Camelot Castle - Grand Kingdom
Room of the Round Table


Flavio entered the Round Table room/Throne Room in his Camelot armor, with his trusted sword Nostalgia on his hand, gripped firmly in tension. His face said everything about the scenario he was in: he did NOT see it coming at ALL. The armor was a demand from Lady Nimue herself, as well as the sword in hand, for the request she made was very clear.

A final test.

"Soooo, helping to defeat a giant dragon with my brains and not by slashing about at it with my sword either doesn't count as much, or they wanna be darn sure I'm capable. I never understood these medieval trials... 'Come to the Round Table Room', she said, 'Come for your last test, and the delivery of your title among Camelot.' I just hope this is worth it..."

He walked towards the Round Table itself and sat down on the chair belonging to Sir Lancelot, waiting for anyone to approach. The room was empty, only the sunlight shining through the stained glass behind the King's Throne was there to make company.

Silence was broken, however, when the door to the room opened once more, revealing Sonic the Hedgehog himself wearing his gauntlet, Caliburn gripped tightly as well.

"Well, looks like you came!" said Sonic as he closed the door, grinning as he usually does.

"Well yeah, it was kind of a request by the Lady of the Lake?" said Flavio. "Big deal, ya know, he he..."

"Glad to see you are cheerful, young warrior." said Caliburn. "For the test, it demands high of you..."

Flavio was taken back by that, partially. He knew the test should be something big, but the way Caliburn said it, it seemed it could even cost him his life.

"H-how high, exactly?" asked Flavio.

There was no time to explain, however, as a bright light erupted from behind the entrance door.

"What is that!?" said Flavio, preparing himself.

Sonic just lowered his head for a sec, smiling sadly.

"The other Knights' swords..." said the hedgehog as he got into a battle stance.

Immediately, the Excalibur Sonic armor formed around his body, his long red cape flowing behind as his golden shine rivaled the glow of the stained glasses behind the throne. Excalibur itself was also imposing, beautifully decorated and adorned, emphasizing his power.

Flavio stepped back, baffled by the revelation. He was often naive, but not a total moron. Anyone could have put two and two together in that scene.

"No freaking way..." he said.

"We warned that this would demand much of you." said Excalibur. "For the final test, thou must raise thy bravery, and defeat His Majesty himself in battle."

Flavio stepped back once, but then sighed in deep.

"Well..." he said. "I did kinda know it would come to this..."

He raised his head up with a big smile. Sonic smiled back, his visor still raised, allowing Flavio to see he was smiling back.

"I'll try goin' soft a bit." said Sonic.

"Sire, I am afraid your all must be put into this." said Excalibur.

"Hey, Sonic, no softening!"

The two looked at the teen.

"Yeah, you're my idol and all..." he said, grinning. "But if we must fight, we will fight. And 'sides, it's a friendly battle, it ain't to death!"

He got into his battle stance.

"So no softening up, Blue!" he said. "Hit me with all you've got!"

Sonic grinned.

"Now THAT'S the spirit!" he said.

His visor lowered as he raised his sword and dashed, beginning the battle. Flavio blocked, deflecting Excalibur's blow and went for a downward slash, which Excalibur blocked as well. The fight went on pretty smoothly, with each of the combatants locking swords here and there, blocking expertly using everything that was taught to them. The teenager fought quickly and swiftly, doing impressive movements he learned from several years of playing video games and watching movies about knights and sword-fighting, pulling off the right maneuvers for a sword such as Nostalgia.

After a while, Sonic backed away a good distance and made some gestures with his hands, which resulted in several light swords being fired, these ones golden. Flavio gasped and dodged.

"I don't remember you doing that in the game!" said Flavio.

"There IS a lot that they don't show, ya know..." mocked the hedgehog.

He fired some more and Flavio jumped out of the way. The teen fired his own swords back at him, but Sonic easily sidestepped out of the way as he ran towards the boy. Flavio raised his sword to block, but the impact Excalibur did was strong enough to send him back a bit from recoil.

It was at this point that Sonic began levitating off the ground.

"Training, remember your training...!" said Flavio to himself.

He basically just resorted to Light Swords as this part of the battle began, but Sonic was easily countering with his own swords, not a single one of Flavio's was hitting him. He was also dodging like a maniac as Sonic performed what the teen could only describe as some sort of "Omnislash-like" move.

"He is balancing the fight well!" said Excalibur to his wielder. "But sire, I believe it is time to truly test him!"

"Do I REALLY have to use that on him??" said Sonic. "That move's too strong!"

As they argued for a while, Flavio took cover behind a pillar on the room.

