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
A/N: Hello everyone, a quick pre chapter authors notes. I just want to thank everyone who reads this story for the support it has gotten and the amount of people who are reading and enjoying the story. Even getting to the point that the story has reached 100 reviews, so a quick thanks to everyone who has supported this story I'm grateful for that. Now with that being said, enjoy the chapter.
Volume 3 Intermission part 1
Rock found himself walking through a dark hallway, a hallway that seemed to have no end whatsoever. But as he kept walking through the dark endless hallway, he could swear that he was hearing noises of glass breaking and heavy footsteps following him. He turned around to face him, and saw that at the other end of the hallway that there seemed to be a humanoid figure following him through the hallway.
The humanoid figure started to get closer while chanting "...ega... man... come here... you can't escape... you have already lost."
Not wanting to be caught by the figure, Rock began to run away as far as possible from the figure. But the further he got into the hallway, the more it seemed like the door was getting away from him. Even as he began to run faster and seemed to be getting closer and closer to the door it just seemed to be staying out of reach for him. But the creature kept getting closer, so he didn't give up, he couldn't give up.
He kept going, and it seemed that he was able to reach the door handle. He grabbed onto it, and found that he was unable to open it, he turned around and saw that the humanoid creature was getting closer. So he kept shaking the door handle, trying to get the door to open. But it was to no avail, the door wouldn't open and the creature had nearly reached him.
Rock gave the door one final shake, but to his surprise he began to hear voices call out to him.
"Rock"
"Rock?"
"Rock!"
"ROCK! Wake up!"
Upon hearing the final calling to his name he was nearly caught by the humanoid creature, but then he found himself jolting up awake out of his sleep and sitting upright in his bed. Looking around him in a frantic manner, trying to get his bearings but that was when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to the right and saw that Ruby had placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down and gave him a sweet smile.
"Where am I? What is this place!?" Rock exclaimed in confusion, as he started to see that his teammates were in the room with him and were all giving him somewhat worried looks.
Yang let out a small laugh and replied "Seriously Rock, you don't even recognise the room you helped decorate. I know you've been gone for a few weeks, but come on."
Rock let out an annoyed groan and then replied "Sorry about that, just a small nightmare. Hope I didn't wake you guys."
"Not at all actually, we only just woke up. You seemed to be having a pretty rough dream." Said Weiss.
"Are you ok?" Asked Blake.
"I'm fine." Said Rock, who got a bunch of questioning looks from his teammates so he added "Really I am completely fine, it's just a dream."
"Then what happened in it?" Asked Blake.
"I... I was in an endless hallway getting chased by a monster. Not sure what the means." Replied Rock.
"It means that you're getting used to being with us again, I'm sure that it will be fine and that you won't be having those dreams anymore in the near future." Said Blake, who got some strange looks from Ruby, Yang and Weiss. "What?" She asked.
"How do you know that?" Asked Weiss.
"I have read some books on the meanings of dreams." Replied Blake, prompting Yang to give her a look that questioned what she was saying. Making Blake add "I read books that don't involve romantic stories."
"Right, Ninja's of Love is totally not pornography. It's perfect fiction for people of all ages." Joked Yang.
"Just because there are a few love scenes in it doesn't mean it's pornography." Blake shot back.
"Right, cause most books have an image in the centre that shows someone's katana." Replied Yang, with a sarcastic tone in her voice and drawing emphasis on the first word she replied with.
Ruby let out a fake gasp and said "Blake how could you do that? Throwing around smut like that, there are children in here."
Blake got an annoyed look on her face and replied "Like you're one to talk, ms sleep-with-our-teammate-the-moment-he-gets-back."
"Wait, you guys saw that?" Asked Rock with surprise in his voice.
"Was pretty hard to miss when I had to use the bathroom during the night." Said Yang.
"Oh no." Replied Rock.
"Don't worry, you guys looked cute together so I took the liberty of taking pictures the moment I woke up. I already send them to dad and uncle Qrow, they would like to speak with you when breakfast is over." Said Yang.
"No~" Whimpered Rock, as the realisation hit him.
"Rock, Rock she's lying." Said Ruby, with a deadpanned tone in her voice.
Rock gave Yang a confused look, who said "Don't worry, I only saved them onto my scroll as blackmail material. We had to rescue you, only fair that we have something to annoy you with."
Rock groaned in annoyance and said "Wish I was back in my cell."
"No you don't." Said Blake, with a deadpan tone in her voice.
"You're right, I don't." Said Rock, who began to feel hungry so he asked "What's the plan when it comes to food?"
"Oh good that you asked that, we have a bit of a plan for today. First we'll have breakfast with Team JNPR, then we have a meeting with Ozpin and the General, after that we'll be going into vale as a large group to buy some new combat outfits." Said Weiss.
Ruby then got a message on her scroll and said "Good news guys, Coco said she'll be joining us on our trip to Vale. Might be giving us some pointers on good combat outfits to wear."
"Wait, Ruby, how do you know Coco so well that you have her number and managed to convince her to help us out with this matter?" Asked Weiss.
"Simple, I ran into her after my meeting with Ozpin at the start of the year." Replied Ruby.
Several weeks earlier
Ruby was walking through the halls of Beacon after her talk with Professor Ozpin, she had a pained look on her face and was thinking about Ozpin had told her while also thinking about how she could be a better friend to Weiss. But due to her being deep in thought she didn't see that she had bumped into someone while walking through the hallways of the school.
Bumping into the person in front of her caused Ruby to get a bit shocked, while the person she bumped into exclaimed "Hey! Better watch your step there rookie."
Making the person she was walking with exclaim, with an apologetic look on her face "Coco be nice! I'm sorry about that, we weren't paying attention either."
"No I'm sorry, I didn't watch where I was going. Sorry for bumping into you." Replied Ruby, who looked at the two figures and saw that she had bumped into Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina two huntresses in training who were in their second year.
Coco then got a better look at Ruby and said "Oh hey, I know you. You are Ruby Rose of team RRWBY."
"Uh, yeah that's... me. How do you know that?" Asked Ruby.
"We watched your initiation." Replied Coco, causing Ruby to give her a confused look.
"It's a bit of tradition, all second, third and fourth year students gather in the main hall to watch the first years go through the Emerald Forest. You and your team did an amazing job taking out that Nevermore. And your sister team did a great job taking out the Deathstalker." Said Velvet.
"Sister team?" Asked Ruby with confusion in her voice.
Coco lowered her glasses to allow the eyes of the two students to meet and said "Come on rookie, sister teams the team that your team works well with and is most likely going to team up with. And let's not forget the extra teammate that you guys have, so I'm sure that things will be for you and your team."
"Yeah... teamwork." Said Ruby, with a slightly somber look on her face.
Coco noticed this and said "Hey kid, you ok? Something wrong?"
"I messed up on the first day with my partner, I'm a failure." Muttered Ruby.
"Calling yourself a failure is a bit too much don't you think? It's only the first day kid, every leader makes mistakes on their first day." Replied Coco "What matters is that you learn from those mistakes and move forward."
"But I angered Weiss, while I was only trying to help. And I have been trying to befriend her since yesterday and none of my attempts at befriending her has worked." Said Ruby, "And sure, I'm a child and I act like a child but I'm trying to be a team leader who supports her teammates."
"Oh right, your partner is the heiress. Look, all I can tell you is to find a possible middle ground with her." Said Coco.
"Anything else?" Asked Ruby.
"Just do your best, it's only the first week." Said Coco, after which she handed Ruby a piece of paper and said "Here is my number, if you ever need help or just advice don't be afraid to text me."
Ruby took the piece of paper and replied "Thank you, I just hope that I'll be able to fix things with Weiss."
"I'm sure you'll be fine." Said Velvet.
"Yeah like Vel said, you'll be fine. It doesn't surprise me that with that weapon and semblance of yours that you were let in early." Said Coco.
