Remnant of the Key

by lyokoMARVELanime

Adopted from FandomBard12. Four Keybladers meet four huntresses while on a quest to recover a lost friend. Now, their destinies shall become intertwined as they fight against darkness of both Remnant and beyond. The question is, just what else will come from this meeting between the two?

10. Heroes on the Move

AN: And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time once again, to take another step into the adventures of Keyblade wielders in Remnant with the newest chapter of Remnant of the Key!

[audience applause]

Yeah, that's right. You know you're loving it, and while this chapter may be a bit shorter than I had originally expected it to be, I do think it does set up a few things pretty nicely, at least in regards to the stuff that's going to happen in the next chapter.

Blake: Even with you combining a few different things from two different episodes into one chapter again, along with adding original content and dialogue, right?

AN: Pretty much. Anyways, let's do a quick run through a review answers before we get into things, shall we?

First off, "keybladelight", as hard as it was to decipher what you wrote, I did get a basic gist of what you were trying to say in your idea pitch, and I may try to see if I can run with it later. I'm not making any promises though. As for your question about which of those was the most villainous person...Honestly, I feel like that's a pretty tough call.

Ruby: No kidding. Between Salem, Xehanort, and the Master of Masters? That's like trying to solve the mystery of what my mom's weapon was right now.

AN: Not quite the analogy I would use, but you can see her point, I'm sure. Anyways...

"Spiderfan626", Yeah, I saw what you did there. Very nice, and you won't have to wait any longer to see how the teams will work in the big mission, 'cause we're finding that out today.

"Kegeto", believe me, I'm looking forward to that moment too, and there will be plenty of other reasons as to why everyone should look forward to it, besides its level of adorableness.

RoseHeart: [blushing profusely]

AN: Guys, focus! Now's not the time for that. Good grief.

"Hamm1999", I will think about and maybe look into adding Red vs Blue in as another world, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. As far as other worlds go, Remnant's still looking like the only non-Disney world that's going to be in this series for the moment (assuming you don't count Marvel as a non-Disney world, since there may or may not be a chance I'll try to add that in too).

"Dragon Rider 66", first off, thanks for the reminder regarding Xion and Aqua's last names in this story. I totally meant to mention that in the previous chapter's author's note. Anyways, in Xion's case, it's really just something I've seen a lot of people go with as her last name in a bunch of different stories, and I'm pretty sure it's like a reference to her nature as a replica created from memories. As for Aqua, her last name is the Latin word for mage. I mainly went with that since Aqua's first name is technically the Latin word for water, so it made sense that I would have her last name be of similar origin. Don't worry about Coco and Team CFVY. I will try to get them back in again some time soon, but it won't be for the point you're thinking of. And as for your question about Team JNPR's new looks for the upcoming Volume 7, I think they all look pretty good. I don't have a personal preference as of yet, but I will admit, I did not really notice how much Jaune's new haircut looks like Roxas and Ven's until you said something.

Ventus: Hey, I honestly wouldn't blame him for taking a few cues from us.

Roxas: Yeah. We are two of the best looking guys in the Kingdom Hearts series, after all.

Jaune: Yeah...That's why I'm going with that look now. [rolls his eyes at the other two]

AN: [rolls his eyes along with Jaune] Ignoring that for now, regarding teammates that Xion could have, you're forgetting that Terra could just as easily be one, given that he's not technically a master yet, even if he is sort of the oldest of the Keyblade wielders, not counting Mickey of course, but right now, there's not really a plan for Xion to have an official team any time soon. It's not like she's going to be participating in the Vytal Festival Tournament or something, ya know.

"Guest" of 10/9/2019...

Blake: Ahem, I'll take that one. To answer your question, as far as canon story line has stated, I haven't met any Faunus with a speech problem like Donald's. Though, I think there may have been one or two Faunus who share animal traits with water-based animals that could have it.

AN: Right. Thank you, Blake. "SuperMarioFreak", I had actually forgotten about the Keyblade that Monty Oum came up with for Namine until you said something about it, but I will probably have Namine gain that particular Keyblade at some point later on. Just gonna have to wait and see, for now. Regarding Sora's possession of the x-blade, or really anything regarding the x-blade itself in this story beyond its history...sorry, that's all top-secret for now. I'm not telling~!

KH Cast: Of course he's not.

AN: [lightly chuckles] Ahem, moving on, "Monkey D. Conan", most of your questions are ones that I can't really answer just yet without giving away some major spoilers, I'm afraid, but I will go ahead and say at least this much: Destiny Islands is very likely to be a world that we will be seeing in this story. It's just going to be quite a while before it happens.

Next to answer is "CT7567Rules". I can confirm that Aqua will be attending the dance when we reach that chapter, but I wouldn't be so sure about Team CFVY being able to attend. Gonna be a little hard for Team RWBY to do anything to set up for said event otherwise. As for Cardin's part in the food fight, I have no idea if it is similar to that scene from Alien, but I can definitely confirm that Genie had no input on it. It was actually something I got from one episode of DBZ Abridged.

Finally, to the "Guest" of 10/14/2019, I'm pretty sure that I've at least hinted to the fact that I was going to have Pyrrha survive, but as far as Penny goes, I'm afraid that nothing can really be done to change her fate by that much. I'm not saying that Penny's going to be gone for good after that point, but her battle with Pyrrha is definitely going to remain the same as it was in canon for the sake of the story, so no worries. Penny's going to be fine even after Pyrrha turns her into quarters.

...I'm sorry, but even if the event did happen quite a while back, that joke still doesn't sit right with me. Seriously, it still feels like it's way too soon to be making that joke, or really any joke about what happened to Penny.

Ruby: How do you think I feel?

Weiss: Or how a good majority of the rest of us from the RWBY series feel?

AN: Yeah, I'm just going to move this along before this gets anymore serious or depressing than it already was. In regards to the references that I knowingly worked into the food fight of the previous chapter, I will confirm that there was one from The Prince's Bride, a few from TeamFourStar's DBZA (as I previously mentioned), and there was also one from Transformers The Last Knight as well. The Rex and Hamm reference from Toy Story that "Dragon Rider 66" found...yeah, I hadn't even realized that it could be counted as such until after he mentioned it, so props for that.

Now, I think we've got everything covered that we wanted to bring up in reference to the previous chapter's reviews, so let's get this show on the road. Pull the lever...! Wait, who's at the manual controls right now?

Yang: That would be me. [grins evilly at the author]

AN: Uh-oh! No, wait! I take it back! Don't pull the...!

Yang: [continues grinning as she intentionally pulls the wrong lever]

AN: [ends up freezing in a mad rush to reach Yang when a trap door opens under him] Oh nuts. [drops down trap door] WHOOOOOOOOOoooooooaaaaaaaaa!

Yang: Hehe. Revenge complete.

Blake: I was wondering about what you were going to do after finally convincing him to let you out of that bunker.

[wall opens up to allow a stone-encased author to slide back into the room]

AN: [tries to say something, but voice is ultimately muffled and unintelligible]

Ruby: Hang on. [uses scythe to make opening in the stone so that author can breathe and speak properly]

AN: [gasps loudly] Thank you. I said, yeah, I probably should've seen this coming from the moment that she convinced me to let her out. Can someone cue up the disclaimer, please?

Jaune: I've got it.

lyokoMARVELanime does not own anything from either the Kingdom Hearts or RWBY franchises, or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

---

Chapter 10: Heroes on the Move

The way that everyone was talking for the next few days or so, you would think that the epic food fight was the stuff of legends. It was not just regarding everything that had happened during said face-off between Teams RWBY and JNPR, and the two halves of Team SLVR that people were talking about though; it was also the fact that all of them had gotten off with nothing more than a mild scolding from Goodwitch, too. Some would say that the three teams might have gotten preferential treatment because of certain members on their teams (meaning Pyrrha and Weiss), but others would argue that it was because the three teams had showcased an improvement in skills and incredible adaptability in various situations. Whatever the case was, the three teams of students were being showered with a great deal of praise wherever they went after classes had started up again. The only problem was, not all of them were able to enjoy it as much as the others.

Team SLVR had been forced to work themselves to the bone in order to make sure that none of their friends were left alone with Aqua over the course of that very same time period, since they knew that Aqua had a plethora of embarrassing stories to tell about them to the Remnant locals, and it was not an easy job at all. Distracting Aqua or even getting some of the huntsmen-in-training away from her with a last minute plan was hard enough, but what was harder for them was actually finding all of said individuals before it was too late to do something. More often than not, Sora and his friends found their fellow first year teams laughing up a storm as they sat around Aqua, who could only smile that same mischievous grin she had when she first appeared in the cafeteria after the food fight, and they knew in that same instant that they were likely going to need to hide in shame and embarrassment for a good long while after separating her from their friends. Sure, they knew it was more than likely Aqua's method of revenge against them for not telling her about their newest mission so long ago, but that did not mean that they were willing to let Ruby, Jaune, and their teams find out about their most embarrassing moments if they could help it.

Aqua on the other hand was enjoying herself quite a bit with her revenge against the boys, but she was not so heartless that she only told stories that would leave them wanting to hide in a hole. What the boys did not realize was that she did actually tell everyone a few things that would play up her fellow Keyblade wielders on more than one occasion, be it for the sake of showing just what the guys had been through to get where they are today, to show that they were still just as human as everyone else despite their incredible powers, or for simply playing up to be more impressive to certain parties. Those parties mainly being Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, because Aqua had not failed to notice how Ruby was giving Sora a love-struck gaze much more often than the last time she saw the girl, or how Weiss and Yang's eyes seemed to linger a little longer than normal on Ventus and Lea, respectively. Having realized that those girls were starting to feel something a bit more than friendship for the three Keybearers, Aqua had made it a mission to help speed things along between each pair as much as she could while she was on Remnant, but she knew that her time there was limited, as she still had her duties to all the other worlds, which did include the original reason for her being on Remnant in the first place.

The original reason for Aqua's visit finally came around when a small fleet of Atlas ships arrived with the students that were visiting from said kingdom's huntsmen academy, and as she watched all the airships come in for landing, Aqua could not help but feel a little nervous. "Is all of this really necessary," Aqua finally asked of Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch after several moments of silence. "I mean, I understand that a good deal of things in Atlas are all tied in with one another, from their government, to their military, to even their schools, but this seems more than a little excessive."

"Believe me, Master Aqua, you're not the only one who feels that way," Goodwitch reassured her while grumbling over the same fact. "Even I find it a little trying how Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels."

