A/N(IMPORTANT, Please Read): Hey gang! Happy Friday the 13th… again. *sigh* Well, at least we're officially back on Fridays with another new chapter! But before I begin, I just wanted bring up a couple of things to your guys' attention. First off, the AO3 account is officially up and running and the first 50 chapters of Dimension Twist are up! I'm OmniRemnantAO3 over there, just so you know, so feel free to head on over and check it out if you wish! I'll be posting more chapters over the next week, so by next Friday, we should be caught up.

Next up, you guys remember SinraiPaleodemon01, right? The awesome guy who commissioned both the story's cover AND an awesome art piece for Rex x Weiss (which has been officially dubbed; FrozenNanite)? Well, he's commissioned yet ANOTHER piece of artwork! This time from artist SunnyPoppy! It's simply titled; "Ben Tennyson x Yang Xiao Long (OmniDragon)" and it's now up on SinraiPaleoDemon01's DeviantArt page for your viewing pleasure! So go on and check it out! It's really awesome and very humbling to keep seeing all of this awesome art result from my story, so I hope you'll show these guys some love!

Now, with that said, let's get onto the chapter, shall we? This is…

Chapter 116: Start of the Final Day

…..

Ben Tennyson let out a small groan as he began to awaken from his slumber, the Omnitrix bearer's head moving slightly as he just barely became aware of the world around him. Oddly enough, he couldn't exactly remember when he had fallen asleep, but since the lights were off, he assumed that Gwen and Kevin must've come down stairs and shut them off before going to sleep themselves. After all, there WAS a blanket over him… yet for some reason, the pillow he was holding onto felt a bit odd. It was still soft, but it was almost like it had limbs or something. He tried to move when a familiar voice suddenly spoke to him through the darkness.

"Hmph, Ben, stop squirming… please?" He heard Yang ask as she buried her head into the crook of his neck. "I'm still tryin' to sleep."

"Mmm, sorry, Yang." Ben apologized, rearranging himself so that he was back in his original position. "I guess I just—" However, the couple's eyes both snapped right open after hearing each other mumble to one another, their eyes seeing each other through the near-pitch-black room.

"AAH!" The duo flung themselves up in surprise as they cried out, both of them silently thankful that no one could hear them down there. Their eyes opened wide only to suddenly wince as the light from the TV hit them, displaying the DVD menu for the Batman disk they had been watching. Once they were able to compose themselves, Yang focused back onto her boyfriend, the blonde still quite flabbergasted. "Ben, how… how long have we been down here?!"

The hero put a hand to his head, trying to remember what had happened. "I-I don't know. I mean, I remember us going upstairs a few times to talk to everybody else…"

Yang crossed her arms at that. "Yeah, and they were all congratulating us and stuff." She rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Of course, Gwen and Ruby couldn't help but spread the word."

"Hehe, yeah…" Ben chuckled before his eyes were drawn to the small window near the ceiling, being the only other light source in the room. From the looks of it, it seemed to be VERY early morning. He then peered over to the other couch and, to his surprise, Gwen and Kevin weren't there. "Well, I THINK we might've gone to sleep around nine o'clock…"

"Damn, we must've been drained from the battle yesterday." Yang commented as Ben made to stand up. "I haven't gone to bed at nine in ages."

"Yeah, me either." Ben made his way over to the light switch, ready to turn them on. "Watch your eyes." Yang took his advice and narrowed her eyes for a bit as he flicked the lights on, allowing her to adjust to the brightness of the room. "I'm not all THAT surprised that we dozed off like we did, though."

"Yeah, me neither… and why were the lights off anyways?" Yang scratched the back of her head as Ben sat back down next to her. "And what about Gwen and Kevin?"

Ben wore an irritated expression as he eyed the stairs. "Something tells me my dear cousin and Kevin didn't wanna disturb us, so they put a blanket over us and switched off the lights before leaving." He craned his neck back over the couch cushions as he sighed through his nose. "My cousin just can't resist putting us in awkward situations, can she?"

Yang quirked a brow at that, though her smirk didn't leave her face. "Whaddya mean by "awkward", Green Boy?" She scooted over to him and placed her chin on his chest, gazing up at him expectantly. "You're not embarrassed that we shared this couch together again, are ya?"

The hero's eyes widened in a panic as he frantically waved his hand in denial. "N-No! That's not what I'm saying at all, I—" But then he stopped himself, noticing that Yang was resisting the urge to laugh. "…You just love messing with me, don't you, Goldie Locks."

A small chuckle escaped Yang's lips as she moved herself up and placed a tender kiss on her boyfriend's lips. "Hehe, get used to it, baby. You're locked to me now that you said those three words, ya know."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." Ben assured as he put his arm around her neck and brought her in for a close embrace AND another kiss. Once the two parted, Ben smiled and took a deep breath through his nose, taking in Yang's natural scent as she did the same for him. "Mmm, man, how do you do this to me, Yang?"

The Blonde Brawler flicked her hair dramatically. "It's my natural charm, Green Boy. Haven't you noticed?" The couple shared a brief laugh before setting their eyes out across the whole room, a slightly sad feeling starting to bubble up in Yang's stomach. "You know, though… I'm really gonna miss all of us just hanging out down here. Feels like our own little place, ya know?"

"Yeah, I get ya. But don't worry." Ben said with a wink. "My house has a PRETTY big basement, too, so I think we're gonna be alright…" He rubbed the back of his head a little. "…Even if we have to share it with my dad's action figure museum."

"Oh, sweet!" Yang grinned. "I almost forgot about that." Just then, a small yawn escaped Yang's throat, the blonde stretching her arm up as she felt her eyes droop a little again. "But still, I think we should get a little more shut-eye before the sun comes up. After all, it's… what, three o'clock?"

Ben checked his watch, seeing that it was, in fact, three-fifteen. "Yeah, 'bout quarter past three. We should get some more shut-eye…" His face fell a bit when he realized what that probably meant. "So, uh… I assume you'll wanna head back to your own room, right?"

Yang stared at her boyfriend incredulously before standing up, grabbing a hold of his arm all the while. Without uttering a word, Yang hauled Ben up to his feet before pulling out the couch-bed, much to Ben's confusion. She then switched the lights back off before grabbing the blanket and flinging a couple pillows onto the bed. Yang focused her eyes directly on Ben and pointed at the bed. "Lie down, please." Ben shifted his eyes between her and the bed before shrugging and complying with her orders… only for her to tackle him to the bed the moment he sat down. Yang couldn't help but laugh at the shocked expression of her boyfriend as she wrapped the blanket around them both, cuddling up close to his chest. "Haha! Green Boy, if you think I'm about to go back to sleeping by myself after this, then you are VASTLY mistaken."

Ben let out a nervous yet excited breath at that proposition. "Hah, w-wow." He shifted his eyes down to her. "I'll admit… I-I've never shared a bed with a girl before."

"Same here." Yang said with a wink. "Haven't shared a bed with a boy, either."

"Haha! Okay, that was pretty clever." Ben conceded before he realized something important. "…Although, we may have a bit of a roadblock with this."

"Whaddya mean?" Yang tilted her head.

"My parents." Ben elaborated, with Yang understanding immediately. "I… I can't be sure if they'll allow this or not. I mean, they're pretty chill, but… well, exactly HOW chill they can be remains to be seen."

Yang pursed her lips in thought. "Yeah, and with the kind of living arrangements we'll be having, my parents are gonna be staying at your house too." She gave a small shrug. "I mean, my dad won't be staying for long, but…"

Ben hummed as he picked it up from there. "Hmm, your mom is gonna be staying with us for quite a bit longer." The hero sighed as he pulled Yang closer into his embrace, their legs entangling with one another as they drew closer. "Well, I guess the only thing we can really do is… hope they'll allow it."

"Yeah, I guess." Yang placed a reassuring hand to Ben's chest. "But don't worry, Green Boy, we'll end up sharing a bed sooner or later." She gave him a sly wink. "And THAT'S a guarantee."

"Hehe, I-I'm sure it is, Goldie Locks." Ben blushed before closing his eyes, with Yang snuggling into his chest. "For now, I say let's enjoy this while we can."

"Hmm, yeah." Yang closed her eyes as well with a soft smile. "Good night, Ben. Love you."

Ben couldn't help but grin himself as he heard those two words, reciprocating them instantly. "Love you too, Yang."

…..

Some hours later, once everyone was up, the whole Xiao Long household was abuzz with activity. And thankfully, it wasn't because of Ben and Yang sleeping in the same bed the night before. Gwen had made sure to cover for the two of them to make sure Tai and Raven didn't find out just yet. No, rather, everyone was getting their things together in order to leave for Earth later that day. Well, at least it mostly was. The notable exceptions were Blake, her family, Sun, Ilia and Sienna, all of whom were in the living room and gathered around the television. As it turned out, the three Faunus teens had finished their own packing early so that they could watch a certain show with the three White Fang leaders. That being; Thundercats.

"Might as well watch a few episodes of the show we based our new emblem on before you kids all leave, right?" Kali had rationalized with a smile. Ghira and Sienna seemed a bit less enthusiastic, but the panther man wanted to get in as much time with his daughter as possible before she left. And what's more, Sienna had nothing better to do, so she resigned to her fate.

Surprising to them, however, they found themselves quite interested in the show's premise... if finding it a little bit strange in the process. "So… let me get this straight; this race of alien cat people were able to escape their dying planet, only to end up on another planet that has malevolent beings on it?" Ghira questioned as he eyed the TV screen with a perplexed face, seeing what appeared to be an ancient creature wrapped in bandages suddenly change from near-skeletal to muscular all at once. "And the main villain is an… ancient, magical mummy?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it." Ben answered from behind the couch. He and Yang were also in the living room as well, the duo preparing themselves for whenever Lisa Lavender would arrive for her interview. Rex and Ruby were in the room as well, though the EVO seemed to be a little laxer about the journalist's arrival.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Rex grinned. "The 1980's were a pretty CRAZY time for toy-inspired cartoons."

