Chapter 18: Voidwalkers.
Crash walked casually in the middle of the battlegrounds with a confident smirk plastered on his face. The Grimms looked at him as if they were looking at an easy prey. A prey that is too confident about his abilities.
An Ursa barreled towards him before jumping with its claws outstretched. When the Grimm was mid air, it suddenly got split in half vertically before landing with a loud thud behind the skeleton.
As the AU traveler continued strolling casually as more Grimm charged at him. A Boartusk turned itself into a ball and rolled towards the system crasher, but it suddenly reappeared behind a group of Beowolves and knocked all of them out.
"Score!" Crash exclaimed.
The skeleton kept on walking and humming a rhythm of Megalovania. Three Boartusk charged straight at the system crasher, but all of them were teleported high up in the air and fell to their doom. An Ursa used its right claw to swiped left, only for Crash to duck underneath the swing and laid his left hand to its chest and it dissolved immediately.
A Beowolf used it's left claw to slash down upon the AU traveller, to which he sidestepped to his right and used his left hand to dissolve it too. Two Ursa ran on all fours at the skeleton monster in an attempt to attack him.
The system crasher jumped to avoid a bite from the first Ursa and delivered a right palm thrust at the second's face, turning it into dust. The first Ursa turned around and threw a right backhand, only for it to stop inches in front of the AU traveller's face.
The Grimm was confused by the blue aura that surrounds its body. The confusion was short lived as it too dissolved. To a regular person, it looked like the AU traveller had just smacked the Grimm out of existence, but to a certain someone in the air, that was definitely not what had happened.
To Sans, that skeleton had just turned those Grimms into codes. For what reason, he wasn't sure himself, but it definitely wasn't anything good.
Crash's smirk widened as he took his right hand out of his pocket as he approached the Deathstalker.
'Let's see if this works on these guys.' The skeleton monster thought.
With a snap of his left hand, the codes in the system crasher's left eye shifted violently and the Grimms that he previously dissolved reappeared. But instead of having red markings, they had blue markings.
The group of Grimms then charged at the Deathstalker, slowly tearing it apart as the system crasher watched with visible joy. Satisfied with the results, Crash happily skipped in the middle of the battle, paying no mind to the red eyes that were glaring at him.
The canine Grimms growled as they all lunged at the skeleton monster. He raised his left hand and was about to snap when he got caught in a green dorm, protecting him from the Grimms outside.
"Huh,... What do ya know. People here use soul magic too." The AU traveller said aloud.
"HEY!" Ren called out to the Grimms.
The black creatures turned their heads at the green clad boy and charged straight at him. They raised their claws and opened their mouths to attack, only to go straight through the boy without doing any damage. The Grimms clawed, bit and smashed the boy, but all of their attacks gained the same results as before.
Harmless to the boy.
The lotus ninja kept his face as stoic as one can be, unfazed by any of the incoming attacks. Ren was not moving even a little bit to keep his 'Patience' on..
Meanwhile, Pyrrha held her shield up in her right arm while using 'Perseverance' to analyze which angle would deal the most damage to the horde of Grimm. As soon as she finished, she turned to Nora and said...
"Nora! Batter up!"
… As she let go of the shield so the ginger haired demolisher could hit the shield with her hammer.
The shield flew like a deadly frisbee towards the Grimm horde, going through Ren, sawing the Grimms in half before bouncing off the green dome and hitting Jaune straight in the face. The knight fell flat on the floor as he let out a loud 'OOF' sound.
"JAUNE! I'M SO SORRY!" Pyrrha exclaimed.
"Wah-whyyyyyyyy,..." The blond knight cried.
"Well,... That formation is a sight to see. Except for the part when that guy got hit in the face with a shield." Crash told them.
Pyrrha didn't know what to do or say other than giving him a sheepish smile.
"... But the fight is coming to an end." The system crasher stated.
With a snap of his left hand, swords, knives of all kinds launched at the hordes of Grimms. Guns even appeared in the air and started shooting at the remaining dark creatures, mowing them down by the dozens.
