Ben 10 RWBY Volume 2: Ultimate Omniverse

by The Omni-Remnant

Having returned from a massive adventure in the world of Remnant, Ben, Team RWBY, and the rest of their friends find themselves faced with new challenges at every turn on Earth. Be it villains old and new… or even things that they never imagined to be real. It's going to be a challenge unlike any they've seen before, but they're up for it. It's Hero Time! (Cover Art credit inside)

11. Moving In

A/N: Hey there, everybody! Welcome back to the story as well as weekly updates! Indeed, it's time to really get this story rolling, and let me just say, I'm glad to be back on the weekly train. That said, with how much I'm gonna be working over the summer, longer chapters like this are probably gonna be few and far between, so we'll see how things go. But for now, it's moving day! So let's get into it, shall we? This is…

Chapter 10: Moving In

…..

There were many things that Yang Xiao Long could say she had gotten apprehensive about in her life. Tests, learning to ride her motorcycle for the first time, her father's mental health, even opening her acceptance letter to Beacon in fear she had been rejected. But if there was one thing she thought she'd never have to be worried about… it was having to share her room with her sister. Because in all honesty, that was never a bad concept to her. She and Ruby had shared a room since they were very little, and it continued even at Beacon, with the addition of Weiss and Blake, of course. However, as she got older, and more importantly, even closer to her beloved Green Boy, she quickly realized that she wanted to share a bed with HIM even more.

And that's what plagued Yang's thoughts on the way to her and Team RWBY's new room; how to break that news to her younger sister. And more worryingly; her and Ben's own parents. 'I mean, it's not like I can just walk up to 'em and ask; "Hey, Ben's mom and dad, I wanna be in the same bed with your son!". No, that's a VERY bad idea.'

As she walked down the short hallway, though, her thoughtful expression didn't go unnoticed. Blake, who was keeping in pace right next to her, glanced over to see her partner with her brow furrowed, an intense look on her face. "…Yang, you alright? You seem a bit tense."

Yang's eyes widened and she snapped her head toward Blake, quickly trying to brush it off. "Huh? Oh, me? Nah, I'm good, Blake. Just… thinking about how we're gonna decorate our room, that's all."

Blake pursed her lips and raised a single brow. "…That face seemed to be WAY more than just a "decorating thoughts" face." She stopped in her tracks, making sure to place herself in front of Yang as she did. "That's a "I'm hiding something and don't know how to say it to my friends" face."

The Blonde Brawler was surprised at Blake's accurate guess. "W-Wha… how did you—"

"Yang, we've lived with each other for almost a year." Blake crossed her arms with a small smile. "I think I know how to read my best friend by now."

"…You are quite the detective, Miss Belladonna, I'll give ya that." Yang sighed and let go of her bags, which fell to the floor with a thump. "The truth is… I… I kinda want to sleep with Ben."

Blake's eyebrows rose up in a split second, the cat girl almost rendered speechless. "U-Uh… well, I can't say this is unexpected, but… I just figured you'd wait a bit longer until—"

"W-What?" Yang asked before quickly realizing what she had meant. "O-Oh, no, no, that is Not what I meant at all, trust me. I am FAR from ready for something like that." However, a small smirk also came to her face. "But trust me, I've got THAT planned out, too."

"Why am I not surprised?" Blake deadpanned, shaking her head to regain her composure. "So, I'm guessing you mean you want to sleep in Ben's bed—"

"Shsh! Not so loud!" Yang urged, pointing over to Sandra and Carl not too far away. "If they catch wind of this, I ain't sleeping anywhere in this house."

Blake raised a brow at that. "I sincerely doubt that. Sandra and Carl are both really nice and they wouldn't kick you out just because of that." Her hands went to her hips as she continued. "But what I want to know is why you're so nervous about it. Usually, you know what you want and aren't afraid to at least try and ask for it."

"Well, it's not ONLY Sandra and Carl that I'm worried about." Yang pointed over to her sister, standing directly in front of a lone door with Weiss right next to her. "It's Ruby. I'm afraid of what she'll think when she hears that I don't want to bunk with her anymore."

"…Oh, yeah, that DOES sound like a problem." Blake admitted, especially since she's so psyched about the bunk beds again—"

"Yang! Blake!" Ruby suddenly shouted out, waving to them frantically from the room. "What're you two just standing there for? C'mon, let's see our new room!"

The two partners eyed one another before Blake whispered; "We'll talk later, 'kay?"

Yang sighed and agreed before picking up her bags and moving closer to the door. She then saw Ben standing with his parents, the young hero giving her a supportive smile when he locked eyes with her. Yang smiled right back to him and nodded, resolving to worry about her problem for another time. 'I hope you know how to handle this, Green Boy…'

Sandra clapped her hands together to get the girls' attention. "Alright, ladies, it's time for the moment you've all been waiting for!"

Ruby began bouncing up and down like a little bunny rabbit. She had been waiting all night for this. After that one last sleep-over that the entire team shared with one another, it was finally time for them to get their own rooms at their different places of stay. Yes, it was a little disheartening that they would all have to be separated for this to happen, but at the same time, it was like something fresh and new was happening as well. "EEE! I can hardly wait!"

"Well, you won't have to any longer!" Carl stepped up and opened the door, revealing the girls' new room. "Team RWBY, welcome to your quarters."

Ruby gasped almost immediately. It was as promised; bunkbeds, one set on each side of the room. The room itself was painted a soft blue color, which was, in her opinion, a lot nicer than the dorms at Beacon with their plain white paint. And if that weren't enough, they also had their own bathroom again as well, along with two dressers on each side. And between the bunk beds, there was a window and another dresser, making it look like the very same set-up they had at Beacon… only better. Because on the opposite end of the room was a table that had a wide-screen television on it, complete with a cable box and a computer sitting right beside it.

"Well?" Sandra asked eagerly. "What do you think?"

"This… is… AMAZING!" Ruby shouted as she began zipping around the room at blinding speeds with her semblance, zipping every which way she could as she inspected everything. "Oh my gosh, we get our own TV and COMPUTER, too?!"

"Yep, Ben's got 'em as well, so it's only fitting that you do." Carl said before holding up the remote. "However, I expect everyone to share it. There's a DVR on the cable box so that everyone can record their shows. I hope you girls can work it out."

"We will, Mr. Tennyson." Weiss nodded before reaching for the remote, only for Carl to keep a firm grasp on it with a raised brow to the former heiress. Weiss quickly deadpanned, realizing what he was getting at. "I mean… we will, Carl." The man quickly relinquished the remote, with Weiss letting out a grunt. "I swear, that is a VERY weird thing that you guys have going on."

Sandra placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder as she explained. "Well, Weiss, we ARE all equal in this house, so it's only fair that we call each other by our first names…" She glanced over to her own son, who had stayed silent up until this point. "Even if Ben refuses to."

Ben deadpanned himself and shook his head. "Sorry, mom, but I'm not calling you or dad by your first names. Family friends, I can understand, but ME? Nuh-uh, sorry."

"Hey, c'mon, son." Carl gave Ben a pat on the back. "I mean, you call Tai and Raven by their first names and you don't have a problem with it."

"Well… y-yeah, but—"

"He has a point, Ben." Everyone turned to see Raven and Tai approaching them, the Hunter couple setting their sights on the hero. "It's not like you're afraid to refer to us by our first names." Raven pointed out. "So why not try and do it with your parents?"

Ben's face contorted in annoyance… but then a smirk came to his face. "Yeah? Well, why don't YOU have Yang call you by your first names?"

Tai's eyes widened immediately while Raven sighed a little. "Should've known you'd pull out the reverse card. But for your information, Yang HAS called me by my first name several times before."

Yang shrugged. "Yeah, can't argue with that. …But I absolutely refuse to call my dad by his first name."

"I second that motion!" Tai advocated. "I've gone by dad so long that a sudden change like that would be SUPER weird."

"Ahem." Weiss cleared her throat before smiling toward Sandra and Carl. "Moving on, once again, we're very grateful to you two for allowing us to stay here. It means a lot, really."

"Yeah, exactly!" Ruby agreed as she zipped over once again. "And I can't believe how awesome the room is! EEEEE! This is gonna be AWESOME!"

Sandra laughed while Carl let out a small chuckle, the two amused by Ruby's excitement. "Well, I'm glad that you all like it, girls." Sandra said before two sets of barks got her attention, her eyes shifting down to see both Zwei and Rema rushing past her feet. The corgi and wolf pup quickly began to scamper around the room, happily playing with one another. "Hmhm, and I think those two will be pretty happy in here as well."

Blake stepped into the room and crouched down to intercept Rema, the little pup quickly moving to her mother. "Yeah, it's a shame that Rema won't be with her brother twenty-four-seven anymore, but I think she'll be okay." She set her eyes on Zwei, who was staring up at her expectantly. With a sigh, Blake reached over and steadily began to scratch Zwei's ears. "I'm counting on you to watch her, Zwei."

The corgi barked once and Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement. "Ah! Blake, you don't know HOW happy it makes me to see you and Zwei FINALLY getting along!"

Blake rolled her eyes and gave a shrug. "Well, given that I've essentially devoted my life to THIS trouble maker…" She patted Rema's head for emphasis. "I might as well show Zwei some common courtesy."

