Me: You know, Neo… I'm starting to get the feeling that people don't like this story very much.

Neo: *pouts* :`(

Me: I know how you feel. While they were nice ones, we didn't get a lot of reviews for the previous chapter. Why is that?

Neo: *holds up a sign* {Maybe word about the story isn't getting out fast enough?}

Me: Yes, I suppose that is possible. If you readers would kindly spread the word of this story to your friends/acquaintances on fan fiction, Neo and I would be eternally grateful if reviews were left for the story.

Neo: *nods in agreement*

Me: Neo, prepare to port to Mount Pillar!

*I still own nothing to do with Chaotic or RWBY!*


Jaune vs. Mipedian Ice Queen


The scene begins in a dark and foreboding city in Perim. This was actually the location known to Chaotic players as UnderWorld City, and currently sneaking around the alleyways of this place were Pyrrha and Jaune. They both had a backpack on their backs and appeared to be looking for something. But Jaune's mind was not completely on the scan quest at hand. He seemed to be kind of fidgety as he continually snuck glances at his Scanner's timer.

And it was beginning to annoy his partner.

"Jaune, will you PLEASE just relax?" asked an annoyed Pyrrha. "He should be here any minute."

"How can I relax when I have a match in literally five minutes?" shot back an equally annoyed Jaune.

"Look Jaune, in Chaotic there's the game, and the game behind the game. You've gotta play both!" Pyrrha lectured.

Jaune pocketed his Scanner and reached into his bag, gagging a bit as he pulled out a few slimy, purple scales.

"These Dractyl Scales are gross! I don't see what they have to do with playing Chaotic, or why we have to..."

Jaune was cut off by a high pitched roar of sorts. Without warning, something landed on his face, making him scream out in panic. And who could blame him with the Grimm he has to fight every day?

"PYRRHA, HELP! IT'S GONNA EAT ME!"

Pyrrha just chuckled and got the creature off of her partner/boyfriend-to-be. The small creature flailed around a little bit as if he was trying to get something, but he soon calmed down. Pyrrha set him down along with her bag.

"Eat a human? Blech! Too many bones." the creature said in disgust.

Jaune finally got a good look at the strange creature, and could tell that he was definitely an UnderWorlder. He kinda resembled a rabbit, only he was a bit bigger than a normal rabbit. He has green skin and large ears like a rabbit's ear, and a red mohawk along with a short red goatee and two tufts of red hair on his wrists. His large ears have darker green spots at the ends. He also has two short fangs on his large mouth. He also wears only a brown vest.

"Jaune, this is H'earring: my inside man. I bring him goodies, and he hooks me up with the prime scans." Pyrrha introduced.

H'earring opened up Pyrrha's bag and took a look inside. An even bigger grin than what he had before was soon plastered onto his face.

"Oooohhh, Dractyl Scales!" H'earring said, clearly pleased.

But before be could take one, Pyrrha swiped the bag away from the small UnderWorld creature.

"You'd BETTER have something good for me, H'earring! Getting these was even grosser than usual!" Pyrrha said sternly.

She reached into her bag for a few Dractyl Scales, but instead pulled out a strange red object. An object that looked weird enough and cool enough to catch Jaune's attention. The boy silently wondered if it was a Battlegear of some kind.

"Where'd you find that?" Jaune asked.

"I found it in Dractyl's nest. I always pick up strange objects when on a Scan Quest. After all, you never know what might come in handy." Pyrrha replied.

She stashed the strange object in a separate pocket and pulled out a handful of Dractyl Scales. She silently gagged at the slimy feeling of the scales, and gave them to a very eager H'earring… who proceeded to noisily scarf them down.

"Eeyuck…!" muttered Jaune.

After finishing his snack, H'earring was ready to make his report.

"Okay H'earring, what do you have?" Pyrrha asked.

"New Battlegear: tough!" H'earring replied.

He perked up as his sensitive sense of... Well, hearing, picked up the faint sound of a motorized vehicle. He raised his ears to gain an accurate location of where the noise was coming from. Once he had an accurate guess on where it was, he ran up against a wall. This action confused our two Chaotic players, but not for very long.

Pretty soon, the revving sound grew louder, and louder as whatever it was got closer to their location. Suddenly there was a cry of 'yee-haw!' and something broke through the glass window at the top of the wall H'earring was backed up against, before it landed next to Jaune. It quickly rode off and stopped a short distance from the group.

