RWBY and it's characters are owned by RoosterTeeth and was created by Monty Oum
Mega Man and it's characters are owned by Capcom
"Speech" = Normal talking
"Speech" = Thoughts or robotic speaking
"Speech" = Demonic speaking
Speech = Narration or description
Volume 4 Chapter 9: Bounce Till You Drop Part 1
"Dad, do you have any idea of what happened?" Asked Rock, who had returned to the lab with his Team, as well Quake, Vesper, who were being watched over in a different room by Doctor Lalinde and Oran, who was with Auto in a different room, right after they had found Proto Man in the state he was in. And when they had returned to the lab, Doctor Light was shocked to see what had happened and immediately began to repair Proto Man with the limited amount of equipment available to them after Wily had send a robot to damage the lab. And while Doctor Light had been able to fix parts of the lab, not all of it had been able to be fixed.
"I might have a clue." Replied Doctor Light, as he attached Proto's Memory bank to the still working computer and let it play out what Proto had been seeing for the last couple of days. The first memory showed that Proto had ran into Wily while he was attacking the school, with Wily being shown to have taken Proto down with what seemed to be a EMP canon, after which a mind control chip was placed into the robot.
The next memory showed the next few days going by in a vague and hazy state, first him fighting Rock which allowed Wily to escape from the school grounds, then it showed memories from several consecutive days of Proto going to the lab and stealing any upgrades and bolts that were being made for Rock by Auto and Doctor Light, and constantly bringing them to Wily. The second to last memory showed Proto being put into Wily's flying machine, while in the background three red robots were given orders by Wily before they departed.
The last memory showed nothing but darkness, until an explosion occurred around Proto, after which the memories started to glitch out. The computer then turned off, after which Rock sighed and said "So that's what happened huh, can't believe we didn't notice something off with Proto sooner."
"Rock, don't beat yourself up over it. None of us knew." Said Ruby, trying to make her teammate feel better.
"I get that, but I should have guessed something was up. Yeah sure, Proto was slightly upset with me over what happened with Merlot, but I should have known better than to assume he would actually let Wily get away. He has tested me in the past, but never to the point that I got hindered. I should have known that something was up, because Wily would resort to something like this. He infected Roll with Roboenza just to get to me, he had the lab blown up to hinder us all. I failed Proto." Said Rock, with a somber look on his face.
Weiss sighed and replied "No you didn't Rock, let me make one thing very clear to you. Sure, maybe you failed when you let yourself get arrested to protect us from getting into any legal trouble, and sure going off on your own to face Acid Man was quite dumb of you. But to say that you failed because Proto Man is in this state, is just wrong."
"But I should have known better!" Exclaimed Rock, with a hint of anger in his voice. "I have been fighting against Wily for fifteen years at this point, even longer if you count my fights with him in the previous world before everything happened that led to us ending up on Remnant. I knew that Wily is capable of doing anything to get to me, to hinder me in any way, shape or form. And I didn't see this coming!"
"You're right, you didn't see this coming. You're also right about having fought him for so long, but do you ever wonder why you have been fighting him for around fifteen years?" Asked Weiss.
"Because I'm not allowed to kill him due to the three laws of robotics?"
"No."
"Wait three laws of robotics?" Asked Ruby, feeling confused.
"They were three laws created by some sci-fi author in regards to ethics with artificial intelligence, the first being that a robot should not injure a human, or through inaction allow a harm to come to a human. The second being that a robot should obey an order given to them by their creators, unless that order contradicts the first rule. The third rule is that a robot should protect it's own existence as long as said protection does not conflict with the first and second rule." Said Blake, causing the rest of her teammates to stare at her in shock. "What? I read sci-fi at times, I don't always read smut."
"Ah-ha, she admits it." Said Ruby, before realising something and saying "Hold on, aren't you technically breaking those rules all the time Rock. Cause you've taken part in sparring sessions in Goodwitch's class, and going on missions through your own free will... How does that work?"
"That's simple." Answered Doctor Light. "Rock has at times gone beyond his programming for the greater good, it's why he went after Wily, because of his strong sense of justice. As for those sparring sessions, since they go on until someone's aura is in the red and that being before someone's aura breaks, no one could technically get harmed while taking part in them."
"Huh, so if Wily has ordered his robot masters and robot underlings to attack people, wouldn't that mean that his crimes are extra bad because of it breaking right or wrongs?" Asked Ruby.
"You mean ethics?" Asked Weiss, to which Ruby nodded. "I guess you're right about that."
"Well here is the thing, when I arrested him after something that wasn't a movie, Yang..." Said Rock, to which Yang's only response was to scoff at him. "...During the trial all of his crimes against humanity were listed, kidnapping, destruction of property, theft, but also breaking the three laws of robotics and using it to attack innocent civilians. And due to this happening multiple times, he was given multiple life sentences with no chance of parole. Unfortunately he broke out and we haven't been able to arrest him since, cause he keeps getting away."
"Ah, see, that's why you're not a failure Rock. Yeah he keeps getting away, and sure you've been doing this for a while now. But that's because no matter what Wily throws at you, you keep going. Neither one of you is giving up and he got the better of you right now, but you'll beat him. Just like you have done for the past fifteen years. And it's why we won't give up either." Said Weiss.
"Yeah, your drive to go after Wily and your determination is why we wanted to help. We're all here at Beacon to learn how to fight the Grimm, do good in the world and to stand up for what is right. And your drive to keep going... well it's inspired us as well." Said Ruby.
"Thanks Ruby, you too Weiss, that means a lot to me. Only thing that worries me now is proving Proto's innocence and preventing us from being scrapped." Said Rock.
"I wouldn't worry about that." Said Doctor Light, as he put his tools on one of the tables. "I already send the footage inside of Proto's memories to general Ironwood. Hopefully he can find use out of it."
"You would be correct in that." General Ironwood said as he entered the lab, with what seemed to be a very satisfied look on his face. "That footage you send me, as we as an explanation on what happened, has already been send over to the Atlas council. They still need to review the footage, but I can assure you, Jacques has nothing to use against you."
