Once again, another late chapter, but hopefully it is still being waited upon!

Reviews:

DB-19

Well, you're about to get your answer on this chapter! Stay around for the show! And I'm also going to be very careful with using Zyuohger monsters to be adapted here. I mean, we now know that Saban is going to adapt Go-Busters next year, so it might mean that Zyuohger may still have to be adapted. Though, Cruiser looks very promising, and I shall consider adding him to the story. Thanks for the suggestion.

Also, regarding your theory, I really don't want to delve into all of that. After The Last Jedi, the last thing I need is to be caught in theory trains, so I just need to watch the actual episodes or movies and just enjoy!

Dinosaur Imperial Soldier

Watch the series on YouTube. It's an official YT series after all!

Guest

Please let me know how I may have broken her character. I can't really know what I may have done wrong unless you give me the specifics. Once done, I will gladly consider fixing her up.

Chapter 9: The Heiress and the Sorcerer

Warrior Dome,

Galaxy Warriors,

Orbit of Remnant,

When Galvanax had his giant arena ship entering the unknown realm of Remnant, he expected cheers and applauses of grand enjoyment from the crowd as his contestants threatened to destroy everything in their path. The arrival of humans skilled in the arts of hunting and arcane powers had made the show all the more enticing and extreme. Having the alien warriors fight a group of such humans also presented them with the most uplifting chance of glory they would ever get.

Now, however, things got even worse than they needed to be. Much to his chagrin, he had to sit idly as two of his contestants were obliterated by the same girls who had easily stormed all over them. Human girls! The humiliation was all he could take. Worse still, his problems with his mortal enemies, the Power Rangers hadn't helped. Now that one of them, the traitor who had escaped his grasp, had joined the new enemy in the fight, the crowd was not very happy with the performance and the arrival of the characters they loved to hate.

And to Galvanax, of course, an unsatisfied crowd meant very, very low ratings.

"Sir!" He didn't need to hear Cosmo Royale shriek out in a panic after a disruptive audience decided to boo him to backstage. He could already hear the unpleased cries coming from all the way to his throne room. Moreover, he certainly didn't want to hear Cosmo running in like a mad freak. Seriously, why did he even hire this nervous wreck? "The crowd is getting quite restless! Toma Bomba and Rotlight's defeats have left a very sour taste in their mouths! And if we don't screen another episode real soon, then we'll be forced to go for a live re-run!" He was about to throttle his arm and grab Cosmo by the throat, when Ripcon spoke up, interrupting his urge to punish.

"Broadcasting an old episode to a live audience? Who does that?" Ripcon ranted with sarcasm before being straightforward with how he felt. "Oh yes. No one! We'll be the laughing stock of the entire universe!" One thing was true; with the Rangers now involved, their troubles were now doubled, causing more strife amongst the crew. "Sir, I believe it's by time we start taking over this planet. Odius has taken too long to play around with her new human friends."

Odius. Galvanax just wanted to go down on the unknown planet to strangle her. She takes too long to produce any results that were worth his time, and now, it was one of those times where he had to take action by himself. For too long, she had delved into forming some alliance with a bunch of like-minded humans who claimed to have wanted to join him in the fight against the Huntresses and Huntsmen. With the Rangers included in the roster of enemies to worry about, the problems were stacking up against Galaxy Warriors far greater than before.

Galvanax needed to do something with his advisor and he had to do it fast. His ratings were on the line, dangling on a knife's edge. If Odius was taking her sweet time collaborating with some fleshlings without his consent, then he was going to deal with her before things would get out of hand; not that they were being muffled in disaster anyway.

How could Madame Odius expect to gain his trust if he wasn't being acquainted with these humans himself? If she was unwilling to expose him to them, then they were not worth his effort. He reached for his throne room, sitting on his grand chair while Ripcon went to get the communications ready to contact the soothsayer.

The screen in front of Galvanax displayed the text, letting him know that the call was already on the way. He impatiently tapped his foot on the ground, foot going up and down on the metallic surface. To those below him, their champion's foot constantly stepping on the ground every second sounded quite rough. It felt more like stomping than mere tapping; the force of each time his foot tramped the floor.

Finally, the screen came on, featuring a live call with the witch at the other end of the line. Her mask, ever so deviously grinning, stared right at the champion with her hands hidden within the large sleeves of her robe. She bowed humbly at the presence of Galvanax in her sights.

"Galvanax, sir. How relieved I am to see you on the comm!" The soothsayer let herself be welcomed within the conversation. Unfortunately, the champion grew very impatient with the delays she had imposed upon the game show. The power he craved had to be in his hands before the Power Rangers and their potential allies would gain the upper hand and defeat him yet again. He could just punch the screen, as if trying to reach out for Odius herself.

"What is taking you so long, Madame Odius?" he urged. "I am starting to lose patience with you, and so is the crowd. So, you better have a good explanation."

"Unfortunately, I am forced to take precautions over our matters here on this planet. With that meddlesome Red Ranger running around making friends with these Huntresses, then who knows where and what the other Rangers are up to. I need to know where they are before I can have you down here." Ergh, the Red Ranger… Among all the nosy brats he had to deal with, he was the most annoying of the team. There was so much he wanted to do to punish him for treason at the worst expense, especially since said betrayal led to his worst streak of defeats.

"I am not a very happy gladiator, Odius." warned Galvanax. "You have delayed our greatest mission for far too long. The Rangers are gaining momentum and we are sitting here doing nothing!" If Galvanax wasn't yelling like a grumpy old monster, he could have heard Ripcon scoffing at him. He had every reason to be offended by Galvanax saying that he wasn't doing anything. He worked up his butt and nearly got obliterated by the Red Ranger and his new ally back down on the planet. It was like he was being underappreciated or ignored by his boss. He had no such luck on Earth either, and when things got much more anticipating here in this unknown world, there was no change in the lack of respect. Still, there was no point lashing out against him. Who would want to argue with Galvanax anyway?

"Rest assured, Galvanax. I have Kudabots sneaking around the city as we speak, planning out the next phase of our plan to let chaos reign. Just as long as we don't broadcast their appearances in the city for now, we shall locate the other Rangers soon enough."

Galvanax honestly didn't want to bother continuing Madame Odius' plans for a proper build-up of disarray and weakening of the new enemy. He had no idea how powerful these Huntresses and Huntsmen really were, and if Madame Odius kept on pushing him back to his seat, then he was going nowhere to knowing how exactly he could deal with these wretched humans. Plus, again, the Rangers were doing no better to soften his stress. It's like the enemy was already tons of steps ahead and all the Galaxy Warriors was all the way back at square one. Without a solid step against them, his plans were jeopardized.

However, if the Huntsmen were so powerful, then he couldn't afford to risk his reputation, in case he was going to be threatened by these warriors. After all, Madame Odius did warn him that he wasn't strong enough to take on the Power Rangers, now that they had the Power Stars he so desired, in their possession. These humans didn't need Power Stars, or any other powers to prove themselves.

If Galvanax wanted the power of Aura, then he had to play it patiently and, unfortunately, let Madame Odius take charge and resume her efforts in drowning in her delusional alliance with some other humans. Humans that he had to meet if he was to be convinced of their importance. He would have to step up and act to find time with them, or he was not going to progress any further.

"Very well." acknowledged the champion, forced to let the whole thing fly. However, he was going to do something about Odius if she took another moment too long. "But one more delay, and I shall deal with you, personally." He pointed his finger at the soothsayer, deadly stare and all.