"You're telling me!" Ruby exclaimed from the floor in front of the TV. "I think I like Lion-O the best, though. He's like a little kid in a grown-up's body and I just find that funny!"

"I suppose it's alright." Ilia shrugged. "I mean, it's not exactly the most well animated, especially when compared to its actual opening."

Rex bobbed his head from side to side in agreement. "Eh, , that's kind of a running trend with 80's cartoons."

Blake couldn't help but narrow her eyes when she saw a small, four-legged cat creature appear on screen. "Ugh, and something tells me that they had a knack for annoying side-kick characters, too."

Ben grimaced at the sight. "Ugh, yeah, Snarf was NOT a well-liked character. Glad that they kept him silent in the reboot… the VERY short-lived reboot." Both he and Rex sighed in sadness. "I hate underperforming toy sales."

Sienna's eyes darted to the screen the moment she saw a certain tiger Thundercat appear on the screen, a small smirk coming to her face. "Well, whoever made this cartoon certainly knew ME well. A tiger-man who wields a whip?" She pulled out her own Cerberus Whip for emphasis. "What are the coincidences of Tigra and I sharing THAT similarity?"

Sun gave a shrug. "I dunno, Miss Khan, but I DO know one thing;" He pointed to the screen the moment that a panther-like Thundercat wielding a giant nunchaku appeared. "That Panthro guy is WAY cool!" He gave Ghira a nudge to the side. "Hey, Mr. B! Maybe you should consider learning to use the nunchucks, too!" Sun pulled out one of his own gunchucks and offered it to him. "I could even show ya how!"

But Ghira raised a hand. "Ahem, no thank you, Sun. Besides…" He suddenly extended his panther claws at the monkey boy, making him jump a little in surprise. This made a satisfied smirk come to Ghira's face. "I think my claws are enough."

"Dad!" Blake bemoaned. "Would you quit picking on my boyfriend already?"

Kali then gave Ghira a light smack on the shoulder, making him grunt and wince a bit. "Ghira, seriously, the poor boy has suffered enough of the "over-protective father"." The Belladonna matriarch prodded a finger to her husband's chest with a furrowed brow. "You need to lighten up on him or I'm going to do something QUITE drastic."

Ghira's expression fell at those words. That was Kali-talk for "you're going to be sleeping on the couch if you don't cut that out". The panther man cleared his throat, retracting his claws at the same time. "R-Right, my apologies." He shifted his eyes toward Sun, the monkey boy wearing a confused face as Ghira let out a sigh. "I'm… sorry, Sun. Perhaps I've been… a bit too hard on you."

"Don't worry about it, Mr. B." Sun assured with a raised hand. "Trust me, I get it. Something tells me if I were in your position, I'd be doing the same." He set his eyes over onto Blake and gave her a smile. "Because let's face it; Blake IS pretty special." Blake smiled back and her face reddened a bit, her finger twirling around a stray lock of hair in embarrassment.

"Hmhm, that she is." Ghira chortled before extending a hand to Sun. "So I hope that you two will watch out for each other when you're on Earth."

Sun took the hand and shook it instantly. "Definitely, sir."

Blake's ears drooped a bit at the realization. "Oh, yeah…" She faced her mother with a slightly saddened face. "You guys probably aren't coming with us, huh?"

"Oh, Blake, it's okay." Kali said as she pulled her daughter into a hug. "We can always come over to visit… provided we're near an entry point for Bellwood."

Ben suddenly piped up. "Well, any location near Vale SEEMS to be an entry point for Bellwood, so if you guys ever wanna come to Earth, just get in contact with Cooper and we can port ya right over!"

"Thank you, Ben." Ghira nodded. "We appreciate it greatly." He set a gentle hand to his daughter's back. "Just… take care of yourself while you're over there, okay sweetheart?"

Blake moved her arms around her father, grinning as she hugged him. "Don't worry, dad, I will."

Kali reached over and put a hand to Ilia's shoulder as well. "And Ilia, you do the same, alright? I know that you and Blake are more than capable of taking care of yourselves, but… we're still going to be a little worried for you over there."

"We ALL are." Sienna reinforced, catching the chameleon girl's attention. "So make sure you all stay safe, okay?"

Ilia gave both women an appreciative nod. "Thank you for your concerns, but trust me, I think we'll be alright."

"Yeah, no need to worry!" Ruby said with a pump of her fist. "We'll all be just fine over in Ben's world. It'll be a blast!"

Yang came up and jerked a thumb to herself. "Yeah, besides, Blake and Ilia will have all of us to watch their backs too, ya know?"

"Oh please," Blake said with a smirk and an eyeroll, "if anything, I should be watching YOUR back, Yang." The blonde was about to object when Blake quirked a brow to her partner. "After all, WHO was the one who was insane enough to take a ride on Exo-Skull yesterday?"

"…Point taken." Yang grumbled as she crossed her arms.

"Alright, what IS going on down here?" Weiss asked as she and Winter descended the stairs. "Seriously, we could hear your voices all the way upstairs."

Rex smiled as he faced his new girlfriend, giving her wave. "Hey, Ice Princess, we—WOAH!" The EVO's eyes widened as he saw the Elder Schnee make it to the bottom of the stairs. "Winter, that new look is tight!"

Indeed, Winter was in some fresh new clothing, courtesy of the Atlesian Army who had delivered it to her late last night. She was in a new, long-sleeved white coat with sleeves that were closed unlike her previous one. The shoulders of the coat were colored grey and had snowflake-shaped designs on them, and there was a single, clasped strap on her upper left arm. She wore a white, collared shirt underneath her jacket and her neck was adorned with a navy-blue necktie that was connected to a new, red brooch. Under the lapels of her jacket was a black girdle with white snowflake designs hugging her torso, and she was in a pair of navy-blue pants that matched her boots and gloves quite nicely. Overall, she appeared to be more… professional.

However, she couldn't help but raise a brow at Rex's compliment, eyeing her new uniform a bit. "Well, I suppose it IS a bit tight, but—"

"Ugh, no Winter, he means it looks good." Weiss explained. "Sheesh, and I thought Penny was bad at expressions."

"Oh… alight then. Thank you, Rex." Winter smiled as she inspected the collar of her new uniform. "I happen to quite like it myself, actually."

Ben placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head a bit. "Well, yeah, it definitely looks cool, but… don't you think it's a bit too professional for where we're going?"

Winter's eyebrows rose up at the hero's words. "It never hurts to appear your best, Benjamin. And that's something I intend to strive for once I meet your cousin." She pointed over to him with a skeptical face. "Speaking of, you should probably get ready to appear your best as well, considering that Lisa Lavender could be here at any moment." Her eyes quickly darted over to a certain EVO. "And you, too, Rex."

"Hey, I don't have much in the way of fancy duds, Winter." Rex said as he raised his hands. "If I had one of Six's suits, then maybe."

Ilia quirked a brow at that. "That implies that you've worn Six's suits before…" she said suspiciously.

"Hehe, that's because I kinda did." Rex said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Let's just say my pal Noah needed a plus-one to his prom."

The moment he saw a sly grin appear on Weiss' face, Rex knew he had said too much. "Ooh, that implies a double date." She stepped closer to him with an eager smile, placing her hands on her hips. "Please, tell me more."

Rex glanced all around the room, seeing that everyone was staring at him expectantly. With a heavy sigh, he resigned himself to the hole he had dug himself into. "Okay… so you remember when I mentioned the whole "EVO Bunny" thing to Velvet a week ago?" Weiss gave him a silent nod, ushering him to continue. "Well, that same week, Noah asked me to be his plus-one since his date's friend didn't have a date of her own."

"Aw, well that's sweet of you, Rex!" Ruby complimented.

"Yeah… but the night was kind of a success… while also being utter hell at the same time." Rex grimaced as the memories came back to him. "Ya see, this girl that I was set up with? She was VERY accident prone"

Yang rolled her eyes at that. "Oh c'mon, so you were set up with a bit of a klutz—"

"I'm talking QROW-levels of accident prone here, Yang." Rex interrupted, making both Yang and Ruby's jaws drop. "Yeah, not pretty. So anyway, after a long night of almost getting killed by my date AND the EVO rabbit, all four of us ended up in a chase with the damned thing with Noah and the girls in a Providence vehicle… and then my date managed to fire a heat-seeking missile at me which I then used to destroy the rabbit." The EVO spread his arms out, jerking his head back. "And THAT is the story of how I almost got killed on prom night."

There was a long silence after that… only for a slight snickering to be heard a moment later. Then, it became a giggle, before finally, Weiss couldn't hold back any more and she belted out laughing, pulling her boyfriend into a hug as she guffawed into his chest. The laughter soon proved to be infectious as it passed along to the rest of Team RWBY, Ben, Sun and even Kali, Sienna and Winter, the latter three attempting to hold their laughter back. "…Gee, real supportive, guys." Rex groaned.

"Hahaha! S-Sorry, Rex!" Weiss apologized as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I-It's just that was too good NOT to laugh at!"

"Hehe, yeah Rex, c'mon, you gotta admit it's at least a LITTLE funny." Ben encouraged.

Rex simply rolled his eyes. "Well maybe to you people." He jerked his head toward the hallway. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for the interview, dude?"

The Omnitrix bearer sent Rex a wave. "Alright, alright, I get your point. C'mon Yang, I think I know the perfect way to look a bit more… "professional" for this interview."

…..

As it happened, what Ben meant by "professional" was changing from his usual jeans, jacket and black undershirt to his newer ensemble; the green polo shirt and tan khaki pants that he had bought during the first week of their stay in Remnant. He went to change in the ground-floor bathroom… but when Yang stopped the door from closing and followed him in, he was left confused and a bit flustered. It didn't help that the Blonde Brawler closed the door behind her. "Er… Yang? What're you—"

"What do YOU think, Green Boy?" Yang smirked as she crossed her arms, giving her boyfriend a small wink. "Like I said last night, I'm testing our boundaries."

