Chapter 16: A glitch in the matrix.
Team RWBY and team JNPR were at the training stadium, practicing their magic under the supervision of Chara. All of them were trying to work on their soul traits before Chara could teach them monster magic.
Yang and Nora were using their soul magic to hit each other's weapon. Their 'Bravery' clashed and blew each other's weapon back with little to no damage.
Blake was on one corner of the stadium and she was shooting her kusarigama at Ren while the latter used his Semblance to help activate the 'Patience' in his soul. The 'Justice' bullets hit their mark every single time, but all of them went straight through his head without doing any damage.
Weiss was using her glyphs combined with telekinesis from 'Integrity' to attack Pyrrha, but the other woman completely dodged the attacks. The redhead saw the pattern of all the attacks before they even landed.
Ruby was using 'Determination' to summon red scythes and throw them at Jaune as he created a 'Kindness' shield and blocked all of the attacks from many directions. One of them hit it's mark and threw Jaune back, but the blond knight just stood back up and healed himself before shrugging off the attack.
They all were training with their soul magic until they heard someone enter the training stadium. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to look at the door to see headmaster Ozpin and Penny.
Ruby was glad to see Penny, but not the headmaster. She hadn't forgotten what had happened a few days ago. She put on a forced smile and greeted them.
"Headmaster, Penny."
"Miss Rose, I do apologize for this sudden appearance. I came here to clear a few things and I happened to come across Miss Polendina on my way here, so I'll leave you two to your business before we can have a talk." Ozpin stated.
"What are you plotting?" Yang asked with a growl.
"Nothing, I've just asked someone to clarify some things, and turns out, the truth wasn't really what we thought." The headmaster said.
"How can we trust you? For all we know, you could be tying up loose ends." Blake spoke.
"If I was, would I be talking to all of you?" The grey haired man asked.
"Oh, I don't know, someone of your power is more than capable of that." Weiss remarked.
"Alright, I'll bite. It would seem that you aren't lying. Maybe we can talk about it later." Ruby said before walking towards Penny.
The ginger just asked the red reaper to follow her as she fiddled with her fingers. After a few moments of walking, Penny turned to the little Rose and said.
"Sooo,... I've asked my father to make your other soul companion a body like mine." The robotic girl said.
"Really!? Oh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!" The little reaper jumped in excitement.
"Yup. All we need now is the sketch of the other person. Can you draw her or describe her for me?" The ginger haired android asked.
"Uhhhhh,... I think?" Ruby replied.
'Allow me to help with the sketch. Can you ask her for a sheet of paper and a pencil?' Chara said in the red Rose's head.
"Um,... Sure! Can I have a pencil?" Ruby asked.
"Yes. I've prepared this for you." Penny said as she took out a clipboard with a piece of paper and a pencil before giving them to the red Rose.
'Let me have the control for a moment.' Chara asked.
The little red riding reaper's eyes turned red as the former princess of monster kind took control. The red eyed girl then sketched out the appearance of Chara Dreemur. After finishing the sketch, the magician gave it to Penny and returned the control to Ruby.
"Woah,... That's a really good drawing." The ginger commented.
"I agree." The little Rose added.
'Thank you very much.' The former princess of monsters stated pridely.
"Yeah, thank you for everything, Penny. If there's anything I can do, please tell me. I'll be sure to return this favor." The red reaper beamed.
"Actually, there is." The android smiled widely before saying.
"Can you and your team hang out with me this weekend?"
"Sure! I'll invite team JNPR too." The little Rose replied with a smile.
"Sen-sa-tional! See you then!" Penny cheered as she ran in the opposite direction.
"Seeya!" Ruby waved as she went back to the training arena.
TIMESKIP
The red Rose went back to find Ozpin standing there with…
"UNCLE QROW!" The little reaper called out as she ran to his side and dangled on his right arm.
"Didja miss me!?" She asked.
Her uncle just looked at her for a moment before smirking.
"Nope." He said, popping the 'p' and dropped her to the ground.
Ruby landed on the ground and smiled widely.
"So, what brought you here?" She asked.
'What brought you here? Strange, she never said anything with formalities.' Qrow thought.
"Oz told me to come and clarify something for ya." The crow huntsman stated.
'He doesn't seem to be lying.' Chara told the red Rose.
"What is it?" Ruby asked.
"Can the three of us speak about this somewhere private?" Qrow asked.
"Sure." Was the reply.
'Be careful, he was one of those who tried to catch me.' The red eyed whispered.
The red reaper immediately tensed.
The two of them then walked to team RWBY's dorm room. Not a single word was said in the entire walk. Qrow kept glancing at his niece, as if he was expecting something while Ruby kept avoiding his gaze.
Once the two of them got into the room, the crow huntsman leaned his back to his door while Ruby sat on her bed with her head dipped down. She didn't look at her own uncle the same way she once did anymore.
