Intermission: Shadows From Beyond
S/N: Our reason for being dead this time is because we were working on a crossover together between my story, Team JEST, and Arctic01's story, The Tri-Blade Alliance.
IMPORTANT: CHECK ENDING NOTES
A/N: I'm also posting this on my account, so I can spread the word of my brother's account. Hope this isn't too bad.
Disclaimer: We don't own any universes crossed over in this story, just our OC's.
Key:
Words—thoughts
(x)
"How much further is it, Johnny?" Eric groaned as he and his teammates/siblings trudged through a forest.
"Stop whining, Eric," Thomas called out from the back. "You're not the only one tired, y'know."
"He's got a point, Thomas," Sam said from in front of Thomas, looking back at her brother.
"If you wanna know, Eric," Johnny stopped and turned to fully face his team, causing the others to stop as well, "climb up that tree and look for clues." Johnny pointed to the tree directly to his right.
"You know how much I hate trees," the cat Faunus seethed.
"Fine. Thomas?" The blue-haired teen nodded and grabbed Eric's shoulder, throwing him up into the leaves before the green-haired boy can react.
"SHIT!" When he burst through the leaves, Eric scrambled to grab the peak and breathed rapidly to calm himself down. When he did calm himself down, he looked around while grumbling some obscenities under his breath―until he saw some smoke rising up from an area not too far from where he and his team were. "Alright! I have something! You can bring me down now!" Seconds after he said that, Eric felt himself being pulled back down to Earth, landing on his feet (as a cat does).
"Huh. I didn't think you'd actually find something," Johnny said in surprise.
Eric simply glared in response and motioned towards the direction where he saw the smoke. "Not too far that way. I saw smoke, and not the kind that comes out of fire. It looked―"
"Magical?" Sam offered.
"Ritualistic?" Thomas offered.
"Yep."
"Follow the cat!" Johnny commanded, to which his teammates nodded and ran ahead, Eric leading the way.
(x)
Elsewhere…
Shadow sighed in self-disappointment as he laid on the branch of his favorite tree. Earlier today, he had to break the news to a worried couple that their son had been killed while trying to aid him. He was a nice kid, too, really sweet and innocent. And that made killing his killers that much more satisfying. Then again, he thought, if I hadn't met him, he wouldn't have been killed... He groaned lightly and leaned back against the bark. He was about to close his eyes before he heard some sounds of awe from below his tree. He peeked over below, and was relieved to see that the kids below weren't in awe of him―rather, they were in awe of something in the sky. He turned his head just in time to see a shooting star go by. He peeked over again, and saw that, this time, the kids were smiling with their eyes closed, most likely making a wish. What the hell. He closed his eyes and said to himself, "I wish I could get away from this world." With that being said, he leaned back against the bark again and closed his eyes, falling asleep this time.
(x)
As Team JEST got closer to the oddly-colored smoke, Eric groaned in disgust. "Smell that?" he asked in a nasally tone, being forced to cover his nose.
"I wish I wasn't," Sam replied in a similar tone. "Smells like something died."
"If it's a ritual," Thomas said, "something probably did die."
"It's getting worse." Johnny turned his head to face his team without stopping. "We must be close!" He immediately shut up―and motioned for his team to stay quiet as he crouched low and made his way silently to some bushes. When his team followed his actions, evil laughter could be heard.
"Yes," a deep voice said in a disturbingly gleeful tone. "It's almost complete!"
"Not on our watch," Johnny stated as he and his team stepped out. Their target, a man wearing a cloak with the hood drawn up, turned to them and growled.
"Get outta here," he snarled. "I'm not running a daycare."
"We heard reports of black magic," Sam clarified, drawing a sword while her brothers took out their weapons.
"So?"
"So," Eric got ready to pounce, "we were sent to deal with it."
"And?"
"And you're pissing me off with all these follow-up questions you have," Thomas said while aiming his pistols.
"...Take care of them, Spriggan." As soon as the mage said that, the entire forest shook, and the trees were parted for a giant hand that snatched up Johnny and Eric.
"HOLY SHIT!" Eric and Johnny screamed as they were carried up high to face a stone giant emitting a green glow.
"Oh hell no!" Thomas and Sam shouted as they, Sam now having drawn two pistols, took aim at the hand holding their brothers and opened fire, forgetting about the bad guy they were sent to capture.
The destructive force of the charged shots destroyed the Spriggan's hand and freed Johnny and Eric, the former taking out two Burn Dust crystals and draining them and the latter forming seven lightning Silhouettes. Eric sent out the Silhouettes to trap the giant while Johnny dashed through its "heart," landing in a roll once he hit the ground.
