They flew for a while before approaching a world that appeared to be an entire jungle.

"Hey, Winter, maybe Princess Blake's down there," Qrow wondered out loud.

"Or maybe an old submarine," Sun chuckled.

"It does kind of look like that, doesn't it," Roman agreed.

Winter scoffed, "In a backward place like that? No way! Let's move on."

She began to turn the ship around, when Ruby interjected, "Hold on. Weiss and Pyrrha might be down there. Let's just check it out."

"It does pay to search everywhere," Harriet noted.

"I have to agree," Winter noted, "I don't understand why my counterpart is against visiting this world."

"She probably thinks it's not the type of world I'd visit," Blake noted, "But she obviously doesn't know me as well as she thinks she does."

"It is a different version of you," Yang pointed out.

"Good point," Blake shrugged.

"Forget it!" Winter shouted, "We're on an important mission!"

"Just teleport us down!" Ruby yelled.

"No!"

"Come on!"

"Hmph!"

"We're going!"

Ruby grabbed the controls and lurched the ship forward.

"I see where this is going," Weiss chuckled.

"Hey, I'm doing this to find you!" Ruby protested.

"Don't touch that!" Winter yelled as the ship lost control and flew towards the world, "Nooo!"

The ship crashed, but not before spilling Ruby out. She yelled as she looked down, and fell right through the roof of a tree house.

"I wonder how she survived that?" Ilia asked.

"Eh," Yang shrugged, "I've survived a fall like that."

Nora grinned and Ilia recoiled.

"You did?" she asked in shock.

"Yeah, during a food fight," Yang nodded.

"I hit her with a watermelon on a stick!" Nora explained.

"How is it we continuously lose to these idiots?" Cinder asked.

"Ow!" she sat up and rubbed the back of her neck, "My head."

"Winter?" She asked hopefully, "Qrow?"

She heard something take a step nearby, she stood up and spun around right as a leopard tried to pounce on her.

"A new Heartless?" Nora asked.

"Just watch," Gordeau smiled.

She jumped back in fright as the leopard tried slash at her. She could tell that this wasn't a Heartless, just a wild animal looking for prey.

"It's not a Heartless," Ren pointed out, "Watch the way it attacks. That's just a regular leopard."

"But I don't want to fight a leopard!" Ruby protested, "Grimm and these Heartless are one thing, but an actual animal? He's just looking for food!"

She reluctantly engaged the leopard in a fight, taking a few slashes from its claws while also striking back to defend herself.

She landed a blow across the leopard's face. It staggered for a moment before falling over.

"You had to defend yourself, Ruby," Tai comforted.

"You have to find your friends," Summer added, "If that leopard had gotten you, who would help them?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ruby smiled, "Thanks."

Ruby sighed in relief as she dropped out of her stance. She turned around to walk away.

Unseen by her, the leopard shot back up.

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked.

"Real leopards don't do stuff like that," Velvet noted, "This leopard must be different from others."

It pounced at her again. She turned in shock when suddenly, a man with dreadlocks wearing only a loincloth jumped down and caught the beast's jaws with his spear.

The leopard growled and jumped out the window. The man turned to Ruby and began speaking broken common, "Sabor, danger."

"I recognize him," Pyrrha noted with a slight blush at seeing him in just a loincloth, "We fought him in the first round of the tournament."

"Yeah, he was the one with the saws right?" Jaune asked.

"Why is he only wearing a loincloth?" Velvet blushed.

"Um…" Ruby looked at the man strangely, "Thank you." As she said this, she noted that the man walked and stood on his knuckles. It was strange to her.

"Why does he stand like that?" Robyn wondered.

"If the theme keeps up, our questions will be answered soon," Ozpin noted, "Let's just be patient."

"Thank you," the man said with a questioning look.

"Huh?" Ruby asked before shaking her head, "Uh, what is this place?"

"This place, this place," the man repeated.

"Were talking in circles here," Roman noted, "I don't think you're gonna get much from him Red."

"I just hope there is someone else in this world to help them," Lionheart noted.

"Okaaay…" Ruby was confused, "Where did the others go?"

The man just looked at her quizzically so she sighed and continued, "Look, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them?"

"Hmm?" the man hummed.

Ruby sighed and spoke very slowly, "Friends…" she moved her hand close to her chest like she was hugging someone.

"That's actually a good way to describe it using motions," Qrow noted.

"Don't think I could do any better," Clover shrugged.

"Friends!" the man repeated with the same movement.

"Right, my friends!" Ruby confirmed excitedly, "There's two of 'em. The bossy on is Wint…" She stopped and sighed as she remembered the fight they had just had.

"Bossy?" Winter raised an eyebrow, "Is that really how you'd describe me?"

"Well," Ruby rubbed her neck, "Yeah, kinda."

"She stopped herself," Neo noted, "She doesn't see the Ice Queen as her friend anymore."

"Well, Ruby is really only in it to find her friends, so Winter refusing to check the world made her angry," Yang noted, "I could see it."

"You know what? Never mind," She sighed and started over, "I'm looking for my friends, Weiss and Pyrrha."

The man grunted, "Look for Weiss, friends?"

"Right!" Ruby nodded, but something caught her eye. Standing behind Roy was Pyrrha.

"And there I am again," Pyrrha noted.

"Ruby could be seeing things again," Raven noted, "It's happened twice already."

Ruby wasn't taking any chances though, after the incident in Lionheart's house. So she just kept the conversation going.

"Pyrrha, friends?" the man asked.

"Uhh…right…" Ruby confirmed still watching Pyrrha. Pyrrha started walking and went out of Ruby's view. When she would have walked back into it, she was gone.

"Yep, hallucinating again," Ruby sighed.

"Don't worry," Weiss smiled sweetly, "You'll find us."

"Friends, here," the man said.

"Really?!" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Well, that was easy," Nora shrugged, "I thought that was gonna take forever."

