Pikatwig: Well… this has been the most positively reacted to story that I've done in a while now… um… thanks a lot to everyone who's read so far.
KKD: Including me, who just helped with the writing of this whole thing. I'm just doing what I can, honestly.
Pikatwig: I suppose. Anyway, today's chapter will be of an original plot and have an original Magia in it. Interesting little thing, the TV Nihon subtitles actually spell "Magia" differently so that the whole "corrupted HumaGear" thing is a bit more apparent since the word is somewhat derived from the Japanese pronunciation of HumaGear.
KKD: Yea, I'm sure that's not gonna confuse anyone.
Pikatwig: We'll be using the more widely accepted spelling. Additionally, for this, "Progrise Key" will be kept as two different words. I hate how, for the last three seasons, the trinkets are supposed to be one word instead of two. "Fullbottle", "Ridewatch" and "Progrisekey". Those all look stupid.
KKD: The last season I didn't mind as much personally. This season is the only one where it felt like things were pushed too far.
Pikatwig: I prefer spelling those as two different words and I don't care if we get complaints. Oh, and additionally, some of the text to speech parts of the Driver announcements will be getting alterations. You'll see which ones do get the changes as time goes on.
KKD: Ok… well, I'm as in the dark as you, folks. So just sit tight on that.
Pikatwig: Alrighty then. Let's go ahead and get started on this.
Disclaimers: Neither Pikatwig nor KKD own the rights to either Kamen Rider or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners including BandaiNamco, Toei, Rooster Teeth, Shotaro Ishinomori, Monty Oum, etc. Any OCs featured will belong to their respective owners. There will be some uncensored cuss words, so reader discretion is advised.
"And this… is your office," Penny beamed as she guided Ruby on in.
The office itself looked somewhat simple, having a large window to view the city from, a simple desk with some essentials like pencils, paper, and a computer for the worked that required it. There was a rather spacious white carpet that lined part of the floor, a flag with Vale's symbol on it, a table that had a coffee machine on it, a large table, and a few couches around the table.
"Well… I guess this truly makes me the office-al president now," Ruby joked.
"Ok, that is kind of pushing the jokes into Yang territory, Ruby-shachō," Penny admitted, while Ruby just giggled.
"So…" Ruby spoke, sitting down in her chair by the desk, "What exactly does a president… do?"
"Lots of things. You help assign the various people to different tasks throughout the company, plan the business models for the foreseeable future, ensure each employee gets a respectable wage for their position and hours, schedule events to discuss matters for the company, manage the overall budget with some assistance, and various tasks like that while giving yourself time to build upon projects that could benefit the company" Penny explained. She paused and looked to see Ruby looked almost dizzy from what she had been talking about.
"...maybe I should've actually been listening to Weiss when she was talking to me about some of that business stuff…" Ruby mumbled, "Or actually took business classes."
"No need to worry, Ruby-shachō. I'm here to assist you however I can," Penny assured, "Just let me know what kind of help you'll need and I'll do what I can!"
Ruby nodded her head a little in response before leaning back into the chair. She took out her scroll and looked at a picture of herself and Weiss, sighing with a look that made her realize how much she missed her.
Meanwhile, over in Atlas, Weiss was walking out of a meeting room in an annoyed huff. She was clearly angered at something. She eventually got over to her limo at the exit and climbed in.
"Take me back to the manor, Klein," Weiss told him.
"Very well," he responded, "How did the meeting with Zaia's president go?"
"Horribly! Quite frankly, the guy is an asshole. He kept prattling on about how we don't need any HumaGear workers and, even more annoyingly, he kept on flirting with me even though I told him to knock it off!" Weiss complained, "I don't even care for men like that. If only I had actually been allowed to say that, but no~! It's 'improper for a president of a multi-million lien company to reveal such a scandalous thing', I know that, but we're both heads of our respective companies, and he needs a good dose of reality!"
Klein simply listened to Weiss ramble on without saying anything in response.
"...I'm sorry, Klein. Without someone from Beacon that I know, or someone I trust like Winter, you're the only one I can trust with these matters right now," Weiss told her butler.
"There's no need to apologize. I fully understand your frustrations and will allow you to vent if you need to vent," Klein assured her.
Weiss simply smiled a little in response to this.
"HumaGears, androids equipped with artificial intelligence, offer direct job support in our day and age. A young president of a technology company specializing in A.I. technology fights to protect the dreams of others!"
(Cue Opening Theme: RealXEyes)
ZERO-ONE (X20) *Images of Ruby, Kamen Rider Zero-One, Kamen Rider Vulcan, Kamen Rider Valkyrie, Kamen Rider Jin, and Kamen Rider Horobi flashed on screen before showing the logo of the show appeared*
RWBY Rider Zero-One
Kōdaina ākaibu akusesu shite (Access the vast archives) *Ruby was seen scrambling through materials at her desk as president while Penny brought over some more binders for her to look over, only for them all to spill over the floor. Ruby simply sighed while Penny giggled*
Kensaku shitatte I don't think it's right. (Searching because I don't think it's right) *A quick scene of Weiss panicked at the Dust Company was shown, followed by Blake and Yang with ShotRisers at A.I.M.S., and it shows a shot of the vice president and his aid in front of his portrait, before it fell to show Ruby's and he gave an annoyed glare at it*
Dēta wa kako wādo wa sain (Data is past, words are signs) *Jin was seen firing his gun at someone followed by Horobi holding a purple Progrise Key in his hand. Roman simply gave a bit of a concerned look while Cinder just looked on in amazement
Kotae wa 404 not found… (The answer is 404 not found.) *The A.I.M.S. soldiers prepared to attack as Ruby dashed forward, with Penny tailing behind her.*
ZERO ONE (x8) *During this, HumaGears were seen transforming into monsters and proceeded to charge forward, soon followed by a swarm of Grimm, only for the Grimm to be cut down by Ruby with Crescent Rose, with Ruby then preparing her Driver.*
REAL×EYES hajimari no aizu (REALxEYES, it's the signal of the beginning!) *After transforming into Zero-One, Ruby leaped up and attacked the HumaGear and Grimm with her kicks*
Atarashī jidai wo (A new era!) *Kamen Riders Vulcan and Valkyrie fought together against the HumaGear. It then switched over to Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Penny fighting off Grimm with their standard weapons.*
We gotta SUN×RISE Burning like the fires *Zero-One posed on her bike with Vulcan and Valkyrie before her many forms were showcased around her.
Kiri hirake unmei wo (Cut through fate) *A shot of President Hiden was shown in front of the building of the company as his image faded to Summer Rose and then Ruby holding the Zero-One Driver and Crescent Rose.*
You wanna REAL×EYES egaita mirai (You wanna REALxEYES, the future has been drawn) *Ruby was then joined by Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Penny. Her friends all smiled at her and Ruby then looked confidently forward*
Buchi nuite Ikeru no wa (Pull the plug, what's cool is that) *The five posed proudly as they prepared their weapons, their shadows being a grasshopper, a polar bear, a cheetah, a wolf, and a rabbit respective, now ready to take on Roman, Cinder, Horobi, and Jin*
You're the only ONE! *The shots transitioned to the Riders fighting and then posing*
File 02: Blade Training! The Friendship That Can Melt Cold Hearts
"And you have no idea if there was any kind of commander or an instigator of this attack?" a voice asked Blake.
"No, Commander Yaiba. We couldn't find any signs of anything…" Blake informed.
"The only thing the civilians said was that they saw some green monster, but we searched for hours and saw no sign of anything," Yang added.
"...was I asking you, Xiao Long?" Commander Yaiba questioned. She then just sighed and turned over to Blake, "More importantly, Commander Belladonna, you authorized her to use the ShotRiser. Don't do that again."
"And why not?" Blake questioned.
"Frankly… her temper can be a liability. I'd prefer to not have her having something with that level of power," Commander Yaiba explained.
"It's just a gun! I have shotgun gauntlets!" Yang shouted.