"Well running an academy and a military makes him a busy man," Ozpin defended to the two, only to turn around and agree with them a second later. "But yes, those are a bit of an eyesore."

"A bit," Aqua questioningly repeated right when something on Ozpin's desk started beeping, signaling that someone had just arrived outside his door and was requesting entry.

Wasting little time, Ozpin called out for their guest to enter, and the doors parted to permit entry to a man in a nearly all-white military uniform, blue dress shirt, red tie, and black boots, while he wore a white glove on one hand with a single bandage over his right eyebrow. "Ozpin," the man happily greeted.

"Hello, General," Ozpin nodded in respectful reply.

"Please, drop the formalities," the general requested as he crossed the room and shook hands with the headmaster. "It's been too long," he then chuckled before turning his gaze to the blonde woman in the room. "And Glynda, it has certainly been too long since we last met."

"Oh James," Goodwitch waved, almost sounding like someone who was ecstatic to meet with someone again before returning to her usual persona. "I'll be outside."

Aqua and the two men watched the deputy headmistress leave for a bit until the general stated, "Well she hasn't changed a bit." That comment and the exchange made Aqua wonder just what the relationship between Goodwitch and the general was, until she realized that said general had now turned his attention to her. "And…I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting until now," he commented.

"Aqua, this is General James Ironwood of Atlas. James, allow me to introduce Master Aqua Magum."

"Master," Ironwood repeated in wonder. "Master of what exactly, if you don't mind my asking Miss Magum?"

Aqua turned a hesitant look to Ozpin, wondering if it would be okay to show him, and when Beacon's headmaster nodded in reply, she raised a hand up before her, and summoned out her trusted Keyblade. Seeing the blade appear in Aqua's hand gave Ironwood quite the start, and Aqua would be lying if she were to say that she did not get some satisfaction from seeing the general thrown off guard by the sight of her weapon. "To answer your question, General, I'm a master of the Keyblade," Aqua finally stated.

"Incredible," Ironwood finally whispered. "Ozpin had told me many stories about the wielders of this blade, but to actually be standing before one and seeing a Keyblade itself…I can't even begin to tell you how great an honor it is."

"And yet you still sound rather surprised," Aqua noted, though her smile made it clear she was still amused by the whole thing.

"Well, after all that I had heard, I never expected that a chosen wielder, let alone a master would be so young. No offense," Ironwood quickly explained.

"None taken," Aqua reassured him. "Believe it or not, I am actually a lot older than I look, and one of my fellow masters is even younger than I am."

"And you may be interested to learn, James, that some of my newest students, an entire team in fact, are also wielders of the Keyblade, all of which are close friends of Aqua's," Ozpin added, taking a rare moment to boast.

Hearing that, Ironwood could not help but joke, "If you're trying to make me jealous, Oz, it is definitely working." As everyone in the room laughed at the remark, Ironwood returned his attention to Aqua and said, "Again, it is an honor to meet you, Master Magum."

"The pleasure is all mine, General, but please, just call me Aqua," the Keyblade master insisted once she had dismissed her Keyblade and shook hands with the general.

"Very well, but only if you call me James," Ironwood insisted, receiving a nod of understanding in return.

Seeing that everyone was now acquainted with one another, Ozpin decided to get right to the heart of the matter, but not before he had poured a cup of coffee for everyone. "So, what in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas, James," Ozpin asked as he passed out mugs filled with the hot drink to everyone. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal Festival."

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year. Besides, with you hosting, I thought this might be a good opportunity for us to catch up," Ironwood explained away while adding a little something extra to his drink from a canteen that he had in his jacket pocket.

"I can certainly appreciate quality time between friends; however, the small fleet outside my window has me somewhat concerned," Ozpin told his friend as he took his seat at his desk while pouring himself a mug of coffee.

"Well…Concern is what brought them here," Ironwood admitted.

Aqua was understandably skeptical about that claim, but Ozpin seemed like he was able to play it off well enough. "I understand travel between kingdoms has become increasingly difficult, but…"

"Oz, you and I both know why I brought those men," Ironwood interrupted, now much more serious than he had been when he first entered the room.

That made the headmaster of Beacon let out a long sigh after taking a quick sip from his drink, telling Aqua that he did in fact know the general's reason for bringing all of these men with him. "We are in a time of peace," Ozpin reminded his friend. "Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression."

"But if what Qrow says is true," Ironwood started to protest, only to be the one who was interrupted this time around.

"If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully," Ozpin insisted. "It's the Vytal Festival; a time to celebrate unity and peace. So, I suggest you not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."

"I'm just being cautious," Ironwood insisted.

"With all due respect, James, two or three ships of soldiers would be acting cautious, but a small fleet like what's currently outside is overkill, no matter what you may be up against," Aqua disputed. "Even if it is necessary to bring as many ships as you have, doing so like this is more likely to scare or worry the people who live here."

"Aqua is right, James, and believe it or not, I am also being cautious," Ozpin added on before James could argue with the young woman. "That is why we will continue to train the best huntsmen and huntresses we can."

"Believe me, I am," Ironwood insisted. "But ask yourself this, Oz: do you honestly believe your children can win a war?"

Ozpin was quiet for a moment, giving all the answer that either of the other two needed, but only Aqua made to comment on it. "If he's like any good teacher, I'm sure he hopes that they would never have to, even if some of them already have fought in a war," the bluenette informed the general, earning her a confirming nod from Ozpin, while Ironwood gave her a curious look. "Those four Keybearers that are currently students of Beacon, myself, and all of our other fellow wielders have very recently just come out of fighting a war for all the worlds, and while we only lost one person, it was still too great of a loss for all of us, some more than others. More than that, some of us also suffered a great deal throughout the conflict."

"And if I recall, it was that one loss that originally brought young Sora, Ventus, Lea, and Roxas here to begin with," Ozpin filled in. "To locate the missing Princess of Heart and return her home, but I'm afraid to say that they have not made much headway in their search."

"That's actually part of the reason why I'm here: to update you on some new information regarding their search, among other things," Aqua admitted.

"You need not say anymore, Aqua. If a Princess of Heart is missing, and if she truly is somewhere on Remnant, then I would be more than happy to lend whatever aid I can in finding her," Ironwood promised. As he had previously stated, he had heard many stories about matters involving the Keyblade from Ozpin, and that included the stories about the Princesses of Heart, so he knew just how important they were to all the worlds.

"That's just it, James; Yen Sid is no longer entirely certain that Kairi is here," Aqua revealed, surprising both headmasters a little. "As I've already told Lea, Roxas, and Ventus, after Ozpin revealed his suspicions about another of the New Seven being on Remnant, Yen Sid did another scan of your world to determine whether or not he had mistaken Kairi's light for this new one, only to find nothing that would suggest that Kairi was here for absolute certainty. Only signs that would suggest that there may be more than one powerful light on Remnant, aside from those of my fellow wielders, or that maybe Kairi was here and…"

Aqua did not need to finish for the other two to understand what she was getting at, and they both hung their heads in sorrow at the implication, letting her know that she did not need to go further than that. That did not stop them from picking up on a few details in what Aqua had just mentioned. "You mentioned that only told this to three of the four who were sent here," Ironwood suddenly noted. "What of the fourth one?"

"No, we can't tell him about this. Not yet," Aqua insisted. "Kairi holds a very important and special place in Sora's heart, and when he realized that one of the only ways we had of bringing her back was no longer viable, he was crushed. What's worse is that he shut himself off from everyone around him while throwing himself into training, and if you knew the kind of person Sora is, you would know just how bad that alone is. If we were to tell him about this now, there may be no chance of bringing him back to his old self."

"So if Yen Sid's hunch was not truly as strong as he would have liked, then why have the boys remain here, or even send you and young Xion," Ozpin asked.

"Xion came because she wanted to see her boyfriend after being apart from each other for several months," Aqua clarified. "In regards to the boys, they're here to make absolutely certain of whether Kairi is here or not, and in the worst case scenario, help Sora to…to move on from her." She had to pause after that in order to collect herself, still not quite able to rest easy after saying that, but she was able to get it together again a little more quickly now. "As for myself, there are a few reasons. For one thing, I was tasked with giving you both this information and getting an update on your own search efforts for the new Princess of Heart you claimed was here, along with any other updates you have regarding that other fight you're currently facing."

Ozpin nodded in reply before saying, "As you've no doubt learned from listening to mine and James's exchange, one of my agents, Qrow Branwen, has discovered some new information: an infiltrator known only as Queen has someone working for them, and that's all the more reason why we need to locate this person and try to stop whatever it is they may be planning for Beacon, Vale, or really any other place in Remnant, even if it is most likely this kingdom."

"And the new Princess of Heart," Ironwood asked before Aqua had the chance to. Not that you could blame him for being a little eager for that information. He was just as curious about those details as Aqua was.

This drew a little more of a smile onto Ozpin's face, as he stated, "With every passing day, I've grown more and more certain that she is who I suspect her to be. After all, she is a very pure and honest soul, who only wishes to do whatever she can to help others, whether it is as a huntress or as a friend, but as I'm sure you know, Aqua, we can't be entirely sure until something happens that would confirm that for all of us."

Aqua nodded, knowing exactly what Ozpin meant by that after she had learned about how Sora discovered that Queen Elsa and her sister, Princess Anna were both Princesses of Heart, but still, she had to voice a concern over this plan. "I just hope that whatever it is that gives us our final proof won't be something that proves too much for her and those she's close with to handle."

Ozpin lowered his head at that, before he muttered, "Believe me, I'm praying for the exact same thing."

---

"You know, I was under the impression that we were all going to be coming here to study," Ventus remarked from the desk he and his team were sitting at, books scattered about his section of the table.

"We did, and we are," Lea informed the blonde.

"Said the man who's playing games on his Scroll," Ventus accused, pointing at said device, which he could clearly see a game going on.

Lea just shrugged in response as he checked to make sure no prying eyes and ears could catch what he was about to say, and replied, "Well, I can't exactly play games on my Gummiphone right now, now can I?"

The only response Ventus had was to roll his eyes at the redhead, which gained the attention of his fellow blonde, who was also the only other person at their table who was actually studying school notes. "If it makes you feel any better, at least he's not the only one who's shirking on their assignments for some game," Roxas told the blonde while indicating the tables that both Teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting at, each doing their own thing, most of which, did not consist of studying like he said.

"Honestly, it doesn't by that much," Ventus replied before turning to his partner. "But it probably would help if our leader got everyone back on track."