"I'd guess there's a twist," Ren predicted, "There usually is, especially in cases of miscommunication."

"*&&X%" the man grunted out.

"What…" Emerald deadpanned.

"It's definitely a different language," Ozpin noted, "But not one I've ever heard before."

"Huh?" Ruby asked.

"*&&X%" the man repeated slower, "Friends here."

"Not sure I understand," Ruby confessed, "But show me! Take me to Weiss and Pyrrha!"

"I guess we'll see soon," Jaune noted with a nod to Ren.

The man pointed to himself, "Roy. Roy go."

"Right," Pyrrha nodded, "That was his name."

"And," Ruby continued, "I'm Ruby. Roy go, Ruby go go."

Roy lead the way out of the treehouse and leapt into the jungle below. Appearing in chunks the words 'Deep Jungle' appeared on screen. As it did, a fire appeared in the letters before they disappeared.

"A fitting name," Ilia pointed out.

Ruby followed Roy into the trees.

Somewhere else in the jungle, Qrow and Winter sat on a rock near the gummi ship. It was still intact, but they were in a world they didn't know.

"Where are we?" Qrow asked before turning concerned, "I sure hope Ruby's okay."

"Glad I still care," Qrow smiled.

"Aw, who needs her?" Winter angrily stated, "We can find the princess without her."

Winter sighed, "I understand I'm on a mission, but we still need to search everywhere. I wish my counterpart would understand that."

"But what about Weiss and Pyrrha?" Penny asked.

"Not part of my mission," Winter noted, "If we find them along the way that's fine, but we need to find Blake."

She tried to blindly grab her staff, but felt a tuft of hair instead. She turned and found herself face to face with a young gorilla.

The two screamed in each other's faces, before the gorilla took off leaving a gummi block behind.

"Why did that gorilla have a gummi block?" Neptune asked.

Ruby smiled, "I don't know, but if Winter and Qrow have a gummi ship…"

"I probably have one too," Blake caught on.

"Meaning Blake may be here too," Yang noted.

"See?" Winter nodded, "It pays to check everywhere."

Suddenly, noises were heard coming from the jungle.

Out walked a skinny man with long dirty blond hair and gray eyes. He had a stubble around his mouth. He was wearing a dark blue and gray jacket with torn sleeves over a long-sleeved shirt. He wore a bandana around his neck and had a shoulder pad on his right shoulder. He wore brown leather fingerless gloves with straps and brown pants with boots. He was carrying a double-barreled shotgun.

"Shay?" Raven raised a brow at the appearance of her fellow Tribe-member in a Universe.

Yang looked at the guy and groaned, "Great, that idiot again."

The rest of Team RWBY and STRQ looked at the Mother-Daughter pair with curiosity only for Ruby to speak up, "You know who that guy is, sis?"

Yang's eye twitched as she remembered her interaction with him, "Yeah, he is one of Moms bandits. I encountered him when I was making a short stop on my search for the Tribe and the pervert tried hitting on me. After I beat him up, he led me to the Tribe only for him to try and rob me with a few of his pals. I won obviously."

Raven sighed, "Yeah, Shay is certainly not the brightest Tribe-member. He should have easily seen the resemblance between you and me. His habit of trying to pick up women is also annoying."

Qrow raised a brow, "I didn´t think you would be someone who likes having fools around."

Raven sighed again, "True, but he is loyal and dependable when given a task. He just has a small attitude because of his connection to me. He is the younger brother of Aunt Sparrows husband and therefore Vernal's uncle. Because of that he thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread. Though its normally enough for me to put him through a few training sessions to get his ego down again."

Yang groaned, "No matter how distantly. Being related to THAT guy is a nightmare!"

Ruby followed Roy onto a moss-covered tree. Roy gestured for her to follow and slid down the tree.

Ruby gulped but followed after him. She watched as Roy slid down the tree with ease, jumping over branches and using the moss to keep moving.

"That looks like fun!" Ruby smiled.

"It does, if a little dangerous," Penny agreed.

Ruby was not as skilled, and while she jumped over a few branches, she caught some others with her face.

Jaune winced, "I know from experience that stings."

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized.

The slide dropped them off in the middle of a campsite. There was a large yellow tent in the middle surrounded by shipping crates and science experiments.

Roy, walking on his knuckles, led Ruby into the tent. Standing inside was a young woman who had her back to the door.

"Terra," Roy grunted out.

The woman turned around. She had short dark brown hair and eyes. She had a single smooth bang that went down her forehead and in between her eyes. She wore a dark navy collar shirt with a light-blue cardigan, dark-gray jeans and red sneakers. She also wore red glasses.

"It's my sister's wife," Jaune noted.

"So we've seen both your sister and her wife now," Weiss smiled, "I wonder if we'll get to see little Adrian?"

"He's so cute!" Ruby agreed.

"Roy!" Terra Cotta greeted, then she noticed Ruby, "Oh, and who is this?"

"Uh, hi there," Ruby started, "I'm…"

"Oh," Terra nodded, "You speak common!"

"She sounds surprised," Robyn noted.

"Hey, if you'd spent too much time around a man who only grunts, common would surprise you too," Roman pointed out.

"So," she reasoned, "then, obviously, you're not related to Roy…"

She shook her head and got back on track, "Are you here to study the gorillas?"

"Well, that makes sense," Jaune noted, "Terra's a scientist, so studying the gorillas makes sense."

"But that makes no sense for Shay," Raven noted.

"Highly doubtful," a voice called from the door.

Shay D. Mann walked in followed closely by Winter and Qrow.

"Ruby!" Qrow called out.

"Qrow! Winter!" Ruby responded before she and Winter excitedly grabbed hands.

The two locked eyes, remembered they were fighting, and quickly dropped their grip. They each turned around and folded their arms as Qrow watched in both amusement and worry.

