Ren looked at Nora who had her arms crossed and looked like she was thinking hard about something. Just as he opened his mouth to ask her he flinched back as Nora let out a loud shout which grabbed the attention of everyone.
"It was a trap!"
Everyone looked at Nora in confusion before Jaune spoke up, "Uh, Nora what was a trap?"
Nora looked with a large grin at Jaune, "The pipe of course. Shay placed the pipe on the rock and let out the gun-shot to draw Ruby and the others into a trap. He wanted them to be killed by Sabor."
Everyone who was listening dropped their jaws.
Weiss spoke up in shock, "Of course! How did we not see that earlier? If the leopard had gotten Shay there would have been blood and signs of a battle. Not a pipe placed on a rock in the middle of a clearing."
Raven frowned as she spoke up, "I don´t know how I didn´t see it earlier. In hindsight it is obvious that it was a trap."
Everyone nodded in Agreement before they looked back at the screen
Once inside the gummi ship, Ruby had a question, "That gummi block that came out of that glowing hole, it's not like the others. Wonder what it's used for."
"I dunno." Winter shrugged.
"Maybe Robyn'll know," Qrow suggested.
Robyn rolled her eyes, "Am I the expert on everything?"
"No," Lionheart shook his head, "I'm the expert on magic."
"Hmm," Winter thought, "She might. Back to Traverse Town, then?"
"I wanna be pilot!" Ruby exclaimed with excitement.
"Not after the last time you're not!" Winter scolded.
"It only crashed because you wouldn't stop!" Ruby protested.
"And I agreed I was in the wrong," Winter nodded, "But that still doesn't mean you should yank the controls out of my hands!"
"Hey, stop it!" Winter snapped.
"Oh, come on!" Ruby complained with puppy dog eyes, "I'm the Keyblade master."
"I don't care who you are!" Winter yelled, "No!"
"Here we go again," Qrow sighed as he took a drink.
"Yeah, I actually agree with myself on this one," Qrow shook his head.
"They really don't know how to share, do they?" Tai chuckled.
Winter wrestled the controls from Ruby and flew towards Traverse Town. On the way, they spotted a different world in their path.
"Why don't we check this world out first?" Ruby asked pleadingly.
"Yeah, Ice Queen," Qrow agreed, "What if the princess is down there?"
Winter sighed, remembering her mistake on the last world, "All right, we'll check it out."
Winter smiled at herself, "Glad to see I won't be making the same mistakes again."
"I wonder what this world will be like?" Ren asked, "So far, we have Destiny Islands…"
"Destroyed," Nora noted.
"Blake's Castle," Ren continued, "Traverse Town, Wonderland, and Deep Jungle."
They warped down into a massive courtyard. Surrounded by brown stone, they were standing in front of a large arena.
Some flashes appeared on screen and the words 'Olympus Coliseum' showed up on screen.
"A coliseum?" Velvet noted, "Like Amity?"
"Looks like it could be," Ozpin noted, "Though, I don't recognize the term Olympus…"
They walked toward the entrance, when Winter noticed something. Peeking out from behind a large statue, she saw a small dog's head. She rounded the statue to find three more puppies.
"Oh yeah, puppies," Mercury rolled his eyes, "You'd think she had better things to be doing, but no…"
Emerald chuckled in agreement.
The trio entered the coliseum and saw a small satyr standing with his back to them. He was cleaning something, so Ruby approached to ask him about the world.
"So, I'll admit it," Jaune noted, "I don't know much about Faunus, but is that one? I mean, he looks like a half-human, half-goat."
"Nah," Qrow answered, surprising the Faunus in the room, "He's got horns, fur, and hooves. Faunus only have one trait per person."
"You're actually not wrong…" Adam noted, suspiciously.
"Not every human is as bad as you think we are," Qrow pointed out.
Adam scoffed and turned back to the screen.
"In any case," Gordeau interrupted, "Qrow is not wrong. That is a satyr, a half man, half goat creature that exists in that world."
"But not in ours," Summer noted.
"Um…" She started.
"Good timing," the satyr interrupted, "Give me a hand, will ya?"
Still keeping his back to the trio, he gestured over to a large stone block, "Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."
"How is Ruby supposed to move that?" Weiss asked in shock, "That thing must weigh a ton!"
"I think the satyr thinks Ruby is someone else," Yang noted with a smirk, "You know, someone with blonde hair who could definitely lift that?"
Blake rolled her eyes before smirking, "Or maybe an orange haired girl who can lift even more than you can."
Nora beamed as Yang grumbled, "I just want to be part of the team."
He went back to what he was doing. Ruby looked to her companions and shrugged. She moved over to push the pedestal, but it was too heavy.
"It's way too heavy!" Ruby complained to the satyr.
"It's alright, Ruby," Tai smiled, "Not everyone can be as strong as your father or sister."
"Yeah, sis," Yang nodded, "Your speed makes up for that."
Ruby blushed in embarrassment.
"What!? Too heavy?" he exclaimed with a chuckle as he turned around, he looked up expectantly, "Since when have you been such a little,"
He stopped and looked down finally locking eyes with Ruby, "Oh, wrong person. What're you doing here?"
"Huh," Neptune thought out loud, "Now there's a problem."
"What's up?" Sun asked.
"How do they explain why they're in any world?" Neptune noted, "I mean, sure they can say they're looking for people, but that will only get them so far."
"I think you may be looking too much into this," Oscar noted, "No one has really bothered to question them about it before. I think the satyr just means what are they doing in the lobby."
