The Huntsman From the Void

by Emiyn

There's always a what-if to a story... What if Ben didn't escape the Null Void in Ben 10 S2, and was instead thrown into a different scenario? Watch as this experience from the Null Void brings this young man into an alternate world, one where the world is full of mystery, danger, Grimm, and that the fact that every weapon...is also a gun. Ships have now sailed!

10. Mission, start!

Back to back uploads with this and the Null Fairy, check it people~!

Hello there everyone, another chapter of the Huntsman From the Void to journey with you on this glorious weekend (well, if it's a weekend wherever you are). Been a while since I've posted, so let's get right down into the nitty gritty review section!

Other categories for Sentient Specie DNA

Yes, some of you have noticed, as have I, that creatures such as Zwei are a bit more intellectual than others, as they are somewhat comparable to Vulipmancers. However, I can't really say they can qualify as DNA sources for the Omnitrix, as other animals like dolphins and such are also perfect examples, yet creatures relating to them in the Ben 10 Universe are no-where to be seen. The talking Beowolves were merely a joke, since I fucking laughed like hell during that one RWBY Chibi episode because of them lol.

Neo? Neo is bae.

Like I said, Neo is bae. I plan to…integrate her into some of the shenanigans of Beacon Academy, starting off with some stuff back with Vale and Mt. Glenn, and possibly Volume 3 stuff stuffs. I see Neo like a teasing big sister for Ben, a little affectionate, part yandere as well… Oh, did I just say that? I see Roman being a part of the misadventures with her as a reluctant over-watching sibling, he he.

Upgraded Machines

Yeah bite me. I hated how only Ship was somehow able to retain the forms he had in the Ben 10 series. I mean, Retaliator was able to fix the Rust Bucket, so shouldn't all the Galvanic Mechamorphs have the same abilities. Ok, Malware might've been a different story, but can't you imagine the Mechamorphs retaining these entries in their memory? And yeah, the Upgraded Paladin can sorta resemble a mix between Black Knight's EVO form and a Gundam, cuz I love Gundams ya know?!

The Shine Dance

Holy hell I want to take that into account. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU ALL SAY, I'M DECLARING THAT RWBY CHIBI EPISODE AS CANON! It'll be so funny to make the five dance together.

The Other Factions

No doubt that Ben is famous, but I doubt that Ozpin would relay any of this information to those outside the circle of which we've already seen. I'd say he's the type of person to exchange information face to face. I do wonder how Raven and her tribe could be introduced. It never made any sense to why Raven suddenly appeared during that mission at Mt. Glenn, but I guess she was just…craven for some action?!

…I'll see myself out.

Waybig? Or just giant Humungousaur?

I feel like Waybig will visibly scar everyone just from his sheer size. I feel like everyone forgets that Humungousaur can sextuple in size, so it's either that, or Waybig. Which will you think will have a large impact on everyone else?

Anyhow, love the continued support! What kind of scenario do you think I should do for the Prom? Let me know in the reviews! Ahem, so, without anything else on my part, let's get to this chapter!

As always, I own nothing related to the subject of Ben 10 and RWBY. Oh, I just remembered; there was a collaboration with RWBY for the mobile game Crusaders Quest! I love that game, but I got everyone but Weiss and Blake in the event…but, back to the topic. Thanks for nearly 230 Follows and Favorites, nearly 300 reviews, and almost 29,000 views!

---

Chapter 10: Mission, Start!

"P-Pyrrha, Nora? W-What're guys going to do to me?"

Inside Team JNPR-B's dorm room, Nora was seen hanging Jaune upside down from a rope. While Pyrrha and the hammer girl had haughty smiles on their faces, Ren merely gave the situation a deadpan look as he and Ben began to dress in a different corner of the room.

Ben couldn't help that Pyrrha's expression turned to a more…loving one, let's just say that, but when he turned to Ren, one little nod was all he needed to know that he shouldn't get involved with whatever the girls were coming up with.

"Oh… Nora and I were just…thinking of ways to discover your Semblance! Nothing fancy or anything! I'm sure you'll have a delightful time with this!" Pyrrha gives the blonde a cheeky smile.

"I'm just wondering where she even got that rope…" Ren frowns slightly, turning to Nora in suspicion. '…Nora? I hope I'm not right.'

'I'm just wondering how this even started.' Ben thinks as he turns to Ren again, who was also unable to give him an answer.

Several seconds later, the two finished dressing into their uniforms, but as they were about to leave the room, right as Ben was about to exit, he feels himself getting pulled back towards Pyrrha. He shudders as he turns his head towards the redhead in fear.

"P-Pyrrha?" He gulps. "Did…you need me, or something… Please say no."

The redhead merely gives him a motherly smile as she uses her Semblance to drag him back to the bed next to the girls. As Ben was starting to panic, he turns towards the doorway in hopes of Ren being able to get him out of this mess, but his eyes pop out upon only seeing a blinking silhouette of the ninja-like teen's body.

"REN, YOU TRAITOR!" He yells loudly as Pyrrha pulls him closer.

From outside the room, Ren silently prays for him as he zips around a corner way. He didn't want to become a part of this, even if it meant sacrificing a dear comrade.

'Forgive me, my pupil.' He closes his eyes as he leaves. Both Jaune and Ben could be heard wailing like hyenas, echoing through the dorms.

From Team RWBY's room, Ruby raises an eyebrow as she puts her cloak on.

"…A Beowolf?" She assumes with an unsure expression.

---

…

Around an hour or so later, the scene would later cut to Professor Glynda's classroom, with practically no evidence of Pyrrha's actions showing on her face. However, Ben and Jaune were pretty much shivering in horror as they sat in the audience rows with Team RWBY.

"Uhhh… You guys alright?" Ruby turns to them.

"They look like they got the life sucked out of them or something." Yang adds on. "What happened? You see a scary movie?"

Ben and Jaune glance at each other, before furiously shaking their heads upon feeling Nora's gaze behind their backs. They chuckle nervously as they wave their hands together.

"Ah, i-it's nothing! Right, Jaune?" He turns to the blonde.

"Yeah! Completely fine!" He reinforces. Nora giggles as he wraps her arms around their necks.

"…Nora?" Blake blinks.

"Nope! Nothing bad, never happened!" She claims with an eerie smile.

"But—"

NOPE! Everything's fine! THEY…ARE FINE! Nothing bad...ever... Happened! EVER." She promptly reassures makes her claim to the interrupted Ruby, who backs away into her sister's arms.

Blake and Weiss look at each other, before gulping. "O…kay then."

'Forgive me!' Ren cries out in his mind.

A minute or so later, Pyrrha walks out of the locker room. Eventually, after getting onto the stage, she is seen fighting the members of Team CRDL, much to everyone's surprise. Glynda however just gives the student a small smile.

While they were initially worried about the entire thing, their worry turned to joy as she slaughtered the group in a 1v4 scenario. Pyrrha would dodge with elegant movements and use minimal effort to initiate her attacks, making Team CRDL look like fools the entire time, despite them having some good moves themselves.

It started off with Pyrrha and Cardin first going against each other. After Glynda started the match and the lights toned down, she immediately jumped back and switched Miló to its rifle form, giving Cardin a few shots, though manages to dodge by jumping to his side.

She then launches her spear him, but Dove comes up to intercept the weapon, getting blown back. Catching her spear afterwards, she then rushes and knocks Sky to the ground. Cardin unleashes a short column of fire from the red Dust crystal in his mace before he and Sky attempt to double-team Pyrrha. The redhead turns around and throws her shield, which hits Cardin in the face and bounces back to hit Sky as well. She then flips backward through the air to land on Sky, incapacitating him.

A few seconds later, Dove and Russel Thrush rush her together after getting up, but she is able to drive them back as Cardin leaps in to smash at her with his mace. Pyrrha opens fire with rifle-form Miló, but Russel covers Cardin, deflecting every shot with his daggers. He and Dove charge at Pyrrha, with Russel leaping into the air and performing a triple somersault; however, the attack is easily deflected by Pyrrha as she pushes him off. Russel and Dove proceed to strike at her together, demonstrating precision through their ability to avoid hitting one another during the attack. Cardin attempts to capitalize on the distraction, but is unable to keep up with Pyrrha. Russel ducks in under Cardin for a surprise attack, but also proves himself unable to wear her down as she jumps as kicks him away.

Dove moves in after Russel is knocked to the ground. Deflecting his swipes with her shield a few more times, he fires on her with his sword, but she is able to bull right through using her shield. Although he is able to avoid her attack, Dove finds himself knocked out of the fight by an errant swing from Cardin, who moves in for one final assault. Pyrrha knocks Cardin into the air and then leaps to slam him into the ground.

"…Holy shit." Ben blinks in surprise. "She's gotten even better."

"Ben. Language." Blake scolds him as she nudges the top of his head.

"Normally I wouldn't excuse such a thing, but I have to agree. Holy. Shit~!" Weiss smiles. "Such elegant and powerful maneuvers!"

"Yeah!" Yang grins as she slams her fists together. "Sheesh, now I wanna fight someone!"

"That's gotta hurt, that's all I got to say." Nora snickers as she gulps down a couple bagels.

The lights shine back on, and Glynda approaches from behind Cardin who clutches his ribs as he tries to get up with a grunt. She taps a few keys on her screen, and she stops in between the two.

"And that's the match." She taps Cardin's icon, dimming Team CRDL's profile. "The winner is Miss Nikos."

"Ugh… Lucky shot…" Cardin mutters as he collapses.

"Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Glynda turns to the redhead, and then to the students sitting in the audience. "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match."

"Oooo-Ooooh! ME! Professor Goodwitch, let me have a go!" Yang blasts up from her seat, raising her hand with an excited look on her face.

