Jaune had heard some tall tales in his lifetime, most of them from his own mouth. Hell, his path to Beacon was full of them, each lie more outlandish than the last.
But this?
This was just flat out unbelievable.
Team…what was their team name at this point? Team JRRN? Team JNRR? He'd have to worry about that later. The team, for lack of a better term, had made camp offroad after their encounter with the Beowolves and…well, that dragon thing. For the better part of the time since, everyone had been listening to their new guest, Yuya Sakaki (Seriously, Jaune thought, who actually has a name like that?) tell a story that even in the face of everything they had experienced sounded unbelievably fake. And why wouldn't it? This kid shows up on a giant Grimm (and then claims to not know what Grimm are) and expects them to believe that he's…
What exactly is he, again? From what he could pick up, Yuya was just an ordinary kid, maybe almost as old as Ruby. That would explain the ridiculous hair, and that outfit. No one older than that could look as ridiculously as-
Jaune looked down at his own outfit and those of his teammates, his eyes pausing as he looked at Nora's bright orange hair. He vaguely remembered a phrase about glass houses and stones and decided to get off that train of thought.
Yuya, in any case, was claiming to come from a world where there was no Dust, no hunters or huntresses, and-most surprisingly-no Grimm. As a result, his world, Earth (A planet named after the ground? Really?) relied on advances in machinery and technology exclusively over the course of its history. In particular, machines that could create hyper-realistic (even physical) holograms were commonplace! Jaune was astounded. He could barely even conceive of all the possibilities of a world like that!
Then, he found out that those machines were mostly used for something that sounded a bit less exciting: a trading card game known as Duel Monsters.
Gods, it sounded even stupider the more he thought about it.
Still, the game was apparently popular enough to be intertwined with daily life, and even enough to have tournaments the size of-if not bigger than-the Vytal Festival. Supposedly thousands of attendees flock in day after day to watch what Yuya called "Action Duels", which took the card game and amplified it on the scale of a blockbuster movie with the aforementioned hologram tech. As well, the kid was a "dueltainer", someone who used Action Duels to entertain the audience beyond just the visual spectacle of the event. Jaune thumbed through the cards that Yuya had lent him, his confusion growing with each passing card. He could get how these "Performapal" cards could be fun to watch, but what the heck is a "Timegazer Magician" supposed to do? Watch the time?
Still, this story this would explain the "Grimm" the boy had summoned earlier. Jaune flipped over another card-speak of the devil. There it was-"Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon." A shiver ran up his spine as he remembered the team's first good look at the thing. It was freaky as all hell, no matter what Yuya (or for that matter, Nora) said. Still, he had to admit-a hologram you could touch and even ride on would make something as simple as a card game a lot more appealing to a wider audience (given that they weren't scared out of their minds like Jaune and the others were). That much, at least, made some small measure of sense.
The part about the multiple dimensions was where things got a lot harder to follow.
According to Yuya, some evil army known as "Duel Academy" had invaded his home from a place called…Duel Academy. Not the most original naming scheme, but apparently their power and numbers made up for their lack of creativity. This army had invaded a dimension known as…Ixees? Exzeezs? Jaune couldn't remember the exact pronunciation. Either way, Duel Academy had invaded that dimension before coming to Yuya's, which he kept referring to as "Standard." This gave Jaune a moment of pause. What would that make Remnant's dimension? "Standard 2?"
Jaune tossed those thoughts to the side as he tried to keep up. Yuya was describing the Academy's supposed ability to turn their defeated enemies into Duel Monsters cards, though Yuya had no proof of this as any victims as any evidence of that power was back on Earth. What's more, the Academy had tried to kidnap one of Yuya's closest friends, Yuzu Hiragi, but she was taken away somehow by another person from something called the "Synchro Dimension", and-
Yeah, Jaune was completely lost at this point.
It seemed most of the team was following along better than he was. Ruby was enthralled, hanging on every word as Yuya spun his tale. Nora seemed to tune in and out, really getting interested when the "action" started. Ren just watched passively, taking in the tale with only a few "hm"s and "hrm"s here and there. Jaune on the other hand just stopped trying after a certain point-it was just too much to take in at once. The only shared reaction between the three of them was when Yuya got to the Duel Academy invasion. Jaune had to admit (and he could tell everyone else felt the same), it brought up really unpleasant memories of the Beacon invasion-not that Yuya would know.
On the plus side, Yuya genuinely didn't seem all that dangerous. He was telling his story in earnest, and nothing about the way he told it gave off any red flags. He seemed to have an electric personality, his demeanor dropping only when he talked about the invasion by Duel Academy. In all honesty, it seemed kind of like Ruby's, now that Jaune thought about it. All in all, Yuya seemed harmless.
As harmless as a monster-riding, dimension-travelling clown could be, he supposed.
Yuya's energetic hand gestures and movements slowed to a halt as he wrapped up his story. "-and then I wound up getting chased by those monsters! I didn't know whether or not my duel disk would work right in another dimension, but I guess Reiji gave it some good upgrades!" He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "I probably should've guessed an even bigger monster would freak people out, but I really didn't think there was anyone here! Sorry for scaring you guys."
Ruby shrugged, nabbing the deck from Jaune as he moved to hand it back to Yuya. "Don't worry about it. If we were in the same situation, we probably would've done the same thing," she replied, waving the deck around dramatically as she spoke.