The gear was something akin to a motorcycle combined with a giant, hollowed out buzzsaw blade. And riding it was the OverWorld Scout, Blazier. He was a creature that resembled a yellow imp with two fangs jutting out of his lower jaw, wearing clothes similar to those of an old western prospector from the American gold rush. But Pyrrha didn't seem all that impressed. In fact, she seemed more disappointed than anything else.

"THAT'S the Battlegear you dragged me all the way out here for?! I HAVE a Mowercycle already!" Pyrrha complained, feeling a bit ripped off.

That's when the ground started to rumble a bit and the wall behind Jaune and Pyrrha started to fall towards them, making them scream and hug each other as they thought they were going to die. Fortunately, they were standing where a hollow window was, and narrowly avoided getting squashed like a couple of cockroaches. They slowly opened their eyes and blushed intensely as they saw the position they were in before letting go. But those blushes of embarrassment quickly vanished when they saw just what knocked down the wall. And their jaws fell open like a couple of ten ton weights.

It was a mechanical marvel of engineering. It looked like a balcony mixed with the legs of a large bird like an ostrich or a secretary bird. Mounted to its sides was a pair of cannons that looked powerful enough to blast anything to pieces, and at the front of it was a pair of giant bull horns. Knowing Ruby, she'd probably go chibi at the sight of such a marvelous piece of weaponry.

"I bet you don't have one of those!" H'earring said smugly.

"Holy crap, that thing is huge!" Jaune said in his mind.

"Give me that map, Blazier, or I'll crush you and shut your spying eyes for good!" threatened the creature who was piloting this new Battlegear.

The creature in question looked like a horned dragon demon, minus the wings. He was built like a bodybuilder with the solid muscle of a professional wrestler, and had red skin, blue spikes sticking out of his back, and short lizard tail. He wore a loincloth, a pair of shoes, and a wrestling champion's belt.

This is Chaor, the ruler of the UnderWorld. And Blazier seemed to just laugh off his threat.

"Nothin' doin', Chaor! 'Cause I'mma gonna find all yer UnderWorld hidey holes, n' you can't stop me!" Blazier rebuttaled.

"We'll just see about that!" Chaor declared.

"This isn't good! It looks like Blazier's challenging Chaor to a showdown!" Pyrrha said.

"Blazier's crazy! He'll get flattened playing chicken against that thing!" exclaimed Jaune.

"Maybe not." H'earring interjected. "Blazier's smart. He's a master scout and a map maker for the OverWorld. He's been stealing Chaor's secrets a long time."

With that knowledge in mind, the two members of Team JNPR returned their attention to this little conflict. Blazier started things off by speeding towards Chaor on his trusty Mowercycle. The UnderWorld leader attempted to flatten the OverWorld Scout using his new Battlegear, but Blazier swerved out of the way at the last second. The Mowercycle crashed into a wall, and began to ride vertically up the side of the building using its saw blades as mobile grappling hooks.

Once on the roof, Blazier laughed as he sped over Chaor, slicing his way through several statues in the process. Chaor didn't like this one bit.

"TIM-BEEEEERRRRR!" hollered Blazier as he sliced through a larger gargoyle statue.

The half of the statue that was hanging off the roof slowly fell off its perch and crashed right on top of Chaor. Jaune and Pyrrha both winced and thought that the UnderWorld leader was gonna be sore after that. But this method proved to be totally ineffective against Chaor, as he merely lifted the stone statue off of himself and threw it to the ground, proving to the two humans that he's just as strong as he looks. Maybe even stronger.

He then flipped a few switches on the Battlegear's control panel and took aim as the cannons moved. A green plasma blast was shot from the cannon, and it took a chunk out of a building upon impact. But it missed Blazier as he just landed on the road and took off laughing.

Needless to say, Chaor is pissed off.

He growled a bit and flipped a few more switches on the control panel of his new Battlegear. The hulking goliath of a Battlegear began to walk off after Blazier while firing its cannons. Suffice to say, Pyrrha is mighty impressed.

"OH MY GOODNESS! H'earring, you just earned yourself all the smelly scales you can handle!" exclaimed Pyrrha, eliciting an excited noise from H'earring. "I have GOT to scan that!"

"But Pyrrha, what about my battle? You were gonna give me the scoop on this WeissKween character!" Jaune complained.

"Weiss? Tell her I said hi." H'earring said.

"I'm sorry, Jaune, this Battlegear is just too good to pass up! But good luck." Pyrrha said apologetically.