The satyr jumped off his perch and walked over to Ruby, he was very short and only came up to Ruby's thigh, "This here's the world-famous Coliseum, heroes only!"
"Well, it's a good thing we showed up then!" Ruby said proudly.
"You are going around fighting monsters and saving people," Pyrrha noted, "I think he'd be hard pressed not to call you heroes."
"And," he continued, "I got my hands full preparing for the games, so run along, pip-squeaks."
Ruby glared at the goat man. He sighed and put his hands on his hips, "Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."
"So not quite like Amity," Lionheart noted.
"I wonder what kind of monsters they have?" Cinder wondered.
"I would guess Heartless," Ozpin noted, "They are the only one's we've seen so far that qualify as monsters."
Winter folded her arms and proudly declared, "You got heroes standing right in front of you."
"Yup!" Qrow agreed with a chuckle as he put his hands on Ruby's shoulders, "She's a real hero chosen by the Keyblade!"
"And," Winter added with a smile, "We're heroes too."
"As much as I agree with the sentiment," Winter noted, "I would not call us heroes yet."
"Why not?" Weiss asked, "You've defeated tons of Heartless and helped save Roy, Terra, and an entire clan on gorillas."
"Besides those three, we haven't really saved anyone yet," Winter noted, "In fact, our mere presence in these worlds have only brought trouble."
"You're doing what you can," Robyn noted, "It's better than what most people would do."
"Hero?" the satyr asked incredulously, "That runt?" He laughed so hard he fell over.
"He's a little rude," Pyrrha scowled.
"What's so funny?" Ruby asked with annoyance, "I've fought a bunch of monsters!"
"Yeah!" Penny agreed, "All three are heroes to me!"
"I can't believe he doesn't think you're heroes," Pyrrha sighed.
"I can," Roman shrugged. When he noticed the glares on him he explained, "You can't use your other experiences to prove it to him, or you'd upset the world order. From what he can see, you're just a kid and her babysitters."
"However," Neo smirked, "She's in the perfect place to prove him wrong."
Ilia nodded, "A tournament would prove she's a hero."
"But he's got to let her in first," Harriet pointed out.
The satyr's laughter trailed off, "Hey, if you can't even move this…" he pointed to the pedestal and tried to move it.
It didn't budge but he strained and continued, "You can't call yourself a hero."
"Say what now?" Yang smirked, "My sister's not looking so bad now, is she?"
"Kinda took the wind out of his own argument, didn't he?" Clover chuckled.
He collapsed in a heap and glanced at the trio, "Okay, so it takes more than brawn."
"Well," he sighed, "Well, let's see what you can do. Name's Phil. Follow me."
"Aw, yeah!" Ruby cheered, "Now I can prove myself!"
"His name is Phil?" Nora asked.
"Actually," Gordeau noted, "His name is Philoctetes, but everyone just calls him Phil."
"Yeah, I like Phil better than whatever the hell you just said," Mercury agreed.
Phil led Ruby to the coliseum floor. Sitting around were a ton of barrels, "The rules are simple," Phil explained, "Bust all the barrels within thirty seconds. Go!"
Ruby ran through and smashed all twenty barrels with ease. Phil looked on with a slightly impressed look on his face, "Not bad! For a beginner, that is. Let's see how you do with the advanced course."
Phil set up a new course with the same rules. Ruby breezed through again and Phil nodded, "Hey, you're better than I thought!"
"Not much of a training course," Raven noted.
"I don't see how that makes her ready for the games," Robyn agreed.
They headed back to the lobby. Phil mused out loud, "You know, you ain't bad, kid."
Ruby chuckled, "Looks like I'm headed for the games," she said confidently.
"Maybe he changed his tone?" Neo noted.
"I wouldn't count on it," Summer raised an eyebrow, "Something tells me he still doesn't think Ruby can cut it."
"Afraid not," Phil retorted.
"See?" Summer nodded.
"Why not?" Ruby asked.
"Why not?" Ruby leaned forward in shock.
"Two words," Phil started, "You. Guys. Ain't. Heroes."
Ruby and Winter looked stunned, while Qrow held up four fingers and looked at the goat confused.
"I'm with Bird-Brain on this one," Roman chuckled, "That was more than two words."
"I love how Qrow's the only one who doesn't care about being a hero," Tai laughed, "You can see that Ruby and Winter are devastated, but Qrow just cares about the little things like that."
"Come on!" Ruby complained.
"Wanna become a real hero?" Phil asked, "Start by mastering this spell." He handed Ruby a yellow orb, "It's a thunder spell." Ruby surged with power before walking out of the lobby and back into the courtyard.
"Well, we already know how that one works," Winter noted.
Nora grinned, "And you and I can do some team attacks now!"
"Huh?" Winter wondered.
"C'mon," Nora pleaded, "I can take it! Hit me!"
"Nora…" Ren sighed, "Not right now."
Nora slumped, "Okay, but later for sure!"
They headed for the warp point when they heard an amused voice behind them, "Ah, rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"
"That's one of the villains!" Blake gasped.
"This must be his world then," Velvet noted, "Anyone recognize the voice?"
The only response was the shaking of heads.
The figure had black toga, blue skin, yellow eyes, and hair made of literal blue fire. He had very shallow cheekbones and a pointed chin. He smiled a smile that gave off a very creepy aura, especially with his pointed teeth. He was lounging against a ledge by the entrance.
"Okay, well he can't exist in our world," Adam noted.
"Yeah, I don't think anyone has actual fire for hair," Emerald noted.
