" Merlot's face appeared on a large screen near the ceiling, drawing all their attention, while Shadow was quick to grab Mimic by his head to make sure he didn't slip away.
"Uh, weren't we already in your testing grounds?" Sonic questioned. "Overcompensate much?" He gestured to the large room they were all in. "How many of these things do you need?"
"It all really depends on a great many things, such as what you are studying specifically." Merlot explained. "Those chambers you and your friends were all in were designed specifically for you and the Grimm I created for those situations. These grounds are where I generally test all my mutants, pitting them against my robots to test their abilities, and it makes quite the entertaining show."
"And let me guess, you got one more super Grimm to whip out on us, right?" Sonic assumed.
Merlot laughed. "One of your friends referred to my facility as a maze. I have said before how I've taken some inspiration from myths of your world, are you by any chance familiar with the myth of the labyrinth?"
"Oh boy…" Tails winced.
"Tails?" Amy asked with worry.
"Basically, it's a story of a hero who enters a maze and finds a minotaur guardian at the center of it." Tails sums up. "A minotaur is a monster with the body of a human and the head of a bull."
"That's pretty messed up." Yang commented.
"Anymore 'messed up' than the Creatures of Grimm?" Tails replied.
"Touché." Nora admitted.
"Let me guess, you got a giant minotaur Grimm to sick on us, right?" Sonic guessed.
"Not exactly." Merlot answered.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to split apart, forcing the heroes to step and split into two to avoid falling in the opening below. Sonic, Ruby, Tails, Omega, Jaune, and Pyrrha were on one side, with Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora, Ren, Amy, and Shadow (still holding onto Mimic) on the other. As the ground continued opened, something large slowly began to ascend from the platform beneath.
It was a mutated Goliath. One that was even larger than those seen on the outskirts of Mountain Glenn. Just like the other mutants, its eyes were glowing green as it had glowing green spikes along its back, including its tusks. But what stuck out the most was that this Goliath had three heads to it! And each of those heads had glowing tusks on each head. It easily dwarfed any and all mutants they have faced before. It let loose a powerful roar from all three of its heads that shook the entire chamber.
All eyes widened in absolute shock, even Shadow was caught off guard at the sight of this monster, as was the captive Mimic.
"Please tell me that's not what I think it is…" Jaune gulped.
"A mutated Goliath…" Pyrrha's face paled.
"And why does it have three heads?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Seriously, what is it with this guy and giving Grimm more than one head?!"
"More than one head makes it look more intimating." Sonic summed up, though he did look somewhat nervous at this creature too.
"It can also be quite effective to cover up any blind spots." Merlot put his two cents in. "As you can see, this is my largest experiment to date. Just as I've named many of my experiments out of your creatures of myth Sonic, I've named this one the Airavata. And, it's not alone either."
Suddenly, multiple openings appeared in the walls around the group of heroes as more and more Mutated Grimm crawled out to reveal themselves, ranging from the three-headed Beowolves, to the two-headed and four-armed Ursai, and more than a few Boarbatusk-Creep hybrids, there were even a couple Death Stalkers that had the upper bodies of Ursai attached to them akin to centaurs. And even that wasn't it. A large port in the ceiling opened up as the Hydra that Tails had fought before also emerged.
"That's… a lot of monsters." Ren said in worry.
"My remaining experiments, rather generic but I'm sure that they along with my Airavata and Hydra will be more than effective in eliminating all of you." Merlot grinned. "It's been a pleasure, Sonic the Hedgehog. Do try and survive as best you can."
With that, the Airavata was the first to attack, lifting its front two feet to stomp on the ground and send a wave of crystals in all directions, forcing the heroes to try and dodge however they could, which also separated many of them and forced them to do battle with all the mutants that had been unleashed upon them.
In the chaos, Mimic had managed to slip away from Shadow, who would have pursued him only to be intercepted as the Hydra divebombed towards him.
"Hey Doc, I'm kinda in the middle of all this too!" Mimic said through the comms. "Got an emergency exit planned or something?!"
"You seem to be the expert at making quick escapes, I trust you can take advantage of this chaos to slip away." Merlot contacted back.
Mimic grimaced. "This guy's more sloppy than Eggman!" He found a three-headed Beowolf blocking his attempt at retreating and leapt back to avoid the claws before drawing an energy gun to quickly open fire.
Tails had converted the Cyclone into its walker mode with Ruby, Blake, and Omega gathering around him to circle up as multiple mutants surrounded them. They all opened fire with their respective guns as the mutants lunged and charged at them. Though Omega and Tails' more heavier armaments were able to blast back several of the mutants, many of them were already recovering however thanks to their regenerative abilities. One Creep-Boarbatusk hybrid tried to charge at Omega, only for him to grab it by the horns and throw it into three more incoming mutants, which Omega finished off with a series of missiles.
It also seemed that Crescent Rose and Gambol Shroud were not as effective either as the mutants quickly closed the distance. Ruby then converted Crescent Rose into its scythe mode as a three-headed Beowolf was moving in on her. Using her Petal Burst, Ruby shot forward and swung her scythe to decapitate all three of its heads and kill that specific mutant, only to be pinned down by a two-headed and four-armed Ursa. Fortunately, Blake had rushed in with her own Semblance to grab Ruby and pull her out the same way, allowing Tails to blast a beam of lightning from the Cyclone at both of the mutant Ursa's heads to obliterate them and kill that specific mutant.