"As you command, great Galvanax." Odius got the message, responding with a humble bow before the screen finally went off.

Vale,

Vale,

Remnant,

~WEISS POV~

I had no time talking to this stranger, who I had little pleasure of getting to know. It wasn't because he was terrible or anything. I thought he was noble for at least doing something about these strange creatures crawling around Vale. Still, there was something he had to do with these 'Kudabots', in which he called them.

Perhaps the reason why I'm still unwilling to talk to him was probably the fact that he knew something about these things that I didn't. I wanted answers from him, but it seemed every time I tried, these monsters came out of nowhere to hunt us down.

So, right now, we were on our way to wherever these things were hiding and put a stop to it, once and for all. We ran around the city, looking high and low for more of those disgusting things, and wherever they might be plotting their next scheme. All the while, I was taking it to the streets, through those revolting alleyways and tiring walks across the road. Meanwhile, my new 'partner' was jumping across from rooftop to rooftop. Like, what was the point? Why did he have to be some acrobat, leaping from one building to the next? Were all people like him this hyperactive?

All I knew was that this guy had some connection to the creatures, and for better or worse, I had to follow along and see what he knew.

Eventually, upon reaching the site of a shop that was blown down to the ground by the Grimm attacks earlier, we saw what appeared to be the same goons that attacked us earlier. The blue armour and the hideous looking faces; those were the signs that had me recognizing those ugly things. My associate landed next to me, catching the same sight as I did. We both hid behind the wall of another building. This kid, Preston, was peeping over to get a closer look at what they were doing. As much as I wanted to look as well, I couldn't afford to get my delicate hair from hindering my head down. Even if I cared for it, it was a dead giveaway. So, I decided to let Preston deal with the spying business while I watched around for any other goon.

"There's some Kudabots over there." Preston reported. I had to make a tsk from my teeth. Did he really have to state the obvious? It sounded pretty much habitual, judging by how naïve and kid-like he sounded.

"Yeah, no kidding, genius." I groaned.

"Looks like they're heading for that old warehouse." Preston could see the Kudabots move away from the site. I recalled seeing a warehouse close to where we were, after my previous walk earlier today. "We better make our move." Afterwards, we decided to rush behind the monstrous creatures, sneaking out in a slow but steady pace.

After tailing the Kudabots, we finally reached the guarded warehouse. It was built within a concrete frame of walls that protected it from intruders. However, once we arrived, I noticed something very odd. After the Grimm attacks, all of Vale knew that some low-lives, who worked for Torchwick, were involved in the incident, especially since some Huntsmen were able to herd them up from the lair we infiltrated at Mount Glenn. Due to the fact, security had to be fully revamped to protect key areas within the city, in case a bigger plot would come.

This would mean guards at every side of the walls and probably some more within the building's outer areas. However, as I looked around the vicinity, there wasn't a single guard in sight. Not even in the guard post that was stationed at the entranceway. Everything was empty. Oddly enough, an armoured vehicle was parked right outside where we then hid behind, but there was no crew; just an empty, unguarded area.

That's where I knew; something was indeed going on inside. There was no time to lose. Once we ran more until the wall that blocked us out, I looked up to see that the warehouse itself was right over it. I stood out to check the distance, seeing that it a few metres too tall for me to climb over.

No problem. Myrtenaster would help me with it. I unsheathed my weapon from my belt and prepared a little trick to get me over the wall and onto the building's roof. Working with my inner Aura, I swiped down my blade with my two fingers before I pointed my blade to the ground and summoned the circle of power. After building up enough Aura to my legs, I made one huge leap onto the roof and landed safely above.

After breathing out from that, I looked down to see if my partner was ready to make his own jump. Apparently, he looked somewhat ecstatic to have witnessed my abilities once again. Finally, I managed to get some attention from an equally powerful person.

"Wow… What magic…" I could hear him mutter with awe. However, I didn't really find the comment that gratifying.

"It's not just any magic." I cleared it to him. I seriously didn't know why he would be so impressed given that they were tons of people with similar abilities out there, including himself. "Which end of Remnant did you come from?" And then, he came up with what was probably the most dumbfounding question I had ever heard.

"Remnant? Is that what they call this world?"

"You're kidding me, right?" I had to scoff. There was no way anyone would ever not know of his or her own world, unless they were either isolated from proper education, or if they were suffering from amnesia. "You don't know the name of your own home world?!"

"Actually, I… uh…" Just then, I heard some loud machination going on inside the warehouse. Some clanking noises and steaming noises echoing from underneath my feet. They had to be something in there, and I was here, stalled by some idiotic questions.

"Hush!" I shushed with my finger to my lips. "Something's going on." I looked down again and still saw Preston staying down there like a lost deer. "Get over here!" I swung my arm up to my shoulder, rushing him to come up and accompany me to find out what his little friends were working on.

He complied to my demand and jumped right up with his own two feet and reached the roof, without using any of his own Semblance, or whatever he used to become that dorky suit-wearing warrior that somehow raised my eyebrows. When he was on the roof with me, we both quietly snuck towards the ceiling windows that allowed us to look into the building's interior. We crawled at the very end of the window to avoid detection from the many Kudabots down below.

As far as we could see, the creatures were walking around, carrying boxes and other supplies here and there, like regular people do in a facility like this.

"What are they doing?" Once Preston asked that question, I looked around for whatever they were doing in there. That's when I found this large machine right in the centre of the warehouse. This large contraption looked more like an outdated car engine, with its many pipes smoking out fumes, and gears rotating outside the machine instead of being inside it. What really stuck out from this odd invention was the large metallic dome that resembled a weird light bulb, as lights flickered on and off within it.

"Must be engineering some kind of machine or something." I deduced. "Whatever it is, it can't be good." Suddenly, after looking around a little more, I saw a rather revolting sight that really crept me out. It was this ugly, mutant-like creature that walked on its two feet, stomping about while shouting out some words to the Kudabots. "And what is that?!"

It was an abomination of epic proportions. This thing had a disc-shaped body for its upper torso, flat and disproportioned at all angles. I couldn't see it clearly, but I could make out gears being built into its metallic shell. The middle gear, after looking even closer, had two glaring red eyes, shining towards the minions like a menacing Grimm. I could tell that was its face. Its limbs, arms and legs, were sported with abnormal, spiky golden armour pads, and silver feet. (A/N~ Clock Shadow from the ToQger VS Kyoryuger movie).

"It must be one of the leading goons." assumed Preston, adding up to his knowledge of these freakish monsters. I looked at him to ask him more about these things, but he went ahead and interrupted me. "Yep, for every squad of Kudabots, there's always a monster to lead them."

"We better report to Headmaster Ozpin about this." I decided to take this to the official authorities, and who better to handle the problem than Professor Ozpin himself. We were told to report him if anything was to happen that could potentially threaten the safety of the city, after all. No actions to resolve the crisis myself, otherwise I would have to go through another unpleasant round with Professor Goodwitch over the unintentional insubordination I had to endure.

"Headmaster?" Then, Preston came out of nowhere and, once again, sounded clueless to how we deal with situations like this. "Why do we need to go to a school to handle such a matter?"

"Not just any school, you dimwit!" I raised an alarming rant to remind him of the obvious. Why should anyone forget the significance of one of the most powerful and prestigious Huntsmen academies out there. I gasped in disbelief when I heard that he hadn't even a clue about the wonders that Beacon Academy had to offer. "You've never heard of Beacon Academy? The most important structure of all of Remnant? And Professor Ozpin. One of the leading Huntsmen who deals with problems like this?!"