Back in the present
"Wow, I did not realise that I was disliked that heavily at the start of the year." Said Weiss, as Ruby finished telling them how she met with Coco.
"Better believe it princess, you were bossy." Said Yang.
"And impatient." Said Ruby.
"And a bit racist." Said Blake.
"Ok, I get it! But I'm trying to work past all of that." Replied Weiss, who then turned to Rock and said "Anything you would like to add?"
"You complained a lot about all of us getting good grades." Said Rock.
"I can explain that one, our parents can look at our grades and father said that if my grades or the grades of my teammates weren't up to his standards he would bring me back to Beacon." Said Weiss.
"OUR PARENTS CAN SEE OUR GRADES!" Exclaimed Ruby, Yang, Rock and Blake.
"Yeah, you didn't know that?" Asked Weiss.
"How, how is that possible?" Asked Rock.
"The parents of all the students are given an account that allows them to look into the progress of their children." Said Weiss.
"Ok but why would he take you away from Beacon if our grades were bad?" Asked Ruby.
"He told me, and I quote 'Weiss, we Schnee's only associate with the best. If I find out that the grades of your teammates aren't up to my standards I'll make sure to take you out of Beacon.'" Said Weiss.
"You know Weiss, all I'm hearing is..." Said Yang, as she put her hair to her lips to imitate a badly looking moustache "...Ho ho, Weiss I'm a stuffy business man who will abuse my influence if you don't do everything I say. Ho ho."
Weiss let out a small chuckle and said "You are right, but he'll just claim that the warning is to uphold the Schnee family name."
"A family name that he has done more damage to then you ever will." Muttered Blake, after which a knock was heard on the door. Rock went and opened the door, he was immediately met with a large stack of pancakes and waffles being carried in by Jaune, while Pyrrha was carrying in a small table, Nora was carrying in the plates and cutlery, while Ren brought in a large bag of sugar and a can of syrup.
Pyrrha placed the table in the middle of the room, which allowed Jaune to put the large stack of pancakes and waffles on the table. After which the two returned to their own dorm room to grab four chairs, then they returned to the dorm room of Team RRWBY and placed the chairs in the room. Which allowed everyone to take a seat at the table, so everyone would now be able to take a seat at the table and grab a pancake or a waffle.
A bit later the group would be enjoying their breakfast in silence, when Nora spoke up "So, Rock... What's this about a different life we heard about?"
Rock got a stunned expression on his face, and nearly dropped his fork but replied with "I don't really get it either, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. What I do understand is that every adventure I had in this world, where I dealt with Wily, I also had those adventures in the previous world I lives in. But then, one day, I got an invite to a tournament that had some of the universes greatest heroes and villains."
"Not much happened in that tournament, other than the hosts getting corrupted by some evil energy from some evil orb. We were able to stop the orb, and it got sealed away within the vault of the mansion. The tournament finished, and we all returned to our own worlds though we did keep in touch with each other. But then a couple of years later another one was announced, and they went all out with that one. Every single fighter that ever participated in the tournament would come back, with some new fighters joining as well."
"That's nice, everyone coming back must have been nice for everyone to see each other again." Said Jaune.
"It was, although it nearly didn't happen. Snake, the one who went with us to Mountain Glenn, was almost not allowed to join. The deities in charge of his world were being really unreasonable. Gave some of us the impression that they wanted to destroy the world they had created. But some strings were pulled and he was able to join."
"And so, everyone was there training and preparing themselves for the tournament while every few days the organisers would reveal new fighters. They then revealed that six surprise fighters would be revealed when the tournament was going to start. Unfortunately, we never were able to start the tournament." Said Rock, with a somber look on his face.
"What happened?" Asked Ruby.
"First the organisers disappeared, second a bright light was seen in the sky and then thirdly we were summoned to a cliff. Where we witnessed a large being of light preparing to take over the entire universe, we didn't even stand a chance. We were captured, our bodies were cloned and possessed by the spirits of people from across the universe and then we were turned into mindless puppets." Said Rock.
"Is that how all those worlds ended, and how you ended up in Remnant?" Asked Weiss.
"No, it was because of something completely different. See, one of our fighters had managed to evade capture and began to free us one by one. But when we got halfway through with freeing everyone, another being appeared. Breaking through reality a being of darkness came in, and took the fighters that we hadn't saved yet. It took some time, but eventually we had freed everyone and cornered the two beings."
"Unfortunately things didn't go too well, we were warned by the organisers who had briefly gotten out of the influence of the two beings that we had to beat them at the same time. Otherwise, whichever being we didn't take out would be able to take over the universe again due to having no one to oppose him. So, we took the advice and as a group we took on both beings. In the end, we succeeded in taking them down." Said Rock.
"I have a feeling that there is a twist to this story." Said Ren.
"There is, although we managed to beat the two beings it would seem that they had one final trick up their sleeve. They essentially used a self destruct and the blast from those two exploding took out the entire universe, taking all of us with them. I don't know what happened next, maybe I floated around in the void but somehow I ended up in remnant." Said Rock, as he wiped away some tears.
"Rock, you alright?" Asked Pyrrha, with concern in her voice.
"Yeah, the realisation that we didn't just lose against those beings but lost all those worlds in the process is finally beginning to settle in. We failed, sure we stopped those two beings, but we still failed." Said Rock, with a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"Come on Rock, you didn't fail. You and those other fighters were able to stop those beings. Sure a bunch of worlds were lost in the process, but from the looks of things people in the tournament are slowing beginning to come back. I'm sure that with time, you'll be able to get all those world back." Said Yang, as she pumped her fist into the air to encourage Rock.
Rock smiled to the encouraging words and replied "Thanks Yang, I think I needed to hear that."
"Yeah, besides this may not be your world. But who cares, you still saved it from being taken over by a mad scientist on multiple occasions. So don't feel down about that, you're a hero." Said Nora, to which the rest of the group gave him nods of encouragement.
"Thanks guys." Said Rock, it was then that Rock got a notification on his scroll and saw that Snake had send him multiple images, he looked through then and said "So, I just got a message from Snake, he send me a few images to help me jog my memory. Would you guys like to see them?" He asked to which they nodded, and so Rock first showed them the image of the two beings that were trying to take over the universe.
The group looked at the image, and Ren said "This reminds me of the story of the two brothers."
"You mean how the two of them were beings of light and darkness, and how they created Remnant?" Asked Weiss.
"Something like that, but also how different stories made them out to be these huge shape shifting beings." Said Ren.
"Oh you mean those same stories that said that the two brother gods fought with each other, which caused them to leave. Cause I'm pretty sure that it was just added to make the story seem more interesting and hide inconsistencies." Said Blake.
"That's one way to look at it, anyways here is the image of the one organising the tournament." Said Rock, as he showed them an image of the hands.
"So just, two floating hands? That's it, man talk about throwing hands." Joked Yang, causing the rest of the group to groan in annoyance.
"Yeah, the hands. Master Hand and Crazy Hand, they organised the tournament and also watched over all the worlds involved with the tournament." Replied Rock.
"Crazy hand, with a name like that is it really smart for something like that to be near a tournament that has people from different worlds?" Asked Jaune.
"You'd think so, but it wasn't that bad. He was unstable at times, and had erratic patterns when we fought him. But other than that, it was fine though he did come up with some of the crazier ideas for fighters." Said Rock, as he then showed them an image of all the fighters in the tournament.
The group got a good look at the image, after seeing the image Weiss was the first to speak up and said "Why are there so many villains in the roster?"
"There weren't that many villains, it was quit manageable for us to deal with them anytime one of them tried something." Said Rock.
"But why allow villains in the tournament in the first place, wouldn't that just ensure that they would make a plan without any of you knowing about it and then succeeding because the organisers didn't know about it?" Asked Weiss.