"You'll need all the luck you can get against Weiss, or she'll have you for lunch!" snickered H'earring as he ate a few more Dractyl Scales.

"Thanks. Very nice meeting you." Jaune said sarcastically as he transported back to Chaotic.

When he got there, he began walking to the Crellan Drome as he thought aloud about his opponent.

"Who does this person think they are? They can't be THAT good, can they?"

Jaune was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he completely ignored a certain red head reaper as he walked right past her. But she didn't seem to mind.

"Hi, Jaune."

That finally snapped the boy out of his mental rant as his attention turned to Ruby. Fortunately, he didn't scream like a girl this time. (No offense to any ladies reading this.)

"Oh, hey Ruby. Sorry. I'm a little distracted." Jaune said. "So, what's up?"

"Weiss is battling today. She's got a ton of great cards, but she never uses them the way you think she will. You can always learn something new whenever she trashes some poor sucker!" Ruby explained. "Wanna watch with me?"

"Uh, actually… I kind of already have a front row seat." Jaune said nervously. "I'm the sucker…"

"Oh…"

Now Ruby felt kind of bad for saying how Weiss is so much stronger as a player than Jaune. After all, she and Ruby are still relatively new to Chaotic and its Battle Dromes. Still, Weiss has proven that while she's not that good when playing tabletop, the heiress is a master of Online matches and a great battler in the Dromes.

That's when a thought struck Jaune.

"Wait a minute. Weiss…? As in Weiss Schnee? The very same Weiss Schnee that's part of Team RWBY? WeissKween is THAT Weiss?!" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, she is. I won't say what tribe she uses, but I can say that she got into Chaotic not long after I started playing." Ruby replied.

"Oh great, and if she's as good a fighter as she is in Remnant, I can only imagine how much better she is now that she's here!" Jaune said in despair.

"Well, you never know. With your experience, you could win against Weiss. Sort of… maybe…"

You're really not helping Jaune's morale right now, Rubes. But speaking of the young heiress, we see her in her usual outfit, minus her rapier, doing karate poses as she walked from the Transport Center with her eyes closed. She seemed to be totally in the zone, so to speak.

"Feel the energy… and let the energy feel you back… and feel the energy… and let it feel you back…" chanted Weiss.

"Weiss! Ruby-mon to Weissy-mon, do you copy? Over." Ruby quipped.

Opening one eye, Weiss saw the one person she thought wasn't going to be in Chaotic today.

"Ruby! Check it; today I'm relying totally on my innate inner-ness to deal with… the unexpected!" Weiss said, making kung-fu noises when she paused. "I just walked from the Transport Center from memory. Trying to cope with the curveballs, you know what I'm saying? I didn't expect to see you or Jaune here today but… HU-WAH!... I'm dealing with it."

"That is both really cool, and really disturbing." Ruby said making Jaune snicker. "As for Jaune, he's actually a senior player between the three of us and he's battling you today."

"Ah, yet another highly unexpected yet also greatly appreciated surprise." Weiss said.

She then did something that surprised both Ruby and the boy in question. She smiled and wrapped him in a hug of Nora sized proportions. And both Ruby and Jaune could swear they heard his spine cracking under the pressure.

"And I thought Nora was strong…" both thought to themselves.

"Aloha, my bro! Welcome to Chaotic. Any friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine," she said as she released Jaune from the hug. "Even if I AM about to kick the Chaotic outta ya."

As Weiss walked away laughing a bit and Jaune realigned his spinal column, the leader of Team JNPR couldn't help but feel somewhat ticked off by that remark. Oh well, he'd prove her wrong once their battle started.


/Now Shifting Scene to UnderWorld City… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


As Pyrrha and H'earring continued to follow Chaor and the Battlegear, which I will now reveal is called a Viledriver, Chaor was still chasing down Blazier with literal guns a' blazin'. As the OverWorlder rounded a corner on his Mowercycle, he barely managed to dodge another of the Viledriver's cannon blasts. And yet he was laughing about it!

Either this guy has a plan, or he's just got a few screws loose.

"BLAZIER!" roared Chaor.

The old western creature just continued to laugh as he sped along. It looked like Blazier was actually gonna get away, but then… it happened. One of Chaor's cannon blasts hit Blazier and knocked him off his Mowercycle! The OverWorlder grunted and groaned as he skidded to a stop flat on his back.

Chaor chuckled in an almost sadistic way as he and his Viledriver closed in on Blazier. The old western imp groaned as he regained his bearings and spat a loogie at something. And is it just me, or was there the audible sound of a spittoon in the background?

