Sobefore we get started I would like for us to have a moment of silence for CeruleanLancer. His RWBY watches RvB story wastaken down a few months ago. He had worked long and hard on it, even when stuff like school got in his way. It was truly an amazing and fun story that helped inspire me to write my ownRWBY reaction stories. May he succeed in his future works.
Ultimately it was a technicality that got his story deleted. He didn't properly address that RWBY and rvb belonged to RT and didn't address that the characters were not his. It's a bitch of a technicality, but it happened. So in response to this, I'm going to include a disclaimer in each chapter identifying the proper owners of each franchise.As shown:
Disclaimer: I do not own anycharacter in this story. RWBY is the intellectual property of Mounty Oum and RoosterTeeth, Ghostbusters is the property of Sony pictures and Ghost Corp, and LEGO Dimensions is the proper of TT Games and LEGO. This is all a work of fiction with respect towards the owners of each license in the story.
So without further ado, let'sbegin this long awaited chapter.
Ghostbusters (1984) part 1
The screen was black as an eerie and unsettling music played throughout the theater.
"Oh, I hate it already." Ruby said as she winced at the eerie music.
"I feel a sudden chill up my spine." Jaune spoke with a shiver.
"This music definitely sets the right tone for something related to ghosts." Weiss said with an analytical look.
"Where's the popcorn when you need it?" Nora asked.
Soon enough, the screen brightened as the top of a library was shown before panning down to show birds flying about and people moseying along—some laying on the steps to the library while others stood and conversed. The viewing panned lower until it focused on the stone statue of a sitting lion, the eerie music rising in tone.
The viewing cut to inside the library as an elderly librarian woman pushed a book cart through the bustling south wing of the reading room, everyone quiet as they read their books. The librarian stopped her cart for a moment as she walked over to one of the tables to pick up several books that were placed upon its end. The librarian set them down on the lower rack of her cart before she went back to pushing the book cart through the large room.
"I need to check and see what kind of libraries Vale has, next time I get the chance." Blake thought to herself. "It would definitely be more quiet than reading in the Beacon library."
"A library? That's... actually not that scary of a setting." Ruby said with a raised brow. "A bit boring, but this shouldn't be all too bad."
The librarian was then shown with the books from earlier, held up by her hand, as she walked down into the basement stacks of the library. She passed through several fully stacked shelves of books before turning left down one of the aisles. She brushed her fingers along the books of the left shelf in the aisle, looking for the proper place to shelve the books in her hand.
"Wait, libraries have basements?" Ruby asked as her eyes widened.
"Well, yes." Blake replied to her. "It's where they usually keep stuff like special collections."
"The setting suddenly just got a lot worse." Ruby meekly said.
"Want me to cover your eyes?" Yang asked her sister.
Ruby looked at Yang, quietly gulping to herself before shaking her head. "N-no. No. I'm-I'm good. I'm a young woman now. I can handle myself with horror movies."
"That's not what it sounded like several minutes ago." Weiss told her partner.
"I can handle myself with horror movies starting now." Ruby stated.
"You sure about that?" Yang asked her.
"I-I'm positive." Ruby replied, trying to assert a more confident tone as she crossed her arms.
Yang raised her brow at Ruby before dawning a smirk. "Wanna bet on it?"
Ruby raised her brow in return to her sister, glancing at her. "What's the bet?"
"It's simple." Yang shrugged. "All you have to do is not get scared. You, and you alone. Don't scream or show any big signs of fear. No matter what creepy thing pops up in this universe."
"And the stakes?" Ruby then asked.
"You lose, no cookies for a month." Yang told Ruby, causing her to frown. "You win, I'll let you handle Ember Celica for a day."
At this, Ruby's eyes sparkled in glee as she shot her out for her sister to shake. "Deal!"
Yang held a calm smile as she shook Ruby's hand.
Tai had been listening to his daughters' conversation the entire time, prompting him to produce a humored expression as he shook his head. "Well, Ruby just made a mistake."
"Don't have any faith in the little pipsqueak?" Qrow asked Tai.
"When has Ruby ever not screamed or shrieked to the heavens when watching something scary?" Tai retorted to Qrow with a soft chuckle. "She's great against Grimm. Not so much against demons and ghosts."
"Fair point." Qrow replied with a shrug before taking a swing of his flask.
As she did so, she failed to notice several books from each shelf in the aisle levitating over to the opposite side. As the librarian found the right place to shelve the books in her hand, she turned her head around just as the books finished levitating.
"Evil books..." Nora pointed to the screen with buggy eyes.
"They can't get you, Nora." Ren plainly said to her.
"Ah, the scene from the preview." Oobleck observed. "I thought I recognized the setting of the area."
"Of course it's nothing that Glynda cannot do." Port pointed out. "Just imagine the pranks she could have pulled with her semblance."
"That's a hard thing to imagine." Ironwood said.
"Because I'm not that immature." Glynda stated.
Glancing around slightly, the librarian then started to walk away from the aisle with the last book in her hand, presumably to search for the proper place to shelve it as well.
The librarian was then shown walking over to a small desk with an alight desk lamp and a typewriter. She took out a pen and began writing down on a sheet of paper on a large clipboard before picking it up as she began to walk by the card catalogs.
With her attention on the clipboard, the librarian walked on. But as she did so, several of the card drawers began to open up. As the drawers opened up, cards started to fly up and out, creating noise that the librarian started to pick up on.
"Evil paper!" Nora shouted, still pointing to the screen.
"Based on my current knowledge of the paranormal, an event like that suggests the spirit is in a very bad mood." Penny observed.
"It's definitely far more erratic than it was with the books." Pyrrha nodded as she concurred with Penny's thinking.
"Which means it's not going to be a pretty sight to stay around for." Ruby said with another wince, though trying to keep up a brave appearance.
Stopping in her tracks, the librarian turned around to see the cards flying out of the drawers all on their own.
"Aah! Aaahh!" The librarian screamed as the sight alone was enough to frighten her.
She ran from the opening drawers of flying cards, still screaming as more and more cards flew out. She ran through the book shelf aisles, turning around to see if anything was following her a few times before she kept on running through the aisles, turning at every point.
"Well at least she's running at the first sign of trouble." Jaune said. "Too many people in horror movies either always wait too long to run or try to stick around when they'll most likely die."
"Given her age, I'm surprised she didn't faint from a heart attack right there." Roman remarked.
She panted with a face of worry and fright as she continued to run through the aisles. She came across a bookshelf in front of her, causing her to look left and right before choosing to turn left.
But as she did so, she came upon a sight that truly frightened her to core.
"AaaAaahhh!!" The librarian screamed in horror as a supernatural wind blew her hair back, a pink light shining on her face.
While the sight of the librarian screaming bloody murder did unnerve some people in the audience, without the image of what exactly caused her such fright, they were quick to move the incident past them.
"It-it's just her screaming with a ghostly pink light in her face. No actual ghost." Ruby thought to herself, still trying to hold together. "This is totally fine. I mean, it's not fine for the poor librarian, but it's fine for me."
"That poor woman." Pietro shook his head in sympathy.
'She's definitely going to have a heart attack now.' Neo signed.
"Who knew being a librarian was such a dangerous occupation?" Qrow commented on the situation.
"~If there's something strange
In your neighborhood~"
"~Who you gonna call?~"
"~Ghostbusters!~"
The image of a ban sign appeared on the screen before a cartoonish ghost became trapped in it. The viewing panned out to people walking around the courtyard of a college campus with a statue in the foreground as the name of the universe popped on screen.
Ghost
Busters
Immediately, everyone registered the lyrics and beat of the funky music that started to play. The majority of them got into the rhythm of the song very quickly.
"Ooh, I like this beat." Nora grinned a bit as she tried to bob her head to the music.
"A juxtaposition to the initial music tone, but I can get into it a bit." Weiss said as she lightly began to tap her foot to the song.
"This definitely helps offset the earlier mood." Ruby said as she got into the beat as well.
"This is the kind of song you play at a Halloween party." Yang stated as she swayed slightly to the rhythm.
"~If there's something weird
And it don't look good~"
"~Who you gonna call?~"
"~Ghostbusters!~"
The viewing cut to people entering a college department building that was called "Wraver Hall Department of Psychology".
"Department of Psychology?" Oobleck thought to himself.
As the funky music started to fade out, the viewing cut to the windowed door of the room that was titled "Paranormal Studies Laboratory".
"All right." The calm voice of Qrow Branwen spoke from within the room. "I'm gonna turn over the next card."
The viewing panned down to show that the words "Branwen Burn in Hell" were painted red on the window of the door.
"It would seem Qrow is a college professor." Ozpin observed from the scene.
"And a poorly thought of one, at that." Winter remarked to the painted threat on the door.
"I pity anyone who has to wipe that off of the door." Glynda said with a shake of her head.
"Did you write that?" Qrow asked Winter.
Winter responded with an eye roll. "Oh, please. I loathe you, Qrow. But I'm not that petty or childish."
"Who could ever write such a mean thing to Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked in confusion. "He's one of the best teachers I ever had at Signal."
"Well, as best as a drunk and sailor-mouthed teacher could be." Yang added in.
"I want you to concentrate." Qrow said as below the painted threat were the names of the three men who worked in the room. Ozpin Spengler, Bartholomew Oobleck, and Qrow Branwen. All three men sharing the title of doctor.
"Wait, Uncle Qrow's a doctor in this universe?" Yang asked with a surprised look.
"Say, wha...?" Ruby muttered in confusion.
"What kind of sick joke is this?" Winter asked, baffled at the sight. "In what world could Qrow ever possibly hold the title of doctor?"
Qrow simply responded by pointing his hand to the screen. "I mean, that's a rhetorical question, right?"
"To be precise, judging by the specific name for this college department, Qrow, Professor Ozpin, and myself are all doctors in psychology." Oobleck pointed out.
"So what, we're shrinks?" Qrow asked.
"It's more so that the three of you study the human mind in various ways." Pietro said, adjusting his glasses. "How they work. How they react."
"Qrow is the last person that should be given a PhD in psychology." Winter firmly stated. "The man's own mind is a drunken mess."
"I will neither confirm nor deny that." Qrow said with a raised finger.
"As odd as it is, perhaps we can give this version of Qrow the benefit of the doubt." Ironwood said. "He would only be a doctor in psychology if he actively went for that degree. Maybe he's good at his occupation."
"I respectfully doubt that, sir." Winter replied to the General.
"I want you to tell me what you think it is."
Inside the room, Qrow was shown holding up a large card with a star shape on one side of it as the other side of it was designed far differently. Before Qrow was a young man with Afro-shaped hair that had something hooked up to his hand.
The young man placed two fingers to the side of his head as he tried to think while staring at the blank side of the card.
"Square." The young man said as she glanced a few times between the card and Qrow.
"Good guess, but wrong." Qrow nodded with a plain look before flipping the card around in his fingers to show that it was a star instead.
Qrow then looked down to a small machine with several switches and dials atop it, as well as several wires that fed out from its side. Qrow flicked one of the switches, causing the young man to whimper as small jolts of electricity shot through him. At the young man's side was a young, blonde haired woman who flinched a bit at the shock given to the young man.
"Card guessing?" Jaune asked.
"And it's the fun kind where they shock you." Nora said with a giggle.
"How are electric shocks fun?" Weiss asked Nora.
"Because you're not Nora." Ren said to Weiss.
