RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and was created by Monty Oum
Mega Man is owned by Capcom
"Speech" = Normal talking
"Speech" = Thoughts or robotic speaking
"Speech" = Demonic speaking
Speech = narration or description
Volume 3 Chapter 8: Missing
"Wa... ke... up"
"Wake... up"
"You have to... wake up."
"Wake up, before it's too late!"
Ruby found herself floating around in an endless void, whilst barely being able to open her eyes "Ow my head!" She thought. She then looked into the endless void and was met with nothing.
"Wake up!"
There she heard it again, that voice. The voice she couldn't find the source of, so she kept searching. But then she heard it again, the voice telling her to wake up.
"You have to wake up!"
Ruby began to get scared of not knowing what was going on, so she exclaimed "Why do I have to wake up? What happens if I don't!"
It was then that Ruby was greeted by a figure with a white cloak floating above her, "Wake up, Ruby. You have to wake up."
Upon seeing who was in front of her, Ruby exclaimed "It's you!" But before she could say anything else the cloaked figure began to emit a bright light, which began to envelop Ruby. Who exclaimed "Wait! I need to know what happened!" After which the light fully enveloped Ruby.
It was than that Ruby jolted awake out of her sleep, only for her and the chair she was tied to with metal barriers to fall to the ground. "OW!" Exclaimed Ruby in pain.
"Ruby! You alright?" Heard Ruby ask the voice of Yang.
"I just fell onto the ground in this chair that I'm tied to, how do you think I feel Yang!" Snapped Ruby in annoyance.
It was then that a gruff elderly voice spoke up "Ah Miss Rose, good to see that your awake. Now let me help you up."
At that moment several robotic arms arose from the ground, and pulled Ruby and the chair from the ground, after which she was put onto the ground where she was able to see her teammates next to her. Who were also tied to their chairs with ropes.
Ruby then looked around and saw that she was located in a factory like location, with a lot of lab equipment put all over the place and machines that were assembling robots. She then looked over for the source of the voice she heard earlier, and it was then that she saw an elderly man standing in front of them with a red mechanical eye while also wearing a lab coat.
"Where are we! Who are you!" Yelled Ruby, only for her to yelp out in pain as she got shocked through her chair.
"Now now Miss Rose, you could have asked that a bit nicer. You can't really afford to be rude right now." Said Dr Merlot.
"Where are we, why did you kidnap us?" Asked Ruby.
I am Dr Merlot, and I wouldn't call it kidnapping. That sounds so boorish, instead look at more as me having borrowed you four for the time being. Sure you can't leave, but I won't harm you too badly either." Said Dr Merlot.
"Impossible, the history books said that you died nearly twenty years ago!" Yelled Weiss, only for her to yell out in pain as she got shocked through her chair.
Dr Merlot let out a chuckle, and replied "They never found a body Miss Schnee, they just assumed that I had died."
"So, you want to tell us why we have gotten the honor of being taken by a dead man?" Asked Yang.
"Simple Miss Xiao Long, you see over the last twenty or so years I have done a lot of research. Mainly on robotics, Grimm and aura, and to be fair I found that Grimm can't be controlled as easy as robots. And I learned that if you put the aura of a human into a robot that robot gets the powers that come from that persons aura." Replied Dr Merlot.
"That means you'll be taking our aura, and then you'll put it into your robots. Aren't you?" Asked Ruby with horror in her voice.
"Correct." Said Dr Merlot, as he pressed a button on his wristband. After a few second of nothing happening, three helmets attached to tubes landed on the heads of Blake, Weiss and Yang and then began to drain their aura. Causing the three to struggle against the process in pain.
"You're hurting them, please stop!" Yelled Ruby.
"Correct, now tell me Miss Rose. What are you going to do about it? Cause you don't seem to be in a position to stop me." Said Dr Merlot, as three empty storage tanks began to rise from the floor and were starting to get filled with the stolen aura from Ruby's friends.
After a while the tanks were completely filled with aura, so the helmets removed themselves from the heads of Yang, Blake and Weiss. Leaving them exhausted and slumped over. "You three alright, hope that I didn't drain all your aura. Can't have you dying on me right now."
Yang, while struggling to keep her head up, replied "You... bastard... You'll die for that."
"Off course I will, now I could shock you again for being rude to me. But I think that the three of you have been in enough pain for now." Said Dr Merlot, who then turned his attention to Ruby "As for you, did you think I had forgotten about you?"
"No, I hadn't." Replied Ruby.
"That's good, you see I bet you're wondering why I didn't drain your aura. Right?" Asked Dr Merlot.
"A bit, it doesn't make a lot of sense." Replied Ruby.
"Well, you see lets just say that nearly twenty years ago I faced off against the team of your parents when I tried to take over remnant with an army of mutated Grimm. It didn't go very well, however the semblance of your mother was an interesting one for sure." Said Dr Merlot, as he pressed a button on his wrist band that then caused a television screen come from the ceiling which then started hovering in front of Ruby and her team.
Merlot then pressed another button on his wrist band, but when nothing happened to the television screen he began to smack the television screen in annoyance while muttering "Unbelievable, I have state of the art technology and none of it's working." He then gave another smack to the television screen, which then finally turned on and began to show images to Ruby and her team.