"Ah ain't a'scared a' you! Show me what'cha got!" Blazier challenged defiantly.

Chaor merely chuckled as he aimed one of his Viledriver's cannons at the downed scout. It hummed as it powered up, but when Chaor pressed the fire button… it quickly fizzled out.

"NO! THE CANNONS ARE SHOT!" Chaor yelled in outrage.

Blazier cracked up laughing and took the opportunity to get up and run away. But Chaor wasn't quite finished with him, even though he knew that now was not the best time to give chase.

"Laugh now, Blazier… When Ulmar's done fixing this thing, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND MAKE YOU PAY!" declared Chaor.

He turned his Viledriver around and began moving to Ulmar's Lab to get some repairs done. And from their hiding spot behind some rubble, Pyrrha and H'earring saw the whole thing.

"Pyrrha, the cannons don't work. Scan it now before he sees us! Quick!" H'earring whispered.

"But if I scan it now, I won't be able to fire the cannons in battle either." reasoned Pyrrha. "Let's follow him to this Ulmar guy's place and scan it when it's fixed."


/Now Shifting Scene to Chaotic Crellan Drome… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


On the way to the Battle Drome, Jaune was surprised to see Weiss acting so laid back and casual instead of uptight and stuffy. But then, who can blame him? He's known Weiss for awhile now and knows that she's never been the type to act like that. Maybe it's because in Chaotic she doesn't need to hold up an image?

Oh well. He'd think more about that later. Right now, he's got a battle that he needs to focus on.

"See you on the inside." Weiss said to Jaune as she walked into the Drome.

"It's strange to see Weiss like this." Jaune commented.

"I know, but it is a nice change from how she usually is. And she's a great Chaotic player. She's not unbeatable though, just don't rely on strong cards or strategy." Ruby said.

"Then what do I do?" asked Jaune.

Ruby put a finger to her chin and thought for a moment. She knew exactly what to do.

"Give little miss unexpected something… unexpected." Ruby suggested.

"Like…?"

"If I knew, it wouldn't be very unexpected, now would it?" quipped Ruby.

Knowing he couldn't get any more tips out of Ruby, Jaune just walked into the Drome and docked his Scanner like Weiss did. However, there was a slight problem for the actual competition.

"Why isn't she picking anything yet?"

Indeed: Weiss was not picking any cards at all. She just kept doing karate poses and making crazy sounds like a lunatic. But Jaune wasn't gonna let the craziness of the situation stop him from winning.

"Stay focused, Arc. Don't let her psyche you out! Ruby said to do something unexpected but… Heptadd's my best card. I have to go with him! Heptadd already has all the element types, but equipping him with this Vlaric Shard will boost the power of his Earth attacks. The Song of Embernova Mugic should liven things up, and ten OverWorld locations to boost my chances. If I'm the attacker, they'll help Heptadd-"

Jaune looked up and was confused. Weiss STILL wasn't picking anything?! This previously welcome change of personality was now starting to become not so welcome.

"HEY," shouted Jaune, breaking Weiss out of her trance. "What're you gonna do, pick the cards with your eyes closed?"

Rather than offer an angry rebuttal for the obvious use of heavy sarcasm in that remark, Weiss just started grinning even more.

"Dude, that is an awesome great idea!" Weiss said.

She closed her eyes and began to select her cards. One creature, one Battlegear, one Mugic and ten locations. And she did it all flawlessly.

"Done!"

"Lock your decks."

They did, and Jaune was pleasantly surprised to see that he apparently made the correct choices of cards as opposed to what Weiss is using.

"Yes! Heptadd has more energy than Zhade. This'll be an easy win!" Jaune said confidently.

Watching from outside the Drome, Ruby slowly shook her head in disappointment.

"Spoken like a player who doesn't have a clue who he's dealing with." Ruby mumbled.

"In this one on one battle, JauneOfArc will be the attacker. Activate the Location Randomizer."

Jaune spun his Randomizer and his ten OverWorld locations began to appear in no particular order on his screen.

"Choosing location…"

After a few seconds of spinning, the Randomizer stopped on…

"...The OverWorld Riverlands."

"Alright!" cheered Jaune. "Look out, Weiss, because your winning streak ends here!"

"Select your attacking creature."

"Heptadd attacks Zhade! Let's get Chaotic!" Jaune declared.

