"Huh? What are you doing in my room?" The orange-haired man asks to Gudako, not having noticed Sonic yet.

"Your room?" Gudako asks, confused.

"Hey buddy, I don't know who you are... But I think you're lost." Sonic says, making his presence known.

The man looks at Sonic, takes time to process, before calmly saying, "huh... a blue humanoid thing."

Sonic and Gudako then look at each other before looking back at the man

"That went better than-"

The man then lets loose a blood curdling scream as he reaches for a tranquilizer gun somehow in his breast pocket.

He tries to shoot Sonic but the hog was too fast.

"Woah! Hey! Time out!" Sonic shouts at the man trying to knock him out.

After a minute or so, the man calms down.

"S-sorry about that... it's not everyday you see a... what...ever you are..."

"A hedgehog... I'm a hedgehog."

"Oh... aren't hedgehogs..."

"An ALIEN hedgehog."

"... Oh..."

"And before you can think about it, no, you may NOT use me in any of your crazy experiments."

"Huh? No, that's Da Vinci's thing. Me? I'm too lazy for that kind of thing."

The man stands up before clearing his throat. He then says, "I've botched up our initial meeting... so let's start anew. I am the head of the medical department, Dr. Romani Archaman, but you may call me Dr. Roman," while holding his hand out.

Instead of shaking his hand, Sonic instead asks, "if you're the head of the medical department, then why are you here?" which causes the man to physically recoil, hearing that.

Sonic then smirks and points, saying, "Hey doc, you're not slacking are ya?"

The man twitches hearing this before quickly averting his gaze.

"I-I'll have you know this is only a... a... schedules break..."

The man's reaction brings great amusement to the rodent who chuckles in response.

"Sure."

Having had his fun, Sonic decides to finally introduce himself and his friend.

"Anyways, I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog and my friend over there that's playing with Fou is Gudako Emiya."

The two finally shake hands. After, the man proceeds to walk towards Gudako, saying, "So that's Fou... Mash talks extensively about it but I've never seen it in person. I just thought she developed an imaginary friend."

"Fou! Fou!"

One look at Fou's eyes and one will immediately understand that those barks weren't to be cute, but are cries for help. With its tail being cuddled by Gudako, it desperately tries to escape the woman's grasp.

After a few more tugs, it escapes and jumps on Roman's head much to Gudako's frustration.

"Yay! The first animal to like me!" Roman cheers.

"Who's a good Fou? Who's a good Fou?" Roman tries to baby talk Fou, but the glare that the fox thing was giving him made it clear that he not push his luck.

"Boo, you're no fun..."

After Fou gets off, Roman goes ahead and sits on the empty bedside table, saying, "so I can guess why you two are here. Considering you're here specifically, I'm guessing good ol' miss director got set off by you two in some way, so she's pushing you here as well. That's actually also why I'm here."

"So... our bedroom is actually where she crams all her problems in huh?" Gudako says, frowning at that realization.

Sonic walks over to her before placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'd like to think it's where she places the people to cool for her to school."

Roman's eyes widen as he stammers out, "y-you think I'm c-cool?"

"Sure, why not?"

"W-well right back at you... dude..." Roman says while finger-gunning Sonic.

"Don't push it."

Suddenly, Roman's phone begins to ring. He picks up the call revealing it to be none other than Lev Lainur.

"Romani, we're gonna start the Rayshifting soon. Could you come just in case? The A Team's in perfect condition, but B Team on down is less experienced and they are displaying some slight abnormalities. It probably comes from anxiety. The inside of that Coffin is like a cockpit."

Gudako begins to stammer "co-co-cof-co-cof-"

"Hey Lev, I feel bad for them. Why don't I give them some anesthesia?"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah!" Sonic interject.

"Hold on, coffins?!" Sonic exclaims.

Both Lev and Roman proceed to answer, "uh... yeah?" As if it were the most normal thing in the world to stuff living and people into coffins.