Qrow went to write something down before looking up and turning his attention to the young woman, a smile growing on his face.
"Clear your head." He told her.
The young woman nodded to him with a small smile before putting on an appearance that seemed focused.
"All right. Tell me what you think it is." Qrow said to the young woman as he held up another card.
The young man looked over to the young woman as she began to think for a moment. "Is it a star?"
The young man gave a quiet chortle towards her response as he turned away.
"Seriously?" Roman rose his brow. "You're guessing the same shape that was behind the last card?"
'Blondes.' Neo signed with a deadpan.
"There's only a ten percent probability that she could be correct in her assumption." Penny analyzed.
"In which, most likely, she'll be wrong." Weiss said as she crossed one leg over the other.
Qrow looked at the young woman before glancing at the card and closing his eyes. "It is a star."
This has caused the young man to frown a bit as the young woman turned to him with a surprised laugh.
"Very good. That's great." Qrow said as the viewing panned back to show that the card was in fact a circle, and not a star.
"Wait... huh?" Weiss asked, her jaw agape in confusion.
"Ya know, you almost had at the first half, confirming to her that it was a star." Roman remarked. "But now I'm calling all of this into question."
"Why would he tell her that it was a star, when it's a circle?" Pietro asked while scratching under his hat.
"Maybe he wanted to teach that other guy a lesson in making fun of the girl?" Tai guessed. "Qrow does like being a jerk to other jerks... that is when he's not being a jerk to everyone else."
"I am an equal opportunity man." Qrow stated with a nod.
Qrow put the card down without even showing it to the young woman before he went to write something down again. "Okay."
He looked back up to the young man as he held up another card, this one with a square on the back of it. "All right."
"Think hard." Qrow told the young man. "What is it?"
The young man glanced off to the side in thought before speaking. "Circle."
Qrow made a wincing whistle as he turned the card around to reveal it as a square. "Close. But definitely wrong."
The young man had a nervous look to him as Qrow reached over to the switch again, activating it and sending out another wave of buzzing electricity. As the young man was shocked, he accidentally dropped a wad of gum from his mouth onto the table.
"Okay." Qrow said as he wrote down more notes, the young man picked up his gum from the table and placed it back in his mouth.
"Don't put your gum back into your mouth. It's been on that table for more than three seconds." Weiss thought to herself in disgust. "Who knows what germs you could get from doing that."
"The irony in this situation is far from lost to me." Ren stated. "If Qrow had shown the previous card, the other man would have known that he had just done what the woman had done, and guessed the shape that was on said previous card."
"Dramatic irony at its most subtle, yet finest." Blake nodded in agreement.
"All right. Ready?" Qrow asked the young woman.
"Yeah." The young woman gave a small nod.
"All right." Qrow said as he held up another card, this one with a plus sign on the back of it. He poked the side of his head with the eraser end of a pencil while giving a smile at the young woman. "What is it?"
The young woman gave a small as she began to think once more while staring at the card.
"Come on." Qrow whispered to her.
"Figure eight." The young woman responded.
The young man looked over to Qrow as Qrow looked behind the card before looking back at the young woman. "Incredible. That's five for five. You can't see these, can you?"
"No, no." The young woman replied with a bashful smile as the young man tried to lean forward and try and see behind the card himself.
"You're not cheating me, are you?" Qrow asked the woman as he held the back of the card to his face.
"The only one cheating here is you." Winter said with an unamused look, her eyes narrowed.
"Okay, once is coincidence enough when it comes to Qrow." Glynda said as she crossed her arms. "This is a clear sign of favoritism."
"I think it's less favoritism, and more as an attempt at flirting with the young woman." Ironwood said with a slightly disappointed frown.
"Me, flirting with a college student? That's a new low, even for myself." Qrow acknowledged. "And yet... all the more ballsy."
"I'd call it sleazy." Winter muttered off to the side.
"No, I swear." The young woman replied. "They're just coming to me."
The young man nervously exhaled as it was his turn again, all the while the young woman gave a giggle towards Qrow.
"Okay." Qrow said as he noticed the look on the young man's face. "Nervous?"
"Yes." The young man replied as he looked to the side before looking back at Qrow. "I don't like this."
"You only have seventy-five more to go." Qrow told him as he held up another card. "Okay. What's this one?"
"Ouch." Tai said with a wince while Qrow quietly chuckled.
"I'm liking this me." Qrow said with a smirk.
"He's screwed." Roman stated with a humored smirk.
'I think I like this form of electric shock therapy.' Neo signed with a smile.
The young man looked up to the ceiling as he tried to think, Qrow giving him what seemed to be a reassuring smile.
"It's a couple of wavy lines." The young man guessed.
The viewing panned back to show that the back side of the card was indeed a couple of wavy lines.
"Sorry. This isn't your lucky day." Qrow told the young man with a short and quick laugh as he placed the card down.
"I know..." The young man awkwardly said before quickly noticing that Qrow was inching his hand over to the switch. "Um... Wait. Uh... Um—."
Qrow looked at the young man before giving a small smile towards the young woman, who mischievously smiled back at him.
"This is an abuse of the system." Pietro frowned.
"The poor lad even got it right this time." Port said while shaking his head.
"Your uncle is definitely a... fiendish individual." Pyrrha said to Yang and Ruby.
"I mean, like our dad said, Uncle Qrow's a jerk, but he's the fun kind." Yang said in Qrow's defense.
"And wouldn't have it any other way." Ruby stated with a proud smile. "Well... we could probably do without the whole "drunken uncle" bit."
"Wait, I—I, oh—." The young man tried to plead some more, only for Qrow to activate the switch, electrically buzzing the young man again as he screamed.
Once the young man reeled back from the shock, he immediately looked to Wrow with an angered look. "I'm getting a little tired of this!"
"You have this effect on people, man." Tai said to Qrow with a short sigh.
"Yep. And I like to watch it all unfold." Qrow replied with a sly smile.
"If you were ever this frustrating towards me, I would pin you to the wall with knives." Glynda said to her colleague.
"I've gone through worse." Qrow shrugged her off.
"You volunteered, didn't you?" Qrow pointed his hand at the young man. "We're paying you, aren't we?"
"Yeah, but I didn't know you were gonna be giving me electric shocks." The young man retorted. "What are you trying to prove here, anyway?"
"I'm studying the effect of negative reinforcement on E.S.P. ability." Qrow told him with his hands clasped together.
"Oh... then maybe this version of Qrow isn't flirting with a student." Oobleck said with a surprised look. "This very well could be an elaborate test to study human emotions. How would one student fare in always getting punished while the other always gets rewarded."
"That would certainly be interesting as the outcome." Ozpin nodded to Oobleck.
"Look, Bart, I'm good, but I'm not that good." Qrow admitted to the history teacher. "I'm a practical man, not a two-hundred IQ player."
"Let us see if that will be the case." Oobleck replied to Qrow.
"The effect?" The young man rhetorically asked as his anger rose. "I'll tell you what the effect is. It's pissing me off!"
"Well, then, maybe my theory is correct!" Qrow shouted as he and the young man stood up from the table, the latter ripping off the wire that sent shocks through him.
"You can keep the five lien. I've had it." The young man angrily pointed at Qrow as he stormed out of the room.
"I will, mister!" Qrow shouted at him as he left.
"Five lien for seventy-five potential electric shocks?" Roman asked with a scoffing chuckle. "That's highway robbery right there... I approve."
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone storm out of Uncle Qrow's class." Ruby said.
"That's because Uncle Qrow lowers most of his attitude to a minimum when teaching at Signal." Yang said to her sister.
"The first mistake the guy made was failing to do his research as to what he was walking into." Qrow stated.
"His first mistake was thinking you would be giving equal treatment to both him and the woman." Winter retorted to Qrow.
Once the young man had stormed off, Wrow walked over to the young woman, placing his hands on her arm as he sat down beside her, grabbing her attention.
"You may as well get used to that." Qrow told the young woman as he glanced towards the door, prompting her to follow his line of sight. "It's the kind of resentment that your ability is going to provoke in some people."
The young woman then looked at Qrow again, asking him a question. "Do you think I have it, Dr. Branwen?"
Qrow gave a look before letting out a muffled and quiet scoffing chuckle. "You're no fluke, Jennifer."
"Nope. He was flirting with her." Blake said with a bland look.
"A pity." Oobleck said with a disappointing expression. "I was truly hoping this would be a testament as to how this Qrow became a doctor of psychology."
"In a way, he did prove how he earned his PhD in that field." Glynda said. "He knows how to get into people's heads and make them furious."
"I'd argue that's me all the time." Qrow said to Glynda.
Suddenly, without any warning, Bartholomew Oobleck walked into the room with an excited and happy smile on his face. "This is it. This is definitely it."
Qrow and Jennifer looked towards Oobleck, the latter with a confused expression while the former had a subtle look of annoyance.
"Oof. Bad timing." Yang chuckled.
"You hate to see it." Jaune added in with a small laugh.
"Thank God for that." Weiss muttered. "I refuse to watch a teacher flirt with their student."
'He got cucked.' Neo signed with a mischievous giggle.
"Saved by the Oobleck." Ozpin joked a bit.
"That's always fun." Qrow dryly remarked.
"Did those UV lenses come in for the video camera?" Oobleck asked Qrow as he walked over to a large shelf where he grabbed said video camera. "And that blank tape, I need it, the one you erased yesterday."
"Someone's excited." Port commented with a knowing smirk.
"Which means Oobleck found something good." Tai said with a humored smile. "Or, at least good in his eyes."
As Oobleck walked to the other side of the shelf, Qrow looked over to Jennifer, putting on his calmest appearance. "Will you excuse me for a second?"
"Sure." Jennifer nodded as Qrow got up from his seat beside her before walking over to Oobleck.
"I'm right in the middle of something, Barty." Qrow spoke with calmed anger, jumping up to slap the top of Oobleck's head, prompting the green-haired doctor to flinch back a bit.
"Well, that was uncalled for." Oobleck plainly spoke.
"That's what happens when you go to the right place at the wrong time." Qrow told Oobleck with a shrug.
"Wow. I don't think I've ever seen anyone hit Professor Oobleck like that." Nora said with a surprised look.
"Doctor Oobleck!" Oobleck quickly corrected her.
"He is surprisingly speedy for someone without a speed semblance." Pyrrha admitted in equal surprise.
"Qrow appears to be the more dominant person out of the two of them." Blake observed. "This version of Doctor Oobleck definitely seems a little more... excited and happier than usual."
Qrow looked over to Jennifer, giving her a small smile as she awkwardly smiled back before looking away.
"Uh, I need a little more time with this subject." Qrow told Oobleck. "Could you come back in an hour, hour-and-a-half?"
"You've had enough time with this subject. Believe me." Ironwood said with his arms crossed.
"I'll admit it. I'll agree with you there, Jimmy." Qrow said to Ironwood. "If I'm gonna watch a different me flirt, I at least want to make sure it's a woman in his age range."
"Let the man be a player, I say." Roman added in his two cents. "The heart wants what the heart wants. Whether it's good or bad."
"Oh, trust me. He's as flirtatious as they come." Tai muttered his remark in response to Roman.
"Qrow, at 1:40 p.m. at the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, ten people witnessed a free-floating, full-torso, vaporous apparition." Oobleck stated to Qrow, the excitement in his voice growing inch by inch with every word he spoke. "It blew books off shelves from twenty feet away and scared the socks off some poor librarian."