"My hair catches on fire," Yang noted.
"But yours isn't just fire," Blake pointed out.
"He's kind of creepy," Penny observed.
"That is Hades," Gordeau noted, "His name isn't revealed in the universe for a while, so I figured I'd give it to you."
"Who are you?" Winter asked with a point.
"Whoa, hey, hold on there, frost girl," Hades interrupted with a chuckle as he walked forward, "Wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?"
"Ugh," Cinder groaned, "He reminds me of Roman."
"He does sound like a con artist," Mercury agreed.
"I wonder what he's trying to get Red to do?" Roman wondered himself, "Maybe I can figure out his game."
Hades towered over Ruby. She only came up to his waist. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Well, then, hey, get a load of this. Vrrrup." Suddenly in his hand a pass for the games appeared.
"A pass?" Ruby gasped curiously. She eagerly took it.
"Why is he helping?" Oscar asked, "Isn't he one of the bad guys?"
"He must want Red in the tournament," Neo pointed out, "Maybe he thinks the Heartless will get her?"
"He seems too smart for that if he went to this much trouble," Robyn noted, "I think he has something else planned."
"It's all yours," Hades said smugly, "Good luck, kid. I'm pulling for you, little shorty."
He walked off and Ruby turned around and entered the coliseum again.
"Whatever he has planned, it doesn't bode well for Ruby," Ilia noted.
Ruby walked back up to Phil and proudly presented the pass.
"Hey, how'd you get this?" he asked as he examined it to see if it was fake.
"Can we enter the games now?" Ruby asked impatiently.
"I'm not sure I want to now," Ruby noted nervously.
"Yeah," Jaune added, "But your other self doesn't know Hades is a bad guy. As far as she knows, she just got exactly what she wished for."
"Well…" Phil thought for a moment before sighing, "I guess so. We start with the preliminaries!"
"Yeah, let's go!" Ruby yelled excitedly.
"Some real weirdos signed up for the games," Phil noted, "Better watch yourself."
"Heartless?" Harriet asked.
"Heartless," Clover nodded.
Ruby nodded as Phil led them into the arena. Turns out, the weirdos he was talking about were more Heartless.
The trio nodded to each other. The first group was almost entirely Heartless they recognized, with one exception.
"Hey, aren't those the Red Nocturnes?" Nora asked, "But they're blue?"
A blue, bell shaped Heartless appeared. It jumped around the arena and shot Blizzard spells at the party.
"And they use a different type of magic," Ozpin noted.
Gordeau nodded, "They belong to an entire family of magic using Heartless. These are Blue Rhapsodies."
Ruby dodged and took a guess. She shot a Fire spell at one, and it disappeared instantly.
Keeping that bit of knowledge in mind, the trio made short work of the remaining Heartless.
"Hey, just like in life, ice melts!" Sun noted.
"So Fire takes care of Blizzard," Neptune noted, but shivered at the byproduct.
Afterwards, Phil greeted the group, "You're not heroes yet, but you ain't doing bad. Lucky you came to me for coaching."
While Phil was talking, a woman walked by. She was wearing brown boots and blue pants. On her right side, an armored skirt protected her thigh. She was wearing a blue shirt and many belts. On her left shoulder was a grey pauldron with three bolts sticking up out of it. She wore a pair of brown, fingerless gloves, but the left one had yellow claws on each finger. She wore a muted red cape that flowed behind her. The thing that stood out though, was the white and red helmet she was wearing.
"RAVEN/MOM?!" a cry went out across the theater.
"Well, I guess I'm one of the heroes coming to fight the monsters," Raven noted.
"I'm liking the outfit though," Tai noted, "It give you a very badass look."
"You have a cape!" Summer squealed as she hugged Raven, "I knew it would look good on you!"
Neo shuddered, "Really hoped I'd never have to see that mask again."
She and Ruby stared at each other as she passed, and went on with her match. Phil folded his arms and commented, "Something tells me she'll be a tough one to beat. Who knows, maybe you'll end up facing her."
"Well, I'm toast," Ruby moaned in defeat.
"Why's that, Ruby?" Weiss asked, "You've beaten everybody else."
"We grew up hearing stories about team STRQ," Yang noted, "If anyone of the four of them went all out, we'd be toast, but our moms were always the highlights of the stories."
Raven looked quizzically at Tai, "Hey, I didn't keep EVERYTHING about you a secret Rae. I knew if I gave Yang something to strive towards, she'd get better."
Ruby continued to fight her matches, most of them against Heartless. There were no new ones, so she didn't have a difficult time with them.
After two more matches Phil commented again, "Say, you're better than I thought, kid! Wish he was here to see this."
"Now Phil's tone is changing," Summer smiled.
"Ruby's fought a few battles now," Blake nodded, "She seems to have gained his respect."
"Who?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Hercules," Phil explained, "He's a hero if ever there was one. Too bad he's off visiting his father."
"Hercules?" Pyrrha asked.
"You'll see…" Gordeau said with a smirk.
Ruby was called back to the arena and fought two more waves.
Meanwhile, Raven watched from behind a metal gate, she was leaned up against the wall with her arms folded. Hades was talking to her, "That little brat is your next opponent, okay?"
Raven paled, "No…"
Roman gasped, "SHE'S Hades plan!"
"Use Raven to kill Ruby," Qrow grumbled.
Summer looked over at Raven. She was visibly shaken by the events on screen.
Summer grabbed Raven's hand and squeezed, "You okay?" she whispered.
