Report 2-0P:
The mission had been a success. After reviewing the memory of Ganeesh and gaining intel on [REDACTED], a mission had been set for a retrieval and gathering unit.
However, complications arose as the location is in the Land of [REDACTED] where the Grimm roam. Naturally, no humans can go there without being torn apart. However, thankfully, an idea was proposed. Instead of sending live humans to the location, remote guided androids and knight units can do the job instead.
As such, with time and set programming, a few ships and knights were sent to the Land of [REDACTED] on [REDACTED] from today. By the time they arrived in the continent's airspace, there had been Grimm that flew to observe. Thankfully, as predicted, the Grimm, not sensing live humans let aside negative emotions, ignored the vessels sent. Still, some damage did occur with a few Grimm with one vessel lost after accidentally auto-firing on a group of Nevermores which proceeded to destroy the ship.
Eventually, the knights landed before [REDACTED] and went for the retrieval of Dr. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] machine. Many parts had been found while getting the original design papers and devices found in the castle.
Detection of many decomposed corpses were also found alongside notes likely written by [REDACTED] herself.
Anything that can be grabbed was gathered, though some rooms were locked or guarded by the Grimm. Regardless, the mission had been a success and the units are returning to Atlas now.
The sounds of fighting could be heard within Atlas Academy. Normally, that shouldn't even be happening seeing as the school is closed. Temporarily of course thanks to break, with only a few individuals allowed inside. Yet things may have changed a little along with some rules being just a bit bent.
"Haha!" Inside the training room, Yang threw a punch at Jaune who quickly lifted his shield. The blow, while still strong, only sent Jaune back skidding a few feet before he began counter-attacking. His sword raised and struck down to get Yang who then dodged. Still, she was impressed and made a smirk. "Getting better, vomit boy." Yang complimented as she began throwing more punches.
"I learned from the best." Jaune smirked as he moved to the side and shield bashed Yang who got caught off guard. Jaune moves onto the attack again forcing Yang to defend herself.
"Weee!" Nearby, Nora tried to hammer down Oscar who blocked with his cane and held his ground.
"Oh no you don't." Oscar replied. "Not this time." He's been hit by that hammer before, he won't let that happen again. As such, Oscar moved forward and began using his cane to go on the offensive. Too bad Nora just tanked it and then did a headbutt stunning him.
"Time for you to fly." Nora then declared as she gave a grin.
"Aw ma-" Before Oscar could even finish, Nora's hammer slammed into his body and sent him packing.
"Ouch." Qrow said as he took a sip from his flask. "Even with aura, that had to hurt." A lot to considering Oscar is just lying on the ground now and holding his stomach. Clearly injured from the attack.
"I'll say." Next to Qrow is Robyn, who gave a small smile. "But still, these kids of yours are good." The councilwoman saw Yang now trying to circle around Jaune and use her gauntlets to help her while Jaune used his shield to defend himself. Only for Yang to jump over him and strike at his back.
"Not my kids." Though Qrow then smirked as he saw Oscar getting up while Jaune and Yang exchanged blows once more. "But yeah. They're pretty good." Qrow then gave Robyn a look of gratitude. "Listen. Thanks for trying to help us out. Not gonna lie, I was a bit cynical that Atlas would help."
"Heh. Thanks for the compliment. But I'd rather think it's Mantle helping." Though Atlas resources were useful all the way through. Robyn then takes out her scroll and looks at it. "Anyway, I have to go now. I have some good friends to meet." The Happy Huntresses came to Robyn's mind.
"Work to do?" Qrow asks.
"Bowling." Laughing, Robyn then left. "Even a civil rights activist needs some fun." Well, Qrow supposed he can agree with that. Watching Robyn leave while looking down at the four trains. Since getting to Atlas, admittingly, there hasn't been much to do entirely. Mainly because from what Robyn told them, the ship and 'crew' getting the mechanical parts from Salem's home was taking a while. Either way, until those tin cans came back, Qrow and everyone else has just been doing what they can.
Training. Exploring. Helping out. Heck, he knew Ruby was doing her best in Mantle alongside the others to protect them from Grimm. Especially seeing as Mantle was less defended compared to Atlas. Thank goodness Robyn is fixing that, as he saw some supply ships actually bring the stuff needed to help out. The people themselves looked quite happy at that.