"Ah. The ghost at the library." Ozpin nodded in acknowledgment.
"It seems we're going to be investigating just what is causing those supernatural events." Oobleck said with an intrigued look.
Opposed to Oobleck's enthusiasm, Qrow bore a dull and deadpan expression. "I'm very excited. I'm very pleased. I want you to get right down there. Check it out, and get back to me."
"No, no." Oobleck tried to refute Qrow as they both looked at each other.
"Get right back to me." Qrow continued.
"No, Qrow you're coming with us on this one." Oobleck stated in the best firm tone he could give, causing Qrow to be taken aback a bit, though not by much. "Spengler went down there. He took PKE valences, went right off the top of the scale. Buried the needle. We're close on this one. I can feel it."
"PKE?" Pietro inquired.
"Psycho-kinetic energy." Vortech answered him. "It's what radiates from many supernatural or paranormal entities. I myself radiate a bit of PKE."
"I'd imagine Salem and I would too." Ozpin thought to himself. "Same with Qrow, Raven, Ruby, and the Maidens. Maybe even the Grimm, to an extent."
As Oobleck moved away from Qrow, the black-haired doctor gave another calm, yet annoyed look as he spoke to himself, mimicking Oobleck's words. "I can feel it. We're very, very close."
Qrow walked back over to Jennifer, taking a seat beside her again as he put on his best reassuring smile. "I have to go now, Jennifer, but I'd like to work with you some more. Perhaps you could come back this evening, say at..."
"Eight o'clock?" Jennifer guessed.
"I was just going to say, "eight o'clock?" Qrow replied to her, causing Jennifer to giggle in response. "You are a legitimate phenomenon."
"More like a legitimate fool." Winter muttered in remark.
"Sounds like Qrow isn't too pleased about this ghost adventure." Tai said.
"Where's his sense of adventure?" Port questioned with a raised brow.
"Probably the same place where I keep my sense of propriety." Qrow shrugged before taking another swing.
The viewing cut back to the outside of New York Public library, people still walking in and out of the public building while others still lounged around.
"As a friend, I have to tell you you've finally gone around the bend on this ghost business." Qrow said to Oobleck as the two of them—now wearing open coats over their clothing—walked up the steps to the library. "You guys have been running your ass off, meeting and greeting every schizo in the five boroughs who says he's had a paranormal experience. What have you seen?"
"Maybe his lack of enthusiasm is warranted in this instance." Weiss said with a small frown.
"Who knows how many wild goose chases they went on, only to find nothing." Pyrrha said.
"It probably would not help that they have only been interviewing those with schizophrenia." Penny added.
"I mean, I think Uncle Qrow meant regular people that were just seeing things, but there also could have been some actual schizophrenics." Ruby replied to Penny.
The viewing then cut to Qrow and Oobleck entering into the south wing of the reading room as Oobleck spoke to his colleague. "Of course you forget, Qrow, I was present at an undersea, unexplained mass sponge migration."
"Oh, Barty..." Qrow sighed a bit as the two walked. "The sponges migrated about a foot and a half."
"Sponges migrate?" Nora asked in genuine surprise and confusion.
"That's actually rather impressive for sponges." Penny said in intrigue. "Given our limited knowledge of the ocean, sponges are the slowest moving creatures on Remnant. I'm quite surprised they were able to migrate that far."
"Sponges migrate?" Nora asked again, her confusion furthering on.
"Of course, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't too much of a paranormal anomaly." Pietro said before raising his finger. "Now, if the sponges migrated several feet, that would call for much questioning."
"No, seriously, sponges actually migrate?" Nora asked once more.
"Let it go, Nora." Ren gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "The faster you stop questioning it, the faster it will stop bothering you."
As the two continued to walk, they soon came upon Ozpin, who was squaring next to one of the tables with a form of stethoscope on his ears while holding the bell against the bottom of the table.
Qrow began to make a buzzing noise as he quickly walked up to Ozpin, rapping his knuckles against the top of the table as he spoke in an ominous voice. "Ozpin..."
Ozpin furrowed his eyes at the noise before Qrow slammed a large book against the top of the table, causing Ozpin to jump a bit in surprise as everyone in the library turned their attention to the three men.
"Ow." Ozpin said with a wince as he furrowed his eyes. "Now that was uncalled for."
"No kidding." Blake muttered with a frown as her bow had flattened atop her head as the book being slammed hurt her faunus ears a bit.
"His ears must be ringing." Pietro said in equal sympathetic discomfort. "Who knows how much louder the stethoscope amplified that sound."
"It definitely scared him." Glynda stated.
"It was a dick move, but it was funny." Qrow said in defense.
"Man, Uncle Qrow's going after Ozpin now." Yang said in surprise with a shocked chuckle. "We're definitely seeing an alternate universe."
"Oh, you're here." Ozpin said to Qrow and Oobleck as he stood up and took off his stethoscope.
"Yeah, what have you got?" Qrow asked Ozpin.
"This is big, Qrow. This is very big." Ozpin told Qrow as the three men started to walk. "There's definitely something here."
"Ozpin, this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head, remember that?" Qrow asked, smiling as he pointed to Ozpin.
"That would've worked if you hadn't stopped me." Ozpin replied to Qrow, pointing back at him.
"That sounds a little extreme." Ironwood frowned with a raised brow.
"Why would I do that?" Ozpin slowly asked in growing confusion and slight concern.
"I swear that scientists are all nutjobs. Every last one of them." Roman said while shaking his head.
"It sounds like Professor Ozpin is the mad scientist of the equation." Ruby said with a small giggle.
Then, from behind the three men, a man with brown hair with a grey suit walked up between Qrow and Oobleck. "Hello. I'm Roger Delacorte. Are you the men from the university?"
"Yes. I'm Dr. Branwen. Dr. Oobleck." Qrow shook Roger's hand while introducing himself before pointing his finger at his colleagues as he introduced them. "Ozpin."
Ozpin gave a bland look at the screen when Qrow introduced everyone to Roger. "Okay, fine. Don't formally introduce me, or refer to me as a doctor. I suddenly know how Barty feels."
"Thank you for coming." Roger said as he shook Oobleck's hand before giving a slightly nervous smile. "I hope we can clear this up quickly and quietly."
"Let's not rush things." Qrow told Roger as the four of them stopped, causing Roger to slightly frown a bit. "We don't even know what you have yet."
"You know, for a guy that didn't want to go with Oobleck on a ghost hunting adventure, you sure do sound like you're enjoying yourself here." Tai said to Qrow with a chuckle.
Qrow smirked as he shrugged in response. "If I gotta do something I don't want to do, I'm gonna make the most of it."
The viewing then moved to Qrow, Oobleck, and Roger listening to the shell shocked librarian from earlier.
"I don't remember seeing any legs, but it definitely had arms because it reached out for me." The librarian said as she rested along one of the tables.
"Arms? I can't wait to get a look at this thing." Oobleck said, excitedly.
"That's probably not the right tone to have when interviewing the victim." Glynda said, her head lowered as she shook her head. "Does he not know how to read the room?"
"I think it's more that my counterpart's confidence in this ghost sighting is chasing him to be blinded by enthusiasm." Oobleck observed from his counterpart.
"Alice, I'm going to ask you a couple of standard questions, okay?" Qrow spoke to the now named Alice. "Have you or any member of your family ever been diagnosed schizophrenic, mentally incompetent?"
"Okay. Admittedly, that's a smart thing to do first in this situation." Winter begrudgingly admitted towards Qrow's counterpart. "Better to assess any inconsistencies before starting the full investigation."
"I knew there was a reason for your counterpart's PhD, Qrow." Oobleck nodded to Qrow with a pleased smile.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Qrow asked.
"I doubted the moment it was revealed you were flirting with your student." Oobleck replied to him. "So very much so, yes."
"Touché." Qrow replied back to Oobleck.
"My uncle thought he was St. Jerome." Alice said after some thought.
"Who might this St. Jerome individual be?" Oobleck asked with an analytical look. "Judging by the honorifics, he was most likely a priest."
"You would be correct in that assumption, Mr. Oobleck." Vortech replied, pointing to him.
"Doctor!" Oobleck shouted again.
Vortech rolled his eyes with an annoyed sigh. "Yes. Doctor. St. Jerome was a widely known priest and historian during his time, whose works helped shape the culture of his era."
"I see." Oobleck said as he wrote down in his notebook.
Qrow glanced around a bit, registering Alice's response before looking down at her. "I'd call that a big "yes." Uh... are you habitually using drugs, stimulants, alcohol?"
"No." Alice replied as Oobleck had his video camera recording the conversation.
"No, no. Just asking." Qrow said to Alice in a calm manner. "Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?"
"Oh... I'm having bad flashbacks right now." Yang said with a disgruntled expression.
"You and me both." Weiss said in equal displeasure.
"I'm certain that goes for every woman here." Pyrrha said with a wince.
"Nora is always the most difficult to handle when it's the time of the month." Ren thought to himself as a haunted look appeared in his eyes for but a moment.
"Seriously?" Glynda asked Qrow with a dull look.
"To be fair, you women tend to go apeshit depending on how your periods go." Qrow raised his hand in defense. "I'd argue it's a legitimate question."
"I know Neo gets a lot more trigger happy whenever she's on her period." Roman voiced in his head with a shiver. "Those are usually some hectic days."
"What has that got to do with it?" Roger asked Qrow with a horrified look.
Qrow looked over to Roger, casting a smile as he retorted back to him with a stern tone. "Back off, man. I'm a scientist."
"You tell him, me!" Qrow raised his flask to the screen, praising his counterpart's response. "I ain't no sleazy pervert."
"You can be a drunken one, though." Tai said to Qrow.
"I'll only allow that to slide cause I know it's true, and have had the slap marks to prove it." Qrow pointed to Tai, though his eyes were still on the screen as he took another sip of his alcohol.
Ozpin then came running up to the group with a device in his hand. "Barty! It's moving. Come on."
Oobleck had stopped the recording on the camera as he quickly followed Ozpin, Qrow soon not far behind with a questioning look on his face as Roger watched the three men walk off.
"Looks like we're about to see the ghost." Yang said in an almost excited tone as she glanced over to her sister. "You ready, Rubes?"
"Pssh! Of course I'm ready." Ruby waved Yang off. "...Maybe."
Ozpin was currently walking down the stairs to the basement stacks with Oobleck close behind him, camera at the ready as Qrow was catching up to them. The device in Ozpin's hand hummed and beeped as two prongs rose up from each side of the device, blinking with yellow lights.
While Ozpin's and Oobleck's stances were far more intrigued and investigative as they walked into the basement, Qrow walked with a dry look to his face, his arms slumped in a deadpan manner.
"Uncle Qrow is just so done with this whole thing." Yang said while chuckling.
"That's the look of a man who's gone past the point of "having enough." Blake said with a humored smile.
"Never have I looked so bored and dead inside." Qrow remarked. "At least not at the same time."
"It's quite the parallel to the enthusiasm Professor Ozpin's and my counterpart has." Oobleck said.
"By the way, what is that device Ozpin is holding?" Ironwood asked.
"The PKE meter." Vortech said. "If you all were listening to my explanation earlier, then you should know what it does... and if you weren't listening, I'm not going to repeat myself, so good luck in figuring it out."
"So it's basically a ghost compass." Jaune surmised.
