A/N:Unscheduled hiatuses are the worst. Doesn't matter now that I can continue with the story though! Rejoice, for I have returned! Or read the story in anticipation, that works too.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Kirby. They are owned by Rooster Teeth and Nintendo respectively.
Chapter 9: Unexpected Reunion v2
Blake, Sun, and Dedede were nearing the entrance to a secret White Fang meeting. "How in the world did you guys organize meetings like this anyways?", asked Dedede.
"Just follow the scratch marks", Blake said as she pointed to one on the wall near them.
They see a bunch of people walking into a building, putting on masks while they go inside. "What's with the masks then?", asked Sun as he took one himself.
"The whole purpose was that humanity saw us as monsters, so why not play the part", answered Blake as she put on her mask.
"That's a little dark", said Dedede.
"So is the guy that started these meetings", answered Blake.
Upon entering the building, they saw a stage and a curtain with a bunch of lights surrounding the curtain. After everyone seemed to settle in, Roman Torchwick appeared on stage, earning more than a little unpleasant comments tossed his way. Torchwick simply ignored them and waited until the crowd quieted down.
"Now, now, I know what you're all thinking. 'Why is a human here on stage?', so I'll just cut straight to the point. Humans are the worst. I can see why you'd rather have us locked away or even killed."
"Is he going somewhere with this?", asked Dedede.
Torchwick simply continued. "But, fortunately for you, we have a common enemy: The ones in control. The rotten humans who run the kingdoms and everything that happens here. Luckily, I'm the best human exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room." Torchwick snaps his fingers and the curtains pull back to reveal an Atlesian Paladin and a robotic lobster.
"What the?!", said Dedede.
"How did he get those?!", asked Blake.
Their outbursts were fortunately drowned out by the noise that the crowd was making, so Torchwick didn't hear them. "Now as you may know, this here is Atlas' newest invention to keep all the nasty evils away from the world", he said as he patted the leg of the Paladin. "And this", he said gesturing to the robot lobster, "is just my show of good faith for the cause. We managed to snag a few Paladins for our cause and the lobster is made from the hardest metals this world has never seen. Many of your brethren have moved southeast to work on the operation there. Staying in the city is fine and all, but if you wish to fight then this is the arsenal I can provide you. Questions?"
The crowd starts shuffling forward, slowly pushing Sun, Blake, and Dedede towards to front of the stage. "Okay, we know what they're doing, now what?", asked Sun.
"I don't know…", said Blake as she tried to figure out a way to stop their situation.
In another part of the city, Yang, Kirby, and Neptune were riding around towards the club Junior owned. It shocked both Yang and Neptune when Kirby produced a motorbike himself in the form of Wheelie (or in Wheelie's case motor unicycle). It surprised them even more when they realized that Wheelie was a sentient being as well, seeing it follow Kirby into the club without Kirby being on it. "That is seriously bizarre yet cool at the same time…", commented Neptune.
"Come on, my friend is just in here!", said Yang as she approached the entrance.
Inside the club, all the employees were going into a panicked frenzy, causing Junior to move from his bartender position. "What are you idiots doing?!", he asked.
All he got in response were panicked screams like "Boss, she's back!" or "She's here again!". Junior got his answer when the front entrance exploded and Yang strutted in like she owned the place. "Guess who's back!", she declared as about two dozen guns were aimed at her face. She didn't mind the guns, but the DJ's turntable kept skipping music, earning a glare from Yang. The DJ simply came up from his hiding spot, stopped the music, and went back to hiding.
"So, define friend again…", said Neptune as he, Kirby, and Wheelie appeared from behind her.
Junior forced his way into the front of the crowd. "Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot! Blondie, you're here! Why….?", he asked.
"You still owe me a drink", Yang said as she took him over to the bar section.
"What a woman", Neptune commented before seeing the twins. "Sup?"
Both twins walked away from him without a second glance before they saw Kirby, who simply waved at them. They didn't fangirl over him (appearances were important after all), but that didn't stop them from cuddling him like he was the cutest thing ever as they walked towards Junior. They were still his bodyguards after all. "Man, I just can't get a break today…", said Neptune as he followed them over to the bar.
Neptune didn't hear the conversation between Junior and Yang, but he tried to help anyways. "So where did they go?", he asked.