"Oh riiight." Lev suddenly realizes, smacking himself in the head on the other side of the phone.

"Roman, if Mash is right, then they both slept during the meeting."

"Come again?"

"They slept. In front of Olga Marie Animusphere. While she was having a lecture."

Both men then go quiet before suddenly bursting into uproarious laughter.

However, Lev's laughter is cut short when a familiar shrill voice whines behind him.

"Yes, yes. Sorry Director. Anyways, as I said, I need you to come here to check up on them, pronto."

"Eurgh... fine..."

"And Romani?"

"Yes..."

"Explain to them the whole Rayshift thing on the way. The last thing we need is those two hyperventilating in a coffin."

"Oh yeah, that'd be a sight to behold."

"Romani."

"Yeah, yeah."

"If you're in the infirmary as you said you were, then you should be here in 2."

"Yeah, yeah. Over and out."

Facing back, the two rookies could now be seen with their knuckles on their hips with Gudako pouting and Sonic smirking.

"Say Doc, you really were slackin' off."

"Oh don't give me that, mr. 'I slept in the most important class'."

"Hey! At least we had Da Vinci's tranquilizers to blame?"

"Da Vinci?/ Da Vinki?" Sonic and Romani ask simultaneously.

"Oh? You didn't know?" Gudako asks Sonic who shakes his head in response.

"Well, see... as we were laying down in that bed, I kinda felt awkward. So, as I shifted slightly, the last thing I noticed before passing out is miss Da Vinci looking down at us with a mischievous smile on her face."

"So she drugged us..."

"Yes."

"Yeah, that would explain me dozing off earlier. I usually only pretend to doze off, I never actually doze off in important events."

"So... you two slept together then..."

"Uhuh?" Gudako answers, unsure where this conversation was heading.

"So are you two a thing... or..."

Sonic calmly shakes his head while Gudako has a full-on melt down as she squeaks out, "WHAT? NO! WE'RE JUST FRIENDS! WE WERE JUST FORCED BECAUSE THIS WAS THE ONLY ROOM LEFT YOU WEIRDO!"

"Oh good. I thought we had a sexual deviant on our hands. Mages are already a weird bunch. I don't want any further weirdness like that."

"I'M NAU-HAU-HAAAUUUUUGHT!" Gudako whines while throwing a fit. With a sigh, Sonic picks her up by the collar and drags her along.

Roman then gives an explanation nutshell of Rayshifting and coffins as well as an introduction to Near-Future lens Sheba.

While that was happening, something else was going on at the command center.

"Lev, what could be so funny as to make you laugh?" Animusphere asks, irritated at the disturbance his laughter caused.

"Sorry... it was just that Romani-"

"Oh... so it's THAT bastard again... i swear... when I get my hands on that man's neck I'll..."

"Since when were you so crass, miss Animusphere?"

The woman's eyes widen in realization of what she just said.

"Right... the daughter of a powerful mage should be prim and proper even under duress..."

"Do not fret, Olga. Your secret outburst is safe with me."

"And that's why you're my only friend in this stupid place..."

"Friend..." Lev suddenly ominously mutters.

Looking back at the man, Olga concernedly asks, "are... you ok?"

Much to her terror, Lev Lainur suddenly falls to floor coughing up blood.

"Lev!" She shouts. "Someone! Contact any medic on standby-"

"N-NO!" Lev shouts, his voice distorted and layered. "Get... everyone... away... from... ME!"

He then looks up. Half of his face morphed into a look of terror and anguish, the other into a monster trying to break free.

"Lai...nur... why... are... you... struggling.?! You're... suppose... to be... dead!"

"Olga... get... away... from me..."

Frozen from terror, Olga falls to the floor screaming at Lev progressively turning more beastly.

"You should've done as he said my sweet stupid girl!" The evil side speaks as he pulls out a switch.

Back with Sonic and company...

"So why DID you call the rayshifting devices coffins?"

