Ben 10 RWBY Volume 1: Dimension Twist

by The Omni-Remnant

After an incident involving an old foe and a Null Void Portal, Ben and his team are transported to the world of Remnant... right in the middle of the Battle for Beacon. What will be the consequences? Ben doesn't know, but he does know one thing: It's Hero Time! (Takes place after Ultimate Alien. WARNING: Major changes to the end of RWBY Volume 3 and beyond. MAJOR AU.)

75. Infiltrating the Palace

A/N (Please Read): Hey guys! New chapter time again, and this time, I bring much better tidings! Ever since last week's strange issue with the comments, I've been doing a little more research into the issue and I've found out that all of the invisible comments actually DO appear on the app version of this website… but not on the regular browsers. But thankfully, the comments DO still work, so feel free to comment to your hearts content (but again, make sure to not spam). On a different note though, please stay tuned to the ending Authors Note for a couple small announcements. Now, with all that out of the way, I think we can get on with the chapter. This should be interesting because I accidentally forgot to put in one of my signature NEXT TIME teasers, so you guys are in for a surprise today! This is…

Chapter 75: Infiltrating the Palace

…..

Blake was beginning to feel concerned after the two and a half-hour mark of their flight. It had been a pretty long while since Ilia had gone up into the main part of the ship, and she hadn't shown herself since. Normally, she wouldn't be this concerned about Ilia since she knew that she could take care of herself. But after seeing how disinterested she was in interacting with anyone, Blake couldn't help but feel worried about her friend's emotional state. 'I've got a bad feeling about this.' she thought to herself before standing up and taking Sun by the arm. "Sun, c'mon, let's go. We need to find Ilia."

Sun raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Uh, Blake, didn't she say that she wanted to be alone?"

"I know, but… I'm worried about her, you know?" Blake cast a downward gaze to the floor in guilt. "She's my friend and I want to be there for her. I mean, after all of the time I spent away from home, I feel like I owe it to her to be there for her now."

The monkey boy smiled and held his girlfriend's hand, standing up as he did. "Now THAT is something I can totally get behind. C'mon, let's go find her."

Blake smiled and gave Sun a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Sun. You're the best."

Just then, from off to their right side, the couple heard; "Hey, mind if we tag along?" Blake and Sun moved around to see Ben and Yang walking their way, the hero giving them a two fingered salute. "I know that Ilia probably doesn't want to see us, but we wanna try and at least talk to her a little."

"Yeah, plus there's really nothing much to do down here." Yang jabbed a thumb over to Winter, who was still talking with Kenny over the interdimensional communicator. "At least not until those two need another recharge."

Blake was quick to give the two a grateful nod. "Thanks guys. I know that Ilia hasn't exactly been all that friendly, but I'm glad that you all have at least given her a chance."

"Hey, it's absolutely no problem at all, Blake." Ben insisted. "Now c'mon, let's go find your friend." With that, the quartet went over to the elevator and took it up to the main floor, their search for the chameleon girl beginning the moment they stepped off the lift again.

Sun glanced around the main hallway before asking; "Alright, so where should we start?"

"Hmm… good question, Sunny-boy." Yang said as she looked at every single door in the hallway. "I guess the only thing to do is check all the doors that aren't locked." And so, that's exactly what they did. The four went around from door to door, either checking inside or being met with nothing because it was locked. However, they finally struck gold when another door opened and they heard talking coming from inside the room. There WAS one problem though; "Uh… isn't this the brig?"

Blake's eyes widened in apprehension. "Oh god, this probably isn't good."

"Ya think?" Ben concurred. "C'mon, let's see if we can find her before any of those bad guys try and brainwash her or something."

But the moment the group walked in, they saw Vulkanus, Ssserpent and Frightwig all stand up in desperation. "GAH! Finally!" Vulkanus hollered. "It's about time someone else got here!"

"Yesss." Ssserpent hissed. "We've been lissstening to thossse two talk for hoursss now!"

Yang narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Just what're you guys going on about?"

Frightwig jabbed her thumb toward a secluded corner of the room. "Just go over there and see for yourself, blondie."

"Yeah, an' tell 'em ta shut up while yer at it!" Vulkanus added. "They've been yappin' their gums so much about stupid stuff that if I had ears, I'd pull 'em off!"

Blake shifted her eyes over to the corner of the room with a raised brow, her feline ears picking up the chatter quite clearly. "Over here, guys. Let's see what's up."

As the group walked in further, the two voices became clearer. They could tell that one of them belonged to Ilia, and it sounded like she was enjoying herself while talking to the other person. Said person's voice also sounded familiar to them, and when the group finally saw to whom the voice belonged, they were all slightly taken aback. "Uh, Ben," Sun spoke with a grin, "I don't think you've gotta worry about her being brainwashed."

There on the floor sat Ilia, a smile having settled across her face. She was sitting in front of an energy cell, and on the other side of that cell, sat Swift. The Aerophibian and the chameleon girl were right in the middle of a conversation, the two happily laughing as they told stories from their past. "HAHA! No way!" Swift guffawed. "You DIDN'T!"

"Oh, I did." Ilia said proudly. "That SDC guard didn't know what hit him!"

"Haha! Classic!" But then, out of the corner of her eye, Swift saw Blake, Sun, Ben and Yang approaching them, and she craned her head over to give them a nod. "Ah, would ya look who's come to the party?"

"Huh?" Ilia turned around and her eyes widened in shock, picking herself off the ground in surprise. "Blake! W-What're you guys all doing here?"

"We… came to check up on you." Blake answered. "But quite honestly, this is the last thing I expected to see."

Ben scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, out of all the people to talk to on this ship, I'm surprised that you went with Swift. But how'd you even get in here, anyway?"

"The door was open." Ilia answered before pointing to her left. "And the warden was asleep when I came in."

Everyone diverted their sights to where Ilia was pointing to see a still-sleeping Argit, the possum alien having curled up on the floor with one of his quills right by his side. Ben gave a deadpan expression as his lips turned up into a sneer. "Why am I not surprised?" But upon closer inspection, there appeared to be a BUNCH of Argit's quills on the ground, all of them having been cut into fragments. "So… did he wake up before all of this happened?"

"Yes, yes he did." Ilia answered with an annoyed tone. "He then proceeded to ATTACK me with his quills. I managed to whip them all away, but for good measure, I sent one right back to him." She gestured toward the sleeping alien. "Admittedly, I didn't know THAT would happen, but you know what? I'm not about to complain."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best." Yang agreed before giving Ilia a grin. "So, whatcha doing up here, Color Girl?"

Ilia's eyes widened at the what Yang just said. "Wait… what'd you call me?"

"Color Girl, you know, like a cover girl only with color instead." The Blonde Brawler gave her a thumbs up. "See, I give all my friends nicknames, so consider it my new nickname for you."

"I… wait, you consider me a friend?" Ilia asked. "But… I've barely talked to you."

"Maybe, but Blake's my best friend, and I want to get to know HER friends too." Yang tilted her head toward Ilia with an inquisitive gaze. "So… whaddya say? Wanna be friends?"

Ilia blinked in surprise before she heard Ben speak next; "And hey, if you still don't, then that's fine too." The hero assured. "Whatever you're comfortable with, we'll be fine with it."

"I… I don't get it." Ilia uttered, taking the powerful couple by surprise. "It's just, I've been so dismissive of you guys, some more than others. But… you still want to try and talk with me." The chameleon girl placed her hands to her hips and raised a single brow. "Either you guys are way too nice or too stubborn, and quite honestly, it's REALLY hard to tell at this point!"

Ben and Yang got a good chuckle out of that. "Yeah, we can be a stubborn couple." Yang jabbed a thumb to herself. "And I admit, I'm the more stubborn one most of the time. But I'm serious, Color Girl, we ALL wanna get to know you. Ben, myself, and everyone else down there wanna show you a good time, and you're always welcome to it."

Ilia pursed her lips. "…Even the Schnees?"

"Especially them." Yang affirmed. "Trust me, if there's anyone else who's more committed to fixing the mistakes of their past than Weiss, then I'd be pretty surprised. In the span of our time at Beacon, she went from being a total Lucy to a really nice girl, trust me on that."

"Wait, you lost me." Ilia interrupted. "Is "Lucy" a slang word or some kind of in-joke? Because, if it is, I'm not really getting it."

"Heh, yeah, it's a bit of an in-joke. Basically, she used to be really selfish and mean, but she's lightened up and now she wants to make things right." Yang extended her hand to Ilia. "So, I ask again; you wanna be friends?"

Ilia stood there for a while in silence, contemplating what to do. She shifted her eyes toward Swift in the cell next to her, and she saw the Aerophibian giving her a wink and a thumbs up in encouragement. Ilia gave Swift a smile and nodded before going back to Yang. "Well… I guess there's no harm in trying." She extended her hands and clasped it with Yang's, the two giving each other a firm handshake. "Alright, Yang, I hope you're not scaring me wrong with this."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Color Girl." Yang said before the handshake ended.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it." Ilia then shifted her eyes over to Ben with a bit of a more skeptical look. She stepped over so that she was in front of him and spoke to him directly. "I'll admit, I wasn't really sure what to make of you, Ben Tennyson. I mean, changing into aliens is one thing, but coming from an alternate dimension was another." Ilia crossed her arms over her chest and closed her eyes. "Truth be told, after you told me everything, I was still a little conflicted over what to believe." She opened her eyes back up and locked them with his. "But, if we're going to free Menagerie from your enemies, we're going to have to work together. So that means we'll have to trust each other."

"Right." Ben agreed. "And I promise that your home WILL be freed from Trumbipulor's rule." The hero extended his hand. "I trust you, Ilia. I can assure you of that."

"Good, and in turn, I'll trust you." Ilia shook Ben's hand, the two taking each other's word. After the handshake, Ilia focused back onto Blake with a grin. "So, what do you say to that, Blake?"

"I say it's awesome!" Blake answered while giving her friend a side-hug. "I'm glad that you came around Ilia."

"Yeah, well, I had a bit of help." Ilia nudged her head toward Swift, the Aerophibian tensing slightly when she was pointed out. "Swift and I talked for a little bit and… we found we had a lot in common. After some… rather heavy talk, she helped me see that it'd be better to be more cooperative than just closing everybody off."

Everyone's eyebrows shot up at that. "Really?" Blake said in disbelief. "Swift gave you advice about all of that?"

Inside the cell, Swift gave a nervous grin and a chuckle, her shoulders shrugging as well. "Hehe, what can I say? Ruby's kind of been a positive influence on me."