"Maybe you should consider studying something that's actually important like we're supposed to be. Namely the notes Xion made in her own search efforts regarding a certain missing friend," Sora quietly snapped back like clockwork as he flipped to the next page of said notes while going over things that he had recently written down in his own search efforts.

The other boys all flinched back, with Ventus feeling like he probably should have expected that, and wisely went quiet afterwards. Clearly Sora was in one of his moods right now, and since the guys were all smart, they were not going to try and push him right now. Thankfully, something else happened that kept their part of the library from entering an uncomfortable silence, and it was no surprise that it was provided by a certain huntress who was about to make her move in the battle that she was waging with her teammates.

"Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle," Ruby declared from her end of the board game that she and her teammates were playing.

"Bring it on," Yang challenged, just as into the game as her sister was.

"I deploy…the Atlesian Air Fleet," Ruby dramatically announced, eliciting a similar gasp from her sister. "Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!"

"You fiend," Yang shot back while her sister just commenced with a series of airplane noises to better illustrate her attack.

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only lasts one turn," Ruby finished explaining her move, confident that she had claimed a victory in the board game until her sister suddenly started laughing.

"Pretty sneaky, Sis, but you've just activated my trap card," Yang revealed, flipping over the very card she was activating.

"Whaaaaaaaaa!"

"Giant Nevermore," Yang shouted, making the Keybearers wonder why no one had tried to hush the two girls into silence yet with how loud they were being. "If I roll a seven or higher, Fatal Feathers will slice your fleet in two."

"But, if you roll a six or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces," Ruby reminded.

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take."

Hearing the two sisters battle it out over their board game, Lea could not help but sigh as he remarked, "You may complain about my video gaming, Ven, but at least my game does not require such dramatizations and loud battle cries!"

"Seriously, maybe you guys should consider doing some actual school work like we all said we were going to do, or at least something a little quieter," Roxas added on.

"Hey! I've done nothing but school work since classes started up, and even in Combat Class, I haven't had a chance to punch something. Shut up, give me a break, and let me play this game!" Yang demanded of the two.

"Okay, okay! Geez! Chill out," Roxas instantly backed off. After a moment silence though, which was only filled with the two sisters continuing their dramatic play-through of their game, he turned to his best friend and said, "Dude, seriously, why do you always fall for the crazy ones?"

"Uh, Ruby cuddles with her scythe, which is also a gun, and you're saying that Yang's the crazy one," Lea questioned. "Besides, nothing wrong with being an adventurous free spirit."

Roxas and Ventus both rolled their eyes and glanced over at Team JNPR's table, wondering how they were not going crazy from listening to all of this going on. Ren they could understand, seeing as he had grown up with Nora, who was currently asleep, explaining how she was able to deal with it, but Jaune and Pyrrha were a different story. From the look of things though, it seemed like they were both absorbed in their own readings, but when Pyrrha noticed that Jaune was studying a comic book as opposed to his textbooks, she did pause long enough so she could make sure her partner focused on the right reading materials instead. Of course, since he dropped his head to focus on his textbook, Jaune just missed how Pyrrha grinned a little as she turned to read the very comic she had just gently pulled away from him. Not that he would have the chance to call her a hypocrite, since one of Ruby's game pieces suddenly bounced off his head soon after he had turned to the new book.

"Oh, and what's this? The Smugglers of Wind Path," Yang taunted.

"BAH! BAH, I SAY," Ruby spat.

"Looks like I'm taking two cards from your hand," Yang merely grinned in response.

"HAVE YOU NO HEART?!" poor Ruby despairingly moaned before she just dropped her head onto the table, her turn having finally come to its rather disastrous end. "Noooo…"

"Well Weiss, it's your turn," Yang then prompted, ignoring Ruby's overdramatic display of sorrow in favor of moving the game along.

"Finally! Someone who will play the game a little more calmly gets to go," Sora irritably muttered. Even he was starting to get a little annoyed and distracted by the commotion of the girls' board game.

"I have…Absolutely no idea what's going on," Weiss admitted not even a second later, making the boys wonder how she had even been convinced to play in the first place.

"Look it's easy," Yang insisted as she slid over to give Weiss a hand, while subtly preparing her own counter strategy as she looked over her opponent's hand. "You're playing as Vacuo, which means all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus."

"That sounds dumb."

"No, it sounds like something that makes perfect sense," Lea protested, taking a break from his video game to see how badly Weiss failed this round, having been very amused in some of her previous turns.

While Weiss was sparing a moment to glare at the redhead for his remark, which she was sure was another jab at her intelligence, Yang went on to examine the various cards in her hand, until she finally spotted something that could use. "Oh! Oh! Resourceful Raider," Yang exclaimed, pulling Weiss's attention to the card in question. "See now you can take Ruby's discarded air fleet…"

"Nooooo…" Ruby whined, wondering why her sister was picking on her so much in this game, while Sora just shot a look at the blonde sister, silently telling her to leave Ruby alone. Not that Yang seemed to notice, since she was so busy focusing on helping Weiss with the game.

"…and put it in your hand," Yang finished.

"Okay…?" Weiss nodded, showing she was just barely following along.

"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance boost against natural hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom," Yang continued on. She then pointed at her white haired teammate warningly as she added, "Just know that I will not forget this declaration of war."

"And that means…" Weiss prompted, still feeling a little lost.

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant," Ruby sniffled.

Hearing that prompted Weiss to finally get in on the act, though the Keybearers were left a little scared by the character that Weiss chose to portray in this instant, especially since it started off with an evil laugh. "YES! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms…!"

"Oh my god, Ice Princess! Are you sure you don't moonlight as a villain or something," Lea questioned in a panic at just how realistic that sounded.

"Seriously! Somebody do something to make her stop," Roxas pleaded, having been sufficiently distracted from his own studies by the show that was unfolding over a simple board game.

Despite his continued attempts to focus on his work, Ventus was still getting interested in this as well, and had to agree with Roxas on this. It did not matter how cute Weiss was as she opened herself up to having some fun with this game right now; this was quite frankly a little too scary for his tastes. 'Wait, cute? Where did that come from,' Ventus mentally questioned.

Thankfully, Ventus was distracted when Roxas's pleas were answered by Yang saying two simple words. "Trap card," the blonde brawler revealed, making Weiss stop short so that she could see Yang rearranging the pieces on the board in response to her trap. "Your armies have been destroyed."

Weiss instantly slumped back down into her chair, crying just as much as Ruby when she said, "I hate this game of emotions we play!"

'No kidding,' Ventus agreed in his head as he tried to stomp down any urge to get up and comfort Weiss. 'I think Aqua's little teases about me and Weiss are starting to get to me a little.'

Even if Ventus was going to get up and comfort Weiss, someone else ended up beating him to it, as the next thing the heiress knew, Ruby jumping into her lap with a tight hug, still letting some tears fall as she said, "Stay strong, Weiss. We'll make it through this together."

"Shut up! Don't touch me," Weiss snapped at her partner, even though she still pulled Ruby closer to her.

Lea just stared at the two weeping girls for a minute before he finally said, "You know, sometimes I wonder how a pair as dysfunctional as those two could possibly operate as partners, and then something like this happens that makes me think they're perfect for each other. Though not as perfect as Ruby and…"

"One more word and I will make you EAT your chakrams while they are on fire. And not just a regular fire; this will be one that even you can't put out with your powers," Sora threateningly growled, having a very good idea about just where Lea was going with that statement.

Lea raised his hands in surrender, knowing that in his current mood, Sora would more than likely follow through on his threat, while over at Team RWBY's table, Yang was basking in her victories as she turned to her partner and declared, "Alright Blake, you're up!"

"Huh?" Blake asked with a start, her mind clearly having been miles away until she had heard her name. "Oh! Umm…Sorry, what am I doing?"

"You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant," Yang reminded while the rest of their team finally straightened up from their act and returned to their seats.

"Right…" Blake muttered, wondering not for the first time how she was roped into playing this board game.

Just when Blake was about to ask Ruby for an assist on this, knowing better than to be like Weiss and let Yang help her, Jaune suddenly appeared at their table and asked, "Hey, can I play?"

"Sorry Jaune, we've already got four people," Ruby apologized, informing him on the limit of players allowed in the game.

"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess," Weiss added on, subtly insulting the blonde knight when she did.

"If that's the case, then why are you playing," Lea jabbed back in Jaune's defense.

"He has a point, considering you attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago," Yang reminded Weiss before she could shoot back at Lea.

While Weiss had no comeback for the two's jabs, Jaune did have one of his own loaded and ready for her earlier comment. "Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I've been told that I'm a natural, born leader."

"By who? Your mother," Weiss questioned, although at this point, it was starting to seem like she was being a little more playful with her remarks.

That one got Jaune a little flustered, as he stuttered out, "A-and Lea, and Roxas, and of course, Pyrrha!"

"Hello again," Pyrrha waved from where she was sitting.

'Geez! That girl is way too good to him. How has he not figured it out yet,' was the shared thought of literally everyone other than Jaune and Pyrrha. Even Sora, as absorbed as he was in his study of his and Xion's search notes was wondering that very same thing.

"Come on, let me play your hand for a turn," Jaune prompted.

"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo," Weiss denied.

"Why not?! You've trusted me with way more important stuff before," Jaune defended before going into some examples, after making sure that no one was listening in. "Like the fact that Team SLVR is from so far away it's like their homes are a whole world away, and you told us all that Blake is secretly a Fau…"

"Fun-loving person whom we all admire and respect," Pyrrha quickly covered up as she slapped a hand over Jaune's mouth before he could finish.

The Keybearers on the other hand, appreciated Jaune's attempt at subtlety when talking about their origins, but that did not stop them from shooting him looks for nearly letting Blake's secret slip out as well. Not that they could compete with the glare Blake was throwing at all of them right then while her teammates and friends just smiled back or chuckled nervously. Clearly she had not given anyone the okay to tell Jaune and his team about her secret, and it did not seem like it was without good reason. Team SLVR was just glad that Jaune had not let their secret slip out as easily as he nearly had Blake's.

"Right…That," Jaune nervously muttered, hoping to think of some way to salvage this. When he failed to do so, he decided to simply bow to the girls and excuse himself, saying, "Ladies, enjoy your battle."

"'Sup losers," someone suddenly said right when Jaune and Pyrrha were turning to go back to their table, making everyone turn to see that another person had joined their little group.

"And the monkey boy is here now," Sora grumbled under his breath. He was not trying to be rude, but he was starting to get annoyed with how everyone was getting so close to distracting him from his research.