"I just said I don't know! Who is this guy and why are my bodyguards cuddling your little pink friend Blondie?!", Junior asked.
"Don't worry about them, worry about me if I don't get what a want!", threatened Yang.
"I told you already: He walked in, paid for my boys, walked out with them, and I guess he wasn't happy with them. Something I can relate too!" He said that last part towards his employees, who were more than a little hurt by that statement.
Yang just sighed as she plucked Kirby from the twins while Neptune followed her to the exit. "So did we get what we need?", asked Neptune.
"Well we got what we could", answered Yang as the exited the club.
Back to Penny, Ruby, and Dee, they were still trying to figure what purpose Penny served. "The both of you are taking this extraordinarily well…", said Penny.
"We have plenty of robots and other fantastical creatures back home. I mean, look at me", said Dee.
"And just because you have nuts and bolts instead of flesh doesn't make you any less real than me or Dee", added Ruby.
Penny just threw Dee and Ruby into a tight hug. "You two are the best friends anyone could ever have!"
"I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower", Ruby said, her voice strained by the hug.
"Oh, my father is very nice! He's the one who built me. I'm sure the two of you get along great with him."
"So he built you all by himself?", asked Dee.
"Almost. He had some help from Mr. Ironwood."
"The general? Is that why those soldiers were after you?", asked Ruby.
"They like to protect me too!"
"They don't think you can protect yourself?", asked Dee.
"They don't think I'm ready yet. One day, it'll be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot to learn. That's why I'm in the Vytal Festival, to test myself against the world", said Penny.
"Penny, what are you talking about? Saving the world from what? We're in a time of peace", questioned Ruby.
"That's not what Mr. Ironwood said", clarified Penny.
"Check down here, I think she went this way!", came the voice of one of the soldiers from earlier.
"You two have to hide now!", said Penny as she grabbed both Dee and Ruby and hid them in an empty dumpster.
"Penny wait! What are you doing, I can help you!", Ruby said as she flailed around.
"Don't worry Ruby, they aren't bad people. I just don't want you and Dee to get in trouble. Just promise me the two of you won't reveal my secret", Penny requested.
"I promise", Ruby said while Dee gave a resolute nod before disappearing into the dumpster.
The guards finally caught up to Penny as she greeted them. "Salutations officers!"
"Penny, are you alright and what happened to the other two?", one officer said.
"What are other two? I've been by myself all day", she said as she hiccuped.
"You shouldn't cause such a scene next time. Are you hurt?"
Penny showed her hands. "Just a scratch!"
"Penny, your father is not gonna be happy with this. Please just come with us", said the other officer as the three of them walked away.
Penny turned around to wave at Dee and Ruby, who waved back before disappearing. What Penny did not see was Ruby scrambling to get away from a mouse that had snuck its way into the dumpster her and Dee were hiding in.
Back at the White Fang meeting, Sun, Blake, and Dedede were pressed for time as they approached the front of the stage. "Got a plan yet?", asked Sun.
"I'm still thinking", said Blake as she looked around.
Torchwick seemed to scan the ground before setting his sights on them. "I think he knows we're here…", said Dedede as Torchwick started walking towards the three.
"He can't see in the dark", Blake said as she took aim at the electric box and shot it, plunging the entire meeting into darkness.
"Don't let 'em get away!", shouted Torchwick.
"Dedede, Sun, the window!", Blake screamed.
Dedede, Blake, and Sun jumped out of the window and started running. Soon after, the Paladin, which is being controlled by Torchwick, and the robot lobster were chasing them as well, causing the three to resort to rooftop jumping. "So, you wouldn't have some form of back-up right?!", shouted Sun.
"On it!", Blake said as she started calling everyone.
Weiss and Meta Knight were the first to receive the call as they were exiting the CCT. "Hey, if you can hear us we ne- HEEEEELLP!", they heard over the scroll, causing Weiss to roll her eyes as both she and Meta Knight started going towards their location.
Ruby and Dee were next to receive the call. "There's these two robots and they're big really big!" Ruby got excited. "Oh I am not missing this!", she said as Dee and Ruby took off.
Yang, Neptune, and Kirby were the last ones. "There's like this giant metal lobster!" That seemed to trigger something in Kirby, like an old memory. "And there's that Torchwick guy! He's like, controlling this other giant robot!"