"Relax Weiss, it's like in a video game. The roster of fighting games always have the main villain playable along with their henchmen." Said Yang.
"That's dumb, what if this were to happen with the Vytal tournament. What if people were to hatch a plan and none of the teachers knew about it." Said Weiss.
"Like that's ever going to happen, Ozpin wouldn't just let criminals enter his school without him knowing about it. He's the headmaster of the school, I doubt he'd be as incompetent as letting something like that happen under his nose." Said Jaune, to which Blake let out a fake cough.
"What?" Asked Jaune, after which it dawned on him what he had just said.
"Don't worry Blake, you may have entered Beacon as a criminal but you're working towards bettering yourself." Said Ruby.
"I nearly killed a man yesterday." Muttered Blake, holding her head down in shame.
"We all went through some dark stuff yesterday Blake, we shouldn't let one bad day define us." Said Yang.
"Speaking of yesterday, Rock that guy who held all those people hostage yesterday. What was that all about?" Asked Pyrrha.
"Oh right." Said Rock, as he put his scroll away into his pocket. "That was Xander Payne, a member of the Emerald Spears and someone who hates me with a burning passion."
"Why? What did you do that made him hate you so much. I mean Doctor Light gave us a small explanation, about members of the Atlesian military getting hurt in the crossfire during battles between you and Doctor Wily and they then formed the Emerald Spears when Ironwood fired them in favour of mostly robotic soldiers. But why does he hate you so much that he would blow himself and multiple hostages up just to get to you?" Asked Ruby
"That is a bit of a story, but why would you guys like to know that?" Asked Rock.
"Cause we're a team, and we don't want to risk you getting killed by some crazy robot obsessed fanatic." Said Weiss.
"We also want to help you, in the same vain that you guys decided to help me with the White Fang. Even though they are still out there, though they are being dealt with by Adam." Said Blake, causing Rock to get a surprised look on his face.
Yang noticed this and said "Turns out that it was someone else who killed you in the robot museum, not Blake's former partner from the White Fang and he says he is on our side until he takes out the people who betrayed him." After saying that she got shocked looks on their faces from Team JNPR, and Weiss facepalmed. "What?" Asked Yang.
"Yang you gigantic brute, Team JNPR did not need to know about that." Said Weiss, with an annoyed tone in her voice.
"Don't worry, we won't mention this to anyone." Said Jaune, to which the rest of his team nodded in agreement.
"Good, now Rock could you please tell us what happened and just give us the short version. We just want to help you." Said Ruby.
"Sure, as long as it doesn't lead to us nearly getting Vale destroyed and one of us getting arrested." Joked Rock, which led to him getting smacked on the head by Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren. He grabbed onto his head and groaned out of annoyance.
"Don't you dare joke like that, we went through a lot to get you back! So don't you dare make a joke about that!" Yelled Ruby.
"Sorry, I'll tell you what happened." Said Rock, with a hint of shame in his voice.
Fifteen years earlier
I had just beaten Cut man in the warehousing district of Atlas, when I heard from dad that Elec man was making his to the power plant in Atlas and that I had to put a stop to him as fast as possible otherwise all of Atlas would be without any power and without power there wouldn't be any shields to protect Atlas from Grimm attacks. Unfortunately, I was delayed due to having to save some civilians from Sniper Joes.
When I finally managed to make it to the power plant I was too late, Elec man had made his way inside of the power plant and had made quick work of the soldiers. Most of them had gotten heavily injured from Elec Man's electric attacks. As it would seem that Ironwood had send out soldiers to try and subdue the robot masters, but one of them didn't listen to his orders and tried to attack Elec Man head on.
A bit before Rock's arrival a group of Atlesian soldiers were watching as Elec man had made his way towards the power plant. "It seems that one of them is moving this way, I'll warn the general." Said one of the soldiers, but Xander decided to move towards Elec Man causing the other soldier to exclaim "Xander don't! HQ told us to stay put, someone is already on their way to help us!"
"Tsk, what difference does one soldier make? I'm going after that robot." Said Xander, who loaded up his gun and charged towards Elec man.
However Elec man saw that and fired several powerful blasts of electricity at the group and hid Xander in the head with the electricity. "None will oppose Dr. Wily." After which Elec man went into the power plant.
So when I saw all those people injured I made sure to call back to dad, and have him get medical support for the injured people while I went after Elec Man. I would later learn, after I had beaten Doctor Wily, that the soldier who got hit in the face ended up losing his left eye and got a new robotic one in the hospital. But what I didn't know and could have never guessed was the effect that this had in the long run.
At the hospital the brother of Xander, Theo Payne, was talking to a doctor "We can't save his eye, an implant won't be pretty but..."
"It's ok, he needs to see properly to fight against Robots and Grimm." Said Theo.
Later on Xander had woken up and was given the news by his brother while Xander was looking through the hand mirror and he wasn't too happy about it "I'm sorry Xander, I thought you'd want two eyes. And it's not like you're all robot now."
Xander crushed the mirror in his hands out of anger, and Theo asked "Are you alright?"
"It's all that damned Robot's fault, I'll make sure he pays for this! He. will. pay!" Exclaimed Xander in anger.
And so without knowing it, I had made another enemy that day. It wasn't until after robot tournament that I would start to feel the effect of what had happened that day, as it was then that Ironwood started firing soldiers he had deemed unfit to serve to replace them with robotic soldiers. It was then that the Emerald Spears had formed, so while Wily was in prison I had to deal with them.
They would kidnap engineers and people who specialised in robotics, to demand that they stop working on robots. When that didn't work out they began to resort to much more violent methods, blowing up warehouses, trying to assassinate Ironwood and other people from the council. They even tried to lure me into traps to take me out, but they never succeeded. This went on for a while, but then they suddenly vanished last year. We thought they had given up, but I guess I was wrong, oh so very wrong.
"And that's how it happened." Said Rock, causing his friends to get shocked looks on his faces.
"Jeez Rock, that's..." Said Weiss.
"...quite a story." Said Pyrrha, finishing Weiss's sentence.
"So we're up against a mad man and his followers, who are trying to kill you. Seems doable." Said Yang.
"Except that robotic eye of his allows him to have a much quicker reaction time and they also have weapons that send out electromagnetic pulses that can take me out. And if I had just been faster, none of this would have happened." Said Rock, while hanging his head low with a somber expression on his face.
"Hey, look at me." Said Yang with a stern tone in her voice, making Rock listen to her. "You're not responsible for his actions, he decided to go down that path and you are not responsible for what he did."
"Thanks Yang." Said Rock.
"I wonder, why were all those robots in that museum in the first place. Couldn't they just have been rebuild and kept safe from that weird doctor, why put all of them in one place?" Asked Nora, causing her teammates to look at her in surprise.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Nora is right. Why were all those robots there?" Asked Jaune.
"Simple, Jacques Schnee. When we solved everything Dad wanted to reprogram the robots, but Jacques made sure that it didn't happen. He used his influence to lobby against the reuse of those robots and that's how all of the robot masters got scrapped and put into the robot museum in Mantle. Let's just say that it made things a lot easier for Wily whenever he wanted to reuse some old robot masters."
"And he was very happy to have all of us get arrested when Wily framed dad a couple of years ago. We had to race against the clock to prove his innocence, otherwise we would be put in the robot museum as well." Said Rock.
"I'm... I'm sorry." Said Weiss.
"Don't be, you are not responsible for his actions." Said Rock, echoing what Yang had just said.
"Makes me wonder, why would Jacques Schnee do any of that. What would he gain by trying to sabotage the career of one person?" Asked Jaune.
"Dad isn't the only one he sabotaged, after Doctor Cossack was blackmailed into working for Doctor Wily, Jacques made sure that his licence for making robots was suspended for a long time." Said Rock. "But you are right Jaune, it is weird that he would do that to dad and his colleagues. I honestly don't know why he would do that."