Ruby looked at various forms of weapons in the air with a glee-filled smile. Her eyes sparkled with joy as various weapons appeared in front of her.
'Ruby, the plan.' Chara reminded her.
"Focus on the fight, you dolt!" Weiss called out.
"Oh, right! Weiss, 'Integrity'." The red Rose ordered as she looked at the incoming waves of Grimm.
The Grimms suddenly found their bodies surrounded by a blue aura. Weiss smirked as she used her 'Integrity' to lift them up in the air.
"Dragon flower!" The little reaper ordered.
Yang applied 'Bravery' on Ruby as she summoned crimson scythes with orange linings and sent them at the Grimms that were lifted to the air, slicing through them with little to no effort. After that, the 'Determination' scythes stacked up onto each other, forming some sort of deadly beyblade.
"Ladybug!" Ruby ordered.
Blake switched Gambol Shroud to it's kusarigama form and hooked it to a DT scythe's shaft and wrapped her ribbons around the spear end of the scythes. The black cat then threw the clever sheath to Yang, who caught it.
"Yang, pull!" The little Rose called out.
The yellow sun dragon complied and pulled the clever sheath with the ribbons attached to it, causing the scythes-beyblade to spin violently at the Grimms, cutting them down as it bounced at the houses. Blake created many small 'Justice' pellets and launched them at the scythes-beyblade, causing it to go faster and to push the beyblade away from the defenders.
Professor Goodwitch used her Semblance to lift the debris up and sealed the breach with them. Sans helped by reinforcing the wall with bones while the other skeleton mowed down the remaining Grimms.
As the dust settled, the white haired summoner lowered his blaster, and himself with it, to the ground and joined the huntsmen and huntresses in training. The masked boy looked at the skeleton monster, who was skipping joyfully to the crowd. More specifically, towards the general's location.
"So,... How's that for a sign of goodwill, Mister,..." The skeleton monster trailed off.
"General." Ironwood stated.
"Mr General? That's a weird name. Buuuut, I won't be the judge of that." Crash quipped.
"My name is General James Ironwood." The general stated sternly.
"Yeah, that's what I said. Mr General. It's your first name, right?" Crash joked again, earning a glare from Ironwood and a chuckle from a certain blue hood.
"*Sigh* Monster,... By the name of the-"
"Crash." The skeleton in the white trench coat cut him off.
"What?" James Ironwood blurted.
"My name. It's Crash, or Crasher if you want." The AU traveller said.
"Yes, Crash. By the name of the law, I must restrain you until your judgement is placed." The Atlas general declared.
"But, why tho?" Crash gave him a raised eyebrow.
"For the safety of the kingdom." Ironwood answered.
"Why?" Crash asked again.
"Because we don't know if you're with us or against us." Glynda explained.
"Why?" Crash asked again.
"Because we have some questions that you might be able to answer." Glynda stated.
"Why?" Crash asked again.
"Because that's the law, and you just need to comply! NOW STOP ASKING WHY!" Ironwood snapped.
"..." Silence came from the skeleton.
"..." From the general and Goodwitch's side, silence also came over them.
"f(x)." The skeleton monster said.
The general was steaming in anger, Glynda's face looked like she was about to explode and Ozpin facepalmed at the conversation. From the student body, most of them cringed at that horrible pun.
Nora was giving a loud "BOO", Yang and Sans were on the ground, laughing their guts out, Ruby,Weiss and Ren were showing the neutral face of disappointment (aka the Frisk face). This skeleton is sticking his neck out confidently as if he was challenging them to chop his head off and the black cat of RWBY loved that scene.
"Enough." Ozpin said, quieting everyone.
"While we do appreciate the help from monsterkind, we still haven't figured out why or how this attack happened. Until further discoveries have been made, we advise you to stay with us." The headmaster of Beacon continued.
"Under custody." James Ironwood finished.
"No." The wizard interjected.
