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)

29. Underneath the Colors

Hi everyone, welcome back to another most anticipated chapter of "A Red Rose in the Blue Wind". Here we finally have the long-awaited doubles match with our White Rose pair and I have been looking forward very much to writing this as I've got quite a few surprises here that'll really turn some heads.

However, a quick announcement for those who haven't heard...

RoosterTeeth is officially shutting down. Which means, the fate of RWBY and all its other shows is now up in the air. However, that does not necessarily mean that the show is completely finished. WarnerBros is currently looking for somebody to sell the rights to the franchise to and pick up the series, and hte process of shutting down is supposed to take a couple of months, so there's hope. One possible candidate could be Crunchyroll since they streamed Volume 9. However, that does not mean anything is guaranteed as there are three possible scenarios that can occur from this...

1) Somebody could pick up RWBY and start from where we left off, though there may be a longer wait until it continues, though that all depends on who bought the series and how they handle it. There's a lot of moving parts to stuff like this.

2) Somebody picks up RWBY, but rather than continue the story, they decided to reboot the whole series and start from scratch, leaving us without a definitive end the series.

3) Nobody picks up RWBY and the series is cancelled altogether.

All three situations are possible, but again, nothing is guaranteed yet. We'll just have to wait and see where this goes and hope for the best. But, this will not, in any way, impact my story and what I have planned. I already have a definitive ending set up, as well as a solid, yet flexible, plan for the whole thing. I just have to get a little creative regarding certain details, particularly when it comes to everything Vacuo-related (the Summer Maiden, the Relic of Destruction, etc.) If I have to veer from canon regarding that because of the uncertain situation surrounding RWBY (even if the show does get picked up and continues from where it left off, my plans will be altogether different from what we may get in the future).

Regardless, this story still has a solid future and I have every intention of seeing it through. So once again, allow me to thank you for all your support. I truly appreciate it.

With that being said, let's get started.

Underneath the Colors

Russel ran for his life toward the mountainous area, avoiding several explosions before turning around to draw a pair of daggers, facing Penny, who casually walked forward with Ciel right behind her. Penny held out her right hand to pull out several blades from her Floating Array and sliced her hand to send all those blades seemingly toward Russel, but when he ducked for cover behind a boulder, the blades actually impacted the boulder, piercing into it, as was her intent, much to Russel's confusion.

Penny repeated a similar action, sending more blades spiraling toward the retreating Sky, who used his halberd to vault himself over a boulder near his teammate's and hide behind it. But just before he landed, Penny's blades had drove themselves into the same boulder he hid behind, just like with Russel. Both Sky and Russel simply looked to each other in confusion.

The android girl then turned towards Ciel with an excited smile, only for her to point at her own watch expectantly, telling her to hurry up and finish this. Penny's smile faded before getting back to the match. Using the cables attached to each blade, Penny had lifted both boulders, with both of her opponents hanging onto them, much to their shock. And then she slammed both boulders, and both enemies, hard onto the ground, shattering the rocks and leaving them both to lay flat with no chance of getting back up anytime soon.

The buzzer sounded, ending the match. "And victory goes to Penny and Ciel of Atlas!" Oobleck announced.

"Thank you for a wonderful time." Penny bowed to her barely conscious opponents before she and Ciel made their way from the arena.

Sonic gave an impressed whistle as he, his team, along with Team JNPR, Yang, and Blake, all saw the whole fight. "Dang, not even five minutes. I mean, sure she went up against a couple of losers but… she's good. That other girl didn't even need to do anything."

"Yes, very impressive." Ren agreed.

"She is from Atlas; so, I'd wager that she had plenty of training." Blake commented.

"But she lifted those two boulders like they're nothing. She's strong." Yang said with an impressed smile. "Wouldn't mind going a few rounds with her."

"Oh, how about Penny against Pyrrha? Now that would be a match I'd love to see!" Nora suggested before turning to her aforementioned teammate. "What do you think? Wanna spar with her?"

"If she has no objection, I wouldn't mind a friendly match." Pyrrha smiled.

"How is she able to control all those swords though?" Jaune wondered.

"Each of those blades is connected to a micro-thin cable which connect back to Penny, allowing her to control each and every one of them." Tails explained. "Professor Polendina explained it."

"And to have such great control over all of them…" Pyrrha noted. "It would be one thing if she was directing all of them to a single target, but multiple targets at once?"

"In battle, it's hard to focus on multiple targets at once, but she seems perfectly capable of doing just that." Knuckles said. 'Almost like a machine.' He was no fool. Knuckles had fought against and worked alongside enough robots to know that Penny was one herself, or a cyborg at the very least. But she seemed to have her own thoughts and will, not unlike Omega or Gemerl, so he considered a friend and comrade. But the fact that she was a machine also made him concerned what Eggman would do if he found out. It wouldn't be good, that was for sure.

"Her fight was great, but up next is probably gonna be the best one!" Amy beamed.

"Yep, Ruby and Weiss." Sonic smiled. "Our little rose and ice queen." This certainly caught everyone's attention again as they all looked with expressions of excitement, though Yang seemed somewhat nervous. Not that she doubted her sister, or Weiss for that matter. Both were great fighters and they made arguably the best duo in Team RWBY, but her usual big sister instincts couldn't help but fill her being. Not to mention that the infiltrators, whose identities they know as the whole team being led by Cinder was probably out here somewhere, plotting something with Eggman that potentially put Ruby smack dab in the middle of it.

However, Yang's thoughts were interrupted as she felt a gentle grasp on her arm, causing Yang to turn and see that it was her own partner.

"It'll be fine." Blake tried to assure her. "I highly doubt anybody is going to try anything out here in front of all everyone in Amity."

"And in the worst-case scenario, we'll jump right in." Knuckles also said as he had his own arms crossed, sitting with confidence as he gave Yang an encouraging grin.

This seemed to ease the blonde's mind as she was that reminded that both she and her younger sister had friends to rely and count on. And she couldn't be any happier for it.

---

Meanwhile, just as Penny and Ciel were entering the tunnel that led away from the arena, they happen to come across a certain pair of students that were competing next.

"Penny!" Ruby waved with Weiss next to her.

"Ruby!" Penny immediately dashed to the girl, slammed into her and tackled them both to the ground, much to Weiss' surprise.

"Why…?" Ruby groaned as Penny picked herself and Ruby back up.

"Hello Weiss." Penny greeted with a smile.

"Penny." The Schnee heiress nodded.

"Ruby, Weiss, this is my teammate." Penny introduced the pair to the other girl with her.

"Ciel Soleil." The girl introduced herself with a slight bow.

"Hi." Ruby waved.

"Hello." Weiss nodded to her as well.

"Weiss Schnee. Seventeen. Hails from Atlas. Younger sister to Specialist Winter Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Member of Team RWBY. Status... promising." Ciel noted almost like she was reading a file.

"Oh, thank you." Weiss smiled, trying to convey a humble tone.

"And I'm…" Ruby tried to speak, but Ciel already began to address her in the same manner.

"Ruby Rose. Fifteen. Hails from Patch. Leader of Team RWBY. Status… questionable."

Though somewhat put off by that last part, Ruby decided to ignore it and speak to her friend. "So… Penny! You two were incredible out there! The way you can control all those swords at once is so cool!"

"Penny, I feel that is best to move on to our next location." Ciel told her, pointing to her own watch.

'Someone's punctual.' Weiss thought internally. There was a time when she herself was much like that, but now she felt a tad more relaxed when it came to time management. Probably another result of being around Sonic for so long. Who needs to be punctual when you can run as fast as him?

"Could we have just a minute to talk?" Penny requested. Ciel looked to her watch and saw that there was enough time and stepped back to allow her a chance to speak. Likewise, Weiss also felt a need to take a step or two back and let Ruby converse with her friend, Weiss wasn't as close to Penny as Ruby was, so it felt rude to but in or eavesdrop.

"So, is she… your friend or…?" Ruby asked Penny, referring to Ciel.

"Well, in a way." The android girl answered. "She is like Blake, but if Blake was ordered to spend time with you."

"Oh, so like Shadow." Ruby assumed.

"Yes. Only less hostile towards her opponents." Penny replied.

"Does she know about, you know… beep-boop-bop… does not compute?" Ruby whispered, making robotic gestures with her body to emphasize on Penny's own robotic nature.

"Oh no, General Ironwood doesn't want anybody else other than my father to know." She answered.

"Not even Weiss' sister or the Ace Ops?" Ruby asked.

"Not as far as I'm aware." Penny responded. "I have not told them, but I am not aware of whether or not he has said anything to them either."

"Oh." Ruby seemed to accept.

"Ruby, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about, something I wish for you to pass on to Sonic when you see him again." Penny began, taking a brief look at Ciel, who was keeping her eyes focused on her watch before speaking in a hushed whisper. "I want to join you."

"Join us?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"I want to join you in your on-going battle against Dr. Eggman." Penny clarified, much to Ruby's own surprise.

Join them against Eggman? While Ruby would love for Penny to work with them, she also remembered how strict Ironwood was regarding her. How he even ordered her not to talk to any of them. But, she, Sonic, and the others were also investigating what Ironwood, and by extension, Ozpin and Qrow, were hiding from them. This again gave Ruby mixed feelings about the idea of possibly going against her uncle, even if it was for a noble cause. But even if Ruby is willing to risk her own well-being, she wasn't willing to do that for a friend.

"Penny, the general won't let you do that." Ruby tried to dissuade her.

"I know, but my father and I have a plan." Penny revealed with a smile.

However, before anything else could be said, Ciel stepped back up. "It has been precisely one minute, ma'am." She said to Penny.

"I will talk to you more soon, Ruby." Penny bid her friend farewell and proceeded to walk away with her teammate. Ruby did wave goodbye to her just as Weiss came closer.

"So, what did she want?" The heiress asked.

"She wants to help us against Eggman." Ruby revealed.

"Oh, well given what we've seen her do, I feel she would be of tremendous help." Weiss seemed alright with it.

"Yeah…" Ruby said with much less enthusiasm, something Weiss caught on easily and she knew the reason for it. No doubt Ruby was going through some internal strife about being at odds with her uncle, whom they confirmed was part of Ozpin's conspiracy. But… Weiss knew all to well the feeling of going against one's family.

"Hey." She put a hand on Ruby's shoulder in a firm yet gentle manner to get her attention. "I realize that there is a lot happening at once right now, but for the moment, let us focus on what's in front of us. If you try to focus on too many things at once, you'll get distracted. So let us put all of that aside for the time being and focus on our match. But once it's all said and done… I want to talk to you about something. Something that I feel could help."

Ruby knew that her partner was right. It was best to focus on the match for right now, keep Ozpin's group and the spies unaware that they're catching onto them. Let Shadow and the rest of Team Dark handle all the black-ops stuff as she thought they were no doubt doing right now.

"Okay." Ruby smiled and nodded.

"Our next match is about to begin…" Port began to announce. "Ruby and Weiss of Beacon versus Flynt and Neon of Atlas!"

