Sonic could be seen running across an endless void once more.

"So uh... Gaia? Alaya? Mind telling me why I'm back here?"

"I cannot crush it... it hides from me." Gaia speaks.

"Huh?"

"The red light, the hidden one. It comes for you." Alaya follows up, sounding like it has emotions for once. Those emotions being fear and alarm.

"The red light... you don't mean-"

The hedgehog screams awake, looking frantically everywhere. Huh... he was still at Gudako's place... maybe that wasn't them this time... maybe it was just his own anxieties this time around...

A moment later, Sonic's nose perks up. What is that lovely smell?

Walking to the source, Sonic happens upon Gudako cooking in the kitchen while Zelretch was enjoying his meal in the nearby dining table.

"Shimply difine!" Zelretch mumbles in the middle of eating. "Zhau Emiya cooking shruly lifs om!"

Gudako chuckles rubbing her neck.

"Stop it you. I'm not my dad's level yet."

Sonic finally makes his presence known as he says, "remember our talk last night? Be the best you, not the best them."

"Oh! Sonic! Glad you could make it! I'd be worried if Zelretch-sama finished everything before you could arrive."

Sonic walks to the table and sits. "So what do you have here?"

"I'm glad you ask! Since I didn't know what alien hedgehogs ate, so aside from the regular things I cook, I decided to add a mix of meats and vegetables as well. Let's see... we have chop suey, ratatouille, piroshki, pork stroganoff, and some classic sushi. So... like what you see?"

"Do I like it? I love it, Amy!- er... Guda... ko..."

"Amy eh? Your girlfriend?" Gudako teases to which Zelretch childishly goes, "Ooooooh?"

"Not... really... no? She's like a... former super fan of mine who became one of my closest buddies. Besides, I'm 20, she's 16. That's no good."

Despite playing it off as a joke, Gudako would notice the tiny changes in Sonic's mood. It was pretty clear he is actually distraught by all this.

She sighs before walking up to the distracted hedgehog and shoving a wooden spoon filled with chop suey in his mouth. Sonic panics but then realizes what was going on and begins chewing.

"Wha wush scha fo?"

"That was for being a hypocrite and beating yourself up after what we did last night."

"~Oh? You two did something last night? Oh my, Emiya.~"

"WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE IMPLYING OLD MAN?!"

Zelretch covers his mouth, saying, "I dunno. You tell me."

Gudako's eyes cast a psychotic glint as she quickly embargoes Zelretch's food. The vampiric wizard's smugness quickly morphs into horrified pleading, as he said, "PLEASE! DON'T TAKE AWAY MY STROGANOFF! I'M SORRY!"

Sonic watches the antics of the two unfold, chuckling from the side as he ate. He could almost say this chop suey stuff was on its way to surpass chili dogs... but he'd never do that. He's loyal.

Suddenly, their peace is disturbed when a red cube suddenly flies through the roof, landing in the middle of the table.

Seeing this, the three rush outside with Zelretch wielding his jeweled sword, and Gudako, a single shot sawn-off rifle called the Thompson Contender.

Looking up, they would notice a humanoid creature similar in proportions to Sonic. However, aside from that, the two were completely different. Black fur, a pristine steel mask, long white flowing hair, clawed gloves, and a red sword.

"Hello... Sonic."

Sonic greets his teeth, saying, "Infinite..."

"I'm surprised you remember me. Oh wait... I'm not! After all, I am your greatest opponent."

"No, that song that plays everywhere you show yourself is still playing."

Infinite then looks at one of the red cubes around himself just as it sings, "And that's what it takes to be Infi-" and dismisses it.

"You know, the only reason you got to me yesterday was because even though I was in Super Sonic form, I was SUPER tired already."

Without missing a bit, Infinite fires back.

"And where's Super Sonic now?"

Sonic briefly grits his teeth before smirking. "I didn't need it back then, I'm not gonna need it now!"

Sonic proceeds to run in the direction of Infinite, dodging the cubes by the hundreds. Gudako tries to stop Sonic, but Zelretch stops her from interfering.

Despite Sonic's best effort and combat style upgrade from his time in Cyberspace, he gets overwhelmed when Infinite created and rushed him with even more cubes.

"Are you sure about that? I haven't even shown you the extent of my NEW powers!"