"Um…" I couldn't understand why was it so hard for Preston to even grasp the idea of how Remnant and Huntsmen like me work. All of this was common knowledge. No one should be so vague as to how important we were when it came to fighting threats that harm our every way of life. We shouldn't forget what we fight for, and the people who can't protect themselves should always call upon us whenever there is strife.

Unfortunately, this boy couldn't get anything I told him. He wasn't getting any sense out of the whole situation of the Grimm and the role of Huntsmen and Huntresses to preserve peace within Remnant. It can't be that difficult to know something that would save your life every day, can it?

Unless…

Was he for real? Could he actually be telling me that…? No way… He was actually telling me the truth? It was starting to make some oddly new sense. I had never seen these creatures before, but Preston had. If these things were nothing Remnant had ever seen, then was it really true? I hated to think of such impossible odds, but somehow, I had that tingling feeling that I was being left in the dark.

"Let me get this straight." I had to clear things up, making sure if Preston was legitimately from another world. "Are you actually saying that you're not from Remnant at all? You're seriously not trying to pull my leg?"

"Why would I?" His instant response said it all. He told me so quickly, that it might actually hold some validity in his case. It looked like he was insistent on telling me that he was indeed from out of Remnant itself, but that didn't really mean he was. "Okay. I know it's hard to swallow, but hear me out. I'm actually from another dimension."

"That's impossible!" I argued, still refusing to accept the possibilities of such dangerous travels through out of the planet. "Everyone knows that humans can't travel to space! Who has the kind of technology to do that?"

"Apparently, we do." Preston argued back. "Sheesh, this really is a strange place to be in if you guys can't even use all of these fancy technology to travel into space." With good reason, I must add, because every time we tried, all of our efforts were merely for naught. Dust simply can't travel through the vast open space out there, so we were unfortunately out of luck. Yet, somehow, someway, Preston told me he was able to travel from another dimension to end up here.

I didn't believe it. I wanted to defy his logic, but there was too much creeped out weirdness happening around, that it might had actually sounded like, indeed, he was telling the truth.

"And those monsters? Those 'Kudabots' and the freakishly revolting monsters. I suppose they're from wherever you came from?" I had to find more rightness to this tale, asking him more questions to connect the dots with these abnormal creatures.

"Unfortunately, yes." he sighed. "They're a bunch of violent space gladiators who compete in a game show to see who can rule the universe. And since they're here, they're going to try and take over this world as well."

At that point, I was flabbergasted to the point of silencing myself for a whole. He then went up and said to me, that all of this… The ugly monsters, the brutal fights and the danger of destroying our world… It was all for a game show?! I couldn't believe it all… one bit.

"Okay. I'm officially zoned out here." I shook my head, having a major migraine from the plot of this weird occurrence of events that just didn't seem to make sense. "Humans from another dimension? Space travel? Aliens who just fight for some wacky game show?!" I was so confused, I wanted to vent out my frustration and scratch my head to pull out all my neatly combed white hair out. My brain was so scrambled of all the details I'd been given, that it was more than I could bear. I knew things got weird at many points in my life, but this, when all of Remnant's logics were defied, and everything just came crashing into make things worse, I just couldn't stand the confusion of it all. Even if I was always told to maintain my patience, I just had to let it all loose, shouting out to express my impatience.

"Ugh! Can someone have any sense of all of this?!"

"SHHH!"

Perhaps, that went a little too loud…

"Who goes there?!" The large monster yelled from below, muffled by the glass window in between the two of us and the creeps below. I had never been such an idiot in my life. The one thing I had to do when sneaking upon an enemy, and I blew it up. Gosh, I must had felt like Ruby every time she did it herself. A complete idiot…

"Oh no." I yelped, holding up a hand to my lips in frantic fright. Then, all of a sudden, I felt a strong tug on my right arm before being pulled off the roof by Preston, as we began to escape the clutches of the monsters in the warehouse. As unsatisfied as I was about the sudden pull of my arm, the fact that we had to leave as soon as we could, left me with no other choice but to scatter before we were in deep trouble.

"Jump!" The instant we both ended up at the edge, we made one huge leap down to the road. I landed gracefully on my two feet, crouched to the ground, while Preston rolled to the front upon landing. "Let's get out of here!" We dashed our way from the warehouse walls and back into the open street to escape whatever monstrosity was going to chase us.

"Kudabots! Seize them!" I could hear that monster shouting out to pursue us, so we kept running, unsure if we'll ever stand a chance against those creeps.

Eventually, we were already running across the road and into another alleyway, having sprinted for a good minute to shake off our pursuers. The cross-junction was fortunately empty, so we took a moment to finally catch our breaths. I couldn't imagine running away from danger like this. After all that Father had taught me, I could not prepare myself for this new threat, for my skills as a Huntress had always been toned on fighting Grimm, and although I could take on those blue creatures, I was still clueless as to how to fight a large mutant-like monster that looked like some failed invention.

"I think we lost them." Preston was just as tired as I was. All I had to rely on was the presence of some kid who was just as mysterious. I had never prepared myself for the unrealistic truth that was inter-dimensional travel, as in from one world to another. Like, how was that even possible? No one in Remnant had ever achieved the feat of going into space, ever. Then, all of a sudden, some aliens and this boy just appeared out of nowhere, apparently from some other universe. Frustration was still making me boil with anxiety and a never-ending rise of questions in my head.

"Okay! This is really creeping me out!" I grabbed my head again, still extremely freaked out by how much weirdness was going on. I really felt like pulling out my hair like a wig, stuck to my head for all my life; just all of it! "First, I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting some magician who apparently doesn't know his way around, then I get these aliens who are actually competing for some stupid game show?! Just tell me if I'm not insane!"

~PRESTON'S POV~

"Calm down!" I yelled, though not too loud because we were still on the run. Weiss shouted out her frustration after I told her the whole reason why I, and Galvanax, too, were here on this weird planet. All the things she told me were just as strange. Everywhere I looked, I would think that the people here would be more advanced than those on Earth. But then, I was given the fact that no one had ever even make it out to that fractured moon up in orbit. I couldn't believe the irony of it all.

Yet, I felt for Weiss. She was just in the dark as I was. So far, it looked like she was not ready for the arrival of alien gladiators and all. And then, I had to expose myself and reveal my powers to her, morphing right in front of her to fight the Kudabots. I was sure she was in a rough situation as I was.

"How can I calm down when all of this… this crisis is happening?" She continued to freak out, under the pressure. I tried to be reasonable to get her to feel better and snap her back into the trouble we were getting ourselves into. We would have to worry about figuring things out later. Galvanax's monsters always knew when to keep up with the chase.

"Hey, I've seen you fight those Kudabots. At least, I can say you're more than capable." I praised her.

"But… they have a huge monster with them. Do you think we stand a chance?" Still, she relented.

"I fight goons like him all the time. He should be a piece of cake!" I knew my response was haphazard, but it was worth a try, right? "Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but that doesn't mean he would be too powerful. We just gotta work together to fight him, that's all." She took a deep breath, finally deciding to give up whining like some snob and apparently think about what to do next. If she took my advice, then maybe things might have went to a smooth start.

She turned her head at me, still unsure about our little crisis, but finally, I could feel the ease on her face, relaxed and calmer than before.

