Soul Eater but it's Sonic

Chapter 16

Approximately 1.5 years before Shadow's contact with black blood.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles had finished eating breakfast on campus and were lounging about their table. Eating outdoors with a great view of Death City made it easy to relax.

"Why don't you just partner up with me already? Plenty of students around for sparring this week," Knuckles started.

"The goon gauntlet himself? I'll stick with practice weapons," Sonic gave a playfully smug smile.

"Come on, Sonic. We've won plenty of fights together. What more do you need?"

"I told you I'm just feeling things out for now."

"The whole slow and patient thing doesn't suit you," Knuckles criticized.

Sonic shrugged dismissively.

"I'll train to surpass Sonic. Then you can be my weapon instead," Tails proposed with a smirk.

Knuckles picked up Tails and held him overhead. "A little kid like you?" He walked over to one of the nearby ledges that overlooked Death City. This area of the academy was raised about five stories above the buildings off in the distance. The drop was precarious and steep. Knuckles hurled Tails over the ledge, into the open air. The young fox yelled as he flew through the air. He managed to right himself in the air and the propeller motion of his two tails caused him to hover.

"Knuckles!"

The echidna laughed braggadociously, admiring his throwing distance.

"Go easy on him Knux, he's not even a meister yet," Sonic only sounded mildly concerned.

"Roughhousing won't kill him. A little tough love is good for everyone,"

Was that it? Brute force. Tough love. There must be more to being a weapon meister than that. Sonic felt the thought was true, but he had yet to experience it for himself. There was something about the other students here that bothered him. He'd fought with Knuckles against plenty of other weapon-meister pairs at this school, but nothing ever seemed to shine through. From Knuckles or his opponents. Thinking about what he knew of DWMA's origins gave him some hope.

He thought of those that came before the Robotnik family of reapers. Those who discovered the first magical demon weapons. The original meisters. Scythe wielders. The elite. The other forms of demon weaponry didn't come until later. Sonic knew there were so many weapons to choose from, so he tried not to fixate on a particular outcome. It just had to feel right. Becoming a scythe meister was a wild notion. Such a rare type of weapon was always in high demand. The thought did have a certain charm to it, though.

Tails had floated back over to Sonic and Knuckles. Hearing his brother's voice brought Sonic back to reality.

"If you weren't such a pain-in-the-butt, you could partner with one of the other students instead of pestering Sonic all the time,"

"That is...." Knuckles turned to Sonic for a look of support. No such luck. "...not true!"

"Who's the kid here again?" Tails grinned.

"You!"

The echidna jumped and swiped overhead to try and pluck his critic out of the air, but Tails knew taunting Knuckles while in close proximity was a poor choice. He continued floating out of reach, chuckling at Knuckles's futile efforts. The three of them soon decided it was time for some training.

The DWMA training facility was a massive warehouse embedded into the tiered mound beneath the academy. Students and staff could use the many different facilities and train to their heart's content. Many areas included automated machines to assist a meister or weapon in their endeavors. Robots designed by Eggman helped simulate combat situations in a safer environment.