'All that's left is to build this stupid thing and everything else will be easy.' Even Qrow can't deny that making a portal seems pretty cool. I mean, instant travel and everything to wherever you wanna go, or something along those lines. So yeah, pretty neat.
Then they can figure out what happened to Jimmy and even Salem by extension.
Beep!
A loud sound is made and it seems the timer for the training session is over. Down below, Yang had stopped her fist from hitting Jaune's face while Oscar had been behind a pillar with Nora having been about to shoot some grenades at him only for time to run out.
"Whew." Glad his face didn't get pummeled, Jaune smiled. "That was a close one."
"Same." Oscar walked away from the pillar while Nora just reverted her weapon back into hammer mode.
"Still, it was fun." Yang said before giving Jaune a smirk. "Still, you did very well." Definitely improved a lot since the Beacon Days.
"I'd like to think that." Jaune agreed as he then looked at his shield. "Shame I couldn't use the new features."
"I'm sure we'll get to it eventually." Yang said as she then looked down at her own outfit which was different since the journey throughout Anima. "I mean, we all got some new gear."
"I'll say." Nora then imagined Ren, who looked so much cooler. "These new outfits rock." Up above in the stands, Qrow entirely agreed. One of the things that everyone did when they first got here, get new outfits. The girls were especially excited by this, not to say he and the rest of the boys didn't mind getting some sweet threads. Heck, Qrow also got changed and felt like a new man.
A growling sound could be heard where Qrow then looks down at his own stomach. He's hungry. "Ah well." Standing up, Qrow looks at his flask before putting it away. "Guess even I need grub and not some alcohol." Thankfully, he's been accepting some jobs here and there in Mantle, equalling some nice lien. "Alright kids." Qrow calls out to his niece and her friends. "I'm gonna eat out. Just make sure you lock the doors before you leave."
Like that he then left with the group agreeing. As the veteran Huntsmen left, he then wondered how his other niece Ruby was doing.
"Aw yeah! Victory!" Another Grimm dead. A quick turn and another vanished away. A jump and a leap and a third is taken out. "You can't stop me!" Ruby then jumped up and stomped down on the Creatures of Grimm like they were mushrooms. "Hahahaha!" With laughter, she kept on winning.
"Just who is this girl?" A man asked with awe.
"She's incredible."
"Adorable!"
"Hell yeah!" A girl with glasses swooned over Ruby's actions. "She's the best there is."
"Indeed." Nearby, an elder man gave a thumbs up. "She truly is a charmer."
A ringing sound is then heard as Ruby then stopped and smiled. With a simple movement, the last Grimm died. Victory was hers.
"WINNER! All Grimm eliminated." The screen flashed these words while the small custom character jumped up and down while Ruby herself turned around to meet the crowd of players. Raising her hands high, everyone cheered.
"Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!" Hearing such praise, naturally Ruby cheered herself while nearby Ren, who's drinking a smoothie, smirked.
"If only Jaune can see you now." He said, betting his leader would have had a grand time playing in the arcade.
"I'll say. But it's so childish." Next to him, Weiss rolled her eyes but smiled. Watching as Ruby posed for all the gamers who saw her beat and win 'Grimm Shooting'. "But Ruby is having fun after all the work she's been doing. So I suppose she deserves this."
Just like the others, Ruby, Weiss and Ren have been doing their own thing since arriving in Atlas. As Qrow had mentioned before, primarily doing their job as Huntsmen-in-Training and achieving quite a bit. Having gained a bit of a reputation with Mantle, including Weiss despite her less than stellar reputation considering some people in Mantle disliked her family name. Even so, now the citizens below Atlas didn't seem to care as they cheered for Ruby, who's been getting the name known as 'Red Flash', for killing Grimm in a flash while her color clothing is red.
Where after some nice sewer Grimm hunting, Ruby decided to drag Weiss and Ren to an arcade where the young rose made quite a showing in beating one of the popular games here. A good way to relax and earn a reputation. With Ruby shouting joyfully as she was then picked up and tossed into the air.
"She's done a fine job to earn a break." Ren chuckled. Normally he didn't hang with Ruby and Weiss, but there are exceptional times now and then. "We've been working recently around here."
"True." Weiss nodded. "Compared to Atlas which is high in the sky and has a shield around it, most of our work is in Mantle." Where the low defenses and lack of troops caused more Grimm to assault the city. Thankfully, many people helped out with that with Ruby being one of them. Where the people who used to glare at her in Mantle while throwing rude comments, now just begrudgingly glared at her with but a few talking bad about her.