Infinite proceeds to uppercut Sonic in the guts with one of the cubes, launching him into the air. The jackal then proceeds to play volleyball with the hedgehog's body, bouncing him up, down, left, right and diagonally. After setting him up, Infinite then clenches his claws together, commanding the cubes to crush the blue blur.

However, Sonic gets yanked through a rift and pulled out the other side by Zelretch.

Gudako aims the Thompson Contender at Infinite and fires it. The sheer recoil shatters her wrist, making her scream in pain, but the actual shot has no effect as its bullet merely ricochets off of one of the cubes. Due to the gun's age and poor upkeep during Gudako's ownership of it, the rest of the gun also splinters off.

The old vampire then proceeds to tell Gudako, "step through the portal with Sonic, I'll deal with this nuisance." Gudako nods and carries Sonic through. But before she could pass through fully, Zelretch stops her, saying, "oh and you might need this." He then gives the girl a white uniform.

He then pushes the girl through before facing Infinite.

"Oh? You dare face me, old man?"

Zelretch chuckles before looking Infinite in the eyes. "Believe me. It's not that I am facing you, rather. It will be that you'll have to try and survive me."

As he walks forward, he brandishes his jeweled blade.

As Sonic and Gudako fall into the other side, they are greeted by a large white laboratory area filled with hundreds of people. Due to the peculiarity of their method of entry, all eyes were on them. And it is due to this, that all eyes soon move to Sonic.

Everyone... was quiet. Not knowing how to go about this, everyone, including Sonic and Gudako were placed into a standstill.

However, that standstill would not last as a shrill voice shouts something from the back of the crowd.

"What do you bozos think you're gawking around for?! Do you think I pay you to-"

The owner of the voice finally arrives and appears to be a white-haired girl with amber eyes. After locking eyes with Sonic, she froze, only managing to say the rest of her words through sheer will.

"Slack... off..."

She too freezes up... but unlike everyone else, she quickly thaws, screaming at Sonic as if he were a cockroach .

"WHAT IS THAT THING?! KILL IT! KILL IIIIIT!"

This manages to snap everyone out, making the two raise their fists in self defence and the whole place raise glowing hands.

A woman with brown hair and a striking mechanical gauntlet soon arrives, saying, "Calm down everyone. Do you not see what we have here?"

This confuses everyone, prompting the woman to further explain.

"What we have here is a specimen of an undocumented creature from the reverse side that managed to reenact 2nd true magic. It would be a shame if you lot killed it before I can examine it."

The white-haired girl from earlier then gasps in shock.

"Wait! This is what the Wizard Marshall was saying yesterday! This is the mysterious being that enacted the 2nd True Magic yesterday!"

As the look of interest begins to grow, Sonic then tells Gudako, "Stand back!"

"Oh, it speaks English." The gauntleted woman says with further interest in Sonic.

"Yeah, and if you're plannin' to lock me up, then think again. I ain't someone's guinea pig."

Suddenly, a hand reaches out from behind Sonic, making the hedgehog almost apply lethal force from panic.

"Indeed. He's here to help stop the incineration."

The mages then gasp collectively as Zelretch appears behind Sonic and Gudako with very heavy damage which was quickly healing.

"Kischur Z-Zelretch Sweinorg!" The white-haired girl mumbles out.

"Zelretch-sama!/Zelretch!" Gudako and Sonic cheer.

"The one and only." Zelretch smugly smirks.

The man then walks in between the two and the crowd, saying, "due to the fact that I am a dead apostle ancestor, I am no longer able to help against the incineration of humanity. This is why I have chosen to sponsor these two as I believe they both have what it takes to become master to aid humanity. Now let us through."

Wordlessly, the crowd parts like the dead sea did for Moses. As the three pass halfway, the white-haired girl from earlier suddenly, speaks up. "H-Hold it!"

"Indeed you are a dead apostle ancestor, an enemy of humanity. So why should we take your advice and allow these two in? For all we know, these two might act as saboteurs to Chaldea!"

"Hmm... that is indeed a conundrum... howbout this, why don't you let them rest for a bit. After they've recovered, you test them. Sound good?"

The lady proceeds to ponder upon this only for the gauntleted woman from earlier to pressure her by hopping up and down excitedly.

"... FINE! I... suppose that's fair..."

With a sigh, the white-haired girl snaps and asks her brown-haired compatriot, "Da Vinci, take em to a spare sleeping quarters."

