How's it going everybody? Gun Sonata is back!

Sorry this took so long to update. Life, helping out my folks and distractions in general got in the way of everything. That and working on other stories. Also, this chapter was going to be longer but I became so tired I saved the second half for next time. But in any case, he's the chapter you've all been dying to see: Grayson and Ishi meet Team RWBY and Team JNPR!

Volume 5 has been another amazing experience for me and I can't wait for the next adventure in Atlas. We'll probably get to see Weiss confronter her father and maybe see Penny's creator who'll shed some light on her origins! I don't get why so many people are ripping on Volume 5. I honestly compare it to the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist: It was mostly character development and drama but it also had its fair share of great fight sequences. I guess I'm just that type of guy.

Review time!

Junior VB: Thank goodness they did.

Elusive Prey: True but if they got eaten then we wouldn't have this story!

37: A match made in heaven…or hell depending on your perspective. I'm keeping that part a secret. I knew you'd like the reference!

Guest #1: Good to see another fan of that series.

Guest #2: Relax, that's the only Rick and Morty reference I'll put in this story.

Alliance Empire: It's the most fun I've had with a shooter and it's also the most hysterical! I've got something planned for him…

Mastermind: Indeed it will and that will be the main focus in the next chapter.

Big Smoke: Yup. Remnant is in for a wild, and incredibly violent, ride. Read on and find out!

New Universe Returns: Sorry this update took long.

Guest #3: He's actually someplace else in Vale but ill reveal where in future chapters.

Colossalblackening: Already answered your review in the PM.

Red John: His location will be revealed in later chapters and I do plan of making a chapter detailing the events at Vale and Beacon but that won't happen until Grayson, Ruby and Co. first engage the Burnouts.

NRG: Those are some clever ideas but I do have something intended for those two that will be very benefitting for the both of them. I'll keep Neo silent as she was meant to be but I did have her communicate via texting in chapter 3. I'll think about sign language. I wouldn't give up hope just yet; we might see her in future volumes!

Bulletstorm and RWBY belong to their respective owners. I do not own either of them.

Chapter 6

Deepening Mysteries

PLATEAU-SECRET WHITE FANG BASE

With the Grimm threat fully subdued, Team RWBY and Team JNPR got a good look at the man who began to walk over to them. He was tall, gruff looking individual wearing combat fatigues, had a pair of goggles around his neck and wielded a weapon of an unknown design. He also had a wild, unkempt hairstyle with a prominent 5 o'clock shadow and several scars on his face.

"Uh…thanks for the help. That was…..um…." He started, unable to find the right words on how to describe what just happened.

"Awesome? Jaw dropping? Kick ass? Unbelievable? I can keep going!" The blonde with the shotgun gauntlets quipped.

"All, I guess?" He replied. The blond grinned broadly.

"Well, we're just thankful we managed to rescue you two just in time." The small girl with the scythe said with a beaming smile.

"Yeah, same here. Thanks again for the help, Miss…?" Grayson began, holding out his hand.

"Ruby Rose." The girl introduced as she eagerly shook his hand. She gestured to the blond who hopped off a weremonster corpse. "This is my sister, Yang Xiao Long."

"Sup?" Yang greeted. Grayson raised an eyebrow as he looked at them. "You're sisters? You two look nothing alike."

"Technically we're half-sisters but still family nonetheless." Yang replied while slinging her arm over Ruby. "Never got your name by the way."

"Grayson Hunt." He said with a nod.

"Pleasure to meet you! These are my teammates and besties, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee." Ruby said happily as she introduced her friends to him.

"You do know I detest being referred to that, right?" Weiss reminded her, seemingly disregarding Grayson. In contrast to Weiss, Blake politely nodded her head to Grayson with a small smile.

"So I take it the other blonde is your brother?" Grayson asked as the thumbed over to the boy with the sword and shield. Yang and Ruby instantly burst out laughing.

"What?!" He blurted out, completely off guard. "I'm not related to them! Though I can see why you kinda made that assumption. My name's Jaune Arc, in case you were wondering. These three are also my friends and teammates; Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren." Pyrrha smiled at Grayson, Nora waved her hand in greeting while Ren bowed respectively.

"You all displayed impressive skills earlier." Ishi commented as we walked up to them.

