Hi everyone, welcome back to another chapter of "A Red Rose in the Blue Wind", and this time it's another chibi/classic chapter. I know many of you are more eager for the main story, but trust me in that this sub-story is very important to the plot overall. Plus, it's a nice bit of humor and a bit of a break from all the intense action and drama of the main story.
Now before we begin, I want to address some of the concerns my readers have had regarding my previous chapter. Notably when Qrow was being ostracized, Ozpin being cursed upon his death, or what Jaune may have said to him.
I am not character bashing anyone. This is just how these people are reacting to the recent information they've discovered and are still high in emotions after a very long and taxing battle that they almost lost.
Qrow has always been Ozpin's yes-man and his most loyal follower (kinda making him a foil to both Clover and Tyrian, which I feel is the main point). Being a father-figure who helped him when he needed it the most with his Semblance (which is always an issue for Qrow), it makes sense why Ozpin means so much to him. And the man himself didn't even begin to see how unhealthy his dependance towards Ozpin actually is until late in Volume 6 when Ozpin's true origins were revealed and he had put all of the former students in danger, including his own nieces. Being insulted personally is fine with him, but anyone calling out Ozpin as well as his old teammates (particularly Summer) is very personal for him. That said, given all the shady stuff he and Ozpin's inner circle have been involved in, with the students' and Teams Sonic/Dark's first real taste of the Ozluminati's work being the Aura transfer machine (which is very morally questionable even with any kind of context), and with Qrow pretty much backing Ozpin during the whole thing, it makes sense why the students don't trust him anymore. Even Sonic, who is willing to make amends and work with the Ozluminati, Qrow is still very bitter towards, because (from his perspective) he's putting Ruby smack-dab in the middle of the war against Salem. Not to mention the Chaos Emeralds now being scattered across Remnant can certainly benefit Salem.
Shadow being accusatory of the Ozluminati is also not helping either. Sonic and Rouge said that right to his face. But you can also understand where he's coming from, given he's been manipulated himself in the past, and has a soft spot for children, his first real friend being a twelve-year-old girl who was shot to death in front of him.
Regarding the students, particularly what Jaune said… he went too far in saying that Ozpin deserved to die and using Summer's name to personally hurt Qrow also crossed a line. But, we've seen how hurtful Jaune can be when he gets emotional and angry. He pushed Pyrrha away back in Volume 1 when he felt she was pitying him when she was just trying to help. He outright hated Qrow for putting Pyrrha in the situation that led to her death in Volume 4, calling him useless when learning about his difficult-to-control Semblance and even accused him of using Ruby as bait to draw out Tyrian. He attacked Oscar in Volume 6 when learning about Ozpin's true origins and accused him of already knowing and that Ozpin was still there, pretending to be Oscar and still deceiving and using all of them. And of course… what he said to Ruby in Volume 9, blaming her for every bad thing that happened that got them stranded in the Ever After, and ultimately drove her away and incidentally leading to her attempt at freaking suicide. Yeah, him saying all of that to Qrow was out of line, but still in-character for him. And he is going to be chewed out and lectured for it later in this arc, I promise.
As for the rest of Teams RWBY/JNPR, while they didn't take it as far as Jaune did (though Yang came close), you can still understand where they're coming from. They trusted Ozpin, their teacher and headmaster, Ruby and Yang in particular trusted Qrow because he was their family. And yet, they tried to pressure Pyrrha into making a such an incredibly difficult choice that would have crushed her emotionally. Pyrrha was their friend and they all loved her, so you can imagine why they felt that way. Even if Ozpin was only offering the choice and was relieved to hear her decline, that is still a hurtful breach of their trust.
All around, a lot of this comes from not knowing the full context, which can be expressed on both sides. Nobody on either side is aware of Ozpin's true story because he's been hiding it from all of them. Teams Sonic, RWBY, Dark, and JNPR don't know about Qrow's Misfortune Semblance and the issues it's caused him because he hasn't told any of them, not even his nieces, nor is he really the type to open up to other people all that much. Shadow's also not the type to just open up about his own past and traumas either, though he did so for Ruby in the last chapter, it's not the kind of thing to bring up in a casual conversation. While Teams Sonic and Dark have been relatively open about Eggman and several of their experiences, hoping for cooperation, the Ozluminati has been hiding information from them, knowing that they've befriended Teams RWBY and JNPR whom they are concerned for. They could have simply been more direct about all of this, and just went straight to Sonic and everyone for help, but Ozpin has made things more difficult, even for himself, due to centuries of this kind of work and 5D chess moves against Salem that he can't just break out of it.
