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)

30. Busted!

Hey, everyone. Welcome back. You have no idea how excited I am to finally reach this point in my story. The point where everything from the canon on the RWBY side of things goes out the window and we enter new territory! Things might still be similar to the main story going forward, but there will be some all-new elements to it as well. I can't wait for you all to see what I have planned.

But before we begin, I'd like a moment of silence to pay respects to the unfortunate passing of Akira Toriyama, the writer of the Dragon Ball manga. The Dragon Ball franchise has been more than just an anime, it practically brought anime to western audiences, paved the way for nearly every other Shonen anime that followed, and served as inspiration for many other works all over the world, prominent among them is the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
Thank you, Akira Toriyama, for leaving behind a lasting legacy that will be with us for generations to come.

Now, with that being said, let's get started!

Busted!

The sun had now set over the Forever Fall Forest as dusk had just come to an end, the sky slowly turning dark as the stars became visible. All seemed quiet in the forest of red leaves, as well as a railroad bridge that connected to a tunnel that had been drilled into a mountain, and on the other side of that mountain was a railroad that led directly to Beacon Academy. The only sounds that could be made was the wind brushing against the foliage…

As well as Cinder and her group placing a series of small bombs on the support pillars of the railroad bridge, with Mercury arming one bomb at the base of one pillar.

"Alright, we're all set here!" He called to the rest of his team.

"Same up here!" Emerald called down from a spot just under the tracks, placing a bomb there before using the hooks of her weapons to slide down, where she met Neopolitan, who had armed a bomb at one pillar herself, who gave a nod of confirmation herself.

"Excellent." Cinder smirked as she held the detonator in her hand before pulling out her scroll, briefly showing the digital image of the black queen chess piece, before shifting over to show the GPS footage of the train tracks with a red dot along the pathway moving closer to their position. "And not a moment too soon."

"Cinder… hey uh… are you sure about this?" Emerald asked, causing the leader of the group to eye her somewhat dangerously. "Well, I mean… it seems a little… weird for them to be moving Amber right now. Wouldn't she be safer at Beacon? This is all right out in the open, and Grimm could be drawn to the train too."

"And that is the reason why the general had military drones placed on the train." Cinder told her. "No living humans onboard, save for our target who is in a cold sleep, which means no emotions to draw in the Grimm."

"I know, but…" Emerald still had a sinking feeling, only for Cinder to play some recorded audio that they gained from when their virus connected to Ironwood's scroll.

"General, the train has been set. As per your request, no military personnel are onboard." A soldier reported. "Even the train itself is automated, so there is no need for a operator at the controls."

"Very good." Ironwood replied.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking… what is the purpose of this?" That same solider asked. "Why send an automated train filled with prototypes for our new weapons now?"

"A precaution, just to ensure that Doctor Eggman or his allies don't get their hands on any of it." Ironwood explained. "With everyone else focused on the ongoing festival, it is the ideal time to move it all."

"Understood, sir."

Cinder then pressed another button to play a different recorded conversation.

"James, we are taking a risk with a move like this." Ozpin said.

"Beacon has been compromised, Ozpin. It's no longer safe for Amber." Ironwood replied. "We run a bigger risk by doing nothing."

"I understand that, but…" The Headmaster of Beacon tried.

"We can't risk Sonic or his companions finding out either. This is our only option. I promise you, that I will take all the necessary measures to ensure that Amber's transit runs smoothly. You have to trust me." Ironwood told him.

Cinder stopped the recording before speaking again. "They may not know who we are, but they have been made aware that spies have infiltrated their Academy. Not only that, Ozpin and his forces are so desperate to keep the rodents from learning their little secret. They're afraid." A confident smirk fell on her face. "And that fear only works to our advantage. They've played right into our hands."

Emerald had mixed feelings regarding this. She spent her whole life on the streets, where nobody came to help her. She had to steal just to survive. But all that changed when she met Cinder. She saw her potential and gave her a purpose, a way to tear down the old and corrupt system and build a new order where she could have a place to call her own. Cinder had saved her, Emerald trusted her with her life. But that still didn't stop the bad feeling she was getting from this, call it instinct from her time as a thief. But she still trusted Cinder more than anything, and she's never let her down so far. So, she decided to trust that.

"Alright, if you say so." Emerald accepted, causing Cinder to pat her on the head.

"That's my girl." She then turned to Mercury and Neo. "Any further objections?"

"Nope." Mercury replied while Neo shook her head. "But, I do gotta ask, why didn't ya call the Doc?"

Cinder's smile faded. "Because I don't need the help of an overweight, egotistical, fool who could never harness power for himself without his precious machines." She said as her eyes glowed. "But I will show him real power soon enough." She got another look at her scroll to see the red dot on the GPS screen was getting closer. "It'll be here in less than five minutes. Move."

With that, the group split off with Cinder and Emerald moving onto the foliage on one side of the tracks, while Mercury and Neo did the same on the other. As they hid, Mercury felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to Neo who used her Semblance to shape herself into Cinder and gave and mouthed off while also flapping her hand.

Mercury chuckled at that. "Yeah, she's annoying, I know. But hey, she got us this far. And I've seen the kind of power that she's after and believe me, that Maiden stuff is no joke. And if it means sticking it to that tinman Atlesian prick Ironwood, I'm all in."

Neo then shifted her appearance again to take the form of Torchwick.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll bust him, I promise." Mercury told her. "But if you ask me, you're kinda wasting your time. You're a way better criminal than he is. Why not stick with us? You'd really be going places."

In direct response to that, Neo had turned to normal as she pointed her umbrella-blade right at Mercury's throat with a glare.

"Okay, I get the point." Mercury said in defeat, causing Neo to lower her blade. "But… we can still hang out if you want. Like maybe, you and me, a nice dinner… where don't have to pay and beat up all the cooks to give us the best food…"

Neo crossed her arms with an annoyed expression.

"You're loss." Mercury accepted, but they soon heard the sound of an incoming train. "Get ready, here it comes." He and Neo ducked their heads deeper into the foliage.

The unmanned train went along its intended path, moving across the tracks at a steady pace of ninety miles an hour. The train consisted of five cars, excluding the engine. And inside the train, each car was filled with a squad of six Atlesian Knights. And within the central car was a squad of ten Atlesian Knights, all surrounding a large cryo-chamber that kept a certain young woman in cold storage.

The train was coming ever closer to the group of infiltrators as they lied in wait. "Here it comes…" Emerald muttered.

Cinder saw on her scroll that the train was close enough and would be at their location in two minutes. She then pressed the detonator.

The bombs went off along the pillars, causing them and a large portion of the track to collapse, creating a large and wide gap between certain points on the track.

A few seconds later, the train had emerged from the tunnel and went right off the broken track, causing it to fall, the momentum carrying it quite a distance away before crashing hard on the ground, and it still went on, tearing through the soil and several trees before finally grinding to a halt.

"Move to the center car, now!" Cinder ordered as she and her team quickly rushed out from their spots. As they got closer, the top doors of all the train cars had opened as several damaged AK units climbed out and opened fire upon the intruders. "Take them down!"

As per her order, Emerald drew her weapon, Thief's Gambit, and returned fire, hittig precise headshots on all the robots she dashed past before moving to the center car, while Mercury leapt up to the car ahead to dash at the robots in front of him, where he proceeded to kick them apart with Talaria. Between his own quick footwork and the damaged condition of the AK Units, he took them apart with ease.

The remaining AKs that guarded the central car, all leapt to the ground engage Cinder and Neo as they approached. The former drew Midnight in it's bow form and created a multitude of glass arrows from the packs of silicon she hand on hand and superheated via her own power and fired precise shots at the heads and necks of three of them before closing the gap as Neo thrusted her blade into the chest of one and turned it to use that robot as a shield against the gunfire of another and expanded the parasol to blow what was left of the robot apart while drawing her blade to move in and decapitate that robot just as Cinder had converted Midnight into its dual blades to slice and make quick work of the remaining robots just as Emerald and Mercury regrouped with them.

"All clear." Emerald said.

"Good. Keep an eye out for any birds. We don't want to repeat the mistake from last time." Cinder instructed as she concentrated her power into the tips of her blades, causing them to super-heat before driving them into the train's wall, where she proceeded to cut it apart and make a large hole. As she did, she had to back away, as did the rest of her teammates, to allow a certain container to slide out of the derailed train car.

The cryo-chamber was now out in the open, and Cinder had already made her way to the head, where she looked through the glass window to see only the head of her target as her team also gathered around.

"Hello Amber." She smirked sadistically. "You have no idea what's happening right now, do you? You don't even know you're about to die. In a way, you're lucky. But don't worry, I'll be sure to put your power to the proper use." She raised her right hand, the blade pointing down as the metal super-heated from her own power once again. "At last… The Fall Maiden… IS MINE!"