"O-Oh." Ben uttered as a blush crept to his face. "W-Well, I…"

"If you want me to leave, then that's fine." Yang said seriously as she raised her hands up. "I've got no problem if you don't want me to see you changing. Believe me, the last thing I want you to be is uncomfortable."

Despite his nervousness, Ben couldn't help but smile at how sincere his girlfriend's words were. 'Again, how the hell did I find someone like her?' The hero's blush persisted as he set his new clothes down, going to remove his jacket. "Well… I don't know if I'm ready for anything below the belt… but I really have no problem with you seeing me change my shirt."

Yang smiled and gave him a nod in understanding. "Okay, good to know. Besides, I—" Yang's words hitched in her throat the moment she saw Ben remove his shirt. 'Oh god, my boyfriend is JACKED.' Yang knew that Ben had a fair bit of muscle to him after training with him for so many weeks… and the fact that she could feel them when they slept in the same bed last night… but she never figured that he'd be this fit under his shirt. He wasn't a body builder by any means, he was really more long and lean in the muscle department, but still…

However, it was then that Ben noticed Yang staring at his chest, making him raise a brow at her. "Er, Yang? You okay?"

"…Kind of." Yang smiled. "Because, DAMN, my boyfriend has some eye-candy going for him!"

Ben coughed involuntarily, surprised at Yang's statement. "W-Well, I, uh… I guess our regular training sessions helped me develop a bit more muscle…"

"Oh, no, THIS isn't just from our regular training." Yang said as she stepped up and prodded Ben's pectoral. "This looks like it was from years of kicking alien butt!"

"Hehe, well, I guess you could say… that…" Ben trailed off when he felt Yang tracing along the contours of his muscles, seeing that the blonde was practically in a hypnotized state. Suddenly, an idea came into the hero's head and he smirked, bringing his hand up to Yang's shoulder before pulling her into an embrace, eliciting a surprised "EEP!" from her as her face was suddenly pressed against Ben's chest. The hero lowered his head on top of his girlfriend's and he asked; "Happy now?"

"…Can we just stay like this for a while?" Yang muffled out, making Ben let out a hearty laugh.

"Hahaha! Okay, yeah, I can tell you're pretty happy."

Yang rolled her eyes as she craned her head up to her boyfriend, a sly grin of her own forming on her face. "Yeah, yeah, yuck it up ALL ya want, Green Boy. But here's the thing;" She moved herself up and whispered into his ear; "I'm gonna do the same thing to you one of these days… and the ladies and I are gonna make sure you have fun." The moment she heard Ben let out a wheeze, she knew she had done her job. "Yeah, look forward to that, stud."

Before any more banter could be said between the two, however, the bathroom door suddenly flung open, with Sienna letting herself in. The couple let out a pair of screams as Sienna sent them a soft glare. "Hey, what the hell is taking you two so long? Some of us have to use the bathroom, too, you know."

"SIENNA!" Yang yelled as her eyes flashed red. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?! You can't just barge into bathrooms like that! …Also, how did you know that both of us in here?" Sienna deadpanned at the question before pointing at her ears, which made Yang deadpan as well. "Ah, yeah, right."

"Uh-huh. Anyways, I thought I'd stop you two before things went a little too far." Sienna said before taking note of Ben's shirtless form, though unlike Yang, Sienna seemed to be focused on something else. "Ooh, but Ben… are those the battle scars you mentioned to me yesterday?"

The couple's eyes widened, with Ben placing a hand on the back of his head. "O-Oh, yeah. They're all from before the Omnitrix could heal my body whenever I changed back to human. I've got quite a few of 'em."

"You must be quite proud of them!" Sienna smiled with pride. "A warrior such as yourself must be put through quite the wringer to get scars like those."

"Heh, I suppose so."

As they spoke, Yang had put her eyes back on Ben's upper torso. Indeed, littered in random spots all over him were a series of faint scars. Nothing too nasty or brutal, but they were there. But then she saw that there WAS one larger scar that was peeking out from the back of her boyfriend's shoulder, her curiosity peaked. "Ben… could you maybe turn around?" Yang asked.

"Are… are you sure you wanna see them?" Ben asked back, seeing where his girlfriend's eyes were concentrated. Yang gave him a definite nod before he obliged to her wishes, moving himself around so that his back was toward her.

What she saw next made Yang audibly gasp. 'Oh… wow.' It was a long, clean scar that ran right across his shoulders and down to the middle of his back. And then, from the small of his back upwards, there was another scar that appeared to be a bit more jagged, but it had healed fairly well. "Wh-Where did these…"

"Fights with Vilgax." Ben answered immediately. "I've learned that he likes to go for the back."

Her smile unwavering, Sienna sent a respectful nod to Ben in approval. "Well, I must say that you are quite the warrior, Ben Tennyson. Treat those scars like trophies, because they show just how resilient you really are." She put a hand to her chin and smirked devilishly. "And Yang… you are one lucky woman to have a mate like that. I don't usually say that about a human… but if he were a few years older, I would…"

"Why in the HELL is my boyfriend being hounded by older women all of a sudden?!" Yang snapped as Ben's face flushed again, the blonde pointing Sienna out the door. "There's another bathroom upstairs, ya know! You could always just use that!"

"Hm, I suppose you're right." Sienna said with a shrug, giving the couple a teasing wave goodbye. "In any case, don't try to be in here long, you two. We just got a call from the general saying that Lisa Lavender should be here at any moment." With that, Sienna closed the door, leaving the couple to sigh to themselves.

Yang slapped her forehead in exasperation. "I swear, how is it that you're attracting all of these older girls?" Ben quirked a brow down to her in confusion, so she explained. "Oh, yeah, Lisa said that if you were her age, she'd swoop in and scoop you up for herself."

"Oh… wow." Ben pulled Yang into another hug, the blonde contently burying her face into her boyfriend's bare chest. "If it's any consolation… it wouldn't be the first time I've been hit on by older women."

"…Seriously?" Yang muffled out. "Dang, my boyfriend is definitely a chick magnet."

"Yeah, well, this chick magnet is yours exclusively now." Ben smiled before pulling Yang into a prolonged kiss. Once the two pulled away, Ben settled his forehead against hers. "How does THAT make you feel?"

"Like I'm riding the biggest high of my fucking life." Yang said before launching herself up and catching Ben's lips with hers again, bringing both of them to the floor in a make out session that lasted a good ten minutes before Ben had to actually get changed.

…..

Once Ben had finished changing, the two lovers went out onto the front porch and waited for Lisa to get there, the couple sharing the porch swing with each other in the meantime. Once they saw a news van pull up, though, they quickly got up and walked off the porch, just in time for Lisa to step out of the driver's side and greet them. "Well good morning, you two!" the white-haired woman said with a wink. "And how exactly is the lovely power couple today?"

"Hehe, we're doin' pretty good, Lisa." Yang chuckled as she and Ben approached the van. However, the closer they got, the more they noticed that the reporter was all by herself, with nary the hint of her cameraman in sight. "Uh… are you all by yourself today, Lisa?"

The reporter sighed as she opened up the van's sliding door, rolling her eyes as she reached in to grab the equipment. "Unfortunate, yes." Lisa grumbled. "Greg took the day off today to "mentally recover" from what he was put through last night. Psh, if you ask me, he's just a big chicken." She reached for the camera and hefted it up over her shoulder, though she seemed to have a bit of difficulty in doing so. "Hehe, jokes on him! He doesn't know what he's missing!"

"…Are you sure you can carry that, Lisa?" Ben asked with a raised brow. "I could help you out with that if you—"

"Ah-ah, no, no, I'm perfectly fine with the camera!" Lisa assured as she reached a hand out to stop Ben, only for her to lose her balance for a moment. "AH! B-Besides, this is VERY sensitive equipment and the station would have a fit if it got damaged. Plus, I always have the tri…pod." The woman briefly glanced down to see that not only did she need the tripod, but the boom mic as well, making sneer a bit. "Oh, goddamn it! I forgot I needed someone to grab that AND boom mic, too!"

Yang pursed her lips, placing her hands on her hips. "Well there has to be SOMETHING we can do to—" But then, Yang brightened up before raising two fingers to the reporter. "Wait right here, I'll be back in a minute!" With that, the Blonde Brawler ran into the house… only to come out ten seconds later with Sun and Neptune, the boys being pushed from behind while their heels skid along the floor. Ruby, Blake, Weiss and Rex were also trailing behind Yang in curiosity.

"So… remind me WHY we're out here again?" Sun piped up before noticing the news van. "Oh, so they're here!"

Ruby gasped and let out a small, panicked cry. "AH! Why didn't you TELL us?!" She immediately pulled her hood up over her head. "I'm not ready to go on TV!"

"She's right, Yang!" Weiss exclaimed as she quickly spun away from the camera, her hands going to her face as her nerves began to take over. "I haven't even given my make up the once over! I'm not ready to go live!"

Rex smiled and gave Weiss a reassuring pat on the back. "Weiss, you look absolutely beautiful. I think you're gonna be fine."

"…Okay, that makes me feel better." Weiss admitted as she gave him a smile of her own. But then, she quickly directed her eyes back to Yang. "But again, why DID you bring Sun and Neptune out here?"

Blake crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her partner. "This isn't part of some hair-brained scheme, is it?"

"What? No! What gave you that idea?" Yang said as she pushed both Sun and Neptune directly in front of Lisa, pointing to the reporter as she did. "You two are just gonna help her out with her equipment is all."

"Say WHAT?!" Neptune shouted. "Yang, we have NO experience handling news equipment! What makes you think we can?"

"Ah, relax, it can't be THAT hard!" Yang waved off as she made motions with her hands that resembled her holding a camera. "Ya just gotta point the camera where she tells you too…" She then switched to a position where it looked like she was holding a boom mic. "And for the mic, all ya gotta do is make sure it doesn't get in frame! Easy-peasy!"