"Better than leaping over the beds just to avoid him." Yang snarked, earning her a soft glare from Blake. "But hey, I will say that the room's pretty sweet." In her mind, she added; 'Now if only I can explain to Ruby that I don't wanna sleep in here without sounding like an ass.' The Blonde Brawler cleared her throat before grinning over to her boyfriend and Carl. "But what I'm looking forward to seeing are two things." She counted said things off on her fingers. "One, I wanna see the "Nerd Cave", and two… I wanna get a peak at YOUR room, Green Boy." Her smirk increased as she quickly added; "Just to see if you're able to keep it clean, of course."

Ben's eyes widened in fear as Sandra let out an amused chortle. "Ooh, hoo-hoo… Ben, honey, Yang is already speaking my language." She sent her son a knowing grin. "I can always respect a woman who wants to keep things tidy and neat."

In truth, Yang couldn't care less about the room's cleanliness. There could be dirty socks and comic books strewn all over the floor for all she cared. She just wanted to see the room even if for just the briefest moment so she could get a sense of what it was like. Still, if she wanted to keep the act up, she had to go along with it. "Yeah, Ben, hope you don't have anything rank in there, or else I might just have to gut the whole place myself."

With a panicked face, Ben shifted his eyes from left to right. He hadn't touched his room since he was teleported to Remnant on that day three weeks ago… and if he remembered, it wasn't in the best of states. "Uh… uh…" His head snapped over to his father. "Dad, give them a tour of the Nerd Cave! I need a few minutes!" And with that, he zipped off, not even saying another word as the group watched him go to a door down the hall, enter that room, and then slam the door behind him.

Raven blinked in surprise before a smirk of her own came to her face. "Hm, he certainly is a teenager, that's for sure." She set her sights over to Carl with a raised brow. "So, what exactly IS this "Nerd Cave" anyway?"

Carl let out a laugh and put a hand to the back of his neck. "Haha! Oh, it's uh… just where Ben and I keep our collections of old and new action figures. A lot from my youth, a lot from Ben's, and a BUNCH from the modern day. It's uh… MOSTLY Transformers, but there are a lot of other toys down there that you guys might find interesting."

"Oh, sweet!" Tai said with a thumbs up. "Carl, my man, I can safely say that you are not the only one who had a collecting addiction when they were a kid. I collected Grimm figurines out the wazoo."

"Woah, seriously?" Carl grinned. "That sounds cool, Tai."

"Indeed, he did." Raven affirmed. "I saw them ALL before he was forced to sell them off."

Carl gasped as Tai winced in pain. "…Yeah, Beacon tuition is not cheap and… well, my parents couldn't afford to keep up with it at the time, so I had to sell a bunch of stuff to keep up with it."

"Oh, man, sorry to hear that, Tai." Carl wore a sad smile as he pat Tai's shoulder. "But hey, maybe a trip to the "Nerd Cave" will make ya feel a bit nostalgic, even if there aren't any Grimm figurines. C'mon, I'll show ya." And with that, Carl led the group down the hall, with Team RWBY keeping up toward the back."

Not everyone was completely happy with this impromptu excursion, though. "Ugh, I can't believe that a Toy Museum is an actual thing on this house tour." Weiss grumbled. "Carl's, what, forty-something?"

Ruby pursed her lips and furrowed her brows toward her partner. "Hey, anyone can be a collector, Weiss. It's not like anyone having an action figure collection is unheard of or anything."

"Besides, I'm willing to bet that everything down there is a piece of this world's history." Blake pointed out. "Even if they were all made for kids."

Yang nudged Weiss with her elbow. "Yeah, c'mon Weiss, lighten up and try to have some fun with this. Besides, Carl IS our host, so why not enjoy what he's got to offer?" Weiss let out a relenting hum, though she still wore a skeptical face as they moved on. Yang rolled her eyes at her teammate's demeanor, but at the same time, she couldn't help but think to herself; 'I wonder how the others are doing setting up at their places?'

…..

Jaune had to admit, the moment that he and his team had been dropped off at Gwen's house by Max, the first thing he thought was; 'Woah… this is WAY different than Ben's place.' Indeed, rather than the simple, single story house that Ben's place was, Gwen's house was a full story higher, and had a rather fancy appearance to it. It wasn't at wide as Ben's place, but still, it seemed much bigger. "Well… I think I can safely gauge which end of the middle class each half of Tennyson family is on—oof!"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha reprimanded, having nudged her elbow into his arm. "Do not be so rude! Monetary standing is not something that should be so blatantly pointed out." She shifted her gaze down to Romulus, who was sitting on the sidewalk with his leash and collar secured around him. "We should be so lucky that we're able to stay in any home. Especially one as nice as this, given that we do have Rommy here with us."

"Well, at least we know now why Natalie said "no weapons in the house"." Ren continued. "I doubt anyone would want this house to be damaged in any way." He glanced over to his best friend, who had Magnhild in hammer mode on her back. "Right, Nora?"

Nora groaned and pulled her hammer off. "Yeah, yeah, I get the picture." She shifted Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and stuffed it into one of her backs. "Don't worry, my lovely hammer, you'll see use in the Hazard Chamber."

"Ahem." Team JNPR all turned to see Winter stepping up from behind them, the woman accompanied by none other than Gwen herself. They saw Max giving them a wave from the Rustbucket and they all waved back to him, before the old Plumber drove off. Winter, who was dressed in a set of rather casual white sneakers, shorts and a tank top, scanned the group of four before giving them a nod. "If we're all done conversing, I believe it's time we see just what our new residence has to offer."

Gwen clapped her hands together with a big grin on her face. "Exactly! Ooh, I can't wait until you guys get a load of what your room's like!" She ushered them toward the door, quickly saying; "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" The moment she twisted the knob, she smiled into the home and announced their presence. "Mom! Dad! We're here!"

Almost immediately, Natalie came walking into the front hall from the kitchen, which was almost directly to their left. "Ah, Gwen! Good to see you all here." She set her sights onto Team JNPR and Winter and bowed her head to them in greeting. "Winter, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, I want to take this opportunity to welcome you all into our home. Please, feel free to make yourself comfortable."

Winter and the teens bowed their heads back without question. "We are very grateful for this, Natalie. We give you our thanks for letting us stay here, and we apologize for any trouble we may—"

"Stop." Natalie raised her hand before pointing toward Winter. "It's absolutely no trouble at all, and I won't have any talk of it otherwise." Her smile came back as she raised her arms up. "As far as I'm concerned, my home is your home, so don't worry about a thing."

"Hm, very well." Winter nodded.

"Thank you, Mrs. T." Jaune added. "We promise that we won't be a bother to you."

Natalie shook her head at that. "Which I'm sure won't happen, Jaune. After all, you all seem like trustworthy kids." She craned her head over to the living room, which was directly across the kitchen on the right side of the hall. "Sweetheart, they're here!"

"Oh, I heard them come in, honey." Frank reassured as he came around the bend. "Sorry that I wasn't here sooner, it's the bottom of the ninth on TV."

Team JNPR peaked into the living room, finding that it had a rather spacious and lovely interior, complete with a fireplace and a large flatscreen TV on the wall. On said TV, there appeared to be some sort of sport playing, one that involved swinging a bat and hitting a white ball with red stitches across a large field, along with four bases in the shape of a diamond that the players could be seen running toward. "Uh, pardon me for sounding ignorant, but… what's that?" Pyrrha asked.

Natalie and Frank shared an astonished glance before the latter answered; "Uh… it's baseball. Do you guys not have baseball where you live?"

"Can't say we do." Jaune answered. "I'm guessing it's a professional sport, right?"

"Yes, it is." Natalie affirmed. "…Now that I think about it, though, I suppose you kids don't have many Earth sports where you come from. Does soccer, basketball, golf or football exist where you come from?"

"Nope." Ren denied. "Honestly, most professional sports where we come from involve contests between Hunters."

"And lemme tell ya, those can get PRETTY intense." Nora grinned. "Let's just say that there's at least a couple explosions involved.

The Tennyson parents were left flabbergasted by this news, but they also figured that given the kind of world that Remnant seemed to be, they shouldn't have been too surprised. "Well… I suppose that's another big difference between Earth and Remnant, then." Natalie figured. "Perhaps we can talk more about it later on, though. Right now, we need to show you all to your new rooms!"

Gwen smiled eagerly and clapped her hands together. "Right you are, mom! C'mon guys, follow me." She ushered the others to follow her up the stairs, but just as they all got to the top, Gwen stopped in her tracks when she remembered something; someone was conspicuously absent. "Hey, wait a minute… where's Kenny?"

Winter inspected the hall breifly before noticing a sound coming from the room not too far from them. It sounded almost like running water, and almost instantly, she realized that they were standing in front of a bath room… where someone was taking a shower. A small smirk came to Winter's face before glancing to the teens. "Let's find out, shall we?" With that, Winter went up to the door, knocked on it, and cupper her hand to her mouth. "Oh Kenny, we're here!"