"I see…" Blake approached the cell and gave Swift a contemplative look, almost as if the cat girl was considering what to make of the Aerophibian. Finally, she said something; "Swift, I hear that Ruby's vouching for your parole, right?" She got a silent nod from Swift. "Alright, so I'm guessing that means that you're sorry for the things that you've done?"

"Yes, I am." Swift nodded. "And I want to make up for it."

Blake was silent for a few moments before her grin returned. "Well… if Ruby trusts you, then I'm willing to as well."

Swift's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, seriously?!"

"Yes, seriously. Ruby's usually a good judge of character, so I'm willing to put my trust in you if you truly are sorry for what you've done." Blake placed her hands on her hips. "Plus, you've also made friends with Ilia, and since she's my friend too, I can't just dismiss you. It'd be super hypocritical."

Swift's mouth was agape at what she was hearing. "W-Well, if you say so. But still, at least allow me to apologize for trying to wreck your school." She bowed her head toward Blake. "And, uh, I'm sorry about throwing you with my tail."

"Hey, it's no problem." Blake waved. "I'm sorry about electrocuting you with one of my Shadows. So that makes us pretty much even."

"I'm glad to hear that, but I've got a LOT of apologizing to do. That said…" Swift shifted her position so that she was face to face with Yang before bowing her head again. "I'm sorry for nearly choking your sister. I know you probably won't accept that apology as good enough, but I just wanted you to know that I DO regret what I did."

Yang was a little stunned at first after Swift's apology, but after a moment, she let out a sigh and gave an awkward smile. "Ah… what the hell? I know if Kevin's anything to go by, then it's that second chances are at least worth a try." The blonde gave Swift a small salute. "Sorry for punching you in the face… about three or four times."

Swift rubbed her left cheek. "It's alright. Besides, if anything, that punch of yours is something to be respected. I can STILL feel it after like five days of being in here."

The whole group had a good laugh at that, before Sun came up and put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Man, this is great. I mean, look over there." Sun nudged his head toward Ilia, who was back to talking with Swift as well as Ben and Yang. "Ilia seems a LOT happier now that she's opened herself up, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, she does." Blake agreed. 'I can only hope that she can get along with Weiss and Winter like this someday.'

Just then, everyone stopped their conversations when they heard a groan coming from the floor. The group all faced down to the ground to see Argit stirring in his sleep before finally opening his eyes, smacking his lips as he came to. "Ah, what happened? Ugh, I feel like I got knocked out by—" But then he cut himself off when his eyes landed on Ilia once again. "AH! Everyone get down! The intruder is—"

"Back off, Argit!" Ben ordered. "She's with us!"

Argit's eyes bugged out at the revelation. "Oh… well why didn't ya just say so?" The possum-like alien then walked back out into the main area, mumbling to himself; "Jeez, people have NO good communication skills these days."

The group gave each other a bunch of confused glances as Argit left, leaving Ilia to ask; "So… is he always like this?"

Everyone's answer was a resounding; "YES."

…..

Meanwhile, underneath the White Fang's headquarters in Menagerie, Trumbipulor's thunderous footsteps echoed through the secluded hallways beneath the massive palace, the ceilings just barely high enough for him to walk. The Paku-Dermoloid was carrying a large basket and leading a squad of four White Fang guards to the brig, a scheduled shift change due to take place very soon. They were to guard a single prisoner, but that one prisoner was probably the most important person to keep locked up. Because if she ever got free, then Trumbipulor risked losing everything. 'But that cat-lady ain't gettin' out if I have anything to say 'bout it.' Finally, the group reached their destination; the White Fang's prison hold. It was very rare that these stockades had to be used, but in this case, it was absolutely necessary.

However, while the ceilings were high enough for Trumbipulor to walk in the halls, the doors were unfortunately not big enough for him to go through. So, he simply pushed the door open and lowered his head to look into the room, his eyes meeting the other four guards that were already there. "Shift change, ya mooks!" he called in to them. "Get outta here and get ready to be sent to the throne room. I'm expectin' an important meetin' soon an' I'm gonna need a lotta guards there!"

"O-Of course, Lord Trumbipulor!" A female guard said in fear before her head slightly shifted to her left, and in turn, to the holding cell that they were guarding. "Sorry." she whispered.

"I HEARD THAT!" Trumbipulor bellowed, frightening all four of the guards. "NO sympathizin' with the prisoner! You're under MY rule now, understand?!"

"YES SIR!" The four guards all said at once before scurrying out of the room in a hurry.

The Paku-Dermoloid grumbled to himself as the four replacement guards filed into the room, these once much more compliant in their boss' orders. "Alright, here's the deal; you four are to NOT let your guard down at ANY point." Trumbipulor stuck his hand through the door and pointed to the adjacent cell. "And you make sure that she DOESN'T do anything to try an' escape. No tricks, no fighting back, NOTHIN'! And know that if she DOES escape, it's on YOUR heads! Am I clear?!"

"Yes, Lord Trumbipulor!" The guards saluted.

"Good! That's what I like to hear!" Finally, Trumbipulor stuck his head in as far as he could so that he could set his sights on the prisoner herself; the former leader of the White Fang, Sienna Khan. "Ah, Miss Khan, how ARE we doin' today?"

Sienna herself was currently sitting directly in the middle of her cell in a meditative stance, the tiger Faunus having closed her eyes. She was a rather beautiful woman with a dark complexion and chin-length wild black hair that was in an asymmetrical bob cut. In her tiger ears and normal ears were four golden earrings, one in each. There was also a jewel in the middle of her forehead, shaped like a circle and colored blood red. Across her body were several tattoos that resembled tiger strips, showing her Faunus heritage even more. She was in a black and white dress with an open back and four slits in the skirt; two longer ones on the sides and two shorter ones in the front, allowing her free movement of her legs. She also had a single matching glove on her right hand, one that went all the way past her elbow. Beneath her dress, she wore a pair of black shorts and a long pair of black stockings with dark grey sandals on her feet, tied to her calves with red laces. Along her abdomen was a dark grey and red waist cincher with a small pouch strapped over it, and finally, she wore a back-revealing red cape with gold accents, completing her over all appearance.

The former leader of the White Fang opened her bright yellow eyes, finally resting her gaze upon the Paku-Dermoloid. She sneered in his direction before addressing him; "Ah, well if it isn't "Lord" Trumbipulor? To what do I owe the displeasure of this unexpected and unwanted visit?"

Trumbipulor let out a hearty chuckle. "Haha! Still as feisty as ever, I see. How is it that you've always got somethin' snarky an' insultin' to say to me every time I swing by?"

"I have a LOT of time to come up with things to say to you these days." Sienna answered plainly. "Now what do you want?"

"Just thought you should know that there was a bunch o' White Fang that flew in earlier today." The alien explained. "They were brought in by some old friends of mine, and they say that they were the last of Adam Taurus' Vale branch."

Sienna's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Adam's followers?" She thought over that fact for a minute before going on; "I take it he wasn't with them?"

"Hah, 'course not. The guy got himself arrested after his little failed attempt to make a name for himself." Trumbipulor answered. "My pals who brought 'em here took their branch over earlier today. So if anything, you should be thanking them for bringing back the few members they could."

Sienna closed her eyes and lowered her head. "I knew it. Adam, you've done some fool hardy things in the past, but attacking Beacon just takes the cake."

"Heh, no kiddin'. And what's worse is that he was brought down courtesy of my old enemy, and that means that my rule here's in more danger than ever."

Sienna opened her eyes back up. "You mean the human boy that you keep going on about. Ben Tennyson, I believe you said his name was?"

"That's right, and he's been a pain in my tuckus ever since I first fought 'im." Trumbipulor balled his hand into a fist and shook it. "But if he DOES show up, I'm gonna make sure that he gets lost REAL quick."

"Highly unlikely." Sienna retorted. "After all, if you've never beaten him in the past, what makes you think you can beat him now?"

"Do you NOT see the practical ARMY of White Fang that I have control over, now?!" the alien crime boss trumpeted in retaliation. "Now that I've got the edge I've wanted over Tennyson for so long, I ain't plannin' on wastin' it."

Sienna closed her eyes again. "If you say so. But even still, there's more pressing matters that you should be focusing on." A small grin formed on her face. "If I'm right, then Ilia, Ghira and Kali should be on the main land by now, and they will no doubt bring even more well-armed White Fang forces back to Menagerie soon. It will not be long before I am freed from these bars, Trumbipulor. And when I am…" Her eyes opened back up and she sent the Paku-Dermoloid a hard glare. "I WILL take back the White Fang, and we will exact our vengeance upon you." There was a long moment of silence after Sienna's speech… and then Trumbipulor let out an uproarious round of laughter. This, of course, was NOT what Sienna had expected. She got up and went over to the bars, an angry expression forming on her face. "What's so funny?!"

"AHAHA! Oh, you're gonna get a kick outta this, Sienna." Trumbipulor chortled as his laughter died down. "Those three little escapees that you've got your trust in? THEY'RE the whole reason why the White Fang in Vale came back in the first place! From what I hear… they're still alive, but it's all thanks to Tennyson and his little band o' pals."

"You can't be serious!" Sienna rebuked. "Why would your enemy help the Belladonnas? He has no ties to them!"

"Untrue, actually." Trumbipulor smirked. "See, turns out, he's friends with their daughter… I think you know her well enough."

Sienna's eyes widened in shock. "…Blake? She's still in Vale?"

"Yep, and I suspect that she an' her parents are cookin' up a scheme to take back the island." Trumbipulor pointed to her. "But don't worry, I've got my best operatives patrollin' through the town as we speak. Them idiots ain't gonna know what hit 'em. But… I guess you CAN expect a few human feet to be hittin' Menagerie soil any time now. And even better? They're probably your best chance at gettin' outta here alive. HAHA!"

Sienna clenched the bars of her cell in frustration. Humans hadn't set foot on Menagerie since the land had been "gifted" to the Faunus. It was a rule that the Faunus had felt necessary to implement; to keep humans out of the one place that the Faunus rightfully owned. Even if it was a mostly desert island, Menagerie was still the once place where Faunus could feel safe from human oppression, and she wouldn't let them ruin it. But still, she knew that Ghira didn't hate humanity, and in the end, he was still the chieftain of Menagerie. As much as she didn't like it, Sienna didn't truly have a say in whatever help came to save her.

'And of course, Blake is involved as well. I really should have seen this coming!' Sienna chastised herself in her head. She shut her eyes and shook her head a little. 'Calm yourself Sienna. Remember, Ilia is with them as well. Perhaps she could…' But then her thought trailed off when she remembered that Ilia held certain feelings for Blake as well, and it was then that the reality of her situation sunk in. 'God damn it, I should have thought this through.'

It was then that Trumbipulor's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Nothin' to say, Sienna? Or are you just boilin' in your own frustration over there?"