"Oh, please. It does more than find ghosts." Vortech scoffed at Jaune. "It finds all sorts of supernatural anomalies."
"If we had an item such as that, it might prove useful in searching for the missing Maidens." Ozpin thought to himself. "And to potentially find the one that put Amber in a coma."
Qrow looked around the shelves filled with books in the basement as he continued to follow Ozpin and Oobleck. Oobleck looked back at Qrow, prompting the latter to raise his hands and wiggle his fingers in a spooky manner.
"Look!" Oobleck whispered as the three men came upon a tall stack of books in the middle of an aisle, reaching up to the basement ceiling.
"This is hot, Barty." Ozpin told Oobleck as he scanned the tall stack of books with his PKE meter, he and Oobleck carefully walked between each side of the book stack so as to not knock it over.
"Symmetrical book stacking." Oobleck stated as he recorded the sight on his video camera. "Just like the Philadelphia mass turbulence of 1947."
"You're right." Qrow said with a bland look. "No human being would stack books like this."
"Then you clearly haven't met Blake." Yang remarked with a knowing smirk.
"Ha ha. Very funny." Blake dryly rolled her eyes at Yang.
"In Blake's defense, this might be more extreme than what she usually does." Weiss stated.
"She's definitely never stacked her books all the way to the ceiling." Ruby said as she stared at the book stack on screen. "At least from what we've all seen."
"Listen!" Oobleck suddenly said as he turned his head to the left of the book stack, Ozpin following his line of sight. "Do you smell something?"
The PKE meter continued to buzz as Ozpin, with furrowed brows, took the lead to discover the source of the strange smell.
The three men soon came upon the card catalogs, finding the open drawers, along with some of the cards that were scattered all over the floor, to be covered in some form of clear plasma-like ooze that slowly dripped.
"Talk about telekinetic activity. Look at this mess!" Oobleck excitedly spoke as he continued to record.
"That's revolting." Weiss narrowed her eyes with a disgusted look.
"I think I'm going to puke." Roman said with an unnerved expression.
'Someone yanked it too much and too hard' Neo signed with a raised brow.
"What is that stuff?" Nora asked with furrowed eyes.
"I don't think I want to know." Ruby said with a shiver of displeasure.
"It looks like molten glue." Jaune scrunched his face up in slight revulsion to the sight.
"Bartholomew, look at this." Ozpin said to Oobleck as he took notice of the slimy substance, reaching for something in his coat pocket.
"Ectoplasmic residue." Oobleck recognized.
"Branwen, get a sample of this." Ozpin told Qrow as he held up a small, clear container and lid.
"It's the real thing." Oobleck said in amazement towards the ectoplasm as Qrow walked over to Ozpin.
"So all of that is ghost gunk?" Yang asked with her tongue out in disgust.
'More like spunk.' Neo signed.
"Physical proof of a spirit's interaction with the physical plain." Pietro adjusted his glasses to get a better look at the ectoplasm. "Fascinating."
"That's... a word to describe it." Winter said as she tried to her best to hide her revulsion to the sight.
"Look, somebody blows their nose, and you want to keep it?" Qrow asked Ozpin as he grabbed the small container.
"I'd like to analyze it." Ozpin told him.
"Why do I gotta collect the goo?" Qrow asked with a slightly annoyed look.
"Well, Barty is holding the camera, and Ozpin is currently the one leading you all with his PKE meter." Glynda said to Qrow. "You can at least make yourself useful in this situation."
"It's probably also payback on my counterpart's part for when your counterpart slammed that book on the table." Ozpin added in.
"There's more over here." Oobleck said.
"I'm getting stronger readings here." Ozpin said as Qrow used the open container to scrape some of the ectoplasm into it.
"Whoop..." Qrow said as he got some of the dripping ectoplasm into the container.
"Oh. Oh! Ah..." Qrow said in disgust as he put the lid over the container, soon finding some ectoplasm on his fingers as he attempted to flick it off.
"That's unfortunate." Tai said with a small chuckle.
"Unfortunate's my life." Qrow grumpily spoke with his arms crossed.
"This way." Ozpin called out as he started to move along.
"Come on." Oobleck said to Qrow before following Ozpin.
"Oh..." Qrow groaned as he felt that some of the ectoplasm had flicked onto his head. He tapped it off with his hand before he began to try and wipe the slime off on the nearby bookshelf as he walked along.
"Gah!" Qrow groaned again as he found some of the cards now stuck to the bottom of his shoe. He kicked his shoe against a lower part of the shelf, knocking the cards off.
"Hehe. Poor Uncle Qrow." Ruby said with a giggle.
"Man, I could not imagine what it would be like getting something like ectoplasm stuck in my hair." Yang shook her head. "I'd probably be showering for a whole week."
In the meantime, Winter was quietly tittering to herself towards the small plight of Qrow's counterpart. "It's nothing too grand, but I'll accept it."
As Ozpin and Oobleck walked closely together, both analyzing the readings on the PKE meter, Qrow walked up behind them, holding out the container of ectoplasm. "Ozpin, your mucus."
Just as Ozpin was handed the container though, a creaking sound was heard, causing the three men to turn around in time to see the book shelf behind them fall forward with a slam. It had caused them to jump back in surprise and shock as they looked at the bookshelf that now lay on the floor.
The moment the bookshelf suddenly fell to the floor with a loud slam, everyone jumped in their own way.
"Geez!" Yang exclaimed as her eyes blinked in shock.
"Don't do that again." Weiss said with a cross expression while breathing in and out.
Jaune had clung himself to Pyrrha in response to the bookshelf suddenly slamming, not that Pyrrha minded his response one bit.
"What the hell man?" Roman asked with a taken aback and angry look.
Blake had her eyes widened with surprise as her bow stood straight and stiff, the slamming of the bookshelf still ringing throughout her head and putting her on alert.
"That nearly gave me a heart attack." Pietro said with his hand on his chest.
"What a rush of sensation." Penny said with a... smile on her face.
"That even got me." Glynda admitted as she tried to recompose herself.
"I take it they're getting closer to the ghost." Ironwood said as he cleared his throat.
"Definitely." Qrow said with a grunt.
Yang then glanced over to Ruby, noticing how she was shaking a bit in her chair.
"You feeling scared, Ruby?" She asked.
"Who? Me? N-no. No. I'm not scared of a little jumpscare like that." Ruby attempted to wave her sister off, putting up the best poker face she could.
"Okay then. Just checking..." Yang said with a coy and knowing tone in her voice as she looked back to the screen.
Qrow then turned around, glancing at Ozpin before he and Oobleck looked at each other. "This happen to you before?"
Oobleck slowly shook his head in response.
"Huh. First time?" Qrow then asked.
At this, Oobleck nodded.
"Well, Barty. It seems our counterparts got their wishes." Ozpin said to Oobleck. "They're finally dealing with a true paranormal activity."
"Except, unlike those movies where the heroes try to find or evade the paranormal entity for survival, we tread forward in the name of science." Oobleck stated with a raised finger.
As the buzzing on the PKE meter grew ever more rapid, Ozpin, with furrowed eyes, followed to where the signal was growing stronger as Qrow and Oobleck followed behind.
The buzzing intensified as the three men walked through the aisles of bookshelves. After another turn, the prongs on each end of the PKE meter rose higher up, it's humming becoming more and more steady. Ozpin halted Qrow and Oobleck as they looked towards the PKE.
Once they walked into a large aisle that had a desk on one end, Ozpin turned with the PKE, analyzing its buzzing scanner before soon facing the direction opposite to the desk, his eyes widened.
"It's here." Ozpin stated in awe.
Looking upon what Ozpin was seeing, Qrow and Oobleck quickly found themselves staring at a ghostly figure several feet ahead of them. She was a ghostly grey-pink with the appearance of an elderly, human librarian, save for having no legs as she floated above the floor. The ghost was currently picking out a book from on the shelves before she began to read it.
"A full-torso apparition, and it's real." Oobleck whispered to Ozpin in awe.
Everyone stared at the ghost in varying ways. Most were in awe. Others were in apprehension. Though all of them had a small sense of intrigue to the ghost.
"An actual ghost." Port said with wide eyes. "I know Giests act like ghosts, but they were never truly such. But to see the real thing..."
"It's truly an experience." Oobleck nodded in agreement.
"In all of my life, I've never seen a ghost... but sadly once you've seen genies and gods, it's hard to be truly in awe of an undead spirit." Ozpin thought to himself.
"Woah." Ruby spoke, her tone showing both fear and awe.
"I definitely wasn't expecting this as the ghost." Yang said in surprise.
"She seems rather... peaceful." Weiss said as she was transfixed on the ghost.
"It's truly a remarkable sight." Penny said with intrigue.
"A remarkable sight that scared a librarian half to death." Jaune reminded everyone.
"It's hard to imagine that a ghost appearing so calm could cause such a fright." Pyrrha said.
"Judging from her attire, she appears to be a librarian herself." Ren observed.
"It explains why a ghost would be haunting a library." Blake said. "She probably worked there when she was alive. She probably died there too."
"I wonder what happened to her." Nora questioned.
"Her name was Eleanor Twitty. Died 1924." Vortech stated to the audience. "Those that have seen her in the library have nicknamed her "The Grey Lady." She was the head librarian and curated over special collections. And it was because of those special collections that she was killed by one Edmund Hoover, who had used her to get access to the special collections."
"Killed over a few books?" Roman asked, though his eyes glued to the ghost on screen. "That's a new one for me."
"What kind of book prompts someone to kill another person just to have access to it?" Pietro asked in restrained horror.
"One that would have to have much significance to it." Ironwood said to Pietro.
"It was a codex. A codex of great power." Vortech said. "Though before Hoover could unleash the Codex's power, he was caught and sentenced to hang the same year in which he had killed Eleanor."
"Everyone reaps what they sow." Glynda said in regards to Vortech's words. "Some reap it faster than others."
"It sounds like he deserved the death penalty after killing Miss Twitty." Winter said.
"He was only caught because he tried to cover up her murder by committing several other murders." Vortech explained. "He collected their bodies and hid them under the library."
"That would explain why Eleanor is haunting the library, then." Blake said as she nodded in understanding.
"I just hope she's the only ghost in that library." Ruby said with a wary look.
As Ozpin and Oobleck stared at the librarian ghost with looks of awe, Qrow looked upon the ghost with a frozen look of dull astonishment. However, a question then entered into his mind, one that he made vocal to his colleagues. "So what do we do?"
In response, Ozpin and Oobleck slowly looked at each other, both showing clearly that they had no response to Qrow's question.
"Yeah, didn't get that far, did ya?" Qrow asked towards the screen.
"Ultimately that is the price to pay when being excited outweighs one's ability to think ahead." Oobleck said while shaking his head.
"I've been there." Ruby said with a solemn nod.
"And we were all there to see it." Weiss said to her partner, knowing that Ruby was referring to how she tried to rush into things while they had to fight off the Deathstalker on initiation day.
Quickly realizing that his friends had no plan, Qrow turned his head over to them. "Could you come over here and talk to me for a second, please?"
As Ozpin and Oobleck looked back at the librarian ghost, Qrow moved his hand over to Oobleck's ear, pulling on it. "Could you just come over here for a second, please? Right over here."
Qrow slowly dragged Oobleck by the ear back into the aisle the three men had walked out of, Ozpin soon following as the ghost watched them walk away.