"I mean, we do have that USB stick with all the crimes of father on it. Maybe we can find something on there when we go talk to Ozpin and the General." Said Weiss.
"So that tournament had a lot of similar looking sword fighters." Said Jaune.
"Jaune, you're not exactly one to talk. You also wield a sword." Replied Yang.
"He's not wrong though, a good majority of the sword fighters wearing armour nearly had the exact same move set and all had a sword. I mean the world that they came from had people wielding axes, bow and arrows, lances, they could also turned into dragons. But no, the hands only ever brought in sword fighters from that universe it became a bit of a running joke in the mansion to ask about which Marth we were talking about." Said Rock.
"So, I am original?" Asked Jaune.
"Oh for sure, you are much more original then Marth and his clones." Said Rock.
Later
After finishing their breakfast and promising Team JNPR to meet them at the Beacon airstrip after their meeting with Ozpin, Team RRWBY had made their way to Beacon tower. With Rock in his usual blue armour and the others wearing the outfits they were wearing the night they went to investigate Torchwick and the White Fang.
When they got to the elevator, they were met with Doctor Polendina who used his walking chair to get out of the elevator and when he saw them he said "Ah, children. Good to see you, I take it that you all had a good nights rest?"
"Uhm, yeah. It's good to be back at Beacon." Replied Ruby.
"Well that's good, I wish you all good luck in your meeting with the headmaster. I have got some of my own things to attend to." Said Pietro, as he then walked out of the tower, giving Team RRWBY space to take the elevator to Ozpin's office.
When the elevator made it and Team RRWBY stepped out they were greeted by the sight of Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood all waiting for them. Upon seeing them Ozpin said "Ah, students glad to see you all here. Before we start, some good news. Miss Rose, do you remember what happened during the night of the dance?"
"Someone broke into the tower, did you arrest that person?" Asked Ruby.
"Not quite, they had planted a virus that allowed them to take control of the technology surrounding Beacon. Thankfully, this was discovered by Proto man when he was teleporting between the schools. Which has now been removed thanks to the help of Doctor Polendina, we should now be completely virus free." Said Ozpin.
"That's great!" Exclaimed Ruby.
"Is that why you called us here?" Asked Weiss.
"Not entirely, there still are a few things that we need to discuss. First and foremost, I know that you saw some things with Merlot and if you have any questions about anything he might have told you, be free to ask." Said Ozpin, as he thought back to what had happened nearly twenty years ago.
"We don't actually have a question, but there is something we would like to share with you professor." Said Blake, as she nudged Ruby.
Ruby then pulled the USB drive out of her pockets and said "It would seem that Merlot kept track of every crime committed by Weiss's father and it has it all on this USB stick."
"Hmm, can you give it to me?" Asked Ozpin with a small look of surprise on his face, to which Ruby nodded and handed him the USB drive. Ozpin would then put the USB into the USB port on his computer, and began to look at the information in the folders on the USB not seeing that a sixty second countdown had started. He kept looking through some of the folders and the information in those folders. He then added "This sure is a lot of information, now I'm wondering how we should go about this. Because there certainly is a lot of incriminating information on this, but how could he be tried without him bribing his way out of prison?"
"I could arrest him on potential treason, while that happens we make sure that he has no outside help for the trial and then we release him due to lack of evidence for treason. After which we would arrest him for all his crimes." Said Ironwood.
"Sounds a bit complicated don't you think?" Asked Professor Goodwitch.
"Then what do you suggest?" Asked Ironwood.
"Maybe we keep this to ourselves, see if we can hold this over Jacques and maybe get him to our side." Said Ozpin.
"That does sound like a good idea." Said Weiss, joining into the conversation.
"Weiss, you cannot be serious! After everything he is responsible for!" Yelled Blake.
"I know, I know what he has done and have an idea of what he could have done. But I do believe that there is a chance that he can change." Replied Weiss.
"Weiss, he had so many chances to redeem himself and didn't take those chances. You seriously want to give him more chances?" Asked Rock.
"I get that, but..." Weiss said.
"But what Weiss? What could there possibly be that would make you want to doubt doing this?" Asked Yang.
"Because I don't know what he'll do to my mom and younger brother if we go through with this and it fails." Replied Weiss.
"Uh... oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think about that." Said Blake.
Weiss sighed and replied "Look, father got the help of that madman to drain Whitley of his aura so he could control him much easier and he has done irreparable damage to mother. I don't want to put them in danger, if he can't change and we do go through with it and it fails. I can't imagine what he'll do to them as retribution."
Rock placed a comforting hand on Weiss's shoulder and said "Sorry that we questioned you, but we'll be helping you with him if we have to."
"We're a team, and when it comes down to it we'll be there for each other." Said Ruby, to which Yang and Blake nodded.
"Thanks guys." Said Weiss, but at that moment an alarm went off on Ozpin's computer. Ozpin quickly looked at it and saw that all the files were beginning to get corrupted, causing a look of panic to form on his face. After that had happened, a cartoon version of Merlot appeared on the screen waving his finger in a mocking manner.
"No no no no no no no no no, this can't be!" Exclaimed Ozpin
"Oz, what just happened?" Asked Ironwood.
"The files encrypted themselves, everything here has been replaced with random numbers and letters." Replied Ozpin.
"His last laugh." Muttered Ruby.
"What was that miss Rose?" Asked Professor Goodwitch.
"He told us that he would have the last laugh and that we would never be rid of him. That his influence would be felt from here on out." Replied Ruby.
"He planned for everything, a way to get Jacques on his side if he succeeded and a way to have the last laugh if he failed. There must have been a failsafe on that USB stick." Said Rock, as he realised what had happened.
"Then what do we do now, we have nothing on Jacques." Said Ironwood.
"I might have a way to fix this." Said Rock as he grabbed his scroll and a text message to Snake. A couple of seconds of silence passed, but then Mewtwo teleported into the office while holding onto Tails.
"What happened?" Asked tails, to which everyone pointed at the screen. So Tails quickly went over to the computer and began to look through all the corrupted files. After some time had passed he said "These files have several layers of encryption, but luckily the information on it still exists."
"What do you suggest we do?" Asked Mewtwo.
"I think it's for the best to take the files with us and try to decrypt them at the mansion." Said Tails, as he disconnected the USB stick from the computer and took the USB with him.
"What are you two going to do?" Asked Ironwood, as he gave Mewtwo a nervous glance.
"We're taking this with us to get it decrypted at the mansion and hopefully get the information back." Said Tails.
"How long will this take?" Asked Ozpin.
"We don't know that yet, it could take weeks or even months. But rest assured you will get the information back." Said Mewtwo, after which he and Tails teleported out of the office.
There was a bit of silence when Ironwood spoke up and said "I would like to apologise for what I did, Rock I'm sorry for arresting you and Miss Rose, Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna and Miss Xiao Long I'm sorry for keeping you at gunpoint."
"Apology not accepted, what were you thinking general? Keeping my teammates at gunpoint and then arresting me without even bothering to hear us out! What is wrong with you!" Yelled Rock.
"I'm sorry for that, see it's my semblance. It's called mettle and it allows me to push through tough decisions, it's essentially hyperfocus and it strengthens my resolve. But it does bring a lot of regret afterwards. I was going to free you afterwards, but then that things with Merlot happened." Said Ironwood.
"Are you... Are you fucking kidding me!" Yelled Yang, causing everyone in the room to get a shocked look on their face.
"Miss Xiao Long! Language!" Exclaimed Professor Goodwitch.
"Stuff it professor, this needs to be said!" Exclaimed Yang, with her eyes turning red.
"She isn't wrong Glynda, go on Miss Xiao Long." Said Ozpin.