The four regrouped and smiled—until they heard malicious laughter. "AT LAST!" the mage shouted. "THE RITUAL IS COMPLETE!"
(x)
When Shadow woke up, he felt wind hitting him right in the face. Did I fall out of my tree? He opened his eyes to see that he had fallen out of his tree… a couple hundred meters up from ground floor. SHIT! Reacting quickly, the player unsheathed his sword from his back and threw it down, disappearing and landing in a crouch on the ground where the blade had buried itself. Picking up his blade, he kept his head down and listened to his surroundings. He looked up shortly after, when he heard some laughter. That sounds evil, he thought to himself, seeing a robed figure approaching him with four other people behind him, approaching warily. "It worked," the wizard(?) said gleefully. "IT REALLY WORKED!" The mage composed himself before saying, "Now, my minion…" Definitely evil.
As soon as he heard that, the player picked up his sword and stabbed through the mage, much to his shock—and that of the four behind them. "Listen here," Shadow growled, leaning closer to the mage as he choked on his own blood, "I don't know where I am or how I got here. But one thing's for sure—I'm no one's bitch in any world." He viciously pulled his blade out, the mage immediately crumpling to the ground in a mess of blood, flesh and fabric. Huh. He didn't shatter.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" The sudden shouting caused the player to turn to the source, a group of four teens of differing color schemes. The one who shouted was a green-haired guy...with cat ears. "Do you. Have ANY idea. What you cost us?!" he growled while his comrades tried to calm him down.
"Some catnip and a bowl of milk?" the player asked sarcastically. The tone seemed to fly over the neko's head, however, as he started to turn more red than green due to the rage coursing through him.
"You're gonna regret saying that!" the neko charged at the player, who swiftly ducked backward, which resulted in the teen to fly over his head, and used his momentum to flip-kick his green enemy in the neck, hitting a pressure point and making him fall on his face.
"Eric!" his comrades shouted as they rushed to his aid. "Just who the hell are you?!" the redhead growled.
"That's not important, is it?"
"Not really, but I wanna know whose relatives I've gotta send flowers to!"
"How about this? Watch your back. You never know when your Shadow might attack you."
"Is that what you are?" the blue-haired teen asked while tending to his fallen brother. "A shadow?"
"Something like that." Not wanting to deal with these four any longer, Shadow disappeared.
(x)
"Hold still," Sam instructed Eric before striking the same pressure point that the enigmatic dimension hopper (whose apparent name is Shadow) hit, allowing Eric to wake up with a gasp for breath.
"We can't let that guy go," Thomas said to Johnny. "He's dangerous."
"I know, but our trail's gone cold. Where should we start?" Johnny replied.
"Let's ask...around in...the city," Eric offered while recovering from the pressure point strike.
"Good idea. Let's go."
"I'm fine, thanks for asking."
"You're a Rogers. You're fine."
(x)
"Now then," Shadow mused. "Where exactly am I?" he asked himself as he looked around the forest. The sun was starting to set. "I can't open my menu, so I might be in a dungeon." He was broken out of his thoughts by a giggle. He looked around for the source of the childlike noise. Finding nothing, he decided to walk further—and heard it again. Straining his hearing, he was able to hear it clearly, and followed it to see a young girl playing with a rubber ball. The kid had goat horns, and was giggling happily as she threw it up and caught it again.
When she threw it again, however, it went too high, and Shadow heard it catch between some of the branches. First seeing the girl's confusion, which Shadow knew would lead to despair, he climbed the tree up to where the ball was, and held it in his hands as he slid down. "Is this yours?" he asked the goat girl, who was startled by the sound of his voice, and turned to face him. She gasped and smiled happily upon seeing her ball in his hand, and reached for it when he held it out to her.
"Thanks, mister!" she said, her smile never leaving her face.
"Can you do me a favor?" The girl seemed understandably confused when he said that.
"What is it?" she asked innocently, tilting her head to the side.
"Can you answer some questions for me?"
Later…
"So I'm in a world called Remnant," Shadow began to repeat what the child told him. "And humans and animal-like people named Faunus live together. And this world has Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect them from demonic monsters called the Grimm."
"Yup!" the goat girl responded enthusiastically. "And there are different types of Faunus, too!"
"Would cats fall into 'different types'?"
"Mm-hm."
"Not to be rude, but are you a Faunus?"
"Yup!"