"Come here, Francine. Come here." Qrow said to Oobleck as he finished dragging him away.
Several members in the audience either chuckled or giggled lightly at how Qrow tugged Oobleck by his ear into the bookshelf aisle while referring to the green haired man as "Francine."
"All right. Game plan time." Jaune said after a chuckle, rubbing his hands together.
"Let's hope it's a good plan." Pyrrha said. "They admitted that they had no idea what to do after spotting Miss Twitty's ghost."
"These are the combined minds of Uncle Qrow, Professor Ozpin, and Doctor Oobleck." Ruby said with his hands on her hips. "I'm sure what they're gonna come up with will be the best plan to use in this situation."
The moment Ozpin walked up towards them, Qrow looked between him and Oobleck. "What do we do?"
"I don't know. What do you think?" Oobleck whispered in response as he looked at Ozpin.
Ozpin then pulled out a calculator, though he wouldn't get to input anything into it.
"Stop that!" Qrow harshly whispered at Ozpin, slapping the calculator to the floor as it clattered.
"Well that wasn't quite nice." Penny frowned.
"Yeah, Uncle Qrow is by far the jock in this situation." Yang said with a surprised look.
"Huh. I've never been like that towards Ozpin before." Qrow said, his eyes blinking in surprise. "This feels surreal and yet... somewhat empowering."
"I guess your counterpart is more focused on straightforward thinking as opposed to calculations." Ozpin said to Qrow.
"He's ready for bold action." Glynda stated. "Though your counterpart could stand to be less rude about it."
As Ozpin awkwardly lowered his hands, Oobleck started to come up with ideas. "We've got to make contact. One of us should actually try to speak to it."
"Good idea." Ozpin nodded to Oobleck.
"That's what every scientist does with supernatural stuff, and it most always goes bad." Jaune said as he was weary to the initial start of their plan.
"And yet, they would have to do so, regardless. They did go to the library to find a ghost." Ren reminded his team leader. "And it's not like they can just leave now when it's done no harm to them."
"Plus it'll ruin their reputation to flee without doing anything." Nora pointed out.
"There's no shame in running from a ghost." Jaune crossed his arms. "It's a sensible thing to do. Besides, we already saw what she did to the librarian."
"Perhaps things will go differently this time." Pyrrha offered up.
It was then that Ozpin and Oobleck looked back at Qrow, causing Qrow to close his eyes with a frustrated sigh before he turned and walked back out to where the librarian ghost was.
"Why me?" Qrow groaned while rubbing his temple.
"The jocks always go first." Tai patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Which usually results in them being offed first." Roman pitched in.
"Plus, it's probably revenge for pulling on my counterpart's ear and slapping the calculator out of Ozpin's hands." Oobleck added.
Bringing up his video camera, Oobleck handed it to Ozpin before taking out a regular camera. With themselves behind Qrow, Ozpin recorded the scene with the video camera as Oobleck began to take pictures.
"Hello." Qrow calmly and stifly called out to the librarian ghost. "I'm Qrow. Where are you from? Originally."
In response, the librarian ghost slowly turned her head towards Qrow, bringing a finger up to her dead lips.
"Shh..."
"Oh... that was very creepy." Ruby said with a shiver down her spine.
"That goes double for me." Blake said with an apprehensive look towards the Grey Lady, her faunus ears increasing the sound of the sushing.
"Just like a true librarian. Quieting people even in death." Weiss said before frowning. "Which may also lead to death."
"I think now would be a good time for them to call it a day." Roman said with a wary expression.
"She's just shushing them." Pietro said. "Granted, it's disturbing, but there's nothing threatening about it... I think."
Qrow frowned slightly towards this as he turned back to Ozpin and Oobleck, bringing them back over to the previous aisle with a stale smile. "All right. Okay. The usual stuff isn't working."
"Okay. I have a plan." Oobleck then said. "I know exactly what to do."
"Mm? What might my counterpart's backup plan be, exactly?" Oobleck questioned with a raised brow.
It was then that Oobleck took the lead with Qrow and Ozpin following him, the latter with an apprehensive stance.
"Now, stay close." Oobleck whispered to his colleagues as they tip-toed their way over to the ghost. "Stay close. I know. Do exactly as I say. Get ready. Ready?"
Then, to everyone's surprise, Oobleck began to lunge forward with a shout. "Get her!"
It was then that the librarian ghost transformed into a pink, ghoulish creature with a large jaw, terrible teeth, wild white hair, and torn rags for clothing as she yelled out.
"RrAaAAaAgHhH!!"
"AAAAHHH!!!" All three men shouted in terror as they immediately began running away, Ozpin backpedaling as he and Qrow dragged Oobleck along with them.
The sudden and grotesque change of the Grey Lady, along with her terrifying roar, had causing everyone in the audience to jump in fright in varying ways.
"AAAHH!!" Ruby shrieked along with Jaune, Nora, and Weiss.
"That's so messed up!" Yang shouted in fright.
"I'm not going to bed anytime soon." Pyrrha said with a disturbed look.
"I'm afraid to close my eyes." Ren said with a concerned expression.
"Oh, mother—!" Qrow shouted in surprise before groaning in frustration. "Mmm..."
"Son of a bitch!" Roman yelled as he jumped in his seat.
Neo was repeatedly crossing herself out of silent fear.
"Well that was unexpected." Ironwood said with wide eyes, his pose frozen with the indication that he had been jumpscared.
Winter bore dilated pupils as her hands clung tightly onto the arms of her chair. "Never. Do that. Again. Ever."
"Oh, my poor heart." Pietro breathed heavily with his hand on his chest.
"So this is what it is to be jumpscared." Penny said as her face had formed one of immense surprise before a smile grew on her face. "What a sensational rush!"
"What on Remnant was that horrific ghoul?" Port asked in shock.
"So much for being a peaceful librarian." Tai said with apprehension in his eyes.
"I would rather not see that again, thank you." Oobleck stated.
"Well that genuinely frightened me." Ozpin admitted, his eyes blinking from shock.
"You're not alone." Glynda said to the headmaster as her muscles stiffened from the scare.
"Well that was a fun sight to behold, wouldn't you all agree?" Vortech asked the audience, doing his best to hold back a mischievous laugh.
"Fuck you." Qrow flipped the bird back at Vortech.
The viewing cut to both Ozpin and Oobleck continuing to scream from fright as they and Qrow ran out from the library.
"Did you see it? What was it?" Roger called out to the three men as he raced to catch them in their retreat.
"We'll get back to you." Qrow called back to him as he steadily ran down the steps
"What?!" Roger exclaimed as he watched the three doctors flee the area. He was left there on the steps with a distraught expression.
"Well that went well." Weiss sarcastically spoke as she tried to get over her initial fright.
"Oh... that all went so wrong so fast." Jaune groaned into his hands.
"I'm scarred, I say. Scarred." Nora stated with wide eyes.
"Hey, Ruby—."
"Yes, Yang. I know I failed the bet." Ruby interrupted her sister with a fear stricken look of frustration.
"Well, actually I was just checking to see how you were holding up." Yang corrected Ruby. "But, yes. You lost the bet."
"God, where's a cigar when I need one." Roman sighed with his hand over his face.
Vortech then opened a portal up above himself as a small box of cigars fell into his hand before he closed the portal.
"Catch." Vortech said to Roman as he tossed the box of cigars over to him.
Roman promptly caught the small box before sighing and taking out his lighter. "Thanks."
Roman then lit the cigar as he put it up to his mouth. Though the moment he took a puff of the cigar, instead of a smoke, bubbles came out from his mouth and the cigar.
"What the hell is this?" Roman asked in confusion to Vortech, motioning to the cigar.
"No smoking allowed in the theater." Vortech told Roman. "You'll have to make do with this substitute. Plus, there's children in the audience."
"I'm fifteen!" Ruby shouted out.
The viewing then cut to Qrow and Oobleck walking together near a small park as the former giggled to the latter. Ozpin a few feet behind them as he inputted numbers into his calculator with the PKE in his other hand.
"Get her!" Qrow mimicked Oobleck with a humored look. "That was your whole plan? "Get her!" It was scientific."
"Yeah. Scientific's the word to use." Qrow shook his head with a begrudging chuckle.
"I am very disappointed in my counterpart's strategy." Oobleck said with a vehement sigh.
"You just went in half-cocked and full-steam." Qrow continued.
"Yes. Yes. It was a very poor call." Oobleck said with an eye roll. "Though I'm certain my counterpart won't do something so rash again."
"If he does, I'm gonna laugh." Qrow replied to his colleague.
"I—I just got over-excited." Oobleck explained with an adrenaline-rushed smile. "I mean, but—but wasn't it incredible, Qrow? I mean, we actually touched the etheric plane. You know what this could mean to the university?"
"Yeah, it's gonna be bigger than the microchip." Qrow said as he placed his hand on Oobleck's shoulder, halting him. "Barty, I'm very excited."
"I wouldn't say the experience was completely wasted." Ozpin walked up to both of them, showing his calculator to Oobleck. "According to these new readings, I think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely."
"Well, it sounds like they're about to work on the equipment that we saw in the preview." Pietro said as his heartbeat finally slowed to a normal pace. "I'm quite interested in seeing how it will all work."
"As am I." Ironwood said in agreement.
"Well, this is great." Oobleck happily stated as he and Ozpin started to walk again, Qrow watching them as he thought on Ozpin's words. "If the ionization rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, we could really bust some heads. In a spiritual sense, of course."
"If it gets rid of more uglies like that librarian ghost, I'm in full support of it." Roman stated with Neo nodding along.
Qrow then jogged up to colleagues, tapping Ozpin's back to get his attention. "Spengs, you serious about this catching a ghost?"
"I'm always serious." Ozpin told Qrow as the three men stopped again.
Qrow looked at Ozpin for a moment before pointing at him. "Ozpin, I'm gonna take back some of the things I've said about you."
Qrow then pulled out a Crunch candy bar from his coat pocket, holding it up for Ozpin. Ozpin went to grab it, only for Qrow to bring it back slightly before handing it over. "You've—You've earned it."
Oobleck simply smiled humorously at the scene.
"Awe. That's sweet." Ruby giggled a bit at the scene.
"It's almost like giving a puppy a treat." Yang smirked. "You know, if Ozpin was a puppy."
"What sort of things did he say about me?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow with a humored smile.
"Probably something along the lines of cookoo and batshit." Qrow guessed with his hand to his chin.
The viewing then transitioned to the three men entering into their room back on the college as Oobleck continued to speak. "The possibilities are limitless."
However, the moment Qrow opened the door, his smile vanished into confusion at the sight before him.
"Hey, Dean Yeager." Oobleck called out to the Dean, who was in their room.
Dean Yeager turned around to the three men, putting on a smile as several other men were packing things up in the room.
"Um... what's going on here?" Nora asked.
"It would appear they are moving stuff out of their quarters." Penny observed before frowning. "Oh, dear..."
"I don't like the looks of this." Oobleck said as he held a frown as well.
Qrow gave a small awakened look of confusion as he let one of the moving men past him before speaking to the Dean. "I trust you're moving us to better quarters on campus?"
"No, you're being moved off campus." Dean Yeager corrected with his hands behind his back. "The Board of Regents has decided to terminate your grant. You are to vacate these premises immediately."
"What? They-they can't do that!" Ruby shouted. "They just discovered that ghosts exist and can be trapped. You can't throw them out now!"