Almost in an instant, the group heard a shout on the other side; "GAH!" Following that, there was the sound of a shower curtain opening as well as someone stumbling out of it, obviously in a hurry. "G-Give me one moment!" came Kenny's flustered voice.

As the teens, Natalie and Frank stared on while hearing lots of clattering from behind the bathroom door, Gwen went up to Winter and nudged her in the side. "You're evil, you know that?"

"Only when I want to be." Winter countered. "But in this instance, I just wanted to mess with his head."

Natalie put a finger to her chin as a wry grin of her own came to her face. "Hm, cunning AND slightly devious. She's definitely a keeper."

Within moments, Kenny came out of the bathroom, and well… he was a hot mess. His hair was still mostly wet and covering his forehead, he didn't have any footwear, he was donned in a pair of black shorts and a blue muscle shirt… and he was only half dry, resulting in visible water splotches soaking into said shirt. He breathed heavily as he smiled to the crew. "Hah… hah… hey guys! H-How's it going?"

"Pretty good!" Nora said with a raised brow. "Did we catch ya off guard?"

"A-A little bit, yes." Kenny admitted. "W-When I heard Winter, I-I kinda…" He trailed off when he finally noticed that said white-haired woman was standing directly in front of him, her blue eyes wide and her lips parted slightly. "…panicked. H-Hi…"

"Hi…" Winter trailed off, only able to say one word. In most instances, Winter would have taken satisfaction in catching her prey off guard, but it seems like karma had struck her in that moment, because the only thing she could think of… was how hot the man in front of her was. She could still feel the heat of the shower radiating off his body, and she could also smell his freshly shampooed hair and bodywash from where she was standing. That, combined with the fact that his hair falling over his face was admittedly quite cute, led her to thinking only one thing; '…Oh no, he's hot!'

Winter quickly shook her head and cleared her throat, attempting to compose herself. "Ahem, er, I-I apologize to have made you rush like that, Kenny." she stammered with a light blush. "I-I simply thought getting your attention would be… w-well…"

"H-Hey, I get it, trust me." Kenny raised a hand, his own face flushed even more red than it already was. "H-Honestly, I probably should've been out of the shower earlier."

A small silence followed that, with Natalie and Gwen sharing a knowing grin before the older woman stepped between the two. "Hmhm, well, I hope this will be a lesson to both of you." The two young adults faced her as she pointed to her son. "Kenny, in the future, have better timing with your showers." She then directed her finger to Winter. "And you, Winter… unless you want another show, I don't think you should rush him OUT of the shower. Both of you get the picture?"

The duo glanced toward each other, gulped, and then nodded to Natalie. "Yes, ma'am." they echoed.

The teens shared an amused chuckle before Natalie went back to them once again. "Good, now, let's get back on track." She ushered for them to follow her. "Team JNPR, your room is right over here."

"AH! YAY!" Nora cheered as she practically skipped alongside Natalie toward the room, while Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren simply walked. Once they all made it, Natalie grabbed the door handle and opened the room up before stepping back to let the team have a good look at it. What they saw next surprised them greatly. The room was relatively large, a bit larger than what they were all expecting. On the opposite end of the room, there were four beds, all of them side by side and situated in front of a large window. And on each side of the room was a closet as well. Right next to the room's door, there was a dresser with four drawers, and on top of it was a large television. Nora shifted her gaze around and took note of every detail of the room before coming to a conclusion; "Huh… not bad!"

"Yeah, it's almost like back at Beacon…" Jaune added before taking note of something missing from the school dorms. "Except… no personal bathrooms."

Natalie wore a guilty smile at that. "Yes, well, unfortunately, that's the one thing that this house doesn't have. But, don't worry, we have two bathrooms in this house, each with a shower you can use."

Frank raised a single finger and added; "Just be sure not to use all the hot water, okay? Gotta keep that in reserve, you know."

"Right, of course, Mr. Tennyson." Pyrrha nodded as she stepped in and set her luggage down next to one of the beds… only to notice something very odd between the two sets of beds on each side of the room. It was… a large cloth hanging from the ceiling. She reached out and pulled on it, only to find that it slid with ease. She also heard something clattering above her, making her crane her head up to see… a rail? "Wait… did you install a curtain into this room?"

Natalie raised her head with pride. "Indeed! This way, you boys and girls will be able to have all the privacy you need while you're changing. Think of this as a substitute for the lack of a bathroom."

"Well, it is ONE solution." Ren said as he placed his own belongings down on a bed, with Jaune and Nora following his example. "It may not be Beacon, or even Tai's house, but it's still very… comfy."

"Better than sleeping on a sidewalk." Nora said as she leapt up and plopped down onto her bed. "And trust me, Ren and I have been there." She noticed the Tennyson's shocked expressions and waved her hand to them. "And that's an overly long story that we don't need to get into." She beamed to them and gave them a thumbs up. "Main point being; thanks for the room, Mr. and Mrs. T!"

"Trust me, we won't mess it up." Jaune assured.

"I'm sure you won't." Natalie said before facing Winter, placing a hand on her hip. "Now, would you like to come see your room, Winter?"

Winter smiled back immediately. "Of course, thank you." She followed the older woman further down the hall until they came to the door right at the very end.

"Now, I warn you; this living space is a bit smaller than Team JNPR's room." Natalie informed. "So if it gets claustrophobic for you, just let me know, okay?"

"Oh, it's quite alright, Natalie." Winter waved off. "Believe me, I have been in smaller quarters in my time in the military. I'm sure this room will suffice."

"…Well, alright then." Natalie opened the door and revealed Winter's new room to her. Indeed, it was significantly smaller than Team JNPR's living space. In fact, it appeared to be exactly half the size of their room. Still, that didn't prevent there being a relatively well sized bed fitting inside of it, along with a rather extravagant frame with well carved bed posts and headboard. At the very end of the bed, there was a small dresser with a smaller television on it, and directly across from the bed near the door, there was a full closet. A nightstand next to the bed, complete with a lamp, finished off the room. "Well?" Natalie asked. "What do you think?"

Winter stepped in, inspected the place up and down, and then came to her conclusion; "It's perfect." She set her luggage down and smiled to the redheaded woman. "Thank you very much, Natalie. This will do just fine."

"Hm, I'm glad to hear it." Natalie grinned back before whispering; "After all, the last thing I want my son's girlfriend to be is uncomfortable in my own home."

"Urk!" Winter winced at the word "girlfriend". "W-We're not even dating yet—"

"Ah-ah, yet." Natalie pointed out. "When my son finally gets the gumption to ask you out, then you'll officially be dating. But… come on, dear, it's been obvious up to this point about how you two feel for each other."

Winter tried to come up with an excuse… but she only found that Natalie was a hundred percent correct. The way she acted around Kenny and vice versa, it was made no secret that they liked each other. "…Yes, you have a point." She sent Natalie a pleading gaze. "But… do you think that you and Gwen can reign in the teasing just a little bit? It doesn't make things any easier, and that goes for the both of us."

"I understand." Natalie assured. "If you wanted us to stop, you should've said something earlier, hon."

"I… didn't want to overstep."

"Please, Winter, as far as I'm concerned, with you and Team JNPR under this roof, you're practically part of the family." Natalie placed a hand on Winter's shoulder. "And if there's anything that you all need or feel uncomfortable about, don't be afraid to tell either Frank or myself, okay?"

Winter smiled and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, that means a lot…" She then picked up her luggage and opened up one of the suitcases, placing it on the bed. "Now, first things first, let's decorate this room a little." From out of her suitcase, she pulled out the picture that Kenny had painted for her, which was now in a proper frame. Her bed was right up against the wall of the room, and she knew immediately that was where she wanted it. Unfortunately, she didn't have a hammer and nail ready, so she just placed it up against the wall for a moment and asked; "What do you think?"

"I think that's a perfect place for it." Natalie approved. "I'll get Frank to get his tool set right away."

At that moment, Kenny peaked into the room and saw Winter holding up the painting he gifted her, leading him to smile at the sight. "Hah, Winter, that… that's a really good place for it. And I like the frame you got for it, too."

Winter put the painting down and faced Kenny, happy that he approved. "Thank you, Kenny. I had to search a little bit for the perfect frame, but I—hm?" It was at that moment that Winter saw Gwen and Pyrrha move from out of Team JNPR's room, the two redheads dashing down the hall as fast as they could while giggling like schoolgirls. She raised an eyebrow as Natalie and Kenny took notice as well. "…What are those two up to?"

"I don't know…" Natalie said with a skeptical gaze as well. "…But I'd be darned if I'm not curious enough to find out. Come on, let's see what they're up to."

…..

As that was happening, a certain green and black muscle car pulled up to a large, two-story house with a large front porch. It was immediately stood out from all of the other houses surrounding it in the suburb, namely because it had a soft lavender and royal violet color scheme to it. Sun, Neptune, Ilia and Penny all couldn't help but gawk at the sight as Kevin stepped out of the driver's seat, presenting the house with a wave of his hand. "Well, here we are." the Osmosian grinned. "Welcome to the mom's house, ladies and germs."

Sun and Neptune deadpanned at that as the quartet got out of the car. "Okay, first off; rude." Sun pointed out.