It was then that Ruby saw video footage of her mother in action, along with the rest of her team, using her semblance to turn into rose petals in order for her to avoid the attacks of the mutated Grimm. All the while using her weapon, the bow Piercing Rose, to take out the Grimm. It then rapidly began to cut through several events. Showing Summer grabbing Raven, turning both of them into petals and dodging out of the way of a blast coming from a mutated Death Stalker.
The screen then cut to Summer's rose petals turning into sharp blades that were used to slice several mutated Beowolves to pieces. After that the screen showed Summer using her rose petals to create a wind storm, which held the mutated Grimm in their places and allowed Qrow and Raven to take out a mutated Grimm. After that the screen turned off, went back into the ceiling and left Yang and Ruby with tears in their eyes.
"I see the footage brought up some memories for you two?" Asked Dr Merlot, with a mocking tone in his voice.
"Off course it did." Said Ruby, as she felt more tears rolling down her face. "I don't have a lot of memories of her." After which more tears began to flow down her face.
"Pity, then again she shouldn't have taken that mission." Replied Doctor Merlot, without a care in his voice.
"How do you know about that!" Demanded Yang.
Doctor Merlot let out a chuckle and replied "Child, did you honestly think that I wouldn't have kept tabs on the team of your parents after they had beaten me."
"Then you know what happened." Replied Ruby.
"I do." Said Doctor Merlot.
"Please, tell us what happened. We need to know." Pleaded Ruby, with desperation in her voice.
"I don't think I'm going to do that, you two will find out what happened when the time is right. And right now, the time isn't right." Said Doctor Merlot, angering Yang, Weiss and Blake while Ruby stayed silent.
"You bastard! They made a simple request, the least you could do is give them the closure they are looking for!" Yelled Blake, only for her to be shocked with electricity from her chair. Causing her aura to shatter and making her slump over in her chair.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I didn't hear you, cause my finger slipped." Said Doctor Merlot.
"Blake!" Exclaimed Yang, Weiss and Ruby.
"Are you ok!" Yelled Ruby.
"I'm... fi...ne." Blake struggled to say, as she was having difficulty staying awake due to her aura having been shattered.
"That's what I thought, know your place. You damn animal." Muttered Doctor Merlot, who then pressed a button on his wrist band. This caused a part of the floor to open, and from the hole rose a treadmill which was placed on a glass dome. "Now, back to what I was going to do. Miss Rose, you want me to tell you why I didn't drain your aura with your teammates?"
"I don't really have much of a choice." Replied Ruby.
"You see, despite you having speed that can break the sound barrier I already have someone who provides me with his energy to make my robots fast. So draining your aura would have been useless to me. But then I remembered that you have your mothers semblance as well, you can't use it. But you definitely have it." Said Doctor Merlot.
"I never broke the sound barrier." Said Ruby.
"Yes you did, remember when you were racing against Quick Man a couple of weeks ago and you caused an explosion?" Asked Doctor Merlot, to which Ruby nodded. "Well you see, you went so fast that you broke the sound barrier."
"Big deal, you know about our semblances what good will that do for you?" Asked Yang in an annoyed tone, she then looked in horror as she saw Doctor Merlot press one of the buttons on his wrist band. Causing her to be zapped with electricity.
"Now that was rude, I can't believe I'm going to have to teach you girls some manners." Said Doctor Merlot, who was about to press the button again but then stopped. "You know what, I'm in a good mood. I won't try to teach you girls some manners."
"Anyways, for that rude question of yours. The thing about semblances is that they can be passed down from parents onto their children. Everyone knows about the semblance of the Schnee family, but all semblances can be passed down in some circumstances. I have spent the last two decades doing research about semblances and aura. Now the reason why I got the treadmill out is because you are going to be running on it and the dome is there to catch the rose petals."
Doctor Merlot then pressed a button on his wrist band, which released Ruby from the restraints on her chair. The doctor then pointed towards the treadmill and said "You know what to do, Miss Rose."
"Ruby get out of here! Get help! NOW!" Yelled Yang, who had seen this as an opening for Ruby to escape. Ruby realized that as well, and quickly used her semblance to get away from the room, fled into the storage room of the base and hid behind a pillar. She tried to stay quiet, as she began to think about how to escape this place. But it was then that she heard footsteps coming from the entrance of the storage room.
"Miss Rose? Where did you go-ho?" Sang Doctor Merlot. "We both know you won't be able to escape."
Doctor Merlot then approached the pillar Ruby was hiding behind, looked behind it and saw that petals had been left behind. He chuckled and said "You can't hide from me forever Miss Rose, not while your semblance gives away your location."
It was then that he heard the noise of Ruby using her semblance throughout the large storage room. He looked past the pillar and saw that the room was littered with rose petals. "Impressive Miss Rose, using evasive tactics. Well done, I applaud your ingenuity."
Ruby knew that she wasn't going to be able to escape on her own, but if she could get past the mad man and somehow free her teammates maybe then they stood a chance of stopping him and getting out of this place. But first she had to steal the wrist band Dr Merlot was wearing, unfortunately he was running out patience and snapped Ruby out of her thoughts when he spoke up.
"You know Miss Rose, if you don't return to me in five seconds I'll activate the electricity and then we'll see if your fast enough to save them from being electrocuted to death." Said Doctor Merlot, who then began his count down.
"5."
Ruby began to think about her options.
"4."
Maybe she could rush him with her speed and still save her teammates.
"3."
But what if she wasn't fast enough, and Blake's aura had already shattered.