Yang grabbed a charging three-headed Beowolf before slugging it repeatedly into all three of its faces to knock it back before tackling it and proceeded to smash all of its heads in until it was down for the count. But she was tackled in the back by another Mutant Beowolf that tried to snap and bite at her, with her struggling to hold all three of its heads back. However, that mutant was pulled back by its hind leg by Omega with one hand and then spun his upper body around rapidly before letting go and sending it flying. The two quickly came back-to-back as more mutants appeared around them.
One mutant Ursa had slapped Jaune back with a swipe of its claws. When it tried to advance on him, Weiss was the first to come to his side and thrust Myrtenaster forward to erect a Glyph infused with Gravity Dust below to pin the mutant down, allowing Pyrrha to come in and bring down Milo, further strengthened by a push from her Polarity to cut off one of its heads, while Jaune moved in to hack and slash repeatedly at the second head until it was dislodged. But despite all three of their efforts, Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha were surrounded by six more mutants on all sides.
Nora had blown away two mutants Beowolves with Magnhild in its grenade launcher more. But stepping forward from its fallen brethren, was an Ursa-Death Stalker hybrid. The second she saw that Grimm, her own eyes widened as she remembered another Grimm just like that from her childhood. With shaky hands, Nora fired more grenades from Magnhild to blast it away and she kept on firing with a look of desperation and fear in her eyes. But as she seemed focused on the monster in front of her, she was oblivious to the two mutant Beowolves that tried to come at her from behind.
"Nora! Look out!" Amy warned as she had slammed on the back of one mutant with a spin dash of her own before pounding its heads with the Piko-Piko, while Ren had fired his grapplers at the feet of the second mutant to trip it up and quickly rushed in to slice off its heads and kill it.
This caused Nora to turn around, allowing Ren and Amy to see the panicked look on her face from before. Though Amy was surprised to see such a face on a normally hyper and jubilant girl, Ren had a feeling of dread and yet understanding, especially when he saw the burning remains of the mutant behind her that strongly resembled another beast that Ren remembered all too well. But they didn't have time to worry about that as more mutants appeared around them, forcing them to circle up.
In the air, Shadow appeared to be caught in the jaws of the inner right head of the flying Hydra. But he thrusted Arondight up into its head before throwing a Chaos Spear down its throat, forcing it to let him go. While up in the air, Shadow used his rocket skates to propel himself up before performing a homing attack to its back and used his sword to slice off the right wing while throwing another Chaos Spear at its left wing to dislodge it, causing the monster to crash on the ground below, and take down a couple mutants upon impact.
Sonic was gunning straight for the Airavata, who tried to lift its feet to stomp down and unleash another wave of crystals, but Sonic shot with a homing attack straight to the middle face. He then proceeded with a series of rapid slashes with Caliburn and homing attacks across the middle face, but this only seemed to irritate the massive mutant as it shook its head to knock Sonic back, forcing him to land on the ground. Its outer two heads looked directly at him as their trunks extended to blast columns of green flame at Sonic, who was forced to run back and avoid them.
"And it shoots fire. Of course, it shoots fire." Sonic grunted. He gave a gasp as the Airavata charged at him in full speed, and while Sonic tried to run around to its sides and avoid the devastating charge, its right trunk shot another blast of green flame at the ground in front of him, creating an explosion that threw Sonic up in the air. While he was airborne, he was unable to avoid the next charge as the Airavata rammed into him, striking him with a swipe of the tusks of its central head to knock Sonic to the ground hard.
"Pretty sure there's a…. 'how do you stop an elephant from charging' joke here… but I'm kinda drawing a blank." Sonic groaned as he pushed up, only to look in worry as the mighty mutant loomed over him.
After having her ice sword shatter, the masked woman had brought her hilt to her sheath once more to draw a glowing yellow blade, one that gave her an extra boost in speed with the Lightning Dust embedded in it. She, just like before, closed the gap between herself and the Mutant Kraken. But rather than strike at its face like the last two times, she jumped straight up and landed on the cylindrical pillar the beast was attached to, perching herself above it just as all its tentacles shot at her. The masked woman then sheathed her sword and blasted it out with her sheath being akin to a gun, the blade itself lit with electrical power from the ignited Lightning Dust to zap and blow away all the tentacles. As the woman let herself fall, she grabbed the blade before swinging it to send a wave of lightning down at the creature to completely knock it off the pillar.
However, it just as quickly recovered upon landing and sent all of its tentacles to completely ensnare and bind the woman. She struggled initially and grunted in frustration. How was this mindless monster so quick and adaptable to its situation?! Merlot must have grabbed an older Grimm that grew in intelligence before it mutated. Maybe she got some of her brother's rotten luck after all. She considered giving off a tiny piece of her power, if only to escape these bindings…
When suddenly, the ground beneath the Mutant Kraken exploded outward, the force sending the beast flying upwards slightly as the one who had just emerged from the metallic ground was none other than Knuckles.
This allowed the tentacles to loosen around the woman, giving her a chance to draw her blade and slice them away, while Knuckles grabbed the tentacle closest to him once he landed and used his strength to haul and throw the Mutant Kraken straight into a wall, causing it to crash through.
Knuckles however was surprised to see someone else here. A woman who's face he couldn't see behind the Grimm mask. And if he could see her face, he would see the look of wide-eyed shock. This red rodent tossed that large mutant like a rag doll, but more importantly, he had seen her! Even if he couldn't see her face, this would still cause problems.
"Who are you?" Knuckles questioned.
Suddenly, the Mutant Kraken emerged with a roar as its tentacles flailed violently.
"You want an explanation, or do you want to kill this thing?" The woman replied as they turned to face it.
"Fine." Knuckles accepted, realizing how this mutant took priority. "But I am getting that explanation when this is done."
