RWBYVerse: Hunting Time

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Best Day Ever. Of All Time.
Snore. Snore. More snoring.

Ben is sleeping on one of the beds. Ever since Ben and Yang became a couple, they began sleeping beside each other. But right now, Ben's alone in the room. Or so he thinks.

Ruby snuck up to him and blows a coach whistle, which was so loud, Ben woke up and fell off the bed.

Ruby giggled. "Wake up, Benjamin! It's morning and it's time for breakfast!" She said to her new best friend, much to his dismay.

Ben rubbed his forehead and said, "Ugh...Can't a guy sleep for five more minutes?"

"Nope." Ruby replied. "Our team is eating breakfast now. So...I need you to help me with some stuff."

She took out what appears to be a folder. Empty.

"I'm going to put in some pages and you'll make a book for me." Little Red Riding Hood said.

Ben sighed. "Fine. Hang on." He said and activated the Omnitrix and slammed it down.

After a flash of light, Ben turned into a tiny devil with an aviator outfit.

"Jury Rigg!" the transformed teen yelled.

Ruby felt skeptical about Ben's current form. She hasn't seen this one, so she doesn't really know what it does. Ever since Ben joined, team RWBBY has been training to work together as a team and come up with crazy combos. Ruby remembered like it was just yesterday.

2 weeks ago...

"Ice Flower!" Ruby yelled. Weiss immediately created a line of glyphs in front of Ruby's rifle. Ruby fired and her bullets were covered with light and as soon as it hits the practice dummy, it exploded and covered said dummy with ice.

Ruby raised her fist in the air. "Alright! We did it!"

There were in some kind of abandoned gym found by Ben and Ruby when they were looking for something fun to do. Right now, Ruby and Weiss are practicing their combo while Blake is reading her "Ninjas of Love" book and Yang is drinking a smoothie, watching the two. Ben was...sleeping and drooling on a table. Bored.

"Is Ben okay?" Blake said, not turning away from her book.

Yang just shrugged. "He's probably just got bored while we were practicing our combos."

Ruby folded back Crescent Rose while Weiss sheathed Myrtenaster, the two girls heading over to the table where Yang, Blake and Ben are.

Ruby sat down and looked at Ben, saying, "Come to think of it, Ben's part of the team but we haven't thought of a combo for him."

Yang nudged Ben to wake him up, which succeeded.

Ben woke up and rubbed his head. "Ugh...I'm awake. I'm awake."

Ruby pointed at Ben. "Benjamin Kirby Tennyson! You're about to enter a few phases of training with the best team in Beacon! Do you accept?"

Ben sweat dropped. "Uhhh...I guess...?"

Ruby beamed and replied, "Excellent! Sister. Why don't you two start?"

"Alright. We're gonna have fun, babe." Yang said as she stood up and headed for the training spot.

Ben shrugged and followed her, Ruby trailing behind him.

Ruby crossed her arms and said, "Alright. Let's see...Turn into something, Ben."

Ben activated the Omnitrix and did not even select an alien form. He slammed down the dial and hoped for the best.

After a brief flash of light, in Ben's place was Heatblast.

"Oooh. You look hotter than usual, babe." Yang chuckled at her own pun. Heatblast also chuckled, admitting it was funny.

Ruby held her temples as she tries to come up with a combo name.

"Hotties? No...Too obvious. Ummm...Flame Brain. No.. Kinda insulting... Ugh...I got it! Fire Fighters!" Ruby yelled.

Heatblast and Yang looked at each other and smirked. Yang shot a few shotgun shells from her gauntlets at a test dummy while Heatblast fired a few fireballs at the same dummy, creating a huge explosion from their combined attacks. The brawler and the Pyronite high fived each other.

"Niiiiice! My turn!" Ruby said. Yang slapped Heatblast's butt as she returns to her seat. Said alien yelped a little. Ruby then took her place beside Ben. "Now switch forms!"

Heatblast did not think twice and slapped the Omnitrix symbol on his chest and he transformed into Fasttrack.

"I knew you'd pick that Ben! Good thing I'm prepared! I call our combo 'Speedy Quick'!" Ruby yelled.

Fasttrack chuckled. It's gonna be a long day.

~O~

Present day...

"Whatcha doin'?" Yang asked Blake, who was reading her notes.

Blake immediately closed her notebook thinking Yang might see something...inappropriate.

"Nothing. Just going over notes from last semester."

A grape suddenly flies over to Yang and said brawler catches the fruit with her mouth. "Lame." Yang said to Blake as she chews and gives Nora a thumbs up, who threw the grape and was on another table.

Suddenly, Ruby, with Jury Rigg on top of her head, arrives and slams the table with a huge binder. Written on the cover is "Best Day Ever Activities". Below the title is a excellently drawn faces of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jury Rigg. Said alien was responsible for the drawing and the binder itself while Ruby was the one who wrote the title and pages.

Ruby clears her throat and Jury Rigg got off her head, laughing maniacally and heads for the table of team JNPR.

" Friends! Sisters! Weiss..." Ruby said, causing the heiress to say "Hey!"

"Four scores and seven minutes ago, I had a dream..." Ruby continued.

Meanwhile, Jury Rigg jumped up on the table and looks at Jaune who was working on his broken scroll.

Jaune talked but not looking away from his scroll. "Hi Ben. Got anything to fix this?"

Jury Rigg laughed maniacally as he took the scroll away from the boy's hands and, with ludicrous speed, he begins fixing the scroll. "FIX FIX FIX! DA-HAHAHAHAHA!" the little imp alien said. In only a few seconds, Jury Rigg fixed the scroll and tossed it back to Jaune, surprising the said boy and Pyrrha.

"Interesting. A form that can fix objects in a blink of an eye." Pyrrha commented.

Jaune nodded as he checks his scroll. "Yeah. He must be really smart."

Jury Rigg laughed again. "Smart and stubborn!" He replied.

Suddenly, Nora threw an apple at Yang and said, "Boooooo!"

Jury Rigg saw this action. But because he's Jury Rigg and not Ben, instead of getting angry at Nora...

He picked up a plate of pie. And threw it at Weiss' face.

Team RWBY, especially Weiss, were flabbergasted at what their teammate did. Team JNPR, even Nora, were also shocked. Nora accusingly pointed at Jury Rigg, who was rolling on the floor, laughing.

~O~

Sun and his buddy, Neptune, are walking down outside the cafeteria, both about to enter.

"You're gonna be cool, right?" Sun asked the blue haired teen.

"Dude. I'm always cool." Neptune said, his teeth seem to gleam.

"Good point." Sun replied.

As both enter, Sun was smiling while Neptune got worried. And there's a reason why he is.

Food Fight.

"Ahahahaha!" Nora laughed evily, Jury Rigg on her shoulder, holding a small flag with Nora's emblem on it. The two, along with the rest of team JNPR, are on a fort made up of stacked up tables.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle! ♪" Nora sang. After she finished, Jury Rigg jumped off her and stabbed the small flag on a table below Nora and Jury Rigg laughed maniacally.

Ruby, along with her team, are on the opposite side of the cafeteria.

Ruby pointed at the opposing team and her teammate-slash-enemy in this food fight.

"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" She said as she crushes a milk carton in her hand. "It will be delicious!"

Team RWBY all raise their fist in the air and all say, "Yeah!"

Nora, as she jumps down, yelled, "Off with their heads!"

Jury Rigg slapped the Omnitrix symbol and turned into Ditto and immediately created 2 clones of himself. Nora threw some watermelons. Jaune jumped forward and threw a watermelon too. Ren did the same and so did Pyrrha and the three Dittos.

"Yang! Turkey!" Ruby yelled. Yang then dived forward while managing to put in two cooked turkeys like boxing gloves.

Yang narrowed her eyes at Ditto Prime while smiling.

Ditto Prime did the same and smirked.

Divide then Conquer
"All in favor of becoming the youngest Hunter and Huntresses to single-handedly taking down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye." Ruby said.

Inside team RWBBY's dorm was the entire team. After the food fight, introduction of Neptune, Sun's best friend, and a little game of Remnant: the game, they discussed about Roman and the White Fang and how they'll put a stop to them.

Yang pumps her fist enthusiastically and responded, "Yes! I love it when you're feisty!"

"Well, I suppose it could be fun." Weiss added.

Ben shrugged. "I've been doing that since I was ten years old."

"Nobody said aye..." Ruby said.

Blake nodded. "Alright then. We'll do this together.

"Let's hatch a plan." Ruby added.

~O~

Team RWBBY all wore different outfits. Ruby wore a brown attire and changed her hooded cape to more of a scarf with a cape. Weiss wore a white uniform-like outfit that suited her well. Blake wore a white jacket and had a bunch of black straps on her wrists. Yang wore a brown vest with a few accessories. Ben wore a black jacket with star like glitters around him, making him look like he's wearing an Alien X jacket.

Blake tightened the ribbons on her wrist. "I thought that class would never end."

"Alright, guys! Todays the day! The investigation begins!" Ruby said.

She hops off from her bed, nearly hitting Weiss.

Weiss sighed and said. "I'm so glad we're taking this seriously."

"Hey! We have a plan! That's…" Yang said and trailed off, trying to come up with the right words.

Ben smirked. "Completely serious?"

Yang snickered. "I was gonna say moderately but that works too."

Ruby nodded and said, "Everyone remember their roles?"

Weiss stood up and responded. "You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I am in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."

Blake stood up next. "The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning."

Yang and Ben stood up next the former saying, "I have an old friend at the shady side of town that typically knows everything."

Ben nodded as he crossed his arms. "With a little bit of 'convincing', getting info out of him should be easy."

Ruby fist pumped. "Great. We'll meet up tonight near Yang and Ben to go over what we found. Let's do this!"

"Yeah!"

Sun yelled...Wait...Sun?!