She lunged the blade into the glass, intent on piercing through Amber's head…

Only for her entire form to shatter like glass upon contact, causing Cinder's own eyes to widen like circles.

"What…?!" She pried the top of the chamber off and tossed it away to reveal the now-empty container, much to the shock of her own teammates.

"The hell…?!" Mercury questioned.

"It's empty?!" Emerald exclaimed as even Neo raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Cinder took out her scroll again to go through the data and make sure. "This is the right train…! But…how…? How did…?"

Neo reached into the container, spotting something that sparkled slightly at the bottom. She rubbed her hand in it and pulled it out to rub the contents in-between her fingers and show her allies.

"It's Dust…?" Mercury questioned.

"Hardlight Dust…" Emerald realized. "But how did they…?"

Cinder's own eyes widened in a dreadful realization as it all dawned on her. "We've been had!"

Suddenly, the winds began to pick up all around the area. It quickly picked up speed to the point where Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Neopolitan all braced themselves against the powerful force. The wind began to encircle around them almost like a twister was forming… but what really drew their attention was that the wind appeared to be blue.

It all came to a stop as a certain blue-furred individual had appeared on top of the derailed train with a smirk ever present on his face.

"Well, that was certainly a snazzy performance." Sonic grinned.

"Wait… what?!" Mercury exclaimed as Emerald and Neo were both completely caught off guard. But none were more surprised than Cinder herself as she saw the blue Hedgehog turning his grin towards her.

"So, you're name really is Cinder, huh? Not just an alias? It's cool. Nice to see ya again." He waved.

Cinder's shocked expression turned into one of anger and rage. "You…! What did you do?! How did you find us?!"

"Funny you should ask." Sonic began, his smirk still ever-present on his face.

---

Beacon - A Few Hours Earlier

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy had gathered in their own personal dorm room with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, and Ren all present as well while the young fox was making some adjustments on his tablet, the Miles Electric.

"You found the virus?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, my program identified it in the middle of your fight." Tails explained. "Now, let's see what we're dealing with…" Pressing a button, the Miles Electric had shined a three-dimensional holographic screen for the whole group to see as it showed the digital image of the black queen.

"What's that supposed to be?" Yang questioned.

"It's a chess piece." Weiss answered. "Specifically, the queen."

"Didn't know Eggman was into chess." Jaune commented.

"He isn't." Amy said. "He's not the type to sit down and play a game like that. I don't even think I've even seen him play Monopoly."

"Plus, if this was Eggman's, it would have his face as its logo, not this." Sonic added, gesturing to the image of the black queen.

"So, if Eggman didn't design this…" Ren began. "Maybe it was his partner."

"Can you think of anyone in the White Fang who's good with tech or stuff like this?" Knuckles asked Blake.

"No. As far as I can tell, neither Adam nor anybody else I knew was all that technical." The cat Faunus answered.

"Well, bet our little genius here can find out liceity-split, right?" Nora lightly punched Tails' arm with an encouraging grin, the young fox rubbing his arm slightly with a cocked smile and raised-eyebrow. "And then we can track em and the egg-guy and scramble em up!"

"That's the plan." Sonic grinned as well.

Tails then pressed another button on his Miles Electric, pulling up a holographic keyboard as the screen showed the image of the black queen chess piece, along with the symbol of his own anti-virus program, showing the spinning yellow ball with two tails at the end.

The young fox flexed his hands as a determined, yet confident expression formed on his face. "Alright, your majesty. Let's dance."

Rapidly pressing the keys on his holographic keyboard, the anti-virus moved as the yellow ball dashed to try and strike at the black queen, in a method similar to a spindash or homing attack. It spun against the black queen before being repelled as a wall of digital fire appeared around the black queen, the fire being made out of hundreds of thousands of rapidly blinking ones and zeroes.

"It has a firewall defense system. Guess they were prepared for a counterprogram" Tails said as everyone paid close attention. "Clever, but nothing I can't handle." His tongue lightly sticking out, Tails rapidly pressed the keys on his holo-keyboard once more.

The yellow anti-virus quickly spun around the black queen like a circle, moving around the enemy program rapidly in a method similar to a tornado-attack. The more quickly it moved, the more the firewall was worn out just as a bright and golden ring became visible to completely encircle around the black queen just as its fire wall as eliminated.

"Gotcha!" Tails grinned as he pressed the button. A familiar chime noise was heard as the ring had completely formed before condensing into the black queen, seemingly breaking it apart as the screen shifted and changed.

Now the environment they were seeing looked something akin to a black and white chess board with the yellow anti-virus in the middle, right before a whole line of black chess pieces appeared before it, consisting of sixteen total. Eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, a king and a queen.

"Whoa, what just happened?" Jaune questioned.

"It's a chess board…" Ren realized.

"A secondary defense program." Tails identified. "Guess this won't be so easy."

The black pawn on the farthest right moved down from one square to another, clearing the way for the black rook to move down that position, followed by the pawn on the left, and the pawn on the left of that one, giving the bishop the chance to move diagonally to the farthest left, but this also put it on a path that led directly to the yellow anti-virus.

Weiss' eyes widened, realizing what was about to happen. "Tails! You need to move! Now!"

Tails did as instructed, and moved his anti-virus back one space just as the black bishop was about to hit it, moving into the space it once was. Seeing this as his chance, Tails sent his program into that black bishop with a homing attack, breaking apart its data which had converted into a series of golden rings, which were absorbed into the anti-virus, causing it to grow.

"Uh… someone explain." Nora requested.

"This defense program is operating like a chess game on automatic." Weiss assumed. "Each of its pieces will move like how they would in a real game."

"Thanks the warning." Tails said.

"So, what happened to that one piece you smashed?" Yang asked.

"When my anti-virus made contact with that bishop, it's data was broken apart and absorbed into my program, making it stronger." Tails answered.

"What was with the rings?" Blake questioned.

"I don't know, thought it be cool." Tails replied simply.

"Look out! Incoming horse!" Ruby warned as a black knight piece was about to move in on Tails' program, but the anti-virus was quickly pulled back before delivering a spindash attack onto that, breaking the black knight apart into more rings, which the anti-virus absorbed, causing it to grow even more.

"Now I see…" Tails figured it out. "This program operates just like chess. It might have more pieces to it… but this means its moves are predictable. And lucky for us…" A grin fell on the Tail's face that mimicked a certain Blue Hedgehog. "…I'm not playing chess."

Sonic grinned himself. "Show em what you got, little bro."

Tails immediately began to work, typing as fast as he could with his tongue slightly sticking out once again as everyone watched with anticipation. The yellow anti-virus had dodged a rook's dash before smashing it to pieces. It then quickly moved to take down three pawns in a row, and with each piece that was destroyed, more rings were produced and absorbed into the anti-virus, causing it to move faster and grow stronger. So much so that it took out the second knight and second bishop all in one dash as they lined up.

However, even as Tails continued to quickly move and take out all the chess pieces before many could even move, Weiss had noticed the pawn on the far right, the one piece that had moved first, kept moving in a straight line and was making its way to the other side of the board.

After eliminating the last rook, Tails' anti-virus had found itself against the black king and queen, the former not having moved from its spot as the queen quickly moved in front of the king and face the yellow anti-virus directly.

"Alright, I think we got this!" He stated. "I can take down the king and queen altogether!"

"Go for it, little guy!" Yang encouraged.

"A straight shot! You got this!" Sonic encouraged as well.

But, before Tails could make his move, the pawn that Weiss had noticed was only one square away from the edge of the board and that's when she realized it.

"No! Tails! Go for that pawn! Now!" She exclaimed urgently.

Quickly realizing what she was warning him of, and no time to question it, Tails pressed the button that caused his anti-virus to spin dash away from the queen that moved at him and zoom straight for the pawn that made it to the end of the board. Fortunately, the anti-virus had smashed the pawn just before it touched down.

Just like all the other destroyed pieces, that one pawn was smashed into a series of golden rings that were absorbed into the antivirus. But just as it did, the entire chess board vanished to reveal a three-dimensional golden ring on the screen that spun around with a red ring inside that spun in the opposite direction and a star in the middle, complete with a catchy tune that played for six seconds.

"Wait… what…?" Ruby looked more than a little confused. "Is that checkmate?"

"But we didn't take down the king. That's how you win this game, right?" Yang said.

"Yes, the king or even the queen were obvious targets." Weiss explained. "But if your pawn makes it to your opponent's side, you can use that to bring back any one of your pieces that you lost."

"That's a thing?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, it is." Ren confirmed. "I've played a bit of chess before and that is a rule."

"It is, but I don't think it was exactly the same thing here." Tails said as he pulled up the data that was absorbed into his anti-virus to get a good look at it. "I think that pawn was the core programing."