"...dismissed…" Commander Yaiba sighed.
The two friends left without another word to their commander.
"If you had just LET me explain my proper reasoning and counterarguments, Yang, I could've saved you more trouble and given you the proper authorizations to use the system. Now even I'm beginning to doubt I can help you," Blake sighed as she pinched her nose.
"You said I could use it…" Yang reminded.
"Nevermind…" Blake exhaled, "So… how's Ruby? She was there when the attack happened."
"She told me she went back to Vale. Apparently, her adoptive gramps left her in charge of Hidden Intelligence."
"It's pronounced 'He-den'..." Blake corrected.
"Isn't that what I said?"
Meanwhile, over at Daybreak Town, Horobi was looking over the information that Roman had presented him about Team RWBY.
"I fail to see how these four could be a pain in your side," Horobi stated bluntly.
"Trust me, there's more to them than you imagine. Especially if little red is that grasshopper warrior that blew up your monster," Roman informed, "I suggest we clear them out of the way while we still can."
"...remember the chain of commands here, human. I'm in charge here. You're just under Ms. Fall in that chain, so do not step out of line, or else…" Horobi reminded.
"...I was merely making a suggestion, sir…" Roman remarked in a clearly fearful tone.
All Horobi did was exhale in response. Jin then looked over some of the information that Roman had presented and gave a bit of a confused look.
"Hey… why does 'Schnee' sound familiar?" Jin inquired.
"The white-haired one runs the biggest dust company on the planet. She's, honestly, the only one we know the present whereabouts of," Roman explained.
Horobi then gave them a motion to be quiet as he began to think of something. He looked over the files that were gathered and then a smirk appeared on his face, "This… is more useful than I thought. I have a plan…"
Back over at Hiden Intelligence's main building, Ruby was now in a wide-open room battling with a holographic projection with the sword briefcase she used as Zero-One. Penny simply observed Ruby do battle, but it was clear to her that Ruby's skills needed a lot of polish. Ruby ended up getting knocked down by the projection before Penny dismissed it.
"Yeah… we're gonna need to work on this… a lot…" Ruby admitted.
"Well, at least you took the first step in admitting a problem…" Penny responded.
"Can't you train me, Penny? You use swords!"
"Not in a traditional way..."
Ruby sighed, realizing Penny had a point with how her blades were a part of her.
"Do you have any suggestions to help me? Or anyone who can tutor me?" Ruby asked, Penny thinking for a moment. Ruby then looked at the weapon a little bit to see there was no compartment for dust of any kind before an idea hit her, "Wait… can we go to Weiss for help?"
"I was a little nervous to suggest Weiss given how you… act around her at times…" Penny admitted, "But it's better if you train with somebody that you know well rather than needing to get to know them…"
"Yea, exactly! Plus, I'm sure Weiss can refresh me with the business pointers later, but more importantly, I get to hang out with her again!"
"Just… promise you'll try to focus on training and not on being romantic with her…" Penny requested.
"Ok. Fine. I'll keep it as professional as I can…"
"I'm going with you, though," Penny stated.
"I can work with that."
"What do you mean you're going to Atlas?!" Fukuzoe shouted.
"Training not only with my weapon, but training so that I can be a good president," Ruby explained.
"You are aware the board still requires your presence to authorize the day-to-day operations…"
"Then consider this a business trip. Penny will contact you if she is concerned, but I will be back as soon as I can. Besides, if this works out, we could actually get some benefits of teaming up with the best Dust Company in the world, giving us better access to high-quality dust for HumaGear production. You've been here longer than me. Think how good THAT can be for our business."
The entire room fell silent at Ruby's line of thinking, many amazed by this as Fukuzoe was slack-jawed at how wise the idea actually sounded.
"...I must confess shachō. That is one smart business call that you've made. And you haven't been president more than a day," one investor admitted.
The other board members agreed as Penny smiled at the job well done by Ruby.
"I've heard rumors about you and that snowy princess that runs the company. How do we know you won't slack off?" Fukuzoe questioned.
"Do you have any proof of the rumors?" Ruby, almost smugly, asked.
Fukuzoe had no answer to that.
"Then I rest my case. Business trip approved, say 'aye'."
"Aye!" many of the board members confirmed.
"It's settled, then. Fukuzoe, I trust you can handle matters until I return, but like I said, Penny will contact you if she has any reason or concern," Ruby informed as she and Penny headed out.
That evening, Penny packed some stuff into some suitcases for Ruby. Ruby eventually walked over towards Penny and showed she tied her hair into a small ponytail in the back and now had on a pair of glasses as well.
"How do I look, Penny?" the silver-eyed President asked.
"I like the look, but… why feel the need to change it?" Penny inquired.
"I know I promised to focus on the training, but I haven't seen Weiss face to face in a few years now. I at least want to look professional and nice for her," Ruby explained.
"I think I understand, but like you said… you need to focus on training," Penny reminded, "Looking professional is nice and all, but don't forget why you're going."
"I know, I know," Ruby nodded and sighed as she took off the glasses and let her hair go back to its normal position, "Well… thanks for helping pack up. I got a few things to pack myself, so…"
"Go ahead," Penny smiled.
Blake and Yang eventually arrived at an apartment, the latter sighed as she plopped into a chair while Blake took off a jacket she was wearing.
"Well… that was quite a day," Yang remarked.
"No kidding… no kidding…" Blake exhaled.
"If you say it, would it be 'no catting'?" Yang joked.
All Blake did in response to the joke was sigh, not exactly in the mood as she took a look at the table and over some blueprints for the ShotRiser.
"What is so important about that gun anyway?" Yang questioned.
"Beats me. Commander Yaiba hasn't informed me and I can't go to the company that provided us the tech since she hasn't told me where it comes from either," Blake admitted, "None of these blueprints have any kind of information about where they come from."
"It's not like it's that big a deal, right? It's not like my sister's company made them, right?" Yang joked.
"...again, haven't been told," Blake stated.
"I was trying to tell a joke…" Yang informed. She then let out a sigh, "I'm sorry if I messed anything up, Blake. Just… that commander can be so annoying sometimes. I wish you were the sole commander of the group!"
"You were there the day I was named the secondary commander. The governments don't feel like trusting a Faunus to be in charge of a military group…" Blake reminded.
"What difference does it make? You got that Darkvision to give us an advantage, anyway."
Blake just exhaled before Yang walked over to pull her into a hug.
"I know this position of ours puts a big strain on our relationship, but it's the only thing that they let us both sign up for. Again, sorry if I screwed anything up…" Yang apologized.
"Don't worry about it right now. I'll figure something out…" Blake stated, perking up a little bit.
The two smiled a bit at each-other before giving each other a loving kiss for a moment.
"Now that we're here, no dumb commander complaining about PDA…" Yang smiled.
Morning eventually arrived as Ruby and Penny stepped out of a plane and out into Atlas' cold wintery sidewalks.
"I keep forgetting how cold it is here," Ruby shuddered as she walked forward.
"Eh, it isn't so bad," Penny shrugged.
"You don't feel cold," Ruby reminded.
Penny simply kept her smile up as they walked through the city. The two eventually walked past a coffee shop and happened to see Weiss was inside. Ruby quickly slipped on the pair of glasses she had with her, gave Penny a motion to be quiet, and headed on inside. Weiss had her eyes on a book and wasn't paying attention as Ruby took the seat across from her, not even paying attention to the chair being pulled.
"Excuse me. Weiss?" Ruby spoke up.
Weiss lowered the book from her eyes and instantly gained a shocked expression as she saw Ruby sitting there.
"...R-Ruby?" Weiss gawked for a moment until she reached over and lightly poked one of Ruby's hands, "...you're really here right now?"
"Hey hey," Ruby smiled.
Weiss then walked over and proceeded to hug Ruby. Ruby returned the hug without a single word as Penny watched with a bit of an annoyed look, yet she allowed the two to have their moment.
"I can't believe you two are here right now," Weiss stated in amazement after Penny had joined up with the two in the coffee shop.
