SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR (MOST) DISCLAIMERS

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

-CHAPTER START-

Realm R38Y – Remnant – Atlas – Schnee Manor Ballroom

As Weiss fell to the floor, her unrestrained emotions and instinctive desire to protect herself led to her Semblance finally, properly manifesting… out of her control. The ethereal blue & white Boarbatusk snorted before charging at the arrogant, tactless socialite whose comments had set Weiss off in the first place. The woman screamed, cowering, as the Grimm Revenant leapt at her… and a single high-caliber pistol shot tore through the summon, dispelling it. General Ironwood strolled in, looking cross as he holstered his gun.

"Arrest her!" the socialite cried.

"And why should I?" the General glared at the woman, and at the similar people all around. "She's the only one here who's making sense! None of you have any idea of the terror and suffering and death that happened when Beacon fell!" He knelt down in front of Weiss, offering his hand to her and gently helping her up. Jacques opened his mouth to speak, but one glare and brief flaring of Aura from Ironwood shut him up.

"Let's get you someplace a little less toxic, Weiss" Ironwood said calmly to the girl while giving another dirty look to the out-of-touch, classist socialites.

As they exited the tension-filled ballroom, walking down the quiet, empty hallway, Weiss took deep breaths to calm herself.

"Thank you, sir" she said softly. "I just… I couldn't…"

"I know" Ironwood replied. "From what I've seen and heard, being back in Atlas, under your father's quote-unquote 'care', is doing nothing but making you miserable. We need to get you out of this place," he smiled, "and back to your team."

Weiss looked at him in disbelief. "Really? You'll… actually help me get out of her and back to them?"

The man nodded. "Well, Ms. Belladonna is currently back in Menagerie, reconnecting with her parents and investigating White Fang activity there, but Taiyang's daughters are recuperating and training at their home on Patch. I'll bet they'll be happy to see you again, since they haven't gotten the chance since… well…"

The girl smiled. "Thank you so much for this, General… Will I have time to say goodbye to Klein and my sister first?"

"Yes to the first, but unfortunately Winter's in Anima on assignment. As soon as she returns, I'll tell her everything. Now, lemme just make some calls and we'll get you out of here. A Pelican isn't exactly first-class, but it'll get you where you need to go."

-Scene Break-

The Dimensional Defense Force's presence on Remnant had quite a few effects. They were hard at work shoring up and improving the kingdoms' anti-Grimm defenses, and were also getting a satellite communications network set up to supplement/replace the presently-defunct tower array. Oddly enough, the two places the DDF was presently committing the most attention to were the nations often seen as polar opposites: Atlas/Mantle and Menagerie. In the northern kingdom, the UNSC was overseeing distribution of aid & supplies to Mantle, infrastructure and whatnot, even as they also worked with Atlas to strengthen defenses and come up with contingency plans regarding future threats.

In Menagerie, meanwhile, the DDF were doing what they could to make the Faunus' living conditions a little better, touching up infrastructure and defenses against sea-borne Grimm. In addition, upon hearing that much of Menagerie was "barren desert, full of deadly predators even the Grimm won't mess with, or both", a clan of Krogans delightedly volunteered to colonize that region, and they quickly set about helping Menagerie's Faunus with things as well; they were presently working on designing and building a comm. tower for Menagerie to match the ones that the Four Great Kingdoms had denied the nation decades earlier.

Elsewhere on Remnant, in her private quarters, Sienna Khan grabbed her personal encrypted datapad as a private message appeared on it. Curiously, it wasn't from any of the few people she'd trusted with the datapad's address. She opened the message:

"To Sienna Khan:

"I've heard things about you – that you are a woman who climbed up out from the bottom of the world to claim a well-earned position of power. That you strive to make life better for those under your command and protection, even if you must use means that some people disapprove of. That you, in short, have quite a bit in common with myself. I would like to meet you, perhaps a kindred soul, so that we may discuss matters, get to know each other, and maybe come up with ways to help each other's people find security, prosperity, and above all respect from those who look down upon us. Plus, it'd be nice to have someone new to talk to. Please reply if you are willing to meet me.

