A/N: Hey everybody! How's everything going? Hope everyone's doing well, because I've got a new chapter at the ready for you guys! Again, like I said before, this one's leaning back into the casual side of things, but there will be some important things to be seen in this one. So, let's get to it. This is…
Chapter 84: News from the Other Side
…..
To say that Rex would often get in over his head in some situations would probably be an understatement. He knew that facing near-impossible odds was part of his job description and he always worked hard to overcome them… usually after getting his butt handed to him. But there were just some things that Rex had to concede defeat on, and right now, as he gazed at the battle playing out before him, he knew that his was probably one of those times. "Alright, I've gotta admit, I think Weiss may've out done us here."
"That's probably safe to say." Holiday agreed, her eyes also concentrated on the sparring session between the heiress and her sister. "Kind of hard to beat this."
Next to them, Penny nodded in agreement. "Indeed. It's quite amazing isn't it?"
Near the very edge of the backyard, the two Schnee sisters were facing off, not just in a battle of blades, but a battle of Summons as well. As their respective weapons clashed against each other, so too did their most powerful Grimm. Weiss had successfully summoned the Arma Gigas again, the sentient armor keeping a strong grip on its sword as it attacked its opponent. As for Winter, she chose to summon a Grimm that Rex had never seen before; a Manticore. It appeared to be a large lion-like beast with two large horns on its head, a set of feathered wings on its back and a scorpion tail, making it one of the deadliest Grimm that either Rex or Holiday had ever seen. The Manticore was currently biting at the Arma Gigas' arm, tackling it to the ground just as Winter pressed her blades against Weiss' own, pushing the heiress back.
Winter let out a breath, but kept her determined face about her. "Had enough yet, little sister?" she asked.
Weiss also gave a small sigh, though she too was intent on not giving up. "Are you kidding?" she replied as a bead of sweat trickled down her face. "I'm not about to give up!" Weiss gathered up enough strength to push her sister back and leap away, her head whipping over to the Arma Gigas. "You've got this! I know you do!" she encouraged.
With its mistress' words, the Arma Gigas felt a surge of new energy flow through it, giving it enough strength to push back against the Manticore. It raised its sword above its head and bashed the pommel against the Manticore's face, making it open its mouth and let go of its arm. The sentient armor then took a hold of its sword with two hands and began slicing at the beast, making it roar out in pain.
Rex winced at just how much force was behind those few strikes. "Man! Can't imagine what it'd be like on the receiving end of that."
"It's alright." Penny assured. "Winter's not out just yet."
Winter moved around and pointed one of her swords at the Grimm. "Fly up!"
The Manticore's eyes flashed at that single command before following her orders to a T. With a low growl, the Manticore spread its wings and flew into the air, leaving the Arma Gigas on the ground. It glowered at the sentient armor before opening its mouth, both to let out a loud roar and prepare for its next attack. In no time at all, a powerful blue flame appeared in its maw. The beast lurched its head forward, sending the fire breath attack at the Arma Gigas.
"Counter!" Weiss exclaimed. The Arma Gigas responded immediately to her order, raising its sword up and bringing it down in an arcing swing just as the fire breath closed in on it. The blade made contact with the flame, resulting in the sword itself catching on fire. This served to make Weiss smirk in satisfaction. "Alright! Now leap and strike—AH!"
The heiress was suddenly cut off when her sister resumed attacking her, the two going back to exchanging blows. Thankfully though, the Arma Gigas was able to hear her order clearly, and it craned its head up toward the Manticore while bending its knees. In a mighty leap, the sentient armor jumped up high into the air while reeling its flaming sword back, intending to slice cleanly through the flying beast.
Winter kept the pressure on her sister while giving her next command, not even glancing back to her Summon. "Close in and strike back!" At her words, the Manticore began to fly downward toward the Arma Gigas, raising its claws up to strike against it as well. The two Summons met in midair and struck against each other, landing on the ground a split second later.
The moment the two Grimm landed, Weiss and Winter stopped their dual for just a moment to see what the outcome was. It appeared almost as though neither of them had taken any damage… but then the Arma Gigas took a knee, making Weiss gasp slightly. However, almost immediately after that, Winter's Manticore fell to the ground before dissipating, the beast having been sliced cleanly in half at the torso by the giant sword. Weiss broke out into a grin and jumped up into the air, pumping a fist as she did. "YES! Haha! I can't believe I won!"
Winter lowered her head slightly at her defeat. But nevertheless, she still kept a full smile on her face. "Hm, good job, Weiss." she commended as she holstered her blades once more. She went over and placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, bringing her in for a small hug. "That was quite impressive. I can see the Arma Gigas has no problems taking orders from you."
Weiss nodded as the sentient armor stood up, placing the tip of its sword into the ground for support. "Thanks, Winter. I'm really glad I've finally got the hang of Summoning it." She gazed up and gave the Arma Gigas a nod. "Thank you, you're dismissed." The Arma Gigas nodded before dissipating as well, leaving the two sisters to themselves.
At least until Rex came running up. "HAHA! Weiss, that was amazing!"
"It was quite the spectacle." Holiday added as she and Penny came over as well. "And I've seen Rex fight EVOs that are the size of buildings, so you know I mean that."
Penny bowed her head to the Weiss in respect. "Your battle was quite sensational! Congratulations, Weiss." She then set her sights onto Winter and bowed to her as well. "And Winter, your Summoning skills were quite impressive as well. An excellent effort!"
"Thank you, Penny." Winter returned. "And I agree, it WAS a fine match." She directed her eyes toward her sister with pride. "Your technique is improving day by day, Weiss. You may just be catching up to me."
Weiss quickly waved away the notion. "Oh, hah, I don't know about that." She sheepishly denied. "I don't think I'm quite at your skill level just yet."
But Rex interjected just as fast. "Hey, I think it's pretty cool that you can just summon a giant suit of armor whenever you want!" he insisted. "If you ask me, that sounds pretty skillful."
The heiress couldn't help but give him a soft smile. "Well… I appreciate that, Rex. But I've still got a long way to go." She gestured over to where the battle had taken place. "After all, a big part of Summoning is being able to work WITH your Summon, not just giving them orders to do something."
Rex gave her a thumbs up. "Hey, I know you can do it, Ice Princess. You've got a knack for this kind of thing."
Weiss blushed a slight bit at that. "I suppose…"
"Plus, you're really stubborn." Rex winked cheekily. "Which means you won't be giving up so easily."
"What was that about "stubborn"?!" Weiss yelled, her face now red not out of embarrassment, but of anger. She pulled out Myrtenaster and summoned another glyph, bringing out a Boarbatusk. "You are SO in for it now, Robo-dolt! Attack!" With that order, the Boarbatusk curled up and began spinning rapidly, charging at the EVO soon after.
Rex let out a scream and activated his Rex Ride, turning the whole thing into one big chase around the backyard with the pig-like Grimm in hot pursuit. "Gah! C'mon, Weiss, can't ya take a little joke?!" Rex hollered over his engine.
Weiss simply crossed her arms and whipped her head up and away from his direction. "It's not nice to make jokes at someone's expense, Rex!"
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" Rex apologized. "Just please call off the bacon!"
As this went on, Holiday, Winter and Penny couldn't help but wear similarly amused smiles at all of this, the doctor in particular giving a small chuckle. "Haha, isn't young love just a wonderful thing?"
"Indeed, it is." Winter concurred before noticing two figures making their way down the forest path. "Oh! Gwen and Kevin are back…" However, her eyes widened when she noticed that Rex was speeding right toward the couple… and he wasn't looking where he was going. Winter's eyes widened in a panic and she shouted; "Rex! Watch out!"
"Huh?" Rex whirled his head around just in time to see Gwen and Kevin, the couple's eyes widening the moment they saw each other. "AAAHH!" Rex cried out in panic as he retracted his Ride back into himself, doing a midair flip before landing feet first on the ground. It wasn't exactly a pleasant landing, but he let out a relieved sigh regardless. "Phew! Man, that was…" But he trailed off when his ears were graced by something approaching from behind. His head snapped around just in time to see the Boarbatusk approaching fast, to which he could only utter; "…Meirda." before getting hit right in the rear by the spinning beast, sending him flying forward at blinding speed. "AAAAAAGH!"
Weiss put her hand over her eyes the moment he was hit, the heiress wincing hard at the scene. "Ah! That wasn't supposed to happen!"
Kevin took a step back as Gwen brought up a mana shield to protect them, the Anodite wearing a somewhat frustrated expression. The move proved to be effective as Rex faceplanted against the shield, though this resulted in his cheek pressed flat up against it with his tongue lolling out his mouth. Without a word, Rex's body slid down the mana shield and plopped down to the ground, landing on his already sore backside. "Ugh! Man, talk about a sudden stop." Rex commented before glancing back up to Gwen. "Hey, thanks for the save, Gwen."
Gwen raised a brow at him. "Sure, but would you mind telling me how that all happened in the first place?"
Rex scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh, you know, I was just telling Weiss how stubborn she was when it came to training."
"…And were those your exact words?" Gwen pressed further.
"Well… it may have started out as a bit of a tease, but—"
The Anodite groaned and rolled her eyes while Kevin gave him a deadpan expression. "Dude, think about how you choose your words, alright?" the Osmosian advised. "Telling a girl that she's stubborn doesn't land you any points."
Rex got up from the ground and dusted his pants of, his smile unwavering. "Ah, c'mon guys, I don't mean any harm in it, and I'm sure she knows it."
"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure she DOESN'T want to be constantly aggravated." Gwen emphasized. "Otherwise, why would she send that Boarbatusk after you?"
Rex's face fell and his gaze cast downward, exhaling through his nose all the while. "Yeah, I guess you got a point there."
"Rex!" The EVO's eyebrows snapped up and he turned around, just in time to see Weiss approaching him from behind. Winter, Holiday and Penny were coming over as well, but the heiress was way ahead of them. "I am SO sorry!" Weiss said as she came to a stop. "I just wanted to teach you a lesson, I didn't want the Boarbatusk to actually get to hit you!"
"O-Oh." Rex muttered in surprise. "You didn't?"
Weiss' hand went to the back of her neck. "No, I-I'm sorry." she apologized again.
There was a bit of a pause before Rex spoke up again. "Hey, if there's anyone who should be apologizing, it's me." He lowered his head to her. "I should probably watch what comes out of my mouth. From now on, no more teasing, I promise."
