168.1 Masterweaver
[-]
What's He Doing Here?
Ruby Rose hummed to herself as she calculated the time. A late Awakening-not unusual during expansion eras-and...
...ah, still in the transport. Right. So this was an expansion itself.
Her eyes roved over the others. Her team especially was worried, trading looks with each other, but everyone else seemed sullen... including the one scruffy guy who wasn't associated with them but happened to be in the same transport. Well, except for Nora, who was biting at her bonds.
"Go for the base, Nora," Ruby advised. "The wires spread out there so the rubber is the weakest-but it cooould give you a nasty shock."
Everyone stared at her for a moment.
"What?" She shrugged. "We're probably going to jail anyway, why not see what happens?"
"I still can't believe that... fishing pole guy took us out like it was nothing," Jaune grumbled.
"Welcome to Atlas," Weiss deadpanned. "Those were Ironwood's Ace Operatives."
Ruby was going to reply with a joke, but whatever she was about to say was cut off when the scruffy man looked up. "You guys had a run-in with the Ace Ops? Ironwood must really have a bone to pick with you."
"They're not that big of a deal," Weiss countered with a roll of her eyes.
"Not that big of a deal?" The man leaned forward-
-"Oh boy, speech time," Ruby muttered-
-and glowered at her. "The Ace Ops are the elite of elite military huntsmen, and Ironwood's. PERSONAL. Attack dogs."
Nora gave him a flat look. "So they got you too, huh?"
"I wouldn't let myself be caught by them," the man spat. "I'm here because I've been speaking out against Atlas's exploitation of Mantle, and general Ironwood is trying to silence me!"
"You threw a brick at a ship," said the pilot.
"IT'S WORTH IT IF IT GETS PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT OUR CAUSE!"
"Wait, you're a political protester?" Ruby asked, leaning forward.
"Yes! We fight for better conditions in Mantle!" The man hopped in his seat. "Led by the charismatic, talented, lovely Robyn Hill, and her happy huntresses!"
The pilot shook his head, rolling up the glass between the cabin and the back chamber.
That apparently got man angry, since he started to shout into the cabin. "They were all top huntresses in Atlas, who could have stayed in the military, but Robyn and the huntresses chose to stay in Mantle-"
"Wait wait wait," Ruby cut him off, standing up. "You're a political protester, and you're on this transport? With us?"
"Uh..." The man stopped his shouting, even as the window shut. "...Yeah. I mean... I guess you must be special if the Ace Ops captured you, but-"
"Blake," Ruby said quietly, shooting a significant look at her teammate's ears, "how thick do you think this glass is?"
Blake looked up at her. She glanced at Qrow, who had narrowed his eyes, but not made any other move, before sharing a look with Yang. At the blonde's reluctant nod, she peered at the window the pilot had just shut.
"...Thick enough, but keep your voice low."
Ruby nodded, gently pushing the man back into his seat. "Ironwood... has more that chains him then you know," she began. "I want to trust him, but you probably know better how he's changed since the Vytal festival. We-all of us here-may need to seek asylum, and even if we don't, there are things Robyn should know."
Qrow leaned forward. "Ruby-"
"The people who arranged the Fall of Beacon have their eyes on Atlas and Ironwood knows it. Robyn sounds like a beacon of hope, which means they might try to ensnare her... or eliminate her." Ruby looked into the man's eyes. "I know a huntress has no issue putting herself in danger for the people, but she can't protect herself from a danger she doesn't know exists. If you can make sure she knows to expect us, officially to ask about her position in the election, things... might change faster."
The man frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I can't say more. This is one of those things where the more you know, the more danger you're in." Ruby sat back in her own seat. "You're beneath notice right now. Robyn may no longer be. And..." She looked out the window. "I met Ironwood before the Fall of Beacon. He seemed... very different from what I'm seeing now. I want to think he just needs to rest, but... I can't be certain."
"Hmmm..." The scruffy man frowned. "...fine. I'll see what I can do. But I'm not making any promises."
Ruby smiled faintly. "Yeah, I didn't think so. No offense, but you kiiiiiinda seem more like a fanboy then an actual protester."
"Hey!"
"Charismatic, talented, lovely?" Yang nodded. "Yeah, sorry dude, but if you want respect you gotta give your girl more than a pretty face."
"Easy, easy." Ruby shook her head. "Let's reserve judgment until we meet her." Her eyes narrowed as she saw where the transport was headed. "Which might be after we meet the general, apparently..."
[-]
168.2 Masterweaver
[-]
A Whole New World: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?!
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
"You know, we fight monsters an awful lot," Stella commented as she set yet another mothbee to its fiery doom.
"Yeah!" Arche cried, slicing through a slime attacking her. "It's super fun, right?"
Sana shook her head, quickly casting a heal spell on Arche. "Honestly, I think exploring is more fun than fighting..."
"I mean, sure, but it's part of having an adventure." Arche pulled her sword out of a sabrecat, wiping her brow and looking around. "Okay, that's the last of them for now!"
"I got aw the coins!" Chiffon announced, flying up to the girls. "It comes up to a hundwed and seventeen copper!"
"Wow!" Arche grinned. "That's a lot!"
"Actually," Stella mused, "it's not that much-given how many monsters we were fighting, I mean." She frowned. "Why do monsters carry coins anyway?"
"I asked my dad that once-he said that wild monsters, like mothbees and slimes, will sometimes eat coin pouches because they look like small rats or something to them, and the coins just get stuck in their stomachs. But talking monsters use coins like we do, so they have their own coin pouches, which is why they have more coins."
"Huh." Sana finished counting up the coins that chiffon handed her. "You know a lot about monsters, Arche."
"Of course I do! I fight them all the time!" Arche sheathed her sword. "And I'm pretty good at it, you know."
"Yes..." Stella frowned. "Wait. Monsters drop money, and you gather the money up-"
"Yeah, that's normal...?"
"-but the first time around you were fighting monsters because you went on an adventure. And the only reason you went on an adventure in the first place was to find and unseal an elemental stone so you could practice magic, right?"
"Not the only reason," Arche pointed out. "I got those herbs for Sana that one time."
"That's... fair." Stella gestured at the coins. "My point is, though, you're clearly skilled at monster-slaying, so why didn't you use the money you collected from them to buy an elemental stone instead of trying to find one in a cave?"
Arche grinned and rose a finger.
She continued grinning.
"But... if she didn't, she would nevew have found me," Chiffon pointed out.
"Well yes," Stella conceded, "but there was no way to know that back then!"
Chiffon opened his mouth, paused, and sunk to the ground. "Huh..."
Arche was still grinning, one finger up. Sana approached her warily, waving a hand in front of her eyes and snapping a few times.
"...Stella? I... I think you broke her."
Stella opened her mouth to repkhglakrhiVOU478%*)^(hfdg-
[-]
Arche blinked, taking in her new surroundings. She was in a... fancy room? With windows?
"Eh?"
And outside the windows she could see a cliff-and it was like she was way above the cliff, flying!
"Eeeeh?!"
And her memories this time around said she was headed to some place called Beacon to learn to fight monsters!
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!"
And looking at her reflection in the window, Arche realized that she was actually almost ten years older than she usually was!
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?!"
[-]
168.3 Masterweaver
[-]
Do Not Taunt Big Sister
"It is so good to see you all again."
Yang rubbed her wrist, not quite looking at the general. "Our reception didn't really... convey that."
Ironwood sighed. "I sincerely regret how you were treated by my team." He stepped up behind the desk, bracketed by Winter and Penny. "When a rogue airship entered our airspace, it raised some... red flags." He sat down in a cushy chair (which Ruby noted was a standard office chair, aside from the upholstery). "We assumed the ship was stolen."
Ruby quirked a brow. "Aaaaaand nobody mentioned the colossus?"
Ironwood, Penny, and Winter all stared at her for a moment. Weiss fidgeted nervously.