"Where's the nearest town?"
"Down that way," the girl pointed to the direction in front of the two.
"Thank you." Shadow patted the girl's head. "Go home. Your parents must be worried."
"Okay. Take care, mister!" The girl ran off, looking back at Shadow and waving goodbye without stopping. Shadow merely chuckled.
"Cute kid." He ran off to where the girl pointed, and picked up the pace once he heard sounds of people talking and laughing.
(x)
"How're you doing?" Johnny asked his brother as they walked through the streets of Vale, the nearest city to where their mission objective was.
"I'm holding up," Eric replied, now feeling better than before.
"That's what happens when you lose your cool, E," Sam chastised him.
"We'll scold him later; right now, we need to worry about that Shadow dude," Thomas said in a successful effort to stop the arguing.
"Alright. Split up, we'll cover more ground that way," Johnny instructed. The other three nodded in affirmation, then splitting up in separate directions from Johnny. The leader turned around and began walking up the city block he was on, occasionally asking the citizens whether or not they had seen, in his words, "a guy decked out in black with a black trench coat and a sword", to which all he asked had said no.
After a while, the four regrouped back to where they had split up. "Let me guess," Eric started, "nothing for you guys too?"
"Yup," Johnny, Sam, and Thomas replied one after the other.
"Dammit!" Eric cursed under his breath. "How the hell are we supposed to find this guy?"
"Hey guys!" An outside, but familiar, voice called out the team of siblings. When they turned to the direction from where that voice came, they were all glad to see that it was just Team RWBY, with Yang having called out to them.
"Hey," Johnny replied, now grinning like an idiot until Sam nudged him. "Sorry, we can't really talk right now. We're on a mission."
"Oh, you mean you're looking for that wizard guy?" Ruby asked innocently.
"Good try, Rosebud, but not anymore," Thomas replied, patting her on the head (which only served to make her pout at him in a cute manner).
"You mean you chose a different mission?" Weiss asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow to emphasize that.
"Yes and no," Sam answered.
"Stop with the secrecy and just tell us already," Blake said rather impatiently.
"Long story short, we found the guy, but we were too late to stop him from summoning across space and time, then he was killed by the guy he summoned, who then attacked me and ran off to who knows where," Eric clarified.
"Wait," Yang interjected. "Would this guy happen to have been dressed in all black?"
"With a sword at his back, yeah. Why?" Johnny questioned.
"You guys don't think…" Ruby said as she and her team looked at each other in realization.
(x)
Earlier…
Understandably, Shadow felt out of place in this new world, and the stares of the residents certainly didn't help make things better. "I gotta find a way out of here," he muttered to himself as he picked up his pace, accidentally bumping into a girl dressed in black and a red cape, with a red hood to boot. "Sorry," he said as he continued without breaking his stride.
"That's okay..." the girl said slowly as she looked back at him. "So, anyways, where was I?"
"Okay, hold on," a blonde girl from the red-clad girl's group spoke up. "Did that…? That guy didn't look right. Right? Like he was…"
"Covered in shadows!" the girl, blonde, a raven-haired girl and a girl with white hair all said at once."
"Oh my gosh, thank you!" As the first girl shouted, Shadow smirked and chuckled to himself.
"Oh, the irony." When Shadow looked up, he found himself in front of a bookstore. "The Wisdom Chalice? Sounds like they may know a thing or two." Feeling slightly relieved, Shadow entered the brightly-colored bookstore.
"Welcome to the Wisdom Chalice!" a pretty teenage girl said in a peppy manner. "My name's Mist. How may we help you?"
"It's gonna sound weird," Shadow started, "but do you have any books on interdimensional travel?" Shadow asked, looking around briefly.
Immediately, the employee—Mist's—face paled as she responded, "I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have anything here regarding that topic."
"Are you certain? Can't you check?" Before the employee could respond, however, a scream erupted from outside the bookstore. Immediately, Shadow and the employee ran out to see what was happening. Mist gasped in shock as she saw a group of "Faunus"—one man with goat horns, another with bull horns, and a third with deer antlers—attacking an elderly woman, who had fallen unconscious due to the fear and shock of the sudden attack. She turned to Shadow, ready to tell him to do something—and saw that he had disappeared.
Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she shouted, "Stop! Or I'm calling the Hunters!" The men stopped at the sound of her voice—and laughed at her feeble threat.
"Do it, bitch," one of the men guffawed. "We ain't scared of no Huntsmen!"