Team RWBBY were taken aback by Sun, who was hanging upside down on a tree using his tail.

Ben and Blake both yelled. "Sun?!"

~O~

Well, the team was surprised when Sun, who also brought (or dragged) Neptune, decided to join the hunt. Weiss wanted Ruby to join Yang and Ben since, according to her, "Yang's her sister and Ben's her best friend" and that Neptune should just go with Weiss. But Ruby, being herself, just laughed and dragged Weiss away along with Neptune. Poor Weiss just wanted to be alone with Neptune. Blake then was joined by Sun and Yang and Ben still remained as a duo.

Yang is approaching a club using her motorcycle, Bumblebee.

However, Bumblebee looks different. It still looks like a motorcycle but it's wheels are horizontal, seemingly used as a hovering system. It also has two rocket boosters at the back. All in all, it looks like a hovercraft crossed with a motorcycle. It's color is black and green.

Yang parked in front of the club. As Yang got off the bike, a black, liquid like being oozed off Bumblebee. The being then formed itself into a humanoid alien. This was Ben, who calls himself Upgrade.

Upgrade looked at his girlfriend. "Where exactly are we?"

Yang smirked. "My friend's in there. But I want you to do me a favor."

If Upgrade had an eyebrow, he could have raised it in confusion.

~O~

It was just another normal day at Junior's club. Goons cleaning, DJ playing music, and Junior being Junior.

Suddenly, two of his goons enter, seemingly terrified and running away from something. Both kept yelling, "She's back!" while closing the doors.

Junior got a bit irritated. For all he knows, those two are trying to close out customers. "What are you two idiots doing?!" He yelled.

The two tried responding but the result was an explosion the opened the door.

Everyone in the club took defensive actions. The goons all went to the door.

Then, Yang started coming in to greet the club members.

"Guess who's back?" Yang said nonchalantly. She's pretty confident. Besides, if she beat them before, she can do it again.

All the goons brought out their guns and all aimed at Yang's face. Yang then smirked. She could just beat them up again, but she has something else in mind. She claps her hands, giving Ben the signal to move.

Suddenly, a bunch of bat shaped objects all attached to the foreheads of at least four to five ofthe goons. The rest all backed away from their comrades.

Then, a vampire like alien came down from the ceiling.

Whampire landed beside Yang. "Alright! Nobody move!" The alien said.

Junior growled, though he was shocked at first, mainly because some sort of monster was suddenly beside Blondie and is apparently helping her.

Suddenly, the five goons who had those bat things attached to their foreheads turned around and aimed their guns at their comrades.

Junior was confused. "What are you idiots doing? Don't aim at them, aim at Blondie and Freak show over there!"

"But Junior, we're not doing it! Our bodies are..." Goon #1 said.

"...Moving by themselves!" Goon #2 continued.

Whampire and Yang smirked. "That would be my boyfriend's doing." Yang replied.

Whampire then continued, "If you don't want your men shooting each other, tell them to stand down."

Junior sighed. "Alright. Nobody shoot." He said as he fixes his tie and walks up to Yang.

Whampire then commanded his minions, or rather their bodies, to drop their weapons and make way for Junior.

"Blondie! What are you doing here?" Junior asked as if nothing happened.

Yang frowned. "Only he gets to call me Blondie..." She said pointing at Whampire who turned back to Ben, surprising everyone.

Junior raised a brow. "Who and what is he?"

Yang smirked. "He is Ben Tennyson and he is my boyfriend." She said and dragged Junior to the bar.

Ben sighed in content. "That's my girl." He said as he followed the two.

~O~

"I don't know."

"How can you not know?!"

It's been a few minutes and Yang, Ben and Junior have not finished talking.

"I never talked to him. I never even seen him since the night you first came in here." Junior responded.

Ben leaned in close. "You sure?"

Junior looked at Ben with a slightly annoyed expression. "Of course I'm sure! He payed up front, I lend him my men and none of them ever came back!"

Ben sighed. Yang, however, was not satisfied.

"Tell the truth, Junior! Or you'll regret knowing what I'll do if I don't get what I want!" She said angrily.

"I already told you! Torchwick hired my men and I guess he wasn't happy about them." Junior said. "Which is something I can relate to!" He yelled at his men.

Yang sighed. "Let's go, Ben." She said as she heads for the exit, Ben following behind her.

Ben asked her girlfriend, "We got what we need?"

Yang shook her head. "We got what we can."

~O~

Ben and Yang finally exited the building. Yang began putting on her helmet.

She suddenly smirked as he looked at Ben. "So how did it feel?"

Ben was choosing an alien form when he heard Yang ask so he stopped and looked at her. "Feel what?"

Yang smirked more. "Me riding you." She said as she winked.

Ben blushed as he remembered that Yang was technically riding him when he merged with her motorcycle as Upgrade.

"Ummm..." Ben stammered but Yang's scroll began ringing.

Yang took out her scroll.

"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need--"

"HEEEEEEEELP!"

Ben and Yang got surprised. "Blake? Sun?" Yang said.

"Big robot! It's big! Really big!" Sun yelled through the scroll.

"Ruby would love to see that." Ben said.

"Shhhh!" Yang said as they kept listening.

"That Torchwick guy's in it! But it's not like it ate him! He's like, controlling it or something!" The monkey Faunus continued.

"Where are you guys?" Yang asked.

Suddenly, Yang and Ben heard screaming and giant, robotic footsteps behind them.

They turned around and saw Blake and Sun running away from a giant robot. They disappeared from view once they crossed the street, the two Faunus running while the machine giving chase.

"HURRYYYYYY!" Sun yelled both in person and on the scroll.

Ben sweat dropped. "That's definitely them."

Yang got on her bike. "Got it." She said as she started her bike and drove away.

Ben followed her example by slapping down the Omnitrix and turning into a blue raptor with wheeled feet.

"XLR8!" Ben, now as the said alien, yelled and he ran off with high speed.

~O~

Roman, inside the Atlesian Paladin, is still chasing Blake and Sun. They are currently on a highway, the two Faunus jumping on cars and evading Roman while the latter just mowed down the cars that get in his way.

Following behind is Yang and XLR8, both chasing after Roman.

"We got to slow it down!" Yang said to XLR8.

"Lemme try!" XLR8 said as he reached for his Omnitrix symbol.

However, Neptune jumped down from a bridge and, using his trident, stabbed and got stuck on the Atlesian's back.

Sun and Blake stopped on top of a bunch of cars to look around and check out their friends.

"Neptune, hang on!" Sun yelled.

Sun then concentrated his Aura and slammed his right fist into his left palm, creating two clone silhouettes of himself. The clones then jumped from one car to another to reach the Atlesian Paladin. After reaching the mech, the clones slammed themselves at it and exploded into golden lights, damaging the Atlesian Paladin. However, they only did little damage and vaused Roman to get angry. Roman used the controls of the mech to spin around and fling Neptune at Sun, who was just charging at Roman. Both Neptune and Sun hit each other mid air and get thrown off the highway.

Blake, still standing on a moving car, watched as Roman got near.

"Blake! I'm in position!" Weiss called through her scroll.

Weiss was now twirling over a highway and landing in the middle of the road, holding Myrtenaster at the approaching Roman. He smiles as his robot charges the girl, but Weiss spins and plunges her blade into the ground, summoning a circle of ice across the pavement that causes the Paladin to slip and crash, actually flying over the young Huntress and falling off the ramp, landing further down before Ruby, already having her Crescent Rose out in scythe form.

The Paladin stands back up, and the rest of Team RWBBY falls beside their leader to take up positions. Weiss readies Myrtenaster, Blake brings out both swords of Gambol Shroud, Yang cocks Ember Celica and XLR8 slaps the Omnitrix and turns into Astrodactyl, squawking once he switched forms. Roman chuckles, moving the robot slowly towards the girls and Ben.

"Freezer Burn!" Ruby yelled.

Ruby, Blake and Astrodactyl jump back out of the way as Weiss performs her same ice-circle trick, but backs out of Yang's way when she jumps into the air and hits the epicenter with her Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist that surrounds Roman. Immediately, the Paladin activates its laser sensors to make up for the lost sight, but it barely sees the afterimage of Blake and narrowly misses the dashing Yang. A gun manages to fire at the area between Blake and Yang, but out from the blast comes Ruby and Astrodactyl, both slashing the metal, Ruby with her blade and Astrodactyl with his energy whip, causing it to falter.

"Checkmate!" Ruby yelled.

Blake and Weiss go in this time, each girl going for the feet until Weiss jumps up and stabs a sensor before leaping off of a white glyph. Roman lifts the Paladin's foot to crush Blake, but Weiss summons another glyph under her teammate to launch her backwards before the crushing blow can land. Roman growls and fires off the missiles, but Weiss and Blake flip backwards as the explosions merely hit where they were.

Finally, Weiss jumps up too high, and Roman fires a double energy blast at her. Myrtenaster absorbs the damage, but Weiss is thrown back, so she casts a beam of light from her weapon to the ground under Blake, forming a yellow clockwork circle that's absorbed into the Faunus girl and lets her slice through each launched missile with ease in a flurry of super-fast slashes.

"Speedy Quick!" Ruby yelled as she runs into the fray.

Ruby shoots herself forward and cuts at the robot's legs, then turns as Ben, who just turned into Fasttrack, runs in and aims himself at the giant's feet as well. They both dash forward and attack at the same time, circling each other around the Paladin with each strike until they both launch themselves into the air and come down together on the shoulder, cutting off the left arm entirely.

Yang doesn't waste a second, jumping onto the Paladin's back and punching the top with fiery shotgun blasts. Roman is knocked around in the cabin, but seeing as he can't reach her with his remaining mechanical arm, he runs backwards through two columns and leaves her embedded in a third before backing away and turning towards her. Just as she is falling down, the remaining arm extends a closed fist, and when it punches her, she flies through the column and doesn't get up.