I hope this addresses your concerns. Thank you.
Now, with that being said, let's get this light-hearted and humorous chapter started.
A Chibi Rose in the Classic Wind (Part 4)
A large portal had appeared in the air, one made out of countless, microscopic, magenta, energized cubes. Stepping out of the portal was the party that consisted of Sonic, Ruby, Weiss, Cinder, and Doctor Robotnik, who was still in his Egg Mobile.
The group of five all fell out with screams before landing on the ground below. Sonic performed a superhero landing, touching the ground with one hand and both his feet. Ruby mimicked his stance before standing up with a wide smile and hands on her hips. Weiss used a Glyph to slow her descent and land elegance and grace. Cinder's hands and feet were set aflame to slow her descent as she touched down with a sinister smile. Robotnik's Egg Mobile flipped over and landed upside down, with Robotnik landing face-first on the hard ground.
"Curses!" As the mad scientist tried to push his vehicle up and over himself, the others got a good look at their surroundings.
They appeared to be in the middle of a large city with studio equipment, cinema elements, and theater objects. There were lights all over the city, one could make the comment that it was an overly exaggerated form of Hollywood. It was nighttime as the sky appeared to be blue with shining stars.
"Whoa…!" Ruby looked around in awe. "This place is so shiny and beautiful…"
"Seriously… even Atlas can't compare to this…" Weiss commented, looking in just as much awe.
Sonic gave an impressed whistle. "Yeah, not bad."
"It looks like a movie-styled city." Cinder smirked. "Well, if taking over the world doesn't work out… I wouldn't mind going into the movie business. Certainly got the looks for it."
With a mighty heave, Robotnik finally turned his Egg Mobile over and got back in the cockpit as he looked all over the place and recognized it instantly. "We're in Studiopolis!"
"Got that right, Doc!"
When those words were said, multiple spotlights shinned down from out of nowhere and spun around in multiple directions. Immediately, Sonic, Ruby, Weiss, and Cinder were up and ready for combat, while Robotnik shrunk and hid in his Egg Mobile. The lights all split then shined directly upward, revealing a certain robot hovering above them.
"It's Heavy Gunner!" Ruby pointed up, with Sonic recognizing the shining blue gemstone in the robot's hand.
"And he's already got a Chaos Emerald!" The blue Hedgehog pointed.
"Quick as always, blue boy. But not quick enough to snag this valuable gem." Heavy Gunner said with pride as he flipped the blue Chaos Emerald up in his hand.
"Give us that gemstone or we'll take it from you!" Weiss pointed her sword directly at him.
"I'll melt you down and have you reforged into a trashcan for used baby diapers!" Cinder threatened as fire appeared in her hands.
"Hey, if anyone's gonna melt down and rebuild my treacherous bots, it's me!" Robotnik said to Cinder, who rolled her eyes before he pointed to Heavy Gunner. "Now hand over the Chaos Emerald Heavy Gunner, and I might consider rebuilding you into something moderately useful!"
"You all want the Chaos Emerald, do you?" Heavy Gunner asked rhetorically.
"Yeah, that's what we just said!" Ruby said before looking to Sonic. "We literally just said that, right?"
"Yep. We just said than less than a minute ago." He confirmed.
"It was a rhetorical question." Heavy Gunner said in partial annoyance before continuing. "And don't interrupt me, I wasn't finished! Now, there is only one Chaos Emerald, and five of you. So, who to give it to? Three are a pair of obnoxious goody-to-shoes…"
"Hey, I am not obnoxious!" Weiss interrupted.
"And the other two are a pair of wannabe villains." Heavy Gunner continued.
"Wannabe?!" Cinder exclaimed.
"How dare you insult your maker!" Robotnik threatened.
"…What to do? Such a dilemma." Heavy Gunner mused before snapping his fingers. "Oh, I know! Let's have a contest!"
