Emerald Forrest, Cliffside Ruins

"What sort of people are you?" demanded Ruby.

"I am Mizu," Mizu said with an air of one explaining the obvious, "and these are two of my brethren, Vatra," he gestured to the one in red on his left, the pyromaniac, "and Aer," he pointed out the one in yellow on his right. This one didn't seem as imposing as the other two, but that would be because his amber-gold eyes were those of an anxious kid who was experiencing stage-fright. "And as to what 'sort of people' we are, that's easy." Mizu smirked as he spoke up again. "Our sort is our own, and no one else can say otherwise!"

"That doesn't explain why you attacked us for no reason!" Wiess snapped.

"Brothers!" a voice called out from around the same area as the pulsating orb, "it's about to initiate!" Mizu and the other two looked at each other and smirked.

"Well at least we won't be able to tell you anything that might interfere with us."

"And why would you think that?" demanded Pryyha.

"Because we're not going to be here anymore."

"What?"

The orb of energy exploded, multi-colored light shooting everywhere. Everyone cried out, Ruby and Wiess screamed, Yang called out: "Ruby!" And then everything changed.

not the janitor's closet

"Ruby! RUBY!"

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, feeling cold. She was on her back, snow was falling, and Weiss was kneeling over her.

"Ruby! Can you hear me?"

"Uh...yeah, I'm fine...what happened?"

"I wish I knew." Ruby sat up and looked around. They were obviously no where close to the academy. They were in the mountains somewhere, tall pine trees covered with snow were the only bits of green within eyesight.

"Well, it could be worst to say the least."

"How can you say that?" said Weiss, aghast, "it's freezing out here!" Ruby looked at her. She was freezing alright, she was shaking from head to toe. Ruby got to her feet and dusted the snow off of her.

"Right, lets get moving then."

"Get moving? How can you get over the cold so easily?"

It's only several degrees above chilly, Ruby thought, why is she acting as though it's an ice age? It took her a while to realize something simple before smacking her forehead. Of course, it was obvious! Ruby then took off the cloak she had and wrapped it around Wiess.

"This should help," Ruby said with finality, interrupting Wiess' protest, "it's made out of the same material as my dress and combat skirt. It should keep you warm for a little while until we find shelter." Wiess was taken aback, not because of Ruby helping her but rather by the fact that she was right. The red cloak around her shoulders was soft and sturdy, and was doing more than a good job of preventing the wind from getting to her.

"Thanks, but where are we supposed to find shelter? We're obviously a very long way from Beacon, not to mention Vale."

"Yeah…but how did we get here?"

A loud boom seemed to answer her question. The two aspiring huntresses looked at each other and, not really knowing what else they could do, ran off in the direction of the sound.

"You foolish fools will never defeat me! You're far too busy being foolish! Oblivion is at hand!" O'Malley launched a missile from his rocket launcher, causing a huge explosion in the middle of the canyon.

"Run!" Tucker yelled and the Reds and Blues all scrambled for cover.

"Hey Sarge!" Simmons called out from behind a tree, "I have an idea, but you need to distract him."

"Will do," Sarge responded as two more rockets surged overhead.

"Up ahead!" Ruby and Weiss ran forward and took cover behind a large rock, hearing the explosions as they ran up. They peaked out from behind cover.

"Who the heck are these guys?" asked Weiss, eyeing all the strangers bearing similar armor if not for the many different colors.

"I don't know," said Ruby, "but I don't think they like each other."

"What was your first clue?" The one in purple shot two more rockets, causing two more explosions. Ruby then noticed two of the fighters, a red and a yellow, huddled behind a rock not to far away.

"Come on Weiss, we need to get closer," she urged before dashing forward, being careful not to get noticed by any of the shooters. Two more shooters, a dark blue and light green, started firing pistols at the purple one with the rocket launcher.

"Oh now you want to start shooting?" The one in purple mocked before his voice changed. "No hard feelings guys-Shut up!" The voice reverted back before shouting: "Oblivion!" and shooting off two more rockets. Now closer to the two soldiers they noticed behind a rock, Weiss and Ruby eavesdropped on what little conversation they picked up. The Red one spoke first.