Needless to say, this took Weiss by surprise. On the one hand, a part of her was glad that he owned up to what he did. But on the other hand, she had somewhat gotten used to his good-natured riffing. Sure, sometimes he'd take it too far, but in the end, she could tell that he didn't mean any harm by it. Weiss glanced away a little bit as her blush returned. "Well… I wouldn't go THAT far."
It was then Rex's turn to be taken aback. "W-Wait, huh?"
"Listen," Weiss raised a single finger up to him, "so long as you don't go overboard, you're fine. Just… be smart about the words you choose in the future, okay?"
Rex blinked twice in shock. "So… is this some weird way in saying that I CAN tease you?"
Weiss' blush only grew more flustered and she faced away from him, closing her eyes indignantly. "J-Just take the offer, okay? Before I change my mind!"
"Well… okay." Rex grinned. "I'll tread lightly when it comes to teasing you, then."
"Good!" Weiss nodded in approval before opening her eyes… only to see the smirking faces of Holiday and Winter right in front of her, with Penny wearing a cheeky, excited grin. The heiress grimaced to all three girls and pointed at them with a dead serious face. "Not. One. Word."
Holiday raised her hands, her smirk persisting. "Honey, we aren't saying anything." She walked up and made to move past Weiss, only to lean in and whisper to her; "Besides, your actions speak for themselves." Immediately, Weiss screwed her eyes shut again and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance, giving Holiday a good chuckle. "Hmhm, it's alright, Weiss. You'll be okay." She shifted her attention over to Gwen and Kevin, the couple also smiling at Weiss' expense. "So, how was your training session, you two? Any progress?"
"Oh yeah." Gwen confirmed. "We made some great progress today." She smiled knowingly to her boyfriend. "…Even though we had a bit of trouble in the beginning, right hon?"
"Ugh, I'll say." Kevin grumbled. "No more absorbing Water Dust again anytime soon."
Weiss looked up and a sly grin came to her face. "Let me guess, your arms erupted into geysers of water, didn't they?"
The couple's eyes widened at that. "Uh… yeah." Kevin uttered. "How'd ya know?"
"Because that's what ALL raw Water Dust crystals do when they become unstable." Weiss stated. "That's why most people just use Ice Dust instead. It has a more controlled outcome whenever one uses it."
"Huh, alright, I'll keep that in mind." Kevin nodded. as he took out a crystal of Ice Dust out of one of his pouches. "Besides, I actually really like what happens when I absorb Ice Dust. Wanna see?"
"Absolutely." Winter affirmed. "I'm actually rather intrigued by how your body is able to handle such raw Dust power."
The Osmosian went over to a nearby tree and absorbed the trunk, turning himself into wood. "Alright, check this out." Kevin grabbed the crystal by both hands and absorbed the substance, changing his arms from wood to Ice Dust crystal. He then shifted his hands into a long, crystalline sword and a heavy, spiked mace before spreading his arms out to his sides. "Okay, here we go!" Kevin slammed the two weapons together and immediately, the crystalline arms began to produce long and sharp shards of ice from their surface, causing the weapons to become even deadlier. The sword was now a huge spear with multiple sharpened ice crystals protruding from its sides, and the mace now had even more spikes around it, making it appear to be just a bunch of icicles stuck together in a rounded shape. Kevin raised his arms and asked; "Well? Is this badass or what?!"
"WOAH!" Rex grinned. "Dude, that is sweet!" He went over to inspect the jagged ice weapons closer. "This is like something you'd see on some sorta ice demon or something!"
Winter's lips were parted in astonishment. "Amazing! It's almost as if the air itself had frozen around your arms the moment you slammed your weapons together."
"Very impressive." Holiday concurred. "Though considering that they're made of ice, how resilient are they exactly?"
Kevin chuckled and answered; "Actually, they're a lot more durable than you think. Watch this." The Osmosian turned around and faced the tree he had absorbed earlier, giving it a determined expression. Then, with a mighty battle cry, he surged forward while reeling back his icicle spear, bringing it forward the moment he closed the distance between himself and the tree. The weapon made contract, creating a massive gash in the trunk and taking everyone by surprise. "See? What'd I tell ya?"
"Amazing!" Penny commended as she began analyzing the ice itself. "That ice is at least negative thrity degrees centigrade. It's not breaking anytime soon." The Android shifted her gaze up to Kevin and titled her head. "Although, I'm simply surprised that you can't feel how cold it is."
"Eh, it's a bit chilly, yeah." Kevin admitted. "But I'm not really feeling anything too bad." Kevin put his back against the trunk, making sure that his neck was pressed down firmly against the wood so he could absorb it. Once he did, the Dust crystal went away and the ice weapons began to break off, sticking themselves into the ground near Kevin's feet. "I just gotta be careful about how I get 'em off of me, that's all."
"I had to drive that point home to him." Gwen said with a wry smile. "Anything that cold coming into contact with bare skin's going to have some bad side effects." The Anodite then glanced around, noticing that there wasn't much noise coming from the house. "So, I'm guessing that everyone else went out for the day?"
"Oh yeah." Weiss nodded. "They went to town to get Ilia some new clothes and hang out with Team CFVY. Plus, Jaune and his team went to tell the truth to his family."
Kevin couldn't help but cringe at the thought as he shed his wooden coat. "Oof, that sounds a bit rough. Hope they take it well."
Gwen pat her boyfriend's shoulder. "I'm sure that everything will be fine. The Arcs are nice people, they'll understand."
Winter put a hand to her chin in thought. "True, though to be honest, I expected them back sooner." She pulled out her scroll to check the time. "It's been almost two hours since they left."
Gwen pulled out her Plumber's badge to do the same, her eyebrows raising up slightly. "Hm, eleven-thirty, huh? They'll probably be back in time for lunch." However, the moment she pocketed her badge once more, the group heard the familiar sound of a roaring engine approaching from the front yard, making them perk up. "See? What did I tell you?" Everyone went around the side of the house, making it to the front yard just in time to see Ben and Yang dismounting Bumblebee as the Rustbucket and Athena's rental car pulled in from behind. "Hey guys!"
Ben and Yang looked up, smiling and waving to Gwen the moment they saw her. "Hey Gwen!" Ben called back. "How's it goin'?"
"Pretty good." Gwen and her group made their way over as Team JNPR, Team SN, Ruby, Blake and Ilia began to disembark their respective rides, joining them as well. "So, how was town?"
"Oh-ho, it was AWESOME!" Yang grinned. "See, what happened was—"
But then, in a flash, both Ruby and Nora zipped over and began explaining everything… in the most rushed way possible. "Oh my gosh, Gwen you won't BELIEVE what happened!" Ruby began. "See, we were at Whitlea's place when we heard these gunshots, and then we ran into Lieutenant Burns and she explained everything."
"Turns out there was a robbery happening at the bank!" Nora continued. "And the police chief tried to negotiate with the robbers, but that didn't work out and—"
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down you two." Weiss raised her hands to get them to stop. "You are going WAY to fast and you're probably skipping over a few things." She set a hand onto each of their shoulders, giving them a stern face. "Now, can you two start at the top again? This time a bit slower, please?"
…..
Over the course of the next half-hour or so, Ruby and Nora recounted the events of the stand-off in town, with the rest of the team providing their own input on certain events. The conversation had moved inside, allowing the team to gather into the living room to try and relax from the events they had just experienced. While they were talking, Max had gone into the kitchen to prepare lunch, with Athena going with him to make sure that said lunch wasn't all insect larvae. They had gotten to the point where Nora had left off, with Holiday giving a small nod. "Okay, I think this is where we were earlier. So what happened next?"
Yang was all too eager to get to the next part. She leaned forward in her seat and spread her hands out. "Okay, so Chief Howlin's negotiations didn't go well. At that point, we were working on a brand-new plan. But before we could even start, guess who showed up ON HORSEBACK to help us out?"
Rex's head moved back in surprise. "Woah, on horseback? Are you serious right now?"
"Rex, I haven't been more serious in my life." Yang assured. "Now go ahead, guess."
Penny, Gwen, Kevin, Rex and Weiss all began wracking their minds at the question, though most of them were ultimately stumped on it. "Ah, I got nothin'." Kevin shrugged.
"Me either." Gwen added. "So, who was it?"
However, as she asked that, Penny let out a gasp, catching their attention. For the redheaded android had one thing that the others hadn't; a database with nearly every single piece of information in Remnant. She had searched through her files frivolously until she finally found a few matches to what Yang described… but it was the most prominent one that caught her attention. Penny whipped her head around to Ruby with a big grin on her face. "Don't tell me! It's not…" But Ruby was giving her a cheeky grin and an eager nod, only confirming her suspicions. "Oh my GOSH!"
Weiss, Rex, Gwen and Kevin however were still very much confused. "Uh, Penny? Mind letting US in on the answer?" the heiress requested
Penny smiled over to Yang, ushering the blonde to continue the story. "Please Yang, go on. Tell them the rest!"
The Blonde Brawler was more than happy to oblige. "Hehe, alright." Yang faced her four confused friends and gave them the answer; "It was Jessica Jameson!"
Rex, Gwen and Kevin were taken aback by the blonde's sudden joyous yell. However, not even a second later, Weiss let out an excited scream of her own, one that was so high pitched, it actually scared the three. "AAAAAAAH! No way!" Weiss shot up out of her seat and zipped over to her teammates, wanting to hear more. "THE Jessica Jameson was in town? What is she doing here?!"
"Well, you remember Russel, right?" Blake asked. "Whitlea's fiancé who she brought to the party a few days ago? He's Jessie's son, and she's here to help plan out their wedding."
"Aw, well that's really sweet!" Weiss gushed before placing her hands on her hips. "I kinda wish I had gone with you guys now. I would've LOVED to meet Jessica myself."
Ruby gave her best friend a wink. "Well, you're in luck! I actually gave her our address so that she can come visit us whenever she wants. I told her that we would love to have her as our guest."
Weiss gasped and practically began jumping up and down in place, pure excitement coursing through her very being. "AH! Oh my gosh, I might actually get to meet Jessica Jameson! This is the best day ever!"
Meanwhile, the trio of Rex, Gwen and Kevin as well as Doctor Holiday, were all perplexed at what she was talking about. "Uh, Weiss?" Rex raised his hand up. "We're not following here. Who's this "Jessica Jameson" person?"
"She's a very famous Huntress." Winter explained. "One who is able to take on very powerful Grimm without much effort. She's had quite the successful career, I can say that much."