Countless lights turned on all around them, revealing the heroes were smack dab in the middle of an obstacle course, one that had elements that mixed from a game show to an old arcade video game level.
"This obstacle course is designed to test stunt doubles for action movies." Heavy Gunner explained. "All of you will compete in various events, and whoever wins the most events gets the Chaos Emerald. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"An obstacle course?! Oh yeah! Let's do it!" Ruby bounced up and down with excitement, only for Weiss to pull her away.
"Excuse us one minute, Mr. Gunner." Weiss said to the rebellious robot before the group came together in a group huddle. "Ruby, you cannot be serious."
"What? This sounds awesome!" Ruby declared.
"It's also a waste of time!" Weiss argued. "Let's just attack and him and get the Emerald. That's what we're here for, not to compete in this silly competition."
"I agree." Cinder nodded. "Let's just burn this whole place down!"
"What's wrong, Cindy? Scared you gonna lose?" Sonic teased.
"Oh, it's on blue-boy!" Cinder butted her head against his. "I'm gonna wipe that smirk of your face!"
"Gotta catch me first." Sonic teased.
"Yes, three in favor!" Ruby cheered. "Sorry, Weiss."
"I… uh…" Weiss stumbled. "Doctor, please tell me that you don't…"
"Oh, I'm gonna take such joy in humiliating you at your own game, Hedgehog!" Robotnik vowed.
"Please. You couldn't catch me if you tried, Fatty." Sonic mocked.
Robotnik gave an audible gasp. "That's it! You're going down!"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'm surrounded by idiots. Fine, guess we don't have a choice anyway."
"You're on, Heavy Gunner!" Sonic pointed to the robot.
"Excellent! Oh, one last thing though." Reaching out from behind, Heavy Gunner pulled out his trademark bazooka, where the targeting laser was locked directly on the Egg Moblie that Doctor Robotnik was still sitting in, much to his shock. "Fire in the hole!"
Robotnik screamed as he leapt out of the Egg Mobile just as Heavy Gunner fired a rocket, leading to the vehicle to go up in flames. When the smoke cleared, it revealed that Weiss had used her sword to erect a white Glyph to shield herself, Ruby, and Sonic, who all hid behind her; while Robotnik laid bottom-up on the ground, converted in soot.
"No vehicles!" Heavy Gunner stated. "This is a test of physical stamina! If you ain't got the body, you ain't gonna cut it!"
"Wow. Sucks to be you, Doc."
"You're sympathy is overwhelming." Robotnik muttered sarcastically as he pushed himself up from the ground and whipped the soot from his body.
"Now then, let the contest begin!" Heavy Gunner announced.
Heavy Gunner sat in a director's chair along the side as Sonic, Ruby, Weiss, Cinder, and Robotnik all stood together at the starting line which led to a course that comprised of a single track, with several loops before reaching the finish line that had a sign of Heavy Gunner's image on it.
"Our first competition is a race. Whoever reaches the end first wins this round." Heavy Gunner pulled his bazooka out again and aimed it up high. "On your marks!" All five of them took stances like professional track runners. "Get set!" They were ready to move in that instant. "GO!"
With a launch of his bazooka the race began.
Sonic zoomed forward at his typical speed, with Ruby right behind him. Cinder propelled herself with fire while Weiss did the same with her Glyphs as Robotnik tried to run, but was quickly lagging behind.
The first one to get past all the loops was Sonic, going up and over with ease, with Ruby trying her hardest not to fall, sprinting up with all her might before coming back down. Cinder and Weiss simply shot themselves through with their respective powers just before Robotnik got to the first loop and was already sweating like a pig.
Sonic crossed the finish line first, passing by the sign, causing it to spin around before the image of a smiling Sonic flashing a peace sign to appear.
"And the winner is, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Heavy Gunner announced as Ruby, Weiss, and Cinder crossed the line next.
An applause came from nowhere as Sonic cheered at his own victory, while Ruby fell on her knees and growled angrily. Weiss stomped her foot with a pout, and Cinder glared with fire burning behind her.
Back at the first loop, Robotnik was lying flat on the ground, panting like a tired dog and sweating up a storm.
The second event took the five contestants to the edge of one building, where a series of floating platforms were rotating forward and back, as well as up and down. There were a series of floating bouncing springs hovering between the gaps. And at the edge of the building on the other side, was another Heavy Gunner sign, indicating the finish line.