"Where are you guys?", asked Yang. As if to answer her question, the situation just ran past her group while Sun shouted "Hurry!"
"I think we found them", said Neptune.
"Yeah, I got it!", said Yang as she took off towards them, Kirby following closely behind.
Sun, Blake, and Dedede ran so far, that they entered the highway. Sun and Blake were light enough to hop from car to car, but Dedede was not. He resorted to flying and using his new Jet Hammer to keep up with them. "When did you get that?!", asked Sun.
"Had it the whole time!", shouted Dedede.
"How!? The entire thing is made of wood!"
"If that was true, then why didn't it snap in half when Meta Knight sliced the middle of it?"
That shut Sun up as they continued trying to escape from Torchwick and the lobster. Yang's group slowly started catching up to them. Torchwick noticed however, so he and the lobster started intentionally throwing cars their way in an attempt to mess them up. "Hang on Neptune, could get bumpy", said Yang as she weaved through the onslaught of raining cars.
Kirby decided that he could try to aim at Torchwick and the lobster, so left the dodging and weaving to Wheelie. Kirby took his Archer form and stood on Wheelie. Even with Wheelie constantly swerving and turning, Kirby launched arrow after arrow at both the Paladin and the lobster, each arrow hitting its mark. Neptune also took out his rifle and started firing at the two robots. When they both realized that taking pot shots wasn't working, Neptune switched his rifle into a spear and dive bombed the back of the Paladin. It did some damage to it, but Neptune also got stuck since he couldn't remove his spear. "Hang on Neptune buddy!", Sun said as he activated what could only be his semblance.
Clones seemed to pop into existence near Sun as they charged the Paladin. Both clones shattered harmlessly on the Paladin, so Sun took out his staff and jumped towards the Paladin. Unfortunately for both Sun and Neptune, Torchwick swung Neptune off of the Paladin and into Sun, causing them both to fly over the railing of the highway. Ruby's voice played through teams KKND and RWBY's scroll. "Dee and I are already in position!"
Weiss and Meta Knight dropped down in front of the Paladin and lobster. Torchwick charged at them both, but with a flip of his cape, Meta Knight plunged the immediate area into darkness. Torchwick tried to maneuver around it, but Weiss iced the floor, causing both the lobster and the Paladin to slide into the darkness. With a single strike of his sword, Meta Knight pushed both the lobster and the Paladin off the highway.
They fell into a little clearing that was beneath the highway, where Dee and Ruby were waiting. The rest of team RWBY fell behind Ruby while the rest of team KKND fell behind Dee. The lobster was ready to charge at team RWBY, but a spear thrown from Dee made it reconsider. Upon realizing what the machine was, Meta Knight's eyes widened. "Heavy Lobster!?"
Kirby threw Meta Knight an accusing look, as if to say "This had better not be your idea". Meta Knight shook his head. "Kirby, I can assure you, this is not my doing. You destroyed Heavy Lobster on my ship, of that I am certain."
All manners of conversation halted once Ruby shouted "Freezerburn!" Weiss coated the ground in ice while everyone scattered. Yang jumped in the air punched the ice with enough fire to create a layer of mist. Torchwick activated the sensor lasers on the Paladin, searching for team RWBY while Heavy Lobster searched for team KKND.
Torchwick took a shot where he thought he saw someone, only for Ruby to cut through the explosion like butter and damage his cockpit. "Checkmate", Ruby said as Blake and Weiss stepped forward while she stepped back.
Weiss and Blake began tag teaming the Paladin near the legs. Weiss jumped up and stabbed one of the sensors Torchwick activated, permanently disabling it. Torchwick was enraged and tried to stomp on Blake, but Weiss used a glyph to pull her out of there. Torchwick then fired missiles at the two and they began dodging. When they jumped into the air, Torchwick fired at them. Blake managed to dodge and land safely, but Weiss wasn't as lucky. She got hit, but before she hit the ground, she used a glyph under Blake. The glyph seemed to speed up Blake's movements as Torchwick launched a barrage of missiles at her. She sliced every single one in half in a barrage of slices before Ruby called out "Ladybug!"