"Yang!" Ben yelled as he turns back to human form. He then glares at Roman, anger written all over his face.

Ben slammed down the Omnitrix and turned into a humongous, humanoid dinosaur.

"Humungousaur!!!" Ben yelled angrily as he slapped down the Omnitrix symbol on his chest again. This time, it gained four spikes around it.

Humungousaur began evolving into a different creature.

He turned into an Ankylosaurus-like creature, being about 20 feet tall. He seems more buff and muscular than his pre-evolved form, while having camo green skin instead of tan.

His head possesses a dark blue, Ankylosaurus-like helmet with three spikes running down the top, which are silver. On the sides of his helmet, there are black ram horns, pointing down.

He possesses a dark blue, turtle shell with long spikes running down each side. His plated chest and torso are dark blue with five spikes on each end. His tail has a blue mace on the end of it, with silver spikes.

His knuckles have silver barrels on them, which he can transform into four-barreled missile launchers at will. The outline of the barrel cannon is black and also has a black circle at the center. When not in use, his fingers now support black claws instead of human-like nails.

"Ultimate Humungousaur!" Ben yelled as he charged at the Paladin.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, who just got up, look at their teammate and his new form. "Is...that...Ben?!" Yang questioned.

"He's never shown us that form before." Weiss said.

"How many more can he turn into?" Blake asked.

Ruby was just awestruck by Ultimate Humungousaur.

Roman looked at the hyper evolved alien charging at him and decides to try and punch him. But Ultimate Humungousaur grabbed the mech's fist with his left hand and punches the mech's arm with his right, completely destroying it's right arm.

Roman, noticing his Paladin is now literally armless, makes it jump backwards. Ultimate Humungousaur then turned his hands into cannons and proceeds to bombard Roman with missiles. But the Paladin was too quick as it continued dodging and jumping to avoid the hyper evolved alien's attack.

Ruby noticed that her teammate's attacks are failing. "We need to slow it down!" She suggested.

Weiss replied, "And how do you propose we do that?"

Ruby looked at the machine and thought of the perfect combo. "Ice Flower!"

Twirling their weapons so they both point at Roman, Weiss creates a series of glyphs in front of the scythe's sniper barrel, and a single shot through the circles creates a dazzling spiral of energy that creates large icicles upon impact with the Paladin. Ruby continues to shoot as Weiss freezes the fire, and as the ice completely envelops the robot's body...

"Bumblebee!" Ruby yelled.

Yang then fired her gauntlets to launch herself backwards in order for Blake to throw her Gambol Shroud out for Yang to catch while flying, and the Faunus uses the momentum to swing the glowing girl around for a final hit to the robot.

Ultimate Humungousaur then decided to join Yang as he charges towards Roman.

With Roman unable to move, the Paladin is hit by the speed and power of both Yang's and Ultimate Humungousaur's combined fists, the mech flying into the air before crashing down in a hundred pieces and leaves a defeated criminal.

Getting up, slightly dazed but unharmed, Roman inspects the damage while brushing himself off.

"Just got this thing cleaned!" Roman said, referring to his favorite white outfit.

He looks up just in time to see Yang, still burning with her absorbed power, fire a single shot at the defenseless thief, but he's saved at the last instant when a girl drops in front of him and merely opens her pink umbrella, deflecting the blast entirely. The new arrival is actually Neo, and she hangs the weapon over her shoulder as Roman addresses the victors.

"Ladies. Freak Show." Roman said.

"Hey!" Ultimate Humungousaur yelled as he turned back to Ben.

Roman continued, "Always a pleasure. Neo. If you would."

Neo curtsies her enemies and mockingly winks at Ben with a bow, but Yang, angered at her winking instead of her curtsie, will have none of it. She charges forth with fists raised to strike the outlaws... only to break their image as if made out of a mirror and turn just in time to see them escape in a Bullhead. The rest of team RWBBY runs up to Yang's side, now cooled down with the end of the fight.

"So I guess he got a new henchman." Yang said.

"Yeah, I guess she made our plans... fall apart?" Weiss joked.

While Ben and Ruby chuckled at her joke, Blake just walked away and Yang simply replied, "No. Just...No."

"Ugh...At least these two dolts get it." Weiss said, referring to Ruby and Ben, as she walks away.

"Hey!" Ben yelled as he follows Weiss, Yang following behind him.

Ruby felt like she's forgetting something. But then it her...

"Where are Sun and Neptune?"

Searching Answers or Searching Yourself?
Everyone is gathered in the amphitheater to watch matches that will prove if a student can qualify for the upcoming tournament. The current match is Pyrrha Nikos against team CRDL.

Pyrrha launches her spear at Dove Bronzewing and then knocks Sky Lark to the ground. Cardin unleashes a short column of fire from the red Dust crystal in his mace before he and Sky attempt to double-team Pyrrha.

Pyrrha throws her shield, which hits Cardin in the face and bounces back to hit Sky as well. She then flips backward through the air to land on Sky, incapacitating him. Dove and Russel Thrush rush her together, but she is able to drive them back as Cardin leaps in to smash at her with his mace.

Pyrrha opens fire with rifle-form Miló, but Russel covers Cardin, deflecting every shot with his daggers. He and Dove charge at Pyrrha, with Russel leaping into the air and performing a triple somersault; however, the attack is easily deflected. Russel and Dove proceed to strike at Pyrrha together, demonstrating precision through their ability to avoid hitting one another during the attack. Cardin attempts to capitalize on the distraction, but is unable to keep up with Pyrrha. Russel ducks in under Cardin for a surprise attack, but also proves himself unable to wear her down.

Dove moves in after Russel is knocked to the ground. After a couple of deflected swipes, he fires on her with his sword, but she is able to bull right through using her shield. Although he is able to avoid her attack, Dove finds himself knocked out of the fight by an errant swing from Cardin, who moves in for one final assault. Pyrrha knocks Cardin into the air and then leaps to slam him into the ground.

Glynda approaches from behind Cardin who clutches his ribs.

"And that's the match." Glynda said.

"Lucky shot." Cardin said as he finally falls unconscious.

"Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Glynda said to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha replied, "Thank you, professor."

Glynda begins tapping on her scroll and said, "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match." Glynda looks around at the observing students. "Any volunteers? Ms. Belladonna?" She said and Blake immediately slams her book shut and stares wide-eyed at Glynda. "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you -"

"I'll do it."

Everyone turned and looked at the one who spoke and raised his hand. It was Ben!

"Ben Tennyson? Finally attentive in class I see. Very well. Let's find you an opponent."

"Actually..." Ben interrupted her. "I wanna fight Pyrrha."

Team RWBY and JNPR all widened their eyes.

"I believe Ms. Nikos has just finished a match. I recommend you choose another partner." Glynda said, her eyes narrowed at Ben.

Pyrrha looked at Glynda and stopped her. "No. It's fine!" She said and faces Ben. "I'd be happy to oblige." She said to Ben, smiling.

Ben smiled too. He's always wondered how skilled Pyrrha really is.

~O~

Ben walks calmly in front of Pyrrha as he readies the Omnitrix.

"Why challenge me, Ben?" Pyrrha asked with a smile.

Ben smiled back. "I've always wanted to know how a 'World Renowned Fighter' fights."

Pyrrha chuckled. "You won't be disappointed." She said as she takes a fighting stance.

Ben slammed down his Omnitrix and is engulfed in emerald light.

After the light died, in Ben's place is an alien that resembles a combination of a rooster and a hawk. He has sharp claws on his toes and talons on his hands, as well as two larger talons protruding from his arms. He has a short beak. He is covered in brown feathers and also has a white mohawk.

He also wears a green mask, a green belt with a white stripe, and black underwear. The alien wears a strap vest with the Omnitrix symbol on the vest hooker.

"Kickin' Hawk!" Ben yelled.

Ruby wiggled in excitement. Meanwhile, behind team RWBY is a teen boy with gray hair and a girl with green hair are watching the scene curiously and with amusement.

Kickin' Hawk charges in and kicks at Pyrrha, but she lunges forward, blocks it with her shield, and sweeps his other leg from beneath him with Miló. He falls onto his back but then kicks his legs into the air, spins on his hands, and does a double back-handspring. The two stop and stare at each other for a moment as Pyrrha stands up from a kneeling position. She runs forward to attack, but Kickin' Hawk strikes first, leading her to instead block the first kick with Miló and a second with her shield, before turning around and blocking a further barrage of kicks with her shield.

Pyrrha ends the barrage by hitting his leg away with Miló, creating an opening for her to ram her shield into him. He lands on his feet and slides to a stop some distance away.

After correcting himself, Kickin' Hawk slapped the Omnitrix symbol and turned into Water Hazard. Water Hazard then blasted Pyrrha with a stream of water from his palms. Pyrrha is forced to block his attack using her shield.

After blasting her with water, Water Hazard slapped the Omnitrix and switched to a new form.

This new form has clothing which covers most of his body. His chest is covered by a white shell. He has four pointed fins instead of three. The clothing goes all the way up to his head and his pants are fully black. The black stripes on his face do not go through his mouth anymore, instead going around his mouth. The spikes on his face are now on his chin. His gills are no longer visible. The Omnitrix symbol is on his chest.

"Articguana? Cool!" Ben said and then inhaled sharply and blew a cold beam at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha dodged at the last second, the beam hitting the wall behind her a while ago, coating it in ice. She then threw her shield at the alien, causing Articguana to get hit and stagger. The shield ricochets back to Pyrrha and she charges forward at the alien.

Articguana changed forms again by slapping the Omnitrix.

This time, he's a humanoid, plant-like alien that has an overall green and black colored body, mostly with a flame-patterned head and root-like feet, seemingly holding rocks.

