The thick smell of burning wood made Weiss' eyes water as she shouldered her team member through the brush. Yang walked with her, but could not manage brisk motion; the blonde stumbled slightly as Weiss pulled her forward. For all the strength that she had shown up to this point in their daring escape, Yang's body had finally started to concede to the pain and fatigue of her injury. The colour had faded from her cheeks again, and her eyes were rolling lazily, sometimes closing altogether.

Weiss might have been concerned if she wasn't carrying Yang Xiao Long: the human ballistic missile. Weiss had seen her survive worse than this in the short time they'd known each other. But she didn't need to carry an unconscious super model through the woods, for physical reasons as well as defending her reputation as a Schnee.

"Stay awake, it's not far to the next village. We can find a doctor there and- what the hell is up with this smoke!?" Yang raised her head a little and smiled ruefully at her partner.

"You could move faster without me..."

"Well I have two arms to lug around, so you should be better off than me." Weiss snapped, although she felt a slight pang of guilt at how insensitive she was being towards Yang's injury. In truth she really did feel for her, but also knew that the anger and embarrassment were what kept spurring Yang on. Weiss was not going to let doubt and self loathing weigh her team member down, she was heavy enough without a dump truck worth of self pity on her back.

She did understand what Yang had meant, but Weiss could not let herself even consider it. She had pulled Yang from the jaws of that terrorist madman and she wasn't going to let Yang just quit. She wasn't losing anything else today.

The tree line had started to appear with a red tint in the direction of the burning smell, it didn't take a genius to work out that the forest was on fire, one which could spread to the village which was her and Yang's destination. Weiss was concerned as to what she was supposed to do: fulfil her duty and go help extinguish the flame, or carry her bloody and delirious friend to a doctor where she could receive proper medical treatment. Yang's stumbling intervention put her internal conflict to rest however, as she lurched forward and attempted to get closer to the flames.

"What are you doing Idiot? Trying to get us both fried!?" Yang pitifully struggled against Weiss.

"But the fire could...people might...we have to help."

"You aren't in any condition to help yourself, let alone anyone else."

With an odd amount of strength, Yang pulled in the same direction again. "But fire...the white fang...Ruby might be..."

Yang fell silent amidst a series of hard coughs and did not speak again once they were finished. But there were traces of tears in her dizzy eyes. Weiss blinked furiously for a few moments; it was because of the smoke, she convinced herself it was.

"...Alright, we'll...go and have a look."

Yang did not need to thank her, so she just gave a toothy grin that showed more of pain than happiness, but gratitude all the same. She had made the choice that it was worth a look and that Yang could be right, Blake and Ruby could be there. She just had to-

"W-wait!"

A rough, forceful whisper came from the foliage just to the left of the two huntresses. Weiss jumped out of her skin, whereas Yang sluggishly turned her head in the direction of the weird voice. Lying with his head just in the open was an old man, with a bushy beard and a widow's peak. It was clear that he had recently fallen out of the tree because of the twigs and pine needles that were stuck in his spiky hair. His eyes glowed with malice but at the same time seemed to be avoiding eye contact. Weiss understandably just stared at him for a few moments before answering.

"Are you...okay?"

"Of course not!" the old man's rage seemed taxing on his breathing, so he tried to reign in his temper for the time being. "Look, I'm...running out of time. My...acquaintance is in danger and I need to warn him about something. Every fibre of my being wants to throw up as I say this, but I need your h...your heee..."

"Help?" Weiss politely finished the sentence for the old man, whose face instantly relaxed at the prospect of not having to finish.

"That yes, I need to be taken to where that fire has broken out, I can't move, so you'll have to drag me." Weiss leaned in, her curiosity peaked.

"Do you know who is responsible for that" Yang muttered from behind Weiss' back. The old man was definitely not meeting their gaze now as he spoke; there was self loathing thick on his face and in his voice.

"Yes...I didn't see her face, but I saw her eyes. They were bright yellow, and fiery. She snuck up on me up there," The man gestured to the area just above the tree he was lying beneath. "She came up behind me and...I don't know how but, she stole my energy. It's all gone." The old man looked as if being caught off guard like this was a matter of deepest shame.

