RWBY Pokémon Chapter 15

It was hard to tell how long they spent just..hanging out, for lack of a better description. And it was hard to really describe just how 'good' it felt to Yang. Finally, something that felt somewhat reasonably close to normal. No need to feel like the only huntress around, that she didn't belong. Just one hundred percent being herself with people she was familiar with.

Sure, it didn't change how awkward it was to have only her left arm, and she'd probably end up feeling depressed again at some point, but this was a nice way to release or ignore some of her anxiety.

Not that everything about the phone call was pleasant. Blake was holding nothing back in the current description of Beacon and the surrounding area. "Nobody really knows what to call that massive Grimm. Just about everyone has a different name for it, from Grand Wyvern to Odachi to Smiley to even..Kevin for some reason. I've heard about a dozen different names for it. All anyone seems to know is that bright flash of light made it..dormant."

Well that was an interesting choice of words. Interesting enough that Weiss wanted to clarify that. "Dormant as in comatose like Ruby was?"

Blake shook her head at that. "No. Dormant as in some kind of cocoon formed around it, and fresh Grimm ranging from boarbadusks to deathstalkers have been just..birthing from the thing. Some of them born as alphas, which has Professor Port confused."

Well no crap he was confused. As far as Yang knew alphas were older Grimm. Not that people had any idea what the life cycle was for the monsters.

And unfortunately the bad news from Blake didn't stop there. "Not helping things is how the city's defenders feel pretty divided, militia and hunters occasionally butting heads for..various reasons. Some political, some personal, and some is just people getting stressed with no idea how to let it off without pissing off someone else. Which, of course, is drawing even more Grimm from Mt Glenn and Forever Fall. There's also some pockets of White Fang still around, and it's all making the civilians scared.."

Ruby seemed somewhere between crestfallen and downright depressed, which in some ways was crushing to see. And who could blame her? Yang breaking a guy's leg after a match, followed by one friend getting literally dismantled by another, then arriving just in time to watch Pyrrha die?! That was a 'hell' of a lot to take in, much less see first hand.

Hell, Yang didn't know what felt more unbelievable. The idea of Penny being a robot instead of just a socially awkward girl? Of the unbeatable Pyrrha getting taken down in a one on one fight while the city was under attack? It was enough to make her scratch at her stump, and given the shift in expression when the others saw Yang do that she'd definitely have to keep 'that' from becoming a constant nervous tick.

What made it just a little more painful was seeing how Ruby was trying 'so' hard not to let it show, her normally vibrant eyes muted as grief, relief, guilt, and helplessness kept trying to rise up only to be pushed back down. And while Yang could see through the act with painful ease, she wasn't sure Blake and Weiss could tell. In terms of what she said and tone of voice, Ruby was doing a 'good' job hiding her fragile state. Assuming bottling feelings in like that could be construed as good. "Um, does..does anyone know what made the big burst of light?"

At the very least it didn't look like Blake could tell how close Ruby seemed from breaking down into tears. Possibly because she was distracted by her own problems and seeing so much pain across the city. "No. All anyone knows is the light somehow killed a lot of Grimm, sent the massive one to that cocoon, and a number of people just..disappeared with no trace. Half of team CRDL, Scarlet from SSSN, Yatsuhashi and Velvet from CFVY, and a lot of others. All in all, about thirty percent of Beacon students are either dead or missing, with twenty percent of the visiting hunters. Professor Peach, Oobleck, and Ozpin are gone too. Nobody seems to know if the missing are 'among' the dead and just haven't been found yet. I thought I..we'd lost you too, Yang."

Yang winced. She didn't memorize how many people there were in Beacon to visualize thirty percent gone. It could have been anywhere from sixty to a hundred and ten for all she knew. But hearing those specific names? That gave the losses more impact.

She didn't even want to know how Coco was doing after losing half her team in a single day. At the very least the confident, easygoing upperclassman was not in a good place. Oobleck, while not the most inspiring hunter, was still a teacher they saw nearly every day, and had certainly earned Yang's respect during the Mt Glenn mission. And Ozpin..she'd never actually seen him in action but everything she'd read and heard said he was one of if not 'the' greatest in his generation. Some said the only reason Vale didn't fall in the aftermath of Mount Glenn was because of him. Holy shit, one of the four kingdoms might actually cease to exist, and..