"2."
"You're running out of time Miss Rose."
He was right, and Ruby knew it.
"1, time for the fireworks..." Said Doctor Merlot, only be interrupted by Ruby who appeared in front of him in a flurry of Rose Petals.
"Wait! I'll come with you. Just promise you won't hurt them, please." Ruby begged.
"That's better, now come along Miss Rose." Said Doctor Merlot, as he lead Ruby back to the main room. Once they got there Ruby was lead to the treadmill, but was startled when Weiss yelled from her chair.
"Ruby you dolt! You could have easily gotten away!" Yelled Weiss.
"But he was going to hurt you three." Replied Ruby.
"He... was bluffing." Said Blake, struggling to stay conscious.
"What?" Asked Ruby in confusion.
"Rubes, he clearly needs our aura for his robots. He wouldn't have killed us, we would have been fine. You could have easily gotten away." Said Yang.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Said Ruby.
"Well too bad nothing that can be done about that, now get on the treadmill." Said Doctor Merlot, as he pushed Ruby into the device and closed the door. He went to the control panel and used it to activate the treadmill. As the running belt of the treadmill began to spin, Ruby quickly got to her feet and began to walk the same pace as the running belt. After a couple of seconds Doctor Merlot began to turn up the speed of the treadmill to the maximum speed.
This caused Ruby to have to use her semblance to keep up with the speed of the treadmill and not fall on her face. Rose petals began to fall behind her as she continued to use her semblance. Those leaves were then sucked up by a vacuum at the top of the glass dome. After about five minutes of running Doctor Merlot stopped the treadmill. Making Ruby come to a stop as well, she felt completely exhausted.
Doctor Merlot opened the door to the glass dome, picked up Ruby and placed her back into her chair. Ruby being unable to escape due to how exhausted she felt after having to run for so long and having her aura drained as well. The doctor began to laugh and then said, with giddiness in his voice, "This is just perfect, those petals are now infused with your aura which I'll put into the robots. Just imagine it for a bit, robots that can become intangible for a bit by turning into rose petals and dodging attacks. Oh it's just perfect."
"Anyways, you four have been drained enough. I'm going to be putting your aura into the robots, so it's time for you to go to your cells. I hope you don't mind sharing." Said Doctor Merlot, who then pressed a button causing the floor to open and from the opening rose an Atlesian Knight-200. But this one looked different, it had more armor, it looked more durable, it had the symbol of the Schnee Dust Company at the front of it's torso and it was wielding a lance.
"Ladies, I want you to meet android model WS-1. One of my greatest creations." Said Doctor Merlot with a dark tone in his voice. He then snapped his fingers after which the robot kneeled onto the floor and poked the lance into the floor. A glyph formed underneath the robot, after which the robot summoned a Goliath using the the glyphs. The summon disappeared after a bit, the robot then stood up and stood behind doctor Merlot.
"Why is... why is there a logo of the Schnee Dust Company on that droid? And why did it summon something?" Asked Weiss, with a feeling of dread in her voice. "You didn't even drain my aura that long ago."
Doctor Merlot chuckled darkly and replied "Correct, but Miss Schnee, did you ever wonder why your little brother never unlocked his aura or his semblance for that matter?"
Weiss went wide eyed upon realizing what he meant and began to stammer "He didn't... he wouldn't... he wouldn't go that far."
"Oh but he did, you see he knew that you and your sister wouldn't be able to be controlled by him forever. So he had to find a way to make sure that he would always hold his influence over young Withley Schnee. To ensure that he would always listen to him, Jacques used his connections to the Remnant underworld to find a way to either remove his aura or suppress it."
"That's where he found me, after digging for several months he came into contact with me and had me drain his aura. But I left enough for him to survive, unfortunately due to his young age he would never be able to manifest his aura ever again after that. So you see Miss Schnee the robots standing in front of you is being powered by the aura of your brother all because you and your sister wouldn't listen to daddy dearest."
"When did he do this?" Asked Weiss.
"About twelve years ago, I think. Either way it doesn't matter anymore, I got paid and it's what allowed me to make this entire base. I could move forward with my plans because of this, and it's great." Said Doctor Merlot.
"I hate you." Said Weiss with venom dripping of every word.
"I know, and I don't care. Now WS-1, please bring our guests to the resting area. I have some work to do." Said Doctor Merlot.
"Yes master" Replied WS-1, who used his lance to create a path of glyphs underneath the chairs of the team. The glyphs then began to transport them away from the area and down the stairs into a lower level of the base. They were then carried to a door in a cellblock, after which their restraints were removed, the door opened and they were thrown into the cell.
The door slammed shut behind them, and the sound of the the robot carrying the chairs back to the upper level began to grow fainter by the second. Ruby didn't have much time to get her bearings back, as she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. She looked up from the ground and saw Pyrrha and Jaune looking at them with worried looks on their faces. While behind them stood some figures that she didn't recognize.
"Pyrrha? Jaune? Is this where you two have been?" Asked Ruby, as she stood up but struggled due to her energy being drained.
"Hello again." Said Pyrrha.
"So I see that he got you four as well." Said Jaune.
"Unfortunately yes, the bastard even managed to drain us." Said Yang, as she and Weiss stood on back on their feet. But also had some issues due to being drained.
"Don't worry, I can help with that." Said Jaune "Who wants to go first?"