"Secondly; WHAT?!" Neptune waved his arms toward the house with an overdramatic flair. "The… the house is… it's…"

"Purple." Ilia finished. "It's… it's freaking purple." She raised an assuring hand. "Now, don't get me wrong, I love purple, but… not once would I ever think that it would be the main color of a house."

Kevin winced a little bit at that. "…Yeah, my mom kinda went all out on the repainting. She just loves her purple stuff, and I'm not talkin' about the drink. Granted, the original color was a pretty awful grey and olive-green combo to start out with, so I think ANY color scheme would've been better than that."

Penny clapped her hands in excitement. "Well, I think it's sensational! I especially like how unique the color scheme is!"

"Unique is an… understatement, but hey, at least I can now say that I've lived in a purple house once in my life." Sun shrugged.

Neptune glanced around, curiously searching for a certain man who was supposedly right behind them. "Say, uh… anyone seen Qrow?"

CAW! CAW! Everyone's heads shot up when they heard the unmistakable call of a corvid, leading them to see a lone crow sitting at the very peak of the roof. Immediately, they knew who it was, and Kevin furrowed his brow at the sight of him there. "Hey, hey! Make sure not to leave any "presents" on that roof, old man! I worked my ass off to make sure this place stays clean!"

In an instant, the crow jumped off the roof and swooped down to the group. And, within a split second, it transformed back into Qrow Branwen. The Huntsman gave a light scowl back at Kevin and prodded a finger against his chest. "Very funny, kid, but I don't do that in my bird form. You know how disgusting that is?"

"I do, which is why I don't wanna take any chances." Kevin countered. "Besides, I already have a feeling that the place is gonna be seeing quite a bit of damage, so we don't really need to add onto that."

Qrow narrowed his eyes at the young Osmosian. "Are you implying that my Semblance is gonna wreck your house?"

"Probably not totally." Kevin shook his head. "After all, you've lived with Tai for a while and HIS place is still standing. Still, can't be too careful." Qrow didn't let up on his glare, though, so Kevin sighed and continued on. "But, for what it's worth, we're not gonna kick you out of here if there's damages, if that's what you're thinking. I made a promise to you, and I'm gonna keep it. Plus, my mom probably wouldn't have it if I DID kick you out."

Qrow's expression softened and he sighed as well. "…Thanks, kid. Listen, I know my Semblance can be a pain to live with, but for what it's worth, I appreciate ya giving me a roof over my head. If there's any damages, I'll fix 'em or pay for 'em, whatever ya want."

Just then, the group heard a set of footsteps over a wooden floor, followed by a certain voice; "Well, that's reassuring to hear." Everyone set their sights to the porch and saw Evelyn standing there, the woman wearing a greeting smile. "Hello there, everyone." She spread her arms out to the house around her. "Welcome to my purple palace!"

"And it is quite the lovely home indeed, Mrs. Levin!" Penny praised, all while Ilia, Sun and Neptune wore unsure expressions.

"Why thank you, Penny." Evelyn stepped off the porch and approached the group, facing her house as she continued; "Admittedly, many of the neighbors were unsure about my color choice, but you know what I said? "The world doesn't have enough purple in it!"." She gave the group a wink. "So, why NOT purple?"

"Why not, indeed." Ilia commented to herself before clearing her throat. "Ahem, well, it certainly is a lovely house, Mrs. Levin, and we must thank you again for letting us stay here."

The five Remnant natives all echoed her sentiment, but Evelyn was quick to shake her head. "Oh, no thanks are necessary, Ilia. Trust me, any friend of my son's is a friend of mine. As such, please, call me Evelyn." She then faced Qrow with a quirked brow. "By the way, how did you get here, Qrow? My son's car can't fit six."

Qrow shrugged and answered nonchalantly. "Oh, I flew." This left Evelyn visibly quite confused, leaving Qrow to realize something; "Uh… I never told ya about what my sister and I can do, did I?"

"Um, no… what is that?"

"She and I can transform into birds." Qrow said without a hint of subtly, leaving Evelyn flabbergasted. "And considering our names, I think you can take a guess as to which kinds of birds we become."

Evelyn blinked in shock before uttering; "O-Oh… well, that's…"

"Freaky?"

"I was going to say interesting." Evelyn corrected. "Is it part your Semblance?"

"Not exactly." Qrow shook his head. "It's an ability that was given to us by…" At that moment, Qrow stopped himself from talking, his lips turning down into a frown as his brows furrowed once again. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, his eyes glued to the walkway. "…by an old friend of ours."

Evelyn's gaze was one of concern as she tilted her head. "Qrow… are you alright?"

However, the teens behind her all eyed one another, recognizing that a touchy subject had come up. Kevin cleared his throat and stepped between the two adults. "Ahem, uh, why don't we talk about that later? Or maybe not at all, your choice." He sent a pleading look to his mom, hoping she would get the message. "Mom, now might be a good time to show the gang inside and get 'em to their rooms."

Seeing that familiar glint in her son's eye, Evelyn immediately picked up on what he was trying to say and nodded. "O-Oh, of course." She stepped past her son and placed a reassuring hand on Qrow's shoulder, giving him a smile. "We shouldn't dwell on sore subjects. Right now, let's get you inside and show you your room, huh?"

Qrow's eyebrows raised up at the sudden physical contact, but kept his wits about him as he answered. "O-Oh, yeah… yeah, sure thing." Evelyn led the way as the others followed after her, though as they walked into the house, Qrow could only think of one thing; 'Was she… actually concerned and considerate of me? And she respected my privacy… been a while since that's happened with a woman.'

The moment the door opened, the gang were met with the sight of a very large dining room, one with a… rather large table. There was a hutch with multiple pictures and decorations on it, a book shelf in the far corner, and a staircase that lead right upstairs. Next to the stair case was the door that lead to the kitchen, and across from that wall was another hallway that must've lead to the living area. "We can take a grand tour once we get you all settled in." Evelyn said as she made her way over to the stairs. "For now, let's show you to your rooms."

With that, the gang followed her upstairs, entering a rather large hallway that had many doors on both sides of it. The group couldn't help but marvel at its size. "Woah… Evelyn, you are living large, for sure." Ilia semi-whispered.

"Hmhm, thank my son for that." Evelyn chuckled. "He treats me like a queen."

"Hey, because you ARE one, dad said so." Kevin countered. "And if he says you're a queen, then you should deserve to live like one."

"Ah yeah, Kev's mentioned his old man a lot to us." Sun recalled as he sent a sympathetic gaze over to Evelyn. "By the sounds of it, it seems like he was a pretty cool guy, huh?"

Evelyn wore a nostalgic smile as she appeared to stare off into space. "Oh, you would be right, Sun. Devin was just the coolest. In fact, he was one of the best men you could probably ever meet. He was brave, selfless, and quite the charmer, might I add." She failed to noticed the slight frown on Qrow's face, but that frown quickly disappeared when Evelyn's own smile faded. "But, of course, even the brightest lights must fade one day, and Devin went out the way he always wanted; like a hero." Her eyes returned to the group, seeing that they were giving her supportive grins. "I will always have Devin's memory, and I do still cherish the time we had together…" her smile slowly returned. "…But I have long moved on from those days. I've learned that living in the past doesn't do much to change what happens in the future…" She eyed her son briefly. "Something I learned the hard way about seven years ago."

Neptune raised a brow. "…What happened back then?"

"O-Oh, it's… it's not really something you should concern yourselves with." Evelyn waved off, feigning a grin as her face flushed red. "And look at me, rambling on when I SHOULD be showing you your rooms. Come on, this way."

Evelyn continued down the hallway, and the group were about to follow after her but Kevin raised his arm. He was giving Team SN, Ilia and Penny a warning gaze, his eyes completely serious. "Just so ya know, it'd probably be best to avoid asking questions like that. There's some things that my mom doesn't really feel comfortable talkin' about, got it?"

"Crystal clear." Sun said quickly.

"We will not pry any further." Penny saluted.

Kevin hummed, satisfied with their answer before moving on to Qrow. "And that goes for you too, old man."

Qrow stepped past Kevin while raising his hand. "Hey, relax, kid. If yer mom respects my privacy, then the least I can do is respect hers."

"…Good, glad we're clear on that." With that, the group followed after Evelyn until they were part of the way down the hall. She was standing between two doors that were practically side-by-side with one another, the woman smiling as they all approached.

"Okay, so first up, I think it's best if we get you kids into your rooms first!" Evelyn reached for the two handles and twisted, opening the doors both at the same time. "Ta-da! Feel free to look around and tell me what you think. I've added a few little odds and ends that you might find to your liking!"

Sun and Neptune both went into their rooms first, taking note of the cool blue walls immediately. The door was close to the wall, but when they peered in, they saw something that took them both by utter surprise. There was workout equipment inside the room! Dumbbells, barbells, a punching bag hanging from the ceiling, and two pull-up bars that were bolted to the far wall. All in all, it was a room that was perfect for the both of them. "Woah, dude! Would you check this out?!" Sun said as he bolted into the room, seeing that there were also medicine balls and a couple mats on the floor.

"Hah, yeah, this is awesome!" Neptune agreed as he picked up a dumbbell and began lifting it up and down, working his triceps. He went back and smiled to Evelyn. "Evelyn, where'd you get THIS stuff?"