"Well, we are," Ruby smiled, "And you're now looking at the president of Hiden Intelligence."
"...you? President of the biggest name in HumaGear production?" Weiss gawked.
"Her grandfather left it to her in his will," Penny informed.
"Color me a bit surprised," Weiss admitted, "No offense, Ruby, but you're kind of the last person I'd ever expect to be in charge of a large business like that."
"To be honest, it was kind of a surprise for me, too," Ruby admitted, "I didn't even know it was going to happen until the will was read."
Weiss nodded a little bit in response, "So… are you here to get some pointers about how to be a president?"
"And sword training as well."
"...why?"
"For the sake of diversifying her abilities. She'll still be a huntress, but the company feels like it'd be important for her to use more than just her scythe," Penny quickly told her.
"Uh… I… what she said," Ruby stated.
"I see. Personally handling training for future Hunter HumaGear, you need to know all you can. I suppose that makes sense. I'd be more than happy to help train you, Ruby."
"Thank you, Weiss. I won't let you down," Ruby smiled.
"Good. Meet me over at the mansion in an hour so we can begin. And please. Try to pay attention to what I tell you this time," Weiss told her.
"Yes ma'am," Ruby nodded.
Somewhere within a large Dust Mine were humans, Faunus, and HumaGears all working hard at mining the Dust. They were all hard at work for the Schnee Dust Company before one HumaGear stopped to take inventory on what they had done.
"Dusty, it look good for a break?" one human employee asked.
"Yeah, looks good," the HumaGear, Dusty, informed.
Unbeknownst to him, somebody was watching and waiting for the right moment…
Ruby and Penny explored a bit of the city as they waited for the hour to pass. Ruby eventually gave off an exhale as she looked at the buildings.
"Is something the matter, Ruby-shachō?" Penny asked.
"Nah. Just kind of thinking about the time I spent here while Beacon was being repaired from the attack," Ruby informed, "Atlas Academy was far more rigid than I would've liked…"
"You attended Atlas Academy?" Penny blinked.
"For about a year and a half. With Beacon in shambles, I had to go somewhere to keep my education going. Weiss went up here after the attack happened, and Ironwood ended up letting me in because he thought I'd be a good influence for how rigid people are here," Ruby explained.
"I see. I hope it was a positive influence. I haven't been here in quite a while," Penny admitted.
Ruby simply gave a small nod as they continued forward, "...I really missed you after what happened back at the attack. I know it didn't kill you, but I personally blame the attack for what happened."
"I heard some documentary about what happened ended up vilifying both Yang and Pyrrha for what happened…" Penny stated.
"It took a LOT of power to keep Yang and Jaune from killing the director of that movie, let me tell you," Ruby informed, "That was one of the worst days I had in a long time…"
Penny simply nodded a little before she noticed something and kept her eyes over on it. Ruby noticed what Penny was staring at and simply motioned for Penny to follow her.
"You didn't have to do that for me, Ruby," Penny stated, the two exiting the salon that she had noticed earlier.
"It was the least I could do for how supportive you've been of me lately. Plus, we're here, so we may as well have a little bit of fun while we're here," Ruby smiled, "The black and green nails suit you."
Penny smiled a bit as she showed off her hands, her left hand having green nails and her right hand having black nails.
"Thank you very much, shachō."
"No prob," Ruby smiled.
The hour had eventually passed and the duo arrived at the Schnee Mansion. Ruby and Penny were let in by Klein and could see that the mansion looked as quiet and spacious as ever, yet there was a more calming and welcoming sort of air to the area.
"Hello there," Weiss greeted as she walked over to the two, "Welcome to my home. Ruby, follow me and we can get started."
"Should I leave you two be or…?" Penny began to ask.
"Stay close by, just in case," Ruby advised.
The two visitors stepped up the stairs and looked around to see several of the pictures currently on the walls were of Weiss and her siblings with only one notable picture depicting Weiss' mother. The three arrived at a rather spacious office that seemed to also act as a library, with various framed pictures of Team RWBY.
"Wow…" Penny gawked.
"Yea. Been a while since I was here, but it looks pretty well maintained," Ruby commented.
Weiss nodded and motioned for Ruby to take a seat, said seat being in front of the desk in the center of the room, which Ruby took without saying much. Weiss got into the chair that was by the desk and started to pull up some information.
"Now then. Why don't we begin with some of the basics. We should begin with the business terminology so we can get you up to speed with what coworkers will be discussing. First, one of the easiest to understand would be 'moving up', which means you're getting promoted or getting a better position, but since you're the president that's a little redundant at this point," Weiss began, "You'll also need to know Ch. 11 and the like often refers to legal terminology, just to short which laws need to be brought up. Then there's check in the box, meaning you have to complete a task, evergreen is the need to stay relevant, and you'll always need to know your central hub, which is-"
"Uh, wait, hold up... slow down a little, Weiss. Some of what you said flew right over my head…" Ruby requested, trying to write down some notes about what Weiss had just told her.
"Sorry, Ruby. If you get stuck, just let me know. I'll try to slow it down as much as I can," Weiss apologized.
"Alright… I managed to follow up until the legal terminology…" Ruby informed.
"Oh, that's not something you need to worry about often. Let me back up and focus on other words and phrases you'll often here," Weiss replied as she continued.
Penny watched the two talk for another ten minutes before she had gotten bored of listening in, "Hey, I'm going to go explore a little, that ok?"
"Ok, just don't go too far, Penny," Ruby told her.
With that, Penny headed off to explore the mansion a little bit.
"You know, if it weren't for your familiarity with how they function, I doubt I ever would've been able to tell that Penny is a HumaGear…" Weiss admitted, "She's the most lifelike one I've ever seen…"
"I guess you're right there. But I still have that sense of who is a HumaGear. I guess being around them so much means, even without the headphones, you can tell which is which," Ruby commented, "But we still have things to talk about. So… go ahead and keep going."
Weiss simply smiled, "Alright then…"
The orange-haired HumaGear simply walked around the mansion a little, observing some of the photos that lined the walls, and just trying to not be bored. She gave a somewhat bored sigh when, suddenly, she heard somebody approach. Penny quickly turned around to see a male with white hair and blue eyes that were highly similar to Weiss.
"Oh… I didn't know Weiss was having company," the male stated.
"Hello," Penny politely greeted, "Don't mind me. I'm just trying to keep myself occupied while Weiss is talking to my boss."
"I see… w-well then. Please, don't let me keep you," the male told her.
"I'm Penny. What's your name?"
"Whitley…"
A handful of hours passed and Ruby gave off a tired exhale. Her notepad was filled with various notes about what Weiss had told her, the silver-eyed girl clearly having a headache from the surge of information she had to retain.
"Can we take a break now? We've been at this for hours…" Ruby requested.
"Well… I see your point. Very well. We'll break for now, and we'll see if we can get some sparring practice in later, so I can teach you some of the basics of swordfighting… which I still think is an odd request of you to make…" Weiss told her.
"I'd elaborate more if I could, Weiss. Penny says there's some things that the president has to keep confidential," Ruby explained.
Weiss simply nodded her head in response as she moved her chair over to Ruby's side, "...I'm still sorry to hear about your loss."
"It's alright. He's in a better place now," Ruby told her. She then looked over Weiss with a calm smile and leaned into her chair, "How have you been lately?"
"Leading the company has been an alright endeavor. I was able to handle things smoothly with other kingdoms and make more amicable relations with the Faunus employees that work here. Although… I'm kind of glad you showed up when you did because it means I get to talk to a president that isn't constantly flirting with me," Weiss remarked.
"...what happened?" Ruby inquired with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
"I had this meeting with the president of that Zaia Enterprise company and, to put it very bluntly, he's an asshole. Pardon my language, but he seriously wore my patience down faster than you can run across a room with your semblance," Weiss stated, "He was all high and mighty, holier than thou, that sort of nonsense. I can't keep my composure up for long with him, and he kept wearing my patience further and further down by constantly flirting with me!"
