Disclaimer: I don't, and will never, own anything that appears in this fic.
Journey Through Remnant
Chapter 24: The Beginning of the Invasion
World of Remnant, Beacon Academy…
While the others were dealing with their own issues, Sun and Neptune, the former more so, were taking their time wandering the grounds of Beacon. After learning of the multiverse and all the problems involved, Sun wanted to clear his head.
"Still have a headache?" Neptune asked his friend as they walked in the school's outskirts, not too far from a fence that marked the perimeter.
"Not anymore," Sun told him, "We should be heading back soon."
"Yeah, the others are probably wondering where we are."
Before they can be on their way, however, a brief and sudden flash of light erupted ahead of them.
"What the-?!" The monkey Faunus shouted as reflexively he covered his eyes despite the fact the light had disappeared before his hand even reached his eyes.
After rubbing their eyes for a few moments, the duo noticed that a new figure was now standing where the light shined from. It was raking the ground for a couple of seconds before it noticed where he was.
"…What?" Sun repeated as the new arrival took in its surrounding.
The figure was mechanical in nature. Its body was black, with most of its upper body being covered with silver plating. Similarly, it had golden plating on its legs and along the front of its torso with a black hook on its chest. On its left shoulder was a wooden tag with unfamiliar characters. Finally, it had glowing yellow 'eyes' and had silver horns similar to a stag beetle on either side of its head with another single golden horn on its face.
"What is this place?" The robot spoke in a deep voice.
"Annnnd my headache's back…"
Students' Dormitories…
Ruby sighed as she stared at her Scroll, "Still not answering…"
Despite her and Yang's many attempts, their father still hadn't returned to their calls. What exactly was he doing that he couldn't respond to?
"How 'bout you, Weiss?" Ruby asked her partner, who was busy trying to call her sister.
"No, it keeps saying that she's out of range," Weiss said, "She is probably busy doing business for the Atlasean Army."
"At least you have an idea why she's not picking up," Yang grumbled, lying on her bed.
"What's he doing…?" The silver-eyed girl wondered as she put her Scroll away, "Maybe Uncle Qrow'll know."
"Doubt it. When was the last time he visited Patch?" Yang shot down that thought, "Maybe we should just go to Professor Ozpin. He might have an idea."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Ruby agreed with her sister, "But chances are Professor Ozpin might have his hands full at the moment."
"So, once again, we got nothing better to do than lie around and wait." Yang was getting sick and tired of it. Luckily for her, though, the door flew open, and Penny came in dragging her new friend with her.
"Penny! What are you doing here?" While elated to see her robotic friend, Ruby thought that Penny would be with the others at Atlas at the moment. What's more, her companion was someone Ruby wasn't expecting to see so soon, "You're…Jin, right?"
"So, she's this friend of yours?" The sharply dressed man asked Penny, taking a glance at the three inhabitants of the room.
"Yup!"
"Uh… Should he be here?" Yang didn't quite know how to feel about the new Rider in Beacon's presence.
"I have a question for you. Although, you two might help too." Jin said.
"Okay then… What is it?" What Jin said next was not something Ruby, or anyone really, was expecting to hear that day.
"Is humanity something that's truly worth protecting?"
"…Huh?!"
Following his question, a small silence fell onto the room, excluding Penny's small nervous laugh.
"Can we go back a couple of minutes?" Yang broke the silence, giving Jin an incredulous look, "What the hell did you just say?"
"Jin…asked me that just now. I thought you'd be able to convince him that humanity is worth saving." Penny explained to the three.
"O-Of course it is! What kind of question is that?!" Weiss stuttered, dumbfounded by the sudden question, "What makes you think it's not?!"
"Yeah! We're all humans here!" Yang didn't notice Penny's brief change of expression, "We wouldn't you think we should be defended?!"
"Uh…That's the thing…" Penny said, "Jin's…not human."
"…Can you repeat that?"
"I'm, to put it simply, an android," Jin stated with a mostly straight face.
"What?! You're an android?!" Ruby, who had been silent the entire time due to being stunned by Jin's question, practically screamed at that reveal.
"You know, I'm starting to miss three days ago when all we had to worry about was the tournament." Yang sighed in exasperation.
Ozpin's office…
"General Ironwood, what do you suggest we should do next?" Ozpin asked the currently frustrated General of Atlas. Now that they know of the impending arrival of the Ark, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy was thinking of any possible plans he could do to prepare for the coming battle.
"Unfortunately, most of my soldiers are currently stationed on the outskirts of Vale," Ironwood told Ozpin, "With the Festival in a few days, it'll be impossible to pull them away in time."
"'In time'? We don't even know when this Ark thing will come-" Qrow spoke his mind, pointing out that fact, "-or if that it'll show up here or in the city itself. For all we know, it might get here after the Festival ends."