Lisa couldn't help but deadpan. "You make the job of a broadcast technician sound like cake." She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Oh, alright, it's not like I have much of a choice." She handed the camera to Neptune, who was surprised at the hand-off to say the least. "Here, you seem like you've got broad shoulders. Hold the camera for me."

"W-Woah, I… uh." Neptune blinked when he realized that Lisa noticed his physique, which immediately gave him a confidence boost. "Er, I-I mean, yeah!" The blue-haired boy wore a toothy grin as he shoulders the camera, making sure that it was positioned the right way. "I DO have quite the shoulders, thank you for noticing.

The group of teens behind him all did an eye roll before Sun sighed and extended his hand. "I suppose I'll take the boom mic, then. I use a staff as a weapon anyway, so I'm pretty sure I've got steady hands."

Blake couldn't help but grin at that. 'Oh, your hands are a LOT more than just steady, Sun.' she thought to herself as she watched her dorky boyfriend steadily handle the boom mic.

Once the two boys were set up with instructions on what to so, Lisa grabbed her mic and fussed over herself in the van's side-view mirrors before smiling contently to herself. "Alright, here we go. Now, we won't be broadcasting this live, okay? This is gonna be shown on the news a bit later on today, so no pressure, alright?" She received a few sighs of relief from the teens, making her chuckle a bit. "Hehe, don't worry, I'm sure you all be fine. Now, blue boy, direct the camera over here and keep it focused on me until I tell you to pan over to the house with me, okay?" She checked her watch to see that the hands were just thirty seconds away from striking ten o'clock. "When I give the word, you're going to hit THIS switch on the side." Lisa indicated the switch near Neptune's hand. "That'll be what gets us rolling, alright?"

"You got it." Neptune nodded. "Just that switch and nothing else, right?"

"Exactly." Lisa confirmed before going over to Sun. "And monkey boy, we won't need the mic until later, so could you maybe get the tripod and just keep a hold of both of those for now?"

Sun gave her a thumbs up. "No prob, Lisa." He used his tail to keep a hold of the boom mic while taking hold of the tripod, giving Lisa a salute afterward. "Alright, ready when you are!"

"Great! We're ready then." Lisa checked her watch again to see they now had ten seconds, to which she raised a hand to Neptune. "Rolling in five… four… three…" She counted down silently on her fingers from two to one before pointing at Neptune, who immediately flicked the switch.

With a bright smile, Lisa immediately went into reporter mode and greeted her audience. "Hello people of Remnant, this is Lisa Lavender of the Vale News Network, coming to you from the isle of Patch. As you're no doubt aware from the events of yesterday, we have had… quite the hectic couple of days here in our kingdom to say the least." Her face became serious for a moment as she explained. "As we've learned, a previously unheard-of threat has emerged from the darkest parts of our world, a witch who goes by the name of "Salem". As we have learned, she has complete control over ALL of the Grimm, and is the one responsible for the attacks on Vale and both Beacon, and more recently, Haven Academy."

Off to the side, the group's eyes widened. 'How'd she get THAT information?' they all wondered.

"No doubt this witch plans to destroy our world and plunge it into even more darkness than it already has." Lisa continued as a melancholy expression came to her face. "I find this very hard to say, but… I feel like we may have jumped the gun quite a bit when we called this time "A New Era of Peace" considering this evil force's presence…" But then she brightened up again a split second later. "However, I think that there IS still hope to be found, for not only were we made aware of this new threat yesterday, but we were also presented with a group of fantastic young heroes who have sworn to protect the world from Salem, even if they are far away from our world itself." She ushered for Sun and Neptune to follow her as she stepped over toward the others. "Everyone, I would now like to FINALLY formally introduce these young heroes to you all right now!" She brought the mic up to Ben's face. "I think it's only appropriate we start with you, my friend."

"O-Oh… right." Ben grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. 'Man, so weird to be interviewed like this WITHOUT being yelled at or with flashing cameras in my face. …Definitely helps that she's not another Harangue.' He set his eyes directly onto the camera and spoke clearly into the mic; "Uh, hi there, Remnant. My name's Ben Tennyson. But, uh, I guess you might've known that already."

Lisa sent him a wink. "Never hurts to cement it in the people's minds, Ben, trust me. So, would you care to remind people of what you can do?"

"Uh, yeah! Of course." Ben brought up the Omnitrix and showed it off to the camera. "Okay, so this might SEEM like an ordinary watch, but in reality, it's actually a high-tech alien device called the Omni-Matrix… or "Omnitrix" for short. It lets me transform into any alien I want… or at least the ones I've unlocked."

Lisa nodded, ushering him to go on. "Indeed, I think we ALL saw you do that last night. But perhaps you could give us another demonstration now that we're NOT in mortal danger?"

"Oh, sure!" Ben brought up the Omnitrix's holo ring before scrolling through his aliens, searching for the perfect one to show off. "Hm… let's see, ah-ha, perfect!" The core popped up and Ben slammed it down, revealing that he had transformed into… "ARMODRILLO!" The Talpaedan lifted his mighty, jackhammer-like arms, making Lisa give out a surprised, yet joyous gasp.

"Ah-ha! Oh my goodness, it gets even more amazing when you see it up close like this!" She inspected every inch of the large, yellow-armored alien, only stopping when she took note of his large arms. "Hm… now that's quite odd. How do your arms have these jackhammers in them? Are you some kind of robotic alien now?"

"No, actually." Armodrillo replied. "My arms are entirely biological."

"VERY interesting!" Lisa smiled. "And I assume they work like normal jackhammers?"

Beneath his helmet, Armodrillo smirked before slamming one fist on the ground, the pile drivers in his arms immediately going to work. He made sure not to put TOO much power into it, otherwise he'd never hear the end of it from everyone inside the house, but there was still a pretty good tremor going on. The ground shook beneath everyone's feet as Armodrillo kept hammering away at it, the Talpaedan calling out; "YOU TELL ME!"

"AaAaAaAhH! B-B-Ben! W-w-we g-g-g-get it!" Neptune shouted. "S-S-Stop sh-shaking the place, w-w-will ya?!" A split second later, Armodrillo stopped, allowing everyone a sigh of relief. "Thank you!"

"Haha! Yes, THANK you!" Lisa laughed as she steadied herself back to her feet. "That was an AMAZING demonstration for the people at home! Now, what about the OTHER thing you did, where you slammed that symbol on your chest and changed your form even further?"

Armodrillo pointed to the Omnitrix on his chest. "Oh yeah! That's called the "Evolutionary Function". It allows me to change my aliens into their Ultimate form… at the cost of draining the Omnitrix's battery a lot quicker."

Lisa nodded in understanding. "Ah, I get it, so it's a bit of a payoff; more power for less time in your transformation. VERY interesting!" She gave him a wave and said; "Oh, you can change back now, by the way."

"Ah, thanks." Armodrillo hit the Omnitrix and changed back into Ben in a flash of green light, the hero placing his hands on his hips. "So, anything else you wanna know?"

"Oh there's a WHOLE lot I wanna know, but first, I think it's only appropriate that we introduce the others here." Lisa gestured over to Sun and Neptune. "Firstly, I want to thank these two young men for helping me with my equipment today. Boys, feel free to introduce yourselves."

Sun's eyes widened when Neptune put the camera on him. "O-Oh, right! Heya world, heh… name's Sun Wukong!"

Neptune then turned the camera around and gave a big smile. "And I'm Neptune Vasilias!" He gave an exuberant wave and called out; "Hi mom! Hi big bro! I'm gonna be on TV!"

The entire group couldn't help but groan before Lisa cleared her throat. "Ahem, yes, very good. Now, how about we move on with introductions, hm?" Neptune refocused the camera and moved over to Rex, smiling up at him. "You're the young man that saved my life, so I'm pretty sure that everyone already knows you, too."

"Uh, hehe, yeah." Rex chortled before peering into the camera and waving. "Hey world! Name's Rex Salazar incase ya didn't catch it the first time." From his hand, he brought forth his BFS to show it off. "And as a reminder, I'm chock full of nano-machines called "nanites" that I can use to build a bunch of awesome weapons… and transform into a giant robot."

Lisa gave Rex a tap on the chest. "Which we WILL be getting to later, trust me. But first…" The reporter then made her way over to Team RWBY and pointed her microphone toward them, the girls all visibly becoming either extremely excited or anxious. "Alright, girls, it's time for you! What're your stories?"

Ruby's eyes found the camera and she let out a little nervous laugh as she waved to it. "Uh, hehe, hi… Remnant." Her eyes widened a bit at that realization. 'Oh my gosh, everyone in the WORLD is gonna see this!' She almost lost her nerve for a moment before Yang came up and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, giving her sister a thumbs up and a wink, along with an encouraging grin. Ruby smiled back and nodded, facing the camera again with a new found confidence. "Well… we're Team RWBY from Beacon Academy." She placed a hand over her chest. "I'm Ruby Rose, and I'm the team leader."

Yang saluted the camera with her signature grin. "I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's big sis!"

Weiss bowed her head slightly to the camera. "I'm Weiss Schnee… and yes, that Schnee, though I think I've made it clear yesterday that I don't wish to associate myself with my father's company right now."

"Hm, I see." Lisa said, though in her mind, she was thinking; 'Hm… this could be a story for another time…' However, she brushed the thought aside before moving onto Blake, giving her an encouraging nod. "And what about you, young lady?"

"B-Blake." the cat girl stammered out. "B-Blake Belladonna."

Lisa shot Blake a sympathetic expression. "A bit of stage fright, Blake?"

"A-A little, yeah." Blake rubbed her arm a little as she glanced off to the side. "I-I've never really been part of an interview before…" She held her hands over her stomach as she kept her eyes toward the ground. "And… all the years of seeing bad press have kinda made me wary of that."