"Oh, Miss Xiao Long? Very well then. Let's look for an opponent for—"

"Ah, I was wondering if you'll let me have a custom setup for this match though." She interrupts her. Glynda blinks, but raises an eyebrow in acknowledgement. "Yes!"

"Yes… What are you proposing then, Miss Xiao Long?"

Yang grins as she drags Ruby and Blake down to the stage with her. "Let's go, girls!"

"Huh?!" They both yelp as they land on stage. Blake hisses at her partner. "Yang, what're you doing?"

Yang however ignores her yelling as she turns back to the crowd. Pointing back at Ben and Nora, she also gestures towards Pyrrha. "Me, Ruby, and Blake; versus Nora, Pyrrha, and Ben!"

Ben narrows his eyes as he points to himself. "…Why? I mean, I'm all up for it, but…"

"Ah, come on, lazy butt!" Nora grins as she grabs him, jumping down to join and land up next to Pyrrha.

"Miss Nikos, are you alright with this?" Glynda turns to the redhead. Pyrrha merely smiles as she shrugs. "Very well then. Miss Valkyrie, Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long, Miss Belladonna, and Mr. Tennyson. Please proceed to the lockers to prepare for your match.

Ben sighs, but he turns to join with Nora and the rest of the girls. He didn't like where this was going. If the food fight that Team JNPR and RWBY had recently with him was destructive enough with just plain old materials like food, then with actual weapons it would probably be…

Messy. Very messy to say the least.

---

…

Entering the locker room, the five diverged to change into their combat clothes. As Ben opens his locker, he looks around the inside, seeing the various blueprints and products he developed during his time in Beacon so far. Looking down at the Omnitrix, he checked to make sure the quick-change mechanism was still intact. He presses the badge at the end of the device, folding it back to its normal form.

Turning it to its backside, he tapped a button which opened it up and revealed its inner workings. Snagging and tugging slightly at various points of the device, Ben smiles a bit as he closes and reattaches the mechanism back onto the Omnitrix, before gazing back into his locker.

Taking his Scroll out, he takes a look at two of the entries that Weiss supplied to him during their time at the CCT, glancing back to two items that reflected back at his eyes from within the locker.

Picking up one of the items, it took a resemblance to Yang's Ember Celica in its bracelet form. The color of the cuff was black, but the top resembled a miniature arm guard that was colored green and gray, with a small emerald gem located on the middle.

Taking that and placing it behind the Omnitrix on his forearm, he tapped a button located on the bottom. It opened up, revealing a small display screen. Tapping a few keys, it made various beeps, and then closed up. The Omnitrix's hourglass glows for a second, before dimming down with a single beep.

"Okay, that's good. Now then, time to test this bad boy out…" Ben chuckles. As Blake and Ruby close their locker doors, they shudder upon hearing his disturbing noises.

"Uhhh… Should we be worried?" Ruby turns to her cat teammate. Blake frowns.

"Only if he has another weapon to test on us…" She looks back. "And by the looks of it… I'd say he does."

"Oh… That's not good." Ruby shrinks a bit, but is then grabbed by Yang. "Ack! You gotta stop doing that, Yang!"

"What? Are you two scared you'll be beaten by the only guy in our team? Aw, you guys really do care for him!" She gives them a big grin. While Blake merely pouts a bit, Ruby instead blushes as she looks away from her.

"…Eh?" Blake turns to her, with Yang blinking in surprise and a devious smile building up on her face once again. "Ruby."

"H-Huh?! What's up?!" She backs away from them with a nervous smile. Blake's eye twitches as she gives her a deadpan look. "B-Blake?"

"…We're going to need to talk after this." Yang places her hands on her hips as she stands next to Blake, giving her sister a smug grin. "Right, Blake?"

"…Definitely." She glares at Ruby as she slams her locker.

"Uh-oh…"

---

…

Entering the combat hall once again, everyone watched as the pairs of three started to circle around each other. The hall was once again deathly quiet as every student up in the seating held their breath in anticipation for the first move to be made. Yang Xiao Long made a bold move, creating such an event for the likes of everyone else to see. Since these fighters consisted of the school's two infamous first year student teams, there was a good chance it was going to be above Pyrrha's previous fight with Team CRDL, as she was already warmed up and ready to go from the start.

Nora grins as she holds Magnhild in her arms, giving Yang a haughty look as the Ember Celica transforms into its full form.

"This ought to be interesting." Ren says as he gathers with the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR-B.

"Why do I feel like it's going to be…"

"Chaotic?"

"Yeah, that word Weiss." Weiss helps Jaune out with his wording. "I mean, they're the craziest out of all of our team members, aren't they?"

"Not really crazy. More like…"

"Unpredictable?" Ren fills in for Weiss.

"Precisely."

Ben glances at his teammates, his eyes trailing their movements. Pyrrha had her usual calm demeanor, but Nora looked like she was ready to thrash out uncontrollably, and it was the same with Yang as well. Blake seemed to have a neutral expression as well, but as she glanced at him, she could feel her cold amber eyes drilling into him.

'Oh crap… Did I do anything to piss her off?' He sweats a little.

He shivers a bit, immediately moving his gaze towards Ruby. Expecting something between excitement and worry, instead, what he got was…a distant look? She seemed to be avoiding his eyes, turning away from him after she notices him looking at her.

'And I wonder what's got her all riled up.' He blinks in wonder, equipping Mundvridi in sword form. He rubs the edge of the blade for a second, before looking forward with a stance.

"Ruby, Blake! Let's give them all we got!" Yang says as she loads shotgun shells into Ember Celica. Blake merely grunts as she unsheathes Gambol Shroud. Ruby gulps a bit, but shakes her head as she breathes in a few times.

'Come on Ruby, it's just a fight…' Her expression hardens. Taking out Crescent Rose, she clocks its sniper rifle as Glynda walks in.

"…Alright, are both teams ready?" She glances at both teams, nodding after a moment. "Then… Let the match, begin!"

Raising her hand as she backed up, she initiates the match. Blake immediately clocks Gambol Shroud to its pistol form as she and Ruby start to aim at Team PBN. Blasting them with rounds and rounds of Dust bullets, the trio diverges off as Yang blasts forward.

"Pyrrha, Nora! Thunderbolt!" Ben yells as he backs up, taking aim at Yang.

"You got it, boss man!" Nora grins. "Pyrrha!"

"I'm on it!"

Deflecting a few shots from Yang, Pyrrha first rushes in and pushes the blonde away with her shield, following up with Nora blasting Yang with a few heart grenades. Yang quickly blasts backwards to avoid the massive explosion, leaping back to Ruby and Blake. Pyrrha raises her spear, charging her weapon with yellow sparks of electricity. She then grunts as Nora jumps in front of her.

"Here we go!" Nora yells as the redhead stabs Miló into the ground, sending the wave of electricity into the hammer girl.

"Oh no." Ren sighs.

Nora raises Magnhild, changing it into its hammer form as the electricity from Pyrrha surges into her body, changing from a blinding yellow to a deadly pink. Grinning, she clenches the weapons as Ruby croaks.

"Watch out!" She yells.

Clenching her grip on Magnhild, Nora slams her hammer down onto the stage, an eruption of pink waves of thunder blasted throughout the field. The girls of Team BRY gasp as they zig zag to avoid the discharge of energy. Blake shoots Gambol Shroud into the ceiling as she grabs Yang and Ruby, letting the attack off until the energy dispersed.

"Aw, it didn't work…!" Nora cries as they drop down to the floor.

"Too much power in that attack!" Yang yells. "Come on, let's fire away with our own watterful attacks!"

"Freaking la—"

"Dark Sunset!" Ruby yells.

Blake pulls Gambol Shroud down, wrapping it around Yang and Ruby. Pulling on the ribbon hard, she spins them off like a violent top. Ruby then activates her Semblance as Yang uses blasts from Ember Celica to increase their acceleration, creating a torrential blur of orange as it speeds towards Ben and company, with Crescent Rose switching to its scythe form.

"Dodge! Then strike together!" Pyrrha orders. As Ben looked onto the attack, he immediately felt sick, as did Jaune from the background.

After scattering, Pyrrha dashes towards Blake, switching Miló to sword-form and beginning in a frontal battle with the cat girl. While Yang and Ruby were still spinning, Nora and Ben ran together, skidding back as they turned around.

"What'cha got for this kind of situation, Ben?" She asks him. Ben shakes his head, before glaring with a smile.

"Electro Volley!" He responds. Nodding at each other, Ben inserts a yellow Dust Cell into Mundvridi.

First dodging the orange storm of death, as Nora and Ben ran across from one another, Mundvridi switches to semi-auto rifle mode as Ben takes aim at Nora. Shooting several shots into Magnhild, Nora spins wildly, before throwing the charged energy at the girls in a volley of yellow energy spheres.

"Crap! Ruby, disengage!" Yang yells as she lets go of her sister.
Ruby backs off as well, dodging the attack just in time. However, as she lands on the stage, she began to feel a bit tipsy.

"Guuurgh… Oh God, is this how Jaune and Ben felt when they got off the airship?" She covers her mouth, before standing back up.

"Don't let up!" Yang pulls her away, saving her from a volley of grenades and bullets from Ben and Nora.

With Blake and Pyrrha, Blake first backflips, spawning a shadow clone. Pyrrha was prepared to jam right through it, but the cat girl grins as it begins to glow with the bright color of yellow. The redhead's eyes widen as the clone blows up, forcing her back as Blake rushes forward, slashing away at her shield.

"Pyrrha!" Nora notices this, and begins to diverge her attention towards Blake, blasting several grenades in her direction.

"Tsk…!" Backing up, Pyrrha uses the explosions to regroup with Ben and Nora. Blake backflips several times, landing next to Yang and Ruby.

"Well, this is going great…" Yang clicks her tongue. "Let's change it up then!"

"What do you suggest?" Blake glances at her partner.

"Ruby, Blake! Blood Storm!"