- Aria T-Loak"

-Scene Break-

The Gummi Ship set down outside the big, welcoming house in the midst of Patch's forest. Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang (being given a few days' break from her recuperation/training with her dad and Team Guy) came running to investigate. As Sora, Donald, & Goofy disembarked, Ruby reached them first.

"Sora, right?" she asked. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Y'see, that's the thing" Sora replied. "When I let my Keyblade guide us to a world, we don't usually know at first why we've been guided there. Of course, it tends to become pretty clear soon enough."

"Well, that doesn't bode well" Taiyang remarked as he and Yang caught up. "Still everything seems peaceful so far – just the occasional patrol to get rid of any Grimm that stray too close to this place. Actually, Ruby was just about to go on her patrol; how about you three join her, just in case? We can see if Grimm are as vulnerable to that Keyblade of yours as Heartless are."

"Alright" Sora nodded. He then looked to Yang.

"Guy-sensei gives me mandatory resting days after periods of heavy training" the tall blonde said. "I'm not supposed to do any real fighting today, so I'm gonna have to sit this one out. You guys watch out for each other out there, okay?"

"Relax, Yang" Ruby replied. "The worst we should run into is a pack of Beowolves, maybe an Ursa, and with these three helping me that'll be no trouble at all!"

"I'd be careful not to tempt fate…" Donald remarked.

-Break-

The quartet advanced through the woods, on the lookout for any signs of 'darklings' (a catch-all term for Heartless, Unversed, lesser demons, Grimm, and other creatures of darkness). So far, everything was quiet…

"So," Sora started, "how have things been since…"

Ruby sighed. "We've had ups and downs. Dad and Might Guy have been doing what they can to rebuild Yang's confidence as well as train her. The DDF have already got some inter-kingdom communications back up. I've been keeping in touch with Blake; she's back on Menagerie with her mom & dad, and she & Sun are investigating White Fang activity. I haven't heard from Weiss, and… Uncle Qrow told me what kind of person her father is, so I'm worried… Team JNPR are training offworld. And… after she teemed up with Maleficent and Dyspear, dad and Uncle Qrow told me about Salem… I can't believe the Grimm have a leader – a Queen… At least, we're lucky that she doesn't have some mystical control over every Grimm everywhere; she has to relay orders to them in the field, like a General, and the younger, dumber, more impulsive Grimm aren't guaranteed to follow her orders to the letter. But she has people working for her, too…"

"And now she's got Maleficent & Pete on her side, along with that despair-witch and her surviving underlings… But hey! At least that gives me & my friends, and the Pretty Cures, free rein to step in and help you guys out against them!"

Ruby smiled a little. "Yeah. I feel better knowing we're gonna have lots of help against them. Oh, and that reminds me! Pretty soon we're supposed to get our own Pokémon! That oughtta be a big help, too!"

Suddenly, the gang heard a howl, followed by several more, all of them close by.

"Those don't sound like normal wolf howls…" Goofy said, readying his shield.

"They're not" Ruby got serious, drawing her weapon. "We've got Beowolves. And they're close."

"How close?" Donald asked, staff in hand.

A Beowulf suddenly leapt down from one of the larger trees, snarling with claws bared, while the rest of its pack emerged from the thicket and charged.

"That close!" Sora shouted as he fired a Blizzara at the lead Grimm, freezing it solid and leaving it to shatter when it hit the ground.

As the rest of the Beowolves closed in, Ruby took the lead, closing in and using Crescent Rose to slash two of the Grimm apart in just a couple seconds. Sora's Strike Raid knocked a Beowolf reeling and took off its arm, and a Fira to the face from Donald finished it off. Goofy's thrown shield ricocheted off trees and Beowolves, stunning the beasts and letting him get in close, catch his shield and use its remaining momentum in a spinning strike that destroyed another Beowolf.