"But wouldn't it have been the king or even the queen?" Amy asked. "I mean, the logo was literally the queen chess piece."

"It may have been a red herring. A means to throw us off if someone was able to hack into this virus." Weiss assumed.

"So, the king and queen were figureheads. While a pawn, an unsuspecting piece, was the real threat." Knuckles surmised. "Hmm, that's actually rather clever."

"What would have happened if that pawn did make it on the other side?" Blake asked.

Tails briefly looked over the data to get his answer. "It probably would have led to that virus hacking directly into our systems. This is one nasty piece of malware."

"Good on you picking up on that one, Weiss." Sonic nudged her with a grin.

"Yeah, I had no idea you played chess." Ruby said to her partner.

"My… father taught me. He's an avid player himself." Weiss admitted reluctantly, causing the others to look with sympathy and concern. "But, I get to determine how I use and apply that knowledge. Not him." She said confidently, causing everyone to smile with approval.

"Atta girl." Amy patted her back.

"So, we got the virus, then?" Jaune asked.

"Yep." Tails confirmed as he pulled up everything regarding the virus itself, as well as all the data it had acquired and was now connected to. "And we can see just what types of systems it's infected and how much damage it's done so far…"

As the young fox typed away at his holographic keyboard, the screen in front of them all showed all kinds of data. While there were some images, symbols, and even blueprints that a few recognized, most of it was all rather complex that it went over nearly all their heads. But the fact they saw so many screens registered to all of them that this virus had already done a great deal.

"Uh… is it bad that we're seeing so many of these screens?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah… I mean… this virus has really done a number on things…" Tails began as he continued to look over the data. "It's almost thoroughly infected the CCT's communication's systems, which could allow the one who uploaded this virus total access, they could even shut the whole thing down if they wanted."

"Cutting off all communications between the kingdoms. That would definitely be a severe blow to Remnant." Blake said.

"Or send misinformation across the systems to trick the other Kingdoms…" Weiss put in.

"Agreed. With the right kind of deception, you could start a full scale war if you wanted." Knuckles commented, speaking from experience.

"But it's not just the CCT, it looks like this virus has almost completely infected all the Atlas military, at least the units stationed here in Beacon." Tails revealed.

"How'd they pull that off?" Nora questioned.

"Hang on…" Tails tried to find the source and with access to all the procured data from the virus, he was able to backtrack it to the link. "It looks like it was all via Ironwood's scroll."

"The general?" Jaune questioned. "How?"

"He must have connected to the main system earlier, allowing the virus to worm its way from there." Tails guessed. "But look at all this!" All the screens he pulled up had blueprints and specs regarding various pieces of military equipment. "They got blueprints for all their ships, their robots, their weapons, even…" Tails however stopped when he saw a specific set of blueprints, all on a certain android showing her robotic endoskeleton with an outer silhouette that showed a familiar figure, with the schematics also showing the name of the unit on the upper left corner.

"Is that… Penny?!" Yang almost exclaimed.

"Heh, heh, yeah… funny story." Sonic winced while Ruby sunk behind him with a guilty expression. "Penny's actually a robot."

"A robot?!" Yang, Nora, Blake, Jaune, Weiss, and even Ren all exclaimed in shock.

"The first man-made machine capable of wielding her own Aura, yeah." Amy confirmed.

"A machine generating its own Aura…? That shouldn't be possible…!" Weiss stated. "Though... it would explain her odd behavior."

"Y-you… you guys all knew about this…?" Yang questioned before looking to her younger sister, who still bore a guilty expression that all but confirmed it that she knew as well. "Ruby…?!"

"I'm sorry… but she made me promise not to tell!" The younger girl quickly exclaimed.

"We only found out on accident, and it's supposed to be a top secret that Ironwood didn't want anybody finding out." Sonic came to Ruby's defense. "Sorry we didn't tell you guys, but we didn't want Penny getting in trouble because of us."

"I knew." Knuckles said, much everyone's further surprise, especially Yang. "We've fought against millions of robots and worked alongside more than a few. With that kind of experience, you can pick up on a few things."

"And you didn't say anything?" Yang questioned.

"I assumed it was her personal business. You don't just bring up something like that in a casual conversation, especially if it's without Penny's consent." Knuckles said, which caused Yang to relent as even she knew that much. The blonde even made eye-contact with Blake who silently agreed with Knuckles herself.

"Does Shadow know about this?" Jaune asked.

"We didn't say anything, but knowing him, Rouge, and Omega, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't already figure it out on their own." Sonic answered.

"Well, that aside, the fact that Penny's blueprints were accessed by this Virus…" Ren spoke up.

"It would mean that Eggman probably knows about her too." Tails finished upon realization. "Meaning, she could be in serious trouble."

"Well, Penny did tell me that she wanted to join us in fighting Eggman, and even had plan with her dad." Ruby put in. "Maybe if she comes with us, we can better keep her safe."

"Plus, she's a freaking one-woman army!" Nora stated. "Having her in our little group can definitely cause some robot and Grimm heads to roll!"

"We better call Shadow and the others and let them know what we found." Amy suggested.

"I'm on it." Sonic had already pulled out his scroll.

---

Ozpin's Office – Sometime earlier

Pyrrha Nikos did her best to hide the nervousness she was feeling as she sat at the seat across from Ozpin's desk. When she first enrolled into Beacon, she had respected its headmaster. Not only was he the leader of one of the most successful academies on Remnant, but he seemed incredibly friendly and caring to all his students and staff, offering them some much-needed wisdom whenever someone needed it. He seemed like a good man. But ever since learning that he was at the center of a secret conspiracy, she felt more than a little uncertain. It also didn't help in the fact that Qrow, the uncle of two of her closest friends, was leaning against a pillar near the elevator door, almost like he was cutting off her escape route. Though she did have her scroll handy and had a distress text ready to be sent in the worst-case scenario, and she knew Sonic and/or Shadow could get to her in less than a minute. But at the moment, there seemed to be no need for hostility, so she put on her usual smile whenever people would give her interviews or photoshoots in order to keep Ozpin from suspecting anything, even as she had answered to the question he had just asked her…

"…In the event that we had won the doubles round, we decided that I would probably move up to the singles." She said to him.

"That certainly comes as no surprise." Ozpin replied. "You've performed exceptionally well. I'd say you're probably the most skilled first year student currently enrolled at Beacon."

"Thank you, Professor. But I would never have made it this far without my teammates." Pyrrha said honestly.

"Personally, I think it's the other way around." Qrow said bluntly, and Pyrrha did not take that very well.

"You're Qrow Branwen, correct? Ruby and Yang's uncle?" She asked as she stood up from her chair.

"That's me." He confirmed with a nod.

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed at him. "I would kindly ask that you speak about my friends with a bit more respect."

"I'm not dissing your team. I'm just saying that out of all of em, you're the best fighter." Qrow told her.

"Even if that were the case, there's more to a team than just combat capabilities." Pyrrha argued. "I would think a veteran Huntsman who has been part of a team before, which eventually became a family, would understand that. Or was I mistaken?"

Qrow narrowed his eyes at her and she narrowed hers back, though Ozpin was quick to diffuse any forming tensions as he raised his hand to address them both. "That's quite enough. I don't particularly agree with the way Qrow phrased his statement, but he isn't wrong about your skills, Miss Nikos."

Pyrrha turned back to him. "Sir, why did you call me here? Has something happened?"

"Please. Take a seat." Ozpin offered with a friendly smile. The redhead did so, if only not to raise any suspicions from him. "What is your favorite fairy tale?"

"I'm… sorry…?" She asked in confusion.

"Fairy tales. Stories when your childhood." Ozpin answered. "Surely you must remember…"

"I know what a fairy tale is. I just don't understand why you're asking me that question." Pyrrha told him.

"Please. Humor me." He suggested, still maintaining his friendly expression.

Despite the initial confusion, she gave her answer. "Well… There's, 'The Tale of the Two Brothers', 'The Shallow Sea', 'The Girl Who Fell Through the World'… that one happens to be my personal favorite."

"What about the story of the seasons?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes, I know of that one." Pyrrha began as she began to recount the story itself. "A callous old man who refuses to leave his home is visited by four traveling sisters. The first understands his reclusive nature and urges him to use his time in solitude to reflect and meditate. The second brings him fruits and flowers, tending to his crops and revitalizing his garden. The third warms the man's heart, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world around him. And the fourth and final sister, begs him to look at all that he has and be thankful. In return for their kindness, the man grants the maidens incredible powers, so that they may continue to help others all over the world. They graciously accept and promise to share their gifts with the people of Remnant until the end of days. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. The four Maidens. My mother loves that story."