Frowning a bit, Blake reluctantly spawns several shadow clones, filling them with fire Dust. Ruby grins as she rushes forward with her Semblance, absorbing the essence of the Dust into Crescent Rose as she begins to spin around like the Grim Reaper. Ben steps back as he holds Mundvridi up, parrying the first slash from Crescent Rose before being blasted back by its explosive aftereffect.

Pyrrha jumps in after him, with Nora rolling to catch Ben before he landed on the ground. Yang and Blake joined up with Ruby as they all leaped back into the mix, with Ruby and Pyrrha being the first to collide with one another.

While Ruby grunts in an effort to continue her wide arced swings, Pyrrha uses her superior defense to maintain a steady stance as she blocked Ruby's attacks with her shields, occasionally ducking or jumping above the cutting blade. When her scythe did make contact with her shield for another time, Pyrrha took advantage of the force exerted by the explosive Crescent Rose to knock back into Blake, who was about to throw Gambol Shroud straight at Ben's face.

"Thanks, Pyrrha!" He cries out as he turns to Yang, who was about to slam her fists down on him and Nora. Blake growls as she stumbles a little.

Leaping back, Ben rushes forward with his sword-switched Mundvridi. While the blonde did have the advantage in close quarter combat, Ben's smaller stature granted him the opportunity to sneak under her unsuspecting sides. He took note of her wide swings, as that was when she attempted to finish a person off. Dodging a few punches and parrying a few blasts, as Yang stepped forward with her arm strung back, Ben smiles at the opportunity.

"…Just as I predicted. Now then… Let's try this out!" He yells as he raises his left arm in a motion to block.

"Watch out, Ben! Your arm's exposed to her attack!" Pyrrha yells as she parries another blow from Ruby.

As she tried to rush to his side, Nora was seen fighting Blake. After the cat girl recovered from her stumbling, she yelped as she narrowly avoided a slap to the face from Magnhild. While she was still leaning, she slid down as she quickly prepared to use a butterfly kick performed from a windmill, yelling a bit as Nora was swept off her feet.

"Woah!"

"Come on!" Blake stands back up, jumping up and performing a downward knife hand strike with Gambol Shroud's sheath, knocking her down to the ground. Before she could finish her off, Nora quickly rolls to her side and onto her knees.

Grabbing Blake as she landed by her collar, she tries to defeat her with a takedown to the floor face first. However, Blake quickly produces a shadow clone, this time with ice Dust reinforcing it.

"Ah, crap!" Nora yells as she continues her motion, activating the clone's effect. Exploding, she squeaks as ice begins to trap her, giving Blake enough time to rush back again after being flung back from her summon.

"This is it!" Dashing as fast as she could, she pushes her legs against the ground with great force, leaping high into the air. Nora watches with horror as she produces another clone, using the momentum to plunge down onto her.

"Shiiiiiiiii—"

Slamming onto her head with a hard axe kick, Nora does a spit take as her head is slapped down, eyes popping out as she lets out a funny croak. Blake's ice clone finally shatters as Nora drops to the floor in a comical matter.

"Whew…" Breathing out, Blake turns her eyes back to her teammates, who were currently battling Ben and Pyrrha when a flash of green from the green eyed youth appears.

As Yang's punch landed on his left arm, the device he attached opened up as the gem glowed, generating a holographic shield that parried the attack for him. Unfortunately, that ripped that part of his sleeve, but everyone else could see the new work of art in its full wake. Weiss smiles from the audience.

"I knew he could use it…!" She clenches her fist. Jaune and Ren turn to her in question.

"What kind of device did he make this time?" Ren asks.

"An energy shield?" Jaune guesses. Weiss gives them a smirk as she points down. "What?"

"Watch and learn." She simply says.

Pushing her arm with with a shout, the energy shield changes into a holographic fist that wrapped around his arm, allowing him to give the blonde a hard knuckle. Yang winces as she skids back, putting her arms up into a boxing stance as she looks forward.

"Ha, it worked!" He says as he looks down at the device. The gem was glowing, and the workings opened up to generate the currently seen fist of light.

Yang frowns, but nonetheless returns to her usual smile as she pumps Ember Celica. Ruby was enthralled by the new demonstration of tech, but Blake snaps her back to place with a poke to the cheek.

"Ben, what is that?" Pyrrha looks over.

"Phase Energy Projector, prototype version." He says as he holds it up, before taking a stance. "I'll tell you about it later. Come on!"

Pushing forward together, Blake and Ruby form up in front of Yang to engage with the two. Pyrrha places her shield on top of her as Ben leaps up, jumping off from it as he blasts the girls with Mundvridi's auto rifle. Forcing the two apart, Pyrrha once again went for Blake while Ben and Ruby went in another direction.

Yang, as much as she would like to fight Ben, actually decides not to. With a sneaky grin forming on her face as she looks at her sister and her…good friend, she then turns to Blake, blasting herself towards her direction. Pyrrha sees her coming, and blocks a blast to the face with her shield. She then rolls to the side to avoid a swing from Gambol Shroud. Switching her weapon to its rifle mode, she aims to take a few shots at the black and yellow pair as they started to move in.

"Blake!" Yang yells out to her partner. She seemed to know what she wanted to do.

"I got it!" Preparing a familiar attack, from the audience, Weiss frowns a bit upon seeing the move.

"Bumblebee?" She blinks. Jaune and Ren turn to her in question.

"Bumblebee? Like her bike?" The blonde asks.

"I think she's referring to a team attack. You know, like you and Ben insisted on us making?" Ren corrects him. Jaune shudders a bit. "I wonder what kind of attack it is though."

Yang latches on to one end of Gambol Shroud after Blake throws it at her. Blake then swings Yang to create momentum for her punch whilst firing Ember Celica. Ben holds his arm up, with his fist reforming to the previously shown green shield.

"Pyrrha! Iron Guard!" He yells, a slight surprise to the redhead.

"Acknowledged!"

Holding her shield up along with Ben's, they wait until Yang comes in for the killing blow, activating her Semblance as she does so. Her eyes turn red for a split second as her hair glows, and she yells loudly as she swings Ember Celica at the two after letting go of Gambol Shroud.

Gritting her teeth as she pushes against them, Ben and Pyrrha struggle to keep their footing as they started to get skidded back. Blake catches her weapon, and she and Ruby watch as the blonde continues to her forceful attempt through their guard.

While putting more force into her attack, Yang brings her spare arm out, firing off shots with her left gauntlet in order to add more momentum to herself. Ben grunts a little as he turns to Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, now!"

Clenching their fists, they gather their Aura for a brief moment, using all of it to push forward for an instant. Their shields glow, and Yang yelps as she is blasted away by their wave of Aura, knocking her off the stage and flinging her all the way to Weiss, who gets up and backs away from her crashing onto the seats.

"Yang! Geez, you alright?" Jaune asks. The female blonde moans a bit as she rubs her head, before sitting up.

"Ouch…" Shaking her head, she frowns as she finally notices where she was. "Heh, they got me good…"

"A little too much of a push." Weiss comments. "But it seems that the prototype is working nicely for Ben."

"Prototype? What, was that something you had Ben made for you?" Yang looks at her teammate in suspicion as she stands up, wiping some dust off herself. "Because that thing is sturdy as heck."

She points down to him as Ember Celica retracts. "Well… I had a part in it, but I didn't think he would have a working prototype done so quickly."

"Well, he's not's called a weapon junky like Ruby for nothing, that's for sure." She chuckles. Weiss smiles as the blonde sits down again, and this time on a proper seat.

Ben glances behind him, smirking as the shield deactivates. "One down…"

"And two to go." Pyrrha finishes.

"Oh snap…" Ruby gulps. "Blake, what should we do now?"

"…That brief flash of Aura must've been taxing. I doubt that the Aura between the two of them is sufficient to go on for a long fight." Blake analyzes, narrowing her eyes. "Let's go with a frontal assault, knocking away one of them long enough for us to target and neutralize the other by ourselves."

Ruby blinks, trying to translate her plan into her mind. "Uhh… Sure. Who do we target first?"

"Heh, is that a question?" Blake smiles. "Follow my lead."

Dashing forward, Blake aims Gambol Shroud at Pyrrha, shooting a volley of bullets towards her. The redhead quickly blocks with her shield, but it was then that Blake and Ruby came forward with the scythe girl's Semblance, knocking her away for a moment.

"Oh, shit!" Ben says as he tries to shoot Blake.

"Language!" She retorts. Dodging by rolling left, Blake glances at Ruby. "Ruby, I got Pyrrha! He's all yours!"

'All mine… All…mine... A-Ah geez, get those dirty thoughts out your head, Ruby!' She blushes a bit, before focusing on Ben. The Omnitrix wielder raised an eyebrow in question, but his eyes quickly widen as he blocks a slash from Crescent Rose.

"S-Soo… Going for a split off, huh?" He grunts.

Pushing her off, he attempts to swing at Ruby with a spin slash. Ruby shoots herself back to avoid the swing, skidding back a few feet and reaches for her waist. She loads a Dust magazine with a flame symbol on it, aiming Crescent Rose at him before he turned around.

"Fire in the hole!" She says as she blasts him with a devious smile on her face.

"Uuuuwhuuah!" As the dust bullet exploded on his rear, Ruby laughs as Ben jumps around. Some of the audience seemed to have been snickering in the background, but Glynda shuts them up as she glares at them from the dark.

"Ah, hot, hot, hot!" Wailing around with a higher pitch, Weiss snickers as he tries to put out the flame on his rear. "Darn it, Ruby! I didn't think you could pun so well!"

Taking a blue Dust cell from his pouch, he quickly loads it onto Mundvridi, shooting a blast above himself. Much to his embarrassment, the shot ricocheted from the ceiling, with his head and flames coated after it splattered across his body. He sighs in relief, before frowning at the girl.