"What!?" The general exclaimed.
"We are not provoked by him, so we are not enemies, yet." Headmaster Ozpin said.
"Ozpin! Do you realise that this is a monster we're talking about here!? For all we know, he could've been the one who planned all of this!" Ironwood yelled.
"For all you know, Jimmy." Qrow interjected "Are you sure you're not familiar with this guy, Oz?"
"No, I do not know of him, but I do know that this monster helped defend our kingdom. And for that, we owe him a thank you. And besides, I think he is related to a certain someone in my school." Ozpin stated as he looked at team RWBYS.
"Let them talk it out and we'll see how that goes. It is best that we clear out the students while team RWBYS have a talk with him. If he is a threat, we've already had an expert here." The headmaster of Beacon said as he narrowed his eyes at Sans.
'So that guy is Sans. Huh. He doesn't look much of a monster, minus the eyes. So he is either born like that, or he has consumed a soul or more. This ain't good.' Qrow thought.
Sans's POV
The skeleton monster walked towards team RWBYS, specifically Sans, and looked him straight in the eyes. The two of them stared at each other for a couple uncomfortable moments before Crash spoke up.
"Well hello,... Me." He said, putting the team on guard.
"What's with the long faces? C'mon, I won't bite." The AU traveller continued his monologue to try to comfort them, but they wouldn't lower their guard.
"let's,... talk, buddy. wanna go to Grillby's? my treat." Sans said, taking his left hand out of his pocket.
"Sure. I could definitely use a grub." The other skeleton nodded.
With a snap of his finger, Sans and the rest of his team along with Crash teleported away. Glynda looked at the place where they were before turning her attention back to Ozpin, who shrugged and started dismissing everyone. Ironwood frowned as he rounded up his soldiers and went back to Beacon Academy to get ready for the Vytal festival.
Mount Ebott
The teleportation trip was not as fun as they expected. Due to the distance and Sans's tardiness, Sans teleported everyone to his house and they did not land very well.
The masked boy slammed his face to the stairway, Ruby was in the fridge, Weiss got teleported into a sink, Yang's face planted onto the snow, Blake was on the tree and Crash was nowhere to be found. Sans groaned as he got up from the ground.
"That landing really broke everyone's funny bone, huh?" Crash said as he walked through the wall next to the stairway.
Apparently, he was teleported into a wall.
"yea, ya could say that." Sans stated.
Ruby groaned as she got out of the fridge, Weiss jumped out of a really tall sink and landed on her feet. She was about to walk to the door when she realized that she was standing on something very soft. The ice princess looked down and saw that she was standing on a dog.
*Bark*
"OH MY GOSH! I AM SO, SO SORRY!" The white haired girl exclaimed as she got off the dog.
The ice princess then kneeled on the ground and hugged the dog as she continuously apologized to the white dog. The white dog didn't seem to blame her and happily licked her. Weiss suddenly noticed how soft the dog was and kept rubbing herself at the dog.
"Who's a good boy? Whooo's a good boy? Yes you are, yes you are." The white haired girl said as she rubbed the dog's chubby cheeks.
*PFTTTT*
The ice princess looked at the dog confusedly before realizing that the dog was the one who blew a raspberry and squealed at how cute the dog was.
"Gee Ice Queen, I know you have a soft spot for dogs, but I didn't know it'd be this soft." Ruby chirped.
"Don't ruin my moment, Ruby." The heiress looked at the red Rose coldly, causing her to deflate.
"huh,... how did Toby know that i'd end up here?" Sans questioned.
"So your name is Toby, huh?" Weiss smiled happily and the dog barked.
"c'mon, Grillby's isn't really far from here." Sans called out.
Others followed him and met Yang and Blake outside. As soon as the black cat of RWBYS saw Toby, she jumped onto a tree.
A 5-meter (about 16ft) tall tree.
"What the,..." The yellow of RWBYS muttered.
*Screams in cat*
"oh, right. Blake's a cat faunus." Sans remarked.