"Swampfire!" He yelled as he took some kind of seeds from his arms and threw them at ground. As a result, the seed immediately grew into vines that wrapped themselves around Pyrrha. Fortunately for her, her arms are still free, with only her lower torso trapped in the vines. She threw her shield at a wall and it bounced back at high speed. The sharp edges of the shield began cutting away at the vines as it keeps bouncing back and forth on walls. Finally cutting herself free, Pyrrha catches her shield and switches her spear into rifle form and fires at Swampfire. Swampfire puts his arms in front of him to block her attacks but the bullets keep passing through his arms and body. Good thing he can regenerate or else those bulletes would have killed him. He then raises his arms and throws fireballs at Pyrrha, who dodged them with relative ease. She charged forwad and slashes at Swampfire's left arm, cutting it clean off.

Everyone was surprised, thinking that Pyrrha made Ben lose his arm. But they got even more surprised when Swampfire regenerated his arm back.

"Cutting off hands is so not cool." Swampfire said and smirked as he punched away Pyrrha, but she manages to block the jab with her shield. But the force of the punch caused her to slide back a few meters.

Swampfire slapped the Omnitrix symbol again and turned into a living diamond creature with the Omnitrix symbol on his belt.

"Diamondhead!" He said as he transformed his right hand into a diamond sword. He then engaged Pyrrha in a sword-to-spear battle.

Despite being durable, Diamondhead can't help but feel outclassed as Pyrrha kept landing blows on his diamond body while all his own attacks are deflected and blocked by Pyrrha.

After getting knocked back by Pyrrha, Diamondhead fired multiple shards at her but she kept charging, using her shield to protect herself.

Pyrrha managed to land another blow on Diamondhead, finally causing a crack to form on his face. The alien staggered and regained his composure. "Not bad." Diamondhead said as he slapped his Omnitrix symbol.

Ben's new form, after the light died down, has a magnetically floating metal head which levitates in an arch between his shoulders, however, it is still bonded to his body as wherever his head goes, his body follows. He has crab-like claws for hands and his body is mainly black with yellow feet, hands, shoulders, and chest. His mouth never moves, even when he's talking. The Omnitrix is on his chest.

"Lodestar!" The alien yelled.

Pyrrha prepared herself. "Lodestar? Isn't this the form you wanted to show me?" She said with a smile.

If only Lodestar could smirk. "Yep. And this one is the one that's gonna beat you."

"Don't disappoint me then, Ben." Pyrrha said.

Pyrrha transformed her spear into a rifle and open fired on Lodestar. Lodestar simply raised his arms forward and emitted green energy waves. Then, the bullets simply stopped in mid-air. Turns out, those energy waves were actually magnetic waves. Lodestar made the bullets drop on the ground and looked at Pyrrha.

"Got more?" He taunted.

"I have enough." Pyrrha responded with a smirk as she threw her shield at Lodestar, causing him to use his magnetic powers to redirect it back at Pyrrha. However, he was too late to throw it back as Pyrrha has already managed to come very close to Ben. Pyrrha then grabbed on Lodestar's floating head and, using her own Polarity Semblance, removed the head from it's magnetic field on it's body and successfully took off Lodestar's head. Lodestar's body then began walking by itself while Pyrrha held Lodestar's head.

"I must say Ben, you didn't disappoint me. You were a good fighter." Pyrrha said.

"Are you kidding me? You actually forced me to transform multiple times. You were better." Lodestar replied.

Pyrrha chuckled and so did Lodestar. But then, Lodestar's body began moving by itself and kept looking for it's head. It is currently headed towards Glynda. Glynda, irritated, used her telekinesis to push away the headless body.

"Mr. Tennyson. Would you please behave yourself?" She said, angrily at the body.

"Don't bother, professor. He can't hear you. His ears are over here." Lodestar's head said. Everyone in the theatre began laughing after he said that.

"Ummm.. Pyrrha. Could you... you know...put me back on my body?" Lodestar requested.

Pyrrha laughed a little.

~O~

Outside, Sun's team, SSSN, are standing at the entrance as Team RWBBY walks past. Sun notices Blake and runs after her.

"Hey, Blake!" Sun said as he grabs Blake by her shoulder. "You uh, doing okay?

Blake shuts the book she is reading and faces Sun with a seemingly irritated expression. "I'm fine."

Sun scratched the back of his head and said, "So I hear that there's this dance going on this weekend, and it sounds pretty lame, but you and me, I'm thinking, not as lame, huh?"

"What?" Blake replied.

Sun seems shocked but quickly regained his composure and replied, "The dance! This weekend! You wanna go, or what?"

Blake gave him an irritated look and began walking away. "I don't have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would get that."

Blake walks away past her team. Sun sinks from his rejection.

Ben went over to Sun pats him on his shoulder while Ruby looked at Blake, still walking away.

~O~

A glum Ruby is resting her head on her hand and staring into the distance. She's still worried about Blake. She says she doesn't want to go to the dance. She said there are still unanswered questions. She says they shouldn't be wasting time. She said...she'll be in the library. Ruby let out a sigh. She was then startled by someone slamming their palms on the table she's at.

"I need you to pick a tablecloth." Weiss, the one who slammed her palms on the table, said. She slides two squares over to Ruby, both seeming to be similar shades of white.

Ruby got confused. Aren't they both the same? She thought.

Suddenly, Spidermonkey drops from the ceiling and looks at the tablecloths. "Hmmm...They're the same." He said as he scurried away, making monkey noises.

Weiss sighed in frustration. "I don't even know why I asked!" She yelled as she walked away.

Yang comes in carrying a massive sound speaker on her shoulder, which bounces her sister and the table she's moping on again to jump in the air when she drops it on the ground.

As she brushes her hands Spidermonkey hops on the speaker Yang just placed.

"So, have you picked out a dress yet?" Yang asked her sister.

Ruby sighed. "What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?"

Spidermonkey turned back into his human form. Ben then sat on the speaker. "Don't worry, Rubes. Blake's going." Ben said.

Ruby then looked at her best friend. How does he know...

"Weiss! I thought we agreed: No doilies!" Yang yelled at Weiss.

Weiss then angrily walks up to Yang, pointing in her face. "If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!"

The gang is suddenly interrupted by the sound of doors opening.

Walking in the ballroom is Sun and Neptune. "Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune asked.

Weiss, entering fan girl mode, steps up to him then tries becoming sweet. "We were thinking about it..."

"That's pretty cool." Neptune replied.

Sun then comes into the scene, acting suave to Weiss' ire, and asks "You ladies all excited for dress-up?"

Ruby scoffed. "Pfft... Yeah, right!"

"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night!" Yang said, crossing her arms.

"I'm gonna have to buy a fancy get up later." Ben said as he got off the speaker.

Weiss then asked Sun and Neptune, "What are you two wearing?"

"Uuhhh... this?" Sun said as he gestures to his current shirtless outfit.

Neptune steps up and holds a hand in front of his friend's face. "Ignore him for he knows not what he says." He said dramatically.

"Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place." Sun said as he knocked away his friend's hand.

Yang scowled and said, "Yeah, we noticed."

Ben pointed at Sun mockingly. "Oooh! Sick burn!" He said and laughed as he headed to the door.

"Soooo... what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y'know... Blake-y?" Sun asked, rubbing the back of his neck, nervous.

Weiss sighed. "Obviously." she said, turning and crossing her arms in disapproval.

"I still can't think of a way to change her mind." Ruby said.

"Guys."

Everyone looked at Ben, who was about to leave the room.

"She'll be at the dance." He said. He then opened the door and left, closing it behind him.

Everyone in the room all just looked at each other, confused.

~O~

The Faunus herself is sitting at one of the library tables with a holographic screen in front of her. She is obviously more sleep-deprived than ever, barely focusing on what she's seeing. But she needs to focus. She needs more info, more answers, more...anything! Anything that can help find Roman and end his plans once and for all!

"Blake."

Blake was startled by some spooky voice mentioning her name. She actually yelped and fell of her chair.

Almost everyone at the library looked at her. Those who were doing work even stopped what they're doing and looked at Blake.

Blake stood up and fixed herself and her chair. She finally notices all the looks everyone is giving her. "I-I'm fine..." Blake said as she sat back down and continued typing.

Everyone else continued whatever they were doing.

Now that everyone is busy again, Blake then closed her eyes and spoke to the invisible voice that called her by name.

"I know that's you, Ben." She said.

Appearing in front of her is a phantom/ghost-like alien with claw like hands. He has grey skin with black lines running all over him.

He also has green chains all over his front side which lead to his neck, waist, and center/chest. He has spikes on his elbows and also has two cuffs on each of his arms. The Omnitrix symbol is located at the center of his chains.

"Hi, Blake." Ghostfreak said, still rather transparent and intangible in front of the Faunus.

"What do you want Ben?" She asked, still rather focused on the holographic computer.

"We need to talk." Ghostfreak whispered.

"If this is about stopping my search and going to the dance, then you're wasting your time." Blake answered, this time, looking at the ghostly alien with an irritated look.

"I knew you were gonna say that." Ghostfreak replied. Then, using his ghost like powers, he possessed Blake, shocking the latter.

Now inside Blake (innuendo unintended), Ghostfreak began controlling her movements and made it look like Blake was now turning off the hologram and left the library.

~O~

"Ben, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath." Blake said.

"I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down." Ben replied as he leaned on the blackboard.

Blake continues to pace with her arms crossed, obviously irritated. "I don't have the luxury to slow down." She answered calmly yet angrily at the same time.

Ben shook his head. "It's not a luxury; it's a necessity."

Blake answers back, "The 'necessity' is stopping Torchwick."

"And we're going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say." Ben said, gesturing to an empty seat near him.

Blake looks away for a moment until she relents and finally sits down on the chair, saying, "Fine."

