Fanfic / A Red Rose in the Blue Wind

Cover art.

Theodore: Oz, you know I trust you....but, are you sure it's wise keeping Sonic and his friends in the dark about her? Looking at these files, they've dealt with worse. If they know, and with all of us working together, we might be able to finally get rid of her!

A Red Rose in the Blue Wind is a fanfiction series written by Iron117Prime. It merges the worlds of both Sonic the Hedgehog and RWBY. It is first published on January 6, 2022.

Dr. Eggman retakes the Space Colony Ark to use for his newfound goal of conquering a new world, as Sonic and the gang join forces yet again to thwart his plans. This plan was successful, and it transports everyone into said new world, Remnant. Shortly after arrival, Sonic encounters Ruby Rose, on her way to enroll at Beacon Academy.

From there, he and his friends will be entangled in the ensuing battle between Salem and Ozpin, and the consequences that the Eggman Empire's intervention will entail.

Much like other crossovers by the same author, it is an Intercontinuity Crossover that pits elements from Sonic's game and IDW comic continuity and other elements from the canonical RWBY, such as the video game Grimm Eclipse.

A side story was also written by Iron117Prime titled A Chibi Rose in the Classic Wind which sees the RWBY Chibi versions of RWBY, JNPR, Roman, Neo, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald transported to the world of Classic Sonic thanks to the Phantom Ruby.

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Trope examples:

A Red Rose in the Blue Wind

• Action Prologue: The opening scene, where Sonic and the gang fight through Eggman's forces before they get to Remnant.
• Actually a Doombot: In Chapter 11 it briefly looks like the heroes have captured Eggman, but it's just another of his decoys.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Eggman upgrades Metal Sonic with technology from Remnant, including an arm mounted gun and sword, on top of a few forms of Dust.
  • Merlot's mutated Grimm are a lot more dangerous than their Grimm Eclipse versions. For example, the mutated Beowolves have three heads, and regenerate unless decapacitated or utterly obliterated. Later varieties have Dust infused into them to give them elemental abilities.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • The Ace-Ops, who make their debut in Volume 7 of the RWBY canon, make their first appearance off the back. The only exception is Marrow, as being the New Meat he hadn't joined them at that point, but he does shows up during the events of Volume 3 when the Ace-Ops arrive to provide extra security at the Vytal Festival.
  • The Goliath species of Grimm make their canonical debut in Volume 2, while here, the species debuts in the same timeframe as Volume 1, Episodes 6 and 7 ( Chapter 3) as a Mini-Boss.
  • The Seer species of Grimm didn't make their canonical debut until Volume 4. One is shown in approximately the events of the first Volume's conclusion serving as communication between Dr. Eggman and Salem.
  • Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian all made their debut in the series in Volume 4, but they first appear in the story in Chapter 7, which, while is part of the Volume 1 arc, is technically before the events of the story, serving as the explanation of how Eggman even knew of Salem and Remnant as a whole.
  • Ilia appears during the timeline of Volume 2, when she canonically appears first in Volume 5.
  • Pietro appears just before the events of the "Grimm Eclipse" game, working with Tails in order to create Plasma Dust.
  • Despite the IDW continuity being set after Sonic Forces and this continuity set after Sonic Colors, Mimic makes an appearance as a prominent villain and the first non-Eggman-related Sonic villain in the cast.
  • While she is present in her bird form during the earlier chapters just like in canon, Raven's human debut comes during the latter half of the Grimm Eclipse arc, just before the events of Volume 3.
  • Downplayed in that while it is merely the Bioids disguising themselves as them, this also counts for Winter and Jacques Schnee, making physical manifestations before the events of Volumes 3 and 4 respectively.
• Adaptational Explanation: Pyrrha explains that her Polarity Semblance was initially limited to just ferrous metals like actual magnets, but eventually evolved to encompass all metals, hence why she can manipulate aluminum.
• Adaptation Distillation: Since Eggman dominating most of the world after the heroes returned from the Twilight Cage is similar to what happened in Sonic Forces this story combines them, with the Diamond Cutters being active during the time Sonic and company were off-world.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • There are more types of mutant Grimm than just the canonical Beowulves, Creeps, and sole mutant Deathstalker, like a mutant Nevermore for instance.
  • The start of the Vytal Festival and RWBY's match with ABRN is shown in full.
• Adaptive Ability: As RWBY, JNPR, and the Sonic crew and Team Dark continue to fight the mutant Grimm, it's noted that they're becoming harder to destroy due to factors like a Healing Factor and armor around the neck preventing the easy Off with His Head! method of slaying them from working. They note that either the mutants are adapting to be more dangerous, or their creator is watching them and making them adapt against the methods the heroes have been using. Later versions even have Dust infused into them.
• Age Lift: The Sonic cast is four years older than their canon ages, suggesting that all the events from Sonic the Hedgehog to Sonic Colors happened in a four-year time frame.
• Alien Invasion: A variant of this. Eggman hails from the Earth of another dimension, but he produces a massive space armada of his own composed of various robots he personally engineered. In a sense, he's a Human Alien in Remnant's perspective, and it's one that's threatening their existence.