Shaking the negative thoughts from her head, Yang hoped none of the others had worst-case images in their heads. Of Grimm just overtaking the city a spreading everywhere that Vale kept under its proverbial protective blanket. "Well, I haven't seen anyone else from Beacon, or Vale for that matter where I am, but I'll try to keep an eye out."

Weiss gave one of her patented give-me-an-answer glares, which was surprisingly effective despite it being over a scroll screen. "Yes, speaking of..just where 'are' you, anyway?"

Oh there was no great answer for that. So Yang dug into her pocket and pulled out the pokédex, going through the menus to reach the map.

But that was already enough to turn Weiss' glare into confusion. "Wait, what even 'is' that thing?"

Yang gave a chuckle at that. "Oh, this? This is the closest thing to a scroll I've seen out here, and while it's small enough I can use it one handed without any problems, 'definitely' nice, it's a 'lot' more limited as well. Crappy graphics, not a lot of memory space, can't make phone calls.."

Opening the Kanto region map, Yang angled it to show it to the others through the screen. "This is apparently where I am. Can you guys see the screen that well from there?"

Ruby squinted, rubbed her eyes a bit, squinted some more, then tilted her head. "I can see it, but..um..yikes. That's a 'very' undetailed map. It's 'barely' showing terrain and I'm not too good at geography. I don't 'think' it's anywhere I know, but.."

Weiss wasn't even paying attention to what the pokédex was showing. "That doesn't even look like any device on the market forty years ago. It..it's just so 'primitive'. I'm pretty sure my grandfather had a more advanced pocket calculator! But the material doesn't look like something some low budget moron could piece together in a basement. It looks too..official for that. And it's too 'clean' to actually be an old relic.."

Blake bit her lip for a moment, Yang could almost see a ghostly book of maps flipping across her partner's forehead. "Well, it 'looks' like there's a lot of water at the edges, but..that doesn't look like a map of any populated ports I've ever heard of. Are you sure you got an actual map open and not something from a book or game?"

This part, well there was no way to put this gently that Yang could see. So, done stalling, she dropped the bombshell. "Oh it's an accurate map as far as I can tell. Not too detailed though. And it doesn't look familiar because it kind of..isn't on Remnant?"

All three took a moment to digest that, then Ruby screamed so hard it was amazing her scroll's microphone managed to catch their father's simultaneous "WHAT?!"

Next thing Yang saw was a quick struggle for the scroll and her father wide eyed and frantic. "You told your teammates, your sister, uncle, and 'me' that you were 'safe'! How is not being on Remnant safe?!"

It had been hilarious when Ruby, Qrow, and her dad had been bickering for the scroll earlier. This panic wasn't so funny. "No Grimm, no White Fang. Seems safer than school right now."

Qrow's voice cut in, "Huh. Sounds like paradise. Don't suppose you could tell me how to get there, can you?"

"Sorry, I wasn't really conscious when I first got here. If there's some convenient airship from here to Patch, I'd already be on it. I don't even think they 'have' airships out here. I had to 'walk' from one town to another on a 'dirt' road. Sure, there are 'some' trucks around, abd the odd puddle bicycle, but I haven't seen any cars or motorcycles at 'all'."

Weiss had been rubbing at the space between her eyes as if she wanted to dig into her own brain and physically rip away whatever was giving her a headache. But that could only distract her for so long. "Hold it! I'm willing to believe you somehow were transported from Beacon. I'm willing to accept seeing that odd, obsolete device, even if it somehow makes it even 'more' baffling that we somehow have a transcontinental connection when the CCT towers are still not working. But I will draw the line at you somehow not being on Remnant! Either you're being lied to, or you're lying to 'us'! Which is it?!"

Giving a short sigh, Yang shrugged more to herself than Weiss. Yeah, that was about the reaction she was expecting. And she had a pretty effective response for that. "Hey, Phyllis? Can you turn the screen and say hi?"

To her credit, the little girl kept a very good grip on the scroll with her vines as she spun it around. Hell, Yang was amazed Phyllis had kept it as steady as a rock for what felt like over an hour. The fact that she was smart enough to realize on her own that she was looking at it upside down and corrected that without prompting was just icing on the cake.

Yang didn't even need to see the others to know the expressions on their faces, though she still moved to get behind Phyllis anyway. Weiss made a cute, wordlessly surprised squawk. Yang's dad let out an over the top, "What?!" Blake sounded like she outright recoiled as she practically hissed, "Just what 'is' that?!" And Ruby's voice went to something pretty high pitched, "Oh my gosh he's adorable!" If Qrow had a first impression, he kept silent.