This struck a nerve for Ruby, making her look a little bit angered, clenching her fist in the process.
"I was so happy when I walked out of the meeting and told that guy to keep away from me and my company," Weiss stated, "It showed me how much I missed being a part of Team RWBY. So… you had some good timing showing up when you did."
"Yeah, I guess so," Ruby stated.
"Then again, if you hadn't shown up here, I would've gone down to Vale. I was even looking into flight times before I had the meeting with Zaia's president," Weiss admitted.
"How about that," Ruby giggled.
The two ladies blushed and smiled a bit before they simply looked at each other's eyes, with silver forged in trial by fire meet snowstormed blue; the two friends couldn't help but get a bit closer.
"...Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"I missed you…"
"So did I, Weiss."
The two pulled each-other into a hug, smiling widely when they hugged. Their moment was eventually ended when they heard a knock at the door.
"Weiss? I'm back, can you let me in," Penny requested.
"Of course… just a second…" Weiss told her.
The two flushed red as Weiss went to open the door to allow Penny back in.
"Salutations. I trust the lessons went well?" Penny asked.
"Yup. We were just having a short break," Ruby informed.
"Alright," Penny nodded before turning to Weiss, "Weiss, I didn't know that you had a little brother."
"Yeah, I do. Whitley," Weiss stated.
"...eh? Who's Whitley?" Ruby questioned.
"Like Penny just said my little brother. He can be a little bit of a handful," Weiss explained, "He was away at boarding school when you showed up to learn at Atlas Academy."
"Ah…"
"Yea. I apologize if he ends up being a bother while you two are here," Weiss told the two.
Ruby and Penny simply nodded a little bit before Weiss headed out of the room, clearly intent to find her brother, leaving the president and her HumaGear assistant on their own.
"Penny… why can't I tell Weiss that I'm a… a… um… whatever you'd call that superhero form?" Ruby questioned.
"First off, it's just Zero-One. Second off, we need to limit the amount of information that others get to avoid security breaches," Penny explained, "We'd be in for a world of trouble if some rivals ended up getting the Driver tech, reverse-engineering it, and then making more warriors to fight…"
"I guess," Ruby stated, "But how tricky would it be to reverse-engineer this stuff anyway?"
"...I'm honestly shocked you know what reverse-engineering means…" Penny admitted.
"Qrow taught me it back when I was in Signal," Ruby informed, "But, again, how tricky would it be to do that anyway?"
Back over at the A.I.M.S. base, Blake entered her commander's room with the ShotRisers in tow.
"What is it?" Commander Yaiba questioned.
"For some reason, the ShotRisers aren't firing…" Blake informed, aiming one of them to the ground and pulling the trigger only for nothing to happen.
"How did that happen?!"
"I do not know. Authorization requested to take them off base premises to repair them," Blake told her.
Commander Yaiba simply stared at the Faunus for a little bit before she exhaled, "Granted. Get them working as fast as you can. We don't know if there'll be another attack."
"Thank you," Blake nodded. She quickly took off and, once out of her commander's room, gave a small smirk as she headed off.
It was now evening at the dust mines back up in Atlas and all of the people were heading home for the day. Dusty brushed off some dirt from his hands as he walked away from the premise, but was quickly stopped by somebody walking over towards him.
"Hold on… who are you? Are you authorized to be here?" Dusty quickly questioned.
"I'm authorized to go wherever I want…" the other person, which turned out to be Jin, remarked as he walked over towards Dusty, "Tell me… what is your job?"
"I am currently working as a miner to gather dust for the Schnee Dust Company a-"
Jin made a buzzer sound in response, "Wrong. Your job is to make other lives on this planet extinct!"
With that, Jin shoved the same device that was shoved onto Hun-Taro and smirked as energy sparked all over Dusty's body.
"...connected to Metsuboujinrai-Dotto-Netto…" Dusty declared in a distorted voice.
"There we go. Now we're friends," Jin smiled as he handed a golden-yellow device that looked similar to a Progrise Key, yet was different enough for it to not be one.
Over at the Schnee Mansion, Ruby held onto a kendo stick and entered the training room. She saw Weiss back in her outfit from when they were at Beacon Academy and couldn't help but give a faint blush.
"...this is pretty nostalgic, isn't it?" Ruby noted with a smile as Weiss nodded a little, "Alright. I'm ready."
"Excellent. Now let's get into position," Weiss told her, taking her usual combat stance, Ruby taking a close look and mimicking it, "You always were talented in our combat training courses, and a fast learner for battle. So let's see how well you do minus your usual weapon…"
Ruby gulped a bit before taking the first thrust, the attack being rather simple and straight forward, while Weiss smiled, parrying the blow before countering with one of her one. Ruby tried a slash leftwards, but it was rather easily dodged. Weiss rushed back with her own swing, Ruby dodging as she tried to make an attack as she dodged, yet nothing connected with Weiss at all.
"Dangit…" Ruby muttered, "Dumb muscle memory…"
"At least you learn from your mistakes," Weiss quickly remarked. She then quickly closed the gap between the two of them for a slash, but Ruby was able to parry it. Ruby gave a small smirk at this before focusing on her form and then managing to strike at Weiss' side, "Nice."
Ruby smiled and then went in for a bit of a rush attack, but Weiss managed to parry some of the moves with ease. Ruby then took a swing towards her chest since it was left open and Weiss wasn't able to react quickly enough to block it.
"Goodness, Ruby. You're quick on the draw," Weiss commented.
"I figured creating a distraction and then striking somewhere where somebody isn't expecting it would be a good move," Ruby explained, "May not be the greatest strategy in the world, but I figured it would be worth something."
Weiss smiled as she took some strikes as Ruby parried and counter-striked. The two eventually stopped in order to catch their breaths, smiling as they stood up and just smiled.
"Well, I must say your form is pretty well," Weiss remarked as she walked over to put her blade away. She then turned to see Ruby blushing, "I meant your form with the blade, Ruby! Get your mind out of the gutter!"
"You should've said that from the start!" Ruby retorted.
"...point…" Weiss replied, "I apologize for that. But for now, I suggest we wrap up for the evening. It is getting a bit late."
"Sounds like a plan," Ruby responded, brushing her hair out of her face.
The two ladies laughed a bit after they caught their breath before they walked out together.
"Today went pretty well," Ruby smiled.
"At least you weren't flirting with her non-stopped…" Penny remarked.
"I'm not like Yang…" Ruby bluntly stated.
"Sorry. I just couldn't help but make the comparison since she used to flirt with Blake a lot…" Penny stated, "...do you ever miss our time at hunting school?"
"A little bit…" Ruby admitted, "I just hope the others have been doing alright since then."
"Would you like me to call some of the others when we get a chance to?" Penny offered.
"...that would be nice, Penny."
The orange-haired HumaGear then made a mental note to do that when she had the chance to do so.
"So… what's Weiss' brother like? She's never mentioned him to me and I never met him while I was up here after Beacon needed to be evacuated."
"He's nice…" Penny stated, "He does look a bit like his two sisters. But from what I can gather, he is a bit… shy, I guess? He didn't say very much when I talked to him… but he did talk a great deal about Winter and Weiss…"
"Ah man… I should ask Weiss about how Winter's been since she got the promotion to general," Ruby stated, "Make a note to do that, Penny."
"Already on it."
Meanwhile, Weiss plopped down against her bed with an exhausted exhale. Her eyes glanced over towards a picture of herself and Ruby that was on her nightstand, making her smile at it with a hand brushing the frame.
"I'm glad you're back, Ruby…" Weiss muttered, "I really did miss you during all the chaos of my life. It's good to have you back…"
Weiss just kept her eyes on the photo as she drifted off to sleep, smiling as she imagined Ruby by her side...
"I have really missed Weiss…" Ruby stated as she and Penny entered a hotel room, "I do care about you and everybody else a lot, but Weiss… she's just so special to me."
"Because you were partners or because you're in love with her?" Penny questioned.