The tiger-lady whipped her head around and glared at the elephant-like alien once more. "Be silent!" she snapped before quickly reeling herself back in. She went over what the Paku-Dermoloid had said to her again into her head before coming to an unfortunate conclusion; she had to put her pride to the side if she had any hope of escaping this cage. She breathed in before speaking again. "Trumbipulor, if what you say is true and this "Ben Tennyson" is truly the best way I have of getting out of here, then so be it." She sent him an even deadlier glare than the previous one. "But know this, once this whole thing is done and over with, he and whatever other humans come with him will be banished from Menagerie forever, and you will be as well."

"HA! Now that's a laugh!" Trumbipulor guffawed. "You actually think you're gettin' outta here. Well think again, because I ain't losin' to Tennyson EVER again."

"I wouldn't jinx anything if I were you." Sienna argued. "You may just chance fate."

"Bah! I don't believe in superstition, Sienna." Trumbipulor waved the tiger-lady off. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got an important meeting with a new client in a little while. My old buddies say that SHE can help the White Fang and I achieve our goals, an' I'm willin' to listen."

Sienna narrowed her eyes at that. "And just who IS this person?"

"That's for me to know, and for YOU to never find out. But before I go…" Trumbipulor pulled his head out of the door way and placed the large basket he was carrying into the room, revealing it to be full of fruit, bread and vegetables. "CHOW TIME!"

Sienna sneered at the quality of the food, much of it appearing to be quite rotten and moldy. "You cannot be serious."

"Oh, I am." Trumbipulor assured with a final wave. "Have a nice meal! AHAHA!"

And with that, Trumbipulor slammed the door shut, leaving Sienna with nothing but the four guards and the tall basket of rotten food. She grumbled and went back to the center of her cell, resuming her meditative state while trying to ignore the stench of the bad food. 'Ghira, Kali, Ilia, I certainly hope you know what you are doing.'

…..

A couple hours later, as Remnant's shattered moon was reaching its peak in the night sky over Menagerie, dozens upon dozens of White Fang guards and foot soldiers were patrolling throughout the streets of Kuo Kuana, making sure that all of the citizens were adhering to the curfew that had been set for them. The same was applied to the town's port, with many more White Fang manning the Dust cannons that defended the town from any outsiders. However, what they didn't notice was that all of their defenses had already been breached as a massive cloaked ship flew as slowly and as silently as possible over the entire town. After its long journey over the ocean, the Resolute finally came to a halt directly over the Belladonna Family home; a large two-story structure almost in the very center of the town.

Once the cloaked ship had landed behind the home, it didn't lower its ramp immediately, instead favoring to just shut off its main engines. After a few seconds, an intangible winged figure slipped out from the ship's hull and began flying invisibly toward the back of the house. 'Man, Yang was right, this place IS pretty sweet.' The figure, Big Chill, thought to himself as he admired the rather traditional home. 'Heck, I'd say it's even cooler in person. …Hehe, "cooler". I crack myself up sometimes.' At that thought, Big Chill phased through the back door, intending to investigate the domicile.

After doing a clean sweep of the whole house, barring the bedrooms because he knew that Blake would probably kill him, Big Chill became opaque again in the main entry way. "Hmm, no sign of anyone." The Necrofriggian pondered to himself. "Unless…" He shifted back into transparency once more before sticking his head out the front door. And, sure enough, there were but two White Fang guards standing on either side of the front door. Big Chill pulled his head back in before commenting; "Sheesh, Trumbipulor REALLY didn't spring for guards to be stationed here, did he? Ah well, all the easier for me, I guess."

Big Chill then phased down into the floor before phasing back up through the front porch, coming up right between the two guards. The alien made himself opaque again and instantly made himself noticeable to the guards. "Hello, gentlemen. Lovely night, isn't it?"

"AGH!" One of the guards yelled and pointed his weapon at Big Chill. "The hell is that thing?!"

The other guard, though also scared by Big Chill's sudden appearance, immediately reached to his belt and pulled out a small communicator. "I'd better call Lord Trumbipu—GAH!" But before he could do so, the device was flash frozen by Big Chill's ice breath, forcing him to drop it.

"I wouldn't." Big Chill chided before punching the guard in the face, knocking him out. "We don't want the big guy to know yet.

"Y-You monster!" The other White Fang guard prepared to open fire, but the rifle was flash frozen as well, leaving him to pull the trigger uselessly. "W-Wait, wha—UGH!" He was silenced when Big Chill sent a kick to his face, knocking him out flat as well.

"Hmph, unconscious at the sight of me. That's quite rude." Big Chill quipped. "It's almost as if you boys hadn't seen an alien before." The Necrofriggian pulled the two White Fang into the house before slapping the Omnitrix and transforming into… "Swampfire!" The now-Methanosian produced a few seeds from his palm and threw them at the guards, resulting in a whole slew of vines growing around them. In the end, the two were tied up in a neat little vine cocoon, with Swampfire grinning at his handiwork. "There, that oughta keep you guys tied up for a while."

After locking the two White Fang in a closet, Swampfire slammed the Omnitrix again, this time transforming back into his human form. Ben then spoke directly into his watch; "Alright guys, coast is clear."

"Copy that, Ben." Gwen answered from the other end. "We're coming in now."

After making his way to the back of the house, Ben met up with the group as they filed in, with Tetrax now among them. Ghira, Kali and Blake were at the front of the pack with Ghira focusing right onto the hero. "Ben, how did you make out?" he asked.

"Heh, easy." Ben chuckled. "Ol' Trumbi only set two guards at the front of the house and nowhere else. By the way, I stuffed them into your closet for the time being, just so you know."

That statement caught Winter's attention. "Really? Only two gaurds?" The military specialist put a hand to her chin. "He must be pretty confident if he thinks that no one would sneak around the back."

"Or perhaps anyone who wants to even try and get here are too scared to do it." Kali suggested. "He must have an even stronger hold on the town since we left."

"That probably means that he HAS gotten more confident." Kevin said as he stepped up next to the three. A smirk then graced the Osmosian's face. "And that's good, because now he'll be more prone to makin' mistakes."

"And that's where we come in." Gwen finished. "Now, shall we go over the plan one more time?"

Ghira gave her a confirming nod. "Yes, come this way." The large man waved an arm, gesturing for the group to follow him. "My meeting room is right over here."

But as the group of teens and adults began to follow Ghira, Sun nudged Blake with his elbow to get her attention. "Blake, your house is SWEET. I can't begin to imagine what it must've been like for you to grow up here."

Blake gave him a small grin before shrugging it off. "Well, it wasn't that different." she answered. "Unless you count having a ton of White Fang meetings happening outside your room practically every day of the week."

"Well I think this place is freaking awesome!" Yang supported. "I mean, it's GOTTA be bigger than my house…" The blonde thought about that for a moment before coming to a conclusion; "Hey, maybe we should just move our base of operations here! Then my dad could have his house back!"

Blake gave her partner a worried face. "…I wouldn't recommend that, Yang. My mom and dad aren't exactly all that tolerant of the kind of chaos that your dad can handle."

"She's right, Yang." Raven spoke up from the front of the group as they entered the meeting room. "Besides, your father would have a cow if he knew that you and your sister weren't coming home" The tribe leader shifted her eyes around the massive room, admiring the spaciousness of it. "Hmm, though I must admit, this IS a rather impressive space. Much better than holding our meetings either downstairs or in the living room."

"Well, don't get used to it." Ilia said as she stopped at the table with everyone else. "Once this is all over, Sienna Khan is probably going to banish you all from Menagerie permanently. We're already breaking White Fang code by bringing you hear, but staying for longer than you need to will be a SERIOUS offence." The chameleon girl craned her head over to Weiss and Winter, the Schnee sisters standing side by side. "Especially when it comes to you two. You AND General Ironwood are on her most hated list."

"I'm sure that we are." Winter concurred. "But that doesn't mean that we won't do our best to help you take back your home."

"Winter's right." Wiess supported. "We're going to do everything we can to get Trumbipulor and his goons out of here."

Rex snapped his fingers and pointed to Weiss. "Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about, Ice Princess! Let's get this thing started." While Weiss groaned and rolled her eyes, Rex shifted his attention over to Ghira. "So, what comes first?"

"Well, first, its best to go over the map again." Ghira answered before nodding over to Holiday. "Doctor Holiday, if you'd be so kind."

"Of course, Ghira." Holiday pulled a small holoprojector out of one of her pouches and set it right in the middle of the table, pressing a button to activate it. Once the holographic map of Kuo Kuana came up, the doctor pointed right to the Belladonna's home. "Alright, so we've established this point as home base. And our points of contention are here, here and here." Holiday gestured to the White Fang's base, the middle of town, and the port respectively. "These places are where our three teams will be sent for this mission. Team A will be led by Blake and Ben, Team B by Kevin and Winter, and Team C by Gwen and Ghira. Now, are we all clear on which team everyone has been assigned to?"

"Yep." Jaune waved. "Team JNPR's going to be with Winter and Kevin."

"And so are me and Weiss!" Ruby called out.

Rex pumped a fist into the air. "I'll be joining 'em too! Let's show those jerks what you get when you mess with innocent lives."

"And I will be coming with you as well." Holiday finalized before shifting her attention to one of Team B's co-leaders. "Winter, if you would?"

"Of course." Winter approached the holomap and pointed to the center of town. "Now, our team's mission will be to distract all of the White Fang footsoldiers, allowing Teams A and C to execute their own missions." The military specialist focused onto her teammates. "Once we engage, we'll have to hold them off until General Ironwood arrives with his back up."

"Exactly." Ghira affirmed as he pointed to the port. "And that's where Team C comes into play. Gwen, Kali and I will lead team headed to the port, so that we may take out the defenses that they've set up there." The panther man drew a line from the back of his house to the port, which went in a curve around the back of many houses. "Once Team B has successfully distracted the White Fang in town, we will sneak through this group of homes to get to the port. The houses are bunched close enough together to provide sufficient cover, so we should be concealed well enough."

"After we take out the cannons, General Ironwood will be allowed safe passage into Kuo Kuana." Kali concluded before facing a certain blue-haired boy and redheaded android. "Now, if I recall correctly, you two will be joining us as well, right?"

"That's right!" Penny saluted. "We won't let ya down, Mrs. B!"

Neptune spun his trident in his hand before shouldering the weapon. "We'll make sure those cannons are taken off line in no time!" he proclaimed with a thumbs up.

At that moment, Tetrax came up and raised a hand. "I'd be happy to join your group, Ghira. The least I can do is help you in your hour of need."