"Aw, that was nothing!" Nora beamed. "That whole fight was a walk in the par-" Nora's words died in her mouth when she and everyone else saw the other person they saved. He was around the same height as Grayson wearing the same clothing as he did. He had peach fuzz haircut and his left arm was covered in intricate tattoos but the most striking and somewhat disturbing feature was his artificial arm, leg and half his face. They all knew of bionic replacements for those that lost their limbs in accidents but this man looked terrible. He looked like he had been through a wood chipper and then had shoddy replacements slapped onto him. Visible sutures, exposed wounds and haphazard skin grafts made his appearance all the more chilling to them. An occasional wince from him was a sign that he was in a great deal of pain.

Noticing the teens frightened looks and Ishi's growing discomfort of being stared at, Grayson cleared his throat. "*Ahem* This is my friend, Ishi Sato. Don't let his appearance scare you; he's a good man at heart."

"Oh! Uh, nice to meet you!" Ruby quickly said, realizing she might've accidently offended him by gawking at his artificial arm, leg and a chunk of his head. She couldn't help but feel a tad scared by his appearance. Ishi looked like some kind of cyber-zombie from GLOOM (a videogame that Yang never let her play).

Weiss was appalled at the abhorrent state of the man's artificial limbs. It looked like he had them installed by some back alley reprobate for goodness sake! Atlas was the leading manufacturer of prosthetic limbs so hadn't this man gone to them instead? "Are you two okay?" She inquired.

"Well, aside from a couple of bruises and scrapes from those weremonsters, we're just dandy." Grayson said with a grin.

The teams raised their eyebrows in confusion. Did they just hear that? "Weremonsters? You mean the Grimm, right?" Jaune questioned.

"That is what they're called?" Ishi asked.

This was starting to weird everybody out. How could these two not know anything about the Creatures of Grimm? "You don't know what Grimm are? Aren't you two Huntsmen?" Jaune pressed further.

"Are we talking deer hunters or big game hunters?" Grayson asked, further confusing them all.

"Pfffffft, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Yang laughed. "Okay guys, you got us good. Very funny!" Her only response came in the form of Grayson and Ishi's blank looks. Yang's smile faded. "Oh…you two aren't kidding, are you?"

Grayson and Ishi looked at each other, unsure of how to answer. "You could say that we are not from around here." Ishi said.

"You mean you guys were born under a rock?" Nora said, absentmindedly.

"Nora…" Ren chided.

"What she meant to say was that you both hail from a rural island, I presume?" Pyrrha corrected her.

"Erm…not exactly." Grayson answered. He and Ishi still weren't sure how to break the news that they came from outer space. These kids seemed to have no knowledge of the Confederation which only furthered their curiosity on just how isolated these people were.

"Okay, I think this little game you two are playing has run its course." Weiss said as she walked over to them. "It's literally impossible for anyone to not know anything about the Grimm so either you're making fun of us or you're withholding information."

She then pointed her finger directly up at Grayson's face (he was taller than her). "So what's the real story? You had to have come from one of the Four Kingdoms. Are you Huntsmen from Mistral or Vacuo? You certainly don't seem to be from Vale and certainly not Atlas due to your incredibly dirty attire. You two obviously must be one of those uncouth freelance Huntsmen looking to line their pockets with Lien-" Her ramblings were interrupted when Grayson lightly swatted her hand out of his face. He hated these rich, bratty, snobby types.

"Look, kid. First off, I don't understand any of the horseshit yer yappin at me."

Her eyes widened in shock, offended at this man's language. "Wha-"

"Second, if you stick your finger in my face again, I'm gonna snap the rest of them off and jam them into your ass."

Yang and Nora couldn't help but snicker as their friend was getting roasted by this guy. He was the type that didn't take crap from anybody. Ruby felt a little uncomfortable hearing such bad words while the others were a little bit cautious that this man would become violent. Weiss's mouth was completely agape. "HOW DARE Y-"

"Third, we don't know jack shit about this planet. We just crash landed here a while ago!"

"Crash landed?" Blake repeated as she turned to the others who had the same looks of growing realization. "You mean…you all came from that ship earlier?"

'Hoo boy.' Grayson thought as he and Ishi felt the teens expectant gazes solely focused on them. Truth be told, they had no idea what would happen if they told them they came from another world where humanity colonized the stars. They were actually worried how they would all react. But there was no point in lying to them at this rate so they might as well just tell them.

"Yeah. We did and we're not from this world." Grayson answered. Now was the moment of truth. Would they believe them or not?

The teens all shared looks of disbelief and incredulity. But Ruby's was one of pure excitement and amazement as she began jumping up and down uncontrollably while squeeing like a rabid fangirl. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh you're them! You're the aliens! I was right all along!" Ruby exclaimed.

Grayson and Ishi blinked in confusion. They weren't expecting this kind of reaction. "We-" Grayson began but was then interrupted by Nora who jumped in front of Ruby.