Entering a temporary alliance, the two charged at the mutant.
"What…?" For one of the few moments in his life, Merlot was genuinely surprised. "How was he able to get in there?! I couldn't even see him! How…?"
Suddenly, everything in his control room had deactivated, from all the monitors, to the computers, and even the lights, causing his shock to increase even further.
"What in…?"
"Goodness, did that circuit board power this whole room?" Rouge teased, revealing herself as she sat cockily cross-legged at the open vent she had entered from, holding a broken circuit board in her hand. "It probably doesn't power your whole facility, just this control room. But with that out of power, you've lost control of your whole base, right? Now might be a time to give up while I'm in such a good mood."
Merlot glared. Just how did this bat sneak into his control room?! Did she follow that woman?! And why weren't they together if that was the case!?
"I'm afraid not, my dear." Merlot replied as he pressed a button on his robotic arm. "I am so close…! My formula is nearly perfected…!" As he ranted his body began to twitch, much to Rouge's curiosity. Suddenly, four conductor coils emerging from his back, tearing away his upper clothing to reveal most of his body was now mechanical, much to Rouge's shock. "And I will not have all my work go to waste!" His robot arm changed into some sort of electrical weapon as a sphere of electricity quickly formed before it was blasted at Rouge, who quickly rolled out of the way to avoid it.
"Huh, so you're Doctor Frankenstein and his monster all rolled up in one." Rouge commented as she avoided another electrical attacked. "It's so easy to get the two mixed up, but you just brought them both together."
"A gift courtesy of Doctor Eggman." Merlot replied. "I'm no longer limited by human physique. Though I prefer not to fight directly if it can be helped, I am willing to stand my ground. So, let us break my new body in, shall we?"
"Whoa!" Sonic yelped as he dodged another strike of green fire shot at him by the middle trunk of the charging Airavata, he tried to run around the massive beast and rush directly underneath it, slashing at its legs repeatedly with Caliburn as he zipped across and in-between all of them, hoping that if he was fast enough to do enough damage to knock it down. However, the massive mutant had lifted its front legs up high and quickly brought them down just as Sonic tried to make a run for it.
The legs had slammed down hard on the ground, creating not only a physical shockwave that blew many of the heroes back, but even sent another wave of crystals that further added to the damage.
Already the testing grounds were a mess as many of the Mutant Grimm were already killed, though the Hydra and several of the bigger ones remained as Shadow kept his focus mostly on the multi-headed beast, despite still being grounded, it was still dangerous. Shadow had thrown multiple Chaos Spears down on the beast's back, specifically the necks creating multiple explosions that managed to weaken several of the heads, especially the middle ones. Shadow then shot down with a Spindash and Arondight held outward to slice off the middle two heads in one strike before firing Arondight's gun-mode on his right while throwing another Chaos Spear on his left to break off the weakened heads of the Hydra. Shadow then set his sights on the Airavata and moved in just as what was left of the Hydra exploded.
As Ruby picked herself up from the shockwave, she looked around to see what state her scattered friends were in. Omega and Yang tried to handle the heavy-hitters with their physical strength; Nora, Amy, and Ren stuck together to fend off a Death Stalker-Ursa hybrid and a few Mutant Beowolves; Tails and Weiss tried to move in and help the recovering Sonic; Jaune, Blake, and Pyrrha were backed into a corner against a Mutant Ursa. But then Ruby looked out of the corner of her eye to see a certain shapeshifter about to make his way towards one of the tunnels that she and her friends had entered from.
"Mimic's trying to get away!" Ruby shouted, hoping somebody would hear her as she used her Petal Burst to run as fast as she could to try and intercept him.
Mimic noticed the incoming red blur out of the corner of his eye and just barely dodged out of the way to avoid the swing of Ruby's Crescent Rose. He backed on his feet with a glare as he drew an energy gun to shoot at Ruby, who jumped backwards before converting Crescent Rose into its rifle mode and returned fire, blasting the gun out of Mimic's hand.
"Nngh, nice shot." Mimic growled. "But that's not my only trick!" He reached into his robe to throw out a series of grenades, which Ruby tried to run away from, but the explosion did blast her back to the ground. "You got some skill, kid." Mimic admitted as he pulled out his knife as he moved in to finish her off. "With some training, you'd actually be formidable."
Before he got his chance to slash at her, he was pushed back by a Glyph that suddenly appeared in front of him. He turned around in surprise to see Weiss angrily swing Myrtenaster to send waves of fire and ice at him, which Mimic was unable to dodge, and the resulting elemental attack blasted him away, straight to where Blake was waiting. She then leapt into the air and delivered a powerful kick to Mimic's back and knocked him towards the charging Yang. With a yell and her eyes glowing red, and her hair lit on fire, Yang quickly closed the distance and connected her fist to Mimic's face to smash him hard into the ground.
Weiss was already at Ruby's side and helping her up before all of Team RWBY gathered around the impression where Mimic laid in an unconscious heap.
"Give me a reason we don't finish him right now." Yang growled.
"Because he could have information about Eggman that can be useful." Blake said. "Believe me, I want to rip him apart too… but we need him alive."
"That's provided the rest of us make it out alive right now." Weiss pointed out as the rest of their friends were still in a tight spot against all the remaining mutants.