"How is she afraid of this ball of cuteness!?" Weiss exclaimed.
"yeah, getting Toby close to Blake will definitely end in a cat-tastrophe." The white haired summoner punned.
*HISSSS*
"awww,... c'mon Blake, no need to bear your Fang. promise we'll get Toby away from ya." The summoner joked again.
*Hissing harder*
"Okay, Blake it up, you two. Since she is Feline down right now, I think we should let it drop." Yang chimed in.
"Dammit Yang! Stop adding more stupid cat puns!" Blake yelled.
"c'mon Blake, ya gotta put on a Paw-sitive Cat-titude. no gloomy in the Underground." The white haired boy punned.
"Saaaaaans! Stop adding fuel to the fire!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Yeah, both of you need to stop. It's making her Fur-rious." Crash added.
"Stop encouraging the idiots!" Weiss yelled.
"Okay Blake, we're sorry. Let's just Paws and breathe, alright?" Yang joked again.
"Yeah,... Alright. Just put that dog away from- Wait,... Was that another cat pun?" Blake inquired.
"oh, c'mon Blake. they're just puns! don't take this as a Purr-sonal offense." Sans punned.
"You know what, if you guys can't stop being racist one second, I'll just stay up here." Blake sulked as she turned her back on them.
"Great, now you insufferable bunch have made her angry. Yeah, thanks for the racist remarks!" Weiss threw her hands up in frustration, accidentally throwing Toby to the ceiling.
"Uh,... Weiss?" Ruby asked.
"OH GODS, I'M SORRY!" The white snowflake of RWBYS exclaimed as she realized what she had just done.
Instead of falling back down to the floor, the dog just stood on the ceiling and started biting his fur. Everyone was on the ground, looking at Toby with wide eyes, completely dumbfounded.
"sometimes, i wonder if Toby is a dog or not." Sans stated.
"That thing ain't a dog." Crash declared.
"THAT THING IS A DEMONIC PRESENCE!" Blake yelled.
The dog seemed to notice her fear and walked close to her. The cat faunus shivered every second it took a step closer to her. Blake hissed as she slowly backed away to the edge of the branch.
"Blake! Jump! That's the only thing you can do to get away from him!" Yang yelled.
The cat faunus looked back to find Toby already on the tree. The demon did not give ground to her.
"Jump, Blake! I'll catch you!" The yellow brawler called out.
"BE SERIOUS! I'M NOT DOING A STUPID ROMANCE SHOW WITH YOU!" Blake snapped.
"Jump to my comfy embrace~" The blond said seductively.
"W-WHAT!?" The black cat blushed.
The cat faunus looked at Yang and back at the dog, judging her decision. On one hand, she might get caught by a dumb blond, on the other hand, she gets mauled by a deamon dog and fall to the ground. Blake looked back and saw Toby standing inches from her face.
*YIP*
"EEEEK!" The black cat screamed as she fell back.
She braced for impact, but she felt two arms catching her in a bridal style.
"Are you sure you don't wanna do a romance show with me? You're a really good actor." Yang stated.
The cat faunus opened her eyes to find herself in the arms of the yellow berserker. Blake glared at the blond as she jumped off causing Yang to deflate at the response.
"Awwww,... No need to be shy Blakey. You always have a place in my heart." The blond teased again, causing the cat faunus to look away as she blushed in a deep red.
"heheheh, c'mon Grillby's close by. what would you two love birds like to order?" Sans teased.
"WE ARE NOT TOGETHER!" The black cat yelled.
"The ships are saillin'. Don't be shy, Blake. After all, two sides of a magnet always attract each other." Crash added.
"I hate each and everyone of you!" Blake growled.
Ruby looked down and saw the white dog rubbing itself to her leg. The red Rose rubbed the dog's head as it licked her hands.
"Come on Ruby, Toby. Let's go." Weiss called.
"Coming!" The little reaper responded as she followed her crew.