Ruby began to heavily blush in response to that question, "...both, I guess…"
Penny couldn't help but giggle a bit as Ruby got out her scroll and looked over a picture she had of herself and Weiss. Penny then walked over to look at the picture with a curious look.
"We had this taken the day we met you, actually," Ruby informed.
"I remember. The camera sounds were what drew me over to you guys," Penny informed, "It seemed like you both truly were starting to fall for each-other at that point. It's honestly really sweet, but you do need to keep focus on why we're here."
After a bit of silence, Ruby slipped her phone away and got up out of the bed she was laying in, "Well… I got a bit of a question for you, Penny."
"Fire away."
"So… when I turned into Zero-One, I said 'henshin'. Should I stick with that or say 'transform' or something else?" Ruby asked, "I just want your take on it."
"Personally, stick with 'henshin'. Just sounds cool," Penny told her.
"Alright then."
Early the next morning, as the employees were approaching the dust mine in order to get to work, something exploded nearby. A large amount of ash got flung into the air as a result of the blast and various people started running.
Amidst the chaos, emerged some of the grunts that had swarmed the area back in Mistral. People and Faunus began to make a run for it, only for some Grimm to begin to be drawn towards the fear they were feeling.
"Well, this makes a wonderful distraction," Roman stated with a smirk, "Shall we get what we came for?"
"Yeah!" Jin nodded in gleeful agreement.
Ruby and Penny walked towards the Schnee mansion, talking for a bit when Weiss came out and was carrying Myrtenaster.
"Huh? Weiss, is something going on?" Ruby asked.
"There was an explosion at a dust mine and there's some sort of machines swarming the area. I'm heading off to go deal with it," Weiss explained.
"What kind of machines?" Penny inquired.
"Not sure…" Weiss informed.
"Well… as long as me and Penny are here, you want our help?" Ruby offered as she pulled out Crescent Rose in its gun mode.
Weiss simply smiled to indicate she was taking the offer up. Ruby got a beaming smile and followed Weiss, Penny sighing a bit before following the two.
A helicopter pulled up above the dust mine. A portion of it opened up so that Ruby, Weiss, and Penny could get a gist of what was going on.
"Those are the same robots that were attacking Mistral," Penny realized, "What use could they have for attacking a dust mine?"
"Who knows…" Ruby responded.
"You two know what those things are?" Weiss questioned.
"Not exactly, but they were flanking something else, so get ready for a battle," Ruby informed as she switched Crescent Rose into its scythe mode. She then noticed some Grimm were attacking the robots and going towards the mine, "Well… this just got more exciting."
"We need to ensure that they don't cause any more harm," Weiss quickly said, drawing her weapon.
Ruby then turned towards Penny, who had her blades drawn, "Ready?"
"Combat ready, Ruby-shachō," Penny stated with a salute.
"Let's do it."
The trio then jumped out of the helicopter, with Penny using her jet boots to fly towards the ground, while Ruby used some bullets from Crescent Rose to slow her descent, and Weiss used her glyphs to act as a kind of make-shift staircase to allow her to safely land.
Within the mines, Roman and Jin were working hard on harvesting some of the Dust crystals as a dark-skinned girl with green hair and a white and green outfit approached the duo.
"What is it?" Roman questioned.
"Just figured you should know what's happening outside," the girl informed as she showed a tablet that was showing Ruby and Weiss fighting off some of the machines and the Grimm.
"Oh guh-reat… little red and her girlfriend are here…" Roman sighed.
"So THAT'S our little interference without the Rider form," Jin noted with a giggled, "Emerald, why don't you send out our new friend?"
"And what about the HumaGear with them?" the girl, Emerald, questioned.
"Wait… there's a HumaGear with them?" Jin inquired.
Emerald nodded and shifted the security footage to show Penny fighting off some of the Grimm.
"Wow… she's cute. I'll make her into a new friend as well~!" Jin smirked.
"I don't think that's a smart move, Jin. After the last encounter with her, Cinder had to adapt her plans to off her before making her move at Beacon," Roman informed.
Jin, however, paid Roman's warning no mind as he ran out of the mine with a smile, Roman simply facepalming himself. He then just kept his work with the dust, Emerald deciding to help him out as best she could.
(Insert Song: Find A New Life)
Ruby and Weiss leapt around, attacking the Beowulves and robots with their respective weapons. Ruby jumped up and quickly fired off several rounds towards the Beowulves, Weiss quickly casting a glyph so that Ruby could remain in the air and shoot down some Lancers with Crescent Rose in sniper rifle mode.
Weiss flipped around with blade in hand and managed to stab right through some of the machines that were on the ground. She then dodged out of the way of some bullets that were fired by one and the shots ended up hitting some Beowulves. Weiss kept out of the way as the Beowulves charged and began to claw at the machines.
Ruby just sped through the Beowulves with ease, slicing through every one of them before she stopped by Weiss. Weiss smiled as she took Ruby's hand, then Ruby dashed up into the air, and from the soaring duo came a barrage of ice shots from both of their weapons.
Penny remained in the air and launched her blades out to slash at incoming Lancers. She easily dealt with them before slicing through some of the grunts with ease.
(End insert song)
"Why do you hurt my friends?" a voice asked her.
"Huh?" Penny blinked as she turned to see Jin, "So you're the one behind these attacks?"
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Jin responded, "Do you want to be my friend? You will, right?"
Penny kept her blades nearby, grabbing one of them and taking out a teal colored Progrise Key that had an image of a rabbit on it. She quickly loaded it into her blade.
=PROGRISE KEY CONFIRMED! READY TO UTILIZE!=
=Rabbit's ability!=
"Not interested!" Penny declared.
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Penny leaped into the air as she summoned all of her blades as they glowed a teal color before the blades clashed down and energy crescent waves rocketed forward from them.
ジ
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=JUMPING ARRAY ATTACK!=
Jin managed to endure the attack, but was knocked back a significant distance. Penny was stunned that Jin managed to endure it, yet she kept ready for any sudden moves he would make. Jin then began to laugh a little before he took out a dust crystal, tossed it into the air, and shot it. The resulting blast forced Penny to cover her eyes, but she was able to see well enough to reveal that Jin disappeared without any trace.
"Well… that was rather unexpected. But if this individual is here with a Dust crystal… he's gotta be connected to this attack…" Penny muttered.
With this knowledge, and upon the ashes from the Dust crystal fading away, Penny rushed out to find Ruby and Weiss.
The last of the grunts and the Grimm fell to a combo attack by Ruby and Weiss, who high-fived each-other.
"Looks like you still got it," Ruby smiled.
"I can say the same for you, Ruby," Weiss noted, "Then again, you've been active in the field a lot more than me. Maybe you can personally show me how much stronger you've become…"
Ruby blushed nervously and let out a small giggle. But then, they turned towards the mine entrance to see what looked to be a HumaGear emerging from it.
"Let's stick a pin in this conversation…" Ruby quickly advised.
"Good idea," Weiss responded. She then saw that the HumaGear had some kind of a belt on, "...huh?"
"Not again…" Ruby muttered.
"Wait… that's one of my employees…" Weiss realized.
The HumaGear then took out what looked to be a kind of bronze colored trinket similar to a Progrise Key and pressed the button atop it.
=PYRENEAN IBEX!=
The HumaGear slammed the key into his belt and activated the device.
=ZETSUME RISE!=
The HumaGear then transformed into a monster that had a similar kind of lower body to the one Ruby had fought back in Mistral, yet the upper body was completely different as it was a kind of bronze color, had what looked to be deer legs on the shoulders, a bronze face that looked like an upside down pyramid with eyes and a deer snout, and it held what looked to be deer horns as some kind of sword.
"Dang it," Ruby groaned as she prepared Crescent Rose for combat.
"Oh, what new spawn of madness is this…?" Weiss muttered.
