Dear potential reader.
Please know that I do not own the characters appearing in this tale. Both the Kim Possible and RWBY characters belong to others, I'm simply borrowing them for a little bit. This tale is not intended to generate profit, it is written merely for my own enjoyment and hopefully yours. That said, please enjoy...
Sometimes, it just didn't pay to be a sidekick.
Okay, it never paid to be a sidekick; about the only thing you ever got out of it was the dubious gift of a free but uncomfortable ride to a far-away place, where you could sidekick some more. After more than four years of sidekick work, Ron Stoppable thought he had seen it all; he had seen alien invasions, he had been sucked into television realities, he had joked with over-sized cockroaches, he had even fought monkey ninjas in space. What he hadn't been prepared for was having people looking to him to be the hero and to find the answers.
The sitch had started off well enough; to be honest, it was more than great from his point of view. He would be working with Kim again. After graduation, he and his girlfriend had enjoyed an absolutely magical summer. They had decided to give Drakken credit for defeating the Lowardians; providing the teens with some welcome anonymity and diverting uncomfortable questions. Instead of facing questioning and interviews, the two had made the most of their remaining time with each other, as Kim was going to be attending Oxford University in the fall. There had been a couple of missions, but nothing all that intense, and Ron had retained his ability to call upon the Mystical Monkey Power.
At first, he had been hesitant to use his newfound power, remembering how Kim tended to get a little miffed when he proved better at her, but he discovered that his girlfriend had changed over the years; rather than being jealous or irked, she proved to be intrigued and worked to incorporate his new abilities into their dynamic. The result was that they advanced from being formidable to downright unbeatable. The bad guys quickly learned and the summer was quiet, for the most part.
That peace didn't last long into autumn. Ron attended Colorado State University on a football scholarship, while Kim left for England. The techno-villains they fought were not foolish; they had put two and two together...or more to the point, had subtracted one from two and realized that Team Possible simply wasn't a team anymore. Also, since Kim was now in England and nobody outside of Drakken and Shego knew the full tale of how the Lowardians were repulsed, most such villains decided that the Western Hemisphere was ripe for the taking. It didn't take Ron long to learn that his girlfriend had done him a big favor by incorporating his new abilities into their partnership; she had actually helped prepare him to perform solo hero work.
Of course, suddenly being a solo hero when you were used to being the backup wasn't an easy task. Stopping the bad guys required a lot more than physical capability. Sure, Ron was almost unbeatable in a fight and had strength nobody could match, but he was weak when it came to doing the before-the-mission research and planning. Fortunately, Wade was still willing providing support and Rufus was still with him, so he had a lot of help in that regard. After a near-disaster going up against Motor Ed, he learned to listen to Wade and think things through before breaking into a lair. A follow up mission against the mullet man, followed by clashes against The Mathter, Frugal Lucre and DNAmy had gotten the message out; Ron Stoppable was holding the torch and holding it well. Techno-villain crime quickly dropped off, allowing the blonde teen to concentrate on the horror that was freshman football at a major university.
He missed Kim terribly and their daily video chats made it clear that she missed him just as much, so when Wade learned that Dementor had the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer again, in Germany, it seemed like a vacation. He jumped on his ride while Wade did research. Six hours later, he hopped off of his ride to (literally) pick up Kim, in London, for the relatively short hop to Germany. They were looking forward to a quick take-down of the ranting scientist and some ample couple time before they returned to their respective educational institutions. Of course, sometimes things just don't work out the way you've planned.
For all of his genius, despite the fact that he understood what the PDVI did, Wade didn't understand how it pierced the barrier between realities. Working within this limitation, Wade had suggested a plan by which they would be able to recover the device while it wasn't active. This made sense to the teens, so they followed their usual method of infiltration, in through the air ducts. Rather than immediately confronting Dementor, the found a good vantage point and watched as the ranting madman opened a portal and pushed several heavy crates through to the other side. After this, several large, frightening looking creatures stalked thought the portal, where henchmen with shock staffs herded them into holding cells. Kim managed to shoot video of the creatures; black, white and red beasts that looked something like bears with bony spikes and plates, before Dementor locked them away.
"The Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer must cool," the mad scientist declared. "And the energy lattice must recharge before the next exchange! Then, we will bring in more of these creatures...these grimm...from their home dimension! Henchmen, guard the area; if anyone disturbs this apparatus before I return, you'll be fed to the grimm! After that, we'll receive more of the energy source...these dust crystals. After that..." he broke into maniacal laughter. "Well, once my new partner learns the value of what I just sent her, she'll send me a real dragon!"
