Chapter 4: A Booming Rematch!

~THIRD PERSON POV~

Emerald Forest

It was almost a few hours since the incident at Forever Fall. A greener forest not far from the other of red leaves was as quiet and serene as ever, except with beasts of Grimm roaming around.

Deep in it, a settlement of primitive human buildings stood there. Adults going around exchanging stories or simple talks while some others carried out labour duties such as gathering wood and bringing home the spoils of hunting. Children were also seen playing with each other, running around or playing ball without a care in the world other than the enjoyment of having fun with other kids. It was another day of unprovoked joy and peace.

Not for long…

For somewhere behind the nearby shrubs, two conniving beings looked upon the community in the village. One lazily sat himself all the way on the top of a tree branch while the other quietly watched from within the vegetation, eyeing closely at the simple life happening in front of her. She was slightly put off by the irritating low noise of her partner's tiresome yawning from above her.

"I'm bored." he sighed before shifting his attention to his more responsible counterpart. "Hey, Emerald. Have you ever wondered why we're here?"

"I dunno, Merc." Emerald sarcastically moaned. "Perhaps it's because we're just meant to do the things we do. Spread disaster to rise from the ashes and make things better for low-lives like us."

"I meant, why are we here? In this forest? Spying on some boring village in the middle of nowhere?" quirked Mercury.

"Shut up." Emerald kept on watching the scene from afar and ignoring Mercury's unnecessary monologue. The girl felt a minor sense of doubt at what she was planning to do with the people there. It involved a new kind of involvement from an unknown force which she knew was still capable of causing some damage. She hoped that all would go well with this plan of Cinder's.

ZZAAPPP!

The two fighters jumped at the sounds of warping noises nearby. Mercury nearly fell off his safe spot as he clung onto the branch by wrapping his arms around it while hanging on upside down from his sleeping position. He let go of the branch when he was stable enough and landed down on the ground, shock replaced by annoyance by what had triggered his fright.

The two looked towards the other way and found that they were joined by their new partners from outer space. Walking towards them were two large alien creatures, Ripcon and Toma Bomba.

"About time you showed up." groaned Emerald.

"I wouldn't care less about your timing." argued Ripcon loudly, causing Emerald to shush them up with her finger to her lips.

"Just keep it down." she whispered roughly. "You'll scare off the villagers."

"And what's wrong with that?!" Toma Bomba boasted. Emerald was starting to lose her patience with these clowns. She wished she could just unload a few rounds on their thick skulls, and she would have had the chance if it weren't for Cinder's watch on their roles in the plot. Not that she hated her for it… "Terrorizing a bunch of sissy humans is what I do best!"

"Well, could you just hold up for a few minutes?" For now, Ripcon complied with Emerald's demands. She then signalled for the General to witness what she had in mind for their partnership to kick off. "See those people over there?" She pointed towards the villagers who were still unaware of their presence.

"Yes…" Ripcon nodded, curious with Emerald's intentions. "And let me guess. You want us to do the dirty work? Mess around with them while you do whatever you intend to do."

"Well, look on the bright side." said Mercury. "You'll be able to do some damage while you're at it."

"Yeah, feel free to do whatever pleases you." added Emerald. "We just need you to cause some commotion enough to lure out some Huntsmen out so we can make things easier at our end."

Toma Bomba didn't need to argue with the two. He was already liking the idea of causing some mayhem and ruin some lives. As if some worthless humans would make him think otherwise.

On the other hand, Ripcon needed to think this one through. Toma Bomba could barely hold on his own against one of these Huntsmen, let alone be outnumbered by a team of them. If he could imagine himself being in his shoes, he'd be very concerned by the sheer strength of what the locals here could do.

Then again, Toma Bomba was just some ordinary contestant. He was a General in the service of the galaxy's greatest warrior! There should be nothing wrong with challenging a bunch of female humans to a fight. He's dealt with worse before, so why stop now? Besides, Toma Bomba could serve as a meat shield for the blunt of their attacks. He had his sights set on total victory if he would come face to face with one of these human fighters.

"Very well." agreed Ripcon. "I will take the pleasure of making those miserable humans suffer."

"Good." Emerald smirked, glad that the alien accepted her request. From this moment forth, the partnership between them would begin with a bang, all in the name of Cinder's revolution and Galvanax's rise to power. "Then, go nuts."

~RUBY'S POV~

Beacon Academy,

Vale,

Okay. Let's get the facts straight.

First, I had to snoop around the city just to find something to do and I went about getting rid of the Grimm outside the walls of the city. Then, all of a sudden, a big monster and a group of other blue guys just came on over and attacked me.