Another Beowolf emerged, almost half-again the others' size and with more bony bits than the smaller ones. The Alpha Beowolf roared and charged at Ruby and Sora, dodging a Fire from him and shrugging off a couple rounds from her. Sora blocked a swing of the Alpha Grimm's claws, giving Ruby an opening to land a few slashes with her scythe. As the Alpha Beowolf was wounded and knocked back by those hits, Sora landed several more blows ending with a Sonic Blade strike, finishing it off. Meanwhile, Goofy and Donald had already dealt with most of the remaining 'lesser' Beowolves.

The gang came together, taking down the few remaining Grimm. Suddenly, Goofy moved into position with his enchanted shield raised, just in time to block a fireball from striking Ruby. The gang went on high alert, looking in all directions, and soon the culprit emerged together with three others: a woman in a red dress with long black hair, a silver-haired young man with a black & silver outfit and armored greaves on his lower legs, and a pair of near-identical figures in oversized green & white tops, with armored thin legs, and odd metallic helmets – one silver with pointed rabbit-like ears, the other gold with rounded ears.

"Cinder and Mercury…" Ruby gasped, gripping her scythe.

"And Dyspear's creepy twin-thing minions, Stop and Freeze" Sora added. "What are you people doing here?"

"Disposing of a threat" Cinder replied. "The power of the Silver Eyes – the power to repulse, petrify, or vaporize the Grimm… Salem doesn't want such a power just running around. The last big-name bearer of that power our people dealt with, decades ago, got her eyes slashed out. But leaving you to live blind and helpless would be too cruel, even for me. So I'm just gonna kill you instead."

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Donald said angrily, his staff's head glowing with charged magical power ready to unleash.

"Even with the Kingdom Key's bearer and King Mickey's faithful elite…" Stop started.

"It won't matter" Freeze finished. "We'll still do what we came for."

"And hey," Mercury said, "maybe we'll put the Keyblade's Chosen Hero out of commission, too, while we're at it."

The quartet got ready for a serious fight.

"You've come a long way from home just to get your butts kicked" Sora told the villain team.

"Could say the same to you, off-worlder" Mercury replied. "But don't worry; Little Red there is the only one we're planning to kill. Of course, accidents can happen…"

For several seconds, there was stillness as the two 4-man teams stared each other down. Then, Cinder launched a fireball at the heroes which Sora countered with a Watera spell. The woman dove to the side to avoid a shot from Ruby's rifle and fired two arrows at the girl, but a trio of Sagitta Magica from Donald intercepted the arrows with the third bolt heading for Cinder, only for Mercury to kick it away. The silver-haired youth rushed in, striking at Sora with kicks that fired aura blasts from his leg-mounted blasters, pushing Sora back until Ruby rushed in and smashed Mercury back with the broad side of her weapon. Stop and Freeze dashed in to join the fray, only for Goofy and Donald to head them off.

The battle quickly broke apart into two 2-on-2 fights that sporadically interacted with each other – Sora & Ruby vs. Cinder & Mercury, and Donald & Goofy vs. Stop & Freeze. Goofy used his shield to deflect a green pseudo-laser blast from Freeze, redirecting it at Stop, who spun to the side to dodge and to bring himself close enough to lash out with a kick at Donald, who protected himself with Reflect and then zapped the 'Arch-Zetsuborg' with Thundara. He then made to charge a blast of Light magic, but had to abort as Freeze came at him, dodging the other entity's attacks until Goofy bashed Freeze with his shield, forcing the Dys-Dark enforcer back.

Sora swung his Keyblade with enough force that the hot-glass saber Cinder had formed shattered on impact, but she simply leapt back and formed a new one, holding it in one hand while flinging a thin concentrated wave of fire at Ruby with the other. Ruby ducked backwards under it, only for Mercury to punt her in the midsection while she was in this vulnerable position, knocking her at Sora. Sora caught her, however, spinning her around and setting her on her feet in one fluid motion, transmitting the momentum to a slicing wave of Light flung at Mercury. Mercury dodged, taking a grazing hit from the attack's edge that his Aura protected him from, while Ruby landed a few shots on Cinder, chipping away at her Aura defense, before Cinder then shaped some of her supply of (lower-case d) dust into a crude shield that deflected the rest.