With that, the undersized, twisted genius stalked out of the laboratory, leaving nervous looking henchmen to guard their employer's latest invention.
"Now's our chance," Kim reported to Wade. "Dementor is gone, his invention is recharging and the PDVI is cooling down. Any idea how long it will be before Dementor can fire it up again?"
"No real idea," Wade told them. "But it must be longer than a few minutes, otherwise he wouldn't leave. I'm concerned about those creatures he brought through. They're highly modified from the base stock. I hate to say this, but when the authorities arrive, we might want to get Amy in on this to help us understand what's happened to them."
"That can wait for later," Kim retorted. "We have to keep him from bringing any more of these from...well...wherever it is that he's bringing them from!"
"I'm also interested in what he's trading for them," Wade murmured, before pulling his thoughts back to the current scene. "Move in, but there's something I just can't put my finger on that has me nervous."
"Okay, usual method?" Ron asked his girlfriend...and leader.
"Nobody has come up with a counter to it yet," she replied, with the smile he hadn't seen in person for far too long. "It's time to teach Dementor's bunch just what we're capable of, now."
Ron smiled and called on his connection to the Mystical Monkey Power while Kim returned the smile and cracked her knuckles. The teens burst out of the duct-work, Ron going left while Kim went right. The team didn't count on intricate tactics to overwhelm their foes; they counted on hitting hard and fast so that the henchmen couldn't organize any sort of coherent resistance. Half the henchmen were down and Ron had dropped Rufus off onto a control board before one of the hired muscle had the sense to activate some sort of an alarm.
"Pick up the pace!" Kim struggled to yell over the klaxon. "We don't want to find out what sort of back up security Dementor has prepared!"
"Right!" Ron agreed, yanking a shock staff out of one of the last remaining henchman's hands and using the weapon to leave the man writhing on the ground. A quick look over his shoulder told him that KP had just sent another henchman sprawling and was now closing on the last one. With the defense eliminated...or at least accounted for...it was time to finish the mission and get out. Ron vaulted into the air and seized the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer, from where it was suspended in a lattice of cables and tubes. That's when things went wrong.
The moment his hand touched the device, Ron felt a surge of electricity run through his body from the the shock staff to the inducer. For a few moments, he was in agony worse than being hit by one of the staffs. He heard Kim screaming his name, heard Rufus' terrified chitters before the world turned upside down and he found himself looking up at the ground.
If there was one skill Ron Stoppable had perfected over the years, it was falling down. Despite the fact that he found himself upside down with the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer in one hand and a shock staff in the other, he managed to flip himself enough to do a belly-flop as opposed to a head-first toothpick into the ground. With the wind knocked out of him, he rolled over and stared into the sky.
He had a moment to grasp the fact that he was lying on a forest floor, contemplating the night sky, when moments ago he had been in Dementor's laboratory. For an unknown length of time, he wondered why the moon was broken.
Then the beast was on top of him.
It didn't make things easy when one quarter of your team was in deep mourning and wouldn't open up to the others for help, one quarter was fighting some sort of personal demon that he wouldn't even talk about, and yet another quarter was distracted, terrified for her uncle. Ruby Rose didn't know if not being able to sleep was a curse or a blessing at the moment. Maybe it was a blessing, because it meant that she didn't have the nightmares about seeing Pyrrha killed. Maybe it was a curse, because now her imagination was free to run wild about her uncle Qrow. The only thing available to distract her from dark thoughts was to watch Jaune going through his basic movements and attacks while he listened to Pyrrha's recorded instructions.
For several nights now, even before the fight with Tyrian in the remains of Oniyuri, she had watched her friend, unobserved, as he went through his nocturnal practice. It was at such times that Ruby keenly felt the two years of age that separated her from her companions. While everyone missed Pyrrha, Jaune was hurt more than even Ruby, who had seen her killed and disintegrated. The young teen knew that there must have been something very special between Pyrrha and Jaune, and she suspected that if she were two years older, she might be able to guess more about what it had been.
She was hesitant to talk to her other two teammates about blonde boy. Ever since they found Shion Village destroyed, Ren seemed to be fighting his own personal issues and Nora didn't seem to be the right person to talk to about this sort of thing. The bubbly hammer-wielder was extremely friendly and enthusiastic, but Ruby suspected that if she were to let the older teen know how bad Jaune was hurting, Nora would handle it with finesse of...well...someone who uses a war-hammer. She was only fifteen, but Ruby was pretty sure that Jaune needed some careful handling. She was too young, Ren was probably too reserved and Nora was just too cheerful for this. While her uncle Qrow was reasonably near at hand, and his years of being an instructor had probably given him the experience to deal with it, he was weak, feverish and not coherent at all times...which was why the four teens, along with an additional visitor, were where they were at the moment.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Jaune finishing his latest exercise. Most nights, he would pause and try to get some sort of control over his emotions before continuing. Tonight, he sobbed and Ruby felt like her heart had fallen into her stomach. Deciding that she had to do something, she tiptoed most of the way back to where Ren, Nora and Lyssnare slept, then turned and walked back to Jaune's impromptu training court, making a point of snapping a few twigs along the way. Sure enough, by the time she reached the small clearing, his scroll was out of sight and he had composed himself.