I really ate too many cookies that day. But, it wasn't fake. What I saw was all real. Legit. Real. No hoax. No hallucination. It was a hundred percent REAL!

And my friends saw it too. They saw what happened and they did not deny it since. So, this new problem, we had to do something about it. We needed to do what we had to do.

Tell the Professor. The great and wise Headmaster himself. If there was anyone in Remnant who wouldn't know a thing or two about the mysteries of the world, it was Ozpin.

But I was wrong! When we reported what happened, Ozpin just stood there, looking out the window as always and told us that he had never heard of such creatures before. Well, so much for wisdom.

And so, we asked what to do next. I was so hoping we could be out there looking for that beast. Bring him in for questioning, make him feel absolutely terrified. Oh, how I waited to have a rematch and beat the living dead out of that overgrown bowling ball!

But alas, the rematch never came. Shucks. And I was so itching to sink Crescent Rose's blade right at his thick skull!

Ozpin just told us this. Do absolutely nothing and let the authorities do the investigating. Yep, the most boring assignment of them all, if you can call it one. Of course, everyone else on the team agreed with him. I, on the other hand, wished to argue, but knowing Ozpin was leagues away from me, I could not do anything about it.

In the end, I was to sink back to bed at the dorm, cursing mentally at not being able to go out there and do something to save the city.

"Hrrghhh…" I laid on my back, hands on my tummy as I tapped my fingers on myself, praying to Oum that I would finally see some action again. It was still the middle of the semester and I would not want to waste my excitement on boring classes again.

After what happened at Forever Fall, I wanted to pay that walking bomb back for the brutal beat-down he gave me. Thanks to Ozpin and city regulations, my expectations were down the drain.

Anyway, after what happened earlier, I really didn't know what to make of my fight with that monster. I've fought many beasts of Grimm uglier than him before, but I've never seen such a monster. He's got the attitude that would make Torchwick jealous, and he even had the right mind to retreat when my team came to my rescue.

So, he was crossed out as some new Grimm. So if he wasn't a Grimm, then what was he? That question bothered me for the whole darn day.

Then, I heard a knock on the door. I shot back up to see my sister, Yang, looking at me with that loving caring look she would give every time I end up getting hurt from some wacky adventure.

And then came in the rest of my team. They all crowded around me to see if I was alright.

"Hey, Rubes." called Yang. "You okay?" She then had the decency to playfully jab me at the shoulder. Sheesh, Yang! That hurt!

"Ergh!" I let out a cry of slight pain. "I'd be fine if you hadn't punched me there."

"Whatever, sis." She just casually walked towards her top bunk bed over Blake's and jumped up before facing back at me.

"Okay, first of all. What the heck do you think that monster was?" asked Weiss, only now interested in talking about the creature. "I've never seen or heard of any monsters other than the Beasts of Grimm."

"Me neither." added Blake. "Well, not as far as I've reached through the books in the library. That was just… eye-opening."

"Well, whatever it was, the headmaster already told us to never set foot outside Vale until the authorities can get their hands on the matter. And I concur." Weiss crossed her arms together in that know-it-all attitude.

But it wasn't Weiss' portrayal that was bothering me. It was Ozpin's own orders for us to stay put. I didn't need to hear his orders twice, Weiss!

Then, Yang looked at me and noticed the frustrated look on my face when Weiss mentioned Ozpin's words.

"Come on, Ruby." she assured. "I'm sure it's not that big of a deal."

"Not a big deal?!" I yelled. "Yang. That was one of the best fights I've ever had all the two months! I was so close on getting a rematch with that metallic loudmouth and put him out of his place!" I slammed my fist into my palm, just picturing the ugly face of that monster below it.

"We just found you struggling to take down that creep." cleared Weiss. "If anything, you were probably not doing a single thing to that monster." Sure, like I needed the discouragement, Schnee…

"On hindsight, Ozpin does have a point." Blake spoke. "This is a creature not even he knows. If not even knowledge will help us, then what can we do?"

The room was silent again. It looked like our heads were spinning around trying to understand what was going on around here. Just two months ago. We were involved in a huge battle after the city was breached by the White Fang.

I got that strange feeling that Beacon's sitting us out simply because we failed to stop the Grimm from attacking the city. Good thing Doctor Oobleck had us covered since it was he who led us to that mission, but I hope no one's blaming him too for the attack.

I really wanted to go out there and find that beast again. Not to just slay the monster, but to bring glory back to team RWBY! That was all I wanted for our team. I had to do something to get my team back in the fight; Ozpin or no Ozpin. I got back up with an idea in mind and I really hoped my team would be with me on this for the sake of all of Remnant!

"I don't know about you guys. But I think we should, ahem, bend the rules a bit."