"Our second contest, cross the gap and reach the other side!" Heavy Gunner announced as he sat in his director's chair again, sitting behind all five of the contestants.
"Where's the chicken?" Ruby asked, much to everyone's confusion. "Ya know… cause the chicken wants to get to the other side!"
In the background, there was the sound of two beats on the drum, followed by a symbol.
Weiss smacked her hand on her forehead. "That's only if the chicken is down on the street, Ruby."
"And chickens can't fly either." Sonic added.
"Neither can Hedgehogs." Ruby smiled cheekily at Sonic.
"Unless they turn gold." Robotnik muttered.
"Ready, set, Go!" Egg Gunner fired his bazooka yet again, kicking off the second event.
Sonic jumped onto one platform that was already moving backwards before jumping onto the one in front, which was proceeding to move down before it would come back up.
Ruby had hopped onto a similar platform and then spotted a spring before dashing off that and proceeded to bounce straight up. "Bouncy!" She fell back down and made sure to land on it again. "Bouncy-bounce!" She would bounce repeatedly on that same spring, despite the others trying to get ahead on the course, while she seemed content to remain where she was.
Robotnik jumped onto a platform that was rotating clockwise and almost fell off. He picked himself up and tried to calculate what his next step would be just as Weiss appeared on a platform that was moving back and forth, contemplating her next move in a similar fashion.
Cinder just tried to fly through it all with the flames on her hands and feet propelling her, only to glare as she saw Sonic jumping from platform to spring with little issue. He looked at her challengingly, causing her to glare before she shot more fire from her limbs to propel herself faster.
"That's another bounce!" Ruby exclaimed as she kept bouncing on that same spring she was at. "Bounce, yet again!" However, nobody seemed to notice that with each bounce, she was reaching a greater height.
Robotnik had made all of the necessary mental calculations and waited for the platform he was on to circle around to the point he was waiting for, which was a spring. Once he got to that point, Robotnik had jumped to the spring and bounced himself over to the platform that was moving him closer to the goal.
He looked to his right to see Sonic about to reach the goal first, only for Cinder to slam into him. "Ha! Eat my dust, Hedgehog!" Only to be knocked to the side by a spindash from Sonic.
"See you next, Fall!" Sonic joked as he saw Cinder literally fall, but she simply propelled herself back up with fire from her hands and feet. She glared at him before throwing multiple fire balls at him, forcing Sonic to jump from platform to platform and avoid the explosions.
"Heh." Robotnik snickered. "While those two waste their time fighting, I'll make it to the goal with little…"
Suddenly, a trail of Glyphs appeared in a straight line to one trail of platforms moving back and forth, with Weiss bouncing on one Glyph to another with graceful elegance, timing it just right to reach the platform as it arrived to the Glyph she set. Once there, she wasted little time in creating another trail of Glyphs, pointing diagonally to platform moving up and down, which she skipped along with no problems at all.
Robotnik looked in disbelief as he saw all of that. "Impossible...!" He soon scowled. "It's bad enough Prower can compete with my vast intellect, but that spoiled little brat...?!"
Weiss was two platforms away from the goal. "And victory goes to the most elegant."
However, just before she could make her move, Ruby had already bounced high enough to the point where she was well above the obstacle course and had a clear view of the goal post.
"One more should do it." She let herself fall and built up her own Semblance. A trail of rose petals appeared below her as she fell and it all gathered together at her feet right as she landed on the spring. "Ruby Rose… LAUNCH!"
She vaulted herself straight up, while also using an added boost from her Semblance to angle herself so she went up at a curve, going high and over the obstacle course.
Everyone; Sonic and Cinder, who wrestling against each other, Robotnik, Weiss, and even Heavy Gunner, they all looked up as Ruby soared above them and fell back down, reaching the goal before any of them could.
When she passed the post, the sign spun around before an image of Ruby Rose appeared on it, winking with a wide smile while also pointing forward.
"Winner, Ruby Rose!" Heavy Gunner announced.
"Victory!" Ruby cheered as she pointed straight up.
Weiss, Cinder, and Robotnik's jaws all dropped, while Sonic smiled and clapped.