Yang, Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, then at Blake who was laying on the floor struggling to stay awake. "I think you should help Blake first, she is in terrible shape." Said Weiss.
Jaune looked over to Blake and saw what state she was in, so he immediately rushed over to her and used his semblance to begin amplifying Blake's aura so she could begin to heal herself and so her aura could return.
"What did that mad man do to her?" Asked Pyrrha, with concern in her voice.
"He went too far, and gave Blake a shocking experience." Said Yang, only to be smacked in the head by Weiss. "What did you do that for!"
"It's like you said, there is a time and a place for jokes." Said Weiss, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"So who else is here?" Asked Ruby, looking at the group of people they were sharing a cell with.
"Oh right, uhm Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long meet Sonic the hedgehog, Tails the fox, Knuckles the echidna, Amy Rose, Ness, Lucas and the one brooding in the corner we call agent 3." Said Pyrrha, causing Yang to look at her in bewilderment "Is there something wrong?"
"It's just that you usually don't make jokes, you're all serious and determined." Said Yang.
Pyrrha simply smiled and replied "Guess you were wrong, anyways I forgot to mention this but Rock is also here." Pyrrha then pointed towards one of the walls, and there they saw Rock sitting slumped against one of the walls, still being in a state of disrepair.
"Rock!" Ruby exclaimed, as she ran over to him with tears in her eyes and then pulled him into a massive hug. "I'm so glad you're ok, we missed you so much."
"Glad to see you as well Ruby." Replied Rock, feeling happy to see his teammates again. Ruby kept hugging him, and so he thought to himself "Too close"
"What happened to him?" Asked Yang, as she noticed the state Rock was in.
"Doctor Merlot took him apart, stole some of his parts and then left him with us. I tried to put him back together, but I don't have enough to fully repair him." Said Tails.
"Don't worry Tails, you did your best." Said Knuckles as he patted Tails on the back a little too hard.
"Well that's just great." Said Weiss, with an annoyed tone in her voice.
"What is?" Asked Yang.
"Because of him where stuck in who knows where, and we have no way of getting out of here." Exclaimed Weiss in annoyance, as she pointed at Rock.
"Weiss, what are you talking about?" Asked Yang.
"If he didn't give himself up to Ironwood, none of this would have happened and we wouldn't have gotten stuck here!" Yelled Weiss.
"I'm sorry Weiss, but I gave myself up to save all of you. We were all tired, and Ironwood would have hurt you guys. I did it to save you guys." Said Rock.
"Yeah, well if you had just waited a few more seconds we would have been fine. Ozpin was literal seconds away from saving us." Said Weiss.
"Weiss, lay off him. He did what he thought was best at the time." Said Ruby.
"Oh be quiet you child." Snapped Weiss.
"Ok that's enough, Weiss can I talk to you for a bit. Now!" Said Yang, as her eyes started glowing red out of anger. Seeing that Weiss nodded, and the two walked over to an unoccupied corner of the cell. "What was that?" Asked Yang.
"What was what?" Asked Weiss.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Yelled Yang in anger. "Seriously, blaming Rock for what happened. He couldn't have known that any of this was going to happen, and calling Ruby a child for no reason! Seriously, what is with you suddenly?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Replied Weiss.
"Oh you don't, huh? Then let me spell it out for you. You're acting just like you were at the start of the school year, acting like a complete spoiled brat. The same one who threw tantrums or complained to the teachers when things didn't go her way. So I'll ask again, what was that about. Why are you acting like this... this rich bitch. You were getting better, to the point that people actually liked you enough to hang out with you and didn't see you as the heiress." Said Yang.
"I'm... I'm sorry." Weiss whispered softly.
"What's that, I couldn't hear you." Replied Yang
I said I'm sorry ok!" Yelled Weiss, as tears were flowing down her face. "I guess hearing what my father did brought back some stuff from before Beacon within me."
"About your father removing your brothers aura so he could control him better?" Asked Yang, as she pulled Weiss into a hug.
"Yeah that, if I had just..." Weiss was about to say with tears beginning to flow down her face, only to be interrupted by Yang who let go of her, held onto her shoulders and gave her a stern look.
"No! None of that 'oh if only I had done this or that' none of that. Listen, anyone can agree that your father is one of the most despicable people in Remnant. What he did is not your fault, it's his. Now stop turning into his literal clone, and just be the Weiss that we became friends with." Said Yang, as she let go of Weiss.
"Thanks Yang." Said Weiss, as she dried her tears.
"You know, the one that is easy to tease."
"Yang."
"The one who hounds us about our grades."
"I get it."
The one who tells us to behave like adults."
"Too much."
"Who wants us all to keep a schedule."
"Ok I get it!" Yelled Weiss "I have things that I need to work on, I get it but can you please just drop it!"
"Sure, that seems fair." Said Yang, as her eyes turned from red back to purple. The two then returned to the main hall of the cell, once there they were greeted by Pyrrha.
"You two alright?" Asked Pyrrha.
"Everything is better now, some stuff happened but that has been solved." Said Weiss, who then turned to Rock and said "I'm sorry for what I just said."
"It's alright, I'm not mad at you." Said Rock.
"Well isn't this a nice sight, the whole gang is back together." Said a familiar voice from the shadows.
Yang turned to the sound of the voice and exploded in anger once she saw Torchwick leaning against a wall. "Torchwick! You should be in prison instead of here!" Yelled Yang, as she lunged at him and tried to punch him. Only to be surprised as Torchwick caught the punch, then swung Yang onto her back and onto the floor.