After a while of walking, CRWBYS stood in front of a bar. By the looks of it, the bar was closed and no one was maintaining it.
"Dude, are you sure this is the right place?" Asked Yang.
"yup, c'mon. get in, get yourself comfy." Sans said as he turned the lights on.
The crew went to the lounge and sat down. Blake, Yang, Ruby, Crash and Weiss (and Toby) sat in that order from left to right. Sans went into the kitchen and the sound of cooking was heard.
"Soooo,... Crash huh?" Ruby started.
"Yeah?" Crash responded.
"Where are you from? What kind of monster are you?" Ruby asked.
"To answer your first question, I'm from the Anti-void, opposite of the Void, where nothing exists. The Anti-void is where everything exists at the same time." Explained Crash.
"So, how does that work?" Yang tilted her head confusedly.
"When a universe is torn apart, some things and some people will be forgotten in the Void and others are driven there and merged into the Anti-void." Crash told them.
All eyes were on the skeleton monster. Sensing the tension in the air rising, he quickly calmed them down.
"Hey, hey. Don't be too sad for me. Think of the Anti-void as some sort of lonely heaven. You can get anything you want, except for sentient beings. Given that you don't give into madness. Like, Error and Ink. They found a way to keep their sanity by watching Alternate Universes."
"I'm sorry,... I didn't know." Ruby muttered.
"Hey, look on the bright side! At least after my AU got deleted, I ended up making friends with Ink, Error, Dream and Fresh. Those guys are great company!" The Anti-void monster chirped.
"funny, Ink and Error never said anything about Dream. i know Fresh, but definitely not Dream." Sans said as he walked out of the kitchen with a fray of food.
The lovely smell hit their nose and they instantly drooled. A tuna burger for Blake, a beef burger for Yang, a bowl of fries for Ruby, mint tea and a sandwich for Weiss and 2 hotdogs for Crash. Sans sat opposite them with a bowl of fries.
"anyone want some ketchup?" Asked Sans as he raised a bottle of ketchup for everyone to see.
"Oh! Oh! Me, me, me!" Ruby responded as she bounced in her seat.
Sans gave Ruby the ketchup bottle and she poured it onto her fries.
'Wait, Ruby! This is one of Sans's stupid-' Chara didn't get to finish as the cap fell off and smeared ketchup onto her fries.
"Ew." Weiss stated.
"heheheh, oops. better check the cap next time. here, you can have mine" Sans offered.
Yet, Ruby looked at the bowl of ketchup with 'Determination'. She picked up the fries and ate them while smiling happily.
'If we aren't sharing a body, I would slap you for force feeding damn KETCHUP SMEARED FRIES!' Chara snapped inside of Ruby's head.
'Quiet, you. Sans worked hard for this.' Ruby responded.
"or,... maybe not." Sans smiled as he took his fries and dipped them into Ruby's bowl and started eating them.
Yang took a spoon and swept a generous amount of ketchup and put them into her burger and took a bite out of it. Weiss watched them eating a sea of ketchup with visible disgust.
Her disgust only increased when she saw Sans DRINKING THE KETCHUP FROM THE BOTTLE. Everyone seemed to share her sentiment.
"Are you sure the food is edible?" Weiss inquired.
"no worries, Ice Queen. magical food doesn't expire." Sans remarked.
"Just worried about how,... Unsanitary and unhealthy you ate." Weiss remarked.
"Your point?" Yang deadpanned.
"..." Weiss looked at them silently before answering.
"Give me some."
"Ummhmm!" Ruby chirped as she put some ketchup onto Weiss's sandwich.
The white snowflake was picking it up when she realized that she couldn't pick it up. She was about to ask for help when she saw Crash and Sans somehow eating without opening their mouths. The ice princess noticed a faint blue aura surrounding their food before a chunk of them disappeared.
"Ya can't really eat a ghost sandwich by picking it up and chewing it." Crash stated.
"How do you eat it?" Weiss asked.