"Hey," he greeted her, without a great deal of enthusiasm.
"Hey, Jaune," she replied, trying to sound casual. "I woke up and didn't see you."
"I just thought I'd get in some practice during my watch," he told her.
"That's not a good idea," she told him, truthfully. "Anyone or anything could sneak up on the rest of us while you're distracted away from camp."
For a moment, he looked like he was ready to argue with her, but then his shoulders slumped. Ruby swallowed a bit of disappointment, she had hoped he would have the spirit to tell her off.
"You're right," he admitted, setting a course back to the camp. "I won't let it happen again."
Ruby fell into step next to him, walking through the moonlit forest in an awkward silence. Finally, as they approached their sleeping companions, the young teen decided that she had to at least try to address the situation.
"Jaune," she began, stopping and prompting him to halt, as well. "Is there something wrong?"
"Of course there is," he rolled his eyes. "Beacon has fallen, Vale is threatened, raiders and grimm are tearing up the villages outside of the kingdoms, your sister has been maimed, your uncle is sick back at the village and Pyrrha is...is..." His voice trailed off to a sob.
"Juane?" She murmured, placing a hand on his arm. For a moment, he looked ready to shake it off, then dropped his gaze to his feet.
"Why didn't she..." he began. "Why didn't I..."
Again, sobs prevented him from saying more and Ruby wondered if she was the one he should be talking to. Her doubts, and his rambling, stopped when the air suddenly seemed to come alive, prompting their hair to stand on end.
"What's that?" Both Ruby and Jaune demanded of the other.
The two shared stunned looks as small flashes of bright light sizzled through the air behind them.
"Go get the others!" She snapped at the older boy. For a moment, Jaune seemed ready to argue.
"I'll stay out of sight until you get back!" She told him, positioning herself so that a large tree was between herself and the growing...lightning vortex.
Jaune still seemed ready to argue, but quickly changed his mind. Despite the fact that he didn't have as much training as his companions, he was no fool. He knew that despite being younger and smaller than himself, Ruby was a much more capable fighter. Someone had to observe whatever was happening and Ruby had a much better chance of protecting herself while the rest of the team assembled.
"Don't be a hero," the blonde told her, before sprinting off into the night.
"Right," Ruby agreed to his vanished backside. Keeping herself hidden, she opened Crescent Rose and sighted into the center of the growing maelstrom.
Seconds later, the flashes of light vanished and a person appeared, upside down, in the air where the vortex had been centered. Said person managed to spin and land on his belly before rolling over. The young man looked confused, staring at the night sky. Ruby contained her instinct to rush forward and offer help; just because he was confused didn't mean he wasn't the enemy. She remained hidden, observing him.
He simply lay there, staring at the sky with a dumbfounded expression. While he did so, Ruby came to the conclusion that he was an athletic blonde young man, roughly the age of her companions. She couldn't say much about his intelligence, for why would someone lay there in a potentially dangerous forest, staring at the moon? Her observations and musings were cut short by a loud roar. With a deafening sound of shattering branches, a beringal burst out of the forest and jumped on the confused, young man. Ruby had only a moment to gawk at the spectacle before several beowolves burst out of the forest in the larger grimm's wake. She took aim and managed to pick off three of the oncoming, smaller grim before the last two were too close for rifle work. She charged out of her concealed position, Crescent Rose perched on her shoulder. A twirling slash decapitated the first of the two oncoming grimm. She continued her motion, ducking under the second one's claw sweep and chopping off its legs. She finished her spin by driving the point of her weapon through the beast's chest. She fired another round, allowing the recoil to split the creature from chest to crotch, before turning to face the ape-like grimm.
Despite her youth, Ruby Rose had seen more wondrous, horrific and downright odd sights than most, yet the spectacle before her prompted her to stand dumbfounded with her mouth hanging open. The young blonde man was on his feet, surrounded by blue light and grappling with the hulking creature. He had one of the monster's wrists in each of his hands and, to her shock, was actually pulling the large paws away from his neck. Snarling at the hulking beast, he executed a back flip, landing a kick on his assailant's chin. The beringal was sent flying into the air.
