RWBY and it's characters are owned by RoosterTeeth and was created by Monty Oum
Mega Man and it's characters are owned by Capcom
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"Speech" = Thoughts or robotic speaking
"Speech" = Demonic speaking
Speech = Narration or description
Volume 4 Chapter 5: Walking through a winter wonderland
The next day
Rock was sitting alone in the lab looking through the computer with a worried expression on his face, after a few seconds of not being able to find anything he let out a sigh. Silence then fell onto the lab, but a few seconds later the rest of his team entered the lab with Ruby exclaiming "Rock! We're ready to go after the next robot master."
The group then noticed the somber expression on Rock's face and Yang asked "What's with the depressed look on your face bud?"
"There is something weird going on, during the last three stages I had collected a bunch of screws and I had stored them on this computer for later use in case I needed to buy more energy tanks from Auto." Replied Rock.
"Hold on, why would you need to buy them from Auto. That seems kind of backwards." Said Weiss.
"To be fair, he uses the screws to build the items in his shop. But regardless, the screws, along with the energy tanks that Auto had made for me and some of the upgrades that were made for me have all disappeared. So I was looking through the computer to see if the security camera's picked anything up. But unfortunately, I couldn't' find anything. So I really don't know what's going on right now." Replied Rock.
"Maybe you shouldn't worry so much about it." Said Blake. "Maybe they're being stored elsewhere for the moment."
"Could be, but it's still odd that I can't find them." Replied Rock.
"I gotta agree with you on that, but still maybe we shouldn't focus on that too much right now. Instead, we should probably just get going to go after the next robot master." Said Weiss.
"You all have time?" Asked Rock.
"Oh yeah, we finished all of our homework and Ruby just got done with her therapy session with professor Peach." Said Yang.
"That's good, how did your session go Ruby?" Asked Rock.
"It went well, I have been getting better at dealing with what happened and sleeping has become easier for me thanks to the calming smells of the plants professor Peach created. Also, Ironwood had the session before me." Replied Ruby.
"Good to hear that." Said Rock, after which he and Ruby gave each other a fist-bump.
"So, which robot are we taking down next?" Asked Yang.
"There are two options, either we go after impact man or we go after tundra man. Seeing as we now have the weapons that they are weak to." Said Rock.
"Do we know where they are?" Asked Weiss.
Rock checked the map of Remnant to see where each of the robot masters were located and replied "Impact Man is on a building site near Vale and it says that Tundra Man is located near Atlas. And I'm not sure which one to pick."
"Maybe we should put it to a vote?" Asked Ruby.
"Sounds like a good idea..." Said Rock, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. Prompting Rock to reply "You can enter, the door is open!"
The main door of the lab was heard opening, and a few seconds later Ironwood was seen entering the lab. "Good afternoon Rock."
"Ironwood, to what do I owe you this pleasure?" Asked Rock, with a hint of unease in his voice. The unease being there from still feeling a bit uneasy around Ironwood from being arrested by the general.
Ironwood, noticing this, replied "At ease Mega Man, I don't mean any harm. I'm here to ask for a favour."
"And what would that be?" Asked Yang, with a hint of skepticism in her voice while also feeling protective over the rest of her team.
"We lost contact with Atlas last night." Replied Ironwood, causing the people in the room to get looks of shock on their faces.
"What happened?" Asked Ruby.
"I was in contact with Winter and other specialists over some suff happening in Atlas, when suddenly I lost contact with the entire city. And I haven't been able to contact them ever since. So I was wondering if it would be possible if you could teleport there to see what is going on there, cause for you it only takes a couple of seconds to teleport there while it would take an airship several hours to a day to get to Atlas from Vale." Replied Ironwood.
"Well, one of the robots we were considering going after is located in Atlas. So we could go after it right now, while also checking out what is happening in Atlas. So sure, we'll help you out." Replied Rock.
"Thank you for agreeing with this Rock, I cannot begin to thank you for being willing to help me out with this." Replied Ironwood.
"Don't worry about it, now everyone grab on." Said Rock, after which the rest of his team grabbed onto him. Rock then looked at Ironwood and said "You too general."
"Why me? Couldn't you simply send me a message when you find out what happened?" Asked Ironwood.
"You asked us for a favour, seems only fair that you help us out in taking down the next robot master. So grab on so we can get out of here." Replied Rock.
"Very well then, glad that I brought my guns with me." Replied Ironwood, who then grabbed onto Rock's left arm.
"Good, now we'll be teleporting away in a few seconds everyone try not to become too affected by the teleporting. Cause this will most likely take a lot longer then the other teleports we had." Said Rock, after which the group turned into a beam of energy and teleported away from the lab.
Several minutes later, after a rather messy teleportation with the group going through several clouds, the group turned back to normal when the beam of energy landed on a street. Upon doing so the immense coldness of the area hit them, and upon looking around they saw that they could barely see anything due to an icy mist covering the area.
"Gah, it's freezing here!" Exclaimed Yang.
"That is to be expected of the tundra of Solitas, but as long as we still have our aura we should be fine." Replied Weiss.
"But still, it's freezing here." Said Blake.
"As long as you don't start singing and creating an ice castle in the frozen tundra we'll be fine." Joked Yang, making Weiss stick out her tongue as retaliation.
"That is nice and all, but do we have any idea where we are right now?" Asked Ironwood, as he had regained his bearings after recovering from the effects of teleportation.
"I don't know..." Said Ruby, as she walked a bit to the right and bumped into something made of metal. Causing her to fall to the ground while yelping out in pain.
"Ruby, you alright?" Asked Yang, as she rushed over to her younger sister to help her up.
"I'm fine, but I bumped into something made of metal." Replied Ruby.
"Metal..." Wondered Rock, as he walked over to where Ruby had hit her head and saw that she had hit her head on a frozen sign of a nearby restaurant. He wiped away some of the frost and read out aloud "...Burger, Bar, Restaurant... wait a minute... that means we're in Mantle... but it's frozen over."
"What do you mean?" Asked Blake.
"We're in mantle, teleporting through those clouds might have messed up some of my accuracy. But it seems that everything is frozen over, and the city is covered in a frozen mist. But... that would mean..." Said Rock, mumbling the last part.
"...All of Mantle is frozen over... And soon Atlas will be next..." Said Ironwood, as he fell to his knees and mumbled "It means I failed, everything I have worked towards to keep the kingdom safe and I failed."
It was then that everyone felt that the temperature dropped by another degree, with Weiss saying "This keeps up and everything gets frozen over."
"We have got to do something, Rock you think can teleport us to the location of Tundra Man?" Asked Ruby.
Rock checked his buster for a bit to try and find a way to teleport the group away, unfortunately nothing happened and so he replied "I'm sorry, this weather is messing with my systems. I won't be able to teleport us away, and I don't think we would survive making it through the frozen tundra to get to Tundra Man. And with this weather I can't get us out of here, I... I'm sorry, I have killed us all." After which Rock got a saddened look on his face, fell to the ground and began to slam it with his fists.
"ROCK! It's going to be fine, trust us. I'm sure we'll be able to find a way out of here!" Yelled Ruby, trying to inspire hope within her friend.
"We have to think of something fast, I can feel the temperature dropping and soon not even our aura's will be able to protect us from the cold." Said Blake.
"I know that..." Said Ruby, only for her sentence to be interrupted by several roars coming from the depts of the icy mist covering the area.
"Oh no..." Said Yang.
"...Grimm." Said Weiss.
"Rock, Ironwood get up we have got company." Said Ruby, after which she saw several red glowing orbs start to appear within the icy mist. As the red orbs started coming closer, she saw that the Grimm looked like Ursa's, but they were completely white, had ice spikes that were covering their bodies and had a cold icy breath coming out of their mouths.
"What are those?" Asked Yang.