As Mercury knocked Sora & Ruby back with a wide spinning kick, Cinder started flinging concussive flame blasts at them. Sora formed a Reflega barrier to protect him & Ruby, but Cinder and Mercury kept pounding at it until it came apart. However, this gave the two heroes a moment to come up with their next moves, and the shimmery refracting effect of the magic barrier made it harder for their enemies to see exactly what they were doing. Thus, as Mercury charged in for a decisive blow the moment the barrier came down, he was caught completely off-guard by Sora slamming a Rasengan into his torso. The resulting grinding attack and then its concussive detonation flung Mercury back with great force and near-totally drained his Aura shield.

Ruby and Cinder rushed each other, scythe and sword clanging against each other, both of them managing some hits and wearing at each other's Auras. Sora moved in, landing a blow that shattered Cinder's forged weapon, and then he struck with a barrage of hits [a 'combo' if we're going by the game], ending with a heavy blow that knocked her back and finally broke her Aura defense. Snarling as her broken Aura flickered around her, Cinder got to her feet and unleashed a bolt of Maiden lightning that knocked Sora off his feet.

As Mercury re-engaged Ruby, Cinder held her left arm out and began charging an explosive fireball of concentrated Fall Maiden power. Grinning wickedly, she tried to decide whether to blast Ruby or Sora first as she poured power into the attack. In the midst of her fight against Mercury, Ruby noticed what was happening and, working on one of the tricks the DDF had taught her, did something the villains didn't expect: she charged Aura into the blade of her scythe and then swung in Cinder's direction, releasing a high-velocity slicing wave of energy spinning at her.

And because Cinder's Aura defense had been broken, when Ruby's slicing energy wave hit, it cleanly sliced her left arm off just below the shoulder. Cinder's look of stunned shock from seeing the slicing wave coming at her didn't have time to change to one of horror and pain before the fireball she'd been charging suddenly and violently destabilized, the resulting fiery explosion engulfing her.

Mercury, Stop, & Freeze turned to look as Cinder was flung sideways with a pained scream. Much of her long hair was singed, and the left side of her upper body was smoldering and charred in places. In particular, the stump of her just-severed left arm had been seared shut and even further damaged by the explosion, and she desperately clutched at the left side of her face with her remaining arm, hand over what was left of her eye.

Immediately, Stop & Freeze disengaged from their fight with Donald & Goofy, hastening to Cinder's side. With Mercury joining them, the two Arch-Zetsuborgs promptly opened a dark-keyhole gateway that all four of them disappeared through, retreating back to Salem's castle.

"Jeez…" Sora looked stunned. "That was brutal…"

"She… She tried to keep fighting after her Aura broke" Ruby said, still in shock. "In the Hunter academies, they tell you that if your Aura defense is broken in a fight, you disengage and run, because the next hit you take will likely kill you."

"Looks like she never learned that" Goofy replied. "Or maybe she got so sadistic that she forgot."

"Sorry to say," Donald said to Ruby, "but she's probably gonna blame you for what happened – make it personal and come after you for revenge. But with injuries like that, it's gonna be a while before she'll be able to fight again, so at least you'll have time to prepare and train."

Ruby nodded, still a little rattled. "Still… The Keyblade wore through her Aura so fast! That thing packs one hell of a punch, Sora."

'A bit too fast, maybe' Sora thought. 'Usually, I have to put a bit more effort into wearing a regular person down; the Keyblade normally only works that well against creatures of darkness. Cinder looked human, but… maybe she's doped herself with Grimm essence or something…'

"We should probably head back" Goofy suggested. "Your dad and sister need to learn what happened here…"

-Scene Break-

"You ran into Salem's people?" Taiyang asked, incredulous and worried.

"Yes, sir" Sora replied. "Salem sent them to kill Ruby because of her Silver Eyes. We fought them off, though. In fact, we managed to do some major damage to Cinder – she tried to keep fighting after her protective shield was worn down and broken, and when Ruby's attack cut her arm off, the fireball she'd been charging blew up in her face. I think Cinder's gonna be out of commission for a while, to say the least."

Taiyang and Yang winced.