"That's our que." Ruby smiled as they stepped out from the tunnel and towards the field.

The audience cheered on as everyone saw the two Beacon students enter the arena, among those observing obviously included everyone in Teams Sonic and JNPR, with Blake and Yang especially clapping with the latter cheering as loudly as she could.

"Come on Ruby! Weiss! Show them what you can do!" The blonde called out.

Meanwhile, standing near one of the entrances, Winter had arrived to stand at attention as she too gazed down towards the arena where her younger sister now was. Though her face was that of a military disposition, she was internally excited to see how her sister would perform. From what she gathered, her partner and team-leader was personally trained by Qrow, and while she wasn't his biggest fan, she couldn't deny his skills as a veteran Huntsman, and Ruby herself seemed not only a capable fighter, but a friend that Weiss could rely on, if the letters her sister wrote were any indication.

"Your sister's fight, huh?" She turned to her side to see Clover, along with the rest of the Ace Ops arrive, the leader having a friendly smile on his face.

"Yes." Winter nodded before turning to the fight again.

"I hear those kids are actually close to Sonic and his group." Elm commented, earning an eyeroll from Harriet that the others ignored. "This could be interesting."

"Indeed. I am curious to see if those students have learned any tactics or methods from them." Vine commented.

"But they are up against Atlas students, so it won't be easy." Marrow put in.

"Where one trains is irrelevant." Winter said seriously. "What matters is what you learn and how you apply it."

"I agree." Clover nodded. "And if these two happened to be trained by Sonic… then I'd say that already makes them noteworthy."

Harriet scoffed. "The last thing we need is anyone, much less someone from our kingdom, taking from him."

"I would advise you to speak with more respect." Winter turned with a stern glare towards Harriet. "I don't know Sonic personally, but he has had a positive impact on my sister's growth as a person, and for that, he has my own respect. Keep your animosity in check, soldier."

At that, Harriet glared, but backed away, not looking to start a fight with a fellow Atlesian Huntress, but that didn't mean she'd have to like it. With that, all the Ace Ops turned their attention to the battle that was about to begin. And they weren't the only ones…

On another other side of the arena, perched on top of the railing, just above where Sonic and everyone else was, that very same black bird with red eyes looked down to the field as well. Summer's daughter was up next. The bird had seen her train and work alongside not only her own teammates, but the other students, as well as Sonic and his companions, so it already had a good idea what she could do, but there was still curiosity on its mind given that she and her partner were about to face against opponents they've never met before, and facing unfamiliar adversaries was always uncertain territory where anything could likely happen.

However, the bird had craned its head toward the nearest entrance to see none other than Qrow appearing. Wasting little time, the bird flew away from its perch before he could notice it. Though when Qrow happen to glance in that one direction, he noticed a single black feather fall to the ground, that earned a genuine scowl from him.

What was she doing here? Trying to cause trouble? Bad enough that Ruby and Yang were potentially at the center of all this, he didn't need any more complications. But that wasn't his main focus right now. No, instead, he happened to turn to the arena where his niece was about to start her fight. He may have missed the teams' round with both his nieces, but he was here now to watch her fight in-person, and nothing was going to change that.

He happened to see Ruby looking in his direction and he gave a single smile and a wave, to which she smiled and waved back.

Meanwhile, that same black bird happened to fly up towards a commentator's box, at a particular spot where Team Dark was keeping a watchful eye over all of Amity. The bird had noticed them earlier upon its flight up and picked a spot that gave it a good vantage point, while also maintaining a reasonable distance to go unnoticed by the two aliens and their robot.

Or so it seemed as Shadow did notice that black bird with a brief glance, but looked away as he looked down to the arena. "Omega?"

"Scanning." The robot performed a brief invisible scan of the area to find any familiar bio-signatures. "Targets located. The one known as Cinder Autumn and her team are present in the arena. They are making their way to the shuttle bay to leave as we speak. Qrow Branwen is also present in the arena, along with General Ironwood and Glynda Goodwitch."

"What of Ozpin?" Shadow asked.

"The Headmaster of Beacon is absent." Omega reported. "He is most likely confined within his personal quarters on the campus, observing the match from a distance. If Ruby Rose has a critical role to play in Ozpin's plan, he will no doubt be focusing on that at this very moment."

"Which means now is a good time to move." Rouge smirked.

"Agreed." Shadow said as he pulled out his scroll and began to type a certain message.

---

At the same time, Eggman happened to sit back in the command chair on the bridge of his ship as the screen in front of him showed the fight that was about to begin at the Vytal Festival. Most of the fights he didn't really care for, but this was one he would be interested in.

"I got the popcorn and soda!" Cubot came in with a bowl of popcorn in one hand and a can of soda in the other.

"Why do you even have that?" Orbot asked. "We don't have stomachs to digest organic food."

"Ah man!" Cubot sulked as he let the contents drop and spill onto the floor, much to Eggman's annoyance.

"Clean that up! Don't make a mess in my bridge!" The mad doctor ordered.

"On it, boss!" Cubot flew away.

Orbot then followed his maker's gaze towards the screen. "Oh… it seems that Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee are about to begin their battle."

"Yep. Two of Sonic's little protegees." Eggman commented.

"And didn't Salem say something about people with Silver Eyes?" Orbot asked as Cubot showed up with a broom and dustpan to clean up the mess he had made. "That Ruby girl's eyes do appear to have that kind of shiny grayish color."

"She did mention that… some kind of rare breed of people here on Remnant that have been a thorn in her side." Eggman waved off. "Nothing's more irritating than that Hedgehog! But… if this little girl happens to have any special gifts, I might get the chance to see what the fuss is about here and now."

"Oh, well in that case, this should be an interesting match." Orbot said as he and Cubot, who had finished cleaning up, focused in on the match along with Eggman himself.

---

Amity Arena

"So, Weiss, you're from Atlas. Any idea what we can expect?" Ruby asked.

"Based on what we've seen from my sister, the Ace Ops, and other Atlesian forces, I think we can expect some strict militant fighters with advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strategies." Weiss answered. "Though there may be some customization, that may depend on their Semblance."

Suddenly a colorful blur sped behind them before appearing in front of them. The source of the blur was a teenage female Faunus with pale white skin, sea green eyes, orange hair tied up with two bushy pig tails, and light blue streaks in her bangs. She also had a cat-like tail with pinkish fur. Her attire was very revealing, complete with a light blue tank-top over a dark purple bra, a cat bell collar around her neck, with dark purple shorts underneath a pink combat mini-skirt, thigh high-white socks with her left one having blue stripes and her right one having red. She also wore arm bracers, pads on her shins and knees, and a pair of roller blades on her feet. She also carried a nunchuck.

Her teammate next to her was a young man with dark skin and brown eyes, underneath a pair of sunglasses, with short dark brown hair underneath a dark fedora with a blue trim. His attire consisted of a dark vest over an untucked white shirt with black pants and dress shoes, along with a light blue tie that wasn't even tied around his neck. For some reason, he held a trumpet in his hands.

"Or… whatever they are." Weiss commented, having no idea what to say to any of that.

"Hey, nice suit." Ruby said to the young man.

"Thanks." The man, known as Flynt Coal, replied with a friendly smile before turning to Ruby's teammate. "And you must be Weiss Schnee, the heiress."

"I am." She confirmed with a friendly smile of her own. "It's nice to meet you."

"I take it you're pretty good with Dust, then." Flynt assumed.

"I do my best." Weiss replied.

"Yeah, my dad as good too. Owned a little Dust shop of his own…" His smile turned into a scowl as he glared at her. "Till your father's company ran him out of business."

"Oh…" A feeling of guilt filled her being when she heard that. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Sure, you are." Flynt rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Ruby tried to defend her teammate.

"'Hey, that's not fair!'" The Faunus girl, Neon Katt, imitated Ruby in a high-pitched voice. "That's what you sound like."

"Uh…" Ruby wasn't quite sure what to say to that.

"Hey, are you a goth?" Neon asked.

"Am I… what…?" Ruby was only further confused.

"You dress like a ballerina, except you're all black and red, and those are goth colors. Are you a gothic ballerina?" Neon asked somewhat rapidly.

"I…" Ruby still didn't know what to say.

"And why is your hair like that?" Neon asked again.

"Like what?" Ruby questioned.

"Like you dipped it in fruit punch." Neon replied. "Did you dye it like that? Cause it makes you look even more gothic, red being the color of blood and all."

"This is how my hair always is. I didn't dye it." Ruby put a hand on her own hair unsurely.

"Hey, if you're a ballerina, do you know how to dance?" Neon continued to ask as she scatted around her partner. "Maybe you should try roller blading instead. You look like you got the legs for it, and your short too, so that should help. Roller blading is super fun, but goths don't know how to have fun, huh Gothy?"

"Gothy?" Ruby was starting to get a little irritated at that.

"What's her deal?" Yang already didn't like this Neon girl, the way she was talking about her sister like that.

"Take it easy." Blake tried to calm her down with a firm grip on her shoulder.

"Eh let em go at it." Sonic dismissed. "Our girls will wipe the smirks off their faces soon enough."

"Got that right." Amy agreed as the holo-screens appeared to begin the random selection of the surrounding environment.

Tails smiled as well, but he soon heard a beep coming from his Miles Electric. He pulled it out and saw he had just now received a message from Shadow.

"All eyes are on the match. Transmit the data now."

A serious look formed on the yellow fox's face as he pulled up all the data regarding the structure of the entire campus of Beacon, the blueprints and schematics that his Anti-Virus program had copied and transmitted to his personal device. Tails then transferred all the data straight to Rouge's scroll. He caught a glimpse of Sonic as Tails nodded to him.

Sonic knew what Shadow had asked Tails to do. And while Sonic was not a fan of all this espionage or spy stuff, Ozpin was hiding something from them and was refusing to share. If they were going to find out what Eggman was after, this was something they had to do. But that didn't mean he'd have to like it.

As Team Dark observed the environment around Amity Arena change, which consisted of a volcanic environment, followed by an urban one, a geyser-field, and hilly desert, Rouge had received the notification from Tails. All of Beacon's blueprints and schematics had been uploaded into her own personal scroll.

To which she pressed a button on the back of her device, causing it to shift and convert itself into a single scope-like device, which she hooked to the back of her right ear as the lens was in front of her right eye.

"Welp, wish me luck, boys." Rouge said as she flew straight upwards well above the perimeter of the hovering Amity Arena, and straight back down.

Rouge let herself fall, her wings and arms folded backwards as she made her way back to the main campus, seemingly unaware that she was being followed by a certain black bird.

However, a flash of light appeared on the bird's side as Shadow just teleported in mid-air, swiftly grabbed the bird and teleported away, leaving only the smirking Rouge as she glanced back before extending her wings to slow her descent and resume her flight toward the main campus.

---

Emerald Forest

Shadow had reappeared in the middle of a small clearing within the forest, the screeching black bird being held tightly in Shadow's right hand, who made sure to keep its wings pinned to its sides to avoid flying away.