"You really think I can fight such a monster, huh?" I simply nodded, hearing that her voice was slowly regaining that proud tone. "So, you admit it then? That I am more skilled than you are?" Okay, maybe a little too proud…

"Ugh… Sure, whatever." I know I wasn't being sincere, but do I have time to be humble? Nope. I didn't think so. Weiss finally back on her feet and her pride intact, we both settled on finding out how to deal with the monster and the Kudabots.

"Well, you know more about these monsters than I do, so I'll give you some credit." she told me, somewhat half-heartedly. "So, how do we fight that… thing?" Such a good question, I thought. Unfortunately, I could only say one little thing, and she was not going to like it.

"Honestly, I don't know."

~WEISS' POV~

"What?!" He doesn't know?! How the heck could he even fight against these monsters then?! If he was so contentious on fighting these alien warriors, then why should he not have any idea how to handle them? "You said you've fought creatures like him!"

"They're not all the same, alright? They don't necessarily have the same weakness." he defended. "Every monster I've fought were all different from each other. Thus, my friends and I would have to think first before acting against each one." I decided to forget my ranting and focused on something that he said later that caught my attention.

"Wait?" I interjected. "Your friends? You mean there are more of you?" I had the intrigued notion of more people like him, capable of transforming into these dorky looking, but still-powerful warriors to fight these monsters. More teenagers, hopefully more tolerable ones, who could actually help tip the balance in our favour. If that was the case, then where were they now? They had to follow him, if he was going to arrive here and take on the enemy he was supposed to fight, not us.

"Yep. And they happen to be around the city, right now." I was relieved when he confirmed what I needed to hear.

"Well, can you call them or something?" I asked.

"I guess that would have to do." Well, no kidding. The sooner backup can arrive, the better. In fact, I thought I should call my teammates as well, if we weren't fed up of each other, that was. I could imagine everyone was still being very unsatisfied after the argument we had yesterday.

And that was funny, too. Yesterday, I returned to the dorm, still feeling very stressed out after the argument, coming back at night to see Yang, still in a very bad mood. I guessed she didn't get to beat up any ruffian that day. Blake was yet to return home, but I couldn't care for now, so I went to sleep. But as I approached the dorm, I noticed something quite odd. Ruby was nowhere to be found. The little runt was not in bed above mine, just an empty mattress with only an unused blanket and a pillow. I thought it was weird; I wanted to ask Yang if she had seen her. However, my instincts told me not to bother her because I knew how extremely enraged she would be if I woke her up at such an abrupt time. I didn't have the patience to wait for Blake, either. So, I went straight to bed, unable to even shower to my sleep wear and dozed off.

When the next day arrived, I was first up, and first out, leaving Yang and Blake to their slumber, and still, no Ruby to even look for. However, despite my concern, I believed she would return; she always does, unless it was for some good reason why she decided to not come back to the Academy.

She was lucky Beacon was on a momentary period of break for some of the Huntsmen after the Breach. I, myself, took the chance and just went off to relax some more, and that was where I left off. The next thing I knew, I bumped into Preston, and the rest was history.

~THIRD PERSON POV~

Even as plans were nowhere near formulation, the two newly met, but uneasy allies were going to do their best to combat the mutual threat of the monsters of Galvanax's contestants. One of them was sure to be on the way to eliminate them, and was even surer that he would jump out right about… now…

"Hah!" As predicted, the monster with gears on his body, had already found them, along with a new squad of Kudabots and Bashers at his sides, all primed with their rifles and spears, threatening to end the heroes for good. "You thought you could run away, Ranger?!" Preston knew exactly what was going to go down. Cornered with nowhere else to run, it was the time to be a hero again.

"It's best if we fight them." he stated.

"My sentiments, exactly." agreed Weiss, swinging her weapon out towards the enemy. Preston pulled out his Morpher and Power Star and proceeded to change into his Ranger form.

"NINJA SPIN!" Instantly, the Blue Ranger prepped up for battle. The two defenders of peace and justice stood forward, blades pointing right at the monster they were about to fight.

"Gear-Con, ready to rumble!" The monster punched his fists together before bending down to charge at them. The Kudabots and Bashers all readied themselves, with the ranged soldiers aiming their weapons in a line while the blade wielders held their weapons tightly with two hands each.

"Time to spring a few of your cogs loose!" warned Preston.

"Try as you might, but I've got tons of surprises, gearing up for more!" shouted back Gear-Con.

"Can we please skip the lousy puns already?" Weiss stomped her foot. She swore; these guys could give Yang a run for her money. She couldn't even bear to imagine the festival of idiotic puns she would have to endure…

"We'll skip the puns if, one, you take me out for good, or two, you could ask the writer to stop them yourself?" the monster yelled, as if referring to someone who was giving him this pun-tastic script in the first place.

"Huh?" The two heroes awkwardly wondered what he was talking about.

"Enough talk! Destruction is at hand!" Unfortunately, the fun was about to begin, and the monster made a few punches at nothing, pumping up for more. "My gears are grinding, boys! So you better make this one count!" The abnormal squad of monstrous creatures prepared to make their move. In the typical style of fighting, the big monster would stay behind and let the horde of goons do their stuff. The Bashers rolled out, taking the lead, while the Kudabots inched forward and took aim at the two.

"I'll take the Kudabots." stated Preston. "You go for the Bashers." Weiss didn't need to ask which were the bozos she had to take out. With such an obvious name of 'Basher', it wouldn't take long to figure out what they would do. Going ahead with Preston's suggestion, she charged up first to deal with the club-wielding drones, and give Preston time and space to charge forth and attack the riflemen. Once the stage was clear, they would both go for the big guy last.

Weiss skied forward with her Myrtenaster, summoning a glowing circle of white light to give her a smooth and swift boost to confront the Bashers. When one Basher swung its blade down, Weiss immediately moved to intercept, clashing her blade with the other. However, the force of the Basher's swing was so intense, that she was nearly knocked off her balance, forcing her to slide away before another Basher would take her down.

After her quick save, Weiss breathed out, relieved that she had acted fast enough. It was a good thing she kept her focus on her grip, expecting the weight of the weapon to knock her off. It was a risk, taking the blade on, but was always ready to dash out and skid away before she'd get struck again. It was almost fortunate that she remembered that little incident in class with the Boarbatusk that was brought in by Professor Port many months ago, or she'd be living down the same mistake she did back then.

She then resumed her offensive, with the strength of the enemy's weapons calculated, and proceeded to rely on her speed and grace to make quick shots at the humanoid aliens. The large, overgrown blades would make the Bashers completely clumsy and slow with their attacks. Thus, Weiss would have to strike at the precise moment, by allowing the Bashers to throw their weight down and swing their blades around.

One of the Bashers, the same one earlier, made the move again, rushing forth with its weapon swung down again. This time, however, she noticed another Basher coming in for a joint attack. They both raised their weapons simultaneously, predictably going forth at the same time. Weiss quickly moved out of the way and jumped out, making them both miss her. As she leapt, she slashed Myrtenaster at another unsuspecting Basher, running the extremely thin blade right through the alien's stomach and knocking it out. Immediately, she dashed away and attacked the two Bashers that missed her, cutting through them with relative ease. Three down, four to go.

Meanwhile, with Weiss keeping the Bashers at bay, Preston charged right for the Kudabots. Just as he got them in his sights, they lined up their shots and fired their laser flintlocks at him. The Ranger pulled out his golden Elemental Star and locked it into his Star Blade, giving a strong spin as he ran for them.