Pyrrha and Jaune used both their shields and charged at a Mutant Ursa to knock it flat on its back. While Jaune tried to hold it down, Pyrrha acted quickly to slice at its necks repeatedly with both her sword and shield, only for both of them to get rammed off by a Creep-Boarbatusk hybrid and knocked towards two more with three Mutant Beowolves joining them. Ren fired StormFlower's grapplers to entangle the Ursa body and the stinger of the Death Stalker mutant in front of him and keep it pinned, while Amy and Nora both combined their hammer strikes as they struck from behind to smash in the back of its head. Only to end up facing a Mutant Ursa right as the mutant they killed exploded.
Sonic and Shadow tried to run up and around the Airavata, delivering Homing Attacks, Spindashes, sword slices, with even Chaos Spears and gunshots from Shadow, but none of their attacks seemed to be doing any real damage. Any damage the Mutant Goliath did sustain was quickly healed. It swung the tusks of its right head into Sonic to send him flying and crashing along the wall while the center head fired another blast of green flame from its trunk at Shadow, who tried to perform an airborne Spindash to blow the fire around him, but the force of the attack itself still knocked Shadow back.
Suddenly, an explosion erupted at the side of the Airavata left head as Tails and Omega stood together, their respective weapons out and ready.
"Concentrate all your firepower at its neck!" Tails exclaimed as he readied the Cyclone's heavy armaments. He couldn't risk using the Power Laser again or else the Cyclone might break down.
"Copy. Ready to unleash all stockpiled Dust." Omega confirmed.
With that, both the Cyclone and Omega unleashed massive blasts of fire, lightning, ice, and other forms of weaponized Dust right at the point that Tails had identified, right in the side of the neck of the Airavata's left head. The explosion was rather large, and it was able to knock the Mutant Goliath back somewhat, with the monster groaning in pain. However, when the dust settled… it did appear that the left head was partially dislodged as most of its neck was blown away. But if one looked closely enough, one could see that it was already beginning to regenerate.
"Observation, the mutant is healing itself. Our combined power is not enough to blast off its head." Omega reported. "Even so, if this mutant follows the same principles as the others, all three of its heads must be removed to completely destroy it. We lack the means to do that."
"You're right… this thing might be too powerful…" Tails agreed, feeling a strong sense of fear.
Shadow happened to hear Omega's report and had to agree that nothing they currently had on hand was enough to break off even one of the Mutant Goliath's head, let alonge all three. Well… almost anything. He still had one option left. And given how exhausted the students likely were and the number of smaller mutants that remained, now was a good as time as any to stop holding back.
"Sonic!" Shadow quickly sped to the recovering blue Hedgehog. "Gather the others and get them to that exit! Now!" He ordered as he pointed to the opening of the tunnel that was the farthest from the Airavata.
"Yeah, okay." Sonic nodded as he and Shadow sped off in separate directions. Using their speed, it wasn't all that difficult to grab all their friends and get them to the point that Shadow had suggested. Fortunately, Team RWBY was already close to that point with the unconscious Mimic, so it was just a matter of getting Team JNPR and everyone else there. Omega and Tails saw everyone regrouping at that point and quickly followed their lead to join them. Shadow had brought in Jaune and Pyrrha just as Sonic had arrived with Amy after having rescued Nora and Ren.
"Alright, now what?" Sonic asked his fellow Hedgehog.
"Now?" Shadow threw him the green Chaos Emerald. "Now, you get them all as far away from here as possible. I'll handle the rest."
That comment caused many of the students to look in shock. "What?! You can't take all these monsters by yourself!" Weiss protested. "I know you're arrogant, but you can't be that arragonat!"
"Shadow, what are you doing?" Ruby asked. She was hoping that he had some sort of plan.
The Ultimate Lifeform offered no verbal response but reached for his right wrist, specifically the ring that he wore before clicking it off, the ring briefly glowing before it fell from his wrist. He then reached and did the same for the left.
Once both rings were removed, Shadow was engulfed in a bright flash of dark yellow energy that surged around him almost like a bright golden fire. The force of the raw power caused everyone to back up slightly. This also drew all the mutants, including the recovering Airavata, to the source of this sudden spike of energy that just appeared out of nowhere.
Teams RWBY and JNPR looked in surprise and in awe at the vast power that Shadow was now exhibiting around him, they'd never felt anything like this before, not even from seeing professional Huntsmen in action. However, Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Omega all looked with seriousness as they knew that if Shadow was willing to remove his Inhibitor Rings, then he was no longer holding back. But why give Sonic the Chaos Emerald? Shadow could use it to add to his own power. Sonic would get his answer a second later for Shadow wasn't done yet.
He remembered learning this technique from the Black Arms invasion, how Chaos Energy has two sides to it. Positive and Negative. And he could access the Negative Chaos Energy if he himself was also exhibiting negative emotions, specifically anger and rage. Since then, he had learned to control and channel his rage, harness it like a weapon. Shadow then directed all his rage into himself, letting his anger come to the surface. As he did, all that glowing golden energy that surged around him began to condense around his body as a dark red aura began to form. Despite the energy being condensed, it somehow felt stronger as everyone behind him was forced to step back even more.
"Uh… what's going on…?" Jaune had a bad feeling about this.
"Get away from here. Now." Shadow gave a low growl as all the Mutants charged at him, being drawn by Shadow's growing negativity.
Yep, it was time to bail. "You heard the man! Chaos Control!" Using the Chaos Emerald, Sonic teleported himself and all their friends away, leaving the glowing Shadow to face the incoming horde alone.
Using a boost from his rocket skates, the energized Shadow zoomed straight to the Airavata, specifically right underneath the neck of the center head before letting it all out.
"Chaos… BLAST!"