"No doubt because of your family's association with the White Fang, correct?" Lisa asked, to which Blake gave a solemn nod as an answer. Lisa smiled and placed a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Well, considering all of the good things that were said about them at the press conference yesterday, you should be feeling pretty happy about that, right?"

Blake's ears perked up at that. "W-Well, of course, but… I'm just a little worried that the attack yesterday will—"

"You should check the news when you get the chance." Lisa said with a wink. "Trust me, the White Fang is certainly being talked about, and I think you'll like what you hear."

A smile slowly formed on Blake's face at Lisa's words. "I… I'll remember to that, Lisa."

"I'm glad you will." Lisa smiled before glancing between Blake and Weiss. "Though I have to admit, I find it rather ironic that a Schnee and a Belladonna ended up on the same team as one another. I take it things were a bit rough for you two at first?"

"Well, Blake hid her ears at first, so I didn't exactly know she was a Faunus until a couple months into the first semester." Weiss answered as she glanced toward Blake with a small smile. "And well… I still had a few frustrations with Faunus at the time. I know it must've been hard for her to put up with me, but in the end, when I found out she WAS a Faunus… I didn't care. She was already my friend, and that was something I couldn't deny. And ever since, I've grown to appreciate the Faunus community more and more with her help." She reached over and pulled Blake into a side embrace. "I honestly couldn't ask for a better friend."

"Aw, Weiss." Blake waved off. "No need to get all sappy on television."

"Sorry, Blake, but you're getting ALL of the sappy!" Yang said as she pulled all three of her teammates into a hug. "Ruby might be my biological sister, but as far as I'm concerned, all THREE of these gals are my sisters!"

Lisa beamed happily as she placed a hand over her chest. "Oh my goodness, you girls are adorable!" She quirked a brow over to Yang in particular. "But you told me something that piqued my interest, Yang… you said that you and Ben are dating. Would you want to get that on the record just in case?"

Yang gave her a thumbs up. "Oh, hell yeah." The Blonde Brawler peered straight into the camera and pointed in it. "Hey, listen up ladies—and a few guys out there, I'm sure—Ben and I are pretty much linked at the hip already, so sorry to disappoint." She smiled in satisfaction before winking over to Weiss. "You want in on this, Weiss-cream?" she whispered.

Weiss gave her friend a soft glare. "I would rather NOT have my father find out that I'm dating Rex, thank you." she curtly whispered back.

"Yeah, probably best to keep that on the downlow." Rex agreed with a wince.

Not taking noticed of the little exchange, Lisa continued on. "Hm, very straight and to the point. So, tell me, how long have you been fighting Salem?"

Ruby was the one to answer that. "W-We've been fighting Salem and her followers along with Ben for the past three weeks now. It hasn't been easy, but we've managed."

Lisa gave a single nod, signaling that Ruby was doing great. "I see, so how DID you meet up with Ben in the first place?"

The whole group gave each other wary glances before going back into the camera. "That's kinda where things get tricky to explain…" Yang answered before taking a deep breath, ready to explain things one more time.

…..

After moving the interview onto the front porch, the heroes went over everything that had happened at the Battle for Beacon, including Ben, Gwen and Kevin's sudden arrival as well as how they managed to turn the tide in their favor that night. Over the course of the next few minutes, they told of all of the different adventures they had experienced since then, which included Rex giving a recounting of how HE had ended up crossing into Ben's universe from his own before making his way to Remnant. All in all, it took about half an hour to get everything out, but they managed.

"And so, that's the WHOLE story of what exactly has been going on." Ben concluded. "Me, my family and my friends all got caught up in a big explosion in our home dimension, and were sent here with some of escaped convicts from the Plumber Base break out. We've basically been trying to round them up ever since and we've had a lot of success in doing so…" He pursed his lips in frustration. "Even though a few of them managed to ally themselves with Salem."

There was a brief silence among the group for a moment before Lisa spoke up, having lost her voice for a moment. "W-Wow… that is quite the tale." the reporter uttered. "Honestly, I WOULD label it as fantastic and unbelievable if I hadn't JUST seen everything that I did yesterday. I'm sorry that all of that happened to you and your family, Ben."

"Thank you." Ben set his eyes directly into the camera before bowing his head. "Honestly, though, I won't argue with anyone if they blame me for all of the bad stuff that's been going on. After all, the whole reason my enemies are here—"

"Is because of something that happened that was out of your control." Lisa emphasized, taking Ben by surprise. "Listen, Ben, I'm not exactly sure why you feel guilty about all of this, but I can tell you right now that when I get the facts, I make sure I have everything. I don't do any twisting or mincing, I get my facts straight." The reporter smiled at him once more. "And just from the expression on your face, I can tell that you're telling the truth."

Ben reciprocated the grin and let out a sigh. "Th-Thank you, Lisa. Sorry, it's just… I haven't had much luck with news outlets back in my world, believe it or not. I mean, a few of them like me, but others… not so much."

Lisa scoffed at the notion. "Pfft, well, I can't imagine why. You're a pretty nice person, Ben, and anyone around the world who was watching you and your friends defend Vale yesterday can see that. With that being said, though… if by chance the people at home don't believe that you're from another dimension entirely… would you perhaps have any proof?"

Slowly but surely, a series of smiles came to the teens faces. "Oh, by god, do we!" Yang stood up and ushered for Lisa to follow her. "C'mon, we'll show ya!" The rest of Team RWBY, Ben and Rex were hot on Ben's heels while Lisa followed, with Sun and Neptune trailing behind while holding the equipment.

Almost immediately, Rex heard the beginning tune to a certain theme song from the living room "Ooh, ooh! In here, point the camera in here, Sun!" The hero ushered as Lisa and everyone else rounded the corner into the room, where Ghira, Kali, Sienna and Ilia were still sitting, though now Penny and Oscar had joined them all as well.

Lisa's eyes couldn't help but widen the moment she saw what was on the television; it was some sort of anthropomorphic cat creature swiping around an extending sword while chanting; "Thunder! THUNDER THUNDERCATS! HOOOO!" All while epic music played in the background. From there, the intro played with its fast paced and colorful animation, which all but mesmerized Lisa as it went on;

Thundercats are on the move, Thundercats are loose!

Feel the magic, hear the roar! Thudercats are loose!

Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats!

Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats!

Thunder, thunder, thunder, Thundercats!

Thunder, thunder, thunder, THUNDERCATS!

The whole intro played through to the end before ending with one final; "Thundercats!" before moving onto the episode itself… though Lisa was already grinning from ear to ear. "AH! Oh my goodness, that was AMAZING!"

Everyone sitting on the furniture immediately jumped in surprise at the woman's shout, the group whipping their heads around toward her. "Oh! Miss Lavender!" Penny beamed as she sprung up to her feet, her hands balled up in excitement. "You have arrived!"

Ilia's eyes widened and she put her hands to her face, her spots turning pink as she whipped her head away from the camera. "AH! Oh my gosh, we're on TV NOW?! I haven't had time to get ready!"

Oscar spun around and slunk himself behind the couch cushions, hoping to not be seen. "You think you've got it bad? I've never even BEEN on TV before!"

"Guys, relax!" Yang waved off. "We're not live, just recording!" Both Ilia and Oscar gave out relieved sighs at that, slumping back into their seats.

"Ah, good morning, Miss Lavender." Ghira greeted as he, Kali and Sienna stood up to greet the reporter. "Have you begun your interview with Ben yet?"

"Good morning, Mr. Belladonna. And yes, partially." Lisa answered before putting her focus back on the television. "Ben and the others just finished explaining everything about what exactly has been going on for the past few weeks, and I asked them if they could prove that they were from another dimension." She watched as the show went on, seeing that the high-speed animation of the intro didn't exactly match up with the actual show's animation. "And I have to say, I don't think I've ever seen a cartoon like this before."

"And that's because you haven't!" Ben explained as he gestured toward the TV. "This is a show from my world called "Thundercats". It's a thirty-five-year-old show that's from the 1980's, and that's pretty much why the animation looks the way it does."

Kali gestured to the screen. "Plus, it's where we found the inspiration for the new emblem on our flag."

Lisa's eyes brightened up at that revelation. "Oh well that's certainly very cool!" She focused back on the screen, watching as the cartoon played on. "Hm, well, I have to say, if this is what your animation looked like thirty-five years ago on your world, then I'm guessing it's not exactly as high-tech as Remnant."

"Oh, I think you'd be surprised." Ruby assured as she ushered Lisa to follow her. "C'mon, let's get you downstairs. There's a WHOLE lot more stuff to see down there."

Weiss quirked a brow as Ruby lead Lisa over to the basement, with Sun and Neptune dutifully following them. "Wait…" She glanced over to Blake in curiosity. "Didn't we pack up most of the stuff into Kevin's car already?"

"Almost everything." Blake answered. "There's still a few things left down there." A small grin came to Blake's face as she let out an amused chuckle. "Heh, Pyrrha insisted that she finish Ocarina of Time today. Said that it wouldn't feel right to start it in Remnant and not finish it before leaving."

"Well alright!" Rex cheered. "Let's get down there, then!"

"Ooh! Ooh! I will join you!" Penny shouted as she jogged lightly after them. "It sounds like a fun time! Ilia, Oscar, do you wish to accompany us?"

The chameleon girl and farm boy immediately tensed up at the idea of having a camera on them. "N-No thanks, Penny." Ilia waved with a stammer. "I-I'm good, but thank your for asking. We'll meet up later, though, okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm good, too." Oscar assured. "But again, thanks."

"Suit yourselves!" Ruby chimed in from down the hall. "We're gonna have a BLAST!"

"Hehe… I'm sure." Ilia chuckled nervously as everyone left the room, only to sigh in frustration once they left. "I hate cameras."

Sienna stepped over and gave Ilia a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Same here, my dear. Unfortunately, you'll probably have to get used to it once you arrive in Ben's world. He DID say he was famous, after all." This only made Ilia sigh heavier, burying her face into one of the couch cushions. Despite herself, Sienna couldn't help but laugh. "Hehe, chin up, Ilia. Things will be alright… especially since you'll have Swift with you."