"Abominable snow Grimm, also known as the Yeti Grimm. They are Beowolves that solely live on the tundra of Solitas, but unlike the ones that live near mantle these have become one with the ice and snow." Replied Weiss.
"Nothing we can't handle." Said Yang, as she loaded up her gauntlets to get ready to fight the Yeti Grimm.
Ruby turned to Rock and Ironwood and said "Now get up, I know the situation looks dire but to give up now would mean that we would die as well and then Wily would win. We can't let that happen, now please get up!"
"What's the point, I failed Atlas, I failed Mantle, I failed as a leader. Mantle is frozen over, Atlas is next. I don't see the point in continuing on anymore." Mumbled Ironwood.
"Rock..." Said Ruby.
"I've killed us all... I've killed us all..." Mumbled Rock, with despair in his voice.
"Oh no, not you too." Mumbled Ruby, who then grabbed Rock by his collar and slapped him while yelling "Snap out of it! Please, I know it seems hopeless right now. But you shouldn't give up."
It was then that one of the Yeti Grimm lunged towards Ruby and Rock, and while no one was able to respond in time to the attack. A large crossbow bolt was fired from within the icy mist and pierced the Yeti Grimm causing it to turn to dust. The same happened to the other Yeti Grimm, leading to the area being cleared from the all the Grimm that were nearby. With the Grimm gone four figures stepped out of the icy mist, revealing a cloaked figure, a short sheep Faunus, a tall tanned woman and a woman wearing gloves that exposed one finger on each of her hands.
"Well, well, well looks like we managed to not only save General Ironwood but also Mega Man from certain danger." Said Robyn, who then turned to Rock and asked "But seriously, what took you so long to get here? It normally takes far less time to take out these robots."
"I..." Rock mumbled, only to be interrupted by Robyn.
"Some hero you are, you disappear for months on end leaving Mantle to fend for itself when robots attacked and then you allow Mantle to get frozen over. You're just like Ironwood, everything you do is for show but when push comes to shove you leave people to fend for themselves..." Said Robyn who continued to ramble on, as Yang started to get mad as her eyes were turning red.
So she walked over to Robyn, got in her face and said "Excuse, miss..."
"Hill, Robyn Hill."
"Hill, whatever. Quick question, where do you get off insulting people like that?" Asked Yang.
"Excuse me?" Asked the tall green haired woman, Joanna.
"Can it, I'm talking to your leader." Said Yang, who then turned to Robyn and added "Well, what's your answer huh?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Replied Robyn.
"You coming in here, taking out a couple of Grimm and thinking that you can just lecture our friend like that." Said Yang.
"Well... I..." Mumbled Robyn.
It was then that Weiss stepped in by saying "You say that because we didn't immediately go after the robot in this area that Rock failed at his job, well let me tell you something. He's got a new upgrade that's been putting a huge strain on, he wants to go out and take out more robots. But he can't help it that Atlas and Mantle got frozen over, none of us could have expected that."
"Then why did our dear general Ironwood only come to our aid when it was too late? Explain that." Said Robyn.
Hearing what was being said, Ironwood ignored his inner turmoil, stood up to face the leader of the happy huntresses and replied "Because I lost contact with Atlas, I got worried and I needed to find a way here to find out what had happened. Only to discover that everything was frozen over, I'm sorry that I wasn't there when Atlas and Mantle needed me. But I'm here now, and that is what matters. So I would appreciate it if you could cooperate with us, Robyn."
Robyn smirked and replied "So the tin man has a heart after all, impressive."
"Don't act like you're so much better, I know what you're like Hill. You say that you want to help people, but in reality you simply only care for the fame that comes with going up against the government." Said Weiss.
Robyn got an angry look on her face and exclaimed "How dare you Schnee! You know as well as anyone else that we fight to ensure the safety of Mantle!" as she aimed her crossbow at Weiss's face.
"Go on, fire that bolt. You want to prove a point, go on then." Said Weiss, at while the Robyn kept her crossbow aimed at Weiss while the rest of the happy huntresses, team RR_BY and Ironwood were holding their breath. After a few seconds Robyn put her crossbow down, and Weiss replied "That's what I thought, now let me ask you something. Did any of you actually try to go and take down the robot?"
"We didn't, we were too busy keeping the civilians in Mantle safe." Replied Robyn.
"I thought so." Said Weiss, after which Robyn turned away from her in a huff. Weiss then turned to her allies and said "We need to find another way to get to the robot master."
"Thank you for standing up for me, both of you." Said Rock, addressing Yang and Weiss while still having a somber look on his face.
"Hey, don't listen to them. We couldn't have known that this was going to happen." Said Yang, to which Rock nodded. After which the group began to discuss ways of getting to the robot master's fortress through the icy mist and the tundra.
In the meantime Robyn was still grumbling angrily, but that stopped when her attention was caught by one of her allies, Fiona grabbing her attention and saying "You were a bit mean to them, maybe we can make it up to them by using the truck to drive them through the tundra and to the robots base."
Robyn heard what her ally was saying, sighed and replied "Fine, we'll do that. You always know how to diffuse tense situations. We'll get the truck, you inform them of our plan."
"I'll be sure to do that." Said Fiona, as she went over to Team RRWBYI who were still discussing the possibilities while her allies left the area to go and grab the truck. She got to Ruby, tapped her on her shoulder and said "Excuse me, you're the leader of this team right?"
"I am, is there something you would like to say?" Asked Ruby.
"Yeah, first sorry for what my leader said earlier. It was rather mean, also we have a truck that we can use to drive your little group to the base of the robot." Said Fiona.
"You know where it is?" Asked Blake.
"Not too far away from here, we have been keeping an eye on it. But due to the security in the base we hadn't been able to do anything, other than keep a watch over it." Said Fiona, it was at that moment that the entire group felt the temperature drop by another degree leading to everyone feeling even colder than before.
"We really need to go before we all freeze to death." Said Ruby.
Later
After a fast and quiet drive through the frozen tundra with the truck of the Happy Huntresses, which was quiet mainly because the group wanted to preserve their energy to prevent them from losing even more heat, the group had nearly made it to the base of Tundra Man. In the last couple of hundred meters the wind started to become a lot stronger, leading to Robyn having a lot of trouble with keeping a hold of the truck on the road. But after continuing on for a few more hundred meters the truck passed through a misty wall and entered a clear open area. The truck stopped and when they got out of the truck they saw that the base and it's surroundings weren't covered in an icy mist.
Ruby saw this and said "It's clear, there are no clouds here."
"It also feels a lot warmer." Said Blake.
"Maybe because this is the eye of the storm from which the snow storm covering Atlas and Mantle originated." Said Weiss, as she pointed towards the wall of icy mist which seemed to be twirling around them.
"So it's like a tropical storm, except applied to the icy tundra of Solitas." Said Blake.
"Precisely, Blake." Replied Weiss.
"So we just gotta take out that robot like we did to the others and all of Solitas won't be turned into an icicle. Got it." Said Yang, as she loaded her gauntlets getting ready to storm the base.
Robyn turned to Rock and asked "Do you want us to come with you as back up?"
"No, I need you to go back to Mantle. If we fail, you'll at least be there to keep the people of Mantle safe. I'm sure that when the weather clears up that we'll be able to teleport back to Mantle." Replied Rock.
"Very well then, Happy Huntresses let's move out." Said Robyn, after which she and her crew returned to their truck and drove off.
Rock looked at the base, and let out an audible sigh. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around to see Ruby giving him a reassuring smile and then she said "I get that you're scared, but don't worry. We're here for you, and we won't let anything bad happen. I promise."
"Thank you Ruby." Said Rock, after which he turned to the rest of the group and said "I have faith that we will be able to put a stop to Tundra Man together, so as long as we keep moving and don't freeze to death we should be fine."
"Wow Rock, great speech. Really encouraging too." Said Yang in deadpan tone.