"Oh my, looks like you have another patient Arc." Said Torchwick.
"I'll heal her when I'm finished with healing Blake." Said Jaune, as Blake began to slowly regain her strength.
"So why are you here?" Asked Weiss.
"Simple Ice Queen, the people who nabbed your friend also managed to nab me. I'm not even supposed to be here, I was planning on waiting in my cell for my partner to break me out so we could skip town. But then this happened." Said Roman.
"That cheating little gremlin." Grumbled Yang in annoyance.
"Wha- oh you mean Neo. Why do you call her that?" Asked Roman.
"She cheated in our fight." Grumbled Yang, not bothering to get off the ground.
"She didn't cheat Yellow, you just rushed at her without a plan. Honestly, what did you think was going to happen?" Asked Roman, when he didn't hear a reply he added "That's what I thought, always go into something with a plan. Although on the other hand, I kind of did hope that the Ice Queen fought Neo, and that you fought that big chainsaw wielding White Fang grunt. The only ones who who did what they were supposed to do were little red, the robot and kitty cat."
"Why were you hoping for that?" Asked Weiss.
"Simple, I hate my employers. Anyways, as I was saying always go into something with a plan. Let me ask you, how do you think someone like me. Someone without his aura unlocked and someone without a semblance has been able to hold his own against huntsman and huntresses? All the while becoming the criminal mastermind that I am today?" Asked Roman.
"You planned ahead?" Asked Pyrrha.
"I always made sure to plan ahead, and create a second plan in case the first plan went wrong." Said Roman. "So always be sure to think before you fight against someone, especially if you don't know what their fighting style is like. If you don't, you might just end up losing a limb or your life."
Roman then grabbed cigar from his pockets, grabbed his lighter and used it to light the cigar, only for Ness to exclaim "You had that with you the entire time?"
"Off course I did, is there a problem with that?" Asked Roman, with a mocking tone in his voice.
"We could have used that warm up the room, we've been freezing our buts for the last few weeks!" Yelled Lucas with a small hint of fear and shyness in his voice.
"Oh yes, we could have. But then I would have run out of lighter fluid for my cigars and we don't want that now do we?" Asked Roman, only for a mechanical to appear from within the walls. That mechanical arm grabbed the lighter, crushed it and then threw it onto the ground.
"Looks like none of us are going to be staying warm." Said Yang, with a sarcastic tone in her voice.
"Thanks a lot kids, now I can't smoke at all." Said Roman, with an annoyed tone in his voice.
"Honestly, you shouldn't even be smoking in front of children." Said Agent 3. "So take this as your karmic punishment."
Roman didn't say anything, instead he sat down onto the floor and began to mope in annoyance.
At that moment Jaune stopped healing Blake, as he felt that he was getting tired and was unable to do more for Blake. He fell backwards on the ground and began to catch his breath "Jaune, are you ok?" Asked Pyrrha with concern in her voice.
"I'll be fine, just a bit tired." Replied Jaune.
"I told you not to overdo it." Said Pyrrha.
"It's fine, besides Blake should have enough aura to move on her own." Said Jaune.
"You want me to put her somewhere?" Asked Knuckles.
"Just put her next to Ruby against the wall." Said Jaune, Knuckles nodded, picked up Blake and sat her down next to Ruby and Rock. It was then that Jaune felt that the exhaustion was overtaking him, and he fell asleep.
"Is he going to be alright?" Asked Yang.
Pyrrha sighed and replied "I don't know, he keeps healing everyone and I keep telling him to not overdo it. But he keeps assuring me that everything will be fine."
"We're definitely going to need to help him with that when we get out of here, we can't have him running out of aura during missions." Said Weiss.
"Thank you, I just worry for him. He tries to help everyone else, but who helps him?" Asked Pyrrha. "How are Nora and Ren doing?"
"Oh right, that." Said Yang, with a guilty look on her face. "Nora's brain got fried by one of the robots, and Ren is coping as well as he can."
"I see." Said Pyrrha, with a somber tone in her voice.
"But the doctors said that there are signs of brain activity, so things should be getting better." Said Weiss.
"That's good to hear." Replied Pyrrha.
In the meantime Ruby was talking to Amy, while holding onto Rock "So, your last name is also Rose? What a fun coincidence, you think we could be related."
"Ruby, I'm a humanoid looking hedgehog and you're a human. I don't think we're related." Replied Amy.
"Would you like to be sisters?" Asked Ruby.
"I don't know, more family is always nice." Said Amy.
"It will be fun, I'll ask Yang about it." Said Ruby, who then shouted into the room "YANG! HOW DO FEEL ABOUT HAVING ANOTHER SISTER!"
"I already have my hands full with you, please don't start adopting random people!" Yelled Yang, who then continued her conversation with Pyrrha and Weiss.
Blake then woke up and grumbled in annoyance "Ugh... can't you guys be quieter?"
"Sorry Blake." Whispered Ruby and Yang.
Blake turned to Rock and said "Glad to see that our team is complete again."
"Thanks Blake good to see you as well, how are you feeling?" Asked Rock.
"My head is killing me." Replied Blake, in annoyed tone. Yang and Weiss then approached and gave Rock a hug as well.
"Once again I'm sorry about earlier, I'm happy to have you back." Said Weiss.