Evelyn giggled and placed a hand over her mouth. "Well, when I heard that you boys liked to work out, I had Kevin bring out some of his old weight-lifting equipment from storage, just in case you wanted to get in some extra work-out equipment that he had in storage."

Kevin came in and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "I've also got some more heavy-duty stuff in the garage if you guys wanna make use of it." He then pointed a stern finger to them. "Just make sure that the barbel and heavier dumbbells don't get dropped, got it? Don't want any of 'em goin' through the floor."

"Hah, trust me, you won't have to worry about that." Sun assured before he rushed toward the wall, performed a back flip, and then grabbed the pull-up bar with his tail, hanging upside down from it with a content smile. "Besides, with this bar alone, I'm VERY satisfied."

"Yeah, thanks for this, guys." Neptune bowed his head before stepping over to one of the beds, seeing that there was a TV directly across from it. "Hah, AND there's a TV, too? This place really has everything!"

Kevin and his mom shared a laugh before the Osmosian set his sights onto the girls. "Well, Ilia, Penny, go on in and tell us what you think."

The duo of girls complied and stepped into their own room… and the moment they did, their jaws dropped. The walls were painted a natural, almost tropical, green color, and all throughout the room, there were plants of all different types and sizes. They ranged from colorful flowers, to exotic greenery, to even a small bonsai tree on the night stand. And to top it all off, near the window were a couple of dragon trees, one standing on each side. Ilia strolled into the room, her breath hitched in her throat as she took in the sights and smells of the room. "I-I… th-this is…"

"Kevin told me that you came from an island nation, Ilia." Evelyn said, getting the chameleon girl's attention. "I had a feeling that something like this would help you feel more at home." She craned her head toward the redheaded android. "And Penny, I know that you're a robot, but I have a feeling that someone like you would be eager to take in some natural beauty."

"Absolutely, Evelyn!" Penny eagerly confirmed with a salute before moving over to the bonsai tree, staring at it in curiosity. "This is SO spectacular! Ilia, what do you think? …Ilia?"

Everyone's eyes went back to the brunette… and they quickly saw that she was softly crying into her hand. Evelyn was stunned to see this kind of reaction, and she immediately went over to see what was wrong. "I-Ilia… are you okay? I… i-is the room not to your liking?"

"NO!" Ilia suddenly shouted, only to calm down the moment she saw how surprised Evelyn was. "N-No… I-I mean… that's not it." The girl's hair and spots shifted to a sad blue as she explained. "Y-You see… m-my parents and I… we weren't actually FROM the island nation of Menagerie. We originally lived in Atlas, where it's nothing but ungodly cold. B-But…" Her eyes moved over to the dragon trees, her eyes becoming blue in the process. "But my parents always wanted to live in a tropical place like Menagerie, so they took care of exotic plants just like the ones in here." A sad smile came to her face as she went back to Evelyn. "S-So to see all of these wonderful, beautiful plants in here… it brings back a LOT of good memories for me."

"I see." Evelyn nodded. "Well, I'm glad I could—oof!"

All at once, Ilia moved forward and pulled the woman into a hug, burying her face into her shoulder as she muffled out; "Th-Thank you… thank you so much."

Evelyn blinked in shock before returning the hug, rubbing comforting circles into Ilia's back. "…You're welcome, dear." The two women pulled apart as Evelyn gently grasped Ilia's shoulders. "I'm glad I could give you a positive memory with this room."

"H-Heh… I just wish I wasn't a big crybaby about it." Ilia wiped her eyes as they, her hair and spots all went back to normal.

"Oh, no, please. It's okay to cry, and don't let anyone tell you differently." Evelyn reassured. "Trust me, I've done plenty of it."

Penny stepped up next to Ilia and bowed her head. "All the same, we thank you very much for this lovely room. I am sure that we will quite enjoy it."

The Levin matriarch winked toward the two girls, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "I certainly hope so. Of course, call me if either of you need anything." Once the two girls affirmed Evelyn's words, she turned around and went back out into the hall way, coming face to face with Qrow. She crossed her arms and smiled up to the Huntsman. "Well, Mr. Qrow, that leaves you. And I think I've saved the best for last."

"Hm, really?" Qrow grinned as well as he followed Evelyn down the hall. "I'll be the judge of that."

…..

Back at the residence of one Ben Tennyson, Team RWBY were currently making their way down toward the basement of the house, with Carl, Sandra, Raven and Tai all leading the way. However, when they made it to the bottom of the steps, Carl had all four adults clear the way for the girls as they came to a door, which no doubt lead to another room. "Alright, ladies, since you wanted to see this so bad…"

"Well, TWO of us wanted to see it bad." Weiss mumbled to herself.

"I think it'd be best if you had the honors." Carl gestured to the doorknob, gladly stepping aside.

"Oh-ho, sweet!" Yang rubbed her hands together and went for the door knob, only for Carl to halt her for a second more.

"W-Woah, hold on there, let's not get overzealous." The Tennyson man said with a worried face. "Remember, there's a LOT of old and in some cases, even fragile figures behind this door. Don't wanna open it TOO hard, right?"

Yang blinked before nodding her head. "Oh, right, of course. Sorry, my bad."

Ruby, however, could barely contain her excitement. "Ooh, I wonder what we're gonna see! I mean, we've handled some Transformers before, but OLDER ones plus a bunch of other old toys? I am SO excited!"

"Well, don't get TOO excited, Ruby." Blake put a hand on her leader's shoulder to settle her a bit. "After all, you don't wanna get your expectations TOO high."

Yang turned the knob and slowly opened the door. "Yeah, Blake's right, sis. Better to not get in over your—IS THAT A FUCKING AIRCRAFT CARRIER?!"

The three girls' eyes all snapped open at that, as did Raven's and Tai's. "W-Wait, what?!" Tai and the others quickly filed into the room, and saw that Yang was in fact, right. On a special wooden display in the middle of the room… was an absolutely massive aircraft carrier, about the size of a coffee table. And on it were multiple… well, aircrafts. A couple harrier jets, a helicopter, it was pretty much doing its job while just sitting in the room's center. Also, surrounding the aircraft carrier were a bunch of other vehicles, including tanks, jeeps, an APC, and even a huge hovercraft! And littered about its deck and control room were several small six-inch army man figures, each one appearing to be unique in their own right. All in all… it was quite the display.

"W-What in the world?" Raven muttered.

"That is possibly the COOLEST display that I've ever seen." Tai managed to mutter out.

Carl grinned and gave out a chuckle, moving into the room himself with Sandra not far behind him. "Haha, I had a feeling that was going to be what you noticed first." He walked over to the table and presented the huge carrier with a wave of his hand. "Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce you to the U.S.S. Flagg. The centerpiece of my G.I. Joe collection and the VERY centerpiece of my toy collection as a whole. It's undeniably THE biggest playset that I own."

"That is… very impressive." Raven commented. "…A bit much, but impressive."

Weiss, however, raised a brow. "Wait, what's "G.I. Joe"?"

Carl shook his head and let out a sigh. "Ah, I had a feeling that was something that Ben might skim over. He's not exactly as big of a Joe fan as I am." He reached down and picked up one of the small army men, one that had blonde hair and a rifle in his hand. "Okay, so G.I. Joe is the codename for America's highly trained special mission force. Its purpose is to defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world!" Carl handed the little figure to Yang, who held it delicately in her hand. "And lemme tell ya, this toy was BIG in the 80's. They were actually made by Hasbro, the same people who made the transformers."

Ruby stepped over to the U.S.S. Flagg and crouched down, letting out a gasp as she took in everything it had to offer. "Oh wow! These little things are so cool! I can see every little detail on them and their weapons!" As her silver eyes trailed over the collection, she let out another, bigger gasp as she saw something incredible. "AH! Oh my gosh!" She reached over and gently picked up an entirely black figure, one that had black mask and visor over his head and held a sword in one hand. "Instant favorite! Right here!"

"Ah, you have good taste, Ruby." Carl grinned. "That's Snake Eyes. He's probably THE most popular Joe out of the entire roster." He pointed over to Yang, who was still holding the small blonde army man. "And Yang, the one you're holding is Duke, the Joe's leader."

"Oh, neat!" Yang said before going over and joining her sister, the two setting Duke and Snake Eyes down side by side. "So, do you have EVERY Joe in existence, Carl?"

The man sighed and shook his head. "No, sadly I AM missing a few. Plus a few Joe and Cobra vehicles that I missed out on back in the day. But my collection IS mostly complete, thanks to my brother's help." He spread his arms out to the rest of the room. "What you see here is the result of years of him and I collecting toys in our youth. Honestly, I couldn't come to part with any of them since they're some of the best memories that I have from that time."

"That's actually pretty cool." Blake said before her eyes found something intriguing. She stepped over to a certain set of shelves… where a bunch of familiar feline characters were standing. "Woah… it's the Thundercats!"

Carl's eyebrows rose up at Blake's words. "Oh, you know about the Thundercats already, Blake?"