"You've been following us ever since the breach at Vale." The black Hedgehog spoke aloud. "An average person may not notice a bird, or even believe it to be the same bird should they see you. But I'm not your average person. And you, are no ordinary bird, are you?"

Suddenly, a huge mass appeared in Shadow's hand, forcing him to not only let go, but even knocked him back slightly. He skidded to a halt to see something that made him look in minor surprise.

The bird was no longer a bird, but a woman clad in red and black with long black hair, wearing a Grimm mask that looked completely different from those worn by the White Fang, with a sheathed weapon at her waist that seemed to be fit for swords, and large enough to carry multiple blades inside. The same one that Rouge had described from Merlot's island.

Shadow's look of surprise had only lasted a few seconds as he caught the glare of the woman in front of him, despite the large mask she wore. "Someone's too observant for their own good." The woman commented.

"Who are you? Are you working for Ozpin?" Shadow questioned.

"Is that anyway to treat the same person who saved your friends?" She questioned.

"From what I gather, it was the other way around. Now answer me. Do you serve Ozpin?" He demanded.

"I serve no one!" The woman stated.

"But you know of him… and you likely know of what it is he's trying to hide from us." Shadow assumed.

"What drew you to that conclusion?" She questioned.

"Call it a hunch." He replied. Her body language said it all. Aside from the mask to obviously hide her identity, she was incredibly defensive, which told Shadow that even if she didn't serve Ozpin, she knew what he was up to. "You will tell me what you know."

"You already have one of your own snooping around. Why do you need me?" She replied.

"This is not up for debate." Shadow said as he walked toward her, while she gripped on the handle of her blade. "You have two options. You can tell me everything you know willingly, or I'll get the information from you." He clenched his hand, sparks of energy emanating from his grip.

"I'll take the third choice. Figure it out yourself." She had already quickly drawn her Dust sword, this blade being yellow, and when she swung it upwards along the ground, she sent a bolt of lightning Shadow's way as she quickly turned around and jumped onto a tree branch, preparing to transform into a bird again…

Only for Shadow to already be on her, having dashed past the electric attack easily enough, grabbing her by the side of her masked face with one hand and using his rocket skates to boost himself and her forward while quickly drawing Arondight to block the Dust blade that the woman swung at him before she kicked him off her, causing her to land on the ground with Shadow landing in front of her.

'Fine. We'll do this the hard way.' She said reluctantly before they clashed blades.

---

Amity Arena

"Three… Two… One… BEGIN!" With Port's announcement, the battle had begun. Flynt was the first to make a move, using his trumpet to blast a sound-based attack toward Ruby and Weiss, the force of the attack pushing them back, but Weiss was quick to erect a Glyph beneath herself and Ruby to keep them grounded, while Neon skated directly into the sonic attack and used it to propel herself into Ruby, taking her into the urban environment before Neon sped away, leaving a rainbow-colored energy trail behind her.

"Ruby, go after her! I can handle this!" Weiss told Ruby as Flynt's attack stopped.

"Alright!" The red-clad girl then used her own Semblance to speed off after Neon, leaving Weiss alone against Flynt.

Weiss dashed at Flynt just as he unleashed another sound attack from his trumpet, but Weiss was prepared as she erected a black Glyph at her feet to keep her grounded, before creating another one in front of her, allowing her to step forward and repeated the process as she inched her way through her opponent, taking the sonic blast, something that earned an eyebrow raise from Winter as she watched her younger sister.

Flynt stopped his attack, seemingly giving Weiss a chance to advance as she lunged at him, thrusting Myrtenaster, but he spun himself around the thrust and delivered a kick to the back of her head to knock her into the volcanic environment, smashing into a lava crystal before landing. She pushed herself back up to see the smirk on Flynt's face as he advanced toward her.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Neon both appeared to be neck-and-neck as they sped alongside each other throughout the urban area, speeding from one spot to another as Ruby slashed Crescent Rose at her, which Neon parried with her nunchucks before rolling around her to flail her weapon, which Ruby dodged by limboing under her strike and dug her scythe into the ground to kick Neon in the side. But Neon recovered and jumped to land on a guard rail just as Ruby converted her weapon into its rifle mode and fire at her.

"Nevermissabeat. Nevermissabeat. Nevermissabeat." Neon chanted rapidly as she used her own speed to grind on the railing of a ruined building and avoid Ruby's shots before jumping to the roof of a building, prompting Ruby to speed after her, running up the wall of the building that Neon had jumped on just as Ruby was already on the roof, slicing at Neon's face and landing a direct hit that caused the girl to bounce along the surface of the roof before flipping and landing on her hands at the edge of the roof and leapt off to the ground as Ruby sped her way to the edge, converting Crescent Rose into its rifle and fired again. "Nevermissabeat. Nevermissabeat. Nevermissabeat." Neon continued to chant as she dodged nearly all of Ruby's shots.

This clearly wasn't working. Ruby has shot fast-moving targets before, but Neon seemed flexible enough to avoid most of them, so Ruby decided to close in the gap as she used her own Petal Burst to run down the side of the building and chase after Neon, both girls circling around each other as a blur of red petals chased off against a rainbow streak.

"Wow, for a goth girl, you're pretty fast." Neon told her with a teasing smile. "But rollerblading is way easier than running." Neon stopped at one spot, prompting Ruby to do the same as the two speedsters faced each other. Neon then cracked her nunchucks like a pair of glowsticks, causing them to glow a cyan blue before she sped at Ruby, who dashed at her in response. As Ruby swung Crescent Rose down at her, Neon swerved to avoid the blade and slammed her nunchucks at them just as they impacted the ground and dashed past Ruby, who came to a sudden holt as she was almost sent flying, if she hadn't held onto the pole of her weapon.

Ruby gasped as she saw her scythe-blade was now frozen into the ground. "You have a Dust weapon!?"

"Well duh, you should too." Neon said as she literally scatted circles around Ruby. "You'd have way more cooler options with Dust rounds than just boring shells." She the dashed at Ruby to try and smack her nunchucks at her, but Ruby held onto the pole of the still-semi-frozen Crescent Rose and used Petal Burst to spin around and try to land a kick, but Neon easily limboed under the strike.

All seemed to be in slow-motion as Neon, who was still in a limbo-position and sliding past Ruby, pulled down her eyelid and stuck her tongue at her. But Ruby only smirked back, just as she pulled the trigger of her weapon.

Crescent Rose had fired a shot into the pavement, the force was enough to not only shatter the ice and free it, but even break up a portion of the ground to trip up Neon as she flipped and landed flat on her head.

Using that same momentum, Ruby had spun Crescent Rose around to slice it at Neon with enough force to send her crashing into a building.

"Ooh! And with that literal quick turn-around, Ruby Rose has gained the advantage!" Oobleck commented as Ruby sped off against Neon, who had recovered enough to use her own speed to run and get some distance from her young opponent.

"And this, my friends, is what's called a high-stakes, high-speed, battle." Port added for dramatic purposes.

"Go Ruby!" Yang cheered her on.

"Alright! Woo!" Sonic also cheered, clapping his hands loudly.

"I can't believe that someone can actually keep up with Ruby." Jaune said. "Aside from you or Shadow…" He looked towards Sonic specifically. "…Nobody I've seen is faster than her."

"That one woman from the Ace Ops was pretty fast." Ren commented.

"Yes, speed-based Semblances aren't all that uncommon." Pyrrha added.

"But it is cool to see two of them against each other." Nora smiled.

Meanwhile, Qrow had watched the whole thing from his spot in the stadium and smirked with approval. Ruby had something of a rough start at first, but even when she seemed stuck, she was quick to adapt and trip up her opponent, landing a successful hit. This was probably Ruby's first time against someone who also had a similar Semblance to her, so he thought she might have had some trouble. But then again, that blue rodent and his edgy doppelganger were way faster than anything he's seen, so maybe she picked up a few tricks from them. As much as he was reluctant to admit, Sonic's presence has indeed had a positive impact on Ruby.

His thoughts came to an end as he felt his scroll vibrate. He pulled it out and saw a message from Ozpin that read 'Meet me at my office.'

Qrow's smile faded as he typed his reply. 'Now?'

The response came back less than a second later. 'Now.'

No doubt Ozpin was watching this match too, and if he was sending Qrow a message telling him to come to him right this second, it was probably something important. Maybe he found who he wanted as the next Fall Maiden.

He looked towards Ruby one last time as he saw her continue to engage in her high-speed battle with Neon. 'Sorry, kiddo.' As much as he wanted to watch the whole thing to its end, Ozpin's matters took priority. So, he turned around and left the arena.

As she and her friends continued to watch not only Weiss defend herself against Flynt's trumpet blast with an ice wall, but also Ruby still racing with Neon, Nora couldn't help but laugh at something.

"What?" Amy wondered.

"I just realized something… that girl from Atlas is using roller-skates." Nora said.

"Yeah, so?" Knuckles questioned.

"So…. Who else has roller-skates? Shadow!" Nora stated as she found herself laughing. "The ever-angry, stoic, black-and-red Edgehog, roller-skates!" She laughed hard.

It wasn't long before the other started laughing with her, with Yang, Sonic, and even Jaune all laughing aloud, while Amy, Pyrrha, and Tails giggled as Ren, Knuckles, and Blake smirked humorously. The idea of someone like Shadow roller-skating was quite the humorous one indeed.

"They're air-shoes…" Sonic said in-between laughs. "At least that's what he says…"

Pyrrha then felt her scroll vibrate, having received a message. The laughter died down as she pulled out her device and looked at something that caused her to look serious.

"Professor Ozpin has called me to his office." She said to her friends aloud.

When they all heard that, all humor died down as every one of her friends looked serious.

"For what reason?" Knuckles asked.

"I don't know. It doesn't say." Pyrrha answered.

"Well, that's not ominous." Sonic commented as the others all thought the same thing. Their wavering trust in Ozpin, and a message that only requested Pyrrha didn't exactly make the most reassuring combination.

"Hang on, I'll go with you." Jaune stood up.

"We all will." Ren said as he and Nora also stood up.

"No, he only asked for me." Pyrrha said. "This might not be anything important… but if it is, and somebody else shows up with me… it may make him suspicious. And… maybe I can use this to figure out what's going on behind the scenes."

"Are you sure you can pull something like that off?" Blake asked. "I could come. I'll make sure they don't notice me."

"Thank you, Blake. But I'm sure that someone like Ozpin has enough experience to sense someone spying on him." Pyrrha said. "But, I promise, if anything happens, I will send you a message."

"Alright." Sonic accepted, trusting Pyrrha could handle herself. "And if you do need help, I'll be there before you know it."

"Thank you." Pyrrha nodded before walking away, leaving her friends more than a little concerned. They all knew that Pyrrha was more than capable of getting herself out of a tough spot, but that didn't make them any less worried. Oh well, if something did happen, Sonic or Shadow could easily be there in seconds and help her out. No sense in worrying about that now. Instead, they focused back on the match in front of them.