"Whoa, Ruby," Jaune warned, "Be careful with those! We don't want to accidentally have that dragon pop up in the middle of camp!"
"That would be impossible." Ren gestured to Yuya's…what was it again? Jaune tried to remember the name of the shield-like weapon that Yuya was fiddling with. Duel something. "Unless the card is placed on an active duel disk, it's more or less useless."
Nora nodded, a smug grin overtaking her face. "That's right-and besides, it's a Pendulum monster! It has to be special summoned! Weren't you paying attention?"
Resist urge to glare. Resist urge to glare.
"Yeah, I was," Jaune answered slowly. "But it's…a lot to take in, you know. Some details slip through. This all pretty difficult to believe, so hopefully you'll forgive me if I don't just yet."
Ren nodded. "As much as your story intrigues me, I'm afraid I have to agree with Jaune."
"Aw, but Ren! How can you not believe him?" Nora kicked up some snow excitedly as she spoke. "It's too cool to be fake! It had action, adventure, suspense- "
"That's my issue with it. It all seems too orderly. Too…well plotted out."
"Well, that's what stories're like, Ren," Ruby interjected. She handed the deck of cards back to Yuya, who placed it into a compartment on his duel disk. "They're kind of designed that way."
"I know, Ruby. But it just seems strange for it to be as cut and dry as it is. Things are rarely so simple."
Jaune grimaced. He called all that simple?
Yuya looked at the team, a downcast expression appearing on his face. "Trust me, I understand. I know it's weird. I'd like to show you more proof, honest," Yuya continued, tapping his duel disk's central console. "The problem is, I can't get into contact with the rest of my group, and they're the only other ones who would be able to back me up. If they were here on…"
"Remnant," Jaune offered.
"Yeah, Remnant." Yuya frowned as the "call failed" screen flashed on his disk. "If they were on Remnant, this would work because our disks were redesigned to connect to each other."
"What makes you say it's not just busted from the Grimm attack?"
"If it was, then my whole disk wouldn't be working." Yuya sighed, looking up towards the sky as he continued. "Or maybe they're just too far away to have it be useful. Either way, I guess I'm on my…" Yuya paused, squinting as he looked up above. "…hey, you guys said most of those Grimm things are black and white, right?"
"Yeah," Jaune replied. They hadn't gotten to tell much of their side of the story yet, but the team had at least filled Yuya in on the basics of the Grimm before he started his whole "epic". "Why do you ask?"
"Look."
Jaune looked up, as did the others. There really wasn't much to see. There were no clouds in the sky, and the sun was beaming down right on top of the camp.
Like, directly on top of the camp. It was surprisingly well-centered.
Actually, it seemed like it was…getting closer? That couldn't be right.
No, it definitely was. Jaune put a hand over his eyes. Something was definitely off about-
…since when did the sun have wings?
Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose, bringing it into scythe mode as quickly as she could. "We need to move."
Almost as if on cue, the "sun" sped up, barreling down with a loud whistling noise following it. Ren and Nora grabbed their weapons, and Jaune readied his blade. Yuya, for his part, backed up behind the team while placing his duel disk on his arm. The central console lit up, producing a presumably holographic blade in front of it.
"Now might be a good time to bring out that Pendulum whatchacallit, Yuya," Jaune muttered.
"I can't just yet," Yuya replied, drawing five cards from the top of his deck. "I need to get the right monsters to set the Pendulum Scale, remember?"
...uh.
"Yeah, of course. I know. It…just would be nice, is all."
Ruby kept her eyes trained on the ball of light as she backed up. "On the count of three, everyone jump back as far as you can!"
"Right," the four answered back. Nora stepped next to Yuya arm outstretched.
"…what're you doing?"
"Don't worry about it."
Ruby readied herself. "One- "
The "sun" sped up even faster, its features becoming more apparent-it was definitely some kind of bird-like creature, with an orange body made of what looked like pure flame and a dark black suit of armor covering the chest and shoulder areas. Something-somethings, maybe?-was standing on top of the bird's shoulder blades, but Jaune couldn't quite make out what exactly.
Not that he exactly had the time to focus on the finer details, what with the flaming bird nearly upon them.
"-TWOTHREEJUMP!" Ruby exclaimed, suddenly leaping backwards. The rest of the team followed suit, with Nora in particular grabbing Yuya by the back of his shirt and pulling him back with her. The bird slammed into the ground, kicking up a shroud of mist as the snow around it melted into pools of water. The five safely landed a short distance away, though Yuya stumbled as he tried to right himself.
"Heya, Red!" a voice called out from within the mist. Ruby's eyes widened, her grip on Crescent Rose tightening. As the mist began to clear, the bird let out a deafening cry, rattling the nearby trees. Sparks flew from its wings, leaving embers in whatever patches of ground were free of snow. The figures on the bird became much more clear as well; a man in a red suit with white trimmings and a cane, and a woman in split yellow and blue with a parasol. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"
"No…" Jaune looked over to Ruby, her silver eyes locked onto the two with more anger than he had ever seen in her before. "You-you can't be…I saw you-"
"What, die?" The man hopped off the bird, landing with a small splash in the melted snow. "You of all people should know better than that, Red! After all, I told you myself." He grinned as the woman took a place beside him, placing the parasol over her shoulders as a small smile appeared on her face. "I do quite a few things pretty well. I lie, I cheat, I steal…"
The man raised his cane, the bottom flipping up into a reticle as the team found themselves looking down a gun barrel.
"And I survive."