"Maybe not," a voice whispered from the darkness around the group in a chilling tone, one that made Mist and the men shiver in pure terror. "But you should be afraid of me."
The deer Faunus gasped in shock as a black sword seemingly ran itself through his chest, right where his heart was. When the blade was pulled out and no longer supported the dead Faunus from hitting the floor, Mist saw that the man in black, Shadow, was the owner of the jet-black sword. "You're gonna pay!" The goat Faunus growled and pulled out a switchblade, swinging wildly at the mysterious man. Mist closed her eyes in fear, not wanting to see what happens next, but opened them when she heard a gurgle. She saw Shadow, with two knives of his own, had stabbed the man in the waist with one knife and sliced his throat open with the other, before sheathing it and letting his victim fall to the ground. The two looked up when they heard the sound of footsteps running, and witnessed the bull running away from them instead of towards them.
The bull Faunus looked back at the pair and forward again, deciding to mourn for his friends later as he almost made it out from the alley the entrance to the stupid bookstore was located in. Unfortunately, a Shadow had passed over his head, and he made the mistake of looking up, screaming in pure terror—and ceased as the Shadow had taken a little off the top. Mist gasped in horror as the bull's head rolled toward her. Shadow walked in their direction, sword gone and replaced by a scythe with a jet-black handle and a blood-red blade with a skull design adorning the blade. Shadow sheathed the scythe and looked at the understandably traumatized Mist.
"Are you sure you don't have any books regarding the topic?" he asked her.
"Um, I'll check."
"Thank you. Do you take Col?"
"Coal? I don't think I was naughty this year, though," Mist replied naïvely, checking on the elderly woman, breathing a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse.
"No, not coal. Col. C-O-L."
"Oh. Sorry, but we only take Lien."
"Dammit," Shadow cursed under his breath. "You know what the conversion rates are?"
"I can check."
"You're a saint."
"It's in the job description."
(x)
"You saw him where, again?" Johnny questioned Yang.
"Near the Dust Shop, though he didn't seem like he was interested in that," Yang dutifully replied.
"He must've gone past it and gone to a bookstore then," Sam offered.
"To get information on Remnant, most likely," Thomas surmised.
"What're we waiting for? Let's go find him," Eric said with a smirk.
"Slow down," Johnny ordered. "We don't even know what shop he could be in."
"Well," Blake (surprisingly) spoke up, "I know only one bookstore that happens to be near the Dust Shop."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Be thankful I'm helping you."
"Yes, ma'am." Everyone shared a laugh at Johnny's submission to Blake, prompting a smirk from the Faunus in question. Amongst the laughter, Johnny saw some kids running towards something, motioning for others behind them to follow along. "Hey, you there!" The kid who was in the lead stopped at the sound of Johnny's voice and turned to the direction it came from. "Where's everyone going?"
"This old lady is saying that a man saved her, and the Hunters haven't reached the crime scene yet," the boy said in an excited tone.
"I assume you know where it is?"
"At the bookstore near the Dust Shop." At this, everyone perked up.
"Think you can take us there?"
"Sure, sure, just hurry up!" With that the kid ran off to catch up with the group that was running to the aforementioned crime scene, prompting Team JEST to chase after the crowd as well.
"We'll come too," Weiss offered to the departing team.
"Sorry, but it's still our mission, Ice Queen. Thanks for offering, though," Thomas called as they ran, his voice getting further with each word.
"I am not an Ice Queen," Weiss mumbled as she walked away with the rest of Team RWBY.
(x)
Shadow closed the book in his hand, simultaneously polishing off the rest of the sandwich in his hand. Mist had indeed checked the store's stock and handed him a book titled "How to Bend the Laws of Space-Time" by Stephen Hawknight. Unfortunately, Col wasn't a real currency and couldn't be converted, which Shadow understood as he was summoned from a VRMMO, but Mist— bless her soul—was kind enough to give him the book for free and even made him a sandwich.
"Don't worry," she winked while handing him the book. "It'll be our little secret." When she handed him a small package wrapped in aluminum, she smiled kindly at his confused expression and said, "Since you can't really buy any food to eat, I made you some for the road."
Shadow smiled. There needs to be more people like her. Now he was sitting in a tree about three miles south of the bookstore, shielded from all form of light except the moonlight shining through the leaves. He decided to go return the book—and heard the sound of voices in front of the entrance. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. He can't return the book now.
From what he gathered while reading the book, he had to find the point where he was summoned and use some of his own blood as a catalyst to trigger the magic circle. When he tried to draw his blood, however, it came out in red polygons and lines upon lines of red that disappeared before a single drop had even hit the ground.