Neptune piped up next; "Guys, this lady managed to shove an entire steel beam down a Creep's throat, impaling it straight through without even breaking a sweat!"
"You think THAT'S impressive?" Sun added. "Try breaking an Ursa's neck by JUST using a lasso. Now THAT is dedication to the craft."
Rex's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "Wow, I gotta say that IS pretty cool."
Kevin pounded a fist against his chest. "Hell yeah. Anyone who's ballsy enough to take on Grimm with nothing but hard grit is alright by me!"
"Very impressive." Gwen concurred. "I can't wait to meet her." The redhead directed her eyes back over to Blake. "So, what happened after she got there?"
"Well, once we filled her in on what was going on, she asked for me, Ren, Ilia, Sun and Ruby sneak into the bank." Blake raised her right arm, pointing up to the ceiling. "We managed to make our way in via the air ducts, and we thankfully wound up behind the counter."
Sun jabbed his thumb toward his chest. "Once that happened, Blake, Ruby and I distracted them long enough for Ren and Ilia to get everybody out." The monkey boy grimaced slightly when he remembered exactly what happened. "Of course, our little plan to stop them didn't exactly goes as planned."
"That's when all of US came in!" Nora exclaimed. "We stormed in there and kicked their butts ten ways to Tuesday!"
Pyrrha raised a single finger. "But not before one of the Swiney Brothers managed to toss a bag full of Dust at us." she added. "Thankfully, Jessie was able to lasso the bag out of the air before they could blow it up."
"Whoa!" Kevin grinned. "Now THAT is freaking badass!"
"I KNOW, right?!" Yang cried out in delight. "Anyway, after that we ganged up on 'em and took them to the cleaners!" She nudged her head toward Ben. "Then Green Boy put out all the fires and we walked away the winners, simple as that."
Gwen's eyebrows furrowed slightly at her cousin. "Wait… Ben, please don't tell me, you didn't transform in front of anybody, did you?"
The hero chuckled nervously and he rubbed the back of his head. "Eh… well, not a TON of people, really. Just two." He counted off on his fingers; "The chief and Jessie were the only ones who saw me transform. And even then, I made them swear not to tell anybody."
The Anodite sighed and facepalmed, leaning forward in her seat slightly. "For our sakes, I hope they don't. Especially this "Chief Howlin" person. He sounds like the type of man we don't want to be on the bad side of." Gwen let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair. "Still, I'm glad that everything worked out in the end." Her eyes then went over to Team JNPR, quirking a brow to Jaune specifically. "So Jaune, how'd things with your family go? Did they take the… news well?"
Jaune tilted his head to the side in a semi-shrug. "Actually, they took it surprisingly well." he admitted. "Sure, a few of my sisters had a few problems with it at first, but I managed to get through to them." Jaune let out a slight chortle at the thought that passed through his head. "Hehe, all I gotta do is stay safe and I can fight against the forces of evil. What a deal, huh?"
"A deal that I intend to keep." Pyrrha affirmed.
"And so do we!" Nora shouted as she pulled Ren over as well. "We've got a pretty big job, but someone's gotta do it!"
Ren wore an amused smile at his best friend's antics. "Nora, protecting Jaune isn't exactly our "job". Besides, he can take care of himself."
Nora rolled her eyes and prodded Ren's chest with a single finger. "Ah, c'mon, Renny. I'm just making sure that Jaune's sisters don't come after US if their brother is hurt, ya know? Better to be safe than sorry, right?"
Ren was about to object, but then he remembered how protective both Blanche and Verte were, which got him to rethink his words. 'Think, Ren, Blanche can probably bench press you.' he thought to himself. He wore a nervous smile and quickly agreed with Nora. "Yeah, you're right. I'm a fan of having all my bones work anyways."
Jaune simply rolled his eyes. "Oh jeez, Ren, relax. My sisters wouldn't go THAT far… at least I don't THINK they would."
Pyrrha wrapped her arm around her boyfriend's. "They probably wouldn't. But knowing Blanche, she'd probably at least punch something if you were hurt." The Invincible Girl have him a wink. "Either way, I'm not about to let you get hurt, understand?"
"Haha, alright, alright, I understand." Jaune snuggled a bit closer to Pyrrha, the redhead settling her head into the crook of his neck. "I know when I've been beaten."
"Hm, I'm sure." Pyrrha glanced across the room before seeing Ilia in the corner… and it was then that she finally took notice of something that she hadn't before. "Oh my goodness! Ilia, I cannot believe that I didn't notice your new outfit earlier!" she pointed out. "It's so cute!"
Suddenly, all eyes were now on the chameleon girl, whose eyes had widened to the size of saucers as she let out a little "Eep!" Her spots change to pink out of embarrassment and she shrank back into the wall a little bit. "Oh, hehe, thank you. Coco helped me pick it out."
"Well, it's simply ADORABLE!" Weiss said as she went over to inspect the outfit closer. "The jacket in particular just screams you, Ilia."
"Heh, thanks, Weiss." Ilia bowed her head.
Gwen moved her eyes over to Ilia as well. "By the way, where IS Coco and her team? Weren't they with you during that whole mess at the bank?"
Ilia nudged her head toward the window. "Yeah, but they decided to go home for a little while. They had a few things to take care of there before anything else." She then put her focus back onto Rex. "But hey, enough about what WE went through this morning. What about you guys? Anything major happen here?"
"Other than one hell of a training session between Weiss and Winter?" Rex smirked. "Nah, nothing much."
Ben sent a glance over to the two sisters, his interest piqued. "Oh, really? Well c'mon, don't hold out on us!"
"Yeah, Weiss-Cream!" Yang pressed further. "How'd your training go? Did ya win Rex's bet?"
Weiss wore a nervous smile, a small chortle escaping her lips. "I guess you could say that." The heiress set her sights toward her sister. "We certainly put on quite the performance for them though, didn't we, Winter?"
"Indeed so." Winter concurred with a wry smile. "Though the part where your Boarbatusk hit Rex in the hindquarters was a bit too much, wouldn't you say?"
"I already said I was sorry, okay?!" Weiss shouted with her blush coming back. "What more do you want from me, woman?!"
The whole living room got a good laugh out of that, with Rex in particular giving Weiss a wave. "Ah, it's okay, Ice Princess. Everything's good." He went over and pat Penny's shoulder. "But I gotta say, Penny here's actually getting a LOT better with her Nanite powers each time we train."
Holiday smiled and took out her electronic note pad, showing the data that she had been collecting over the course of their training. "I whole heartedly agree with that, Rex. Her body has acclimated to the Nanites very well, I must say." She gave the redheaded android a wink. "Then again, considering the… "sum of your parts", so to speak, that's to be expected."
"HA!" Yang guffawed. "Good one, doc!"
Rex glanced down to Penny and gave her a thumbs up. "Next, we'll teach ya how to hack into stuff."
Penny brightened up at the prospect. "Ooh, that sounds VERY fun! I always wanted to have hacking abilities, but my father wouldn't program me with any. He said it was "a precautionary measure"." The android used massive air quotes for that last part. "Why, I don't know, but it must've been pretty important."
Winter raised a brow at that. "I think it was so that you couldn't hack your way out of a room when you were told to stay put by army officials… which, in hindsight, now sounds utterly foolish." The military specialist raised two fingers. "For one, it wouldn't have stopped you since you've done that anyway. And two, if you had somehow been kidnapped, you would have no way to break out of a sealed room without conflict. An extreme oversight to be sure."
Rex crossed his arms and grinned over to Penny. "Well then, that just means that there's even MORE of a reason to practice, huh?"
Penny gave him a resolute nod. "Hm, I suppose so!"
Winter folded her hands and directed her attention to Ben, a serious expression overtaking her features. "Yes, well, I believe now is a good time to move on to more important matters." The elder Schnee leaned forward a slight bit, with everyone's eyes now on her. "Benjamin, when I made the call to have my daily… chat with Kenny, Agent Six was the one to patch me through to him. However, before he did, he said that he wanted you to call him back as soon as you were able."
Everyone in the room grew quiet at the news, with Ben leaning forward himself. "Did he say what he wanted to talk about? How serious is this?"
"Serious enough that he wants everyone here to be present for it." Winter answered. "But he didn't give me any further details other than that."
"Hmm… I see." Ben stood up and began heading toward the main hallway. "Alright, I'll be back with the communicator in just a minute, guys. Hang tight." The hero made his way to the basement stairs, leaving the rest of the group to themselves.
It was then that Ilia spoke up again. "Um… I'm sorry, but who's Agent Six?"
Rex craned his head over to her, his grin returning. "Oh, Six? He's practically my mentor." He put a thumb to his chest and raised his head up high with pride. "He basically taught me everything I know."
Weiss smirked and folded her arms across her chest. "Including how to have a big head?"
"Ooh, sick burn." Rex winced. "I felt that one."
Ilia continued; "But what kind of name is "Six" anyway? Or is that not his real name?"
"He's called "Six" because he's the sixth most-deadliest man in the world, Ilia." Holiday answered. "Or at least in our world. Nobody actually knows his real name." The doctor raised her hand to show off her engagement ring. "I mean, I'm going to be marrying him and even I still don't know his real name."
Ilia's eyes nearly bugged out of her sockets. "What?! He hasn't even told you?!"
"Nope. But to be honest, I'd actually like to keep it that way." Holiday propped her arm up against the chair she was sitting in and propped her cheek against her hand, staring wistfully off into the distance. "It just gives him that sense of mysteriousness that no one can easily describe, you know?"
The chameleon girl's face scrunched up slightly. "Uh, not really, no." She raised an eyebrow toward Rex. "So, what's Six like anyways?"
"Eh, he's like a nanny." The EVO replied. "Just more aggro."
"Very funny." Rex nearly jumped out of his skin, as did the rest of the group at the new voice in the room. The EVO leapt around to see that Ben had returned, the hero having transformed into Feedback. The Conductoid had plugged himself into the trans-dimensional communicator and was holding it in his hands… and he had already made the call before even coming back up the stairs. There, on the holographic screen being projected from the device, was Six, the green-clad man's gaze set solely onto Rex. "Now, if you'll excuse the interruption, we have some important matters to discuss."
…..
Once everyone had settled down, Feedback placed the communicator onto the coffee table, allowing everyone to get a good view of Six's face. The hero plopped himself down on the couch, crossing his legs while reclining into the cushions. "Alright, Six, so what's the big news you wanna share?" the Conductoid asked as the left half of his single eyeridge moved up. "Is it somethin' bad or what?"