"I'm very glad to hear that James." Replied Doctor Light.
The general took a quick look at the state that the lab was in, and also how tired everyone seemed to be after a day like this one. "I recommend that all of you take a good nights rest, all of you look very tired and it is getting very late. And you don't want to be too tired if you want to go after the next robot master tomorrow."
"Yeah, good idea." Said Blake, as she let out a yawn.
It was at that moment that Doctor Lalinde came out of a different room, with both Vesper and Quake being behind her. "I have to thank you Rock, you and your friends were able to help Quake out tremendously. Is it an issue for any of you to take the two of them with you tomorrow as well?" Asked Doctor Lalinde.
"Not at all." Said Rock. "She did seem a bit scared after a few cave-ins, so is she doing ok?"
"She was a bit frightened after coming back, but I was able to talk to her and this experience helped us both open up to each other again." Replied Doctor Lalinde.
"Well, that's all that matters, that she is doing better." Said Ruby.
"I couldn't agree more, I will be seeing all of you tomorrow." Said Doctor Lalinde, after which the she and her daughters left the lab.
"I think we should go back to the dorm to get in some sleep." Said Weiss.
"Good call." Said Ruby, as she let out a yawn with Blake doing the same. But right as that was said, Yang left the lab with an upset look on her face before slamming the door shut behind her.
Ruby was about to go after her sister, but was quickly stopped by Rock who said "I think I might know why she is angry, I'll go check up on her."
"You sure?" Asked Ruby.
"Yeah I'm sure, go back to the dorm, we'll meet you three there." Said Rock, after which Ruby hugged him. She then let go of him, and the team left the lab. After which they went into different directions. With Ruby, Weiss and Blake leaving to go to the dorm building, while Rock went looking for Yang.
Later
Yang was in one of the Beacon training rooms letting out her frustrations against one of the punching bags in the rooms, and as she was doing so memories of what had happened in the last couple of months started flooding into her mind. Rock getting arrested, the chaotic night in Vale, she and her team getting captured by Doctor Merlot and having their aura drained and that continuing to happen for a long period of time, the state of disrepair they found Rock in, Ruby nearly dying, Rock going off on his own and nearly getting destroyed, the team getting frozen solid and nearly burning alive, and now a memory of seeing what Wily had done to Proto Man.
With the last memory angering her enough to the point that she would deliver a final punch so strong that she knocked the punching bag off it's hinges, and into a nearby wall. After which she punched said wall in frustration.
"Thought I would find you here." Said a familiar voice.
"Oh, hey Rock. Don't worry about this, just go back to the dorm room, I'll see you guys there." Replied Yang, without even turning around to look at Rock.
"No, I don't think I will." Replied Rock. Who walked over to Yang who had sat down against the wall, and Rock himself decided to sit down across from Yang "Look, I already have a feeling what this is is about. But you want to tell me what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong Rock." Replied Yang.
"Is that so..." Said Rock as he looked at the destroyed punching bag and the hole in the wall "I don't believe you, now listen is what happened to proto upsetting you that much?"
"No, it's not!" Yelled Yang, standing up from her seating position and towering over Rock.
"Then what is the problem Yang, what got you so worked up?" Asked Rock.
"Seeing Proto Man like that, blown to pieces and barely alive because of doctor Wily. It just got to me really badly, it brought back bad memories of what has happened over the last couple of months. All of you getting injured, Ruby nearly dying and all the other bad stuff that happened. All because I wasn't strong enough to keep you guys safe.!" Yelled Yang.
"Woah, woah, what are you talking about? What do you mean not strong enough?" Asked Rock.
"Rock, I have always made sure to watch over Ruby and make sure that she is safe. Sure, I have pushed her to have her make friends and try to do things on her own, but deep down I always wanted to keep her safe. And when we formed our team, I vowed I would do the same for all of you. Always wanted to make sure that you were all ok, and with what has happened over the last couple of months I felt like I had been failing at that. You know?" Said Yang.
In response Rock stood up from where he was standing so he could face Yang and said "You have never failed any of us Yang, most of what happened was out of your control. But you shouldn't feel overly bad over what happened, you shouldn't put the weight of the world on your shoulders."
"But..." Yang was about to say, only for Rock to interrupt her.
"Yang, you remember the conversation we had after Acid Man, right? You wanted to find out why your mother left, but you were worried that Ruby might see you as selfish. Well you can't put the weight of the world on your shoulders, keep all of us safe at all times and try to find your mother. That can't work at all, try to remember that." Replied Rock, and as he noticed a specific look in Yang's eyes he added "And I know what you're thinking, 'oh Rock, you're one to talk with trying to sacrifice yourself to stop Wily' and to that I say, you're right and it's something I'm working on. But I do speak from experience."
Hearing that, Yang stayed silent for a bit to think before responding to him with "You're right Rock, but still, I can't help but worry about the people I care about. And that extents to Proto Man, because he is your family."
"Thanks Yang, I can see where Ruby gets her heroic spirit from. She definitely looks up to you a lot." Said Rock, after which he let out a yawn.
"Good to hear that, and I see that you're tired." Said Yang, who then tried to hide a yawn but failed.
Rock smirked and replied "Speak for yourself Yang, I guess we're both tired after a long day."
"Yeah, I'm ready to go back to the dorms. This talk really helped." Said Yang.
"Don't worry Yang, happy to help." Said Rock, as both he and Yang left the training rooms to return to the dorm room that Team RRWBY shared.
That night
Ren was once again struggling in his sleep, being haunted by nightmarish visions of what had happened in his youth. First the dream starting off with him being back in his old village during the day time. With Ren seeing the usual sights that he remembered seeing on that day, going to the stores to buy a gift for his father, seeing the bullies that were picking on Nora and later getting scolded by his father for not standing up to the bullies for picking on someone who was defenceless.
But then, the world would morph to the worst part of the dream for him. The night where everything changed for him, the night where it all came crashing down for him. Where Ren realised just how cruel the world could be. As all around him he saw his village burning, and Grimm killing those that were a part of his village. Knowing that he has already lost his mother, Ren tries in vain to look for his father.