Ben then cleared his throat, preparing to say his story. "Back in my world, I live in a town called Bellwood. My parents were ordinary people. My dad was a mechanic and my mom's a normal housewife. But you wouldn't believe what my grandparents are." Ben said, chuckling at the last sentence he made.

Blake still had a very stoic face, but otherwise, still listening.

"My grandpa was a Plumber. And not the ones who clean toilets and pipes. Plumbers in my universe are intergalactic police officers that hunt down the most dangerous criminals. My best friends and my cousin and myself are Plumbers. Oh, and my grandma is an alien. Weird, huh?" Ben said.

"I don't see your point, Ben..." Blake replied.

Ben sighed and continued. "There was one time that my grandpa Max disappeared. I was scared then. I didn't know what I would do without him. So, me, my cousin Gwen and my best friend Kevin went to find him. But it wasn't easy. Our main goal was to find him, but there were things that kept stopping us from finding him."

Blake's mouth gaped a little. "Ben..."

"We had to save people, beat bad guys and ultimately, save the day." Ben said. "But, time and time again, I was rushing things too far. I kept having this search control me that I keep forgetting to keep my emotions in check. I wanted to find grandpa Max." Ben said as he turned around to face the blackboard and picked up a chalk then started drawing.

Blake looked down. "Ben...I'm sorry about that...but you..."

"And we did find him." Ben said, still drawing on the blackboard.

Blake looked up and at Ben. "You did?"

"But it was too late. When we found him, he was already sacrificing himself to  save us. To be exact, he used some kind of bomb that would wipe out our enemy...and himself. Me and my friends only survived the explosion because of dumb luck. My grandpa...however... was gone." Ben said, still drawing.

"I'm... sorry for your loss, Ben..." Blake said.

"Don't worry. One day, we got reunited with him after finding out that it wasn't a bomb, but just an energy grenade that transported him to a dimension called the Null Void." Ben said, dropping the chalk back at the container.

"What is your point then, Ben?" Blake asked.

"My point is this...Don't stop searching. But don't rush either." Ben said, turning around, facing Blake. "Like me, there are other people that need your attention other than Roman. I was so fixated on finding my grandpa that I forgot my real duty: To protect and save the people in my world."

Blake looked away, seemingly ashamed of what she has done.

Ben put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Besides, even if you manage to find and stop Roman, would it be worth it if you lost your friends in the end? We need you Blake... Sun needs you."

Blake sighed...and gave Ben a friendly hug. Ben, though astonished at first, gave back a friendly hug himself.

"Thanks, Ben." Blake said as she broke away from the hug.

Ben then gave her a thumbs up. "Anytime. We're friends, aren't we?"

The two then left the empty classroom.

Back at the blackboard is Ben's drawing, which, though not accurate, is a replica of a certain hero...

~O~

The dance has finally started. Everyone is at the ballroom. Dancing, chatting or just drinking. Everything seemed peaceful.

Outside, Sun is seen walking around and wearing a new black jacket with a white tie hung around his neck, which he proceeds to fight with before going inside.

"Stupid... dumb... neck trap!" Sun said to the tie as he kept fixing it.

"I knew you'd look better in a tie."

Sun stops his struggling and stares at the dark purple dress and bright blue bow worn by Blake, now looking like she traded her dark bags for violet eyeshadow, as she steps forward and takes him by the arm.

Sun then felt his heart beating fast. "Sooo, does this mean we're going... together?"

Blake chuckled at Sun's dumbfounded expression. "Technically."

Shine
Inside the ballroom, streamers are hung through glass chandeliers, pink and blue balloons are everywhere, and students in dark suits and bright dresses are stepping with each other to the music between the white-clothed tables. Blake is spun around by Yang before they curtsey to one another, and Sun comes up and takes his date's hands as Yang gestures for him to do so. She goes to hang with Ruby, Ben and Weiss in the back of the room, watching Blake laugh and enjoy herself before smiling at her team.

Ruby is wearing a short red sleeveless dress. Both Weiss and Yang wore simple white dresses. Ben was in a black tuxedo with a green buttoned up shirt inside.

Ben crossed his arms. "I told you guys she would come."

"You used an alien to mind control her or something?" Yang asked, smirking.

"Nope. That's all her." Ben said. Of course it was a lie but...he didn't wanna ruin the mood.

"Then with that said, mission accomplished." Weiss replied.

"So what do we do now?" Ruby asked her teammates.

"Just have fun!" Yang said. Ben then offered his hand to Yang, which she takes as they head to the dance floor. Weiss then walks away in a different direction. Ruby was left alone, feeling awkward.

"Does that mean I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now?" Ruby yelled.

~O~

Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, two of Darkstar's allies, are now observing the students from the next tier.

"It appears all the dancers have partners." Emerald said through her ear bud.

"How long do we have?"

Mercury replied, "You two should probably be home by midnight, to be safe."

"We'll keep an eye on the clock."

~O~

Outside the CCT, two figures are walking towards the said building.

Cinder Fall, dressed as a cat burglar, and Darkstar, dressed in his usual attire and helmet, approaches an armed guard.

The guard, feeling that these two are hostile, aimed his gun at them.

"Sir. Ma'am. This place is off limits. So please turn around and..." Whatever the soldier was about to say was interrupted when Darkstar blasted him with his energy absorbing beam.

The guard felt all of his energy being sucked away by Darkstar and finally, fell unconscious.

Cinder scowled at Darkstar. "Was that necessary?"

Darkstar looked at her. It's hard to tell whether he's angry or not because of his helmet covering his entire head.

"You're right. A simple backhand would've worked. Now, why don't you do this your way then? After all, you seem to regard yourself as, what Black and Sustrai called you, superior." Darkstar replied with a hint of smugness in his tone.

Cinder's scowl remained as they both head inside the CCT.

Inside the building, Cinder and Darkstar approach more guards.

"Excuse me, no one's allowed in this area." One of them yelled.

Though Darkstar stopped walking, he only did so just so he could watch Cinder, who was still approaching the guards.

"Stop!" The soldier added.

The soldier opens fire when Cinder does not heed him. She manages to overpower him, using his gun to take out another approaching soldier. She then throws him against a handrail. Two more soldiers rush her wielding batons. Cinder flash-forges a pair of black blades from fire Dust and trounces them both.

Meanwhile, inside an elevator...

"Hey." Guard #1 said.

"Yeah?" Guard #2 asked.

"You ever wonder why we're here?" Guard #1 replied.

"To...guard the tower?" Guard #2 guessed.

The elevator door opens to show Cinder and Darkstar waiting. One of the guards notices the fallen men outside. Darkstar then blasted both of them with his energy absorption beams, using both hands. The two guards fall unconscious.

"Ladies first." Darkstar said, gesturing Cinder to enter. She teasingly slides her finger on the cheek of Darkstar's helmet as she casually walks onto the elevator. Darkstar followed her inside, the doors closing as they turned around.

~O~

After only a few seconds, the elevator doors open to show Cinder examining a scroll while Darkstar exits the elevator first. The two guards are knocked out.

"Oh! That's handy." Cinder said as she pockets the scroll and walks out of the elevator and toward the control consoles nearby. Darkstar took out some kind of book with multiple runes on it. This was a copy of Gwendolyn Tennyson's magic spell book.

"Hurry. We don't have much time." Darkstar said while reading a page on the book.

"Never rush a woman, Michael." Cinder said, not turning away from the console.

"A party guest is leaving." Emerald said through her ear bud.

Cinder sighed. Darkstar kept reading his book. "Which one?" Both of the them asked.

"Ironwood." Emerald responded.

"I guess the general's had enough fun for one night." Darkstar said, slamming his spell book shut.

As Cinder works on the consoles, random code began appearing on her computer screen, which then changed into a Queen chess piece.

Mercury, via ear bud, asked, "Should we intervene?"

The other monitors in the room light up.

Cinder smiled. "No... we're done here."

As they started to walk away, they noticed the elevator doors opening. Ruby steps out of the elevator slowly, brandishing her weapon.

Cinder hid behind some consoles whil Darkstar was still at plain sight.

"Hello, little girl. Are you lost?" Darkstar mockingly asked.

Ruby, however ignored his question and asked her own. "Why are you here at the CCT? The place is closed at this time at night."

Darkstar shook his head. "Naughty girl. You should never interfere with the business of grown ups."

Darkstar aimed his right hand at the floor Ruby was standing on and...

"Eterla Morbulous!" Darkstar chanted his magic spell, causing the floor beneath Ruby to crumble a little and made her stumble and fall on her rear.

Darkstar then turned around and began walking away. "Let's go, my lovely Fall." He said to Cinder, who just rose from her hiding spot and followed Darkstar.

Ruby finally managed to stand up and fired her Crescent Rose on the assailants. However, Cinder turned around just in time and deflected the shots using her Aura powered hand. She formed her swords back and fused them together, creating a bow. Cinder then summoned black arrows and fired them at Ruby, who managed to dodge the explosion of the arrows by jumping backwards.

Suddenly, the elevator door opens and Ironwood arrives at the scene. Ruby is happy to see him and looked back at her enemies to tell them they're in trouble. But now... they were gone!

"Oh man..." Ruby said.

~O~

"Abeo Exorior." Darkstar said his magic spell. He then vanished in thin air, leaving Cinder alone.

"Alright. I'm on my way back to the ballroom." Cinder said through her ear bud as she began transforming her suit into a long black dress.

"And Michael Morningstar?" Emerald asked through the ear bud.

"Teleported back to base. I appreciate his help."

"He could teleport this whole time? Why didn't he just do that a while ago?" Mercury asked via ear bud.

"He told me that he can only teleport to runes that he made. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a rune inside the CCT." Cinder replied, entering the ballroom.