"No," Raven whispered back, "I'm going to try and KILL our daughter. I wouldn't… Never…"
Summer pulled her wife into a loving hug, and Raven laid her head sobbing slightly on Summer's shoulder, "I know, honey. I know."
"Now, don't blow it," Hades continued, "Just take her out."
Summer scowled at the screen. They'd already figured that out, no need to be so blunt about it.
Raven turned and looked at him, "The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid?"
Ozpin's eyes widened, "God? Did she say god?"
Gordeau nodded, "In this specific world, Hades is God of the Underworld."
"Why would a God need anyone to do their dirty work?" Jaune asked, ignoring the strange look Ozpin was giving him, "I mean, couldn't he just as easily take her out himself."
"He's a manipulator," Roman noted, "He prefers to get other people to do his work for him, and only intervene when absolutely necessary."
Everyone, save a teary eyed Raven, shuddered as they thought of a few certain people.
She looked away, "Sorry, but my contract says…"
"See?" Summer smiled, "You don't want to do it."
"But I'm still going to…" Raven started, when she was blindsided by another hug. She looked over to see Ruby hugging her too.
"I know you'd never hurt us, mom," Ruby comforted, "It doesn't matter what happens here, you'd never purposefully try to hurt us."
"But I already did," Raven sulked.
"You never attacked us," Ruby shook her head, "That was all Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Hazel."
Raven thought back and realized Ruby was right. She'd only raised her blade against Qrow, and that was already forgiven.
Raven dried the tears from her eyes and hugged the two roses.
Unseen to anyone but a certain cat Faunus, Yang's eyes had turned red during that exchange. Blake resolved herself to ask her girlfriend what that was about later.
Hades interrupted her angrily, "I know! You think I don't know? I wrote the contract!"
"I know," Hades continued smoothly after cooling off, "it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament, but you gotta fight that kid to get to him. Come on."
"Wait," Oscar raised an eyebrow, "Hades isn't actually after Ruby?"
"Look's like he's really after Hercules," Penny pointed out.
"I thought the villains would all be united against Ruby," Pyrrha noted.
"Ruby seems like an afterthought to him," Ren agreed.
"That tends to happen when people like that are brought together," Lionheart noted.
Cinder's interest was piqued. If Ozpin were to die, would Hazel still be loyal to Salem? If Watts got his revenge on Ironwood, would he? Tyrian was a no-brainer. He wouldn't betray her for anything. Suddenly her thoughts turned introspective. Would she still be loyal if she could overpower Salem? The thought lingered in her head as the screen moved on.
Raven continued to look off in disinterest. Hades sighed, "Hey, it's like that old goat says, Rule 11: It's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it."
Hades shrugged coldly, "I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?"
Eyes fell onto Penny. She shuddered at Hades words, as they hit home for her.
Pyrrha took this as her signal, "Penny, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill you. I thought you were going to kill me and I didn't know about your… unique situation. I didn't know my semblance would tear you apart like that."
"It is okay," Penny nodded, "I know you did not mean to do it. The General explained it to me as best he could later. Though I would like to hear your side of the story."
"She's right," Jaune noted in realization, "No one's ever heard your side of what happened, cause… you know."
"Okay," Pyrrha nodded, "How about after this universe?"
Penny and Jaune nodded.
Raven looked at the ground pensively before pushing herself off the wall and walking into the arena.
"Geez," Hades mused to himself, "Stiffer than the stiffs back home."
Qrow couldn't help but laugh at the joke.
Cinder chuckled to herself as well, thinking of the time Raven had insulted her back at her camp.
Blake thought it made a good point for Adam too.
"Still," he sneered, "Suckers like her are hard to come by…" A low growling was heard as the camera cut to Raven and Ruby squaring off.
"And know for his back-up plan," Roman shook his head.
Ruby returned to her seat, anxious to see a fight between her and one of her mothers.
Raven pulled out her sword. It was as tall as she was, and the blade was two foot wide and covered in bandages.
"That is a HUGE sword!" Summer noted in awe.
"How do I use that thing?" Raven wondered.
"That would be the Buster Sword," Gordeau noted, "And just watch."
"Hi," Ruby greeted, "I'm Ruby!"
Raven said nothing and got in her ready stance.
"Yeah, seen that before," Neo shuddered.
"You got away," Raven shrugged, "And now you're helping my daughters, so you have nothing to fear from me."
Phil started the match. Raven dashed forward and stabbed at Ruby with the tip of her sword. Ruby barely dodged it and took a small hit to her arm.
"And here's where I get my butt wupped," Ruby sighed.
"How am I doing that?" Raven wondered, "A thrust is one thing, but this is throwing my whole body weight into a it and dashing at the same time."
She winced, not expecting it when Raven chained into another charge. She hit Ruby with the full force of this one, and she was thrown back.
"And I'm chaining them together," Raven continued, "This doesn't seem possible…"
Weiss winced as Ruby got hit. She really hoped she and Winter wouldn't have to fight like this later.
Raven smirked, this was going to be easier than she thought.
Suddenly, she took a hit from a blizzard spell from Winter.
"This Raven is skilled," Robyn admitted, "But Ruby's got friends to help her, and Raven doesn't."
"Sadly that's never stopped me before," Raven pointed out.
She turned on a dime and chained another charge into Winter, followed by one into Qrow.
"Kinda figured I'd have been the first one she targeted," Qrow noted.
"We have no personal connection in this universe," Raven shrugged, "Otherwise, I definitely would've picked on you first."
Ruby picked herself up. She decided to wait until Raven was done then move in.