"Would you believe me if I told you that one's been around since I was a boy?" Ozpin asked.

"You don't seem that old to me, Professor." Pyrrha said.

"Well…" Ozpin's friendly smile finally faded to an expression of pure seriousness. "Would you believe me if I told you that it was true?"

Pyrrha's eyes widened in surprise. She wasn't quite sure what to expect when she was summoned here, but it definitely wasn't this.

"I… beg your pardon?"

"What if I were to tell you that there were four Maidens existing in this world, that could wield such tremendous power, without Dust?" Ozpin asked seriously.

"You mean, like something akin to the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic's world?" Pyrrha asked.

"Like magic." Ozpin stated. "Similar to the Chaos Emeralds, but quite different."

"And way crazier and more complicated than just a bunch of shiny rocks." Qrow spoke up.

"…You're serious…?" Pyrrha questioned. Was this really what Ozpin has been hiding all this time?

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Ozpin asked rhetorically. One look into his eyes and she could tell that none of this was an attempt at humor.

"No. Why are you telling me this?" Pyrrha asked, her guard slowly picking up, something Qrow noticed.

"We are telling you, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that you are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers." Ozpin said.

"And who is 'we'?" She questioned. Almost on cue to answer her question, the elevator door opened to reveal Glynda and Ironwood.

"Sorry we're late." The general apologized as they stepped in, causing Pyrrha to stand up immediately.

"What is going on here? Who are you people really?" While she looked ready to draw her weapons at any moment, her left hand was also ready to quickly send the message to call for Sonic's help.

"You know who we are." Glynda tried to assure her. "We're still the same teachers and headmasters you've met when you arrived at Beacon."

"Except we got a part-time job." Qrow said.

"We are the protectors of this world." Ironwood revealed.

"And we need your help." Ozpin said as he stood up from his desk as well.

"My help?" Pyrrha questioned. "If you say you are the protectors of Remnant… why not ask Sonic?"

"We intend to." Ozpin assured. "But we must address our Maiden-situation with you first."

Pyrrha seemed to lower her guard slightly, at least it seemed like it. If she said yes, then maybe she could find out what they were hiding and tell Sonic and the others about this. That being said, she had ever-so-slightly used her Polarity Semblance to turn on her scroll's recorder.

"But before we get started…" Qrow held out his hand towards her. "Hand it over."

"I'm sorry?" Pyrrha questioned.

"Your scroll. Ya know, the handy little device you just turned on with your Semblance?" Qrow stated, causing Pyrrha's eyes to widen. "Yeah, hard to fool these old eyes."

"Pyrrha, I know that you probably feel you cannot trust us right now… But I assure you, we mean you no harm." Ozpin said. "But we can't risk what you are about to see reaching the outside world. Once you've seen it, I promise we will hand it back."

Despite that, it didn't seem like Pyrrha had the choice. She was out-numbered and out-matched with no escape routes. They blocked her path to the elevator, and even if she tried to jump out the window, Glynda could catch her with her own Semblance. So, with great reluctance, she took out her scroll and handed it to Ozpin.

The Headmaster saw with a saddened, yet unsurprised expression, the message she had prepared to send to Sonic and his companions. It was clear that she didn't trust any of them, and that had probably spread to not only her own teammates, but Team RWBY as well. But with this, he had hoped to possibly mend that growing rift.

She had followed the four adults into the elevator, but felt extremely uncomfortable as it descended downward, complete with an eerie silence. She honestly felt like she was taken prisoner.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"The vault. Deep underneath the school." Ozpin answered.

---

The elevator had arrived at the enormous and dimly-lit chamber that was deep beneath Beacon Academy. The doors opened and Ozpin was the first to exit with Qrow, Glynda, and Ironwood right beside him, though Pyrrha hesitated for a moment, taking a step out to look at the area around her, her unsettling feeling only growing.

"Miss Nikos." Glynda spoke up, causing Pyrrha to quicken her pace to catch up to her at least. "I know you must have questions, but I promise that we mean you no harm…"

"Pardon me for feeling skeptical." The redhead stated.

However, just as Ozpin and Ironwood turned to try and ease her concerns, Qrow held up his left hand, while his right reached for the handle on his weapon.

"What is it?" Ironwood questioned.

"We're not alone down here." The veteran Huntsman said with narrowed eyes.

"And here I thought all that alcohol had dulled your senses." All eyes turned towards one of the torches that was high off the floor, where a certain humanoid bat was laying casually with a smirk plastered over her face. "I had wanted to do this more elegantly, but I suppose the brute force option works best in this situation."

"Rouge…?!" Pyrrha questioned as Glynda and Ozpin looked in surprise while Qrow had Harbinger drawn just as Ironwood pulled one of his pistols.

"Pyrrha sweetie, you might wanna take a few steps back." Rouge advised.

Before she or anyone else could say anything in response to that, a flash of light had shined just above Ozpin, revealing Shadow the Hedgehog, who had just teleported to jam a Chaos Spear right into Ozpin's left shoulder, forcing him to drop his cane as his green Aura flashed around his body.

Qrow and Ironwood would have tried to back up Ozpin, had Omega not appeared directly in front of them, having appeared via Shadow's Chaos Control as well, and proceeded to grab them both by their faces and used his rear thrusters to move and slam them both into the wall behind them.

Pyrrha stepped back as Glynda was about to draw her crop, only for one of the Purple Hearts to come in like a boomerang and strike her hand, knocking her weapon from her hand just as Rouge's own weapon returned to her as she quickly flew in to close the distance, wrapping her legs around Glynda's neck and flipping her over. While airborne, Rouge flipped herself onto Glynda's back, grabbed her arms with one hand just as they landed on Glynda's front. Rouge wrapped her free arm around the older woman's neck while keeping her arms restraint and herself pressed against Glynda's back to keep her from moving.

Shadow had quickly punched Opzin across the face before following with a roundhouse kick, and gave an extra boost with a burst of power from his air shoe to blast Ozpin against the wall. As he slid down, Shadow was already on him with Arondight in one hand and the stolen cane in the other, both weapons crossed like an X at Ozpin's neck as the black Hedgehog glared at the Beacon headmaster with his red eyes. That look in his eyes was one of pure anger and disgust, like he was ready to kill him right then and there.

Qrow was able to wrench himself free from Omega's grip and drew Harbinger in its scythe-mode to swing at the robot, but Omega was able to catch the blade in his metallic grip with his right hand before delivering a powerful punch into Qrow's gut, followed through with a fiery blast to knock him across the ground. Quickly turning around, Omega had fired his machine guns at Ironwood's hands to shoot the dual pistols he had drawn.

"Retaliation is ill-advised." The former Badnik spoke. "Team Dark is superior in power and skill. Your group's chances at victory in a battle are less than thirty percent."

"I've had worse odds." Qrow glared as he had Harbinger converted into its gun mode and aimed at Omega, who aimed his weaponized right-arm at Qrow while keeping his left trained on Ironwood.

"Warning, missiles armed." Omega threatened as Pyrrha found herself backing away in surprise. In addition to finding Team Dark down here, they had openly attacked Ozpin and his group. While it was no secret that Shadow was the most distrusting of Ozpin, the fact he ambushed him like this also came out of nowhere… did it have to do with what was down here? Rouge did say she was going to be snooping around.

"Call them off." Shadow threatened Ozpin, bringing the crossed weapons close to his neck. "Now."

He didn't seem to have much a choice in the matter. "Qrow, James, stand down."

"What?!" Ironwood questioned.

"Oz! You can't….!" Qrow tried to protest.

"I said stand down!" Ozpin insisted, raising his own hands to Shadow. "We don't intend to fight them… and even if we did… I do not believe we would win."

Qrow looked in complete and utter surprise. Did Ozpin just openly say they couldn't beat these guys?! Qrow had already seen what Shadow was capable of, having bested him and Winter in their spar, but if he and everyone here could work together, they would have a chance! Oz was one of the six most powerful beings on Remnant, albeit he was at the bottom of the list compared to the other five, but he was still powerful. But, he also trusted Ozpin's judgement above all else, even if he didn't like it. With reluctance, Qrow lowered his weapon, while Ironwood did the same for his pistols.

"Relinquish your weapons." Omega ordered.

"Don't push it, tinman." Qrow glared.

"You are in no position to negotiate." Omega replied. "Lay down your arms, or I will rip your physical ones from your bodies."

"Do it." Ozpin told them.

With his narrowed eyes, Ironwood slowly placed his pistols on the ground, which Omega moved forward to retrieve, all while keeping his weapons still trained on the general and veteran Huntsman. After quipping both pistols to his back, Omega turned his full attention to Qrow, who scoffed and glared before throwing his own weapon to the ground, which Omega retrieved as well, equipping it to his back.

"I hope you short circuit." Qrow told the robot.