For he knows what comes next, his father telling him to run as the screeching, that cursed screeching comes ever closer. And with his father telling him to be brave Ren runs, as he hears his father yell out one more time before facing the creature in a battle that Ren has known the outcome to for a very long time at this point in time.
And as he runs, he tries to stay hidden with him even managing to discover his semblance in that moment. And right as he runs through parts of the village for safety, he spots her. He has managed to find Nora, right where she always is. Hidden underneath a building, trying to hide from all the Grimm that were attacking the village. And at that moment Ren runs over to her to try and comfort her.
While doing so, he manages to shield himself and Nora's aura from the Grimm that were in the area to ensure that they wouldn't get spotted and that they would be safe. And right as Ren thinks that they have been completely hidden from danger and that they won't be spotted. A crushing sound is heard nearby, and from one end of the building a skull shaped head appears.
The head looks around the area that Ren and Nora had hidden in, and right as Ren thinks that it wouldn't spot them. The Grimm head looks at him, and screeches loudly towards both of them. The scare jolted Ren awake, causing him to sit up right in his bed and made him start breathing heavily.
He used his semblance to try and suppress his emotions to try and calm himself down, and while it did help a bit, it still took him a few minutes for him to fully calm down. When he had managed to calm down, Ren looked around his room and saw that his teammates were all sleeping peacefully.
Seeing that his teammates were having a better night than he was, put a soft smile on Ren's face. Who then got out of bed, pulled a small box out from under his bed and opened it. In that box were several newspaper clippings as well as photo's that were taken of the creature that had attacked the village.
One of the photo's that got pulled out of the box was one that showed the creature the clearest, Ren looked at it with anger in his eyes and whispered "One day... one day I will take you out."
Elsewhere
Somewhere outside of this universe Snake and Mewtwo were still travelling between universes in the hopes of finding the version of the universe that Mewtwo originated from, but they still didn't seem to be having any luck with it. As right now the two were on what seemed to be a dead world, taking a moment to rest and reflect on the worlds they had been visiting.
"You know, I don't understand why we keep stumbling across so many dead universes." Snake observed, due to the world they were on also being a dead universe. "I mean the last couple we visited were covered covered in that blue stuff that Samus' evil doppelgänger is always spewing."
"I could explain it to you, but I'm not sure if you would understand." Said Mewtwo.
"Try me." Replied Snake.
"String theory, for every choice made a new universe exists where the opposite choice was made. Or just a timeline where a villain managed to succeed in their plan. Does that make sense to you?" Asked Mewtwo.
"Kind of, so would that mean that the last couple of dead worlds were the result of the heroes being unable to stop whatever evil was enacting their plan?" Snake wondered.
"Yeah... yeah it actually does, good call." Replied Mewtwo, after which a piece of paper was teleported in front of them.
"Huh, didn't know we could still get spam e-mails on a dead world." Said Snake, as he lit up a cigarette.
Mewtwo looked at the piece of paper, and started reading what was on it. He then replied to Snake "Uhm, that's not a spam e-mail, the mewtwo we met on the Isle of Armor managed to send us a letter."
"Really, what's it say?"
"It's kind of concerning actually, it reads 'Dear Snake and Mewtwo from the other universe, I don't know when this letter will reach you and hopefully it reaches you before anything will have gone wrong. I'm writing this letter as a bit of a warning, as we just finished an intergalactic war against Ridley and Dark Samus who wanted to cover the entire universe in phazon. I must say, it was a harrowing experience, but we managed to beat them. Dark Samus is dead and Ridley is forced to wear a dress...
"Pfffffffft, Ridley in a dress, that's a sight to behold!" Snake exclaimed while bursting out in laughter.
...But I'm writing this letter to warn you, when you find your versions of Dark Samus and Ridley arrest them immediately or put them on lockdown or something. But don't allow them to enact any schemes. You don't want your world to go through what we just did. Sincerely, the mewtwo from the other universe.' I must say, that is concerning." Said Mewtwo, who saw Snake still laughing and snapped at him "Will you stop laughing, this is a serious matter!"
"Sorry, sorry, you're right this is serious. It's just... it's just the idea of Ridley in a dress, bwahahahahahahaha!" Snake laughed.
"Snake..." Mewtwo warned.
"Alright, alright I'll stop." Replied Snake.
"Good, we need to think of what to do with this." Said Mewtwo.
"I know what we should do, not worry about it."
"But..."
"No buts, look as far as we know those two haven't shown up at the mansion yet. Maybe, just maybe they are still lost to the ether like most of the roster is. So I say, we worry about it when we get back." Said Snake, who then grabbed the piece of paper, folded it and put it into one of his pockets.
"Fair enough, but when we get back, you need to remember to take out the note and tell the rest about what we learned." Said Mewtwo.
"Sure thing, but for now, we keep looking." Said Snake.
"I can live with that." Said Mewtwo, as he then pressed a button on his device and the two were teleported away from the dead world they were on. A few seconds later the two would appear in a different universe, only this time they were inside of some sort of secret base.
"What the, where are we?" Asked Snake, looking around to see where they were. Mewtwo was also looking and saw an egg shaped man and a very well dressed criminal looking at what seemed to be an experiment. Taking a quick glance he saw what was going on, and pulled Snake backwards with him towards a shadowy corner to prevent being spotted. "Why'd you do that?" Snake asked, feeling annoyed with this.
"Look." Was all that Mewtwo said, as he pointed towards the experiment being performed.
Snake looked on, as he saw this worlds version of Team RWBY, along with sonic and his friends being trapped by Eggman who was monologuing towards them. With the only bit he was able to make out being "And farewell you brats!" After which both of them saw the group being teleported away by Eggman.
"Universe where Sonic is working with Team RWBY?" Asked Snake.
"Seems like it, and Eggman just teleported them away." Replied Mewtwo.
"What do we do?" Snake wondered.