Raven noticed this, and ended her charging combo by jumping into the air. She stabbed her sword into the ground and dark energy pooled out from it.
"She's using Darkness!" Nora pointed out.
"Maybe she's not just a pawn," Emerald wondered, "If she uses the darkness like this, she might be on the Heartless's side too."
"But we haven't seen her at any of the villain's meetings," Blake countered, "Maybe she's just lost her way?"
Ruby staggered out of the way, only catching part of the blow. Winter and Qrow were not so lucky, both falling backwards as the wave hit them.
"Oof," Winter winced, "This battle is not going so well…"
"Yeah," Qrow nodded, "The only hit we've landed is your spell."
"Are you surprised?" Raven asked. It was less teasing than usual, considering the context of the battle.
Raven took a minute to pull her sword out of the ground. Ruby took that opportunity to land a fierce combo on her.
"Now you've got some hits in," Tai smiled, "I'm rooting for you, Ruby!"
Summer was about to scold Tai when Raven stopped her, "It's okay. I'm rooting for her too."
Raven was smirking, though you couldn't tell with the mask on, and held her sword in a guard position.
Ruby knew this trick though, Weiss used to pull it on her all the time. However, now she had a new way to counter it. Instead of attacking, she cast her new Thunder spell on Raven.
"Glad my counter-part taught you something," Weiss smiled at Ruby.
"Yeah," Ruby nodded, "Me too."
Raven growled and charged again. Even though they hadn't done much, she decided to focus on Winter and Qrow, never giving them any real time to recover.
"I'm taking out the support," Raven noted.
"Yeah, Ruby does seem to be the powerhouse of the team, doesn't she?" Harriet agreed.
"No!" Ruby called out, as Qrow took a particularly nasty blow.
Ruby yelled and thrust her Keyblade forward, copying the move Raven was using.
"What?!" Raven asked in shock as the blade connected with her.
"That's gotta hurt," Clover winced.
"I think you did it Ruby!" Velvet smiled.
"I did?" Ruby asked.
Raven jumped back and fell to her knees.
"I did!" Ruby cheered, "I beat Mom!"
Adam snorted, "Well, compared to what skill you showed in our battle, your counterpart seems rather weak."
The entire room turned around to look at Adam in confusion.
Qrow voiced what everyone was thinking, "Wait a minute. When did you fight against Raven?"
Adam raised a brow before he smirked, "Did you seriously think I would have just let Blake and Blondie escape from me during the fall of Beacon? I was fully planning on finishing the job when Branwen appeared from her portal and attacked me."
Yang's, Taiyang's and Qrow's jaws dropped and their heads turned towards Raven who just glowered at Adam who continued smirking.
"Well," Adam went on, "The fight between us was certainly amusing. I didn´t have an enemy on her level since my last all out sparring battle against Sienna."
Adam leaned back in his seat and enjoyed the chaos in the room.
Finally, Ruby asked him something which she was curious about, "If the two of you fought against each other, then who won?"
His smirk vanished a bit as Adam scowled at Raven who readily returned it.
"It was a tie!" both growled out in annoyance.
Both were thinking back on their injuries from the fight. Adam having been stabbed into his right shoulder making him unable to use that arm and Raven having a large slash wound across her stomach. Thankfully the slash had been not too deep so at least her guts hadn´t spilled out of the wound. The fact that both had been so heavily injured that they had needed to retreat still rankled them. (Though Raven consoled herself with the fact that she had only barely used Magic during the fight.)
Across the room Yang wondered in shock how she and Blake had managed to defeat Adam if he was strong enough to tie with her Mother. She was prideful sure, but she had gotten more than a few stories about her Mother's skill in battle from her Father after their training-sessions and she knew that she still was far away from reaching Raven's level of skill.
Raven looked up with a glare, no more holding back.
Suddenly a noise startled her. She turned around and a large paw slammed her into the ground.
"Heartless!" Nora called out.
It belonged to a large black three-headed dog.
"I'm not so sure about that Nora," Ren pointed out, "Look at its eyes."
She squinted at the screen and gasped, "They're red!"
"Believe it or not," Gordeau explained, "That is a creature native to this universe. His name is Cerberus and he's…"
"The guardian of the Underworld!" Pyrrha gasped.
"I was wondering how long that would take," Gordeau chuckled.
"I know these stories!" Pyrrha explained, "Just under different names…"
"How?" Jaune asked.
"Old family history and legends," Pyrrha noted.
Yang reached over and grabbed Blake's hand. It was a good thing too, because the Faunus had almost just run out of the room.
"Hey, I've got you," Yang hugged Blake.
Blake was shaking, "It's a giant, three-headed dog, Yang! It's like my worst nightmare!"
Ruby gasped at the sight.
Out of earshot of everyone else, Hades quipped to himself with a smirk, "Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot: Accidents happen."
"Asshole!" Raven scoffed at him.
"The minute you weren't useful to him anymore, he tossed you out," Roman noted, "Sounds pretty damn familiar to me."
Cerberus reared back to attack Ruby. She was still in shock and didn't have time to defend herself.
"No!" Ruby advised her counter-part, "Get out of there me!"
"Ruby!" Weiss called out.
Before the strike could hit though, something pushed Cerberus up. It was a very muscular man with brown hair, a blue cape, and armor that looked like a male version of Pyrrha's.
"Ah," Jaune noted, "I can see the resemblance, at least in the armor."
Pyrrha nodded, "So then this would be Hercules."