---

Meanwhile, Rouge had kept airborne as she flown closer to the main tower on Beacon's campus. She hovered briefly to scan the general permitter of the tower and saw how there were barely any students or other people there, save for some Atlas soldiers and AK units. And even then, most of the soldiers were focusing more on their scrolls, no doubt watching the ongoing fight on Amity.

'Espionage fact number seventeen, guards never look up.' The smirking Rouge thought to herself before flying straight for the tower, being low enough not to be spotted by Ozpin from his own office at the top of the tower and avoiding any windows. She had found a perch at the middle of the tower and quietly landed on it to look through her spy-ware lens, pressing a button that allowed her to access the building's blueprints.

'Alright, let's see… got the office, the communications system… all the stuff we already knew. Hmm, wait a minute.' She spotted something in the blueprints, a tube that led down underground, very deep underground. 'Got a basement, huh? Ozy-boy never mentioned that.' Pressing a button on the side of her headset, her lens changed views to focus on that one specific area, where there appeared to be a large chamber with no connections at all to the rest of the tower or even the campus as a whole. It even had its own power generator directly underneath that didn't connect to anywhere use.

'An independent power source… so if this building were to fall, whatever's down there will still function normally.' Rouge knew right then and there, that's what she was looking for. 'You don't build something like that unless you're expecting something bad to happen. And you don't bury it that deep unless you want to keep it hidden. So, what you got down there?' Shifting through the schematics, Rouge unfortunately saw no information about what was being hidden in the basement, something that required its own independent power source. But that was fine, she could just break in and see what it was herself. 'So, the only way down is through the elevator…'

Glancing up slightly, Rouge spotted a set of windows a few feet up. Flexing her wings to ascend slightly, she peeked inside to see it was the communications' room, the same one where Shadow and the others had encountered the infiltrator. It seemed repaired well-enough since that encounter, and nobody was present. Other than a pair of AKs at the elevator door. Was that all?

The bat smirked as she flew above the windows, pressed herself against the wall and gave a slight kick with her right foot at the window, causing it to open slightly.

This instantly alerted the AKs as they marched to the window and pulled it open as they pointed their guns outside. As they seemed focused on the outside to scan the permitter, they failed to notice Rouge quietly flying above them and straight towards the elevator door, specifically an air vent just above it. She quickly, swiftly, and quietly, flipped over and aimed her boots at the vent to kick it open and slide inside, all while swiftly grabbing the vent cage with her hand and closed it behind her.

Seeing no potential threat outside, the AKs closed the window and marched back to the elevator door, not noticing the vent above had been tampered with, while Rouge herself had climbed from the vent into the empty elevator shaft that led straight down.

"Going down." She said before letting herself fall.

---

Emerald Forest

The woman in the Grimm masked had been forced back against a tree, quickly drawing a red Dust blade to block and parry Shadow's slice from Arondight before kicking him back and performing a circular slice to not only cut down the tree in front of her, but even set it aflame, the fires quickly spreading around the black Hedgehog as the woman turned into a bird once more and flew through the tree canopy just as Shadow used his Black Tornado to blow out and overpower the flames before they could spread.

Shadow then sped after the bird, who foolishly thought it could hide in the canopy, but Shadow threw a Chaos Spear at one tree top to blow it away, the shockwave clearing away many of the leaves of the surrounding tree where he spotted the bird again, who had briefly lost its flight pattern from the same shockwave. Shadow then performed a Spindash straight at it, but the bird quickly turned back into a woman, who already had her red Dust sword at the ready to slice at the incoming Spindash, only for Shadow's attack to prove stronger as it easily shattered the red blade, while also igniting the Dust inside and causing it to explode, the shockwave knocking them both back.

The masked woman happened to recover and land in a clearing, which just so happened to be at the same set of ruins where Teams RWBY and JNPR had acquired their relics during their initiation at Beacon. Shadow dashed his way straight to her as she backed closer towards the ruins, a new Dust blade drawn, this one being white as she swung it downward to send a cyclone of wind power Shadow's way, which pushed him back, giving her some breathing room as she made her way behind one pillar, sliced it down and used another gust of wind from her Dust sword to send the falling pillar straight at Shadow, who snapped his fingers to create a burst of Chaos energy to blast the falling pillar apart.

He had spotted the woman standing on top of the ruins, where Shadow met her before she could transform and fly again. Once more, they clashed swords, dancing back-and-forth on the narrow piece of ruins below them, hacking and slashing, but Shadow's sword work was very quick for the woman, so much so that she was almost entirely on the defensive, or so it seemed. As they locked blades again, the woman had used one hand on the sword she held, while also using her other to grab the scabbard that carried all the other Dust blades and ejected one blade point-blank, this one being purple to break at the black hedgehog's stomach and blast Shadow away with a burst of gravity. She then jammed her white Dust blade into the ruins she stood atop of and broke it to unleash the wind Dust's full power inside and create a windy explosion to blast away pieces of ruins in all directions, some heading towards the fallen Shadow, but he was quick enough to dodge most of it. When he finished, he spotted the bird once again attempting to fly away.

'Enough games!' Shadow detached Arondight's rifle and fired at the bird, making sure just to graze its right wing and not completely sever it.

The bird gave a pain-induced squawk before changing back into the woman, who fell roughly to the ground as she felt her right shoulder, which was now bleeding, something Shadow noticed as he caught up to her.

'Her Aura didn't activate when she was a bird.' The black Hedgehog observed internally. 'Animals have Aura on this planet just as humans do, though not as strong. Is her Aura also weakened when she's in that state? It doesn't seem like a useful Semblance.'

The woman felt that her right arm was still functional, but it still hurt a great deal to use, making it harder to use her sword. That gunshot was meant to potentially cripple her, he could tell she was right-handed. As much as she hated to admit it, this rodent was good. But then again, given how he could take out hordes of Grimm single-handedly, as well as match and overpower veteran Huntsmen like her brother, it came as no surprise.

"I can do this all day." Shadow told her. "Save yourself further bodily harm and tell me what I need to know."

The woman drew yet another Dust blade, this one being green from her scabbard, holding it in her left hand now. "I'm not as helpless as you think."

Shadow's eyes narrowed once more, her stubbornness was both commendable and annoying. Wielding Arondight once again as they sped at each other and clashed their swords yet again.

---

Amity Arena

Weiss and Flynt both faced off in the volcanic area as the white-clad heiress erected four Glyphs around her and thrusted her sword forward to send four large icicles at her opponent. Flynt, however, noticed a bubbling of the lava poll in front of him and smirked before quickly getting on his knees and blowing into his horn just as the lava erupted, sending a wave of it forward to intercept and rapidly melt the ice before it even struck.

"Too bad all that money can't buy you skill." Flynt snarked.

Weiss scowled before spinning the Dust revolver in Myrtenaster to access the wind Dust inside and thrusted her blade forward just as Flynt unleashed another sonic blast from his horn, Weiss' thrust sending a cyclone of air to collide against Flynt's blast. But this was all part of her plan as while he was distracted with what was in front of him, Weiss used the fingers in her free hand to erect multiple vertical Glyphs in the air surrounding Flynt, forming a circle before using one on the ground at her feet to zip towards one Glyph, where she proceeded to shoot another icicle at Flynt, landing a solid hit before zipping across another Glyph to slice at him and come to another to shoot another icicle before zipping to slice once more, repeating the process multiple times to hit him with close and long ranged attacks simultaneously.

"Now that's thinking with your feet." Sonic smiled.

Winter smiled herself as well while she continued to watch alongside the Ace Ops; with Clover, Marrow, and Elm looking rather impressed themselves.

However, Flynt wasn't done yet as he suddenly split himself into four identical copies of himself, with three of the clones each having different colored hats and ties as opposed to the original's light blue, which included green, yellow, and magenta. All four then unleashed a conjoined blast from their horns, creating an even larger blast that when Weiss happened to speed into its path, she was blasted to the desert part of the arena.

"Whoa…!" Jaune looked in surprise.

"He can make clones of himself…" Ren stuttered in shock as well.

"What's this?" Port asked, appearing just as surprised himself.

"It appears that young Flynt has just activated his Semblance!" Oobleck stated. "It's quite a remarkable one at that! Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on Flynt Coal's Killer Quartet!"

The original Flynt, who still had his blue tie and hat, flipped his hat, with each of the clones following his lead perfectly, but at a bit of a slower pace.

"So, he can make clones like Sun?" Yang questioned.

"I don't think so." Blake shook her head. "Sun can't move while his clones are, but that guy's doubles can move along with him."

"Though there does appear to be a delay between each of the clones and the original." Tails noted.

"Still… it's quite the ability." Knuckles said. "But I'd wager that it also has a weakness."

As Flynt slowly walked to the deserted area, all his clones went back into himself as he deactivated his own Semblance.

Ruby continued her high-speed battle against Neon as they were neck-and-neck with each other, a streak of red rose petals colliding against the streak of rainbow-colored energy. But the red-clad girl noticed the situation Weiss was in and immediately dashed off to help her.

"Hey, get back here! We're not done racing!" Neon skated after her.

Flynt had just stepped into the sand of the desert area, but just before he could even get to Weiss, who was trying to pull herself up, Ruby had already sped up to pick up Weiss bridal-style and carry her to the top of a large rock in the middle of the sandy environment. When she set her partner down, Ruby turned around to see Neon skating into the sand, but the second she hit it, her roller blades got caught up in it as the sand got all mixed up in her wheels, causing her to lose traction and balance.

"Oh no, no, no, no!" She tripped and fell face-first into the sand, getting her head stuck in a pile with her rear and tail sticking out, something that caused Yang and Nora to laugh with a few other people in the audience.

'I knew it.' Ruby thought triumphantly. 'Roller-skates and sand don't mix.'

"Thanks for your help, Ruby." Weiss said as she stood back up. "We can't beat them one-on-one like this."

"You're right, so let's work together." Ruby stated. "I have a plan. First, we'll use Ice Flower on Neon, get her stuck and out of the way for now. Then we'll take down Flynt."

"What about his clones?" Weiss asked.

"Sun has to concentrate for his Semblance to work, right?" Ruby asked. "Well, maybe his works the same way. So we'll use Glyph Tornado. We'll send him flying, and he can't concentrate. And even if his clones are still there, I'll take em down while they're airborne. Once he's done, we'll keep Neon in the sand where her speed is useless and take her out."

Weiss thought for a brief moment and saw that it was a really solid plan to eliminate both their opponents. "Alright, let's do it."

"No time to waste, then! Ice Flower!" Ruby ordered as she converted Crescent Rose into it's rifle mode and pointed it forward, just as Weiss erected a trio of Glyphs in front of the barrel right as Ruby fired, with Weiss using her power to incase Ruby's bullets in Ice dust.

Just as Neon had pulled her head out of the sand, several bullets had struck the area all around her, causing multiple ice-spikes to explode outward in all directions, getting Neon caught up in all of them and suspending her in the air, with her feet unable to touch the ground, effectively making her stuck.