"Not necessarily." Six vaguely replied. "I actually have quite a bit of news to share with you today, both good and bad. First being… this." He typed a command into the keyboard he was sitting in front of and brought up a new image in the corner of the holo-screen. It was that of a live feed being broadcast from the Plumber HQ's hangar, where there appeared to be a rather large, cannon-shaped structure being built. It seemed to be nearly finished as well, with a large lens being attached to the front of its barrel. "Everyone, this is the enhanced Dimensional Doorway that will be attached to Tetrax's ship when we come through to Remnant."
Nora brightened up at the sight of her idea having come to fruition. "AH! It's just as awesome as I imagined it's be!"
"It's certainly very impressive." Ren agreed. "But… how are you going to get it here?"
At that moment, yet another voice came over the communicator, one that sounded fairly exhausted. "Hah, don't worry, we've got a plan for that too." From the left corner of the screen, Caesar appeared, the genius in a sweat and with multiple grease stains on his face. He waved and gave everyone a warm greeting. "¡Hola, mis amigos! How's everybody doing today?"
"Hey, mi hermano!" Rex returned. "We're doin' pretty good, bro. How 'bout you?"
"Pretty good! Things are as on track as we'd hope they'd be." Caesar set his eyes onto Nora and gave her a nod. "So, Nora, how does it feel to know that YOUR idea's been made a reality?"
"It. Feels. AWESOME!" Nora raised her arms up and jumped into the air excitedly, beaming with joy. "I can't believe how fast you guys put it together!"
"Hehe, trust me, the Plumbers put their best scientists and engineers to work on this project the moment you pitched it too us." Caesar glanced off to the side, wearing a slightly perturbed expression. "And all we had to do was remove a couple fastidios off of the project."
Off in the corner, Ilia raised an eyebrow. "Uh… what does that mean?"
"It means "nuisances" or "annoyances"." Caesar answered before raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh, pardon me if I'm being rude miss, but… who are you?"
Ilia's eyebrows snapped up in realization. "Oh, my name's Ilia. I'm a friend of Blake's and I'm kind of new around here."
"Ah, I understand. Well, it's nice to make your acquaintance." Caesar offered her a smile. "So, I'm guessing that means we'll be having one more passenger making her way over to Earth, huh?"
"Heh, well, I guess." Ilia rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "To tell you the truth, the idea of dimension hopping makes me kinda nervous."
"Ah, don't worry." Kevin waved off. "It's only bad the first time."
Gwen gave her boyfriend a skeptical face. "It IS her first time, Kevin."
"Exactly. Once she goes through the first time, it'll be the only time where she feels bad." the Osmosian snarked. "After that, it should be smooth sailing."
"Uh-huh." Gwen rolled her eyes before going back to Caesar. "So, what were these "annoyances" you were talking about?"
Caesar pursed his lips and scowled a bit more, crossing his arms for good measure. "Let's just say a couple of Galvan got in over their—"
Feedback slapped his face with his hand. "It was Blukic and Driba, wasn't it?" He peaked through his fingers to see Caesar giving him a nod, to which he gave an exasperated sigh. "Ugh, I knew it. Dear god, those two have done WAY more harm than good at Bellwood HQ."
Yang tilted her head to her boyfriend. "And they would be… who exactly?"
"They're two Galvan who CANNOT take the hint that their "help" ISN'T wanted or needed." Feedback answered, using massive air quotes around "help".
Kevin raised a hand. "I hear that. They almost blew my car half way across the galaxy one time… along with nearly half of the Plumber base."
"Which is why we pulled them off of the project as soon as possible." Six continued. "Since then, things have gotten back on track. If all goes well, we should be able to get there by tomorrow evening."
Holiday smiled up to her fiancé. "That's great news, Six. We're certainly glad to hear it."
"You got that right!" Ruby pumped a fist into the air. "We can finally get to see what Ben's world is really like!"
"Yep, can't wait." Jaune agreed. "So, got any more news for us?"
Six gave the young knight a nod. "As a matter of fact, yes." He typed in another command into the console in front of him, changing the video feed in the upper right corner to that of another camera. This one was showing a prison cell inside the same building, one that appeared to be holding a rather familiar clown. "As you can see, we managed to capture Zombozo since we last contacted you."
"Oh good." Feedback sighed. "That's one less thing to worry about."
However, Ruby and Nora couldn't help but recoil at the very sight of the clown. "Ugh!" Ruby gagged. "THAT'S what he looks like?"
"Now I can see why he's the Circus Freak's boss." Nora sneered. "He's the freakiest out of all of them. Can we take the cameras off him please?" Six gave a small murmur before taking the camera feed off of the screen soon after. "Ah, much better! Thank you!"
"Hm." Six acknowledged before getting back on topic. "Thankfully, the Helpers were able to subdue Zombozo quite easily. Record time, even."
Rex was grinning in pride. "Hey, that's great! Hey, where are they anyway? I wanna congratulate 'em myself!"
But Caesar shook his head with an apologetic face. "Sorry, hermano, but they're not in right now. Manny, Helen and Alan have been sent to investigate a few… strange goings on."
This caught Pyrrha's attention. "And just how "strange" are we talking about here?"
"That's actually the main reason I wanted to talk to you all today." Six elaborated as he began typing yet another command into his console. Suddenly, a bunch of news articles began popping up on the screen, all with very similar headlines; "Three people missing from local village in Massachusetts", "Ten people suddenly gone without a trace in suburban New York State", "Over two dozen people vanish from Chicago homes without a word in continuing mass disappearances". Once everybody was able to see the headlines, Six went on from there. "In the past week, there've been a number of people mysteriously disappearing across the Eastern United States." he explained. "The strange part being that they've left absolutely no trace of where they may have gone."
"And it's only been getting more severe as the days go by." Caesar pointed to the Chicago article. "The ones in Chicago have been the worst cases yet."
Feedback, Gwen, Kevin and Rex, as well as Team RWBY, stood up to take a closer look at the article, with Gwen reading it out loud; "Over the course of the past few weeks, more and more people have been disappearing, not just in the Chicagoland area, but through most of the Eastern United States." Her brows furrowed as she kept reading. "Initially only thought to have been on the East Coast exclusively, people from not just Chicago, but the rest of Illinois as well, have been reporting many more disappearances." Gwen took a step back and let that fact sink in. "Woah, this is really strange. Why weren't we informed about—"
"The Earth-bound Plumbers didn't think anything of it at first." Six answered bluntly. "They simply wanted to leave it in the hands of the local authorities. But then, the disappearances began happening more rapidly and closer together." The mercenary furrowed his brows. "And by then, things had just gotten worse."
Yang glanced up to Six in concern. "So how many people have disappeared, exactly?"
"So far, it's only been a little over a hundred." Six answered. "But with this many people, it can't be a coincidence."
Weiss raised a brow to him. "You don't think this is a kidnapping or killing case, do you?"
"Negative." Six answered immediately. "There've been no signs of a struggle anywhere in the vicinity of the towns they live in, be it near their homes or otherwise. Police and other local law enforcement have been searching restlessly, but they can't find any signs." He let that sink in for just a moment before dropping the big news on them; "That is… until the Plumbers made a breakthrough in the case."
Blake placed her hands on her hips. "Alright then, what do you guys have?"
"This." Six typed in yet another command, bringing up a new video feed. This one was appeared to be from a small body-cam, one that was very high-quality. Whoever was wearing the camera itself was staying still, or at least, as still as they could stand whilst staking out a suburban home at dusk. There was also some chatter coming from the cam, voices which the Alien Trio recognized all too well; Manny and Helen. "What you're about to see was caught on Manny's body-cam about a day ago. We got a tip from a man in Maryland that one of his friends was acting strange, so we decided to look into it. Pay close attention to what the person says."
At first, nothing appeared to happen, but then, a flash of red suddenly appeared in the house, causing Manny to spring into action. "There it is!" he shouted as he began to run, causing his body-cam to jostle around.
"Manny, wait!" Helen yelled out in frustration. "We have to call for—"
But before she could finish, Manny bashed through the door, causing a loud yelp to be heard from inside the house. The red light that the flash caused could be seen in the living room, but the moment Manny called out, it disappeared. "Plumbers! On the ground!"
However, whoever was inside the house didn't take too kindly to Manny barging in. From the living room, a young woman wielding a wooden chair as a weapon came charging at him. She hollered; "YOU BASTARD!" before bashing the chair against Manny, though that didn't help matters as the piece of furniture just broke against his tough Tetramand skin. She then went for her second option; assaulting him physically. She raised her fists to hit him, but Manny simply holstered two of his weapons to stop her with his lower arms. "DAMN YOU!" she screamed. "That was my ONE CHANCE!"
"Whoa, woah, WOAH!" Manny put the woman's arms to her sides and holstered his other guns, grasping her by the shoulders in hopes of calming her down. "Listen, ma'am, we're just tryin' to help you out here."
"I don't want your help!" the woman screamed. "I was GOING to help myself!"
At that moment, Helen zoomed into view of the body cam, giving Manny an irritated glare. "Seriously, Manny? Rushing in as always?"
"Hey, if we didn't take action ASAP, then someone else would've been added to the docket of missin' people." Manny argued.
Helen put a clawed hand to her forehead in exasperation. "You are incorrigible."
Back off to the side, Sun and Neptune grew intrigued at the two's banter, with the former glancing over to Gwen. "So… do these two argue like this all the time?" the monkey boy asked.
"Mostly." Gwen answered with a deadpan expression. "They're best friends, sure, but they get on each other's nerves very easily."
"Heh, I see." Neptune chuckled. The blue-haired boy placed a finger to his chin, his eyes having focused onto Helen in particular. 'Gotta say though, she's kinda cute.' However, he was brought out of his stupor when Sun elbowed him in the side, taking him by surprise. "Gah! Dude, the heck?"
"Pay attention, man." Sun reminded. "This is important." He then whispered under his breath; "Besides, it's weird and kinda rude to be gawking at girls through a body cam."
Back on the screen, Helen sat the woman down and calmed her, though this had the added effect of her bursting into tears of anguish. "Miss, I'm sorry for all of this. But with all of these disappearances, we can't sit idly by." Helen placed a hand on the crying woman's shoulder. "If you know anything about what's going on, please, we need to know."