"An unlikely outcome." Omega retorted.

When it looked like the situation appeared under some form of control, Pyrrha stepped cautiously towards the black Hedgehog as he kept Ozpin pinned. "Shadow, what is going on?"

"Go and see for yourself." Despite not taking his eyes of Ozpin, Shadow gestured his head in the direction further down the tunnel.

Though still somewhat overwhelmed by this sudden turn of events, Pyrrha did as requested and ran down the tunnel as quickly as she could. However, once she made it to the end, the student gave an audible gasp at what she saw, her hand covering her mouth in clear shock.

It was a young woman, contained in some form of cold storage in a machine. "By the gods…" Pyrrha's face went pale.

"How did you even find this place?" Ironwood questioned.

"You really think we wouldn't do a little digging on our own since all you've given us are half-baked answers?" Rouge asked rhetorically, still keeping Glynda locked in her hold.

Shadow then leaned his glaring eyes closer to Ozpin. "You will explain to me here and now why you have a half-dead girl frozen underneath your academy. But if you try to resist or dodge any more questions, I will break every single bone in your body."

"And I am willing to answer your questions…" Ozpin kept his hands raised. "But perhaps it would be more expedient if you release me and my comrades. You can keep hold of our weapons if you wish."

The black Hedgehog narrowed his eyes further but saw that he and his team had the advantage so he backed away from Ozpin, holding both his own sword and Ozpin's cane in his hands, allowing the headmaster to stand. Shadow turned to his teammates with nods, causing Omega to lower his weapons from Ironwood and Qrow while Rouge stepped off Glynda, allowing her to stand, but the bat still held her crop.

"Walk." Shadow ordered, gesturing in the direction where Pyrrha had gone off to. Ozpin looked to his own comrades and silently told them to do as they were told, much to their own reluctance.

With that, the four members of Ozpin's group were more-or-less escorted to the other end of the tunnel with Team Dark keeping a very close eye on them. Despite most of them keeping their cool, Qrow was more-or-less dragging his feet as he glared at the black Hedgehog, who glared at him back. As much as Qrow wanted to punch his teeth out, he knew that he couldn't beat Shadow in a fight, especially with his weapon taken.

They made their way to the machine at the end of the tunnel where the still-shocked Pyrrha was. Team Dark walked past Ozpin's group with Rouge sticking close to Pyrrha as she gave her a look and smile of assurance, causing Pyrrha some form of relief despite the uncertain situation they were in.

"Knew you guys were hiding something… everyone has a dirty little secret." Rouge said as she seemed to maintain her usual indifferent smile, only for that façade to quickly fade as she gave a look of disgust at the adults in the room. "But who would have thought yours would be something so morbid?"

"It's not what you think…" Ozpin tried to say.

"Then what is it?" Rouge questioned.

"The four Maidens." Pyrrha spoke up, drawing Team Dark's attention. "It's an old fairy tale in our world. Four sisters are granted extraordinary power and use that power to help the people of the world. I had thought it was just another fairy tale, but Ozpin claims it to be real."

"What kind of power, exactly?" Shadow questioned.

"Magic." Pyrrha answered. "At least that's what he said. And… he said I was next in line to receive the powers of the Fall Maiden."

Team Dark once again turned to Ozpin and his group, to which their leader looked towards his followers and nodded, causing Qrow to sigh audibly before Glynda spoke first.

"There are four Maidens in total, each named after the seasons. Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring, and each one possess incredible magic powers." She began. "And they have existed for thousands of years, but much like in nature, the seasons change. No two summers are alike. When a Maiden dies, the power she wields leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost and no one person can hold onto the power forever."

"And how is the succeeding Maiden chosen?" Shadow questioned.

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." Qrow commented in a low growl.

"Give a straight answer." Shadow demanded, causing the friction between the two to grow even more, but Glynda quickly spoke up to give the proper answer.

"At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed to young women." She spoke.

"Hence the term 'Maiden'." Rouge said.

"Yes, but we've soon learned that the process is actually more… intimate than we had originally thought." Glynda replied.

"How so?" Shadow questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power." Glynda answered.

"And if the deceased's last thoughts are centered around a male?" Omega inquired.

"Then the power goes to any random chick on the planet, and our jobs get a lot harder." Qrow answered.

"So, this woman you have in cold storage…" Shadow looked back towards the aforementioned individual.

"Is the current Fall Maiden, Amber." Ozpin replied with a saddened expression, feeling pitty for the poor woman's condition.

"She's dying, isn't she?" Rouge had already figured it out.

"She is." Ironwood confirmed. "We're using state of the art technology to keep her stable, but she is beyond recovery."

"Why keep her in this state?" Shadow questioned with a glare. If this young woman was truly beyond recovery, it would be far merciful to give her a swift and painless end then allow her suffering to continue. "Not only is it cruel, one could assume you don't want the power to pass on, and you intend to use her as a living weapon."

"That is not our intent." Ozpin quickly said. "But you are correct. Keeping Amber like this is indeed cruel. But as we've said, the Maidens possess incredible magic powers. And because of that, there are those who seek to use that power for their own selfish and dangerous ambitions."

"And for the first time in history, part of the Maiden's power was stolen." Qrow said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Shadow questioned.

"We're not certain how yet, but our enemy has found a way for take Amber's power from her, putting her in this state." Ozpin explained. "The powers of the Fall Maiden have now been split in half between Amber and her assailant."

"We don't want to keep her like this, but we have to." Ironwood said. "It's not uncommon for the victim's final thoughts to be of her attacker. And even if that weren't the case, for all we know, the power will seek out its other half."

"And that would not bode well for any of us." Ozpin put in.

"You claimed these Maidens possess magical abilities. What sort of magical abilities can you describe?" Omega questioned.

"What do you mean describe? It's magic." Qrow put bluntly.

Shadow's eyelids lowered in annoyance while Rouge pinched the bride of her nose before explaining herself. "We've dealt with magic before and we've seen all kinds. Traveling between worlds, unleashing a horde of monsters, turning people into monsters, transforming a city or a whole planet, mind-control… you name it."

"If you wish to be specific, the Maidens can control and manipulate the elements." Ozpin answered. "Fire, water, earth, air, ice, lightning…"

"Like your world's various forms of Dust." Shadow said. "How exactly are these powers different from Dust or Semblances?"

"The power within Dust can only be used once before it is rendered inert." Glynda answered. "Likewise, Semblances are connected to the user's Aura. Though Semblances are capable of evolving, they have limited capabilities. However, the magic of the Maidens is not powered by Aura and can be used without it."

"Can it be used in conjunction with Semblances?" Omega inquired. "Leading to further evolution or enhanced abilities?"

"It depends on the type of Semblance that the Maiden currently wields, but they can be used together, yes." Ozpin confirmed. "But, the succeeding Maiden does not inherit her predecessor's Semblance, only the Maiden power."

'Elemental magic. That of which can only be wielded by young women.' Shadow recounted his various battles with a certain femme fatale, whom they discovered went under the name Cinder Autumn. She displayed masterful skill with not only her weapons, but fire and heat, as well as other skills that one would find in an assassin. More than likely, this Cinder individual was the assailant who stole a portion of Amber's power and has infiltrated Beacon to finish the job.

"And you intend to pass this power onto Pyrrha." Shadow said, glancing back towards Pyrrha herself, who held her arm nervously. She hadn't said anything during this whole conversation but listened to every word. Rouge happened to walk closer towards her, standing in-between her and the adults, glaring at them and silently warning them not to try anything. Qrow rolled his eyes at that, Ironwood narrowed his own, while Glynda looked saddened.

"We intend to offer her the choice, yes." Ozpin confirmed, though he too was saddened when he saw Pyrrha look away with an expression of betrayal in her eyes.

"How does this machine factor in?" Omega questioned, referring to the device that Amber was in, as well as the empty pod on the other side. "It is designed for two, but based on your accounts, machines are not necessary for the Maiden's power to transfer to the next host."

"True, but as said… due to Amber's condition and these unusual circumstances, Miss Nikos would not be able to inherit her power naturally." Ozpin replied. "Although, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint." Ironwood explained. "How it works, what it's made of, how it can be used. We've made… significant strides. And we believe we found a way to capture it."

"Capture it, and cram it into something else." Qrow put in. "Or in her case…" He gestured to Pyrrha.

It didn't take long for them to realize what was being implied. Pyrrha and even Rouge looked in genuine horror, while Shadow narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, Omega's stoic expression remained the same.

"That's…" Pyrrha began.

"Classified." Ironwood interrupted.

"…Wrong!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"You said that someone's Aura is the extension their soul!" Rouge stated. "Everyone on this planet has one! What you're saying is, you want to rip out what's left of that poor girl's soul and stuff it into Pyrrha?!"

