Volume 6

Chapter 1

Switching Out

Lupin was shaking his head as Salem explained her plans for the lamp. The conference room in Salem's castle was as dreary as ever, and Dr. Watts was the only other person present.

"So you don't know the password to use it?" Lupin asked again.

Salem gave a scowl at his tone and said "no, not yet at least"

The Mega-Lucario sighed and said "regardless I will be leaving for a mission elsewhere. While I have been able to divide my time so far, there is something on Earth 43 that now requires my complete attention."

Salem was completely unphased and said "Very well, how long will you be gone"

"Several months, though dimensional time-differences are inconsistent, to say the least. In the meantime, another one of the shadow collective's generals will take my place" Lupin explained.

Watts cut in with "will this general simply be a consultant like you?"

"Yes and no, he will fulfill all my duties, but he has a particular interest in one of those for his project" Lupin mentioned before pointing to one of the massive purple crystals in the dark landscape surrounding them.

Watts gave a curious look while Salem asked "is there anything in particular I should know about this new general?"

Lupin shook his head and replied "not particularly, he was chosen to stand in for me due to his more…direct approach to things"

On cue, a dimensional hole opened and a new man stepped out. The new arrival was tall, almost 7 feet tall. He was wide and muscular, wearing a black leather jacket with a patch on the shoulder that resembled a black bat over a blue target. He was wearing gray military style pants and heavy boots. His eyes were unnaturally bright green and he had a shaved head with stubbles of black hair.

"I trust you can take it from here Damien, that is the scientist I told you about '' Lupin explained with a point to Watts, earning a nod from his fellow general.

Lupin left and the dimensional hole closed, there was a significant pause before Damien gave a respectful nod and introduced himself with "I am Damien Galashnikov, it is an honor to meet you"

Salem looked legitimately curious and said "where are you from?"

"Earth 161, it had no pokemon, and no such things as people with powers, until a rouge scientist detonated a DNA bomb that changed everyone into a pokemon. I was one of the most powerful beings on the planet, but two of my fellow humans turned legendary pokemon stopped me. Afterward, I joined the Shadow Collective'' Damien explained.

"And why are you interested in one of my crystals?" Salem pressed.

"If you and the doctor can help me harvest one, I can finish a weapon that I have been developing for years" Damien explained.

"Harvesting a crystal of that size is incredibly dangerous, the energy contained within could varopize everything in a 5 mile radius, and that's ignoring the chain reaction it could cause '' Watts warned.

Damien nodded and replied "I am well aware, but Lupin told me what a capable scientist you were. The potential power is well worth the risk"

Salem was still skeptical as she asked "and what kind of weapon would this allow you to create?"

"One that would have enough power to wipe continents off the map in the blink of an eye, or decimate the most heavily fortified locations on the planet." Damien offered.

"Dust doesn't work if it leaves the atmosphere, I assume you are referring to a type of space based weapon" Watts assumed.

"A fact I am well aware of as well, but the shadow collective's third general, Alvis Faba has found a way to process the crystals and avoid such a weakness. We addressed that issue by studying a few crystals before making our presence known. Easy to grab one ore two and then warp away unnoticed. Interested in helping?"

Salem nodded while Watts grinned at the change to help make such a weapon. The alliance with the shadow collective was getting much more useful…

The remainder of team RWBY and Team JNPR had not taken kindly to the truth about Ozpin's history with Salem, that they were once in love with each other and how Oz had inadvertently made things even worse. What was especially infuriating was the information that Salem could not be destroyed. However, Zander pointed out a major flaw in that belief. Ozpin had asked how he could destroy Salem, meaning that he wasn't capable of it, but another person may. Since then the Latios had been hard at work training both of the seasonal Maidens. Progress on locating Ruby and Blake was nearly non-existent. Nia had collected some DNA samples from Ruby and Blake's hair brushes, but Nia and her father had been silent otherwise.

Yang and Pyrrha were sparing in beacon's training room, since it was summer break, no one else was present. The two had been training together over the past few weeks, and now the duo were testing how to use the maiden powers to enhance their physical strength.

"You doing ok?" Pyrrha questioned as she parried Yang's punch.

Yang gave a right hook and responded "im fine!"

The two traded blows for a few minutes before Pyrrha sighed and said "let's call it there"

Yang hesitated and said "we can keep going!"

Pyrrha shook her head and replied "let's go get some water"

As the two walked back to the droms, Pyrrha was carefully studying Yang, her red eyes made her thoughts clear, Pyrrha had trained how to study opponents on the fly, and that translated to social situations as well.

As they got back to the dorm room, Pyrrha went to the minifridge and tossed yang a bottle who caught it. Before Yang went to change out her sweatpants and black shirt, Pyrrha stopped her and said "Yang, I know your worried about Blake and Ruby, but it's gonna be ok"

Yang stopped dead in her tracks and said "you don't know that.."

"True, but Ruby and Blake are resourceful, wherever they ended up, Im sure there fine" The invincible girl assured here.

Yang turned around, her hair igniting. However it wasn't the usual aura respmbling fire, physical flames were swirling around her golden locks.

"MY SISTER AND PARTNER ARE MISSING ANOTHER UNIVERSE! HOW CAN I NOT WORRY ABOUT THEM!" Yang screamed at the top of her lungs.

Pyrrha filinced before saying "you can be worried about them, but have some faith in them…please calm down"

Yang took a deep breath and flames dissipated, she shook her head and went to the bathroom without another word…

Author's Note-Welcome back!

1. Lupin has to depart for business elsewhere, as in what will eventually be the climax of Silver Gaze. While Ruby and Blake have only been gone for a month now, time works differently from one universe to another, and they've already spent a year in the other world. So in the timeline of this story, the climax of silver gaze is happening right now...

2. Damien Galashnikov, the shadow collective's 2nd general is...as the intel files hinted, from my cancelled story "12 hours" just because i canceled it doesn't mean it didn't happen in the context of my wider multiverse ultimately i just couldn't figure out how to make it work.

Next time- Qrow, Gylnda, Oscar and Ironwood have a tense meeting about the Shadow Collective, while Nia and her father set up their search for Ruby and Blake

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