The woman sniffled and tried to compose herself, her voice now hoarse from all the yelling she had done. "I… I was told that there was a special new group going around. One that promised strength to anyone who was willing to join." She ran a hand through her hair as she went on. "I… I've been in a bad place for a while, so I thought if I joined, I could feel better about myself. The only catch was that I couldn't tell anybody about joining, and I had to leave my old life behind all together." She swallowed hard and lowered her head. "But… I really should've thought it through more." The woman lifted her hands to her face and began to cry even more. "I feel so ashamed!"
"It's alright, miss." Helen reassured. "You're still here, remember that." She gave the woman a soft smile. "Your friends are actually the ones who tipped us off. They've been really worried about you, you know."
"Th-They have?"
"Yes, and they want to help you." Helen nodded. "And so do we. Now, is there anything else you know about these people you were about to join?"
The woman took a deep breath before nodding her head. "Y-Yes. They call themselves… the Collective."
At that, Six paused the video, causing the group to crane their heads back to him. "As you can probably imagine, this news is quite disturbing."
"To say the least!" Jaune exclaimed, getting up out of his seat and began counting off the factors on his hand. "Let's see, we've got a mysterious group with an equally mysterious name, people who are voluntarily giving themselves over to them with being promised power in return, and the fact that they're whisked away without so much as an indication that they've gone anywhere." Jaune place his hands on his hips. "I don't know about you guys, but it sounds like a freaking cult to me."
"Indeed." Pyrrha concurred. "And what's worse is that people are willing to give themselves over to them so easily…" The Invincible Girl's eyes widened and she went back to Six. "Tell me, have there been any other connections between the strange disappearances? Ones that might not seem all that obvious?"
Caesar spoke up again, raising his hand to get their attention. "Actually, that's something that I've been working on since Manny and Helen's encounter with that woman." He stepped closer toward the screen, with Six stepping back and allowing him access to the console. "After going through all of the missing people's files, I've compiled a few lists, but there was one in particular that stood out to me."
The very next second, a histogram chart appeared on the screen, replacing the video. On the left, it was labeled; 'People Missing (by dozen)', and on the bottom, it was label; 'Age Ranges'. There were four age ranges in total; '13 to 16', '18 to 29', '30 to 39', and '40 to 59'. The two biggest ones were the '18 to 29' range and the '30 to 39' range, with four dozen and three dozen respectively. The other two ranges barely made the dozen range, taking everyone by surprise.
"Hm, okay." Weiss put a hand to her chin. "It seems this group is recruiting a lot more young people than any other age group."
"Specifically the ones in the late teen or young adult range." Caesar affirmed. "Notably, that is also the age range where major depression and anxiety is more common. With this being the case, this "cult" is most likely preying off those with prominent mental health issues, promising them strength and such."
"That's awful!" Nora cried out. "People can't just take advantage of other's mental health like that! It's disgusting!"
Ilia came forward as well to voice her opinion. "Nora's right, somebody should do something about this!"
"Trust me, we will." Feedback promised. "Whatever's going on, we'll get to it as soon as we're back in my world." But the Conductoid couldn't help but ponder over the information that he had just heard, his eye narrowing slightly in thought. "Still, it's weird how fast this group showed up. Six, when did you say these disappearances begin happening?"
"Almost a week ago." Six's brows furrowed, as if he just now realized something. "…About a day after Rex and Holiday left."
Everyone's eyes widened at that, with Rex being the most shocked out of all of them. "Wait… you don't think these people were waiting for us to leave, did you?"
"The fact that there'd be very few super-powered beings in the world certainly helps with their recruitment." Caesar admitted.
Kevin threw his hands up into the air. "Well, that's just fantastic! We're gone for almost three weeks and things go to shit."
Gwen set a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "It's alright, Kevin. Remember, we're very close to getting back. Once we are, we'll find out who's behind this… "Collective"." The redhead's face scrunched up slightly. "Ugh, it makes me uncomfortable just saying it."
"Yeah, REALLY creepy." Yang agreed before focusing back to the screen. "So, anything else for us, Six? Or are ya done with the bad news?"
"For the most part. Just one more thing…" Six typed in a new command into the console, bringing up one last video. "This was taken by a security camera at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, Sweden just a couple days ago. They were hosting a special exhibit on runestones this week when this happened."
Gwen's face grew serious at that last part. "Don't tell me…" She drew closer to the video as it played, a flash of light signaling the arrival of a certain someone. "Oh god, it IS her." On the camera feed, she watched as none other than Charmcaster strolled out of the portal she had made, the vortex staying open behind her as she took a closer look at the runes on display. However, the moment that the security officers made to apprehend her, she used a spell on them to put them to sleep before going about her business. "You've gotta be kidding me. Charmcaster's still searching for runes?!"
"It's quite perplexing to be sure." Caesar nodded. "First it was the museum in Norway and now Sweden. And we STILL don't know what she's searching for." After the video played for a few minutes more, Charmcaster went back into her portal, having pilfered not even one of the runestones. "Plus, she hasn't stolen ANY of the stones. She just leaves as quickly as she appears."
"Hmm… this IS quite strange." Penny concurred. "Perhaps she has an ulterior motive for all of this besides stealing valuable artifacts?"
"That may very well be the case." Gwen surmised. "Charmcaster's plans aren't always straight forward. But whatever she IS planning, we know it has something to do with runestones, so there's that."
Ruby raised her hand. "So… are there any other museums that have runestones in them?"
"There ARE a few in the United States." Six answered. "And we're currently trying to convince the curators of those places to let us set up there just in case." The mercenary took the camera footage down before going on. "But right now, our priority is on this new group or "cult" as Jaune put it."
Blake gave a shrug. "Well, I suppose that's fair. I mean, Charmcaster's not really hurting anyone at least, so there's a plus." She moved her eyes over to Gwen, the young redhead still thinking over what was going on. The cat girl offered her friend a smile and put a hand to her shoulder. "It's alright, Gwen. We'll figure this all out."
Gwen reciprocated Blake's gesture, letting out a small sigh. "I know. It's just… this whole thing's got my mind racing with questions. I just hope we get back in time to find the answers."
"We ALL do." Pyrrha supported. "But we still have another day or so before we can." She sent a wink in Gwen's direction. "Remember, patience is a virtue, and I think you know that better than any of us here."
The Anodite gave a sheepish laugh at that. "Hah, yeah, you're probably right. I'll try to settle down a bit." Gwen directed her eyes back to Six and Caesar. "Alright, so I'm guessing that's it?"
The elder Salazar brother gave her a shrug. "Sí, pretty much. So, what've you all been up to? Anything major happen over there since we talked last?"
Everyone in the living room exchanged a knowing glance before going back to the two men, with Feedback answering for them. "…Yeah, you could say that." And so, for the next ten minutes, the team recounted their entire mission on Menagerie to Six and Caesar, summarizing the events as best as they could without going into too much detail. However, Feedback made sure to include his squad's encounter with Salem, including the fact that she had damaged Humungousaur's DNA, in full detail. They also told them about Raven revealing that she was the Spring Maiden, to which Yang soured at and went silent for a few minutes. Needless to say, by the end of the whole story, Caesar was rendered astonished by the whole thing while Six kept his usual stoicism, though Rex and Holiday could tell that the man was deep in thought. "And that's basically how it went." Feedback concluded. "We got back last night and for the most part, things have been slowing down. Well, aside from a bank robbery we stopped this morning, but we don't have to go into detail about that."
"Well, I…" Caesar trailed off before letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Hah, dios mio, I really don't know what to say to that."
Six nodded in agreement. "Hm, it's concerning to be sure. The fact that this witch can damage the Omnitrix is quite worrying." He paused for a brief moment before focusing back on the hero. "Tell me, Ben, do you have any aliens that could possibly resist this life energy drain?"
Feedback took a couple seconds to go over all of his transformations, the Omnitrix bearer thinking about all of the abilities that his transformations possessed. Finally, he came up with an answer. "Well, I'm not entirely sure I do. I mean, I'm sure the Omnitrix probably DOES have an alien that can counteract Salem, but if it does, I don't think I've—"
"Hold on a second, Ben." Gwen interrupted. "There may just be an alien that CAN resist Salem's abilities. And even better; you've already unlocked it."
Feedback blinked his single eye at her in confusion. "I… have?"
"Yeah, and it's been with you from the very beginning." Gwen pointed over to him. "You know, Ghostfreak?" However, at the very mention of that name, Feedback froze, his face morphing into one of fear and dread. Gwen's eyes widened at the realization of what she had done. "Oh god. Ben, I-I'm sorry. I didn't know you were still—"
At her words, Feedback snapped out of his stupor, only for his demeanor to do a complete one-eighty. His teeth grit together and his eye ridge furrowed in frustration before suddenly lashing out; "IT'S FINE!" After the Conductoid's snap, everyone's eyes were now directly focused onto him, surprised by just how angry he appeared to be. But just as quickly, Feedback seemed to realize what he had just done, lowering his head in shame. "I… I'm sorry, Gwen." He unplugged himself from the inter-dimensional communicator, allowing the battery to take over before transforming back into his human form. Ben craned his head back up to her before making a surprising request to his cousin. "But please… let me find another way. I don't want to even think about transforming into Ghostfreak anymore."
Yang, who was still flabbergasted at the whole thing, felt the need to ask the question that nearly everyone in the room had on their minds. "Ben… what's going on? What's wrong with this "Ghostfreak" alien?"
"I think I remember you guys said Viktor used to work for him." Blake recalled. "But… if that's true, then how is he an alien in your Omnitrix?"
Ben winced a little bit at the question. "It's… complicated."
"Is transforming into him a big deal?" Weiss asked further. "Like Alien X?"
Ben didn't respond for a few seconds. When he finally found the courage to do so, he took in a deep breath, steadying himself. "No, not THAT kind of a big deal. But he is a big deal nonetheless. Ghostfreak… was an alien who I had access to since I started wearing the watch. But the more I transformed into him, the stranger I began to feel." His expression seemed to become more and more sullen as he recounted to the group about Ghostfreak, with the team themselves growing ever more interested. "As it turned out, Ghostfreak was actually an alien named Zs'Skayr, and he had snuck his DNA into the Omnitrix while Azmuth was collecting samples to put into it."
Ruby's head recoiled back slightly in shock. "Well why the heck would he do that?"
Gwen took over for her cousin. "Well Ruby, Zs'Skayr was an Ectonurite, a ghost-like alien whose consciousness can live on in a single strand of their DNA. This effectively allowed him to make a copy of himself to put into the Omnitrix." She shifted her eyes over to Ben with a sympathetic face. "And once he was able to force himself out, it left a permanent scar that Ben hasn't recovered from since."