"Watch it, Ruby! Aura can't protect clothes, you know!" While the burn was gone, Ben's pants now had a large black burnt spot, and he was soaked to the core. He cries fake tears as he points down to it.

"Teehee!" She sticks her tongue out. "It's all about opportunity!"

"Opportunity? Then how about this!" Growling, Ben lowers Mundvridi, aiming at her with his device as it began to form into the shape of a hand cannon.

The barrel of the holographic weapon begins to charge up, and quite quickly at that. Ruby's eyes widen as she gasps, retracting Crescent Rose as she starts to rush off. "Oh, truck!"

"Lan—Oh shit." Blake and Pyrrha turn around, only to see a zipping projectile of green being blasted off by Ben's cannon. The two were unable to react in time as they were blown away off stage, much to Ruby and Ben's chagrin as they landed with grunts next to Glynda.

"Aw, donuts…" He narrows his eyes as he smiles nervously. "Uh, sorry!"

"We're okay!" Pyrrha yells from off stage.

Leaving the two alone on stage, the audience's eyes came together as they unraveled their weapons once again. Ruby knew that the new device on his arm had defense and offense. And not just that, but he also had the Omnitrix at his disposal too, if the situation had gotten bad enough for him to actually use it. She knew that he would only use it as a last resort, just like Pyrrha with her Semblance, they would both try to fight as fair as they could.

As they slid in slowly towards the center of the stage, she kept an eye on his left leg and right arm. Along with his usage with his equipment, she also took note of his gestures and overall movement habits. He had a habit of starting with his left foot whenever he went for a lunging attack, and would swing to his left whenever he used Mundvridi.

From the entrance of the room, two students entered. One was Velvet, who had a smile on her face as she dragged another girl into the room. The other was a girl who wore a pair of dark aviator glasses.

She had fair skin, short dark-brown hair, and dark-brown eyes, with wavy locks on one side of her face that were dyed with a gradient that started in dark brown and transitioned to caramel. Her clothes consisted of a long, cocoa-colored shirt with a dark brown waist cincher, long, dark brown trousers with ribbons on the left side, and a brown belt with bullets. Another cocoa-colored belt of bullets with a gold crosshairs buckle were seen on top of it, and there appeared to have been a drape of black that hanged on her right side. She wore a pair of dark brown, high-heeled leather boots with buckles, and a brown beret. She was seen holding a black shoulder bag with gold studs, which was held by a bandolier strap that held her emblem; which was a golden crosshair. Her suitcase was the thing held by the strap, but something seemed…iffy about it.

"Hey, look Coco!" Velvet bounces. "That's the guy I was talking about at first. Down there on the stage!"

Coco lifts her shades up, as the dark glasses practically blinded her in the dark room. Looking down at the stage, she whistles a bit upon seeing Ben facing Ruby.

"Oh, he's a cutie! And he actually helped you? Must be a tough cocoa!"

"Well, it's actually tough cookie…but yeah! He's really cool!" Velvet tries to correct her. "He has all sorts of neat tricks he can do! I'll introduce him to you after they're done fighting!"

Coco turns to her Faunus teammate, surprised at how jumpy she was. "Wow, I've never seen you like this before. You must really like your junior like a brother I guess?"

"A-A brother? Well… I suppose you can say that. He's a bit airheaded when it comes to weapons and the like, but it adds to his cuteness."

"Ha! Well, at least he dresses good. But…I reckon he could use a bit of a makeover from a pro!" Coco says as she grins. "Whatdya say we take him to the shopping district and get to know him better?"

"B-But that'd be just being nosy! A-And besides, I recently asked for help on a recent history assignment from him the other day! He already got to know me and some of my other Faunus friends, you know?"

"Oh come on, Velvet! This is why you got bullied in the first place! Your shy demeanor prevents you from being socially able, ya know? Come on, it's not too hard to take your friend out, you're just…you know, hanging out!" Coco explains.

Velvet contemplates the idea with an unsure expression, but she soon succumbs to the idea as her ears perk up. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt…"

"Perfect! Now then, let's see how tough this kid is!" Coco chuckles as they sit down and watch the match. Velvet wondered if this was a good thing to do.

Moving back to the fight, Ruby's eyes constantly went down to Ben's feet. She was waiting for the exact moment to counter him, because it was just a matter of reacting to his movements in time…

'Watch out for the blade, watch for the gun, watch out for the—There!'

Ben immediately rushed towards Ruby by pushing off with his left foot as predicted, bringing his broad sword to his front. Raising his arm again, she brought Crescent Rose up to block his leftwards swipe, parrying it and knocking him back with the blunted end. As he stepped back to rub his face, Ruby speeds with a blasted shot, ramming into his chest with her shoulder.

"Gah!" Wincing, he skids back a little before aiming Mundvridi at her. Quickly taking a dark blue Dust cell from his pouch and inserting it, the rifle glows dark blue as it shoots out shards of ice onto the ground.

As Ruby moves in to deal another slash, the ice shards dig into the stage, changing the floor into a slippery layer of ice. Her eyes widen as he stops herself from stepping onto the cold surface, giving Ben a dirty smile as he holds Mundvridi up.

"Hey Ruby, check this out!" Ben says. "I've been working on giving Mundvridi some additional functions!"

Ruby gives him a confused look, before smiling once again in anticipation. From across the floor of ice, he raises Mundvridi back in a motion that looked like he was going to throw it. Much to everyone's surprise though, as he swiped it across, the bladed ends of Mundvridi detached, with the separated parts extending across the stage towards Ruby like a whip.

"What the?" Ruby lowers herself to the ground, barely dodging the attack as the blades retract to the main stock with a snap.

Blake gives an interesting look. "He added a whip sword mechanic to the weapon…"

"I think it suits his speedy style of fighting, don't you think?" Pyrrha smiles. The cat girl sweat drops, wondering if she said that for some other kind of reason.

Launching the whip blade at Ruby once more, the scythe girl jumps to her side, shooting herself upwards in order to get across the ice. As Mundvridi's blades came back, Ben attempts to intercept her airborne position, aiming his left arm cannon. Blasting several projectiles of green in her direction, Ruby twirls midair and slices apart the rest, landing in front of him.

"Time to finish this!" She yells as she swings Crescent Rose as hard as she could towards Ben's right cheek.

"Oh yeah?!"

Ben was going to leap back, but as he glances behind him his eyes widen at the fact that he was right next to the wall. Sighing for a split second, the energy cannon reforms into a fist. Pouring a large amount of energy into it, he swings it towards Ruby's cheek right as Crescent Rose nears his own.

Everyone watches as time slows for a bit, with the two weapons smacking their opponents across the face. They both do spit takes, and the momentum from their attacks on each other causes them to let go of their weapons as they spin around in a comical matter, falling onto the ground with unpleasant thuds. Ruby laid on Ben as their eyes spun around, the two of them groaning as their cheeks swelled in red from their previous endeavor.

"Uhhhhhwa…" Miniature Nevermores could be seen swirling above their heads as Ruby and Ben laid on the stage.

Glynda's eye twitches, but she quickly breathes in and out to get the annoying expression on her face off as she walks forward. Pressing on her screen, the lights turn back on, revealing all the damage that the teams did to the stage. The blonde tilts her glasses up as she clears her throat.

"Ahem… Well, I can say that was…an interesting match to say the least, despite this unorthodox ending. Since the last two members of each team were eliminated at the same time, this match is a draw." She says as she presses Ben's and Ruby's icons, dimming their profiles alongside their teams.

She first looks down at Ben and Ruby, then at the unconscious Nora, and then to Pyrrha, who was seen supporting Blake.

"I admire both teams' adaptiveness to the unique situation brought to them, as the team combinations unleashed by specific members allowed each of you to show your talents. Miss Nikos and Miss Valkyrie showed surprising results in taking advantage of both their Semblances to engage in powerful attacks, and Mr. Tennyson displayed an onward profile of leadership and support."

"Thank you again, Professor." Pyrrha smiles as she nods slightly.

"Miss Xiao Long's team displayed an excellent showing of power and speed. Miss Rose's combination with her sister after being launched by Miss Belladonna proved to be a rather complex, yet deadly attack that could only be performed by people with their unique abilities. Also, Miss Belladonna's ability to calmly counteract and maneuver around the battlefield was an impressive feat in itself. Both teams performed quite extraordinary, to put it to simple terms."

Finishing her recall with a tap on her screen, she tips her crop up, using her Semblance to repair all the damage done to the stage. As the screen contracted, she turns to the other members of Team RWBY and JNPR.

"Now then, I would like all of you to take these experiences you just saw to heart. No doubt they will help to give you an idea of what the Vytal Festival's tournaments will be like in the upcoming future."

Everyone chatters a bit, and Glynda flicks her crop once more, ringing a bell from afar. "Alright, if there are no questions… Class dismissed! Miss Schnee, Mr. Ren, if you and your other teammates would be as kind as to support your fallen fighters."

"Of course." Weiss says, as she, Yang, Ren, and Jaune walk down to the stage.

The snow girl gives Blake a Pyrrha a smile as the redhead hands the cat girl to her. Ren and Jaune walk over to Nora, who was now snoring. The blonde snickers a bit as Ren pokes her cheek, but nevertheless he smiles as well. As Yang, Blake, and Weiss walked over to Ruby and Ben, the first thing they noticed…that the two were actually in quite the adorable position, despite the injuries on their face.

"Ohhh… How adorable!" Pyrrha covers her cheeks with her hands. Yang smiles warmly, but as she turns to Blake, she immediately sweat drops upon seeing her cat eyes staring down coldly at the two.

"They're…holding hands…" She utters with no emotion.

Now that a little time passed, the two were simply fainted, with Ruby laying down on Ben's body like a pillow as their left hands were held together. Most of the cast simply smiled as Yang picks them up piggyback.