"Grif, I've never believed in you. Not even for a moment. But now, is your chance to prove yourself. To me."

"What can I do, Sarge?"

"I need you to run right at O'Malley-"

"And shank him with my shiv?"

"No. When he blows you up with the rocket, try to see if you can get your dismembered limbs and guts to clog the barrels of his rocket launcher."

Huh?

"You're kidding."

"I don't think he was," Ruby remarked.

"What kind of place did we end up in?" Weiss asked, somewhat confused by the idiocy of the 'Sarge'nt and his suggestion.

"OBLIVION IS AT HAND!" the purple one announced, aiming his double rocket launcher point blank at the two soldiers. His voice changed again. "Cover your ears, guys. This thing is really loud."

"Does that guy have a bi-polar personality disorder?" quietly asked Weiss.

"Not so fast, O'Malley! Maybe we can't stop you, but I know who can!" Everyone looked to the soldier with the dark red armor as a florescent green rectangle appeared in mid-air.

"Alright! New level!"
"Wahoo!"
"Hellyeah!"
"Booyah!"

A whole crowd of red and blue soldiers streamed in through the "portal" and onto the snowy landscape.

"Hey Grunts!" Simons shouted, "you want your flag?" All the new arrivals froze in place and turned around to looked at him. "He's the one who has it!" The "grunts" then turned their attention to the purple soldier with the rocket launcher.

"The crusade has begun!" announced one of the red new-comers, "Our hour of glory is now at hand! Let all who would stand against us be washed in our divine light!"

"Okay, these guys are insane," Weiss stated and prodded Ruby's shoulder. "Let's get out of here." The two of them circled back as the purple guy was overrun by the zealous "grunts," the cobalt blue guy got shocked by a lightning bolt from a guy with brown armor, and the others gathered around the light blue one who got shocked.

"Should we at least ask them where the nearest village or town is?" Ruby suggested.

"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be able to answer that."

The sound of a gunshot rang out and Ruby froze.

"That sound...there's a sniper!" And there was. This one was yet another soldier with the same kind of armor, only this time it was white. The sniper spoke up, aiming his rifle at the cluster of soldiers in the middle of the clearing.

"Sorry Private Tucker, but I always get my ma- Oi! What are you two doing here!" Was he talking to...Ruby and Weiss glanced at each other nervously, but before they could make a comeback of any sort-

~fast dial tone~"What? Oh, son of a-"

KABOOM

many years previously

Ruby groaned and rubbed her head. Weiss moaned somewhere below her. Wait a moment...where were they?

"Ruby?" Weiss quietly called out, "are you there?"

"Yeah," Ruby groaned, twisting around in the confined space so that she was laying on her stomach. "Um...any idea on how we ended up someplace claustrophobic?"

"No, but at least it isn't freezing in here."

"Yeah...let's try moving forward until something comes along."

"Right, and be careful. I mean, extremely careful!"

Carolina, York, Maine, and Washington headed up the hallway, keeping an eye out for threats and security measures. They made it to the vault door without much trouble and now it was York's turn to have the spotlight as he knelt down in front of the door.

"Holographic lock? That's high-end."

"Can you get through it?" Carolina questioned.

"Of course I can. You didn't bring me along for my good looks did ya? Whoever designed this is a genius."

"Whoa!" Ruby's suddenly met empty air and she ended up dropping down a separate shaft, impacting on something that released a spray of white hot sparks.

The holographic lock flickered and vanished, but then some red lights came on down the hallway.

"You were saying?" Carolina muttered to the now flustered York.

"Okay, I take it back, whoever designed this is an asshole. Picked!" The doors to the vault opened and the group split up.

"Ruby?"

"I'm okay, I think..."

"Gosh, right when I told you to be careful."

"What the-" In the security room, one of the guards was examining a possible ventilation blockage when an alarm was set off. "Looks like we got an alert on sector seven." He turned to the pyromaniac of a security officer. "That's the vault. Take a team up there now!"