Sorry for the delay, there were some last minute technical (and human) errors. o -o);;

The Jingo- ...whoops… well, he did tell them some stuff, just not everything. They now know for certain that he's from another world, and is searching for Shukaku, but they haven't been told about any of the other nine tailed beasts. They know more about chakra, how it's different from aura. Though of course, they aren't going around spreading the news. Ruby, and Ruby alone, was given slightly more info due to her circumstances.

Chapter 36

Forever Fall

"Well, that's one down!" Yang declared triumphantly, putting her hands against her sides.

The blonde stood centimeters away, in front of a large heap of black and white. It evaporated as rapidly as the corpse of any other Grimm. Unfortunately, her pride was only a front. In truth, the Beringel she and her sister had just slain was quite strong. Nonetheless, it was dead and wouldn't be able to do anything anymore.

Ruby put away her scythe and took out her scroll. "Let's take a picture before it completely disappears."

As she did so, Yang took the time to survey the area. Over the course of the battle against the creature of Grimm, they had moved a considerable distance from where they started. Unfortunately, everything naturally looked the same. The green replaced by red of one tree was no different from any other tree in the forest. Fortunately, there was a trail of damaged and destroyed trees left in their wake. They could use it to return to the general location of their starting point.

Yang tilted her head curiously. "I wonder how the others are doing?"

Ruby returned to her sister's side and pocketed her scroll. "Do you think that Blake will ever tell Weiss?" she asked solemnly.

"Woah." Yang glanced down, smiling wryly at her younger sister. "Where did that come from?"

"Well… I don't think I've ever seen or heard of them them being alone together before. Blake's always kind of avoided that. In hindsight, I kinda see why though." Ruby frowned disappointed. "I hope they're doing alright… If something bad happens between them, wouldn't it be my fault since I'm team leader? Maybe I should figure out how to tell Weiss…" She muttered to herself, looking down at her feet.

This unusually depressing situation was cut short, with a pat on the back and a confident smile from Yang.

"Don't beat yourself up over it Ruby. You know how Weiss is, right?"

Despite her words, Yang lacked confidence in her own words. She herself hadn't often interacted with Weiss, meaning she knew little about her as well as Blake. As a result, she couldn't accurately predict how Weiss would react to the news. Conversely, Ruby had spent a lot of time with her, and therefore knew her the best. If she was concerned or unsure, then perhaps she was in the right. The fact that Blake had been acting even more reclusive than usual did nothing to help. Of course, Yang would never let these feelings be shown, not to Ruby.

"Yeah, but… Yeah. You're right." Ruby's mouth slowly curved upwards into a smile. "Thanks, Yang…"

She then blinked in surprise. "Oh yeah, that reminds me. I should tell them about our cat—"

Before she could finish her sentence, her recently concealed scroll rung, blaring an unusual sound. The same sound began to emit from Yang's, causing the blonde to become concerned as well.

The sound itself was an distress signal. It meant that one or more people in their team were in a situation in which they required immediate reinforcements. Though team RWBY had never used it before, the sister pair recognized the situation almost instantly.

Yang swiped her scroll's current screen to the side, revealing a different screen. On a gray grid-like plane, four glowing dots appeared. Two were red and yellow, and in their centers were an R and Y respectively. The other two were white and black, labelled W and B. "We're not far. We should head this way." She said, pointing away from herself and to the side.

Ruby nodded, grabbing her sister by the arm and activating her semblance. It was fortunate that they had agreed to split into pairs. Ruby could only carry one other person and maintain control while moving at the high speeds her semblance allowed. They vanished from their places, leaving behind mere rose petals that glided to the ground.

Starting at the very moment of takeoff, Ruby had noticed that something was unusual. The initial burst that caused her rapid acceleration was far stronger than it had ever been before. The edges of her vision were warped due to this new experience. Normally, this was to be expected. The higher speed that she moved at, the more difficult it became to keep focused. As such, her brain would concentrate its resources to what was directly in front of her. However, since acquiring the "Rinnegan" as Madara called it, that effect disappeared. All she had to do to completely remove the effect was to close her other eye. It was because of this acclimation that she was able to notice the slight distortion. Fortunately, it was short lived, as her lavender eye seemed to correct at this speed as well.

"This eye is awesome!" Ruby thought, gleefully smiling as its power made itself more just slightly apparent. Suddenly, something reverberated in the back of her mind. In the voice of her non blood-related brother, information she heard before resurfaced.

"The Rinnegan contains various powers. All that is available to you is its kinetic vision, unrivalled by any eye or machine, and tracking prowess." She remembered him explaining this to her in the past, but it had seemingly exited through the ear opposite to the one entered. More importantly was that he said "various powers" meaning that her visual enhancement was far from the pinnacle of her yet-unlocked arsenal.

"I wonder what else I can do with—No, I need to concentrate!" Ruby shook her head suddenly as if to regain focus.