"Well, Jin was rather specific in saying that it'll come soon," Eiji remembered the Humagear mentioning that several times.
"Professor Hino, do you have any way to contact Professor Kadoya?" Normally, Ozpin wouldn't ask, as he assumed that the traveler didn't leave any way to call him. However, his help would defiantly be useful.
"Sorry, I don't." And his assumption was proven correct. Though there is something else he must ask.
"Is there any other Kamen Rider you could ask for help?"
"No, I can't contact any of the others either…" Obviously, Eiji doesn't have the ability to travel through different dimensions. Trying to get the other Riders' help was impossible.
Ozpin couldn't help but sigh in frustration. When he woke up that morning, he wasn't expecting not only the return of his missing staff and students but also the sudden arrival of a fourth Kamen Rider with his warning. All within the span of a couple of hours. Unfortunately for the reincarnating man, his day was about to get worse. Way worse.
Without any warning, the tower started shaking violently, causing the four to be thrown about the room, Ozpin falling off his chair.
"What?! An earthquake?!" Qrow shouted in surprise.
"Wait! That is-!" Eiji spotted something familiar outside, high in the sky above Beacon. Something he was hoping he won't be seeing soon. A purple vortex. A portal created by Foundation X with hordes of monsters coming out of it.
"What's up with today?!" Coco Adel, leader of Team CVFY, loudly complained as she used her Gatling gun to mow down the waves of enemies that suddenly came out of the massive portal above Beacon, "First, the bird guy appeared! Then the professor came back! And now this?!"
When Coco woke up that day, she didn't think that she would be fighting an army of monsters that were coming through a purple vortex in the sky by noon. Along with her team, she had been on their way to the Bullheads to take a day trip to Vale when a sudden earthquake followed by the sky opening up forced them to change their plans.
"Doesn't...matter," Yatsuhashi Daichi grunted in between swings of his sword, "Right now, we need to deal with them."
Fortunately for them, most of the monsters that came out of the portal, such as the mummies and ninjas, were quite easy to take down. Unfortunately, though, they were getting replaced as quickly as they were killed. And that was not even bringing up the several monsters that came through were much more difficult.
Two of which were currently being distracted by the other two members of Team CFVY.
"Fox! Watch out!" And by distracting, they were actually trying their best to avoid getting hit by the two.
The first was similar to the Flying Smash in that it looked like it was artificial with its metallic-looking body. It was mostly black with bits of blue and silver across its body. There wasn't much that stood out from its body, with the only exception being two silver blades that curved around and jutted from its head. The monster wielded twin silver swords in its hands. This was the Stag Lost Smash from the World of Build.
Its ally, on the other hand, looked organic and looked similar to an insect. Its body was a blackish-brown color and had golden yellow fur around its elbows. It also had a pair of scarf-like wings hanging from its back. On its head was a large stag beetle over its expressionless face. This was the Kuwagata Yummy from the World of OOO.
The Smash was incredibly fast and was more than able to keep up with Fox Alistair of Team CFVY, while the Yummy was trying its best to hit the final member, Velvet Scarlatina.
"Fox! Velvet! Fall back!" Coco ordered the two so that they could regroup and think of another strategy. However, the two monsters were having none of it and grabbed the two before they could get away, "Let them go!" All she got as a response were growling from the monsters.
"Take this!" Luckily, that left an opening for someone to attack them from behind. Lo and behold, somebody did. Specifically, the recently returned professor came to their aid, already transformed into his TaToBa form, the Medajalibur in hand. His surprise attack was strong enough to force them to release their hostages.
"You two okay?" Coco quickly caught the tumbling Velvet as Fox managed to balance himself. Getting a nod from her teammates, she turned to Eiji, "Professor?! What's going on?! Why are they here?!"
"I don't know why they're here either," Eiji said, although he has felt that he has something to do with it, "But we need to protect Beacon as best we can. Can you and your team deal with the hoards? I'll take care of these guys."
"Got it. Let's go!" Coco, believing that the professor knew what he was doing, ordered her team and left Eiji to fight the two monsters.
"Be careful!" Eiji yelled at them before turning back to his opponents, taking a better look at them, "A Yummy and a Smash, I think?"
Eiji instantly recognized the Kuwagata Yummy, having fought it in the past. However, he wasn't as confident in labeling the other monster, having not really fought any before. He only assumed it was a Smash because it did not look like any other type of monster like the Fangires or Zodiarts. Regardless of what they were, Eiji still knew who was responsible for this invasion.
"Foundation X… What are you up to?" Eiji muttered to himself as he readied the Medajalibur
BURNING REIGN RUSH!
Near the Students' dormitories, Jin was fighting against the waves of enemies alongside the various Huntsmen-in-training that were in the area, such as Team RWBY, JNPR, and Penny. He was in the middle of his discussion with the three members of Team RWBY when the invasion began.