"If he can lift that, no wonder Phil thought Ruby could push that pedestal," Ilia figured, "He must have confused Ruby for Hercules."
"Herc!" Phil shouted from the stands.
"Phil," Hercules yelled back, "Get her out of here!"
Ruby and Phil ran back to the lobby, dragging Qrow and Winter with them.
"Well that's embarrassing," Winter grumbled.
"Hey, with what's going on in there, I'm just happy we got out alive," Qrow noted.
After using a combination of Cure and Potions, the party recovered before turning to Phil.
"Whew," Phil sighed, "That was close!"
"What was that?" Winter asked, still a little out of it.
"That was Cerberus," Phil explained, "the guardian of the Underworld. Herc should be able to handle him."
"Oh no," Yang shook her head, "No, no, no. You are not going to do what I think you're going to do."
"She's gonna do it," Blake pointed out.
"But then again maybe not…" Phil mumbled with a sigh, "This doesn't look good."
"Please don't," Weiss mumbled.
Ruby looked at the door with determination and started to run back through.
The three sighed in exasperation.
"C'mon guys!" Ruby countered, "Even Phil's not sure Herc can handle it! Someone has to help him and Mom!"
"You're right," Weiss sighed, before adding under her breath, "I just wish it didn't have to be you…"
"Kid!" Phil stopped her in shock, "You're not entering the arena, are ya? This ain't just some match. This is for real!"
"Someone has to do something!" Ruby argued with determination and ran back in, "You can decide if I'm hero material or not."
"After how she handled Raven and now this," Ozpin noted, "I'd say this version of Miss Rose has well earned that title."
"Careful, kid!" Phil shouted after her.
Upon entering, Cerberus had Hercules backed into a wall. Herc had an unconscious Raven over his shoulder, her mask broken by the fight.
"Alright," Yang sighed, "I guess it's a good thing you stuck around."
She nudged Blake, "See? Ruby's gonna take care of the big, scary dog for you."
Blake glared at her, but felt some excitement at that fact.
"This is the one dog I don't mind pummeling!" Ruby declared.
Hearing the trio run in, Cerberus turned around, giving Hercules enough time to run out of the arena with Raven.
Phil had one last minute piece of advice, "Kid, I got two words of advice for you. ATTACK!"
Qrow rolled his eyes and readied himself.
"That's only one word!" Qrow mumbled.
"But it's pretty sound advice, given the situation," Clover pointed out.
Winter cast Thunder and the fight started. Cerberus walked around the arena and shot fireballs at Ruby.
"And it shoots fire!" Jaune went wide-eyed, "What else can this thing do!"
"I think it's cool!" Nora nodded.
Suddenly, her eyes went wild as she turned to Ren.
"No, Nora," Ren sighed, "I don't think you can ride Cerberus."
Nora pouted.
Ruby ran, not seeing a good way to attack with fireballs raining down on her.
This left an opportunity for Qrow and Winter to attack. Winter continued to cast Thunder, while Qrow bashed the heads with his shield.
"This time Ruby get's to be the distraction," Qrow nodded.
"We did use you the last time," Winter noted.
Unfortunately for Ruby, the fireballs worked like her fire spell and tracked her.
Not having a good way to dodge, she took two to the back.
"That looked like it hurt," Sun winced.
"Only to some," Cinder said smugly as she shrugged.
Trying to stop the onslaught, she swung her blade at one of the projectiles. She connected with it, and it flew back at Cerberus, hitting him in one of his faces.
"Well there's a plan," Jaune noted.
"Now I want to fight him!" Yang said excitedly, "I could punch fireballs out of the air!"
Cerberus didn't even flinch though. Ruby growled, but knocking the fireballs back was better than running away. She continued until eventually, it stopped and leaned its heads down.
Ruby saw her chance and ran forward, only to be met with snapping jaws.
Blake shuddered.
Unseen by most, Adam shuddered as well. Cerberus reminded him of the guard dogs many of the mines employed. He'd had quite a few run ins with them, and they never ended well for either party.
She flew backwards and landed with a thud. She reached into her pouch, only to find she had one potion left.
"Crap!" Ruby smacked her head, "Have I really used that many already?"
"Good thing you just learned Cure," Weiss pointed out.
She sighed as she used it, thankful she still had Cure if she needed it.
"Alright," she mumbled and approached carefully. She waited for one of the heads to stop snapping, then charged and attacked. Seeing her new strategy, Qrow and Winter did the same, each with a different head.
"Now we're talking," Tai nodded, "Get him you three!"
"This is the most intense fight I've seen so far!" Mercury smiled as he inched forward.
Suddenly, Cerberus reared back. Darkness gathered in its mouths, and it poured darkness into the ground.
Ruby waited to see what happened, only to be met by a geyser of darkness from her feet. She landed and shook her head.
"Ouch," Ruby grumbled, "I don't think I can take many more hits like that."
"It's a good thing you've got back-up then, huh?" Qrow nodded.
"What the…" She started but noticed that the darkness pooled again. She ran and noticed that she could out pace the darkness, and that it followed her again.
"Qrow!" she called out, only to look over and see Qrow take a new fireball while protecting Winter. The fireball caught Qrow in the back and sent him flying into the wall, knocking him out.
"Or not," Emerald shrugged.
Winter gasped. She knew that Qrow was here partner here, but why would he jump in front of that fireball like that?
She shook the thought and turned to Qrow, "Thank you."
"No problem, Ice Queen," Qrow shrugged, "After all, we're on the same side, right?"
If I have a say in the matter you are. Gordeau thought to himself.