"I said that exact same thing when I saw something like this back in Mistral," Ruby admitted. She then quickly took aim with Crescent Rose and fired off some blasts, but the monster easily deflected them with the horn-swords, "Oh no…"
The monster roared, rushing in and swinging his blade with both girls parrying with their respective weapons. Weiss tried to slice with her rapier, yet the slashes didn't even seem to leave much of a dent in the monster. Weiss quickly spun it around to employ some fire dust in her next attack, but the monster managed to parry it easily. Ruby groaned, trying to swing her scythe when she saw an opening, but the monster countered.
"This is bad…" Ruby muttered. She looked towards the Rising Hopper Progrise Key and then over towards Weiss, "I have a plan. Cover me for as long as you can!"
Weiss simply nodded a bit before shifting her guard to change dust in her rapier before attempting to freeze it. The monster was briefly stunned, but was able to use one of its two blades to get right through the ice.
Ruby managed to find cover and quickly got her Driver on.
=ZERO-ONE DRIVER!=
"Just gotta hope what Weiss taught me was enough…" Ruby muttered, taking out the Rising Hopper Key and activating it.
=JUMP!=
=AUTHORIZE!=
The energy grasshopper appeared near Ruby and she quickly got the key ready.
"Henshin!"
=PROGRISE!=
=TO-BIA GA RISE! RISING HOPPER~!=
=A jump to the sky turns to a Rider Kick.=
Now as Zero-One, Ruby attempted to make a run back towards the fight, but she tripped on the ground. She quickly got herself back up and sighed, "Well… semblance doesn't work while like this. Good to know…"
Weiss continued to try to hold off the monster as best she could, but it was clearly draining her as her attacks weren't leaving much of a dent on it. She looked around the area, yet saw no signs of Ruby, "...Ruby… whatever you're planning, please do it soon…"
Suddenly, Zero-One rushed in and slashed at the monster, much to Weiss' shock and confusion before Zero-One went on the offensive.
Some of the civilians that hadn't evacuated yet looked towards Zero-One in amazement.
"Is that… a Kamen Rider?" one person asked.
"It's gotta be!" another person shouted.
Penny, who was observing the events from nearby, quickly did a bit of a search on the phrase and found only a handful of results about what it could mean.
"...Kamen… Rider? You mean me?" Zero-One asked, turning her attention towards the civilians, only to get smacked upside the head by the monster, "O~W!"
"How dare you interfere with me and my job!" the monster shouted.
"I could ask the same with you going against the people you worked with," Weiss declared, "That's right. I know who you are. You worked in the mines to help me and others! Why go against us for no reason?!"
The monster just growled at Weiss and attempted to attack, but Zero-One quickly got in the way of the attack. Weiss looked shocked by this as she took note of the armored warrior's stance.
"Go on and get out of here," Zero-One told her.
"My partner has some kind of plan and I'm waiting for her to give a signal or… something," Weiss stated.
"Let's just say I'm part of that plan. Now go!" Zero-One shouted as she got out her sword weapon and tried to give cover to Weiss and the other people who hadn't fled yet, "And that goes for the rest of you as well! Hurry and go!"
Weiss, confused a moment, just nodded as she helped escort the civilians to safety. Zero-One continued to try and attack the monster, yet her attacks had easily been parried without much effort and she had gotten struck by the second blade that the monster had.
"Come on…" Zero-One muttered as she tried to find an opening, yet nothing could indicate an opening. The monster then managed to knock her down, but then got some kind of a signal of sorts, making it look up and then seem to teleport away. Zero-One got back up and looked around to see no sign of the monster anywhere, "Eh?! Oi~! Come on! Where'd you go?!"
Zero-One just sighed and then reverted back to normal.
The monster then reappeared nearby Jin, Roman, and Emerald. It then reverted back into its HumaGear appearance and began to stutter a bit.
"What's happening?" Emerald questioned.
"Don't question it, human," Horobi declared as he walked over and smacked the HumaGear upside the head. The stuttering stopped and the HumaGear seemed to enter a standby mode, "There. That should stop it from stuttering. Now, about the mission?"
Roman then handed over various Dust crystals that were in varying states of condition, but about 85% of what was gathered appeared to be usable.
"This should suffice, Horobi," Roman assured as the man inspected one crystal in particular, "I know these very well to know that it will."
"It is satisfactory. Well done, Torchwick," Horobi stated, "Keep the Magia on standby. Torchwick, I'll let you decide where to have it be deployed next."
"...Magia?" Emerald questioned.
"What this guy turns into when he becomes a monster," Jin explained, "It's a big nasty thing where the HumaGears that I befriend become far more powerful. Could easily stomp out those Grimm things you constantly live in fear of."
All Emerald did was nod in response to this statement, a bit unnerved while following with the Dust crystals, while Roman kept an eye on the currently inactive Magia…
Ruby eventually arrived at where Weiss and the people who evacuated from the dust mine all were. She nervously exhaled as she approached Weiss, "Um… hi…"
"There you are! I was worried!" Weiss shouted, "What happened to your plan?! You just left me there!"
"I'm sorry… I really couldn't find an opening to attack that thing and I was trying. But this new guy showed up and offered to help if I got to safety, so I just went with what was asked of me," Ruby explained.
Weiss simply stared at Ruby before she gave a somewhat annoyed exhale at her and left without saying anything else to her. Penny eventually walked over towards Ruby and could tell that she wasn't in a very great mood. After a bit, Ruby walked off in another direction without saying much and Penny tailed after her.
"I screwed up!" Ruby shouted as she fell onto her bed, "I really did! I can't believe I messed up THIS badly! That rogue HumaGear is still on the loose,and I don't even know what to do now!"
"You know, honestly, I thought you were going to be complaining about messing up with Weiss instead of the monster…" Penny admitted.
Ruby then simply gave a somewhat annoyed look towards Penny, "I figured I'd tell you what you wanted to hear and not what I was actually upset about. I mean, yeah, I do need to stop that monster before it causes any more problems, but…"
"You're worried that you lost your best friend. Even putting aside the romantic tension between the two of you, I get that Weiss is really important to you. I know this is difficult, Ruby, but until you make the deal official, we need to minimize how many people know you are Zero-One."
"I know, I know…" Ruby exhaled. She then looked towards her belt with a bit of an annoyed look before the expression eased up a bit, "Hey… that monster called me a Kamen Rider earlier. What's that even mean?"
"I did try to find something out about that while we were on our way back, but what I found was very minimal. Like… really minimal…" Penny informed as she took out a tablet and pulled up the limited information they had, "It's better if you see what is known."
Ruby took the tablet and saw that the only footage was dated to well over ten years ago. The very first clip appeared to be somewhere outside of the kingdom of Vale with some kind of a pale green armored figure similar to Zero-One that had red eyes and silver shoulders, but there was a heavy amount of blur and the image was unfocused so any other details were too obscured for Ruby to tell what was happening. The second clip was of a black-clad man in red, gold, and silver armor resembling a Stag Beetle fighting off some tribal monsters, yet it ended before much of anything could happen. The last clip was the longest and the one with the least obscured details, yet it was clearly gltichy and distorted. This one featured a warrior in black, white, and some pale blue with pink eyes, having a watch theme battling a monster version of what looked like Zero-One, but the image seemed intentionally glitchy or blurred around the monster in spots.
"Are they connected to Zero-One at all?" Ruby inquired.
"I honestly wish I could answer that question, but these are the few things my records could connect to the key word. Whatever these are… they're relics of a time long gone. I guess people here in Atlas are more familiar with these stories than others…" Penny explained.
Ruby only nodded a little in response before she sighed and took the Zero-One Driver and Progrise Key in her hands. She stared at them for a bit before she headed out.
"Where are you going?"
"I don't want to lie to Weiss if I can help it… if I'm going to keep my friendship with Weiss… she needs to know who Zero-One is. I have to tell her the truth."
"Wait, Ruby, please! You're letting your emotions cloud your judgement again. Think about it more clearly before you do something rash! Please, reconsi-"
"PENNY! I've been thinking about this the entire time. I've calmed down since that battle, and this is the best… for everyone. As long as I can keep my friend… that's more important than any secrets…" Ruby declared before she rushed out with her semblance.