"Hey! No fair!" She called out to them. Flynt tried to rush and help get his teammate out of the predicament she was in, only for Ruby to grab Weiss and use her own Semblance to dash out in front of him and bar his way.

"You were right, Flynt." Weiss told him. "Money can't buy skill. Which is why I trained, I worked hard to get where I am now, and I did it working alongside my friends." She and Ruby shared a brief smile. "And that's exactly what's going to beat you."

"I got friends of my own too, Schnee." Flynt activated his Semblance again, creating three more copies of himself as they and the original, once more, unleashed a conjoined sonic blast from all their horns, but Ruby had once again, used her Petal Burst to grab Weiss and dash her out of the way just as Weiss erected a ring of Glyphs to form a circle around Flynt and his clones.

Now it was Ruby's turn as she speed to the Glyphs and kicked her own speed as fast as she could, with Weiss using her Glyphs to enhance Ruby's speed even further. It took little time for a powerful whirlwind of red to pick up before a red tornado had formed, causing Flynt and his clones to get swept up into the air, much to his own surprise. With his concentration broken, all his clones faded back into him.

"Oh, it appears that young Ruby has unleashed her own improvised technique which she dubs the Red Tornado!" Oobleck commented. "With some generous aid from young Ms. Schnee off course."

Sonic especially smirked at that.

With Flynt swept up in the air, Weiss erected a ring of airborne Glyphs, while Ruby launched herself up from one spot and sliced at Flynt with Crescent Rose before landing on one airborne Glyph and sped off that to slice at Flynt once more before touching another Glyph and repeated the same process. With her own natural speed, Ruby sped and sliced past Flynt at such a rapid pace that he was unable to fall as multiple streaks of red appeared airborne with Flynt unable to so much as counterattack. Ruby decided to finish it as she landed with her feet on one Glyph, crouched back, and launched herself as hard and fast as she can, swinging Crescent Rose with enough force that when she hit Flynt, he was sent flying and crashing back toward the lava area.

Weiss had quickly ran to near the spot where he would land, just to make sure he stayed down, but stopped herself when she saw him land and hear the buzzer go off simultaneously.

"And with that, Flynt Coal is eliminated by Aura level!" Port announced.

"Oooh, sour note for Flynt." Oobleck commented while everyone in the audience clapped and cheered, especially Teams Sonic, JNPR, along with Blake and Yang. Even Winter gave a nod of approval.

Neon, however, was able to use her nunchucks to smash herself free from the ice trap. "Alright, now it's my turn!"

Ruby had turned around to face Neon again, and Weiss would have as well, but she also happened to notice a growing flame directly under Flynt's fallen form. An eruption was about to occur! And if he was caught in that with his Aura so low…!

"Look out!" Weiss, acting on instinct, ran and pushed Flynt out of the way, only to be caught up in the erupting lava herself, with a buzzer sounding off at that moment.

"Weiss!" Yang, Blake, Jaune, and Amy all cried out while Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Ren, and Nora stood up from their seats with wide eyes, Winter felt her own face grow pale as her eyes became circular as Ruby turned back in horror, even Neon and Flynt himself were more than a little surprised.

"Wha… What just happened?!" Port questioned.

"It seemed that Weiss had pushed Flynt out of the way of a volcanic eruption!" Oobleck stated. "With his Aura level being so low, being caught in that blast could have been fatal! She sacrificed herself to save his life!"

Flynt pulled himself up slightly as he could only look in absolute shock upon seeing Weiss lying flat in front of him, covered head-to-toe in suit. Ruby was already there as she picked up Weiss once more and sped her from the deserted area, across the arena, and back toward the urban area, setting her on top of a roof.

"Weiss! Are you okay?!" Ruby asked urgently while holding her partner close.

The heiress coughed some smoke out before weakly smiling. "I don't think I'll be singing for a while…" She said in a partially hoarse voice, which caused Ruby to smile in relief. "I'm sorry… my Aura is down… I can't help anymore…"

"Don't be sorry, you've done enough." Ruby assured. "I'll take it from here. You just hang tight and get some rest."

Weiss let herself relax as her Aura slowly began to recover, with Ruby standing up and speeding off, leaving her partner to get some rest. She met Neon again in the middle of the arena.

"Hey, is she okay?" Neon asked Ruby in a tone of surprise concern and sincerity. "She's not hurt too bad, is she?"

Ruby was somewhat surprised to see her opponent so concerned for her. She felt she hated her along with her partner with how obnoxious she was towards them, but it was a relief to know that she was genuinely worried.

"She'll be fine. What about your friend?" Ruby asked.

"I brought him to the desert so that he's not caught up in any lava again." Neon replied.

"That's good." Ruby said with relief.

"So, it looks like we're the last women standing." Neon told her.

"Sure seems like it." Ruby acknowledged.

"So, let's put on a good flashy show for these people" Neon offered as she smirked and took a speedy stance, wielding her nunchuck.

Ruby smirked back as she spun around Crescent Rose, carrying it over her shoulder as she took a similar stance herself. "You're on!"

With that, both opponents sped at each other as Ruby swung her scythe at Neon, who swerved around it as she tried to flail her nunchucks at Ruby from behind, but Ruby sped away as Neon gave chase, leading to yet another high-speed battle as Ruby and Neon went directly into the geyser environment.

"It seems that this match has now become a one-on-one battle that may as well be a race at this point!" Oobleck commentated. "Two speedsters going at it in an all-out brawl where no single environment can contain them!"

"Both better be careful." Port said. "In a contest of extraordinary speed such as this one, even a moment's indecision could spell certain defeat."

Everyone in the audience watched with intensity, with all of Ruby's friends paying especially close attention, particularly Sonic and Yang. The blurs of red roses and rainbow streams continued to go back and forth, zipping past, against, and alongside each other, all while maneuvering around the geysers that erupted from the ground below. Both Ruby and Neon appeared on opposite ends of the area as Ruby dashed directly at her, but Neon rollerbladed away from her to gain some distance, that's when Ruby noticed Neon having trouble maintaining her balance on the uneven, rocky ground.

'She was doing well back in the urban area.' The young girl mused but then she saw that's where she was now speeding too. Ruby then realized what was going on and sped as fast as she could, moving past several geysers that erupted behind her.

"Nevermissabeat. Nevermissabeat. Nevermissabeat. Nevermissa…"Just before Neon made it to that specific environment, Ruby had appeared in front of her to slash her scythe not at Neon, but the ground in front of her to break up the rock that she had just rollerbladed to. "…Beat?!" Neon looked in shock as she was now in the air and wide-open, prompting Ruby to spin Crescent Rose around and slice at Neon to send her crashing back into the geyser environment. Neon happened to land on a geyser, which she felt was going to erupt soon and was quick to pull herself up just as it did. "Whoa! Whoa!" She tried to regain her balance on the uneven terrain.

'I get it!' Ruby realized. 'She's more used to fighting in cities or towns. Places with flat ground like pavement.' A smirk fell on her face. 'Now it's my turn!' She sped directly at Neon, slashing Crescent Rose at her as she moved past her. Ruby then stopped at the base of one geyser, immediately turned around, and dashed at her again to slice past Neon once more, stopping again before quickly shooting back. 'Don't let her out of this space!' She thought to herself as Neon tried to skate away, making her way to the center of the arena, only for Ruby to slam her shoulder into Neon's side and knock her down, speeding over her and at the base of one geyser before repeating the process again.

'It may be easier to go fast with roller skates… at least if you're on a road or sidewalk.' Sonic mused. 'But when you spend most of your life running, you're more used to uneven places and can better keep your balance.' A confident smirk fell on Sonic's face. 'Nice going, Ruby.'

Neon found it hard to counter. Between the rocky environment and all the surrounding geysers, making it hard to keep balance on her rollerblades, and her younger opponent constantly going back and forth, landing solid hits each time to knock her down. She was moving so fast… and it seemed like she was getting even faster each time she passed her.

It was true, Ruby was indeed moving faster each time she struck Neon, stopping only for a brief second, less-than even, and speeding forward to strike back, slicing her scythe and ramming her body into her, it almost seemed like Ruby herself was engulfed in a red blur as her body was becoming less visible.

'Faster…! Faster…!' Ruby thought as she kept up the pressure, effectively closing a circle around Neon as a rapid blur of red moved back-and-forth, left-and-right, in all directions. 'Be fast…! Just like Sonic…!' She stopped suddenly, positioned herself as she pulled back with her legs and launched herself as fast and hard as she could at Neon, the force obliterated the geyser that was behind her. 'GOTTA GO FAST!'

What happened next caused Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy to especially look in surprise. Ruby's body had transformed into some kind of flowing red mass with a trail of rose petals behind it, which spun around rapidly like a corkscrew, and landed a solid hit on Neon. The force behind her impact was so strong that Neon's sky blue aura briefly manifested before nearly shattering, while Neon herself was sent flying and skidding past the center of the arena and into the volcanic environment where she crashed into a rock, which shattered upon impact before she fell flat on the ground.

A buzzer had sounded just as Ruby skidded to a halt in the middle of the arena, briefly losing her own balance as she tried to hold her arms out and stay on her feet.

"And with that, Ruby Rose is victorious!" Port announced as the audience cheered loudly.

Ruby blinked in surprise. Did she just hear that right…? She won…? She won! A wide and relieved smile formed on her face just before she held both her arms up in victory. She won! She looked all over as the audience cheered and clapped as loudly as they could.

"What an absolutely amazing high-speed battle! That there is one of my students! I dare say a prodigy in the making!" Oobleck commented in amazement. "I see big things in that young girl's future! Yes, big things indeed!"

Ruby looked towards the direction of her friends where she saw Yang, Sonic, Blake, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, Jaune, Ren, and Nora all standing, clapping, and cheering loudly for her. Though Pyrrha was absent, but Ruby assumed she just went to the bathroom. Ah well, she would brag it all to her later. But when she looked in another direction, where she had previously spotted her uncle before the match started… she found that Qrow was not there either.

That caused her a great deal of worry as her growing anxiety and mixed feelings towards the man who trained her were brought back to the surface, as well as disappointment. Did he not see the whole fight? Did he miss her win? That dampened her spirit quite a bit. Until she remembered the advice that Weiss gave her to push it to the side…

Wait… Weiss! Ruby sped back to the urban environment to collect her partner.

"Alright… that was one heck of a fight." Marrow commented as the Ace Ops had seen the end of that bout.

"That girl… she's what… fifteen?" Elm questioned. "And she took down that other girl by herself…? Not bad." She smirked.

"Yes, most impressive." Vine granted.

Clover smirked as he nudged Harriet on the side. "Think you might have some competition, Harriet."

The speedster of the Ace Ops said nothing, but she did admit that girl was rather fast. Though Harriet was confident that she could beat her in a fight herself, having more experience, but there was something about her Semblance that seemed different compared to her own or even that Neon-girl's. She was fast, sure. But was that all it was? Because in the end, it looked like it was something else too. Was her Semblance evolving? Honestly, it may be interesting to see where this girl goes from this point forward.