'I knew this was happening.' She smiles again, and as she glances at Ren, he nods with a salute.

'Mission, start?'

"Mission, start~!'

---

…

Around an hour or so later, Ben and Ruby were seen in the infirmary. Nora was already awake, as the insane durability of the hammer girl was nothing to take lightly. Well that, and the smell of pancakes coming back from the kitchen. Ren screamed like a girl once he saw the beast of a girl crash out from the wall.

But back inside the infirmary, as the rest of Teams RWBY and JNPR sat together, they decided to spend the time chattering with one another until their two teammates woke up.

"Wait, so let me get this straight; you got some schematics from your family and gave them to Ben basically?" Yang gestures to Weiss.

"Pretty much. The thing about that device he used at first was that despite its overall usefulness for an incredible amount of scenarios, the main problem was maintaining the projections with an exceptional power source." She explains.

Blake looks down at Ben, and then back to Weiss. "So, how did you think Ben was going to find a way to stabilize it then?"

"Well, take a look at it this way. All of those transformations from the Omnitrix must take an extraordinary amount of energy to perform. After all, it creates matter from energy in order to supply things like wings, or a bigger mass to his forms. It must have quite the power source to maintain the transformations and allow him to change in battle." Pyrrha explains to Blake.

"Precisely. I didn't ask Ben in detail, but I assume that the Omnitrix's power source must be impossible to synthesize here, so why not test our prototype weapon that uses too much energy with that of an alien power cell?" Weiss smiles.

"It does make you wonder how many forms are in that thing though." Jaune speaks out. The girls nod in conjunction, being curious about the device themselves.

As they turned to the two, from the entrance way, Velvet's ears peek in. "Hello?"

"Velvet?" Blake turns to the bunny Faunus. Coco smiles as she walks in, dragging her into the room. "And...Coco?"

"'Sup!" She raises a hand, releasing said girl from her grasp. "How's our little fighters doing?"

"Oh, they're just resting right now. They kinda punched each other a little too hard." Yang says with a smile. "What's up?"

"Ah, Velvet here just wanted to introduce me to your little friend here before our team went out on our annual mission outside the Kingdom. She told me how he and the rest of your guys helped her out with some bullies and the like. Thanks again by the way." She gives a thumbs up.

"I-It wasn't much, Coco…" Velvet's ears move up and down.

"Wasn't much? You made friends out of two awesome first year teams, plus a kid that can transform into all sorts of monsters and stuff, isn't that what you told me?" Coco turns to her.

"A-Ah, Ben preferred for the Omnnitrix to be kept secret from the rest of the school besides us, Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch." Pyrrha advises them. "Can you two keep it a secret for his sake?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure then! I don't see why he would bother keeping it a secret though. I mean, isn't it his Semblance?"

"Er…not really." Weiss replies. "It's a bit a complicated, but getting back to the topic…"

"Oh, right. The amount of forms the Omnitrix has." Jaune blinks. Everyone turns to him. "Should we really check though? Feels like we're invading his privacy or something."

"Eh, what harm can it do?" Yang shrugs. "It's not like he has an enormous form that can destroy the entire academy with a death laser or something."

"But didn't you see Humungousaur at the food fight though?" Blake replies to her partner. "That form was already big enough to burst out from this room. He probably does have something like that."

"Well, it'll still be cool to see, am I right?"

"Certainly." Pyrrha adds. "Most of his known forms have unique abilities. Big Chill was able to manipulate ice and phase through solid matter, and Lodestar had the ability of magnetism."

"Ice and Magnets? Oh, now I'm interested…!" Coco chuckles as she walks to Ben, standing in front of him while shadowing over his face. "So, where's this device again?"

"C-Coco!" Velvet tries to stop her, but as the cocoa haired girl took the blanket off of Ben, she looks down to see the alien watch on his wrist.

"Aha! There you are…" Sitting down, everyone gulped as she took his arm up. "So, this is the thing that transforms him into those monsters?"

"Well, technically they're aliens…" Jaune corrects her, but Coco ignores him as she looks around the device. "Uhh, what're you doing?"

"Trying to see how to activate this thing. It's like a watch, right? There must be some kind of dial or button to press then."

Tapping the Omnitrix a few times after looking around the circumference of the device, she accidentally taps one of the dial switches. Widening her eyes in interest, she presses both of them, activating said device. She backs up slightly as she takes her shades off, her eyes looking down as the core spins and pops out.

"OoooooooOOOoooooooo…! Cool!" She whistles.

"Should we be worried?" Jaune turns to Yang. "I mean, what if she accidentally taps down on a form that's big like you said? It's not like we can tell how big the form actually is right?"

"Yeah… The Omnitrix does show its selections through holograms, but it doesn't really tell us the size of the form actually." Blake confirms. "Be careful, Coco."

"Relax! I'm not going to push it back down. So, you turn the dial right?" She says as she places her hand on the watch-like dial, turning it once to the right. The image of a familiar speedster alien popped up in as a dark green hologram, making Coco's eyes glisten.

"Hey, hey, what's this one?" She turns back to the group.

"That's XLR8. The name's a pun on the actual word." Yang chuckles. "He can go reaaaally fast, like so fast that he comes a blur! It's even faster than Ruby's Semblance."

"Really? I gotta see that for myself one of these days." Coco turns back with a deep look on her face. Turning it again, XLR8's hologram changed to that of Brainstorm."

"A crab? What's this guy's deal, being really smart?" She snickers.

"Well, he can open those plates on his skull to release electricity through his brain." Jaune answers. "It was kind of gross when we first saw it, in my opinion."

"Well, everything's unique, I guess?" Velvet smiles nervously. "I think we should stop though, Coco."

Coco merely turns to her with a smile on her face, but as she was going to turn the dial once again, Ben groans a bit as he frowns in his sleep. Everyone turns to the brown haired boy as he tries to move his arm.

"Oh… What's he dreaming about, I wonder?" Coco smirks.

"…Probably…"

"Something bad. Ben has pretty bad sleep habits." Yang shudders. "We should probably get out of here before he—"

Much to her and everyone's despair besides Velvet and Coco, Ben growls as he turns the dial a couple of times, slapping the core down as he turns his body to lay on his stomach. The signature flash of green blinds everyone for a moment, before seeing him replaced with a crystalline humanoid.

This form made of highly durable crystal, with his body covered in a protective silicon-based rock, while the exposed crystal was magenta. The rock body covered his legs and arms with several black lines and dots on them. They were also magenta shards all over his body: six on his back, two on their chest and one on top of their small, purple head, resembling a horn. He had one large, green cyclopean eye, and wore a black and white uniform with green lines going down his sides. The Omnitrix dial was located on his collarbone.

"Ah crap, what can this one do?" Yang hides behind Weiss.

"It has a crystalline body like Diamondhead. Maybe he has similar abilities like—OH CRAP WATCH OUT FOR THAT LASER!" Blake pushes everyone down as Ben turns onto his back, waving his arms about as ultraviolet beams came out from his fists.

The energy started to rebound throughout the room, making everyone squirm around as they tried not to get hit. Weiss quickly takes out her rapier and holds it up towards the middle of the room, in which the laser beams eventually came up and collided with. Everyone sighs in relief as the blade absorbs the energy.

"Shit, someone turn that thing off!" Yang barks.

"Wait, is he sleep aliening?!" Velvet squeaks as her ears pop up. "And why isn't Ruby waking up?"

Pyrrha climbs over her friends and climbs onto Ben. She was a little confused on how she could hear him snore, as his mouth wasn't even open. It also didn't help that his eye didn't have eyelids, so his green eye was constantly gazing up to her as she stood on top of him. Looking down at the Omnitrix dial, Pyrrha frowns as she prepares to slap it.

"Uhh, he usually changes back hitting the dial again, right?" She tries to confirm with everyone else. "Because I'm sure he can also change to a different form if he taps it as well."

"Just slap it, please!" Jaune cries out. Pyrrha obliges his order, tapping the Omnitrix dial as she crouches down.

Another flash of green blinds Pyrrha for a moment, and as she opens her eyes, everyone peeks up to see Bunny Ben instead. Velvet's scared expression turns to an adoring one as she swoons over the sleeping boy.

"Awww, how adorable!" She yells.

"A-Ah, not too loud!"

"…What's adorable…?" Ben grunt as his eyes remained close, before opening them with a slight frown. Turning to his side, he sees Velvet and Coco in his face. "…Velvet? Coco? What're you guys doing here? And…why are you holding my hand?"

"Uhhh… We…were curious about how many transformations you had. Well, Coco was." The bunny girl answers him as Ben sits up. He rubs his jaw for a second, grunting a little.

"Ack, my jaw… Ruby really let me have it at first…" He says as he turns to his right, seeing the still sleeping Ruby in her bed. "How long was I out for?"

"Around an hour or so." Blake says. "How're you feeling?"

"Slightly confused to what's going on? Otherwise, pretty good." He answers as he looks around. "So, you guys wanted to know how many forms I currently have at the moment or something."

"Yeah… And I wanna talk about how you stabilized the Energy Projector." Weiss adds. Ben rubs his head, sighing a bit.

"Uhh, let me clear my head first." He says as he shakes his head and rubs his eyes. "Alright, first question."

"Regarding the Energy Projector, you might've already guessed it, but I synced it up to the Omnitrix's power source. I went over the schematics you sent me, primarily noticing the absurd amount of energy that each construct used." Ben starts.

"So you in turn used the Omnitrix to counteract the large energy consumption by adding a ridiculously large energy supplier." Weiss figures out. "Just like I predicted."

"Yeah, but I was wondering if there could be a way to develop an alternate power source, one that isn't the Omnitrix itself. You know, for other people to use besides myself maybe." The Omnitrix wielder says as he takes the constructing bracelet off.

