Even more stuff today!
Dreamer was clearly excited, evident by the bowl of popcorn he had with him.
Glynda looked at him with a raised eyebrow "Something you want to tell us?" she asked.
"Nah, just the start of one of my favorite arcs for this story. I've been waiting for this. That and I'm ready for expositions when I KNOW you'll have some questions...or at least you should have some questions," he amended at the end.
"I'm quite sure they will, honestly I might as well." Swift said with a smirk as Glynda started to read.
[Chapter 23: Mission-1]
[Haseo P.O.V.]
Me and my team were waiting outside of Professor Ozpin office right now.
Why?
Well apparently Ozpin had a couple of missions he had just gotten and had asked my team and my sister's team to handle them, for extra credit of course.
"Extra credit. Great for grades, but questionable for health, especially in this kind of situation," Dreamer snickered.
"I just realised this is unknown territory from now on though, so, those missions will be dangerous I'm guessing, right?" Jaune asked.
"Mildly dangerous honestly." Swift said with a shrug.
"Well, to be fair, as long as they don't have a leader and nobody gets too cocky, Grimm are...manageable," Dreamer mused.
"Basically, you'll fight a lot, and I mean a LOT of Grimm on this mission." Swift added.
"Joy…" Jaune groaned.
"I wish we had a clue as to what our mission would be before hand." Endrance said as he polished his sword.
"Why? You wanna spend the day with Mia again?" Kuhn joked, only to get knocked in the back of the head my Atoli's staff.
"You're one to talk mister 'Flirt's with anything that wears a skirt.'." Atoli said.
"Hey I'm not that bad." Kuhn said.
"At least there's worse." Swift said with a laugh, the others raising an eyebrow.
"What's worse?" Yang asks.
"Flirting with anything remotely female." Swift said with a snicker, making the others laugh a bit.
"Or as a character in an old sitcom I used to watch said, 'You'll hit on anything with a pulse'," Dreamer snickered, earning a few more laughs.
"Kuhn, Saku placed a wood carving that vaguely resembled a woman and you spend five minutes flirting with it before you finally realized that it wasn't a real woman." I deadpanned.
Now THAT got everyone laughing, yes even Glynda couldn't help but laugh at that.
"I'm going to shut up now." Kuhn said.
"Smart move," Dreamer snickered. "You know, I know Kuhn was always a bit of a flirt, but I think he got worse since coming to Remnant," he added with a musing tone.
"Probably because now people look their age and he doesn't have to worry about a guy playing as a girl." Swift said with a snicker.
"Oh yeah. One of his moments was finding out he flirted with an 11 year old by accident," Dreamer nodded. "To explain, he was 24 at the time back in their old world," he clarified, which earned a few slightly disturbed looks from the audience.
"Pointing out, he didn't know, I think her character looked older, right?" Swift asked Dreamer.
"I thought that was implied. I mean...it WAS an online game," Dreamer said, scratching the back of his head. Now everyone felt a little silly for not thinking of that part.
Finally Team RWBY stepped out of Ozpin's office.
"Well, we have a mission and..." Ruby started before sagging, "We're going out to fix a few machines that are a part of Vale's security network."
"Daww." Rubby sagged just like her other.
"Remember, LOTS of Grimm." Swift repeated, with Ruby perking up a bit at hearing she'd at least get to kick butt.
"It's not glorious, but still important." Endrance said.
Ruby just sighed, "I know but still..." Ruby groaned.
"Look at the bright side, you're not playing escort to some moron." I said.
"Oh god that would suck." Yang said with a groan.
"Could be worse. It could be a moron who thinks they're smart/great, and take every chance to 'rub it in' or something," Dreamer snorted.
Yang then jumped in front of Ruby, "Rubes come on, let's get going, Professor Nikos is waiting for us, she's the one that we're technically shadowing for this mission. Maybe we'll even get to see her use that Avatar she has in a fight!"
"You are way too excited for this Yang." Blake said.
"How could I not be? Pyrrha's sister is awesome!" Yang exclaimed with a grin.
Pyrrha smiled "There's no denying that."
"Good luck girls." I said before standing up and making my way to Ozpin's office, giving Weiss a quick kiss as I passed her.
"A part of me REALLY hopes Phoenix will at least clear up what happened to Haseo's old life. In the game's story I personally always thought it was implied Atoli was Haseo's most likely love interest, yet they're clearly just friends here. Would love to know what happened there," Dreamer mused.
He then suddenly felt a chill go down his spine, as he turned to see Weiss giving him a glare that would make the devil piss his pants.
"Damn you over protective/jealous girlfriend tropes," Dreamer deadpanned. Right before a force field appeared around his chair and him. "And I know what you're gonna try to do Swift. Don't bother. I connected this spot to my realm, and temporarily overwrote your territory. This exact spot of the room is MY territory now."
Swift simply passed a paper to Dreamer that read 'Even I wouldn't sick a pissed Weiss at you.'
"Huh...now I feel like a jerk for that. Then again, that's what plenty of acquaintances I've had to deal with would do for a cheap laugh since I regenerate quickly," Dreamer blinked, and sounded apologetic.