Right from the start, everyone fell suspicious. I could easily tell from the stern looks on their faces.

"Ruby…" Yang slowly tried to get to me, but I couldn't let myself get interrupted until they heard me out.

"I'm tired of sitting around and doing nothing while Vale is under attack by some creature from the unknown. We have to act while we're still vulnerable." Well, Vale was still going through repairs after the Grimm attack, so we had to make sure nothing went wrong. "I know we have a lot of other teams out there protecting the city, but I want this team to help out as much as it can before any bad guy shows up. Who knows what would happen next when these monsters would strike again." I put my hand to my chest, letting myself feel the importance of defending the innocent people of the city encourage me further. "So, whether Ozpin likes it or not, we have to do this."

I looked to my teammates who at least let me continue my speech. I was so hoping that they would be with me on this.

I was so wrong…

"Ruby." Yang tried again. "We can't just jump into action without Ozpin's approval." She jumped down from her bed and came to comfort me. "I know you want us to do something about this whole situation. I want to help you out. Blake wants to help you out. Heck, even Ice Queen over here wants to too."

"I do?" Weiss silently whispered, but I could see Blake elbow her for those lousy words.

"We all want to do what you want to do. But now's not the time. We need to wait for our teachers to say something to us first. For now, we stay here and make sure to protect the city from the inside against any possible threats like the White Fang."

From all that Yang said to me, I couldn't help but feel unsure about myself. I thought the team did have my back on the matter that we could go out there and help our fellow Huntresses and even the Army to combat these freaks.

Well, that didn't go to plan. I was left without any other option. If my team wouldn't help me with the city, then I might as well do the one thing I thought I would never do.

"Fine." I said to Yang, giving them some relief. They're so going to hate me for this…

"Then you guys stay here!" I announced to them from out of the blue. "I'll go find that monster myself."

I saw the stunned expressions on their faces, shocked by what I had told them I would be doing. But I didn't really care. I needed to do something for this city and I had to do it now.

I leapt out of my bed and just walked past the still stunned team, walking out the door without a care in the world.

"Wait!" I heard my own overprotective sister yell from back at the dorm. "Ruby Rose, where are you going?!" I hated to disobey Yang, but I was still true to my word. I will go to find the creature and bring an end to his mad reign of terror.

"I'm going to make a difference." I shot back at Yang. "If you won't follow me, then I'll go on my own." I carried on, not looking back once. My team just stayed there without any action. At least, Yang had one more push to try and get me with.

"Now you just wait right-!" But nothing came. I just heard her stop in the middle of her yelling, telling me that someone had stopped her. Maybe Weiss since there was no point for her to try and stop me. Or Blake since she was not looking for a fight with me about now.

Nothing could stop me now from protecting this land. And it was not just Vale I wanted to help.

I had to go and save anyone who was unfortunate enough to live outside the city walls. Forget the Grimm. I needed to make sure that those poor villagers were safe from that monster first. He wanted to commit harm. Now, he'll have to get through me to do it…

Team or no team. I'm going to make sure the city is safe.

~THIRD PERSON VIEW~

Everything seemed to stop when Blake put a forceful hand on Yang's shoulder. The blonde boxer turned around, eyes starting to glow red from her mounting anger. Blake did not flinch one bit. She knew her teammate's tendency to go into full fury when things were stacked against her. But this was not necessary, especially since it involved her little sister.

"Yang." the Faunus girl spoke. "I know you want to help Ruby, but getting mad at her is not going to solve anything." Her stern expression showed her bravery against the hot-headed teenager.

For a while, Yang let her steam get pumped out, but seeing Blake's undeterred stare, she suddenly felt like there some truth in her words. So, with a huge puff of air, she let her power drain out as her temper recovered and her eyes returning to her usual blue.

"She'll be fine." Blake reassured with a calmer voice. "She'll probably see the reason to listen to us after a while and come back. I mean, it's Ruby after all, right?"

All Yang could do was cross her arms together and kept on frowning with concern.

"I hope you're right, Blake." sighed Yang. "Ruby's not entirely a quitter."

"Well, I just hope that brat knows her place in this. Someone needs to show some respect around here." complained Weiss.

At once, the room fell silent again. Not to say it was an argument, but this little debacle was less than settling. Their team leader just walked off to do her own thing, causing much worry among the group. They could only hope that Blake was right about Ruby being dissuaded to come back and everything would be alright.

Even after her brief burst of anger, the stress built up by Yang remained, making her feel much encumbered with pain in her head. There was only one way to soothe the headache. Time to head to a nice little place where she could cool off and um... do some R&R with a few boys.

"Where're you going now?" asked Weiss inquisitively.