"I can only assume that the Board of Regents was tired of granting money to paranormal-related projects that yielded no fruit." Glynda said with a sympathetic shake of her head. "It's clear they're tired of what they would most likely see as a waste of money."
"They claimed a victory from defeat, only to be brought even lower." Pietro said in sadness. "It saddens my soul to see it happen."
"If the board would allow them to show the recording of their findings, surely they would be reinstated." Ironwood said.
"I'm afraid it might be too late for the board to accept a plea from our counterparts." Ozpin frowned.
Qrow stared at the Dean before looking over to his friends, who had shocked faces on themselves, though Ozpin's was far more calmer yet mortified. "This is preposterous. I demand an explanation."
"Fine." Dean Yeager replied. "This university will no longer continue any funding of any kind for your group's activities."
"But the kids love us." Qrow retorted.
"Dr. Branwen..." Dean began before he sat at the edge of a desk as another moving man wheeled out a device from the room. "We believe that the purpose of science is to serve mankind. You, however, seem to regard science as some kind of dodge or hustle. Your theories are the worst kind of popular tripe, your methods are sloppy, and your conclusions are highly questionable. You are a poor scientist, Dr. Branwen."
Qrow appeared brought down by the Dean's words before eventually nodding. "I see."
"Poor uncle Qrow." Ruby shook her head in sadness for her uncle's counterpart.
"Nothing stings more like wounded pride." Ren sagely spoke.
"Huh..." Winter uttered with a slightly surprised look.
"What? Having trouble getting giddy after I was made a mockery out of?" Qrow asked Winter.
"No, it's just... I never thought I'd see you so defeated by words alone." Winter replied to him as she stared at the screen. "It's.. strange, given your personality."
"Yeah, well, even I have my off days." Qrow said as he looked back at the screen, taking a swing of his flask.
As one of the moving crew walked up to Oobleck to take his video camera, the Dean continued to talk. "And you have no place in this department or in this university."
The viewing cut to Qrow and Oobleck outside as the latter shook his head while pacing. "This is a major disgrace. Forget M.I.T. or Stanford now. They wouldn't touch us with a 10-meter cattle prod."
"You're always so concerned about your reputation." Qrow retorted to Oobleck, a small bottle of liquor in his hand as he rested on a stone left of the exterior of the Low library. "Einstein did his best stuff when he was working as a patent clerk."
"Who is this Einstein individual?" Pietro asked.
"One of, if not the most recognized scientists throughout many dimensions involving Remnant." Vortech answered him. "He invented the theory of relativity, helping to revolutionize Remnant's understanding of the universe. He was also a master physician."
"Interesting." Pietro said as he stroked his beard.
"Uncle Qrow's got a point. Forget the college." Yang said with a determined look. "They don't need their help to work on ghost catching equipment."
"But they do need the money." Blake reminded Yang.
"I'm sure they'll figure something out." Yang waved her partner off.
"Do you know how much a patent clerk earns?" Oobleck retorted.
"No." Qrow loudly replied.
"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities. We didn't have to produce anything." Oobleck stated before pointing at Qrow. "You've never been out of college. You don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector. They expect results."
"I understand that feeling." Pietro said with a horrid shiver down his spine.
"For whatever reason, Barty, call it fate, call it luck, call it karma." Qrow began to speak in a sing-song tone as he hopped off the stone, grabbing his liquor bottle as he wrapped his hand behind Oobleck's back as the two began to walk. "I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that we were destined to get thrown out of this dump."
"That's an optimistic view on our current predicament." Ozpin said.
"Never have I heard Qrow almost speak in song." Tai said with a surprised look. "It almost sounded good."
"It's all to persuade Barty." Qrow stated with a smirk.
"Consider me somewhat persuaded." Oobleck replied to him.
"For what purpose?" Oobleck asked as the two stopped at the top of the stairs.
"To go into business for ourselves." Qrow said as he handed the liquor bottle to Oobleck.
"Exactly." Yang pointed her hand to the screen.
"Ultimately a private business is better than working for the government." Roman said while resting his head behind his arms. "You earn more money that way."
"Ultimately, that is true." Ironwood agreed with the criminal. "And the more money they can make, the more equipment they can create."
"Meaning the better they can be at catching ghosts." Ruby continued Ironwood's train of thought.
Looking at it, Oobleck took the bottle before taking a swing of it as Qrow began to lightly bounce. "This ecto-containment system that Spengler and I have in mind is gonna require a load of bread to capitalize. Where are we going to get the money?"
Still lightly bouncing, Qrow took back the bottle as he took a sip of it himself. "I don't know. I don't know."
"Now that just leaves the issue of gaining the money needed to make their initial equipment." Weiss said with a thoughtful look. "I know grandfather spent years of hard labor to build the SDC. I wonder how the alternate versions of our Beacon professors and Ruby and Yang's uncle will start theirs."
Immediately the viewing cut to Qrow, Oobleck, and Ozpin in suits as they walked out of the Manhattan City Bank.
"You're never gonna regret this, Barty." Qrow opened the door for Oobleck with a smile, letting him and Ozpin out of the bank.
"My parents left me that house. I was born there." Oobleck said with an unsure look as he held a file in his hand.
"You're not gonna lose the house." Qrow assured Oobleck as the three men walked, Ozpin calculating on a small device in his hands. "Everybody has three mortgages nowadays."
"Huh." Weiss blinked a bit in surprise. "Well that was quick."
"And all they had to do was sell Doctor Oobleck's childhood home." Nora nodded. "I love it when a plan comes together."
"Three mortgages on one house?" Oobleck questioned. "I must have lived on a pretty nice piece of property."
"You're not torn up about essentially handing your family home over to a bank as collateral?" Qrow asked Oobleck.
"I wouldn't know the same feeling my counterpart shared for his home. While it would be a difficult thing to do, so much personal history, there are some things that have to be sacrificed in the name of science." Oobleck stated with a raised finger.
"But at 19%? You didn't even bargain with the guy!" Oobleck retorted.
"Barty, for your information, the interest rate alone for the first five years comes to 95,000." Ozpin informed Oobleck as he showed him the small device.
"That's actually not that bad." Tai said with an impressed look.
"Pretty decent, if I say so myself." Winter said.
"Will you guys relax? We are on the threshold of establishing the indispensable defense science of the next decade." Qrow stated to his friends with a pleased look. "Professional paranormal investigations and eliminations. The franchise rights alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams."
"It will definitely take the world by storm." Pietro said with a nod. "A defense against the supernatural."
"And if the appearance of ghosts rises, they can make quite the amount of profit from their business." Weiss said.
"I practically smell the money already." Roman smirked.
The viewing then cut to the three men checking out an old and large firehouse on a street corner, built sturdily brick by brick.
"There's office space, sleeping quarters, and showers on the next floor, and there's a full kitchen on the top left." The realtor informed Qrow and Ozpin.
"They move quickly." Pyrrha said as she analyzed the outer appearance of the large firehouse. "They're already looking for a base of operations."
"If nothing else, Ozpin, Barty, and Qrow are all determined men." Glynda stated.
"Man, I've always wanted to live in a firehouse." Nora said as she stared in awe at the large, three story building. "It'd be so cool. Waking up every morning to go down a fire pole."
"Space-wise, this should be enough room for the three of them to work on whatever equipment is needed." Ren said in observation.
"It just seems a little pricey for a unique fixer-upper opportunity, that's all." Qrow said to the realtor as he and Ozpin observed the first floor, it's appearance in disarray and in much need of a thorough cleaning. "What do you think, Ozpin?"
"I think this building should be condemned." Ozpin gave his opinion as he tapped Qrow on his arm, motioning Qrow to walk with him. "There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members. The wiring is sub-standard. It's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone."
"That's harsh." Tai said.
"Mister critical analyzer over here." Qrow remarked.
"It does require a lot of work on the inside." Winter said as she got a good look at the first floor of the firehouse. "Given its current disarray, no one's preoccupied it for quite some time."
"This behemoth of a building is an antique. I'd argue it's the best option to go for." Port stated.
"Hey!" Oobleck suddenly called out, his voice echoing through the first floor.
Qrow, Ozpin, and the realtor looked up to see Oobleck on the second floor, standing on the inner section of the railing around the fire pole. "Does this pole still work?"
Oobleck then grabbed onto the pole as he let himself slide down all the way to the first floor, right beside Ozpin and Qrow. "Wow. This place is great! When can we move in? You gotta try this pole. I'm gonna get my stuff."
As Oobleck ran towards the stairwell in the firehouse, Qrow turned his head the other way while Ozpin watched Oobleck's excited run. All the while the realtor held a pleased smile on her face as she looked towards Qrow and Ozpin.
"See? Doctor Oobleck gets it." Nora pointed to the screen with a grin.
"Yeah, that does look fun to do." Jaune admitted.
"It's clear that Doctor Oobleck sees something about this place that Professor Ozpin and Mr. Branwen doesn't." Weiss said.
"Well, I think Barty's counterpart just made the decision for everyone." Ozpin said with a soft chuckle.
"Yes. This version of me has shown to be more childish in his actions." Oobleck observed.
"Yeah, I've never seen Bart this happy about something unless it was a historical discovery." Tai stated, a smile and raised brow on his face with his arms crossed.
"It's both funny and weird to see." Qrow said.
"Hey! We should stay here tonight." Oobleck suggested to his colleagues as he turned around on the stairwell. "Sleep here. You know, to try it out."
Ozpin and Qrow slowly turned to each other as the realtor steadily walked up to them with a knowing look. Ozpin merely shook his head in regards to Oobleck's enthusiasm towards the firehouse before Qrow turned to the realtor.
"I think we'll take it." Qrow told the realtor, causing Ozpin's head to slightly lower.
"Good." The realtor said with a smile.
"The subtle disappointment in Professor Ozpin's face is just funny to look at." Yang said with a chuckle.
"He really didn't want them to buy that firehouse." Pyrrha said with a small giggle.
"It most likely that the mortgage is in Doctor Oobleck's name, so ultimately he gets the deciding vote in what they purchase as their base of operations." Weiss said.
"And now that they have their headquarters taken care of, all they need to do is work on equipment to catch ghosts." Blake said.
"I can't wait to see them in action, catching ghosts." Ruby said with a grin.
The viewing then changed to a panned out view of Central Park, where several tall and large buildings could be seen from. One of which rose to the sky in a triangular fashion as it had an almost gothic style to its appearance.
From the view of a stone gargoyle in the shape of a horned and spiked demonic dog, a taxi pulled up on the side of the road opposite to the building.
"That gargoyle seems very familiar." Port said with a wary glance.
"The Terror dogs from the preview of this universe." Oobleck concurred with his friend. "I suspect this building will undoubtedly have something to do with them."
Exiting out from the taxi was none other than Willow Schnee wearing a scarf and coat as she held a back of groceries in one hand, and a violin case in the other. She closed the taxi door with her leg, allowing the taxi to drive off.
Willow walked straight a bit before she took her chance to cross the road over to the building. As she crossed, an oncoming car had to slow down and stop to let her pass, prompting the driver to honk his horn at Willow.
"So this is where mother comes into play." Weiss said with a somber look.
"Which begs the question of what her role in this universe is going to be." Blake said before casting a short glance at Weiss. "Other than the love interest."
"Don't remind me." Weiss groaned a bit as she remembered the part of the preview where her mother was huskily speaking to Qrow.