Ilia's head snapped up to see Sienna giving her a toothy grin, to which she grimaced back. "…I will choose NOT to comment on that, thank you."

"Sweetheart, come now." Kali said with a reassuring smile. "From what I heard, the girl literally came to the battle JUST so she could save you." The cat woman gave her a wink. "If that isn't a sign, then I don't know what is."

Another sigh escaped Ilia's lips. "Maybe… but still, there's a lot to get through before I can even consider asking her out." She placed a hand on her cheek, her eyes drooping a bit in sadness. "Not to mention the fact that her parole is gonna seriously hinder a lot of plans…"

"Oh, worry not, young Ilia." Everyone's eyes shifted to the room's entrance again to see none other than Professor Paradox standing in the doorway, the time traveler smiling out toward them all. "Throughout my journeys through time and space, I've seen love conquer all kinds of adversity. And I'm sure that your situation will be no different."

A small smile came to Ilia's face at that. "Heh, thanks professor, much appreciated. So, where's Azmuth?"

"He is having a conversation with Max and a few of the other adults about what will happen once you all get to Earth." the professor explained. "They should be finished in a while… and you're very welcome." Paradox nodded to Ilia before setting his sights onto Oscar. "Now, if it is alright with all of you, I would like to borrow Oscar for a few minutes."

Oscar's eyebrows rose up curiously as he stood. "Uh, sure, professor. What's up?"

"I have something important that I wish to discuss with you before the big dimensional jump later today." Paradox elaborated before waving his hand down the hall. "Come, we can talk about this in the kitchen."

As the farm boy and time traveler strolled down the hallway, Ilia couldn't help but also grow a bit inquisitive to what Paradox wanted to talk about. 'Hmm… must be pretty important.' She was about to get up and perform a bit of espionage, but then decided against it, shaking her head all the while. 'Ugh, no, Ilia. You're past that. If Oscar wants to share, then he will.'

…..

Meanwhile, downstairs, the group had just walked down to see that Team JNPR and Gwen were all gathered around the television, all five of them intently focused on the game that they were playing. That being; Ocarina of Time. The moment that Lisa caught sight of it, her eyebrows rose up once again in intrigue. The graphics on this game seemed to be FAR older than anything that Remnant had seen in a while, almost thirty to forty years if she had to guess correctly.

It showed a green-clad young blonde with pointy ears with a sword and shield holstered on his back, along with a princess glad in a pink and purple dress running from a dark, crumbling castle, one that was surrounded with very foreboding clouds. Pyrrha seemed to relax a little bit as she watched the castle crumble. "So… is that it?"

"Man, that was kinda lame." Nora deadpanned from the couch. "So Pyrrha just has a tennis match with big bad Ganondorf, shoots him with light arrows, hits him with the master sword and that's it?"

"A bit anti-climactic if you ask me." Ren concurred.

Gwen rolled her eyes as her friends jumped to conclusions. "Oh, trust me, it ain't over." However, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the group descending the stairs… and immediately took notice of Lisa Lavender. "Oh! Lisa, you're here!"

Team JNPR all turned their heads around the moment that Gwen said that, taken by surprise at Lisa's presence. "Oh shoot, is the interview starting NOW?!" Jaune exclaimed as he and his friends shot up out of their seats. "Damn, we haven't even gotten ready for—"

"No, no! Please, go on with your game!" Lisa insisted, manually positioning Neptune so that he was pointing the camera directly at the television screen. "I want to make sure I don't miss a second of this!"

Yang strolled over and gave Pyrrha a pat on the shoulder. "We're showing Lisa proof that Ben's from another dimension by showing her some Earth stuff." She gave the Invincible Girl a thumbs up. "So go on, you're pretty close to finishing the game, aren't ya?"

"I-I am." Pyrrha nodded before she and her team sat back down, watching as the cutscene went on. She pressed the A button as Princess Zelda said that it was finally over before Navi spoke up, the fairy apologizing for not helping during the battle. However, at that moment, there was a loud rumble, eliciting a gasp from Zelda before Pyrrha moved link up to a lone pile of rubble. But just as she approached it, a huge wall of fire erupted from behind Link, cutting him off from Zelda. "Oh, that cannot be good." As if on cue, Ganondorf burst out of the rubble, gasping for breath as he floated up into the air. "Oh, I call foul! Nobody could have survived an entire castle falling on top of them!"

"Well, Ganondorf can." Gwen said with a shrug as the Demon King raised his fist, showing the Triforce of Power glowing on the back of it. Ganondorf then began to convulse before a bright light suddenly shot out from his body. "…And now it's time for one of the most awesome boss battles in history."

From the back of the group, though, Penny couldn't help but shudder as she leaned over to Ruby. "That… that resembles what happened when you activated your Silver Eyes, Ruby."

"Hm, really?" Ruby asked before her eyes widened at what she saw next. From the bright light, Ganondorf's body transformed into a new, monstrous form resembling that of a horned, big-face beast, one that stood on two legs and had massive arms and a tail. In each hand, a large blade appeared as the beast loomed over Link, its bright eyes shining through the darkness while his name appeared at the bottom of the screen; "Ganon". "…Well, at least I didn't turn into a pig demon."

"What in the WORLD is that?!" Lisa exclaimed as Ganon knocked the Master Sword out of Link's grasp, the blade implanting itself into the ground next to Zelda.

"That is the final boss of this game; the Demon King, Ganon." She set her eyes onto Pyrrha again, whose jaw was now fully open as she stared at the final boss in shock. "…Yeah, that's MOST people's reactions to seeing this for the first time." A bright smile came to Gwen's face as she whipped her head around to meet her cousin's eyes. "Oh, oh! You should've been here when she found out that Sheik was Zelda! It was AMAZING!"

…..

Over the course of playing this spectacular game, Pyrrha had experienced many things. She had traveled through time to save the land of Hyrule, collected all three Spiritual Stones and all six medallions, forged the Biggoron Sword, found many other collectibles along the way, and retrieved many, MANY gold Skulltulas and heart pieces. And now, she had made it all the way through Ganon's castle… only to find Sheik already there waiting for her.

She had expected him to come and join in on the final battle… but instead, he began recounting a legend about the Triforce and how it would separate into three parts if anyone touched it, embedding itself into that same person as well as two chosen others. It was then that Sheik revealed that Ganondorf and Link held the Triforces of Power and Courage respectively… and then revealed that HE had the Triforce of Wisdom, revealing himself as the Seventh Sage…

As well as Princess Zelda. Once Sheik had gone through his quick costume change, the only think Pyrrha could do was widen her eyes in shock, tilt her head as her confusion grew, and feel her jaw go slack as her brain could only just barely process the revelation. When she was finally able to speak again, there was only one thing Pyrrha could say;

"Are you SCREWING with me right now?!"

…..

The other teens burst out laughing as Gwen recounted the events, all while Pyrrha begrudgingly switched to the Biggoron sword for the battle ahead. "Yes, yes, let's all laugh at Pyrrha's expense, shall we?" the Invincible Girl sarcastically said before setting her gaze onto Gwen again. "Alright, so… how in the world to I fight this thing?"

"Okay, so this battle's surprisingly simple." Gwen explained as she pointed to the screen. "You can either stun him with Light Arrows before circling around him and slicing at his tail… or you can wait for the perfect time and roll underneath his legs to do the same. The second option involves some good timing, but I'm pretty certain you can get it."

Pyrrha smiled in determination, giving Gwen a thumbs up as she resumed the game. "Alright then, let's finish this!" With that, Pyrrha got right to work. As expected, it took a few tries before she was able to get the timing just right to roll under Ganon's legs, but she eventually found the correct opening, making Link tumble toward Ganon's backside before swiping at the beast's tail with the Biggoron sword. After many more successful strikes, as well as a light arrow or two, Ganon fell to one knee, allowing the wall of flame to fall for a brief moment.

"Pyrrha! The Master Sword is here!" Zelda called from the sidelines through text. "Hurry up!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Pyrrha assured as she quickly grabbed the Master Sword, ready to put an end to Ganon once and for all. She swiped at Ganon's tail again and again until finally, the beast got down onto one knee again, which allowed Zelda to come in and hold Ganon in place with a powerful beam of light.

"I'm using my power to hold the Evil King! Use your sword and deliver the final blow!" the princess said before stopping to catch her breath.

Pyrrha wore a determined expression on her face as she walked up to Ganon, using Navi and the A button to deliver the final blow. Link swung his sword at Ganon's face three times, sending blood splattering everywhere before plunging the Master Sword deep into Ganon's skull, causing many in the room to recoil at the sight. "Oh my!"

"Now THAT is a killing blow!" Yang commented from behind.

"Hell yeah, it is!" Ben cheered as Ganon started convulsing in pain, with Zelda calling out to the six other sages for their assistance in sealing the Demon King. "Congratulations, Pyrrha! You just beat Ocarina of Time!"

The expression on Pyrrha's face could only be described as pure joy the moment she was told that, the Invincible Girl springing to her feet as she watched Ganon get sealed into the Spirit Realm while cursing Zelda, the Sages and herself. "HAHA! Yes! I did it! I have finished Ocarina of Time!"

"Haha! Congrats, Pyr!" Jaune exclaimed as he pulled Pyrrha into a hug, giving her a kiss for good measure. "It took you nearly three weeks, but you did it!"

"Look at you go, lady!" Nora lightly jabbed Pyrrha's shoulder with a smirk. "Never would've took you for a gamer, but here you are!"

Ren smiled and nodded his head. "Yes, well done, Pyrrha."

"Thank you, everyone." Pyrrha graciously bowed her head to her friends. "It means a lot." She then did the same with Gwen. "And thank YOU Gwen for helping me along the way. It's been quite the journey and I thank you for helping me along with it."