"That semblance of yours sucks, you essentially become unwilling to listen to reason. Your mettle is essentially stubbornness, but that doesn't excuse your actions. It's like a person snapping at someone and when they are called out on it they blame it being tired or being hungry. It's stupid and it doesn't excuse what you did and what you allowed to happen. Ruby died for you!" Yelled Yang.
Ironwood held his head in shame and replied "I know, Miss Rose what you did was incredibly brave. And I promise all five of you that I'll work towards becoming better."
Team RRWBY nodded to the promise, after which there was a bit of silence. So Ozpin spoke up. "Well that takes care of that, anything else you would like to talk about?" Asked Ozpin addressing Team RRWBY.
"I think that's it, everything else you already know about from yesterday." Said Weiss.
"Very well then, also the school is no longer on lockdown so feel free to leave if you want to." Said Ozpin.
"Thank you professor, we were going to buy some new combat outfits in Vale with Team JNPR and Coco. We promised to meet them at the Beacon airstrip." Said Ruby.
"Very well then, Glynda please escort Team RRWBY to the Beacon airstrip I'd like to have a private chat with the general." Said Ozpin.
"I'll do that, come along students." Said Professor Goodwitch, as she took Team RRWBY into the elevator and then left the floor with the elevator. Leaving Ozpin and Ironwood as the only ones in the room.
There was an eerie silence in the room, this made Ironwood feel unnerved so he asked "Oz, why did you keep me here?"
"Have a seat general." Said Ozpin, with a stern tone in his voice making it clear to Ironwood that he should listen to Ozpin, so he sat down opposite to Ozpin.
"What is this about, why did you keep me here?" Asked Ironwood.
"James, you really messed up this time. Your stubbornness got you controlled by Merlot and Remnant was nearly taken over by that mad man. All because you let your semblance get the better of you." Said Ozpin.
"Can't you just look the other way, like what happened with the paladin incident?" Asked Ironwood.
"No not this time James, I have made a decision. You have two choices, either listen to my demands or I'll be forced to take drastic measures." Said Ozpin.
"What are those measures Oz?" Asked Ironwood.
"This may hurt you, but if you don't do as I say I'll cut ties with you." Said Ozpin, causing Ironwood to get a shocked look on his face. He wanted to speak up, but Ozpin stopped him and added "Nothing against you, but what you did has hurt a lot of people including me. Sure I keep secrets from people, but you let your own semblance take control over you and we shouldn't have to suffer for it."
"You say that you do what is best for others, but then you proceed to arrest Rock who was nothing but a victim in that situation. And what you did, send out shock waves that affected everyone here and in Remnant. Gods only know how many people were killed because you let your semblance get the better of you and played yourself into the hands of that madman. Your actions have consequences and that cannot be ignored, and I fear that if it got the point that Salem were to be knocking on your doorstep that in your current state that you would resort to sacrificing your own people and that cannot happen."
"James, I enjoyed having you as an ally but this just can't be ignored and so if you decide to not listen to my demands I won't be able to help you anymore. I'll make sure that the blame for what happened falls solely on you, I'll make sure that you are stripped of your rank as general and that you lose your two seats on the Atlas council. I'll make sure that your memories are wiped and that you'll never be able to contact us again. Now, I ask you are you willing to listen to my demands?" Asked Ozpin.
"I'm sorry Oz, none of this was my intention. I'm sorry for the suffering that I have caused others with my actions. But I don't want to lose you as an ally, so I'll listen to what you have to say." Said Ironwood.
"Good, first I want you to go to therapy. Losing most of your right side has clearly had an effect on your mental state, I also want you to train with Qrow in mastering your semblance. Clearly someone in your position shouldn't have a semblance that creates such a disadvantage for you and everyone around you." Said Ozpin.
"That doesn't sound too unreasonable, I can do that. Anything else Oz?" Asked Ironwood.
"Yes, first I want you to send most of your army and those Ace Ops back to Atlas. There was no reason for them to be brought here." Said Ozpin. "I also want you to stand up to Jacques, use your influence, you have two seats on the council compared to his zero seats there should be now way that he has any influence on you."
"Why do you want me to stand up to Jacques?" Asked Ironwood.
"Cause you have let him walk all over you for far too long, just look at what happened to Thomas and Cossack. He used his influence to ensure that they would have it very difficult, only due to Wily messing with them. And you just stood there and let it happen for the past fifteen years." Said Ozpin "Lastly, I want you to send the Emerald Spears to a prison in Atlas."
Ironwood gave him a confused look and said "I get the other parts, and I can do that. But why send the Emerald Spears to Atlas?"
"I don't want them in my kingdom, especially since the school could potentially be in danger seeing as they are after Rock. So I need you to arrange something in Atlas so they have a place to be put in prison." Said Ozpin.
"I can do that, but I'm risking a lot right now. So tell me, what do I get in return for doing all of this?" Asked Ironwood.
"Succeed and I'll ensure that you have immunity if anyone ever tries to question you over your role in what happened yesterday." Said Ozpin "Now if you manage to do all of that, and succeed in getting Thomas back to a position where he wouldn't have to worry about Jacques breathing down his neck I'll be sure to use my influence to make things slightly difficult for him and get him to stop having influence over you."
Ironwood sighed and replied "I can do that, who do you suggest I go to for therapy?"
"Professor Peach is a licensed therapist, she helps other students as well. She might be able to to help you." Said Ozpin.
"Thank you Oz, I'll make sure to make this right." Said Ironwood.
"That's what I like to hear, you are dismissed James." Said Ozpin, to which Ironwood nodded and then went to the elevator to leave the office. Leaving Ozpin on his own, to think about everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours.
Somewhere in Remnant
After meeting with Oscar Pine and his aunt Em Pine, Adam had been accompanying the duo on their trek through the forest and managed to keep them safe. Making sure that any Grimm that would come near them was taken care of, and also making sure to treat the wounds that Oscar had sustained from the Grimm attack that he saved them from. While also making sure that there would be enough food for them while travelling, by collecting fruits that were nearby.
Right now Adam had led Oscar and Em to a small harbour and had gotten some stuff for them. When he returned he got a confused look from Em, who asked "What is this place, why did you bring us here?"
"This is a harbour that not many people tend to visit, and I arranged with the owner of the ship that he would take you two to a small town in Mistral. Safe from Grimm and bandits." Said Adam.
"But why do this?" Asked Em.
"Your story made me realise something, not all humans are bad and what you went through with your nephew is something that no one should be going through." Said Adam, as he grabbed a small bag from his backpack.
"What is this?" Asked Em, as she took the small bag.
"In this bag is money, should be enough to pay the boatman and once you get to the town in Mistral you should be able to buy some land with a farm on it. You'll never have to worry about food or money again." Said Adam.
"Why do this, why go through all that trouble. Don't you need the money yourself?" Asked Em.
"I have enough to survive on my own, now I'm not taking back the money so you better accept it." Said Adam.
"Very well then, but I want you to have this." Said Em, as she handed Adam a piece of paper. "Read this when we're gone and if you ever feel like your old mindset is returning just read the paper."
Adam nodded, and then said "The boat will soon be leaving, you should get on."
"We will, Oscar I'll be putting the cart on the boat stay with mr Adam." Said Em, to which Oscar nodded.
Em left the area, leaving Oscar and Adam on their own. Adam then faced Oscar and said "Listen kid, the world can be a harsh place. Make sure that you learn to defend yourself, people won't always be there to help you."
Adam was then surprised to get a hug from Oscar, after which he said "Thank you Mr Adam, I won't forget what you did for us. I promise you that the next time we meet I'll be able to defend myself."
"That's good, but let me tell you something. With the place I'm going to, it would be for the best if we didn't run into each other after this." Said Adam.
Before Oscar could respond, he could hear him being called by his aunt. So the two made their way over to the boat, and Adam helped Oscar get onto the boat after which he watched from the pier as Oscar and Em settled on the boat and after a few minutes the boat took off. Adam waved them goodbye, and stopped when the boat was finally out of sight.