Willow was then shown exiting an elevator with both an ornate interior and exterior.
"Oh, Hi." Willow gave a small and quick to smile to a man who was waiting for the elevator. He nodded to her as he went to the elevator while Willow walked through the upper halls of the apartment building.
"Nice digs." Roman said as he eyed the apartment halls. "Pretty fancy."
"And it's all an apartment building." Vortech stated.
"There's no way a place that good looking is an apartment." Roman said in disbelief.
"It's probably more so that the apartment simply looks finely detailed, but still functions as an apartment building." Oobleck assumed.
As she continued to walk, one of the doors opened up to reveal a short man in a blue and red tracksuit, wearing glasses on his face and having the overall appearance of an awkward nerd.
"Oh, Willow, it's you." The man said to Willow in recognition.
"Oh, hi. Yes, Louis, it's me." Willow replied to Louis, trying to speak quickly so she could get to her apartment room.
"I thought it was the drugstore." Louis then spoke, prompting Willow to stop beside him in the hallway.
"Oh. Are you sick?" Willow asked.
"Oh, no, no, I'm fine. I feel great." Louis told Willow. "Just ordered some more vitamins and stuff. I was just exercising. I taped :20 Minute Workout on my machine and played it back at high-speed so it only took 10 minutes. I got a great workout."
"That's cheating." Nora said with narrowed eyes, tapping her foot with disapproval. "By doing that, you can't focus on the full workout. Working out isn't meant to be easy, it's supposed to make you overcome your limits."
"I'd argue it's genius, but I'd rather not upset Nora." Jaune thought to himself.
"Good." Willow replied to him, though the subtle expressions on her face showed that she really wanted to get to her apartment room.
"You want to come in for a mineral water or something?" Louis asked her.
"Oh, I'd really like to, um, Louis, but I have to go to a rehearsal now." Willow said as she took the chance to finally walk over to her room. "Excuse me."
"No sweat." Louis said as he followed her. "I'll take a rain check on that. I always have plenty of low-sodium mineral water and other nutritious foods in the house. But you already know that."
"Yeah, I know that." Willow replied as she set her violin case down so she could open her door.
"Okay, what am I watching?" Roman asked while pointing his hand towards the screen. "Is this the world's most terrible attempt at flirting or the guy an annoying neighbor?"
"I... can't really tell." Winter said as she gave the screen an odd look.
"I don't think this Louis is trying to flirt with mother." Weiss said as she narrowed her eyes in confusion. "I think he just likes having friends."
"Well at least we found someone more awkward than Ruby." Yang said with a shrug.
"Words hurt, dear sister of mine." Ruby stated to Yang with a stale look.
"Listen, that reminds me. I'm having a big party for all my clients. My fourth anniversary as an accountant, you know. And even though you do your own tax return, which you shouldn't do, I'd like you to stop by, being that you're my neighbor and all." Louis extended his invitation to Willow.
"Well, thank you, Louis, I'll really try to stop by." Willow put on her best smile, handing Louis her grocery bag so she could better open her door.
"Yeah. It might be that he just wants friends." Blake said as she too held an odd look towards Louis. "Or maybe he is trying to flirt. This is actually pretty tricky for me."
"I'm just going to think that he seeks my mother's friendship." Weiss said as she raised her hands in surrender. "I don't need to think about two men trying to flirt with her."
"Saucey." Yang said with a smirk.
"Quiet, you." Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang as she pointed a finger her way.
"Listen, that reminds me. You shouldn't leave your TV on so loud when you go out." Louis told Willow as the TV in her apartment room could be heard from outside her door. "The creep down the hall phoned the manager."
Upon Willow opening her door, she held a confused look as she grabbed her groceries from Louis. "Well that's strange. I didn't realize I left it on."
"Oh, yeah, you know what I did? I climbed on the ledge and tried to disconnect the cable, but I couldn't get in, so, you know what I did? I turned up my TV real loud too, so everyone would think..." Louis further spoke as Willow picked up her violin case.
"Goodbye, Louis." Willow quickly said to Louis as she closed her apartment door.
"...that both our TVs had something wrong with them." Louis finished as the door closed in front of him. "Okay, so I'll see you later, huh? I'll give you a call."
Louis then started to walk back over to his room. As he did, he turned his head back to speak again. "I've gotta have a shower."
"Thank God that's over." Qrow shook his head before taking a swing of his flask. "That hurt to watch."
"That has officially been the most awkward conversation I have ever heard." Ozpin said with a deadpan.
"The little guy's trying to be too friendly with his neighbors." Tai said as he crossed his arms. "That's always going to have you appear more annoying than anything else."
Though, the moment Louis got back to his room, he found that he could not open it as he tried to jiggle and twist the handle.
Inside Willow's apartment, her TV started to show a commercial of Qrow, Oobleck, and Ozpin in front of their firehouse. Qrow and Oobleck held devices in their hands or that were strapped to their shoulders while Ozpin wore his stethoscope.
"Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night?" Oobleck spoke first.
"Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?" Ozpin stepped forward next to speak before walking back.
"Have you or any of your family ever seen a spook, specter, or ghost?" Qrow then asked.
"If the answer is yes, then don't wait another minute. Pick up your scroll and call the professionals." Oobleck stated.
""Ghostbusters!"" All three men said at once as their phone number was shown on the commercial screen, reading: 555-2368.
"They do work fast." Penny said with a smile. "They already have a commercial on air."
"And it's just like a prescription drug medicine commercial." Yang snickered a bit. "Asking all the questions before giving the answer to them."
"It's a smart tactic that gets viewers to think about the product." Blake said. "Which usually causes them to purchase said product. Which would be the Ghostbusters' services in this case."
"I have to say though, Doctor Oobleck has the right tone of voice for commercial advertisements." Pyrrha admitted. "He gets right to the chase in a precise and swift manner."
"It's one of the reasons I can stay awake in his class." Ruby said in a hushed tone. "He at least speaks on a level I can understand."
As Willow began to take off her coat, she looked at her TV, giving the commercial an odd look.
"Our courteous and efficient staff is on call 24 hours a day to serve all your supernatural elimination needs." Oobleck said as the commercial now focused on him.
It then showed them all just within the door to the firehouse as they all spoke at once, pointing to the screen. ""We're ready to believe you.""
With her hand on her hip, Willow walked over to the TV and shut it off. She walked over to her coffee table and picked up the bag of groceries before making her way into the kitchen.
"Of course, now the issue will be who is ready to believe us." Oobleck pointed out.
"Give it time. From what we saw in the preview, we'll become famous soon enough." Qrow said to Oobleck.
Willow hummed as she set the bag onto a countertop, pulling out its contents one by one. She gave a sigh as she grabbed several boxes from the bag and went over to the cabinets.
As Willow continued to hum, the viewing zoomed in onto a carton of eggs that sat beside a bag of Stay Puft marshmallows. Suddenly the lid to the carton flipped open on its own, Willow oblivious to the occurrence as she stocked her cabinet.
"Uh-oh." Jaune said with a bland look.
"That can't be good." Ruby shared Jaune's sense of dread.
"Please don't tell me my mother's apartment is haunted." Weiss said with her arms slumped and her eyes wide.
The eggs in the carton started to shake rapidly before one of them popped open, spurting out its yolk and egg whites. Soon other eggs in the carton started to pop open as well, slashing onto the countertop as the eggs started to sizzle.
"I beg your pardon?" Winter asked in befuddlement.
"A ghost is cooking eggs on a countertop." Glynda let the words flow from her mouth. "That's a new one."
"Anyone up for brunch?" Tai asked in regards to the situation.
The sound grabbed Willow's attention as she turned to countertop in shock to see the eggs crack and pop open, sizzling.
"Oh!" She gasped with her hands on her mouth as she saw one of the eggs pop open, taking her aback.
Willow walked closer to the countertop, slowly lowering her hands as she walked the eggs bubble and cook on the countertop before her, her eyes stunned and her mouth agape.
Suddenly, an ominous growl came from her left causing her to blink as she turned her head towards her fridge.
Everyone in the audience widened their eyes towards the ominous growl, sharing a similar look to onscreen Willow.
"Oh, hell no." Weiss immediately frowned with worry written on her face.
"That doesn't sound friendly whatsoever." Penny said while frowning as well.
"Gee, you think?" Yang responded to Penny.
"She's going to open that fridge." Ren said with a cringe.
"She really shouldn't." Jaune said while shaking his head, eyes on the screen.
"But she will anyway." Ren replied.
Slowly, Willow walked to her fridge. She reached her hand out to the door, pulling it open to an ominous yellow light and mist. She stared into her refrigerator as it's contents were replaced by a mass void of dark and glowing clouds. At its center was a glass stairwell and a glass doorway that led to a small pyramid that flowed yellow at the top.
"She just had to open it." Jaune said with a baffled and horrified look.
"What fresh level of hell did she just walk in on?" Roman asked as he and Neo stared apprehensively at the sight before everyone.
"This looks like some biblical shit right here." Qrow said while pointing at the screen.
"Biblical and trippy." Tai added in.
"What on Remnant is this place?" Ozpin asked with a sense of dread.
"A dimension between dimensions." Vortech stated to the audience. "It is referred to as the ghost world. A haunting place with an infinite amount of configurations. One could lose their sanity wandering through its void."
"Ghosts have their own dimension?" Oobleck asked as he stared at the ghost world.
"Not every ghost is an undead creature." Vortech spoke with a warning tone. "The multiverse is a big and scary place."
The glass doors of the pyramid opened to reveal a Terror dog as flames flowed behind it.
"Zuul!" The beast roared out as a blinding white light glowed from its mouth.
"AAAHHH!!" Willow screamed in absolute terror as she swiftly shut the fridge door.
"Mother!" Weiss shouted in worry for Willow.
"My word." Winter held a hand to her mouth in horror.
"The Terror dog speaks?" Port asked.
"It also confirms my theory that the apartment will have something to do with the Terror Dogs." Oobleck said as he rubbed his chin. "Though I have to wonder where the other one is at."
"That is one dog I would be fine with hurting." Ruby said with wide eyes. "Or just running away from it, in general. That thing is worse than a beowolf. And I'm actually fine with beowolves."
"Evil dogs in a refrigerator. There's a first." Nora said with surprise written on her face.
"I have the ever sneaking suspicion things are going to take a turn for the demonic real soon." Jaune said with a fearful look.
"The Ghostbusters are going to have their work cut out for them." Pyrrha said.
After a moment of darkness, the viewing cut to the firehouse as a man on a ladder was putting up a large, plastered white sign that read: "Ghostbusters" just above the archway of the firehouse doors.
"You don't think it's too subtle, Marty?" Qrow called out to the man from below. "You don't think people are gonna drive down and not see the sign?"
"I agree. The sign needs to be more prominent than a banner." Ironwood said.
"They need to have the sign to where people can normally see it when driving on the road." Qrow stated.
The wailing of sirens soon came into earshot as a lengthy, black and grey vehicle with two fins at the back came rolling up to the firehouse.
Qrow walked over to the vehicle with his hands in his pockets. "You can't park that here."
"I recognize that car." Yang said with a small smirk.
Qrow watched as Oobleck got out from the driver's seat as Qrow inspected the car; Oobleck walking up to him. "Everybody can relax. I found a car. Needs some suspension work and shocks, and, uh, brakes, brake pads, linings, steering box, transmission, rear end..."