"Element Star! Ninja Forest Attack!" He swung his blade down to the ground, in between himself and the Kudabots, zapping a stream of green dust into the cobblestone pavement. In a split second, the ground shook, breaking loose a bunch of thick, wavy vines that burst out like jackhammers from underneath. The vines soon, tied themselves together to form a sturdy, durable wall that shielded Preston from the laser barrage. The laser shots barely seared through the tough vegetation, preventing any damage to Preston.

The Blue Ranger then somersaulted over the vine wall and landed on the ground, just close enough to attack the Kudabots before they could reload their energy weapons. They had to result to an all-out brawl, clustering around Preston with their rifles now used for melee weapons. Preston used his Star Blade with the stealth of a ninja, launching himself with furious slices of his sword as the Kudabots clumsily fought him. He denied one strike by one of them before swiping it up and slashing down at the Kudabot as it stumbled. He then jumped to the side and spun kicked another, landing on the ground to spin the Star Blade against two more. Before he knew it, he was already able to take out nearly all of the Kudabots, leaving only three to finalize his attack.

He picked out his standard Power Star and locked it into the back of his frog-like Ninja Blaster. Aiming it at the Kudabots, he pulled the trigger and unleashed the final attack.

"Ninja Blaster! Whiplash!" The mouth of the frog's head opened up to reveal a long, flexible tongue-like appendage that whipped right at the Kudabots. The first one it hit, the tongue struck into the body of the Kudabot, draining the life out of the minion. It took about a few seconds before it finished up and proceeded to do the same at the others at lightning speed, blowing them all up in the process.

Weiss finished up attacking the last of the Bashers, unleashing a black encirclement of Aura that surrounded them before the radius of the circle shrunk right into through their bodies, zapping into their insides and destroying them. With the Bashers done, she then looked towards her new partner, seeing that he was able to finish off the Kudabots. The two then turned their attention towards the head honcho of the group.

"Who needs those Kudabbots anyway?!" he bellowed. "I've got my own tricks to pull off!" The monster then proved his point and charged right for the two heroes, clumsily running with the weight of his gears pushing him down. Preston was about to charge first, but Weiss interrupted his start, gliding forward to attack the beats head on.

Her blade sliced forth, nearly cutting the metallic body of the monster, before following up with a flurry of thin, clear-cut strikes that only literally scratched the surface. When those strikes failed, she had to retreat when the monster struck back with his claws. Skating away to safety, Weiss gave Preston more room to fight in. The Ranger sprinted forward with Star Blade swinging rapidly at the monster. Though more hits were successful, the armour of Gear-Con was still withstanding the full blow of each hit. Preston tried to get his kicks and punches to hit too, but that was obviously pointless, even if it was worth the try.

Still, Gear-Con bashed the Ranger, knocking him off out of the way. He then charged off to take on Weiss again. The brutish monster stopped running, though Weiss kept her guard in case he would try anything to attack her from where she was. Gear-Con then bent forward, pushing his energy throughout his body and causing the giant gears on his body to spin wildly out of control. Once charged, the alien combatant then thrust his hand outand fire a large orange shock beam that sent raging bolts of plasma and electricity straight towards Weiss. She quickly followed by summoning a glyph-powered circle that glowed brightly, protecting her from the energy beam as it crashed right in its centre. However, the power of the beam was immense, far greater than she would hope to overcome.

The beam shot right against the shield with the force of a Goliath Grimm beast, pushing the defence back so hard, Weiss could not hold on any longer. The energy shield cracked and broke off into pieces before disappearing completely, shooting through and threatening to hit her.

Weiss zoomed to the side, despite the loss of energy in her body, and let the beam explode right behind her, blowing a hole on the wall of a building. She slid around the monster just as he was charging his weapon, landing in between Gear-Con and Preston.

When the Blue Ranger caught the monster in his sights, he prepared to use another attack to try and slow him down.

"Lock In!" He loaded another Power Star into his sword, and gave it a strong flick of his thumb to spin it. The power emerging from the star caused his blade to burn brightly in a flaming aura. However, just as he was about to swing it towards the monster, he didn't see the Huntress standing in front of him on time. By then, he was already fully charged up. Letting go of the power would be very costly for his energy, thus, he had to unleash it with full force.

"Weiss! Get down!" The Ranger called out to Weiss, having no time to pull back and wait for the attack to happen.

"Huh?" The heiress turned her head around to see Preston swinging that flaming sword right at her direction. She panicked at the sight of the upcoming blow and almost yelled at him from a flurry of fright. "Wait, what?!" There was nothing she could to stop him; Preston was already rocking about with his weapon until the flames grew bigger and wilder.

"Element Star! Ninja Fire Wave!" Not once did Preston relent as he swung his sword in a powerful swipe, unleashing the flaming energy that opened up into a wave of fire, shot straight for Gear-Con… and Weiss!

"EEK!" Once again, the heiress yelped, dropping herself down to the ground just as the fire wave flew right above her back. She could feel the singing burning power of the wave heat up her hair while it barely missed her and headed for the alien.

"ARGH!" The burning wave crashed into the monster, surrounding with scorching fire that seared into his body. The intense heat was felt with swift pain and agony, right up to the gears on his head. Gear-Con wriggled around as the flames burnt across his body, desperate to fan them out with his hands.

Using this as a distraction, Preston ran over to help Weiss up. When he got her to stand from her fall, he looked at Gear-Con when the flames disappeared completely from his body. The burns were still there, causing him to stumble a bit to his feet. Once the heat has cooled off, he was already weakened and badly hurt by the attack. Still, he felt like continuing his offensive on the two pesky humans who dared defied him.

"Well! That was just rude!" He pumped up his body to charge up another attack. The two human fighters were too busy recovering; Weiss having nearly being burnt alive and Preston using up a lot of energy from that attack. Gear-Con pushed himself to turn on his gears to power up his ultimate weapon. Suddenly, the moment he started, the gears stopped working, shutting down. Puzzled, Gear-Con started again, but with no luck. Every time he huffed and puffed, the gears just didn't work. "Oh no! You overheated my mechanism! Now my gears are jammed!" He glared at the two warriors who messed up his greatest device against them. However, without his main source of power, the contestant was out of order. He stomped his foot with anger, mad that he was denied his greatest asset against his enemies.

It wasn't the end, however. If he was to get back in the game against them, he was going to have to retreat and repair himself. He vowed that the next time he would face them; they were going to be destroyed.

"This isn't over, Ranger! I'll be back to fix you straight!" And after his warning, the monster snapped his fingers and disappeared within a blinking electronic light before vanishing completely. Weiss was certainly astonished by more unheard-of abilities these aliens were able to use. She had seen such sudden teleportation before from the previous monster she faced, but it was, like everything else, still very foreign to her.

Unfortunately, aside from the bizarre, the fight was already over. The monster has escaped and the heroes have lost their chance. Now, the monster was going to alert Galvanax of their intervention in his plans and things were only going to get worse from there. Weiss stood up angrily from the shameful outcome of her battle against the monster, staring daggers into Preston.

"Are you crazy?!" she yelled.

"What? What did I do?" Preston bewilderedly stammered as he took off his helmet.

"I could have been killed by that fiery… thing you just did!" Weiss' hands were crossed together with a scowl on her face. As always, failure to achieve a victory has made her very disappointed, all thanks to a stupid mishap from the only partner she had to depend on.

"Sorry." apologized Preston. "I didn't have a choice."