"Where else?" Yang bashed her fists together to express her answer. "I need to get something to cool my head off with. And maybe bash Junior's face while I'm at it." With that, the blonde brawler exited the room and off to wherever and whoever she could sink her fists in and blow up with Ember Celica around her wrists.

Then, just when the heat was over, it was Blake's turn to move out of the room, walking off away from a lone Weiss.

"And where do you think you're going, Blake?" Weiss again questioned. Blake just turned around to face her to truthfully answer.

"I'm going to the library to study some books." she said. Deep inside her, she had a gut feeling that all of the strange happenings going on, something would have to be done to prepare for the inevitable. "I dunno about you, but I've got a feeling that somehow we'll be involved in all of this."

"So you think Ruby's got a point?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"I only said it was too soon to act, which means that we could be dealing with these things again in the future. The least I can do is get some knowledge about anything related about these monsters. Then if we do get into conflict with them again, we'll be ready." After letting Weiss know of her stance in the matter, Blake resumed her way to the library. "If I do find a book…"

Now all alone, Weiss had to sit down on her lower bed, rubbing her head of the drama that had happened in the room. After a minute of cooling down, it was decided that she herself had to venture out and come to her senses before she'll faint from the distress.

"I need some air…"

~RUBY'S POV~

Yep, that was it. I finally left the room and headed my way for the next ship to the city and then outwards to the great outdoors.

I took a quick route to the main hall of the school, but I had to be very, very quiet about it. I couldn't just let anyone know that I was leaving off to some unofficial business.

A good look around the hall leading to the exit and so far so good. Since no one seemed to be present at that time, I made my way and dashed for the door with my trusty Semblance of extreme speed before anyone did see me.

It took me a split second to speed my way from the huge door of the entrance to the fancy looking marble walkway, stopping just about in front of the statue of three glorious Huntsmen taking out a few Grimm. I sure hoped no one saw my trail of rose petals behind me. Lucky thing the petals get vaporized after being shot out from my cape.

With no time to lose, I quickly ran for the airstrip to catch my flight to the city below. I booked my trip and settled in for the ride to the urban jungle. From there, I would try to find my way to sneak out the gates while avoiding any attention from security, especially since Professor Ozpin could have told on some guards to watch out for anyone on their list. I was only lucky to get the permission from the headmaster to leave the previous time, but now, I am practically grounded.

I had to play the part of the rebel because who knew where that monster could be right about now. My Crescent Rose was sharpened and ready to slice, bullets were prepped and my energy's at an all-time high. I was definitely feelin' the burn!

So once I got to the front entrance, I saw some guards blocking the entrance with a few more walking about making sure no more Grimm could come into the city while we're still healing. So, security's buffed up at this point and I'm sure Ozpin's got them notified on letting certain teams out or keeping others in.

No problem…

I just took a cue from those old spy movies my dad always watches and snuck underneath an armoured truck heading right for the exit. I hung on and hoped that no one would check where I was. Nothing serious happened like any White Fang activity after a month, so I don't think they needed to scan the truck I was under.

But boy, did it stink underneath the truck! Gassy smell, smoke coming out from the exhaust and… was that headlight fluid dripping out of the… Wait, what am I saying? There's no such thing as headlight fluid. Great job, Gavin…

Thankfully, after they stopped at the gate, they let the vehicle through and I was good to go. I waited for a little bit, doing my best to not puke at the smell of gasoline. Then, after a good minute, I sped my way out and into the woods. Freedom never felt so good!

Still, I had to take a little dip at the river, soaked up my clothes before giving my Semblance another shot to dry them all up to get rid of all that icky dirt and gasoline on my clothes. It wasn't enough to lose all of the dirt, but it would have to do.

And so, now that I'm out, the search was on! That monster would have shown up somewhere in the middle of the kingdom by now, doing who knew whatever damage he was inflicting. For all I knew, the creature could be rampaging around in a village or settlement out there, harming righteous people and making lives even worse than they needed to be. I sped through the trees, jumping from branch to branch with my speed boosts all the way.

I've been going on for so long that it must had felt like an hour because I've been speeding across the forest until I started feeling very tired after using my Semblance for a while. I had to stop to rest at a tree after losing a lot of steam in my trek and sat down by its trunk.

While I took a break, I had the time to wonder about the monsters I fought. I didn't know what to expect. Could they really be aliens? I remembered the big one saying that he was from some planet or something.

It's possible. I just don't know since the people of Remnant have never been to outer space before. There's so many possibilities right now and I was trying to process it all from that one encounter in Forever Fall. I have a huge knack for imagination so just try and imagine how many things I could think of… Still, all of this was a blur for me, even trickier than myself.