"We don't want to do it!" Glynda quickly stated before looking away in guilt. "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"And these are indeed desperate times." Ironwood said. "We cannot transfer Amber's power to Miss Nikos, but we can give her what those powers are bound to."

"Her Aura." Shadow finished before coming to a silent realization on a different matter. 'Is this how Penny has her own Aura? Someone else's was taken and given to her? Polendina does not seem like the man who would take somebody else's soul against their will… unless… he gave her his own! At least a piece of his own Aura! He gave her life… in a sense, he truly is her father.'

"And what will become of Pyrrha if she absorbs the Aura from this Amber individual?" Omega questioned.

However, none of them gave an answer right away as many of them looked unsure, and that gave them their answer with Pyrrha herself looking especially shocked.

"You don't even know, do you?" Rouge said.

"We have a few ideas… but no concrete answers, I'm afraid." Ozpin said reluctantly, but he was quickly pulled down and closer to Shadow's level as he once again, stared at the man with his rage-filled red eyes. Qrow was the first to try and step in, only for Rouge to stand in his way while Omega stood in front of the still-shocked Pyrrha.

"You would toy with the life of one of your own students?! You would risk her own over a procedure where you don't even know the result?!" The Ultimate Lifeform questioned angrily.

"As I said, I would offer her the choice!" Ozpin insisted. "I have no intent of forcing this onto her!"

"I'm not sure I believe you." Shadow glared on before looking to the glaring Qrow, Ironwood, and Glynda, the woman at least seemed to have the decency to look ashamed. "You claim these to be desperate times… I've seen how far desperate men can go, what and who they're willing to risk or even sacrifice just to maintain their fragile little sense of control, regardless of the damage that they cause, and they don't even claim responsibility for it! And each one of you reeks of that same kind of desperation." He glared at Qrow specifically. "It makes me especially concerned for two certain girls, and if they're available to be sacrificed."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Qrow exclaimed.

"Don't I?" Shadow questioned as he kept a firm grip on Ozpin's collar with one hand and clenched his other into a fist with yellow sparks forming around his clenched fingers, ready to unleash an attack at any given moment.

However, before any sort of confrontation could begin, Shadow heard a ping on his own personal scroll. He withdrew his Chaos Energy but still kept a firm grip on Ozpin as he picked up the scroll. Omega armed himself once again and aimed his weapons at Qrow, Glynda, and Ironwood, much to Pyrrha's concern as Shadow saw the message he had just received.

"It's from Sonic." That took everyone by surprise before Shadow threw Ozpin to the ground. He looked to Rouge with a nod, who then pulled out her own scroll and quickly called Sonic.

"Hey Blue, what's up?" Rouge asked in a causal tone, but she made sure to step in front of Pyrrha, separating her from the adults as Ozpin picked himself up, while Shadow and Omega stood in front of Rouge and glared more at the adults, with Qrow and Ironwood glaring back. "Oh? Really? That's great! Awesome to hear!" Rouge said as she heard what Sonic had to say on the other line. "Hey uh, quick question… are the kids with ya?" She happen to glance at Qrow specifically, who clenched his own fists, but Shadow's position made it impossible for him to do anything. "They are? Great. And we actually found some things out on our end. By the way, if any of them are worried about Pyrrha, tell em that she's fine. We got her, and she's safe and sound." Rouge turned towards the redhead and gave her a smile and a wink, which caused her some form of relief to know that not only were her friends concerned for her, but that she was also well-protected by Team Dark.

"Could you just hold for one quick minute?" Rouge requested before putting her scroll on mute. "Good news, Tails' little program worked. We found the virus." That caught all their attention. "Thanks to that cute little genius, we can now trace it back to our little infiltrators. And now, we even know what they're after." She glanced towards Amber before looking at Ozpin again. "You talk about giving choices, Oz? I'm gonna give you one. Choice one, I let you talk to Sonic, and you tell him about Amber, and work with us so we can find a way to take down the spies without getting anybody caught in the crossfire. After that, you will tell us everything you know."

"And the alternative?" Ozpin asked.

"You refuse, we grab Pyrrha and leave this place… and maybe beat the crap out of you if you try and stop us…" Rouge began. "Meet up with Sonic and the others, including the kids, and we tell them about Amber, right before we all take down the spies ourselves, then come back and interrogate you to learn everything you know. Pretty sure you know which option is the easier one, but we are going to find out what you know. How we chose to learn that is up to you. So, what's it gonna be?"

Ozpin looked towards his compatriots and Qrow honestly looked ready to strangle that bat right then and there, but Shadow easily saw his intent and the glared at him like he was daring him to make a move. Ironwood glared as well, but he didn't seem nearly as volatile. Glynda happened to look towards Pyrrha, but the girl simply backed away as she looked distrustfully towards her as well as Ozpin.

Suffice to say, his plan to try and mend the growing rift had failed spectacularly. They had discovered Amber on their own, and now it seemed like their students would figure it out soon enough. However, he also knew that one of the infiltrators was the one who stole some of Amber's power and had come here to get the rest of it, and now they had the means to not only find them, but even capture them in a way that wouldn't put anybody else in danger. At least with the first option, they could not only neutralize the active-threat to Amber's safety, there was even still a chance to at least talk things out with Sonic and less risk to make enemies out of them.

With a sigh, Ozpin offered his hand to Rouge, causing her smirk to grow. "Smart move." She said before tossing it to him. Qrow and Ironwood did not approve of this, but they knew they were in no position to really protest, and Glynda had some form of relief in that they at least still had the chance to talk.

Ozpin unmuted the borrowed scroll and spoke into it. "Hello, Sonic."

---

Forever Fall Forest – Now

"…Yeah, you know that little virus you guys had? The one with the chess theme?" Sonic told Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo, as he continued to stand on top of the derailed train. "My pals and I found it and reprogramed it. Used it to trace back to you. We also did some digging to find out about all Maiden stuff and figured out what and who you were after. Now look at where we are?" He gestured all around him. "All out in the open. No place to run, and no people to endanger. Busted!" He pointed a pair of finger guns at them with a wink and a trolling smirk.

Cinder's eyes glowed with rage as she practically snarled at the blue rodent. He tricked her?! Turned her own scheme against her?! She looked around and saw how nobody was even doing anything, just either glaring or staring in disbelief.

"What are you idiots waiting for?! Kill him!" She ordered, already drawing her bow, Midnight, and creating a series of glass arrows with her power to fire at Sonic just as Emerald drew Thief's Respite in its gun-mode and opened fire while Mercury kicked with Talaria to shoot several blasts at Sonic.

The blue Hedgehog leapt up to avoid the resulting explosions from their combined spot before delivering a powerful Homing Attack at all four of them to send them scattering with Mercury and Neo flying in one direction, and Emerald and Cinder in the other.

"Give us some cover!" Cinder ordered Emerald.

"Y-yes! On it!" Trying to get over her apparent shock and surprise, Emerald focused her Semblance solely on their single enemy.

Sonic looked around to see what appeared to be several Grimm emerging from the ground, consisting of Beowolves, Creeps, and Ursai, all completely encircled around Sonic, but despite that, he kept up his grin.

"Hallucinations, huh?" He voiced aloud, causing Emerald's own eyes to widen. He knew about her Semblance?! "Good idea on paper, but it ain't gonna work." He jumped up high into the air once more before pulling out his scroll. "You guys are up!"

A bright flash of light occurred in the same spot where Sonic once stood, forcing everyone to close their eyes, even Emerald had to drop her Semblance to cover her own eyes. When the light faded, all looked in shock to see the group consisting of Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega, had all arrived onto the scene, courtesy of Shadow's Chaos Control, all of whom stood by Sonic as he landed.

"Omega, take the illusionist." Shadow instructed. "Rouge, you handle the one from the train. Everyone else, pick you who wish. Do not let them escape!" He immediately zoomed at Cinder, delivering a punch to her face that sent her flying into the red foliage before dashing after her with Sonic right behind him.

"Cinder!" Emerald cried out, only to back away from the gunfire from the former Badnik. She quickly fired Thief's Respite chained hooks at some nearby trees and swung away before Omega gave pursuit.

Rouge flew straight to Neo, flying past Mercury, and grappled onto her shoulders to pull her into the woods while Amy ran off to join her. This left the young man alone to face Knuckles and Tails, who had Galatine and Hurricane Gamma drawn respectively.

"I highly suggest that you surrender." Knuckles told him.

"Go suck a cactus!" Mercury kicked a blast at them, causing Knuckles and Tails to divert before Mercury gunned straight for Tails and threw out a kick, which Tails blocked by crossing the wing-blades of his weapon before using a point-blank spindash to knock him back.