"Oh, so you didn't, now?" Her pompous attitude was now getting on Preston's nerves, causing him argue back. For too long, he had to put up with her snobbish nature, and now he was beyond frustrated.

"Holding that attack in takes up a lot of strength!" His voice did surprise Weiss, but he kept on going. "I didn't even know you were in front of me as I prepared for it." An awkward silence filled the air, with the two staring rudely at each other over the lack of proper teamwork between them. They both couldn't help but fire their frustration on one another for the messy fight they had just gone into.

Weiss thought Preston was basically a clumsy fool who thought his magic spells could solve his fights, without poise or care for those around him. Preston, on the other hand, just thought she was an ungrateful, sour loudmouth who thought she was so mighty proud of herself for her abilities, that she would blame him for any failure. In other words, the two of them were in a pickle against each other than the enemy.

"Well, at least that's been taken care of." Weiss grabbed her ponytail, carefully brushing it down after the singeing burn it sustained from the fiery attack. All the while, she quietly mumbled under her breath, barely heard by Preston, who couldn't stand watching this 'little miss prissy', making a fool out of him. He watched as she checked her shining silky white hair before she brushed off the dirt she took from the fight. He had not been the most vocal of his team of Rangers, but when it came to something that riled up his blood, he knew he had to stand up for himself and correct mistakes, whether it'd be his own, or someone else's.

"Why are you so frustrated with everything I do?" groaned Preston, catching Weiss by surprise. However, she made no attempt to show it, rubbing the edges of Myrtenaster's blade with her handy towel.

"You could have warned me before you did the unthinkable." she boldly defended herself, not once looking at Preston. "Why couldn't you just say something so I could have avoided it?" Preston rolled his eyes with aggrevation of this stubborn little girl, telling him that he was basically the one in the wrong. Yes, he made a mistake, but did she have to rub lime into the wound?

"Sheesh, you really are an Ice Queen." He shook his head in disappointment.

"Hmph!" Weiss just huffed, already being used to the word so many times, even if he had never met her long enough to know of it.

"I'm starting to wonder how your friends tolerate your attitude." added Preston, finally snapping her out.

"Excuse me?" She turned her aggravation on him again, willing to preserve whatever dignity she had in her. Preston, however, did not stop. He was going to find a way to break through to Weiss, because with all her attitude and bravado, she still had some level of care for her teammates. It was there; he felt it all. He just needed to get her to confess that she was not all right with her struggles.

"Well, you have friends, don't you?" asked Preston.

"Of course, I do." insisted Weiss. Preston clearly didn't know how much she cared for her friends, and how much she valued their teamwork. Who was he to question her social skills? "I have a team of equally capable fighters who takes on threats like this all the time."

"And how do you think they feel about you constantly criticizing mistakes like mine?" Again, Weiss retorted, offended by Preston's lack of belief towards her. She was going to let him have it and show him how wrong he really was.

"I…" She had to stop, making sure to be less of a glory hog to include her teammates as well. "We know how to fight as a team. They believe in me and I believe in them." Preston could not fully believe her claims. However, there was some truth in her voice. How she just declared her feelings for her friends with such grace and passion, it was almost like speaking to a different person. Weiss was a snob, but there was a caring soul within that icy shield of hers. He just couldn't understand why she had to be reset to a full-time stubborn princess when she meets with a new face.

Now, there was no time to stall. The monster has retreated and more will be on the way to finish them off. The city of Vale was about to be in danger, and Preston had to find a way to help the people of this world handle the threat of this alien invasion.

"Anyway, I should try and contact my team leader." suggested Preston. "He should be able to come to the city as soon as possible."

"I hope he's better at listening than Ruby." Weiss just sighed, but her voice had just been caught by Preston.

"What?" He prompted her to repeat what she just said about someone named Ruby. By comparing this person to Brody, it sounded like Weiss had some team leader of her own. As he looked at her face, she was probably on the fence about how to explain about her to himself.

"It's just… Our team leader." she spoke, unsure if she should even bother talking about. She did, however, feel obliged to let him understand about how she felt. Perhaps after telling him more about Ruby's apparent incompetence, he could know her better, and probably help him realize why she fought the way she did. "She is… What's the word? Delusional."

"How so?" Preston asked again, now clearly intrigued by Weiss' description.

"She thinks it is fine that we go out of our way and do things without the approval of our superiors." she finally said with compassion. She remembered the times she had to deal with the immature leader, always forced to follow along with what she believed was the right course of action. They'd have to jump the gun and break certain protocols of engagement, and despite the encouragement of Professor Ozpin, they had failed to secure the win and left Vale vulnerable to attack by the creatures of Grimm. Things would have been much smoother if Ruby hadn't been such a hothead and planned out her battles before they could ever move out to finish the job. It was all precision and dignity towards others that win battles, not rushing in like some mad rabbit.

"And now these alien friends of yours started showing up around the city, and she thought it was the brilliant plan to just jump right in and deal with a monster in the forest without anyone's permission. If you ask me, she needs to have her act together." The frustration came out clear and straightforward. Weiss had just about enough of Ruby's antics and putting her own interests to make the team be the pinnacle of greatness. She couldn't take the pressure of pulling herself and the others into her schemes any longer, and that was why she had to lash out and set her straight.

"And you suppose she isn't right?" Then, all of a sudden, Preston voiced out to stop her from saying further. "I mean, she is pretty much aware this is all going on, and you just straight up refuse to believe her?" He himself had heard it all. Weiss was simply letting simple rules keep her from doing the necessary need to fight and save lives. He didn't believe that everything had to be played with rules. He didn't let any restriction get in his way, studying in the arts of magic to prove to the world that nothing is ever about following the rules.

"I believe her! I saw one of those abominations up close before!" Weiss still relented. "It's just… She jumps to conclusions. She thinks it's all a big game, so she could prove to the world that we are some great heroes. It's never supposed to be about fun and games." She eventually decided to look away from Preston, crossing her arms together as she breathed heavily from her argument with him.

The Ranger didn't really know how to put up with Weiss. She had been so full of herself, that she had been saying the exact same thing she said about her own team leader. Weiss was not aware of it, he thought, but he was sure she was putting her own etiquettes ahead of the team, by forcing them to follow whatever rules were set upon them.

There was no way that she would be so self-centred on making her teammates go through such downplaying routine, discouraging them from doing what had to be done to save this world.

"Seriously, is talking down on others the best you can do?" he said again, ticking Weiss off.

"I beg your pardon!" she sneered at him with the usual cold eyes. Preston would not be toiled by such deadly gaze. He knew what it was like to have a wild leader on his team, and she was about to hear it from about how he viewed such leadership.

"Whether she's younger or not, she's still your team leader. She knows the greater threat and she is doing all she can to make sure the threat is gone, right? I'm not sure how she became your leader to last this long, but there has to be a good reason, right?" And now, Weiss began to stammer, somehow shaken by Preston's defence of a girl he had not even met.

"Well, the way she does it is just too much. We have been given orders to stand down, and she just decides to run off and disobey them."

"Still, isn't it the right thing to protect the people you value? Even if rules are bent?" Weiss silenced herself again. Something about bending the rules did remind her of what was exactly done before, and it gave her the right motivation to keep things in check. This time, her pride couldn't help her, only true compassion for doing the right thing.