Clover looked to where he had previously saw Winter and saw that she was no longer there, which only seemed to cause the man to smile somewhat mysteriously. As much as she tried to play it professional, Clover could see through Winter easily enough and had an idea that she was about to go down and see her sister.

Ruby had managed to help Weiss down from her resting spot on the roof back toward the middle of the arena, with Ruby holding Weiss' arm over her shoulder. "Let me know if I'm going too fast and I'll stop." She said to her partner.

"I'm not crippled, Ruby. I'll be fine. But… thank you." Weiss nodded.

"We lost…" They both saw Neon as she appeared to be in a state of shock. "We lost… Team FNKI lost… That was… that was… AMAZING!" She beamed with stars in her eyes before speeding over to the surprised Ruby. "Oh my gosh, how did you do that!? How can you move so fast that even I couldn't see it!? We should totally have a race and see who's faster! You guys are awesome, and we should definitely hang out sometime! Both our whole teams!"

Neither Ruby and Weiss were expecting this kind of reaction, but Ruby soon smiled. "Thanks… oh, by the way, I'm not goth. Red's my favorite color and black just seems to go with it. And… I did try roller-skates when I was ten… it didn't work out for me. Running is more my style."

"Oh, that's fine, you do you. Sorry, I called you 'Gothy'." Neon said with a smile of her own.

"Hey." Flynt walked up next, causing Weiss to tense up slightly as he looked at her specifically. "That was a gutsy thing you did Schnee… I dig it." An awkward smile formed on his face too. "Thanks for… saving my hide."

Weiss smiled slightly herself as she briefly pulled away from Ruby and offered her hand to shake, which Flynt accepted.

"Heh, hope that dress of yours isn't dry-clean-only." Flynt joked, referring to Weiss' somewhat blackened outfit.

The heiress winced slightly. "Unfortunately, it is."

---

"Now that is how you end a high-speed battle!" Cubot said excitedly as he, Orbot, and their creator had watched the match's end. "Kinda reminds me of all the times Sonic and Metal clashed! Or even when Sonic and Shadow went at it!"

"With some obvious differences of course." Orbot pointed out. "Although, that Ruby-girl did seem to try and replicate Sonic's fighting style. And that finisher of hers was reminiscent of a his trademark Spindash."

"Yes, it was." Eggman noted. While he still didn't see anything particular note-worthy regarding what made her Silver Eyes so special, it was painfully obvious that Ruby was taking a lot after Sonic, even developing a fighting style that was similar to his. The blue pest alone was enough of a pain, he didn't need a red one on top of that (excluding the red Echidna, of course). "So, the kid wants to think like Sonic, huh?" He stood up and looked directly at the screen that showed the image of Ruby Rose. "Let's see if she's got his annoyingly stubborn will…. When I crush her and everything else that she holds dear!" He declared upon clenching his fist in her direction.

---

"Alright, let's go congratulate them!" Sonic said as he and everyone else stood up from their spots and proceeded to walk away.

"Wait… what about Pyrrha?" Nora asked as they walked up the steps. "She's still not back yet."

"She… She can handle herself." Jaune was more than a little nervous for her himself, but at the same time, he had faith in his own partner. "And she said if she needed help, she would let us know."

That earned smiles of approval from his teammates, as well as Amy and Tails, the latter getting an alert on his Miles Electric and saw something that caused him to smile widely. "Come on, let's go meet up with them!" He encouraged everyone. "Just found something that's really gonna put us in a good mood!"

"Well, no time like the present, let's get going!" Sonic encouraged.

However, right as the entered the hallways, Yang heard her own scroll ringing and pulled it out, looking in surprise to see who it was that was calling her. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up."

With that, the blonde rounded a corner and while Sonic and Tails led Jaune, Ren, and Nora way; Blake, Knuckles, and Amy stayed behind briefly, all three looking to each other with concern. It wasn't like Yang to be late when congratulating her own sister, so it must be something important. And Knuckles had a good idea what it was.

---

Feeling that she was alone, Yang leaned back against the wall in the hallway and answered her scroll. "Hey, Dad."

"Hey Sweetie! Just saw your sister's match, Ruby was great out there!" Taiyang praised.

"Yeah, she was." Yang smiled slightly. "So, are you gonna call her and let her know yourself or do you want me to…?"

"I left her a message, figured she'd want to rest a bit after a fight like that." Tai said. "But, I gotta admit that I was surprised that you weren't down there with her since you're always by her side, and on the same team too."

"We talked about it… and Ruby and Weiss make a better duo than I do with her. Their weapons and Semblances complement each other more. That and…" Yang wanted to say how she wanted to start over with her own fighting style but couldn't find it in herself to say anything.

"Yang…? Are you alright?" Her father asked out of concern at her not finishing what hse was about to say.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She shifted in her spot somewhat nervously, trying to think of something to say. "Hey… did you know Qrow was here?"

"Oh… He's there?" Tai asked in genuine surprise, something that Yang didn't expect.

"Wait… he didn't say anything? I figured he'd probably call you or something. I mean, you did say that he was going out on a long mission and wouldn't be back for a while." She pointed out. 'Like that's anything new.' She thought but didn't say it aloud.

"Guess he wanted to surprise you." Tai assumed. "But, glad he's there and you get a chance to spend time with him."

Yang frowned a bit, she honestly wasn't sure if her dad was being honest about that or not, and that brought up an uncomfortable train of thoughts to her. A part of her wanted to tell him about Sonic and the others, and even more so, that she may have had a close encounter with her birth mother at Merlot's lab. But… given how sensitive a subject that sort of thing was to him, not to mention learning that he and Qrow's team might have been part of Ozpin's conspiracy in the past… and maybe her father still being a part of that…

"So…" Yang didn't quite think about what to say next. "You and Uncle Qrow were on the same team, right?"

"Yeah, us and your mother. Pretty sure we told you that before. Good times." Tai said on the other line.

Yang wasn't sure at all if he was referring to Summer or Raven as her mother, probably the former, not that it made her feel better either way. "And you did work for Ozpin, right?"

"…Well, of course." Tai responded, sounding somewhat unsure on the other line. "He was our teacher and we did graduate from his academy."

"But what about after…?" Yang asked but stopped herself. "You know what? Nevermind. Just thinking aloud."

"Yang… is everything okay?"

"I… yeah, everything's fine." She replied, clenching her fist slightly and tried to push back all her conflicting thoughts. "A lot's been happening recently… and I've got my mind occupied, that's all."

"If something's wrong, you can talk to me. You know that." Tai said to her.

'Can I…?' She almost said that aloud, but fortunately she didn't. "Thanks but nothing's wrong. Just dealing with some stress. But I got friends here to help me, so don't worry."

"…Alright, if you say so."

"Hey, I gotta go." Yang told him. "I'll tell Ruby you said 'hi'."

"Okay. Oh and Yang… I love you."

Yang sighed at that. "Yeah… you too." She hung up and laid her back against the wall "I know you guys are there. Come on out." She said to the people around the corner.

"Sorry." Amy winced as she, Knuckles, and Blake stepped forward. "You just looked a little… worried. Are you okay?"

"I… I don't know…" Yang turned around to face the wall an away from them.

"That was your dad, I'm assuming." Knuckles said.

"Yep." Yang still faced the wall.

"Yang I…" Blake cautiously stepped forward. "If you want to talk about something… you know you can…"

She was interrupted however when Yang ended up punching a considerable dent in the wall behind her in frustration. "It's bad enough I couldn't talk to my own dad before, now I gotta deal with him being in Ozpin's damn conspiracy to?!" She suddenly exploded, causing Blake and Amy to look in shock while Knuckles narrowed his eyes, having a feeling that would be it. However, Yang ended up calming down a bit. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean…"

"It's okay." Amy assured. "Kinda sounds like there's something you want to get off your chest."

The blonde struggled for a bit, trying to find the strength to get it out. This was something she never talked to anyone about, not even Ruby. Should she say something then? Glancing back, she saw the looks of concern from Blake and Amy, as well as Knuckles who had an understanding look of his own as he gave a single nod.

That seemed to be enough for her.

"Don't tell Ruby I said any of this…"

"We won't say anything." Knuckles promised.

Closing her eyes briefly, Yang spoke. "You already know how Mo… how Summer, Ruby's mom, disappeared…" She couldn't even find it in herself to refer to Summer as her mother at this point right now. "And how Dad shut down after that. It took him a long while to bounce back… and a part of me gets it. My mom left him, Ruby's mom never came back… losing two lovers… that's gotta be hard. But… how did he think me and Ruby felt about that? For most of my life, I always felt that Summer was my actual mom! I didn't even know about Raven until she disappeared, and even then, I found a picture of her only by accident! Like they were purposely trying to hide that from me! You know what that's like?! For a little girl to lose her mother only to find out that she wasn't really her mom and that her real one might be out there?! And… even after that whole mess at that cabin… where I almost got Ruby killed…" She clenched her fists hard at that. "Even after Qrow ended up beating the crap out of my dad for letting that happen… He still took a long while to bounce back. So, I had to take care of Ruby… all by myself…! Qrow rarely ever showed up, and I get a part of it being that he's the only one who had a job and had to get us money… but even when we got older, when we wanted to become Huntresses… it seemed like he gave all his time to Ruby! At times it felt like… like I was an afterthought! It felt like he was purposely keeping his distance from all of us… from me…! Growing up… I felt so alone… But I couldn't show any of that to Ruby. If I showed any kind of weakness… who could she depend on then? Our dad who was depressed for years? Or our uncle whose never home…?!"

Amy and Blake both especially looked shaken up by that as their eyes wavered. Though Knuckles seemed somewhat unsurprised to hear any of this, a lot of it lined up with what he heard from Ruby back at Mountain Glenn and how it led to Yang's over-reliance on her Semblance and own strength. But that didn't mean he felt any less sorry for her.

"And now… now that we know that Qrow is involved in all this mysterious crap that Ozpin is pulling on us… and that he and my dad… my mom and Ruby's mom were all part of the same team…!" Yang went on. "What if they were all in on it… what if Dad still is?! What if him letting Ruby into Beacon or Qrow training her was all part of some kind of crazy plot that we don't know about?! And if that's the case… did I ever know any of them…?! Do I really know my uncle?! My dad?! Was Summer ever the caring mom she acted as or was that all just part of the plan?! I don't know and it's driving me crazy!" She slammed both her fists into the wall, her hair glowing as her eyes turned red. She then fell to her knees as all three of her listeners heard her sobbing.

"And even before then… I don't think I ever felt like I could talk to either of them about how frustrated it was for me…" She cried. "Losing Summer… raising Ruby on my own… I was afraid… if I ever showed weakness… that I wasn't good enough to look after Ruby… or that I pushed too hard with them… Dad would shut down all over again and Qrow would leave and never come back… and I'd be all alone…"

In that instant, all the sympathy they felt towards Yang reached an all-time high as they saw her sit and put her back to the wall, holding her own legs close. Knuckles looked down on her with probably the softest look he could give. Amy held her own hand over her mouth as tears were already in her eyes.