Part of Yang wanted to take offense at the disgust she could practically taste from Blake's voice. She wasn't even entirely sure why. Still, the confounded Weiss, her befuddled father and the gushing Ruby more than made up for that, getting the blonde to laugh for a moment. "She, actually."

Ruby didn't change her tone in the slightest, sounding just as giddy. "Then oh my gosh, she's adorable! Aren't you, Phyllis? Oh, you're just the cutest lizard ever! Isn't she?!"

The sheer incredulity as Blake responded itched at Yang. "You're kidding, right?"

So of course Yang had to ask, "What's wrong, Blake? I could kind of get your problem with Zwei, but Phyllis isn't a dog."

Visibly twitching at the reminder of the corgi, the now unbound ears made Blake so much easier to read it was ridiculous. It didn't matter how much of a poker face she managed to make for herself, those cute things may as well have been waving flags for how uncomfortable Blake was right now. "Well, for one thing it's got a plant growing from its back.."

Weiss took the pause as a chance to ask, "Was that growth there before or after you first met her, Yang?"

As much as the blond wanted to laugh that off, to be fair 'she' thought the plant on Phyllis' back was a sign of morbid laziness that first day they'd met. "Before. Hello? She using vines to hold the very scroll we're talking through! That's a pretty big sign it's a natural part of her body."

Blake outright cringed. "Right. 'Natural'. As if extending, flexible phallus are perfectly normal.."

That forced a giggle out of the blond. An incredulous giggle that was one or two prompts from uncontrolled belly laughter. "Really? Really Ms I - Don't - Want - To - Be - Judged - By - My - Extra - Ears?!"

Phyllis almost dropped the scroll as she made a cute little giggle at that and Ruby gave a disappointed frown. "Yeah, that's kind of hypocritical."

If the dark haired ninja wasn't defensive before, she 'certainly' was now, though it was hard to tell if her face was red due to embarrassment or anger. "Hypo..I am 'not' being a hypocrite!"

It was possibly a bit iffy to tease Blake over this, but it was just 'so' much more fun than watching that tournament had been, and Yang couldn't get enough of it. "Judging someone by her strange appearance when you don't want to be judged for yours? Oh yeah, the shoe definitely fits."

Hell, at this point it wasn't just her ears, her legs were twitching, arms flailing as she tried to make a point only to catch herself as she dug herself deeper. "Seriously?! That thi..creat..I am 'not' being a hypocrite! Weiss, I'm not the only one with a problem here!"

The heiress put a hand on her chin, a theatrical show of thinking as she couldn't stop grinning. "Well, it 'is' something unexpected. Certainly not anything that's ever been recorded on Remnant. So it's pretty understandable for her to be a little..unnerved by Phyllis."

And of course Blake didn't notice the exaggeration because she was too busy grasping for straws. "That's right. I'm just unnerved. Not irrationally hating anything or anyone! When is the last time you ever saw anything like that?!"

It was just so funny seeing the normally calm girl so caught off guard that she was so 'animated'. Yang just had to keep on poking. "I don't know Blake. Feels like you're the only one being 'that' creeped out. Anything you want to get off your chest?"

Weiss continued her little show of thinking things through, using her other hand to count off points."The plant on the back is certainly..unexpected. Her eyes seem absurdly wide, and she's a little on the chubby side..but.."

And that was when it dawned on Blake what was happening. "Wait, 'but'?!"

Bracing herself as best as she could for the hilarity to come, Yang gave her partner as cheeky a grin as she could manage. "This feels familiar."

And with that, Weiss and Ruby both devolved into fawning kids on the same wavelength.

"..but she's just so 'cute'!"

"I know! I wish I could just cuddle and-"

"-belly rub-"

"-kind of jealous of Yang right now!"

"I know! Why am I stuck in Atlas getting cabin fever while she gets to be-"

On the one hand it was amazing to see the pair of them bouncing off eachother like that. Really made it hard to believe that at one point Weiss almost seemed to constantly try to pick a fight and Ruby alternated between trying to hide in her cloak and giving as good as she got. On the other..which again wasn't attached to her body anymore, Yang felt oddly out of the loop. Sure, they'd been getting along better, but.. "..um, have they been 'this' in-sync for long?"

After groaning a moment, probably hitting herself for not realizing Weiss had been building up to cooing about Phyllis, Blake shrugged. "I don't know, we all split off after Beacon fell, remember?"