"Hey Sun," Ruby greeted much more politely.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Sora, Roxas, Ventus," Sun happily greeted in return. "Ice Queen, Flame-Brain…"

"Why does everyone keep calling me that," Weiss demanded.

Lea on the other hand just rolled his eyes at his nickname, having already accepted he was stuck with it, but he could not resist the cue that Weiss had just given it. "Yeah, I mean, sure, she fights with ice and is cold to practically everyone around her, but you really shouldn't call her that," Lea started off, making everyone think he was sort of standing up for Weiss. Until he finished his statement. "She's really more of an Ice Princess."

"Why you…!" Weiss started to challenge.

Thankfully, Sun stepped in with his reason for seeking them out before Weiss and Lea could continue their latest round of fire and ice duels. "I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend," Sun said, gesturing to Neptune as he did.

"Uh…aren't libraries for reading," Neptune questioned.

"THANK YOU," Ren cried out all of a sudden, showing that he was reaching his wit's end with all of this.

"Pancakes," Nora snorted as she suddenly woke up, making everyone pause for a second.

"Shut up. Don't be a nerd," Sun nudged.

"Geh, geh, geh, geh! Intellectual. Okay. Thank you," Neptune corrected.

"I like this guy," Ventus nodded in approval, having used that same statement a few times before whenever someone called him out for studying too much. "Nice to meet you, uh…"

"I'm Neptune. And you guys are the Key-sword users, right? Like Xion," Neptune questioned.

"Uh it's Keyblade, actually, but yeah, that's us," Ventus gently corrected with his confirmation.

"So, Neptune, where are you from," Weiss asked.

"Haven," Neptune replied as he made his way around the table so that he was standing closer to the heiress who asked a charming smile forming on his face all the way over. "And I don't believe I've caught your name, Snow Angel."

Knowing that someone had used that name on her before, everyone was sure that Weiss would brush him off like she had Jaune. To everyone's surprise though, Weiss's face actually gained a slight dusting of pink to it as she answer the blue-haired boy's question, proving that Neptune actually managed to pull off the charming approach a lot better than Jaune had. "Uh…I'm Weiss," the heiress replied.

"Are you kidding me," Jaune whispered in slightly outraged disbelief.

"Pleasure to meet you," Neptune nodded, his charm not dropping at all, much to Weiss's smiling pleasure, and Ventus's scowling displeasure.

'I take it back. I don't like this guy,' Ventus thought to himself, subconsciously tightening his hold on a book he was currently looking through.

Neptune was not the only one turning on the charm though, as Sun was quick to approach Blake once again, not that anyone was too surprised. "I never took you as the board-game-playing type," Sun admitted, thinking that could give him an opening for getting to know the cat Faunus a little better.

Sadly, his attempt ended up being a shot in the dark, as Blake chose that moment to fold her hand and said, "Right…Well, I think I'm done playing, actually. I'll see you guys later."

Everyone watched Blake go after that, all wondering just what it was that had been bothering her just now. No one had failed to notice that she was preoccupied with something, but Blake did not seem like she was too willing to talk about it right now, so they had not tried to press the issue. Not that there would have been any problems in doing so, like with Sora, but after that whole episode she had that led to revealing her identity as a Faunus, they did not want to try and force her into anything she was uncomfortable with.

After a few seconds though, it ended up being Nora who finally commented on Blake's sudden departure and odd attitude, and in a way that no one had expected. "Women," she shrugged.

"Did she actually just say that," Lea questioned.

"And I thought you had weird tastes in women," Roxas said to his best friend. "Ren, you definitely picked a weird one."

Ren was about to ask what he meant by that, when Ruby asked, "Well, does anyone want to take over for Blake? It looks like we've got an open spot now."

Jaune was about to volunteer again, when Weiss suggested, "Why not let Neptune try?"

"Oh trust me, you don't want to do that. Neptune is the ultimate, board game champion, especially at this game. He'll eat you guys alive just like he does to our team," Sun insisted.

"Well then, how about you, Sora," Ruby asked, making the rest of Team SLVR brace themselves for the oncoming outburst.

"Can't now. I've gotta focus on more important things," Sora brushed off, not even looking up from his notes, but that did not stop the others from breathing a sigh of relief at how he had kept calm when he answered Ruby.

"Dude, you're being even more antisocial than Blake tends to be, lately. Just take a break and play the game with us," Yang prompted, hoping to get some of the more playful Sora out. She knew that he was in there, based on their first meeting and the things she had learned about from spending time with Lea and the rest of Team SLVR, so she figured there was no harm in giving him a little push.

This time, Sora was ready to bite back, but thankfully, Ventus recognized this as a good opportunity to get some of the old Sora back, and stepped in before his leader could say anything. "Yang, if he said he doesn't want to, then don't try and make him," Ventus started off as calmly as possible, before he switched to a more challenging tactic. "It's not his fault if he's scared that he'll horribly lose."

The results were just what Ventus was hoping for. "Excuse me," Sora asked as he slowly turned from the notes around him to his blonde partner. "What did you just say?"

"Hey, there's no shame in admitting it. We all know that you're horrible at board games, or really any games that don't involve racing or fighting," Ventus shrugged, still maintaining his playful mocking tone.

"Am not," Sora disputed.

"I mean, just thinking about how bad you did the first time you played some of those games on your Scroll makes me feel like you're being smart in turning down the offer. You're already saving yourself the embarrassment of losing," Ventus continued on, acting like Sora had not said anything.

"Am not!" Sora repeated. "I'll have you know that I rock at board games! Or did you forget about what happened when you first challenged me to a round on the Command Boards?"

"You mean how you had such a pathetic start and finish for several games in a row before just barely scraping out a win," Ventus inquired.

"Who's first time playing are you remembering? Mine or Axel's," Sora questioned, seeing as that was exactly what happened the first time the redhead had tried out said game. "Because I recall utterly kicking all of your butts several times over, until you all just decided to rage-quit!"

"Ooh! Big talk, Mister Scardey-Cat. Too bad you can't back it up," Yang challenged, having caught on to what Ven was doing.

That proved to be the last straw for Sora, as he simply slapped his notes down on the table, shot up from his seat, marched over to where Blake had just been sitting, and planted himself at the table while scooping up the folded hand. "Prepare to face a crushing taste of humility, Xiao Long," Sora declared. "I'm sure I've got plenty left over from when Ruby and I basically won that entire food fight for our team just for you and anyone else foolish enough to question me."

"Bring it on, Island-Boy," Yang accepted, with Ruby and Weiss both grinning in equal excitement, eager to see just how good Sora would be at this game.

As the others watched from the sidelines, Roxas leaned over to Lea and whispered, "Two hundred Munny says Sora pretty much dominates at this game, but not before he utterly crushes Yang as payback for how she was picking on Ruby earlier on."

"Oh no! Not this time, buddy! I've learned my lesson," Lea denied, only to get a skeptical gaze from his best friend. "Don't look at me like that! I am NOT taking anymore bets with you!"

"Hey, if you guys are betting on how this will go, I'll take a piece of that action," Sun offered. "How much and what're we betting."

Roxas repeated the circumstances, making sure to change to the appropriate amount of Lien when he did, and Sun readily agreed, while Lea just rolled his eyes as he muttered something that sounded like poor fool. What he did not realize was that Sun's acceptance had actually gotten the ball rolling on many more bets from everyone that was not playing the game, and a lot of them were really good ones, too. Eventually, Lea finally cracked and said, "Alright, I'm in."

"I knew you'd come around," Roxas grinned knowingly while he mentally snickered to himself about how gullible the others were, but mostly in the case of Lea.

---

That night when everyone finally left to return to their dorms, most everyone did with at least a small frown. A majority of them did so because they had lost their bets to Roxas, but while Ruby and Weiss were at least smiling a little bit from how the game turned out, Yang was clearly upset by the whole thing. "Ugh! We should never have let him play," Yang insisted as she and the rest of the girls walked into their room.

"You're just mad 'cause Sora beat you," Ruby laughed teasingly.

"I think it'd be more accurate to say that I utterly destroyed you," Sora corrected with an easy-going smile. "And then went on to win the whole game."

"A very impressive showing, I will admit," Weiss confessed, having been caught off guard by how quickly Sora had learned the ropes of the game when she had been having such a hard time. "Did you play it before?"

"Nope, that was my first time," Sora shrugged while taking his usual relaxed pose.

"It's true," Ventus confirmed for the girls. "Now can we finally do that group study session like we were supposed to in the library?"

"No! Too mad to study now," Yang huffed, clearly putting on an overdramatized act that made Ventus roll his eyes even more than her response had.

"Well, there's nothing that says we can't still hang out, so long as the professors don't catch us," Lea joked with a sly wink in Yang's direction.

Seeing that wink quickly told Yang what Lea really meant when he said hang-out, and while the others who also understood shivered a little in disgust, it seemed that it went flying well over both Ruby and Sora's heads. Everyone was very thankful for that, but not quite as thankful as they were when Ruby returned to teasing her sister over how great her defeat was. "You know Yang, if you had just attacked when I told you, none of this would've happened," Ruby reminded her sister.

"Actually it wouldn't have made any difference at all, other than ensuring Yang would've been beaten a lot sooner," Sora informed her. "Or did you forget about that trap card I had ready and waiting to go?"

"You mean the one you used to stop Ruby's attack on your forces? If you had used it then, you would've left yourself open to defeat by the mighty Rose," Yang pointed out.

"No I wouldn't. I had two of that exact same card in play," Sora revealed, much to Yang and Ruby's disbelief.

"Seriously, how were you so good at that game?! And for your first time playing it," Yang demanded loud enough to the point where she would probably have agitated a few nearby Grimm if she raised her voice any higher.

"If you figure it out, let us know. We've been trying to solve the mystery of how Sora is so good at any game he plays even if he's never played it before for ages," Roxas told her before Sora could answer.

"And by 'we' he means us and all the rest of our friends with Keyblades, or who just know the full story about us," Lea clarified for everyone.

Weiss would have added a few points of her own to this conversation, had she noticed that the fourth occupant of Team RWBY's room had been suspiciously quiet and was about to leave again without a word. "Stop," Weiss ordered, making Blake freeze in her tracks and alerting everyone to the situation as well. "Lately you've been quiet, anti-social, and moody."

"Uh…have you met Blake," Yang asked.

"Yeah, that's kind of her thing. She's the quiet, mysterious one, Yang's loud, fun one, Ruby's the young, innocent one, and you're the cold, mean one," Lea added on, taking a moment to fire off another shot at Weiss.