"Guess that makes me the chicken!" Ruby said proudly in a joking fashion with hands on her hips. "Because I made it to the other side!"
With another drum and symbol beat in the background, Weiss smacked her forehead yet again.
The third event brought them all towards a giant fan that blew straight upwards. Well above them all were countless golden rings, as well as several red bouncing balls, and a few black bombs with unlit fuses.
"For our third contest…" Heavy Gunner began as he continued to sit in his director's chair behind the competitors. "…Collect as many rings as you can! But be careful. Hit a bomb, and you loose all your rings. Ready… Set… Go!"
He fired his bazooka to start the third event.
All five of them jumped into the upwards stream that blew them all straight up. "WEEEE!" Ruby cheered as they proceed to collect several rings. Sonic already had at least twenty.
"Experience, baby." Sonic winked, pointing forward before being blasted in the back with fire, knocking away ten of his rings before turning around to see the smirking Cinder as she gave a blow kiss, her lips smoking. "Yesh, and I thought Amy had a temper. Alright, I got experience doing both!" Sonic used his spindash to zoom over to a bouncing ball and used it to bounce into Cinder, knocking out all ten of her rings before she stabilized herself with fire on her hands and feet.
"I won't lose to you again!" She declared. "Taste my fire power!" Once again, she threw several fire balls at Sonic, which were extremely hard to avoid while airborne with no ground to run on. But he tried to spindash his way from ball to ball, being careful to avoid any bombs and get whatever rings he could.
"Rings! Give me! Give me!" Robotnik stumbled in the air, struggling to remain upright as he tried to get his many rings as he can, but when he tried to snatch a patch of four in front of him, a dash of red appeared to snatch them all away.
"That's fourteen for me!" Ruby smiled. Using Crescent Rose, she fired her weapon's gun mode to propel herself in another direction to snag another set of rings. "Twenty-two!" Now she fired Crescent Rose upward at an angle, propelling herself down to get several more rings while also hitting a bouncing ball to send her up and catch many more. "Thirty-six!"
Robotnik growled. "Nobody bests Robotnik at trigonometry! Nobody!" He spotted a bomb near Ruby and plucked a button from his coat and threw it at the right angle to hit the bomb and detonate it, exploding near Ruby to knock away all of her rings. "Ha! How do you like that!"
Ruby growled at him as she stabilized herself in the air. "You big, jerk!" She fired Crescent Rose at him.
Robotnik screamed as he covered himself but noticed that he wasn't hurt. "Ha! You missed!" He pointed at her gloatingly.
"Did I?" Ruby grinned knowingly.
Hearing a hissing noise behind him, Robotnik turned around to look in shock to see the fuze from a bomb behind him that had been lit when Crescent Rose's shot skidded the fuze, the friction causing it to light up.
"Oh no." Robotnik gulped as the bomb exploded behind him, knocking away all of his rings.
Meanwhile, Weiss, who had managed to perch herself on a Glyph, stood straight as she observed her surroundings. Sonic and Cinder were locked in a back-and-forth match between spindashes and fireballs, while Ruby and Robotnik were throwing and shooting at the bombs around each other. All this did was knock away more and more rings from the other, without anyone really gaining anything.
Weiss shook her head with a sign. "Amateurs." She thrusted Myrtenaster straight up and erected a Glyph, infusing it with Gravity Dust and causing it to turn black. This created a suction force that pulled in all of the rings above her, almost like a vacuum before she slowly spun it around, pulling in all of the other rings around her, and getting everyone else's attention.
However, Ruby also noticed several bombs were getting pulled her way as well. "Weiss! Watch out!"
But her warnings were unnecessary as Weiss gracefully danced around all of the bombs that got pulled to her. She swerved around one, limboed over another, jumped over the next, and all without a single one touching her. All of the bombs exploded all around her as she collected the last of the rings, creating a dramatic flash before she jumped off her post and used a Glyph to slow her decent before landing back on the ground.
A goal post sign appeared next to her, which spun around to reveal Weiss' confident smile as she strutted with pride.
"Winner, Weiss Schnee!" Heavy Gunner announced.
"Thank you." She bowed.