"lets just get this over with." Said Rock, after which the group of six entered the base of the robot master.
Upon entering the first room of the base the group was met with several small robotic snowflakes that were floating through the air, but were quickly taken care of by Ironwood and Ruby using their weapons to shoot them out of the sky. Ruby then saw that there was a robotic swan flying in the air while also carrying what seemed to be an icy egg, so she took a swing with her scythe and ensured that it would fall out of the sky.
The group continued moving along the icy hallways of the base, and had to dodge projectiles that were being shot at them from the ceiling by floating propellor robots. Only for their path to be blocked by a Crunch Don that was hopping towards them while swinging its hammer at them. So Weiss summoned a glyph underneath the robot and used an icicle to impale the robot. Clearing the path and allowing them to continue moving.
In the next room the group had to jump up several icy platforms in order for them to reach a ladder, which was made a lot harder due to the ice making the platforms a lot more slippery. Leading to several moments in which people like Blake, Ruby and Ironwood would nearly fall of the platforms, only for them to be caught by Yang, Rock and Weiss before they fell to the ground. They then reached the ladder and used it to climb to the top of the floor.
Once they reached that they saw that the ceiling was covered in very low hanging icicles, meaning that the group had to try and crawl through the area while Rock used his slide ability to get there. After several minutes of very careful moving to avoid getting impaled by the icicles the group had made it to the other end of the room. Where they were able to make it to the next room of the base. Where they saw that there were several robotic bunnies hopping through the room, so Yang rushed towards one of them and delivered a flurry of punches to them. Leading to the robot getting fully destroyed.
Weiss then created a path of glyphs on the ground, and used it to rush past and stab the remaining robot bunnies in the room. Clearing the room for the rest of the group, and allowing them to reach a ladder that brought them to the next room on the floor above them. They climbed the ladders and there they found themselves in an open area with a lot of strong winds, creating a danger as the snowflake robots were being blown towards the group.
The group of six knew they had to move fast, so they rushed past the snowflake robots as fast as possible managing to avoid them. Only for them to reach an area with several bottomless pits, with some small platforms covered with ice placed in the middle. So the group began to take several leaps of faith to try and reach the platforms and to keep moving forwards. They succeeded at this, and were able to continue moving from platform to platform.
That was until the last platform where Ironwood just nearly missed the jump, and almost feel into the bottomless pit. Only for him to use of his guns to launch himself into the air and back onto the main platform with the rest of the group.
The group had a look of surprise on their faces, and Yang asked "How did you do that?"
"The same way you use your gauntlets to launch yourself into the air Miss Xiao Long." Replied Ironwood, to which Yang simply nodded as a response.
"That was some strong wind, seriously Rock how have you been doing this for the past fifteen years?" Asked Weiss.
"You get used to it after a while, I learned early on to never hesitate and to keep moving forwards. I thought I told you guys that a couple of days ago." Replied Rock.
"We know you did, but we didn't expect stuff like strong icy winds to happen." Replied Ruby.
"It doesn't really matter, I mean I have had to deal with low gravity, heavy rainfall, extreme heat and the death traps that Quick man threw at me." Said Rock, shuddering at the thought of being reminded of the instant kill lasers he had to dodge in that stage.
The group then heard Ironwood let out an audible sigh, they turned to him and saw him looking at the storm that was going on outside with a saddened look on his face. Team RRWBY gave each other looks on who would talk to him, and Ruby was the first one to take initiative to talk to him "Uhm, Mr Ironwood sir? Are you alright?"
"I don't know, I'm scared. I nearly caused all of Remnant to be taken over by madman because of my stubbornness, and now Atlas is on the brink of freezing over. And where was I when it happened? Safe in Vale, away from it all. I'm just not sure if we'll be able to succeed, and if we'll be able to unfreeze Atlas." Replied Ironwood.
"Look General, I don't see a need for you to worry about that. Sure you nearly caused Remnant to be taken over by unwittingly playing into his hands, but that was averted. So don't worry about Atlas freezing over, because it won't happen. We won't let it happen." Said Rock.
"He's right, with all of us together there is no way that we'll fail." Added Ruby.
"As long as we can keep moving I'm sure we'll be able to take down that robot." Said Blake.
"Besides, you shouldn't listen to Hill. She and her friends are technically criminals in the eye of the law, so what they think shouldn't matter." Said Weiss.
"Also, we don't even know the meaning of giving up." Joked Yang, causing Blake to give her an elbow into her side.
"You should also try to stop beating yourself up over what happened General, it happened there is nothing that can be changed about that. But you shouldn't stay hung up over it, instead you should keep moving forwards and move towards the future." Added Rock.
Ironwood stayed silent for a bit to think, taking in what his allies had told him. Thinking about all the possibilities, he knew that as long as they were still standing they could take out the robot. And as long as that was possible Atlas wouldn't fall by getting frozen over. Realising that they were right, he replied "Thank you, all of you. I feel much better about this whole situation."
"You're welcome General." Replied Ruby.
Ironwood got a smile on his face and said "You know, to most people I'm just a general. But to my closest friends and allies like Opzin, specialist Schnee... er I mean Winter, Tai and Qrow it's James or as Qrow tends to call me Jimmy. I'd be willing to extent that same curtesy to all five of you, being willing to help me out despite what I did several weeks ago. So if you want you can call me James, but if you want to keep calling me general that's fine too."
"Would calling you Ironwood also be fine?" Asked Rock.
"That would be fine as well." Replied Ironwood, who then shivered as he felt that temperature in the area had once again dropped by another degree.
"Oh crap guys, we have to keep going. I completely forgot about the dropping temperature!" Exclaimed Rock who also felt the temperature drop, he now had a stressed look on his face.
Rock was about to jump down the hole at the end of the room they were standing at, only for him to be held back by Yang who said "Rock, don't do anything reckless. Take a few seconds to breathe."
"But the temperature..." Said Rock, only to be interrupted by Ruby.
"...We know about the temperature, but you have that look on your face. The same one you tend to have whenever you're about to do something reckless, so take a deep breath and calm down before you do something you'll regret." Said Ruby, to which Rock responded by taking several deep breaths. After taking several deep breaths Ruby asked "Better?"
"Better." Replied Rock.
"Good, then we can keep going." Said Ruby, to which the rest of the group nodded in agreement. They then looked at the hole that would lead them to the next section of the base. So they jumped down the hole, and after several seconds of falling the group landed in a linear hallway filled with several flying propellor robots, which got taken out by Ironwood shooting them out of the sky using his guns, while Blake used the blades of Gambol Shroud to take out the robots while also using her shadow clones to dodge the shots from the robots.
After making it out of the hallway the group made it to a large open room with platforms hovering in the middle, with a single ladder at the top of the room. But in the room were several Sniper Joe's. So Rock activated the power gear and used it to fire a more powerful charged shot, allowing him to shoot through the shields of two of the Sniper Joe's taking them both out. Yang then rushed at the other Sniper Joe's and delivered rapid punches to them taking them out. This cleared the room, allowing the group to use the platforms to reach the ladder.
Once they climbed the ladder for about a minute they reached another open ended room that gave them a view of the outside world, they then felt another strong wind beginning to blow them forwards. The group ignored the wind, and began to move through the room while taking out the jumping egg robots that were coming their way, while Ruby used her scythe to take out the Crunch Don that was placed in their way before it could swing down it's hammer.
They managed to jump across several platforms that were hovering over a bottomless pit, all the while managing to not get affected by the strong winds. After getting across those platforms they reached the end of the room, and after Ironwood took out the rabbit robot they cleared the way for them to jump down the hole. Once they did so they landed in a room where there was nothing but a large door.
"Is this it, is this the last room before we face the robot?" Asked Ironwood.