Both players touched their cards and were engulfed in swirling codes. While Jaune turned into a familiar creature from two chapters ago, Weiss became a completely different creature. She became the Mipedian known as Zhade.

Zhade is a small, yet powerful and agile Mipedian. His skin is golden, and he often wears large golden-brown spaulders and arm braces to protect his shoulders and arms during combat.

"Heptadd versus Zhade in the Riverlands. Let the battle begin!"

In a flash of white light, we find ourselves in the Riverlands. The Riverlands are a series of cliffs, rivers and waterfalls that connect up with each other. And looking out over this area is Heptadd. Or Jaune as Heptadd, or… you know what I mean.

"This is one of several locations that Heptadd knows like the back of his hand. It'll be a snap finding Weiss! Er, I mean Zhade. I mean… uh… whatever."

As Heptadd walked off to find his Mipedian opponent, the Mipedian Stalker came into view from behind a rock. There was a Battlegear that looked like a triple barreled gun with fire jutting from the barrels clutched in his claws.

"Hey, Jaune, you looking for li'l ol' me?" he said getting Heptadd's attention. "You're still kinda new at this, and I like a challenge. So take your best shot! I'll even holster my Pyro Blaster for now."

To prove his point, the Pyro Blaster disappeared in a fizzle of data. Heptadd hated that his opponent was underestimating him, and intended to show just how strong he really is.

"You asked for it!" Heptadd said.

He began gathering gale force winds in his hand, and thrust his arm forward.

"Cyclone Slam!" intoned Heptadd.

Zhade didn't stand a chance against such a powerful air attack, and was instantly blown off the edge of the cliff. He hit the water with a loud splash, but he didn't resurface. Heptadd wasn't very concerned since he knew this wasn't going to affect Weiss's health.

"Tch, I hope you can swim." Heptadd snarked.

All was quiet as the OverWorld Guardian continued to gaze at the water, waiting for his opponent to pop back up. But rather than coming up through the water, it appears that Zhade has other plans. And the proof we have of this is the trail of reptilian footprints coming up from behind Heptadd.

"You should have brought a pair of Spectral Viewers, Jaune."

The voice startled Heptadd into looking behind himself, only to receive an invisible punch to the face. Heptadd backed up a bit and looked to where he'd been punched. To his surprise, Zhade was reappearing and disappearing all over the place, a silly smug grin plastered on his face.

"How're you going to fight me… if you can't SEE me?" Zhade asked.

Heptadd gasped and got back on his feet to try and fight back, but it was all for naught.

He kept taking hit after hit, punch after punch and couldn't even fight back since he couldn't see his enemy. And with each attack made by Zhade, Heptadd was pushed closer and closer to the edge of the fall. Pretty soon, he was balancing o. One toe, trying hard not to fall. That's when Zhade reappeared.

"Hope YOU can swim, dude." quipped Zhade.

And with a simple "boop" where his nose should be, Heptadd fell into the waters below. It didn't do much damage, but when he got to dry land, he was really mad.

"I forgot: Mipedians like Zhade can turn invisible!" Jaune thought to himself.

"Weather bulletin! IT'S HAILSTORM TIME!" cried Zhade.

He spread his arms out and launched a barrage of hail at Heptadd. And while this attack was weakened significantly due to Zhade not having the water element, it still hurt like heck and forced Heptadd to stage a strategic retreat.

"You can't win that way, Jaune." Zhade said, cancelling his attack. "Don't run from the unexpected, face it and fight it!"

Zhade jumped off after Heptadd, turning invisible in the process. He landed on the water, seemingly unaware of Heptadd's plan of attack. Hidden behind a stone pillar, he made a green gem shard on a gauntlet appear on his wrist.

He peeked out and saw the water displace where Zhade was stepping.

"Here's something unexpected." Heptadd said. "I can see where you are!"

Heptadd thrust his arm out and shot a Pebble Storm attack at the now exposed Mipedian. The attack struck true and Zhade took a considerable amount of damage due to the power increase from the Vlaric Shard.

"Gotcha!" cheered Heptadd.

Knowing that he was no match for Heptadd with his cover blown, Zhade booked it away from the OverWorld creature. He turned visible again just as he entered a cave that led to somewhere important.


/Now Shifting Scene to Ulmar's Lab… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


Thunder boomed and lightning struck in the distance of a creepy looking building in the UnderWorld. Of course, everything in the UnderWorld is creepy to us.