"...Riiiiight. Yeah, Cordovin was... it might have been just the stress of guarding Argus or her old age or something else, but she had a psychotic break there for a bit," Ruby explained. "Kinda had to steal a manta and, uh, talk her down while she was shooting at us with the colossus cannon, which we maaaaaay have had to forcibly disable before she snapped out of it-"
"You fought the colossus?!" Winter cried, her wide eyes focusing in on her sister in a panic.
Ruby cringed sympathetically. "Should not have said that. Sorry Weiss..."
"You-" Winter began descending down the stairs, trying to dilute her fear with fury and not quite succeeding. "What were you thinking?! That machine is designed to fight enormous Grimm! You could have been blown apart! That was monumentally irresponsible and-"
She was cut off by a hug from her sister.
"I'm sorry I worried you. But we did... what we had to do."
"I..." Winter tried to retain her seriousness, but it was clear she couldn't quite keep up the inertia-not with the one thing she had been worried about holding onto her. "I..." She gave in, returning the hug gently. "...suppose I understand."
Her eyes went toward the man in a scruffy cape, and she pulled back, regaining a modicum of wrath. "But I cannot believe you allowed this to happen, Qrow."
"Actually he was against the plan," Ruby interjected quickly. "But when it became clear we were going to do it anyway, he made sure to watch our backs and keep us safe. On a related note," she turned to Ironwood, "I'm going to have to have a talk with your engineers at some point. We're a bunch of teenagers-ridiculously awesome teenagers, mind, but there's no way we should have taken out the colossus so quickly. I mean I one-shot the cannon once the hardlight generator was down."
"Yeah, because you jumped into the barrel," Nora snarked.
"Major design flaw." Ruby looked at Penny with a grin. "I know Atlas can do far better when it comes to their creations."
That got the gynoid beaming. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby noted Winter giving her a look of appraisal, even as she returned to her place beside Ironwood. Well, there was that hurdle handled...
Was it wrong that she wanted to see how long she could keep up the positive atmosphere even in what was clearly going to be a military debriefing?
Ruby shook off the thought easily. Nah, she was just being loopy.
[-]
168.4 YukiAkuma
[-]
A Whole New World: Not Quite the Speech
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
"It's like a castle!" Chiffon exclaimed in awe, trying not to make too much of a big deal over how he could actually pronounce words normally now.
"I think it is a castle," Sana said, placing a hand affectionately atop Chiffon's head. Man, he was cute normally, but like this it was almost impossible not to want to pet him. Even though he was less like a stuffed animal now. He was just a human - or, well, her new timeline memories called him a 'faunus' - with long, floppy bunny ears, and he was almost half Sana's height. Although Sana did find she was now the tallest in the group...
"We get to go to school in a castle?!" Arche exclaimed in possibly more awe than Chiffon.
"Girls! And... Chiffon.. this is one of the most prestigious academies in the world, so please behave yourselves," Stella said with exasperation. "We're here to become Huntresses, and we don't want to make a bad first impression, especially as there will be multiple very famous people also attending-" Stella stopped as she saw a girl approaching. A girl with snowy hair, tied back in a ponytail, and a frilly white and ice-blue dress. That was... Someone Important. Stella knew immediately. "Someone's coming. Be on your best behaviour-!"
"Huntresses...? That sounds like a word I'd make up," giggled Arche.
"You do that on purpose..?" Sana asked.
"Maaaaybe~"
The girl in white continued to approach. Stella couldn't read her expression at all. Stella took a deep breath, then stepped forward. "Ah, Miss Schnee, I Pre-"
Weiss walked right past her. "Ah, a fellow woman of culture," she said, towards... Arche, instead. Stella's mouth opened, but no sound came out.
"Huh?" Arche blinked at the white-haired girl, then glanced down to the sword at the stranger's hip. "Oh!" Arche reached for the crystal-studded hilt of her own sword, drawing the weapon with a flourish before holding it out for Weiss to expect. "Yeah, I like swords!"
Weiss leaned in to take a closer look. "Hmmm... no mechanical components, I see. May I...?" Arche held it out further, which Weiss took as permission to take it. She did so - and Stella noticed her hands drop half an inch before she readjusted to the weight. "Hoo-! H-heavier than it looks," Weiss said, trying to laugh it off.
Arche grinned. "Yeah! Panxathos has some... thing... in the core to make it heavier. Chiffon's grandma made it!"
"'All-Sword'. Hm. So I suppose these dust crystals aren't simply ornamentation?" Weiss mused, referring to the multicoloured crystals embedded in the hilt. She gripped the handle with both hands and gave it an experimental swing.
"Huh? Um..." Arche was puzzled. What were those crystals for?
"It's for Arche's Semblance," Sana explained helpfully.
"Oh, right! That resemblance thing." Arche rubbed the back of her head. "I-I knew that."
Stella sighed, putting her face into her hand so nobody could read her expression.
Weiss chuckled, handing the sword back to Arche. "Well. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Weiss Schnee."
"I'm Arche! Um, Arche Plumfield!"
"Stella Mayberk," Stella introduced herself with a sigh.
"Sana Poanet, pleased to meet you."
"Chiffon Ratis!"
"Well, it was very nice meeting you - and your sword - but I really have to be going. Lots of people to check up on! But before I go..." Weiss's eyes twinkled. "Do you four believe in time loops...?"
All four of the Minasa-Ratis loopers stood stock still. Did she really just...?
Weiss chuckled. "...Welcome to the Multiverse. Come find my team after Initiation and we'll fill you in."
As Weiss walked away, Arche raised one hand in a wave. "Thank you, Blue Stella!" she called. Sana covered her mouth to prevent herself from bursting out laughing.
[-]
168.5 Masterweaver
[-]
Belay the Buzz
Qrow rolled his eyes at Ruby's antics. "Speaking of... we've got some information that's, ah, confidential."
"Oh," Penny said in a tone far too innocent to be genuine, "is it about the relics?"
"Or perhaps the Winter Maiden?" Winter added with the faintest hint of smugness as she moved to Ironwood's other side.
Ruby Rose, with the wisdom granted to her by infinite repetition, decided to take advantage of her uncle's moment of disbelieving shock. "Actually, it's about Qrow's alcoholism. I'm pleased to report he's made great strides! I mean," she admitted, "he still has the flask, but now it takes him two months to drain it instead of a week. And we're all very proud of how much progress he's made."
She clapped the utterly baffled man on the shoulder with a happy smile. Yang, bless her soul, managed to catch on and start applauding politely, shortly joined by the rest of her team and then quickly by the others in front of the desk. Nora even let out a brief "WOO!"
"I... see," Winter managed, staring at Qrow in confusion.
"I meeeeeean," Ruby drawled as her smile morphed into a toothy grin, "we could talk about the Maidens and Relics if you waaaaaaant..."
Penny actually giggled for a moment-quickly suppressing it and glancing at her superiors, who hadn't seemed to notice, before returning to smiling politely. The mirth that danced in her eyes, and the slowly dawning realization in both Ironwood and Winter's expression, let Ruby know her gambit had been a success.
Though the annoyed expression Winter was giving her might spell consequences down the line.
[-]
168.6 Masterweaver
[-]
A Whole New World: Totally Responsible Adults, We Swear!
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
"Blue Stella?" Blake shook her head with a small smile. "Well, that says a lot right there, doesn't it. Seriously though, how did you know they were loopers?"
"The waves of confusion and bewilderment coming off of them," Weiss replied, shutting her locker.
Ruby chuckled. "And you walked right past the rich girl for the roughshod sword-swinger."
"What, I'm not allowed to have fun every now and again?"
"Yeah, I know, I know." Ruby waved her off, turning to glance at the four visiting loopers who were busy talking amongst each other. "Is it weird that we wait till after initiation to tell newbies what they need to know?"