"Aye, aye~" she then giddily drags the hedgehog and the red-head away.

As the three move, 'Da Vinci' begins launching a barrage of questions at Sonic.

"What's the reverse side like?"

"How do you know how to access true magic?"

"Do you know 'the way'?"

"How do your eyes work exactly?"

These were only some of the questions that this woman was blurting out to Sonic. However, seeing that Sonic seems to be struggling even just walking, Gudako decides to step up.

"Miss... uh... Da Vinci was it? Could... you please stop? He's kinda hurt? I-I don't think he's in the mood yet to answer."

"Oh! My apologies, hahahaha! Right! But after you both finish recovering, you HAVE to answer me. Okay?"

Gudako looks uncertainly at Sonic only for the blue hedgehog to smirk assuredly.

"That's fine. It's not my first time having paparazzi after all."

The two are then led into a row of bedrooms where the two are assigned the one furthest from the entry of the place.

"Uh... sorry about that... we were expecting only one final candidate. You two may have to share the bed."

Gudako turns beet red hearing this, screeching out, "w-what?!" Meanwhile, Sonic, not finding anything in this only sighs. Man, saving worlds can sure be a hassle sometimes.

The two get inside the one bed which was thankfully large enough for both of them, and go to sleep, with Gudako having slightly more trouble due to being flustered.

As they go to rest, Da Vinci then happily but quietly strides into their room before hovering her hand above their heads. "Test, begin." She whispers, administering a sedative gas while applying hypnosis on the two.

She would proceed to place two metal helmets that look like very much like high tech tin foil hats on both of their heads.

She whistles as she operates a computer on her gauntlet arm, activating both the hat and a healing magecraft embedded within the cot so that the two's recovery would be expedited.

"Ready... start~"

Gudako and Sonic would soon find themselves transported into a large plains area. In front of them was a railway where two tracks lay. On one end, there is a man tied and bound, on the other were 3 others. And they are given only enough time to pull the lever. But to do so, would be killing the one person. Furthermore, they were both given the base human settings so any magecraft or physical advantage either had was removed.

The two, as Da Vinci expected, chose to do the hard decision and killed the one to save the many. Gudako cried in her simulation after doing this, while Sonic only watched solemnly in his.

Da Vinci would then proceed to administer amnestics on the two so that she can test them further without being hindered by their previous test. She would then go on to test various other things about them.

After her tests, she compiled them all with the final output being.

               Sonic                  Gudako Emiya

STR            C                                 F
AGI             A                                 F
Luck          A                                EX
END           B                                 E
Mana         B                                D
Tactic        D                                A

After finishing up, she then whistles happily before walking away to let them rest properly. However, as she gets out of their sleeping area, her hand is grabbed by a familiar old man.

"Oh? You are still here Wizard Marshall?"

"I am, and I would just like to let you know I heavily disagree with your method of testing them."

Da Vinci, not even slightly perturbed, confidently answers, "be that as it may, the results are in and the two have proven themselves in different ways. The self-proclaimed hedgehog is a subpar master but a top notch fighter on the level of a servant, while the girl is the complete opposite. She lacks any sort of combat capability but has tactical acumen in spades."

"I see..." there was a definitive pride in his voice after hearing of Gudako's results.

"If that is all... I suppose I will be taking my leave." Zelretch says, relieved that the two seemed to be under consideration already.

The man proceeds to walk away from Chaldea with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Tohsaka, Emiya, your sacrifice won't be in vain after all... you're daughter will grow up to save the world after all."

However-

SHING!

Zelretch watches in shock as half his face falls off, the wound cauterized by a red glitchy light.

"Oh I wouldn't say that." Infinite smugly says as he proceeds to physically dismantle Zelretch into multiple tiny chunks.

"How... did... you..." Zelretch gasps out.

"Simply put, the Phantom Ruby's ability allows me to trick the world into thinking I'm not there. In short, I possess illusions that no one from this world can dispel."

"So... you're telling me... this is merely an illusion then?"

"Indeed. One so believable that even if you know, you won't be able to dispel. However, illusions aren't the only thing I can do."

He then proceeds to teleport Zelretch into a black void, saying, "to the Null Space with you."

The only thing he leaves behind is the jeweled blade which he picks up and places on his belt where a sword sheath once considered home.