"So that's what he's been drawing in the base." Emerald said.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just...enjoy the rest of the night." Cinder replied as she nears her allies. As she does so, she smiles sinisterly.

Glenn
"They were here... Ozpin, they were here!" Ironwood yelled angrily as he slams his fist against Ozpin's desk.

Glynda sighed and said, "We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James."

"Fantastic! You're aware! Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?!" The General replied.

An alert sound plays, signifying that someone has arrived on the elevator.

Ozpin sighed in relief. "Come in."

Ruby steps out and into the room, saying, "Sorry it took so long. Someone accidentally hit all the buttons on the elevator on the way up here. It wasn't me."

"Thank you for coming, Ruby. How are you feeling?" Ozpin asked, looking at her curiously.

Ruby sighed. "Okay, I guess. I'd fefeelersel better if my bad-guy-catching record wasn't O-for-three." She replied.

Everyone stares silently.

Ruby felt awkard. "Okay, so that's the tone we're going for, got it."

Ironwood then began walking towards the girl while saying, "Ruby, I feel it's appropriate to let you know that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a Huntress is all about. You recognized a threat. You took action. And you did the very best you could."

"Thank you, sir." was all her response.

"Now, the general here has already informed of the events that... transpired last night, but now that you've rested, we were wondering if you had anything to add." Ozpin said.

Glynda began asking. "Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?"

"I... I don't know. She was wearing a mask, and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. I don't think that was her Semblance, though. Her clothing lit up whenever she attacked."

Glynda crossed her arms. "Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby."

"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age-old technique. It could have been anyone." Ironwood argued.

"But there was someone else with her." Ruby interrupted.

Everyone looked at her, still listening.

"He wore a weird helmet. He's like a magician or a wizard or something." She continued, earning questioned looks from the three adults.

"What are you talking about, Ruby?" Glynda asked.

"He just said some words and made the floor crumble below me. I didn't even understood the words he said." Ruby said.

Ozpin cupped his chin in thought. "Strange. Could that be his Semblance?"

"It doesn't matter. We must comb through the town and search for them immediately." Ironwood protested.

Ruby looked at the adults. "Wait. You think those two are connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?"

Ozpin nodded. "It's possible. But we still lack the required evidence to link the two together."

"Actually, I think I remember them saying something about a hideout, or something, in the southeast. Just outside the Kingdom." Ruby said.

Ozpin looked at Ruby. "Interesting."

Glynda however... "I thought you said the intruder never—"

Ozpin interrupted her, saying, "Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby. Why don't you go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you."

"Any time." Ruby said as she began to leave.

"And Miss Rose, please try and be ... discrete about this matter." Ozpin warned.

"Yes sir."

~O~

Ruby walks down the hallway of Beacon, on her way to her team's dorm. She pondered over what Professor Ozpin said. She's not supposed to talk about it but she can't keep her team in the dark. She sighed just by thinking about it.

She opened the door to her dorm, only to be greeted by Weiss, Blake, Ben and Yang, who seemingly zoomed into the door.

"What did you guys talk about?" Yang asked. Ruby chuckled nervously.

~O~

Ruby told her team the entire story, from seeing the unconscious soldiers, to the lady and man in black to the way they used their abilities and how she tried fighting.

"That was a risky move." Weiss commented.

"No, I think you handled it well." Blake countered.

Ruby sighed. "I hope so."

Yang tried cheering her up. "I'm sure everything will be alright, Ruby. Oh! I know what will cheer you up! Ben, can you hand me that package?" She said.

However, when everyone looked at Ben, he seems to be in deep thought and spaced out.

"Ben. You okay?" Blake asked, snapping Ben out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh. Right. Sorry." Ben said as he goes to get a cylinder on a table. However, he was still in deep thought.

''Ruby said one guy can use magic... And I can only think of a few magic users... Gwen, Hex, Adwaita and...''

His train of thought was interrupted when Yang grabbed the cylinder from his hand.

''I guess...I shouldn't think about this too much. After all, it could be anyone that can cause the ground to crumble.'' Ben thought.

"What's that?" Ruby asked, referring to the cylinder.

Yang replied, "I don't know yet. Dad sent it to us. I thought we could open it together!"

"Ooooh! Something from home!" Ruby said, clearly happy.

Ruby suddenly zooms over to Yang and wraps herself around her sister, trying to take the cylinder from her. The package opens, and another cylinder, hairy and black, falls out onto the floor and starts to shake. The object suddenly transforms into a corgi. Team RWBBY leans in, staring at it.

The animal barks twice. While Weiss, Blake and Ben continue to react with great shock, Ruby and Yang react excitedly, with Ruby jumping in the air.

"Zwei!" happily yelled the name of their dog.

Ben asked, "He sent a dog?"

"In the mail?" Weiss continued.

"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time!" Yang replied while the Zwei, carried by Ruby, started licking on the Ruby's cheek. Ruby then giggles.

"Your father or your dog?" Blake asked, who was suddenly on Ruby's bunk.

"Are you telling me that this mangy...drooling... mutt is going to wiv wif us foweva? Oh, yes he is, oh yes he is! Oh, isn't he adorable!" Weiss suddenly said, cooing and tickling the little corgi.

Blake, seemingly afraid, said, "Please keep him away from my belongings."

Ben snickered. "Wait 'till you see Wildmutt." He said, causing Blake to glare and scowl at him.

"Would all first-year students please report to the amphitheater?" Glynda's voice said through the intercom.

"Well, we can't exactly leave him here while we're gone for the week." Weiss said.

Ruby sets Zwei down and he walks over to Ben, who kneels down and pets the dog. Zwei responds by hopping on him and licking his cheek, causing the brunette to laugh.

"I have a dog back home. But she was bigger. And spiky. Did I mention she's an alien?" Ben said, petting the corgi more. He was referring to Zed, an alien dog that once belonged to a villain but Zed was abandoned by her former owner so Ben and his friends took her in.

''An alien dog. I'm gonna have nightmares thinking what it would look like...'' Blake said, still on the bunk.

"Look, there's a letter!" Yang said, pulling out a letter from the cylinder.

Zwei hops off Ben and arrives in front of Yang.

"Dear girls, I've got to leave the island for a few days, so I'm sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both, Taiyang." Yang said, narrating her father's letter.

Yang then forces dozens of cans of dog food to spill out of the small package, piling up around Zwei.

Weiss asked, "What is he supposed to do with that?"

A can opener falls from the package, bouncing off Zwei's head.

"Well, that settles it! Come on team, Zwei will be here when we get back!" Yang said as she leaves the room.

Weiss then began talking to Zwei as she leaves. "Oh, I'll miss you so much, we're going to be best friends, I can't wait to see you, I can't believe how cute your are."

Blake jumps down from Ruby's bunk and jumps across the table, avoiding Zwei. Ben pets Zwei on his way out.

Ruby, left alone in the room, stares at Zwei for a moment, before smiling sneakily.

~O~

"Today we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best." Ozpin ended his speech and left.

Every student was in the amphitheater, now filing off to search for available missions.

"This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a Huntsman working in the southeast!" Ruby said to her team

"Yeah! We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip by night!" Ben said.

Weiss nodded and said, "Let's check 'search and destroy'!"

Team RWBBY approached a hologram screen. The screen showed different missions available. One in particular is what the red hooded girl got interested in.

"Here we go! Quadrant 5 needs Grimm cleared out!" Ruby said.

"Well, it's in the southeast." Blake responded.

Yang nodded. "Sounds perfect!"

~O~

Team RWBBY have left the auditorium and are on their way to the airship that will take them to Quadrant 5.

"That wasn't exactly uplifting." Yang said, breaking the silence.

She was talking about what Ozpin told them earlier. Ozpin told them that the mission was too much for first years to handle. Of course, he thought Ben can take on them if he used Waybig, but Ben disagreed, saying he's not going to go without his team. So Ozpin realized that even if they're not given the mission they wanted, they would still find a way to get there. So to the headmaster, instead of breaking the rules, how about they just bend them? After allowing the five to have this dangerous mission, Ozpin gave them a little speech, which, like Yang said, wasn't very uplifting.

Blake sighed. "But it's the truth."

Ruby shook her head and said, "It's gonna to be tough, but I know we can do it!"

Ben raised his fist in the air and excitedly replied, "Yeah! Besides, I'm here. We'll find them in no time."

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "If you are given the alien you want." She replied.

Ruby, Blake and Yang all laughed while Ben just glared at Weiss.

Suddenly, a student runs past the team, pointing in front of him.

"Hey! Team CFVY is back!" The student said.

The team looked where he was pointing and saw Beacon students gathering around to witness the return of Team CFVY. Blake goes up to Velvet Scarlatina.

"Velvet? Are you okay?" Blake asked.

Velvet nodded. "I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me." She said while said man looked at them and nodded his hello.

Weiss said, "Your mission was supposed to end a week ago! What happened?"

Velvet shook her head and said, "Nothing happened. It was just ... there were just so many..." She looks up and notices Team RWBBY's worried expressions. "Oh, but don't worry. You first-years are just shadowing Huntsmen, so you should be fine. And Ben's on your team. He's got your back." She said. One can notice the faint blush on her cheeks when she mentioned Ben's name.

Velvet still remembered how Ben defended her from Cardin and his team. Up to this day, she's still thankful. He reminded her of Yatsuhashi.

Yang nodded. "Right."

Velvet began walking away while saying, "I should go. Be safe, okay?" And she finally left.

Ruby tried lifting the spirits of her team by saying, "We can do this. We've never backed down before, and we're not going to start now."

Blake nodded, "Right."

Ruby continued, "Besides, it won't only be us out there! We'll be fighting alongside a genuine Huntsman!"

Yang and Ben both said, "Yeah!"

~O~

Team RWBBY began staring with various stunned expressions, having just discovered who they will be shadowing.

"Why hello, team RWBBY!"