Harriet laughed, "It's funny to see Winter act so childish."

Winter grumbled, "Didn't you destroy an entire world?"

Harriet recoiled and Clover glared at her, "Winter! She was making a joke!"

Winter grumbled again, "Sorry."

"A circus of clowns," Shay scoffed, "Not much use for hunting gorillas."

"That makes more sense," Raven noted.

Adam growled at the thought.

He marched out of the hut as Terra scolded him, "Mr. Mann, we're studying them, not hunting them. This is research."

"His last name is Mann?" Blake asked.

"Yes," Raven nodded, "Shay Darius Mann."

Suddenly, Yang burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Weiss asked.

"His name!" Yang continued, "His name is literally Shay D. Mann!"

There was silence from the group before a sound very few people had heard flowed through the theater. Raven was laughing.

"I never put that together!" she continued, "It's so fitting!"

Everyone else joined in shortly after.

She sighed before turning to the assembled party, "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."

An awkward silence came over the tent, as Ruby and Winter weren't talking to each other. Qrow just looked back and forth between the two in exasperation.

"Well, anyway," Ruby started.

"I'm staying!" both she and Winter exclaimed at the same time.

"They both have a reason to stay now," Ozpin noted, "And time to realize they were both in the wrong."

Gordeau rolled his eyes at his father's obliviousness.

"Huh?" Ruby whipped around in shock.

"Ruby, we found something," Qrow started, "Look at this." He unfolded his hands and showed Ruby the gummi block.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"A gummi block," Qrow explained, "It's the same stuff used to build our ship."

"So that means…" Ruby thought out loud.

"The princess could be here," Winter finished for her, "So, we've gotta work together to look for her," she turned away before adding rather harshly, "For now."

"Great," Qrow rolled his eyes, "Now I get to be stuck in the middle of this drama."

"You get to be the mediator, Qrow," Tai laughed, "I don't envy you."

"Fine," Ruby snapped back, "I'll let you tag along. For now."

With that settled Ruby turned back to Terra, "So, what did you mean about Roy?"

"Apparently," Terra explained, "Roy was raised in the jungle by the gorillas."

"Hey, kinda surprised it isn't you," Neptune nudged Sun playfully.

"Shut up, dude," Sun rolled his eyes.

"Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he's learning," she admitted.

"Ah," Ruby said in comprehension, "So he was speaking 'gorilla' back there…"

"Which would explain why none of us understood it," Lionheart noted.

"Interesting that someone could learn a language like that," Adam thought out loud.

"Ah, that's right," Terra nodded, "While you three were talking, he told me you were looking for your friends."

Ruby nodded, "He said Weiss and Pyrrha are here. And one word I couldn't understand…"

"Why don't we try this," Terra offered, "We'll show Roy some slides and see if any of them match that word."

"That might work," Summer noted, "But slides? Really?"

"Going old school with this one," Qrow chuckled.

She walked over to a projector and reached for her slides. She gasped in shock, "Oh, what happened to the slides?"

"Maybe they're around the camp," Winter suggested, "We'll look for them."

Terra nodded and the group, with Roy included now walked out to look for the slides. Shay was standing in the corner looking into the jungle.

They gathered six slides from the campsite and went back to Terra. She loaded them into the projector and turned it on. The first slide showed a strange castle.

"Huh," Pyrrha wondered, "That castle feels familiar…"

"How?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know…" Pyrrha trailed off.

"Hmm…" Ruby thought out loud.

"What's wrong Ruby?" Qrow asked.

"What?" Ruby shook from her thoughts, "Um… nothing."

In her head though, Ruby had some thoughts, "This place… It just looks so familiar. But how? I've never been off my island."

Blake raised an eyebrow. How can the on screen Ruby and real life Pyrrha have the same thought?

"What a weird coincidence," Ruby shrugged.

Roy didn't say anything about the castle, so Terra moved on. The next slides showed a man giving flowers to a woman, an old woman playing with a baby, a gorilla, a large sailing ship, and two fencers.

"Well, Roy?" Terra asked hopefully, she looked down to him for confirmation.

"Where are my friends, Weiss and Pyrrha?" Ruby asked hopefully.

Roy shook his head dismissively.

"I told you," Ren noted, "Miscommunication."

"If only we knew what that word meant…" Velvet agreed.

"Hey, I thought…" Ruby started.

She was interrupted by Shay barging into the tent, "That leaves just one place."

"Young lady," he continued, "We've been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours."

"I'd wager they're with the gorillas," Shay reasoned, "But Roy refuses to take us to them."

"Because you're a hunter!" Mercury shook his head, "Seriously, I knew this guy was stupid, but how could he not put two and two together?"

"Really, Mr. Mann," Terra defended, "Roy wouldn't hide…"

Shay interrupted, "Then take us there! Take us to the gorillas," Shay turned demeaning and sounded it out like he was talking to a child, "Go-ril-las."

"Now he's treating him like an idiot," Raven sighed, "I forgot how annoying he can be without me around to whip him into shape."

"Don't I know it," Yang grumbled.

Roy turned from Shay to look at Ruby. She had a pleading look on her face. He studied her face for a moment before nodding.

"Roy," Terra said worriedly, "Are you sure?"

"Roy go see Kerchak," Roy sounded out.

"Kerchak?" Terra asked back.

"That's an interesting name…" Ilia noted, "But it is a gorilla, so I don't know what I expected."

"He must be the leader," Jaune noted.

"Yes," Gordeau confirmed, "But he's also Roy's adoptive father."

"What an interesting life," Robyn noted.

"He must be the leader," Shay reasoned, "Perfect. I'll go along as an escort."

"After all," he explained, "the jungle is a dangerous place." He grinned and his missing tooth was clearly visible.

Yang smiled, "I did that."

"You knocked his tooth out?" Raven asked.