"An alternative source of energy… Interesting." She simply says as she smiles. Ben nods, and turns back to everyone else.

"And…regarding your question, Velvet." He taps a few buttons on the Omnitrix. "I have around… 60 or so transformations currently unlocked, I think. You guys have already seen…23 I believe."

"At least 60?!" Jaune cups his cheeks. "That's more than the 58 flavors of Bunny Deluxe's Ice Cream!"

"I know, right?!" Velvet yells surprisingly. "Oh…Excuse me."

"No, keep your voice high up!" Coco slaps her back. "And that's pretty cool as well! It'll make for more and more surprises when we finally see them."

"Ha… Thanks. So, why are you guys here for?" Ben turns to the duo.

"O-Oh. Coco and I were wondering if you would like to hang out for a bit before Team CFVY goes out for their mission." The bunny girl's twitch. "I-If it's okay with you of course!"

"Sure." He turns to his team members of Team JNPR-B. "Jaune, you and the guys don't mind, right?"

"I'm alright with it." The blonde nods. "It's good to spend time with friends from outside your own team."

"Then it's settled." Ben says as he gets out of the bed. "Where were you having in mind to go to then, Velvet?"

"That's for me to tell ya, kiddo." Coco grins as she wraps an arm around him. Dragging him and Velvet out of the room, she gives the rest of the first years a salute.

"See ya later!" She says as she zooms away without a trace of her figure left. A few seconds later, Ren and Nora could be seen entering the room.

"Huh. Who was that?"

"Coco and Velvet." Blake shrugs. "They just took Ben out."

"Oh. How's Ruby?" He asks.

"Still sleeping. I reckon she'll come by soon though." Yang smiles as she looks down at her sister. The smile was for another reason though.

"Well, we should let her rest. We already made enough noise with Ben." Pyrrha suggests. "Come on, let's go after some of the notes from yesterday's lecture."

"Whaaa...? Come on, Pyrrha. You know I suck at history." Jaune groans. Nora however grips him with her arm with a grin.

"All the more reason then! You and I are the opposites of our smarties, after all! Isn't that right, Ren?"

"Whatever you say, Nora… Come, let's go." He says as Team JNPR exits the room.

Blake and Weiss shrug at each other, but they too start to near the exit. Turning to Yang, they wave to her. "Blake and I are going to go over Professor Port's lecture from the other day. We'll be in the library."

"I gotcha. I'm just accompanying Ruby for a little bit longer." Yang gestures back. The two leave, and Yang waits for around half a minute after they close the infirmary's door.

Turning down to Ruby's sleeping face, she gives her a mischievous smile as she pinches her cheeks. "Come on sleepy head! I noticed you were faking it for a while now!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Cut it out Yang! My cheeks still hurt from Ben's punch…" Ruby cries out a little as she sits up, pushing her sister's hands away from her face.

Yang sits down on the bed that Ben was previously on, crossing her legs as she turns to Ruby. "…You look like you want to say something."

Ruby avoids her gaze as her cheeks turn red, but she sighs a bit. "Well…"

"Is it about Ben?" She guesses. Her eyes contract slightly as her blush turns a bit darker. "Ah… I knew it."

"Yang… There's this weird feeling in my chest. Like…it's tugging at me." Ruby admits. "What's wrong with me?"

"Well, let me ask you a question." Yang pats her shoulder. "When Coco and Velvet were over on Ben, how were you feeling just then?"

Ruby looks into the blonde's eyes, noticing how serious her expression was. She looks down for a second, thinking about what to say as her mouth opens slightly. Yang could tell she really was being troubled by this.

"…You were probably feeling…jealousy." Yang answers for her. Ruby's eyes widen as she looks back at her.

"J-Jealously? What would I be jealous for? I had nothing to be jealous of…"

"But you did. You were jealous of those two girls being so touchy with Ben, at how casual they were with him. Whenever you were in contact or close to him, how would you usually react?"

"…Like I was being conscious about my surrounds, the distance between me and him?" Ruby says with an unsure tone as she places a hand on her chest. "Like if I got to close to him, something in me would just…open up and change."

"And it's only with Ben, right? Not with any other guys you've met so far like Jaune or Ren?"

"…Yeah."

Getting the answer she wanted, Yang smiles a bit as she closes her eyes, placing her hands on Ruby's shoulders. Gazing at her eyes, she went up front with her words as she opened her mouth. She decided that now was the best time to explain this growing situation to her dear little sister that was in the middle of growing to a young lady.

"Ruby, what you have…is a crush on him. On Ben."

Her words echoed through Ruby's ears. She gives the blonde a deadpan look for a few moments, but immediately afterwards, her pupils contracted immensely as her face puffed a steamy cloud of red, covering her mouth with her cloak as she looks down.

"I…have a crush? On…Ben?" She whispered to herself. Her face was as red as her cloak, something that Yang decided not to joke on.

"I don't think I'm the only one who's noticed, you know." She tries to reassure her. "Ren, Blake, and even Weiss know."

"W-What?! How?"

"Well… Every so often when we were together, you would display…moments of affection for him, even if it was unconsciously. I first saw this when Ben saved you from the Deathstalker during the Initiation."

"All the way from back then? I…I didn't know." Ruby blinks. "Am I really…in love with him?"

"Well… If you want my personal opinion…" She leans down next to Ruby's ear. "I think the two of you are perfect together…"

Ruby explodes like cherry blossoms as she backs away from her sister. "Y-Yang!"

"He-he, you're so cute!" She says as she hugs her, rubbing her cheek against hers. "You know, if you want to make yourselves an official thing…"

"W-What? What do you mean by that?"

"…Don't you know what's going on in the near future?" She says with a naughty smile. "It's a perfect opportunity to convey your feelings to him!"

"H-Huh?! You're not talking about—"

"The Prom? Oh yes, Ruby… And I think Ben's starting to become aware of his own feelings as well. Blake and I have notice his little tidbits of awareness, even if he tries to hide it from us."

"You mean…"

"I think he feels the same way." Yang answers her as she places a finger on her heart. "I think it's the perfect chance to do so."

"B-But what if he doesn't actually? What if he thinks I'm weird?" Ruby huddles herself in her bed covers, though she squeaks upon seeing Yang uncovering her.

"I can guarantee that he'll return your feelings with mutual respect! He's always enjoyed your company, whether if it was in class or during any of our little shenanigans!" Yang continues to convince her.

"Y-You think?" Ruby places her fingers on her lips. "Now that you mention it, he didn't seem to hate that kiss we had during back then…"

Although she was speaking very quietly as she said that, Yang's eyes widened as a big grin appears on her face. "Ooooooh… You two kissed?"

"Y-Yang?"

"…Tell me all about it, little sister. I'll give you the best technique that will make him falls head over heels for you!" She says as she drags her out of the infirmary.

"Oh no…" She covers her face as her blush continues to maintain itself. Yang pulls on her cloak, a big smile on her face as she closes the door.

'Ahhhh… My little siblings are growing up~! I should go tell Dad about this!' She cries out tears of joy as she walks off with Ruby in tow.

---

…

With Weiss and Blake, as the two girls were exiting their dorm room with notes in hand, it was then that Weiss got a bit curious with the cat girl's expression.

"Blake? You have a strange expression on her face." She points out.

"…I do?" She places a hand on her face, blinking a little. "Oh… I think I do. I wonder why."

"Is it…something that you were talking about with Yang or something before your match started, perhaps?" Weiss guesses. Blake tries to recall the events that happened before, and Weiss witnesses her face going from a frown to an aggressive glare, though not pointed at her of course.

"So… did you just remember something?" She nervously asks.

"…Yeah, let's just say that." Blake narrows her eyes as she and Weiss leave the dormitory.

"…Can I ask what was the—*RING* Oh, it's your Scroll."

Letting her textbooks and notes rest on one arm, Blake digs into her pocket and takes out her Scroll. Looking at the identity of the caller, her eyes widen for a second as she answers the call.

"…Hello? What's the matter?" She asks with a tinge of worry in her voice. Weiss notices this, but keeps quiet in respect of her call.

"…Blake, it's me." Tukson responds. "I think the White Fang are on to me."

"What?!" Blake yells as she clenches her hand that held her Scroll. "When? How?"

"Right now, it doesn't really matter. They found out where I am, and I think they're going to send a hit squad or some other sort to hunt me down. I'm preparing to leave the city right now as we speak."

"But it does matter! Who contacted you? Why do you know they're onto you?"

"…I got a call from someone that seemed to be associated with Roman Torchwick. It was a woman's voice, though I couldn't trace the voice back with any of my tools." Tukson reveals.

Blake frowns once again. "Then where are you planning to go?"

"I was planning to take a ship to Vacuo, but I decided to go for Menagerie instead to update your folks about the current situation with the White Fang and possibly seek shelter there." He answers. "I'll be leaving by nightfall."

Taking this information in, Blake ends the call, looking for a second. Weiss takes this opportunity to ask her what was up. "Blake? Is someone in trouble?"

"Yeah… But before you ask, as much as I would like help from you guys, I feel like you guys are going be in danger this time around if you came. I'll be going at this solo." She explains. "But don't worry, it isn't as dangerous as that time at the Docks or the Paladin incident."

"But…" Blake gives her a smile as she pats her shoulder.

"Trust me… Okay?"

"…Fine. Just take care of yourself, alright? After all, you promised me you would tell us about any problems you had." Weiss worries for her teammate.

"I know. Thank you, Weiss." Handing the girl her books and notes, she turns around and begins to leap away onto some rooftops, quickly leaving the Academy grounds.

Weiss couldn't help but worry, but she sighs. "You better come back alive…"

---

…

A few hours passed, with the scene cutting back to Coco walking with Velvet and Ben. The sunset was now starting to fall off as they returned to the dormitory grounds. As they traveled up the flights of stairs, Ben and company arrived at Team CFVY's room.