"Thank you for that, Flame-Brain. The point has been made," Weiss snapped in return. She then cleared her throat and returned to the previous line of conversation. "As I was saying, I get that being quiet is kind of your 'thing,' but you've been doing it more than usual, which quite frankly, is unacceptable."

"Yeah, especially since Sora's been acting like he's trying to turn into a second one of you, only with the addition of having a bigger chip on his shoulder than even I've ever had," Roxas whispered.

"I heard that," Sora shot at the dual-Keyblade wielder. He quickly calmed down though, as he said, "But Weiss does have a bit of a point."

"She does," everyone other than Ruby, Weiss, Roxas, and Blake exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, she does," Sora confirmed, focusing all of his attention on Blake when he next spoke. "You made a promise to all of us that you would let us know if there was something bothering you, or if something was wrong."

"Exactly," Weiss nodded, and then, as if to continue the dramatics that had been taking place today, Weiss suddenly jumped up in the air, and landed on a chair so that she was standing over Blake as she pointed down at the black haired girl and demanded, "So Blake Belladonna, WHAT. IS. WRONG?!"

Everyone remained silent as they stared at Weiss, until she quickly dismounted from the chair she was standing on top, quickly returned it to the desk it was originally sitting at, and then went right back to where she had been originally standing like nothing weird had happened. "Okay, I'll admit it. That was impressive," Lea confessed, not able to put any kind of negative spin on the sight.

"Thank you," Weiss nodded proudly, but she did not avert her attention from the teammate she was just questioning.

Seeing how everyone was now so focused on her, and yet still showing that it was only because they were worried certainly seemed to help Blake open up about the very thing that Weiss was asking her to talk about. "I just…I don't understand how everyone can be so calm," Blake finally admitted, leaving little guesswork about what she was referring to.

"You're still thinking about Torchwick," Ruby asked, since the bothersome crook had been on her mind quite a bit as well.

"The guy was somehow able to take command of not just average Dusks, but Snipers as well. I'd be a little more concerned if one of us wasn't bothered enough to keep thinking about him right now," Lea pointed out, suddenly sounding a lot more serious than playful.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, the Dusks, all of it," Blake clarified. "Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"Um, excuse me," Sora cut in while waving to the secret Faunus and everyone else in the room. "Hi, the name's Sora, wielder of the Keyblade. You've probably heard about me and my friends, and how we deal with things like Heartless and Nobodies on a regular basis, including right now, seeing as their appearance here has made it all the more important for us to find our missing friend."

"He's got a point," Roxas admitted. "Besides, Xion and Aqua are also looking into the how and why Torchwick was able to take command of any Nobodies like that, along with the reasons for why the Heartless have suddenly become more active again so soon after the Second Keyblade War had ended. Not to mention all the rest of our friends who are investigating the latter from where they are on other worlds."

"Besides, Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police, the huntsmen, and our mighty Keyblade wielders here, including Xion and Aqua, I'm sure they can handle it," Yang reasoned.

"Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do, and they don't know Nobodies like Roxas and Lea do," Blake argued.

"Again, Xion's helping with this, and she knows Nobodies just as well as Roxas does. Maybe not as well as I do, but still," Lea pointed out.

"And can you say the same about Aqua knowing them? Or that she or Aqua know the White Fang like I do," Blake challenged.

That got everyone to silently exchange uncertain looks, as they knew Blake had them there, but it was not quite enough for everyone to be convinced that what she was driving towards was a good idea. "Okay," Weiss said. "Between blowing up night clubs, stopping thieves, saving entire worlds, and fighting for freedom and to keep darkness from destroying all that we know and love, I'm sure that all of you think you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells…"

"Uh…who," Ruby asked.

"The bad guys," Ventus supplied for her.

"…But let me once again be the voice of reason," Weiss continued on.

"You? The voice of reason? Well, we're all in trouble then," Lea griped. "Hey Sora, is Jiminy Cricket still hanging around in your jacket by any chance? I mean, he is an official conscience and all, so I think we'd get much more benefit from his input than we would with Weiss."

Weiss merely rolled her eyes, not knowing that Lea's latter statement was in fact true, and continued on with what she was saying before. "We're students. We're not ready to handle this sort of situation."

"You do remember that whole 'saving entire worlds' thing you just mentioned about us a second ago, right," Sora asked of the heiress. "Maybe you guys have only done it once, but the four of us have doing it for years now."

"Some of us more than others," Roxas muttered.

"We're more than ready to handle a situation like this," Sora continued on.

"Maybe you are, but we're not," Weiss insisted while waving to her team.

"Says who," Sora asked, and without even thinking about it, or possibly even realizing it, he then launched into a whole speech on the matter. "The thing about being a hero, or taking on jobs like this is that you never really know for sure when you're ready for it. You think the bad guys are going to wait until you all graduate to make their move, or that the Heartless are just going to slink away into the shadows until someone decides that we can handle anything? Because let me tell you something, whoever the bad guy may be, they don't care if you're ready or even if you want to take on the responsibility. I never asked to get the Keyblade or for any of the stuff that's involved with it, but I was still chosen, and I had absolutely no clue on how to do anything with it way back then. That didn't stop the Heartless from coming after me, and whether you're ready or not won't stop Torchwick and whoever he's working with from carrying out whatever their planning. So instead of just waiting for them to hit us, maybe we should at least consider going after them first."

The boys all knew what Sora was really hoping to do by rolling with this idea. He was thinking that going after Torchwick and his partners would help them to either get some new information about Kairi that they would not be able to get just by searching around in Beacon's library or anywhere else in Vale, and in failing that, it would at least slow them down a little so that they had a little more time to find the missing Princess of Heart, assuming there was anything of her to find on Remnant. Still, they had to admit, it was a pretty good idea, and if it helped ease Blake of her worries while guaranteeing that all of RWBY was kept safe in what they were no doubt about to undertake, then all the better, so they could not help but nod in silent approval, both for how moving his speech was, and for the plan itself.

Even if she did not know about the underlying plan Sora had, Ruby was still just as on board with Sora's idea as the others. "Sora's right," Ruby agreed. "So…All in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses to single-handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale while assisting in a Keyblade wielder mission to stop that same organization from possibly using dangerous creatures against the world of Remnant as a whole…say 'aye'!"

None of the boys were sure what was more impressive and/or weirder. How eager and excited Ruby seemed to be over taking on this mission, or how she seemed to have said all of that in one breath. Not that it stopped anyone from going along with the hype she had just stirred up. "Yes!" Yang cheered as she turned to her partner. "I love it when you're feisty!"

"Well, I suppose it could be fun," Weiss admitted, showing her support of this.

"Count us in," Lea declared as he waved to himself and Roxas, who merely nodded his confirmation.

"Like you even need to ask," Ventus questioned with a smile.

"None of you said 'aye'," Ruby muttered, a little upset that no one went along with her on that.

Apparently someone had overheard her woeful muttering, as the only person to not voice his support of taking action then raised his hand and said, "Aye."

Ruby turned to face the person in question, and was left feeling very giddy with happiness at seeing that at least Sora had gone along with her in that, and seeing her leader and Sora smiling at one another over something that simple, combined with how everyone seemed to be in agreement to help her get answers, definitely raised Blake's mood significantly. "Alright then," Blake nodded. "We're in this together."

"Let's hatch a plan," Ruby declared.

"Yeah," Yang, Sora, and Lea all agreed.

Just before they could do anything of the sort, Ruby let out a horrified gasp, making everyone worried. "What is it? What's wrong," Sora quickly asked.

"I left my board game in the library," Ruby revealed with a tone of dread in her voice.

"We're doomed," Weiss sighed, placing a hand to her forehead in exasperation.

"I wouldn't say that just yet, but…" Ventus attempted to reassure her, but his optimism was waning a little, given how he had trailed off there.

Ruby immediately raced out of the room, promising she would be right back before anyone could stop her, but that did not mean Sora was not going to try. After all, he did not want Ruby to get into any trouble for racing around like that. Too bad for him that he was a little late in responding to her frantic rushing, because Ruby ended up crashing into someone not long after she was a few feet away from her team's room. "Oh…Sorry," Ruby apologized, now a little embarrassed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just watch where you're going," the person ran into reassured Ruby as she helped the younger girl up.

"Oh…Right…Sorry," Ruby muttered in response.

"Yeah, I know you're probably already tired of hearing this, but sorry about my friend. She's very easily excitable," Sora said as he took in the people that Ruby had bumped into. Looking at them all, Sora saw that their group consisted of two girls and one boy, the first girl having medium-brown skin and mint-green hair, the boy pale, yet well-built and with grey hair, and the second girl possessing fair skin, ashen black hair, and bright amber eyes. The thing that really stuck out to Sora though, was how, even though they were clearly wearing school uniforms, they were not the ones that Beacon students normally wore. "Say, are you guys new here?"

"Visiting from Haven, actually," the amber-eyed girl revealed as she stepped forward to better address Sora and Ruby.

For some reason as she looked into this girl's eyes, Ruby could not help but pick up on a sense of familiarity, almost like she had seen those very eyes somewhere before. No matter how hard she thought about it though, she just could not seem to place where that could have been, so she brushed it off as her imagination, and focused on what she just heard instead. "Ooooooh! You're here for the festival," Ruby cheered. "Oh, but exchange students have their own dormitory."

"I guess we just got turned around," the boy shrugged.

"No big deal. I still sometimes have trouble finding my way around in this place without map too," Sora waved off. At that point, he finally remembered his manners and said, "Oh, by the way, I'm Sora, and this is Ruby."

"Sora? As in Weapon Master Sora," the ashen-haired girl questioned.

"Yeah, that's me," Sora hesitantly chuckled. "Still not used to that new nickname," he could not help but mutter soon after.

"Wow! We've heard a lot about you just from the short time that we've already been here, but who would have thought we'd run into one of the best first year students by complete accident on our first day here," the boy exclaimed. "Though I gotta admit, somehow I pictured you being a little…bigger."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Sora shrugged. "So…what're your names?"

"I'm Emerald," the green-haired girl finally introduced while indicating both herself and her teammates. "And this is Mercury and Cinder."

"Nice to meet you guys," Ruby nodded in greeting. "Now, about your dorm…"

"Yeah, we could use a little help in finding it," Emerald immediately accepted before Ruby could ask the question.

"No problem. Your building is just east of here."

"Thanks. Maybe we'll see you two around," Cinder nodded to the two as she and her team headed out.