Mewtwo took a quick glance at the room that Eggman was in, and saw a gem he had stationed inside of the machine."We grab the gem, and stop Eggman." Mewtwo replied.
"How do you want to do that?" Asked Snake.
"I feel an immense amount of power coming from that gem, so I can't teleport in without that gem doing something. You're going to have to sneak in, and take the gem, since you have so much experience with that." Replied Mewtwo.
"Fair enough, I'm sure that I won't get spotted." Said Snake.
"It's already too late for that." Said a voice from the other room, as at that moment both Snake and Mewtwo were surrounded by a large group of SWAT Bots.
"Press the button, press the button!" Yelled Snake in a panicked state.
"TRYING TO!" Yelled Mewtwo, who kept trying to press the button but it seemed like something was interfering with the device.
It was then that Eggman appeared in front of them, holding a device "It would seem that neither one of you is from this universe." Eggman said, who then laughed and added "Unfortunately, neither one of you will be leaving. You see, this device is powered by the chaos energy and with it I can block any powers. Seize them." Eggman said, only for the device he was holding to be shot to pieces "...What!"
Mewtwo turned to see that Snake had shot the device with a small handgun, with Snake replying "It blocks powers, not bullets and being caught by surprise." He then turned to Mewtwo and added "Let's get out of here."
"Right." Replied Mewtwo, pressing the button, allowing the two of them to leave this universe before any of the SWAT Bots could try to shoot at them with Eggman cursing at them for having managed to escape.
The two would then teleport to a different universe, where they ended up in front of a rather large building with Snake saying "That was close."
"Indeed it was." Replied Mewtwo, who then looked at the building in front of him and read what was on the sign of the building "Hmm, Mishima Zaibatsu, that can't be good."
"You're right, it's not, because the Mishima name usually spells trouble." Said Snake, after which two power dampening shock collars were launched at their necks. Which then shocked them until they fell over. After which a small platoon of Tekken force soldiers exited the building, and picked both Snake and Mewtwo up, while another soldier picked up the device.
"Everything is secure sir, bringing the prisoners to you." Said one of the soldiers into his walkie talkie, after which the soldiers took the duo into the building.
"Told you the name would spell trouble." Snake Said, while being carried inside the building.
The next day back on Remnant
It was the following day back in the main universe Remnant, when Team RRWBY had returned to the lab early today due to not having any classes whatsoever. But when they returned to the lab, they saw that it had been completely fixed. So they took a step inside and saw that the lab was up and running again. So they quickly went inside and there they saw that Proto Man was lying on a table with wires attached to his head.
Rock, seeing this in front of him, spoke up and asked "Hey, uh, dad, how'd you manage to get the lab up and running again?"
"Oh simple, with the help of one of my newest lab assistants." Replied Doctor Light, after which Chemistry Man walked through one of the doors carrying some tools.
"Why hello there Mega Man, good to see you again." Chemistry Man greeted, putting down some of the tools.
"You... you managed to fix him that quickly?" Asked Rock.
"Sure I did, all I needed to fix was his voice box and take out the programming that Wily had put in him. Apparently your earlier fight with him allowed him some freedom from the programming." Replied Doctor Light.
"His voice box, what was wrong with it?" Asked Ruby.
"It was incredibly monotone, turns out that some time ago his voice box broke but the high school that had him made didn't feel like paying for the repairs." Said Doctor Light.
"That's horrible." Said Blake.
"It was, it got to the point that during my lecture kids would fall asleep. So they just scrapped me, drove me to a junk yard and left me there. That was until Wily found me and brought me into his cause. I'm just glad that Mega Man here gave me a new purpose." Said Chemistry Man, causing Rock to blush a bit.
"Ehehehehehehe, it was nothing." Replied Rock.
After that being said, Doctor Light spoke up and said "I even did some digging, turns out he was made for a rather prestigious high-school somewhere in Atlas, so you can imagine why they didn't feel like fixing him."
"Oh, that explains why he looks so familiar. I think he used to teach at my high school before I left to go to Beacon." Said Weiss.
"You didn't have him as a teacher?" Asked Yang.
"Of course not, what use does chemistry have for me?" Replied Weiss.
"Yeah, that checks out with you." Said Blake, making Weiss scoff in reply.
"Regardless of what happened in the past, I'm glad to have been given a new path." Said Chemistry Man.
"Indeed, and he's been helping me fix Proto. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to activate him just yet. So I'm also trying to try and fix him systems." Said Doctor Light.
"How has he been able to help?" Asked Yang.
"Very simple, I was created to be able to make any element on the periodic table. So I created enough metal to fix both the lab and Proto Man with." Replied Chemistry.
"Create any element on the periodic table, huh..." Said Weiss with skepticism in her voice, before sighing and adding "...You know what, I'm not even going to question how that even works cause of how energy can't be created or destroyed according to physics, and instead be happy that you're helping out with this."
Yang gasped at hearing this and joked "What's this, is our resident ice queen beginning to mellow out?"
"Don't be a pest, besides I have been doing better for a while now." Replied Weiss.
"We know Weiss, and we love you for it." Ruby joked.
Weiss sighed in annoyance and said "So what's the next robot master we're facing?" To which Doctor Light responded by pressing a button that showed two robots on screen, one that looked like a bouncy ball and the other looking like an anime character.
"You have Bounce Man and Blast Man to choose from, that's all." Replied Doctor Light.
"Wow, didn't realise we've already taken out that many." Said Blake.
"Which one should we choose?" Yang wondered.
"Maybe we go after the one shaped like a ball, cause after Rock nearly melting, and all of us nearly getting zapped by lightning, getting frozen, nearly burning alive and nearly getting buried alive these last couple of days, I'd rather go for something that's less likely to kill us." Said Ruby, to which the rest of her team nodded.
"I can see that." Said Rock, who then used the computer to look up information on the robot they were going to face. "Alright, lets see... has bouncing and stretching abilities... seems to be stationed at Boing-Boing Park... is a yoga instructor... what the... what the hell!"
"What's wrong?" Asked Yang.