"That was beautiful…" Ruby was comically crying while Sonic clapped at Weiss' performance. Cinder and Robotnik however both fumed as the former's hair was on fire and the latter pulled down hard on his mustache.
"Our final event, Dodge-Bot!" Heavy Gunner introduced as he, once again, sat in his director's chair directly behind the five contestants as they stood in front of some flat ground that was riddled with countless enemy robots. There were the snail-like Canisters that slowly moved across the ground, the hanging Mic Drops that resembled microphones with electrical charges, flying camera-like robots known as Shutterbugs, and spherical orange robots with three hovering spheres around them called Tubinauts.
"This one is simple, get past all of the Badniks and reach the finish line! Ready… Set… GO!" Firing his bazooka for the final event, Heavy Gunner sounded it off.
Sonic zoomed forward, spindashing through a line of Canisters and about to strike a Tubinaut, only for the orbiting spheres to spin around rapidly and strike him, knocking him down. "Alright… gonna beat me at my own game? Let's see you try!" Sonic then delivered a homing attack to destroy that robot.
"I made you! How could you all turn on me?!" Robotnik cried out as several Shutterbugs came down on him, only for Ruby to dash and swing her scythe to cut them all done.
"Paparazzi robots! I hate paparazzi robots! Almost as much as I hate actual paparazzis!" Ruby converted Crescent Rose into its gun mode to shoot as many of them down as she could.
Weiss swerved and danced to avoid as many of the robots as she could, using a Glyph to leap herself over one Canister and gracefully dancing through a line of swinging Mic Drops. When it looked like she was about to hit a Tubinaut that had its satellite-spheres moving around it rapidly, she conjured a Glyph that allowed her to slide with the spheres and past it.
"Hmmp. We just have to reach the other side and avoid all the robots. Child's play." Weiss strutted.
Only for Cinder to stick her foot out, causing Weiss to trip and land on a Canister, causing it to explode and launch her back.
"You sure about that, Schnee?" Cinder taunted as she shot a fireball at Weiss' feet, knocking her back into the line of Mic Drops, causing her to get tied up in all of its rotating cables, leading her to get electrocuted comically as her skeleton briefly appeared before she fell down, covered in sot.
Cinder then proceeded to throw as many fire balls as she could, purposely aiming for all the robots that were near her opponents. She had hit one Tubinaut that Sonic was facing, causing it to explode and knocking him back. The Shutterbugs above Ruby were next, leading to fire and scrap metal to rain down onto her. As Robotnik tried to tip-toe his way past the Canisters, one of Cinder's fireballs hit that, causing it to explode, followed by the rest of them, and launch Robotnik straight up.
Laughing like a maniac, Cinder threw fire balls all over her sides to blow up any robot she came across as she dashed straight towards the finish line, crossing it and moving past the goal post. Like all the others, this one spun around before revealing the face of Sinister, who had lurch herself upward to laugh evilly.
"And the winner… is Cinder Fall!" Heavy Gunner announced.
"Evil triumphs again! Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha!" She laughed as the scorched track behind her was riddled with burn marks and broken robots, while Sonic, Weiss, and Ruby struggled to pick themselves up and Robotnik just landed hard on the ground.
All five of them stood together, some more exhausted than others, as Heavy Gunners continued to sit in his director's chair across from them, the blue Chaos Emerald still in his hand.
"I've tallied the scores." The rebellious robot began. "And the loser, is Doctor Robotnik, who scored absolutely zero points in any challenge! And this competition has no place for losers, so get lost, Doc."
In that instant, Robotnik cried waterfalls. "How could you do this to your daddy, Heavy Gunner?! I made you! I gave you life!"
"Cry me a river. Now get lost." Heavy Gunner waved off, leading Robotnik to sob as he walked away, leaving a trail of tears behind. Ruby, Weiss, and even Sonic looked somewhat sympathetic in his direction, while Cinder rolled her eyes in annoyance. "As for the rest of you…" He got all of their attention. "You all tied! Each of you one a single event, so that's one point for all of you. It's a four-way tie for first place!"
"Yay! We're tied!" Ruby pulled Weiss and Sonic into a hug.
"So… who gets the Emerald?" Cinder asked.