"Ah, that was a blast!" Coco smiles. "I really think you have the potential to become a fashion model when you become older, you know?"

"Ugh… Please don't remind me… If the girls saw me in any of those uniforms, they'd treat me even more like a doll." Ben blushes slightly as he avoids her gaze, back in his human form.

"Still, I think if some girls took a good look at you, they'd probably fall head over heels for you! Ain't that right, Velvet?" Coco says with certainty in her voice.

"Yes! You looked incredibly handsome and cute in those outfits, you know?" She points down to a bag that Ben was carrying.

"Y-You think…?" Ben rubs the back of his head as his blush deepens a bit. "I've never had a chance to think about things like this."

Velvet and Coco weren't expecting such an answer from him. They both game him big smiles as Velvet stands behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders as she crouches. Ben gasps a little as she giggles.

"Ben, do you have a girl you like?" The bunny girl asks. Ben blushes, shaking his head. "Oh, I think that's a yes!"

"N-No! I have no idea what you're talking about!" He blurts out in denial. Coco however, had other thoughts as she cups her chin.

"Oh… If I had to guess, it's one of the girls from those two teams you're associated with. I don't think it's Yang, Pyrrha or Nora… Probably not Blake or Weiss either…"

"Which only leaves…" Velvet and Coco look at each other, before giggling.

"Please don't say it…" Ben covers his face in embarrassment.

"He likes… Ruby!" They both squealed. Ben drops to the floor, rolling around in agony. "Aw, how sweet!"

"I doubt she feels the same way though…" Ben groans. "Why would she like a guy who can transform into monsters of all things?"

"Ben, this is a world where the entire place is filled with deadly creatures of darkness, people with animal parts on their bodies; you fit in this kind of place just fine. And besides, from what Yang told me, it seems like Ruby has an interest in you as well." Velvet smiles warmly as she pets his head.

"Well… When you put it that way…"

"It means you have the biggest shot in the world with her!" Coco slaps his back. Ben winces a bit. "That's basically the sum of your situation. Go after the girl! Be aggressive, girls love that."

"Coco! That's how you are, which is not like Ruby." Velvet frowns, before turning back to Ben. "Ben, you should try to give it a go soon."

"Give what a go?" He asks. Coco blinks, before remembering something.

"Oh, right! The yearly Prom! That's the perfect opportunity to ask her out! Velvet, you're a genius!"

"Well, I prefer to be more of a pacifist, yes."

Ben listens to their words, sighing a bit. "Well, I'll keep it in mind, but I know it's going to be really awkward when the time comes. I just hope it all goes well."

Once again, Coco slaps his back as she opens Team CFVY's room. "Just go for it! You won't be able to go forward if you're constantly stuck in the past!"

"Yeah Ben, just try for it. A girl loves it when the guy approaches them, you know? That's how I would react. Think about it, alright?" Velvet winks at him as she waves him goodbye.

"Well… Alright, I'll try." He responds. Velvet smiles. "Well, I'll see you guys after your mission then. Good luck."

"Thanks! Good night." Closing the door, Ben starts to walk over to the floor in which Team RWBY and JNPR were located.

Taking several seconds to approach the doorstep, as he opens Team RWBY's door, he was mildly surprised to see everyone but Blake. Looking around, he wondered where the cat girl was.

"Oh, where's Blake?" He asks.

"She…went out to help someone." Weiss answers. Yang and Ruby look down at the ice girl. "She looked kind of worried, but she told us that she didn't need any help.

'Helping someone? The only person nearby that would qualify for such a role would be… Tukson!' Eyes widening in realization, Ben ran for the window, opening it up.

"Ben, where're you going?" Ruby blinks in surprise, trying to maintain her standard expression in front of her crush.

"That girl… She always tries to do dangerous stuff on her own…" Activating the Omnitrix and quickly slamming the core down, the girls covered their eyes, before opening them up to see Jetray.

The Aerophibian leaps out of the window, flying off into the darkness as the girls peek out. "I'll be back!"

"Ben, wait!" Ruby reaches out, sighing once again. "There he goes… Who do you think he and Blake were referring to?"

"I have no clue. That's the one thing they haven't told us." Yang answers. "We knew Ben came from another world, but we never knew where he and Blake were residing before they came to Beacon."

Looking out, the three look out with worried faces. Weiss sighs once again. "I just hope they don't be reckless and get themselves killed…"

"Yeah… That would be bad…" Ruby looks down with a dejected and worried face. 'I don't want to see him die again…'

---

…

'How would Tukson leave the city? By air, by sea? Probably…the latter.' Jetray thinks about the escape options that the adult Faunus had at his disposal. Going by sea would be more efficient, as the city of Vale was right next to the ocean.

That, and it depended on where Tukson was going to escape to in the first place. Since he didn't know where he was actually going, he had to guess where he was going to escape. That meant first trying to find Tukson and Blake, and then assisting them.

First flying down to Tukson's Booktrade, he taps the Omnitrix dial and changes into Big Chill. Phasing into the building, he flies into the back of the building, looking through the many rooms. Upon learning that neither of his friends were able to be seen, he sighs as he flies out, heading towards the docks as his next destination.

'Please don't be in the middle of a fight or something…' The Necrofriggian hopes as the waters of Vale appear in his line of sight.

Landing in an alleyway next to the edge of the water, Big Chill taps the Omnitrix dial, transforming into Cat Ben. Taking his Scroll out, he tries to call Blake. Hearing the ringing of his Scroll as he ran across the Docks, he darts his eyes around aimlessly in hopes of discovering their location.

"Come on Blake, pick up…" He utters with a low grunt, but upon hearing a familiar gunshot though, he brings his eyes up as he lowers his hand.

"Over there? That's by the ferries…" Running along the streets as he puts his Scroll away, he starts to hear several more gunshots coming by the edge of a group of boats.

Aiming his arm up, the Energy Projector forms a grappling hook, allowing Ben to shoot up and climb onto one of the larger shipment ships. Landing on its deck, he goes off until he reaches the other side, gasping at what he saw.

In front of him were crates and other storage containers of sorts, as the ship he was currently looking at was that of a delivery ship heading out to Menagerie, as evidenced by the silhouette of the country on the ship's side. What made him gasp was the fact that in the middle of the courtyard of boxes were Blake and Tukson. Around them were several White Fang members, as well as Roman Torchwick, who shot another flare at the duo.

"Shoot… Damn it Blake…" Unraveling Mundvridi from his back, as he was about to jump down, from above, Neo floats down in front of him, landing on her toes with a smile.

"N-Neo? Let me through!" He narrows his eyes as Mundvridi opens up to sword form.

Neo giggles with her usual muted tone, petting his head and cat ears. Ben was about to retaliate, but to his surprise, he found himself starting to enjoy the head pat as Neo began to scratch his ears.

"N-Neo, stop…that… Please, mhmmm…" He lowers his arms. "C-Come on, Neo…"

The ice cream girl merely smiles as she continues her gesture, now scratching his chin. After a few seconds onto that though, to Ben's and even her surprise, the cat boy purrs a bit. Ben blushes a little upon hearing himself do that, but taking advantage of Neo being surprised by the sudden noise, he breaks out from her hold and jumps down onto the ground.

"Ben?!" Tukson and Blake turn to him, with the cat girl raising an eyebrow upon seeing his flushed face.

"What…happened to you?" She asks.

"…I'm starting to think those head pats you keep giving me are turning into a weakness, Blake." Ben sighs as he turns to Roman, who frowns as he aims his cane at him. "How's it going, Roman?"

"You? Ugh, Neo! Why'd you let him go for?!" The criminal turns to the ice cream lady, who was now sitting on the edge of the ship. Neo shrugs, holding out a sign that said "HE GOT AWAY FROM ME. SORRY".

'I'm not going to tell Blake that I purred from getting my chin scratched by Neo… Hopefully she didn't hear it.' A sweat drop rolls down his cheek.

"Uhhh, boss? What should we do now?" A White Fang member asks. Roman face palms as he points his cane to the trio.

"It's just one more person! Come on, get them!" He growls.

Several of the White Fang members resumed with aiming their rifles at the trio. As they shot their respective lasers at them, the three jumped and diverged away from one another. Blake and Ben landed together as they rushed towards a group of them.

"Flash Strike!" The boy yells. Throwing a yellow Dust Cell up into the air, the White Fang members were blinded as he shot it, creating a bright flash of yellow.

Blake and Ben closed their eyes as it flashed, protecting themselves from the blinding explosion. While they were dazed, the two came around and rushed the group, slashing away at the members. Ben jumps and does a flying kick against one of them, before jumping off his chest and flying over to a pair of soldiers, sliding on the ground and performing a baseball slide. The two members yelped as they were momentary flung into the air. Standing up and quickly turning around, Ben knocks them away with a hard wheel kick.

Blake on the other hand made quick work of her group. First shooting a couple of members, she jumps over the fallen crowd and knocks the rest of them out by hitting the back of their heads with Gambol Shroud's sheath.

"Wow, you two are pretty good." Tukson says before dodging a flare shot from Roman.

"Ugh, it's so hard to have anything go smoothly these days…" He sighs. "Come on, you dolts! We still have a job to do. Bring out the heavy weapons!"

"Heavy weapons?" Ben raises an eyebrow. Acknowledging his command, one of the higher ranking members dashes toward a box, opening it up and revealing a large, shoulder mounted cannon.

"What is that?" Blake asks Ben, who frowns.

"…A Tesla Cannon? Sheesh, I wonder who came up with these weapon ideas..." He says.

"What's it do?" Tukson asks as he backs up to them.

"It's a shoulder-mounted energy weapon that fires powerful blasts of electricity, most likely powered by large amounts of yellow Dust. It can caused severe damage if you got it by it." He explains. "Watch for its start up."