"Yeah, maybe," Ruby agreed, excited for a chance to hang out with more students that were visiting from other schools. "Oh, and welcome to Beacon!"

The three Haven students said nothing to indicate that they had heard Ruby's greeting or not, but as they left, Sora could not help but feel an odd flash at the edge of his senses that set him a little on edge to the point where he ended up watching them leave with a narrow gaze. One that Ruby did not miss. "What's the matter," she asked.

"I'm not sure…but I could've sworn that I felt something…odd about one or all three of those guys," Sora told her. "Something…dark."

"What does that mean," Ruby questioned, now a little worried.

"Like I said, I don't know, but…maybe we should try to be careful around them in the future, just to be safe," Sora reasoned as he turned to continue on to the library with Ruby. "Come on, let's go get your board game so we can come back and try to come up with something of a plan before we have to call it a night."

"Yeah…okay," Ruby nodded. She was not sure how she felt about treating people who seemed so nice like they were potential suspects, but she trusted Sora enough to feel it was safer to be cautious about them, so she decided to take his advice for now.

---

The rest of the week seemed to pass by rather slowly for the two teams. It was only natural, given that they had quite the exciting Friday night planned out, but if you were to ask any of Team RWBY, they would say that the week was going especially slow. The same could be said for all of their classes, as even Weiss was watching the clock for the moment when their last class of the day finally let out, all the way up until Friday. Then again, given that their last Friday class was with Professor Port, you could not blame any of them, but either way, they were all eager to get their investigation mission underway, and they were all determined to make sure that they were as prepared for it as possible.

When that Friday afternoon finally came around, one would learn that part of those preparations was apparently a change of outfits from their regular mission/casual clothes. Sora and the guys did not really understand why it was necessary to change outfits for this one mission, seeing as how they had each always worn the exact same thing for every mission and only changed things up if they were going to a specific world or beginning a whole new adventure, so when Yang mentioned doing this, they all thought it was a little silly. That had prompted a whole monologue from Weiss and Ruby about why changing their outfits was necessary in this instance that really could have been summarized by saying that it was to prevent anyone from recognizing them too easily. Sure, a change of clothes was not really going to make much difference, but if people saw them taking on an unofficial mission using their regular outfits, it would likely get them into some kind of trouble with Ozpin and the other teachers at Beacon. They already had landed into enough trouble as it was last semester and with the food fight earlier this semester, so it was better not to risk it. That was why, Team SLVR ended up taking some time to also consider different outfits that they could wear for this specific occasion.

Everyone had agreed to gather in Team RWBY's room so that they could go over the plan again before heading out, and when Ventus and Roxas arrived, they found the girls all suited up and ready to go in their new outfits. The only thing they and their partners found almost as interesting as the outfits themselves was how the girls had decided to give their outfits special codenames. Ruby had decided to name her new attire Slayer, Weiss had settled on Snowpea, Blake had appropriately gone with Intruder, and Yang simply went with Hunter. Not that there was anything wrong with naming the ensembles, but then again, Team SLVR was a team full of guys, so they could not help but think it was weird.

Hearing someone come in, the girls turned to see the two blondes had appeared, and Yang just had to smirk a little upon seeing their change of attire. "Looking good, fellas," Yang praised. "Though maybe we should be concerned about whether or not you'll be turning a few more heads than necessary in those clothes."

"Well, I think that they look perfect," Weiss complimented, even if it was clear that she was more focused on Ven's new attire than Roxas's.

The wielder of Wayward Wind had gone with a very simple ensemble, consisting of a white shirt underneath a black vest with grey accents, dark grey pants, and black boots. He wore a scarf around his neck that matched the color of his Wayfinder, along with a grey pouch that was tied around his waist. The only things that he kept from his usual attire was his silver badge, which he now wore as a fastener for the pouch's belt, and his armor piece, having made it clear that he was not parting with either one no matter what. As for Roxas, he had decided to take a little inspiration from his friend Hayner when putting together his new outfit. He still wore his usual shoes, but he had switched his usual pants out for a pair of dark-blue, almost black jeans, topped with a crimson t-shirt that had some gold designs running along the hem that looked similar to the Nobody sigil linked together by katannas. Instead of his usual jacket, he had switched to a black vest that had a white checker pattern running along the collar, while the pointed cross he normally wore as a zipper hung from around his neck on a wire necklace. Like Ventus, he still kept a couple items from his usual outfit, and those were his two rings and the checkered wristband he always wore.

"How'd you come up with the idea for that outfit, Ventus," Blake questioned, feeling a little curious about the look that the light blonde haired boy was wearing. She could have sworn she had at least heard of a similar description to it somewhere before, but she had a little trouble putting her finger on where.

"I don't know really. The idea just sort of came to me," Ventus shrugged, not saying that he had seen this outfit once before in an odd dream he had a little while back.

"So where are Sora and Lea," Ruby asked.

"Still changing," Ventus said. "I get the feeling that Lea wants to make a big show out of his unveiling or something."

"Make way for burning hotness," Lea's voice suddenly called out barely even seconds later, announcing his arrival as he stepped into the room, and granting everyone a look at his change of attire. The redhead now sported a sleeveless orange jacket with a white, sleeveless shirt underneath, and tan baggy pants with red and white sneakers and black socks. The pockets of his jacket were a darker shade of orange than the rest, and around his neck was a yellow and brown scarf, that changed from a striped pattern to an organized checkerboard one near his neck.

It seemed like quite the radical change to most of the people in the room, compared to Lea's usual appearance, but for Ventus, it brought on a definite sense of nostalgia. "You're going with your old outfit from when we first met," he realized.

"More like a larger sized version of it," Lea clarified. "If went with the actual thing, I would probably look ridiculous, or like I was struggling to breathe and/or move in it."

"Boy does that sound familiar. Speaking of changes in an outfit's size, do all my old clothes have some enchantment on them that make them shrink if I don't wear them for a while, or is it just me," Sora's voice asked, making everyone turn back to the door just in time to see the leader of Team SLVR had arrived as well, sporting a look that all the guys were familiar with in one way or the other.

"Looks like Axel's not the only one to go with an old outfit for this as opposed to a whole new one," Roxas noted with a smile.

"I'll say," Lea complimented with his own smile. "I gotta admit, I missed your second adventure threads a little."

Indeed, Sora had switched over to the outfit he had worn during his second adventure through the worlds, though it seemed like he was struggling a little to comfortably fit the jacket of said outfit onto him. While Sora just shrugged off the compliments like they were no big deal, the others took note of how Ruby was currently gawking at him a little in admiration, probably would have said something if they were not busy with something else at the moment. Not that it completely stopped the discussion of fashion choices.

"Yeah, it does feel nice to be wearing this again, but it's a little tighter in the shoulders than I remember," Sora confessed as he made one last attempt to fix his jacket.

"It definitely works for you," Ruby absently commented. When she realized what she had let slip, Ruby quickly tried to cover it up with a last minute addition. "In the sense that you seem like you could do great work in those clothes!"

"Well I should hope so. That's the outfit he wore when he brought down the first Organization XIII," Lea revealed to the girls. He then frowned a little bit as he turned back to Sora and asked, "That being said, are you sure you're going to be okay with that outfit? I mean, it doesn't have all the same powers as your current one, so…"

"The Keyblade transformations aren't entirely dependent on what clothes I wear; that really just helps make it easier to use them," Sora revealed. "Besides, I can still use my Second Form easily enough with this outfit, which is why most of my Keychains for this mission are ones that use some variety of said form."

"Smart," Ventus praised. "So, I think that's everything we need to cover right? No more fashion shows or anything like that to hold us up?"

"Nope. As of now, the investigation begins," Ruby cheered as she leapt down from her bed, now over any embarrassment from her earlier slip.

"I'm glad to see that we're taking this so seriously," Weiss sarcastically remarked.

"Hey, we've got a plan. That's…moderately serious," Yang reminded the heiress in her sister's defense.

"Right. Everyone remember their roles," Ruby asked.

"You, Sora, Ven, and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem," Weiss proudly recited.

"And with the two of us backing you up, we should be ready for the off-chance that someone tries to cover it up," Ventus added on.

"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If Roxas and I can get in, we can hopefully find out what they're planning," Blake continued from there. She paused for a minute to turn to her Keyblade partner and ask, "It might be a little hard for you to get in though, seeing as you definitely aren't a Faunus."

"No worries. Sora's been explaining to us how the magic he uses to alter his appearance for certain worlds works, and I think I've got it down just enough to make myself look like a pretty convincing Faunus," Roxas reassured her. As if to demonstrate, Roxas screwed his eyes shut in concentration, and in a flash of light, everyone saw Roxas change from a normal human into a Faunus that had cheetah spots running all along his skin. "See? Not bad, huh? Still trying to figure out why I can only ever get cheetah-like features though, but if it works."

"Either way, it's perfect," Blake smiled in approval, and with that, they continued on with the review of their plan.

"I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale," Yang picked up. "Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard."

"Especially since you'll have me to back you up as your bad cop," Lea added.

"Please! You'd be the good cop in this case," Yang chuckled.

"Great," Ruby interrupted, not wanting to see her sister and Lea start flirting right now. "We'll meet up tonight near Yang and Lea to go over what we've found."

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's do this," Sora grinned.

"YEAH," Sun suddenly cheered, making everyone turn to see the monkey Faunus himself hanging from a tree branch right outside the window.

"SUN?!" Blake exclaimed as everyone flinched away from the window, worried about how much he had caught, among other things.

"How did you get up there," Yang asked in amazement.

"Ah, it's easy. I do it all the time," Sun shrugged, obviously not knowing what would be the first thing that some of them would think after he said that.

"You do what?!" Weiss and Ventus both exclaimed, each of them thinking the same thing about what he meant by that.

"I climb trees all the time," Sun clarified for everyone, making some of them relax a little, while others kept giving him suspicious looks.

Oddly enough, it was Lea who voiced the suspicions that many of them were still holding. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to see Ventus turn into a Faunus in a cool light show," Sun shrugged.

"Uh, one, I'm Roxas," the still transformed Keyblade wielder corrected. "And two, there's a very…logical explanation behind that." Despite saying that, the way he paused as he tried to think of said explanation definitely gave away that he was trying to cover something up. The fact that he ended up looking to the others for help did not help much either. "Guys, what's a logical explanation for this," Roxas whispered.

"There really isn't one," Sora sighed. "Might as well tell him."

"Tell me what," Sun asked as he spun himself into the room. "Does this have anything to do with finally getting back at that Torchwick guy? Because I'd definitely want in on that."