"Me!" Heavy Gunner pushed a button on the side of his chair, leading a hole to open in the ground, causing him and the chair to fall in, much to their surprise. The group then looked up in further shock to see Heavy Gunner emerge in a police helicopter, all armed with missiles and guns, all of which opened fire and forced everyone to scatter.
"Hey, that wasn't the deal!" Weiss pointed to him as she used a Glyph to shield herself from the rocket. "You said you would give the Emerald to the winner! Since all four of us won, we should all have the Emerald!"
"I lied! I was never going to give the Emerald to any of you, regardless of the winner!" Heavy Gunner laughed as he continued to fire missiles at all of them.
"Oh, we should have seen that one coming." Sonic groaned in annoyance as he sped away from a rocket that exploded behind him.
"The point of that little contest was to tire you all out, and to turn you all against each other." Heavy Gunner went on as he continued to shoot at them from his helicopter. "Too tired and too angry at each other to fight and work together. And now, I will destroy you all!"
Ruby gasped. "You fiend!" She fired Crescent Rose's gun mode at Heavy Gunner's helicopter, which hovered higher to avoid her shots, only for an explosion of fire to erupt just above him, rocking the helicopter as Cinder had thrown a fire ball in his direction.
"How dare you turn people against each other for the sake of evil! That's my job!" Cinder exclaimed as she threw a fire ball at the side-mounted rocket launcher of the helicopter, destroying that before Heavy Gunner fired a rocket from his own bazooka at her feet to blow her away.
As more missiles continued to rain in all directions and kept everyone at a distance, nobody seemed to notice Robotnik had made his way over to the Egg Mobile that Heavy Gunner had shot upon their arrival and had opened the hood to work with all the wiring on the inside.
"Make me look like a fool, will ya? Oh, we'll see about that!" He muttered angrily.
Sonic ran to the helicopter as it and its pilot shot more rockets at him, which Sonic used to his advantage as he performed a homing attack to one rocket, and then to another, and another, getting closer and closer with each attack until he got to the helicopter and landed a successful attack that took out the second side-mounted gun, and rocked the flying vehicle.
"You'll pay for that!" Heavy Gunner shot at Sonic and forced him to zoom away before moving his rocket at Weiss to shoot at her, but Ruby quickly sped to tackle her out of the way.
"Weiss, I'm sorry!" Ruby apologized. "I shouldn't have tried to so hard to beat you in those games! They just looked so fun!"
Weiss herself sighed. "I'm sorry too. I let my overly competitive streak get the better of me and cloud my better judgement."
"Friends?" Ruby offered her hand with a smile, which Weiss accepted with a smile of her own.
"Friends." They shook hands fiercely. "Now let's scrap this robot!"
"Right!" Ruby and Weiss both pointed their weapons forward and shot a volley of icicles and gunshots at the airborne Helicopter, dealing some damage and forcing Heavy Gunner to fly up, which led him to another fiery explosion thrown at him by Cinder, bringing him down closer to Sonic, who tried to come up at him with a homing attack…
Only for Heavy Gunner to pull out his bazooka and fire point-blank at Sonic, blasting him to the ground. He then fired another rocket at Cinder to blast her away. He then aimed it at Ruby and Weiss, and when the latter erected a Glyph to shield herself, Heavy Gunner fired at the ground in front of them, creating an explosion that knocked both of them off their feet and pushed them back.
"You cannot beat me! I have aerial advantage!" Heavy Gunner boasted. "I am Heavy Gunner, the most heavily armed, and therefore, the strongest of the Hard-Boiled Heavies, right under Heavy King! You cannot stop us! You cannot…!"
Suddenly, the Egg Mobile shot up from behind at high speeds, the engines in the back going at high speeds, as it rammed into the helicopter, tearing it apart from behind, causing it to explode and blasting Heavy Gunner out onto the ground.
"What…?! But how…?!" Heavy Gunner stuttered before turning around to see that the one responsible was none other than Robotnik. "You were in tears! Your spirit was broken!"
"Those tears were just a façade, a way to dismiss me and not pay any attention whatsoever." Robotnik boasted. "While you were busy dealing with Sonic and his new buddies, I hotwired the Egg Mobile that you wrecked and rewired the engines to act as a makeshift missile to blow that hunk of junk helicopter of yours out of the sky, neutralizing that aerial advantage you were so proud of! You thought you could one-up me? Your own creator? Think again!"