"Seems the bad guys are missing a few fundamentals" Taiyang said. "First Taurus' potential weakness, and now one of Salem's big-shots forgetting the 'bug out if your Aura breaks' rule…"

"Wait, what was that first part?" Yang looked at her father, stunned.

"Well, from what I've heard from Blake, and from looking up data from previous sightings, it looks like Adam Taurus is a bit too reliant on his weapon. If a skilled opponent were to disarm him of that sword of his, it'd cut down on his threat level, and probably do a number on his confidence."

He gave Ruby a look when he said this, and the girl blushed and averted her gaze.

"So, what about me?" Sora asked.

"Hmm…" Taiyang thought for a moment. "The fact that your weapon is basically a part of you, and you can instantly teleport it back to your hands, or yourself to its position… You could say that your Keyblade is more like a Semblance than a regular weapon. Though, I do hope you've got some skill in unarmed combat, too…"

"The others in the DDF have been teaching me some stuff, yeah."

Suddenly, there was a steadily growing whirr/roar of engines. The gang looked around, soon spotting a UNSC Pelican flying in. The dropship spun around to face its rear hatch toward the house as it set down, and the hatch opened to let a single person step out: a petite white-haired girl in a blue & white dress, carrying a couple suitcases. As the Pelican's copilot helped her down without dropping her bags, a big grin formed on Ruby's face:

"Weeeeiiiiisss!-!-!"

Seeing the incoming red blur, Weiss gasped and hastily formed an array of rune-circles that Ruby passed through, decelerating her so that by the time she reached the other girl, the tackle-hug only knocked Weiss back a little instead of bowling her over. Weiss sighed and hugged Ruby back as the red-clad girl talked a mile a minute, while the others all came over.

"Um…" she looked up at Taiyang. "Can I stay here a while? Please?"

The man smiled. "Sure thing. I'm guessing being back with your quote-unquote 'family' wasn't doing you any favors…"

"To put it mildly" the white-haired girl grumbled. "General Ironwood himself declared the whole environment too toxic for me, and sent me out here to rejoin my team."

"I'm so happy you're back!" Ruby cheered. "Oh! Now that you're back with us, we can pick up Blake and all go get Pokémon partners! And then we can help each other train and come up with new tricks, and I can show you around Patch, and we can stay up late, swapping stories, and in the morning… I'm makin' waffles!"

-Scene Break-

Back at the Three Sorceresses' castle, Watts and Maleficent were hard at work providing Cinder with badly-needed medical treatment. Her eye was a lost cause, and Salem was going to need to forge a new arm for her, but she would live, and she should recover most of her combat potential. And once she was back on her feet, Watts planned to give her grief about the stupid decision to stay & fight after losing her Aura defense…

"It seems the Keyblade was able to do enhanced damage to Cinder's Aura due to the Grimm essence she used to claim the Fall Maiden's power" Dyspear observed.

"Yes" Salem nodded. "It was a weakness that I failed to foresee, one we'll have to think of a workaround for. And little Rose proved a more capable fighter than we anticipated, even able to extend her Aura itself into a slicing wave…"

"I think she might've picked up on the idea from others in the DDF" Close said. "The tall blonde mage from the Bureau has an attack just like that; maybe Little Red decided to try and copy it."

Salem sighed. "We'll have to be a little low-key until Cinder has recovered some. We'll keep on searching for the other Maidens and the Master of Masters' black box while the DDF focuses their attention on the Seekers of Darkness."

As she nodded, Dyspear looked at an image of the known members of Xehanort & Ganondorf's little group. "That one…" her eyes focused on one of them in particular. "I can't help but get a feeling that there might be more to him than meets the eye…"

She stared at the picture, at the smirking face of Xigbar…

-CHAPER END-

Might come up with a better chapter name in the future…

I just wanna put forth my headcanon regarding Summer Rose in canon: that she and a particularly high-level agent of Salem (maybe one of the best she's ever had?) ended up killing each other in a spectacular final duel. Until/Unless the show reveals otherwise, I'd like to keep on believing that's how Summer died – going down fighting, taking her killer to the grave with her. But since I can't be sure, I made no references to it in this chapter.