It was Oobleck.

"Who's ready to fight for their lives?" He said, excitedly.

~O~

Team RWBBY and Oobleck's airship are on their way to the mission.

"I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter." Yang asked the doctor. Not professor. Doctor. Oobleck did not take the PhD for fun, thank you very much.

Oobleck replied, "I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles."

Ruby Tilted her head in confusion. "Like the mushroom?"

"Those are truffles." Blake responded.

Ruby is still scratching her head in befuddlement. "Like the sprout?"

"Those are Brussels." Yang said.

"Like Cardin's teammate?" Ruby asked, still confused.

"That is Russell." Ben replied.

"Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw fit to assign me to this particular... assignment!" Oobleck replied.

Weiss raised a brow. "What does history have to do with this?"

Oobleck turned sharply on Weiss. "Why, what a preposterous question, you silly girl! Why, history is the backbone of our very society! And the liver! Probably the kidneys, if I were to wager."

Ben then asked, "And that means..?"

Oobleck replied, "The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, but it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures!"

Ruby understood and said, "Mountain Glenn."

"Gesundheit." Ben said.

"That's right! It was an expansion of Vale... but in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city." Yang said.

Oobleck nodded. "Correct! And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder."

Blake narrowed her eyes. "And a likely place for a hideout."

Oobleck adjusts his glasses and smiles. "Precisely!"

The airship comes in over a spot of street amidst the ruined buildings and structures of the ruined area. It hovers right above the ground as Yang, Blake, Oobleck, Weiss, Ruby and Ben all jump out of the craft. Ruby draw Crescent Rose, Weiss readies Myrtenaster, Blake takes out Gambol Shroud, Yang cocks Ember Celica and Ben hovers his hand over the Omnitrix. The doctor simply holds his coffee canister and takes a sip. The ship then flies away from the destruction.

"Ladies! And Ben." Oobleck.

"Hey!" Ben said, annoyed.

"You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as a Hunter and Huntresses has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?"

The team all nod, but Oobleck suddenly looks at Ruby, startling her.

"Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school." Oobleck yelled.

"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't." Ruby said, causing Weiss and Ben to facepalm.

Oobleck cupped his chin in thought. "She's not wrong..." He told himself. "Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it up upon our return."

Ruby began getting nervous. "But I, well uh-"

Oobleck then interrupted her. "Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with..."

He stops talking as the bag's zipper opens and out pops Zwei's head, causing everyone to stare at the uninvited guest.

Ruby, worried, whispered to her dog through the side of her mouth, "Get back in the bag."

Zwei merely barks in response.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought... a dog?" Oobleck said, seemingly angry.

Ruby gulped. "I, uhh..."

"Genius!" Oobleck yelled. He backs away long enough for Ruby to give a confused shrug before speeding past and snatching the pet away from Ruby, who tumbles to the ground as Oobleck spins Zwei in the air.

"Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!" The doctor said.

Zwei barks happily in his hands.

Ruby, after being stunned for the unexpected reaction, she proudly states, "I'm a genius!"

Weiss, Blake, Ben and Yang all facepalm at their grinning leader.

"I could've just turned into Wildmutt or Blitzwolfer, ya know..." Ben replied.

Blake sighed and asked, "So, what are your orders, Doctor?"

Oobleck, who is still carrying Zwei, looked at the faunus girl and replied, "Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" He suddenly lets go of Zwei to put his hands behind his back for a serious pose. "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being... Grimm."

Ruby, just as confused as her teammates for the redundancy asked, "Uh, what?"

"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment." Oobleck replied.

"What?!" Yang practically yelled.

The team turns to look at the lone Beowolf wandering into the street. The team began unleashing their weapons (or in Ben's case, readying a transformation.)

"Stop!" Oobleck yelled.

Ben looked at the doctor and asked, "Huh?"

He lowers his Omnitrix arm like everyone else to listen.

"There are a number of reasons why Grimm will congregate in this particular area, the most likely of which will be their attraction to negativity: sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent." Oobleck said.

"So... What now?" Ruby asked.

"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey." Oobleck said.

Blake asked, "How long do we wait?"

Oobleck shook his head. "It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months - and there's the whole pack."

His sudden realization is true: Five Beowolves are already following the first.

"What?" Weiss said.

Oobleck, continuing to state the obvious, said, "And now they've seen us."

"What?!" Weiss practically yelled.

Oobleck came right up to Weiss' ear to shout, "And now they've seen us!"

"I take it tracking them is out of the question?" Ruby asked.

Oobleck nodded. "An accurate assumption, yes."

Yang asked, "What's the plan, then?"

The team turns to their teacher as the creatures close in.

"Show me what you're capable of." was all he said.

Ruby swings Crescent Rose to prepare it for shooting. "Cover your ears, Zwei!"

The dog does so, curling up into a ball.

A single Beowolf and a smiling Yang run towards one another, ending with the blonde knocking it out in one fiery punch as they pass. Several stop chasing after the party girl to focus on Blake, who stands and waits with hand on her hilt until one of the enemy swipes at her afterimage, the real deal slicing her would-be attacker in half before slashing through another and cutting down on one more.

Behind the Faunus, Weiss runs from several black-coated beasts before jumping in the air and taking one down with Myrtenaster. She dashes towards them with rapier held high and slays four of them in a straight line until she stops. A wave of Beowolves are converging on Ruby, but the scythe wielder shoots multiple bullets at the oncoming force... while Zwei is busy chasing his own tail. He stops to watch his owner fire forward and then cut the single remaining Grimm in two.

A few more surrounded Ben, as they all try to body slam and dog pile on him, he slams down his Omnitrix, engulfing him in green light.

The Beowolves all dog piled on him...but were all blown away when a massive shockwave erupted from where Ben was. The remaining Grimm looked at the source of the shockwave, revealing Ben has transformed into a bipedal tiger with no tail and has claws on it's hands. This form is named Rath.

"Let me tell you something creatures of Grimm that tried attacking us! Rath is gonna hit you with so many rights, you're gonna beg for a left!!!" Rath yelled at his opponents.

The Grimm all charge at the alien tiger. The first two Beowolves had their heads grabbed by Rath who slams the two heads into each other. The next three all got punched away by Rath's barrage. Then, Rath slams his clawed fists into the ground, causing a big shockwave that blew away and knocked out the last of the pack.

"Heh. Piece of cake!" Ruby said, the fight over. But Rath thought otherwise as he continued stomping on a smoking Beowolf corpse. Yang cleared her throat to get Rath's attention, who sheepishly scratches his head and turns back to human.

"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" Oobleck replied.

Continue they do, as the team continue fighting while Oobleck is rooting through a plant, Grimm parts fall around him. He is center in the faces of tired team RWBBY.

Ben is currently transformed into Water Hazard, who is also tired.

"Excellent work, team! And Ben." Oobleck said.

"Hey!" Water Hazard yelled, annoyed again.

"Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh, well! Moving on!" Oobleck added.

As they follow Oobleck, with Ruby sheathing her scythe and beckoning Zwei to follow and Water Hazard turning back to Ben, Yang irritably asks, "Hey, Doc, y'know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a 'pro Huntsman' in action. Like, fighting, or at least, helping us fight?"

Oobleck responded, "Ah, but I am in action! Scouring the ruins of this once-great city for any signs of irregularity!" He fully turns to the team and continued, "Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination! Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that."

"Well, yeah..." Yang said, trying to sound more resolute with her answer. "O-Of course!"

Oobleck narrows his eyes. "Hmmm..."

~O~

Another victory for team RWBBY and their mentor amid the noise of fired shots. Meanwhile, Oobleck and Yang are away from the group.

"Tell me, Yang: Why did you choose this line of work?" Oobleck asked.

Yang turns around. "Huh? Well, to fight monsters and save-"

"No, that is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a Huntress." Oobleck interrupted.

"The honest reason? I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win, y'know?" Yang responded.

"I see." Oobleck simply said

~O~

Oobleck is sitting on a high windowsill writing in his journal while Weiss fights off Beowolves below.

Oobleck turns to Weiss and said, "And you, Miss Schnee? A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So... why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?"

After she impales the last foe on her blade and drops the body, she looks at the doctor. "It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty."

"Interesting." Oobleck simply said.

~O~

Blake slashes a door down and releases a swarm of small Nevermores from the building, which she back-flips under before she shoots them all with her blade's pistol form.

As he examines the inside of the doorway, Oobleck asks her, "And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose."

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption... Someone has to stop it." Blake replied.

Oobleck asks again. "Very well. How?"

Blake suddenly cannot answer. "I, Uh..."

Oobleck "Hmm's" to himself, then dashes away, leaving Blake to bow her head in troubled thought.

~O~

Later, Ruby is using her weapon in the most practical fashion and lifting a whole turkey on the sharp end of her gun to tease a jumping and flipping Zwei with. Nearby is Ben transformed as Blitzwolfer. He is simply laughing at the corgi and his owner. That is, until they spot their teacher watching. Ruby quickly sheathes Crescent Rose.

"Sorry! uhh... Are we ready to keep going?" Ruby asked as Blitzwolfer picks up Zwei and places him on his head, the corgi barking happily.

"Nope! I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon." Oobleck said. He then throws his bag over to Yang, who makes a sound when she catches it.

"You three, set up camp in that building. Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those... creatures. Your leader, Ben and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby, Ben."

They start walking away from the rest of RWBBY, who each look at their leader and teammate, knowing what they'll be asked.

Or so they thought.

~O~

At the building, the team has done as instructed, building a fire in the center of the room and huddling around it or standing up.

Yang broke the silence. "I can't believe we didn't find anything..."

"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side." Blake responded.

"That's not what I meant." Weiss said...which seemed off topic.

Blake got confused. "Huh?"

"Earlier, about... upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that." Weiss responded.