While he may be trapped, Shadow had read that the blood of a doppelgänger in the universe you were summoned to can work as an acceptable substitute. He got off his tree and stuck to the shadows on his way to the forest (The Emerald Forest, the Faunus child had told him earlier), wondering, Just who the hell is my doppelgänger here?
"Wait," he said aloud with a tone of realization, remembering the oddly-colored group of teenagers he had "met" when he first landed here. The blue-haired guy…could he have been…?
(x)
"Let it out," Johnny said comfortingly to Sam while looking away from the bodies left at the crime scene. As a result of all the gore left behind, Sam had walked over to the side and proceeded to throw up, with Johnny rubbing her back as she bent over to do so.
"Who the hell would do this?!" Sam coughed out after she was finished losing her lunch.
"I can take a guess," Thomas said darkly while clenching his fists.
"That bastard!" Eric growled as he stared at the bodies, clenching a fist to emphasize his rage at the moment. "I don't care how evil they were—no one deserves this!"
"I guess all we can do is search for clues before the cops arrive," Johnny offered as a solution.
"No need," a new voice said from behind the team, prompting them to turn around quickly with their weapons drawn. "I'm right here," Shadow finished.
"You!" Eric tightened his grip on his knives.
"Me," Shadow reciprocated calmly. "I need to have a word with you."
"Hold up," Sam interrupted him. "You get summoned to our world, hurt our brother—"
"He's your brother?" Shadow asked dumbfounded as he pointed at Eric.
"—kill a bunch of people, whoever they were, and suddenly you want a word with us!?" Sam shouted, ignoring Shadow's rude interruption.
"Yeah, actually," Shadow replied coldly, having been shaken out of his temporarily stupefied state, as he walked up to Sam—the female member of Team JEST started losing her composure but stayed strong. "You got a problem with that?"
"Back off, buddy," Thomas said as he got in between Sam and Shadow, now staring Shadow down. "What do you want?"
"I need you," Shadow replied simply.
"And what makes you think we'll go along with you?"
"No. I need you," Shadow emphasized by jabbing Thomas in the chest with his finger.
"Huh?" The four members of Team JEST said in unison.
"Why do you need Tommy?" Johnny asked, never lowering his swords.
In response, Shadow simply removed his lower face mask and lowered his hood, staring Thomas down the whole time. Thomas was taken back a bit when he saw that he was staring back at...himself. The same facial features, the same hairstyle, even the same goddamn hair color! The only difference was their eyes—where Thomas' eyes were blue and, as his friend always told him, kind and full of life, Shadow's eyes were red and so full of pure rage and hatred towards...something that Thomas couldn't discern. "You...look like me," Thomas said slowly.
"We look like each other," Shadow said as he crossed his arms. "And a book I got from the bookstore over there," Shadow motioned with a nod towards the Wisdom Chalice, "said that, in order for me to return home, I'm gonna need my doppelgänger to help me with the ritual—no sacrifices necessary, so don't worry about that."
"If it means you'll get back to where you came from," Johnny said as he walked up to his brother, with Sam and Eric following his example, "we'll help. And that's non-negotiable."
"Fine," Shadow conceded, putting his face mask back on and pulling his hood up. "Lets go. Anyone know a wizard or shaman or…?"
"Follow me," Johnny responded immediately. Upon seeing the surprised looks on the faces of the others, he rolled his eyes and said, "I didn't just get useless information from the civilians I was asking about Shadow. They did tell me someone that might help us out with sending you back. He lives a little north of where you appeared."
"Where I appeared?" Shadow repeated.
"Last I checked, Thomas wasn't a parrot Faunus, and that means you shouldn't be either. Yeah, where you appeared."
"I can get us there. Just grab on." Shadow instructed the members of Team JEST. "I can take us there in a flash. Don't ask how—it'll save us all a lot of time."
"Fine." Johnny grabbed Sam's hand, who grabbed Eric's hand, and placed his hand on Thomas' shoulder. Thomas then placed his hand on Shadow's shoulder, who then prepared a black crystal-like object.
"Ready?" Upon seeing Team JEST nod, Shadow closed his eyes and concentrated. After a few seconds, the five of them disappeared from the alley they were standing in moments before.