"Yeah me too, the team wasn't the same without you in it." Said Yang.
"I missed you guys as well, sorry that this is the state that you found me in." Said Rock.
"Don't worry, it's fine. At least we'll be able to think of a plan to get out of here together." Said Weiss.
Sonic then joined in the conversation and said "Hey so random question, did mega man ever tell you anything about another world or having met any of us?"
"Sonic, I thought you were going to drop it." Said Tails.
"I know buddy, but I can still ask." Replied Sonic.
"Another world?" Asked Ruby in confusion.
"You know, like him not originally being from this world or having fought in a tournament alongside all of us." Said Sonic.
"Uh, he didn't. He never mentioned any of that." Said Yang.
"As far as we know, he was always born in remnant." Said Weiss.
"Sonic, I told you this before. I have no memories of ever meeting any of you." Said Rock in annoyance.
"Geez, I'm sorry. I just wanted to sure." Said Sonic.
"You mentioned a tournament, what happened there?" Asked Yang.
"Oh that, you see there was this fighting tournament that invited people from many different worlds. It happened once every four years, but during the last one two eldritch abominations appeared. We failed to stop them the first time and we were captured, then we tried again and we managed to beat them. Unfortunately upon their defeats they exploded and the explosion caught everyone. And there we were, floating around in an endless void of nothingness. That was until Doctor Merlot opened the void with a laser and all of us fell out." Said Tails.
"So basically everyone, who came to that tournament, along with their worlds are now lost to the void for all eternity?" Asked Weiss.
"Seems like it, except for Mega Man who managed to get reborn into this world and all of us who managed to be freed from the void." Said Tails.
"Well I did meet someone who claimed to also have been part of that tournament." Said Rock.
"Really? Who was it?" Asked Knuckles.
"I don't remember that well, he had an animal name. Horse... no that's not right... lizard...not that was also not it... oh wait I got it, his name was Snake." Said Rock.
"You found Snake!?" Exclaimed Sonic.
"More like he found me." Said Rock.
"Where is he now?" Asked Amy.
"Said that he would continue to look for anyone else who had made it to this world, so I have no idea where he went." Said Rock.
"That is just the weirdest story I have ever heard." Said Yang, still processing what she had been told.
"Not as weird as me seeing a version of myself living with a human family after beating a version of Baldy McNosehair who looked like the guy whose entire life was a tv show without knowing him ever knowing about it." Said Sonic. "So, how did you four actually get captured?"
"Some weird humanoid creature, wearing armor teleported into our dorm. Used some psychic attack to put us to sleep and brought us here." Said Weiss.
"That was Mewtwo." Said Agent 3.
"Who?" Asked Team RRWBY in confusion.
"Mewtwo, he was also a fighter in the tournament." Said Tails.
"Was he a bad guy?" Asked Ruby.
"He wasn't, but the tournament did have villains participating in it." Said Agent 3.
"Why is he working for that Merlot guy, also why was he wearing that armor?" Asked Yang.
"That's quite a story, you want to hear the long version or the short version?" Asked Tails.
"Short version please." Said Weiss.
"Alright, so the gist of it is that Mewtwo is a clone of a powerful being from his world who was created by an evil organization. His purpose was to help them catch other creatures called Pokemon, so that organization could sell them for profit. But Mewtwo was able to free himself, and after killing his creators he fled the lab he was created in." Said Sonic, who got stunned looks from Yang, Ruby, Weiss and Blake.
"Oh my gods, that is so dark." Said Weiss.
"So what about that armor?" Asked Ruby.
"Created by that evil organization to keep him under control. Our guess is that Merlot found the armor when he pulled Mewtwo from the void and is now using it control Mewtwo. And who in turn uses his psychic powers to control the robots that Merlot created, we heard him say something about making sure that the robots don't gain sentience or start thinking for themselves due to aura. Whatever that means." Said Sonic.
"So, we're not getting out of here then?" Asked Ruby.
"It's not very likely with the way things seem right now." Said Tails, causing Ruby to get a somber look on her face.
At Beacon
Tai, Qrow and Winter are in the office of Professor Ozpin after the disappearance of Team R_WBY was discovered by Professor Goodwitch after they had failed to show up for class. All three of them are not happy with what they learned.
"How the hell did this happen!" Yelled Tai, as he punched one of the glass walls out of anger and frustration.
"Please, Mr Xiao Long I have no clue how any of this managed to happen. So please try to calm yourselves." Pleaded Professor Ozpin.
"That's a load of bull and you know it, you don't just suddenly lose four students. You better give a damn good explanation for how this managed to happen!" Yelled Qrow.
"We have already tried to figure out what happened, but we don't know where they went to. The record logs show that they didn't leave Beacon grounds with any of the airships and the camera's showed that they were in their dorms before curfew, I really don't know what else to tell you." Said Professor Ozpin.
Winter pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance and replied "Professor my sister and her friends are missing, and while I don't particularly agree with the use of language from those two oafs. You do owe us an explanation, the heiress to the biggest company in remnant disappeared from her school without any explanation. At some point people are going to find out, and when that happens... when that happens you'll have to deal with father. I don't think any of us want that."
"You're right, Miss Schnee none of us want that to happen." Replied Professor Ozpin.
