Fire Master

"These wizards are easily recognized for their pointy red hats."

- Description of the Fire Master in Sonic Unleashed (PS2/Wii)

The Fire Master is one of Dark Gaia's minions that appear in Sonic Unleashed. These wizards-like creatures are recognized for their pyrokinetic attacks and defences which make them one of the most dangerous of the Master variant. They only during the game's nighttime stages.

Overview
The Fire Masters and the rest of their kind cam into being when the Dark Gaia fell apart in the beginning of Sonic Unleashed, as a result of the beast's premature awakening at the hands of Dr. Eggman. The fragments from Dark Gaia then spread across the world and created Dark Gaia's minions, including the Fire Master. They first appear in Arid Sands Night Act II: Scorched Rock on the PS2/Wii version and Arid Sands Night Act 1 on the PS3/Xbox360 version.

Like all the other members of the Master variant, the Fire Masters are born with exceptionally high intelligence amongst their species, which allows them to take on a near-perfect humanoid appearance and utilize Dark Gaia's power in a more refined way, similar to that of magical spells.

As their name implies, the Fire Master's magic revolves around fire and they can float in the air. They can create fire anywhere on their body and they use it in different ways. Their trademark use of their fire abilities is their fiery defences where they envelope their entire body in fire which causes anyone who try attacks them to catch on fire themselves. In gameplay, if Sonic the Werehog makes contact with a Fire Master while its enveloped in flames, his whole body will catch on fire and his health will steadly drop until the fire is pulled out. This fire defence can be negated however, by dowsing the Fire Master with a water barrel.

The fighting style of the Fire Masters differs between the version of the game. On the PS2/Wii, version the Fire Masters have very fast movements and can teleport long distances. They primarily attack their opponents by dashing into them which not only damages them, but also make them catch on fire. If their flames are extinguished however, they will go on the defensive by teleporting and try to stay away from their opponents until they can reignite themselves again. On the PS3/Xbox version, the Fire Masters are much slower and cannot teleport, but they display more varianted fighting moves. They can perform magic spells that creates large fire balls which they can fire on their opponents which causes them to catch on fire fire, or they can use their staffs as weapons, where they either swings them around to wack the opponents or enlarge it for greater range and attack power. If they are enveloped in fire, each of these attacks will cause their opponent to catch fire. They never appear alone, though mostly with their other kind, and rarely appear in pairs.

Upon the recreation of Dark Gaia, all of the Fire Masters were returned to the beast, which was later defeated and sealed within the planet's core.