"Ok so it says here that his original purpose was to be a crash test dummy, but he didn't like that job and decided to become a yoga instructor." Replied Rock.
"So what's the problem Rock?" Asked Ruby.
"Some asshole, made a sentient crash test dummy that could feel pain." Said Rock with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Oh, oh wow that is messed up." Said Blake.
"Yeah, it kind of is. Imagine someone picking specifically faunus to act as crash test dummies." Said Rock.
"No I get what you mean, screw whoever designed him." Replied Blake.
"The guy is also a huge idiot, I mean look at him. He isn't even shaped like a person, if he were to be used as a crash test dummy there wouldn't even be any proper results." Added Weiss.
"Not the point Weiss." Said Rock.
"Also, how do you know so much about physics. I thought you had no use for it in high school." Said Yang.
"I said that about chemistry, this is different because Winter gave a few physics text books just so I would know how gravity dust would work the most effective when combined with my glyphs." Replied Weiss.
"Awww, that sounds so sweet of specialist Winter to do that for you." Said Penny, startling the rest of the group as they hadn't seen her come in.
"AH! Penny, how did you come here?" Asked Ruby.
"Through the door."
"No, I mean when did you get here?"
"Just a few seconds ago."
"No, no I mean how did we not hear you come in?"
"Oh that, I was just being quiet to not interrupt anything." Replied Penny, causing everyone to do an anime fall.
Weiss, getting up from the ground, asked in response "While that is polite of you, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see all of you, I was asked to come here by Professor Lalinde." Said Penny, as at that moment both Quake and Vesper entered the room.
Seeing this, Doctor Light slapped his forehead and said "Oh that's right, I completely forgot to say this. Doctor Lalinde asked Pietro if he could allow Penny to join you guys on your mission as well. Just so that Quake and Vesper would get to know her and be able to work with her."
"That is, if you're fine with me coming as well." Replied Penny, with an innocent look on her face.
"Ow, my robotic heart that I shouldn't even have, she's too pure for this world." Rock thought to himself due to the sheer innocence of Penny, after which he replied to her "No worries, I'm sure we'll all be glad to have."
"Yup, sure do." Replied Ruby.
"Sen-sa-tional, I look forward to fighting along you guys and with you again Blake." Said Penny, referring to the incident at the docks.
"Oh that... It was more that you came to help us out while we were in a jam." Replied Blake.
"Well, with those blades of hers and that laser, I'm sure we'll have a blast working with her." Said Yang.
"Ok if that's everyone, I think we're about ready to leave." Said Rock, only for Auto to enter the room with Oran being placed on his back before placing the little feral kid on the ground. "Did he stay here all night?" Rock asked.
"He did, by the time I had been able to get most of the lab fixed, he had fallen asleep. So I let him stay here." Replied Doctor Light.
"You want to come with us again kid?" Asked Rock, to which Oran simply responded with a few growls. "Very well then, everyone grab onto me, we're getting out of here." Said Rock, after which everyone grabbed onto him and a few seconds later they turned into energy and teleported away from the lab. A bit later, the beam of energy teleported into what seemed to be the basement of a large building.
The group looked around, and saw a ladder, so they climbed it and entered what seemed to be a storage room filled with bouncy balls in boxes. "Guess it must have been an indoor park." Said Yang.
"If it's meant to be a massive fitness studio for yoga, then it makes sense for it to be indoors." Said Ruby.
"What's yoga?" Asked Penny.
"An activity where you try to stretch your bones and muscles, it allows you to relax." Replied Ruby.
"Oh, but I don't have any bones or muscles to relax." Said Penny.
"Just like boneless chicken." Joked Yang.
"I'm... a chicken?" Asked Penny.
"No, no you're not. And I'm sure that you can do yoga, remember what I told you, you look like a person to me." Said Ruby.
"Thank you Ruby!" Exclaimed Penny, giving Ruby a crushing bear hug. "Want to do yoga with me when we get back?"
"Sure, I'd love to do some when we get back and there is time." Said Ruby, after which Penny let her go from the bone crushing hug.
"I cannot wait." Replied Penny, after which the group started to make their way upwards through the room. Jumping up to several platforms, and climbing up some ladders until they reached a platform with an arrow pointing downwards. Penny took a look down and then a look up, and saw a massive hole in the ceiling that seemed to be unreachable by normal means. "Should I fly all of you up there?" Asked Penny.
Rock looked down as well and noticed a part of the floor looking different, and he then replied "I'm going to try something." After which he jumped off the platform while shouting out "Geronimo!", falling down towards the different looking floor, once he landed onto the the floor part he felt it going down due to the force at which Rock had landed on it before being launched into the air and managing to come through the hole in the wall and ending up on the next floor. He then yelled down to the previous floor "Guys it worked, just jump down!"
Yang got a devious look on her face and grabbed onto Ruby, Oran, Blake and Weiss before jumping off the platform, while Weiss shrieked "Yang, don't!" before all of them being launched towards the next floor. While Penny and Vesper, holding onto Quake, flew through the hole in the ceiling where they saw Weiss pulling on Yang's ears with a stern look on her face.
"Oh come on, you can't deny that it wasn't fun." Said Yang.
"Never do that again." Replied Weiss, letting go of Yang's ears.
"Alright, alright I got the message." Replied Yang, rubbing her ears in the process.
Ruby then got a good look at the room in front of her, with it being a large room that had bouncy balls covering the walls, ceilings and floors of the room. "You know, we probably should have gone here first."
"Why's that?" Asked Penny.
"Look around, everything is a bouncy ball. The ceiling are covered in them, there are trampolines in this building. Most of us have weapons that can pierce, this is going to be cakewalk." Replied Ruby, who then saw some sentient looking bouncy balls coming towards them. "Look at them, even the robots here are mild hindrances at best."
"You're right, look even the feral kid is having the right idea." Said Yang as she pointed towards Oran who had ran towards the part of the room covered in bouncy balls and started bouncing along the balls while going into his armadillo shell to be able to bounce around even more.