Elsewhere

The slug-like creature's "head" opened, brandishing a set of massive teeth. It let out an ear piercing screech, unbefitting of its size and appearance. Blake, having more sensitive hearing, was afflicted with actual pain. She held a hand to her head, trying to ease the harsh sensations. This was the opening it wanted, as its mouth immediately closed. Two thin arms emerged from its sides, allowing it to dig into the ground. It dragged itself across the ground, quickly advancing on the two.

In response, Weiss pierced the ground with her blade, of which was already wrapped in glyphs. A massive body of light blue ice exploded from the ground and surrounded the two, causing the target to halt in its tracks. It stabbed into the ice with its black claws, but the thick layers proved formidable. Albeit only for the time being.

"Well, it doesn't seem as strong as that red thing." Weiss sighed, relieved, briefly turning her attention to Blake. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine," Blake replied, slowly gathering her scattered thoughts. She turned a hopeful look to Weiss. "Can't you encase it in ice?"

"I could, but I can't afford to spend my aura on things that may not work out… That actually gives me an idea."

She drew her rapier from the ground. A new glyph appeared around the blade, coating the weapon in a fiery orange glow. She then pointed the tip of the orange blade to the opposite end of the crystalline barrier.

"That thing is going to break through. Before it does, I'm going to open a hole for us to escape. When it breaks in and we're out, I'll seal the exits."

"Sounds like a plan." Blake accepted quickly, planting a foot forward. Blake could use her own semblance in tandem with her dust cartridges to distract the creature after it had entered to allot Weiss extra time.

The sharp black fingers its hands curled into fists, and the monster switched from slashing to punching the barrier. This proved more effective, as massive indents appeared with each punch. Cracks spread from the points of impact to cover its side of the hemisphere.

"Twenty… nineteen… eighteen," Weiss counted in a whisper, watching the cracks grow carefully. She calculated that based on the damage dealt with each punch, compared with the strength of her ice dome, there were seconds between them. Unfortunately, Weiss had severely underestimated her opponent.

The punches abruptly stopped coming. The beast backed away from the dome. At first they thought it had lost interest, but were mistaken. Weiss had realized this and weighed her options.

"Sorry Blake!" Weiss shouted, summoning a gravity and elemental glyph between the faunus. The elemental glyph melted the ice behind Blake with fire, as the gravity glyph threw her outside of the dome. Caught off guard and unable to resist the sudden change in motion, she could only watch as the monster charged through the dome.

It caught the girl in white, using her as a human shield to break through the other side. With a flick of its body, Weiss disconnected from its forehead and was rendered airborne. The jaw opened once again, but instead of trying to swallow her whole, its arm grabbed and slammed her into the ground. The force of impact rose a cloud of debris, without a doubt shredding her cutting her aura capacity down by at least half.

"Weiss!" Blake shouted, her mouth hanging slightly open and her eyes widened. The grip on her katana tightened even more as she returned to her feet. She sprinted towards the beast, rage clouding her thoughts. However, after moving only three meters, there was a sudden explosion that shook the very forest itself. It wasn't one of dust or a sudden collision. It was an explosion of sound. Blake was disoriented by the sonic boom, but caught a glimpse of a red blur. There was a crisp sound, and the beast's body was severed in half.

"...Ruby?" Blake asked, a stunned expression on her face. The red mass stopped dead, darkening and transforming into the long awaited backup.

Solitas

No more than moments ago, Madara Uchiha was in the process of sealing away the eight tailed beast. It was a fuinjutsu of his own design—a substitute for the Gedo Statue whose location he knew not. Similarly, it was made for the tailed beast specifically, by compressing and suppressing their chakra. The use of shadow clones and the tailed beast chakra he had obtained in the past were his tools that he used to develop it. He was confident in his ability to store multiple tailed beasts within him simultaneously, since he could contain their different chakras without issue.

Despite this objective, it was clearly evident from his first attempt that something had gone wrong. The intention with the jutsu was that the tailed beast would be sealed inside of him, making him its jinchuriki. For some reason, it malfunctioned. The Eight Tails' chakra was being absorbed and sealed within him, but some of it acted strangely. It attempted to cover his body as if to form a version 2 cloak, but seemed to overlap on something pre-existing.

However, there was something more important than determining the cause of the phenomena of the sealing attempt. Wherever he was, it was obviously not the containment facility he knew moments ago.

"What… is this." He thought, calmly surveying his surroundings. Upon initial observation, he could determine that he was in some kind of tunnel. He was ankle deep in water, the lights dim and bodiless. Ahead of him was a black void, not illuminated as it probably should have been.

As he walked, continuing to scan the area, Madara activated his sharingan to counteract the growing darkness. Fortunately, it also meant that his chakra was still available should he need to use it.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar directly ahead of him. It was monstrous, but familiar. He heard it before; the roar of the Eight Tailed beast. He used the Shunshin no Jutsu to dramatically increase his speed, moving as fast as he could towards the source. By the time he stopped, the tunnel had opened up into a large, still flooded, room. The lighting was considerably better, allowing him to see his target in full view.