"It might have a little bit of something to do with that," Sora half-admitted.

"But as for Torchwick, we are going to investigate the situation. As a team," Blake clarified for the monkey Faunus, waving her hand amongst the eight people who had been in on all of this originally. Not that it seemed like Sun was really getting it, so Ruby decided to just be completely blunt with him.

"Sorry Sun," the hooded huntress said. "We don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to."

"Uh, you're letting these guys help out," Sun reminded her as he indicated Team SLVR.

"We don't really have much choice but to get involved. Things like Nobodies are kind of a Keyblade wielder concern," Lea stated in their defense.

"Well then shouldn't Xion be helping then? Or what about that blue haired chick?"

"That 'blue-haired-chick' is Aqua, my older sister figure, and a Keyblade master," Ventus informed the boy, his tone making it clear that Sun should watch his mouth when talking about Aqua. "And she's got enough to worry about as it is."

"As for Xion, well, she's mainly just here to visit me and Axel," Roxas picked up from there. "Besides, what self-respecting boyfriend would willingly put his girlfriend in danger like that?"

"Maybe one that knows said girlfriend isn't some damsel in distress, for starters," Xion's voice suddenly said, startling everyone as they turned to see the girl in question standing in the door while giving everyone a faint look of annoyance. "I can't believe you guys weren't going to include me on this. I'm just as worried about the fact that Torchwick has control over Nobodies as the rest of you, so don't think for a second that I'm going to just sit back and wait for you all to solve this mystery or something."

Given the look on her face, it was clear that Xion was not going to hear any arguments against this, so the guys ended up simply shrugging in acceptance of this, while Sun merely beamed widely as if his point had been proven. "See? It's dumb to not let friends help out. You should always get them involved if they can help," Sun remarked. "That's why I brought Neptune."

"Wait, what," the two Beacon teams all exclaimed before they raced over to the window and leaned out to see Sun's blue-haired teammate standing there, still looking as cool as can be.

"'Sup," Neptune casually nodded.

"How did you even get up here," Ruby questioned, knowing that her team's room was nowhere near the ground floor.

"I have my ways," Neptune shrugged. His act quickly dropped when he looked down and became a little worried. "Seriously though, can I come in? We're like, really high up right now."

"And this is why I said we should've had this meeting in our team's room," Sora grumbled as he and the girls all quickly did whatever they could to help Neptune get in the room where it was safer.

Once Neptune was inside, Xion and the guys did a quick run through of the secret once again, this time without going into their personal history, and while Sun and Neptune were pretty amazed at learning that there were other worlds out there, they were still obviously a little skeptical about it. Any other time, and the guys probably would have done something to prove it to the two intruders, but they were burning daylight as it was, and there was no way that they could get the answers they were looking for if they did not get moving soon. It was just a matter of reorganizing the teams so that Sun, Neptune, and Xion were included.

"Alright," Ruby announced, having finally come to a decision. "Sora, Ven, and I will go with Weiss. Sun and Xion, you can go with Roxas and Blake." She then moved to start pushing Neptune over to Yang and Lea, as she finished, missing the way that Neptune had winked to Weiss as they passed her, and how Ventus sent him a light glare right after. "And Neptune, you can go with Yang and Lea since they're the only other team left."

"That and you can make sure that they don't start joking around or flirting when they should be working," Sora joked, drawing a faint blush onto both Yang and Lea's faces despite their attempts to simply laugh it off.

"Wha? Us? Flirting? Hahaha, that's just…we're just messing around if we seem to be doing anything like that, right Yang," Lea chuckled in an attempt to cover up his obvious affections for the blonde next to him.

"Yeah. Yeah, totally," Yang nodded along, even if no one missed the uncertainty in her voice. Well, no one besides Ruby and Lea that is.

"Okay, so everyone good now," Ruby finally asked, bringing an end to the joking.

"Actually Ruby, why don't you, Sora, and Ventus go with Yang and Lea," Weiss suggested. "I mean, Yang is your sister, and if you're going to the shady side of town, it would make sense to have more fighters there."

"But Weiss, that's way too many people. Even if it is only to talk to one guy, there's no need to send practically a small army to do it," Sora protested.

"Besides, who would you go with," Ruby asked.

"Well…I guess Neptune could come with me," Weiss shrugged, acting like the idea was just a random thought that no one needed to make a big deal out of.

While Neptune adopted a suave look at Weiss's suggestion, and most of the others just rolled their eyes at her poor attempt at hiding the obvious crush she had developed for Neptune, Ruby looked ready to laugh off the idea, thinking that it was silly and having missed the obvious signs completely. She probably would have too had Ventus not quickly marched over, grabbed Weiss by one arm, and quickly said, "Nope, that's a bad idea. The teams Ruby decided on are perfect. Let's go."

Everyone watched as Weiss tried to argue a little with Ventus's response and how he was pulling her out, but Sora and Ruby were quick to just shrug it off like it was no big deal and then followed after their partners. The others remained where they were for a few more minutes, with Blake, Sun, Roxas, and Xion eventually just making a silent exit, leaving the last three alone for a brief time. The silence only came to an end when Lea could no longer help himself, and chuckled a little.

"What's so funny," Yang asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just glad that we've at least solved that mystery," Lea replied, obviously enjoying the fact that his answer was just leaving his current partners more bewildered.

"What mystery," Neptune inquired.

"The mystery of whether or not Ven's face could make looks like that," Lea answered, still being vague.

"Meaning…" Yang prompted.

Lea then decided to be dramatic and turned a fake serious expression to the two as he said, "Jealousy, thy name is Kunsanagi."

That clued the other two in, and Yang could not help but burst out laughing, while Neptune just grinned the whole time. It was hard to tell if he was really all that amused or covering up some sense of disappointment though, but no one questioned him about it too much. The three of them had a job to do.

---

Even though she had lost her chance to team up with Neptune, Weiss would admit that she was still happy to be on the same team as Ventus. Sure, she was well-aware that she was working with both of their partners too, but for some reason, the blonde was the one that Weiss was especially happy to have with her, or at least she would have been if Ven had not seemed like he was in such a bad mood for the first few minutes since they had left the dorms. When she tried to ask him about it, Ventus just said it was nothing and looked away. That made Weiss even more curious, but she figured it would be better to focus on their mission for now and leave questioning Ventus about his odd behavior later. Besides, his bad mood had already lightened up, and given the entertaining sight they were witnessing, she could not say that she was surprised.

The minute that they had gotten close to the transmit tower, Ruby and Sora had not stopped gawking and fawning over the thing, acting like it was the coolest thing they had ever seen. Sure, this was probably Sora's first time seeing it, but it was still surprising to Weiss that he was so amazed by it after all the things he had seen over the course of his previous adventures. Not that it made his or Ruby's display of excitement any less enjoyable, mind you.

"Oh wow! That thing's huge," Sora grinned as he rushed to get closer to the transmit tower.

"I know right," Ruby agreed. "I forgot how big the transmit tower looks so close!"

Ventus could not stop himself from rolling his eyes and saying, "Sora, I get that the thing's big, but come on! How can you get so excited over a single, dull-looking tower when you've seen castles, fleets of pirate ships, and places like San Fransokyo?"

"Come on, Ven. Think about the stuff that this tower lets people do, and then tell me that you aren't the least bit excited to see it in person," Sora challenged.

Ventus hated to admit it, but Sora had him there. Knowing that this thing helped people to maintain constant communication all across this massive world was certainly impressive, but while he was often described as being similar to Sora, he was not about to act like a kid in a candy store just from seeing the tower like Sora was. Before he could say that though, Weiss said, "If you think this is impressive, you should see the one in Atlas."

"That was the first one, right," Ruby recalled.

"Correct. Atlas developed the cross-continental transmit system," Weiss began to recite, when someone suddenly interrupted to finish on her behalf.

"To allow the four kingdoms to communicate with each other. It was their gift to the world after the great war," Ventus stated for Weiss. When the others all looked at him in wonder, Ventus just shrugged and said, "What? Weiss isn't the only one who makes it a point to study up on the stuff they teach us in class. Besides, it's important to know things about other worlds when you have to defend them from darkness."

While Weiss granted Ven the pleasure of an impressed smile, Ruby and Sora just smirked to one another at the opportunity that their friends had presented to them. "Ooo look at me, my name is Weiss. I know facts. I'm rich," Ruby teased, making her voice sound rather proper in an attempt at imitating her friend.

"Weiss, darling, please allow me, the great Ventus, to showcase my own knowledge so that I may impress you and confirm that I am far more than a simple swordsman that is always confused to be Roxas's twin," Sora continued on from there.

"Why Ven, you don't need to do that. I'm already quite smitten with how impressive you are," Ruby continued on, barely holding in her giggles at how Weiss and Ven's faces seemed to rapidly switch between scowling and flustered every few seconds over their act.

"Then might I be so bold as to hold your hand, milady? I realize that I may already be doing so, but having your consent would be most pleasing," Sora stated.

That one made Ventus and Weiss look down, only to see that they were in fact not holding hands, and their reactions were just the thing that broke the dam holding back Sora and Ruby's laughter. "Not funny," Ventus scowled at the two as he attempted to lessen the heat in his face by calming down.

"Don't be a couple of pests," Weiss snapped right after, her own face just as red as Ven's, but far more noticeable given her pale complexion and all-white outfit. She then looked right at Ruby and said, "Besides, the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much." Following that, she turned to Sora and continued, "And because you and Ven haven't seen it in person before. We could've just as easily made a call from the library."

"We could," Sora asked, having not known that before.

"Yes, of course we could. You know, for someone who's made it a point to finish all of his weekend homework on the first night of the weekend lately, I'd have thought you would be able to retain a little bit of that knowledge in that tiny brain of yours," Ventus remarked, getting in a little teasing as payback for Sora and Ruby's.

Sora just shrugged in response, not having a comeback for that, while Ruby said, "I know we could've done that, but it's so cool! Besides, would you really want to rob Sora and Ven of this cultural experience?"

"I mean, it is nice getting to see it in person, but I wouldn't really call it a cultural experience," Ventus shrugged. Just then, Sora let out a gasp and quickly started fiddling with his Gummiwatch in excitement while somehow finding a way to rifle through his pockets for his Gummiphone, much to Ven's confusion. "Now what're you doing?"

"I'm gonna call Riku so I can tell him how much of a blast this is, and I want to get a picture too," Sora explained.