Blake gave a nod before jumping into the conversation. "Alright, then that just leaves Team A." She craned her head over to Sun, Yang and Ilia, giving her three closest companions a smile. "You guys are ready for this, right?"

Yang pounded a fist into her palm. "MORE than ready, Blake." The Blonde Brawler gave a wink to her boyfriend. "What about you, Green Boy? Ready to throw down?"

"Always." Ben affirmed. "But don't forget, we need to be cautious incase Salem's crew is there with them."

"Especially Tyrian." Raven stressed. "Which is why I will be coming with you all too. If Tyrian gets in our way, I'll engage him while the rest of you go on with the mission."

Yang's eyes nearly bugged out at that. "WHAT?! No way, we're not just gonna leave you behind!"

Raven gave her daughter a smile before resting a hand on Yang's shoulder. "Don't worry about me, Yang. I've fought many dangerous people in my life, and some of them I consider to be just as bad as Tyrian. I'll deal with him and then I'll regroup with you later, alright?"

Yang pursed her lips with a narrowed gaze. "Promise?"

"Of course, I promise." Raven assured.

"Well… alright." Yang pointed a finger in her mother's face. "But you'd better not get yourself killed, you hear me?"

Raven couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Hmhm, trust me, that isn't going to happen."

Over by Sun and Ilia, Blake approached the duo with an eager grin. "So, what about you guys?" she asked. "You ready?"

"Ready, willing and able!" Sun saluted while pulling out Ryui Jingu Bang and slinging it over his shoulders. "That elephant dude won't know what hit him!"

Ilia raised a brow in Sun's direction. "Just don't lose sight of the primary focus of our mission; rescuing Sienna Khan." The chameleon girl walked over and pointed to the White Fang's base on the holomap. "Once the distraction in town is underway, we'll need to sneak our way out to the White Fang palace. We'll scale up over the walls and through a window, and from there, I'll lead you guys down to the prison where Sienna is being held."

"Exactly." Ben agreed. "From there, we'll escort her out of the palace… provided we don't encounter any unexpected guests."

"And if we do, we fight, right?" Sun guessed.

Yang placed her hands on her hips. "As if we have any other choice at that point. With any luck, we can fight off whatever we come across."

At that moment, Pyrrha interjected into the conversation. "And what if Trumbipulor confronts you? What will you do then?"

"If that happens… then I'll fight him." Ben answered definitively. "Sun, Blake and Ilia will take Sienna back to Team B's location where she can hopefully call off the White Fang. And while that's going on, Yang, Raven and I will take on Trumbipulor."

"Right." Blake concurred. "And considering that you've beaten him twice before, I'm sure you guys can handle it. But once we take him down, how will we contain him? I don' think that any of the cells in Tetrax's ship can hold him."

"Don't worry, Blake, I have that covered." Tetrax typed in a few commands onto his gauntlet. "I have a device on my ship prepared for just such an occasion." After he stopped typing, a new hologram came up over his gauntlet, this one appearing to be some sort of large, cylindrical pod. "This is what's known as a stasis pod. It's made specifically to hold strong and dangerous criminals while putting them into a hibernative state. Once Ben takes Trumbipulor down, we'll bring the stasis pod out of my ship and put Trumbipulor into it."

At Tetrax's final word, Nora clapped her hands and threw them up into the air. "Alright! This plan sounds SUPER solid! Now that we're all done with the talk…" The Pink Dynamo pulled out Magnhild, spun it around in midair and caught it when it shifted into its hammer mode. "How's about we get to the fun part?!"

But Ren was quick to put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy, Nora. Remember, we can't just jump in head first. We have to make sure that we take them by surprise."

"Exactly, Ren." Weiss nodded. "And fortunately, I think I know just how to do that." The heiress craned her head over to her sister and gave her a small smirk. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Winter returned the grin instantly. "I believe I am, dear sister."

…..

The streets of Kuo Kuana at night were often quite peaceful and silent, with not too many people wandering the streets as most prepared for a sound slumber. But in recent nights, while the silent part was still true, it was anything BUT peaceful. At least a hundred or so White Fang operatives were currently filing through the streets, all armed and ready for anything that might come their way. A few of them shined lights into the different houses lining the streets, just to make sure that every citizen was abiding by their curfew. However, there were a few that didn't take any pleasure in what they were doing. "Ugh, I can't believe that we need to enforce these laws." A canine-eared White Fang groaned to her compatriot. "Don't you know how wrong this is?"

"It may be wrong and unjust now, but if we wish to gain the new lord's favor, we need to keep up with his demands." The scaly-skinned White Fang rationalized. "After we do, we'll hopefully be able to stop this and start targeting the REAL problem. The humans."

The dog-eared White Fang woman lowered her ears in sadness. "But don't you see how WRONG this is?! People are suffering because of us. Children are suffering because of us!"

"And nobody has died yet." The lizard-skinned White Fang asserted. "So long as we keep it that way, things will be fine—" But then, he cut himself off when a bright, white light began shining from the town square. "Wait! What is that?!" The two ran over to investigate, along with a whole slew of other White Fang grunts and even some guards as well. When they finally found where the light was coming from, they found two glowing patterns in the streets, both of them spinning slowly in place.

"What… what is it?" The dog-eared woman asked.

But the scaly White Fang grunt knew exactly what it was. He knew those snowflake-shaped glyphs anywhere. "No… no they CAN'T be here!" He grabbed his rifle and began pointing it out into the darkness, away from his comrades. "Where are you?! Come out right now!"

Nobody expected an answer, but just a second later, the voice of a woman rang out through the night; "If you insist!" At her announcement, the glyphs began spinning faster and faster. And finally, after a moment, two large forms emerged; a white Ursa and Beowolf, both growling in intimidation as their ethereal blue eyes bore into the White Fang grunts.

A younger girl's voice then gave the two Grimm and order; "Attack, but do NOT kill!" At the girl's words, the Grimm lunged out into the crowd of White Fang and began attacking, though they held their attacks back in order to not gore any of them.

As the chaos ensued, Weiss, Winter, Ruby, Kevin, Team JNPR, and Doctor Holiday all came running out of the shadows and joined in on the fight, taking the White Fang off guard. "I KNEW IT!" the scale-faced White Fang pointed to Winter and Weiss. "It's those two! They're Schnees!" His words only proved to send the group of grunts and guards into an even bigger frenzy, with some even ignoring the summoned Grimm all together to attack the Schnee Sisters.

Kevin smirked as he knelt down to the ground and absorbed the pavement on the street, changing his hands into a pair of hammers in the process. "Nice work, ladies! Now we've got 'em right where we want 'em!"

Weiss grimaced at the sight of the White Fang running toward them. "Well, it worked, but I don't think this'll improve our relations with any of them."

"Yes, it IS unfortunate that it has to come to this, Weiss." Winter said as she drew her blades. "But for now, we must push those feelings aside if our mission is to succeed. Now come, we must free this town!"

From the sidelines, Nora ran up in front of the sister and drew her hammer, an eager smile coming to her lips. "Alright! Let's do this thing!" With a mighty swing and a pull of her weapon's trigger, Nora slammed Magnhild into the ground directly in front of them, resulting in a massive shockwave that sent the White Fang falling to the ground. The hyper redhead then flew in and bashed a rather tall guard with her hammer, though he was quick to block the strike with his bare hands. "Haha! Oh, THIS should be fun!" With a mighty pull, Nora heaved her hammer back and sent the guard stumbling forward, only to punch him straight in the gut soon afterward. "Don't want the hammer? Then you'll get the fists!"

Jaune and Pyrrha ran forth into the crowd with their blades drawn, slicing the White Fang's rifles into pieces before they could fire at them. The duo would then use their shields to bash the grunts back, being careful to not cause any serious damage to them. "Remember, don't try to hurt these people too much!" Jaune shouted out before knocking another White Fang out cold.

"Simply subdue and move on to the next!" Pyrrha added as she did the same.

"Consider it done!" Ren replied before slicing through another of the White Fang's rifles with Storm Flower. The green ninja then sent a swift kick to the guard's face, sending him down to the ground. "Kevin, how're you holding up?!"

"Pretty good, man!" Kevin hollered as he slammed his hammers into to grunts, sending them flying back into a nearby store front. "These guys are NOTHIN' compared to DNAliens or Vilgax's goons. It's like hitting fish in a barrel!"

"Don't you mean "shooting" fish in a barrel?" Weiss asked as she used a glyph to blast back a bunch of White Fang guards.

Kevin responded by dealing an uppercut right to a grunt's jaw, sending him flying halfway down the street. "Nope!"

Over to the side, Holiday and Ruby stood back to back as a group of six White Fang guards closed in on them, all of them wielding very deadly spears. Ruby hadn't unclipped Crescent Rose from her holster yet, an eager grin coming to her face as she readied her little surprise. Meanwhile, Holiday was readying her blaster, changing it to its 'stun' setting so that she wouldn't risk killing any of these people. "So, I take it that you find yourself in these situations a lot, Ruby?" the doctor asked.

"Eh, pretty much every day." the Hooded Huntress replied. "I love it, though! Really gets the blood pumpin'!"

"I'm sure." Holiday matched Ruby's smirk as she pumped her side arm. "Now what do you say we take these guys out?"

One of the White Fang guards laughed at Holiday's claim. "Oh, the human lady thinks that they can take us all out!" one of them spoke out. "Do the math, lady! There's six of us, and only two of you."

Ruby wagged a finger at them. "Now, now, boys. Let's not get overconfident."

"Oh, we're pretty sure of ourselves, girly." The White Fang guards all pulled out their blades, all of them of different varieties. "After all, we've been trained to handle troublemakers like you."

"Aw, well your weapons ARE pretty cute. But…" Ruby grasped Crescent Rose and pulled it out of its holster, performing her signature twirl before slamming its time into the ground. "As you can see… mine's bigger!" With that, Ruby surged forward and began spinning her large scythe around at blinding speed, but when she finally stopped, the guards were surprised to see that no bodily harm had come to them at all! They were all completely confused… until their eyes landed on their blades. All of them had been sliced off practically at the hilt, with the only sharp parts left being a small stub where the blades once were. "See? THAT'S why you shouldn't underestimate us. Holiday, care to do the honors?"

"On it!" Doctor Holiday began firing stun shots at all six of the White Fang guards, hitting her mark with every blast. When the blasts hit the guards, they all convulsed in pain for a brief moment before falling to the ground, unconscious. "Hmm, well done, Ruby!"

"Thanks! You were pretty great yourself!" Ruby's eyes widened and she pointed behind Holiday in a slight panic. "Uh, that's probably bad, right?"