As for Blake, she ended up sitting right next to her partner. "I know what it's like. To… not see eye-to-eye with your parents… or for someone important in your life to… not be who you thought they were." The Faunus girl began, taking off her ribbon to show her cat ears as Yang paid her a slight glance. "My father founded the White Fang, but he was a pacifist. He insisted that we'd never fight back, thinking that it would only make things worse. But the more humans started to hate and hurt us… the more Faunus started to retaliate, and I wanted to join them. After he stepped down as leader… we argued. I called him a coward, not really believing in our people. Not long after that, I ran away. I joined up with the rest of the White Fang and started fighting. I worked alongside Adam, whom I'd known for a while even before then. I always looked up to him, he was willing to fight back for our people. He always talked about making a better world for the Faunus and I believed him. He was my hero." She smiled somewhat before that smile faded. "It wasn't until I started seeing him kill people, and showing no remorse for it, that I began to see him for what he really was. I tried to talk to him, convince him to stop… and look for another way. He said I sounded just like my father." That caused her to look down with a look of regret clear in her eyes. "I think I then understood why my dad stepped down, why he wanted us to avoid killing. He wasn't afraid of humans fighting back harder, he was afraid of the Faunus becoming worse than our oppressors. And that's what happened. Adam became worse than what I thought even the worst humans could be… several in the White Fang did, people that I knew… and I helped to build them to that point. Maybe if I did something sooner…"

She sighed before reaching out and putting a hand on Yang's arm. "I'm so sorry you had to grow up like that, Yang. But believe me, I understand. I understand how lonely it can be. How devastating it is when someone that you know isn't who you think they are… or that you think you can't do anything about it. But… you're not alone. I'm here for you. You and your sister reached out to me when nobody else would, you all did." She looked towards Knuckles and Amy. "And I want to be the same for you. Even the strongest people need someone to lean on, and I can be that for you, Yang." She said with a smile.

"Blake…" The blonde had no idea what to say to all that.

"We all can be." Amy joined Yang, sitting on the other side of her. "We're all here for you, no matter what. Whether it's fighting monsters, or just talking about things that we need to talk about, even if it's something that others consider a weakness. But let me tell you right now, that it's not weakness to talk to the people you love. In fact, that makes you stronger than most."

"Got that right." Knuckles kneeled in front of Yang as he smiled to. "I already told you how I would help you find your birth mother, but it's more than that. Whatever happens going forward, we all got your back. Me, them…" He gestured to Blake and Amy. "…Sonic, and even Ruby. We won't tell her what you said, but you should. I think she'd be happy to have you depend on her for once. Just like how you can depend on us."

All these people offering her not only their support, but even shoulders to lean on… something she felt that she lacked growing up… hearing them say it aloud to her… it caused her eyes to water as she openly cried, allowing some of her more pent-up emotions to vent. And as she did, Blake and Amy put their arms around her as Knuckles put his own hand on her knee. They said nothing, because there was nothing else needed to be said. In this one moment, they were here for her. And Yang wouldn't have it any other way.

---

Meanwhile, Ruby and Weiss had made it to exit tunnel, leaving the arena. But as they walked, Weiss noticed how Ruby didn't seem as celebratory as she thought. They had just won their match. No, Ruby had won it! You'd think that someone as energetic as her would be jumping for joy at that. But she was once again reminded of her young partner having a lot on her mind currently. She may have focused on the match at the time, as Weiss suggested and was glad that she did, but now it seemed that her thoughts were coming back. Now might be a good time for her to say what she wanted to tell her.

"Ruby…" Weiss was about to begin.

"He wasn't there." She said, much to Weiss' confusion.

"Who?"

"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby replied. "He was there when the fight started… but he left sometime after. I guess whatever he's doing with Ozpin is pretty important… maybe a bit more than some silly tournament, huh?" She said, with her head hanging down.

Weiss looked towards Ruby with sympathy before she spoke. "You know how I often talk about my father… but I never mentioned my mother to you, did I?"

Ruby then turned to her partner's direction. "No, I don't think you did."

"Growing up was… hard for me." Weiss began. "You know by now how difficult my father was. He never really took any interest in what I enjoyed, unless it was a way for him to show me off and gain a prophet. You know I'm good at signing, right? He felt so too. So much so that he signed me up for the best classes… just so that I can better perform at events that he sponsored. I was a means to an end for him, or something to vent his frustrations on whenever things didn't go well at work." That caused Ruby to wince as Weiss had told her something like that before when she voiced her hatred towards the White Fang. "By mother… she wasn't like that. She… tried her best when I was little… she would play with me, Winter and Whitley, my younger brother, when we were kids. She'd buy us presents for our birthdays and she always had the cooks make us the finest meals. She tried her best to make us all happy. But as we got older… our home began to feel colder. Our mother was slowing down, becoming less enthusiastic, and it wasn't hard to see why. She and Father would argue a lot and it only got more frequent. It wasn't until my tenth birthday when things got really bad."

Ruby was listening to every word as Weiss stopped for a brief moment, her form shaking slightly as she recalled a certain memory.

"My father had set up a party, invited several kids over… all children of business partners that he knew or wanted to connect with." She continued. "There were so many people there, so many I didn't recognize… so much good food… beautiful music… it felt like he made a genuine effort for my own birthday party. Except for the fact that he wasn't there. He never showed up." She scowled. "A part of me wanted to hope that maybe he was caught up at work or something, or that his schedule was too busy. Being the head of the largest Dust company in all of Remnant, it would make sense to assume that, right? But when it was all over, and everyone went home… he finally returned. My mother took him to their room and I followed, I listened behind their closed door as they argued. She demanded to know why he would set up such a party and yet not attend. Do you know what he said to her? He said 'I have better things to do then attend some child's silly bash.' Those were his exact words."

Ruby looked in shock at that. "But… he set the whole thing up…"

"He did and he felt that he made enough effort that his presence wasn't necessary, at least for me." Weiss replied, looking away with an even greater scowl. "My mother… she was furious at that. They screamed at each other so loud… louder than I ever heard them say before… and I heard it all. And at the end… my mother had enough. She asked him… if he ever really loved her. And his response? Was no."

That earned a gasp from Ruby.

"He said it loud and clear." She continued, holding her arms tightly as her eyes filled with hate. "He told my mother that he never loved her. Ever. He only married her so he can get his hands on the company that my grandfather built through sweat, blood, and tears. He married her for our money, our power…" She shook once more, painfully trying to push back not only those memories, but even the one where she fought Mimic who disguised herself as her father back at Merlot's lab. "A part of me had suspected that was how he really felt about us… but to actually hear him say it aloud… to know without a doubt that the man never loved his family… his children…. I ran back to my room and cried myself to sleep that night."

"Weiss… I…" Ruby couldn't even imagine that.

"After that, nothing was the same." Weiss wasn't even done yet. "My mother just disconnected herself from our lives. She still lived under the same roof as us, but she rarely, if ever, spoke to any of us again. She even started drinking… up to the point where I would rarely see her without a glass of wine in her hand. And she's been like that ever since I left."

"Oh my gods… Weiss… I'm so sorry…" Ruby was nearly brought to tears. It was little wonder that Weiss wanted to get out of her old home. Growing up like that must have been a nightmare.

"Thank you…" She turned to her with a smile. "But I didn't share this story just to have you pity me. I did it because… well… it may not be exactly the same as what you might be going through right now… how you feel unsure about your uncle… or your own father shutting down because of what happened to your mother… which you have my deepest sympathy and condolences for. But… I have an idea of what it might be like… to have someone in your life.. not be who they say they are. That's not to say that I think your uncle is as bad as my father. If he isn't and he truly does care for you, then great. I'm happy for you. But… if he's… not who you think he is… then… I know the feeling."

Weiss reached out to gently grasp Ruby's hand. "Look what I'm trying to say is… I'm here for you, Ruby. You may very well be the first real friend that I've ever had. You, Sonic, and everyone else… you've changed so much about me… opened me up to new things I never even thought of. These last few months at Beacon may have very well been the best moments of my life… and I wouldn't trade them for anything. You changed me, Ruby. You saw me as more than what others saw me, as more than just a Schnee. You're there for me, and I want to return the favor." She smiled at her. "Whatever happens, Ruby Rose… I'm here for you. As your teammate, your partner, and your friend."

In that instant, Ruby leapt at Weiss and wrapped her arms around her, burying her face into her shoulder as she cried. Much like what her own older sister was doing right now in another location, Ruby was letting herself vent all the frustration and confusion she was feeling right now, and Weiss was supporting her with everything she could. Smiling and holding Ruby tightly.

"Thank you, Weiss… Thank you…!"

Meanwhile, around the adjacent corner, Winter had been there, listening to all of it. She also happened to remember the events of Weiss' tenth birthday… it was a painful memory for her as well, particularly with how much pain Weiss was in after that. She never expected her younger sister to open up with that before… but it was clear just how much of an effect that this Ruby Rose and perhaps even Sonic have had on her. To know that her sister had other people besides Klein and herself that she could count on made her truly happy.

She had come down here to congratulate her sister, but that felt unnecessary. Weiss had all the support she needed. And with that, she turned around and walked away. Though as she did, she also happened to pass by none other than Sonic himself, alongside Tails, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. Though most were surprised to see her, Winter paid them all a single nod of acknowledgement, before giving one exclusively to Sonic, with a sincere smile. Sonic returned with a similar gesture as he smirked and gave her a thumbs up as well.

By the time Sonic and the others rounded the corner to see their friends, Ruby and Weiss had pulled away as the former wiped the remnants of her own tears from her eyes.

"Hey guys." The red-clad girl greeted.

"You okay, Ruby?" Jaune asked upon seeing her face was still somewhat flushed.

"I'm fine just… had a little heart-to-heart." Ruby said, sharing a smile with Weiss.

"Well, we saw your match. You both were incredible, out there." Ren congratulated.

"For real, that was awesome!" Nora stated. "Ruby, you were so freaking fast out there! And Weiss, you were really cool. Pun entirely intended."

"Ha, ha." The heiress said sarcastically with a half-smile.

"Seriously though. You guys were great. Nice job out there." Sonic said to them with a smile. And upon hearing the praise and congratulations from someone the two admired so much, it only caused Ruby and Weiss' smiles to grow.

"Thanks Sonic… by the way… where's Pyrrha?" Ruby asked. "I saw that she wasn't there when the fight ended."

Jaune's smile faded at that. "Ozpin called for her."

That caused Ruby and Weiss to look with concern. "Should we be worried about that?" The white-clad heiress asked.

"Nah, P-Money can handle herself." Nora assured.

"And she said she would message us if anything were to happen." Ren added.

"On that note though, I've got great news!" Tails beamed.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

The young fox pulled out his Miles Electric and showed the screen to all of them, where it showed the digital image of a black queen chess piece. "We found the virus!"