"I may not be able to use it... but I won't make the same mistake of storing a key with the prisoner. Now... let us see this... Chaldea shall we?"

He then vanishes as he walks into Chaldea.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Sonic and Gudako are both rudely awakened by an alarm. Gudako would proceed to change into the uniform while Sonic does not. (Due in part to the fact that no uniform exists in his size or proportion.)

They both exist their dorms, groggily greeting each other.

"Man, that was a tough sleep..."

"You tell me... I feel like I lost all my money gambling into a gacha..."

"Hey, hey you two!" Da Vinci suddenly appears. "You two passed!"

"Huh??/Huh?!"

"You see, I took the liberty of testing you both in your sleep and you passed!"

Gudako, unsure how to feel about this, nervously answers, "thanks... I guess?"

Sonic, knowing exactly how he feels, leers at Da Vinci, saying, "Isn't that an invasion of privacy?"

"Congratulations~" Da Vinci says, not once paying attention to Sonic's criticism.

"Now, since this is your first time here, I have sent someone to be your guide. Say hello, Mash."

"Good morning senpais." A new figure greets. The new person was a timid-looking purple-haired girl with a gray jacket and glasses.

"Senpai..? Are you Japanese as well?"

"No, but Dr. Romani likes to talk to me about his animes... wait, you two have not met Dr. Romani yet... f-follow me please."

"Fou!"

Everyone's attention is diverted towards the sudden appearance of a tiny white squirrel... dog... fox... thing. This creature would proceed to jump on top of Gudako making her giggle.

"Woah! Hey there little guy!"

Mash would proceed to politely introduce the new arrival.

"This is Fou. He is a privileged life form allowed to walk freely around Chaldea."

"Why hello there you cute widdle thing, my name is Gudako..." she says as she immediately plops to the floor to play with Fou's tiny paws.

"The name's Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Greetings, I am Mash Kyrielight. And... pardon for asking, but... are you a similar existence as Fou, Sonic?"

"No, not really. Never seen anything like him before."

"I see... forgive my rudeness." Mash says bowing down.

"Woah! Hey! No need to be so formal around me." Sonic says.

"Anyways... speaking of questions..." Da Vinci ponders before getting all up Sonic's face with a notepad and pencil.

Sonic rolls his eyes. This was going to be a long afternoon, wasn't it?

"E-excuse me everyone, but we should really go now. We wouldn't want to annoy the Director."

This brings a smile to Sonic's face but a pout to Da Vinci's.

"W-Well, I suppose you may ask your questions on the way there."

This brings a smile to Da Vinci's face but a look of disbelief to Sonic's.

With that, the five of them begin making their way towards the control area for their debriefing. While Gudako was busy cuddling against Fou, Sonic was forced into the most in-depth interview he was given. Past him would've just scrambled... but he's older now...

As they walk onward, Gudako suddenly bumps into a new person.

"O-oh! Sorry about that!" Gudako apologizes.

The new figure would proceed to smile at her, saying, "it is alright. Although... I have never seen anyone interact so frivolously with Fou save for Mash."

"O-Oh! Where are my manners?" Gudako panickedly says.

"My name is Gudako Emiya, newbie master of Chaldea."

She proceeds to bow so rapidly that she accidentally launches Fou behind her, prompting Sonic to grab him with a homing attack.

"Phew! That was close!"

"Splendid!" The stranger cheers while clapping. "And who might you be, blue one?"

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." He says, thinking to himself, 'I hope I don't have to introduce myself anymore than this.'

The man then nods, before introducing himself.

"I am Lev Lainur, one of the technicians hired to oversee this operation."

The man would then proceed to look at his wristwatch before saying, "now you lot should hurry on now. The Director's orientation will begin soon."

Sonic then asks, "By director, do you mean the white-haired lady with a voice stuck at full volume?"

Da Vinci mutters, "oh my~ we got a brave one here~" impressed that someone has the guts to talk this way to such an imposing figure.

"Oh? You've met her?" Lev says surprised. "Yeah, well... if you do not wish to have trouble then I suggest you hurry on now. The director can be quite vindictive and will have you on close watch if you so much as arrive five minutes late."

Sonic groans hearing this. "Great... just dandy... Well, anyways, see ya later, Lev."

"If you need anything from me, you will find me roaming the halls. As a technician, I have to constantly be on the look-out after all."