Blake shrugged. "I mean, it's easier to hijack a lecture hall during the afterparty then it is while the teachers are trying to get everyone settled down for the night." She turned toward Yang with a smile... which faded when she saw Yang's own expression. "...Something wrong?"
"...You know, a lot of times... Ruby has a clumsy phase, growing up. When her legs get longer and she sort of trips."
"Hey!" Ruby put her hands on her hips. "That's perfectly ordinary!"
"It is, which means... have you seen how they move?" Yang gestured at the group. "It's most obvious with Sana, since she's tall. She's banged her knees together three times and stumbled on her ankles twice. Arche, she's got the Dramatic Gesture compensation-she doesn't slip up because she makes sure her every move is big and sweeping so she can watch where they're going."
"...Maybe they're just not usually human," Blake suggested, though her own expression grew thoughtful.
Weiss shook her head. "Stella has had posture lessons. They don't translate well between different frames, I can tell you that from experience."
"...So they're kids," Ruby muttered.
"Yeah." Yang watched Arche grin and say something that had Sana rolling her eyes, Chiffon giggle, and Stella facepalm. "Kids, and this is their first fused loop. Fighting monsters."
The group noticed them all looking, and Arche waved cheerfully. Ruby waved back with an equally bright smile. "Weiss, are they nervous about fighting Grimm?"
"Not that I can tell," Weiss replied, also putting on a smiling mask.
Blake leaned in. "How do you want to play this?"
"...Could be their first adventure," Ruby admitted. "We don't tell them about the cliff, but we keep an eye on them. Let them fight beowolves or ursai, but jump in if it gets to be too much."
"...Yeah." Yang heaved her shoulders in a sigh. "Yeah, honestly, better that they learn stuff like that here where we can teach 'em. I'm going to tell JNPR to keep an eye out for them too, kay?"
"Sounds good." Ruby turned back to Crescent Rose, checking the blade of her mechanical scythe. "Who knows, maybe those four will take down a megagrimm or something."
[-]
168.7 Masterweaver
[-]
Be Careful Where You Stand
"Ruby. Get off the table."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Weiss. I walked over here, so it's clearly the floor."
"It was the floor, but it rose up, and now it's a table, and you need to get off it."
"Why? It's still part of the floor."
"Ruby my sister is right there please get off the table and stop embarrassing me!"
"Compromise: how about I get off the table and never stop embarrassing you?"
"Oh my god why are you like this."
"Because while I can be serious, I also know being too serious is not good for anybody's mental health. Look, see? I'm off the table now."
"Great-"
"Which I know might be frustrating for you, but even if we never date I'll always be your best friend."
"OH MY GOD RUBY!"
[-]
168.8 YukiAkuma
[-]
A Whole New World: A First Step For Arche, And A One Millionth Step For RWBY
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
The new Beacon Academy initiates, including Arche and friends, were standing atop a cliff overlooking a massive forest. All of them were stood on metal pads that seemed awfully suspicious to Arche - her Adventurer Senses were screaming at her that this was a trap! But everyone else was standing on them, so she just fidgeted but remained in place.
The headmaster was speaking. He was an old-looking man - forties at least! - with white hair who seemed to always carry a coffee cup. At his side was... his secretary? A teacher? Arche couldn't really tell. "For years, you have trained to become warriors," the headmaster - Ospine or something - was saying. "And today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Arche looked to her left toward her friends. Sana was fidgeting, not seeming to know what she was doing with her hands. Stella wore a mask of complete neutrality, but Arche could tell by the way she kept winding one of her ribbons around her fingers that she was nervous, too. Chiffon... was just bouncing in place, excited.
"Now," said the blonde woman who was either an assistant or a teacher. "I'm sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams." Arche honestly hadn't, but whatever, just go with it! "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates today."
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," the headmaster was speaking now. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Arche looked to her right, towards Weiss and some of her friends. None of them seemed at all nervous, as far as she could tell. So... had they done this before? It made sense to Arche. If she could repeat time over and over, why not other people?
"That being said," the headmaster said, in what Arche swore was a playful tone. "The first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Eep!
...Wait, landing?
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die." Arche grinned, reaching back to grip the hilt of her sword. Oh, she was ready for that part. The headmaster glanced at her for a moment, before continuing. "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately." Being graded on adventuring was... new. Maybe she'd finally get more than a C!
"Are there any questions?" Nobody said anything. "Good. Now, take your positions." Arche glanced about her, noticing everyone was taking action poses for some reason? And then Arche noticed why - the metal plate to the far left suddenly sprung forward, launching its occupant out off the cliff and over the forest. She knew this was a trap!
Sana stared in wide-eyed shock as the plates launched students one by one, getting closer and closer. Arche reached over and took her hand. "Hey. Everything will be okay. I'll protect you, and you can protect me. Alright?"
"I'll protect you too!" Chiffon piped in. Stella gave a nod, clenching her fist with a determined expression.
Sana took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's... let's do this."
Moments later, all four of the Fortune Summoners were flung into the air in various states of distress. Arche simply reached back for the hilt of her sword, pressing a finger against a wind dust crystal and focusing. "Unison!" she shouted, mostly for flair, as he semblance copied the properties of the wind dust. She thrust one hand down as she reached the treeline, shooting a gust of wind to slow her descent... but she still wound up in a tree, as she hadn't actually practiced 'flying' like that yet. Still, it worked!
She tried to look around for her teammates, but she saw no sign of Sana or Stella. Chiffon, however, just hovered right up to her - after all, he could fly just as well in this world as he could in their own one. "Chiffon! Have you seen them?"
The young-looking faunus nodded. "They're fine! Sana... I think she cast her Shield spell? Which is weird because she doesn't have her stone, but, anyway, then she crashed into a tree and broke right through it, but she should be fine! And Stella just... used fire like a rocket? I didn't know she could do that."
Arche sighed with relief, then reached out to take Chiffon's hand - copying his semblance so the two of them could just fly down to the forest floor together. "Okay, let's go, partner!"
[-]
168.9 Masterweaver
[-]
The Face Of Revelation
Exposition, exposition, exposition...
Admittedly, it was interesting exposition. Turning Amity into a floating CCT tower? Bold, for baseline... although the fact that Dust tech didn't work outside the atmosphere gave her pause. Maybe a low-level stratellite, one that didn't go too high... only one though? That was worrisome.
"James..." Qrow's tone was accusing. "You don't need the whole military for this."
"I will for the next part. When I tell the world about Salem."
Oh.
Ruby kept herself from facepalming with sheer force of will. "Okay. Yeah, that..." She sighed. "That plan would have worked before the fall of Beacon."
James Ironwood turned his eyes upon her, an unspoken question in his gaze.
"...I agree that the world is ready to hear about Salem," Ruby began slowly, careful with her words. "In fact, I think you're overestimating how much panic that little revelation would bring-the unknown is often more horrifying than a known enemy. Putting a face to the constant Grimm attacks-even a face as terrifying as hers-would help collapse the vague worry of where they might come from next, would give people a sense of a goal, something to handle, something to do instead of just sit around and be helpless."
"I..." Blake glanced at Weiss, her ears folding back. "I can confirm that giving an unsure cause a named enemy does help alleviate some worries."
Weiss gave her a sympathetic smile and a forgiving nod.
"But the thing is..." Ruby paused for a moment. "...Well... In here, you're James Ironwood, the man who is clearly taking every death, every hit to the people under his protection and weighing them down in his heart. I can trust James Ironwood. But out there?" She wove a hand at the door. "Out there, the citizens of Remnant are facing General Ironwood, who mysteriously called back his army to occupy Atlas and locked it away from the world. When Yang said you were making people hate you, she was underselling it-people are calling you a tyrant. People are calling you paranoid. People are remembering that the Great War started with Mantle trying to restrict all expression, and wondering why there are drones patrolling the streets... You go out and tell the world about the immortal witch queen of the Grimm, and you're not going to get support-you're going to get thrown into an asylum, and those who supported you are going to be locked up unless they can prove they aren't crazy too."