Gwen stood up and gave Pyrrha a hug. "My pleasure, but it's not over yet." She waved her hand over to the television, where Link and Zelda were now standing in a void. "There's one last scene to get through."

Pyrrha quickly picked up the controller and watched as Zelda thanked her for her help in saving Hyrule… only to then fall into remorse over her actions being responsible for all of it in the first place. "Now it is time to make up for my mistakes." the princess continued. "You must lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time… However, by doing this, the road between times will be closed…" Zelda extended her hand to the Hero of Time. "Link, give the ocarina to me. As a Sage, I can return you to your original time with it."

"…WHAT?!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "I-I didn't expect THIS to be the ending! I thought Link and Zelda were going to get together!"

Gwen shook her head. "No, sorry. Unfortunately, not too many Zelda games really emphasize any romantic connection between Zelda and Link… outside of Zelda 2 and Skyward Sword… and maybe Breath of the Wild if you squint, but those are games for another time." She directed her eyes back to the screen. "For now, though… it's time to say good-bye."

Pyrrha pursed her lips, a bit saddened that it all had to end. "…Okay." Pyrrha pressed the button and Zelda started playing the Ocarina of Time, sending Link back to the past while allowing the credits to roll. The redheaded warrior sighed as she set the controller down, giving a small smile to the screen. "…That was a VERY good game." Her attention went back to Gwen as her smile increased. "And I very much look forward to playing the rest of the series."

"Oh, don't you worry." Gwen said as she pat Pyrrha on the shoulder. "I'm gonna get you set up with Breath of the Wild RIGHT when we get home." She craned her head around toward Lisa, quirking a brow at the reporter. "Well, Lisa? What did you think?"

"That… was… AMAZING!" Lisa exclaimed, getting in front of the camera so that she could speak to the people of Remnant who would be watching the interview later. "Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's safe to say that NO ONE has ever seen a video game like that, not even a vintage one! If this isn't proof that these young people are from another dimension, I don't know what is!" She directed her gaze back to Gwen again. "What was the name of that game again?"

"Oh, it's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" for the Nintendo 64." Gwen answered. "It's pretty much a classic from our world."

Lisa nodded resolutely. "Yep, that cements it! I've never heard of that game OR that console in my life." She gave the redhead a wink. "And you're talking to a woman who played quite a few games back in my younger days."

Ruby couldn't help but take interest in that. "Ooh! Well that's neat! Do you still play?"

The white-haired woman shook her head. "Oh, not anymore, really. I had college and my career to focus on. I didn't have time for video games anymore."

This got Ben and Yang to smirk at one another as an idea simultaneously came to their heads. "Well, we'll just have to fix THAT, now won't we?"

"Yeah, why not sit down and play a bit with us, Lisa?" Yang suggested. "Besides, this is all pretty much one big casual interview, right?"

"W-Well, I suppose…" Lisa rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I-I mean, I haven't exactly played in a long time, and from what I've seen, these games seem a bit more on the older side than the ones I used to play…"

This only made Ben's grin grow more. "Oh, you want some NEWER games? Very well, then! Yang, let's get her upstairs!" The powerful couple immediately marched behind Lisa and began ushering her toward the stairs again. "It's time to break out the PS3 one last time!"

…..

Meanwhile, in the Land of Darkness, Salem was FAR from being in a good mood. Ever since the utter travesty that had been their SECOND failed attempt to cripple Vale and Beacon and take the Relic of Choice, she had done nothing but wander the halls of her own castle in silence, preferring to burn off her own frustrations by herself rather than lashing out at her subordinates. It helped that the Valian invasion team weren't even back yet, so the overall silence of the castle certainly helped temper her current emotional turmoil.

To put it simply, she was angry. Angry at multiple things, really. The main thing being Tennyson and Salazar of course and their unexpected transformation into giants. She definitely had not expected THAT to happen, and the fact that those two had such powerful forms… certainly put a grinding halt to things. 'The only Grimm that could possibly put either of them to shame is the whale.' Salem thought to herself. '…Perhaps I should consider breaking it out and siccing it on them.'

And then there were her subordinates themselves. Once again, they had failed their mission, though this time, NOT because of any interference from a certain energy vampire. Of course, she didn't expect the attack to be EASY, but to be trounced like this AGAIN was utterly infuriating. She had no doubts that her followers were and COULD be quite powerful… but then she had to consider just how outnumbers her forces were compared to the heroes. And unfortunately, her Grimm being reinforcements for them weren't enough. "I need more allies." Salem concluded, not realizing that her thoughts had turned verbal. "More people to help me achieve this goal… but how?"

Finally, there was the fact that her presence was now known to the people of Remnant. Well, perhaps not by everyone, but still, the entire world would definitely know after this day. She was… conflicted about this. On the one hand, the fact that people now actively had something to fear could prove to be quite useful for her Grimm, allowing the beasts to gain more power as a result. …However, there was also the fact that Tennyson's presence was known to the world as well, and the vision of a mighty hero who could take down a Leviathan would surely be burned into the public's eyes.

"If he rallies the people of the world against me, then that will be one step closer to humanity reuniting as one… meaning that the God's judgment will not fall within my favor." A sneer came to Salem's face as her fists clenched, a dark aura radiating from her body. "Tennyson… I swear to you, this is FAR from over. I WILL find a way to follow you to your world. I WILL bring the Grimm with me, and there, I will make many new allies out of the villains you no doubt have. This I swear."

"Hm, a very interesting proclamation."

Salem's eyes widened and she gasped, her dark aura still radiating as she spun around, preparing herself for combat. She didn't know WHERE the voice came from, but all she knew was that she didn't recognize it, and that meant that someone was trespassing in HER castle. "Who are you?!" The witch called out. "Show yourself!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, such impatience." The voice chastised before, all of a sudden, an iridescent purple glow suddenly lit up the room, making Salem whip herself around again. The witch's eyes widened when she saw a bright violet vortex having appeared in the hallway, only for a lone figure to slowly step out of it at the very next second. The vortex then closed, leaving the hallway darkened again and the figure in shadow, putting their hands behind their back. "It would seem that you're facing quite the conundrum, Lady Salem."

Salem kept her guard up as the figure simply stood there. Their head appeared to be entirely covered by a helmet, with their voice sounding like it was coming through some sort of modulator. From the figure's build, the witch could see that it had a male body type, with broad shoulders and tall frame. She could also see that he was wearing a duster that reached down past his knees, but from the shadows, that was really all she could make out of him. "…I ask again, who are you?" Salem asked with narrowed eyes. "I am FAR from being in a good mood right now, so I suggest that you explain yourself, now."

The figure raised his hand, imploring that she'd reconsider. "Please, Lady Salem, I'm not here for conflict. In fact, I'm here to offer my services to you." The figure took a cautious step forward, though Salem didn't stop glaring at him. "You see, I too have a personal grudge against Tennyson, and I've been observing you and your forces fighting against him and his team for a good while now. I must say, I'm very impressed with what I've seen."

"…Impressed?" Salem sneered. "After a display like that? After the CONSTANT failures over the course of these past THREE WEEKS?!"

"Ah, but you've also had a few successes as well." The figure reassured.

"Small successes." Salem emphasized as she began to step forward herself. "Miniscule in comparison to the lofty goal that I wish to achieve! But when it comes to taking on the heroes head on…" She let out a sharp breath, keeping herself under control as her dark aura began to die down a bit. "We are out matched. Those meddlesome children not only out number us, but Tennyson and Salazar can become giants, on top of the OTHER powers that they have."

The figure placed his hands behind his back. "Yes, they're quite vexing in that regard. However, I think I can assist you in your endeavors." He raised his fingers and snapped, creating another violet vortex behind him. "You see, I have easy access to Ben Tennyson's home dimension. And if I recall, you wished to begin recruiting more of Tennyson's rogues to try and take him down, correct?" The moment he saw the slightest hint of intrigue on Salem's face, he knew he had gotten through to her. "Ah, so you're interested?"

At that point, the dark aura around Salem had dissipated, her face softening as she approached the stranger. "You DO make a very compelling proposition, Mister… hm, you never DID introduce yourself, did you?"

"Ah, yes, my apologies." The figure bowed as he closed the portal again. "My name is—"

"Miss Salem!" The duo turned around to see Viktor making his way toward them, the Transylian focused directly onto the witch. "Ah, I'm glad I found you, Miss—" But then he cut himself off when he saw the other figure standing in the shadows, letting out a surprised gasp. Viktor stopped in his tracks and immediately began generating purple lighting, glaring at the stranger. "What is this?! Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

"Oh, Doctor Viktor!" the stranger gave the Transylian a nod. "Long time no see."

"Do I know you?" Viktor demanded.

The figure gave a shrug. "Kind of, but I know you QUITE well."

Salem quickly ran up and put a hand onto Viktor's arm, making sure that her eyes were locked with his. "Viktor, do not harm him. He came here with quite the interesting proposal." She briefly glanced over to the stranger before saying; "He has a grudge against Tennyson… and he can take us to Earth."

Viktor's eyes widened and his body became at ease, no longer generating the purple lighting flowing through his hands. "What? H-How is that possible?"

"Simple, I can move in between dimensions." The stranger answered as he crossed his arms. "It's how I got here in the first place."

"Fascinating." Viktor uttered before craning his head back down to Salem. "Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. My lady… we just received a message from Rojo. They are nearing the castle as we speak and they will be here momentarily." He bowed his head to the witch fully. "They are also prepared to face any punishment you are willing to give them."

Salem pursed her lips at that. "…I see." She shifted her eyes back over to the figure, who seemed to have his focus set directly onto her. A nefarious smile came to her lips as she approached him. "It's as the old saying goes; when opportunity knocks, you must answer it. Isn't that right, dear Viktor?"

"Yes, quite true, Miss Salem." Viktor concurred as a devilish smirk of his own came to his face. "A new ally to our forces would be most fortuitous right now."