---

Cinder had recovered to see the incoming black blur that was Shadow and had instinctively drawn her dual blades of Midnight to block the sword strike of Arondight before the black Hedgehog went on a relentless onslaught of slashes that put Cinder on the defensive, but Shadow simply increased the speed of his swings as he sped past her to cut and strike her before delivering a homing attack at her behind, sending her skidding on the ground, where she found herself at the feet of Sonic, who looked down with a trolling grin before addressing his fellow Hedgehog.

"Want me to tag in?" He asked.

"Nah, I think I'm good for now." Shadow replied.

"Alright, but I still want a piece." Sonic said before he zoomed his way up to a tree and took a relaxing position, like he was watching a show.

Cinder growled. They were treating this like a game?! Oh, she was definitely going to make them suffer! She had created more glass arrows from her packs of silicon and lined her bow, aiming them at Sonic, only to get struck on the side of her head by a zooming kick from Shadow to knock her down.

"Don't take your eyes off me." The black Hedgehog said before going on the attack again.

---

Amy appeared to be alone in a wooded area, surrounded by the red-leafed trees as she held her Piko-Piko out and ready to smash whoever came her way. But it didn't seem like anybody was near her. She seemed unaware of a tree behind her moving on its own, a blade drawn and ready to impale her from behind…

Only for Rouge to fly in and deal a double kick to the side of said tree, shattering the illusion and revealing Neo as she flopped to the ground.

"Thanks, Rouge." Amy thanked.

"No prob. But be careful Amy, this one thinks she's bad news." She teased as Neo pulled herself up to see Rouge's taunting smirk. "Remember me, sweetie?"

Neopolitan glared heatedly as she saw that bat again. She quickly drew her blade from her parasol, dual wielding a sword and umbrella before charging at the pair, swinging her blade at Rouge who flew back while using her parasol as a shield to block Amy's attack, though the force seemed to knock Neo back somewhat.

"Amy, swing hard behind you!" Rouge warned.

The pink Hedgehog swung her Piko-Piko at her behind, the mallet impacting something as the illusion shattered to reveal the real Neo who was sent crashing into a tree.

"So, she makes illusions too." Amy noted.

"Yep, but unlike that Emerald-girl, hers are all-visual." Rouge confirmed as she hovered over her as they saw Neo pull herself up. "Slow learner, aren't you kiddo?" Her oversized ears flapped for emphasis as Neo flashed a hateful glare as she stood back up. "Tell you what, Amy? I had my fun with her already. You can take her, but I'll let you know if she tries to get the drop on you."

"I think I can work with that." Amy said with a challenging smirk, holding her trusty hammer over her shoulder before charging at her silent opponent.

---

Mercury had jumped up to avoid an axe-strike from Knuckles, only to meet the flying Tails in the air, who performed a kick to his face to knock him toward the ground. However,, as he fell Mercury flipped to stabilize himself and land on his feet, but he didn't get much of a chance to recover as Knuckles was already on him throwing a mixture of punches and axe-strikes, with Mercury just barely avoiding them, all except one punch to his chest that knocked him over, but Mercury recovered while performing a hand-stand and thrusted both his boots out to unleash a double blast at Knuckles while also giving him a chance to run as he flipped back to his feet before trying to gain some distance.

But Tails blocked Mercury's path and just scarcely limboed under a slice from the right blade-wing of Hurricane Gamma, but when Mercury tried to perform a cartwheel kick, Tails maneuvered around him with his jetpack to strike him, but Mercury blocked the blade-wing chop with a kick before lunging another kick at him…

Only for Tails to quickly turn around and catch Mercury's leg with his dual-namesake-appendages, wrapping around his enemy's leg, much to his own surprise.

"They don't call me Tails, for nothing." The young fox grinned before spin-dashing into Mercury's chest to knock him into a large boulder, but he wasn't done as he tried to pick himself up.

"You foxy little twerp…! I'm gonna…!" But Mercury's rant was interrupted as the boulder behind him was lifted up, much to his own shock as he turned around to see none other than Knuckles, who didn't even have a scratch on him from Mercury's attack, while holding the boulder up with one hand.

"Gonna do what?" The red Echidna glared before clenching his hand to crack and break the rock apart, causing Mercury to gulp nervously.

---

Cinder tried get some distance, even using flames from her feet to propel herself into the air and attempted to fire volley of glass arrows at Shadow, but they were quickly shot and shattered before they were even set lose by the gun-mode of Shadow's weapon before he teleported off the ground and re-appeared behind her to deal a cartwheel kick to her back and knock her toward the ground before re-teleporting in front of her just before she landed, where she was dealt another series of rapid kicks to the face to send her skidding to the ground.

She wiped her face as she tried to push herself up, only to look in surprise to see that her Midnight Bow as no longer on her person, but rather in the hand of the glaring Shadow.

"You want a turn? Take it." He said aloud.

Cinder was then hit in the side by a blue homing attack, courtesy of Sonic. And he didn't even have his sword drawn.

"Hey there tall, dark, and fiery." Sonic greeted as he leaned close to Cinder's face, his smirk practically glued onto his face. "Let's play tag. You're it!"

With a growl, Cinder threw her fist upward to blast a stream of flames, but Sonic easily dodged it. Cinder picked herself back up and ended up throwing more blasts of fire at Sonic, but he easily dodged them all, and performed whatever taunts he could.

"Hey, over here!" He appeared on one rock, before zooming to another spot and avoided a fireball. "No, I'm over here!" He dodged yet another blast. "Come on, where's the witty banter?" He zoomed away from another fireball. "It's no fun if it's all one-sided. Don't you got some kind of taunts?" He dodged another blast and reappeared behind Cinder. "Even Eggman's got some material on him."

"Shut up!" Cinder tried to throw a kick at him, her heels super-heated with her power, but Sonic easily dodged it.

"Ooh! So close!" Sonic smirked and dodged yet another fire blast as Cinder continued to throw as many fireballs as she could.

But despite his smile, Sonic knew exactly who this woman was. She was the one who killed Fifer, that poor Faunus kid who was so close to getting out of the White Fang and starting a new life. But this lady ruined any chances he had for that when she murdered him. So, he was going to mess with her as much as he could before delivering the coup de grace.

---

Emerald was backed against a tree and fired Thief's Respite at the advancing Omega, but the bullets all bounced off Omega's metallic body as he quickly closed the gap to deliver a powerful punch, which Emerald rolled out of the way to avoid the devastating blow that all but obliterated the tree. Getting desperate, Emerald tried to focus her Semblance on Omega, creating the illusion of an enormous Death Stalker that would have appeared behind the robot.

But Omega was already on her, grabbing her by the face and zooming with his rear thrusters to slam her back into another tree, knocking Thief's Respite out of her hands. "Your hallucinations attack your target's brain, but it only appears to attack organic matter. As a machine, I am immune to your Semblance. Surrender is highly advised. Do so, and I will guarantee that you will keep all four of your limbs."

Emerald wrapped her arms and legs around Omega's arm and tried to pull down with all her strength, wrenching her face free from Omega's grip before kicking at his face to give herself a boost to try and go for her downed weapons. But it was all for naught as Omega had grabbed her by her ankle, and she looked in terror to see his glowing red optics.

"That was a poor decision." Omega heaved Emerald over and slammed her onto the ground on her back, before flipping her back over to slam her face-first into the ground. He then threw her against another tree, which broke upon impact, her mint-green Aura cracking around her to show sings that it was weakening. Omega, not even giving her a chance to recover, had armed his missiles and a pair at Emerald's feet.

The resulting explosion had obliterated the tree and sent her flying straight up before coming back down as Omega pulled back his metallic fist and struck her in the abdomen, dealing a critical blow that smashed her into the ground, her aura shattering as she fell unconscious.

"Target Emerald Sustrai, captured." Omega declared.

---

Mercury dealt as many kicks as he could to try and block Knuckles axe-strikes, but the red Echidna moved about as fast as the young man, faster even. Knuckles punches and axe-strikes quickly broke through the barrage of Mercury's kicks to knock him down. Though he quickly flipped back up and tried to move around and behind Knuckles and deal a kick, but Knuckles had countered by throwing a quicker and stronger punch that sent Mercury rolling back.

"You're quick. But nowhere near Sonic's level." Knuckles told him as Tails landed beside him.

Realizing how he was being quickly overwhelmed, Mercury used one of his bigger moves. He got back up on his hands and began to rapidly kick his own feet while spinning around to gather multiple projectiles and spin them all together like a vortex, just like during his and Emerald's match against Coco and Yatsuhashi.

"Tails." Knuckles looked to his young friend and teammate.

"I'm on it!" The yellow fox was already flying straight for Mercury just as he sent all his gathered projectiles at his enemies, and it seemed like that Tails was flying right into them.