"No, that would be too soon, it seems more likely to be a room for a mid boss. So be prepared for anything Ironwood." Replied Rock.
Ironwood nodded in response, and the group entered the room when the door opened automatically for them. The room they entered was a large one, with several icicles hanging on the ceiling while on the other end of the room stood a robotic mammoth covered in ice standing on a green platform with angry looking red eyes. Upon seeing the group, the platform activated the robotic mammoth standing on top of it causing it to roar.
The platform began to hover into the air, and quickly rushed towards the group. Rock activated his speed gear, and quickly jumped over the robot while firing a charged shot at the mammoth robot. But to his shock it did nothing, while at the same time Ruby, Blake, Ironwood, Yang and Weiss all jumped out of the way for the robot. Causing it to bump into the wall, making the room shake leading to the massive icicles on the ceiling falling to the ground.
Blake quickly switched to the acid barrier, and used Gambol Shroud to fire blasts of acid to melt down the icicles. She didn't melt all of them, leading to there being paths of icicles stuck on the ground. Creating a limited space for the group to stand on, after which the platform the robotic mammoth was standing on turned around to face the group with the Mammoth robot standing on it's hind-legs and using it's trunk to blow an icy wind at the ceiling.
The icy wind created more icicles, and large ice pillars that stuck to the ceiling for a few seconds before falling to the ground. Leading to the group having to dodge more things falling from the ceiling. They succeeded at doing so, only for there to be spikes on the floor. The platform then began to spin around rapidly, while the mammoth was using it's trunk to blow out an icy wind through the room. The icy wind started to blow the group towards the spikes on the ground, so they had to take cover behind the icy pillars.
Weiss saw the cover as an opportunity, so she singled to Blake for her to wait for the signal. Weiss then switched to the Block Dropper, and dropped several block onto the robot which stunned it for a bit. This gave Blake the chance to use the Acid Barrier with Gambol Shroud to shoot at the trunk, the shot hit the robot. This led to the trunk melting off the robot, and then falling onto the ground.
Having this happen, the platform started to grow extremely angry and began to charge up, after which it began to dash throughout the room. Making it so that the group had to jump out of the way anytime the robot rushed towards their direction. The group then realised that the weak point of the robot is the platform, and not the mammoth robot that is standing on the platform. So all of them began to shoot at the platform, with Weiss summoning Glyphs in the air to fire large icicles at the platform while Blake fired acid shots from Gambol Shroud at the platform.
Ironwood fired his guns at the platform, while jumping out of the way when it rushed at him. While Yang used her gauntlets to fire shots mixed with fire dust at the robot, the collision of those shots caused the robot to become slightly stunned. Taking this chance Rock used the power gear to fire charged shots at the platform, while Ruby switched to the Scramble Thunder and began to fire blasts of electricity at the platform.
The shots that were fired by the duo connected, and caused electricity to start coming from the platform and the mammoth standing on the platform. The robot was about to charge at the group, only for it explode into a large fiery blast. The shockwave caused by that explosion destroyed all the icicles that were on the floor of the room. With the room cleared and the door at the other end of the room opened there was nothing stopping the group from moving on, only for a statue of two people wearing parka's and holding onto mallets to fall from a hole in the ceiling.
Rock, recognising the duo, gasped and said "No way."
Ruby, seeing the reaction of her friend looked at the statue and asked "Wait, weren't those two on the picture you showed us."
"They are." Said Rock, as he was examining the statue and wondering how to free the ice climbers from this form.
"Could someone explain to me what is going on?" Asked Ironwood.
Yang nodded, and started explaining "It's simple General... er I mean James, you see Rock told us that there was this massive tournament in which heroes and some villains from all over the multiverse were invited to come and fight. Only something went horribly wrong during the last one that led to all of the worlds getting destroyed, which is why Rock and the other fighters are ending up in Remnant."
"I see, and I would be correct in assuming that those two were part of the tournament as well?" Asked Ironwood.
"They were part of the picture that Rock showed us of the entire roster, so we'd assume that they were in the tournament." Replied Weiss.
"I should probably talk to Oz about this later." Ironwood thought to himself.
It was at that moment that Rock remembered what he had to do and pressed his hand on the base of the statue, leading to the ice climbers becoming unfrozen and upon waking up they exclaimed "ROCK!" after which they tackled him to the ground.
"I missed you guys too." Said Rock, as he hugged the duo.
"We thought we'd never see you again!" Exclaimed Popo.
"Yeah, so did I." Replied Rock, after which the Ice Climbers let go of him and the trio got up.
The duo looked around, and Nana asked "Where are we?"
"We're in the base of Tundra Man." Replied Rock.
"Wily is still doing this?" Asked Nana, with an annoyed tone in her voice.
"Does that mean that we're in your world?" Asked Popo.
Rock got a look of guilt on his face and replied "No, all of our worlds are gone. We're on a planet named Remnant, but thankfully we found the mansion. So not all is lost." He then pointed at his friends and said "Anyways, Nana, Popo meet my friends. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and General Ironwood."
"Hello."
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Nice to meet you."
"So you two siblings or what?" Asked Yang.
"No, we're just friends." Replied Popo.
"Just friends?" Asked Yang, with a hint of teasing in her voice.
"Yes, just friends." Replied Nana.
"So what do you two do? Since you're dressed for cold weather." Said Ironwood.
"We like to search for the tallest mountain, and then we try to climb that mountain." Said Popo.
"It gets pretty hard at times, but we always managed to make it to the top of the mountain." Said Nana.
"I know this is asking a lot of you both, but would you two mind if you helped us out and helped us take down Tundra Man. I'll even bring you two back to the mansion afterwards, but right now we need to prevent an entire kingdom from freezing over." Said Rock.
"Sure we'll help." Said Popo.
"Really?" Asked Rock, with surprise in his voice.
"Oh yeah, we're always up for an adventure." Replied Nana, to which Popo nodded in agreement.
"I'm glad to hear that, then we should probably get going." Said Rock, after which the group left the room and found themselves in a long hallway where the ground was made off ice, but there were also patches of spikes scattered throughout the floor. So everyone in the room quickly rushed to the end of the room, making sure to jump over the spikes. Only for them to be met with several robotic swans when they reached the end of the room.
The robotic swans started dropping their blocks of ice, but most of them were taken out by Ruby using her scythe and the Ice Climbers using their mallets to destroy the dropped blocks of ice. But one of them was dropped onto the floor, only for it to shatter upon impact on the ground. Causing Rock to let out a sigh of relief, prompting Yang to ask "Something wrong Rock?"
"I was just worried for a bit, cause I have seen this before. Robotic birds and robotic bees dropping eggs that spawned smaller birds and bees, and I really didn't feel like dealing with small robotic swans." Replied Rock.
"Well, that's one less thing to worry about." Said Blake.
"Yeah, you're right." Replied Rock, after which the group entered the door at the end of the long hallway and in the next room the wind started picking up again and they had to dodge the robotic snowflakes getting blown their way. So most tried to move out of the way whenever a snowflake got near them, while Yang, Ironwood and the Ice Climbers prompted to use their weapons to take them out. In the next room they entered they saw that there was a long hallway with a low hanging ceiling filled with spikes and the path blocked by Sniper Joe's, all of whom aimed their busters at the group when seeing the group entering the room.
So the Ice Climbers used their mallets to slam the ground, creating several shockwaves of ice that were send towards the Sniper Joe's which stunned them for a few seconds allowing Yang to take them out by delivering a flurry of punches to them. With the cleared out hallway the group was able to move to the next room, where they quickly moved past the Crunch Don's and at the end of that room they found themselves in what seems to be a tower like hallway with blocks of ice floating in the air.