Looking in through an open window was the dynamic duo of Pyrrha and H'earring. They were on a very important mission that's difficulty made it near impossible to accomplish. That mission was to find an opening for Pyrrha to scan the Viledriver.

Which would probably be a little easier if H'earring would stop being so noisy while he's eating…

"Quiet!" shushed Pyrrha.

"He's never satisfied!" complained a creature as he worked on the Viledriver.

He is a humanoid creature that wears a white lab coat. He has red eyes, green skin, metal hands, and a pink/red brain sticking out of his head. This is the creature known as Ulmar.

"He always wants more power! Well, these new reactors should be powerful enough. Even for Chaor." Ulmar said to himself.

He put down the wrench he was using and walked into the lift he used to get into the Viledriver. He pressed a switch and lowered himself back to the ground. That's when Ulmar noticed something had landed on his sleeve. He looked in horror and squeaked in fear as he saw his worst fear… a butterfly.

Ulmar began to freak out and repeatedly swatted at his sleeve, screaming as if that butterfly was contaminated with the Black Plague, or something. When he calmed down, he went to check on one of his machines in an attempt to keep himself occupied until Chaor came by to pick up the Viledriver.

"Okay, I've seen some pretty irrational fears before. But butterflies?! Now I KNOW this guy's got a screw loose!" Pyrrha whispered.

"You think you can handle that Viledriver of his in a battle?" H'earring asked.

"Well, it is quite huge…" relented Pyrrha. "It seems a bit risky to try it out for the first time in a Drome when the battle's at stake."

While Pyrrha was pondering this, H'earring accidentally bumped into a two headed skeleton and caused it to rattle a little. But that small sound was enough to catch Ulmar's attention as he narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Intruders!" growled Ulmar.

He reached into his lab coat and pulled out a test tube that was filled with a highly volatile chemical. He threw it in the general direction of the sound, causing a small explosion as the glass broke on contact. The result was a pile of old bones falling to the floor. Ulmar laughed sheepishly as he visibly relaxed a bit.

"Just my old assistant."

With the threat dealt with, Ulmar returned to his work. Pyrrha and H'earring sighed in relief from the window, but the red spartan noticed a certain someone sneaking into Ulmar's Lab and into the Viledriver.

"Wait… what's Blazier doing with the Viledriver?" Pyrrha asked quietly.

The red haired spartan of Beacon Academy had no idea what Blazier was planning, but she knew it couldn't be good. And she was right.

Blazier powered up the Viledriver and attempted to move with it, but instead it was going nuts! It was moving all over the place and smashing various objects in the room. And from what she could tell, this wasn't part of Blazier's plan at all!

"We need to warn Ulmar, now!" Pyrrha panicked.

And with that, she bolted for the front door dragging H'earring along for the ride.

Blazier's POV.

Ah can't believe how easy it was ta git ma'h way into Ulmar's Lab! Ah know he's got tons o' great Battlegear, but if ah can steal that one he built fer Chaor an' git it to the OverWorld, it'll help big time! Gettin' into the Viledriver weren't too hard, but figurin' out these controls is a mite tricky.

Takin' a wild guess, ah flipped a switch and the thing powered up. Ah grinned and grabbed the controls, pullin' the left one to go forward… only to turn around an' go that way!

The dang thing was outta control, smashin' evetythin' in sight! I was flippin' switches and pressin' buttons like no tomorrow, tryin' to make it stop… only…

"HOW DO AH STOP THIS THING?!"


/Now Shifting Scene to Jaune and Weiss's Battle… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


Normal POV.

Jaune as Heptadd walked into the cave where Zhade, A.K.A. Weiss, ran for cover and found it to be the entrance of a different location. This location was a cave full of sharp looking crystals. Heptadd walked in, ready to launch an attack at the slightest hint of Mipedian.

"No place left to run, Weiss!" Heptadd declared.

That's when Weiss as Zhade leapt from the ceiling down to the floor, grinning the whole time.

"Who's running?" Zhade asked as he turned invisible.

Heptadd growled and launched a Lavalanche attack at the Mipedian. It's a fire and earth attack, so it too got the power boost from Heptadd's Vlaric Shard Battlegear. The attack hit Zhade and sent him flying back from the force of the attack, but there was an unforeseen consequence.

Heptadd's attack began to bounce all over the place, continuously being deflected by the crystal shards surrounding them. This continued on for five seconds until eventually he was hit by his own attack and sent back into a cluster of crystals.