"I dunno. I didn't name it! Besides, it sounds pretty metal doesn't it?"

Gudako who had now stood up, asks her own question. "No, it makes it sound like you're planning to send us into an early grave..."

"Because he already has..." a terrifying voice says behind the four of them.

Sonic had just about enough time to tank the hit for Gudako and Romani when Infinite suddenly comes in with the flying dropkick, slamming Sonic into the wall.

As Gudako rushes to get Sonic, Romani stops her despite her protests, knowing neither of them can win.

In sadistic glee, Infinite then tells the two, "don't worry, he won't die here. I still need him to see his efforts fail absolutely."

Infinite would proceed to rip the emeralds out of Sonic's soul, rematerializing all 7 of them from the ether.

"The emeralds..." Gudako whispers in horror as Infinite flies away.

"Huh? What?! What's going on?! And did that evil Sonic have Zelretch's jeweled sword on him?!"

"In a nutshell those things are basically Sonic's world's version of the jeweled sword since they allow him to do true magic."

"What?! Why didn't either of you tell me any of this?!" Romani says while helping Sonic up.

"Well, those emeralds, the Chaos Emeralds, actually went inert so we thought those were basically useless until that guy did... that. We also thought Zelretch killed that guy! He implied as much."

"And also how are you able to chat so casually with ZELRETCH of all people?!"

Sonic coughs before interjecting.

"We REALLY have bigger problems here."

"Right, let's-"

A series of explosions occur where the Command Center was. This is soon followed by blaring red lights and deafening alarms.

The automated voice alarm plays a repeated message soon after.

"Emergency. Emergency. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and the Central Command Room. Central Area's containment wall will activate in 90 seconds. All staff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once. Containment wall will close in 40 seconds Those remain in Central Area, evacuate immediately."

"Mash!" Sonic gasps before running off despite his poor state.

Heading to the nearest terminal, the doctor proceeds to access the camera to the command center only to see it ablaze.

"Dr. Roman! We have to help!"

"Emiya, I have to help, YOU have to evacuate. The command center's ablaze and the containment wall is about to close!"

Gudako's fearful expression however suddenly turns blank, her gaze focused and steeled.

"Sorry, Roman... I have a friends to save..."

Romani gasps as memory from a time unknown flashed in his head. A memory where it was not the Saber servant he would fear, but the equally aggressive red-haired master that fought alongside his servant. The blazing red hair that stood amidst the flames, the hardened bronze eyes that dare the fires of hell themselves to try their damn best to melt it. He shakes off that strange vision only to realize... Gudako was gone...

"Fou!"

"Huh?"

"Fou!"

"But you're pointing to the wrong hall. The escape is-"

"Fou!" Fou proceeds to run after Gudako despite his earlier misgivings with the obsessive woman.

"Wait! I... urrgh! Fine! I have no time to stop em so I'll do my best to stabilize this place!" With that, Roman heads off to the generators after hearing the ambient warnings say something about the generators halting as well.

Entering the Central Command, Sonic begins looking for survivors, and despite his injuries from Infinite, he forces his body to help those that were still alive. But with how heavy the hit was, he couldn't do much anyways. But he manages to save over a dozen of the random staff members who were caught.

However, his heart sank the moment he saw a familiar mop of purple hair, facing down with arms splayed outward.

"N-No!"

With a surge of Adrenaline, he jumps upward and fires an energy blast with a kick, smashing the rubble. This seems to rouse the young girl who begins looking around in confusion and fear.

Sonic immediately comes to her rescue, trying to pull her out.

"S-senpai?"

"Hang on... I'll get you outta here... just hold on!"

"Senpai... it's too dangerous... I'm too injured... it's... not... worth it..." Mash begs Sonic.

"Nu-uh. You're not croaking yet."

As Sonic struggles to pull Mash away from the wreckage to where he placed the others, the sounds around him dulled for him. He was fighting even now. He was fighting against time. He was fighting against the closing hatches. He was fighting through the pain as well as the suffocation from the smoke so his brain was forcing him to drown out all unnecessary senses. However, that would be its undoing.