Holiday whirled around to see a rather large and portly White Fang guard practically grappling with Winter's Ursa, the sight making the doctor gasp in shock. What was even more astonishing was when the man tossed the Ursa away before letting out a loud bellow. Holiday glanced over the man for any sign of his Faunus trait before finally finding it; a pair of almond-shaped ears on the top of his bald head. "Are those… hippopotamus ears?!"

After witnessing her Summon be tossed to the side as if it were nothing, Winter jogged over to Ruby and Holiday, pointing one of her blades at the large White Fang in preparation for what he'd do next. "Be ready! We don't know what he'll do!" But she got her answer only a second later when the hippo Faunus began charging right at them, prompting Winter to bring up a glyph shield in front of her, Ruby, and Holiday. "Stay behind me!"

However, just before the hippo man could slam his fists into the glyph shield, a slew of cyan-colored lasers hit his shoulder, catching his and the other's attention. "HEY! Big guy!" The giant man craned his head to his left to see Weiss standing about ten feet away, a glyph disappearing in front of her. "Leave them alone!"

"Weiss, what are you doing?!" Winter chastised as the hippo man redirected himself in Weiss' direction.

"Relax, sis!" Weiss said with a smirk. "I've got a plan!" The heiress stood in place, counting the seconds off on her fingers as the White Fang charged at her. 'Three… two… one… NOW!' Weiss whipped her head up to the sky and called out; "REX!"

From up above, a pair of giant metal fists suddenly slammed into the large hippo man, pushing him back several feet. He finally came to a stop by digging in his heels, though he let out a frustrated growl at being knocked back. But then, his eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw Rex in front of him, the EVO smirking with enthusiasm. "Sorry, Tons o' Fun, but you're not layin' a finger on her." Rex faced back to Weiss with a raised brow. "Cutting it a little close, ain't ya, Ice Princess?"

"Please, I would've been fine." Weiss said with an eyeroll. "Now come on, let's push these guys back already!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Rex agreed before substituting his Smack Hands for his Punk Busters. "Heads up!" With one push of his legs, Rex sent the hippo man careening all the way down the street, a massive THUD indicating that he had finally landed in a heap on the opposite end. Rex deactivated his Punk Busters and let out a hearty laugh. "HAHA! Too easy!"

"No kidding." Weiss agreed. "But don't get cocky, we've still got a long way to go." After Rex gave her a salute and jumped back into the fray, Weiss saw Winter, Ruby and Holiday approaching out of the corner of her eye. She met her sister with a knowing grin. "And you didn't think I had a plan, did you?"

"Admittedly, I did not see that coming." Winter said while matching her sister's grin. "I must say, Weiss, you and Rex are working together much better than when he first arrived. I'm very impressed."

Holiday gave a nod at that. "Your sister's right, Weiss, that was very well planned." The doctor wore a sly grin before tapping her cheek in thought. "You two must be pretty in sync to pull something like that off."

"Yeah…" Ruby said cheekily while poking her partner in the shoulder. "Is something ELSE going on during all of those Spanish lessons, Weiss?"

Weiss became red in the face at all of the accusations, both in embarrassment and with a little frustration. "Could we PLEASE focus on the task at hand here?!"

"Correct." Winter agreed. "Now isn't the time for this. Come, we must rejoin the battle." Before she did though, Winter took one last glance toward the Belladonna Family home, speaking a silent prayer under her breath. "Good luck, everyone. And please, be safe."

…..

Behind the household, the Tennyson cousins, Yang, Ilia, Sun, Neptune, Penny, Tetrax, Raven, and the Belladonnas themselves had all gathered in the backyard, the group preparing to split up when they deemed the fighting good and distracting enough. When they had all heard the rumble begin to get underway, Gwen took a deep breath and steeled herself. "Well, I guess now is a good a time as any." she figured. "It seems like things are getting pretty hectic over there."

"Hmm, agreed." Ghira concurred. "Now, everyone knows the plan, so there's no need to go over it again, right?" The panther man got a resounding; "Right!" from the group. "Very good. Then good luck to all of you." Ghira then gave Gwen a small nod. "Gwen, you and your group stay close to me and Kali as we lead the way to the docks."

"Understood." Gwen affirmed before looking to her cousin's team with a grin. "We'll see you guys later, alright?"

"Count on it." Ben said with a thumbs up. With those final words, the two teams split up, going off in separate directions from the back of the house. "Alright, Ilia, you're the resident stealth expert. So how can we best get into the White Fang's palace?"

"Simple," Ilia stated, "we go around the building's left side, make our way over the surrounding wall and then sneak in through one of the emergency exit windows. You know, the ones that don't have any frames."

Yang raised a brow to her. "Okay, so why the left side of the palace specifically?"

"Because that's where the least amount of booby traps are." Ilia answered. "Trust me, I've been in that palace plenty of times to know that."

"Okay, so what about the guards?" Sun brought up. "There's probably gonna be a ton of 'em when we get in there."

Blake pointed between herself and Ilia. "That's where we come in. Ilia and I will go in first and take out the guards quietly before you guys come in after us."

"So what, we'll just have to sit back and wait?" Sun guessed.

Ilia sent a smirk his way. "Well, unless you and Yang can quickly dye your hair black or Ben loses his jacket, then yes." The chameleon girl gave the three a sympathetic face. "Sorry to say it, but you guys in your bright, primary colors stick out like sore thumbs. It'd probably be best if the two of us just go in and take the guards down."

Over to the side, Raven gave an indignant noise. "Hmph, well I think that you're forgetting that I'm not exactly brightly dressed, either, young lady." The tribe leader placed a hand onto Omen in preparation. "You wouldn't be opposed to me assisting you girls, would you?"

Ilia narrowed her eyes at Raven. "Just so long as you promise NOT to kill anyone."

"Yeah, mom." Yang supported. "Nobody needs to die today. Besides, if you DO start killing people in there, it'd just be like a trail of breadcrumbs leading to us… only with dead bodies."

"Ugh, very well." Raven relented while raising a right hand. "I solemnly swear to not kill anyone on this mission… though I AM tempted to at least cripple Tyrian." That got a bunch of skeptical faces from everyone, to which Raven raised her hands. "Kidding! Kidding! …Well, perhaps half-kidding."

Suddenly, Ben whirled around and shushed everyone. "Shh!" The hero then pointed through the cluster of palm trees and everyone followed his gesture, only to see a tall wall not too far away from them. With one gaze upward, and the group saw the very top of the White Fang's palace rising up from behind the large wall, the lights in the windows making it easily visible. "We're here!" Ben whispered. "Is this the left side?"

"It should be." Ilia whispered back. "Hold on for a second, I'll be right back." Ilia's skin color changed to a nighttime black and she swiftly ran off, only to come back a short moment later. "Alright, I went to the entrance to double check. This IS the left side."

"Okay." Ben nodded. "So we're all clear on how we're getting in there, right?"

"Right." Blake confirmed. "You guys stay here, we'll call you when it's clear."

Ben gave the cat girl a thumbs up. "Good. Now, let's get this done as quickly and quietly as we can. We don't want Trumbipulor or any others showing up and suspecting something."

"Exactly." Raven agreed before facing Blake and Ilia. "I'll meet you two on the other side." At those words, Raven activated her shapeshifting ability, transforming into her corvid form before flying off over the wall.

Ilia shivered at the sight. "Ugh, I forgot that she could do that."

"Yeah, pretty weird." Blake gave her friend a grin before nudging her head to the palace. "So, you ready?"

"Yes, let's go!" Ilia and Blake sprang forward and began sprinting fast and silently through the shadows before both girls sprang up the side of the large wall surrounding the palace. They ran up the side of the massive structure before vaulting themselves over the top of it, landing on their feet on the other side.

However, the moment that they did, they immediately heard; "Hey! You can't be in—ACK!" Ilia slammed her elbow into the nearby guard's gut, making him double over in pain before knocking him out with a follow up blow.

Another guard witnessed the incident not that far away and his he lowered his spear to attack. "Stop right, there—hey!" The head of his spear was immediately sliced off by Blake with one single swipe of Gambol Shroud, which she immediately followed up by knocking the guard out like his buddy.

At that moment, another pair of guards came running around the corner, both armed with flint-lock pistols. "HALT!" one of them yelled. "You two won't be going any furth—AUGH!" Both guards were met by a pair of flying kicks from both girls, knocking them down to the ground and leaving them unconscious.

"ENOUGH!" Came a deep, bellowing voice. The girls about-faced to see a large White Fang guard with a rifle in his hand, his aim squared solely on them. "You two ladies better put your hands on your head right now, or I'll—" SLICE. In one fell swoop, the guard's firearm was sliced perfectly halfway down the barrel, the metal and woodwork falling to the ground with a THUD. With an astonished expression, he craned his head down to see Raven with her sword drawn and an angry expression, leaving him quaking in his boots. "W-Wha…"

"Good night." In a practically unseen maneuver, Raven sent a fast and hard punch into the guard's face, sending him falling straight onto the ground, out cold. The tribe leader turned to the two girls and placed a single hand on her hip. "And what exactly took you two so long?"

"What?" Ilia whispered harshly. "We only got here like, twenty seconds after you did!"

"Exactly." Raven jabbed a thumb over to her right. "And in that time, I had already taken out most of the guards on this side of the building."

The two young Faunus girls whipped their heads around and their jaws dropped in shock. Strewn across the palace lawn were at least ten more guards in addition two what they had just taken out, all of them out for the count. "How… how did you…" Ilia stammered out.

"I'm both technically a trained Huntress AND a master thief." Raven answered. "Dealing with highly guarded places is my forte."

Blake rolled her eyes before pulling out her scroll. "Yes, of course. How COULD we forget?" she said sarcastically while dialing Yang's number. Since there was no CCT Tower out in Menagerie, the signal wasn't THAT great, but she still had at least a couple bars. Once Yang picked up, Blake put her scroll up to her ear. "Alright, Yang, we're all set over here."

"That's a big ten-four, partner!" Yang called back over the scroll. "We're headed over now!"

The two hung up on their respective ends and Blake shifted her sights up to the top of the wall, only to see a green flash brighten up the palm trees on the other side. A mere second later, she saw her boyfriend scale up one of said palm trees before thrusting himself over the wall. Sun did three mid-air flips before landing feet first on the ground in front of them, meeting the three ladies with a bow. "So, how was that for an entrance?" the monkey boy asked.

Blake gave him a sarcastic smile before making a so-so gesture with her hand. "Eh, you were cutting it kind of close with the third flip."

"Hey, I still pulled it off, didn't I?" Sun winked.

Blake let out a quiet laugh before seeing Ben and Yang scaling over the wall together, and her eyes widened at what the Omnitrix bearer had turned into. "Wait… isn't that the same species that Subdora is?"