"He wouldn't stop hitting on me!" Yang defended, "He deserved it."

"I don't think bringing him along is a good idea…" Neo shook her head.

Roy led the group towards the gorilla's meeting ground. Shortly after they left the camp Shay spoke up, "I'll scout ahead and clear any danger out of our way." He trudged off leaving the four to stare at him in disbelief.

"What's he doing?" Nora glared.

"Probably going to get into some trouble," Summer sighed.

"Ah, let him go," Qrow muttered, "Let's go see if we can find your friends, Ruby."

Ruby nodded and followed Roy. He led them up a tree and onto some vines. He swung across and gestured for the group to do the same.

"Well, that's easy," Sun shrugged.

"Not everybody climbs trees for a living, Sun," Weiss scowled.

The group attempted to follow but Ruby slipped and fell. She landed in a lagoon surrounded by hippos.

She saw a vine and climbed back up, with an embarrassed look on her face.

The trio swung across, Ruby and Qrow having more fun than Winter did. They eventually reached the meeting place. Sitting on a branch in the distance were two gorillas. One was huge and all black, the other smaller and brown.

"I'm guessing the big one is Kerchak?" Emerald asked.

"Yep," Gordeau nodded, "The other one is Kala, Roy's mother."

Roy spoke to the two in gorilla, with subtitles showing what they were saying, "Kerchak, please listen to me."

"Well, at least they gave us a way to understand him," Velvet pointed out.

"What?" Roman chuckled, "You didn't want to see a scene of a man and a gorilla grunting at each other?"

Kerchak and Kala said nothing, they both just watched Roy as he continued, "I know the nesting grounds are secret, but I trust them."

"You see," he went on, "I want to help them because," he paused and took a deep breath, "Because, well, they need us."

"Wanting to help just because someone needs help," Ruby smiled, "That's what I want to do."

Kala looked at Kerchak with hope in her eyes. Off to the side the trio had their own conversation.

"Did you get that?" Qrow asked, hoping it wasn't just him.

"No." Winter replied shortly.

"Kerchak," Roy pleaded.

Kerchak looked up the tree and walked off; leaving a dejected Roy behind, "Kerchak…"

"I guess the answer is no," Qrow noted.

"Seems that way," Winter agreed.

"You know," Qrow reasoned, "He seemed sorta distracted by something."

"Was he looking toward the tree house?" Winter wondered.

"Only one way to find out," Ruby responded, "C'mon, Roy."

Roy turned and followed as the four made their way to the tree house. Winter sensed something was wrong and ran ahead as fast as she could.

"I wonder what's going on?" Ilia asked.

"My guess is it has something to do with Shay," Neptune guessed.

Inside the tree house, the gorilla that startled Winter earlier was aimlessly spinning a globe. She was fascinated by how it worked.

"And that is Terk, Roy's best friend," Gordeau explained, "She's also the only one of the gorillas comfortable around the other humans."

"I wonder why?" Summer wondered.

In the doorway, Shay kneeled down and aimed his gun at her.

"Called it!" Neptune noted.

"No!" Ruby called out, "Leave Terk alone!"

Winter ran as fast as she could towards them. When she arrived, she let out a loud yell that startled Shay.

He jerked and fired his gun into the air and fell on his rear end.

"Well, that was a yell," Qrow chuckled, "Hope I don't have to hear that again."

Winter rolled her eyes and was about to fire back, when she was startled by a hug from Ruby.

"Thank you, Winter!" Ruby smiled, "You saved her!"

Winter's expression softened, "You're welcome, though I did nothing. It was all my counterpart."

Ruby walked back to her seat, "But it's still you…"

The gorilla scattered up to the balcony in fear. Kerchak rounded the corner and glared down at the pair as Qrow, Roy, and Ruby entered the tree house as well.

"What's the big idea?" Winter questioned the man.

Roy walked forward toward Kerchak, "Wait, Kerchak. Please!"

"Well, he gave a reason without even having to say anything," Weiss noted.

"And Shay was the example," Raven nodded.

Kerchak and the other gorilla walked off.

Roy's gaze hardened and he turned to Shay, "You don't understand," Shay attempted to defend himself, "I was only trying to…"

Seeing it wasn't working Shay changed tactic, "Ah. A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life."

Nora chuckled, "Shay D. Mann."

"It seems like a very fitting name right about now," Jaune agreed.

Roy sighed at the man's obvious lie.

Qrow grabbed the man, "You're coming back to the camp with us," he ordered.

"And then Terra can decide what to do with you," Winter smirked.

Shay gulped but followed the four back to camp.

Blake winced, "I would not want to get on her bad side."

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, as nice as Terra can be, she's kinda scary when she's mad."

"I just realized something," Emerald noted, "We haven't seen any Heartless in this world yet."

"Yeah," Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Just Sabor…"

"I wonder where they are?" Ren asked.

They party returned to the tent and explained what happened to Terra.

"How could you do such a thing!" she yelled at Shay.

"Now, Miss Cotta," Shay defended, "As I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla."

"You," she got into Shay's face, "Are not to go near the gorillas again!"

"Told ya," Jaune shuddered.

"All because of one mishap?" Shay chuckled, "Come, now…"

He looked around. All five people had the same look of 'try it and see what happens' on their faces.

He lightly chuckled and backed out of the tent. He turned around and his smile turned into a sneer.

"He's going to try again," Ruby scowled.

"That man doesn't know when to quit," Yang rolled her eyes.

"Ugh," he groaned, "What am I doing with these imbeciles?" he lit a pipe as he continued, "Blasted gorillas! I'll hunt down every last one of them!"

"I'll track them down somehow," he declared, "I'll stake my life on it."

Suddenly, a rustle in the brush caught Shay's attention.

He readied his gun and shot at the noise. It was heard in the tent so Ruby and co. ran out to investigate.

"I wonder what startled him?" Sun asked.