• Alternate Universe Fic: The fic follows a different Sonic continuity diverging after Sonic Colors. The RWBY side, following the canon story from Volume 1, might diverge, partly due to the appearance of the Sonic characters.
• Bait-and-Switch: Before their match in the Vytal Festival, Ruby offers a handshake to Arslan and wishes for a good match. In response, ABRN's leader gives her a dismissive comment on her age... before cracking a grin and admitting she's just messing with the girl, returning the handshake.
  • In Chapter 27, Sonic is worried about meeting the Ace Ops again, given how their first meeting went... only for the majority of the group (discounting Harriet) to be perfectly civil with him, Elm even becoming something of a fangirl.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: As per the author's usual style, one occurs in the climax during Rumble in the Urban Jungle in the Breach. The chapter features no less than four battles with giant robots, on top of the Grimm and other members of Eggman's forces.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Black and White and Red All Over reveals that Salem and Eggman are working together, and apparently have been from the start.
• Bigotry Exception: Adam is perfectly polite with Eggman during their meeting, in large part due to the man providing the White Fang with plenty of useful technology and weapons.
• Boring Insult: Upon confronting Eggman aboard the ARK, Sonic tells him that these repeated confrontations are starting to get old. Eggman actually agrees, which is why he came up with the plan to start anew on Remnant.
• Both Sides Have a Point: While Ironwood is right in that Eggman is a serious threat that shouldn't be taken lightly, something Qrow clearly hasn't gotten into his head, Qrow isn't happy with him bringing so much military force to Vale, because of the Grimm that such a large force, or the conflict said force will get into, will attract.
• Breaking Old Trends: The fanfic breaks some notable trends from other Iron117Prime fanfics.
  • The first time Team RWBY encounters Doctor Eggman, it doesn't end in a Curb-Stomp Battle in Eggman's favor. This is subverted when the teams face Metal Sonic, the most combat-capable of Eggman's army. While he does find difficulty battling the rest of the heroes of his world, he has no problem battling Sun, Neptune, and Teams RWBY and JNPR to the point of even stealing Crescent Rose and Myrtenester from their owners mid-fight, and it takes the metal-manipulating Pyrrha to force him to let go of the metallic weapons.
  • The La Résistance of this fanfic, the White Fang, is actually an antagonistic faction rather than a hero faction (like Caleb's Rebellion) or the protagonists' forces (like the Black Knights).
  • The line between who is Eviler than Thou in the fanfic is far more blurry than other fanfics. Whereas The Shredder and Megatron pretty much establish themselves as the Crossover Villain-in-Chief from the get-go, here, both sides show equally competent planning both against the heroes and each other.
• Breather Episode:
  • The school dance is this even In-Universe. Their trap to catch Cinder in the CCT aside, everyone is still reeling from watching Fifer die and need a break from the investigation to help destress.
  • Chapter 23 is much more pure in this regard, as everyone (good and evil) reflect on how the fight with Dr. Merlot has or hasn't changed things. No fighting, just every faction making one plan or another for themselves or their teams.
• Brick Joke: After Mimic manages to swipe her weapon in the Grimm Eclipse arc, Nora complains that she needs to put a bear trap on it. At the start of Volume 3, she apparently convinced Tails to do exactly that!
• Call-Forward:
  • During Knuckles and Yang's spar, Knuckles berates on her with regards to her abuse of her Semblance. then this dialogue comes to mind, referencing future canonical events:
  Knuckles: Are you going to make the same excuse when you end up losing a limb?
  • Fifer dies to Cinder's hand the same way Pyrrha would die in the original: pierced by her blade and burnt away.
  • Regarding Sonic Forces
    • When Sonic and Ruby finish off the Egg-Wveryn, they combine their speed abilities into a version of Double Boost.
    • One of the robots attacking Vale is the Death Crab that will hound the Avatar twice.
  • After fighting together during the Breach, SSSN and CFVY have apparently been hanging out more often, a nod to their role as allies in the Vacuo centered spinoff novels.
• Calling Your Attacks: Chaos powers draw this out as usual. Both Sonic and Shadow do this when using Chaos Control and Shadow also shouts out when using Chaos Blast.
• Campfire Character Exploration: Downplayed, in that while they do start a campfire in Mount Glenn, Sonic and Ruby open up about their experiences by a nearby windowsill.
• Cerebus Retcon: The events of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed were known for their large, city-scale level attacks by Perfect Chaos and Dark Gaia respectively, however, there weren't exactly any documented casualties of their extreme attacks. In Let's Dance, the fic acknowledges that, yes, there were indeed massive casualties, a fact that the heroes reflect after Fifer was killed by Cinder in front of their eyes.
• Collapsing Lair: Once Merlot is dead, Metal Sonic activates the base's self-destruct and it starts to collapse.
• Continuity Porn: If you're a long-time Sonic fan, you'll be catching references to previous games, characters and tie-in media practically once a chapter.
  • To mark that the story takes place after Sonic Colors, Knuckles states that the last time anyone saw Eggman was during the Wisps incident, sucked into a black hole.