---

Emerald Forest

Shadow threw a Chaos Spear at the ground in front of the masked woman, causing it to explode as she backed away, with Shadow dashing through the resulting smoke, Arondight pointing forward, though she weakly blocked it with the red Dust blade in her left hand and proceeded to swing her sword at him rapidly, it wasn't as fine-tuned as strong as she would use her right hand to wield her sword. Despite training herself to use her left hand if her right one was no longer an option, it was still a tad difficult as she couldn't perfectly replicate her own handiness, something Shadow noticed and took full advantage of as when she lunged her Dust blade at him, Shadow caught her by the wrist with one hand and kicked the handle of her sword, dislodging the Dust blade and knocking it up into the air before Shadow performed a Spindash up-close and personal into the woman's stomach to send her rolling and skidding across the ground, just before the dislodged Dust blade fell, and Shadow caught it in his hand easily enough.

The masked woman grunted in pain as she felt her own Aura level dropping significantly. She was ever rarely backed into a corner like this, but as she hated to admit it, she was outmatched against this black Hedgehog. Though she still had her trump card to use… but should she use it? These aliens don't know about it… or rather, they don't about them. But she wasn't exactly one to reveal her hand unless there were no other options, but that may very well be the case here as her Aura level was rather low and she couldn't escape without revealing something else that she'd rather not reveal yet.

'This ends now!' Shadow mused, feeling he's wasted enough time, he held the dislodged fire Dust blade in his free hand and channeled some Chaos energy directly into it, causing it to glow slightly before throwing at the woman like a javelin.

Acting on pure survival instinct, quickly using her hilt to equip another Dust blade and pulled it out to slice and deflect the projectile… but that's when she noticed the flash of energy inside it… and realized her mistake.

'Oh no…'

*BOOM!*

The Chaos energy infused Dust blade had exploded in a mess of fire and sparking energy, the force of the explosion blasting the woman back, bouncing across the ground before the back of her body smacked against a tree.

Her own red Aura flashed around her body, her mask cracking apart, both on the verge of breaking as she could barely try to pull herself up. Only for Shadow to appear over her, slam his foot into her stomach and pin her whole body to the ground.

As he glared down with his own red eyes, the cracks on the woman's mask continued to spread until… it broke apart. Pieces of the Grimm mask fell off to reveal the woman's face in it's entirety.

Few things could ever shock Shadow. The woman's ability to turn into a bird did catch him somewhat off guard before… but this was not the kind of face he was expecting to see.

Aside from her long black hair… this woman looked like an older version of a certain blonde student that's been working alongside him and his teammates since coming to Beacon. And those red eyes… the same kind of red eyes he saw in that same blonde whenever she got angry.

"You're Yang Xiao-Long's mother."

Raven narrowed her eyes, keeping silent. But that was more than enough to confirm it.

"First her uncle arrives at Beacon, and now you. You who has been observing us all this time." Shadow pressed his foot harder, causing the woman to grimace as she grabbed his ankle with her left hand and stared defiantly at him. "Even if you don't serve Ozpin as you say, you know what's going on. And I'm tired of getting the workaround every time I question this. So, as I said, you will tell me everything you know."

Raven appeared to close her eyes as her form relaxed, her right hand closer to her side. Despite the injury to her whole arm, her hand was still functionable enough to press her hand against the ground below her.

"There are two things you need to know." She said as he focused on her but was curious at why she kept her eyes closed. "First… don't trust Ozpin."

"I already don't."

"Good, it means you're not stupid." She replied. "And second…" Cracks began to form at the ground below Raven but seemed contained enough to not spread out too much, all of it being focused just below her own body as the ground began to weaken. "No matter what he says… no matter what his little puppets tell you… and your blue friend… you keep those two out of it!"

Right as she said that the ground beneath Raven collapsed, causing her to fall in while Shadow instinctively leapt back. He scowled as he looked down the hole, only to see a swirling red portal closing. When it did, Raven was gone.

The black Hedgehog grunted in frustration as this only left him with more questions. He had seen that portal before back on Merlot Island. It was how they regrouped with Rouge and Knuckles while escaping. It's also where he saw that woman in her bird form. He had initially thought her ability to turn into a bird was her Semblance. But if that was the case, then how did she make that portal? Remnant didn't have the kind of technology to make wormholes. And as far as he knew, a person on this world could only have one Semblance. Unless this also had something to do with Ozpin.

But this encounter did manage to confirm one thing to Shadow. What she had just said to him… 'keep those two out of it'. Those two. An obvious assumption could be that she was referring to her daughter, but what about the other one? Was it Ruby? Yang and Ruby were only half sisters; they shared the same father, but different mothers. Although, he knew that their uncle was involved with Ozpin, and perhaps Raven herself was at one time if her words of not trusting him were anything to go by. So, it seems that this woman did have some concern for Ruby as well… which all but confirmed that the girl was also at the center of this conspiracy.

All he could hope for now, was that they find what Ozpin's hiding soon… maybe it'll give them answers as to what role Ruby had in all this. Because if Ozpin or his cohorts had any intention of using that innocent girl for their own ends… he wouldn't hesitate to cripple them all.

---

Ozpin's Office

Qrow had just arrived with an annoyed grunt. "I missed Ruby's fight, ya know."

"I am sorry about that. But time is of the essence here." The headmaster of Beacon said, sitting in his chair as he faced the window, looking toward the sky that was now turning orange with the setting sun. "Although, she did perform spectacularly. You should be proud."

"I am." Qrow said before getting to the point. "So, have you chosen the next Fall Maiden yet?"

"The Maidens chose themselves." Ozpin clarified as he turned his chair around to face Qrow directly. "I simply believe I found the right candidate."

"Is it Winter?" Qrow asked.

"No." Ozpin answered. "While I have no doubt she would make an excellent Maiden, for all the reasons James has said… Winter is, above all else, a soldier, and that is not what I'm looking for. Soldiers, armies, these are symbols of war and conflict. But a guardian is a symbol of comfort, someone who can put people at ease even at times of uncertainty. And this one, I believe fits into all the required categories. She's strong, intelligent, empathetic… and has a close enough connection to Sonic that may allow us to bridge the divide that is growing between us and them."

"As long as Ruby is kept out of it, I'm fine with whatever." Qrow said.

Ozpin gave yet another sigh as this was brought up again. "Your niece can't stay in the dark forever, Qrow. However,… I do agree that she is not ready to learn the truth yet. Perhaps we can use this as a chance to talk to Sonic and find a compromise."

The elevator door then opened as both men turned to the young woman who had entered the office. Pyrrha Nikos.

---

Rouge had let herself fall closer to the bottom of the elevator shaft, before spreading out her wings to slow her descent. She hovered just below the bottom of the shaft, right in front of the elevator door.

Using her eyepiece, she scanned the door itself to see if there was any kind of security rigged to it, motion sensors, or even a bomb… but it seemed clean. With that in mind, Rouge took out Purple Hearts in its broadsword mode and jammed it into the crevice in the middle of the door and was able to pry it open enough to allow her to slip inside.

Once more, Rouge hovered in the air, making sure she didn't trip any motion sensors or anything that may be on the ground, right before using her eyepiece to scan the area, as well as taking a look herself.

It was a massive, dimly lit chamber, with wall-mounted torches that casted a pale green light. It was rather large, larger than any other room she'd seen in Beacon so far. Her scan was complete and she found no security devices in place.

"That's it…?" She muttered to herself. "No lasers, no motion detectors, no floor traps, not even a single camera? Some security." She probably felt that with Ozpin giving off the impression of such a humble man, that nobody would ever suspect him of hiding something in the first place, nothing huge anyway. "Wow, you're more arrogant than you let on. So, what do you got down here?"

Rouge flew deeper into the chamber, while using her eyepiece to scan and locate the power generator that was underneath the floor at the furthest end of this place. Based on what her eyepiece picked up, the generator wasn't hooked up to anything else throughout this enormous basement. In fact, it only seemed connected to a single appliance.

"What's so special that you gotta have your own independent power generator for?" She asked aloud, but would get her answer soon as she finally came to the end of the chamber.

What she saw caused her to gasp as her eyes widened in absolute shock, one of the few times where she was surprised, or even horrified. She instantly got a sense of Déjà vu back to when she had found Shadow again after assuming he died trying to stop the Ark from crashing into the Earth, and where she had met Omega for the first time and they had formed Team Dark. But even though it was familiar… it was still horrifying to her.

She saw a large machine that was connected to two pods on opposite ends. The one on the right was empty, but the one on the left wasn't.

Inside that pod… was a half-naked young woman with tan skin and brown hair, covered in scars and appeared to be in some sort of coma.

"What the hell…?"

Done.

Yep, Rouge has found Amber. Expect things to get very exciting in the next chapter.

But let's talk a bit about this chapter first…

Ozpin is still going with his canonical choice of making Pyrrha the Fall Maiden, or at least offering her the choice, and using it as a way to try and bring Sonic in as well. But given how Rouge has managed to locate Amber… yeah. It won't go as smoothly as Ozpin hopes.

We had Ruby and Weiss win their match against Flynt and Neon, and I had plenty of fun writing that, especially Ruby's high-speed battle against Neon. She is obviously taking much after Sonic, even trying to perform her own kind of Spindash (though it was more like a corkscrew for her), but in doing so, had showed signs of her own Semblance evolving.

We also had Shadow meeting and fighting against Raven, which of course left the black Hedgehog with many questions, but at least one answer that Ruby was at the center, or at least had a huge role to play, in Ozpin's conspiracy.

And let's not forget… Tails' Anti-Virus program has worked and has seemed to have located he Black Queen Virus.

But one of the man takeaways from this chapter was the separate conversations Ruby and Yang had with the others.

We had a chance for Yang to open up about how hard a time she had growing up. Now, let me say for the record that I do not believe Tai to be a bad dad. He's a genuinely good guy, as is Qrow, but that doesn't mean they're flawless. Like Yang herself admitted, losing two lovers will leave an impact on someone. But because of him shutting down, Yang had to step up and basically raise Ruby herself at an early age, which we all know helped to feed into her own over-reliance on her Semblance. But she also had this fear inside that if she showed any kind of weakness or pressed her father or uncle too hard for answers with her own birth mother, or anything else like that, they'd leave her. Yeah, it was pretty rough for her, and the idea of her family being involved in Ozpin's shady conspiracy isn't helping either. But don't worry, we'll get to hear Tai's side of things soon later on. The canon show didn't really expand a whole lot on the Rose-Xiao Long family dynamic, so I expanded a bit and gave my own creative twist to show that while this is a family with all its members loving and caring for each other, it also has its flaws and disfunctions.

And then there was Ruby, who is going through similar thoughts herself as she's worried that her uncle might not be who he says he is. This also gave Weiss a chance to not only relate to Ruby as she brought up her own hard childhood… but even offer her shoulder for Ruby to lean on, giving a chance for Ruby to vent herself.

What's going to happen now?

All I can tell you is that in the next chapter, things really start to derail from canon.

Until then, peace out.