(x)
Back at the location of Shadow's appearance…
In a black flash, Shadow appeared in the air and landed in a crouch once his boots hit the dirt floor. Looking up and around, he saw the familiar trees and (disgustingly) the decomposing body of the wizard he killed earlier and figured, This must be the place. He stood up and raised three fingers. "Three…" He began counting out loud and put a finger down. "Two…" Another finger. "One…" The third finger went down.
When the last finger fell, Team JEST reappeared and landed in a similar fashion as their black-clad escort. Once they stood up, they all staggered backwards a bit, clearly dizzy.
"Oh my god, that was a rush," they all said simultaneously.
There it is. "Alright, here we are."
"So I see," Johnny said, shaking off the rush and composing himself.
"You said north, right, Johnny?" Thomas asked.
"Yeah. We have to go about half a mile north until we reach a cave, which is where the old man should be living."
"Then let's get going," Sam said.
Eric reached into one of his jacket pockets and pulled out a compass, then pointed in a direction, saying, "That way." With that, the entire group began walking towards the aforementioned direction.
"So what's your story?" Sam asked Shadow as they were walking.
"Well, this isn't my real body," Shadow begun. "This is my in-game avat—"
"Not that story," Sam stopped him.
"Then what story is there?"
"If you were Tommy's doppelgänger, then clearly you were someone before you became Shadow. So what's the story behind that?"
"If you must know." Shadow took a deep breath. "At the start of SAO, I was a...fairly bright individual who wanted nothing more than to save everyone and beat the game as soon as possible. Lucky for me, I had friends and we banded together to fight on the front lines. Things were going good; in a matter of months we had cleared 25 of Aincrad's 100 floors. And like any other man, I found someone I love and we ended up getting married.
"Then, one fateful day, someone decided we were too good at our jobs, and they sent an assassin after our heads. I was the one who fought him, and…" Shadow stopped and fell silent, his hand clenched tightly into a fist.
"What happened?" Eric asked cautiously. "Did you win?"
"I wouldn't say that," Shadow replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "I held my own, and I moved in for the kill. I couldn't stop my blade in time."
"Wait, what do you mean by—?"
"...I ran my sword through my wife, not seeing her in the crossfire, and she died in my arms." A tear fell down Shadow's face. "I was the one responsible for her death, and rather than face my grief like a man, I chose to hide behind a mask and became a Shadow of my former self." When he heard sniffling, he turned to face his allies—and wasn't surprised to see them all crying. "Happy now?"
"Hardly," Johnny choked up. "Dude, I'm so sorry."
"Don't say that. I hate it when people say that." Shadow wiped his own tears away before composing himself. "You weren't there, so you couldn't have done anything. So don't be sorry." Shadow gave a light smile. "Thanks anyway."
"Yeah…" Johnny wiped away his tears with his jacket sleeve. "We're almost there," he said after composing himself.
"How do we know...if we're there?" Sam said in between sniffles.
"I was told that we should see a rock blocking entrance into a cave."
"Yeah, because a giant fucking sign saying 'Old Man of the Mountain' would be too easy," Eric rolled his eyes.
"Um…" Thomas started.
"Don't say there's an sign saying 'Old Man of the Mountain'."
"Nope, but it's written on that rock over there," Thomas continued as he pointed at a nearby rock that was blocking entrance to a cave. The rock indeed read 'Old Man of the Mountain.'
"Yeah, that would be it," Johnny said simply.
"Fucking hell," Eric softly groaned as he facepalmed.
"I guess now we have to move it?" Shadow asked Johnny, raising an eyebrow as he looked in the direction of the leader.
"Mhmm. You gonna do it by yourself, or…?"
"I'll help," Thomas said. "Let's go." Thomas and Shadow walked over to the rock, and knelt down to grab it. Thomas' eyes met Shadow's, who nodded as a signal to lift the rock together. "3...2...1!" As soon as Thomas said that, the two picked up the rock with all their might and moved it aside.
"Spooky," Sam shuddered as she stepped inside the cave and looked around.
"I'll have you know, young lady," a voice deeper into the cave said, "I worked long and hard on getting the 'spooky cave' atmosphere just right."
Everyone jumped at the sound of the voice and looked around for the source. The group of five heard the same voice emit a cackle, and torches that weren't lit before suddenly lit themselves and showed a trail for the group to follow, revealing the lack of a ceiling, showing the starry night sky.
"Well, what should we do, O great leader?" Thomas and Shadow asked simultaneously.
"Down the wayward path we go, I guess," Johnny responded. "And don't ever do that again."
"Do what again?" they asked again at the same time.
"I give up with you two." Johnny walked down the path, his team and their plus-one behind him, looking at all the various artifacts. "Whoa," Johnny's breath was taken away. "What are these?"