"Oh, I sure do." Blake said as she picked up Panthro and smiled down at it. "You see, we used the Thundercat's logo to come up with the White Fang's new flag. …And admittedly, we DID watch a few episodes of the cartoon afterward." She raised a brow at Carl. "And I just have to say, compared to the awesome intro… the cartoon wasn't all that energetic."

"Yeah, I'll admit that Thundercats wasn't exactly the BEST example of an 80's cartoon worth watching in the modern era." Carl shrugged. "But hey, at least you KNOW about it. That's more than I can say for most people nowadays." The man craned his head around to see Weiss having moved over to another display, eyeing it with what he could only describe as "curious disgust". He moved over to the young woman and gave her a small grin. "I take it that you don't exactly like toys all that much."

Weiss' eyes widened and her head snapped to Carl, an apologetic face taking over her features. "O-Oh, I'm so sorry, Carl. P-Please, I didn't mean to offend, I swear, it's just—"

"Hey, don't worry, I get it." Carl waved off. "Trust me, not everyone is going to be interested in this kind of stuff. I learned THAT a long time ago." He set his gaze toward the rest of the room and sighed. "But, just because other people don't enjoy my hobby doesn't mean that I don't have to. We all have our differing interests, that's what makes us all unique, after all."

The former heiress slowly smiled and nodded her head in approval. "You're… you're absolutely right. And I shouldn't be so quick to judge. That being said…" Her curious face returned as she set her sights back onto the toys she was looking at. "Why are these overly buff men wearing such tight spandex and revealing armor? …And what's with the weird-looking monsters?"

Carl saw the toys she was referring to and let out a laugh. "HA! Weiss, you just stumbled onto my He-Man collection! Trust me these toys may seem a bit weird, but back in the day, they were some of the most fun to play with." He picked up a rather buff figure that had long, blonde hair and was holding a sword. "Trust me, if you knew the number of times my friends and I said "I HAVE THE POWER!" while pretending to be He-Man, you'd be stunned."

"Hm, I'm sure." Weiss grinned.

"OOH! What're these?!" Everyone's heads snapped over to see Tai having approached another shelving unit… one that held probably some of the most colorful toys in the room. Specifically, the older blonde was smiling toward a bunch of toys that appeared to be bipedal turtles, each with individually colored bandanas; blue, red, purple and orange. In addition, they all held a unique weapon; swords, sai, a bo staff, and nunchucks respectively. "Ruby, come over here, these things are pretty cool!"

Ruby immediately shot up and went over to her dad, a big grin coming to her face as she reached for the blue bandana turtle. "Ooh! What are these, turtle ninjas?! That's so … wait." Ruby paused as a thought occurred to her. Something seemed… familiar about these toys, but she didn't know why. After a few seconds of thinking, though, she finally realized why. "Wait a sec, didn't Ben tell us about a series that HAD turtle ninjas in it, but never got around to showing us?"

Yang blinked as she too remembered the familiar combination of words. "Yeah, I think it was… Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Kinda hard to forget a name like that, really."

"And you'd be correct, Yang!" Carl affirmed as he came over and took the red bandana turtle off the shelf. "And these would be the original TMNT toys. And as you can see…" He thrust a hand over to the shelf, indicating the sheer amount of different TMNT toys. "There are a LOT of 'em."

"I'll say…" Blake said as she saw the same turtle that Carl was holding… only in a cowboy suit… and a football helmet… and dressed in party gear. "…You know, for being a toyline about "ninjas", I'm not really seeing a whole lot of ninja-related things in here."

Carl winced at that. "Yeah… the TMNT toyline really started running out of ideas by the end of it's run. But hey, the early toys were all really good." He reached down and picked up a small toy of a caped man in sharp, pointy armor. "I mean, how CAN'T you love a toy of a guy named "The Shredder"?"

"Ha! With armor like that, I can see why he's named after a cheese grater!" Tai joked, leading Yang and Ruby to laugh it up along with them.

Off to the side, Sandra and Raven were both smiling at the group, content to just stay near the door while the tour went on. "Hm, your husband is like a little kid at heart." Raven commented. "I can respect that."

"And your respective other is very much the same." Sandra complimented back. "I suppose that means we both have good taste in men."

Raven's smirk increased at that. "Hmhm, agreed. And if THAT'S true, then that means Yang has good taste as well…" She trailed off as she suddenly heard the thumping of feet coming down the steps, garnering her attention. "Ooh, speaking of which." The two women faced the door in time to see Ben come in, the young hero appearing to be more at ease, but still a little nervous. "Why hello, Ben." Raven greeted with a raised brow. "Done cleaning your room, young man?"

Ben deadpanned as both her and his mother chortled at his expense. "…Yes, yes I am." He quickly recovered, though, and smiled out to the room, with everyone now having seen him enter. "Hey guys! How goes the tour of the "Nerd Cave"?"

"It's going FANTASTIC!" Ruby said with an ear-to-ear smile. "Ben, your dad has one of the BIGGEST toy collections I've ever seen!" She raised her arms up to the room, which indeed was wall-to-wall filled with nothing but toys. "I could be in here for a full DAY and I don't think I'd be able to see everything!"

"Oh, I can attest to that." Ben nodded. "But even then, this isn't even HALF of the collection." The RWBY girls all felt their jaws drop at that before Ben nodded over to his father. "Did you show them the Transformers Room, yet?"

"Nope, I was just getting to that!" Carl moved over to another door that was right on the other side of the room, one that had the Autobot and Decepticon emblems on them. "Alright, ladies and gents, brace yourselves!" Carl opened the door and ushered the group inside. "Your journey to Cybertron awaits!"

Team RWBY and Tai all filed in… and they were flabbergasted by what they saw. It was yet ANOTHER big room… that was filled with nothing but robots as far as the eye could see. All four walls of the place were covered with shelf after shelf of Transformers, and all of them were neatly sectioned off as well, organized by toyline and-or generation. Yang moved further in, slowly taking in the sights around her. "This… this is something else."

"That's an understatement." Blake muttered.

"HOW do you manage all this?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Very carefully." Carl said as he went over and gestured to one shelf in particular. "As you can see, the Transformers I sent all of you have already taken their place on the shelf."

The girls' eyes all went to the shelf he was pointing to and, indeed, the Transformers that Carl had sent them in their carepackage were now placed neatly on the shelf, along with several other figures, too. This particular shelf was marked "War for Cybertron Trilogy/Studio Series '86". What that meant was a mystery to them, but what WASN'T a mystery was what was on the rather large shelf directly NEXT to it. That being; a huge display of somewhat old-looking robot toys that didn't have nearly as much articulation as the robots they were directly next to.

"Woah… are these…" Ruby reached for a familiar red and blue bot with the front of a truck for a chest. One glance at him was all she needed to confirm her thoughts. "Woah… these are the FIRST Transformers toys, aren't they?"

"Bingo!" Ben confirmed as he pointed to the Autobot Leader. "You hold in your hands a one-hundred percent original and vintage G1 Optimus Prime." He raised a brow over to his father and crossed his arms. "It's a miracle that my dad managed to actually KEEP most of his toys together, really."

Carl shrugged. "What can I say? I was a kid with OCD. But yes, this room pretty much has nearly every Transformer that was released between 1984 and the present day, with some exceptions." He shook his head with a wave of his hand. "We don't go for repaints a lot of the time, so don't expect to see a lot of the same molds in here more than once unless they're a major character."

Weiss scanned her eyes over the shelves full of plastic figures, slightly impressed by just how much she was seeing. "Well, I gotta say, you certainly put a lot of time and money into this passion project." She eyed the two Tennysons warily. "I only hope you're insured."

The duo threw their heads back and laughed. "HA! Weiss, you think we WOULDN'T be insured with all these expensive toys in here?" Ben asked. "Trust me, we've made sure to take ALL of the precautions with this museum we've got going here." The hero placed his hands on his hips. "But, now that we're all at least acquainted with the Nerd Cave, why don't we go back upstairs and take a look at my room—"

"Hello?!" At that moment, a certain voice came ringing out from the stairwell, causing everyone to perk their heads up. "Buenos dias, muchachos!"

Weiss gasped in delight and immediately zipped out of the Transformer Room. "REX!" Everyone followed after her and, indeed, there was Rex entering into the Nerd Cave. The EVO was instantly met with Weiss practically jumping into his arms with a big hug. "Haha! Wow, you're early! We were expecting you to be around a bit later on!"

"Heh, yeah, well, I just got the word from base that we… uh…" Rex trailed off as his gaze moved every which way around the room, his focus on all of the toys with an impressed face. He set his sights over to Ben and Carl and said; "Wow, you guys do NOT mess around, do you?"

Ben smirked and shook his head. "No, we do not. That said, what word is there from base?"

"O-Oh, right. Well, they want at least some of you to come in." Rex pointed to three team members in particular. "Specifically, Ben, Ruby and Yang. You three are definitely gonna be needed for what's going on…"

…..

Back at Gwen's place, the aforementioned redhead was currently making her way into her room with her other redheaded compatriot, shutting the door behind her with a wide smile on her face. If she was being honest, the fact that this was FINALLY about to happen made her feel giddy. She had spent the evening setting all of her belongings back up in their usual place, which included her Nintendo Switch. And now, with it all ready to go, it was time to get it underway. Gwen was going to re-experience her favorite game of all time with her best friend, and it was going to be fantastic. "So… you ready?" she asked.