"I say we join him." Said Rock, to which the group nodded in response and also went onto the bouncing area. And started to bounce through the room to their hearts content, with some people even doing tricks. Even going as far as to just ignore the bouncing robots in general, as even they were just bouncing around the room.
As they were bouncing their way to the other side of the room, Vesper noticed a happy look on the face of Quake and so she asked "Enjoying yourself sis?"
"I am, this... this is fun." Replied Quake, as she and Vesper continued on bouncing through the room while laughing.
"Glad to see you doing better after yesterday." Replied Vesper.
"Yeah, so am I." Said Quake, as she and the rest of the group reached the end of the room. Where they had to bounce high enough for them to reach a ladder, they climbed it and on the next floor found themselves in a long vertical cylindrical shaped room, that had bouncy balls covering the walls.
"I guess the only way we're getting up there is by letting us bounce ourselves upwards." Said Rock.
"Well, aren't we glad that Jaune didn't come." Said Yang.
"Agreed, even though he has gotten better with it. So maybe this won't be so bad." Said Ruby.
"If this is the only way, then so be it." Said Blake, as she went over to one of the walls and let herself be bounced upwards. With the rest of the group quickly following her example, except for Weiss who stayed at the bottom and began to summon a glyph that was mixed with the block dropper. After a few seconds she looked upwards to make sure that her friends had made it to the top. She then used the summoned glyph to launched herself upwards, with the blocks creating a pillar like structure.
When she made it to the top, she was met with some weird looks from the group, so she asked "What?" The group kept staring silently at her, so she said "Look, I already feel nauseous enough with the teleporting, I don't need to be launched through a room like a rag doll."
"It's not that Weiss, it would have been nice to know that this was possible." Said Ruby.
"Sure, but you guys looked like you were having fun. So... well... you know... didn't want to ruin it for all of you." Replied Weiss, causing the rest of the group to get sheepish looks on their faces.
Feeling awkward Rock tried to look for anything in the room that might distract from the current moment, that was until he spotted a boss door. "Guys, look, a distraction." Rock said as he pointed to the door, with the group looking to where he was pointing and saw the door. So they all went over to it, and once they entered it they were met with an inflatable frog robot.
"You know, I'm beginning to think that Wily stealing a robot that belonged to a yoga themed amusement park wasn't the smartest move on his part." Mused Rock.
"I almost feel bad that we need to beat this thing to progress." Said Blake.
"Come on guys, this thing is harmless." Said Penny, who went over to the robot frog to pet it.
"Penny no!" Exclaimed Ruby, but it was too late as the frog had swallowed Penny hole with it's tongue when Penny got too close to it. "That's it, this thing dies!" Exclaimed Ruby, as she got Crescent Rose ready for combat and rushed towards the robot frog, only for the frog to dodge out of the way as it used its tongue to swing to the other side of the room. Ruby tried again, but kept missing as the frog was quick to keep swinging to different parts of the room. Feeling annoyed Ruby looked towards her friends and said "A little maybe."
"Oh right, sorry." Replied Rock, as he and the rest got their weapons ready as well. It was then that Rock remembered something and said to Ruby "Remember the weapon you were given yesterday? Maybe now would be a great moment to try it out."
"Ah, forgot about that." Mused Ruby, as she pulled out her scroll and switched to the pile driver weapon that she was given the day before. Switching to it, she noticed that her usual red colours changed to orange and yellow. But she couldn't figure out what it was that she could do with the new weapon. So as she started fiddling with it, the rest of the group were chasing down the robot frog.
With Weiss using glyphs to be able to catch up to the frog, only for her to launch herself into the wall, but this miss launched the frog into the direction of Blake who used her blades to slash at the robot. The impact from the attack launching the frog to the other end of the room, where Blake was able to catch up with it due to the use of her shadow clone. Together with Yang, launching several rounds from her gauntlets, and Oran, who was shooting some arrows at the frog, she delivered a few more slashes to the machine.
And while they did do damage to the machine, it latched its tongue at the wall and began to swing its body around the room. Which knocked Yang, Oran and Blake into the same wall as Weiss. Leaving Vesper, Quake and Rock the only ones able to damage the machine for a bit, as Rock activated the power gear and started shooting out charged shots towards the frog, while Quake started to throw her bombs towards it. The attacks managed to land, giving Vesper an opportunity to launch herself at the robot with her stinger out.
She managed to latch onto the frog robot, only for it to not do any damage to the robot. Leading to the robot just launching her off, and towards Rock and Quake, leaving Ruby as the only one able to do something. But unfortunately she was still trying to figure out how the pile driver was working for her. So she kept trying every button on both her scroll and weapon, only for her to accidentally press the trigger on Crescent Rose. Causing the blade on the weapon to turn forward, after which a gust of air propelled Ruby forwards to the frog robot, with her jamming her weapon deep into the frog robot causing it explode as well as releasing a small worker robot, three balloon like robots and Penny from the robot.
"Huh, can't believe that worked." Mused Ruby, as she managed to catch Penny, then placed the young red headed robot onto the ground. As she then took aim, and used the pile driver in conjunction with her semblance to destroy the three robots at rapid speed. Leaving the worker robot panicking as it tried to run towards the boss door, but was unable to flee as Ruby managed to destroy it in seconds using the pile driver.
With the robot inside of the room beaten, the boss door opened as the rest of the group got back onto their feet, while Ruby switched back to her normal form. Returning Ruby to her usual red colours, as Rock looked at her and said "Interesting, it doesn't just affect your weapon but also your semblance. I wonder what else it will affect in the long run."
"Yeah, me too, unfortunately it took a bit longer to figure out. So, my bad." Replied Ruby with a sheepish look on her face.
"Hey don't feel bad, at least you weren't struggling in a moment that was a life or death situation." Said Yang, putting an arm around her sister.
"Thanks." Replied Ruby, as Quake and Vesper were helping Penny up when they noticed a metal plate lying on the floor.
Vesper took a look at it and read out-loud "Frog Balloon, mascot and property of Athletic Centre Boing-Boing Park. If damaged or lost, call the number on the back."