With that, all the energy around Shadow exploded in a bright red wave of pure energy. The explosion erupted right under the Airavata's central neck, causing it to get the brunt and full power of the explosion. The force was enough to tear not only the middle head away from its body, but even the right and left ones before they and the rest of the Airavata's body was quickly incinerated. All the other Mutant Grimm were caught up in the blast as well as the destructive explosion all but obliterated the testing grounds.
In a flash of light, Sonic and everyone else reappeared in the middle of the tunnel. Before anyone could question what happened, the entire area shook as if it was it by a massive earthquake with Jaune, Ruby, and Yang being knocked to the ground while everyone else steadied themselves on either the side railings or something grounded like the Cyclone or Omega himself. They all looked deeper in the tunnel as the saw the bright flash of red before it all vanished.
"Shadow!" Concerned for his safety, Ruby sped back down the hallway, with Sonic zooming after her, leaving the others to recover before trying to catch up.
Sonic had already caught up to Ruby just as they made it to the exit, only for the silver-eyed girl to gasp and look in shock at what just happened.
The entire chamber was gone, the walls around had completely collapsed, most of the ceiling was blown away, and a massive crater was now on the smoking ground. It looked as if a large bomb had been detonated, but no normal bomb could do this much damage.
Everyone else had caught up as all the students gasped and looked in as equal amount of shock as Ruby as they saw it too. Amy looked rather stunned herself, with even Tails looking in awe. Omega was unsurprised, even as he carried the unconscious Mimic in his metallic arms.
"Oh… my… gods…" Weiss covered her mouth while Blake and Yang were rendered completely speechless as their eyes were wide like dinner plates. Jaune would have fainted, had Pyrrha not caught him, but she did so absentmindedly as she couldn't take her own widened eyes off the resulting destruction. Even Nora had no comment to give at the destruction, and while silence was typical for Ren, the look of pure shock in his eyes was unlike anything he had had before.
Ruby spotted Shadow at the very center of the smoking crater and quickly sped her way down to him, with Sonic right beside her.
"Shadow…" Ruby ran to his side as he was on his hands and knees and appeared to be out of breath, while Sonic took the moment to collect Shadow's inhibitor Rings before making is way to him just as everyone else began to climb down. "Are you alright?" She asked.
"I'm fine." Shadow replied as he tried to stand. Sonic offered him his Inhibitor Rings, which Shadow accepted with a nod before placing them back on his wrists.
"Okay… can somebody explain to me what the hell just happened!?" Yang exclaimed as everyone regrouped together. "Seriously… what the actual hell was that?!"
"Chaos Blast." Tails answered. "Shadow's most powerful technique."
"Chaos Blast…? Like Chaos Control?" Blake asked.
"Not quite." Tails explained. "Chaos Control is a bit more complicated in that it can manipulate time and space. Chaos Blast is basically an explosion of raw Chaos Energy, capable of leveling a city block at minimum. It's not something he can use lightly."
"How is even able to use something like that at all?!" Weiss questioned. "I've never seen any kind of Semblance that can create an explosion like this!"
"For real… Believe me, I've tried." Nora put in.
"Shadow possess the unique ability to wield internal Chaos Energy." Omega explained. "His own power is equivalent to that of a single Chaos Emerald, which is more power than a normal lifeform can naturally sustain. Shadow's own body does allow him to sustain the power physically, but his biological systems can be exhausted. He wields Inhibitor Rings to keep his internal power at a manageable level."
"And when he takes them off… all that power comes back to the surface." Amy put in. "And it will recover, too. He'll get just as much power back given time."
"Y-you… you gotta be kidding me…." Yang looked around at all the destruction that resulted from the blast. Even her strongest attack from her own Semblance couldn't even come close to something like this!
"H-he's…. he's had that much power at his disposal…? Incredible…" Pyrrha was nothing short of awed.
"And… terrifying." Blake couldn't help but voice it.
"Glad he's on our side." Ren commented with Nora nodding in agreement.
Weiss truly had no idea that anybody could be capable of this much destructive power. It was little wonder Shadow gave off an aura of arrogance, he not only had the power to back it up, he even had the means to control it. She even wondered if her sister could match him.
Jaune couldn't help but recall when Shadow pulled him away when he was acting as Cardin's errand boy and put him through the physical and verbal ringer. He had the sneaking suspicion that Shadow was holding back at that time… but looking at all of this… once again, he felt like a very small fish in a vast ocean.
A part of Ruby felt somewhat scared. Shadow was more than a little dangerous for sure, but at the same time, she couldn't help but look in awe. She remembered when she, Sonic, and Oobleck saw all those Goliaths near Mountain Glenn with Oobleck and even Sonic advising caution against them, which was expected as it took the combined efforts of Sonic's whole team to bring one down in the Emerald Forest. No doubt that Mutant Goliath was stronger than any of them… and yet Shadow obliterated it, and all the other remaining mutants, all in one devastating explosion. She also remembered what Rouge called him when trying to stop Eggman's train from reaching Veil when Shadow stayed behind to hold off the horde of Grimm that were being drawn, and seeing what he was capable of now… Ruby even glanced towards Sonic, who had a knowing look in his eyes as he gave a nod to confirm what Ruby was probably thinking. Now she was truly starting to believe…
'The Ultimate Lifeform...'
Knuckles had Galantine drawn to hack and slash at all the tentacles shot at him by the Mutant Kraken and he rushed the beast as quickly as he could. When several more appeared to bare down on him from above, the masked woman leapt over him to use her sword, now equipped with Wind Dust, to quickly slice them and clear the way. Though Knuckles did pick up the trace of wind emitted from the sword, he turned his sole focus on the Mutant Kraken and had quickly closed the distance. He leapt up and brought both his axe-blades down on its skull face. Though he did a great deal of damage, he also noticed something about how this monster felt.