"Yeah." Sun answered. "I think Ben called it… Chamalien?"

As it happened, Ben had transformed into a rather large lizard-like alien, one with light purple scales with dark purple splotches on random parts across his body. He had four clawed fingers on each hand and three clawed toes to each foot, which he used to expertly scale down the wall with Yang clinging to his back. Once he and Yang reached the bottom, everyone could get a better look at his face, which had a large mouth full of sharp teeth. But that wasn't the strangest part; THAT was reserved for the upper half of his face, which was all black with a large spike sticking out the back of his head. And on top of that, he had three triangular eyes that were all different colors; red, green and blue. "So, I'm guessing zat it vasn't hard to take zem all down?" Chamalein said with a slight German accent.

"Sure wasn't." Ilia sent a narrow-eyed glance to Raven before jabbing her thumb at her. "Especially since she didn't give Blake and I a chance to take out more than four."

Yang blinked in surprise as she noticed all of the unconscious bodies. "Sheesh, mom. You work pretty damn fast!"

"Trust me, Yang, I don't plan on wasting time." Raven assured before directing her eyes to Ilia. "So, where are all the booby traps?"

"They're all around here." Ilia took out her Lightning Lash and pointed across the entire lawn. "I'll need to take them all out before we proceed." With the press of a button, Ilia's weapon quickly changed into its whip mode. "Just stand back and watch." With a mighty surge, Ilia ran across the lawn and began whipping at the ground, revealing a bunch of pressure sensitive spots that activated a slew of traps. Among these included pitfalls, bear traps, hidden nets that sprang up uselessly into nearby trees, and many other typical traps. Once she had activated all of them, Ilia went back over and let out a breath. "Hah, there, now we can go in safely." She waved her arm over to the nearby fire escape window. "Through here, quickly!"

"Very vell." Chamalien spoke up. "Come on, let's get in zere." The Merlinisapien scurried over and opened the fire escape window, allowing everyone to climb in before he did so himself. The room they had entered was a rather large dining hall, and thankfully, there was no one around. Chamalien spotted a nearby door and walked over to it, opening it just slightly to peak out into the hall. "Hmm… zere doesn't seem to be anyone out zere right now." He faced back to his group and jabbed a thumb to the hall. "But just to be safe, I'll take point."

Ilia raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be better if I took point though? I can blend in easily and I'm the only one who knows how to get to the prison, remember?"

Chamalien gave her a nod. "You're right. Ilia, you'll take point with me." He then gave the remaining four a nod. "You guys make sure to stay close behind us, alright? If vee need to hide, vee'll have to do it quickly." Chamalien sent Ilia a toothy grin… before completely vanishing. "Come, Ilia, let's disappear."

Ilia's jaw dropped for a second time. "Are you kidding?!" she whispered harshly. "He's an alien chameleon that can totally disappear?! That's so unfair!"

Yang gave her a smirk and a pat on the shoulder. "Ah, don't worry, Color Girl. Trust me, there's a LOT of stuff that Ben can do that not a lot of other people can't. Now c'mon, we've got a job to do!" With that proclamation, the six teammates silently made their way into the hallway, following behind Ilia as she led them down to the prison cells.

…..

Not far away from where the six infiltrators had entered, Trumbipulor was waiting in the throne room for his guests, The Paku-Dermoloid sitting upon his large stone throne as he tapped his fingers against the armrest in impatience. Corsac and Fennec Albain were also in the room, having taken their places on either side of their new lord while keeping their heads down in silence. The room was also filled with multiple White Fang guards, all standing at attention out of fear and respect for the mighty elephant-like alien who could kill them all easily. All at once, the silence was broken when Trumbipulor pounded a fist onto his throne's armrest, scaring nearly everyone out of their wits. "What in deepest pits of Anur Transyl is TAKING those mooks so long?!"

Corsac bowed his head to Trumbipulor. "I'm sure they are on their way now, my lord. They told me they would only be a few minutes."

"Bah! Those guys betta get hustlin'." Trumbipulor scoffed. "For all I've done for 'em up 'til now, they should've been here five minutes ago."

"Who knows, my lord?" Fennec bowed as well with a slight smirk. "Perhaps they WERE lying to you about this so called "Salem"."

"You may wish to rethink that!" The interruption of a deep, gravelly voice caught the three's attention, and they craned their heads up to see Hazel, Thunderhog, Exo-Skull and Tyrian all enter the room with Simian escorting them. Hazel had his eyes focused squarely on Trumbipulor before bowing his head in respect. "My deepest apologies if we kept you waiting, Lord Trumbipulor. I just finished talking with my mistress a few minutes ago and she told me that it'd be a pleasure to speak with you."

"Okay." Trumbipulor got up from his throne and placed his hands on his hips. "So when can she get here?"

"Within the hour." Hazel answered. "She doesn't usually leave her castle for matters such as this, but for someone of your track record, she was willing to make an exception. She only has a few small matters to attend to before she leaves."

Trumbipulor raised an eyeridge at that. "Whaddya mean by "matter's such as these"?"

Tyrian let out a loud cackle. "AHAHA! Oh, our queen never leaves her palace unless she deems it important enough! You should feel graced that she even considered deigning you with her glorious presence!"

Corsac's brow furrowed at Tyrian's rambling. "Hmph, this Salem must be truly powerful if she can just come to Menagerie in an instant. If she really wishes to bring humanity to its knees, then why does she not leave her castle more often and carry out her goals herself, then?"

"Because she feels it unnecessary to sully her hands unless absolutely necessary." Hazel answered. "And should the day ever come that Lady Salem DOES decide to do just that, then may the gods have mercy on anyone who chooses to get in her way."

But Trumbipulor just waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah, enough with the melodrama!" he ordered. "So long as I get a few words with her, it's fine by me."

Exo-Skull raised a hand up to Trumbipulor. "Ah, don't worry 'bout it, Trumbi. Lady Salem's actually got some great deals goin' on for everyone that's workin' for her."

"Yeah!" Thunderhog agreed. "She maybe an evil witch, but she good at gettin' people what they want."

Trumbipulor let out an unsure grunt. "Hmph, I'll keep that in mind when—huh?!" The Paku-Dermoloid stopped in midsentence when the doors to the throne room were flung open, catching everybody off guard. A White Fang guard came running in, breathing heavily and in a great panic. Trumbupulor stepped away from his throne and walked over to the guard, glaring down at him. "What's the meanin' of this?!" he hollered as he grabbed the guard by the collar and brought him up to eye level with him. "Why'd you just barge in on our meetin', huh?"

"I-I'm sorry, Lord Trumbipulor!" The White Fang apologized. "But we have some MAJOR problems on our hands."

The alien crime boss let out a small trumpet in confusion before setting the guard back down. "Speak, and make it snappy."

"W-Well, it started just a few minutes ago." The guard explained. "We just got word that a large group of Hunters have appeared in Kuo Kuana, and what's worse is that they have Weiss and Winter Schnee with them!"

Corcac's eyes widened while Fennec's ears perked up. "Schnees? Here?" the elder brother asked.

"How is that possible?!" Fennec continued. "No Schnee worth their money-lined pockets would DARE set foot on Menagerie!"

"Believe me, they are!" the guard assured. "But that's not even the end of it! What's worse is that when we were about to send Yuma and Trifa as back up with a few more foot soldiers, we discovered that all of the guards that were stationed outside to the right side of the palace were all knocked out! I… I fear we may have some intruders, sir."

"WHAT?!" Trumbipulor let out an angry trumpet. "Just what in the hell is goin' on here?!"

Most of the other White Fang in the room, Corsac and Fennec included, had no idea what to make of this information. However, Hazel had a pretty good idea about what was going on already. "Lord Trumbipulor, I'm afraid it's starting." he said regrettably. "The Schnees have allied themselves with Ben Tennyson, which means that HE may be on the island as well."

Trumbipulor tightened his fists and let out an enraged bellow; "TENNYSOOON!" the alien crime boss let out a breath before pointing to his Arachnichimp compatriot. "Simian, you head to town with Yuma and Trifa. Intercept these Hunters and take 'em down by any means necessary! I want NOTHIN' interrupting this meeting with Salem!"

Simian gave his leader a salute. "Of course, Lord Trumbipulor. I will see to it right away." The pink-shirted blue spider-monkey scurried out of the room quickly, intending to reach Yuma and Trifa before they were sent out.

Unexpectedly though, Hazel stepped forward and bowed his head to the White Fang leader. "Lord Trumbipulor, perhaps it'd be wise if I went as well. I know that they probably wouldn't accept my help, but these Hunters are NOT to be underestimated. We've fought them many times, and I can say from experience that they hit HARD."

Trumbipulor pondered over the request, scratching his chin in thought. Finally, he gave Hazel a nod before jabbing his thumb toward the exit. "You make a good point, Rainart. Go with Simian an' put those Hunter's down." The elephant-like alien moved himself around to face Exo-Skull, Thunderhog and Tyrian. "An' while that's happenin', we've gotta deal with the intruders. I've got a sneakin' suspiscion that they're headed down to break Sienna Khan outta her cell." Trumbipulor focused his blank white eyes onto Tyrian. "Hey, Beady-Eyes, think you can take 'em out for us?"

Tyrian gave a theatrical bow and an eager giggle. "Hehehe, why of course, I can!" he proclaimed. "Anything for the glory of my queen!" He gave an over the top wave before sprinting out of the throne room, his tail unfurling from around his waist. "And I promise to relish every SINGLE moment of it! AHAHAHA!"

Trumbipulor wore a sneer as Tyrian left, with Hazel walking out of the room soon after. "Uh… yeah, right." He went back to Hog and Skull, pointing at them with one of his large fingers. "You two!" At his yell, the mutated duo stood up straight and gave him a salute. "You guys are gonna stay here with me an' the Albains. If Tyrian somehow fails to stop our intruders, we're gonna be the last line of defense."

"Understood, Trumbi!" Skull agreed.

"We won't let ya down!" Hog supported.

"Good." Trumbipulor went over to his throne and sat down, setting his elbow on the armrest before propping his chin onto it. "Because I got a feelin' that, knowin' our luck, our intruder is Tennyson. An' if that's the case, then we need ALL the muscle we can get."

…..

Down in the White Fang's prisoner hold, Sienna Khan was still sitting in the middle of her cell, her eyes closed and in a meditative stance. For the past week or so of her imprisonment, she had been keeping her patience under control, waiting for whenever her rescue party would come and free her from her imprisonment. The tiger lady had hoped that it would be a rebellion formed from a coalition of White Fang from all across the globe lead by Ghira, but after the news she had received from Trumbipulor, she had a feeling that wouldn't be the case. Instead, she now found herself frustrated with the reality that a human boy and his band of teenaged friends was probably going to be her saving grace. 'This couldn't POSSIBLY get any worse.' she thought to herself.