"Surround your food with magic and take a chunk of it and put it into your Aura. Remember, this is monster food, not human food." Crash directed.
Weiss nodded as she did what she was told. And instantly, a real piece of that sandwich appeared in her mouth. It was a very good sandwich. After eating the whole sandwich and finishing her tea, Weiss noticed something, but Yang beat her to it.
"I can feel my Aura getting maxed out instantly, but I don't feel full at all. Like I could eat a dozen more and still be hungry."
"oh yeah,... that reminds me. monsters don't have bodies. their aura isn't the manifestation of their souls, their souls the manifestation of themselves. when a human or faunus's aura shattered, they could still get it back after a while. but when a monster's aura shatters, they would dust away. that's why our food only heals our aura." Sans explained.
"Man, we're just gonna go back to school hungry then." Ruby said.
"Don't worry, Ruby. If we are still hungry after heading back to school, we're just gonna eat your berries." Yang stated.
"No! Stay away from my berries!" Ruby yelled.
"heheheh, i knew this was Bounce to happen, so i made a human pie too." Sans declared before walking back into the kitchen.
A few moments later, Sans walked back to them with a big chocolate pie. All of them smiled brightly as the pie was placed on a round table.
"Damn, Sans! You never said that you're a good cook!" Yang remarked.
"well, when you have to eat nothing but spaghetti all day, ya tend to make food or go to bars when he isn't looking." Sans stated.
"Your brother, Sans?" Ruby asked.
"yup." The white haired boy responded.
"Oh,... I'm sorry. Didn't mean to intrude." Yang told him.
"nah, it's fine. c'mon, dig in." Sans stated.
CRWBYS surrounded the table and before anyone could say anything, Ruby's eyes flashed red.
"Is that my chocolate!? I can tell by smell!" Chara stated.
"…" Sans didn't say anything.
"Saaaaaans!" Chara ordered.
"i will neither confirm nor deny that." Was the response.
"*Inhale* Let's just enjoy the rest of this night." The red eyed girl stated as she gave Ruby back the control.
"So, Crash. You said something about Dream. Who is he - I mean they. What are they like?" Asked Weiss.
"Well, for your information, Dream is adorable. Like, he's really adorable,..."
And so, the night went on as they talked and ate.
The True lab
Dr Gaster sat in front of Merlot with a cup of tea in his hand. The man who speaks in hands slowly sipped the tea before looking up at the mad scientist.
"So, you wanted to use Grimm to unite people? That's quite a good idea in the books." Gaster stated.
"Really, now? Not many agree with that." The cyber scientist said.
"Despite what many people say, I'm not most people. Wanting to unite people is a noble cause, but going out of your way to kill thousands isn't." The void monster declared.
"Good men mean well, doctor. They just don't end up doing good things." Merlot grimaced at the memory of Grimm flooding into Mountain Glenn "I know that you know that feeling."
"All too well, I guess."
"Then why stand against me?" Asked the scientist.
"Because I too know how that ended up. You've hurt and killed thousands of people. I too hurt many in my search for knowledge, but not nearly as many as you did. I know how the knowledge of universes isn't something to trifle with. Now that your mistress is going to use that machine to create holes in different dimensions, I cannot afford to sit and watch from the sidelines anymore." Gaster paused before continuing.
"But, I do not have any jurisdiction to kill you, but I know who does." The void monster said as he walked out of the room, leaving Merlot chained in his cell.
The man who speaks in hand kept strolling as he sent a message through his phone.
It was time for them to go to work.
Finally! This chapter is finished!
The next one is going to be Omakes. But fret not, those Omakes are scenes that I don't put in this story, but are cannon. Also, I'm reaching 200 follows. I'd like to spend some time to thank everyone for your support. Shout out to thechaoticjevil's story The Tale of Remnant. I had fun reading it.
Now that school's over, I've finally gotten the free time to write more of this story and I'll be updating more frequently. Please leave a review, it helps me with the writing.
Stay safe, and I'll see you next time.