Ruby charged forward and sliced his legs. Once Ruby was on the other side, she immediately turned around and dashed forward while Blake came in from the opposite side for a pincer attack. This repeated several times until both Blake and Ruby use the light from the moon to block Torchwick's view and slice off one of his arms. Torchwick was about to retaliate, but Yang came in guns blazing (literally) and started punching Torchwicks back like there's no tomorrow. This prompted Torchwick to jump back into a pillar, catching Yang in the middle of it. He then turned around and punched Yang through the pillar, shattering it as well.
Meanwhile, team KKND was faced with Heavy Lobster. Heavy Lobster started with using its flamethrower, prompting KKND to dodge. "Kirby, you need to stop its flames!", shouted Meta Knight.
Kirby switched to his Water form and started blowing water to counter the flames. While it was distracting with trying to beat Kirby, Dedede swung in with his Jet Hammer and bashed the side of the lobster, knocking it away quite the distance. Heavy Lobster seemed to be enraged by this and quickly dashed towards the team. It dashed into the steam created from the water vs. fire struggle and dashed out, hitting Dedede and knocking him away. "This thing sure is fast!", said Dedede as he got up once more.
"It was one of the last lines of defense for the Halberd back when I was trying to take over Dreamland", informed Meta Knight. "It is also quite sturdy and waterproof, so this will be quite the challenge."
Kirby seemed to have an idea and shouted towards Dee. He wanted Dee to hold up her spear. Not seeing where Kirby was going with this, she raised her spear and Kirby hit it with a blast of water. Just like in her match vs. Weiss, the spear seemed to absorb the water and turned into a water spear. "This happened in my match vs. Weiss! Nice Kirby!", said Dee.
"Right, now we have a way to put out the fire without Kirby having to change forms constantly", said Dedede.
Kirby nodded and switched to his Wing form and shouted for Dedede to hold his hammer while Dee and Meta Knight went to go distract Heavy Lobster. Dedede raised his hammer and Kirby shot a feather at it, allowing the wind to wrap around Dedede's hammer. "How's a wind hammer gonna help us with this Kirby?", asked Dedede.
In place of an answer, Kirby switched to his Hammer form and raised his hammer. He looked expectantly at Dedede. "Wait, you want me to hit your hammer with mine?", asked Dedede. Kirby simply nodded.
"You sure that's gonna work?" Kirby seemed to shrug, as if to say "Won't know unless we try". Reluctantly, Dedede did what Kirby asked and smacked Kirby's hammer, allowing the same thing to happen. Now both Kirby and Dedede had wind hammers. "This is your plan, so what do we do now?", asked Dedede.
Kirby pointed his hammer at Heavy Lobster and made an upwards swinging motion. "Oh! Flip it over! I gotcha!", said Dedede. He then turned to Dee and Meta Knight. "Hey guys, bring him over here!"
Dee and Meta Knight nodded and started luring Heavy Lobster towards Kirby and Dedede, who were charging their hammers with the infamous Hammer Upper. Once they were close enough, Dee and Meta Knight jumped out of the way and Kirby and Dedede swung upwards. The strike itself wasn't enough to flip Heavy Lobster, but with the force of wind that accompanied the swings, it flipped over quite easily. Meta Knight and Dee then jumped up and skewered the underside of Heavy Lobster with their weapons and jumped away. Heavy Lobster then exploded into a bunch of pieces, prompting team KKND to celebrate. "Nice plan Kirby! I didn't think we could have elemental weapons help us out. It reminded me of Dee vs. Weiss", said Dedede.
"Now we must recover enough to help team RWBY if they don't manage to beat Torchwick", said Meta Knight as he saw Yang getting punched through the pillar.
Team KKND went over to help, but Ruby stopped them. "Don't! She's okay. It's what makes her special. With every hit she gets stronger."
As if it was her time to shine, Yang stood up and started glowing. Torchwick went for another punch, but it was stopped by Yang countering with her own punch. She then completely shattered the remaining arm on the Paladin, causing Torchwick to kick Yang away. "Bumblebee!", Ruby shouted as Blake threw her weapon at Yang, who caught it and started swinging towards Torchwick. Torchwick jumped back to avoid the swing.
"We need to slow it down!", said Ruby.
"Then how do we do that?", asked Weiss.
"Ice Flowers!", Ruby said as she stuck her scythe into the ground. Weiss made a glyph appear in front of the weapon and Ruby fired. The shot itself exploded into the Paladin's legs, and caused an explosion of ice to appear. While Blake and Yang were preparing for another swing, Ruby kept firing bullets, spreading the ice around the Paladin and ultimately slowing it down.