But less than a second later, she was proven wrong when one of the guards let out a nasally laugh after finishing off one of the rotten apples in the large food basket. By the size of his teeth, he appeared to be a rat Faunus, and he was clearly having the time of his life. "Hehe, man, I can't BELIEVE you guys are passing this up!" he spoke to his comrades with a slight lisp thanks to his buck teeth. "Sienna gave up this smorgasbord and you aren't having a single bite?"

The tallest guard, a man with the tail of an alligator, let out a low growl. "We can't all have waste disposal units in our stomachs, now can we?"

"Yeah, if I eat a single bit of that, I'll get sick." a female guard with cow horns added. "I am NOT touching that."

The final one, a man with a pair of owl wings on his back, attempted to silence his compatriots. "Will you all be quiet? We're supposed to be on guard, not yapping our gums off."

The rat Faunus simply shrugged. "Eh, if you say so." He went over to the trash can next to the door to throw the apple core away, only to get spooked when a knock came at the door. "AH!" He reeled back in surprise, dropping the apple core as his compatriots stood at attention. They waited for a little while before the rat man spoke, with everyone else readying their firearms. "…Who's there?!"

From the other side, came a raspy, accented voice; "Special delivery for ze GEEKS who are guarding Sienna Khan!"

Sienna's eyes snapped open at that. 'Wait… what?' She stood up and went up to the bars, grabbing them with her hands as she gazed over to the door on the otherside.

At first, the rat man smiled. "Ah, hey cool, I—" but then he realized what the voice said. "HEY! Wait a minute! We weren't expecting anything!" His compatriots all facepalmed as he went to answer the door. "I have half a mind to—AGH!" The rat Faunus let out a yell when the door suddenly burst off of its hinges and slammed into him, knocking him to the floor, and subsequently; unconscious.

The three guards gasped in horror at what they saw standing on top of the door; a large, purple lizard creature with three multicolored eyes, grinning at them with a toothy smirk. Sienna stared at the creature, mouth agape as it spoke; "Ah, ze oldest trick in ze book."

Following in behind him were a group of four teenagers; three girls and one boy, as well as a woman who appeared to be in her forties. "Nice work, Green Boy!" Yang said as she came charging in. "And I LOVED the little bit of trash talkin' too!"

"I'm glad you did, Goldie Locks." Chamalien returned. "But now, it's time to go to vork!"

Ilia trailed her eyes over to the cell and she smiled when she saw Sienna standing up. "Lady Sienna! You're still alive!" But then her smile faltered when she saw the disapproving gaze that Sienna was giving her, making Ilia shrink back a bit. 'Oh wow, I knew she wouldn't like the fact that we brought humans to Menagerie, but I didn't think I'd see her like this so soon!' she thought worriedly to herself.

"Sienna!" Blake called out. "Don't worry, we're here to break you out!"

Just then, the alligator Faunus raised his weapon at the group. "As if! I don't know WHO you think you are, but—"

"Blake Belladonna." Blake stated confidently. "Perhaps you've heard of me?"

The three guards were astonished for all of three seconds before the owl Faunus picked up where his companion left off. "Well… regardless, Miss Belladonna, we can't let you break Sienna out. Lord Trumbipulor's orders."

In the back of the group, Sun smirked at the tone of their voices. "Heh, sheesh, Trumbi's got them all so spooked that they're afraid to even rebel, huh?"

"Indeed." Raven matched Sun's expression. "It's quite sad, really."

"WRONG!" the alligator man roared. "Trumbipulor will be the leader we SHOULD have had in the first place! And the first thing we'll do to win his approval is take you down!"

"I sink not." Chamalien shook his head. "Perhaps its time to stop messing around und start getting serious about zis…" The Merlinisapien slammed the Omnitrix symbol on his chest and a bright green flash of light enveloped him, transforming him yet again.

Once the flash died down, the three White Fang guards, as well as Sienna, were all bewildered at the sight of a new creature standing before them. It appeared to be an orange crustacean of some kind, one with six spindly legs on his lower torso. But really, that's where the similarities to any sort of crab ended, because his head was HUGE. There weren't even any pectorals, it was ALL head. His arms were protruding out of the sides of his massive cranium, and instead of hands, he had large pincers. The Omnitrix symbol was attached to a silver and black brace that was wrapped around his neck. His green eyes were almond shaped and his mouth was perpetually closed with gritted teeth, not even opening when he final spoke his name; "Brainstorm!" The voice came out telepathically in everyone's minds, making everyone jump for a second.

Sienna's jaw dropped at what had just happened. "Just when I thought things could not get ANY stranger." she whispered to herself.

"W-What the heck IS this thing?!" the cow woman asked frightenedly. "Some sort of freak?!"

"My good bovine lady, I will have you know that I am what is known as a Cerebrocrustacean." Brainstorm answered. "And I do not take too kindly to your rather vulgar vituperation. Now, if you would all be so kind as to… shall I say, relegate Miss Sienna Khan to us, then we shall leave peacefully and without conflict."

"No way, Big Head!" The alligator Faunus rebuked. "Sienna stays here, and that's final!"

Brainstorm put a pincer to his chin in thought. "Hmm… your rather crass comment only fuels your superciliousness, I see."

Yang had to blink at the use of such a word. "Uh… what the heck does THAT mean? You got some kinda Word-a-Day Calendar, Ben?"

"Do not fear, my dearest Yang." Brainstorm reassured with a smile. "Tis only a side effect of using this particular transformation. I should be back to normal momentarily. But for now…" The Cerebrocrustacean scuttled forward and prepped himself for battle. "Witness as I take these miscreants to the proverbial cleaners!"

Yang gave her boyfriend a smile and pumped a fist into the air. "Now THAT I can understand! Go get 'em, Green Boy!"

"HA! You think you can take us on all at once?!" The alligator Faunus scoffed as he and his fellow guards began approaching Brainstorm. "Bring it on!"

"Indubitably!" Brainstorm began taking quick glances around his environment to search for useful objects, eventually finding the food basket, the trash can lid, a set of four pipes that were braced to the wall, and an apple core. "Let's see… basket of rotten produce, the lid of a waste receptacle, drainage pipes, and the core of a malus domestica. Perfect." The large crab alien faced his opponents, coming to a quick conclusion; "This will be quite expeditive." His eyes went to the alligator Faunus, who was approaching quicker than the others. "Hmm… a madcap if I've ever seen one. He will attack first." Sure enough, the alligator man lunged forward, only to be taken by surprise when Brainstorm opened up his cranial plates to reveal his brain. "One cerebellum reveal, and he is repelled for a few seconds."

Ilia began to turn slightly green at the big brain's reveal. "Oh, oh god." She was about to fall to her knees when Blake and Yang caught her. "I wish he had warned us about that beforehand."

"Yes, it IS quite… disgusting." Raven agreed.

The alligator Faunus growled before aiming his rifle at Brainstorm. "Thanks for giving me a clear shot, weirdo!"

The guard fired off a laser blast from his gun, which was just what Brainstorm was expecting. His brain began crackling with bright yellow electricity, which then surged over to the trash can lid, pulling it off of the receptacle. "Block and redirect!" The electrically charged lid went right over to Brainstorm and he used it to bounce the laser way and into the four drainage pipes on the opposite wall, sending them down and right onto the gator man's head, knocking him out. "And that brings one down."

"Why you!" the owl man cried out before charging at Brainstorm. But, to his surprise, Brainstorm actually charged into him as well, slamming him against a nearby wall. "Hey! What gives?!"

"Simple, my good man." Brainstorm said before charging his brain up again. In one blast, the Cerebrocrustacean gave the owl man an electric blast, making him cry out in pain. "Oh, do repose yourself. 'Tis but a miniscule electrokinetic blast." Once Brainstorm was done, he scuttled straight up the wall, walking directly over the owl man before he fell to the ground in pain.

"Enough!" the cow woman yelled as she began scaling up the ramp of fallen pipes to try and get to Brainstorm. "This ends now!"

"Oh, really?" Brainstorm stopped and dug his pincer into the wall, keeping himself suspended there as he faced the broken pipes. "Perhaps a low voltage kinetic strike will change your tune." A small electrical surge was sent from his brain and through the metal pipes, which conducted all the way down to the cow woman. She was shocked and sent tumbling back down to the ground, making impact with her shoulder.

However, she also landed next to the rat Faunus, whom had just regained consciousness. "Huh? What the—GUYS!" He pushed the door off of him and whipped his head around, panicked at the sight of his comrades all on the ground. "W-What's going—AH!" The rat man jumped at the sight of Brainstorm scuttling back down the wall, and he began stammering in fear. "P-Please… d-don't hurt me!"

"Hmm… very well, I will make this quick." Using his electrokinesis once more, Brianstorm picked up the basket of rotten food and stuffed it right over the rat Faunus' head, resulting in him reeling back in surprise. However, in his blind stumbling, he ended up slipping on his discarded apple core, resulting in him falling to the ground and hitting his head, knocking him out once more. "All adversaries subdued, estimated recovery time; twenty minutes." Brainstorm gave a smile to his friends. "And, just for future reference, I must submit;" In a bright flash of light, Ben was back in his human form, his arms out at his sides. "…That I wasn't even thinking that hard."

Before he knew it, Yang came in and let out a joyous laugh, picking him up in a hug and spinning him around. "HAHA! My boy's a smart cookie!" She pulled him in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "That was totally awesome, Green Boy."

Raven placed her hands on her hips and gave Ben a nod. "Yes, you certainly showed them what you're made of with all that."

Ben rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Aw, c'mon, guys. I'm just doing what I do best. Speaking of which…" The hero craned his head over to Sienna, who was still gaping in awe at what she had just witnessed. "Miss Khan, are you alright?"

Sienna blinked in surprise before composing herself, returning her face to a more relaxed demeanor. "I… I am." She narrowed her eyes at the young man before her. "So, you must be the infamous Ben Tennyson that Trumbipulor's been paranoid about?"

"That'd be me." Ben confirmed. "We're here to get you out."

"Hmm." Sienna acknowledged him before setting her sights on a certain cat girl. "Blake… it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Blake gave the tiger lady a nod. "It has. And I'm sorry that this little reunion had to happen under these circumstances, Sienna."