James frowned. "If we don't unify the nations-"
"Look, your plan is a good one," Ruby said. "Really, it could work. But... it can't be you who tells the world about Salem. I'm sorry."
"And who would you suggest?" Winter demanded.
Ruby looked at her flatly. "On our way here, we passed by one of your performances. 'Failure to cooperate with the military is a punishable offense.' Take away the formality, and that's 'If we give you an order we expect you to obey, and if you don't we'll lock you up.' So, not you. Penny..."
She turned to the gynoid, who was smiling hopefully.
"...I say this very reluctantly, and with full knowledge that it is absolutely wrong and vile, but... there are enough people that would see Penny as just a machine to assume anything she did was just 'preprogrammed.'" Ruby's eyes softened as she watched Penny's expression fall. "The first step toward fixing a problem is acknowledging it, though. Maybe in a few years, Penny could be who you need, but... at the moment, it's best to look elsewhere for the person who might reveal Salem."
The blood-haired girl took a look around the room. "Honestly, I'm not sure anybody here has enough credit to pull what you need. Oscar? He's a random kid, at best. Qrow is just a Huntsman-an awesome huntsman, real hero, but we're looking for more than just somebody who saves lives, we need an icon." She gestured at Jaune and his team. "These three don't have any reputation at all-which is actually kind of good, since they can build up a reputation amongst the people, go out and help, like Penny's doing now that I think about it. But they're still not where you need them yet. And then there's us... team RWBY."
Ruby looked to her sister. "Yang... We didn't know about Emerald's hallucination semblance at the Vytal tournament, so people would probably remember her, ah, assaulting a seemingly innocent boy on global television." At Yang's cringe, she hastened on. "Still, with her amicable personality and willingness to provide emotional support, she could gain the reputation we need. Blake... huh." Ruby looked Blake over thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, with what happened in Mistral, Blake would have a lot of pull there. And in Menagerie, and-well, Vale would be covered by Glynda supporting whoever revealed Salem to the public, and Vacuo would pay attention to the novelty of Atlas lending credence to a faunus."
"Which presumes Atlas lets me speak at all," Blake pointed out uncomfortably. "That... may not be so easy."
"Yeah... that... is an issue." Ruby cleared her throat. "Weiss is absolutely a wonderful person who genuinely cares for whoever she meets, but the fact is we're talking about reputation aaaaaaand... she kind of hasn't shaken the shadow of Jacques' reputation yet, so..." She shrugged awkwardly at her partner's glare, though the conceding sigh made it clear her meaning was heard. "And then... well, there's me. I may have turned that dragon to stone-and the Leviathan, outside Argus-but nobody really knows that. To the rest of the world, I'm just an adorable girl with a big scythe."
She turned back to Ironwood. "I think you have to accept that for your plan to work, you need somebody from outside the military to do the talking. Somebody that the people can trust really will work for them, and has never hidden anything before. I... did hear a name on the way here-I mean, I don't know much about her, I only just heard about her today, but from what little I know, Robyn Hill might be your best bet on the Salem reveal plan."
Winter shook her head. "The more people we inform, the more points of failure this plan has."
"You can't do everything alone, Winter. And some things need more than just soldiers." Ruby considered the hologram of Amity. "We'd have to convince our speaker, obviously, but... we have enough small magic tricks that I think they could be open to the idea of a world beyond what they were taught. I guess it's... it's about building trust, ironically enough."
James had not said anything, just listening to her as she made her assessment. He still didn't say anything, tapping the control in his hand and walking over to the window as the holotable retracted back into the floor.
"...I only want what's best for the world."
Ruby took a breath, stepping toward the window herself. "...I may not know the depths of your guilt, James, but I know the type. I talked to Velvet right before the fall happened, and I figured out that whatever happened to Yang had happened to Coco too. I was in the service hallway, fighting Mercury and trying to get somewhere where I could warn everyone-all during Penny's fight, I could hear Port's announcements, and I just managed to get out right when-"
She glanced at Penny, who had curled in on herself slightly.
"...right when... that happened." A sigh escaped her lips. "If it had been two seconds earlier... or maybe if I'd been smart and called you, things could have been different. I heard that Pyrrha went up to the tower and I tried to help her and-and I got to watch her be immolated by Cinder Fall. I am the leader of Team RWBY, I'm responsible for all of them, but I've failed them all-I couldn't stop Yang losing her arm, or Blake being hunted, or Weiss being-"
She paused, looking back at Winter, who was staring at her in vague horror.
"...Or... Weiss being impaled, during the battle of Haven."
The elder Schnee inhaled sharply.
"...Knocked out for two minutes," Ruby explained. "And when I came to, it had already happened." She turned back to Ironwood. "I get it, James. Everyone who suffered, who died during the Fall of Beacon... that guilt is weighing on your heart, maybe so much more than the guilt of my failed responsibilities do to me. And you want to do something to make it all right, to make up for that massive failure."
The general stared out the window, unmoving.
"But... I read a line in a book once. 'That which redeems consumes.' It... it meant that people who sought absolution above all else, who let the weight of the past determine their future, would grow blind to what existed in the present. Your plan is wonderful, James-even just the tower alone, that's amazing, and telling the world about Salem will work. You just have to accept that, for now, you need to take your hands off the wheel. That you may not be the one to make up for the pain everyone felt during that tragedy. We'll make sure this works out." She put a gentle hand on his arm. "You can trust us, I promise."
The general stared out the window...
...and James, slowly, let out a breath. "...I suppose I should consider your words. Still... if you are willing to help, then, for now, our goal should be to get the tower ready for launch."
Ruby nodded. "Tell us how we can help."
[-]
168.10 Masterweaver
[-]
A Whole New World: Points of Review, Part 1
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
A flurry of rosepetals coalesced into a blood-haired girl, who fell into lockstep alongside the pale-skinned girl checking a pane of plastic. "Hey Weiss, what's up?"
"Just working on the usual SDC reform program," Weiss replied, glancing up from the screen for a moment. "Oh, and our visitors are about to meet up."
"One of these days I'll get you to teach me how to be a jedi."
"Never," Weiss declared casually. "You'd just abuse the power for cookies and shipping."
Ruby crossed her arms with a huff, but didn't object.
The heiress hung her screen from her hip, finally deigning to look up. "What do you think of them so far?"
"Their landing strategies were haphazard," Ruby replied, "but not non-existent. It took them all a moment or two to figure out what was going on and then a moment or two more to adapt. Focused more on surviving the landing then controlling it."
"You think they're used to long falls?"
Ruby waggled a hand. "I think they're used to falls under their control. They could probably jump down the cliff easy, but being flung off made them panic. Arche recovered and managed to stop herself, Chiffon can fly... I saw Stella watching Yang use Ember Cecilia before mimicking her with those fire Dust infused handwraps she wears."
"That would explain the moment of realization I felt from her," Weiss mused. "If they really are from a medieval loop, they might not have been aware of the idea of rockets before now."
"Sana had the weakest response. She just curled up and had her shield semblance tank it. At least," Ruby added, "it felt like a semblance, but she did go through a motion-"
"Spell-to-semblance translation, perhaps?"
"Maybe."
Weiss nodded. "The other three all started headed for her location when they landed, I can sense that. Either she's the most important, or the least combative. In any case, they seem to want her protected the most."
"Definitely companions, they were reassuring each other when they saw the catapults go off."
"Hey hey!" Yang called as she and Blake emerged from the trees. "What are you two rapscallions doing out here?"
"Stalking little girls," Ruby replied with a smirk. "You two finished your makeout session already?"
Blake rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ruby, we're holding off. Are we going to shadow our visitors?"
Ruby turned to Weiss, who shut her eyes briefly. "...The four of them are meeting up. Pretty far from the temple, but close enough to where JNPR is." She pulled out the pane of plastic, tapping it. "I'll send them a message."