However, Tails had already made the necessary mental calculations that when he flew into the volley of projectiles, he quickly and nimbly dodged each and every one of them and quickly closed the gap, much to Mercury's own shock, right before Tails delivered a spindash to send Mercury flying up. Knuckles, meanwhile, braced himself as the projectiles all landed and exploded around him, but it was of little issue to the sturdy red Echidna.

As Mercury was sent straight upward, Tails had already met him in mid-air, the wing-blades of Hurricane-Gamma, charged and ready. "Not bad for a little twerp, huh?" Performing an X-slash with his blades, which caused Mercury's white Aura to flash, he was sent crashing down into the ground. Upon impact, his Aura shattered as he was knocked out.

---

Amy swung her Piko-Piko and moved herself with such speed and grace that she easily dodged and parried all the attacks that Neo swung at her. Amy spun her hammer like a fan and tried to swing up at Neo, but she appeared to use her umbrella to fly up and gain some distance.

"On you're right!" Rouge called to her, to which Amy swung her hammer to strike at the illusion the real Neo was using for cover knocking her down. Neo glared again at Rouge, who smiled and waved at her, but she couldn't do anything as Amy was already on her again, jumping into the air to bring down the Piko-Piko, with Neo barely avoiding it before rolling out of the way.

"Now she's in the air in front of you!" Rouge called out again, causing Amy to leap up and swing her hammer vertically, smashing the illusion again and bringing Neo down once more. Amy landed with both her feet into Neo's stomach, knocking the wind out of her before smashing her hammer into the side of her face, causing her to roll across the ground.

Neo was beyond furious at this! It was just like before! Her Semblance was rendered useless because of that damned bat! She was making a fool out of her, and she wasn't even fighting her herself! She looked to see Rouge, still relaxing and enjoying herself, all while waving with a smirk. Neo's expression was one of pure rage as she wanted more than anything to make that bat bleed!

She ran like a maniac, gunning straight for the tree, only for Amy to quickly appear in front of her and spin her Piko-Piko quickly to unleash her Tornado-Hammer move, creating a whirlwind that sent Neo flying up. She tried to use her parasol to steady herself in the flowing winds, but was caught off guard as Amy vaulted herself upward with a slam of her hammer to the ground, sending her straight up to where Amy dealt a strike to her jaw, causing Neo's pink Aura to flash before she finished her off with another hammer strike to her face just as the tornado's affects wore off, knocking Neo to the ground before Amy finished her off with a final smash, shattering what was left of her Aura and knocking her out.

"Nice. Ten out of ten." Rouge pointed approvingly towards Amy, who gave her a thumbs up of her own.

---

Meanwhile, Sonic had run up a rather tall tree with Cinder right behind him, using flames from her hands and feet to propel herself.

"One-two! One-two! Hustle, missy!" Sonic continued to taunt. He had made to the canopy just as Cinder hovered herself above him before throwing what fireballs she could.

"Do…! You…! Ever…! SHUT UP?!" She screamed in-between huffed breaths, throwing every fire ball at the tree and completely setting it ablaze.

However, Sonic had already leapt down to the ground and ran all around the tree, creating a Blue Tornado around it to extinguish the flames and prevent a forest fire, while also pulling in Cinder before the tornado stopped and she was sent crashing hard back to the ground.

"Nah, it's part of my charm." Sonic taunted once more as he appeared before her downed form as her own orange Aura flashed.

Clenching the ground tightly with her hand, she happened to glance behind her to see Shadow standing there with crossed arms, cutting off any chance to run.

Suddenly, a spotlight was shined over them as all eyes turned up to see an Atlas military bullhead arrive on the scene, one of four total that had surrounded the area. One-by-one, they landed and secured the permitter, at least two dozen of Atlas soldiers all poured out and had their guns primed in her direction. Out of one dropship, stepped out Winter and the Ace-Ops, and out of another stepped Ozpin, Ironwood, Glynda, and even Qrow.

Stepping onto the scene was Omega, dragging the unconscious Emerald behind him, followed by Knuckles and Tails with the former carrying Mercury's form over his shoulder. And lastly were Amy and Rouge who had flown onto the scene with the bat carrying the pink Hedgehog, who carried the knocked out Neopolitan. All three of them were put together in a pile as the members of Teams Sonic and Dark regrouped.

She could not believe what was happening. Her whole team had been defeated? Her virus turned against her? Her cover blown, and she was surrounded with no chance of escape? If she fought back against this many enemies, even she knew that she would not survive. It was over. She could not accept it! But how?! Why?! This shouldn't be happening! She planned every detail! She was supposed to become the Fall Maiden, the first step to becoming the most powerful being on Remnant! This couldn't be the end?!

Her racing mind caused her eyes to look in all directions as she appeared to hyperventilate, but when her eyes set onto the blue Hedgehog in front of her, all her focus came onto him.

That's right. This was his fault! He did this! He set her up! Sabotaged her plans! If it weren't for him, she would have won by now!

"You…..!"

"Me?" Sonic pointed innocently towards himself.

"YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" Her palms glowing with super heat, she tried to lash out at him, but he easily swerved around as she stumbled and landed face first onto the ground, but she quickly snarled back at him. "THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY VICTORY! I WAS CHOSEN! I WAS CHOSEN TO CARRY ALL THE MAIDEN POWERS! SHE CHOSE ME!"

"'She'?" Tails wondered, sharing glances with all his friends. He then looked to Ozpin's direction and saw an uncomfortable look on the man's face.

"WHO ARE YOU TO CHALLENGE ME?!" Cinder continued her rant as she practically spat at Sonic's face. "YOU ARE NOTHING! AN ALIEN! A RAT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DEFY ME! THIS IS MY DESTINY! I AM THE MAIDEN! A CHOSEN ONE! I AM…!"

She was cut off as Sonic smacked her across the face before pulling her in close and looking at her with a serious glare, his smile finally fading as he began to lay it into her.

"You're a bully, and that's it. Amber, Fifer, they didn't deserve what you did to them. You take the easy, nasty way out and get the quick reward. Big whoop." He threw her to the ground. "I do things the right way. I help others because I want to. I try to help them become better. Who am I? I'm a guy who loves adventure and helping as many people as I can. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog."

With whatever little bits of strength, she had, Cinder pushed herself up for one desperate attempt to finish Sonic off…

Only for Shadow to zoom in, Arondight drawn, and deliver a final slash.

Shadow appeared past Cinder, his sword drawn out, as her orange Aura finally shattered.

She fell to her knees, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she fell face-flat on the ground.

"Move in. Secure them, now." Ironwood ordered, prompting all of his soldiers to advance and begin restraining the unconscious infiltrators. "Winter, Clover." Ironwood got their attention. "I want you and the Ace Ops to personally escort that one to a specialized cell onboard my ship." He pointed to the downed Cinder. "Don't give her an inch."

"Understood, sir." Winter nodded. She and her fellow military Huntsmen moved in to secure Cinder just as Emerald, Mercury, and Neo were all restraint and quickly loaded up onto the drop ships.

Ozpin allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. They had managed to capture Amber's assailant and ever her whole team. And the best part, they had done it without even a single civilian casualty. Sonic's ambush had worked perfectly. Even his (mostly Qrow's) only condition to not include Teams RWBY and JNPR into this ambush was still accepted, but he did suspect that they would soon learn of Amber as well. But first things first…

The headmaster of Beacon saw Sonic approach him with a very serious expression. "We need to have a chat, Oz."

"Indeed." Ozpin confirmed with a reluctant sigh.

However, unbeknownst to any of them, everything that had transpired, from Cinder leading her team away from Beacon, to Sonic's ambush, to the one-sided fight, and the capture of Cinder's whole team… All of that was witnessed in the dark sky by a certain machine.

Metal Sonic had recorded all the footage he witnessed before flying away to report this to his creator. This one battle may have been won in Sonic's favor, but the war has yet to begin.

Done.

Yep. Cinder and her team got busted, and boy howdy did it feel good to write that. From the buildup, to the 'oh crap!' moment for her whole team to get ambushed and the ensuing one-sided beatdown from both Teams Sonic and Dark.

Not only that, but Team Dark has also learned about Amber, the Maidens, and what Ozpin's group wanted to do with Pyrrha. Yeah, Sonic and the others are going to have a nice long chat with them regarding all that stuff.

As for how Teams RWBY and JNPR will react to this? You'll see in the next chapter, along something very special that I have planned for Pyrrha. She didn't get a whole lot of focus in this chapter aside from the initial shock, but we'll see how she handles all of this in the upcoming chapter, and you can expect things to get very emotional there.

But this arc is not yet over. Eggman is still out there, along with the White Fang, you'll see his reaction to Cinder's failure. The action is going to pick up real quick here.

Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. I love you guys.