"Then you better make damn sure that you take some form of measures and do something about this. Cause with the chaos in Vale, and the amount of students that disappeared you won't be able to keep any of this up. You have to do something Oz." Said Qrow, after which he took a sip from his flask.
"I know, I'll have something ready before the end of the day." Said Professor Ozpin, after which the elevator was heard coming to the floor of the office. When it arrived Doctor Light stepped out and entered the office, to which Ozpin said "Thomas, did you find something?"
"I did, Miss Rose's scroll was found on the ground so I decided to check for any calls that were made to the device. Turns out that right before midnight she received a call. I managed to track the call, turns out it that it came from an abandoned factory on one of the islands near Vale. I had Proto check the place out, but there was nothing to be found there. He did find something of interest, the name of the company that owned it. Or at least, used to own it." Said Dr light.
"What did he find?" Asked Tai.
"Turns out the company that owned the place was called Merlot industries." Said Thomas, causing Tai and Qrow to get shocked looks on their faces.
"No, no no no no no no no NO! That can't be! HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" Yelled Qrow in anger, as he sunk to his knees and slammed his fist into the ground in anger.
Tai turned to Thomas and asked "And you're sure about this, cause we all saw him die. Merlot is supposed to be dead, he can't be behind it."
"I'm sorry, but who else would use that name. He was never one for subtlety, his ego won't allow him to not let us know that he is behind this." Said Tai.
Winter gave the trio a confused look and then asked "I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? Didn't the Doctor Merlot you are talking about die in a lab explosion?"
"That's the official story." Muttered Professor Ozpin, with a broken look on his face.
Tai turned to Winter and replied "In our fourth year we were send on a mission to investigate a strange signal, we took him out and assumed that we had killed him. Unfortunately we were very wrong."
"What does that mean?" Asked Winter.
"It means that if Doctor Merlot has your sister, she'll be in a lot of trouble. He is willing to harm anyone just to get what he wants." Said Qrow.
20 years earlier
After Doctor Merlot had left the area Summer quickly rushed to the cell door, and tried to use one of her arrows on the locks. "What are you doing short stack?" Asked Qrow.
"Trying to get us out of here, what does it look like?" Yelled Summer in annoyance.
"You're trying to pick a lock with an arrow." Said Raven, trying to hide her smirk.
"And what would you use?" Asked Summer.
"A hair pin, like a normal person." Replied Raven with sarcasm in her voice.
"Oh great idea, does anyone here have a hair pin with them. Qrow, Tai I know you two like to put hair pins in your hair. Raven, I know with that massive bush you call hair you must have at least one hair pin." Said Summer, in a mocking tone.
"Shut up." Grumbled Raven, after which the arrow Summer was using to pick the lock broke.
Tai then stepped up, cracked his knuckles and said "Leave it to me." He then put his aura into his right arm and increased the strength of the arm, after which he unleashed a punch while yelling "Increase strength, Tai-ger punch!"
The punch connected and completely blew the cell door of it's hinges, allowing the group to leave the cell. It was then that Summer stopped Tai and asked "Tai, is your arm broken?"
"No it's not, don't worry." Said Tai, only to get a punch in the arm from Summer.
"Did that hurt more than normal?" Asked Summer.
"Nope, barely felt it Sum." Said Tai, as he was trying to hold in a scream.
"Great, now Thomas do you have anything to defend yourself with?" Asked Summer.
"As a matter of fact I do." Said Thomas, as he pressed a button on his watch on his left wrist. Which then turned into an arm canon "I call it, the Light Buster 1.0. It can shoot out blasts of energy, I one day plan on using it for my robots."
"If we get out of here that is." Said Raven, after which the sound of a roof opening was heard.
"Students, we have to hurry! If we don't stop Dr Merlot, Remnant will be doomed!" Exclaimed Professor Fall.
Summer nodded and said "He is right, Team STTRQ move out!" After which the group ran off towards the source of the sound.
Dr merlot in the meantime was preparing for the final part, with him releasing all the mutated Grimm from their pods and sending the coordinates to the chips he had implanted in the heads of the Grimm. As he was implementing the code for the last batch of mutated Grimm he mused to himself "I can't believe I actually managed to make it this far, just a few more minutes and I'll finally accomplish what that fool Ozpin never could unite humanity."
He continued working on his computer and was about to press the execute button when a fire dust infused arrow was shot through the screen and exploded upon impact. Doctor merlot looked down in anger at the floor below him and saw that Summer had fired the arrow at him.
"Surprised to see us?" Asked Tai, as he was cracking his knuckles.
"Not really, I knew you would escape." Replied Doctor Merlot.
"Well sorry to rain on your parade, but we won't let you get away with this." Said Summer.
"A shame really, well you got me I give myself up. If only I had planned for something like this." Said Doctor Merlot with a sarcastic tone in his voice "Oh wait, I have." He added, as he pressed a button on his wrist band. This opened the floor that Summer and the others were standing on, and raised the floor that was filled with the mutated Grimm to the same level as Team STTRQ.
"I told you that if you behaved yourselves that I would let you live. But now, I'm going to have to make the six of you test subjects for my Grimm." Said Doctor Merlot "Alright children, take care of these intruders.
Summer and the others were now surrounded by the mutated Grimm Merlot had created. "So how do you guys want to do this?" Asked Summer.
"Same way we always do..." Said Qrow
"...With as much chaos as possible." Said Tai, completing the sentence.