[-]
168.11 Masterweaver
[-]
A Brief Respite
"There's the cafeteria... and over there's the training rooms... oh! And over there are the classrooms!"
Ruby shook off her weariness to smile broadly. "Wow, this all looks great, Penny!" She glanced back at her team, huffing a small laugh at Nora's leaning half-awake on Ren. "But I think most of us are running on too little charge right now to fully appreciate it. Is there any place we can stick these sleepyheads?"
"Oh! As the most well-funded academy in Remnant, every team in Atlas gets their own room! And if that wasn't enough-"
"So we'll be staying in the dorms," Ren said flatly.
There was an awkward moment where Penny didn't make any move. Then she flung her arms wide. "It'll be just like Beacon again!"
Ruby shook her head, even as Nora fell to the ground. "Yeah... well..." She drew herself up. "Why don't you all get the room numbers? I'm, uh... I'll be up in a bit."
Weiss managed to shake herself, giving her a look. "Ruby-"
"I just..." Ruby managed a small smile. "I just want a small talk with Penny, you know."
"...okay." Weiss nodded. "We'll clear out for that."
It didn't take long for Penny and Ruby to be the only ones left in the hall. Ruby cleared her throat. "So... about... what I said back in the office-"
"It's alright, Ruby." Penny shook her head. "I... understand. And you made it clear that you didn't believe I'm just a-"
"That... well, that wasn't what I was talking about, but yeah, I'm definitely going to try to work on that wherever I see it." Ruby sighed. "I was more... talking about, uh, bringing up the Vytal tournament."
Penny's smile, already lessened, fell away completely. "Oh."
A hand held her shoulder gently. "I'm sorry. I... I shouldn't have brought it up like that. I know that the rest of us suffered a lot, and-and just throwing that memory out there-"
"Ruby, were you... were you really fighting to warn everyone? Did that actually happen?"
"Yeah." Ruby nodded. "It did."
"...thank you."
"I... I just wish I could have..." Ruby took a breath. "Look, Penny, if you ever need to talk. About anything, at all. You know I'm always ready to listen, right?"
"Thank you, Ruby, but... well, the Vytal Tournament was a while ago. I think I'm-"
"It doesn't have to be about that. It can be about literally anything. Weapons, cute boys, cute girls... nightmares... loneliness..."
Penny blinked when Ruby suddenly wrapped her in a hug.
"I-I missed you," the blood-haired girl admitted. "I missed you and I didn't-I didn't think you could come back. And-and you seem so much happier now, and I'm happy you've found a place, but I'm worried that something's going to happen again with everything going on and I just want to make sure you're okay, that you-"
"Ruby..." Penny, awkwardly, wrapped her arms around her. "It's alright. I'm alright. We can catch up tomorrow, when you've rested."
"I think when I go to sleep, I'll be back in Beacon again," Ruby admitted.
"In your dreams?"
"...Something like that." Ruby shook her head. "Penny... you once said you wanted to stay at Beacon. That you had a plan-"
"-that doesn't matter anymore. Not after..." Penny paused for a moment, before pushing Ruby back gently. "I... think it might be best to talk about this later."
Ruby swallowed. "Okay... yeah. Later. Penny...?"
"Yes?"
She caressed her cheek for a moment, trying to find something to say, before shaking it off. "I am... I'm really glad you got another chance. I hope things go better this time around." A small laugh escaped her lips. "This time... well, I'll make things go better."
"We will make things better."
"Yeah. We will." Ruby broke off reluctantly. "Well... goodnight. Sweet dreams-if, you know, you have those. I should shut up now."
Penny giggled. "I don't mind. Good night, friend Ruby."
Ruby turned around, swaying lightly as she walked down the hall. When she made it to the dorm she would be staying in, she found her team already slumbering. Her eyes went out the window to the shattered moon.
"Hey, Marianne. I'm going to try to stay up till the expansion ends. Just... just to know when it ends." Her eyelids fluttered, and she shook her head. "So, don't worry. Just this once. If I can't... tell me, how long."
A smile formed on her lips. "So much exposition... but at least Penny's back. At least..."
Without willing it, her body had stumbled into the spare bed.
"...worry about it next loop..."
[-]
168.12 YukiAkuma
[-]
A Whole New World: Stella Gets All The Badass Rescue Moments
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
Sana was stooped down, head bowed down and arms atop it to curl her up into a fetal ball. Around her, to a distance of about two meters, was a sparkling, light blue line on the ground, forming a circle around her. And just outside the circle... Grimm. Wolf-like monsters, as well as a few boar-like ones, and a single bear-like creature. The circle was somehow holding them at bay.
It was Sana's semblance. She remembered that her pre-Awake self had named it 'Safety Bubble'. A mostly-invisible dome she could project around herself or other people that kept out the Grimm. It was supposed to keep her safe, but...
They had her surrounded. She couldn't move it - trying to force Safety Bubble past something it was keeping out simply broke the shield and let things through it. So she was stuck here, all alone in the forest, surrounded on all sides by creatures that wanted to eat her. And, what's worse, she knew that being scared simply attracted more of them, but... how could she not be scared? The moment her aura ran out, the bubble would fail and...
She didn't have Eolamest. All she had was this useless staff. She couldn't do magic with it, just... hit things. And these stupid lanky arms and legs kept getting in the way so she couldn't even do that! She was completely helpless without her friends to support her!
This was a mistake. Why did her unAwake self even consider becoming a huntress? She should've just become a doctor!
"FLAME!" yelled a hearteningly familiar voice. One of the wolflike monsters promptly exploded into a cloud of black mist as four large fireballs pelted into it in quick succession. Above the heads of the surrounding Grimm came Stella, performing a rocket-assisted corkscrew jump to land deftly within the circle of protection.
Since when was Stella that acrobatic?
"Sana Poanet! On your feet!" Sana couldn't help but clamber to her feet in response. Stella put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you, or are you not, a student of the Minasa-Ratis Magic School?"
Sana swallowed. "Y-yes?"
"And are you, or are you not, the most talented student in class when it comes to magic?" Stella continued.
"Wh-what? No! You're much better than I am-" Sana began, before Stella cut her off.
"I possess one of the four Great Elemental Stones, crafted by Minasa-Ratis herself, to house the immense power of the King of Fire, Algorn. You wield a mass-produced model, and yet, your power is equal to mine."
Sana swallowed. "...Okay, maybe, but... what does that matter? I don't have Eolamest, so I can't do magic!"
Stella grinned, looking out at the snarling Grimm still pinned back by Sana's semblance. She barely had to concentrate to keep it going. Stella would never admit it, but she actually admired Sana. Which is why it annoyed her so much to see her acting this way. "You may not have Eolamest. But you have 'Safety Bubble'. And you have Pharos. Tell me... what does your weapon do?"
"It..." Sana looked down at the staff in her hands. It was large, composed of brass, with a four-coloured sphere adorning the head made out of water, ice, wind and hard-light dust crystals. "It... it channels the dust through my semblance to alter its properties. Right?"
Stella nodded. "Right. That's how you cast Shield earlier. But it has more controls, doesn't it? What do they do?"
Sana frowned, concentrating on her loop memories. "It can... shoot projectiles of..." she trailed off, then looked down at her feet. "...Oh. Right."
Stella stifled her chuckle. "You have to remember to check through your new memories as soon as you can, Poanet. Come on, you've been doing this much longer than me."
Sana rubbed the back of her head. "Eheh..."
Stella looked at the grimm still surrounding them. "Well. Shall we?"
Sana gripped her staff tightly, then nodded. She dropped the protection of her Safety Bubble... and immediately launched a barrage of ice crystal projectiles. "DIAMOND DUST!" she shouted, mostly for the flair of it.
Stella spun around and held out her hands, projecting her aura along the veins of fire dust in her clothes, before loosing forth a gout of flame. "INFERNO!" she shouted... again, mostly for the fun of it.