"Probably Sabor," Ruby noted, "He seems to be the only hostile thing in this jungle.

They saw a gorilla standing in the camp. It was surrounded by blue, monkey shaped Heartless.

"Or not," Ruby retracted the statement.

"The Heartless are back," Emerald noted.

"Powerwilds," Gordeau noted.

Joined by Roy, the party attacked. Roy charged with his spear and stabbed two. The others jumped and flailed their claws at Ruby, but she deflected the blows.

The group made short work of the Heartless and the gorilla ran off.

"There's got to be more," Ruby reasoned, "Let's go!"

The other three nodded and they took off to find the other gorillas.

These Powerwilds were joined by orange and brown monkeys with red bows on their head.

"Bouncywilds," Gordeau noted.

"So the Heartless are themed to each world?" Sun asked, "Cause I see no other reason for them to be monkeys."

"Sometimes," Gordeau shrugged, "It just depends on the world."

The Bouncywilds stayed back and using the slingshots they carried, fired orbs at Ruby. She took a few hits while distracted by the Powerwilds.

After a few, she remembered something she'd learned back on her island with Reece and Fox. Changing her tactic, she focused on the Bouncywilds.

"These Heartless have amazing teamwork," Robyn noted.

Qrow shuddered, "Could you imagine if Grimm cooperated like that that?"

A good portion of the audience shuddered at the thought.

As she got close though, they ran off, dropping banana peels as they did.

She gave chase, but felt something rake across he back. One of the Powerwilds had slashed her.

The hits from the combined battles were adding up, so she used one of her potions before turning to Winter.

"Winter! I need you to take care of the yellow ones!" she ordered.

"I take a lot of hits," Ruby grumbled.

"Well, you are just starting out," Penny observed, "I'm sure you get better as the universe moves on."

Winter huffed in annoyance, still mad at Ruby for crashing the ship, but did it anyway.

With the new strategy, they took out the next group of Heartless.

They rescued four more gorillas from the Heartless before returning to camp.

They returned to the camp to find white and red mushroom Heartless. Ruby readied herself for an attack, but it never came. Instead the Heartless stared at her and shivered.

"What are those?" Blake asked.

"One of the only types of friendly Heartless," Gordeau pointed out, "I won't explain it to you, but see if you can figure out what they want."

She took advantage of it and attacked. The Heartless stomped its feet in anger and departed in a flash of darkness.

"Huh," Ruby thought, "That was weird."

"Maybe we should ask Robyn about them when we go back to town," Qrow thought.

Ruby nodded and headed for the tent.

The only person in the tent was Terra. "Any sign of Shay?" Ruby asked.

"No," Terra shook her head, "I do hope he's safe."

"Even after all that, she still cares about him," Jaune shook his head.

"Don't worry," Winter reassured her, "We'll find him, and make sure he isn't up to anything."

They left the tent again and heard a gunshot in the bamboo thicket. They rushed toward the noise.

"Well, at least we know he's alive," Blake pointed out.

"But what was he shooting at?" Ilia asked warily.

They entered the area, sitting on the stone in the middle of the clearing was Shay's pipe.

Suddenly, Sabor leapt out of the bamboo and began to attack. The leopard attacked the same way it did earlier causing Ruby to smirk.

"It looks like Sabor got to him," Mercury noted.

"But then why did the Heartless show up?" Emerald wondered, "Something's not right…"

Ruby waited. She and Sabor walked in a circle facing each other. When Sabor leapt at her, she deflected his attack. Qrow took advantage of the leopard's balance and slammed it to the ground.

Sabor got up and growled. He turned and jumped into the bamboo.

Ruby tried to track his movements, but quickly gave up. She turned to Roy, who pointed at a specific spot in the thicket. Sabor leapt out right where Roy had pointed.

"He certainly is handy to have around," Roman noted.

"He's lived in that jungle his whole life," Robyn shrugged, "He would have to know some tracking skills to survive that long."

He pounced at Ruby only to be met by a blizzard spell from Winter.

He pounced again, only to land right on Roy's spear. Sabor growled weakly and fell over dead.

"Aw," Ruby sighed, "But I get it. He wasn't even attacking for food at that point."

"What do you mean, sis?" Yang asked.

"Every single one of his pounces was aimed at me," she explained, "He was angry about earlier and wanted me dead."

"It worked in your favor though," Jaune pointed out, "Because of that, he ignored your friends and they got the better of him."

Roy walked over and pulled out one of Sabor's fangs.

Elsewhere, Terk ran into the camp. It was now overrun by the Heartless.

She ran into the tent and collided with Terra. As they recovered, Terra put her arms around Terk. The gorilla returned the gesture in earnest.

"Aw…" many people cooed at the gesture.

The sound of the tent flap opening caught Terra's attention. She looked up and gasped at what she saw as she hugged Terk closer.

"I wonder what has her so scared?" Oscar asked.

"Probably the Heartless," Blake suggested.

Ruby and Co. recovered from their battle with Sabor. "Whew!" Ruby panted.

Winter sighed, "We should go tell Terra that the leopard got Shay."

Roy nodded and they headed back to camp.

They entered the tent to find it empty, "Hey," Ruby asked, "Where's Terra?"

"Okay, I really don't want to be right about that," Blake noted.

"Not after what happened to that girl in Traverse Town," Yang agreed.

Roy looked around worriedly and caught Qrow's attention, "What's wrong, Roy?"

"Something coming," Roy stated, "Terra, danger."

"Terra near…" he thought, something just told him where she was, "Near tree house."

"And he knows this how?" Weiss asked.

"I honestly don't know," Gordeau shrugged, "He just does."

"Sounds like trouble," Winter thought, "Let's go."

They ran out of the tent and towards the tree house. They got about halfway there when they saw her.

She and Terk were trapped behind vines in the middle of a horde of Heartless. The team fought.