"PLEASE! DO NOT EAT US!" She hollered while holding up her hands like she was under arrest. This garner more confused looks from the pair, as well as the others. "THE PEOPLE OF REMNANT AREN'T YOUR ENEMY! WE ARE NOT FOOD!"

"I can assure you, we are not aliens." Ishi told her, wanting to clear up any misconceptions. Ruby wasn't buying it.

"Oh, really? How do we now those aren't disguises to blend in?" Ruby said, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Trust me. If we were really aliens, you'd probably already know by now." Grayson assured her. Before he could react, Ruby teleported right in front of him, nearly causing him to fall over backwards in surprise!

"ButIdon'tknowsoareyoualiensornot?!" Ruby asked frantically as she began zipping around him in search of something. "Where's the zipper? Are you wearing a latex max? Is this a full body suit? Do you have green skin and antenna? TellmetellmetellmetellmetellmeTELLME!"

"What is your malfunction, shrimp?!" Grayson exasperated as he tried to back away from the hyperactive half-pint. Yang went over and yanked Ruby away from Grayson before she could latch onto him like a crazed marmoset.

"Take it easy, Sis." She said while giving her a pat on the back. "These guys ain't aliens. But are you two seriously telling the truth? You really aren't from Remnant at all?"

"Remnant of what?" Grayson asked.

"Is that the name of your planet?" Ishi inquired.

"Yeah it is. Wow, you guys really come from outer space?" Jaune said in amazement. "You look just like us!" He didn't notice the concerned look Blake gave him.

"That means you're our intergalactic cousins!" Nora beamed as she leapt over and pulled Ishi into a bear hug. "Welcome to Remnant!"

"Urk! The feeling's…mutual." Ishi croaked as her hug got tighter and tighter. This girl was freakishly strong for her age.

"All of you seriously believe this?" Weiss asked everyone present. It was evident that she wasn't buying Grayson and Ishi's story. "It's clearly obvious that they're lying!"

"I think they may be telling the truth, Weiss. Then again…" Ren began as he looked to the pair. "Do two have Auras and Semblances? Is there Dust where you come from?"

"The first two went right over heads but what did you mean by 'dust'?" Grayson answered.

"Our energy source?" Weiss elaborated. "It powers our machinery, homes, vehicles, weaponry; it's essentially a part of our lives."

The two men stared as Weiss as if she was mentally insane. "So everything on this planet runs on…just plain old dust?" Grayson asked, trying to make sense of this.

" 'Plain old dust'?! It's the most valuable resource on Remnant! Humanity would be rendered extinct without it and why are you still looking at me like that?" She demanded at Grayson and Ishi who still wore confused expressions.

Grayson threw up his arms as he shook his head. "Whole planet's full of lunatics…" He muttered. He felt Ruby give him a reassuring pat on the arm.

"It's alright. Weiss is like that sometimes." She told him. Grayson leaned in and whispered into her ear. "Hope you got a butt-ton of Prozac on ya."

Weiss was just about to let loose another tirade at them but thankfully, Blake decided to step in. "Weiss, I think there's been a miscommunication. They think you mean the other kind of dust."

"What other kind could I possibly mea-" Weiss stopped herself as she slowly realized what Blake was getting at. She smacked her forehead. "Ohhhhhhh. I see now."

Ishi noticed a small vial of the flammable multicolored sand lying by his foot. He picked it up and inspected it before regarding Weiss. "Is this what you're referring to?"

"Exactly." Weiss affirmed. Pyrrha had now taken an interest in these men who seemed to have no knowledge of anything on Remnant and it intrigued her to no end. "So you don't seem to know about Dust, do you happen to know anything about Auras and Semblances?"

"Don't have a clue what those are and to answer your question, Renny, we don't have those." Grayson answered, regarding both Pyrrha and Ren who had a confused look on his face at the nickname "Renny."

"So…where do you guys come from?" Yang asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

Grayson looked to Ishi who was deep in thought before eventually looking at him and nodding. Already knowing what Ishi meant, Grayson tapped a couple of buttons on his Leash and then turned to the kids.

"Hold onto your butts." He said as he pressed a button. A large holographic map suddenly materialized out of the device on his hand and showed a multitude of stars and colorful nebulas in a swirling spiral. Team RWBY and Team JNPR's mouths hung open in stunned awe.

"This is the Milky Way Galaxy. It is a system comprised of over 400 billion stars and 100 billion planets." Ishi explained to the mesmerized group.

"T-t-t-t-t-that many?!" Ruby stammered. Her brain felt like it was going to explode.