With the boat gone, he remembered what Em had told him and he opened the envelope he was given to find a letter addressed to him...
Dear Adam Taurus,
Surprised about this, don't be. I might look like an old woman, but I can be quite perceptive.
I heard all about the White Fang and your exploits.
Seeing you out there without them must mean that they turned on you.
Honestly, I'm not surprised with how violent you took things with the Fang.
But what do I know, I'm just an old woman who has seen some stuff in her life.
Rambling aside, I think that you have been given a second chance to make things better.
I ask you to not waste it, you can be a good person.
I have seen it in you, you helped us without second thought.
So I do believe you can become a better person.
All I can tell you is good luck out there, you will certainly need it
Sincerely, Em Pine
Adam finished reading the letter, smirked and said "You certainly are perceptive for an old woman, thank you for this." It was then that Adam put the letter in his pocket and moved away from the small harbour so he could return to his mission of getting revenge on those that wronged him.
In Atlas
With the threat of a robot invasion having been stopped before any of the robots managed to get into Atlas, life went on without much change for the people living up in Atlas. The people in Mantle however, were struggling to repair the damages done by the robots, and were also struggling to clean up the robot parts that were scattered throughout the streets.
But the people in Atlas remained unaffected by this, as right now the rich elite of Atlas were holding a small party while watching what was going on in Mantle on the monitors, while some of the partygoers were giving comments.
"Ugh, look at those animals. I honestly can't believe that we are part of the same kingdom as them." Said a female partygoer.
"I know, and they have the gal to call themselves citizens of this kingdom." Said a second male partygoer.
"Honestly, the council should stop wasting money on helping that cesspool of a city and spend it on something useful. Like another opera or another statue of the founders of Atlas." Said a third partygoer.
While the partygoers were talking bad about Mantle and its citizens, Jacques was standing alone looking at one of the paintings in the halls when a familiar voice called out to him "Jacques Gelé, what a surprise to see you here. Don't you have a business to run?" Jacques turned around and saw that Harry Marigold was standing in front of him, a man who had a look of mockery on his face, had light brown eyes, wore a mostly red suit, blue hair in a similar style to what Jacques had and was holding onto a pocket watch in his right hand.
"Hello Harry, it's Schnee remember or did me leaving you in the dust during our last round of golf affect your brain?" Asked Jacques.
"Oh no I remember, what I also remember is that you married into that family Jacques." Said Harry Marigold.
Jacques smirked and replied "Remind me again... Whose business is doing better, oh that's right mine."
"Touché Jacques, touché. How is that daughter of yours doing?" Asked Harry.
"Quite well actually, her grades are good enough and the rest of her team isn't failing so I see no reason to bring her back here. Unlike that son of yours, Henry was it, I heard he has been failing all of his classes in the boarding school you send him to." Replied Jacques.
"You win this round Gelé." Replied Harry, as the two stuffy businessmen then continued bickering with each other.
In the meantime, while those two were arguing, another member of the Marigold family was looking at the screens showing the situation in Mantle. And unlike the other partygoers they felt guilt over what was happening in Mantle and as that feeling started to grow they started to think that maybe they should find a way to help the people down in Mantle.
In Vale
After their meeting with Ozpin, Team RRWBY, Team JNPR and Coco had made it into the city and were currently in a store that sold both combat gear and armour. All of them were browsing through the store and sometimes asked Coco for advice. In the meantime Team JNPR were discussing what they should do "Look Jaune, all I'm saying is that you need some more armour." Said Pyrrha.
"I'm perfectly fine the way I am, I don't need more armour. Right guys?" Asked Jaune.
"She's not wrong fearless leader." Said Nora, as she was looking for some new clothes that were in the store.
"Oh come guys, Sun can walk around in a combat outfit that's super impractical and he gets a free pass." Said Jaune.
"To be fair, he kind of relies on run and gun tactics. You need to get up close and personal with your opponents, and we don't want to risk you bleeding out on the battlefield just because you didn't have enough armour." Said Ren.
"Fine, I'll go look for some more armour to wear. Hold onto this please." Said Jaune, as he took off the armour plating on his chest and gave it to Pyrrha, which revealed the hoodie he was wearing to his friends.
Ruby walked by while holding onto combat boots, saw his hoodie, started laughing and exclaimed as she pointed at his chest "What is that!"
"What, my hoodie? I've always had this." said Jaune, which caught the attention of Ruby's teammates and Coco.
"It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!" Exclaimed Ruby as she began to laugh loud enough for it to be heard throughout the store.
"It's Pumpkin Pete, you know from the cereal?" Exclaimed Jaune.
Yang snorted and said "What did you do vomit boy? Send in the boxes the cereal came in?"
"Yeah, like fifty of them." Replied Jaune, to which the rest of Team RRWBY started laughing while Coco took a picture of the hoodie. Jaune saw this and asked "Why'd you do that?"
"I'm keeping this for later." Said Coco.
"Coco, please don't show this to anyone. If Cardin..." Said Jaune, only to be interrupted by Coco.
"Don't worry rookie, Team CRDL won't find out I won't let them have that satisfaction after how much they bullied Velvet. I'm keeping the photo for me and my team." Said Coco.
"Hold on, you send fifty of those boxes to get that hoodie, yet you didn't know who Pyrrha was when you first met her?" Asked Weiss.
"She wasn't on those boxes." Said Jaune, as Ruby continued to laugh. So he said "Look laugh all you want, but that hoodie isn't as bad as that onesie you saw me in on the first night."
"Ooh, a self burn. Those are rare." Joked Yang.
"Whatever, I'm going to look for some new armour." Replied Jaune, as he walked off with a slightly flustered look on his face.
The group then continued to look at new outfits, but Rock was on the sidelines as he wasn't in need of new clothes. So he walked through the store to look at different clothing articles, but that was when something caught his eye outside of the store. Familiar figure in black was seen walking past the store, and Rock thought to himself "Bass, what's he doing here?"
Ruby noticed the confused look on Rock's face and asked "Rock, is something wrong?"
"I think I saw something outside, I'm going to check it out." Said Rock.
"You need any help?" Asked Ruby.
"I'll be fine, it's probably nothing and my eyes might be playing tricks on me but I just need to be sure about it. I'll be back in like five minutes." Said Rock as he exited the store and went in the direction he saw the figure moving. He followed the street, until he saw an alley with two figures standing in the dark. He tried to walk towards them as quietly as possible.
However he wasn't quiet enough, so one of the figures said "I can hear you Mega Man."
Rock stepped out of the shadows and came face to face with Bass and Pump Man, "Bass, what are you doing here?" Asked Rock.
"None of your business, now leave before things get ugly." Replied Bass.
"Yeah, can't do that. Usually when you're here either Wily isn't too far away or you are planning something. So I'll ask again, what are you doing here?" Asked Rock, as he aimed his buster at the two robots.
"Uhm boss, maybe we should let him know what we are doing here." Said Pump Man.
"Fine." Grumbled Bass in annoyance "I'm looking for the yellow devil, I know he is somewhere in Vale. Did you run into him by chance?"
"I did, several weeks ago. It was during the Breach, we took him out and the yellow goo was splattered all over the streets. Why would you like to know that?" Asked Rock.
"Doctor send me here to find his data chip, and I couldn't find in the streets so I'm going to check the sewers. Now, I know you're going to try and stop me. So I have a suggestion, just this once we work together and take out whatever is in the sewers. How does that sound?" Asked Bass.
"I can live with that." Said Rock.
"Good, then let's go." Said Bass, as he blasted open the man hole and entered the sewer. Rock and Pump Man followed after him into the sewers, when they got there they saw that a small bit of yellow goo was on the ground. Bass took a look at it and said "He is here, no doubt about it."