When Yang came back around, Torchwick was unable to avoid her due to all the ice. Yang's next punch not only hit the Paladin head on, but it also completely shattered the Paladin too. "Just got this thing cleaned….", Torchwick joked as he dusted himself off.
Yang fired off another shot at Torchwick, but then a new girl with an umbrella saved him. "Ladies, Weird creature things, Ice Queen," that earned a shout from Weiss, "it's always a pleasure. Neo if you would."
The woman, named Neo, just took a small bow. Yang was the first to charge towards them. She threw a punch and Neo blocked it with her umbrella, however, when Yang punched the umbrella, both Neo and Torchwick shattered like glass. This confused everyone until they saw them both escaping in a bullhead.
"So he got a new henchmen….", said Yang.
"I guess you could say she made our plans… fall apart?", joked Weiss.
Team KKND simply turned around and walked away. "No, just no", said Blake as she followed them.
"Yang does jokes all the time!", shouted Weiss.
"There's a time and place for jokes", said Yang.
"Was this not it?"
"No, it just wasn't very good."
"Well at least I'm trying here!"
"Wait, where did Sun and Neptune go?", asked Ruby as she followed everyone else.
Sun and Neptune were sitting in a small noodle booth, having lost where teams KKND and RWBY went. "They're probably fine right?", asked Neptune.
"Probably", said Sun.
Upon arriving back at Beacon, teams RWBY and KKND saw two very odd ships and a crowd of people surrounding them. Team RWBY had no idea what they were, but team KKND were more than excited once they saw them, specifically Kirby. One ship was light blue with a futuristic look and had wings on the back with a giant mast and emblem. The other looked a lot like Meta Knight, with the back having his wings and the front the same as Meta Knight's mask. Unlike the first ship though, this one looked more like a battleship.
"What are those?!", asked Weiss.
"They're so cool! That purple one even looks like Meta Knight!", said Ruby as she ran forward to join Kirby.
Nearing the front of the two ships, both teams saw Ozpin, Ironwood, and Glynda in front of all the students. "Professor what's going on?", asked Yang.
"Hello teams RWBY and KKND. I wish I could answer your question, but I'm afraid I don't know. Though maybe you know, team KKND?", asked Ozpin.
"Yes, we do. That purple ship belongs to me. It is the Halberd, while the other one is owned by a magician named Magolor. That is the Lor Starcutter. Now as to why they're here, I do not know", clarified Meta Knight.
As if to answer Meta Knight's question, both ships opened up. The Halberd was the first to have anything exit out of it, though what did walk out of it surprised everyone but team KKND. Two walking suits of armor came out of the Halberd, both with swords at their sides before running towards Meta Knight. "Boss, we finally reached you!", the green armor suit said.
"Sword and Blade, it is good to see you both, but how did you find me?", asked Meta Knight.
"We had a little help", said the purple armor suit, Sword, say as the Lor Starcutter had its inhabitants exit the ship.
The first was, of course, Magolor. "It was I who helped them find you and we didn't come alone either."
One by one, both ships had people coming out of them. Knuckle Joe, Chef Kawasaki, Mayor Blustergas, Tiff, Tuff, Lololo, Lalala, Sir Ebrum, Lady Like, Sirica, Rick, Kine, Coo, Adeleine, and many others. "Of course we came!", said Knuckle Joe. "You think we're just going to lie around while four of our most heroic citizens just disappear?"
Ozpin seemed to take the situation in stride, but Glynda and Ironwood had shocked looks on their faces after seeing everyone exit the ships. "So I can safely assume you are all from Dreamland?", asked Ozpin.
"Yes that is right", said Mayor Blustergas. "Judging from the looks of things, I assume you are the headmaster for this school?"
"That I am. My name is Ozpin."
"I'm Mayor Blustergas from Cappy Town. Allow me to thank you for taking care of four of our most well respected heroes in our absence."
Both individuals shook hands. "Not at all. If anything, I should be thanking the four who came from Dreamland to help us."
"It seems things are getting even crazier around here", said Weiss.
"Ice Queen, you have no idea…", said Dedede.
A/N: A nice chapter for a return right? I'm also here to announce that I will be making another story in the near future, so be on the lookout for that if you're interested. Let's see if I can't get back into the swing of things again!