"Yup." Grayson answered as he tapped the left part of the galaxy with his finger which then zoomed in on a planet that bared a striking resemblance to Remnant! "And this little blue pearl is our home: Earth."

"Woah! It looks so much like our planet!" Jaune exclaimed.

"And look! Your moon's still in one piece!" Nora pointed out. Earth's moon was still whole, unlike theirs.

"So then….there's actually another civilization outside of Remnant?" Pyrrha gasped in amazement.

"Correct." Ishi confirmed. "Since then, we have explored the farthest reaches of space and colonized over 486 million planets."

"That's incredible! You guys are actually able to travel to different planets and cruise around in space!?" Yang eagerly asked.

"Bingo!" Grayson replied. "But why haven't you guys made your own ships and satellites? You should be able to, right?"

"That's because Dust has its limitations. If it tries to leave our atmosphere, it evaporates almost instantaneously. Our knowledge of space is actually slim and none to be honest." Blake explained.

"So why don't you just use something else besides Dust? I'm sure you guys can just swap it out for a substitute." Grayson suggested.

The teams looked at each other, unsure of how to answer. "I don't think there is." Blake answered.

"Besides, what could we possibly replace it with?" Pyrrha guessed, shrugging.

Grayson raised an eyebrow in confusion before plucking the vial of red colored dust out of Ishi's hand. He studied it carefully before turning his attention back to the others. "So you kids are tellin me that this stuff is the only source of fuel on your planet?"

"We're all teens, you know." Nora reminded him with a pout.

Ren decided to answer that question since Nora was being…Nora. "If there was any other resource on Remnant besides Dust, we would've discovered it a long time ago. I'm guessing there's no Dust on Earth or any of the planets your civilization has explored?"

"Correct. This is our first time seeing something like this. Our people haven't found this 'Dust' on any of the planets we've explored." Ishi answered. This came as a genuine surprise to the Huntsmen and Huntresses. There was no Dust where they came from? It was hard to believe they found other sources of fuel, one that actually allowed them to travel amongst the stars. But how come Remnant only had Dust and they didn't? They were brought out of their thoughts when Grayson called out, "You gonna weigh in on this, Snowflake?"

Everyone looked to Weiss whose mouth was completely agape and her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Ruby couldn't help but snicker.

"I think you might've overwhelmed her." Pyrrha said.

"At least it shut her up." Grayson replied.

"Let me see if I can snap her out of it." Yang suggested as she walked over to her. She stuck her pinky finger into her mouth and then shoved it right into the left ear of the heiress. It brought back to reality in the worst way possible.

"KYAAAAAAAAA! W-W-W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She shrieked as she wiped her ear.

"Well, you were zoning out and always I wanted to do that to you for a looooooong time." Yang teased as she wagged her saliva coated pinky. Fuming, Weiss decided to chew out Yang later for that revolting act and instead focused back to the matter at hand. She regarded Grayson and Ishi warily.

"Is it true? You two are really from another planet?" They gave her a look that told her she already knew the answer. At first, Weiss wanted to scoff at that notion and still claim that they were lying. But the evidence was continuing to stack up and she could no longer deny it any longer. These men truly did come from a civilization from beyond the stars. She could only manage a shaky nod in acceptance.

"So you said before that Earth colonized millions of planets. Did you meet any aliens on them?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, oh, oh! Didja, didja, didja, didja, didja!?" Ruby squealed as she shook with excitement.

"Well…yes." Grayson answered.

Several small gasps came from some of the team members while Ruby looked like she was going to explode with a face splitting smile.

"And no. Grayson finished. Ruby smiled instantly disappeared and was replaced with confusion and disappointment.

"On some planets we discovered some alien animals but they weren't exactly intelligent, ya know what I mean? These planets had all sorts of 'em but they didn't have the same smarts as a human." Grayson elaborated.

"The correct term is Xenofauna." Ishi said to him. Grayson rolled his eyes.

"So if your people hadn't discovered any alien species that have the same intelligence as yours then what does that make us, then?" Blake inquired.

"See, here's the thing." Grayson started as he panned the map out on his Leash back to the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy. "Most of the galaxy is still unexplored. We've barely scratched the surface as it is. Your planet is located at the end. The last planet in the galaxy." He then tapped a small dot at the very edge of the map, zooming in to reveal Remnant.

"We're that far out in the boonies?" Yang said as she scratched the back of her head.

"Yes. But your planet now holds a significant place in the galaxy. As it stands, you are the first intelligent, fully sentient species ever encountered in our recorded history." Ishi revealed.