He then looked over and saw that a small trail of yellow goo was laying on the ground, the group saw this and decided to follow the trail in silence. After a while of walking in silence Rock spoke up and said "This reminds of when we worked together to stop King."
"It doesn't, that never happened and we will never speak of it again." Replied Bass.
"Still mad at Wily for duping you?" Asked Rock, as the group took a left turn while following the trail. "You know he is not a good guy right? We don't have to be enemies."
"Listen, I know that he is bad. But your optimism makes you unbelievably naive, you fight for peace and hope that robots and man can live together in peace. They can't even live with each other without infighting, no matter which world it is." Said Bass.
"Wait, you said no matter which world it is. Do you remember the previous world?" Asked Rock.
"I do, don't question it." Said Bass, as he then stopped Rock and Pump Man as the trail had ended and they were left with a large open body of water. Seeing as there was nothing there, they decided to look around. Not noticing that underwater something was putting itself back together.
"Did we make a wrong turn somewhere?" Asked Pump Man.
"No, the trail let us to this place." Said Bass. "There has to be something here." Rock took a quick look at the water, but didn't notice that the water was beginning to bubble. Bass did and quickly pushed Rock out of the way as a big yellow arm emerged from the water and tried to crush him. It was at that moment that the yellow devil emerged from the water, only this time it looked different. There where white spikes all around it's body, it had wings like a Wyvern Grimm and it seems that dust had gotten infused with the goo of the yellow devil.
"We have to stop him!" Yelled Rock.
"Really, thanks captain obvious. I was going to just stand here and let him take me down, what a brilliant idea." Replied Bass.
"Stop arguing and start shooting!" Yelled Pump Man, as he used his body to start pumping up water which he then began to shoot the water at the creature.
Rock and Bass began to do the same thing with their busters, while also moving backwards to avoid getting hit by the creature. But after a while of trying to weaken the creature, Bass, Rock and Pump man were hit by one of the arms of the creature and knocked into a nearby wall. The creature let out a massive roar and was about to try and absorb the three robots into its mass when it was hit backwards into the water by several consecutive blasts that exploded upon it on impact.
Rock looked up and saw that his team, team JNPR and Coco were with them in the sewer with their weapons out. Ruby helped Rock get up and he asked "What are you guys doing here?"
"You said you'd be back in five minutes, it took you longer so we decided to look for you and we followed the signal of your scroll." Replied Ruby.
It was then that yellow devil tried to rise from the water and let out a massive roar, causing Jaune to get a look at it and exclaim "Wait, that's the yellow devil! What happened to it?"
"It ended up in the sewers." Replied Rock.
"You guys think that maybe when the breach was over that the people cleaning up the mess just washed everything into the sewer and that the Yellow devil got infused with dust and the remains of some of the defeated Grimm?" Asked Nora.
"That... could actually make sense." Replied Blake.
"So what do we call this thing?" Asked Yang.
"Maybe the Yellow Dust Grimm Devil?" Asked Jaune.
"Too long, maybe just Grimm Devil?" Replied Pyrrha.
"Sounds good, though we do need to take it out. Can't have it rampage through the city." Said Rock, as he aimed his buster at the Grimm Devil.
"Wait, last time he was weak to electricity. I actually have enough dust this time, if you guys create an opening for me I'll be able to strike him down." Said Weiss.
"Sounds like a plan." Said Yang, as she loaded up her gauntlets and got ready to fight the Grimm Devil.
Yang launched herself at the Grimm Devil with her gauntlets, and delivered several punches to the creature which was able to knock it backwards, which created an opening for Ren to use StormFlower to fire several shots into the creature. The shots hit the monster and Jaune, Pyrrha and Blake were able to use their blades to deliver several slashes at the creature which caused the arms to be sliced off. The trio quickly got out of dodge, while the Grimm devil regenerated its arms.
Seeing an opening, Weiss was about to use her glyphs to strike the Grimm devil with her electric dust. But she had to move out of the way as some spots on the Grimm devil started to glow, and he used his eyes to shoot out a massive beam of energy towards Weiss which was filled with fire, ice, earth, wind and electricity. Weiss was able to dodge out of the way, but was running out of space. Luckily the attention of the Grimm devil was caught by Pump Man firing a massive water surge at him, while Rock and Bass used their busters to hit the Grimm Devil in the eye.
This knocked the Grimm Devil backwards, which allowed Nora to use Magnhild to fire several grenades at the being. Ruby then rushed at the Grimm Devil and fired several shots from Crescent Rose at the creature, after which she delivered several slashes. However the Grimm Devil got out of its trance and tried to hit Ruby with its massive arms. Ruby tried to use her semblance to move out of the way quickly, but nothing happened. So she got hit by the arms, and the Grimm Devil was about to absorb her only for Coco to use her mini gun to shoot the arm out of the way of harm.
With an opening created, Weiss created several Glyphs and struck down her rapier which struck the Grimm Devil with a massive surge of electricity and caused it's entire body to explode. The massive explosion caused pieces of the Grimm Devil the be launched throughout the area, a massive dust cloud was formed and a sound of something else exploding was heard.
Yang heard the explosion and exclaimed "Rock no!"
"What's wrong, I'm right next to you." Replied Rock.
"Then what was that explosion?" Asked Blake, after which the smoke cleared and they saw that where Pump Man had stood that there was a single data chip laying on the ground.
It was then that Bass walked over to the remains of the Grimm Devil and grabbed the data chip belonging to the Grimm Devil off the ground, so Rock asked "Bass what are you doing?"
"I'm taking this with me, that was the whole reason why I came here. I'll be out of your hair soon." Replied Bass.
"What about Pump Man?" Asked Rock.
"You can keep his data chip, I got what I wanted. Just a warning, the next time we meet I won't be as kind." Said Bass, as he teleported out of the area.
"What a dick." Said Yang, as Rock picked up the data chip, absorbed it and got the message "Water Shield Obtained."
"We should probably get out of here." Said Rock.
"Uhm guys, something is wrong with Ruby." Said Coco, as she helped Ruby to move.
The group looked at Ruby as she said "Guys, I couldn't use my semblance during the fight."
Later
The group had returned to Beacon after the fight in the sewers, and Team RRWBY were now in the infirmary with Tai and Qrow after parting ways with Team JNPR and having them bring the newly bought clothes to the Team RRWBY dorm room. Right now several hours had passed, and several tests had been done to Ruby to find out why her semblance had disappeared.
"I don't get it, how can my semblance just disappear?" Asked Ruby, as she was being comforted by Yang.
"We're as stumped as you are, none of it adds up." Said Blake.
"I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure that there is some explanation to it." Said Tai, at that moment the school nurse and Professor Ozpin walked into the room holding papers with the results.
"Are those my results?" Asked Ruby.
"Miss Rose, we won't lie to you those results were shocking to see. We have good new and bad news, the bad news is that due to getting all your aura drained that you have become unable to use your semblance." Said the Nurse.
"And the good news?" Asked Ruby, with a hint of dread in her voice.
Ozpin replied to that question with "The good news is that there is a chance that you'll be able to get your semblance back, currently you have enough aura to live but not enough aura to use your semblance. Normally we'd advice an aura transfer to kickstart your semblance, but you can also wait for all your aura to return but it is a rather tedious process. So we would like to ask you what you want."
"What I want... I don't know what I want. I died, came back to life and now my semblance is gone I don't know what I want. I need time to think this over." Replied Ruby.
"Very well then, take all the time that you need. Although I do recommend that you do some extra training with your teammates to get used to this new situation." Said Ozpin.
"Thank you for understanding professor." Said Ruby.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll bounce back from it. Your parents faced similar trials with their semblance, so I believe that you'll be fine." Said Ozpin, as he left the infirmary.