"He's too strong..." he said to himself. "Even doing this stuff, I'm just a boy...! How the heck can I defeat my greatest idol in one of his strongest forms...??"

"You can be as strong as he is..."

He looked around, a familiar female voice echoing in his head.

"Merlina...?" he said lowly.

"The power I gave you is not bound to your weapon, however..." she said. "Your power comes from within. From the light within..."

"The light within..." he repeated.

With a surge of courage, he jumped out of hiding and prepared.

"Hey, Your Majesty!" he called "Have at me, no problem!"

Sonic looked at him hesitantly, but nodded and got to his position. The seal shined behind him, and he dashed at full speed towards Flavio, who was just guarding with his sword, expecting the hit. It was then that he saw a light shine despite his eyes being closed, and opened his eyes to see what happened.

Oddly enough he was looking at Sonic, who was now at the ground, but looking at him from an aerial view. And when he tried to move, Flavio actually felt way lighter, and his view suddenly changed to right in front of Sonic's face. Thanks to Merlina's skills, however, Flavio knew what was happening.

"Wh-where is he??" asked Sonic. "Flavio?? Pal, you okay??"

A massive energy began to center around Sonic, and in a blast, Flavio regrouped himself where he stood, sending him away in a shockwave since two bodies cannot occupy the same position in space. Sonic quickly got back up.

"That power...!" said Excalibur.

The hedgehog stared in awe as Flavio looked back at him.

"This is too much power..." he thought. "Maybe bigger than Sonic's, even..."

"With this power comes a big responsibility..." said Merlina's voice. "I do hope you use it right."

Flavio looked at Sonic and raised Nostalgia high, as if preparing for a blow.

"You sure got powerful, bud..." said Sonic, preparing to defend.

For a moment, the hedgehog got a glimpse of just how much power Flavio had within him. For a moment, he knew what happened: his biggest fan had just achieved a speed limit Sonic himself could only access barely, and perhaps gone even beyond it: the speed of light. Flavio had just now managed to be both everywhere and nowhere at the same time, he BECAME light. The hedgehog was worried for that fact, however, but he put trust on his fan, his FRIEND, knowing for sure he would make the right choice.

"You're right..." said Flavio.

And with his sword raised, he proceeded to drop it on the floor.

"That's why I quit." he said.

Sonic smirked, he was right once again.

"Wait, I do not understand..." said Excalibur in a questioning tone. "All that power given to you and you will not use it?"

Flavio smiled, knowing it was just the final part of the test.

"It sure is a lot of power..." he said. "But the reason why I won't use it is because I don't WANT to. I mean, yeah, it IS nice to defend myself in battle with it, but being more powerful than my idol? My friend?? I don't want that at all. The whole point of being his fan is to relate to him, to find some similarities with the character. Being better than him misses the point."

The sword disappeared and appeared back on his hand, but Flavio put it away.

"I'm gonna go with my friend Dr. von Neuron's teaching on this one. Having this power is very useful. But that's just what it's meant to be. A utility. I won't ram it on my friend's face. I don't want to be better than him... I wanna be the same as him."

He smiled warmly at Sonic.

"I don't want to stop." he concluded with a wink. "I just wanna keep running."

Sonic couldn't help but chuckle after that line. Excalibur was also just as moved. He approached the teen slowly.

"Congratulations, Flavio..." he said. "You passed the final trial."

Flavio couldn't help but laugh a bit out of joy.

"S rank, Blue?" he asked grinning.

"You bet!" answered Sonic.

The Knights entered the room at last, Merlina right next to them with her sweet gentle smile. For the importance of the event, Anaya was also present along with Seymour, who never once left her side. They gathered around the two and knelled before the King, Seymour and Merlina doing the same out of respect.

Flavio also knelled with Nostalgia still on his hand as Sonic landed Excalibur's blade gently on his shoulders.

"I presume I speak, in the name of the King..." the sword began.

"Err, Caliburn, can I say that line myself?" asked Sonic awkwardly.

"Oh, pardon me, Your Highness." Excalibur said awkwardly.

"Anyway." said Sonic, going back to speaking as knightly as he could. "As King of Camelot, I declare you Sir Flavio... Knight of the Stars."

Flavio tried HARD not to squeal in delight.

"Guys, you know what to do." said the hedgehog lowering Excalibur. "Hey Flavio, wanna join in?"

"I already did, Blue..." he smiled. "A long time ago!!"

They joined their swords together in a battle cry. Once again, after that, there was nothing but the light of the stained glass windows of the throne room, shining a different light than before.

The light of a new road of endless possibilities.