  • The Space Colony ARK in a state of orbit around the world at the start of the story is taken off the ending of Sonic Adventure 2.
  • Sonic perceives that the Grimm resemble the Knights of the Underworld and/or Dark Gaia. He also names the sword that he uses on Remnant "Caliburn", telling Ruby that he named it after a friend. Shadow also names his blade Arondight.
  • He remembers Big the Cat after Clover uses his Kingfisher to reel him in.
  • He makes a remark about Silver after Glynda uses her Semblance to levitate a pile of rocks.
  • When Knuckles and Blake talk about who is the one keeping the Master Emerald in check, he lampshades the presence of Shade.
  • While Sonic first encountered Cinder in the first chapter, he, Tails, and Shadow face off against her during their chase, trying to pursue Fifer's killer. Sonic remarks about her flame abilities and then brings up Blaze, who in his opinion is far better with the ability than her.
  • Amy remarks about how they've defeated demons before in her and Team Sonic's first battle against the Grimm, possibly referring to Dark Gaia's minions.
• Crossover Power Acquisition:
  • Averted, Ozpin tries and fails to awaken Sonic's Aura, even though he can tell that Sonic does have a soul, and after that, they pretty much stop trying. Of course, it's not like Sonic and the others really need Aura with their existing abilities.
  • Downplayed with Omega and Tails, who integrate Dust into their arsenal and the Cyclone respectively, giving them a broader selection of weapons. The same goes for Eggman who would later implement Dust into various of his robotic creations.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • In Dark Jaunedice, Shadow challenges Jaune to a fight to get the latter to realize how badly he needs help. It's the untrained Jaune of Volume 1 against a hedgehog who's fought robot armies, an alien invasion, and repeatedly punched a god in the face. Shadow wins without even trying.
  • Though he has trouble battling the people of his own world, Metal Sonic is the one to dish the standard-issue version of this as per every Iron117Prime fanfic, even stealing Ruby and Weiss' weapons mid-fight for a time until Pyrrha's Semblance forces him to let go of them. This is justified by Metal Sonic studying their fight in the docks and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Rouge inflicts this on Neo of all people, with the colourful assassin growing increasingly enraged by the fact that she is unable to land so much as a single hit, and her opponents hearing rendering her Semblance useless. Rouge even taunts her over lacking experience compared to the spy who hangs out with the Ultimate Lifeform and a robot of mass destruction.
  • Team Dark display little to moderate difficulty taking down Torchwick in the Egg Centaur, with Rouge even insulting him over his lackluster piloting skills.
  • Knuckles challenges Yang to a weapons-free sparing match, to display to her how her over-reliance on her Semblance and lack of proper technique and strategy is holding her back. He even gives himself a handicap where if she can land a single solid hit against him without him blocking, catching, or parrying it she wins. Knuckles easily wins, avoiding all Yang's attacks while landing devastating blows of his own, with Yang constantly letting her anger get the best of her throughout the fight, and her last desperate Semblance-charged punch fails when Knuckles catches it without even flinching.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Inverted. Shadow's assessment of JNPR's performance in the first round of the Vytal Festival can be summed up as "adequate, but plenty of room to improve". However since this is Shadow such a thing is considered high praise by his standards and they treat it as such.
• Darker and Edgier: On the Sonic side of things, it's made clear in Let's Dance that Eggman's schemes, most notably unleashing Perfect Chaos in Station Square and Dark Gaia breaking the planet apart, have killed numerous people before instead of simply being a No Endor Holocaust scenario.
• David vs. Goliath: Invoked during the fight against the Goliath in the Emerald Forest, as Knuckles holds it off and shoves it back, with Amy jokingly calling him David.
• Death by Adaptation: In canon, while unconfirmed, it was implied that Merlot managed to escape his base. Here, Metal Sonic decapacitates him to keep him from spilling any sensitive information.
• Deconstruction Crossover:
  • Akin to Samurai Jack's "Jack vs. Aku", Sonic points out to Eggman in the first chapter about how formulaic their encounters have become with The Good Guys Always Win and Eggman's tendency to lose control over whatever Sealed Evil in a Can he unleashes before asking if they can skip the Final Boss phase and just have him surrender for once. In this instance, Eggman agrees as his motivation for the entire scheme is to move to Remnant and start the Eggman Empire there so he doesn't have to do the same song and dance with Sonic.
  • Ozpin's tendency to play things close to the chest was justified to a degree in his home series, but here his excessive caution leads to him deliberately keeping his new allies Locked Out of the Loop for fear of potential consequences. Him keeping this up even as they independently work out the presence of a leader behind the Grimm causes their trust in him to fray, unnecessarily making things harder for everyone. Salem herself lampshades this to Eggman, stating that Ozpin's paranoia and secrecy will do far more damage to his relationship with Sonic and company than anything she herself could.
  • Knuckles lectures Yang on her overreliance on her Semblance, as well as her personality flaws that feed into said reliance. Even breaking her out of this mindset is shown to have consequences, the lesson leading her angry and irritable, on top of shaking up her confidence in the process.