Everyone was stunned to hear that. This was huge. This was bigger than any of them could even image. They had actually made contact with another group of humans who had achieved intergalactic travel, something that was impossible for the people of Remnant. But Grayson and Ishi's civilization were able to and this was their first time meeting another group of humans like them. The teams couldn't even begin to image how everyone on Remnant would react to that news, let alone believe them.

Blake however, felt herself become increasingly worried. While she was fascinated by everything she had just heard, she fretted how Earth would react to the Faunus. Would they embrace their species and work towards achieving equality while treating them with dignity or would the Faunus once again be the subject of racism and discrimination just like with Remnant?

"So that pretty much means if you guys think about it, you're the aliens." Grayson added with a smirk.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" Ruby sqeaked.

"MIND.BLOWN." Nora gasped as she gripped the sides of her head.

"That…actually sounds about right." Jaune said, strangely agreeing with them.

"That's amazing!" Ruby said with joy. "So is it just you two or are there others from Earth who came with you?"

Grayson's smile vanished. He looked down at his feet with a look of remorse, guilt, and sorrow. Ruby was immediately concerned as well as everyone else. Ishi saw that most of them were now looking at him and could only sigh.

"There were two others with us. Our friends. They…did not survive the crash." Ishi solemnly explained, deciding to spare the group the gory details of how his comrades had been mauled to death by the Grimm.

The teams felt absolutely horrible. A sense of sadness and failure coursed through their minds as the deaths weighed heavily on them. Although Blake was right that they couldn't save everyone, it was still a huge emotional blow to them all. Ruby was taking it the worst. She gripped the sides of her skirt as hard as she could while shutting her eyes as hard as she could to keep the tears from leaking out. If she and the others had been just a little bit faster and hadn't been held up by Grimm, they could've saved Grayson and Ishi's friends. How could she call herself a Huntress if she couldn't save them?

"We're so sorry for your loss…" Pyrrha expressed her deepest condolences. The two of them didn't say a word; they were busy mourning their fallen friends. They all stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Um…I know this is a really bad time to be asking this, I really do feel for you guys, but do you know anything about that giant ship that came crashing down after you showed up?" Yang asked.

That question snapped Grayson out of his funk and made him think long and hard about it. From what he and Ishi could tell, the inhabitants of this planet knew nothing about the rest of the galaxy, even the Confederacy for that matter. This was his best chance to warn them just how royally fucked up the Confederacy was and maybe prevent Sarrano from fooling them into thinking he was the good guy. The more people knew that he was a murderous psycho, the better.

"The ship you're talking about is a battle cruiser known as the Ulysses. On board that ship was a sociopathic general by the name of Victor Sarrano." Grayson explained.

"Hold on, 'sociopathic general'?" Yang repeated with everyone growing concerned looks.

"Bingo. Any war crimes or atrocities you can think of, he's done them all. The worst part is that he actually enjoys it and he doesn't give a shit about who he hurts to get his way. He's part of our so called 'government' known as the Confederacy. It's a horribly corrupt dictatorship that's had a stranglehold on the galaxy for as long as I can remember." Grayson informed.

"And Sarrano is the leader." Ishi said. "He may hold the rank of general but that's in name only. He rules the Confederacy with an iron fist."

Everyone was not expecting to hear any of this. They presumed that Earth's government would be like The Four Kingdoms but they were proven terribly wrong after hearing Grayson's description. Some of them were actually scared. If this Confederacy was able to master interstellar travel then who knows what they were capable of? And judging from what they knew about this Sarrano character, he could be best described as an "evil" version of General Ironwood. It seemed that the stakes had become higher now that it had been made clear that the leader of a corrupt government from another civilization had crash landed on their isolated planet. But the bigger question was how did it crash here in the first place?

"So what happened to the Ulysses? That whole thing was on fire." Ruby asked.

Grayson knew that he had to tell the truth about how all of this happened but how would they take it? There was only one way to find out.

To be continued…

Hope it was everything you guys were expecting!

This was a doozy to write as I had to find the right reactions for the RWBY and Bulletstorm cast as well as an explanation for each other's respective planets. I just hope I got it right. You guys might be wondering why the Teams haven't seen the dead White Fang bodies yet. That's because the multitude of dead Grimm are obscuring them but as we all know, Grimm bodies disappear over time.

That matter will be addressed in the next chapter this month! Will Ruby and the others help them or not? Bit of a spoiler warning for you guys, when the Groups do meet up the general, Sarrano will be especially cruel towards Jaune and Blake for obvious reasons.

Don't forget to review but please don't flame.