Pyrrha got up right in Gwen's face, taking hold of her shoulders with a serious face. "Gwen, I have been waiting two whole days for this. I am MORE than ready."

"And that's JUST what I wanted to hear! C'mon!" The pair of redheads laughed in unison as Gwen went to her Switch, turning it on before grabbing the pro-controller. She and Pyrrha then both sat on her bed, facing the television as Gwen turned that on as well. "Alright, you got your feet wet with Ocarina of Time, but now, it's time we REALLY dive into Hyrule."

Pyrrha rubbed her hands together eagerly. "And you have no idea how ready I am for that, Gwen."

"Good, because I've got an account for you already set up on my Switch." Pyrrha's eyes widened as she watched Gwen switch from her account to Pyrrha's account, which had a red icon with a Hylian Shield on it. "That way, you can have your own save data for the game without having to overwrite mine."

"Ah, I see. Well then…" Pyrrha took a deep breath and held her hand out. "Let's do this." Gwen happily handed Pyrrha the controller and Argus' champion immediately began scrolling through the icons on the Switch's home screen, before finally finding the one she was searching for;

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Pyrrha took another breath to compose herself before selecting the software, starting the game. After a few seconds of waiting, the game came to its title screen, showing none other than Link standing on a large cliff, looking up over his shoulder and straight at them. Pyrrha immediately selected the new game option, and the moment she heard a rather powerful-sounding jingle, she felt shivers down her spine. "Oh, I think I just got chills."

"I know, right?" Gwen pressed a finger to her lips. "Now shh, you're going to want to hear this."

A few more seconds passed before a shining light in a black void graced their appearance… before then exploding out into a blank white screen. Soon after, a caption came up at the bottom of the screen… followed by a regal, feminine voice. "Open your eyes…" The white screen suddenly cleared as the scene shifted to… quite honestly, Pyrrha couldn't tell what she was staring at. They appeared to be fluorescent blue lights hanging from a ceiling, but they appeared to be pretty elaborate for just lights. "Open your eyes…"

"Ooh, there's voice acting, in this one?" Pyrrha whispered.

"Yep, the first Zelda game to have it." Gwen confirmed. "Unfortunately, that means you can't change your name, but—"

"AH!" Pyrrha suddenly gasped as the scene changed, seeing none other than Link awakening in a pool of blue liquid that was quickly draining away. The voice was telling Link to wake up, but Pyrrha wasn't exactly concentrated on that. Instead, she was taking note that Link… was in nothing but a pair of blue boxers. She was afraid to say this out loud… but if anyone could understand her logic, it was probably Gwen. "…Oh my gosh, Link is… quite attractive in this game."

Thankfully, her guess proved true. "I KNOW, right?!" Gwen fanned her face with her own hand. "I have to admit, he is very jacked here. I mean, I know that he's pretty hot in other games… but this is the only game where you can actively take his clothes off, so there's a big plus." Pyrrha's eyes widened exponentially at that, her face flushing red. "O-Oh, aside from his underwear, that is. This is still an E10-plus game, after all."

"Oh, well, that's good." Pyrrha said, calming down slightly before taking notice of Link's features. Her expression became slightly stunned as a realization hit her. "…Oh my."

"What's wrong?"

Pyrrha pointed to the screen. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, indescribably cute and strong." She glanced over to Gwen with a sheepish smile. "…I have a type, don't I?"

"BAH-HAHA!" Gwen hugged Pyrrha and gave her a pat on the back. "Oh gosh, Pyrrha, I knew you had a type LONG before you realized this." She pulled away and nudged her head toward the TV. "Now c'mon, we gotta get you out of this dank cave."

"R-Right." Pyrrha nodded before pressing on, taking note of a small pedestal on the left side of the room. She went over to it and interacted with it, the pedestal activating instantly and producing a small, rectangular device from its center. Pyrrha immediately noticed that it had a familiar eye symbol on its back.

"That is a Sheikah Slate." The voice explained. "Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber." Pyrrha saw Link pick it up and its screen flashed on, with a small blurb appearing on the screen about the item she just got.

Pyrrha raised a single brow. "So… Zelda has scrolls now?"

Gwen bobbed her head a little. "You could say that. It's based more off the tablets that WE have on Earth, but… come to think of it, a Sheikah Slate IS a lot like a scroll."

With that, the door to the chamber opened, allowing Pyrrha to press onward. In the next room, she found a couple of chests containing rather worn clothes for Link. 'Though why they would want me to cover him up at this moment is anyone's guess.' the champion mused to herself. She went over to the next pedestal and held the Sheikah Slate up to it, allowing the next door to open.

From there, a bright light came shining down into the chamber, with the regal woman's voice having returned; "Link… you are the light—our light—that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now go…"

"Wait a moment…" Pyrrha turned to Gwen as she began making her way out of the cave. "Is that… Zelda?"

"Indeed it is." the Anodite confirmed. "And as always, it's our mission to rescue her… but now, let's see what awaits you…" Gwen watched as Pyrrha moved out of the cave, quickly learning that she could indeed jump before finally exiting… and as expected, she saw Pyrrha's jaw drop to the bed. They watched Link automatically ran up to the side of a cliff, one that had a view of pretty much all of Hyrule. Gwen extended her hand to the screen. "You see, Pyrrha, everything the light touches… is our playground."

"…Woah." Pyrrha squeaked out before she shot panned down to a path down the cliffside… where a bearded old man with a lantern could be seen waiting for her. "…But I suppose I am incentivized to speak with the old man, right?"

"Yep, he's our key to getting off this plateau."

"We're on a PLATEAU?!"

At that moment, however, a knock came at the door, leading both redhead to shift their focus over to that. "Come in!" Gwen allowed.

The door opened to reveal Natalie and Winter, the two ladies peaking in through the door. "Gwen, dear?" Natalie started. "We saw you and Pyrrha coming in and we wanted to see what—" the woman cut herself off when she saw what was being played. '…Breath of the Wild.' Her sights then went back to the two girls… and she saw that the controller was in Pyrrha's hands. "Oh… I see." She went into the room and stood in front of Pyrrha, smiling down to her before placing her hands on Pyrrha's shoulders. "Pyrrha, I just want to say that it's been a pleasure getting to know you. It's a shame that we only got to talk a few times."

"W-Wait, what?" Pyrrha blinked in confusion.

"I'm simply getting my goodbyes in before we don't see you for a while." Natalie said before sending a knowing smirk over to her daughter. "If you're anything like THIS one here, then you'll become a complete shut-in."

"Wha—HEY!" Gwen stood up with an indignant pout. "Mom, come on, you KNOW it wasn't THAT bad—"

"Honey, you spent the entire month of JULY in here when you first got this game." Natalie quickly rebutted. "The most we saw of you was breakfast, dinner, maybe lunch, and bathroom breaks."

Pyrrha wore stunned face while Winter glanced off to the side and tapped her fingers together. "I WOULD say that seems to be a bit overexaggerated…" the military specialist began, "but considering how much I've seen these two play Zelda, that would not surprise me."

Gwen scoffed and crossed her arms. "…Okay, fine, it might've been a BIT of an obsession. But I swear, Pyrrha won't become like that." She jerked her thumb over to Winter. "Not if SHE has anything to say about it, that is. After all, we've got our daily training coming up in a couple days, right?"

"Correct." Winter affirmed, giving Natalie an assuring smile. "Trust me, Natalie, I'll be sure that these two take a break from the game."

Natalie eyed all three girls briefly and let out a sigh. "Well, if you say so, Winter."

At that moment, another knock came at the door, the four women turning to see Jaune peak his head in. "Er, sorry if I'm interrupting…"

"Oh! No Jaune, not at all!" Pyrrha smiled as she ushered her boyfriend in. "Come in! We just got started on Breath of the Wild!"

Jaune smiled to his girlfriend before glancing to the TV briefly. "Heh, thanks Pyr, but we—uh…" Jaune's eyes widened considerably at the sight of the still half-naked Link on the television, and the moment he saw it, Pyrrha gasped and her face became red. The blonde knight took note of the hair and eye color before eying Pyrrha suspiciously. "…How is it that I feel both flattered and somewhat offended that you're looking at a half-naked guy that looks kinda like me?"

Both Gwen and, surprisingly enough, Natalie had to stifle their laughter as Pyrrha buried her head in one of Gwen's pillows. "Dear god, I feel so ashamed."

Winter cleared her throat, resisting the urge to laugh a little herself. "Ahem, Jaune, if you would please get back to the main subject? Why are you here?"

"O-Oh, yeah, right." Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you see… we just got some visitors."

Natalie stopped laughing and raised a brow at that. "Visitors? I didn't hear the doorbell ring."

"Well, yeah, they kinda—"

"HEY!" Came the call of a familiar female voice. "What's the hold up, Hoodie Knight? We ain't got all day!"

Jaune winced as he stepped aside. "…They kinda let themselves in."