"At least we're making people safe." Ren knew what it was like, to feel powerless against the Grimm. Mantle might be larger than his old home, but these people felt fear and worry whenever the Grimm came in. Thankfully, things have improved where more people are walking out, as apparently Ironwood set a curfew. While Ren would like to think Ironwood was just looking out for people, restricting their freedom only caused negative emotions to stir thus attracting the Grimm.
But now the Mantle's mood is improving, less Grimm are coming.
"?" Ren then saw Weiss looking a bit down. He already had a suspicion on why. "Winter."
Weiss gave a sad sigh. "Nobody seems to know what happened to her."
Any papers and reports involving the mission to see the phenomenon are classified and need a password, with very tough encryption. Nobody on the council is capable of accessing that information. True that everyone already made a good guess on what happened to Winter and everyone else sent there, but those were just theories and guesses. Nothing concrete at all, leaving it a true mystery overall.
"Still, I wouldn't worry too much about it Weiss." Even if Weiss wasn't part of the team, Ren wanted to help. "Pretty soon, we'll get everything needed to rebuild this portal and find out what happened to your sister. And besides," Ren smiled. "Didn't you say your sister is too tough to kill?"
"Hehe." Weiss giggled. "Yeah. I did." The atmosphere around Weiss seems to have improved, with Weiss not feeling as bad as before. "Yeah. You're right."
As the two then continued to talk, eventually their scrolls then buzzed and the two checked them. Even Ruby felt it, though couldn't grab it seeing as she's still being thrown in the air. This left Ren and Weiss to see just what message they got which they viewed, with both their eyes slightly widening.
"Did you-"
"I did." Weiss said as she then pointed at Ruby. Suddenly the red huntress found herself on a glyph holding her up to Ruby's surprise. "Come on Ruby, time to go." Curios, Ruby grabbed her scroll and realized what Weiss meant.
"Got it bestie." Quickly Ruby hopped off and landed. "Sorry everyone, gotta go." She then joined Ren and Weiss as they left. It seems the ship had arrived.
"So this is it?" Everyone had gathered back in Atlas. Inside a lab where they saw behind some glass screens, are two machines. From what Qrow sees, is one busted up portal, another is a shiny new portal that looked exactly like the broken one only workable. "This is the machine?" Qrow then turned to, not Roby, but a scientist who works here.
"Yep. This is it." None other than Will Scarlatina spoke to them with a grin. "The exact same portal machine, only rebuilt! Hahaha!"
The message that had been sent to everyone, explaining that the ship had come with everything Atlas needed to finally put the finishing touches on the portal machine.
"That's weird." Yang then looked at the scientist. "Why would you bring the busted one here? Didn't you guys already have the notes from that tin can's memories?" This got some agreeable nods from the others. Nearby, a female scientist spoke.
"We did. But Ganeesh didn't exactly look at everything when he explored the castle and the room that had the original portal generator." On her desk were many notes and files that had the schematics of the original. "We needed the original to help with the creation of our portal generator."
"And now, these notes will save us so much time." Will grinned as he looked at them. Though that grin soon turned into a frown, as he looked at these notes. The writing and these diagrams all looked…familiar.
The man then heard a voice speak behind him. "Um, excuse me."
Turning, Will saw Blake who's staring at him. "Yes?"
"Right. I was just wondering." Letting out a breath, Blake then asks, "By any chance, are you related to…Velvet Scarlatina?" His name, his last name, felt very familiar. One that got the others also surprised as they just barely realized it.
"That's right. You do have the same last name." Weiss said while Nora rubbed her head.
"Really." She didn't seem convinced. "Don't some people have the same last name?"
"Plus the guy's, and not to be rude, human." Last Jaune checked, Velvets a faunus.
"Ah, right. You mean my daughter." Never mind. "And yes, while I have little, hehe, resemblance with my little Vel, I am indeed her father." The man then looked a bit down. "She gets her traits from her mothers side." While some looked curious why Will seemed upset when mentioning his wife, Qrow could already hazard a guess. Reason? Because Tai made that same look when it involved his astray wife, Raven. "Um. How's Velvet doing, if any of you know?"
"She's…doing alright. I think." Honestly, Ruby didn't know. "Sorry. It's just, we mainly met at Beacon and she seemed great there. But, well…"
"After the attack on Beacon, and Vale's CCT network being ruined, we have no idea where Velvet is." Yang said with Will sighing.