The group quickly began to make their way to the top of the tower, jumping from ice block to ice block while ensuring that they wouldn't slip and fall off them, while also taking out the flying cylinder robots that were rushing towards them. They then reached the top of the room, and started climbing a ladder. They reached a new room, which was an open ended area where they could see the storm but with much darker clouds than before. They then saw several icy platforms sticking out of what seemed to be a bottomless pits, while a strong icy wind started to push them to the edge of the platform.
Rock activated the speed gear, took a few steps back and then began to make a run for it while holding onto the rest of the group. The extra speed allowed him to make more precise jumps, and after making several jumps to get across all the platforms he landed on the last platform and slid through the boss door coming to a stop in the hallway before the boss fight.
"We made it!" Exclaimed Rock, while taking a few moments to allow his systems to cool down after the use of the speed gear.
"But why did you do that?" Asked Weiss.
"Those seemed like really tricky jumps, so I just wanted to make sure that everyone made it in one piece." Replied Rock, now feeling better as his systems had cooled down for a bit.
"You doing ok Rock?" Asked Ruby.
"The speed gear did overheat my systems for a bit, but I'm feeling better. We should go into the next room." Said Rock, after which the group walked through the door at the end of the room. They entered the boss room, and found that it was completely dark. That was until the lights in the room turned on, and were shining onto several ice statues which also showed that there was a massive hole in the wall of the room. The group looked at the statues, and to their horror they saw who was in it.
"Winter... no..." Whimpered Weiss.
"And several soldiers." Added Ironwood, as he and Weiss tried to run to the ice statues to free them only for their path to be blocked by a wall of icy wind which made them recoil.
"That's will be as far as you go." A voice said, after which the lights turned to shine to a different place in the room. Revealing an icy throne, with Tundra Man sitting on it while gloating "I must congratulate you on getting this far, Mega Man."
"We're here to stop..." Rock was about to say, only to be interrupted by Ironwood.
"ENOUGH! Tundra Man, you will stop this madness at once, free those that you have captured and stop the snow storm that you have to Atlas and Mantle!" Exclaimed General Ironwood, as he fired his guns at the robot.
Tundra Man chuckled as he used his icy wind to block the bullets, and replied "Oh my dear general Ironwood, there is nothing that you can do to stop me. You have nothing that can stop me. Now, why don't all of you act like good little children and stay still so I can turn you all into icicles."
"Why are you even turning people into icicles, and why are you trying to freeze Atlas over?" Asked Ruby.
"Oh simple, with everyone turned into icicles and trapped in that snow globe that Atlas will become there will be an entire audience for me and my ice skating shows." Replied Tundra Man.
"Ice Skating shows huh? I'd rather have to sit through Weiss's singing concerts." Said Yang.
Weiss huffed and replied "My singing is not that bad."
"I know, but classical music is so boring." Replied Yang, to which she then heard Tundra Man clapping in a sarcastic manner. Yang turned to the robot with an angry look on her face.
"Oh don't stop on my behalf, maybe you'll give me a good show before you all get turned into human sized popsicles." Said Tundra Man, who then jumped down from his throne and landed onto the ice while wearing his ice skates. "Now let's make this a performance you will never forget."
"Bring it on!" Exclaimed Rock, after which Tundra Man activated the speed gear and began to skate all around the room making him much harder to hit for the heroes. So the group began to spread themselves out throughout the room and tried to hit the robot. Ironwood used his guns to aim at the robot, and took several shots at it only for them to bounce off. With Tundra Man then moving away from him, and moving towards Yang who tried to punch him. Only for Tundra Man to move away from her, so she shot out several explosive rounds from her gauntlets which made the robot move out of the way and towards another part of the room.
The part of the room that the robot had moved towards had Blake in it, who the robot avoided only for it to bump into one of Blake's shadow clones causing the clone to explode in a burst of acid as it was infused with acid from the acid barrier. This damaged the robot, and caused the speed gear to become deactivated but he was still moving around the room at a fast pace. But the robot moving a lot slower allowed the group to actually start doing some damage to it.
The Ice Climbers started off by creating waves of ice to trip the robot up, after which they began to hit him with their mallets. That was until Yang rushed in and delivered a flurry of punches until finally punching the robot in the air where it was shot multiple times by Ironwood using his guns, while Rock fired a charged shot using the power gear at the robot. It was then that the robot was stuck in the air for a bit, giving Blake an opening to begin slashing the robot repeatedly by having her shadow clones slash at the robot repeatedly.
Tundra Man then dropped onto the floor, and was buried under several layers of blocks that Weiss had dropped onto him using the block dropper. He tried to dig himself out of the pile, only for him to be shot repeatedly by Ruby firing scramble thunder shots from Crescent Rose. When the last shot hit Tundra Man managed to free himself from the blocks piles on top of him, only for him to be hit by one final charged shot from Rock. The final shot causing him a lot of pain, and led to smoke coming out of Tundra Man and led to him slumping over.
Seeing his opponent no longer moving Rock approached Tundra Man with his buster held up, while exclaiming "It's over Tundra Man! You've lost, now turn off whatever is causing the snow storm!"
Instead of saying anything Tundra Man simply responded by chuckling, Ironwood heard this and exclaimed "What is so funny!"
Still slumped over Tundra Man replied "Oh General, don't you get it? The show must always go on, and there is still an act two to get through."
It was then that Rock saw that Tundra Man was holding onto an energy tank and so he shouted "Wait! No!..." Only it was too late, Tundra Man had used the energy tank and had fully regained all of his energy. He then activated his speed gear and rushed to the centre of the room, then switched to the power gear and created a massive ice cold snow storm that completely froze all the people in the room and turned them into icicles.
Tundra Man let out a laugh, and started gloating while ice skating around the icicles and ending up in front of the one that Rock got turned into "Oh my dear adversary, a shame that you had to turn out like this. But no matter, I'm sure that one less member in the audience won't be too bad. After all, I'm sure that Wily wouldn't mind getting his hands on you." He was about to continue skating through the room, only for him to be hit by several blocks which caught his attention. He turned to the source of the blocks, and there he saw that was Weiss was still standing and was completely unharmed. "How!" He exclaimed.
"You're not the only one who can mess with the elements, I simply created a wave of fire around me to avoid getting frozen." Said Weiss.
"Oh did you now? Well, let's make things a bit more interesting then for this second act, shall we?" Asked Tundra Man.
"What are you suggesting?" Asked Weiss.
"Oh nothing much, just some extra stakes to make this more interesting." Replied Tundra Man, who then stomped on the ground causing the icicles of the soldiers that were standing next to Winter to completely shatter to pieces.
"You monster!" Yelled Weiss, who got ready to attack the robot only for her to be stopped when he started to wave his fingers.
"Ah, ah, ah I wouldn't do that if I were you. We didn't even start yet, now if you lose not only will I shatter your sister to pieces but I will also turn you into an icicle afterwards. And to make things more interesting I'll even throw the weather machine creating this massive snowstorm into the mix." Replied Tundra Man, who then snapped his fingers causing a platform to come out of the ceiling. "Now that you know what is at stake we can fight, better not slip up."
Tundra Man then started the fight by rushing at Weiss, while covering himself in an icy wind using his weapon in an attempt to freeze Weiss upon impact. Luckily Weiss was able to dodge out of the way of the attack by summoning glyphs that would allow her to skate away from Tundra Man. She was able to do so, and she then tried to shoot fire at the robot using the dust in her rapier only for her to be knocked to the ground by Tundra Man rushing at her at a rapid pace.
She tried to get up, but it was to no avail. Tundra Man had activated his speed gear and was using it to its fullest potential. Continuously rushing at Weiss, striking her down to the ground and each time delivering more powerful damage to her due to the use of the tundra storm, causing Weiss to get frozen over bit by bit each time he struck her. With the last strike that was delivered to her she got knocked to the ground and her aura shattered.