From the hallway, none other than Coco and Velvet entered the room, the two ladies giving greeting smiles to everyone in there. "Mornin', ladies!" Coco saluted. "Pardon us bargin' in, but we're kinda on a tight schedule today." She glanced around the room, taking in all of the mystical décor. "Ooh, this is your room, Red? Sweet! Diggin' the whole "wizard's basement" vibe you're goin' with."

Gwen blinked in surprise. "W-Wait, Coco? Velvet? I would've thought you two would be at Cooper's house today? …And where ARE Cooper and the boys anyway?"

Velvet folded her arms behind her back as she rocked back and forth on her heels. "Oh, well, the boys are actually back at Plumber base. Cooper and Caesar are working on the new armor and Fox and Yatsu are giving them a hand." She tilted her head as her bunny ears lopped to the side. "But, the reason why WE'RE here is because we need to be somewhere important soon and we were wondering if any of YOU guys would like to accompany us."

Pyrrha tilted her own head in confusion. "Wait, you two need to be somewhere? Where's that?"

Coco and Velvet's eyebrows both raised up at that question. "Wait… you guys haven't been told what today is?" She circled her finger around the room toward all of them. "Something that we've ALL been kinda involved with over the past week or so?"

"No, what do you—" Gwen cut herself off as the memory hit her like a sack of bricks. Coco… and Velvet… had to be somewhere important. She could only think of one thing that could involve the two of them exclusively, and at that moment, she slapped her forehead. "…Crap, how in the HECK could I have forgotten THAT?!"

…..

"Gotta say, Evelyn, yer boy really knows how to pick out a house." Qrow noted as he set his bags down near his bed, taking in the room that he was given. It wasn't the biggest room, but it would definitely suit his needs. It had a closet, a nightstand, a dresser, a TV, and a well-sized window that he could easily fly out of. That was pretty much good enough for him, and if he needed more, he could add it himself.

Evelyn let out a light laugh as she opened up the shades, letting in some natural light. "Hmhm, yes, he certainly does." She turned back to the man… and her mind was put on pause as she saw the light hit his face. Once again, his rugged appearance managed to make her faulter. His five-o'clock shadow, his wispy silvery black hair, and those intense red eyes almost made her swoon, but she couldn't. Not in his presence at least. 'And for Pete's sake, Evelyn, get to know him AS A PERSON. You can't just like him for his looks.' she reprimanded herself. She quickly searched for something to talk about… and the item on his back made for quite the subject. "So… that's quite the weapon that you have on your back."

Qrow faced her again as he reached up and pulled out his weapon. "Oh, Harbinger? Yeah, she's a pretty intense weapon. I'd show you what she can do, but knowing my luck, if I activate her in here, I'd probably wreck somethin'."

"O-Oh, yes, that's probably for the best." Evelyn figured. "…But perhaps you could show me later? I have quite the sizeable backyard."

The Huntsman thought it over for a bit before grinning and shrugging his shoulders. "Heh, yeah, sure. Sounds good to me. Though you WILL probably wanna stand a good distance away."

"I will not argue." Evelyn nodded before approaching him. "There WAS one other thing I wanted to ask you, though…" Qrow hummed curiously as Evelyn elaborated further. "Just what kind of relationship do you and my son have? It's evident that you two must at least be on some pretty good terms on one another if he vouched for your stay here."

"Heh, the kid?" Qrow sat down on the bed and began recalling all the times he and Kevin had interacted… which surprisingly wasn't much up until recently. "…To be perfectly honest, he and I only really started gettin' to know one another recently. But you know what? He's got a good head on his shoulders." He gave a shrug as he faced Evelyn again. "And to be frank, he also kinda reminds me of myself when I was his age."

This piqued Evelyn's interest. "Really? Do tell."

"Heh, well, even though I was in Beacon, I was still firmly in my rebellious phase." Qrow explained. "Got myself into a LOT of shit that I really shouldn't have. Stealin' cars, fightin' criminals, makin' back-alley deals. When I heard what you're boy had gotten up to earlier in his life, I couldn't help but think; "Heh, been there, kid."." Qrow crossed his arms and set his sights on the door. "And quite honestly, the fact that he's cleaned his life up before the age of twenty is a freakin' miracle."

Evelyn sighed, but smiled as well. "Yes, Gwen is certainly a miracle worker, that's for sure. I owe a lot to her for helping Kevin out of the dark place he was in."

"Yeah, that girl of his got him back on the right track…" At that moment, Qrow trailed off as his eyes moved downward, his face becoming visibly saddened. "…Kinda makes me wish I had someone like that at that time in my life. Maybe then… I wouldn't have had to resort to that damn bottle."

A concerned face came over Evelyn's features, her gaze focused squarely on the man as she reached a hand toward him. "Qrow… I-I didn't—" Ding-dong! The two were brought out of the moment when the doorbell suddenly rang, sounding off through the whole house.

"Visitors?" Qrow asked.

"…Not that I know of." Evelyn admitted. "We should go see." She reached down and hoisted Qrow up to his feet. "And you're coming, too. Some human interaction should help you out of that slump… and maybe we'll talk more later?"

Slowly but surely, a grin came to Qrow's face. "…Yeah, yeah, I'd like that."

With that, the duo made their way toward the stairs, meeting up with Kevin, Team SN, Ilia and Penny at the same time. "Who would be here at this time of day?" Kevin asked out loud. "Ma, you didn't plan a girl's day with your friends, did ya?"

"No, I'm afraid not…" Evelyn reached for the door handle and opened it up, her eyebrows snapping up the moment she saw who was on the other side. "M-Max?! Why, what a surprise!"

Sure enough, it was Max Tennyson, the old man giving everyone a greeting wave. "Evelyn, everyone, good morning! I hope I didn't come at a bad time."

Kevin smirked and waved back, as did everyone else. "'Course not, Max, you're always welcome. So, to what do we owe the visit?"

Without moving from his spot on the front porch, Max began to explain… and strangely enough, he wore a knowing grin while doing so. "Well, I'm actually here because I need a couple of you to come with me for a little bit. Specifically, you, Kevin…" He craned his head over the two girls as well. "And Ilia, Penny, your presence would be much appreciated as well."

This took the duo by surprise, as did everyone else. "W-Wait, what do you need us for?" Ilia asked.

"Indeed, this is most curious." Penny placed a finger to her chin in thought. "Is there some sort of trouble that requires our skills?"

Sun's brows furrowed in an instant, the monkey boy pulling out his weapon. "Are there more bad guys on the lose?!"

In a flash, Neptune pulled out his own weapon as well. "If so, then we should all go! I'm up for kicking more bad guy butt!"

Max let out a chortled and shook his head. "Haha, no, no boys, there's no villains on the loose, trust me." Max set his sights onto Kevin, Penny and Ilia. "But there IS an issue that we need to take care of, one that you all may remember from our time in Remnant." His grin returned as he focused on Ilia and Penny. "And girls… I think you of all people would probably be most invested in this case."

The old man began shifting himself to the left, all while Ilia was left utterly confused. "I'm sorry, Max, but you're leaving me completely lost—AH!" A gasp escaped Ilia's throat and her mouth hung open at who she saw behind Max… all while her heart skipped a couple beats in the process.

There, standing in an orange Plumber prisoner's uniform with her hands cuffed together was a young woman, one who was definitely humanoid, but with plenty of alien features, her most prominent being her crimson red skin. She had three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot, with a third toe coming out of her heel. She also had a long, slender tail, reddish-black hair that stopped near her chin line, and two small horns that stuck up out of her hair. On her forehead was a black, diamond-shaped lid that concealed a third eye, and around it was a double-pronged crest that was bright yellow. Her ears were pointed and had multiple piercings as well. The young woman was quite beautiful as well, though her wily smirk indicated a rather feisty personality. Her red eyes focused in on Ilia and she tilted her head.

"Hey, Freckles." Swift greeted. "Miss me?"

…..

A/N: And just like that, we're BACK on the Ilia/Swift ship train! Indeed, the time has come for the Aerophibian's parole, and well… hopefully it's not like the OTHER times that Ben and Kevin have testified in intergalactic court with one another. Also, just a reminder; yes, I changed Swift's backstory for this fic, as the Rooters are NOT going to be appearing here.

That said, the rest of this chapter was quite the back and forth, wasn't it? Everyone's gotten settled into their respective spaces, it seems, though at the same time, not without some complications. Yang's still conflicted on how she wants to handle her and Ben's sleeping situation (while confiding in Blake for good measure), Winter and Kenny had a rather steamy encounter, and both Qrow and Evelyn ended up having a short heart-to-heart which may pick back up at some point down the line. But at the same time, there were fun things to be had! For example, Team RWBY finally got to see Carl's Nerd Cave! Gotta respect someone who's able to maintain a collection while keeping their house nice and neat. Also, it seems that Gwen and Pyrrha are FINALLY getting started on Breath of the Wild… and immediately, Pyrrha realizes that she may have a thing for blondes. Poor Jaune with his conflicted feelings, though, hehe…

Well, now that we've got the moving in out of the way, NEXT TIME! Most of the gang end up answering the call to court as Swift's parole hearing gets underway. Will things go smoothly… or will it end up like MOST times that Ben Tennyson has appeared in Intergalactic Court? Only one way to find out, so I'll see you all next time! Thanks for reading everybody, and as always, stay safe out there!