As they leave, Sonic would mutter to himself, "that guy... doesn't smell human..." before shrugging it off. He'd be a hypocrite for calling that out after all.

After arriving, the two would arrive in a room akin to a collegiate podium. There they would see that same girl from earlier about to perform a speech.

"Welcome to the command centre, senpais."

"Say Gudako, Sonic, look at your right collar and right glove respectively." Da Vinci says. The two proceed to do so and see numbers on them.

"While you were sleeping, I attached stickers made with randomly generated numbers. Those will be your seating assignment for the introduction."

Mash proceeds to look at these numbers before looking at the chairs.

"Let's see... your chairs are... aha, the front row."

"Well, since I've gotten everything I needed from Sonic, I will be taking my leave. Ciao~" with that, Da Vinci leaves the trio to the wolves... or rather, the director.

"Ah, so you two have finally arrived. Took you long enough, but whatever..." the white-haired lady says, annoyed.

"Welcome everyone to Special Organization, Chaldea. I am the director, Olga Asmleit Animusphere."

She then looks around before leering specifically at the tardy two. After a short while, she proceeds with her speech. However, a funny thing about sedatives, whether that be medical or magical, is that it usually leaves with a side effect. And it is due to this very side effect that Sonic and Gudako begin to fall asleep, getting drowsier and drowsier.

"Senpai?" Mash asks as the two begin to lay on their desks and doze off from the sedative. An unknown amount of time passes and the two are rudely awakened by a pain that shoots through their cheeks. Waking up, the two would notice that they were both being carried away.

Looking up, the two would notice Mash is the one carrying both of them. Furthermore, she seemed to be doing this without much effort.

"Huh? Mash..?" Gudako groggily asks to which Mash exclaims, "oh, you've awoken! It seems that Ms. Animusphere's slap woke you two up after all."

"Where... are you taking us exactly?" Sonic asks as well.

"Back to your dorm room of course, senpai."

"What about the meeting?" Gudako asks.

"Well, Miss Animusphere became absolutely livid seeing you two doze off so she's starting the Rayshifting without us."

"What's... Rayshifting?"

"That... was part of the talk..."

"Oh..."

"Fou!" Fou shouts as he jumps on Mash's face, making her drop Sonic and Gudako.

The two look worriedly as Fou runs all across Mash like a squirrel using a tree to escape a predator.

"This... this is normal senpais. Don't worry about it! He does this all the time!"

However, Fou suddenly does something that shocks Mash as he curls around the purple-haired girl's face while leering at the two.

"Huh... he's never done this before..."

Sonic smirks while staring Fou down but Gudako looks absolutely giddy seeing this. She then jumps at Fou, saying, "D'AAAAAWWW! HE'S JEHWOHS! THASSO ADORABLLLLEEEEE!"

Gudako would proceed to tackle both Mash and Fou to the floor. Mash watches in panic as the red-head clings on to Fou who begins to panic away from Gudako's grasp. However, after seeing no real damage caused, Mash calmed down and just smiled after seeing the red-haired girl wrestle the fox dog rabbit with affection.

"I-If that is all, I will be going now. I am needed elsewhere." Mash says while bowing.

"Actually, I do have one thing to ask, Mash." Sonic speaks up.

"Hm?"

"I just wanted to know... why do you call us Senpai? We haven't been here for long exactly."

"Well... everyone above 17 is my Senpai. But I call you two that specifically because... you two are the most human-like person I know."

This confuses Sonic even more.

"I'm... not human."

"Oh! Apologies. What I meant to say is that I do not feel threatened by you two."

"So you're saying, you feel welcome with us?"

"Yes."

Sonic smiles hearing this. Seeing Mash smile back, his vision flashes to a vision of Tails. He then remembers that this isn't some game. He's still stuck far away from his friends. To hide the pain, Sonic does as Sonic does best and quips.

"Sounds like the others are a real piece of work then."

"W-what! N-no! That's not it! I'm sure they're very nice and-"

"Don't you have a place to get to?"

"A-ah! Right!"

Stiffly, Mash walks off with a bow.

With nothing left to converse about, Sonic drags Gudako and Fou back to the bedroom. With any luck, the Director would change her mind.

As the door closes behind them, the two would hear snoring get cut off in one of the beds.

"Huh- wha? Who's there?"

The three would come in contact with one of the most renowned cryptids to stalk the busy halls of Chaldea...

A slacker.