But they just kept coming. No matter how many they fought, more showed up.

"It's like the breach all over again," Velvet noted.

"And no Ms. Goodwitch to seal it up this time," Ruby sighed.

"But you've got Winter this time," Weiss pointed out, "She could seal whatever the Heartless are coming out of."

"Ruby," Roy grunted, "Fruit."

Ruby looked up to see a large black fruit hanging from the tree. Ruby turned her focus to that and attacked.

The fruit disintegrated, and the Heartless vanished as did the vines holding Terra in place.

"Or Ruby could do it by smashing a fruit," Yang chuckled.

"It still makes more sense than anything in Wonderland," Winter grumbled.

"Terra!" Roy exclaimed as he ran toward her.

She sat still holding Terk in her arms. "What happened?" Qrow asked.

"Shay came to the tent, and…" she tought about it, "That's the last thing I remember."

"Shay?!" Ruby yelled.

"I thought Sabor or the Heartless got him," Lionheart noted.

"Obviously not," Ozpin noted, "Buy why aren't the Heartless attacking him then?"

Everyone pondered this question.

Roy looked at Terk, "Gorillas trapped. Terk ran."

"We must help the gorillas!" Terra yelled from her spot.

"Got it!" Ruby exclaimed before turning to Roy, "Where would they go?"

"Cliffs," he grunted before leading the way. The party tore through the jungle towards the cliffs.

The quartet burst into the cliffs area to see all the gorillas rounded up by the Heartless. Shay was standing in the middle of them gun raised. He aimed at Kala and began to pull the trigger.

"No!" Ruby (Both of them) called out.

"Is he controlling the Heartless?" Summer gasped.

"That's a scary thought," Raven shuddered.

Shay stopped and stared at her, but didn't say anything.

"Shay?" she asked in disapproval.

"Not Shay!" Roy exclaimed.

"*&&X%! Not Shay!" He said again.

"What does he mean?" Sun asked, "I mean that's still Shay…"

Oscar gasped as he figured it out, "He's not controlling the Heartless! He IS a Heartless!"

Everyone went wide-eyed and turned to the screen.

Shay jerked and fired at Ruby. She barely had time to dodge as the bullet flew past her head.

Winter cast a fire spell at Shay, as the other three went in to attack. Keeping up the assault, Shay was never able to fire another round.

"Well, that was easy," Tai noted.

"Yeah, a little too easy," Qrow's eyes narrowed.

"He's got another trick up his sleeve," Roman agreed.

Shay backed away from the group and up against the wall.

"It's over Shay!" Ruby yelled, "Give it up!"

Suddenly, a loud roar sounded. The wall behind Shay burst apart and he began hovering in the air.

"What?" Clover asked in shock.

"Is he flying?" Harriet asked.

"No look at his legs," Penny pointed out, "He's riding on something."

Ruby wasn't sure what was going on, but she leapt at Shay. As she did, she felt something collide with her side.

She flew backward, but steadied herself as she hit the ground. She watched as the other four also took hits from this invisible force.

"An invisible Heartless," Ozpin shuddered, "Another trait that would make Grimm even more frightening."

Ruby gritted her teeth in frustration. It was one thing to take hits, it was another to not see what was hitting you.

Ruby attacked what she couldn't see. She landed a few blows on something solid and nodded to Qrow.

He acknowledged her and began attacking it as well. Winter continued her efforts on Shay, and Roy caught on to Ruby's plan.

With the three attacking the invisible force, it eventually threw Shay from it. It decloaked to reveal a large lizard Heartless.

"It's…" Neo went wide-eyed.

"A Stealth Sneak," Gordeau named.

Ilia turned to Neo, "You were going to say something about me, weren't you?"

"Can you do that?" Neo asked.

"I've never tried…" Ilia noted, "My clothes would make it difficult to do…"

Neo smirked and Ilia whispered, "We'll try it later, okay?"

Dealing with the Stealth Sneak proved difficult, as Shay gave it supporting fire. Winter needed time to replenish her magic so Ruby came up with a plan.

"Roy, keep Shay busy, Qrow, Winter, you and I will take on the Heartless until Winter's magic is back. Once it is, I want you to help Roy with Shay, got it?" she ordered.

"A decent plan," Robyn agreed, "Though I can't say I have much experience with giant lizards or magic."

The group nodded and got to work. Roy took off and paced around Shay. He waited for him to fire, then closed in and attacked as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, the trio were having problems dealing with the Stealth Sneak. As soon as they had closed in, it shot homing projectiles out of its eyes.

"And it shoots beams out of it's eyes?!" Ruby groaned, "I'm really glad this doesn't exist in our world."

Qrow grumbled and he took a few hits before getting his shield in the right postition. He was getting really tired of this.

"Gotta agree with you, kiddo," Qrow nodded, "It would be frustrating to deal with."

Winter had no such means to defend herself, and took the blasts in full force. She winced as she used one of her own potions.

Winter sighed, "I guess being a mage has it's downfalls…"

"To true…" Ozpin whispered to himself.

Eventually, the projectiles stopped and the trio charged again. They dodged the lizards close range attacks and pummeled it with everything they had.

"Ruby," Roy yelled as he pushed Shay in front of the trio.

The four all hit Shay at the same time. He staggered backward, giving both Ruby and Winter time to hit the Stealth Sneak with fire magic and it collapsed right on top of Shay.

"That's one way to do it," Lionheart nodded, "Good job to Roy for figuring it out."

The Stealth Sneak disappeared in a flash of light and its heart flew out. After it was gone, Shay was nowhere to be found.

"It looks like Oscar was right," Blake noted, "Shay became a Heartless."

In his place was a small green orb. Ruby grabbed it and surged with power.

"That was another spell!" Winter exclaimed, "Cure. A healing spell!"

"So, I don't need these potions?" Ruby asked.