"You can't use the Vlaric Shard's power in here without hurting yourself, Jaune. This place intensifies attacks," explained Zhade. "LIKE MY INFERNO GUST!"

Zhade launched a twister of burning wind at Heptadd, and the OverWorld Guardian could easily tell that the attack was far stronger than it should be. He was sent up by the attack before falling into a pile of crystals, losing even more energy. With a war cry, Heptadd leapt out of the shards and glared at his foe.

"Nice try, but I'm still here! What else you got?" Heptadd declared.

"How about… Fearocity!"

Zhade thrust his arms out and something terrifying materialized. It was a swarm of heads made out of black smog, each having glowing red eyes and mouths full of needle sharp teeth. Heptadd's eyes widened a bit as the shadows swarmed around him, roaring as they did so.

But he would not be deterred! Heptadd began to channel all of his courage, causing a whirlwind to form around him. Zhade raised a nonexistent eyebrow at this tactic, but was not surprised that his Fearocity attack was repelled by his OverWorld opponent. As two more shadows tried to strike Heptadd, he simply punched them back to the netherworld from whence they came!

Back in the pub, several players were cheering for Heptadd as they watched the battle on the viewing screens. Ruby swallowed a bite of a chocolate chip cookie as she began to ponder the situation.

"Jaune's Heptadd has too high a Courage score to be hurt by an attack like Fearocity. Maybe Jaune DOES have a chance at beating Weiss." Ruby thought aloud. "I'd say… maybe a one in a million chance."


/Now Shifting Scene to Ulmar's Lab… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


"What do you mean I have an intruder here? The only intruders I see are you two!" Ulmar demanded.

Pyrrha had just gotten don warning Ulmar about Blazier's attempt to steal the Viledriver, but it would seem like the crazy Battlegear scientist wasn't listening to her plight. Just as Pyrrha was about to try and reason with the UnderWorld creature, she along with H'earring and Ulmar felt the ground tremble.

Ulmar looked back and his eyes widened in fear at what he saw. Blazier was coming down the stairs in the Viledriver, totally out of control!

"Run?" Ulmar asked Pyrrha and H'earring.

"Run." They replied.

And run they did. They just barely made it out of the way in time for the Viledriver to burst through the entrance to Ulmar's workshop. It began to move forward again, and Ulmar was not happy with the map making imp.

"You thieving fool! You're going to destroy it!" Ulmar snapped.

He yelped and barely managed to avoid being squashed by his own Battlegear. And Blazier was still trying to get control of the darned thing.

"Now don't y'all worry none, ah got it under control! ...Not…" Blazier weakly said.

He yelped in fear as the Viledriver was now precariously perched on the edge of a cliff by one foot. It could fall and take Blazier with it!


/Now Shifting Scene to Jaune and Weiss's Battle… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


Back with Jaune and Weiss, it looks like their battle was just about all wrapped up.

"The Fearocity attack was just for fun. Your energy's so low I can goof around a little. But now that we're almost done here…"

"We're not done yet! I still have my Mugic!" Heptadd declared.

"Too little too late, dunce!" Zhade said.

"Unless I do something unexpected." Jaune as Heptadd thought to himself.

Using Heptadd's Mugic Counter, our young OverWorld player cast the Mugic he'd chosen specifically for this match.

"SONG OF EMBERNOVA! LIGHT HER UP!"

Seven musical notes rang through the air as a beam of light struck Zhade, making him cry out in pain. But what happened next was something truly unexpected.

The beam was reflected off of the multitude of crystals, causing the energy to separate like it was passing through several prisms. They bounced and deflected all over the place until stopping around Zhade. By the time the music stopped, the Mipedian was trapped within a cage of energy. But rather than being frustrated, he seemed pleased.

"Quick thinking. Using the cave's properties to your advantage: didn't expect that, dude." Zhade admitted. "Too bad I've trained myself to DEAL with the unexpected!"

"You survived the Embernova, but what're you gonna do now? You can't move!" Heptadd asked.

"I'll just have to level the playing field to make sure YOU can't move either. Here comes Rustoxic!"

Zhade opened his mouth and fired a stream of concentrated venom at Heptadd, hitting him square in the face. But instead of having the normal effects that venom has, it began to do something else entirely.

The venom began to coat Heptadd in a thick layer of rust, stiffening his limbs and preventing him from moving. Once Heptadd was fully immobilized, Zhade began laughing at his opponent. The Mipedian Stalker knew that this was the perfect opportunity to finish this battle.