Swift chuckled as he sent images to Weiss's scroll, which made her blush as she hid it away quickly, stopping the glare that would freeze hell over.
[]
"So what is our mission sir?" I asked.
"Straight to the point then I see." Ozpin said before standing up, "About two days ago a village had evacuated due to an oncoming Grimm horde, the horde arrived at the village yesterday according to a drone I had sent out."
"So you wish for us to clear out the Grimm so the villagers can return safely?" Endrance asked.
"A standard mission." Winter said with a small nod of approval for something simple.
"Not quite." Ozpin said, "You see when the Grimm arrived something was already attacking them, destroying them without pause and turning them into a liquid that it collected." Ozpin then slid his scroll over to us with an image pulled up.
I caught the srolll and lifted it so my team could see what it was.
It looked similar to a giant Nevermore, but with a longer, more upright body than the massive avian Grimm, it's legs seemed shorter, with black feathers, and instead of the normally violent red eyes of a Grimm this thing had pure white eyes.
"What is that?" Kuhn asked confused.
"There is no clear answer to that as no-one seems to be able to identify it." Ozpin said.
"So." Atoli said, "You want us to go check it out, see if it's hostile or benign to humans."
"More or less." Ozpin said, "If possible try to figure out where it came from."
"Calling it now, that's Aida." Nora said.
"I won't even penalize you for guessing that one." Swift admitted.
"Dammit." Qrow muttered as he drank from his beer, which Swift had made ever-refilling.
"You got it professor." I said as I lead my team out of the office.
[]
"AWWWWW MAAAAN!" Ruby cried out when we told her our mission out in the courtyard as we made our way to the bullheads, "You guy's get to investigate a creature of unknown origin while we just run maintenance."
"That does sound mildly boring." Ren admitted.
"Hey at least you guy's get a teacher to help, we're on our own here." Kuhn said.
"Hey sis." I said looking at Ruby, "Where's Zwei?"
"We left her with Mia." Ruby said.
"Why?" Blake said with a groan.
[Mia's P.O.V.]
I stared down the Corgi that was sitting on the floor opposite of me, "Alright pup, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." I said snapping on rubber gloves.
"Ruff." Zwei barked as he trotted over to me.
"Well..." I said looking at the dog, "That takes care of the easy part I suppose." With that I bent down to pick up the Corgi, who barked and licked me on the cheek.
Blake stared at her sister dryly, before facepalming.
"Hey, cut that out." I said, "Too bad Blake can't get over her instinctual nervousness of dogs, you are a little angel." I said bringing Zwei into Team HAKE's bathroom, which had the tub partially filled and shutting the door.
"Yeah, Zwei doesn't fight when we give him a bath." Ruby said.
"I should know, I helped you clean him last time." Weiss said in amusement while Ruby simply smiled.
[Haseo's P.O.V.]
The Bullhead dropped us off about a mile outside of town, not close enough to startle the creature. but close enough that we won't have to end up being tired upon arrival.
"Alright." I said as we marched toward the town, "If this thing is hostile, who want's to take it on with their Avatar?"
"Yay! More giant fights!" Nora cheered.
"I've seen bigger." Swift muttered, thinking along the lines of Power Rangers.
"Giant fights are par the course in Japan," Dreamer chuckled, thinking of a large number of giant robot and giant hero shows.
"We'll figure it out when we get there." Endrance said.
"Yeah, spur of the moment it is then." I said.
[]
We reached the entrance to the town we noticed it was dead quiet, "It is way too quiet here." Kuhn said reaching for his gun.
"Way to state the obvious kid." Qrow said with a snort.
"Cue the fight!" Dreamer chuckled.
"Kuhn stop." I said, halting the blue haired flirt, "If this thing isn't hostile, we don't want to give it a reason to attack us."
"Stop." Atoli said holding her arms out to stop us, "Look."
Atoli pointed at a creature that had latched onto the welcoming arch of the town, a small eyeball-ish creature with four black tendrils on it.
"What the heck is that?" I asked quietly.
"Something ugly." Yang said with a grin and a shrug.
The creature jumped when it looked at us, before leaping off it's perch and flew at us.
"Permission to engage?" Kuhn asked as it sailed toward us, there was still a decent distance between us.
I pulled out one of the Cursed Wave daggers and shifted it into gun form and shot the creature, causing it to explode into black goo, "Granted." I said with a smirk.
"Oh you little-" Kuhn grumbled as I put the dagger away.
That got a few laughs out of the others.
[Aida's P.O.V.]
I stumbled back as my Gomora was shot and destroyed.
"Oooh, that's always unpleasant when something you're 'connected to' gets shot," Dreamer winced.
'Oh no.' I thought in panic.
If I recall from the books I had read during my time of peace here then those were Huntsman.
I saw that blue haired Huntsman reach for his weapon so I ordered my Gomora to get closer, and they shot it.
"So… it's basically Kuhn's fault that they have to fight." Jaune said with a blink.
"Pretty much." Swift said with a nod.
"To be fair, in a world full of Grimm, don't you always shoot first ask questions later when the creature is black and oily looking?" Dreamer pointed out.
"A fair point." Ozpin said with a small nod.