Whatever happened though, I wouldn't relent. I wouldn't rest until every last one of those creeps were wiped off from our planet. That's what a Huntress should be doing to make this world a better place.

BOOM!

Ahhh! An explosion! That must be it! I got up from my resting spot, dusted myself up and made my way for the chaos zone.

~BRODY'S POV~

BOOM!

I was just on my way around the forest in what seemed like a few hours since my little fight with the scorpion creature, with a few more of those black wolves here and there. Then, all of a sudden, there was this huge blast coming from nearby.

I've been patrolling this area for any signs of Galvanax's forces, and wouldn't you know it, something happened right where I found a nice little town during my scouting mission. Immediately, the explosion was enough to trigger an alert in me. I had to go help the people there, even if I had to reveal myself to them. I may be a ninja dedicated to the missions at hand, but we ninjas are never above conspicuous. We won't just let one single mission get in the way of saving lives, doing whatever it takes to make sure no one gets hurt or worse.

"Brody!" Redbot yelled in shock from the noise of the explosion. "Did you hear that?!"

"That was hard to miss, Redbot." I answered him. "We better go check it out!"

"My sensors indicate that the explosion came from a nearby village!" reported Redbot, but I didn't really need a direct answer to know of what was happening over there.

"Which is why we need to make our move!" I was already a step ahead and with Redbot behind me, we ran for the village. Whatever was going on there, those people needed our help and we were ready to assist them no matter what the consequences.

~RUBY'S POV~

Just when I was zooming to save the day, I stopped at the scene of the crime. And what I saw was another hurtful sight to see.

There I was, a village in flames. The straw roofs of the huts were burning all over and the wooden walls were being broken apart by more the flames. I saw people running for their lives; men, women and children. These poor people. They just wanted a life of peace away from the busy city and then all of a sudden, there was something making them suffer from all of this chaos.

I tried to hope that I had found my quarry; the big bomb-looking beast, but I had to also assume that this was another Grimm attack. But last I checked, Grimm don't make things explode. Unless they may had damaged something explosive, but these were rare in Grimm attacks. Or it could be a bandit attack, but so far, Vale has been bandit-free ever since security over the kingdom intensified.

Well, no point speculating now because I had people to save! I ran forth, passing through other people on the way while looking for the source of the troubles. I tried to get people to calm down to help them make their way out in a single file.

"It's okay! I've got this! Everything's under control!" But nothing was working since they all just ran right past me in fear until there were no more left. Well, so much for order…

"HELP! NATHAN!" Then, I heard the shrilling voice of a lady in distress, calling out a name out as she cried on in desperation. I tried to look around for any sign of anyone calling out for help within the burning mess of things. I ran past one house on fire and suddenly, I was startled by a bit of the burning straw and wood falling down in front of me, causing me to jump up with a shriek. Dear Monty that really gave me the jumps!

I continued on in search of the woman somewhere in this settlement. As I reached for some destroyed marketplace, I saw the woman, sitting down on the ground, weeping out like crazy. I ran to her to see what happened to her.

"Ma'am!" I yelled out and got her attention. "What's wrong?! You got to get out of here!"

"No!" The lady cried at me, tears dropping down. She was really in a panic. Something was definitely wrong here. "My baby's still in there!" She pointed towards a burning house and I was shocked to see that it was a burning house, saying that her child was in there! There was no time stalling to stare at the disaster. There was a little kid in need of danger and I had to do something to save him.

"Look!" I told the lady. "You got to get yourself out of here! I'll go find him!"

"Are you sure?!" The woman looked to me with both hope and fear etched on her face. I took the sight to heart and gave her a knowing smile.

"It's my duty!" I managed to put up a cheerful smile to let her know that I had things in the bag. "Just get to safety." I knew the mother was reluctant to let me go through the smokes and flames for her child, but I really wanted to let her know that I needed to save him for her. No one should go through losing a loved. I should know because if I didn't help her son out, then she would go through the same pain my family did years ago.

Thankfully, she agreed to let me through. She did as I asked and ran for safety. Meanwhile, it was time for me to be the hero and save that poor boy. I ran to the burning house where he was in. I listened out for any screams or noises that he could be making from inside, but to my worrying, there was nothing. Just the crackling of burning wood and hay in the air. That was when I had to break my way in.

I deployed Crescent Rose to scythe mode and reached for the door to give it one mighty slash. My blade crashed the door open as it broke into pieces. Then, I was able to see the inside of the house. How horrible it was to see the destruction happening within that one house. I could see furniture in blazes, wooden walls turning charred black and the toxic smell of the smoke was as sickly as I had ever smelt it.