  • Neptune's fear of water was mostly Played for Laughs during his teams fight with NDGO in canon, even if the novels made it clear how traumatising the source of said was. Here, it's noted by many of those watching that the absurd lengths he went to avoid water entirely made him a massive liability to his team, only winning thanks to a golden opportunity.
  • Qrow and Winter's fight was a petty, but ultimately harmless way to show the hostility between the two, as well as Qrow's disdain for Atlas forces in general. Here it's cut short by Sonic and Shadow, the latter of whom reads both the riot act for starting a fight in the middle of so many civilians. Likewise, he chews out Ruby, Yang, and Weiss for encouraging said fight.
• Demographic-Dissonant Crossover: Sonic is otherwise a franchise aimed at a younger audience, whilst RWBY is a bit teen-oriented. However, sometimes, Sonic is allowed to go as dark as RWBY itself.
• Dramatic Irony: Part of Shadow's mistrust of Qrow and Ozpin stems from recognising the lengths the former went through to train up Ruby and the latter pulling several strings to get her into Beacon early. Combined with his allies deducing the two fighting a Secret War against the Grimm's master he thinks that they're grooming her to play a vital part in said conflict. In the same chapter, Qrow makes it clear to Ironwood that he wants his nieces as far from their Secret War as possible (only training her in case her Silver Eyes put a target on her back) and is outraged to hear they may be drawn into it anyway through their bond with Sonic and his allies.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Well, the dumbass part is increasingly downplayed, but Jaune questions the wisdom of RWBY and JNPR fighting openly in the Vytal Festival and broadcasting their skills and tactics to their enemies, especially with spies at Beacon.
• Everybody Knew Already: When Blake being a Faunus is exposed to her teammates, Sonic's group (including Team Dark) all reveal that they figured it out practically as soon as they met her. They even express surprise that her teammates didn't know.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: It's lampshaded how Eggman has a tendency to try to harness powerful beings and forces, only to bite off more than he can chew and force Sonic to deal with his mess. Sonic even makes it clear to Ozpin that the fact that everyone else knows that controlling the Grimm is a futile effort that will only end in blood and tears will in no way stop him from trying it himself.
• Evil Versus Evil: Discussed by Ozpin and the other headmasters, as Sonic's analysis of Eggman makes it pretty clear that an alliance between him and Salem is unlikely, and if they openly fight each other it could destroy Remnant. Subverted for now, as Black and White and Red All Over reveals that Eggman and Salem are working together for the time being.
• Expecting Someone Taller: The Ace-Ops' reaction to encountering Sonic.
• Fastball Special: Used by Tails and Knuckles (with Knuckles as the fastball) at one point during the fight with the Goliath in the Emerald Forest.
• Fire-Forged Friends: CFVY and SSSN appear to have been hanging out more often since the Breach, with Velvet being the one to inform RWBY of Neptune's fear of water, and the team as a whole adding commentary to the Haven first years fight.
• Foil:
  • Sonic and Shadow. Both of them are dedicated warriors to defeat Robotnik and protect others. Both are hedgehogs with incredible powers linked to their access to the chaos force. However, their upbringings and experiences have diverged them in terms of tactics and attitude. Sonic is an All-Loving Hero who wants to make friends to ensure everyone can work together to solve a problem. And more importantly, that everyone is capable of growth. Shadow is more cynical and suspicious of others, seeing the worst possible scenarios in the world around him, but also is about getting people's heads straight in the process. That growth is possible but you have to get through your hang-ups on the way. Sonic faced his trauma by holding onto what he has now. Shadow internalized his trauma, and is much more surly, but also holds others as what he fights for.
  • Sonic to Ozpin, being the leaders of their respective groups and acting as an inspiration to heroes across their respective homeworlds. But whereas Sonic embodies freedom, actively pursues and fights Eggman, and tends to jump into the fray while playing things by ear, Ozpin is a beacon of order in the Huntsman community that encourages caution in his war against Salem, carefully plans each move he makes, and largely organizes efforts against her with allies rather than directly fight her.
  • Tails and Qrow. They are the closest and most loyal to their respective leaders seeing them as family and have had a hard time growing up due to their disabilities (Tails with his twin tails and Qrow with his Misfortune semblance). However, Tails found a way to use his appendages to his advantage and made them something to be proud of while Qrow still sees his semblance as a curse. Their personalities also differ, as Tails is young, optimistic, and honest, while Qrow is older and more experienced but more cynical, immature, and rude to others, excluding Ozpin and his nieces.
  • Knuckles and Ironwood. Both came from floating pieces of land powered by divine relics and tend to butt heads with their leaders the most and can be stubborn. But while Knuckles started off as strict and naive, being easily manipulated by others, he stepped out of his comfort zone and became more friendly and open-minded. Ironwood started off in the series as a good man, but would regress and double down when being threatened by the enemy.
• Foreshadowing: After the dock fight scene, everyone notes how Penny and Omega are interacting and getting along together. This foreshadows Penny's Robotic Reveal early in Volume 2.
• Fusion Fic: Much like the author's other stories, it's a crossover that follows the events of RWBY's Volume 1 to a T, but he also mentioned that the canon will diverge by Volume 3.