"Right. Right. Thank you." The man then huffed. "I…usually called her back when she was in Vale. To check up on her." Scratching his head, Will looks rather saddened. "But since worldwide contact went down, I can't even do that."
Everyone now felt a little bad for Will. I mean, losing contact with your daughter seems very rough. Goes to show just how important the CCT Towers were. With Qrow giving a similar expression as his job made it tough to contact family at times. Not helping the poor man being he had no idea how his daughter is even doing, and gave Will a comforting expression.
"Ahem." The man then tried to compose himself again and turned around. "Anyway, with the notes, the examinations of the original machine brought to us combined with many capable men and women, we managed to recreate the portal machine. The power to go anywhere. With the core item being this." Then, from his pocket Will held out none other than a small golden ring.
"...Huh?" Obviously, that got those like Jaune confused.
"Wait. That's the core?" Weiss wasn't a scientist, far from it. But for some little ring to be a great requirement felt…off.
Naturally, Will understood. "I get what you're thinking, but yes, this ring is necessary. Actually, it isn't even really a ring."
"He's right." The woman called out. "It only has the appearance of one."
"The notes we got showed us what it really is." Another scientist called out with glee. "It's more than that, and man I wish we could have seen the video on it."
"Wait, there are videos?" Oscar asked with Will then grumbling.
"There were videos." The man gave a glare at some knight units in the lab. "But thanks to these robots' butterfingers, they ended up dropping the laptop that held all the video files related to the research." Paper notes were one thing, likely written down as a form of back-up. More files on the portal device had in truth been in digital files where the knights that had gone to grab, dropped. Oh sure, there had been more, but those were protected and then deleted when failure to provide a password caused the system to self-destruct.
As such, that left just the paper notes. Still useful, but uhhh! The laptops and computers would have been really useful. Still, in the end the scientist worked with what they had and made it work. Now, the portal is done and ready. Connected to some generators which would power it, where all it needed now was just the ring.
"So then, it's ready?" Ruby asked while Will grinned.
"I guess we're about to find out." Everyone stepped back, Will got close to the machine where he then set the strange ring on the center of the portal machine circular center. Where, after he and the other scientists did some final calculations, then decided it was time.
"Shame Robyn isn't here." Blake liked the woman, who fought for the right thing. "I wonder why she isn't here?"
"Bowling." Qrow said. "Spending time with friends. Though she'll probably want a report."
"Shame. She's missing out on the fun." Jaune looks excited. Wondering what amazement can be had here.
"Quick warning." Will then called out. "Worst case scenario, this thing blows and sucks us up like a blackhole and kills us all."
Or not. Jaune then nervously asks, "Uh. Is it too late to go?"
The machine began starting up. "Too late!" Nora grabbed Jaune. "We're watching to the very end."
The machine slowly lit up, energy being used as it started to turn on. The scientists, examining the readings and making sure nothing would go wrong. Then, they'd push a few buttons and something like lightning would emit and the energy would then zap the ring, which enlarged it, surprising everyone. In other words, everything seems to be working.
"Yes!" Will shouted with every other scientist also giving themselves a pat on the back. It was working. It was working!
"Whew." Jaune relaxed while the others looked amazed. Seeing a genuine portal machine actually functioning.
"I bet that cool old lady would have loved this." Nora then spoke, referencing Maria who came with them. But had decided to leave in order to get her eyes fixed. Still, oddly enough, they kept seeing her around.
"She's a neat one." Qrow chuckled.
"Alright then." Will then began pushing some buttons. "Time to see just where this thing connected to last time." The old portal machine, while broken, showed its black box was still usable. Data that was non-corruptive and can be used to see just what location the original portal connected to last time. Like that the portal then began to glow, the ring shifting and spinning faster. Then-
BOOM!
-it blew up.
Alright, quick explanation. As we know, the Rings used by Sonic in paramount, while awesome, do vanish away eventually. Salem only getting around that by constantly feeding it energy so it didn't vanish.
Now, my explanation on why the ring didn't vanish after the original portal blew up is simple. The energy being fed to it kept it around. I know, I'm pulling it out of my ass, but if I didn't then some of our favorite characters wouldn't get to enter Grimmfall, now would they? Either way, at last I can FINALLY get the plot moving again.