Tundra Man then appeared in front of her and said with a mocking tone in his voice "What's wrong? Can't keep up, well then time to say goodbye to your sister." After which he got ready to strike the ground, only for his attention to be caught by several shots being fired at him. He turned around and saw that Ironwood had become slightly thawed out and had shot him with his gun. "You dare...!" He exclaimed, only for him to get knocked into a nearby wall when Weiss rammed into him at speed, this put the robot in a slight daze.
"Weiss, listen it's up to you. You have to take him out." Said Ironwood.
"I... I can't... My aura is gone... I'm on my last legs..." Replied Weiss.
"You can do it, just like how you beat the Arma Gigas. You were low on Aura, but you still beat it. You can do it, I believe in you, we all believe in you, you're the only one left standing between him and Atlas getting completely frozen over." Replied Ironwood in an attempt to try and encourage Weiss.
"You're right, I can do this." Said Weiss, as she felt that the confidence boost restored some of her aura.
"I have to say, I admire your tenacity but it will just get you killed." Said Tundra Man.
"Oh be quiet, you're a second rate villain at best." Said Weiss, as she summoned her glyphs to rush at Tundra Man. But while she was doing that she started singing a familiar song.
Mirror, tell me something
Tell me who's the loneliest of them all
Weiss had rushed at the robot, and delivered several fiery slashes to the robot with her rapier being encased in fire from the fire dust. Tundra Man tried to create another icy wind storm, but Weiss got away by using lightning dust to become faster. The two began to circle around the room keeping their distance from one another, waiting for the right moment to strike the other person.
Mirror, tell me something
Tell me who's the loneliest of all?
Mirror, what's inside of me
Tell me can a heart be turned to stone?
Tundra Man began to spin around rapidly while using the tundra storm which started to create large icicles around him, so Weiss took the opportunity to use every type of dust that she had in her rapier. She did so by summoning glyphs in the air, each one of them infused with a different type of dust. She then shot out some gravity dust at Tundra Man, which hit him and then held him place. She then allowed the glyphs that were in the air to fire their elemental attacks, leading to Tundra Man getting hit by blasts of fire, boulders, icicles and thunder.
Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?
Save me from the things I've seen!
I can keep it from the world
Why won't you let me hide from me?
Having stunned the robot for a bit Weiss plunges her rapier into the ground and starts summoning, but due to her being low on energy not much comes out of the summon other than the sword of the Armas Gigas. The sword swung around and managed to hit Tundra Man, the impact of the hit lead to Tundra Man slumping over and caused smoke to start coming from the robot.
Mirror, mirror, tell me something
Who's the loneliest of all?
"No... you can't beat me... I took down your friends... your aura is low... how can you beat me?" Asked Tundra Man, as the robot began to malfunction.
"You got overconfident and believed that there was no one who could challenge you." Said Weiss, who then activated time dilation and rushed at the robot at high speed, she threw the robot into the air. She launched herself into the air, and launched herself at the robot repeatedly and slashed at it. When it landed on the ground Weiss used time dilation once again to slow down time and to allow her to deliver the final strike by rushing at the robot and delivering a slash that was nearly invisible to the human eye. Weiss then landed on the floor and sang the last part of the song.
I'm the loneliest of all
"No... You can't win... the show... must... go on...!" Yelled Tundra Man before exploding.
"Sorry, but due to a double booking tonights show had to be cancelled." Replied Weiss, who then grabbed the memory chip that fell onto the floor, absorbed it and got the message "Tundra Storm obtained". She then walked over to the weather machine that was attached to the roof, and cut the ropes causing it fall to the floor. The machine didn't break, allowing Weiss to press the off switch. And right as she did that she saw that the massive storm cloud that was outside started to immediately disappear, while she also felt that the temperature of the room began to increase by a small increment.
Due to this she saw that the ice around her friends was beginning to melt, so she rushed over to Winter to ensure that the ice around her would melt. She summoned a glyph next to Winter that was infused with fire dust and this created a pillar of fire with enough heat to start melting the ice around Winter. After a few seconds the ice was gone and Winter fell into Weiss's arms who started cradling her. "Winter... say something, please say something."
"Weiss..." Mumbled Winter.
"Winter, you're okay!" Yelled Weiss, as she started hugging her older sister. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned around and saw that Ironwood as well as her teammates had become freed from the ice.
"How is she?" Asked Ironwood.
"She is conscious, I think she'll be fine." Said Weiss.
"Good, with the weather clearing up we should head back to Atlas so she can get some medical attention." Said Ironwood, who then turned to Rock and asked "Are you feeling good enough to teleport us there?"
"My systems are still frozen, it might take me a while before I can teleport again." Replied Rock.
Hearing that response Ironwood began to think of a way to get out of the base and the tundra, and get back to Atlas. While thinking about that Yang decided to have a look at the shattered remains of the soldiers and to her surprise the remains turned out to be robotic. "James, those soldiers that died. They were robotic, so there was no harm done."
"That's good to hear at least." Replied Ironwood.
Rock was looking at the remains of Tundra Man and on one of the pieces there was written something small, taking a closer look at the writing he said "Oh that's not good."
"What's wrong?" Asked Ruby.
"It says here that Tundra Man was made by Cossack Robot Laboratories, Doctor Cossack is not going to happy about this." Said Rock.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that if you explain what happened to Doctor Cossack then I'm sure he would understand." Said Blake.
"Yeah, you're right." Replied Rock.
It was at that moment that an Atlesian airship appeared outside of the room they were in, the sight of the airship gave everyone a sigh of relief as it meant that they would be able to get out of here now. The doors opened revealing two of the members of the Happy Huntresses, Joanna and Fiona, signalling them to enter the airship. I heard that there were some people in need of a ride back to Atlas." Said Joanna.
The group nodded and quickly entered the airship, which then took off back to Atlas as the icy fortress that once housed Tundra Man started to crumble away due to the support beams melting away as they were made of ice as well. Ironwood made his way to the cockpit of the airship, and saw that Robyn and a cloaked figure were steering it. So he asked "Where did you get this airship?"
"We found it somewhere." Robyn lied.
Ironwood chuckled a bit and replied "Well, as long as you promise to return this airship where you found it when this is all over I won't make as big a deal about it."
Later
The group had managed to return Mantle safely, and to everyone's relief the ice had started to melt as the heaters that kept Mantle warm had been reactivated. Meaning that everyone in Mantle would be safe and no longer freezing to death. Currently Winter was put on a stretcher that was being carried to medical airship so she could return to Atlas to get treated for possible frostbite.
"Are you sure she'll be fine?" Asked Weiss.
"Don't worry Miss Schnee, your sister will be in the best care in the world." Replied one of the paramedics.
"I want to go with her, just to make sure she is safe." Said Weiss.
Winter, hearing this, opened her eyes and said while addressing Weiss "Go back to Beacon... I'll be fine."
"I won't leave you here like that, you're hurt!" Exclaimed Weiss.
"I know that... but you need to rest... it was a long day for you... so go back to Beacon... rest with your friends... we'll talk we I'm feeling better." Replied Winter.
"I understand, just be safe ok." Replied Weiss.
"I remember telling you that when you were younger... but regardless... stay safe Weiss..." Said Winter, after which she was carried into the medical airship which then took off towards Atlas.
"We should get back to Beacon." Said Rock.
"Are your systems doing better?" Asked Yang.
"Yeah, the heat melted everything. We should be able to return now." Said Rock.
It was then that Robyn walked over to them and said "Hey, before you leave just wanted to say that we're sorry for what we said earlier and we also want to thank you for saving Mantle from an eternal winter."
"You're welcome, I consider it water under the bridge." Replied Rock.
"Good." Replied Robyn, who then turned to Weiss and said "I want to thank you as well, what you said really opened our eyes and how you acted really changed our views on the Schnee's. They can't all be bad, so from all four of us to you. Thank you for what you did."