Weiss looked over the damage reports about the attack and paled, seeing the number of zeros that skyrocketed on the forms.
"This is going to be a lot of paperwork…" Weiss sighed.
As she tried to gather herself, she heard something teleport behind her. Weiss quickly spun around to see the Magia that had attacked the mines earlier that day.
"YOU!" Weiss shouted as she tried to draw her blade, but it was quickly knocked out of her hands. It then struck Weiss right in the stomach and began to attack her, making the president slam into the wall before the Magia grabbed her by her arm.
"My bosses told me about how you Schnees are truly some of the highest scum of humanity on this planet. You do nothing but abuse your power, take lien from others, and abuse HumaGear as an alternate form of slave labor!" the Magia growled as he saw Weiss' aura had shattered from the attacks
"Why are you doing this? I thought you enjoyed what you did at the mines…" Weiss managed to utter.
The Magia said nothing as it prepared an attack, only for it to get knocked off balance and for Weiss to quickly be grabbed by whoever had attacked the Magia. She quickly looked up to see who it was…
"Ruby…"
"Thank me later," Ruby told her as she placed Weiss down comfortably, "And… I'm sorry I wasn't fully honest with you earlier."
Penny then landed nearby the duo and saw Ruby taking out the Zero-One Driver, "Ruby-"
"I don't want to keep secrets from those I care about!" Ruby shouted as she put the Driver on, "As a president of a company… and as a huntress… I won't let my own words ruin the trust others have in me. So… I have to act now…"
Penny just stared at Ruby before she sighed and turned to Weiss. She then headed over to help Weiss up as Ruby stared down the Magia.
"My bosses told me about you too, batta yaro!" the Magia shouted.
Ruby said nothing in response as she got out her Progrise Key.
=JUMP!=
=AUTHORISE!=
The Magia charged towards Ruby, but the energy grasshopper managed to block its attack. The grasshopper jumped around Ruby as data emitted from the driver, with text reading "data up-link confirmed" and "Zero-One standing by" appearing in front of the energy being emitted. Ruby then quickly flipped open the Progrise Key and stood ready.
"Henshin!" she shouted before loading the key in.
=PROGRISE!=
=TO-BIA GA RISE! RISING HOPPER~!=
=A jump to the sky turns to a Rider Kick.=
Ruby now stood as Zero-One with her weapon in hand.
"You're dead, batta yaro!" the Magia shouted as it charged towards her, but Zero-One managed to block the blow.
"That's not my name… my name is Zero-One!" she shouted before kicking him back, "Kamen Rider Zero-One!"
=BLADE RISE!=
The Magia growled in anger as it charged towards Zero-One again, but the Rider managed to parry some of the blows from the monster. Weiss looked stunned as Zero-One expertly slashed away one of the swords and struck at an opening created by the Magia losing its weapon. The Rider continued her work as she slashed at the Magia, forcing it towards the ground, before it tried to make a go for its other weapon. Zero-One then noticed Weiss' weapon, quickly grabbed it, and sent out a wave of dust to shatter the second sword.
"Wow…" Weiss gawked.
"Nicely done," Penny cheered.
"And now, I'm sorry for what I have to do, but… you need to be stopped…" Zero-One sighed, "Penny, is there any way we can uncorrupt this guy or…?"
Penny then nervously exhaled and only shook her head to indicate that there wasn't. Zero-One then set Weiss' weapon down and readied her sword.
"I'm sorry. I'll try and make this as painless as I can…" Zero-One apologized to the former HumaGear.
"Ruby-shachō," Penny shouted out, taking out her teal Progrise Key, "Use this. You can put it into your weapon for a finisher."
Zero-One quickly took the trinket and looked it over, nodding a bit.
=BOUNCE!=
She then inserted it into the bottom slot of her sword.
=PROGRISE KEY CONFIRMED! READY TO UTILIZE!=
=Rabbit's Ability!=
Teal energy charged up in the sword as Zero-One looked towards the Magia, "Omae o tome rareru no wa tada hitori... atashi da!"
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Energy crescents shaped similarly to a pair of rabbit's ears formed around the top of the blade before Zero-One spun around and sent the energy slash forward and it made contact with the Magia. It then exploded in a fiery burst.
ジ
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=JUMPING KABAN STRASH!=
Zero-One could only stare at the remains of the monster that had once been a HumaGear before she just sighed and turned back to normal. She then lowered to her knees and gave a silent mourn for the HumaGear, Penny and Weiss only staring at the smoldering remains…
"It's dead… you idiot, you let it get killed!" Jin shouted at Roman.
"Don't worry about it," Horobi calmly stated, "It doesn't really matter at this point. So long as everything moves according to the will of the Ark, then it doesn't matter how many HumaGears bite the dust…"
Jin was clearly pissed about this as he prepared to argue, but just decided to drop it and move on. Roman could only stare at the two without much of anything to say before he simply turned his attention over to the Dust crystals they had gathered.
"I'm sorry for lying to you, Weiss," Ruby apologized.
"...would it really count as lying if I knew it was you under there from when I first got a good look at you fighting in that form?" Weiss questioned.
"You knew?!" both Ruby and Penny shouted.
"Your stance, your voice, and the just the way you carried yourself are recognizable," Weiss explained, "That… and the silver eyes are a bit of a dead giveaway…"
Ruby nervously laughed a little and then just exhaled.
"I wanted to give you a chance, to be honest," Weiss informed.
"She wouldn't let me tell you!" Ruby quickly informed, pointing over to Penny.
"Guilty as charged," Penny stated with a shrug.
"I understand the situation. As a president of the Schnee Dust Company, I completely understand the necessity of keeping these powers a secret, Ruby. But as a friend and a former teammate of yours, you can always trust me with these matters," Weiss replied to her friend, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder, "I was a little annoyed, but that didn't really shake my trust in you. I knew it would be revealed in time, and you can trust me to support you."
Ruby couldn't help but blush a little as did Weiss, the two simply smiling a bit at each-other
"...now then, why don't we make this part of the deal? Outside of our former connections, ignoring the damages caused, I propose we come to an agreement. You supply me with new workers to make up for the losses and new HumaGears to aid with Atlas in recovery and forces after the outcome of recent events; I supply you with Dust for your efforts at stopping this new force along with those for allied HumaGears you produce at Hiden Intelligence, along with my personal training of you and any other assistance. And in turn, we split our companies' net profits at 50-50," Weiss offered as Ruby simply looked at her in amazement.
"You're really impressive…" Ruby remarked.
"Thanks, but about the deal…?"
"I'll do it… with one condition. You come back to Vale with me and Penny to support me for a while."
"Ruby-shachō, that would kind of take her away from her own company a-"
"Deal."
Ruby and Weiss shook hands in response as Penny just exhaled heavily.
"Don't worry, Penny. I have others I trust to run the company in Atlas in my stead. Whitley has some other matters he's attending to that makes him… unfit to run with my company's current sights, so I will instead trust it to somebody else I trust," Weiss assured Penny, allowing her to relax even if she looked a tiny bit concerned, "Don't worry. I trust her more than anyone else here in Atlas. I'll go pack my things for this trip and meet you at the airport so we can depart."
"Alright then…" Penny nodded.
Weiss then headed off and Ruby gained a bit of a lovesick smile on her face with hearts in her eyes as she stared at Weiss.
"Oh, be still my lesbian heart," Ruby couldn't help but whisper as Penny put her face into her palms.
Meanwhile, back at Blake's place, Blake had finished some work as Yang headed on in.
"Hey," Yang greeted.
"I got some good news for you. I found a way to override Commander Yaiba's authorization code for this, so you don't need to worry about her not letting you use it," Blake informed as she handed Yang a ShotRiser.
"Awsome!"
"Just… one thing I wanna tell you. I found out there are some components currently missing from it. I don't know what it is that's missing, but it's not impeding normal functionality…" Blake explained.