Their reunion really hadn't been as emotional as Arche was expecting. Mostly because almost immediately they were set upon by even more monsters. Why were there so many? It was...
Well, really, it was reminding Arche of home. Except these monsters were way creepier.
Four wolf-like things, three pig-like things, and a bear-like thing. They were really way more coordinated than any monsters back home - even the ones who were supposed to be people-like!
"Okay team, let's show these creepy monsters what we can do!" Arche yelled merrily, drawing her sword and promptly leaping into the fray. Chiffon rose up into the air, javelin clutched in hand as he looked this way and that. Sana and Stella both turned to each side and ran to engage other targets.
The three girls approached this like any monster fight back home - all focus on individual targets and support each other as necessary. The only real difference was that Chiffon now actually had a weapon to use, so he could pitch in physically rather than being limited to shouting warnings and encouragement.
Arche couldn't dispatch these monsters with a single swing like she often could at home. A lunging slash at a beowolf cut into the beast's flesh, followed swiftly by a kick to the midsection as she recovered her sword. Then, she dodged the lupine beast's retaliation before smacking it in the face with the pommel of her sword, then brought the sword up above its head - borrowing Chiffon's semblance for additional height - and plunged it down through the beast's skull. Arche then moved on to the next monster before the beowolf even hit the ground.
Stella meanwhile pummelled her porcine opponent with projectiles. A swift wave of her hand erected a wall of flame between her and an onrushing wolf, while she did her best to keep her distance from the boarbatusk. These monsters seemed to work together more than the ones back home, but Stella was confident she could handle this situation with her friends around.
The boarbatusk suddenly rolled into a ball to charge at her. Stella yelped, unable to avoid the sudden surge of speed, taking a boney pig face right to the chest and sprawling. "Stella!" gasped Chiffon - reacting a little too slow to save her, but hurling his javelin down into the path of the porcine creature to stop it from following up with another attack.
Stella struggled to her feet, using Chiffon's javelin for support. "Note to self. The pig ones are faster than they look. Ugh..." She took a step back, manifesting a flame from one of her ribbons and lashing out at the porcine menace - hoping to create a whip of flames in order to keep something dangerous between herself and her foe while fighting it. To her surprise, it actually worked first try - apparently, this was something her preAwake self already knew how to do.
With this weapon it should be easier to keep her distance. Hopefully.
Chiffon called his javelin back to his hand using the gravity dust. "Sana, behind you!" he called out, as a large bear-like monster approached her from behind. The mage turned and yelped - but then Arche ran in and leapt on the ursa's back.
Sana took a deep breath, then launched another barrage of ice at a wolflike monster while charging in to smack it with her staff. She might as well - Huntresses were apparently supposed to mix up melee and ranged combat, and she wasn't going to get any braver if she kept hiding behind her friends...!
All in all, the fight went... okay. A few injuries, but nothing Sana couldn't handle. Their coordination left something to be desired though...
[-]
168.13 RandomRex6
[-]
I Love Lamp...?
"Thank you for agreeing to see me in private, Miss Rose. Things in Atlas have been quite... loopy."
"Well, we all could use an anchor sometimes."
General Ironwood smiled briefly, only for it to falter. "I suppose you're curious why I wanted to talk so early in the loop."
He had a point. The man had only just arrived at Beacon, after all. But Ruby had his number. "Expansion stuff?"
The General nodded. "I stealthed the last time through. And once I did, I had Penny show me the back-ups."
The red-haired reaper grew sheepish, rubbing her shoulder. "I'm sorry. Baseline me-"
"Has every right to be cautious," Ironwood replied, cutting her off, "my Baseline self's actions, while having a logic to them, are controversial and carry a great deal of risk. I may not trust him with all the information either, as depressing as that sounds."
"Well, he's still trying," Ruby offered. "I think his heart's in the right place, at least."
The General's face grew grim. "I would hope. But this gave me doubt." And with those words, the cyborg pulled a familiar lamp from his subspace pocket.
Ruby quilted an eyebrow. "Wait, the relics-"
"Can't be pocketed," the General finished. "I chose to stealth, but I Woke Up preparing to give you this instead of the real lamp."
"Oh..." Ruby answered in contemplation. "I mean, this early, that's gotta be loop-variable, but that's... not impossible either."
"And given Jinn's warning last Volume, there's no way to check without using the last question."
"Yeah, I don't know what she'd do to me, but I don't wanna find out," the supposedly young huntress agreed.
"I can't be certain what my Baseline self is doing right now. Call this an olive branch. However cautious you feel you need to be, I understand completely."
Ruby nodded. "Thank you, sir."
The serious discussion ended, Ironwood's expression relaxed. "Thank you for your time, Miss Rose. I had lunch with Penny and her father planned for today. You're welcome to join us."
Ruby, too, grew a bit more jovial at that. "Yeah. Always happy for family time. These expansions aren't looking like they'll be easy."
"Are they ever?"
"I miss Chibi," Ruby grumbled.
[-]
168.14 Masterweaver
[-]
A Whole New World: Points of Review, Part 2
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
"Hokay, those kids have got it," said the ginger girl hiding behind the trees, grinning as she watched the visitors walk off. "Did you see the way Arche was flying all around the place, Ren?"
"Yes, Nora, she was quite adept." The dark-haired boy in an elegant green shirt hummed thoughtfully. "A semblance that lets her borrow power from others... quite the telling ability."
"And the way that Stella was using her aura to make whole walls and whips of fire-"
"That felt rather odd to me, actually. She didn't figure it out right away, suggesting that her aura-shaping semblance is something she didn't have before this loop, and even when she did there were... patterns. She's certainly good with moving fire, but I suspect she has a rather limited experience with shaping it."
"Maybe she's just used to casting fireballs? She fights like an RPG magic user, you know, all dramatic gestures and declarations of intent. Sana sort of fought like that too, when she wasn't focused on helping the others. Dunno about Chiffon, though, he was... strange. What do you think, Pyrrha?"
"Darting in and out like that?" A girl in leather and bronze armor adjusted her position in the branches, flicking her long red ponytail out of the way. "Mmm... not very skilled with his javelin. But intelligent enough to stay out of the way. I think he's used to being in fights, but not to fighting himself-maybe he's the party mascot? But that does lead into what bothers me... did you see it too, Jaune?"
The blonde boy next to her nodded. "They weren't fighting together."
Nora gaped. "What? But they didn't get in each other's way, right?"
"Yes, but that just meant they were fighting around each other," Jaune explained. "Stella could have used her fire magic to set up some of the beowolves for Arche to kill, but she just kept splitting some off the group for herself-and Arche didn't even bother saying 'that one's mine' when she charged the ursa. The others went with it, without really adapting a strategy to the situation. Chiffon was in the air, but aside from shouting warning he didn't do any coordinating at all. Even Sana didn't pay any more attention then she needed to; she just fought Grimm until she heard one of the others shout in pain, and then rushed over to patch them up instead of staying close enough to be ready at all times."
"Skilled fighters individually," Pyrrha summed up, "and definitely used to combat, but not to building off each other's strengths. Probably good at fighting a horde of smaller monsters, but would be hard-pressed to slay a dragon together. There's enough mutual respect for a group, but not enough working together for a team."
"About what I would say," Jaune agreed.
Nora huffed. "Oh. Yeah, that could be a problem... so what do we do?"
Jaune hummed thoughtfully. "...Ren, did you kill the Taijitu yet?"
"No, Nora and I detoured to meet up with you."
"And the Death Stalker is still in its cave..." Jaune nodded, pulling out a small plastic pane. "Hey Ruby? Yeah, I think we need to arrange a big finale to initiation. Here's the plan..."
[-]
168.15 SAXiao
[-]
Considerations
"Alright," Ruby pointed out to the rest of the assembled loopers, assembled in Ozpin's office. "I checked the backup for the latest expansion, and it shows that Watts has an area of effect around him, and he states that Mantle's code hasn't been updated, which implies he's been actively hacking into unsecured systems. If it's a part of his Semblance or something else, we don't know."