"Bending the rules." she solemnly sighed. "Yes, that was exactly what we did, and we got briefly suspended for it." She faced Preston again, letting him see the sincerest he had seen of her ever since they met. "Even if she's the team leader, she has to learn control, or she will continue to drag us down further." Weiss felt her need to be proud and strong at the face of her acquaintance diminish as she started to feel hurt by what had happened to her and her team after the Breach. Despite the successful defence of the city, the fact that they could have done more and better to stop the tragedy from happening has made her think of the shame and degradation of her team's performance and reputation after they had been suspended by the school.

It didn't seem fair. Everything they could have done to protect the city and stop the White Fang from destroying it, and they had to keep them down in their dorms for a good amount of time. It was not the way she wanted things to go, and all of a sudden, Ruby had to make things more complicated by jeopardizing their status in Beacon. She had every right to defend the team from being desecrated by mad delusions of grandeur.

In honesty, however, she did want Ruby to be a better leader. The way she went with it was what ticked her off, no matter how many times she had done it. Preston understood this very well, reminding himself about how much Brody encouraged him and his friends to think out of the box. That meant breaking out of their comfort zone and finding new ways to accomplish their fights. He felt that maybe Weiss needed to be reminded about the idea of trying to get out of that area of safety and order to set her free to improve on her successes in battle.

"I understand." He took it upon himself to stand next to her to finally settle their differences. "Rules are important. But there is such a thing as too much control." If having a business-obsessed dad taught him anything, it's to always cherish on what you have and love, and never let anyone take them away from you. In Weiss' case, maybe it was about saving the world and its people. Nothing should hold you back on doing a hero's job. "And if your team leader knows what's at stake, you should follow her. Rules or no rules."

Weiss, for the first time in a while, started to listen. After her confession of her problems, she was now open to hear out what Preston had to say, despite her pride.

"At least go along with her and see if she's really not messing around. I should know 'cos I have a team leader, too. He's actually done some bold moves of his own, and we still believe he's an excellent leader. He's not afraid to act up and fight like a hero, to save those in need." Then he moved to another question to get through to Weiss to further connect the dots.

"Isn't there anything in Ruby's case that made sense?" Weiss finally nodded in understanding, accepting that her leader did indeed have the intention on saving the land.

"I suppose she does." she humbly conceded.

"Then give her a chance." Preston recommended his course of action to her. "Not everyone can tell you what you have to do or what you shouldn't do. All it takes is to have a heart and think about what is right."

Not what is good; not what is bad. But what is right… That made a whole lot of sense for Weiss. Throughout her whole life, she had been taught that being a Huntress meant following the basic rules set for any fighter to become a well-shaped warrior. However, over time, she began to realize that everything she was expected to follow was not all to her liking. yet, after tolerating with the differences of many, she managed to become a greater student, whether she liked it or not. Her way by following regulations had only cemented more of her desire to get whatever she wanted, sure that her path of obedience and need for glory through that dignity would make her far better than most.

Instead, it only made her a bigger mess that she originally never thought of. It was exactly as Professor Port told her;

"Instead of fretting over what you don't have, savour what you do. Hone your skills, perfect every technique. And be not the best leader, but be the best person you can be."

To her, Ruby was not the best leader, and she didn't have what she did. Yet, with all of her downsides, she was still a capable fighter, as much as Weiss hated to admit it. Ruby was not perfect, but she was still able to pull of many things even she couldn't do. Ruby had pushed her this far and it has, admittedly, made her feel stronger.

"I can't believe I have to say this." she confessed, willing to snap off her pride once more to think about what she had learnt from being part of a dysfunctional, but well-intentioned team. "But, you're right. I think what you said was… valid. My team leader is a major nut, but… she does get the job done every once in a while."

"Maybe I've been… difficult." The same excuse she had to give Ruby when she once opened up to her, but what he didn't know wouldn't kill him, she supposed. "I guess I was too full of myself, thinking I was to be the perfect fighter. In the end, I was not giving her a chance." Weiss finally understood the whole picture now. She had let her pride overshadow her judgement and saw Ruby as nothing more than a mere pest, when in reality, she was a leader who acted upon righteousness and courage.

"I can't believe I let myself get all arrogant again." Regret came swift, making her vulnerable to pained emotions. "I keep telling myself I'd change, just so I could please them my way." She then slumped down to the ground, ignoring the dirt and filth of the alleys to rethink of her actions as of today. "What a waste of effort."

Preston saw the girl finally break down for the truth. She had let her heart, not her mouth, do the talking. He was actually sure that she would continue to become a selfish brat, but deep within that exterior, is a woman with flaws and some respect for those around her. Maybe that was why she tolerated him thus far. Otherwise, he'd been forced to leave the moment they started to know of each other's talents.

Satisfied of her resolve, he joined her down on the ground, also tired from his battle, to give Weiss some comfort.

"Maybe it wasn't ever a waste." he told her. "Like you said, you've tolerated them before. Why stop now?" Weiss looked at him with some hesitance, but after she did, she gave the first real smile after so long, thankful that he still had faith in her. She always wondered how bad things always happen to make her feel humbler than before.

Now, she could see Preston not as some lousy bum who was constantly making mistakes, but someone who just fights differently. If anything, it was her who had to learn how to work with the differences and give them a chance to prove themselves. Maybe then, she wouldn't be losing the fight in the first place.

More importantly, though, to be reminded once more that she was wrong, made her feel a little bad about having to deny Ruby her own chance to help. She had to do something to bring the team back together once they were done with their predicament.

"Once we're done with this, I'm going to have to explain myself to the team." she declared.

"They'll understand." assured Preston. The wall between them now torn down, they began to finally understand each other in a new light. Putting their grudges aside, they have now become more acceptant towards the other.

"You're right. They always have." Weiss nodded. Preston decided to play along with the change of heart in her by being a little cheeky.

"So, can I get a…?"

"Ugh!" Back to her old grumpy self, Weiss threw a ridiculed look and spat back. "Thank you! There. You happy?"

"Good enough." chuckled Preston. Eventually, Weiss took no more offense from his little joke, willing to let him go, just this once. Now that the two had stopped bickering, they had to focus on what was going to happen next with their encounter with the monster.

"Now, what shall we do about that monster?" wondered Weiss.

"I'm pretty sure he'll be able to move his little machine out of that warehouse." implied Preston, defeated that his chance of destroying whatever contraption was used back there, being slipped away. "We need to search out for any signs of him, and take him down from there."

"Okay. So, we know that the monster can't attack when the main gear isn't functioning. That means we've got to hit it until it jams again." reminded Weiss. "No problem. I can freeze his legs and trap him, while you take the shot." She snapped her fingers, once again playing arrogant to lighten up the mood.

"Sounds like a plan." agreed Preston. "But let's also worry about the Bashers and Kudabots. They'll make the job a lot harder."

"Again, we'll take 'em on like we've always done." Weiss grinned. This sounded like a plan finally coming together nicely.

"Now, you're starting to sound like a team player." joked Preston.

"I'm not always a snob." Head up high, Weiss remained proud as ever, but her attempt to brag about her dignity was about to be shattered.

"So, you actually admit that you are a snob?" The Ranger snuck a little grin, hoping to make sure Weiss didn't get too proud.

"Wha-?! I…!" Weiss nearly lost it, reminding herself to remain calm, just as promised to herself. "Hmph!" She crossed her arms again, offended by the comeback. Preston shook his head gently before getting them back to the here and now.

"Come on, let's deal with that monster, take the fight to him, and make sure your city's safe." he said.