"Qrow!" Winter called out.
Ruby was so in shock, she failed to notice that a pillar of darkness had gathered at her feet. It hit her again and sent her backward.
"Pay attention, kiddo!" Qrow scolded, "I'll be fine!"
"You're unconscious, Qrow!" Winter countered, "How do you know you're fine?"
"I'm guessing," Qrow shrugged, "But I seem to be pretty important to the universe, so I doubt I'm dead."
As she staggered to her feet, she yelled, "Cure!"
But nothing happened.
"What?" Ruby wondered.
"You said it yourself in the last world," Lionheart pointed out, "Winter's magic needs time to recharge if she overexerts herself. I would guess yours is the same."
"Then how do I heal?" Ruby wondered.
Winter hit a fireball back at Cerberus with her staff, before turning to Ruby, "You're out of Magic! Here!"
She reached into her own pouch and pulled out a vial of blue liquid. She tossed it to Ruby, "It's an Ether. It will restore you're magic. I don't like to use them if I don't have to, but you need one."
"Thanks!" Ruby smiled.
"Don't mention it," Winter smirked, "Now, let's hear you're plan for taking this beast out!"
"Thanks!" Ruby caught it. She used it and cast Cure on herself as she continued to dodge the pillars, "I can keep the dark pillars busy, you take care of this thing."
Winter nodded and cast Fire, followed immediately by Blizzard, and then Thunder.
The Thunder strike hit true. Cerberus staggered before collapsing with a thud.
"I did it," Winter gasped.
"Hmm?" Weiss questioned.
"Every other major fight, Ruby has dealt the final blow," Winter pointed out, "This time it was me!"
"I'm just happy he's done for," Blake sighed.
The scene cut and now Phil and Hercules were standing in front of the trio. Phil was reading from a paper scroll, "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further…"
"Junior heroes?" Ilia asked.
"C'mon Phil!" Summer protested, "They just defeated Raven and the guardian of the Underworld! I think you can drop the 'junior'."
"Hey, what do you mean 'junior heroes?'" Winter asked incredulously.
Adam, Roman, and Mercury chuckled at the statement.
Phil scoffed, "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero."
"So," Qrow asked, more out of amusement then actually caring, "What does it take?"
"Well," Hercules explained, "That's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way I did."
"So, how did he?" Nora asked.
"Not telling!" Gordeau teased.
"No problem!" Ruby said confidently, "We'll start by proving ourselves in the games."
Phil huffed and looked at the door to the arena, "There ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first."
"Does that mean we're going to come back to this world?" Pyrrha asked.
"Probably," Ren noted, "It's a good thing too. I like the people who live in it."
"Even Hades has charm," Roman pointed out, "Evil charm, but he's the kind of villain you just have to like."
"Okay," Ruby shrugged and waved goodbye to the two, "We'll be back."
Herc and Phil waved goodbye as well. Phil stroked his goatee in contemplation, "I still can't believe that squirt actually beat Cerberus."
Herc leaned down and whispered to Phil, "Just between us, I'd already worn Cerberus down by the time the little gal jumped in."
"Please," Robyn scoffed, "Cerberus had you pinned in a corner. Ruby saved your life too."
Phil smirked at him, "My lips are sealed."
Ruby had exited the lobby and saw Raven sitting by the exit door. She was staring at the ground solemnly.
"There's our Raven," Qrow teased.
"I'm just glad I didn't do anything I regret," Raven sighed, "Tease me all you want."
"Hey," Ruby started, with a genuine air, "Are you all right?"
She looked up and made eye contact with Ruby. "Yeah," she said dejectedly.
"No you're not," Summer scolded, "I know that look."
"Yep," Tai nodded, "Something's eating Raven."
"So," Ruby began, "Why did you go along with him, anyway?"
Raven rested her head on her hands, "I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help."
"Wait, Mom was looking for someone?" Yang raised an eyebrow, "That's a twist."
"Not really," Raven noted, "I looked for Summer for a long time before finally accepting that she was dead."
"But Summer's not really hiding in this universe, nor is she dead," Tai pointed out.
"Who else could she be looking for?" Neo asked.
"Well, we haven't seen Tai yet," Summer pointed out, "Could be him."
"Or Vernal," Qrow noted, "You did say she was family."
"Or," Ruby growled as they were missing the obvious answer, "Maybe she's looking for Yang."
"That," Raven pointed out, "Is an excellent point."
"But why would she need to go to Hades for that?" Roman asked.
"I tried to exploit the power of darkness," she explained as she stood up, "But it backfired."
"I fell into darkness," she gazed longingly at the sky, "and I couldn't find the light."
Raven nodded. She'd come to that realization too. But now, she had her family again, and they were pulling her back toward the light.
"You'll find it," Ruby said reassuringly.
She was so convincing, it made Raven snap her head back down to Ruby.
"Thanks for the confidence," Raven nodded, "It helps."
"I'm sure you'll find it," Ruby smiled, "I just know you will."
Ruby smiled sweetly, "I'm searching too."
"For me," Pyrrha noted.
"You're this Ruby's light," Blake agreed.
"For your light?" Raven asked.
Ruby nodded. Raven walked forward and placed something in her hand, "Don't lose sight of it."
While Cinder shrugged off the words, they hit home for Adam and Emerald.
Adam wondered what his light had been. He knew it had been Blake at one point, but it was obvious that ship had sailed. He shook his head. There'd be plenty of time to find his light after he got out of this place.