Her silver eyes lingered on Penny, and then return to the rest of the crowd. "Naturally, it will be a pain for the rest of us in-loop, but an important question now arises - how about those from out of loop? Until we know what his limits are, it would be safer to assume that out-of-loop technology can be threatened in the same matter." Murmurs of agreement sounded around her, as she deactivated her scroll showing Watts' casually enabling and disabling security measures around him.
"Therefore, until further notice, if you find yourself in a neighboring loop, notify their inhabitants that this will be a potentially upsetting quirk within our branch. I imagine the magic users won't have to worry too much about this, but some of the tech-heavy loops will definitely want to know and harden themselves against potential assaults when they visit."
Finishing her meeting, the usual dispersal began, with each looper departing by their own means. As RWBY and JNPR headed towards their classes alongside Sun, Raven cut open a portal back to her camp, while offering Ghira and Kali a closer stopover to Menagerie. This left Ozpin, Glynda, Qrow, and James to ponder about what was to come.
[-]
168.16 YukiAkuma
[-]
A Whole New World: Yin and Yang
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
They knew they had to go north, so north they went. The going was tough, but they were used to this - although Sana did keep almost tripping over her own feet. But she'd get used to being tall eventually. Hopefully.
"There's a clearing that way," Chiffon said, dropping down from the canopy above and pointing north-east. "It has this old ruiny looking thing and a bunch of short pillars with thingies on them!"
"Thingies," Stella said, flatly.
"Yep! Black and gold and white... shaped thingies."
"I guess those are the relics? Okay team, let's go!" Arche shouted, pointing forward with her sword. Just in time to catch sight of something in the reflection of the blade. "Sana, shield!" she shouted quickly while backflipping away - just in time to avoid a giant black snake from skewering her with its fangs.
Spang! went Sana's hastily activated semblance as the King Taijitu bounced off of it. Sana winced with effort as she felt her aura draining. So that's what happened if a Grimm actually tried to cross the barrier...
Arche dove headfirst at the giant snake, sword at the ready for a powerful, wide swing - before Chiffon cried out "Wait, there's another one, watch out!" from the air. A white giant snake head was lunging at Arche. Time seemed to slow down as Arch reached out a hand towards Chiffon, trying to borrow his semblance, but he was out of range.
Stella, reacting swiftly, erected a wall of fire between Arche and the second head of the King Taijitu. Arche smacked into the first head side-on rather than with her sword, bounced off, and landed on her feet. She glanced from the first, black head, to this new white one.
Sana could see that her friend was being indecisive - and she knew that could be deadly, so she suddenly stepped up. "Arche, take the black one! Chiffon, you're on the white one!" Both nodded in response and leapt into action, Arche swinging her sword over her head while Chiffon used the gravity dust of his javelin to pull himself towards his foe in a high-speed charge.
"Stella, provide battlefield support and attack whichever target presents itself. I'll focus on defensive support!"
Stella nodded her head. She hadn't expected this from Sana, but... well, she was smart, and she had been stuck in these time loops for a lot longer than Stella had. "Got it."
Sana gripped her staff. This was going to work. This strange new world, it... it encouraged cooperation, somehow. That's why huntresses worked in teams, wasn't it? They had grown complacent, fighting the same monsters over and over back home. Maybe... maybe that was why they had come here in the first place?
Or maybe she was reading too much into things.
The black head lunged at Arche, snapping Sana out of her thoughts and spurring her to action. "Shield!" she called, focusing her semblance through the hard-light dust in her staff and projecting it around Arche. It was far more aura-efficient to do that than to use it normally, she was pretty sure...
Arche grinned, holding up one hand to block the giant snake - which she wouldn't be able to do without Sana's projection, but with it? She caught the snake by one of its teeth and grinned at it. It tried to bite down, of course, but she was expecting it, so she let go quickly, gripped her sword with both hands, and gave the snake a jumping downwards stab to the top of its skull. Not enough force to actually get all the way through its skull, but it still reeled backwards, launching Arche up into the air.
Chiffon was taunting the white head, hovering out of its reach and poking it with his javelin every time it overextended itself - and hurling his javelin at its unprotected flank whenever it tried to turn for Stella or Sana. Stella was using her flames to corral the beast, keeping it away from her and Sana and keeping the opposite heads away from the wrong target. Fire walls, patches of burning ground and whips of flame, deftly using both hands to cast her 'spells' in rapid succession. All the while, she shouted taunts at the creature, although she wasn't really sure if it understood or not. Still, it made her feel better!
Sana kept watch, standing far back to give her a good view of the battle. Her abilities were mostly defensive in nature, and any ranged attack she could make used precious aura she could use to protect her friends, so this was the best use of her talents, right?
And then she saw it. The beast, a two-headed snake, was being pulled in opposite directions, leaving its midsection exposed. "Arche, Chiffon, spread out!" she called out, while manipulating the discrete controls on her staff, twisting the orb so the right dust crystal was over the lens, and...
"DIAMOND SPEAR!" Sana called out to the heavens. This... wasn't actually the name of a spell she knew, but she felt it was appropriate. A hard-light hologram coalesced into being above the King Taikitu, a scaled-up version of one of her ice projectiles. She twisted the orb again, filling the construct with ice, before cutting the power to the hard light crystal and letting it fall.
The icicle slammed down into the middle of the giant snake, causing both heads to rear up in pain and anger, exposing their soft underbellies. Immediately, Arche made a wide, arcing swing, while Chiffon charged in with the full power of his gravity spear...
The giant snake's black head thudded and skidded across the ground, while the rest of it writhed and flailed about, javelin thrust right through its jaw and into its brain, before it went limp.
Sana promptly fell to the ground, exhausted. Okay, that was way too much aura on one attack... so glad she didn't miss.
[-]
The four Minasa-Ratis Magic School students (well, three students and a 'class pet') stood by the steps to the stage, listening to the headmaster assigning team names. Team Cardinal, Team Juniper, and now Weiss and her friends were apparently Team... Ruby? But wasn't Ruby the name of one of them? That was confusing.
And then it was their turn. The four of them took to the stage, standing at-ease like the other students had. "Arche Plumfield, Sana Poanet, Stella Meyberk, Chiffon Ratis. The four of you retrieved the white bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as..." Pause for dramatic effect, as the acronym 'PACS' appeared on the screen. "Team Patches, lead by..."
Both Arche and Stella were clearly expecting their names to be read out. Ozpin gave a tiny little smirk. "Sana Poanet."
Sana looked up at the screen, then back to Ozpin in clear confusion. "Wh... what? Me? But-"
"Congratulations, young lady," Ozpin said, mildly. "You will do your team proud, I'm sure."
Stella was staring at Sana, while Arche grinned and hugged her and Chiffon cheered and clapped. Why would... why would she be the leader?
[-]
168.17 Masterweaver
[-]
Let's table the drama for now
James Ironwood checked an alert on his scroll and hummed thoughtfully. "Penny?"
"Yes general?"
"We've been having a loopy conversation for the past ten minutes, haven't we?"
Penny blinked for a moment, then crossed her arms. "You were stealthing?"
"I knew somebody would try this eventually," he replied, raising his scroll and showing the image on it. "I thought it would be Ilia first, honestly."
Penny sighed as she watched the image of her girlfriend struggling with a meter-long crowbar embedded into the center of the Atlas headmaster's office. "You know, when Ruby asked me to distract you, I thought she had a better plan..."
"Moving on to tables, though. First Salem's, and now this." James watched Ruby put her weight on the crowbar, face straining with effort. "Do you think I should go tell her I know what she's doing?"
"...If you leave the room, I'm obligated to warn her you're coming," Penny informed him.
"Well, a sedate walk wouldn't hurt me, now would it?"
"Of course not. Ah... Generuncle Jamie?"
"Yes Penny?"