"Is this where you've decided to take us?" Madara thought, putting his hands together and preparing to use ninjutsu.

"Bastard!" the ox-octopus hybrid shouted, not at all surprising to Madara. "After your battle with the old lady and went through that weird portal I blacked out. Now, you of all damn people are in front of me. What the hell is going on?!" the Eight Tails demanded, its voice alone was enough to shake the ground.

"So it too was aware, which means all others could have been as well." Madara theorized, resting his chin and one of his hands. "How was a tailed beast like you captured by these humans? Surely you haven't become weak after these years." he said plainly.

"How the hell would I know? I've been dead asleep until just now… although, there was this weird white-skinned woman in black I saw while I was out. I'm pretty sure she said something to me…" it muttered, scratching the top of its head.

"Salem." Madara named. He remembered the name from one of Lionheart's reports.

She was some kind of powerful individual that could command grimm, who also blackmailed him into doing her bidding. Unfortunately, that was the furthest extent of his knowledge in the matter. Her location was unknown, communication occurred only remotely through the jellyfish-like grimm. Needless to say, he was rather unhelpful in terms of gathering information. The only thing that kept him alive was his status and power held as a headmaster.

"Whatever her name is, she really pisses me off. Though, I'd rather see her than be here. As we speak, my chakra is being sealed by your irritating chains." it groaned, leaning its head back and letting out a sigh.

"Then this… why did you bring me here?" Madara asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"Simple, I wanted to know just who I was being sealed into." it said with a disappointed tone, supporting is head on one of its large humanoid arms. "Shame that of all people, I have to be back with you. Just know that you're on your own, and I'll be looking for any possible chance to escape and kill you." it declared.

Before Madara could retort, the eight tails vanished from view. His surroundings began to crumble apart, revealing bright white behind the darkness. In seconds, the mindscape had been completely destroyed, and he returned to the containment facility. The beast wasn't in front of him anymore, but he could feel its presence inside of himself.

"Can you hear me?" Madara heard Ironwood's concerned and fearful voice. "The scanners indicate you're alone in that room. Were you successful in containing that thing?"

"Yes, now open the door. I'll be leaving now." Madara replied quickly, turning away from the middle of the room and towards the door. Without response, the two doors slid aside, making way for the Uchiha.

"There'll be a transport ship waiting. I have some questions to ask you before I let you go."

Madara didn't respond, but certainly heard the request. He didn't mind in particular, as he wasn't under any obligations to answer if he didn't want to. With the second strongest down with relative ease, two accounted for, and a wide surveillance array, it wouldn't take long before he could capture all nine. Whether or not they were combined into the Ten Tails, their chakra alone would surely suffice. The only real concern was whether he could reclaim the rinne-sharingan using the shattered moon, but with six paths chakra, it too would be no more than a simple chore. All he needed to find was the other rinnegan, his other rinnegan.

Forever Fall

In one hand, Ruby held her scroll that displayed her team's auras. Weiss' gauge was yellow, close enough that one more substantial strike would turn the bar red. In her other hand was Crescent rose, the head rotated upwards in its war scythe form. The blade crackled with white and blue electricity, her cold glare directed towards the monster she had just bisected.

"...Ruby," Blake muttered, blinking rapidly as if she woke up from a dream.

"Blake, you alright?" Blake heard from behind, quickly snapping her head back to see her own partner. Yang's expression was a combination, shock mixed with a sense of relief and elation.

"I-I'm fine, but Weiss is…" Blake pointed towards a shallow crater beside the upper half of the creature. However, her eyes refocused on the creature specifically as it began shaking and moving.

Opposing gravity itself, the two halves of the leech-like monster slithered together, the wounds disappearing completely.

"Let's get her out of there!"Yang shouted, taking Blake with her to rescue their fallen team member. "Ruby, keep it busy!"

"On it." Ruby replied sharply, putting away her scroll and gripping the blade tightly.

A low growl came from the regenerated beast, followed by a quiet cackling. "You hate me… good. The darkness in your heart fuels me. That is why you will fall here."

It swayed from side to side. From its cylindrical body, several pairs of similarly black appendages sprouted. Half of them stabbed into the ground, the others moving to surround Ruby. Fortunately this meant that Blake and Yang weren't being targeted, allowing them to safely extract a disoriented Weiss from the front lines.

"Are you alright, Weiss?" Yang asked as she and Blake carried the heiress.

"Y-yeah, just a bit nauseous," Weiss murmured, trying to recollect her consciousness. "Wait, Yang, where's Ruby?"

"She's keeping that thing, whatever it is, busy. Blake, stick with her while Ruby and I handle this."

"Be careful, it's smarter than it looks," Blake warned with absolute seriousness. "It's fast and strong."

"We'll be fine. Trust me," Yang said, leaving the two to support her sister in the fight.

END