"Those are priceless artifacts, boy. You'd do best not to displace or break them," the voice responded, sounding closer but still faroff.
Fed up with the old man's bullshit, Shadow growled and marched ahead, prompting Team JEST to chase after him. "Where are you?!" he shouted into the expanse of the cave.
"I'm right here, young man." Shadow turned around and placed his hand on his sword the second he heard the voice, ready to draw it and fight. He calmed down when he saw a frail old man sitting in a chair by a fire that simply wasn't there before. "So," the man stated. "What is your business?"
"I'm trapped here and there are rumors that you can help people like me," Shadow explained, crossing his arms as Team JEST appeared beside him.
"Ah. You are a dimensional traveler."
"Not quite. I was forcibly summoned to this world from my own."
"And where, pray tell, are you from exactly?"
"Castle Aincrad, in the world of Sword Art Online."
"I see. I will help you then." The old man looked towards Team JEST. "You," he pointed to Johnny, "must get for me three tusks from the Boarbatusk Grimm."
"Got it," Johnny replied.
"You," he pointed to Eric, "must get for me three feathers from a Nevermore."
"Consider it done."
"And you," he pointed to Sam, "must get me three paws from the Beowolf Grimm."
"Okay."
"And what should I do?" Thomas asked the old man.
"You two," he pointed to Thomas and Shadow, "must provide me with a DNA sample, while the one not from this world must leave behind an item of his as a catalyst. Blood would work best."
"Okay," Thomas said. "But just one problem—I have Aura. How can—?" Thomas was cut off when Johnny hit him with an Evolution-powered punch to the gut. Thomas immediately fell to the ground, gasping for breath while his Aura flickered and dispersed, his other family members and Shadow watching in shock.
"There," Johnny said. "Try it now." Thomas cut his arm with his Waypoint, albeit with some difficulty, and was able to draw some blood.
"Spill some over here," the old man said as he pointed to the small circle in front of him, unfazed by what he just saw.
After doing so, Thomas turned to Johnny and managed to gasp out the words, "Fuck...you...asshole!"
"You'll pay me back later," Johnny said as he began to leave to collect the three tusks he needed. Thomas merely flipped him off as he left.
"So we'll be on our way now," Eric said as he and Sam left to get their respective quest items.
"And now your turn," the old man said to Shadow, motioning to a similar circle.
"Thankfully, I don't have any defensive energy," Shadow stated, taking off his glove and cutting his hand with his knife. The red pixelated substance dropped from his hand and, instead of disappearing, actually dropped into the middle of the circle. Once his hand closed up, he slipped the glove back on, asking, "So what now?"
"Now," the old man said calmly, "we wait."
(x)
Some time later…
"You would not believe the amount of Boarbatusks that wanted to die," Johnny announced his arrival and completion of his task, walking in with a bag slung over his shoulder. "I mean, they charged up to me basically asking for me to collect their tusks."
"I hope you didn't bring any excess," the old man stated.
"I wanted to, but all of the other tusks disintegrated as soon as I touched them."
"How fortunate for only three to be left behind. Now we wait for your siblings."
"Incoming!" A voice shouted from above. When the four in the cave looked up to see Eric gliding down with a glider made of three giant Nevermore feathers. Once he touched down, he pulled the glider down and exhaled. "That was fun."
"Daaamn, you made a glider?" Thomas said (now having fully recovered from Johnny's surprise attack).
"Yup," Eric said once he dismantled the glider. "Thankfully I only fought one, but it was a tough sonuvabitch."
"Excellent," the old man said. "Now we need to wait for your sister."
"No need," Sam's voice rang from the entrance. "I'm right here," she said in a not very happy tone.
Footsteps could be heard, as she made her way over to the other guys.
Once they caught sight of her, they stared dumbfounded at the Beowolf biting on the end of her coat. "Um…" Shadow began.
"I know," she said in the same tone, pulling at her coat hard enough to shake off the Grimm, stomping on its head once it fell forward in front of her, killing it. "Here," she took the paw that was left behind by the Grimm. "This is what you want, right?" she asked the old man as she held out the items to him.
"Indeed. Now, the three of you please place your obtained materials right in the circle," the old man instructed. Once they did so, he turned to Shadow. "Now, for the catalyst?" Wordlessly, Shadow took off his face mask and placed it in the middle of the circle.
"Good thing I have extras," the mercenary said, reaching into his pocket and taking out a new mask, donning it.