"Ruby!" Ren's voice snapped her out of her stupor. The agile young man intercepted the ursa that nearly had her, slashing the creature and diverting its attention.
Jaune squared off against another such grimm while Nora flew overhead with a joyous shriek to land a blow that made the ground tremble on the stunned beringal. Ruby quickly forced her mind to the matter at hand and noted a mixed horde of ursa and creeps emerging from the path the beringal had broken through the woods.
"Ruby! Right side!" Jaune's voice sounded through the clearing. "Ren, left! I have point!"
Ruby rushed down the right side of the oncoming horde, twirling her scythe to create a barrier of slashing metal that the grimm couldn't pass. She spared a quick glance at Jaune, noting that the team leader was holding his ground, decapitating first an ursa and then a creep with two powerful blows.
"Nora!" Juane, shouted. "Take the shot!"
"Incoming!" Nora crowed.
"Get clear!" Jaune yelled. Ruby sprang back as Nora fired a series of grenades into the mass of grimm.
The young teen was far enough away and was moving fast enough to ride out the shock-wave without taking a hit to her aura. She found herself next to the newcomer, with Nora standing on his other side. While she couldn't see Ren, on the far side of the grimm horde, she could see Jaune, crouched behind his shield. Most of the grimm were sprawled on the ground, although a few were still upright.
"Finish them!" Jaune roared.
"You got it!" Nora hollered back, in her typical, cheery tone. The orange-haired girl rushed forward, flipping to deliver a massive blow to a stunned ursa. Ruby targeted the grimm who were still on their feet, using her semblance to strike them down before they could react. Jaune simply stalked forward and eliminated whichever enemy was closest to him, not caring if they were ursa or creep, stunned, moving or on their feet. As another creep fell to her scythe, Ruby finally spotted Ren. The dark-haired young man was acting much like her, concentrating on the grimm that were functional.
To Ruby's surprise, the newcomer joined the fray, bare-handed. He proved to be very quick and strong, catching a lunging creep's head and hurling it into a tree. Before he could do any more, team RNJR finished off the pack. With the danger eliminated, the hunters-in-training and the newcomer stared at each other, tired, cautious but hoping for no further conflict. Finally, Jaune sheathed his blade, collapsed his shield and stepped forward.
"Hello," he told the other blonde. "I'm Jaune Arc."
"Errr, Ron, Ron Stoppable," the newcomer replied. "How is it that you speak English?"
"What's English?" Jaune asked, perplexed.
"The language we're speaking...never mind," Ron shook his head.
"Where are you from?" Jaune asked him.
"I don't think I'm from this world," Ron told him. "For one thing, my planet's moon isn't broken."
"You're from a different world?" Ruby gasped. "I saw you show up! It was like a hole opened in the air and you fell through! How did that happen?"
"We were trying to stop Dementor," Ron explained. "I grabbed the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer and the next thing I know, here I am! Oh, that reminds me!"
While Team RNJR looked on, dumbfounded, Ron pulled a small pack off of his back and walked to the point where he had appeared. He removed a sack from the pack and fitted it over a cylindrical object lying on the ground.
"I don't want to touch it again," Ron explained, putting the sacked object in his pack. "I don't know if it reacted to the Mystical Monkey Power or the electricity in the shock staff, but I don't want it to open another portal."
"What's Mystical Monkey Power?" Jaune asked. "For that matter, who's Detemer, and what's the Pan Dimensional Vintex Orducer?"
"Long stories," Ron told him, picking up an odd staff that looked like it was some form of weapon. "What in the name of the almighty naco is THAT!" Ron was pointing at the dissolving grimm, a look of shock on his face.
"You've never seen grimm dissolve before?" Ren asked.
"I've never seen one before today!" Ron protested. "In fact, I never heard of them before today."
"Could I suggest that this conversation be continued somewhere more safer?" Lysnarre, the village man who accompanied them, suggested. "I can confirm that you eliminated the grimm pack that was bothering my village, but this doesn't seem the place to discuss such things."
"That's a good idea," Jaune agreed. "Ron, why don't you accompany us to our camp? Maybe we can shed some light for each other."
"It is unfortunate that our communication is so compromised," Ren pointed out. "I believe that Doctor Oobleck would like to have some long talks with Ron."
"We all might as well talk," Jaune countered. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think I'll be able to settle in to sleep for the rest of the night. We might as well try to figure out what is going on."