Weiss looked at the clock and said "We should probably get some dinner and then get ready for bed, it is rather late and it is getting dark."
"You're right, and you kids do look quite tired. So get some rest, we'll arrange for a training hall tomorrow so everyone can do some training." Said Qrow.
"Thank you Uncle Qrow." Said Ruby, as she and her team left the infirmary.
This left Qrow and Tai alone in the room with the nurse, who quickly kicked them out so she could close up for the day. So that left them wandering the hallways in silence, until Qrow spoke up and said "Say Tai, could you do me a solid and fill out the paper work for the training hall by yourself. I would really appreciate it."
"Why, do you have a date with Michele mcdoesn'texist?" Asked Tai.
Qrow let out a sarcastic laugh and replied "No, a date with a secret admirer. Someone slipped me a note asking me to meet them in a bar in downtown Vale, said it was important and that they'd pay for my drinks. I'm going to make them regret giving me that offer."
"Come on man, help your favourite brother in law out it's a lot of paper work." Said Tai.
"Ex brother in law remember, you and my sister are divorced." Said Qrow.
"That was never made official." Said Tai.
"Neither was your marriage." Said Qrow, as he began to get ahead of Tai.
"That's a low blow and you know it." Said Tai, as Qrow began to run away from him.
"Lalalalalalalala, I can't hear you!" Exclaimed Qrow, as he ran away from Tai.
This left Tai on his own as he grumbled in annoyance "See if I ever do something for you again."
Later that night
It was now the middle of the night, and Qrow had made his way to the bar where he was supposed to meet the person who had send him the note. He entered the bar and saw that it was rather empty. So he made his way over to the bar and said to the barkeep "Excuse me, I'm supposed to be meeting someone here."
"Name please." Said the barkeep.
"Qrow Branwen." Replied Qrow.
"Ah Branwen, follow me." Said the barkeep as he led Qrow to one of the private rooms. Once the door was opened Qrow saw that there was a good selection of drinks waiting for him as well as a karaoke machine. "Wait here, I'm sure your company will show up soon."
The barkeep left Qrow alone in the room, after which he started to look around the room with a feeling that there was a catch to this. But seeing as he was alone, he grabbed one of the bottles and began to pour himself a glass. But he nearly dropped the glass when a familiar voice spoke addressed him "Why hello there brother."
Qrow quickly grabbed the bottle to prevent it from falling onto the ground and then placed it back on the counter. He then turned around to come face to face with his twin sister, so he got an annoyed look on his face and said "Raven, what are you doing here?"
"Qrow, is that any way to greet your family?" Asked Raven.
"Kind of is, seeing as we ain't family and you disowned me as your brother last time we met. So what do you want?" Asked Qrow.
"Oh little brother, you have to let that go." Replied Raven.
"I'm only younger than you by a couple of minutes, so it doesn't count." Said Qrow.
Raven rolled her eyes and replied "Just have a seat, I wish to talk."
Qrow let out an annoyed sigh and replied "Fine, just don't make me regret this."
Qrow then grabbed his drink and then sat across from Raven at the table. They both took a sip from their drink and there was a bit of silence until Qrow asked "Why are you here, Raven?"
Raven smirked and replied "It's one of life's greatest mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night."
Qrow groaned in annoyance and said "I mean, why did come here to seek me out?"
"Oh that, why didn't you say so. See the tribe was attacked by robots, I'm here to ask you if you know more about that?" Asked Raven.
"So the big and mighty Branwen tribe got attacked by some robots, news flash Rae all of Remnant was attacked by robots!" Replied Qrow.
"Would you happen to know where they came from?" Asked Raven.
"You want to know where they came from, not how your daughter is doing or if she was involved in the attack or if is she was hurt." Said Qrow.
"I need to know, so I won't fail at protecting the tribe." Replied Raven.
"Like how you failed at killing Merlot twenty years ago." Replied Qrow, who then took a sip from his drink as Raven got a look of shock on her face.
"That's not possible! He was supposed to be dead!" Yelled Raven.
"Better believe it, he had a spare robotic body and came back with a vengeance. Kidnapped Yang, her team and some of their friends. He drained their aura and put it in his robots, thankfully you don't have to worry about killing him again. It would seem that our old friend Torchwick took him out, after they got a good few hits in." Said Qrow.
"How do you know this? Also, some of those robots had her semblance how is that possible?" Asked Raven.
"They told Oz, who told me. Also you can be proud of Yang, she tore Ironwood a new one for his actions." Said Qrow."As for how the robots can have Summer's semblance, well lets just say that he put Ruby on a treadmill and forced her to run on it while draining her rose petals and aura. That's how he was able to mimic her semblance with the robots.
"Which actions?" Asked Raven, as she let the information Qrow had told her sink in.
"Arresting Thomas's creation, holding them at gunpoint and becoming a puppet for Merlot to use. But don't worry everything has been solved." Said Qrow.
"It better be." Said Raven, as she got a small look of pride on her face.
"Is that pride I see on your face?" Asked Qrow.
"No, shut up." Replied Raven, who then stood up, created a portal and added "I know everything I need to know, farewell brother."
"Raven, before you leave. Not that you care about this, but be careful out there. A tribe of thieves and murders isn't the best place for trust." Said Qrow.
"I was about to say the same thing." Said Raven, who before stepping into the portal added "Oh, and I made sure that you would pay for this room. See you around brother." After which she entered the portal, leaving Qrow on his own.
"Dammit Raven!" Exclaimd Qrow, who then looked at the drinks in the room and said "It is my night off, I'm sure Oz won't mind paying for this." After which he started to drink from the alcohol in the room and activated the karaoke machine to have a good time on his own.
A/N: And scene, there you have it part one of the intermission done look forward to the second part of the intermission coming soon.
Anyways, a quick thanks to the following people for favouriting and following this story:
BlazingEdge
UnusedCheese358
Locke Lynx
Now onto the reviews from last chapter
Jacob9594: Thanks for your very kind words in the review last chapter, they mean a lot to me. I'm glad that you were able to enjoy the chapter as well as the volume.
BlueSkies: Thank you for your comments, I'm glad you liked the chapter so much and I hope you keep enjoying the story in the future.
Simonsaid: The answer to your question is a simple one, they will show up eventually. Maybe in volume 4 or at a later point in time.
Guest: Thank you for the compliment you gave me in the review, I hope you liked what was in this intermission chapter.
Now, I just want to share some thoughts on that episode that released yesterday. So I highly recommend that you stop reading now, if you haven't watched the episode.
Is everyone who hasn't watched it gone? Good.
That episode, hoo boy that episode that was intense. Now I don't think that Yang is dead, I mean she is a main character I'm sure they'll get her back at some point and I doubt any of this was permanent. Heck, I think what the writers did was similar to what happened to Weiss in volume 5 stabbing her through the gut and still making sure that she survives in the next episode. Besides the show can't be called RWBY with the Y being dead, especially since so many fans really like Yang so yeah this ain't permanent so stop crying.
As for Jacques, that certainly came out of nowhere. But I have to ask, who was the idiot who thought it was a good idea to leave a weapon next to the cell of a mentally unstable dictator. Was it Winter? This seems like something Winter would do by accident. As for his demise, I will say he was a bastard and an abusive asshole who did horrible things to people and even his own children but I have to say I feel kind of bad for him.
Last episode made it seem like Weiss, Whitley and Willow would finally be able to get closure by having one final conversation with him. Telling Jacques that he can't control them anymore, but instead he gets killed by Ironwood's BFG and now none of them will get proper closure. And even though Jacques was a bastard, he didn't deserve to die, especially not at the hands of a character who was turned into a villain for no good reason by the writers.
Anyways, one last thing I will say about this is that the episode gave me enough adrenaline to push through and continue writing this chapter. Anyways, with that being said I hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you all next time and I hope everyone is looking forward to the volume 8 finale next week.