All the bone-like armor from every Grimm he's faced was hard like bone should be. But not this one. No, this felt soft, almost rubbery, which was the case as he felt the squishy face of the Kraken sink in somewhat before countless tentacles emerged from all around him, prompting Knuckles to leap away and regroup with the woman.
"I tried that! It didn't work!" She told him in a tone of frustration and anger, and it wasn't aimed at him, but rather at the situation they were stuck in.
The red Echidna couldn't explain it, but something about this woman felt familiar. Her frustration, the way she talked… but he knew he'd never seen her before. So why? He shook his thoughts away as he had to focus on the now. Though he did take notice of her weapon, specifically the scabbard as he saw hints of colored blades in them, not to mention the wind that came from the white blade.
"You have Dust inside that thing?" Knuckles asked. Before she could respond, the Mutant Krakken advanced towards them at incredible speeds, causing them to dodge.
"Yes!" She responded as she used her sword to cut away at the tentacles that came in her direction, while Knuckles ran around the Kraken and did the same with Galatine to any other tentacles that came his way.
"What types do you have?!" He questioned.
She leapt back to do a brief count of the number of stored blades. "Fire…Ice… Gravity… Rock… Plant…"
"Back up, you said Rock Dust?" Knuckles questioned as he hacked apart another tentacle.
"Yes!" She confirmed while doing the same herself.
"Can you cover that thing's body in rock?" Knuckles asked.
"Yes, but I can't turn it into stone!" The woman stated.
"That's fine! Do it! I'll give you an opening!" The Echidna told her before rushing the mutant. "Hey! Over here!" He called to the Mutant Kraken, which turned its full attention towards him as it lashed out with all of its tentacles. Knuckles quickly put Galatine away as he used his fists to punch and smash the smaller tentacles, prompting the Mutant Kraken to unleash three of its larger ones to try and smash him, but Knuckles had not only caught all three tentacles, he pulled them in close and wrapped his arms around them, using his natural strength to hold and pin the beast down.
"Go! Now!" Knuckles ordered.
No time to question, the masked woman quickly ran and jumped in the air, quickly drawing a new Dust blade, this one being Rock Dust as the sword itself was a brownish gray. She landed on the face of the mutant and slashed it with such incredible speeds that it seemed like a blur with her arms, and with each slash, rock and stone began to spread and cover the face of the mutant, causing it to slow down considerable. When she stopped, nearly every inch of it was covered in stone.
Knuckles wasted no time in rushing the immobilized mutant and proceeded to spin his arms around like wheels and dug through the monster's body just as the woman leapt off. Digging through something soft and rubbery was difficult, but something more solid and rock-like was his thing. Knuckles easily dug through the stone that covered the Mutant Kraken and into its head. He then drew Galatine once more and used his raw strength and the heavy axes to hack and slash up all its insides before he gave a mighty swing to completely rip the monster in half from the inside.
The woman's eyes widened in shock underneath her mask as what was left of the Mutant Kraken fell down around him before it combusted and underwent a reaction that seemed like a mix of being melted and exploding. It was rather disgusting.
But the sheer strength this Echidna had, not to mention his call outs in battle… he was clearly an experienced warrior. And she was quite impressed.
"Alright, time for some answers." Knuckles looked towards the masked woman as she stared at him. "Who are you?"
Meanwhile, Rouge ducked and jumped over the electrical blasts the cybernetic Merlot shot at her. When she flew in to try and close the gap, the coils on his back activated to spring up an electrical field to push Rouge back. He then tried to blast her again, only for her to limbo just in the nick of time.
'He's just blasting over and over. He's smart… but he doesn't know how to fight.' Rouge drew Purple Hearts and leapt up where Merlot attempted to shoot her again, but right as he aimed, she had noticed that as his cybernetic arm powered up, the coils on his back were inactive. He can't power both at the same time!
Acting quickly, she threw out her boomerang-like weapons to slice off the coils from Merlot's metallic back before he even fired, causing him to groan in pain as he fell to the ground on his hands and feet just as Rouge's weapon returned to her.
"Clever… but I can still get you in the discharge…!" Merlot's cybernetic body then began to surge with even more electricity, almost like he was about to ignite himself like a bomb.
"Nice try…" Rouge quickly flew to him and wrapped her legs around his neck. "But I've seen that before." She hauled her legs over while bending backwards, throwing Merlot at the door in the back just as an electrical explosion went off.
Both Knuckles and the masked woman turned in surprise to see the door blown off as the cybernetic Merlot was thrown in before landing in a smoking heap on the floor.
"Well, that takes care of that." Rouge casually walked out, dusting her hands.
"He was a robot?" Knuckles looked in surprise as Merlot groaned weakly, indicating he was still alive.
"A cyborg. Eggman's handiwork." Rouge said before noticing the masked woman. "So who's your friend, Knucklehead?"
"Don't know, still waiting for an answer." Knuckles narrowed his eyes at the woman in question, who looked ready to draw her blade in an instant.
"Oh don't be so defensive, sweetie." Rouge teased. "I promise we don't bite. Much." She heard a ping on her scroll and looked at the message that had been sent. "Oh, looks like Sonic and the others are fine. They took out the last of Merlot's little pets. And they even caught Mimic."
"I didn't doubt it for a second." Knuckles smiled, while the mystery woman felt a sense of relief as well.
Merlot groaned once more, drawing their attention. He tried to pick himself up, only for Rouge to sit on him with crossed legs and keep him down. "Alright, Doc. Your pets are toast, your lab is compromised, and you're in shambles. Just make it easy on us and tell us what we wanna know. Like where Eggman might be hiding."