The rest, Ron included, agreed. Soon, the campfire had been brought back to life, shedding a cheery warmth and light on the camp. A kettle of water was heating, promising hot tea to help ward off the chill of the night. However, every answer learned seemed to spark two or three more questions. Tempers actually started to fray a little until Ruby suggested that for every question Ron answered about himself, Team RNJR would answer a question about themselves and this world. Tempers became more settled, overwhelmed by curiosity.
"So," Ron finally concluded. "You're saying that some organization, led by someone named Salem, is trying to undermine your whole social system?"
"That's the best guess we can come up with," Jaune confirmed. "She seems to be trying to create distrust among the four kingdoms, probably in order to leave each one vulnerable."
"Vale has already received a devastating blow," Ren told the newcomer. "While it appears to be recovering, it is so focused upon its own security and rebuilding that it is not cooperating with the other three. Furthermore, the residents of the other three kingdoms now suspect Atlas of preparing a war of conquest, meaning that they are building their defenses and keeping their forces at home."
"Vale is vulnerable," Jaune added. "It won't receive help from either Mistral of Vacuo, because both kingdoms are guarding against Atlas. It won't accept help from Atlas, because Vale doesn't trust Atlas."
"So this Salem person has split the kingdoms," Ron asked. "What next? Will she finish off Vale or move on one of the others?"
"We don't know," Jaune admitted. "Now, back to you. You said that this professor...Demented?"
"Dementor."
"Professor Dementor was bringing grimm from this world into yours?"
"It would appear so," Ron told his hosts. "Wade...that's the guy who did research for us...found out that Dementor's weapons were getting more powerful, maybe close to something that the military would be nervous about."
"And when you say "us", you are referring to..." Ren prompted.
"Myself and KP...Kim Possible," Ron told him. "She and I grew up together, started going on "save the world missions together a few years ago. Most of the time, I was the sidekick, the comedy relief."
Ruby noted that Jaune grimaced a little at the term.
"But about a year ago, I finally stepped up and we really became partners," Ron continued. "Anyway, we knew that he had the PDVI," he nodded at his backpack. "And we were sent in to find out if it had anything to do with his improved weaponry. We saw him open a portal, push some crates through and then several of those bear-like grimm..."
"Ursas," Nora supplied.
"Ursas," Ron nodded. "Came through. They were a little hostile, but Dementor's henchmen were able to herd them into some holding cages with shock-staffs. He said something about getting more dust crystals in the next shipment and once his new partner found out what he had sent through was capable of, she'd send him a dragon in return."
"Shock-staffs?" Ruby asked. In answer, Ron handed her the staff he had brought from the clearing.
Being a complete weapons geek, the young teen was soon disassembling it.
"I have a question," Ren interrupted. "I am certain that Salem, or whomever your adversary was trading with, was not trading from the clearing in which we fought. Shouldn't you have wound up at her facility?"
"I didn't have time to think about that," Ron admitted. "Maybe when I grabbed the PDVI, I shifted it enough to place me where it did." She shuddered. "I'm just lucky I didn't wind up in space or in the middle of an ocean...you guys have oceans, right?"
His hosts nodded.
"Anyway, I felt a charge going from the staff, through me and to the PDVI," he told them. "The next thing I know, here I am. You know the rest."
"I think we should have him speak to Qrow at the earliest opportunity," Ren suggested to the group. "Qrow is much more involved in defending the kingdoms than he will admit. Perhaps Ron's information will be more useful in his hands than in ours."
"You have fulfilled your commitment," Lysnarre pointed out. "So we're free to return to my village. However, Ron here is an unknown element and while he seems friendly, I'd prefer that his possessions be thoroughly checked before he comes close to my friends and family."
"That's a wise precaution," Jaune nodded, then turned to Ron. "Ron, do you have a problem with us going through your belongings?"
"I don't think it matters if I do," Ron's shoulders slumped. He took off his pack and tossed it towards Jaune. "Feel free."
Ruby and Jaune went through the contents while Nora and Ren continued to speak to the newcomer. In addition to the PDVI, the two hunters-in-training found some field rations, a high-technology sleeping bag that was very compact and a small medical kit. After some prompting, Ron emptied his pockets, producing an implement which he called a multi-tool, that Ruby absolutely fell in love with. There was also a wallet with money and identification from his home planet, a communication device that was similar to a scroll, and a small box.
"That was for Kim," Ron told them. "I was going to give it to her after we finished with Dementor."
Curious, Ruby opened the box, noting how Ron's expression fell. She didn't understand his emotions. Sure, the trinket was pretty and probably expensive, but that didn't explain why a young man would be so upset about not giving it to his companion.
What could be so depressing about not giving your companion a dainty gold ring with a clear gemstone?