"Now we're both stuck. Except I haven't used my Battlegear." Zhade said as he brought out his Pyroblaster. "See, Jaune, this was a trap. Every move I made was just to sucker you in here, dunce! And now you're gonna get out: the hard way!"

Zhade took aim at Heptadd, and shot a stream of fire at the literally rusty OverWorlder. Heptadd could only watch helplessly as he was hit by the flames. He felt the rust reducing the pain caused by the fire, but it wasn't enough to stop him from being coded.

Once back in the Drome, Jaune had his head down in defeat.

"The winner is WeissKween."

Zhade cheered boisterously as he turned back into Weiss, but it wasn't all a happy ending. Jaune opened narrowed eyes as anger began to fester in his mind.


/Now Shifting Scene to Ulmar's Lab… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


When we last saw Pyrrha and company, it looked like the Viledriver was about to be brought to an untimely end because of Blazier. Will this come to pass? Let's find out, because it's still precariously perched on that cliff.

"My beautiful creation! NOOOOO!" Ulmar cried in horror.

Just as all seemed lost for the Viledriver, Blazier managed to make a miracle happen. He pulled the right control stick as hard as he could and managed to make it turn around. The Viledriver began to walk away from the cliff, eliciting a sigh of relief from Blazier. But that relief was soon replaced by horror as he saw that he was heading straight for… PYRRHA!

The girl gasped in absolute horror as she began to run from the Battlegear she had come to scan. Her Semblance may be polarity, but it takes a huge amount of concentration to use it on larger items. And this was no exception.

"Turn right! TURN RIGHT!" she cried in fear.

Blazier once again pulled on the control stick, but something different happened this time. The darn thing snapped in two, knocking Blazier out of the control room of the Viledriver. The huge Battlegear continued running until it, much to the horror of Ulmar and Pyrrha, crashed into a giant stone statue and destroyed itself!

And where was Blazier during all of this? Running like a bat outta hell from an angry Pyrrha and Ulmar while H'earring watched from a safe distance.


/Now Shifting Scene to Chaotic Snack Port… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


Back at the snack port, Jaune was still stewing over his loss to Weiss. Ruby was sitting with him and tried to comfort him with little success.

"Come on, Jaune, you weren't… totally terrible." Ruby said.

"She's right." added Neptune as he sat with them. "Especially considering that you were up against Weiss."

Speaking of Weiss, she was walking over to where our group was, being praised the whole way. And this was enough to make Jaune finally blow a gasket.

"I'll be right back."

He got up and walked over to Weiss, who didn't seem to notice the anger radiating off of the young knight.

"Hi, Jaune. Nice battle…" she began.

But Jaune cut her off.

"WASN'T IT ENOUGH TO BEAT ME? WHY'D YOU HAVE TO MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A COMPLETE NOOB, BRAGGING ABOUT YOUR GREAT STRATEGY?!" snapped Jaune. "You wanted an enemy, little miss unexpected? Well you just made one!"

Now, one might think that Weiss would get mad about such accusations, right? Well surprisingly… she didn't.

"Bragging? Jaune, I was trying to give you some combat pointers. And you think I'd ever explain strategy to an enemy? Not for all the raw Dust in the Schnee Dust Mines." Weiss explained.

She then began to do a few more karate moves.

"By the way, as a player… YOU ROCK!" exclaimed Weiss.

Jaune calmed down and felt a little better after that. But at the same time he felt kind of guilty for snapping at Weiss like that.

"Uh, thanks Weiss. I'm sitting with Ruby and Neptune if you want to…"

"Wait, Neptune?" asked an eager Weiss.

She then began walking in a most alien-like fashion towards their table.

"Take me to your leader." Weiss said like an alien.

While this behavior was strange to Jaune, he just rolled his eyes good naturedly and took his seat back at their table. That's when Neptune noticed that the P in JNPR was missing.

"Hey, where's Pyrrha?" Neptune asked.

"She's on a Scan Quest. But I thought she'd be back by now." Jaune said.

"Well, maybe something came up?" Ruby suggested.


/Now Shifting Scene to Ulmar's Lab… Scene Change in Progress… Scene Change Complete!\


Back at Ulmar's Lab, Blazier was still running for his life with Pyrrha and Ulmar on his tail. One thing's for sure, this ain't gonna end well for Blazier at all.

"IS IT TOO LATE TA SAY AH'M SORRY?" asked a scared Blazier.

But I'm thinking it might be just a TEENSY bit too late.


***To Be Continued…***