"Right." Weiss released her arms, forgetting the little insult and prepared to assist the boy through the streets. The two walked out of the alley, ready to look around and continue with the new mission to search for the troublemakers. The city was under the threat of being attacked by foreign forces that no one in Weiss' world who could have comprehended how to fight them. The only person she had to rely on was one of the only people, apparently brought to this world, who knew these dark forces very well, and he would help her all the way. She already told herself not so long ago that she would be the best person she can be, and that all started by listening to those around her. She was not going to back down on that promise.

Suddenly, on their way to business, Weiss snickered quietly. She hoped Preston didn't hear it, but the boy was perky enough to catch her doing so.

"What?" asked a confused Preston. She turned to him with an amused little grin and shrugged her shoulders to tell him what was on her mind.

"I guess you can say we're going to 'shift our gears'?" Not much of a reaction from Preston, which was probably yet another blow of defeat for the Huntress. "Oh, come on! I can't even please a goofball."

"Excuse me?" Just when another argument was about to burst, Weiss quickly stopped herself from going on.

"Never mind! Let's just focus on our mission."

"We're going to need to search for another Kudabot." said Preston, letting go of what she had just said. "If it was that easy to find one, then maybe we can have a good chance."

"Right." remarked Weiss. "As if those things couldn't be any dumber…" And so, the two moved on, not going to make things complicated again. However, if Preston had to admit, it was worth trying to appease his humour. Not willing to leave them with any sour taste, he called her.

"Weiss."

"Mmm?" Weiss turned her head to him again.

"For the record, you did your best with that joke. It's just… well…"

"Poor timing?" Weiss interjected, knowing full well of what he was about to say from past experience. "I get it." And with that, the two were once again on tolerable grounds, walking off to search for the leads they needed to find Gear-Con and put an end to whatever Galvanax was planning to do.

Elsewhere

During the whole chaos with Gear-Con, Weiss and Preston were unaware that something else was happening behind the scenes. While they were out fighting the monster, Odious had already warned Cinder of Preston's, and the rest of the Rangers for that matter, involvement in the fight against Galvanax. She felt that something was needed to distract them from her own schemes, sending her two henchmen to find that distraction.

The two had quietly walked through the streets of Vale, heading for the one place where they would find the men for the job. Into the dark alleys of the city, once again, the shadowy forces conspire together to build upon their next great scheme. Mercury and Emerald reach for another old warehouse, far off in the south-east corner of the city, where it was once the headquarters they would frequently travel to in the past.

As expected, they came into the building to find that some men were inside, lazing about throughout the room, doing nothing. They all wore black jackets over their red buttoned shirts, with red shades and black fedoras put on to give off that bravado bunch of mobsters. Mercury and Emerald predicted just as much that the remnants of Torchwick were left sitting around, waiting for the chance for their boss to be broken out of prison. Now, they were just fresh fish, just right for the picking.

They approached one of them, who was leaning against the empty metal racks, just noticing the two teenagers coming in. With a defensive growl, the man got up from his spot to meet them.

"What do you want?" he asked with coldness.

"Cinder's got a little assignment for you boys." stated Mercury, plain and simple. "I'm sure you'll love to hear it."

"In case you haven't noticed, Black, that without the boss, we're pretty much out of order." the man spat back, clearly not wanting to do anything without his boss. However, Emerald came forth, looking like she was about to choke the man to death. He was certainly frightened by the move, moving his hands forward to shield him from any harm he was going to get.

"You're not out of order until Cinder says so." warned Emerald. "Do we really have to remind you about what happens to you when don't listen to her?" The man didn't speak for a few seconds, too lost to do anything without Torchwick's commands. Yes, these two were technically in charge, thanks to Roman's own involvement with Cinder Fall. But the men were loyal to the man, and thus, the right-hand woman who pranced around in her little umbrella, silently watching over the remains of his criminal force. Without him, they were still broken, vulnerable to be handed over to the authorities, to be locked up without any chance of freedom.

There was no other choice but to allow these brats to take over the reins, or at least, have Neo listen in to what they had in mind.

"Fine." He kicked the dust-filled floor, sending off a small cloud of dust to been blown off to the side. Anything was better than a prison cell, he supposed. "What do you need?"

"We need your other boss." told Emerald.

"Sorry, lass." He shook his head, with regret. "But Miss Neopolitan has other businesses to take care of and she doesn't want anyone to disturb her right now."

"Well, you tell her that Cinder is not going to take 'no' for an answer." reminded Mercury, pointing his finger at the man.

"What do you want her to do?" asked the man again. This time, Mercury and Emerald looked at each other with smug grins, giving the men all sorts of creeped out vibes.

"We want Neo to work with some new friends of ours." informed Emerald.

"What new friends?" As the man questioned, the two hunters turned away from each other, leaving a wide open entrance for some said new friends to arrive on the scene to make their acquaintances. To the mobsters' horror, when the company arrived and revealed themselves from the shadows, they were greeted by some of the most hideous faces they had ever seen in their entire wretched lives.

Before them was a rambunctious group of monstrous beings; blue soldiers swarming around another larger monster, who had a large run stuck through her head. Said head, along with her shoulders and ringed knees, were fitted with a gleaming purple jewel stuck onto them. The two thighs were wrapped by a pair of giant, ugly claws, and her wrists were attached with two golden rings with crystals of the same gems found on her body (Ring Shadow from ToqGer) She came in with a feminine pose, greeting the humans like they were part of a blind date.

"Hello, gorgeous!" She came in, flaming her voice out with a French accent, flamboyant and mischievous in its tone.

"What the heck?!" The mobsters all cowered by the sight of these hideous creatures being introduced to them, like they were going to be partners in some new business venture. They didn't know what to do with these sickening monsters, wondering if this was an actual alliance that they were forced to enter. Unfortunately for them, that was exactly what was going on.

"Have fun." Emerald waved her fingers in a mocking gesture before taking Mercury with her as they exited the warehouse, leaving them in the hands of Odious' minions.

"But… but…" The man tried to relent, wanting to escape this horrid reality. No response from the hunters, getting further and further away from them. The man then saw the monster coming closer to him. He felt like the Grimm were coming after them, approaching very precariously at his direction with dark intent.

"Now then! Let us get to business!" The aliens then came right in, giving the men much to fear from this turn of events. Meanwhile, Emerald and Mercury were already long gone, far enough to miss the fearful atmosphere of the men being spooked by their new allies. The boy, however, felt something very off about the dependency of these aliens to assist them in their next phase of Cinder's ultimate plan.

"Why couldn't we just have the White Fang do the dirty work instead of Torchwick's gang?" he wondered aloud.

"You heard Cinder. She and that witch, Odius, need some punching bags to provide the distraction for the Huntsmen and those… Rangers, was it?" Emerald reminded him, making sure she got a nod from him to confirm the names of the monsters' own enemies. "With Torchwick locked up, that henchmen of that no good loser are just the guys for the job." They then continued off, returning to their boss back at Beacon to report on their mission. "Besides, she needs to save the White Fang 'till later. When she has better parts of the plan set in motion, that is." And just like that, the two teens headed out of the alleys, back into the abundance of people, who were all unaware of the dangers to come from their efforts to spread chaos and realize Cinder's own goals.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N~ Finally got another chapter out of the way! I hope you guys were patient, because I had so much to do this time around. I'm just glad I've updated this story again, so that I can focus on more stories that require my attention.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a favourite or a follow, or maybe both, you know? Give me some love XD Anyways, thanks so much for reading, and I shall see you guys later!