To block off the smoke from my nose and mouth, I grabbed my cape and covered them with it. I squinted my eyes thanks to the thick smoke getting to my eyes too, so I was almost handicapped by the fire. Good thing my cape is slightly fire-proof. That special fibre really did the trick. But I said slightly so it could still catch on fire if it is left too long in an inferno.

With of my courage, I went right into the raging fire, covering up my face as much as I could while also allowing my eyes to see through. Once inside the flaming living room, I looked all around to find the boy named Nathan.

I coughed up when I somehow breathed in the smoke. It was like a poisonous cloud of lethal gas getting into my body making my throat course and my breathing difficult.

Still, I moved on, not letting a bit of smoke get in my way. I pushed through the thick smoke while still looking for the boy inside. I tried to call out to him, but the smoke was just everywhere and I couldn't open my mouth for even a second. There was no other choice but to look on, but it's bad enough that the smoke was getting into my eyes too.

But then, just when it looked bleak, I found something on the floor. I looked very closely down there and I could see a pair of little legs. That was him! It had to be!

I moved in to find out for myself and surely enough, it was the legs of a little boy, lying down unconscious in a fetal position. The poor boy wasn't moving one bit and when I bent down to check, thankfully he was still breathing.

There was no time to lose. I took the boy in my arms and decided to remove the cloak from my mouth and use it to shield him from the fire. If I wanted to have him alive and out of here, I had to make a run for it. So off I went, holding onto my breath while dashing for the exit.

The fire was getting worse. I know I could tell when debris started to fall on top of us. But I never stopped. I just ran! Ran like the wind! With all the Aura in my body, I thrust myself forward and BAMM!

We were finally out!

WHHOOSSHH!

KRAKKK!

And just in time too. When I landed on the ground, I tightened my grip of the boy, carrying him closely to my chest while the whole building collapsed. When the troubles were over, I got back up, coughing up a few and looked to the boy cradled in my arms.

There was no time to adore the cute little guy. I went back out weakly to find his mother. When I was out of the village, I saw her sobbing and having her hands covered while being comforted by another villager. I came forth to give her son back to her and she looked at me.

Her face was riddled with so much relief, I would think she could come at me with the biggest hug ever known to man when she saw her son safe and sound. She did run and took hold of little Nathan before using a free arm to give me a light hug for saving her son.

"Thank you so much!" She said in between sobs. "I was so worried!"

"Just doing my job, ma'am." I told her with a big smile. After that, hugging her still sleeping boy in her arms, she walked away while being led by the man next to her, who then gave me a nod of appreciation.

I watched on as the last of the villagers walked away from the disaster that happened right behind me. Turning around to look at the damage, I took out my Crescent Rose and began to walk back to the danger zone. I hoped to find any more survivors or more importantly, the source of the fire.

But just when I was about to step back in, I stopped to my feet at the sounds of maniacal laughter coming from within the village. The bombastic tone of the laugh was very familiar to me, so much so that I knew who it was right from the moment I heard it coming.

He was there. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who caused this fire in the village. I knew all along that he would be back to exact his terror upon the people of Remnant and he would stoop so low to threaten an innocent village and its people.

My anger grew when I caught the culprit's silhouette coming from out of the flames along with shorter figures coming from behind him in a line. There I found the one being I've come for. The one I've been SOOO willing to hunt down and bring to justice!

The big bad bomb beast…

I gripped Crescent Rose tighter, prepared to make a move if the creature was going to make his move already. He locked eyes with me and gave another bellowing cackle at me upon meeting again.

"Well, well, well!" he exclaimed as if he was insulting me. "It seems we have a visitor! Little Miss Red has come to save the day! What a bunch of space baloney!"

I wanted to come back with a snarky comment of my own, but I was too caught up in taking him down to even make fun of him. I was going to make him pay for what he did to these poor people. He was no better than the Grimm or any bandit. He was a crook and all crooks will go down the same way… To fall victim to the wrath of my scythe.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I yelled. "Why are you hurting these people?!"

"Why not?!" That annoying bug just shrugged his shoulders like it didn't matter to him. "It's what I do. Rampaging throughout the land and making people suffer. I love my job!"

This guy was seriously getting on my nerve as he continued to mock me. My teeth were gritted with fury as I felt even angrier at him.

"You're not going to get away with this." I declared, having Crescent Rose into gun mode ready to shoot his thick head. If anything was learnt from the last battle, it all came to the headshots and that was my specialty. "I'll stop you this time." I aimed my rifle at him with my open eye squinted into the scope and my trigger finger itching to make the shot and take this guy out.

"Don't be so sure, you little squirt. This time, I got backup." taunted the monster again.