INFERNO WING! BURNING REIGN!
Normally, he would be more conservative and used his finishers sparingly, as he was still damaged from his earlier (one-sided) fight against the Ark. However, with how many were coming through the portal, he needed to try and destroy as many as he can, as fast as he can.
"Damn it! What's up with these guys?! There's no end to them!" He heard Yang shouting over the sounds of the battle, "Hey, Jin! You got any idea what's happening?! Is this the Ark thing you were talking about?!"
"No, it's not. The Ark shouldn't have all these soldiers." He answered as he destroyed another group of black ninjas. Had he not had other things to worry about, Jin would question what exactly they were.
"Then who the hell are they?!"
"Yang! Focus!"
"It's a legitimate question!"
"Focus!"
"Fine!" Temporarily letting the matter lie, Yang turned her attention back to the mummies that turned into one-half of the grey medals that look similar to their professor's Core Medals upon being defeated.
"There's still one problem. Until that…portal closes, more would still be coming through." Weiss had long since realized that it didn't really matter if they destroyed the grunts. As long as they were getting replaced, all they were doing was tiring themselves.
"But how are we suppose to shut it down?" Jaune said as he cut down several of the grunts.
"I don't kno-AH!"
"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as her partner was suddenly hit by a monster that appeared in a purple flash. Thankfully, her Aura took most of the blow for her.
"That is-!" Jin didn't understand it. Why was that here? He knew what the monster was.
The monster looked like it was a machine. Its body was black with silver armor pieces with all dark pink wires over its body. It had a massive Gatling gun for a left arm with a large silver claw molded into it. Its face was similar to a lion's and had a pair of sky-blue fangs and eyes. Additionally, it had dark pink sticks of dynamite in place of a mane with several thick wires as hair coming from the back of its head. On its waist was a black buckle with a dark pink ProgriseKey inserted into it.
"A Raider?!" Specifically, it was the Dynamaiting Lion Raider from the World of Zero-One.
Triple Scanning Charge!
"Seiya!"
With a slash of the Medajalibur, reality itself seemed to have been cut together with the Kuwagata Yummy. The next second, reality returned to normal as the wound in space healed itself while the Yummy exploded into Cell Medals.
"And now for you-Ahh!" Eiji announced as he turned to the Stag Lost Smash, only for it to quickly run at him with super-speed and slashing him with its swords.
"Super speed?! Then I should use this!" Speaking to no one in particular, Eiji swapped out the Taka and Batta Medals in his Driver for the Lion and Cheetah Medals before scanning them.
Lion! Tora! Cheetah! RaTa Rata… RaTora~Tah!
If one were to watch from the sidelines, all they would be able to see were two black and yellow blurs dashing all over the courtyard, periodically colliding with each other, sparks flying off when they did.
After a few strikes, the Smash was sent tumbling across the ground as OOO managed to overpower it. Taking advantage of the moment, he scanned his Driver again.
Scanning Charge!
"Seiya!"
With a cross-slash with the Tora Claws, the Stag Lost Smash blew up in a fiery explosion like its ally.
"Good. Now to help the othe…" Eiji trailed off as the smoke cleared, leaving the still alive Smash trying to get back up, "What?"
"You…" To Eiji's surprise, it began speaking, "Help…me…"
"You are-"
"Please…help… Save…the others…" The now conscious Smash cut Eiji off. However, it fell back to its knees as its body started dissipating, "We were taken…by the ones in white…"
"They…experimented on you?"
"Save…them…" With those final words, the former human turned into a cloud of blue smoke.
"…"
"Where is it?!" With the others at the dormitories, the two teams plus two robots had their hands full with the constantly teleporting Raider.
Whenever they tried to attack it, it disappeared and reappeared behind them. Sometimes, they themselves were the ones that were teleported, appearing next to and hitting their friends by mistake.
"What's causing thi-Ahh! Jaune!" Yang was interrupted by the blonde leader on JNPR being teleported in front of her, accidentally hitting her with his sword.
"Sorry!" Jaune quickly started apologizing, not wanting to earn to ire of Yang.
"The Raider doesn't have the ability to do this," Even though it was created before he was reactivated, Jin had the data on all the Raiders thanks to the one who rebuilt him. Because of that, he knew for a fact that the Dynamaiting Lion ProgriseKey should be able to teleport, let alone teleport others. That meant something else was causing it, "Where are you?! Show yourself!"
DYNAMAITING BOLIDE!
"Jin! Watch out!" Ruby warned the red Kamen Rider. While Jin was distracted, the Raider pushed a red button on the side of the RaidRiser and activated its finisher. Within a few moments, a larger purple Gatling gun made of energy materialized around its left arm and aimed at the falcon Rider.
"Wha-" He was cut off as the barrel of the energy gun started turning, shooting out yellow shots that started blowing up upon hitting something, i.e., Jin and his surroundings.