"You should still keep them," Winter advised, "That way you can still heal if you run out of magic."

"It's like a portable Aura!" Nora noted.

"That…actually makes sense," Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"I have my moments!" Nora said, proudly.

Ruby nodded, but noticed that Kerchak had approached her.

He grabbed her and threw her up onto a nearby ledge.

She landed on her face, followed quickly by Winter and Qrow. Roy climbed up to join them and looked back at Kerchak with a questioning look.

"That was rude!" Pyrrha noted, "They just saved his life!"

"I think that's his way of thanking them," Raven noted.

The gorilla nodded at him and led the pack off.

Roy nodded and walked to the edge of the cliff. The trio followed and looked out onto the most beautiful sight they had seen. It was a large lagoon with a massive waterfall.

"That's gorgeous," Robyn noted.

"It reminds me of a less developed Mistral," Lionheart noted.

"Roy, home," Roy explained. He gestured toward a nearby cave and led the party onward.

Inside the cave, Ruby heard barking. She found three puppies quickly and Winter teleported them to the ship.

"Just a guess," Qrow noted, "But I'm betting we missed some in this world."

"Don't worry," Gordeau noted, "You do go back to find them."

"Good," Ruby smiled.

The party climbed up the inside of the cave using vines to pull themselves up. They soon reached a large round room with a tree in the middle. There was a group of blue butterflies gathered on the tree.

Terra and Terk joined them shortly after.

"*&&X%" Roy stated.

"There's that word again," Ilia noted.

"I have a feeling were about to find out what it means," Summer inched forward.

"This is your home?" Ruby asked, "But that means…"

Roy held up his hand to stop Ruby. He held it up to his ear and gestured for her to listen.

A noise was heard as they all listened. "The waterfalls!" Terra exclaimed, "They're echoing all the way here."

"It sounds like a heartbeat," Penny noted.

"That's it!" Blake agreed, "The word means 'heart.'"

"*&&X%" Roy repeated, "Friends there. See friends."

"Oh, now I've got it," Terra realized, "*&&X% means heart."

"Friends in our hearts…" she stated happily.

"So, Weiss and Pyrrha were never there?" Ruby sighed, "So much for that thought…"

"Heart…" Roy repeated.

"Oh," Ruby said dejectedly, "So that's what it meant."

"Friends," Roy explained, "Same heart. Shay, lose heart."

"No heart," he reasoned, "No see friends. No heart, no friends."

Adam shifted awkwardly in his seat. He didn't like the idea of losing his heart. It also made him uneasy that this 'Shay' lost his by his own will. Could it have happened to him?

The moment touched Ruby and Winter. They both realized they were wrong to fight. "Sorry about what I said." Ruby apologized.

"I'm sorry too," Winter returned.

Qrow chuckled as he put his arms around the two, "Yeah. All for one, huh?"

Adam glanced at Blake, wondering if it had touched her too. He sighed when she didn't react at all.

"Well, I'm glad we made up," Winter nodded, "My point in the argument wasn't a strong one to begin with."

Suddenly, the butterflies dispersed and a Keyhole was revealed. Ruby held up her Keyblade, and the same beam that appeared in Wonderland happened again.

"Keyholes again," Velvet murmured, "I wonder what they're for?"

A gummi part fell out and Winter picked it up.

Terk walked over and nuzzled against Winter.

Terra chuckled, "I think someone has a new admirer."

"Did… Did she just suggest what I think she did?" Emerald asked in shock.

"I don't think so," Mercury raised an eyebrow, "Probably just that the gorilla was thanking her for saving them."

"Oh," Emerald shook her head, "I don't know why that was the first place my mind went."

"Huh?" Winter asked before looking at Terk. She shook her head dismissively as every broke down into laughter.

The screen went black before coming back in what looked like a large cathedral. Three figures were standing in front of the table from the earlier scene. The figures were the bag man, the man with the wings, and a half human, half octopus with blonde hair.

"Back to the villains," Blake noted, "Though I don't recognize the third."

"Maybe a new villain?" Yang suggested.

"What drew the Heartless to that world?" the man with the wings asked. The green skinned woman was seen looking at the three.

"The hunter lured them there," she explained, "It was his lust for power that was the bait."

Cinder went wide-eyed. She wanted power more than anything. "Is wanting power really that bad?" she whispered to herself, "Could it lead to me becoming nothing more than this Shay was?"

"But," she continued, "It seems the bait was too tasty for his own good."

An eerie laugh was heard and the bag man started talking, "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"

"Hmhp!" the winged man scoffed as he came into the light, he was a tall male bat Faunus with spiky brown hair and a goatee. He wore a black and red robe with a black turban. He carried a gold staff in the shape of a snake. "A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless."

"Yep, I was right," Ilia nodded.

"Isn't that one of the White Fang members who you tried to have kidnap me?" Blake asked.

"Yep," Ilia confirmed, "His name is Yuma."

Adam shuddered, "Why does he have to be a bat?"

"Really?" Mercury asked, "Bats?"

"You didn't grow up in mines," Adam pointed out, "They were everywhere!"

"But," Yuma continued, "The girl is a problem. She found another one of the Keyholes."

"Fear not," the green skinned woman reassured, "It will take her ages to find the rest."

"Besides," she continued, "She remains blissfully unaware of our other plan."

"Something to do with the girl from the last time," Jaune pointed out.

"Yes," the woman with the southern drawl, who was also the half human, half octopus person, said, "The princesses…"

Blake went wide-eyed, "They're after princesses?"

Yang's eyes flashed red for a moment, "Well, I think we figured out where Blake is."

Blake just sat and stared at the screen. She had been kidnapped, and was probably going to be used as bait for Winter and Qrow.

"Something tells me this woman is the main antagonist in this universe," Harriet noted.

"They are falling into our hands," the green skinned woman confirmed, "one by one."