"And who else is working with him." Knuckles added, glaring at the mad scientist. "We know there's somebody else involved, someone bigger than the White Fang even. Who is really helping Eggman pull the strings here?"
Rouge happened to notice briefly the masked woman's hands shake, though she was quick to clench her fists and stop herself just as she noticed Rouge's glance. Did this mystery woman know who else was involved? Maybe she would have answers herself.
However, Rouge's hearing also picked up on something else. It was a port on the wall behind them opening… as well as an intense surge of power that had just activated alongside a turbine.
"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Rouge called out just as she leapt away just as something shot out, engulfed in a surge of glowing orange energy. The force of the resulting blast was enough to knock all three of them back.
All eyes looked in surprise to see none other than Metal Sonic, having appeared directly over the downed Merlot. His right hand converted into his blade, Metal Sonic drove it into Merlot's metallic neck before slicing to completely decapitate him, much to their shock. His head rolled on the ground as an oil-like substance came out of the neck area, with the look of shock permanently attacked to Merlot's deceased face.
Knuckles was the first to recover as he rushed the deadly robotic doppelgänger of his friend fist first. He tried to smash him, but Metal quickly activated his Black Shield to protect himself.
Metal Sonic had been sent here to make sure that Merlot couldn't reveal any sensitive information. Though Sonic's victory was to be expected given his track record, Metal Sonic did not recognize the masked woman in front of him. Her mask was not like those in the White Fang's, so she wasn't an ally of theirs. In fact, she even helped Knuckles, which indicated she was a possible enemy, but more on that later. He could not allow them access to Merlot's equipment.
So, using a code that Eggman had given him, Metal was able to patch into Merlot's network, who had kept it open for Eggman if in the event they were to talk from a distance. He then remotely initiated the right sequence needed to bury everything.
"Self-destruct sequence is now engaged!" A voice echoed in the chamber, much to the group's shock. "Facility total destruction in ten minutes."
Metal Sonic deactivated his Black Shield and gazed his red optics, almost mockingly towards the heroes, before flying away and escaping through a hole that had opened up in the ceiling.
"Hey! Get back here!" Knuckles called to him.
"Forget it, Knuckles! We gotta get the others and get out of here! Do you…" When Rouge was about to turn to the woman, she and Knuckles were surprised to see that she was no longer there, but even more so at the appearance of a dark red portal that stood in her place.
"Is that a portal?" Knuckles asked. "Where does it lead? What about the others?"
An explosion erupted on the ceiling, followed by several more all across the chamber as Merlot's control room was already falling apart.
"No time to question it! Let's just go!" Rouge grabbed Knuckles by the wrist and leapt into the portal.
Explosions erupted all across the testing grounds, and in the tunnels the group had just exited from, much to their shock.
"What's going on?!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Multiple detonations are occurring throughout the facility." Omega reported.
"Guess someone pressed the self-destruct button." Sonic commented.
Suddenly, a red portal had opened up directly behind Yang, much to hers and everyone else's surprise. Even more so as Knuckles and Rouge stepped out, though a certain black bird had also exited through the portal that nobody seemed to notice just as it closed, with the exception of an exhausted Shadow.
"Knuckles?! Rouge?! How did you guys get here?!" Amy questioned.
"Don't know, don't care! We need to bail!" Rouge exclaimed.
"What happened to Merlot?" Pyrrha asked.
"He's dead. Metal Sonic got him." Knuckles answered just as another explosion erupted, causing the already torn up ceiling to collapse even further with debris about to land on them, but Weiss was quick to erect a Glyph to repel it from the group.
"We gotta get out of here, now!" Ruby exclaimed.
"The airship Ozpin sent is supposed to land over there! Let's go!" Tails kicked the Cyclone's walker mode into overdrive as it went into a sprint with everyone else following, including Omega who continued to hold the captive and unconscious Mimic.
"Tails, are you there?" Ozpin contacted the young fox through his communications. "The airship just arrived, but the pilot is saying that the island is exploding! What is happening?!"
"The whole place is about to explode! We need to get out of here, Professor!" Tails answered as the whole group made it to the landing pad.
"I see the ship!" Blake pointed out as the Beacon dropship flew in through an opening that led outside the facility and quickly made its way to the landing pad just as the facility behind them exploded even more. Hovering just above the ground, the ship turned on its side and opened its bay doors.
"No time to check your tickets, all aboard!" Sonic urged as he led everyone inside. Rouge helped the exhausted Shadow in first, followed by Ruby, Amy, Weiss, Knuckles, Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Omega who still carried Mimic.
"You go on Sonic, I'm right behind you!" Tails told him as he converted the Cyclone to its plane-mode.
The blue Hedgehog then jumped into the ship. Once the pilot saw that all passengers were on board, it quickly turned around and made its way back out through the opening, with the Cyclone taking off and following directly behind.
Just as both flying vehicles made it out, along with a certain black bird, the entire facility and most of the island continued to explode. As the laboratory was built directly into the island, the land itself began to collapse and cave in on itself. By the time the Beacon dropship and Cyclone had made it a safe distance away, a massive explosion had torn most of the island apart before it all collapsed entirely, causing it all to sink into the water below, leaving almost no trace of the land, the facility, or the mutagenic substance that was being made there.
Sonic and all his friends, with the exception of Omega, took a moment to catch their breaths from the exhaustion, while Teams RWBY and JNPR felt incredibly tense for a moment as they held onto the seats of the vehicle until all the rumbling came to a stop, indicating that they had either made it far away from the island, or they were done with all the explosions, maybe both.