"Yeah. Like your buddies behind you are of any challenge." I called back at him. Did he really think his blue pals could take me on like they did last time? Fat chance, I thought.

"I wasn't talkin' about my Kudabots." He pointed behind me, suggesting that someone else was in the party. I spun around to see what the heck he was talking about.

"HARGH!"

"YEEP!" I jumped out of the way just in time before a pair of swords were swung at me! I landed on the ground to get a good look at my attacker. For the life of me, they just got creepier and creepier when I saw this other monster wearing samurai armour and had white spiky hair coming down from his horned mask, holding his dual swords down on the ground after he tried to kill me.

So, we got a new competitor in the game. Just how many more were there and what in Remnant did they want?!

"Hehehehe." The new monster snickered. "Foolish human. You were not prepared, were you?"

"Sheesh!" I yelped after breathing out from my shock. "They get uglier every day!"

"Enough talk!" Suddenly, that monster just pulled his swords together and charged at me in a dash. I still had my Crescent Rose in gun mode so I had to jump up again before he could slice me up. In the air, I aimed my baby down at the samurai-looking warrior and fire a couple of rounds on him. The bullets knocked into his swords when he blocked the shots. They seemed to have been powerful enough to knock him back with each strike, but the guy still stood there like a champ! By the time I landed down, Crescent Rose was already transformed into her scythe form and I made my way to one up the guy in a one-on-one blade duel. I slashed him from the top and I struck him from below. Yet, he managed to parry my attacks with equal speed. I spun my weapon behind me to gather enough strength for one heavy swing. But even my strongest strike was blocked! He crossed his swords together and caught my crescent blade before I could make a hit on him. As I struggled to release myself, he was holding on like a Deathstalker's pincers. He then swung his swords upwards and threw me off guard.

It was then his turn to attack as he slashed his swords at me. I swung and spun my scythe around clashing his blade with mine with each attack. After some strikes, I flipped backwards to gain some ground and shot one bullet at him while doing the flip. Strike! I hit him on the shoulder and he got knocked back. As he clutched his shoulder, I dashed forward to give it another go. I swung my weapon down hoping to get him, but he sidestepped out of the way as my blade stabbed the ground.

He slashed his sword again at me while I was stuck, but I gave the blade a nice kick which knocked the sword from his right hand. I smirked thinking that the guy was vulnerable now, so I made my turn and continued attacking him with my scythe.

I was mistaken when he used his other sword just as fast as he would with both of his weapons! Using that single sword, he blocked every single one of my own moves without fail! He kept on defending himself until he landed a kick on me, forcing me to flip back away far enough for him to reach for his other sword.

"Enough of this!" He shouted at me as he crossed his arms together. I stared at him wondering what he would do next. Then, I saw his eyes open up and flashed white. What scared me in the end were that his blades were now on fire. Purple fire.

"DOUBLE SWORD DOOM STRIKE!" He then gave a double swing of his swords out on both left and right, releasing two energy slashes, before slashing both of this swords downwards to shoot out another pair of energy slices.

There was nothing I could do. They came so fast that I had no time to dodge them or even block them. Instead, with such poor luck, I let the ultimate attack hit me.

The pair of blasts slashed through me like a ghost going through my body.

"AAAHH!" And it was so painful! More pain than I've felt since that White Fang guy kicked me in the head! It was like lightning striking through your chest and it just stung my insides really bad. After a split second, the force of the attacks propelled me all the way back, sending me flying to a tree. The crash was even more hurting as I hit my back so hard I could have sworn I heard a cracking sound.

After that near-fatal blow, I fell to the ground, unable to move anymore. My body was hurting in so many places, I was just crawling on the ground. My legs didn't work and my head felt like bouncing up and down, and the pain kept on going with each bounce inside my head. I had never felt this weak since that last sparring session with Yang almost two weeks ago. It was worse when you felt a gashed wound in your body. Luckily, I wasn't bleeding when I touched where the hit struck me, but it still felt like my innards were being cut away.

I could still see the blasted freak who cut me down, just toying with my mind by taunting me. I could hear the cackles from both him and the other big guy, followed by the rest of their troopers. They crowded in front of me, waiting to finish me off.

"Now finish her off!" This was it. It looked to be my final battle. Fallen in the hands of some creeps I didn't even know where they came from.

At least I would die, knowing that I saved a bunch of innocent people doing so…

Goodbye, cruel world. Goodbye, dad. Goodbye, Blake. Goodbye, Ice Queen.

"Hey!"

Goodbye, my dear sister, Yang… If only I listened to you…

"With pleasure, boss!" I closed my eyes, praying to Oum that I would see him in heaven…

…

…

"HARGH!"