"Seriously? We aren't even doing anything that special yet," Weiss pondered, confused as to how Sora could consider this to be a blast.

"Well, that's Sora for ya. Always finding even the most mundane of things exciting so long as it's on another world," Ventus sighed.

"Oh, Oh! If you're making it a selfie, then can I get in on it," Ruby happily requested.

"Sure thing," Sora agreed, not realizing that Ruby was already moving closer to that they would both be in the camera's frame until she had bumped into him.

The collision ended up causing Sora to lose his grip on his Gummiphone, and they all watched as the otherworldly device skipped across the ground like a stone across water. After their last adventure, the two Keyblade wielders knew that those things could survive a lot of harsh punishment, but that did not excuse them from doing things that could end up causing them to lose said devices, especially on another world. Just when Sora was about to chase after his Gummiphone though, it finally landed at someone's feet, and said person immediately picked it up. For a minute, Sora was worried that the person might not see them and end up taking it to the nearest place with a lost-and-found, but he soon breathed a sigh of relief when his Gummiphone's rescuer stood up straight again and held it out to him. At least he was sighing in relief, until they realized who it was that was returning his gummi device to him.

"You dropped this," Penny said to the group she held out Sora's Gummiphone for him to take back, apparently not realizing who she was talking to, or how surprise they were to see her.

"Penny?!" Ruby and Sora both exclaimed.

"Uhh…" Penny gasped, having just realized who they were, but for some reason, she looked a little nervous about this fact.

"Where have you been," Ruby asked, not giving Penny any time to really answer her. "We haven't seen you since the night at the docks."

"Yeah, did something happen," Sora questioned, only to get an answer that he was not expecting.

"S-sorry. I think you're confused," Penny stuttered. Before any of the others could call her out on her strange comment, Penny suddenly hiccupped, causing Sora's Gummiphone to go flying out of her hands and into Sora's.

"Whoa! Careful Penny. This thing isn't like an ordinary Scroll," Sora cautioned as nicely as possible, but the girl just seemed to grow more skittish. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, I've got to go," Penny quickly replied, not really answering Sora's question, and she then spun around and began practically running away from the four.

"Okay, that was a little weird even for her," Ventus commented, just as confused as Sora and Ruby were, and he was not the only one, either.

"No kidding. What was that about," Weiss demanded, a little angry that Penny was acting like she did not know her friends.

"I don't know," Ruby shrugged. "But I'm going to find out."

"You mean we're going to find out," Sora corrected.

"Oh no. Sora Hikari, don't you dare do what I think you're about to…" Ventus started to warn, but Sora and Ruby were already chasing after Penny.

"You and Weiss go make that call. We'll meet up with you later," Ruby said to the blonde.

"You two play nice now," Sora added in, feeling the need to get in a little bit more teasing before they left.

"Wait," Weiss called out, her face turning red again.

"Hey, watch it, Sora," Ventus snapped as he attempted to hide his own blush. Looking to Weiss, Ventus found himself unable to do much more than nervously chuckle, and the Schnee heiress was not much better off after that, either. When he did find his voice again, the first thing that Ven said was, "You know, after ditching him twice now, I get the feeling that I deserved that at the very least. Hehe."

Weiss would admit that she did get a small chuckle out of that, but she was still a little upset with their respective partners for running out on them like that. Still, she could admit that Ruby and Sora were probably right to chase after Penny, because with the way that the odd girl was acting, it did seem like she might know something about what had happened that night. Besides, she could not blame Ruby and Sora for being curious about what happened to Penny after she had disappeared; she had been wondering about that too. She just hoped that whatever it was did not land Ruby and Sora into any kind of trouble.

---

It had not taken Sora and Ruby very long to catch up with their fleeing friend, but even when they did, Penny seemed like she was determined to put some distance between her and the two of them, for all the good that it did. The girl only stopped when Ruby finally ran around in front of her, with Sora blocking her from the other side. "Penny, where have you been," Ruby panted, a little surprised that she had to run so much in order to catch up with her.

"Yeah, it's been weeks since we last saw you, or even heard anything. We've been really worried," Sora informed the girl right after.

Penny did not seem like she was paying any attention to the two, but instead just glanced around like she was keeping a lookout for something. When she did turn to the two again, the only thing she said was, "There seems to be a misunderstanding."

"What," Ruby and Sora both exclaimed as Penny started to walk away again.

"Penny, is everything okay," Ruby called out, but the girl did not stop. That was not going to deter Ruby Rose, as she showed when she slid down the rail of the stairs that they were all standing on to get in front of her again. "Penny! Please stop!"

"Come on, Penny. You told us that if you had a lot of friends, you'd want them to talk to you about stuff, right? Well that goes both ways, and besides, we really need you to listen to us right now," Sora added. That, coupled with Ruby's earlier plea finally got Penny to stop trying to leave them, but she did not seem like she was very happy about it. Not to say that she was mad, but from where Sora was standing, she actually looked a little sad, and maybe a bit ashamed.

"Sora's right," Ruby said, not really noticing Penny's change in mood. "Those guys we fought at the docks, we think they're up to something big. Something bad! And we're even more sure of that since they're working with dangerous creatures that Sora and his friends have fought before. We need you to tell us what happened to you that night. Please. As a friend."

When she heard that, Penny finally conceded defeat, or at least that was what Sora assumed, given the way she had sighed almost right after Ruby had finished her brief explanation of what was going on. Not that it mattered too much to him, Sora was just glad to see that their friend was finally not acting like she did not know them for whatever reason, but he did grow a little more concerned when she nervously glanced about again for some unseen thing. His worries only grew a little more when Penny drew closer to him and Ruby and whispered, "It isn't safe to talk here."

One quick look between them, told Sora and Ruby that they were both a little more worried about Penny after they heard that, but they still agreed to go somewhere else to continue their conversation with her. A few different thought were now running through their heads now, though; trying to puzzle together the reason why Penny could not talk to them without being in a specific spot. Did the bad guys get to her somehow, or was she being tracked by someone dangerous? The more they thought about it, the more it seemed to Ruby and Sora that their investigation had just gotten a bit more complicated.

---

AN: Weren't expecting me to end the chapter there, now were you? Honestly, I had contemplated going all the way to the end of "Minor Hiccup", but I felt like leaving all the big action stuff of the investigation for the next chapter, so that's where we wrap up today's piece of the epic.

On another note, how did you guys like the way that Ozpin, Aqua, and Ironwood's little talk went? Was it what you were expecting, did it fall short, or did it turn out a little better than you had hoped? Please, don't be afraid to be completely, bluntly honest in regards to that. Oh, speaking of which, how many of you are thinking that you're starting to draw more solid conclusions on who the new Princess of Heart is based on that meeting? I know some of you have already made a guess or two already, but I feel like that particular meeting at the start of the chapter might be cluing everyone in a little more.

That said, we did get to see the scene in the library, and as it turns out, it was supposed to be a group study session in this story that went a little off the rails.

Ventus: To say the least.

And while it did its job of showcasing a little more angsty/moody/angry Sora, it also gave us another opportunity, too. The first showing of jealous Ventus~.

Ventus: [blushes and goes silent from that point on]

AN: Hehe. Yeah, that got him quiet. Speaking of which, it looks like we saw quite a bit of Ven's inner green-eyed monster showing himself in this chapter, huh? Not that you can blame him, really, am I right? Plus, we ended up having Sora join in on Team RWBY's board game, and basically owning all of the girls, giving us another chance to draw out a little of the good ol' classic Sora. Nice thinking there, Ven, Yang, and Ruby.

Not to mention more moments of Lea vs. Weiss. I know its getting a little silly to have them keep going at each other now, but at this point, its really more of a running gag that's more based on the whole fire & ice relationship. And yes, I know that seems like a pretty bad joke, but can you blame me? Those two make the perfect personification of that thing.

Oh, and look at that, Cinder and her crew are setting off a few warning bells for Sora. Maybe there is a chance that the Keyblade wielders will see through Emerald's illusions at the Vytal Festival Tournament. Only time will tell for sure.

Moving along, I'm sure you've already figured this out based on what was said in the main story, but I'll go over it anyways. Sora is in fact rocking his KH2 threads for the time of the group's investigation, while Lea is sporting the outfit he wore when he showed up in BBS. As for Ventus, his new look draws a lot of inspiration from the stylings of Ephemer, with one or two changes that make it unique to Ven, while Roxas's change in appearance, as I previously stated, is based off of Hayner's KH3 attire. As for his Faunus form, that's actually a little case of copy-and-paste, so to speak, since that's the idea I have for what his Faunus form would be in the Keyblades Unleashed Series, as you could all see for yourselves in the little sneak preview of that series's future in RWBY Meetings. Too bad his demonstration of how he would change into Faunus form ended up being what allowed Sun and Neptune to be let in on the big secret of the Keyblade wielders.

Sora: So much for not telling anyone else about that.

AN: Hey, I wasn't going to have those two find out, but there are just some things you can't really control, and this was an example of one such instance, which doubles as a learning experience for Team RWBY. The lesson: make sure that your window's closed when you're making secret plans, even if they are plans on how to save your home from bad guys.

And as if to wrap up with another call back to classic Sora, we also got that little moment at the transmit tower, which led to the reunion with Penny, along with some teasing of Windchill, courtesy of RoseHeart.

Sora: [blushing] Okay, we get it already. Please stop.

AN: Hey, I had to throw that out there. Besides, Ven was right when he said that this did make as good payback for at least one of the times that he and the other guys ditched Sora.

Now all that's left to do is wait for what comes next, huh? And you may be surprised by what will happen in the next chapter, and by at least one or two things that may happen over the course of the next few chapters as well. Want a hint? Here's the obvious one: Onto the Preview!...

The team's investigation continues on, with Ventus and Weiss making a call to the Schnee Company headquarters, while Yang, Lea, and Neptune stop by the club that Yang had previously trashed in a search for information not too long ago, and Roxas, Xion, and their Faunus friends slip into a White Fang meeting spot. While that's going on though, Ruby and Sora make a surprising discovery about Penny, but that's not the only thing that happens for the two leaders. The real question is whether or not the other thing that happens to them is good or bad. A puzzle that may be harder to figure out when Roman Torchwick attacks once again, with a few more Nobodies as well. Things are about to heat up in more ways than one, next time.

Yeah, not really giving away too much about the big surprise I have in store for you all, but I'm keeping all cards close to the chest until it's written down and posted. So, you'll have to settle for what you got here, for now. Until next time...

Please read and review, and may your heart be your guiding key for your landing strategy.