"Tails, you good?" Sonic asked over the comms.
"Right here, Sonic." Tails relayed as the Cyclone flew next to the ship. "I'm good."
Once they were certain they were all safe, the students couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, especially Jaune.
"That… was insane…!" The blonde commented.
"We made it out! We made it out, everyone! We won!" Ruby cheered as she leapt at her older sister for a hug, who didn't hesitate to return it with a breath of relief herself. Though not everyone was as jubilant as Ruby, they were nonetheless glad for the same reason as they all smiled in relief. Rouge smiled with Amy as even Sonic and Knuckles shared a fist bump.
"The battle is over, but it's not quite done." Shadow commented, bringing the celebrations to an end. "We learned nothing from Merlot."
"Maybe we can get some information out of Mimic?" Blake suggested.
"Not if the uptight Ironwood has any say in the matter." Rouge commented.
"Then let's wake the freak up and start interrogating him ourselves." Yang growled.
"Yeah, let's snap off his tentacles!" Nora agreed.
"Would the guy really know anything though?" Sonic asked mostly to Knuckles. "You said that Metal showed up to take out Merlot, I'm guessing to keep him quiet. The fact he didn't for Mimic probably meant he doesn't know much of anything either."
"Mimic is supposed to be a professional mercenary, he said it himself." Pyrrha pointed out. "That said, he must have not asked too many questions in order to avoid learning any sensitive information that may put his life in danger."
"Given he sold out his whole team, that seems to line up with his train of thought." Weiss agreed.
"So, he doesn't know much of anything." Ren put in.
"Most likely." Omega confirmed.
"You getting all this, Tails?" Sonic asked as his scroll was on speaker for his friend to hear on the next plane over.
"Loud and clear." The young fox confirmed.
"We may not get any info out of Mimic, but there is something else we need to talk about." Knuckles said. "We weren't alone on that island. Someone else was there."
"Someone else?" Ruby asked.
"A woman. She had long black hair and wore a Grimm mask." Knuckles described.
"White Fang?" Blake asked.
"Don't think so." Rouge shook her head. "Her mask looked different from the others, and I don't think she was a Faunus."
"Well, what was she doing?" Yang asked.
"She was fighting one of Merlot's mutants when we found her, so I don't think she's working for Eggman." Knuckles said.
"Maybe she was the one who made that portal that brought you guys to us." Tails guessed. "Does anyone know about a Semblance that can make portals?"
"Not anything I've heard." Pyrrha answered.
"I've read about Semblances with similar abilities, but I've never seen one myself." Weiss put her two scents in.
"And she was no slouch in a fight either, she's been trained well." Knuckles said.
"Sounds like she could be a professional Huntress." Amy commented.
"Maybe Ozpin sent her." Ren suggested.
"Wouldn't Ozpin have said anything if he did though?" Nora asked.
"We know he is hiding something." Shadow said. "That woman could have been a spy for him. Or, perhaps she might not be aligned with Ozpin either. A third party could be involved."
"Well, I hope she made it out of there okay." Ruby voiced with concern.
"Given the lady can make portals, I think she's fine." Rouge brushed off.
Though Shadow kept it mostly to himself, he couldn't help but think back on that black bird he saw fly through that portal. His research showed that a person can only wield one Semblance, and while it can be applied to different circumstances or even evolve differently, wielding two powers should be impossible. But then again, as Ozpin is hiding secrets from them, he wouldn't be surprised if something like that did exist in this world.
"Hey, we'll worry about all that stuff later, but look at the bright side." Sonic told everyone. "Merlot was about to set loose an army of super Grimm that could have done some real damage, but we stopped him. We destroyed his whole lab. I mean, yeah, it sucks we don't have any more leads thanks to Metal, but we still stopped a potential disaster and that's worth taking pride in. Plus, we also caught a psychotic shapeshifter who could have caused us some real trouble at Beacon if he got away, so that's a win too."
That perked up many of their spirits, notably the students as they all smiled.
"Yeah, Sonic's right." Ruby smiled. "We did real good out there. And when we get back to Beacon… I'm helping myself to all the cookies. I deserve them." She said proudly, earning some laughs and chuckles from the group around them.
"Heh, I'm more of a chilidog fan myself." Sonic added to the joke, causing everyone to laugh even more as they rested and relaxed the rest of the flight back to Beacon.
Done.
Now that was quite the explosive chapter, wouldn't you agree?
The heroes were able to capture Mimic and destroy the remainder of Merlot's mutants. Shadow even showed the rest of the students why he is the Ultimate Lifeform. I've been wanting to write a scenario where he has to unleash a Chaos Blast and this seemed like the best way to do it as he completely obliterated a mutant that gave him and Sonic a really hard time.
Unfortunately, Metal Sonic had permanently silenced Merlot before he had a chance to spill any juicy info. It was never stated in the canon game whether Merlot was dead or not, though there is some speculation that he will appear in the second Justice League crossover movie this Halloween, but since that isn't canon to the series, I'm just going to have Merlot be killed here.
But, now the heroes are aware of a certain someone… whom they don't know quite yet. And as I've said, I've got very special plans for her.
Though the battle is over, the Grimm Eclipse arc isn't done quite yet. One chapter remains that deals with the aftermath as their encounter with Mimic did leave something of an impact on many of the students, so we'll be addressing that in the next chapter, which can be considered a nice breather chapter. Then we got another Chibi/Classic chapter right after…
And then we kick off Volume 3, where things get really interesting.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you with the next one soon. Stay safe.