"The preparations are complete." The old man closed his eyes and began chanting, prompting the fivesome to step back.
After doing so, Team JEST decided to say their goodbyes to Shadow early. "So this is it, huh?" Johnny asked.
"I guess it is," Shadow confirmed. "I'm a little sad I didn't get to spar with you guys. You seem like real fighters."
"Maybe if we meet next time," Johnny smiled. "Take care, man." Johnny outstretched his hand to his temporary companion.
"You too," Shadow grasped Johnny's forearm, and the young leader could hear the smile in Shadow's voice. "Make sure you lead your team properly. But be their brother when possible."
"Like I don't already do that."
"Then keep doing it." He let go of Johnny's forearm before turning to Eric. "Before I don't get a chance to, I wanna apologize—"
"If it's about the catnip and milk comment, don't worry about it," Eric waved it off. "You're probably right about it anyway."
"You're a little hot-headed, but you're very passionate about protecting your siblings. Keep that passion, and don't cut any ties with them."
"Only if you form ties with the ones you know best."
Shadow chuckled. "I'll accept that challenge, though I expect not immediately."
"Baby steps, my friend."
"Indeed." Shadow turned to Sam, who surprised the black-clad male with a sudden hug.
"I'm sorry for what you had to go through. I really hope you can get past it," Sam said while in the hug.
Shadow hesitantly hugged her back, saying, "Don't worry. I'm sure I will, eventually. But for now, I think being a shadow suits me best."
"Just as long as you move on." Sam drew back and wiped a tear away from her eyes.
Shadow simply patted her on the head before turning to Thomas. "Thanks for making my stay here...interesting."
"What kind of guy would I be if I didn't make my doppelgänger comfortable?" Thomas jokingly asked.
"Good point," Shadow lightly chuckled. "Take care of your family. They need you as much as you need them."
"No need to tell me twice. And do me a favor when you go back."
"Oh?"
"Whoever's the closest you consider your family back in Aincrad, make sure you're there for them. If not as who you were before, then be there for them as Shadow."
"..."
"Well?"
"I'll do my best."
"I'll take that." Thomas held out his hand, and Shadow grasped his forearm. "Take care of yourself, okay?"
"C'mon, it's me. I'll be fine," Shadow responded before letting go. Shadow felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to face Johnny, who then pointed to the portal behind him.
"Your one-way ticket back home's been punched," Johnny said simply before moving out of Shadow's way.
Shadow wordlessly walked up to the portal and took a deep breath. He looked over his shoulder at the team behind him and smiled. "It's been fun." With that, he turned back around to face the portal and jumped in without a second thought. The second he jumped in, the portal disappeared.
(x)
Back in Aincrad...
"Hey! Aincrad to Shadow! You awake yet?" Shadow groggily sat up from the tree branch he was on, stretching lightly once he did. He looked over the edge to see Solar standing below, with Skye and Pearce by his side. "About time! Come on, did you forget our meeting today?"
"Meeting?" Shadow said to himself before realizing. "Right, we have a field boss today." He jumped down from the branch and landed right in front of the three.
"Ready to go? Or do you still need a sec?" Pearce asked.
"Let's go," Shadow said. He lagged behind a little as the other three turned around and began walking. Shadow looked up at the sky, remembering the shattered moon he saw in the evening he was in Remnant. Did that all really happen? Shadow thought to himself. It felt so real. Well if it did, Shadow looked back in front of him and began walking a little fast to catch up with the other three, now I have a new promise to keep.
S/N: Yeah, I know it's shitty, but hey at least we're uploading. Anyway, moving past that, Arctic is gonna post this to his page so we can encourage others to read our stories. Hopefully, we'll be able to actually continue writing chapters for Team JEST Volume 3 (which I'm honestly excited to write and put out because the bulk of what I have planned for this series is in season 3 and onwards, which can explain why the first 2 volumes were so trash) and for The Tri-Blade Alliance.
EDIT: If you guys came here from Arctic's story, please keep in mind that we both agreed to post the SAME story on our OWN pages so we could say "Hey, check out the other guy." If you say you already read this, then don't read this again. It was meant for you guys to read Team JEST (which I swear will get better). Thanks for reading this.
A/N: However, we are starting college later this month, so don't hold your collective breath. We should be able to use some of our free time to put out more chapters for each of our stories. I also plan on writing a story that centers around the Batman Arkhamverse after I finish The Tri-Blade Alliance, and I think you'll like it. And as always, Read and Review!
S/N: Till next time!