Then, I heard an explosion. I opened my eyes hoping that my death was painless and quick. But, to the greatest surprise ever, I wasn't dead! I tapped myself to see if I was dreaming, but it was all too real.

But I didn't feel the joy of being alive just yet. What I saw in front of me next were the two big guys being pulverized by some unknown force. The rest of the creeps behind them were somehow vaporized into nothing!

Someone actually came to my rescue! But the question was, who was it? It was then that I had the sinking feeling that my team was right behind me. Oh boy. Looked like I was going to get an earful from Yang again. Here we go…

"What?!" The samurai monster yelled in disbelief when he looked behind to see my saviour. I prepared all the words and excuses I could give to my friends for bailing out on them like that, and I would be ready to face the punishments for dissing them out for this…

"Hello, Ripcon! You're uglier than usual!" But then, a voice came out. It wasn't that of Yang, or Blake or even Weiss. In fact, it was a voice I've never recognized. It sounded like it came from a man, young and energetic.

Who the heck just saved me, I thought. So I looked behind me to find my hero.

Right there, up in the trees, there was another strange sight. There was some dude dressed in a red spandex uniform and wore a red helmet with a visor shaped like a shuriken. In his hand was a yellow blade unlike anything I've ever seen in my life of weapon mania. He leaned against the tree standing atop a branch while looking down at the creatures.

Who was this guy? And where did he come from? From what I was hearing, he was talking to the monsters as if he knew them.

"You!" The big bad samurai guy yelled, confirming my suspicions. "Impossible! How are you even here?!"

"I was beginning to miss all the fun. I noticed you were gone for a while back home." The red suited warrior jumped down from the branch with grace and locked eyes with the monsters.

Things were getting very complicated now. I couldn't help but yell out in confusion, mimicking something that Yang went through during initiation, if only a little more patient.

"What's going on here?" I let out a frustrated cry out, desperate for a single answer that could just solve everything! "Who are you?" I faced the red warrior.

"Don't worry, ma'am." He then came over to me and helped me up, giving a hand as I painfully got back up. "I've come to help."

"Umm… thank you?" I didn't know what to say about this sudden request for help. Not that I didn't want it, but I was still so curious as to what was going on. But I couldn't have the time to ask when I saw the two monsters in their attack stances again.

"Uh oh." I yelped again. "They're about to attack and that one on the right looks really grumpy now." I pointed at the samurai fiend who looked like he was really going to eviscerate us. All I got from my saviour was a casual response, throwing in another satisfied remark.

"Yeah, he's always like that." He said as he twirled his sabre round and round in his right hand. "Nothing really comforts him more than someone else's suffering, and that's what makes me sick of him too."

At least I could feel that he did not take the monsters too kindly. In fact, when I heard they 'made him sick', I knew there was someone I could trust in this.

"I don't know how you got here, but I'm going to end you once and for all, Ranger!" shouted the samurai monster. What's a Ranger? And what kind of twisted rivalry did these two have? Again, more questions came in this extraordinary experience.

"Oh you know why I'm here." He pointed out his sword and aimed it at the monster. "I'm here to make sure you and Galvanax do not threaten another world with your little game show!"

"Game show?" I yelled. "Is that what this is all about?! You wanted to make my home a place for a game show?!" My nerves were now on fever-pitched hyper mode! The fury had somehow given me the adrenaline to push the pain away and face the enemy and show them that they've made a big mistake! "That's it! You're both going down!"

However, I looked to my side at the so-called Ranger, making sure that he knew what was going to happen in this fight. "And if you think you're going to stop me…"

"Let's do this!" But I was shut off when he began to grab the shuriken centre on his blade. Last I checked, this was my fight! I started it, fighting for my fellow people. Who was this guy to take over for my fight?

"Wait, what? No, I'm the one who-!" No use. He just spun that shuriken and his sword lighted up in a laser aura. As cool as that was enough for me to drool all over, that nosy brat just couldn't let me…

"NINJA SPIN!"

Ugh… What's the point?!

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N~ Did anyone check out the latest RWBY Blake short? OMG! I'm getting excited already!

Anyway, finally the heroes of different worlds meet at last! I feel I've written a filler chapter since it only serves to bring Ruby and Brody together to the fight. The next chapter however hopes to bring a powerful theme for both characters. If you're a fan of both RWBY and Ninja Steel, you'd probably guess it if you think about it. But for now, I left the chapter on a cliffhanger for development for the next chapter.

R98: I'll take a look at those fanfics soon :) Thanks for the suggestion!

Also, thanks to Matt22152, EmperorofCrossovers, Brandon Vortex and Lance Eterna for the new likes and follows!

Leave a like or a review, and I shall catch you all soon!