"You guys think that destroying that thing might have been a bad idea?" Asked Ruby.
"I'm sure that we won't get into any trouble over this, after all we're saving this place and the world from being taken over by Wily." Said Yang.
"Sure, but this is technically private property. We could probably get into a lot of trouble over this." Said Weiss.
"Then let's hope that the when we fight the little balloon thing, that the battle brings the building down. After all, you can't get mad about a mascot being destroyed if there is no building left." Joked Yang.
"Yang, no... just no... that's not how any of that works." Replied Weiss.
"Eh worth a shot." Said Yang, as she winked towards Ruby, who understood that she was joking.
Ruby then turned to Penny and asked "How are you feeling after being swallowed whole by that thing?"
"I don't know, it was certainly weird to get swallowed by a mechanical frog but nothing too bad happened. So I think I'm doing ok." Replied Penny.
"Ok, that's at least good to hear. Was nearly worried that the frog would have damaged you." Said Ruby.
"Don't worry Ruby, a robot balloon frog won't be able to do any damage to me." Penny boasted.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, I have underestimated enemy robots before thinking they couldn't damage me. Only for them to actually do so, so never underestimate what you come across." Said Rock, before turning to the rest of the group and asking. "That goes for the rest of you, do you understand?" To which the rest of the group nodded in understanding "Good, then let's keep going."
The group left the room through the boss door, and when they left it there they saw a hallway with holes in the ground with pillars of bouncy balls sticking out of those holes. With there also being robots floating through the air attached to balloons, but what caught their attention the most was how damaged the hallway looked. Seeing this, Yang joked "Guess we don't have to destroy the building anymore, cause something already beat us to it."
Penny scanned the damages on the walls, and said "The damages seem to be made by something robotic, by something with enough force to bend metal."
Weiss got a look of shock on her face and said "Oh, we're really going to have to be careful when fighting bounce man."
"Don't worry, we'll just pop his balloons. Right sis?" Asked Vesper.
"Yeah, we will." Replied Quake, as she shot out a quake bomb towards one of the floating robots. And so the group started to move through the long hallway, being very careful as to make sure to not fall into one of the holes while making their way from one platform to another platform. Which was made even more difficult by some of the holes having robots jump out of them that could block their path.
The sudden appearance of those types of robots, nearly caused Blake to fall into one of the pits. But was able to use Gambol Shroud to pull herself out of the pit by sticking it into one of the pillars, while Penny used her laser to take out that and any nearby robot in the area to allow for them to pass through safely. In the next room they had to crawl past a few low hanging walls to get through the room, while Rock made sure to take out any bouncy ball robots that were obstructing their path forward.
They continued making their way through the room until they found a ladder that would take them to the next room. Where they were met with a large group of bouncy ball robots that were bouncy up and down in the room.
"They're just bouncing there, menacingly!" Said Yang, to which Weiss sighed with an annoyed tone in her voice before switching to the block dropper and using the blocks that rained from the sky to destroy those robots. To which Yang grumbled in a jokingly manner "Party pooper." After which they went through a doorway and entered a rather large vertical room, where another trampoline seemed to be attached to the floor.
Rock looked up towards the ceiling of the room, and saw another hole in it. "We're going to have to jump again."
"Way ahead of you." Said Ruby, as she used her speed to place everyone onto the platform before rushing towards the top of the room and finding the right platform to jump from. She took a deep breath before jumping down towards the platform and when she landed onto it, there was enough force for the group to be launched into the air and through the hole in the ceiling. Where they landed in a new room, with a boss door next to it.
They entered the room which had a large glass window that gave them a view of the outside world, and there in that room they saw a large group of robots bouncing through the room. These robots were red and orange in colour, had bodies that were mostly made up off spring coils. "Wha... what are these?" Asked Weiss in confusion.
"Huh, I should be surprised that Wily put Spring Man here and even more so that he made multiple of him. But honestly, this does seem like something he would do." Said Rock.
"Wait, Wily made a robot that looks like a children's toy?" Asked Blake.
"He did, and then he had it, along with three other robots, programmed to break him out of prison should he not return to his lab in six months." Replied Rock.
"I'm sorry, did you just say that Wily got broken out of prison by a robot that's essentially a slinky toy?" Asked Weiss.
"Yeah, kind of." Said Rock.
"Oh my gods, the Atlas military is filled with a bunch of idiots who lost to a children's toy." Weiss muttered under her breath.
"If it helps, Proto recorded Ironwood really laying into those guards over what happened." Replied Rock.
"It doesn't Rock, it really doesn't." Said Weiss.
"Would it make you feel better if it was only one of four robots that broke Wily out of prison?" Asked Rock.
"No."
"So, how are we beating those robots?" Asked Yang, trying to divert the topic.
"Can't we just leave them be, they don't need to be destroyed, right?" Asked Penny.
"Penny, look, I had that exact same mentality when I started out. But as long as they are under Wily's programming, there is no reasoning with them." Replied Rock.
"Oh ok." Replied Penny in a somber tone, getting comforted by Oran patting her on the shoulder.
"Uhm, guys, I think they might have spotted us." Said Quake, as she pointed over to the group of Spring Men whose attention had shifted towards the group and started to bounce towards them while getting their arms ready to strike.
"Don't worry I got this." Said Ruby, as she rushed over to the group of spring men and right as they launched their spring arms towards her, she grabbed them and ran around them at high speeds. Which caused not only the arms of the robots to get tangled up but also the other springs on the bodies of the robots. "Problem solved, Penny can you scan them for any memory chips?" Said Ruby.
Penny scanned the robots and said "There are no memory chips in them."
"Yang, if you will."
"Sure thing Rubes." Said Yang, as she grabbed one of the arms that was still sticking out of the mess of robots and started to swing them around until she let them go at top speed while exclaiming "So long-a Spring Men!" after which they were thrown out of the window and into the distance, when a loud crashing sound was heard outside. "That takes care of that."
"Ruby, how did you know that would work?" Asked Weiss.