"How much?" Qrow then asked.
"Only 4800." Oobleck answered him, causing Qrow's face to freeze a bit. "Maybe new rings, also mufflers, a little wiring."
"Looks like Oobleck found another fixer-upper." Qrow remarked.
"The vehicle does appear to be quite spacious though." Oobleck said. "It could be used to help carry any equipment."
"I can't say I'm the biggest fan of this car's look." Roman said as he squinted his eyes to the screen. "Doesn't look clean or classy."
"That car's as classy as they come." Yang said in defense of the vehicle before turning to Vortech. "By the way, what kind of card is it?"
"A 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura." Vortech answered her as he spoke with the air of a car salesman. "With ambulance and hearse conversion."
"They're going to use a vehicle that works both as an ambulance and a hearse in their business to catch ghosts?" Winter asked. "That doesn't seem appropriate for the car."
Inside the firehouse, which had now been renovated with a far more clean look, Glynda Goodwitch sat at a front desk wearing a plaid vest over a striped button-up shirt while reading a magazine. She looked up to see Qrow walking towards her.
"There's Miss Goodwitch." Ruby pointed to the screen.
"Once a receptionist, always a receptionist, it would seem." Glynda said with a bland look.
"Glynda, any calls?" Qrow asked her.
"No." She replied while still reading her magazine.
"Any messages?" Qrow asked next.
"No." Glynda replied again.
"Any customers?" Qrow finally asked.
Glynda then turned her head to Qrow with a bland expression. "No, Dr. Branwen."
Qrow blinked for a moment before speaking again. "It's a good job, isn't it?"
Glynda responded with the best smile she could offer at the moment.
Qrow softly chuckled at the scene, prompting Glynda to look at him.
"What are you finding funny about this?" Glynda asked him.
"I just vindicated in a sense." Qrow replied to her. "Not only do you work for me, but I have you working the near same job Ozpin has you working for. You're my receptionist this time."
"Technically, she's our receptionist." Oobleck pointed out. "This version of Glynda works for you, Ozpin, and myself."
"On receptionist, three bosses." Tai summarized the scenario. "That has to be a headache."
"Yeah, I don't pity my counterpart at all in this situation." Glynda crossed her arms. "Being Ozpin's receptionist can be taxing all on its own."
"I pay you overtime." Ozpin said to her.
"You should pay me more with how much paperwork I have to fill out." Glynda said to him with a stern look.
"Type something, will you? We're paying for this stuff." Qrow then stated to her before he started to walk past her. "Don't stare at me. You've got them bug eyes."
Glynda watched Qrow walk through to the bullpen in the back before going back to her magazine.
Glynda held a deadpan look as she turned to face Qrow.
"Hey, it's not my fault your counterpart wears bigger glasses." Qrow raised his hands in defense.
"Uncle Qrow's pushing it with Miss Goodwitch." Ruby said with a hint of worry as she watched the scene.
"Maybe this Goodwitch has a nicer attitude." Yang offered in a lowered tone.
"Glynda?" Qrow called out to her, prompting Glynda to look up from the magazine again. "Sorry about the bug-eyes thing. I'll be in my office."
Glynda then looked down with a smile as Ozpin, in a lab coat, came out from under her desk. She moved her magazine back so that he could properly stand up. "You're very handy. I can tell."
Ozpin gave no reply as he began to walk over to the outer side of the desk, though Glynda still spoke to him. "I bet you like to read a lot too."
"Print is dead." Ozpin stated to Glynda as he kneeled down to finish hooking up the wires for the small computer on the desk.
"Oh, that's very fascinating to me." Glynda replied to him, closing her magazine as she looked at Ozpin. "I read a lot myself. Some people think I'm too intellectual, but I think it's a fabulous way to spend your spare time. I also play racketball."
Glynda then took her glasses off, as if that would help the mood turn in favor for her. "Do you have any hobbies?"
Qrow widened his eyes in surprise, a wide and goofy grin growing across his face. "No way."
"You see it too, right?" Tai asked Qrow, who nodded in response.
"It's quite hard not too." Port stated.
"Sadly I see it as well." Ironwood said with a sigh. "Beaten out by her own boss. That hurts. I really hope there's nothing like that between the Ozpin and Glynda I know."
"What?" Glynda asked in confusion.
"Are you telling me you don't see what we're seeing?" Qrow asked with a grinning smirk.
"All I see is my counterpart starting a conversation with Ozpin's counterpart." Glynda replied as she gave Qrow an odd look.
"Oh, come on. You can't tell me you can't see what's going on here." Qrow retorted back to her.
"I truly don't." Glynda stated, her confusion growing.
"I can't believe it." Nora said with wide eyes and a grin. "Miss Goodwitch is in love with Professor Ozpin."
Immediately, Glynda dilated her pupils as she turned to look at Nora. "What?"
"I just thought it was a rumor." Yang said in awe. "It's all true."
"The headmaster and the deputy headmistress. It all makes sense." Ruby said
"I'm not in love with Professor Ozpin." Glynda stated with a near frustrated look.
"That's not what your counterpart would say." Oobleck snidely spoke off to the side.
"Glynda and I are just colleagues." Ozpin spoke up. "There's nothing romantic about our relationship. If there was a romance, it's not as if it would be hidden."
"Oz, Glynda's counterpart if flirting with yours. She's clearly in love with you." Qrow said to Ozpin.
"Respect and love are two separate things, Qrow." Glynda sternly said. "Just because my counterpart has... feelings for him, doesn't mean I do."
"If you say so." Qrow raised his hand in surrender, a sly smirk still on his face.
With an almost awkward look, Ozpin got up before replying. "I collect spores, molds, and fungus."
"Oh, that was a poor response." Qrow groaned while shaking his head.
"Looks like the mad scientist doesn't know how to talk with flirty women." Roman chuckled a bit.
"Well, Ozpin did answer her question." Pietro pointed out.
"She doesn't come across as the kind of woman that likes to talk about fungi." Winter said.
It was now shown that Willow, wearing a violet-blue coat, opened up the small door that led into the firehouse. She walked forward, her heels clicking with each step.
"Hello?" Willow called out to whoever might be in the first floor of the firehouse.
As she continued to walk, she noticed Oobleck working under the front hood of the Cadillac before moving on. Oobleck then looked up to see Willow walk by, a cigarette in his mouth.
"It's good to see that mother seems all right after that Terror Dog encounter." Weiss thought to herself as she inwardly sighed.
"I smoke in this universe?" Oobleck asked with a frown.
"It's a cigarette too." Roman said with a disapproving face. "If you're going to smoke, at least have some class and smoke a cigar."
"I'd rather not smoke at all." Oobleck plainly said.
As Glynda filed her nails, Willow walked up to her. "Oh, excuse me. Is this—This is the Ghostbusters office?"
Glynda put down her nail file as she smiled at Willow. "Yes, it is. Can I help you?"
Immediately from the bullpen office, Qrow shot up from his seat, instantly spotting Willow.
"I don't have an appointment." Willow told Glynda. "I'd like to talk to someone please."
Qrow then immediately ran from his bullpen office, hopping over the short, wooden gate door just as Glynda went to grab the telescroll.
"I'm Qrow Branwen." Qrow immediately introduced himself to Willow, prompting her and Glynda to look at him, his voice slightly gasping for air. "May I help you?"
"Wow. He just shot right up the moment he heard the voice of a pretty woman." Yang lightly laughed.
"He leaped towards her like an excited dog running to his owner." Ren said.
'He shot up to her just like an erection.' Neo signed with an innocent smile.
"I believe this phenomenon is referred to as love at first sight." Penny said while tapping her chin in thought.
Weiss merely held a bland look towards the onscreen Qrow.
"If the stories we've heard are true, when Uncle Qrow sees a pretty woman, he capitalizes fast." Ruby sighed a bit while giggling.
"Um, well, uh, I don't know." Willow replied to him with an odd look. "What I have to say may sound a little unusual."
"Oh, that's all we get day in, day out around this place." Qrow reassured her
Glynda merely looked up at Qrow with a deadpan expression, her chin resting on her palm.
"I would quite enjoy it if my counterpart informed her she was our first customer." Glynda said while pushing up her glasses slightly. "Someone's trying to overcompensate to gain favor."
"Once again, I will neither confirm nor deny that." Qrow stated.
"Come into my office, Miss..." Qrow said to Willow.
"Uh, Schnee, Willow Schnee." Willow said as Qrow led her away.
And with that, the viewing ended.
"Well at least this wasn't too much of a cliffhanger as when he left Bumblebee." Yang said.
"Here's to hoping next time we see this universe, we'll see them catching ghosts." Ruby said to her sister.
"So, how did you all take to the Ghostbusters' universe?" Vortech questioned the audience.
"It's quite the start to something intriguing." Oobleck said. "I've never been one for the supernatural, but I find myself being drawn closer to it after taking a look into this universe."
"It's quite the odd grouping, myself with Oobleck and Qrow, but it's a charming universe nonetheless." Ozpin gave his response.
"I've got a PhD and I'm Glynda's boss." Qrow chuckled a bit. "That about says it for me."
"How joyful for you." Glynda sarcastically spoke to Qrow with another deadpan.
"It's safe to say there were many strange things in this universe that I never thought I would ever see in my life." Weiss said.
"I'm still getting over what happened with the Grey Lady." Jaune said as her ghoulish form sent a shiver down his spine.
"She got us good." Ruby lowered her head with a sigh. "And I lost cookie privileges for a month because of it."
"It has a nice, spooky charm to it." Pyrrha gave her comment.
"It gave me more nightmare fuel, so there's that." Roman remarked.
"I'm very interested to see how their equipment will work next time we see them." Ironwood said.
"As do I." Pietro nodded in agreement. "Not to mention the kind of scientific advancements that could be made from studying the world of the supernatural."
"I'm quite fascinated with all these ghosts that are in this universe." Penny said with a smile. "It will be most sensational when we see more of it."
"I never thought I would ever see a universe where ghosts exist, but here we are. I find it quite interesting to say the least. Speaking of, what universe will we be seeing next?" Blake asked.
"An old one, but one filled with mysticism. A tale of light against dark." Vortech said as he started up the next universe. "Another world. Another Time. In the age of wonder. Thra."
End chapter_
Author's notes:
So, how did you all enjoy this chapter?
I know it's very late, given how long it's been between this chapter and the last one. That's not to say I haven't been working on my stories. As you all should know, if you read the author's notes, I upload to Wattpad first as I prefer it to . Wattpad is where I have been working on all of my stories. In terms of how much I have for RWBY watches alternate dimensions, there are a total 16 other official chapters that I've published to Wattpad. However, some of the earlier chapters, such as with the Ghostbusters chapter, are now subpar to my current standard of writing and thus need to be revised. The issue with me getting to revising these chapters is that as an author I'm always thinking of new stuff as opposed to going back to the old stuff. However, once I am finished with the revisions, you guys will all be caught up with my Wattpad readers. Once everything is set, I'll upload all I have onto within a week, then you'll have to wait for updates at the same rate my Wattpad readers do.
But other than that, here we are with the first part of Ghostbusters, right on the heels of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. That was a truly great and beautiful movie, one that I plan to use for this story when the time is right. I originally wanted to get this chapter out on Saturday, but procrastination git the better of me. Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and I will see you all next time.
Farewell, Rule Breakers.