• He Knows Too Much: In Chapter 22, Metal Sonic beheads Merlot to keep him from talking after being captured. Mimic was spared that fate apparently because he specifically avoided learning anything more than the bare minimum.
• "Here's Johnny!" Homage: When Roman bursts through some factory walls in his Paladin, he exclaims "Here's Torchy".
• His Name Is...: Near the end of Painting the Town Red and Blue, the attempted White Fang defector Fifer starts to warn the heroes about the infiltration of Beacon, only for Cinder to snipe him with a Fire Dust arrow, incinerating him right before he can say her name.
• A House Divided: Ozpin's inner circle is pretty strongly divided both on whether to treat Eggman as an equal or greater threat to Salem, and whether to involve Sonic and his friends in the truth of everything that's happening.
• I Am Not Weasel: The townspeople that Sonic saves initially mistook him for a Faunus, even though he has no idea of the term. ^note It is unknown whether or not Sonic's species is referred to as "Mobians" or not.
• Impossible Theft: When Rogue first meets Weiss, she swiped not only her ID and sword but also her tiara and earrings, all without Weiss noticing, just to mess with her.
• Improperly Paranoid: Salem claims this is why Ozpin will not tell Sonic and company about her until it's too late. Due to his Dark and Troubled Past of needing to contain the Awful Truth about her, their past, and his mission, Ozpin will obsess over keeping all info about her away from them regardless of their ability, which in turn will cause them to distrust him.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite many more people being present for the Mountain Glenn investigation, their arrival still has the train colliding with Vale, and a Grimm incursion starting.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: The Sonic continuity utilized here is in line with the games, but some elements of the IDW continuity and some from Sonic X will be added.
• Karmic Jackpot: Sonic gets back on Cardin and his friends for bullying Velvet. Later on, when Eggman unleashes four of his gigantic Badniks onto Vale, Team CFVY, of which Velvet is part of, glady assists alongside Team SSSN.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: While Tails has constructed himself a weapon by the events of Volume 3, he has yet to reveal it to their friends since Sonic wants him to wait for a chance to show it off. The Beacon students react like many of the readers.
• Locked Out of the Loop: This forms the crux of the conflict between Sonic, his allies, and Ozpin. The latter is trying his best to keep them from interfering with his ongoing battle against Salem. Such secret-keeping reaches the point where not everyone in Sonic's team, including RWBY and JNPR, are 100% onboard with trusting him with information. Over time, they do slowly try and piece together information that brings about the true nature of their conflict. Case in point, they discuss the presence of an Alpha-Alpha Grimm who controls the others (Salem) as well as who exactly Penny is designed to defend against (she states that she's fighting against a greater evil who isn't Eggman; she barely even knew him).
• The Masquerade: Besides keeping the existence of Salem and magic secret, Ozpin is doing his best to pass Eggman off as a reclusive Mad Scientist and keep anyone outside of Beacon from learning of his and Sonic and company's extraterrestrial origins.
• Meaningful Name: Sonic and Shadow wield the swords Caliburn and Arondight respectively. Both swords are named after the primary swords of King Arthur and Lancelot, representing their status as The Hero and the Sixth Ranger.
• Multiple Head Case: In this story, the mutated Beowulves have three heads, and unless they're cut off, they'll continue to regenerate until their bodies are completely destroyed.
• Mutually Exclusive Magic: When Ozpin tries to awaken Sonic's Aura, he can tell that the hedgehog has a soul, but he is unable to awaken Sonic's Aura at all. Of course, given his Super-Speed powers that he already has, he doesn't really need an Aura or Semblance.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Sonic's backward running feat as well as his "sonic boom" are directly lifted from Sonic X.
    • Speaking of X, the entire set up is a nod to the first episode, down to including a flying vehicle with a spotlight trying to catch him; replace the Earth's police and the Speed team with the Ace-Ops.
  • When encouraging Jaune to stand up to Cardin, Knuckles suggests going for the groin as a weak point, which was a strategy he suggested at the climax of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022).
  • Shadow's sword is named Arondight, the famous sword of Lancelot from Arthurian legend. He played the role of Lancelot in Sonic and the Black Knight.
    • Knuckles gets the twin Galatine blades, the same blades he gets while playing the role of Sir Gawain.
  • An annoyed Sonic is displeased at the actions of class bully Cardin Winchester and his friends to the point that he makes the Hooligans look like class acts.
  • Dr. Eggman tries to convince Blake to join him over the proposition that she will be given a higher position, not unlike him trying to propose to Sara.
  • The first Eggman-created boss robot both heroes face? The Egg Cerberus. Only this time, it does have three heads like its mythological namesake. In addition to that, there are also Egg Flappers and Egg Gunners (also from Cerberus' game).
  • When Knuckles fights Roman Torchwick, when the latter mocks him for having no Aura, he recovers and rephrases his first line in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) trailer.
    Knuckles: Do I look like I need Aura?
  • During their battle against Metal Sonic, Ruby and Weiss had their weapons stolen mid-fight by the robotic doppelganger who then scans them both, effectively downloading their data. It's a subtle nod to Blazblue Cross Tag Battle (where Ruby and Weiss also appeared), and, as an inversion of the trend, had Yang and Blake as downloadable characters while Ruby and Weiss were the only ones in the base roster.