The stranger nodded. "I'm glad we're in agreement on that." He extended his hand to her. "So, I take it we have a deal?"

"Indeed, we do." Salem said as she took the stranger's hand and shook it. "Now… what is your name?"

…..

Outside of the castle, Hazel, Animo and Watts observed the Mistralian Airship as it came in for a landing just a few yards away from them, its boarding hatch opening immediately with a ramp lowering to the ground. However, before the ramp could even get halfway down, Exo-Skull suddenly burst forth from the airship and forced the ramp the rest of the way to the ground, causing it to let out a loud CLANG once it did. The rhino had a panicked look on his face as he spun around to see Thunderhog and Subdora rushing out of the ship behind him, the duo carrying Silyrian on a gurney that had been stored in the ship itself. "C'mon, C'MON! Get him inside!"

Watts and Animo's eyes widened as they saw the state that Silyrian was in, the scorpion mutant unconscious but somehow still alive despite his arm and eye having been eviscerated. "Dear god, how is he still alive?!"

"Arachnids are a species that are susceptible to having their body parts damaged." Animo explained as he and Watts began following Skull and the others inside, all while inspecting the damage that Silyrian had sustained. "But still, it's evident that he's lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to med-bay NOW!"

As they were approaching the front door, however, it opened up for them, revealing Salem and Viktor on the other side. The mutant duo and alien girl stopped in their tracks, their fear of what Salem would have instore for them taking over as they locked eyes with her. The two doctors stopped as well, though they seemed a bit more irritated that they were. "W-What?!" Watts exclaimed. "Why have you stopped?! We NEED to get to med-bay!"

Exo-Skull swallowed and nodded. "R-Right, sorry." He proceeded forward, briefly stopping to bow his head to the witch. "Lady Salem, words can't express my apologies for what happened yesterday." He placed a hand over his chest. "I want you to know that we take full responsibility for the failure in Vale."

"…Thank you, Farkas." Salem nodded back before waving a hand toward Hog, Subdora and the doctors, who had already gone inside. "Now go, help Animo and Arthur however you can. I will stay here to debrief Cinder and the others."

"Understood." Skull nodded before heading inside. He almost stopped when he saw something move in the corner of his eye, but he knew that there were more important things to be done.

Viktor took a deep breath as he directed his attention to Cinder, Rojo, Emerald, Mercury and Neopolitan, the quintet stepping off the airship with somber expressions. Emerald and Neo had their heads hung low while Mercury glanced off to the side, a frustrated expression on his face. Cinder and Rojo, however, had their uncertain gazes set firmly onto Salem, almost as if they were awaiting their punishment. "So… shall we get the news underway?" Viktor asked.

"Indeed." Salem affirmed before calling out to her strongest combatant. "Hazel! Bring them up here!" She made sure that the tone in her voice was firm, and just from that statement alone, she could see the fear already growing on the young quintet's faces. 'Good, they know the gravity of their failure.'

Without hesitation, Hazel escorted the five up to Salem, with Mercury's head now lowered in shame as well. Cinder and Rojo were still facing forward, though. "Here they are, your grace." Hazel said as he bowed his head, putting his now unslung right hand over his chest.

"Thank you, Hazel." Salem raised a hand up to the large man. "But I wish for you to stay as well. I would like you to hear this as well." The witch strode forward as Hazel stepped off to the side, not wanting to get in her way. She set her disapproving glare down onto all five of the young people, which she could tell elicited more fear from them, even if they didn't show it. "So… you have failed yet again. Have you any excuses?"

Cinder pursed her lips and took a deep breath, lowering herself to one knee as she bowed her head to her mistress. "I… I have no excuse for what happened in Vale. It SHOULD have been a clean win, but… we were outmatched severely."

Rojo followed Cinder's lead, immediately followed by the others. "Boss Lady, I really don't know what to say. At this point, you might as well just cut off the dead weight because we haven't gotten you any clean wins." The bounty hunter closed her eyes remorsefully. "I feel utterly ashamed that I keep blowing the chances that you've given me. To be blunt; it makes me feel like shit, and I won't blame you if you kick me to the curb."

"She's right." Emerald added as Neo nodded next to her. "At this point, we're just deadweight."

Mercury shook his head. "And I honestly can't blame you if you choose to—"

"Stop." Salem spoke up, causing Mercury to halt his words. The five villains a looked up to her to see that her expression had not changed, her brow furrowing at them in disappointment. "While it is true that this loss upsets me greatly, I feel it best to remind you all of what you went up against in Vale; a new power that Ben Tennyson pulled out from seemingly nowhere, and not one, but TWO massive beings that he and Salazar could transform into." The witch shook her head before going on. "That was something that no one could have predicted… not even myself."

"My lady…" Cinder began, standing up to her full height. "The odds may not have been in our favor… but we still could have done more in our attack. Because to be frank… we barely hurt the heroes. Silyrian nearly managed to turn the tide back in our favor, but—"

"The girl's Silver Eyes activated." Salem finished. "I am well aware. Though I must say that you are lucky that YOU were not hit by their light, young Cinder." She reached out and gently grasped Cinder's hand, putting it palm-up before pointing at it with her other hand. "Because you used a Grimm Parasite to absorb the Fall Maiden powers, that means you are now susceptible to the power of the Silver Eyes." She put Cinder's hand down, who's lips were now parted in shock. "I would be more careful around Miss Rose from now on, if I were you."

"I… I understand, Lady Salem." Cinder affirmed.

Emerald tilted her head to the side a bit. "So, wait, if that's the case, then how'd the eyes affect Tyrian?"

Salem put a hand to her chin in thought. "Well, in the past, the eyes HAVE only affected Grimm." Salem explained. "However, if I had to hazard a guess, I would have to say that the pure darkness of Tyrian's soul, coupled together with his new, unnatural mutated form, could have made the eyes mistake him for a Grimm of some sort."

Everyone's eyes widened at Salem's hypothesis. "Wow… didn't know Tyrian was that evil."

"I think that was pretty obvious, actually, Merc." Rojo said before focusing back onto Salem. "So… what'll our punishment be this time?"

Salem's face became a bit calmer at the question, though she waved it off immediately. "That will have to wait until later, Rojo. For now, a new matter has come up that is of the utmost importance right now." Salem began moving toward the door, leaving the quintet, as well as Hazel, somewhat confused. "You see, a few moments ago, I was suddenly greeted by a visitor that presented me with an… interesting proposition."

Now everyone was VERY confused by what she was talking about. "A visitor?" Hazel asked. "But Lady Salem… no one has entered the castle."

"Not from any of the entrances, no." Salem affirmed. "Rather, he entered from a gateway of his own creation, and he has offered us to use this gateway as he pleases."

"And it is an opportunity that we cannot afford to refuse." Viktor explained further. "Otherwise, once Tennyson and his team leaves, we will not be able to follow them otherwise."

Rojo and Cinder glanced toward each other, with Emerald, Mercury, Neo and Hazel doing the same before the Fall Maiden pressed on. "Um… very well. And where exactly IS this person?"

Salem sent her protégé a devious smile before gesturing toward the open door. "He is right here, young Cinder." She craned her head toward the entrance and ushered for whoever was inside to step out. "Come and introduce yourself."

From inside the castle, the sound of metallic foot falls suddenly rang out from the darkness inside, with an equally dark figure beginning to emerge from the doorway. However, once he was visible, Rojo's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She was left dumbstruck as she recognized who was standing before her. Even if she hadn't seen him in person, she had seen his face and heard about him through the grape vine enough to know who this was. "No… fucking… way."

The figure stepped out of the castle, allowing the iridescent purple light of the castle to reveal himself. He was about six feet tall and wore all black from head to toe, from his pants, his boots, the armor padding on his chest, shoulders and knees, his leather duster that reached past his knees, and even the rounded helmet on his head. The only things that WEREN'T black were the glowing purple parts strewn all over him. The visor of his helmet was the most obvious, with the only visible parts of his face being his pupil-less eyes and nose. His mouth wasn't visible, instead being covered by a speaker with three slits in the helmet. He also had a pair of gauntlets that had glowing purple lines on them, with five on each. Overall, he appeared to be very imposing, and even made Hazel take a cautious step back.

"L-Lady Salem… who is this?" Cinder asked.

The man focused his gaze onto Cinder, which slightly unsettled her a bit. "My apologies for arriving unannounced, Miss Cinder Fall." He apologized with a polite bow of his head. "However, after witnessing what happened in Vale, I felt it best to make my presence known." He extended his hand out to the group and greeted them; "My name is Eon… and I believe we have MUCH to talk about."

…..

A/N: Yep! It's Eon! Kudos to anyone who was able to guess it in the comments, by the way! But indeed, Eon has made himself known, and he's quite eager to help the villains get out of their losing rut. Question is, though… WHY is he so eager to help them? Well, we'll just have to find out next time, won't we?

But of course, that's not all that happened! Looks like Ben and Yang are NOT afraid to be getting a lot more intimate with each other now that they've both said the "L" word, huh? Those two are going to have QUITE the future together, I can tell. And yep, I've teased it a little bit before, but the Belladonnas, Sun, Sienna and Ilia have now all experienced a few episodes of Thundercats! Might as well considering it's what their new logo is based off of, right? And HUZZAH! Pyrrha has finished her Ocarina of Time playthrough! And just in time for the departure to Earth, too! With all that said… what DOES Paradox wanna talk to Oscar about…?

Well, in any case, the interview isn't over yet, as NEXT TIME will see Lisa and Ben get to some of the more serious questions she's been wanting to ask (after a little more gaming time, that is). Just as the interview is finishing up, however, we get one last call from Ben's Earth, with the Tennyson Family all eager to talk to their children before they make their big return! In the meantime, Eon elaborates a bit more on his proposition to Salem and her group, giving them the opportunity to leave for Earth as soon as possible. But what exactly IS Eon's goal in all of this? Well tune in next time to find out! Thanks for reading, everyone, and stay safe out there!