Nora's eye widened to the size of saucers. "You mean that this "Scare" guy ripped himself and Ben apart so that he could get out?!"
There was an uncomfortable silence at Nora's statement, which Ren was all too quick to point out. "Nora… she means a psychological scar. Ben's experience was so traumatic that he's been scared of Zs'Skayr ever since." Ren pursed his lips slightly at his words. 'Lord knows I can relate.'
The Pink Dynamo quickly grasped the severity of her error. "Oh… god. That makes a lot more sense." She bowed to Ben in apology. "I'm so sorry about that, Ben."
Despite himself, Ben couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. "Heh, it's okay, Nora. If anything, I'm just happy to find SOME amusement out of all this." The hero's eyes cast downward again and he sighed. "But yeah, no more Ghostfreak, ever. I don't even want to try and transform into him anymore."
Yang put an arm around her boyfriend and pulled him toward her, settling herself against his chest. "It's okay, Green Boy. You don't have to transform into him if you don't wanna. We WILL find another way, promise."
"This is all well and good." Six spoke back up again, bringing the team's focus back to him. "But there's still the matter of Humungousaur's DNA being damaged."
"Oh yeah, right." Ben agreed. "Do you guys think you can bring Azmuth with you when you come over tomorrow?"
Caesar shook his head regretfully. "Lo siento, Ben. But Azmuth's been caught up in some sort of secret project he's been working on. We can pass the word to him, but I doubt he's just gonna drop everything to come over and help. You know how he is, right?"
"Ugh, don't I know it?" Ben groaned "But thanks for passing it on anyway, Caesar. I know he'll probably be annoyed by all of this, but at least he'll know."
Six gave him a nod. "Right. Once we get you back here, then you may be able to see him. But for now, I think we should leave things here."
As he said that, Winter raised a hand up to him. "Wait, one last thing." She sent him a questioning gaze. "What about the "Collective"? We still don't know who or where they are. And they aren't just going to stop recruiting people until we get there."
"I know that." Six stated. "That's why I've already sent Manny, Helen and Alan out to search for them. If they find anything strange, they're to report it back to headquarters at once."
"That's good." Holiday agreed. "If they find anything while we're still here, we'll have that information when we get back. Still, Six is right, this call has gone on for long enough already." She smiled to her fiancé and blew him a kiss. "But I look forward to seeing you again soon, my dear."
A small smile crept onto Six's face. "As do I." Just as quickly though, his smile disappeared as he addressed the team one final time. "And as for you kids, be ready for the next couple of days. Remember, we won't be ready to leave the moment we get there. You'll have to wait it out for another day or so after that while we attach the new Dimensional Doorway to Tetrax's ship."
"We get ya." Yang understood. "We've waited this long, we can wait a couple more days if we need to."
"Hm, good." Six acknowledged. "Well then, goodbye everyone."
Next to him, Caesar gave the group a wave. "Adios, guys!"
"Later Six." Rex saluted to the two. "You too, bro!"
And with that, Holiday shut down the communicator, leaving the team to themselves once again. "Well that news was… intense." Ruby commented.
"I know, right?" Weiss concurred. "I mean, kidnappings, cults, and Charmcaster's STILL searching for runestones? This is a lot to take in, that's for sure."
Ben stood up and let out a breath, still trying to relax from his episode from earlier. "It is, but all the same, we'll be ready for when we have to deal with it." He gave his team a smile and a thumbs up. "Right guys?" He got a united; "YEAH!" from the room, reassuring his confidence. "Hah, alright then!" But right at that moment, his stomach began to growl quite loudly, catching everyone off-guard. Ben put a hand over his abdomen and let out an embarrassed laugh. "Hehe, for now though, I think I need something to eat. Who's up for lunch?" The whole team gave out a collective laugh before they all moved out of the living room and into the kitchen, hoping to find something to fill their empty guts.
…..
About an hour or so after the call, everyone had gone off to do their own thing. Blake, Sun, Jaune and Pyrrha were out in the backyard with Athena, the four teens working hard on training Rema and Romulus in the ways of hunting Grimm. The little wolf pups were somewhat distracted as always, but they were getting better by the day. Meanwhile, most of the others had stayed inside to try and settle themselves after the hectic morning they had, though that wasn't the case with Weiss and Winter. In the front yard, the two sisters had gone back to their training from before, though this time they were accompanied by Ruby and Ilia as well. The Hooded Huntress and chameleon girl were serving as test combatants against the sisters' Summons, which they were all too eager to oblige to. "Give us everything you got, ladies!" Ruby hollered.
"We're not afraid to hold back!" Ilia added as she pointed her Lightning Lash at them.
Weiss simply smirked as she and Winter summoned their most powerful Grimm; the Arma Gigas and the Manticore, both ready for battle. "If you insist!"
On the front porch not too far away, The Alien Trio, Rex and Penny were watching in anticipation, though the sight of the large lion-like beast made Ben's jaw drop. "Holy crap! What the heck is that thing?!"
"I… I think it's a manticore!" Gwen exclaimed, just as stunned as her cousin was. "Dear god, how is it that there are so many Grimm that resemble mythical creatures from our world?"
Penny gave her a shrug. "I'm not sure. Perhaps it's all a big coincidence?"
"If it is, that's one hell of a coincidence." Kevin said.
"Ah, why question it, guys?" Rex asked before pointing back to the practice fight between the Schnee sisters, Ruby, and Ilia. "Let's just sit back and enjoy the fireworks!"
At that moment, the front door opened up and Yang stepped out onto the porch, her attention immediately garnered by the brawl in her front yard. "Haha, oh boy, what's goin' on now?"
Ben grinned over to his girlfriend and replied. "Training, what's it look like?"
Yang went over and nudged her boyfriend with her elbow before putting an arm around him. "I got THAT part, genius." She kissed him on the cheek before putting her eyes back on the battle. "So, how 'bout that call, huh? Can't wait to get back home, Ben?"
"Heh, you know it." Ben confirmed before pursing his lips in thought. "Still, I can't help but feel guilty about leaving all those guys alone to deal with all this random stuff popping up."
"Ah, don't beat yourself up, dude." Rex insisted. "If anything, I'm feeling a bit down too. This whole "Collective" business started after I left, remember?"
Ben rubbed the back of his head. "I know, I know. It's just… I'm Earth's protector, and that means it's my responsibility to handle any kind of trouble that happens there." He set his hand on the railing, clenching it hard. "I guess I'm just frustrated that I can't do anything about it right now."
"But you WILL." Yang assured. "We ALL will. You just gotta hold out a little longer, Green Boy." She hooked her arms around his and gave him a warm smile. "Everything'll be fine, I promise."
Ben chuckled and pulled her in for a kiss on the lips, the couple smiling into it all the while. Once they separated, Ben let out a small chuckle. "Heh, alright, you've got me. I'll try to relax about the whole thing." He let out a sigh and shifted his eyes up to the sky. "When this is all said and done, I've gotta thank Manny, Helen and Alan somehow for taking my place for these past few weeks."
"Yeah, those guys must've been workin' overtime." Kevin agreed.
Penny let out a laugh of her own, remembering Manny and Helen's bickering from the former's bodycam footage. "Haha, they certainly sound like a fun group."
"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Rex smirked. "I worked with them for about a week and a half, and let me tell ya; they're a riot. Well… at least Manny and Alan are. Helen can be a bit of a stick in the mud, but she's cool too."
Gwen rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, come on, Rex. Helen's just trying to do her job. If anything, she's the most responsible one there."
Rex raised his hands defensively. "Hey, I didn't say she wasn't a nice person or anything. I just think her responsibility gets the better of her most of the time."
"Can't necessarily blame her for that though." Ben shrugged. "After all the things she went through with her brother… she had to grow up fast. A lot faster than I had too after I thought I lost Grandpa Max."
Yang's face fell at that. "Yeah, that feeling sucks. I know from experience after my step-mom died."
"I'm sure." Gwen nodded before raising a brow to Yang. "Speaking of… are you feeling better after last night's… spat?"
Yang winced a little, shrinking back a bit into Ben's embrace. "Well, yeah. I'd say I'm doing better overall." The Blonde Brawler sighed and she gazed off into the woods. "But… after what Ruby told me this morning, I'm a bit nervous about what to do next."
"What do you mean by that, Yang?" Rex asked. "Somethin' wrong?"
"Eh… about half and half." Yang shrugged. "See, Ruby went off to visit Summer's grave this morning, and when she got there, she saw that my mom was there too." She pulled her arms together, hugging them around her as she went on. "Ruby talked to her for a while and told me that she wants to make up for what she did, but…"
"You're reluctant to let her back in." Gwen guessed.
"…Yeah."
Gwen shot her a sympathetic face and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yang, I know what it's like to get into arguments with family members. And no, not just Ben… even IF he is a major doofus."
"Gee, love you too, dweeb." Ben replied sarcastically.
The Anodite smiled and gave another eye roll before going on. "I've had plenty of shouting matches with my mom, my dad, heck, even my brother. But you know what? We've always found a way to work things out in the end."
Yang's shoulders sagged a bit before shaking her head. "Gwen, I don't know if you've noticed, but this isn't just a simple family disagreement we're talking about."
"I know that." Gwen confirmed. "And honestly, I don't condone Raven's actions. But with everything that's going on, having people to trust in is probably the most important thing to have right about now." The redhead tilted her head slightly. "If what Ruby said is true, and Raven DOES want to earn back your trust, you should take the opportunity. Otherwise… it may not come up again."
For a few moments, Yang remained silent, allowing Gwen's words to sink into her mind. Finally though, she breathed out and gave her friend a nod. "Yeah, you've got a point." She bumped her fist against Gwen's shoulder with a grateful smile. "Thanks for the words of wisdom, Red."
"No problem. Now why don't we—huh?" Just then, the Anodite whipped her head up to the forest path that lead to the driveway, sensing an approaching energy. "Someone's coming." She moved off the porch and waved her hands to Ruby, Ilia and the Schnees, getting them to stop their spar. "Guys! Stop the match! We've got company!"
"Huh?!" Ruby exclaimed as Weiss and Winter dismissed their summons. "Who is it?"
"I'm not sure. Their aura isn't familiar to me."
Ben's eyebrows rose up, the hero having recalled a certain memory from earlier. He sent a knowing grin down to Yang, the blonde moving her head up to him. "You don't think it could be…"
However, a mere second later, the hero had his answer. "NEEIEIEIGGH!" A rather familiar silhouette appeared down the gravel road, accompanied by the sound of fast-approaching hooves and a whinny loud enough to be hear from several feet away. Finally, everyone could see just who was coming toward them, and Weiss let out an astonished cry.