    • Metal Sonic wielding Crescent Rose evokes the image of the various times he's posed as the Grim Reaper, such as the 2015 Sonic Channel illustration of him and his alts in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle and other mobile games.
  • After saving Yang from a supposedly fatal slash by Metal Sonic, Sonic remarks how he has a thing for saving damsels. He did this for quite some time, saving Amy, Cream, and most notably Princess Elise.
  • Eggman using decoys of himself to pilot his machines is akin to how he did it in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie and Sonic Heroes.
  • Eggman's angry rant to Cinder after she attempted to kill Sonic at the end of Painting the Town Red and Blue is nearly verbatim to one he gave Doctor Starline under similar circumstances.
  • The fate of Knuckle's tribe sans him takes heavily from the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) version.
  • Sonic not seeing Zwei's appeal is practically the equivalent of his first meeting with Ozzy in Sonic the Hedgehog (2020).
  • Ruby at one point refers to Sonic as a "freedom fighter", which was the name of his team in Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) and Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics).
  • Ruby apologizes to the hero group for not being able to catch Cinder. Sonic reassures her to instead think about what they can do now, and ends his advice with "live and learn"; the title of Sonic Adventure 2 's theme tune.
  • Team's SSSN and CFVY working together during the Breach brings to mind their cooperation during RWBY: Before the Dawn.
  • Knuckles and Yang's spar includes the same exchange he had with Sonic during their first fight in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022). It ends as well for Yang as it did for Sonic.
    Knuckles: You're unskilled... Untrained... Undisciplined... And unworthy!
    Yang: You forgot one. Unstoppable!
  • Like in the movie continuity, Sonic was raised by Longclaw until she died in battle — though here, she was fighting alongside the Echidnas, not against them.
  • When Yang, distraught from her conversation with Knuckles regarding her Semblance, comes to talk with Sonic, the Blue Blur ends their conversation with a fist bump. "Fist Bump" is a notable title theme from Sonic Forces.
  • Sonic is a regular in the Super Smash Bros. series, and debuted in said crossover series the same entry as Solid Snake. As a bit of a nod to this, the climax of the Grimm Eclipse arc resembles the plot of Metal Gear Solid.
  • Knuckles asking how something as big as Amity Arena floats, and Tails going into a detailed explanation is reminiscent of when the echidna asked a similar question about Extreme Gear in Sonic Riders, right down to growing confused and asking him to stop.
  • When talking about how Neptune's hydrophobia is worse than Sonic's ever was, Sonic thinks back to his time in No Place.
  • When Yang questions why Sonic is especially afraid of the ocean given he's fast enough to run on water, he retorts that the waves and stormy weather makes it the equivalent of trying to run in the middle of an earthquake, a nod to his movie counterpart running into that exact problem.
  • When discussing their plan to gather intel, Rouge responds to Weiss sniping at her spying with "You may not like the way I do things, but I get things done."
  • Rouge gives Marrow a kiss on the cheek to distract him before throwing him out of the ring to eliminate him, like she did to Tails once.
  • When Rouge steals Harriet's capture device, she jokes that Harriet is into S&M, like she did in the original Japanese dub of Sonic X when Topaz approached her with handcuffs.
  • Just like in Sonic Prime, it's mentioned that Shadow insists that he has "air shoes", not roller skates.
  • In Chapter 29, Ruby picks up the famous "Gotta Go Fast" line.
  • In Chapter 30, Sonic gives Cinder "The Reason You Suck" Speech after she and her entire team are defeated, calling her a bully. who takes the easy nasty way out for a quick reward while he does things the right way and helps others. This is inspired from a similar speech he gave to Scourge in the comics.
• Named by the Adaptation: The White Fang Lieutenant is given the name "Fenrir Lokson" in this story.
• Not Hyperbole: When telling Ozpin about Eggman, Sonic notes that his 300-point IQ score is not an exaggeration, he's actually scored that high.
• Not Me This Time: When Weiss's credit card is rejected, she looks accusingly at Rouge, who had already stolen it from her. In response, the bat says she just took it from her and didn't have time to empty it out.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Shadow sees no difference between either side in the human and Faunus race conflict. Particularly regarding how the Schnee Dust Company and the White Fang treat members of the opposing side.
  • Knuckles notes similarities between himself and Blake, both being scions of violent xenophobic organizations that have renounced their predecessors' ways.
  • Sonic, Tails, and Amy remark how similar the Atlas military is to G.U.N., especially drawing comparisons between Ironwood and Commander Towers.
  • Just like Yang and Ruby, Knuckles lost a parent at a young age, and they clearly see the comparison when he tells them the story.
• Obvious Crossover Method: The story intersects the paths of both the Sonic and RWBY worlds through the Chaos Emeralds, only this time they work as intended, as opposed to the more common accident plot.