Weiss raised her eyebrows; she wanted to ask quite a few questions at that moment. What was this 'energy' this man was talking about, and why would anyone want to steal it? What power could an old man like this possibly have, and didn't his description of that assailant share some resemblance to the woman that attacked Ruby during the dance? But a sudden realisation dawned on her that overshadowed all the other thoughts in the Heiress' head.

"It was you! You were the flying man that saved Neon and Flynt from that insane faunus!" The man nodded his head. Yang shifted slightly to get a closer look at his face.

"You're telling me that this senior citizen can actually fly?"

"That's not important!" The old man exclaimed, a vein throbbing in his temple. "Yes, I can fly, and yes I helped two weaklings escape a masked ginger with a sword! I can explain everything once I reach Kakarot! Whoever stole my strength has no hope of controlling that much energy! They could damage the entire world!"

Weiss stood up straight and sighed.

"I'm sorry sir, but I need to carry my friend here, I can't carry both of you. You'll just have to..." Weiss tried to think of something, but no answers came to her. She was only one woman and there was nobody around to appeal to. The old man's lips thinned for a moment before he spoke again, in a slightly desperate tone.

"Wait, I have an idea, you don't have any food, do you?"

Both Weiss and Yang honestly shook their heads. The old man looked up at the trees above them and scanned them for something.

"There!" he pointed with his nose to directly above where Yang was standing.

This gave the heiress new hope, whipping out her rapier and aiming it at the trees above, she pulled Yang out of the way. There was a flash of white light and suddenly, speared on the end of the pointed narrow blade was a shiny red apple. Leaving a few moments to bask in the surprise and admiration of her company, Weiss removed the fruit from the blade and held it to the old guy's lips. He took a savage bite and chewed at a ferocious speed. Without a moment's hesitation, the old man rose to his feet and seized the apple, devouring the piece of fruit in seconds as he did. In a bizarre manner, the food seemed to be giving him strength. He still appeared a little shaky and Weiss lurched forward, handing him the rapier which had revived him.

"Use this"

The old man looked incensed by the kind smile on the girls face; she was beginning to make him feel pathetic. He scowled and marched forward towards the forest fire, his step slightly marred by tiredness, as was Yang's. The odd troop marched on in pursuit of the distant inferno.

"You couple of idiots better be alright." Weiss thought, before shivering and gripping Yang harder. Her thoughts of the two girls were more significant than she knew; as at that exact moment, both of them stood up in a house, looking into the wide eyes of another old man.

"Fuse." Said Goku, in a voice of forced calm as he pushed his form flat against the flimsy oak door.

''What?" Said Blake, clearly confused and worried that Goku was still hallucinating. "Mr. Son, what are you talking abo-"

"Fuuuuuuuuuuse." Goku's smile betrayed him, as it amplified his panicked expression. "Right now, if you wouldn't mind."

"But-" Blake began again, but asked no further questions as a new, hysterical look came over Goku's face that she had never seen before. "FUUUUUUSE!"

Blake looked perplexedly at Ruby who returned her confusion, but they did not feel like disobeying Goku in his vulnerable state. Nimbly, the two huntresses leapt on top of the table and assumed the poses they had been taught. A final nod was shared between them, and they performed the technique.

"FU-SION-HA!"

A thick white light burst from an indiscernible source and enveloped the tiny room. Goku felt the door creak and whine under the pressure of his back upon it, as the transformation pushed him back, as a new girl stepped forward on the table, as Goku's jaw dropped.

"ALRIGHT!"

There, in the baggy white pants tied down at the waist with a blue ribbon, and wearing that odd orange and black jacket was the fusion of Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna. Amidst a sea of his other mistakes, Goku sorely wished that he had considered the fact that two women were attempting this transformation, not men. Goku removed his hands from his eyes for a split second before replacing them again and felt embarrassment pang across him again.