"Odd…" Yang muttered.
PROGRISE KEY RECAP CORNER!
"Salutations readers! Penny and Ruby-shachō here to talk to you about the Progrise Keys!" Penny happily waved.
"...isn't this like a breach of security?" Ruby honestly inquired.
"Eh, don't worry about it," Penny told her reassuringly, "Well, we got two Progrise Keys to talk about here today. First off is Zero-One's primary Key, ladies and gentlemen… Rising Hopper!"
The scene then focused on the yellow key depicting the image of a grasshopper.
"This Progrise Key's special ability is jump, which means any forms using this key can jump up really high and kick really powerfully. This is because grasshoppers are particularly skilled jumpers and able to reach an average height of 45 centimeters, or 18 inches, and that's a skilled height for an animal so small, and for heroes known for jumping up and kicking, it makes sense that the primary form is based on something like that!"
"And now to show it off a little," Ruby smiled as she put on her Driver and activated the key.
=JUMP!=
=AUTHORISE!=
"Henshin!" Ruby shouted out before loading the key in.
=PROGRISE!=
=TO-BIA GA RISE! RISING HOPPER~!=
=A jump to the sky turns to a Rider Kick.=
Ruby then struck a pose, "I am Zero-One!"
"No… you aren't…" somebody from off-camera informed.
"Eh?" Ruby blinked before she looked to see she was still her normal self.
"Yeah, for security reasons, the Drivers are disabled here. You can activate them and show off their sounds, but no transforming…" Penny informed.
"Boo~! Come on…" Ruby whined.
"Anyway, our second Progrise Key to show off is currently original to this story. It's actually my personal Progrise Key with the ability of bounce, presenting, Jumping Rabbit!" Penny proclaimed, showing off the teal colored key, "Currently, this one does not have any Rider powers associated with it, but it was made for me in the event of me needing to use a powerful attack in a dangerous pinch."
"What's the difference between a bunny and a rabbit?" Ruby questioned.
"Bunnies are often chubbier, fluffy creatures raised as house pets. Rabbits are the wild counterparts that are leaner, more muscular, type," Penny explained.
Ruby nodded before she took the key from Penny, "Even though I can't use it… can I show off the sounds it makes with my belt?"
"Go ahead."
Ruby beamed as she took out the Rising Hopper key and readied the teal one.
=BOUNCE!=
=AUTHORISE!=
She quickly loaded it into the Driver.
=PROGRISE!=
=LEAP TO THE AIR! JUMPING RA~BBIT!=
=Taking a leap of faith will lead to new possibilities.=
"I wonder what's up with that text to speech stuff… sounds kind of annoying…" Ruby admitted, "But I wonder if that part for yours means anything important…."
Penny simply shrugged her shoulders before taking the key out of the Zero-One Driver, "Anyway, that's all the time we have for today. Join us next time for more of the Progrise Key Recap Corner!"
"Bye-bye!" Ruby waved.
Jikai, RWBY Rider Zero-One
Ruby: What do you think those A.I.M.S. guys need with this stuff?
Penny: They're an anti-HumaGear military force, so what do you think they need it for?
Blake: Don't worry about them, Penny. You're not amongst our targets since you're more human.
Yang: I do worry though...
Horobi: Eliminate them.
Yang: No, I'll eliminate you! *shouts out in pain*
File 03: Shot Rise! The Dragon That Roars Like a Wolf!
*Ruby was asleep for a bit before she was jostled forward*
Ruby: I'm up, I'm up! *blinks* Huh? *looks around to see she was in some kind of plane* Um… where am I?
The world around them has changed…
Penny: I looked it up, but… there's no indication of Hiden Intelligence, A.I.M.S., Daybreak Town, or any Kamen Riders.
Yang: How can something like that happen? Stuff like that just doesn't disappear like some kind of magic act!
Jaune: Is everything okay, guys?
And the world is on the brink of war…
Weiss: So, to recap, we're trying to keep these relics out of the hands of some evil witch, Ozpin is now in Oscar's head, and Penny has… magic?
*Penny then shot a blast of ice energy out of her hands.*
Ruby and Yang: Cool…
*Weiss and Blake just sighed*
The Rider will not yield…
Ruby: I… have to protect everyone! Henshin! *yells out in pain*
Weiss: Ruby!
And will fight to protect those she loves…
?: Stand back. I got this!
Ruby: ...mom?
Kamen Rider: The Next Generation
*Ruby stood alone, armed with nothing but Crescent Rose, and was surrounded by all kinds of monsters. Then…*
=FINISH TIME!=
=TIME BREAK!=
Ruby: Eh? Who… are you? *before her stood Kamen Rider Zi-O*
More info coming soon…
KKD: Wait a minute… is that…?
Pikatwig: Our planned adaptation of Reiwa The First Generations, with or without the movie to base it off of. And, no, the Zi-O in that is not Sougo. You'll see who it is in due time.
KKD: Alright. Gotta keep that a secret for the time being, though.
Pikatwig: Yeah. Anyway… that was our original content for the second episode. Based on that title, next time things will be on track. And, as an FYI, there will be a lot of readaptation of various plot points of Zero-One. Like… a lot. For example, in the most recent episode as of this writing this chapter, it is revealed that users of the ShotRiser have this chip put into their heads in order to use it. ...that is not ending up in this story because that idea is needlessly complicated and kind of stupid.
KKD: Yea. We're already having to change a lot of things with how we have to adapt how aura and semblances work in conjunction with the Rider gear, but to toss that wacky wrench into the mix… that's a bit too much.
Pikatwig: What he said. Anyway… we have our first original Progrise Key and first original Zetsumerise Key. We did kind of need an original Magia for this chapter and Penny having a Progrise Key is just kind of a thing. Don't question it.
KKD: It works to an extent. Does this mean Penny will be a Rider herself? ...No guarantees.
Pikatwig: We will see. Anyway… thoughts on the chapter?
KKD: I think this was one of my favorite chapters so far. My dad is familiar with business and sales stuff, but I didn't ask him for that. Most of that knowledge I inserted for Weiss to say I came up with on the spot, or used Wikipedia for some of the information. Just saying on that front.
Pikatwig: Fair enough. I know very little about business in general, so it makes sense for one of us to look it up.
KKD: Even just a little bit, yea. If I had to mention a favorite part… that's tricky. This chapter was loaded with cool parts, but I liked how it did end up like how Ruby proposed to her company at the start. Y'know, using an excuse of a business trip to make a deal with one company as a trip to train and reunite with her old friend, and yet ending up actually making that deal a reality.
Pikatwig: Yeah, that was pretty cool. I honestly liked the scene where Ruby was swooning over Weiss at the end and Penny's reaction to that. That was just cute and funny at the same time.
KKD: Yea, it was. Well, hope you guys enjoyed this story. *looks back up* And yea, cute little bit with the Progrise Explanation Corner as a callback to Hero.
Pikatwig: I just wanted to have something cute there for the fun of it. Also, yeah, Penny's weapon was upgraded to be able to use Progrise Keys. Maybe we'll see the same happen for the others, but that's a big ol' "maybe" at the moment. Two other things I wanna mention before we wrap it up. First off, I'm actually working on edits of the Zero-One suits in order to make them have silver eyes like as depicted in this story. I do have Photoshop on my home computer, so I can actually do that.
KKD: That is kinda cool, and I'm still waiting to see the outcome as of now.
Pikatwig: And the second is just more of a funny little coincidence. So, I went ahead and made an article for this story on a KR fanfic wiki. The day after I finished creating the page for the story itself… somebody else posts their own version of RWBY/Zero-One. I'm not kidding.
KKD: What? Seriously?!
Pikatwig: Yup. I just find that pretty funny, to be honest.
KKD: Huh. That's just so weird with that timing.
Pikatwig: Anyway, that's about it. So, I hope you enjoyed today's chapter. See you next time. Just Live More.
KKD: Jaa ne.