Emerald glanced at Mercury. Even though it was Cinder that pulled her off the streets, he had been there for her, even when things got tough. Maybe it was time to start thinking differently…
Ruby looked at it. It was a keychain of a yellow bird. She attached it to her Keyblade and it turned into a large, black piece of metal with a deep bronze hilt. It had holes at the tip and base of the blade.
"Metal Chocobo," Gordeau stated.
"What's a Chocobo?" Nora asked.
"The yellow bird that's on the Keychain," Gordeau explained, "They're typically used as mounts."
"Do you have some?" Nora asked with a glint in her eye.
Gordeau smirked, "Later, Nora. Later."
"How about a rematch sometime?" Ruby called out after her eagerly, "Fair and square, no dark powers involved!"
Raven stopped, looked over her shoulder, smirked, and flipped her bangs with her hand, "I think I'll pass." She walked away leaving the trio alone.
"I don't know why you did that," Tai shook his head.
"It did seem rather dumb," Raven agreed.
"Well, she's depressing," Qrow grumbled.
"And you're not?" Raven sassed.
"Hey, I'm getting better!" Qrow defended himself.
"Aw, let's get out of here," Winter gestured, "We still need to ask Robyn about the gummi blocks."
"Right," Ruby nodded and the three teleported to the ship.
"Back to the villains?" Blake asked.
"Kinda," Gordeau noted.
In the entry way, an image of Hercules was shown. Hades was talking over it, "He's strong, he's kind."
Hercules flexed as Hades continued, "He's always there for you, and he's handsome to boot."
"Does he hate him, or is he his agent?" Neo asked with a laugh.
"He's perfect," Hades was shown to be projecting the image of Hercules in his hand, "Perfect."
"Perfectly infuriating!" Hades complained. He crushed the image in his hand and his entire body turned from blue to red, "He makes me crazy!"
"And suddenly he reminds me of Matchstick," Roman shuddered.
"He's like Yang!" Ruby teased, "He turns red when he's angry!"
"I am not like him," Yang defended, but her eyes went red, betraying her.
He erupted into a pillar of flame before cooling of and turning blue again, "Wait a minute. What are you worried about?"
"All the pieces are in place," he reassured himself, "Relax."
"Why is he talking to himself?" Velvet wondered.
"I bet he just likes the sound of his own voice," Neo smirked as she nudged Roman.
He rolled his eyes at her, "Yeah, yeah…"
"Here's what you do," he explained to himself with confidence, "Let Hercules train the kid. In the next games, I'll take care of them both."
He clenched his fist, before he sensed someone over his shoulder, he raised his brow curiously, "Who invited you to the party?"
The green skinned woman was standing there, watching the scene unfold. Hades continued, "Stay out of this. This is my show."
"I still want to know who she is," Blake noted.
"I think all of us do," Penny agreed.
"As you wish," the woman said smugly, "Fight to your heart's content."
Hades smiled and nodded, before catching what she said. He turned around and growled at her as she walked away.
"Why do I get the feeling that's bigger than she's letting on?" Mercury noted.
"I mean, Shay turned into a Heartless," Emerald noted, "Maybe she wants to do the same to Hades."
AN: Here's the next chapter!
Again, I know this isn't where you actually get Metal Chocobo, but it made more sense here than getting it later. I don't really have anything else to say so moving on.
Responses:
RHatch89, StrongGuy159, and ericsofly2: Thanks! I will!
Eliphas-Chaos: Glad you liked it. Not sure how you figured out Aladdin, but I can see how you got Hook. I'm glad I can keep you guessing.
MASTER-OF-SURPRISE: Yep. As for casting, some universes and roles are easier than others. Zweig does a ton of work on the actual castings, but I do help. It can be challenging though, we're still actually changing some casting choices even up to the last minute.
Ahnenerbe: For the most part, just like they do in the games, though you nailed Ansem and Xemnas. There are a few exceptions, but I don't want to spoil anything.
Mastergamer14: Well this is embarrassing. RWBY. That's it. Sorry if that disappoints you.
Bobbus the great: Well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? ;)
The Keeper of Worlds: Yep. Not any random reveals in this one, but more are coming.
Stonerguy420: Sorry to disappoint with Cloud, but I have a better plan for Jaune. I will look into Sherlock Holmes though.
Guestspirit: Consider you're wish 50% granted!
Jlargent: Jungle Slider doesn't really add anything to the game. You do it once at the beginning and that's good enough for me.
Casting:
Phil – Canon: I expect a lot of you thought Port was gonna be here, but we have a better spot for him later.
Cloud Strife – Raven Branwen: So many people were dancing around this one. It made more sense than Tai as Raven is darker and more stand offish. Also, the whole looking/running from her light thing is something Raven can relate to.
Hades – Canon: Quite honstely, no one could play Hades as well as the Disney version, so he stayed the same.
Hercules – Canon: We actually did have someone cast here for a long time, before switching it back to canon. It just made more sense that way.
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
Poll:
Tied for 10th: Coco Adel and Summer Rose with 5.
9th: Emerald Sustrai with 6
Tied for 8th: Salem (Grimm), Salem (Blonde), Velvet Scarlatina, and Weiss Schnee with 8
Tied for 7th: Blake Belladonna and Glynda Goodwitch with 12
6th: Raven Branwen with 13
Tied for 5th: Cinder Fall and Kali Belladonna with 14
4th: Sienna Kahn with 16
3rd: Neo Politan with 18
2nd: Ruby Rose with 19
Tied for 1st: Pyrrha Nikos and Yang Xiao-Long with 21
See you next time!