Weiss looked at all four of the Happy Huntresses and replied "The four of you do good work as well, so thank you for everything you've done Robyn, Fiona, Joanna and..." Weiss stumbled a bit with her words as she looked at the cloaked member of the group and said "I'm sorry but I never got your name." only for the member to disappear. "Huh?" was Weiss' reaction.
"Don't worry, that's our newest member of the group. They are a bit shy, but they mean well. Anyways, I just want to wish you good luck against Doctor Wily and I hope things don't get as bad elsewhere as they got here." Said Robyn.
Weiss and Rock nodded, after which the Happy Huntresses left and the group turned to Rock who said "Alright, you know the drill. Grab onto me and we'll teleport back to Beacon." The group grabbed onto him and a few seconds later they turned into energy and teleported away. A few minutes later the group landed in the Beacon courtyard.
Ruby felt the heat and immediately began to kiss the ground while exclaiming "Oh sweet summer sun, I thought I'd never feel your warmth again."
"It feels great to be away from the cold." Said Yang.
"Listen, I want to thank all of you for what you did. You all managed to save Atlas and prevent its destruction, so from the bottom of my heart thank you for everything." Said Ironwood, who began to walk away from the group.
"Wait, where are you going?" Asked Ruby.
"There are some things I need to take care of, I'll see you around." Said Ironwood, who then walked off.
There was a bit of silence that fell as Ironwood had walked away, that was until Rock decided to speak up. "So I'll be taking these two to the mansion, and then there is something I need to talk with dad about. So I'll see you guys in a bit."
"Sure thing, we'll be going to one of the saunas on campus to warm up. So feel free to join us when you're ready." Said Yang.
"Sounds fine with me." Replied Rock, who then grabbed onto the Ice Climbers and teleported away. A few seconds later the trio landed in main hallway the smash mansion and Rock joked "Thank you for choosing Rock's teleportation service please remember to not leave behind any belongings as they will get destroyed."
"Don't worry, we got our mallets. Right Popo?" Asked Nana
"I think I might have forgotten mine." Replied Popo.
"Popo..." Said Nana with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"I'm just kidding I got mine right here." Replied Popo, who grabbed his mallet from his pocket.
"Rock, good to see you again." a voice called out, Rock turned around and saw Samus standing in the hallway with her power-suit on but with her head exposed.
"Samus, when did you get back?" Asked Rock.
"About two days ago, I heard that you've been busy." Replied Samus.
"I have, and listen I'd love to stay and chat but I only came here to drop off these two. Dealing with Wily's latest scheme has been requiring my full attention." Replied Rock.
"Very well then, stay safe out there." Said Samus.
"I will, I'll see you three later." Replied Rock before teleporting away.
"So, want me to show where your rooms are?" Asked Samus.
"Sure." Said Popo, while Nana nodded in agreement.
"Then follow me." Said Samus, who began to lead the duo up the stairs to show them their rooms. And while she was doing that she thought to herself "I wonder how Snake and Mewtwo are doing."
Elsewhere
Snake and Mewtwo were standing around in a field with flowers, Snake was looking rather annoyed at Mewtwo while exclaiming "This was the one hundredth world where the kid with the Pikachu gets betrayed by his friends, why do we keep stumbling upon these kinds of worlds!"
"I don't know, now could you please calm down. I know that seeing worlds where the same thing happens over and over again gets annoying and unoriginal. But I'm sure that if we keep going we'll be able to find the world that I came from." Replied Mewtwo, who was pressing several buttons on the device to ensure that it was still working properly. After a few button presses a light turned on and Mewtwo added "Ah, see. It's working again, now let's get out of here." after which he pressed a button and the two teleported away.
A few seconds later the two teleported into another world, only this one was nothing more than a black void filled with nothingness. "What the... Did it malfunction? Where are we?" Asked Mewtwo.
Snake looked around the endless dark void, and saw a figure dressed in a dark dress, with pale white skin and dark lines all over her body. "Oh crap! Mewtwo, press the button!" He exclaimed.
"What?" Asked Mewtwo.
"I know where we are!" Yelled Snake.
"Well why don't you tell me?" Asked Mewtwo.
"There is no time, press the button! DO IT NOW!" He yelled.
"Alright fine, I'll do it!" Replied Mewtwo, who pressed the button causing the two to teleport away from the area. A few seconds later they found themselves in another forest area but this one was near a dojo. "Ok, I pressed the button. Now tell me what all of that was about?"
"That was the world I woke up in after World of Light." Replied Snake.
"Excuse me." Replied Mewtwo.
"That black void of nothingness, that used to be a version of Remnant. Unfortunately, the Salem in that world won and summoned the gods. They destroyed Remnant, but left her behind in the void that was created due to its destruction." Replied Snake.
"But why did you want to leave immediately?" Asked Mewtwo.
"Salem, in that world was already desperate for the sweet release of death. She was craving nothing more than death and destruction, how well would she react if she saw two people appear after being stuck in a void for who knows how long." Replied Snake.
"Makes sense, I understand your reaction." Replied Mewtwo, who then saw a group of people walk around the area of the dojo they were standing behind and quickly teleported him and Snake into a nearby tree.
"Why'd you do that?" Asked Snake.
"Look." Replied Mewtwo, who pointed at the group of people.
Snake looked and upon seeing who they were said "Wait, but aren't those the girls that Mega Man hangs out with? What are they doing here?"
"They are, but they're not the ones that we met. It seems that we landed in yet another universe." Replied Mewtwo.
"So where are?" Asked Snake.
"I don't know, but we should probably get out of here before we get spotted by someone and they realise that we shouldn't be here." Said Mewtwo.
"It's a bit too late for that." Said another voice from outside of the tree, the two put their heads out of the tree and saw that another Mewtwo was hovering in front of the tree. "You two will be coming with me." he said, before grabbing onto the duo with his telekinesis and teleporting away. A few seconds later the trio appeared on a mountain that overlooked what seemed to be an island.
"Why did you take us here?" Asked Snake.
"To ensure that there wouldn't be anyone to listen in on our conversation, the girls got their own thing going on so they don't need to hear what you two have to say. I sensed beings that weren't from this world entering our world, and now I'm looking at an alternate version of myself and an alternate version of Snake. So start explaining." Said the alternate Mewtwo.
"Well, here is the thing..." Mewtwo was about to say to his counterpart, only for Snake to interrupt him.
"Oh for the love of... Just read each others minds! That will save us so much time!" Yelled Snake.
"We can't." Replied the Alternate Mewtwo.
"Excuse me." Said Snake.
"Our psychic powers are so strong that we are immune to having our minds read." Replied Mewtwo.
"Oh for gods... JUST READ MY MIND THEN!" Yelled Snake, getting annoyed with the antics of the two Mewtwo.
"That works too." Said the Alternate Mewtwo whose eyes began to glow and started to read Snake's mind. After a few seconds the alternate Mewtwo stopped and said "That is all very worrying."
"Which is why we're travelling between worlds to find the world I came from." Replied Mewtwo.
"I see, I already knew of Salem's existence in this world and I had a good talk with Ozpin about her." Said the alternate Mewtwo.
"So did I, I warned the Ozpin in our world about what happened and he vowed to do better than his counterpart." Said Snake.
"I also saw what happened, so the World of Light led to your worlds getting destroyed?" Asked the alternate Mewtwo.
"Correct, which is how we ended up in our version of Remnant." Replied Mewtwo.
"I wonder, what happened in this timeline to cause all of these worlds to merge with Remnant?" Asked Snake.
"The subspace incident, it led to the worlds merging." Replied the alternate Mewtwo.
"I see, now are you all prepared for the World of Light incident?" Asked Mewtwo.
"Some of us are aware of it, and it's even being foretold in prophecies." Replied the alternate Mewtwo.