"AAAAH! No way!" The heiress was beaming in absolute delight at the approaching figure.
"Well, I'll be." Winter said as she holstered her blades.
Yang smiled from ear to ear before breaking away from her boyfriend for just a moment. She ran to the door, opened it, and hollered inside; "Nora! Tell Athena and the others to come inside, stat! We've got company!" The blonde then sprinted away from the door to join her companions just as Jessie Jameson came to a halt, her horse nickering as it stood in place. "Jessie, hi!"
The Vacuoan huntress smiled back at her and dismounted her horse, her eyes trained on the group the whole time. "Well, howdy there, ya'll! How're ya doin' after this mornin's little throwdown?"
"We're doing good, at least compared to what happened earlier" Ilia shrugged.
"I have to admit," Ruby jumped in, "I didn't think you'd show up this soon, Jessie."
Jessie gave a chuckle and tipped her Stetson to Ruby. "Well, my hubby's takin' care o' some things at the rental house we're livin' in for the next set o' months, so I told him I'd be out for a spell." She led her horse over to the group, with many of the teens still gaping in awe at her. "Thankfully, he's a workaholic, so he don't mind none. Give's him somethin' to do while he's offa his job, ya know."
Weiss was feeling her anxiousness growing with every step Jessie took, to the point where she was considering hiding behind her sister. So she decided to whisper to her sister instead. "Oh, oh god. I don't know what to say to her!" Weiss' eyes darted to Winter in desperation. "What do I do?!"
But Winter merely raised her hand. "Relax, I've got this." The elder Schnee approached the cowgirl and offered a greeting hand. "Miss Jameson, it's good to see you again."
Weiss' jaw dropped when Jessie responded in kind. "Well, slap my head an' call me silly! If it ain't Winter Schnee!" She instantly took the military specialist's hand and shook it. "How're ya doin' darlin'? Still holdin' up with ol' Ironwood?"
"Actually, not so much recently." Winter gestured to the team, in particular, her sister. "I've been… socializing a lot more these days with my sister and her team."
Jessie seemed to brighten up when she caught sight of Weiss. "Oh, THIS is your baby sister! I shoulda guessed from the start." She stepped forward and offered her hand to the heiress. "Pleased to meet ya, Weiss. Name's Jessie Jameson."
"Oh, ma'am, I KNOW who you are!" Weiss pulled up a trembling hand to shake Jessie's, which she was able to pull off with relative success. "I'm just… SO blown away right now. I'm sure you get this a lot, but you have a lot of fans here."
The Huntress simply shrugged her shoulders. "Well, yeah, with a rep like mine, I've come to expect that. But I don't let it get in the way." Jessie gave Weiss a thumbs up. "After all, I'm still a person just like all y'all."
"Right, of course." Weiss nodded in agreement. "Still, it's very nice to meet you."
"Same here, Weiss, same here." Jessie placed her hands on her hips before moving her gaze over to Gwen, Kevin, Rex and Penny, the four still surprised by how the woman just came in out of nowhere. "Well now, what're your names, kids?"
Penny saw her opportunity and gave the woman a salute. "Salutations, Miss Jessie Jameson! My name's Penny. It's an absolute pleasure to meet you!"
Jessie beamed at the exuberance the young redhead was giving off. "Well, aren't you just as sweet as a little peach!" She moved forward and shook the girl's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Penny. So, you from 'round these parts or from a different kingdom?"
"I'm from Atlas, actually." Penny leaned in Ruby's direction. "But I made friends with Ruby while at Beacon for the Vytal Festival."
Ruby reached over and pulled her friend in for a side-hug. "Yep! Things have been pretty… hectic since we met, but we're still best friends!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear that!" Jessie commended before directing her attention to Gwen. "What about you, sugar? You got a name? Well, I 'spose ya do since everybody's got one."
Shaken out of her stupor by the woman's snarky remark, Gwen cleared her throat and answered. "O-Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Gwen, Ben's cousin." She walked forward to get a closer look at the mare that Jessie had rode in on. "And ma'am, can I just say that your horse is beautiful? I've loved horses since I was a little girl, and yours is just so pretty!"
"Why thank you, Gwen!" Jessie graciously bowed her head toward the Anodite. "I'm really glad you think so." She pat her steed's neck gently. "This ol' girl's been with me on a lot o' missions in the past. We're quite the team, Cassidy an' I."
"Cassidy? That's a really nice name!" Gwen mimicked Jessie's petting and Cassidy responded in kind, moving her head closer to Gwen's touch. "Hi there, girl. Oh, aren't you just so pretty!"
"Haha! Aw, you're a peach, sugar." Jessie complimented before reaching into one of her saddle bags and pulling out a bag full of baby carrots. Cassidy was quick to take notice and she let out a little nicker. "Ah-ah, ya'll be patient now, Cass. You'll get 'em." She put a couple baby carrots into Gwen's hand, giving her a wink. "Here, she loves these."
"Oh, I bet she does." Gwen held her hand up to Cassidy's mouth, the mare gently eating out of her hand. "Oh, such a good girl."
Kevin came up and let out an amused chuckle. "Heh, I gotta admit, it's not every day ya get to see someone come riding in on a horse." He raised an intrigued brow over to Jessie. "And here I thought Hunters liked be a bit more modern with their equipment."
Rex walked over as well, giving the mare a pet on the neck. "Yeah. I mean, no offense, but aren't horses kinda low-tech compared to everything else?"
"That maybe so, sugar." Jessie reached over and scratched Cassidy's mane. "But sometimes, ya just can't beat a livin' breathin' animal helpin' you out." She placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head to the side. "So what're your names, boys?"
"Kevin." the Osmosian replied. "Kevin Levin."
Rex jabbed a thumb to his chest. "And I'm Rex."
"I see." Jessie pointed between the two boys and Gwen. "An' I heard from Ben over there that ya'll are from some far-off world. Have I got that right?"
Gwen bit her lip slightly, but one grin from Ben was all she needed to be reassured. "Yes. Yes we are." The redhead demonstrated her mana powers, creating energy disks that flew through the air at blinding speeds. "I know this must be a lot to take in, but—"
"Land sakes, that's amazin'!" Jessie hollered, her eyes focused on the mana disks before they dissipated. "I ain't never seen anything like that!"
Rex smirked, seeing an opportunity. "Ya think that's cool? Check this!" In a flash, he activated his Smack Hands, the metal appendages bursting out of his arms. "Well? Whaddya think? Pretty sweet, huh?"
At this point, Jessie was guffawing like a madwoman, her hand going to her head as she was processing all of this in her head. "Haha! Dear god! Wh-What in the hell're those things?!"
"These are nanite-powered superweapons that I can build out of my body." Rex explained before activating his Punk Busters as well. "As you can see, I'm incredibly talented."
Weiss smirked and rolled her eyes at Rex's showboating. "More like incredibly full of it."
As Rex deactivated both of his builds, Jessie's excited laughter finally calmed down. "Hah, well I gotta say, when Ben told me about ya'll, I cert'nly didn't expect all o' THIS." She tipped her hat toward Gwen. "I'd love to hear more 'bout the place ya come from, sweetie."
"It'd be our pleasure." Gwen agreed. "But I've got a feeling that everyone's going to want to hear some of your adventures as well." She gestured toward the front door with a wave of her arm. "Why don't we take this inside, huh?"
"Sure thing!" Jessie accepted. "Better to sit down an' tell a story than stand, after all." With that, the group went into the house, the teens making a beeline for the living room the moment they entered. Once Jessie followed them in, she saw Team JNPR, Blake, Sun and Neptune all sitting in the living room, and their attention went right to her the moment she walked in. "Well howdy there, everybody!"
"Hey, Jessie!" Sun waved. "What's goin' on?"
"Nothin' much." Jessie came in an took a seat in one of the chairs. "Just thought I'd swing by an' see you kids." As the rest of the team also sat down, Jessie couldn't help but chuckle a little at all of the young people in the room. "Hehe, I gotta say, ya'll have formed one big motley crew here, huh?"
"Oh, we sure have." Blake affirmed. "It can get a bit crazy, but we work well together."
Jessie gave her a nod. "Oh, I believe it. So, what've you kids been up to—"
"BARK!" "BARK BARK!" The Vacuoan Huntress was suddenly cut off by the sound of two tiny barks coming from the ground, which she was quick to draw her attention to. There, sitting at the base of her feet were two small pups, their eyes focusing onto her with intense curiosity and their tails wagging rapidly.
The cowgirl let out a gasp and immediately fell out of her chair, lowering herself to the ground. "AH! Oh my stars! Wolf pups?!" She put her hands down to the small puppies and they began licking her hands, making her give out a small giggle. "Haha! Oh gosh, they're so stinkin' CUTE!" She moved her eyes up to the team. "Are they yours?"
Jaune blinked in surprise before responding. "Uh… yeah, actually, they are."
"Well then, what're these two sweeties' names?"
Blake pointed down to her pup. "Well, this is Rema. She's my little one." The cat girl then gestured over to the other pup. "And that's Romulus. He belongs to Jaune and Pyrrha."
"Romulus and Rema, huh?" Jessie said as she started giving the pups belly rubs. "Well ain't those just the neatest little names?"
"Yes, we thought so too." Pyrrha supported. "Though I'm surprised that you were able to tell that they were wolves right off the bat. People usually see them as dogs first."
"Yeah." Nora said with a head tilt. "How'd ya know they were wolves?"
"Oh, sugar, I've been dealin' with wild animals all my life." Jessie answered as she picked up Romulus. "Trust me, I know a wolf when I see one." She began rubbing her nose against the little pup's, all while making little cutesy noises. "Yes I do! Oh, yes I do!" Once she was done, she glanced back over to Jaune and Pyrrha. "So, how'd ya'll come to own these lil' bundles o' joy?"
"We found them in the woods next to the local blacksmith's house." Jaune folded his hands together and a somewhat pained expression took over his face. "And… their parents had been killed nearby. We think it might've been a Grimm's doing."
"Oh, heavens!" Jessie put a hand to her chest. "That's awful! Well, I'm glad you kids came along when you did. These little ones probably wouldn't have survived all by themselves."