"Then lets do it." Said Summer, who immediately fired several arrows with fire dust in them to take out several of mutated Beowolves and to create an opening for the rest of her team who all rushed at the Grimm. Thomas decided to stay close to Summer to give her cover fire with his buster, taking out a Creep that was charing at Summer from the back.
Raven had used her blade to slice two Beowolves to pieces, when she had to open a portal to dodge out of the way of a laser blast coming from the stinger of a mutated Death Stalker. Which got promptly stabbed through the head by Professor Fall who had created a machete out of fire, taking out the Death Stalker. Who then had to dodge out of the way as several mutated lancers began to launch it's stingers towards him.
They were were swiftly taken out of the sky when Qrow used his weapon to slice them in half in mid air, who then had to dodge out of the way for Mutated Beringel that was twice the size of a normal Beringel. It tried to punch at Qrow, only for it's fist to get caught by Tai who had used his semblance to increase his strength. The mutated Beringel managed to let out a roar, which took Tai out of his concentration who was promptly swiped out of the way by the Grimm.
The mutated Beringel then used it's fist to slam into the ground, which electrified the terrain and caused Tai to fall on his feet but just barely managed to avoid getting squished by it's fits by rolling out of the way. He then got back on his feet and used most of his aura to increase his strength, and then yelled out "FULL STRENGTH Tai-ger punch!" as he unleashed a punch that turned the mutated Beringel into black smoke. Leaving him to fall to the ground, as he had broken his right arm.
Raven was slashing away some mutated Creeps and Beowolves when she didn't notice that another mutated Death Stalker was beginning to aim it's stinger at her. So Summer rushed over to her, grabbed Raven and used her semblance to turn both of them into Rose Petals and then dodged the laser fired from the Death Stalker. Which allowed Professor Fall to use his machete to slice the head off the Mutated Death Stalker turning it to smoke.
Summer, from within the air saw that a mutated Beowolf was going after Thomas, so she turned her Rose Petals into sharp blades and launched them at the Mutated Grimm and cut it to pieces, appearing back to her normal self after doing so. She then saw a group consisting of Beowolves, Beringels, Creeps and Boarbatusks rushing towards Tai and Thomas, so she turned back into rose petals and spread herself through the room.
She then began to spin the rose petals around, and created a wind storm causing the Grimm to get stuck in place. Qrow and Raven readied their blades and as fast as the eyes could see they sliced the Grimm to pieces. Clearing the area of the mutated Grimm, it was then that a slow clapping was heard coming from the lab of Doctor Merlot.
"Impressive, very impressive. Though you shouldn't have let your guards down." Said Doctor Merlot as he pressed a button that opened several doors to the side, releasing several types of Mutated Grimm into the area. These included Beowolves, Creeps, Beringels, Boarbatusks, Centinels, Death Stalkers, Lancers, Ursa's and several mutated Goliaths and Megagoliaths into the area.
They all charged at the group, but none of them were able to escape and soon the Mutated Grimm had cornered them. Beginning to bite, slash and shoots energy blasts at them, all of them except for Summer who had managed to use her semblance to escape from the attack. She then had to watch as her teammates, friends and professor were being beaten down. She could try to grab an arrow, but that wouldn't saw them in time.
And as each second passed they were growing more and more tired and weary, Thomas and Professor Fall were already knocked to the ground. And it didn't matter how many mutated Grimm Qrow and Raven managed to slash away, more would come. And upon the realization that she might lose her friends something snapped within Summer and the entire area was covered in a bright silver light.
In the present
It was late at night, and Dr Merlot was sitting in his lab watching on one screen as the aura he had taken was being put into his robots. All the while another screen was on which showed the Vale news, Dr Merlot took his attention away from his project and turned up the sound of the television so he could hear what was being said.
"... Hello Vale this is Lisa Lavender, we start the news with a message from Professor Ozpin from Beacon academy. We will now cut to direct footage from the school."
The video then cut to the office of Professor Ozpin. "Hello to anyone who is watching this, I'll cut to the main point of this. With the chaos going on in Vale and the growing threat of terrorism we have come to the decision to lock beacon down until further notice. No one gets in and no one gets out, I hope you'll understand. But this is for the safety of all of our students. May we all get through this."
The footage then cut off and it returned to the Vale News Network and to Lisa Lavender "...Powerful words from Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy."
Merlot then turned of the television and mused "Hmmm, not exactly what I wanted. But I can work with that." He then pressed a button on a remote on his desk and said "Time for the next phase."
In Vale
In the airship of General Ironwood the General was sound asleep, when he was jolted awake by something. Something akin to a bad dream, he grabbed his neck and massaged it to get rid of a bit of back pain.
He then grabbed his phone of the night stand, dialed a number and when it got picked up he said "Send the rest of the robot soldiers and the ace ops to Vale."
A/N: And that's the chapter done, happy 2021 everyone. It might be month late, but that's what happens when other things take my mind of writing. The next chapter should be out a lot sooner, I hope, no promises.
Anyways onto the reviews from last time
Jacob9594: Thanks for the review, glad you enjoyed the last chapter.
BlueSkies: Thank you for the review you gave me.
And a quick thanks to the people who are now supporting this story:
Sutherlandissac
slidx21
CharlieMcGeeFan
UnusedCheese358
ArcherLegacy
TheTurf
Once again, I'm glad and grateful to see that the story is doing well. Anyways with that being said, I'll see you all next chapter.