"On that, we can agree." Sienna then pointed down to the alligator Faunus. "I believe that he has the keys, so if you wouldn't mind freeing me…"

Ilia was quick on the draw. "Of course, Lady Sienna." The chameleon girl stooped down and grabbed the set of keys from the guard's belt and began testing all of the keys, eventually finding the correct on. "Ah-ha! Got it!" Ilia opened Sienna's cell door, allowing her to walk nonchalantly out of her cell. However, when she did, she gave Ilia a rather disappointed expression, and the younger girl could only come to one reason as to why; "Heh, I, uh, I take it that you aren't all that happy that there are humans in the palace right now."

"No, I am not." Sienna answered with a furrowed brow. "You know very well that bringing humans to this place is HIGHLY prohibited by White Fang law. The whole reason I sent you with Ghira is so that you could deter him from doing exactly that." She closed her eyes and lowered her head. "But instead, you chose to go along with it." Sienna opened her bright yellow eyes and met Ilia's gaze once again. "Might I ask why?"

Ilia bowed to Sienna in respect. "I know, Lady Sienna, and I was initially against the idea of human help as well." She then gestured over to Ben and Yang. "But believe me when I say that these humans ARE good people. They accepted our request for help without a second thought. They didn't turn us away for being Faunus and they didn't even ask for anything in return. They just wish to help, nothing more."

Unexpectedly, at least to Sienna, Yang came forward and bowed her head to her as well. "Please, Miss Khan, I know that us being here is breaking a whole BUNCH of laws, but the reason we're here is to bring that elephant-sized pain in the neck down." She lifted her head up slightly and gave Sienna a smirk. "Besides, fighting bad guys is kinda what we're good at."

Sienna put a finger to her chin. "Hmm… I might be willing to believe you…" But then, her arm snapped to her right, pointing directly at Raven. "…if you were not collaborating with a known criminal who has extorted the White Fang in the past."

Yang cringed at that reminder. "Uh… yeah… she's actually my mom."

Sienna narrowed her gaze. "That doesn't exactly help your case."

Raven sighed before approaching Sienna, a small smile having formed on her face. "Sienna, it's certainly been a while." The tribe leader greeted as she approached. "And I must say, I'm impressed how fast you've made a name for yourself. You've been leading the White Fang for what, two, maybe three years? Haha, and to think that you were once a White Fang Lieutenant when I first met you—" But then, Raven was quickly cut off when Sienna's sharpened nails suddenly went up against her neck, though Raven didn't bat an eye at this. "…So, I'm guessing that small talk isn't going to be an option here?"

"What are you doing here, Raven?" Sienna asked bluntly. "I know for a fact that you're not doing this out of the goodness of your own heart."

"…Would you be willing to give me the benefit of the doubt?" The unwavering expression on Sienna's face was all the answer that Raven needed. "Yeah, didn't think so." Raven lightly pushed Sienna's hand away before explaining herself. "Believe it or not, Sienna, I AM here to help. I'm just not here to help you." She pointed right to her daughter. "I'm here to help my daughter and her team not get killed by a psychopath."

Sienna raised a brow. "A psychopath? In Menagerie?"

"Yeah." Sun spoke up. "A scorpion-tailed killer named Tyrian. Maybe you've heard of him?"

Sienna's skin became slightly pale at the very mention of the name. "T-Tyrian? Tyrian Callows? I thought he was dead."

"So did a lot of people, evidently." Raven grumbled. "But yes, he's here, and I'm here to make sure that he doesn't kill my daughter and her friends. And I guess, by proxy, that means I'm protecting you as well."

"I'm honored." Sienna retorted sarcastically. She let out a frustrated sigh before steadying herself. "Well, I suppose there's no real choice at the moment." The tiger lady went back to Ilia and gave her a stern expression. "We'll discuss the ramifications of you bringing human outsiders into a White Fang domicile after this is all over, Ilia." She reached her hand out to the young girl. "Now, the keys, if you would."

Ilia lowered her head before passing over the key ring. "Of course, Lady Sienna."

Once Sienna took the keys, she settled her eyes onto Blake, giving her a judgmental look. "You are extremely lucky that your father is the chieftain, Blake. If any Faunus other than him were making the rules in Menagerie, chances are that the presence of humans on this very soil would be punishable by law."

Blake watched on as Sienna went over to a small storage box on the wall and began testing the different keys to find the right one. But as she was doing that, Blake spoke up behind her; "Sienna, I know that the way you run things and the way my dad ran things in the White Fang are totally different. And I won't lie, at one point, I WAS all for your different way of thinking…" she paused for a moment when Sienna stopped testing the keys. "…But after hearing what Adam wanted to do next—"

"Adam does NOT represent the will of the White Fang, Blake." Sienna interrupted as she finally opened the small container. "What we want is for humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect!" Sienna grabbed what was in the containment box; a long chain whip with three blades at its business end. Each blade had three distinct Dust crystals embedded in them; red, yellow and blue. She wrapped the metal whip around her waist before turning back to Blake. "What I do NOT want, is a war with the humans that we cannot win. And, by all accounts of what Adam did, that is exactly what he was intending on starting."

"And maybe he would have, but thanks to the help those two over there, he didn't." Blake pointed over to Ben and Yang, both of whom sent a wave to Sienna. "My friends and I took Adam down, and with him, his goals of subjugating the human race. But unfortunately, I guess Adam's feelings toward humans were shared among a sizable chunk of the White Fang." The cat girl raised a brow to Sienna. "The question is… what do YOU think should be done, Sienna? If we keep stoking the fear that you want humans to feel toward us, then they'll just keep continuing to distrust us, and what happened at Beacon isn't going to help matters."

"You think I don't know that?!" Sienna countered. "Of course, I know that! It was all I had heard for the following four days after the Battle for Beacon! But then…" the White Fang leader gestured around the room. "Guess what happened?! I was pulled away from it when I heard that my home was under siege by a giant elephant man!"

"And I don't blame you for that." Blake assured. "Trust me, if I had heard what was going on here when it was first happening, I would've insisted to my team that we come here as fast as possible to help you all out."

"And we still would've come." Ben added. "No questions asked."

"Please, Miss Khan." Yang pleaded. "We want to help you guys out!"

Sienna whipped her head around to the couple. "Mind your own business. This is a conversation between two Faunus women. It doesn't concern you."

"No, it does!" Blake shouted, gaining Sienna's attention again. "They're my friends, so I'm welcoming their support! Sienna, human and Faunus relations aren't going to get anywhere if we all don't come together. We SHARE this world, and in times like this, we need to realize that now more than ever."

"Blake, what in the world are you talking about?" Sienna questioned. "What do you mean by "in times like this"?"

Suddenly, a loud, familiar cackle echoed throughout the whole room, making everyone cry out in surprise. Their heads all spun toward the doorway, and there, standing nonchalantly against the door frame, was Tyrian. The crazed man had a wicked smile plastered across his face as his beady yellow eyes shifted over to the group, still chuckling a little as he pushed himself off of the frame. "Hehehe, I believe that she's referring to the plans that my queen has for this world, Miss Khan, hehe."

Sienna's eyes widened in apprehension at the man's presence. "Tyrian… so you really ARE alive. What are you doing here? And who is this… "queen" you're referring too?"

"AHAHA! Oh, you'll find out soon enough." Tyrian laughed. "You see, Trumbipulor wished to have us arrange a meeting with her tonight, but since he cannot risk leaving Menagerie, we thought it best to have it… right here."

At that, nearly everyone's blood ran cold. The only exception was Sienna, who had no idea how big of a deal that was. They all remained silent for a good few seconds before Ben was finally able to say something. "S-Salem's coming… here?" the Omnitrix bearer pointed to the ground for emphasis.

"For REAL?" Yang added. "I didn't think she ever LEFT her hidey hole."

Sienna glanced down to Ilia with a raised brow. "And who exactly IS this "Salem"?"

Ilia wore a worried face as she returned Sienna's gaze. "Would you believe… the master and creator of all Grimm?"

The White Fang's former leader went wide-eyed at the concept. "…No, I don't." She studied how tense and serious everyone was at the moment before adding; "…But why do I have the sense that you aren't lying to me?"

"Trust me, Sienna," Blake said with a dead serious face, "we wouldn't kid you about something like this."

Meanwhile, Raven was having trouble comprehending what Tyrian had just said. Salem… here? There was no way in the world that could happen. The maniac must have been on one of his crazed ramblings… but still, the idea kept boring itself into her mind further and further. "No… NO, that's not possible!" Raven exclaimed in a panic.

"Oh, yes, it is! AHAHA!" Tyrian went into a combat stance as his weapons activated, the scorpion Faunus preparing himself to engage his prey. "But unfortunately for you, you all will not be graced with my queen's presence… because I'll have killed you all before you even have the chance! HAHAHA!"

As everyone readied themselves for Tyrian's attack, Sun couldn't help but try and lighten the mood. "So… on a scale of one to ten, how bad is this?"

"An eleven, easily." Blake replied.

…..

A/N (Please Read): Well… things seem to be going down. Sienna's made her debut, Ben and Blake's team have set her free and Simian's little squad are on their way to try and take down Winter and Kevin's team in town. And from the sounds of things… Salem may just be making a surprise appearance in Menagerie… or will she? Well, I DO know one thing; Tyrian's come back for another round, and this time, he intends to finish the fight. But hey, at least Ilia's continuing to warm up to the team a bit more, so there's that, right? Hehe… oh boy.

Alright, so I don't intend to forget the NEXT TIME like I had last week, but before I do, there's a couple things that I want to address, the first being; RWBY Volume 7 coming to an end in the coming week. I just want to once again give you guys a small reminder that whatever happens in that Volume won't heavily affect this story going forward. At most, I'm going to add in the new lore bits as well as any major characters that it may have introduced (though considering my story's not going to Atlas for a LONG time, some characters may come later rather than sooner).

Now, the SECOND thing that I've been wanting to address for some time now is actually something that I've seen a lot of you guys requesting over the course of this story; having the Remnant crew listen to some Earth Music. I won't lie, I HAVE wanted to do music for some time now and I DO want to do it, it's just that I haven't exactly found a good way to integrate whole songs into a chapter without it coming off as a song-fic. Sure, I've included snippets of a few songs here and there, but that's it, never anything whole. That's where YOU guys come in. If you guys know of any way to integrate music into the story without it coming off as too disjointed, then that would be a FANTASTIC help. Leave any suggestions you have in the comments, I'd love to hear them!

Alright, now that I've got all of the announcements out of the way… NEXT TIME! As our heroes in the palace attempt to escape Tyrian's wrath, Winter and Kevin's team finally encounter Simian and his enforcers. It's gonna be a great big slobber knocker in the streets with multiple different fights. We have; Yuma vs. Winter and Kevin, Trifa vs. Rex and Weiss, and finally, Simian vs. Ruby and… Dr. Holiday? Thanks for reading guys and I'll see you all next time! Take care!