"Damn! This is what you usually fight?!" Yang suddenly had a newfound respect for the Humagear, if this was the type of foes he fought in his World.
Readying itself, the Raider dashed towards the Kamen Rider, only to be shot at by someone other than the ones it was fighting.
"Sorry for being late!" The culprits shouted as they run to aid their friends.
"Sun! Neptune! And…another robot?!" Ruby stared wide-eyed at the silver robot accompanying the two members of Team SSSN, a small, oddly shaped black, silver and gold gun in hand.
"I have…arrived." The robot said in a serious and deep tone, completely at odds with the current situation.
"What are you? You're not a Humagear." Despite all that had happened in the past few hours, Jin was surprised at the appearance of another robot.
"I am the Buddyroid; Beet J. Stag." The now named J introduced himself, walking up to and positioning himself in between the two groups of Huntsmen and posing, blocking Sun and Neptune.
"Hey! Don't cover us!" Sun shouted as he pushed the Buddyroid out of the way.
"We found him near the edge of Beacon right before that portal opened," Neptune explained, pointing at the purple vortex that was still sending more monsters through, "He was all like 'take me there' and then we came here."
"Another…android?" Penny stared blankly at J, not sure how she should react to the so-called Buddyroid.
"Wrong. I am a robot, not an android," J denied Penny's sentence, "There may be a '-roid' in 'Buddyroid,' but I am a robot."
"Wait? What do you mean 'another'?" Sun questioned, not knowing that Jin was not human.
"Well…"
"What should we do about the dynamite?" J said out of the blue, confusing the others.
"The…what?"
"The dynamite sticks that the other robot threw at our feet." In sync, everyone, minus J, looked down at the ground, and unfortunately, seeing what J was referring to. Three lit sticks of dark pink dynamite thrown by the Raider. Dynamite that was about five seconds away from exploding.
"…RUN!" Not needing to be told twice, everyone immediately leaped away—everyone but J, that is.
KABOOM!
While everyone else managed to get away, J was caught in the blast.
"J!" Despite only having met him less than thirty seconds ago, Ruby still screamed in despair over the death of the Buddyroid.
"I am alright," The monotonous voice of J came from the smoke. Once the dust settles, the silver Buddyroid stood there completely undamaged, "The dynamite is not very effective."
"O…kay… Ahem. Let's go, guys!" Ruby, now feeling much better, readied Crescent Rose.
"Affirmative, I shall transform as well." J glanced at Jin for a moment before turning to the Raider.
"Transform?" "Oh, for god's sake!" "Yay!"
Ignoring the others, J pulled out and slanting the golden lens of his Morphin Blaster before pulling the trigger.
IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!
A holographic golden ring materialized around J's legs and slowly rose. As it did, parts of J's body glowed golden before casting off and vanishing, turning him more human-like. As the ring reached his necks and shoulder, it disappeared as a smaller ring appeared around his head and rising as well. Like before, parts of his head vanished into thin air, like his horns and faceplate.
Bringing the lens to his 'eyes', J spoke a different phrase than the Riders.
"Let's Morphin!"
The lens changed shape and turning metallic blue immediately as it filled the hole left behind from the vanishing faceplate.
Now 'transformed,' J looked completely different. His arm braces and shoulderpads turned metallic blue and became more streamlined. He had silver boots with a thick, metallic blue rim along with silver gloves. His suit was mostly black with some silver on his outer arms and most of the right side of his chest. His 'helmet' was nearly completely silver, with some black lines running across parts of it. Connected to his metallic blue visor were silver parts that looked similar to the temples of glasses. Additionally, on either side of his head were strange flashlight-like lenses with short horns pointing forward attached to them.
"Stag Buster!" J, unlike the Kamen Riders, called out his codename.
"That's…different."
Destroy Everything!
Connect Everything!
A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter. As I promised, Foundation X's attack, along with another addition to the growing cast.
Beet J. Stag, unlike the Liveman, would be way more recognizable, being more recent (9 years instead of 33). Of course, the Liveman was never gonna be a permanent part of the story, only a plot point. On the other hand, J is gonna be involved for a good part of it and being a foil to Jin. Both are robot heroes from different franchises. One looks human while the other doesn't. Both respect (is that the right word for it?) their creators, but Masato Jin died in the end while Horobi survived. J transforms with a gun while Jin transforms with a sword. J was built to fight against Messiah, while Jin was built to fight for the Ark. Also, J and Jin. How could I not?
As for the discussion between RW_Y+P and Jin, it'll be revealed in a few chapters, along with what the others like Qrow and Ironwood are doing during all of this. This just part 1.
Finally, please leave a review on what you think as well as any mistakes that you find. I know a future mistake will be me writing J instead of Jin and vice versa.