'Stop them!' I ordered the much larger creature I created, 'Stop them and give me time to escape!'
[Haseo's P.O.V.]
We heard a large screech as we saw the creature we were briefed about land in front of us.
"I'll handle it." Endrance said stepping in front of us, "I haven't used Macha at all yet."
Weiss and Winter blinked when they realised that was indeed true, Macha was one of the phases that had yet to appear.
The massive avian screeched in anger as it took into the air before sweeping one if it's wings, launching a volley of feathers at us.
However a bright light cut off the attack from hitting us.
[OST- .Hack GU: She]
When the light went down Endrance's Avatar, Macha, floated in front of us.
"Show us!" Nora said with a hyped up grin.
Macha was absolutely massive in comparison to the rest of the Avatars, although that is mostly because it's lower half is a gargantuan upside down red rose, it's upper body was feminine and primarily 's face was divided into two different colors in a nearly yin-yang type fashion, a split that started on the top of the head that ended by the left check, the smaller section was purple while the larger was white. It had two incredibly tall feline ears that were purple with a white inside. And finally it had a purple holographic veil floating behind it's head.
Actually looking at Macha now, I can see a strange resemblance to Mia... Plus that veil seems to be painting a picture in my mind now that I can see that resemblance.
The image was paused and...wedding music? Yeah, wedding music suddenly was playing with Dreamer putting two figures next to each other. One of an anthro cat with long ears and purple fur, and a young boy with short blue hair wearing robes and carrying a staff. "...what? Any .hack fan knows it's obvious," he chuckled. "Heck, why else would Macha go to HIM specifically?"
Swift snorted at the image.
Note to self, see what I can get from Endrance about Mia, at this point I'm starting to think she played an important role in The World.
Swift was the one who paused it this time to butt in "She did, just want to remind everyone of that."
"VERY important role in The World. Who wants backstory?" Dreamer chuckled.
They all raise their hands, even Swift.
"Mia was originally an AI. Not just any AI too. Macha looking like Mia isn't a coincidence. Mia is, or rather was, Macha," Dreamer explained. "It's also ironic as Macha was created to collect data on a certain emotion. Love. Albeit unrequited love. I guess it's fitting she herself would come to feel that emotion."
"The more you know." Swift said idly while Glynda started reading again.
Macha quickly threw her arms in across her front in a forward motion, one after another, each swing sending out a trio of red spinning energy blades at the Avian.
The Avian squawked in pain as the shot hit it and it quickly dove at Macha.
Macha however had other plans as it released from it's mouth area a powerful sound that created visible, red distortions in the air that slammed into the Avian, knocking it away from Macha.
"I forgot how Macha could fight its been so long." Kuhn said.
"Hey you didn't fight her, I did." I said to Kuhn.
"I swear it's weird referring to Macha as 'her' when she's the Avatar of a guy." Atoli said.
"Agreed." Kuhn and I said at the same time.
Everyone else agreed as well, it was weird.
Macha then lifted her arms, creating a quad of red roses, said roses then bloomed and burst into petals that began swirling around as if Macha were the center of a tornado.
The Avian squawked at Macha as it sent out a volley of feathers at her, but the feathers were caught by the swirl of petals and quickly dissolved in the gale.
Macha swept her arms for another volley of energy disks, this time stunning the Avian. And with the Avian stunned Macha reared her fist back before charging forward at full force.
The force of the punch splattered the creature into black goo.
"Yuck, it's everywhere." Ruby said in a bit of disgust at seeing the substance just splattered around the place.
[OST end]
[Endrance's P.O.V.]
Still within my Avatar I looked around the area before I noticed a small figure in a white coat running through the forest, so I turned to tell the others.
And noticed another figure hiding behind a signpost, this one I recognized.
Jaune noticed the figure as well from Endrance's view and facepalmed, confusing the others.
Now I reverted to my normal self.
"You looked like you saw something. What was it?" Haseo asked.
"I saw a small person in a white coat running out of the village down a trail in that direction." I said turning to point in the direction I saw the mystery person flee.
"That's strange." Atoli said, "We should find her, it's not safe to be running out in the forest without someone else with you."
"And yet she's dangerous enough herself." Blake commented.
"Epitaph user. Its par the course," Dreamer chuckled. "There's a reason the 8 users got the badass unofficial name of 'The Infinity Eight'."
"Damn that's seriously badass." Yang muttered.
"When all 8 are together, they can 'form' what is known as the 'Key of Twilight'. What exactly that is is never clearly explained, but suffice to say, in context, the key is likely a manifestation of the power of a god. The 8 Avatars were the pieces of the original program of the World, the old God of the World you could say," Dreamer nodded in agreement.
Ozpin hummed in interest.
"And second." I said turning to the signpost, "Sakubo, get out here!"
And with that Bo, Judging by the hat, stepped out from hiding.
Jaune groaned audibly as Pyrrha patted his back with an amused smile.
"Those two were always pretty free spirited, Saku more than Bo," Dreamer chuckled.
"Hoooohh boy." Haseo groaned.
And with that Glynda closed the book before passing it to Qrow, who set aside his beer to read.
It's good to be back.