She heard a noise and looked over to her right, "Speaking of which…"

Suddenly, out of the shadows ran a very confused Saphron, who looked around in horror before the screen faded back to black.

"Wait, Saphron is a princess too?" Jaune asked in shock.

"It appears so," Weiss noted, "Now we now why the Heartless took her."

"But not what for," Velvet noted, "I feel like there's something much bigger going on."

Back in Deep Jungle, Ruby and co. said their goodbyes, "Well," she started, "guess we'd better get going."

"Where is your ship, anyway?" Terra asked.

Winter gave both Ruby and Qrow a glare before answering, "Well, uh… not too far."

"World Order," Winter nodded proudly.

"Border," Qrow corrected incorrectly, just to tease her.

Roy walked up to Ruby, "Ruby, Roy, friends." He handed her a key chain that was shaped like a butterfly. She looked at it closely. It was white, as if made out of a tooth.

"Did he make that out of Sabor's tooth?" Neo asked, slightly disgusted.

"Well, he's artsy, I'll give him that," Roman noted.

As she took it, it snapped on to her Keyblade. Her blade turned into one made out of bones and vines with the butterfly on the end.

"Jungle King," Gordeau noted for Nora's sake.

"Why are you writing these down anyway?" Jaune asked.

"In case they come up again later!" Nora noted, "Then I can just name them without asking!"

"Okay then," Ruby nodded, "Goodbye!"

They waved and headed for the gummi ship.


AN: Hello again!

(Cough) Sorry didn't mean to go all Pyrrha there. Here's this chapter!

So, something I should've pointed out last chapter and forgot, the scene with the villains talking about the Cheshire Cat actually comes from the Manga, not the games. So, those of you who played the games and were utterly confused, I apologize.

The scene was edited though. In the manga, Alice shows up at the end, not Snow White.

But in the game, you have Alice showing up after Deep Jungle. The scene with Snow White is actually from the game as an alternate take. If you do Olympus and Deep Jungle before Wonderland, Snow White appears in the Deep Jungle end scene instead of Alice.

Just an interesting note for you all.

Also, also, I went back and edited Chapters 1 and 2. It was mostly just formatting and I (finally) moved chapter 1's AN from the beginning of chapter 2 to the end of chapter 1.

I did make a small content change though. In chapter 1, I changed Summer's line from 'You SENT me on an impossible quest' to 'You SET me on an impossible quest.'" This was simply to match up with the rest of the story I've written so far.

Anyway… responses:

StrongGuy159 and RHatch89: Thanks! Will do!

Eliphas-Chaos: Actually, I'm going to try and do the rest of the worlds (save Hollow Bastion and Olympus due to tournaments) to one chapter each. The Phineas and Ferb chapter was longer anyway. Deep Jungle is the correct name (as shown above) but no worries. Yes, canonically Olympus was next, but if playing the game, if you go in this order, Olympus becomes a lot easier. Cerberus is much more difficult than Clayton is.

Ahnerenerbe: Well, you'll see who's playing Cloud next chapter. Roxas and Ven will be a little while, but I actually think it's going to surprise you.

Guest: Oh, it'll be interesting all right.

Carre: Thanks! And seeing as you've been around for a while, you're my exception to the 'No responding to suggestions' rule.

3: Interesting… The Sherlock Holmes ones could happen, I'll look into it.

Pirates is already cast, and I think you'll like who's Barbossa.

4: Will do!

Keeper of Worlds: Normally, I get an email when someone reviews, but not with you. Weird. Anyway, no problem! I'll keep it coming!

Casting:

Tarzan-Roy Stallion: Quiet honestly, it's the hair.

Jane Porter- Terra Cotta: A studious, but witty person. It fit nicely.

Clayton – Shay D. Mann: This is one of my personal favorite castings for this universe. Shay just fit so well as Clayton. A villain who no one else sees as important, but has his own goals and is persistent to the point of making stupid mistakes.

Jafar – Yuma: Not the first choice for Jafar, but everyone else was already in a different roll. He fits the Kingdom Hearts version though, as both are arrogant, cold blooded, normal calm and collected, and lost because of extremely stupid reasons.

Seating Chart:

Laps:-Ruby: Jinn;-Weiss: Zwei;-Sun: XXXXXXXX-;Roman: XXXX;-;Pyrrha: XXXXXX;-

Row one: Penny; Ruby; Weiss; Winter; Blake; Yang; Velvet; XXXX; Jaune; Pyrrha; Nora; Ren

Row two: XXX; XXXXXXXXXX; Neptune; Sun; Ilia; Neo; XXXXXX; XXXXX; XXXXXX; XXXXXX; XXXXXXX; XXXXX

Row three: Taiyang; Summer; Raven; Qrow; Roman; Robyn; Leonardo; XXXXXX; Ozpin; Oscar; XXXXX; Gordeau

Row four: XXXXXX; XXXXXXX; XXXXX; XXXXXXX; XXXX; XXXX; XX; XX; XXXXX; XXXXXXX; XXXXXX; XXX

Row Five: Clover; Harriet; XXXXXX; XXX; XXXX; XXXXXXXX; XXXXX; XXXXXX; XXXXX; XXXXX; XXXX; XXXX

Row Six: XXXX; XXXXXX; Adam; XXXXX; XXXXX; XXXXXX; XXXXXX; XXXXX; XXXXX; Cinder; Emerald; Mercury

And the Poll:

Tied for 10th: Salem (Blonde), Velvet Scarlatina, and Weiss Schnee with 8

9th: Glynda Goodwitch with 11

8th: Blake Belladonna with 12

7th: Raven Branwen with 13

Tied for 6th: Cinder Fall and Kali Belladonna with 14

5th: Sienna Kahn with 16

4th: Neo Politan with 17

3rd: Ruby Rose with 19

2nd: Yang Xiao-Long with 20

1st: Pyrrha Nikos with 21