"What's the matter, kiddo? You seem kinda down lately." Qrow stated.
"I,... I don't know. Were you the one who tried to catch a Maiden?" The red reaper asked, causing the huntsman to widen his eyes.
"What?" He blurted out.
"Please,... Please don't lie to me, uncle Qrow. Are you the one who chased after the fall Maiden named Chara." Ruby asked.
Gears began to shift inside the bird man's head before he nodded.
"Yeah,... I kinda stalked the kid. But, I didn't really try to do her any harm. When we met the kid, she wasn't going to come with us. The orphanage was, without a better term, a hellhole. None of the kids liked the two of them and all other kids were bullying her for thinking that she's a freak." The crow huntsman stopped for a moment before continuing.
"We kept showing at their place and offered her our proposition, but all of our offers were refused. The kid was persistent. She wanted to stay with her sister, though they are not related.
So, we decided that it's best that we keep an eye on her. But, one day, some people tried to catch her for her powers. And, unsurprisingly, the kid escaped our grasp and ran to the nearest mountain, and fell to the kingdom of monsters. Never to be seen again." The huntsman finished.
"That's where you're wrong, Qrow." The little red Rose said as her eyes shifted color.
"What the heck? You never said that you could do that eye thing." Qrow gave her a raised eyebrow.
"It's more than just turned red. Uncle Qrow, say hello to my partner, Chara." Ruby said as a red knife was summoned out of nowhere.
"She was the Fall Maiden, and she was the one who taught our teams how to use magic. And, she seems to have a distaste for you. But, she forgives you nonetheless." The reaper continued.
"Huh, you got possessed by some magical ghost. Just the moment I thought things couldn't get any weirder." The scarecrow rubbed his eyes.
"Oh, I didn't even get the chance to tell you that monsters are really nice. I even made friends with one!" The redhead exclaimed.
"You WHAT!?" Qrow almost shouted.
"Hear me out, Qrow. The monsters were wrongfully judged. They were actually really nice." Ruby stated.
"It's not about them being nice or not. It's their capabilities. They literally grow much stronger by eating human souls. That should be concerning. Stay away from them, Ruby." The huntsman told her.
"Ummmm,... Nope." The red Rose said, popping the 'p'.
'This guy, like most humans, are really biased. He didn't even know a single monster, yet he already judged them for what they are instead of who they are.' Chara scoffed.
"Ruby…" Qrow said, sternly.
"Nah, we have a monster in our team. No can do." The little reaper brushed it off.
"You,... Huh!?" This took the scarecrow by surprise.
"Yup. He's currently on a mission, so you can't really meet him. And, I'm pretty sure you'll like my friend once you get to know him. But,... I think we're getting sidetracked. You were saying that you fought a few people that wanted the Maiden powers, right? Do you know who they were?" The red Rose asked.
"Unfortunately, no. Some of them got passed me and chased after the kid. So, you said before that I'm wrong. How is it that the kid's dead and possessing you if they didn't die after the fall?" Qrow asked.
"Chara?" Ruby called out to her partner.
'Yeah, yeah,... Fine.' The former princess of monsters said as she took control.
"Hello there." Chara greeted Qrow.
"Uhhh,... Ruby, what?" The huntsman tilted his head to his right in confusion.
"Not her. My name is Chara. I can't say that it's pleasure to meet you again, Qrow Branwen." The red eyed girl stated.
With an inhale, Qrow muttered.
"Fuck."
Somewhere in the Doodle sphere
"LOOK! There it is again." Ink said as they pointed at a page glitching like crazy.
"Huh, strange. You're right. The owner didn't delete or left this AU. They just lost control over it." Error stated.
"Yeah,... Do you think it's him?" The artistic skeleton asked.
"Definitely. Let's kill the pest. Once and for all." The glitching skeleton told them.
"Normally, I would say no to that. But now, I couldn't agree more." The artist nodded.
"Kill who, exactly?" A voice was heard from behind the two of them.
Both of them quickly turned around and readied themselves for a fight. Error summoned 3 blasters and pulled the strings out of his eyes while Ink flicked their paintbrush and summoned a bunch of bones from the ground.
The figure in front of them was a skeleton in a fluffy white trench coat with some blue lines along his sleeves and a fluffy blue scarf around his neck. He was wearing black undershirt, black pants and socks along with white shoes. His left eye socket had many codes in them while his right one was cracked and blue fire was leaking out of them.
"Don'tcha know how to greet an old pal?" He asked.
"Crasher." The errored skeleton stated.
"What are YOU doing here!?" Ink growled.
"Well, neither of you seem to know how to greet an old friend huh?" Crash!Sans taunted before continuing.
"Need me to teach you that?"