Penny managed an awkward smile. "Could you... go easy on teasing her, maybe?"
James quirked an eyebrow.
"I mean... come on. She goes through a lot, anyway, and-and with what happened just before the expansions started, and... and the way the expansions are looking... it's good for her to get back into looping shenanigans, right?"
"...I'll pretend to be oblivious," James conceded. "She'll probably appreciate the comedy in that after the fact."
Penny sighed. "Thanks."
[-]
168.18 Masterweaver
[-]
A Whole New World: A Helping Hand
[RWBY][Fortune Summoners]
The afterparty was as hectic as ever. People congratulating each other for passing initiation, new students trying to socialize with upper-years, a few less-than-decent people being told by their peers in no uncertain terms that shaping up was mandatory...
"Soooooooooo..." Ruby sidled up to Sana. "How are you handling things?"
"I... I'm very confused," Sana admitted. "I mean, there's so much that's different from Scotsholm, but then there are things that are... almost the same? The monsters here aren't like the ones back home, the magic is different, and... and I'm so tall! Why am I so tall?!"
"Quirk of Remnant," Ruby explained casually. "We have slightly longer limbs then hub-standard humans-but yeah, even for us you're kind of willowy. What are you, six foot four?"
Sana gripped her staff tightly. "Um. Well... I'm usually not, uh..."
"Not as old as you are now?"
"Yes."
"Yang noticed you tripping up a bit," Ruby explained, her eyes sympathetic. "The others are kids too, huh?"
"We're... eight to ten, most of us. Chiffon is a lot older, but... he spent a lot of time locked in, uh, stasis? And when he woke up he had no memories."
Ruby nodded slowly. "You know, I wish I could say this wasn't normal. Some universes... some loops, you'll Wake Up and you won't be in your usual body. Do you... uh... need me to explain the differences between a child's body and-?"
"N-no," Sana assured her quickly. "I was training to be a healer back home, I know all about... that." A blush came to her cheeks. "The others... might not, we never, uh, talked about it..."
"Well, uh..." Ruby cleared her throat. "If you need to have that sort of talk, uh, maybe ask them to check their loop memories. There should be, you know, recollections of explanations. In there. Since... they're old enough."
"Right. Yes, that... that will make things less... awkward."
The two of them avoided looking at each other for a few seconds.
"Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo." The girl with blood-red hair cleared her throat. "I guess fighting the Grimm must have been a new experience for you, huh?"
"Well, sort of. The monsters back home aren't nearly as coordinated." Sana shook her head. "We're used to each of us being able to do their own thing, but with these Grimm we had to watch for each other. That big snake thing..." Her fingers fiddled with the crystal atop her staff, absently. "If we hadn't figured out how to work on it together, we could have..." She swallowed.
"Yeah..." Ruby bit her lip. "Do you think the others would react well if I said that teams RWBY and JNPR were watching you the whole time, just to make sure you didn't get into trouble you couldn't handle?"
Sana blinked, staring down at the girl. "You were watching us?"
"First fused loop, and you have to fight Grimm? Of course we'd keep an eye out for you guys!" She snapped her fingers. "Which reminds me, we still have to explain the loops to you four! I think Pyrrha's probably staked out a lecture hall for us."
She paused for a moment, before wrapping Sana in a tight embrace. Sana blinked for a moment, hesitantly returning it.
"There's a lot of scary stuff out there," Ruby murmured quietly. "But we'll... we're here to help you now, and get you ready for it. We won't be able to help you forever, but you'll be safe on Remnant, I promise."
Sana took a moment to steady herself. "...thank you." She clung to the smaller girl gently. "It'll be nice to finally know what's happening..."
[-]
168.19 Rockman1159
[-]
Reflections
"So," Ozpin said, "Ironwood returned the Lamp to you."
"Yeah, it was honestly a bit of a surprise. I would have expected him to have it stored in a secure location," said Ruby.
Ozpin hummed. "It also directly mirrors my actions after the train crash."
"How do you mean?"
"They are the same, but opposite."
"Your right I never thought about it like that."
"Something to think on I suppose," Ozpin mused.
[-]
168.20 YukiAkuma
[-]
A Whole New World: Motivational Speech
[Fortune Summoners][RWBY]
"Now, in summary..." Pyrrha said, standing at the front of the lecture hall with Team Patches seated in the front row. "Stella." The blonde-haired girl who reminded her quite a lot of Weiss sat up straight. "What is Yggdrasil?"
"Yggdrasil is simultaneously a transdimensional tree and also the counting machine that calculates every universe," Stella responded primly.
"Well, in this Branch we would call it a computer, but yes, correct," Pyrrha responded. Stella beamed. "Now... speaking of Branches... Sana. Can you tell me the purpose of an Anchor?"
The blue-garbed medic sat up straight. "It's to... make a world stable, right?"
Pyrrha nodded. "Yes. An Anchor... well, anchors a Branch to the 'trunk' of Yggdrasil and prevents it from becoming destabilized. This is why any given Branch requires an Anchor to run a loop, although it doesn't necessarily require its own native Anchor. Chiffon... hmm. Can you tell me what a Subspace Pocket is for?"
The lone boy of the group tilted his head to one side - causing his adorable floppy bunny ears to flop to the side as well. "Iiit's to... hold... things? So you can get something in one loop and then have it in another loop?"
Pyrrha giggled. "Well, yes, that's the selling point, but its purpose is to-"
"Offload a looper's growing power and mental focus so that it doesn't destabilize the Branch," Stella interrupted.
"...Yes. Very good, Stella," Pyrrha said, doing her best to hide her slight annoyance at being interrupted. "Now, Arche..." The girl in pink didn't respond. "...Arche? Arche!"
Arche jumped. "H-huh?"
"Have you been paying attention?" Pyrrha asked, doing her best not to sound like an actual teacher... and failing.
"N- I mean, yes! Umm. Yig-drizzle is broken and that means time is looping forever and there's nothing we can do about it so why bother?" Arche responded.
Pyrrha sighed a little. "Well, it may seem that way, but if you take the time to study the specifics there are actually a few things you can do to make the Admins' work easier-"
Arche grumbled and crossed her arms. "Can't Stella or Sana do it? I'm not good at thinky stuff." Stella slumped down in her seat and sighed, while Sana frowned and looked over towards Arche.
"Really?" She was wondering when this topic would come up. She crossed her arms. "Then what are you good at, Arche Plumfield?"
Arche slumped down in her chair. Even though Pyrrha wasn't much older than her - at least, judging by Arche's loop memories, they were both seventeen - it still felt like a much older girl was giving her a hard time. "Well, you know. Fighting, and... adventure, and stuff like that."
Pyrrha approached Arche, stooping down to put herself at eye level with the seated girl. "Arche, I've seen you fight. You may claim to not be good at... 'thinky stuff'. But the way you fight tells a different story. You're very deliberate. Your fighting style is clearly the result of years of formal training and practice." Pyrrha stood up. "You... analyze. I see it in your eyes. A lot of fighters get laser-focused on their opponent to the point where they can miss things that should be obvious, but you always scan your surroundings. You use terrain to your advantage. Even your acrobatics serve a purpose. Your fighting style may be flashy but it's also very scientific."
"All of your attacks are deliberate. You have a number of very specific swings and stabs for different situations. I would hazard that you have... very little natural talent. Perhaps none at all!" Arche pouted, while Pyrrha made her way back to the front of the class. "But, you see, there lies your strength; you don't rely on instinct, so you don't get sloppy. You have no idea how to fight without thinking, so you're always thinking." Pyrrha crossed her arms. "So, no, I think it's unfair to say you're not good at 'thinky stuff'. You're clearly quite intelligent. It's more that you're not interested."
Pyrrha smirked. "What if I were to tell you that the information I'm trying to teach you will help you protect the people you care about?" Arche sat up. There. That's how to motivate her. "Well, then. Now that Arche is paying attention... from the top!"