"Fire!" Roman orders. Turning to Neo, he signals her to get something. The ice cream lady rolls her eyes, but nevertheless escapes from the scene with her umbrella.

The White Fang member grins as he aims the weapon at the trio. Seeing the barrel light up with a dangerous yellow light, Ben quickly activates the Omnitrix. "Get to cover!"

Blasting a staggering laser of electricity, the trio dodge as it blows up a giant canister behind them. They turn to see not a shred of metal left, and only a pile of ash. Tukson and Blake turn to Ben, who narrows his eyes.

"You two get to Roman, I got this joker!" He slams the core down. Taking advantage of the blinding flash, Blake and Tukson rush the black hatted criminal as he begins to transform.

"Gah! Who does a flashy move in the middle of the freaking night?!" Roman barks. As he opens his eyes, he immediately sees Tukson and Blake. "Oh come on!"

Tukson growls as he leaps at Roman, growing protract-able "claws" from his fingers. Sweeping at Roman, the cane user backs up and attempts to shoot him, only to be intercepted by Blake who dashes in, kicking his weapon away with a stretch kick. Roman sighs as he pushes them out of his way, leaping from boxes lying around and grabbing his weapon midair. Landing a few feet behind them, he starts to rapidly fire red flares at the duo.

Deflecting a few of them with Gambol Shroud's blade, Tukson then runs in front of Blake, allowing her to jump off his shoulders and shoot the man below her. Roman frowns as he backs up slightly, deflecting all the continued blows.

"Sheesh… Good thing I can dodge and block good." He croaks. Back flipping, he glances up into the sky with a bored look.

'Haaah… I just want to get out of here and move onto the next plan. She said something about going to Mountain Glenn, right?' He wonders with a neutral expression as he continues to unconsciously dodge the duo.

Blake and Tukson continue their rush, but back with Ben, now as Chromastone, he rushes against the Tesla Cannon wielding member, absorbing the shot of electricity. The member gasps as he does so, and even more once the crystal being flies into him, ramming his body off into the wall behind him and knocking him out. As he was going to drop the Cannon, Chromastone quickly dived and caught it in his arms.

Sighing in relief, he taps the dial and transforms into Upgrade, gobbling the weapon and adding it to his collection. Turning to Blake and Tukson, his eye blinks in confusion. He could see the calm face on Roman, and noticed he was looking into the air constantly. Doing the same, Upgrade frowns upon seeing a Bullhead coming into place.

"You know…"

Backing up and raising a hand up, Tukson and Blake stopped. The cat girl blinks several times in response. "Huh?"

"This…is kinda a big waste of time, right? I was sent to kill your big friend there, but…this type of job is just boring me, ya know? I have many better things to do, soooooo… Neo!" He snaps his fingers.

The Bullhead comes flying down, landing in between the three. Blake morphs Gambol Shroud to its pistol form upon seeing it, but Neo merely waves at her with her tongue sticking out. She turns to Upgrade and smiles with Roman entering the ship.

"Well, always a pleasure, you guys. But, I've got more fun things to do~! So, toodles. Please don't interfere with my next project though, my employer's kinda getting tired of that." He says.

"What?"

"Oh, and I'll tell her that I killed your little friend, alright? Now shoo." He waves them off as the Bullhead starts to fly away.

Neo holds up a sign as Upgrade reverts to Ben, with it saying "SEE YA!". Ben gives her a nervous smile, but he covers his eyes as the wind forces him and the rest of the group to cover their eyes. As they watched them leave the skies, Ben runs over to the duo.

"You guys alright?" He asks. Blake pouts.

"…He dodged. Every. Single. Strike!" She sighs. "And he wasn't even looking at us!"

"Huh. So, Tukson, where were you planning to go?" Ben turns to Tukson while petting Blake's head.

"Whew… Well, to Menagerie. I was going to inform the current situation to Blake's folks since they also have high connections to the White Fang. Thanks for coming." He smiles.

---

...

Turning to his boat, which was quite small but was seen to have quite the engine, Tukson smiles as Blake and Ben follow him towards the vehicle. Jumping onto the sea mass, Tukson opens up a sack, taking a map out.

"Here, take this, Blake." He hands her the piece. "This contains information regarding the Fang's supposed base of operations."

Blake nods, and she takes the map. Tukson nods, and begins to prepare the journey off. Under the pale moonlight, Ben and Blake smiled as the lights of the docks were shining brilliantly from across ocean.

"You sure you'll be able to make it, Tukson?" Blake asked Tukson as he tipped a hat onto his head. "It's quite the distance."

Tukson clenched his fist as nodded. "I'll be alright. You've got your own problems, so you don't need me to weigh you guys down."

"But… Aren't their sea Grimm as well?" Ben blinks. "What happens if you get attacked mid-travel?"

"I'm not worried. I was simply planning to travel to Mistral first, get some additional reinforcements from friends that were located there, and then travel to down the continent and go to Menagerie from then on." He explains.

Blake gives her friend a sad smile, but Tukson grins. "Don't worry Blake. You'll do just fine."

"Yeah… Thanks for everything. Say hello to my folks back home, alright?"

"For sure!" He nods.

Watching her old friend's boat depart into the ocean, Blake gives Ben a head pat. Ben decided not to joke around with this gesture, simply letting her continue for as long as she wanted to. He knew that this was a bit hard for her, as it seemed to remind her of a previous farewell. As his boat traveled further and further away with the roaring of the turbine, Blake begins to wave him off with a smile.

"Stay safe!" She yells off.

"Don't get eaten by the Grimm!" Ben jokes, earning himself an additional head pat from the girl. "So, how long are you gonna keep this up?"

"…Just until we get back to the dorms." Blake smiles. Turning around, the two blink upon seeing the defeated members of the White Fang laying on the ground.

"Oh, we completely forgot about those guys. What should we do with them?" Ben turns to the cat girl. She simply uses her other hand to take her Scroll out, calling the Vale PD.

"Let's just enjoy ourselves." She says as she makes her anonymous call.

As the two traveled in the dimly lit streets of the city, Blake hummed as she continued to pet his head. Ben, while he was okay with the continued patting, was starting to get a bit too comfortable, like how he did with Neo. She seemed to know where he was sensitive at, despite just petting his head. Perhaps she was doing so based on her own comfort scratchy spots?

"B-Blake… Please don't scratch the ears…" He squeaks a bit. Blake's eyes however flash as she bends down, scratching his chin and ears at the same time.

"You like this? He-he… How about some of this…?" She gives a haughty smile as she begins to 'bully' the young kitten.

Ben drops to his knees as she does so, squirming around for a while and purring every so often, much to the adoration of the cat girl as she continues to do so. Eventually, after doing it so much, Ben finally gives out, falling to his side. Blake however catches him in her arms, carrying him up.

"Ah… You're so adorable."

"I-I said you can do head pats, but scratching and other tingly things are not allowed… Nyahh! Stop it… Stop, please…!" He yelps as she tickles his neck.

Blake continues to enjoy herself, but after the two exited the nearby street and began to arrive at the Academy later on, it was then that she gave the boy a deadpan look.

"…So, how's it been going with Ruby? I've noticed you've been taking an interest in her?" She looks down. Ben immediately goes out from his enjoyment, reverting back to his human form and gulping nervously. Blake noticed that he was also blushing a lot, compared to back then with his little tidbit pink cheeks.

"Well… I guess I can explain it to you. Just…please don't laugh."

"No guarantees." She gives him a semi-glare while smiling. Ben sweats a little as he begins to explain himself…

---

…

After some…embarrassing interrogation from Ben's part, the two entered the Academy grounds. Ben's face was shadowed by his hair, with only shades of red being visible underneath. Blake, while mildly concerned, was actually quite accepting with Ben's decision, much to the boy's surprise.

As they entered the dorm halls and began to climb up the floors, as Ben turned around a corner, he accidentally bumps into someone, falling flat onto his rear with a slight 'oof'.

Oo-oof! Oh, sorry about that. Are you okay?" He looks up. A hand extends to help him up, with him taking it and allowing himself to be pulled up.

"I'm fine. Just watch where you're going." Emerald says, smiling slightly as she pulls him up. Blake narrows her eyes slightly as Mercury and Cinder follow up from around a corner.

"Oh, right, sorry." Ben chuckles, before looking straight at the three. "Uh, I'm Ben. You guys are…from another school right? Which one was it again?"

"Visiting from Haven, yes." Cinder smiles as she walks forward, petting his head a little as she stares into his eyes. "Well now, aren't you a little cutie?"

The catgirl raises an eyebrow. "Yes, and he's with me. Goodnight." She says as she takes the two of them into Team RWBY's room, shutting the door on them.

"Hmph, what's with her?" Mercury frowns. Emerald rolls her eyes. "Cinder, should we ignore that?"

"…It's a bit interesting to see a child here in Beacon." She responds. "Keep an eye out for him and the girl."

Nodding, Emerald and Mercury continued to follow their fiery leader. What was going to happen now? Only time would tell. Cinder smiles as she and her faction turns around to the shadows of the hallways...

---

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah!

The Prom is among us! How should this steamy confession go?!

Regarding the Mt. Glenn mission, I feel like the Ben and Winter group should be one team, but Ozpin sends in Team RWBY as normal, providing support indirectly. He'd probably tell Professor Oobleck about the situation with the girls, but I think it would be interesting to see both teams interacting with the other during the mission, even if it is a little bit.

I like Winter as well. Ice Queen is also bae! Ice Cream Lady, Ice Queen, Ice Princess, Sun Girl, oh my!

So, how did you like this chapter? Tukson's not dead! Huzzah!

I'm on Spring Break now, so I'm gonna relax a bit. Still gonna write, so let me on with your comments and ideas, yeah? Let's keep this train going strong! How's that for a return?

As always, I appreciate the support. Please R&R, and I'll see you guys later!