• Off with His Head!: The easiest way to slay Merlot's mutant Grimm in this story is to cut off their heads. Also the fate of Merlot by Metal Sonic in Chapter 22 to prevent him from leaking any sensitive information.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: One of the mutated Grimm encountered at Mountain Glenn is a Deathstalker with a Beowulf's upper half (with pincers instead of the normal claws) attached to where the head would normally be. Ren is even reminded of the Grimm that destroyed his home by the sight.
• Out-Gambitted: In Busted!, Tails manages to counter-hack Cinder's hacking of Beacon's systems, allowing the heroes to trick her team into thinking that Amber is being moved out of the city by train, luring the villains into a trap when they try to get to her.
• Pants-Pulling Prank: Sonic does this to all of Team CRDL when Cardin is bullying Velvet, stripping them all of their pants in a matter of seconds. He also goes the extra mile of hanging them all on a lamppost outside.
• Pass the Popcorn: In the first chapter, Cubot laments not having a mouth and stomach to pull this trope off.
• Plasma Cannon: By using Chaos Control to combine Fire and Lightning Dust, the heroes are able to create Plasma Dust in the hopes that it can destroy the Grimm pools.
• Punch Catch: Knuckles does this to Yang during their sparring match. This shocks her and almost everyone else watching since this particular punch was powered up by her Semblance.
• Revisiting the Roots:
  • After Code Prime and the J-WITCH Series opted to put the worlds of their respective franchises into one conjoined universe, the worlds of RWBY and Sonic the Hedgehog are once again separate dimensions. Once again, it takes a powerful element or object to ultimately travel through both worlds bidirectionally.
  • After it was absent as a central motif of the series following the J-WITCH Series, racism is back on the table in the form of Remnant's Human-Faunus conflict. Said motif took a backseat from Code Prime.
  • The RWBY side manages to bring back the fairy tale-side of the author's older crossovers, namely Frozen Turtles and Tangled With Ninja.
• Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Ozpin's inner circle is working hard to keep Sonic and his friends in the dark about their Secret War with Salem. And while they don't know the details, Teams Sonic and Dark have pieced together that Ozpin is keeping things from them, so now are highly suspicious of him and his allies.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Sonic and Shadow, along with Silver, remember the events of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), with Shadow thinking back to Mephiles when considering Sonic's "Alpha Grimm" theory.
• Running Gag: Rouge repeatedly stealing from Weiss, mainly to get a laugh out of her reaction.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Sonic's reaction to Cinder's Villainous Breakdown is to cut her off with a smack, and then to give her a brief "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  Cinder: WHO ARE YOU TO CHALLENGE ME?! 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...!
  (Sonic smacks her, then gets in her face with Tranquil Fury)
  Sonic: You're a bully, and that's it. Amber, Fife, they didn't deserve what you did to them. You take the easy, nasty way out and get the quick reward. Big whoop. 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.
• Spared by the Adaptation: When asked here on Deviantart, the author confirmed that Pyrrha and Penny will not die.
• There Was a Door: As a Running Gag, Sonic and Shadow keep entering and exiting Ozpin's office through the balcony instead of the door, even though the latter is left unlocked.
• This Isn't Heaven: After warping to Remnant, Cubot briefly thinks they've died and wonders if they're in Heaven. Orbot points out that can't be there since Dr. Eggman was with them. Eggman gives an understandable I'm Standing Right Here in response.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Ozpin has Sonic and company go into the forest along with the entering Beacon students, and though he allows them to help the students if they feel they need it, he asks them not to do all their work for them so they don't become too dependent on the help of others in the field.
• Too Much Information: Played for Laughs when Knuckles how the Vytal stadium can float, Tails starts launching into an explanation that goes over his head, prompting him to say that all he needs to know is that it works via Dust.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Played with.
  • Chapter 1 starts with Sonic and friends trying an attempted aversion by going to foil Eggman's plan before it gets off the ground. It fails.
  • In Chapter 2, they want to attempt another aversion, but the shuttle damage and Remnant's lack of space travel mean they have to play it straight.
• Villain Episode: Chapter 7, Alliances Under The Shattered Moon. While there's a brief interlude showing the heroes goofing off at the Academy, the chapter is mostly dedicated to showing how Eggman first arrived on Remnant and allied with Salem, and how the villains are currently planning their next move.
• Villain Takes an Interest:
  • Metal has figured out that Penny is a gynoid, but is actively keeping it from Eggman for some reason, and it's noted that the mad doctor would be very interested in her if he knew.
  • After seeing Ruby in the tournament, and how she's taking a lot after Sonic, Eggman becomes determined to destroy Ruby.
• Villain Team-Up: Contrary to expectations in and out of universe, Eggman and Salem are working together. General Ironwood even remarks about this to Professor Ozpin, but the latter insists on revealing the entire ordeal about Salem to Sonic and his allies.
• Villainous Breakdown: In Busted!, her team's total defeat by the heroes and being prevented from claiming the Fall Maiden powers causes Cinder to completely lose her shit, leaving her ranting about how she's The Chosen One until Sonic shuts her up with a smack to the face and a brief "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 6 reveals that Salem and Eggman have been working together, apparently the whole time.