A blast of wind suddenly hits Mash and Sonic launching them into the floor. Sonic groans trying to recover, only to see Mash in more pain.

Sonic runs up to Mash and holds her up.

"Mash, Mash! Stay with me!"

"I'm... I'll be fine Senpai..."

Just then, Sonic hears the sound of ominous laughter behind him. Looking around, he finally spots the source... or rather... sources.

Standing before him were two individuals... the first was Infinite, looming in front of him, sadistic glee oozing from the expression told by his one visible eye; and the other was...

"Lev..?" Sonic asks in disbelief.

However, he notices how one eye of Lev showed fear just as it was consumed by and replaced by a manic red eye.

"The one you call Lev is no more... your strange otherwordly power may have extended his existence for a mere few minutes but it changes nothing... rather with my new... partner here... it will only be further cemented. Witness, for yours shall be the only eyes to behold humanity's final breath."

After laughing once again, the man that was once Lev Lainur then mockingly challenges Sonic.

"What will you do now, inhuman final master of Chaldea? What will you do now?"

Sonic grits his teeth preparing for Infinite to finish him off, only for a chunk of concrete to fly towards the two. Of course, that much was never going to be a problem for either of these two monsters, but it did get their attention.

"Hey! I'm still here, buster!"

Gudako suddenly makes her arrival known, standing atop a piece of rubble with a challenging grin on her face.

However, this show of bravery from the girl only drew a chuckle from Infinite and Lev.

"Come now, friend. We get to watch the hedgehog feel despair as he fails to save TWO of his closest companions."

The two then leave through red portals created by Infinite. Gudako's optimism suddenly drops hearing that.

"What... did he mean by that?"

"GUDAKO!"

"EEP!"

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"

"I... I just..."

"You what? You thought you could play hero?! THIS IS NOT A FAIRYTALE AMY!"

Sonic's eyes widen after seeing tears fall on the floor below Gudako.

"I... I know... Sonic... I know I'm not strong... I'm not fast... I don't have super powers... I'm just... a normal person... but I saw you HURT Sonic! You were one of my only friends ever and I saw you hurt! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't help you... so you can get angry at me all you want! You can even call me this Amy person as many times as you want! I'm not leaving you behind!"

"Gudako..."

The flaming room begins to glow a deeper shade of red as the Rayshifting device activates behind them while various errors are detected.

"My bad... I shouldn't have yelled..."

Making her way to Sonic, Gudako would proceed to help prop the hedgehog and their purple-haired Kouhai against a wall. As the three sat along the wall, Sonic says, "considering we're probably about to die soon... do you guys have any last thing to blurt out?"

Mash starts saying, "I... envy you two... your relationship... none of Dr. Romani's smuggled novelas come close to how real you two are."

Gudako would proceed to chuckle while coughing from the smoke. At any other moment, she would've felt awkward if someone told her how close she and Sonic looked. But she is too sapped by the smoke to put up that kind of reaction.

"Really? Then those must be some trashy novelas. I literally met this guy like yesterday. We haven't done shit since then..."

Sonic then raises his hand.

"My turn then... I'm just... sorry I dragged you two into this mess... if I had Chaos controlled somewhere else... Infinite would've followed me elsewhere... neither of you would be in this situation and, Humanity and Earth would be saved."

"Don't... say that... Sonic, these are forces beyond your control..."

"Exactly, Senpai... the best you can do is control how you react to a situation."

Sonic chuckles hearing this from both of them.

"Yeah... I guess you're right... life is just about living and learning..."

Gudako then raises her hand just as the machine begins to glow, slowly engulfing the three in light.

"You know how you stayed in my house, Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"If we survive and we get to find a way to return you home... I want to go to your place... I really want to stay in your house..."

The light consumes the three in a blinding red burst.