The girl before him was a short, fat and rather unpleasant looking woman. Her hair was long like Blake's, but red dashes could be seen here and there like with Ruby's style. No cat ears here bizarrely, instead two small rose buds appeared to be jutting out f the top of the strange girls head. Her eyes were yellow like the young Faunus girl, but the makeup that she wore had been somewhat skewed by the transformation, making it look heavily applied and ugly.

But what had forced Goku's eyes shut had not been the ugly nature of the botched fusion, but rather the result of said fusion jumping up in the air and declaring itself to be 'In da house.' The unfortunate loose nature of the fusion jacket combined with the somewhat increased cup size as a result of the two girls becoming one, had led to an unfortunate situation - a situation where both the stubby woman's breasts popped out for the entire world to see. In such a high stress situation, Goku did not know whether to laugh or cry, though he knew he could not open his eyes again. He had soiled his wife's memory enough for one day.

"Hey!" The fusion shouted at Goku, in both the voices of Ruby and Blake. "Sorry about that, didn't expect there to be so much to hide." The voice that emanated from behind Goku's closed eyes sounded pleased with itself, in a way that was starting to make the old Saiyan feel physically sick.

"Oh man, we're in trouble now. It wasn't your form, that was flawless...could she really be that strong?..."

Goku felt around to find something, anything to help this little oddball cover up. He was lucky to find a length of rope sitting next to the closed front door, a remnant of some old piece of farming equipment that he'd left lying around. Trying not to look at what he was handing it to, Goku thrust the rope towards the new kid and she caught it.

"Use that to...hide yourself a bit."

Goku felt his stomach begin to loosen as the girl pulled the rope into a tight knot around her chest, binding the jacket closed. This solved the problem somewhat; it at least gave Goku the liberty of opening his eyes again. This did not succeed in making her look any less ridiculous, but it would at least keep her...keep her from... Goku shook his head and brought reality crashing back down around him.

"Listen, Adam is here. I have no time to explain, you'll have to just...stall him for 30 minutes."

Goku smiled weakly at the obviously flustered girl, but had no time to explain further, he could hear footsteps gaining dangerous ground on the house. He raised his hand to his forehead...and he was gone. The girl was confused, and she glanced around to see where the old timer had gone, could he go invisible or something? But she knew what she had to do, she may be a different person, but her mind was that of the two girls that made up her body, and they both knew what they wanted to do to Adam.

The faunus in question was smiling pleasantly to himself as his white fang subordinate approached the front door, he was admiring the forest fire, and how its beauty and destructive power reminded him of his glorious revolution. He was still slightly shocked that woman could pull off something like that in a matter of a few seconds. How powerful had she become?

The front door of the cabin burst open from the other side, knocking the burly white fang member to the ground with the force of impact. The scene before Adam was so strange that it took several double takes before he could say a word.

His best lieutenant, one that he had appointed personally, was now lying unconscious beneath a wooden door, on top of which stood a dumpy pale little creature that Adam did not recognise. She was wearing a ridiculous assortment of baggy clothes that did very little to hide her excess fat. Her heavily shadowed eyes were wide and mean looking, and her stubby index finger was point straight at the approaching white fang.

"HEY! ASSHOLE! I'VE COME FOR YA!"

Adam was extremely surprised by this sudden unexpected stranger, so much so that he forgot to respond for a moment. He managed after a few seconds of visual scrutiny and a quick pinch on his cheek to check this was actually happening.

"Uhhh...who...no, what the hell are you supposed to be?"

The girl stroked one of her many chins and her face broke into a vicious leer, so wide that it reached both of her obscured ears and bared all of her teeth like a piranha.

"You don't know my name?" the girl asked Adam, in a much quieter voice, but no less grandiose. "My name is...yeah..."

The girl seemed to be holding off with introductions for dramatic effect. Adam felt he was in a good enough mood to humour this stranger but felt his patience begin to wear thin as the thirteenth second passed. Her smile vanished as she declared her name to the very heavens.

"The name's Rubella, conqueror of worlds! A warrior in a league of my own – and your worst nightmare!"