Pyrrha and Blake came over and knelt next to Jessie on the ground, picking up their respective pups. "Yes, and we're very thankful to have them in our lives." Blake said as she cuddled with Rema, rubbing her cheek against her fur. "And when they grow up, I'm sure they'll be great Grimm hunting companions."
"I'm sure they will, hon." Jessie stood up with the two younger girls, crossing her arms with a confident gaze. "Ya'll've got the gumption for it, that's for sure. But a good teacher always helps too."
"Oh, believe me, they have one." The Vacuoan Huntress did a double take at the new yet familiar voice that had entered the room, whirling around to its source. There, plain as day, Jessie saw a familiar face standing in the entryway, giving her a kind smile. "Hello, Jessie." Athena greeted. "It's certainly been a while, hasn't it?"
Jessie let out a chortle before making her way over, giving the Nikos matriarch a firm handshake. "Why, Athena Nikos! As I live an' breath! I knew your daughter was here, but I didn't think YOU'D be here too!" She nudged the Mistralian Huntress with her elbow. "So, did the big city life up in Argus finally get to ya?"
"Hah, no, no, of course it didn't." Athena denied before giving her daughter a knowing look. "I just came here after my daughter was injured in the Battle for Beacon. And ever since then, I've become this group's new personal trainer now that school is out for the rest of the semester."
The cowgirl wiggled her finger in her friend's direction. "Ah, I get ya. But still, gettin' away from the big city's gotta be nice, right?"
"Well, I suppose." Athena admitted. "But considering all of the things this group has been up to, I can't exactly say it's entirely a break."
As the two spoke, however, Pyrrha's eyes darted in between the two older redheads, surprised by how casually they were conversing with each other. "Mother… you know Jessie personally?"
The two women turned to the young warrior, her mother gesturing toward Jessie. "Of course. We've met up on plenty of jobs in the past." Athena nudged her thumb in Jessie's direction. "In fact, you could say that she was a bit of a mentor to me in some ways."
"Aw, shucks, Athena." Jessie waved off. "Ya flatter me. But to be honest, considering that you're trainin' all these kids at once, it's pretty impressive."
"Well, I do have some help in that regard." Athena glanced toward Winter with a thankful nod. "I probably wouldn't be able to handle all of these kids myself. I'm far from an academy teacher, remember."
"Hm, I s'pose so." Jessie clapped her hands together before going back to her seat. "So, kids! What've ya'll been up too since the attack? I mean, it can't be ALL trainin' can it?"
Ben shook his head. "No, trust me, it isn't." The hero then began recounting how his own rogue's gallery of villains had managed to get caught up in the incident that sent them to Remnant, meaning that they were on the loose. "Over these past few weeks, we've been working to gather up as many as we can before our allies back in my world come to rescue us."
"We've managed to capture some…" Yang said before her face soured. "But just as many have been able to slip through our fingers, maybe even more so."
Jessie tipped her hat up, leaning her head back as she took the information in. "Hm, well that's a darned shame. I'm sorry things haven't been totally workin' out for ya'll."
"That's quite alright, Jessie." Ren assured. "We actually just got off a major victory last night in Menagerie, so that's a good thing."
The cowgirl's expression became that of surprise as Neptune picked it up from there. "Yep! Turns out the White Fang had been taken over by some big elephant-alien dude named Trumbipulor. He even managed to capture Sienna Khan!"
"But things turned out alright in the end." Ilia continued. "Menagerie's been freed and the White Fang is going to be seeing some restructuring soon." She placed a hand over her heart. "I even ended up joining this team after all of that, so things are going pretty good right now."
"Yep, we kicked butt as per usual." Sun declared as he reclined his seat, putting his hands behind his head. "Sienna even let us go without any… major conflict." He quirked a brow toward Ben. "Though Ben over there had to fight her to do it."
That simply made Jessie's eyes widen even more, whipping her head around to Ben for confirmation. Sure enough, Ben lifted his shirt up to reveal that he still had a whole bunch of bandages wrapped around his abdomen. "It's true." he confirmed. "I got my ass handed to me in a fight with no weapons. Couldn't use the Omnitrix, nothing." Ben put his shirt back down and shrugged. "But hey, what can ya do?"
After a few second's pause, Jessie let out another round of laughter, this one much more bombastic that the last. "Ahahaha! Oh god, you kids are wild! I don't think I've seen this much enthusiasm in young Hunters since your parents graduated!" She let out a sigh as a wistful smile took over her features. "In fact, this brings me back to when me an' MY team went to Beacon, too. Shucks, those were the days, I'll tell ya what."
"Oh yeah, that's right!" Jaune spoke up. "You DID mention leading your own team back in your Beacon days, didn't you?"
"Indeed, I did." Jessie smirked proudly. "An' I can say for certain that we were one of the best outta that place."
Ruby wore an amused smile. "Hah, what a coincidence. Because my Uncle Qrow says that Team STRQ was the best team to ever graduate Beacon."
The Vacuoan Huntress closed her eyes and chuckled a little. "Hehe, sure, maybe in the Ozpin era. But back in the days before Oz took over, may god rest his soul, MY team was what ya'll might call "the hot shit"."
Ben slightly grimaced at the lingo, though not because an older person was using it. "Remind me why THAT set of three words is an expression again?"
The whole team kept their eyes onto Jessie as she got up again and pulled out her wallet. She then took something out of the small leather case; an old piece of paper that had been folded up to fit inside. "What's that, Jessie?" Weiss asked. "A photo?"
"Sure is, sugar!" With an excited grin, Jessie unfolded the paper, allowing everyone to see the photograph. "Feast yer eyes, kids!"
The photo was rather old the colors having slightly faded. The picture itself was that of a younger Jessie standing beside four other individuals; two young men and a young woman, whom Jessie was right beside. The other woman's eyes were bright green and mischievous, her hair black and messy and her skin appeared to be a tanned shade of olive. Her choice of clothing was also… interesting to say the least. She was in what seemed to be pirate garb, complete with a black medieval pirate jacket that was trimmed with red and gold fabric, complete with gold buttons. She even had a pirate captain's hat with a big red feather to match on top of her head. She had a cutlass in one hand and a flintlock pistol holstered at her hip, completing her overall image.
The two young men were in less complex outfits than the two girls, but there was one big thing that took the team by surprise; and that was how TALL the boys were. The shorter of the duo was a man with dark skin, appearing to be African-American to the Alien Trio and Rex. He was at least seven feet tall, so around Yatuhashi's height. But he was also a LOT buffer than Yatsu, making him appear a bit taller. His dark hair was in a buzzcut hairstyle and his smile was bright and full, his brown eyes directed right into the camera. His clothing was simple; a solid grey short-sleeved polo with a pair of blue jeans and black shoes. Slung over his shoulder was a big, rocket-powered hammer, which he lifted with ease.
Standing next to him though was probably the TALLEST man that any of the teens had ever seen. He was just as buff as the shorter guy, but he easily had a two-foot advantage over him, making him at least nine feet tall. His skin was light, but had a bit of a worker's tan to it. He also had a head full of scruffy brown hair, his face showing signs of a matching beard beginning to grow. The young man was donned in a red and black flannel shirt and a pair of brown khakis with some hog-nailed boots on his feet, which spoke only one word to the team as they gazed at the photo; lumberjack. Fueling this idea further was the man's weapon; a large rocket-powered axe in his big, meaty hand, similar to the weapon the shorter guy was holding.
"Everyone, this was my team back in the day." Jessie proclaimed as she pointed across to each of her teammates. "That's Amaya Edwards next to me, an' behind us are the step-brothers; Henry Ironside an' big ol' Paul Bruno." She placed a hand on her hip proudly. "Together, we were one of the best teams to ever graduate Beacon Academy."
Everyone was stunned into silence, though Ben was finally able to find at least a few words to say. "Holy crap… those dudes are MASSIVE."
"They must eat TONS of vitamins." Kevin commented.
Gwen pointed to Amaya on the picture. "And lemme guess; she was the trouble maker of the bunch, wasn't she?"
"Oh, she sure was, sugar." Jessie confirmed. "I tell ya, it was hard keepin' her on track, but damn it, I managed to pull it off!"
Yang stared at the picture in amazement before whipping her head up to the Huntress. "Jessie, I beg you, please tell us what it was like!" The Blonde Brawler stood to her full height and lowered her head. "We'd be honored if you would."
Ruby got up and mimicked her sister. "Yes, please tell us!"
"Haha! Now, now, gals, no need to go around beggin'." Jessie reassured. "I'd be more than happy to tell ya a few stories." The Vacuoan Huntress sat herself back down, leaning forward in her seat as the teens did the same. "Alright, gather 'round, ya'll. An' be prepared, because I can promise one thing; the stories I'm about to tell ya are gonna knock yer socks off." She gazed down to the picture in her hand as a wave of nostalgia began to rush over her, getting her into the story-telling mood. "Now, let me tell ya about the crazy group that was… Team JAHB."
…..
A/N: Ah, alright! Another chapter done! Again, bit more of a lull, but considering what I've got planed for the next couple of chapters, that's definitely not gonna last very long. But that's not to say we didn't get to see anything interesting here. We got Weiss training with the Arma Gigas (plus a bit more stuff building up between her and Rex), Kevin's getting better with his new Dust crystals, and Jessie's come around to regale the team about HER old team from her Beacon days. I'm thinking most of you guys can guess who I based them all on, especially if you're an Americana expert. Admittedly, this team probably isn't going to be appearing in full this Volume, but definitely in a future Volume of the series. By the way, that's Team JAHB (Jameson, Amaya, Henry, Bruno) as in "job", because the people these guys are based on were all really good at their craft (even if two of them were highly illegal).
But of course, there's the big thing; just because Ben's gone from his world doesn't mean that bad stuff automatically just stops. Six and the team back home have been dealing with some new people on the scene and people have apparently been joining this new movement at an alarming rate. But just who IS this "Collective"? What's their endgame with all of these people joining them? Well, we'll just have to wait to find that out, now won't we? Oh, and of course, Charmcaster's still sneaking around. That girl's got some weird fascination with rocks going on, hasn't she? Ah well, at least things are still on track with the Dimentional Doorway and Zombozo's been caught, so there's that.
But, in any case, NEXT TIME! While Jessie's telling her stories, she receives an important call that's highly disconcerting to her. Something's gone wrong on the continent of Anima, so much so that she's been specifically called in to try and take care of it. Of course, the team quickly offer to help out with whatever it is, but will they like what they find there? Or will this just end up with certain bad memories being resurfaced? Thanks for reading guys, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter! See ya later!