"Cut the crap. What. Do. You. Want?" Error sneered.
"Uhhh,... I want cookies!" The white glitch stated.
"... What?" The artistic skeleton asked with a raised brow.
"We meant, WHAT IS YOUR DEMAND!?" Error snapped.
"I DEMAND COOKIES!" The fluffy skeleton yelled.
"..." The artist and the black glitches looked at each other confusedly.
"I think he's taunting us." The artistic skeleton stated.
"I can see that, genius." The glitchy skeleton said sarcastically.
"Why, thank you. Not many acknowledge my intellect." Ink told him proudly, completely oblivious to the sarcasm.
"That was me being sarcastic, dumbass. I can handle one crazy skeleton, not two!" The errored skeleton deadpanned.
"*Le gasp* How could you?" The artist recoiled, looking a bit hurt.
"You know, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening. And, forgetting about someone's existence." Crasher finally decided to speak up.
"Well, at least we don't walk into people's conversation." Ink pouted as they shot back.
That triggered the fluff enthusiast.
"Well, at least I don't go busting into other people's places, knocking on their non-doors, offering them cookies, AND THEN NOT GIVING THEM ANY COOKIES!" He yelled.
"What do you even mean? We are in the Doodle sphere! You came to-" Ink cut themself off as they looked at where they were standing.
The Doodle sphere was getting smaller and smaller by the minute.
This was very troublesome.
They must put a stop to this before all things are wiped from existence.
"Hello!? I still haven't got any cookies!" Crash stated.
"...So, wait... All you want are cookies?" Error gave him a raised eyebrow.
"YES!" The white clad skeleton yelled.
"You destroyed dozens of AUs,... FOR FUCKING COOKIES!?" Ink snapped.
"What? No? I haven't been to any AU. But,... It seems like a bright idea! Seeya!" Crash!Sans said as he jumped into a random AU.
"WAIT! GODDAMNIT!" The artistic skeleton exclaimed in frustration.
The artist was about to chase him to Huntsmantale when he was stopped by the glitchy skeleton. They turned to Error and said.
"ERROR! WE'VE GOT TO STOP BEFORE HE DO SOMETHING STUPID! HE MIGHT-"
"Not important right now. We need to stop whatever that is." Error stated as he pointed at the black blob and skeleton thing.
"Or whoever that is." He continued.
"Do not call me a 'what', Error." The creature growled.
"Wow, you are both scary and disgusting." Said Ink.
"Silence." The blob ordered as it turned into a black dragon.
The dragon's eyes lit up in a shade of purple along. It's jaw split as purple fire came out of it's mouth. The dragon's under the dragon's pitch black scales, purple smoke came out under it.
"Cool transformation,... Now, who are you?" The glitch asked.
"We are Lurker. We are the darkness. We are the shadows. The consumer of worlds." It stated.
"We? Crap." The artist said.
"Yes,... We are perfection, salvation." Lurker told them as souls formed around it's body.
"Why are you taking AUs?" Error asked with a hint of venom in his tone.
"These creations, these abominations are imperfect. They are cruel, idiotic, selfish. And I intend on getting rid of those traits." Lurker stated.
"By getting rid of them!?" The artistic skeleton sneered.
"It is but a small price. In order to get rid of those evil things, they must be put in the right place. There must be order." The dragon explained.
"Then the creators won't be able to be creative! You cannot force someone to create, or something to be created!" The artist shot back.
"It will be done, whether you like it or not. And if you choose to stand in my-"
He didn't get to finish as a glitchy blaster shot at it's face. But, the hit didn't seem to do the dragon any damage.
Many bones rained on the dragon, but green shields were preventing the bones from hitting him.
"Yeah, I'm kinda bored of your shit talk. Destroying is MY thing. And boy, do I have a bone to pick with ya." Error hissed.
The glitching skeletons then pulled cables out of his eyes and stringed souls appeared all around him. The artist's eyes turned into a red scope as he flicked the paint brush. Then, ink blasters and bony ink dragons came out of the ground.
"You wish to stand against me. So be it. I was planning on taking you two down anyway." Lurker stated as they charged at each other.
Meanwhile
"Woah!" The blue glitch exclaimed.
Crasher landed in front of some sort of castle looking construction. He stared at the construction in awe as he walked towards the castle.
"If I had landed in some kind of medieval AU, I might have to make the cookies myself. Or maybe steal some. Eh, whatevs." The fluffy skeleton shrugged.
Sorry for the hiatus. I was busy studying for my mid term test and I was running out of ideas, so this chapter took hella long to make.
I will try to post the next chapter as soon as possible. But, knowing that the final test is coming soon, the next chapter might take a bit longer to make.
That's all I have to say.
Please, leave a comment. It really helps me with the motivation part. Btw, what do you think about my OC, Crash!Sans?