"That's good to hear, but when it happens just be careful not to turn your backs to the beings responsible for the incident. We had a premature celebration upon their defeat, only for their final attacks to destroy us and all the worlds." Said Snake.
"That is concerning, I'll be sure to remember that when the time comes." Replied the alternate Mewtwo.
"If that's all, we'd like to leave. Because we still have an entire world to find." Said Mewtwo.
"Understandable, I wish you both the best of luck in your travels. And hopefully you will be able to restore all the worlds." Said the alternate Mewtwo.
"And you guys good luck dealing with the World of Light incident, whenever that happens." Replied Snake, after which Mewtwo pressed the button on the device and the two teleported away.
A few seconds later a thought hit the alternate Mewtwo and he said "Wait a minute, their defeat means that there is more than one being to defeat. I have to warn the others that are in the know." after which he teleported away from the island.
Meanwhile with Rock
Back in the main universe, Rock had returned to Beacon after dropping off the Ice Climbers and had made his way to the lab. And upon entering the lab he was greeted by his father. "Rock, good to see you. I take it that you were successful in your mission."
"I was, but I'm here to ask you something." Replied Rock.
"And what would you like to know?" Asked Doctor Light.
"When Wily attacked Beacon he mention some old research that you shot down, do you know what he meant with that?" Asked Rock, upon hearing the question Doctor Light sighed and Rock asked "Is there something wrong dad?"
"Years ago, when we were still students Wily and I were each working on separate projects. I was researching independent thoughts in robots, and Wily had created the double gear system. And even though he couldn't see it, I saw that there was a danger to going forward with the creation and implementation of the double gear system. I learned that it put an incredible strain on robots that use it, and I feared that if it were to fall in the wrong hands it could cause a lot of destruction."
"We both had to appear in front of the committee, of the university we attended, and explain our research. It was there that I made the foolish mistake of bringing forth the dangers of the double gear system. It led to his research being cancelled, and our relationship was never the same again. I wanted to reach out to him, but then that stuff with Doctor Merlot and Team STRQ happened and then it was too late. Wily was gone, and it wouldn't be until several years later that he would reappear. Only for him to steal the first batch of robots." Doctor Light finished explaining, as he then sighed at the memory of what happened in the past.
Doctor Light then added "If I hadn't shot down his research like that, maybe we would have still been friends and maybe we wouldn't be in this situation." He then looked at Rock, who was silent throughout the entire explanation and asked "Rock, are you ok? You've been awfully quiet."
"I'm taking it all in dad." Replied Rock.
"Are you mad at what I did?" Asked Doctor Light.
"No, I don't know what to think. On the one hand you're at fault for shooting down his research like that, cause it led to him going down that path. But on the other hand, you were just being careful and thinking about the possibilities. Because I won't lie, the double gear system does put an enormous strain on me whenever I use it. So in all honesty, I don't know how to feel about this. I'm thinking that maybe if you two had talked to one another and tried to help each other that things would have turned out differently, but Wily is also responsible for his own choices. So I don't know how to feel at all." Said Rock.
"That's completely fine." Replied Doctor Light.
"I... I need some time to think. I'll be with my friends if you need me." Said Rock, who gave his father a quick hug before leaving the lab.
Later
The members of Team R_WBY were sitting in the sauna, enjoying the heat and feeling the coldness that they felt in Atlas disappear. They weren't wearing any clothes, but had covered themselves up in towel, all the while they were talking about the day.
"...You know, after today I think I'd want to stay as far away from any snow and ice as possible for a long time." Said Ruby.
"Agreed, this is so much better." Said Yang, as she let out a yawn.
"I just realised, we took out half of the robot masters that Wily stole." Said Blake.
"Yeah, but there is still al the other robot masters that he took." Said Weiss.
"I know, but I just wanted to say that despite Rock's worries that we're doing quite well." Said Blake.
"I gotta agree with you on that." Said Ruby, after which the door to the sauna opened. Creating a barrier of steam, and after a few seconds Rock stepped through the door. Revealing that he was wearing nothing but a towel that was covering his private area. "Rock! You made it."
"Yeah, and before we get started I just want to thank you for what you did Weiss. You really saved our skin out there." Said Rock.
"He's right ice queen you really pulled through for us out there." Added Yang.
"Don't worry about it, I just did what I had to do. If we were in a similar situation, and you were the only one out of us who could still fight you'd do the exact same thing for us." Replied Weiss.
"True, I would. No one messes with my friends and gets away with it." Boasted Yang.
"Speaking off that fight, Weiss that song that you were singing... what was that about?" Asked Ruby, who then noticed a look of sadness appear on Weiss' face so she added "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset."
"It's fine Ruby, I might as well tell you all. That song was one I wrote for one of my concerts, it represents my loneliness and isolation. Being born in a family with so much status and power in Atlas meant I had to uphold a certain standard, but it also meant I was alone a lot. Especially after Winter joined the military, which is why I was so worried about her. I used that song to also push through when I had to fight the armas gigas as a final test from my father, and why I sang it during the fight today. I didn't want to return to a life of isolation and loneliness if I were to lose you guys." Said Weiss.
"You didn't lose us, you succeeded against Tundra Man and not only saved us but all of Atlas." Replied Blake.
"Besides, you can't get rid of us that easily." Said Yang.
"What she means is that we'll always keep going, and that we'll never give up." Said Ruby, correcting her sister.
"Team RRWBY will never leave you behind." added Rock.
"Thanks guys, that means a lot to me." Said Weiss, as a happy smile appeared on her face and few happy tears dropped down her face. Which quickly evaporated due to the heat sauna. Rock then sat down on one of the benches in the sauna, and the group began to enjoy their time in the sauna while forgetting about the cold.
In Ozpin's office
Professor Ozpin was sitting at his desk in his office working on some important papers, that was until his work was interrupted by the elevator opening and revealing General Ironwood. "James, good to see you. How was the mission in Atlas?" Asked Ozpin.
"How do you know about that?" Asked Ironwood.
"Thomas informed me where Rock and his team teleported off to, so how did things go?" Ozpin asked once again.
"It went well, we... or rather Weiss was able to beat the robot, now Atlas and Mantle are defrosting." Replied Ironwood.
"That's good, but I can tell that there is another reason for why you are here. Isn't there?" Asked Ozpin.
"There is, I thought I'd personally inform you of my progress. I'll be honest here, seeing Atlas nearly getting frozen over made me feel afraid and I nearly felt like giving up. But seeing the children pull through like that, it gave me a new spark of hope. One that I needed to pull through and allowed me to keep going. I feel that if Salem were to come after Atlas to take the relic that I'd be making much better decisions and that I'd be less likely to make mistakes." Said Ironwood.
"That's great to hear James, I'm glad to see that the therapy is working for you." Said Ozpin.
"I have noticed that as well, now there is something else I need to ask you about." Said Ironwood.
"And what would that be?" Asked Ozpin.
"Where did Rock and the people in the mansion in the Emerald Forest really come from?" Asked Ironwood.
Elsewhere
In the forest of Mistral, a robot was picking up the pieces of a robot that was scattered throughout the forest, all the while murmuring to itself "Don't worry my dear friend, I'll put you back together and then the fun can begin."
A/N: And there you go, the chapter is done. Not much to say here, other than my god did this take long to write. Anyways, I won't keep you all for too long first a quick thanks to everyone who read this chapter and a thanks to the following people for supporting this story:
Otakuguy68
Ultrahero74
Joe-021
contadoamile
And now onto the reviews from last time:
Simonsaid: Don't worry too much about it, it did sound a bit mean. But hey, no harm done.
BlueSkies: If you liked the character development in this chapter, then I hope that you also enjoyed this chapter.
Jacob9594: Glad you liked how last chapter was about Yang's growth, this chapter was more focused on Weiss and Ironwood's growth. So I hope you enjoyed that as well.
Now with that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all next time.