"Yeah... No, me too. I mean... I don't know." Yang said.

Blake shookher head. "I don't know, either. I know what I want to do, but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time."

Yang tried smiling. "Well, it doesn't matter. We know why we're here. Right?"

The girls merely stare in silence. Not exactly sure why they are here......

~O~

After a few minutes, Ruby, Ben, Zwei and Oobleck returned and Ruby volunteered as first watch while the rest get to sleep. When Yang, Blake and Weiss asked if Ruby and Ben were asked by Oobleck, they said he didn't, which Ruby found weird and actually made Ben feel left out.

The full moon is shining over the ruined buildings of Mountain Glenn, and a lone Beowolf is searching through the rubble. It looks up briefly at the young girl who has it in her red crosshair scope, but Ruby Rose just lowers Crescent Rose and sighs in tiredness at she keeps lookout over the destruction. The rest of her team is lying down on their sleeping mats around the fire with weapons nearby, while Ben is at a corner, slumped down while leaning on a wall and Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck is higher up, slumped down against the wall next to the hole in the ceiling/floor. The three members of RWBBY have their eyes closed, but Yang Xiao Long is the first to stop pretending.

"Blake, are you awake?"

"Yeah."

Yang asked, "Why do you think he asked us about being a Huntress? Like, what was he trying to say?"

Blake said, "Maybe he was just curious."

Yang replied, "You think?"

"No." Blake responded.

"Weiss, are you awake?" Yang asked

"Of course I'm awake! You two are talking. And I think he... When I said I wanted to honor my family's name, I meant it. But, it's not what you think. I'm not stupid. I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Schnee Dust Company. Since he took control, our business has operated in a... moral gray area." Weiss said.

"That's putting it lightly." Blake responded.

"Which is why I feel the need to make things right. If I had taken a job in Atlas, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father was not the start of our name, and I refuse to let him be the end of it." Weiss retorted.

Blake looked at the ceiling in thought. "All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone. I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I - how can I undo so many years of hate?" Blake said.

"I'm sure you'd figure it out. You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake." Yang suggested.

Blake, however, thought otherwise. "But I am! I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leap behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!"

"At least you two have something that drives you. I've just kinda of always, gone with the flow, y'know? And that's fine, I mean, that's who I am. But how long can I really do that for? I wanna be a Huntress, not really because I want to be a hero, but because I want the adventure. I want a life where I won't know what tomorrow will bring. And that'll be a good thing. Being a Huntress just happens to line up with that. I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. And I'm not Ben either. I can't save an entire universe. Ben has been a hero since he was a kid. Like Ruby, he saves people not because he thought it was fun, but because it was the right thing to do. That's why Ruby trained so hard to get where she is today. And Ben stopped looking for a way back to his world because he wants to help us." Yang ended.

"Well, Ruby's still just a kid." Weiss said.

"She's only two years younger. We're all kids." Blake responded.

Yang shook her head. "Well, not anymore. I mean, look where we are! In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth!"

"It's the life we chose." Blake nodded.

"It's a job. We all had this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people! And whatever we want, will have to come second." Weiss ended.

Ben suddenly murmured something, causing Yang to giggle.

"What I wanna know is why you chose him?" Weiss said, causing Blake to chuckle.

The apparently-sleeping Oobleck has a small smile on his face.

Pain Train


Yang has taken up watch, allowing for Ruby and Zwei to sleep on the sleeping bag Yang had been lying on.

After a few minutes, Yang is done with her shift in taking watch.

"Hey Weiss, it's your..." Yang said until she saw the empty sleeping mat. "Ruby? Hey, where's Ruby?"

Everyone else woke up.

"What?" Oobleck asked.

Zwei comes running into the room, barking.

"Zwei?" Ben said, picking up the corgi.

Blake asked, "What's going on?"

"Grab your weapons! Your leader may be in trouble." Oobleck said.

~O~

Zwei leads Oobleck and Ruby's teammates to some kind of hole and Yang spots Crescent Rose next to the it.

"Ruby's scythe!" Yang said as she picked it up.

"Oh no." Blake said.

Weiss asked, "Do you think she fell?"

Oobleck looks up. "Fell?"

Ben pointed at the hole. "Down there."

Oobleck looks down at the hole in thought. "Oh my. Of course! Of course, OF COURSE, OF COURSE!"

Blake looked at the doctor. "What is it?"

"How could I be so stupid?!" Oobleck yelled.

"Did he just call himself..." Ben said but was interrupted by Yang.

"Dr. Oobleck, what's wrong?" Yang asked.

"Mountain Glenn! Yes, an expansion of Vale that was inevitably destroyed by creatures of Grimm! Previously home to thousands of people! Working people commuting to the city, the main city! Developed a subway system to the inner city! Grimm attacks increased! Population in danger, now desperately searching for shelter! City evacuates into the metro tunnels and what do they find? The southeast quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!" Oobleck rapidly said.

"Doc, what are you saying?" Yang asked.

"My dear, we're not just looking for an underground crime network, we're looking for an UNDERGROUND crime network!" Oobleck yelled.

Blake asked, "They've been working in caves?"

"No, no, Mountain Glenn was Vale's first serious attempt at expansion. It worked for a short period of time, thanks to an aggressive perimeter defense, and unique transportation; the city developed an elaborate subway system to carry citizens safely from the new territory into the main Kingdom! Sadly, without the many natural barriers Vale had to protect its borders, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start! As the end drew near, the citizens of the territory made one last attempt at survival: They took up shelter beneath the city! In massive caves that they had cleared out for the subway. And they had cut themselves off from the surface!" Oobleck explained.

"An underground village?" Ben asked.

"In a matter of speaking, yes. A safe haven. Until... an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the Kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels, creating the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there,"

Oobleck deploys his weapon.

"...we must find her..."

~O~

Ruby gets thrown across the floor by Roman. Earlier, she and Zwei followed two White Fang members. When Ruby tried calling her team, her scroll was low on signal. Then, the asphalt beneath her broke and, though she saved Zwei, she fell into the hole and ended up in Roman's custody.

"Wow! You are much more manageable without that over-sized gardening tool of yours." Roman said mockingly to Ruby.

Ruby gets up and charges at Roman, which he simply sidesteps, sending Ruby stumbling across the floor.

"Oh man. You know, Perry, I really did need this." Roman said as he laughs, Perry raising his thumb in agreement.

Roman walks over to Ruby and aims Melodic Cudgel at her face real close. "But seriously. How'd you find this place, Red?"

Ruby growls and then uses her Semblance to escape Roman and start running for an exit. Roman then gets up smiling, spins Melodic Cudgel in his hands and aims the handle at Ruby. He then fires the handle, which doubles as a grappling hook, at Ruby, catching her by her hood and allowing Roman to pull her back.

As he pulls Ruby, Roman says, "I see you've got some tricks up your sleeve! Let me make this clear: We're not through here yet."

However, they were interrupted by a massive explosion coming from the distance, causing Roman to look up.

"Oh, what the... Perry, if you and the boys could take care of that? Kinda in the middle of something." Roman said to the soldiers behind him.

Perry nods and goes off to investigate the explosion just as another one sounds.

Hearing the explosion, Roman angrily yelled, "WHAT is going on here?!"

A third explosion sounds and multiple White Fang members come running around the corner, some firing at an unknown enemy. Weiss, Blake, Yang, Zwei, Oobleck and Ben, as Chromastone, run around the corner, much to Roman's annoyance. Ruby decides to take this moment to try and escape, jumping on Roman's shoulders, then fleeing towards her friends.

"Somebody kill her!" Roman yelled as he and the White Fang members around him open fire on Ruby, which she dodges and weaves between.

Seeing that their attacks fail, Roman turns angrily to the White Fang member next to him. "Attach this cart and spread the word: We're starting the train."

"But we're not finished!" The soldier said.

Roman pins the White Fang member up against the wall with Melodic Cudgel. "Do it or you're finished!" Roman said in a threatening tone.

Ruby kept fleeing, but screeches to a halt as she realizes she's running towards a group of White Fang members. However, a huge, rainbow like explosion appears behind the White Fang members, sending them flying and revealing Yang and Chromastone, who blasted the White Fang members, behind them.

As Ruby jumps into her arms, "Ruby!" Yang said, the two sisters hugging each other.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked her leader.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! But listen! Torchwick's got all kinds of weapons and robots down there." Ruby explained.

"What?!" Blake said as she hands Ruby her weapon.

Ruby continued, "Androids, mechs, they're all loaded up on the train cars!"

Chromastone replied, "I thought Dr. Oobleck said this place is closed off."

Oobleck nodded. "Exactly. These tunnels are sealed, the tracks lead to a dead-end."

However, Roman's voice sounds through a speaker system. "Get to your places, we are leaving now!"

The train starts moving towards the tunnels.

"Well, it sounds like they're going somewhere." Yang pointed out.

"So, what do we do?" Chromastone asked.

"I believe we only have one option..." Oobleck said.

Ruby turned around, Crescent Rose in hand.

"We're stopping that train!" She simply said.

~O~

After catching up with the train, Team RWBBY and Oobleck are now standing on top of it.

"Hurry, children! We must get to the front and stop this train!" Oobleck ordered.

Weiss however... "Err... Professor?"

Oobleck leans his face angrily at Weiss. "Doctor..." he corrected.

Weiss points down a hatch into the train. "What's that?"

Oobleck kneels down to take a look. "That my dear... appears to be a bomb."

Team RWBBY all cringe away from the hatch.

Their problems are not over yet as Ruby points forward on the train. "We've got baddies!"

Dozens of White Fang members are now climbing onto the top of the train.

"Well, I didn't expect them to go—" Oobleck said.

Suddenly, the bomb underneath them charges up and starts beeping.

"—easy on us." He stands up. "Time to go!" Oobleck continued.