  • Chapter 29 has Shadow and Raven clash, followed by Rouge discovering the body of Amber, the previous Fall Maiden, hidden underneath Beacon, cluing in on Ozpin's true motives.
  • Chapter 30. The heroes manage to learn about Ozpin's plans and even capture Cinder's group.
• Wham Line: Ozpin makes it a point not to have Salem and Dr. Eggman meet lest something disastrous might happen. Come Chapter 6...
  Eggman: And that's why ''our'' partnership is going to work. So, tell me, Salem...do you regret this little alliance of ours?
  Salem: Of course not, Doctor. It has opened so many possibilities for the both of us.
• What the Hell, Hero?: This seems to be quite the theme for Shadow.
  • First in Jaundice, he dresses down Jaune for his belief that he needs to get stronger on his own, especially since he more or less spat in the face of his friends who offered to help him.
  • Black and White and Red All Over: He shows Weiss a folder filled with information and images of just how bad Faunus are treated, before dismantling her claims of having been a victim and it excusing her own biases.
  • Let's Dance: He's furious when Ironwood says Fifer may have been lying about there being an infiltrator at Beacon, pointing out that he was a scared child, and had no reason to do so.
  • In The Best vs Better Shadow isn't happy at Qrow and Winter for having a destructive fight in the Beacon Courtyard, or for Ruby, Yang, and Weiss for cheering them on.
  • Shadow himself is on the receiving end of this from Jaune in the same chapter, who points out that despite distrusting Ozpin for withholding vital information from them, is doing the same himself by keeping the infiltrators identities a secret.
  • Upon learning the truth about the Maidens, Shadow and Rouge call out Ozpin and his group for pressuring Pyrrha into accepting the transfer of the Fall Maiden powers despite knowing the risks.
• Whole-Plot Reference: The climax of the Grimm Eclipse arc is one to Metal Gear Solid. The Arc Villain is a Mad Scientist working for Salem with a penchant for genetics, and genetics served as a key theme of the game, especially with regards to Liquid Snake and Solid Snake. In addition, it also debuts Mimic the Octopus, a member of the Diamond Cutters (who are canonical Expies of FOXHOUND) and he's the first antagonist the heroes encounter in the plot. Mimic's MGS counterpart Decoy Octopus is also the first FOXHOUND agent the heroes encounter (disguised as Donald Anderson). The primary setting from the forests near Mount Glenn, moves over to Merlot Island where the genetically-engineered Grimm are being withheld; a parallel to Shadow Moses Island and it storing Metal Gear REX.
• Wrong Context Magic: The abilities Sonic and company have are completely distinct from Aura. Ozpin's attempt to awaken Sonic's Aura does jack squat despite Ozpin being able to tell that he has a soul.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: We wouldn't have a story if Sonic and friends had managed to stop Eggman from warping his forces to Remnant.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Rouge's reaction when the fight with the White Fang members at the docks is interrupted by Eggman and his Badniks.
• You Remind Me of X:
  • Amy and the others are reminded of G.U.N. Commander Towers when they see Ironwood and the Atlas military.
  • Shadow notes that Pietro and Penny remind him of Gerald (before he went mad) and Maria.
  • Sonic notes that Winter reminds him of Blaze.
  • Tails is reminded of Big when fighting Clover who uses a fishing rod.
  • Qrow is reminded of his sister Raven when interacting with Shadow, which only furthers the animosity he has for the black hedgehog.

A Chibi Rose in the Classic Wind

• Bait-and-Switch: Mercury exchanges a glare match and trash talk with Metal Knuckles... right before the two start playing an arcade game.
• Commonality Connection: Eggman and Cinder quickly form a rapport over being Card Carrying Villains.
• Enemy Mine: After Heavy King is brought to life by the Phantom Ruby and turns on Eggman, he and the other villains ally with the heroes to find the Chaos Emeralds and use them to stop Heavy King from conquering the world.
• Lighter and Softer: Like the real Chibi, though unlike its source there is an ongoing story rather than a series of skits.
• Mad Bomber: Bean, as in canon. His first appearance has him add dynamite to a firework… that crashes into Roman and Neo.
• Mood-Swinger: Bean goes from depressed that Sonic didn't miss him to cheerfully trying to murder him and his new friends.
• Shout-Out:
  • Eggman leads Cinder's group to his other secret lab, and falls down a trapdoor when Mercury pulls the wrong lever, complete with the mad doctor exclaiming Yzma's iconic line.
    Eggman: WRONG LEVER!
  • Yang and Bark exchange Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs which she punctuates with "Ora ora ora" while he (mentally) does so with "Muda muda muda". The former doubles as a Mythology Gag given Yang's Japanese voice actress, Ami Koshimizu, made that into Yang's kia.
• Take That!: A bored out of his mind Sonic wonders just how many times he's run through Green Hill Zone.
• Tempting Fate: After Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles take out Mercury and Emerald, respectively, Cinder says that that's only two robots, only for Tails Doll to appear...
• Too Dumb to Live: Played for Laughs. Ren and Knuckles have to ask Nora not to remove the Master Emerald, the only thing preventing the island they're on from falling to the ocean, from it's pedestal, just to admire how shiny it is.

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