"I'll incinerate you!" Heavy Gunner aimed his bazooka at him, only for said bazooka to be blown up by a fire ball that Cinder had thrown at him.
"That's my schtick!" Cinder exclaimed.
A Glyph appeared below the now-disarmed Heavy Gunner as he was sent flying straight up, to where Sonic met him with a series of homing attacks to break through most of his armor before he fell down and landed hard on the ground. His armor was almost destroyed, his joints bent the wrong way, and sparks were coming out from his openings… leaving him open for Ruby to deal the finishing blow as she sped to him, swinging Crescent Rose while dashing past him samurai-style.
Just then, Heavy Gunner fell apart as he had been sliced in half-diagonally, leading him to explode, destroying the robot for good.
"Victory!" Ruby cheered as came over to Sonic and Weiss and they shared a three-way high-five. However, Weiss the noticed the blue Chaos Emerald rolling across the ground and stopping at Cinder's feet.
"Ah, there you are my precious…" She was about to pick it up, only for it to be swiped away by Robotnik.
"Nuh-nuh-nuh." He waved his finger at her, holding the Emerald himself with Sonic, Ruby, and Weiss approaching him, the blue Hedgehog looking at the doctor questionably. "This gemstone, belongs to Sonic." He handed the Chaos Emerald to the blue Hedgehog, causing Ruby to look in surprise, while Sonic and Weiss looked questionable at best.
"Just like that? What are you playing at, Doc?" Sonic questioned.
"If Heavy Gunner is any indication, then Heavy King is probably more powerful than we ever anticipated." Robotnik explained. "If we're going to actually beat him, we're all gonna have to work together. Which means, no backstabbing, kay Cinder?" He said to her specifically.
Cinder crossed her arms with a pout. "Fine."
Robotnik handed Sonic the blue Chaos Emerald, with the mad scientist smiling genuinely on the outside, but smirking malevolently on the inside.
'Let these heroes think I'm on their side. They'll tire themselves out fighting Heavy King and leaving me to snatch the Chaos Emeralds for myself. Soon, the world will be mine!' He sneered internally.
'I'll play along with these idiots for now.' Cinder thought to herself. 'No doubt Robotnik is planning to betray us. But that's fine. Let him betray Ruby, Sonic, and all the other heroes. When he thinks he's won, I'll take the Chaos Emeralds myself! There's only one chief bad guy, and that's me!'
Weiss had pulled Sonic over into a huddle with her and Ruby. "You know they're gonna try and betray us, right?" She asked.
"Oh definitely." Sonic confirmed.
"Yep. Bad guys who pretend to be good will always backstab you." Ruby nodded too.
"So, we'll keep an eye on them until we take down Heavy King, and if we gotta take them down too, we will." Sonic said.
"Sounds like a plan." Weiss nodded, leading the group to break off before Ruby approached the two villains allied with them.
"One Chaos Emerald and one Hard Boiled Heavy down, six more gemstones and four more robots to go!" She spoke.
"If the others have done their job with any sort of efficiency, then we should be accomplished by the time we get back to Angel Island." Robotnik said.
"Then let's get going, and hope that we're winning." Sonic put in as the group made their way towards the portal to rendezvous with the rest of their friends and allies.
However, unbeknownst to any of them, one Shutterbug remained operational as it observed them from a distance…
The feed from that Shutterbug being shown on a screen within the lair of Heavy King as the leader of the Hardboiled Heavies sat on his throne, with the Phantom Ruby in his hand.
"Yes. Everything's going exactly as I planned." The mechanical tyrant sneered.
Done.
That's one Chibi/Classic chapter out of the way, and I actually had fun writing this. The team consisting of Sonic, Ruby, Weiss, Robotnik, and Cinder have defeated Heavy Gunner and acquired the blue Chaos Emerald.
However, Heavy King seems to be watching them and isn't all that worried. He has some kind of plan cooking in his metal head. As for what that plan is, feel free to take a guess, but you'll see way later on.
With that chapter out of the way, we're finally getting back to the main story. After my next round of updates, of course. Thank you all again for your patience. As I've said before, these Chibi/Classic chapters are important to the story.
Expect the main story to continue sometime next month. Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. Love you guys.