"You've never had one of those slinky toys?" Asked Ruby, to which Weiss shook her head as to say no. "Well they tend to break after like a week of use, or they get tangled up. Anyways, since those robots had those same type of springs in them it would have been easy to get them all tangled up in each other and take them out that way."
"Huh, that actually makes sense." Replied Weiss. The group then left the room they were in, and in the next one there was only a ladder that they had to climb. And as they were climbing the ladder some of them couldn't help but notice that the walls of the room were even more damaged than in previous rooms. With Blake even noticing what seemed to be bloodstains on the walls, making her feel extremely unnerved.
So after climbing the ladder, they ended up in what seemed to be a large dome area with platforms and bouncy balls floating in the air, and there also being a ton of bouncing ball robots, flying cannons and cannons that were attached to the wall. But the thing that really caught their eyes were the dead bodies of several employees of the park lying on the floor.
"What is this?" Asked Ruby.
"You don't think..." Wondered Yang.
"No, no no, that would violate the three laws of robotics..." Mumbled Blake.
"Uhm, I'm sorry to say this, but my scans show that something crashed into these employees with enough force to shatter their bones." Said Penny, as everyone got a look of horror on their faces.
"But why?" Asked Quake.
"Wily." Grumbled Rock with an angry tone in his voice "He reprogrammed Bounce Man to make him violent and have him kill humans, but this doesn't surprise me, I mean Fuse Man nearly fried all of Vale, Tundra Man froze over Atlas and Mantle and Torch Man was fine with all of Mistral burning to the ground. I don't know what Wily is aiming for with this, but it has to be stopped."
"But what about these people Rock?" Asked Vesper.
"Yeah, there has to be something we can do for them." Said Ruby, as tears started swelling in her eyes.
Rock saw this, went over to her and held her in a hug after which he said "Look, we can't do anything for them anymore other than prevent anyone else from suffering the same fate."
It was then that Yang spoke up with a conflicted look on her face "Rock, be honest here, has this happened before. Have people died to these robot masters?"
"Look, it happening more than once is already bad. I have usually managed to prevent too many deaths from occurring, and while these people might not see their families again we can prevent more people from suffering this fate." Replied Rock, as he let go of Ruby.
"You're right, we need to keep going. We can't stop now." Said Ruby, as she dried some of her tears.
"If it makes you feel better, my scanners indicate that we just have to make it through this room and then we will be there." Said Penny.
"Then lets keep going, for these people." Said Yang, which was quickly repeated by the rest of the group "For these people!"
"We keep moving forward." Said Ruby, to which the rest of the group nodded as they then started to make their way through the room. The group moved upwards from platform to platform. Making sure to take out the bouncy ball robots and the cannons that were littered throughout the entire room, allowing them to use the bouncy balls that were in the air as an easy way to move upwards.
As they continued moving up, Blake couldn't help but hear crashing noises coming from outside building they were in. She kept moving, but then she saw a shadowy figure moving over the glass dome very quickly. Trying not to get psyched out, she shook her head to calm her nerves and thought to herself "Calm down Blake, it's probably your imagination, keep going."
But then she heard another crashing sound outside, and this time while looking for the source of the noise she noticed that Oran had also heard the noise. So she said to the little feral kid "You're also hearing that, right?" To which Oran nodded and replied with a few growls. "You're right, we should be fine." Mumbled Blake.
After a lot of jumping and bouncing between platforms, the group made it to what seemed to be a dead end, with there only being an arrow that was pointing down towards the ground. Rock looked down and saw the trampoline, after which he said "Alright, just to make sure that no one gets a surprise this time, on three we jump. One, two, three!" After which everyone jumped off the platform and after a few seconds of falling they landed on the trampoline, before getting launched into the air and being shot through the hole in the ceiling.
They got launched through what seemed to be a very long horizontal hallway, before ending up on the next floor where the hole they came through closed behind them. There they saw the boss door that would lead them to Bounce Man.
But right as they were about to go through it, a very loud crashing noise was heard coming from outside the building, before the entire building started to shake around them. And before they knew it, the entire building started to collapse around them, as some very creepy and childlike laughter could be heard from one room over.
"Oh no, he is intending to bury us alive." Said Ruby, as she noticed that Quake started to cower in fear over the building falling apart. Trying to think of something to do Ruby looked around the room, and then an idea hit her "Weiss, barrier, quickly!"
"Got it!" Replied Weiss, who quickly began to summon a massive glyph around her. But right as she put up a barrier of ice around her, the room they were in started falling to the ground. And not even a few seconds later, a loud crashing sound was heard as the room crashed into the ground.
To be continued
A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait, was just busy with stuff outside. My bad, which is also why I decided to split this chapter into two parts, cause I had so much stuff planned for his chapter that putting it all in one chapter would have been too much and would have made his chapter take even longer to come out. So yeah, I'll make sure that the next chapter won't take too long to come out.
Now before we move on, a quick shout out to a mutual of mine, Qwark's Account, who is doing a small crossover in his story between mine and a few other mutuals of mine. To which I decided to repay the favour a bit, actually, with that in mind, if you want to I highly recommend checking out the RWBY the Hedgehog story that he is writing. It's a really good story, that is worth checking out.
Also, happy fifty chapters everyone, I'm happy with all the support this story has gotten so far and that everyone who has read the story has been enjoying it so far. And I hope each and every one of you keeps enjoying the story for as long as it's being written, because the future will be looking good for this story.
Now, a quick thanks to the following people for supporting this story:
Ironmchfn
danbcool17
RaptoriaPrime
ZephyrErmine
matthewsavin2
AdamCrow90
Whodoo
And now, onto the reviews from last chapter:
BlueSkies: Yeah, he really was during last chapter and he will definitely continue being really evil during the coming chapters.
Jacob9594: Glad you liked the chapter so much, and liked seeing development for all those characters.
Ironmchfn: Yup, Jacques, like in most RWBY related stories is a massive asshat.
Anyways, with that being said, hope you enjoyed this and see you all next chapter.