That got the blond to wince. "Oh yeah.."

And that's when Duncan flew into view and Blake's eyes lightened up. "Is this another friend you managed to make without us?"

To a degree it felt a little..dishonest of Oak to have been in any way eavesdropping in what seemed like a 'very' personal conversation between Yang and her distant friends. Especially since he wasn't actually in the same building the call was happening in. He was sitting in his lab and watching. Though once the conversation shifted to the other girls talking about Yang's two Pokémon and she responded to them, explaining as best she could what Pokémon were he started to tune out. Sure, it was interesting to hear their opinions of a spearow and a bulbasaur when they'd never seen either of them before but the earlier topics felt more like food for thought to him.

So..an entire world where humanity had to evolve to fight 'against' monsters, not coexist with them. A world where at least part of the population had some extra ears, possibly other physical differences, likely some physiological differences and others he couldn't think of at the moment as well. And where people had outright traits that one would typically expect from a Pokémon like Yang's aura. It was one thing to hear it from a traumatized but intelligent young woman. It was another to hear these things discussed casually by a group of teenage girls.

If he'd been younger he'd have probably salivated at the 'idea' of exploring such a strange world. He could easily imagine titles for one doctoral thesis after another he could have done. "The Adaptability of Man". "Humanity: The Untapped Potential". "Strength Comes From Adversity".

Unfortunately, he was 'not' a young, ambitious person anymore. He had already made a name for himself and was for the most part content with his life. Sure, there was always more to learn and he would eagerly do so when possible, but with age came perspective. And him charging into a world like that just for the sake of research would be incredibly foolhardy even if they 'did' have some convenient way to get there. Not that it was even clear at this point what had caused the malfunction that'd brought Yang here in the first place.

And from where he was sitting, his attempt to get young Yang to try 'something' similar to a Pokémon journey hadn't sparked 'anything' to improve her emotional health. She didn't seem in any way inspired to move forward and explore a new town on her own. He wouldn't even be surprised if she chose to drop the task he'd tried to put her on after putting forth a token effort, though part of him hoped she might be motivated to learn more about the world just to tell her friends.

So he figured he should call Shingen, the old friend he entrusted to see Yang through the first part of her journey and who arranged for her conversation with friends and family to be monitored.

It wasn't difficult to get Shingen on the line or to make sure he was another window on the same screen he was monitoring Yang. And based on the look of attention on Shingen's face, he was doing something similar on his own screen.

It was the sort of look Shingen always had when his brain was visualizing multiple possible scenarios at once. "Interesting young lady you stumbled upon. Physically strong to a surprising degree despite a major injury, with a personal sense of staying in shape I've rarely seen outside of extremely dedicated martial artists. A keen eye for tactics and the flow of battle but oddly slow to notice strategy and clearly new to the idea of type advantages. She doesn't even seem comfortable with the idea of making basic commands, at best making requests that her Pokémon have the freedom to say no to."

Nodding at his friend's observations, Oak replied, "Indeed. A kind young woman who has led a hard life that may make our own personal struggles feel petty in comparison. Though my biggest concern is the fact that she doesn't seem to have 'any' personal goals to strive for. Not as a breeder despite her nurturing nature. She doesn't seem especially competitive or inquisitive despite her sharp mind. And given the back and forth with her friends and family she's probably less..excited than before whatever took her other arm. I was 'hoping' that trying to get her on the road and see new sights would help her heal, but.."

Shingen took Oak's pause to respond, "..the healing has to come from within, not from the outside. And unfortunately she seems more inclined to enter a kind of status quo and stick to it. Not to grow or heal. Sure, we only just met her and maybe stagnating here in a peaceful place 'is' the best thing that could happen to her."

That made the professor give his old friend a chiding glance. "I can hardly see how a seventeen year old just staying still and living day to day like a zombie can be a good thing."

"Less tragedy than watching teachers or friends dying or being severely injured, though I suppose it'd be just as harsh to merely hear about it and be helpless to do anything. And there's only so much either of us can do to get her to experience more of life if she doesn't want to move..though I suppose there is 'one' thing I can try."

Given the way Shingen said that, the professor wasn't actually sure he wanted to know. Still, he'd gotten his friend involved in this "project" for lack of a better word. It would be absurd not to hear his idea. "Oh?"

His old friend stroked his mustache like he always did when brainstorming. "The spearow she has, Duncan. He was heavily injured when she found him. From what I've seen of the medical reports the injuries are consistent with a small but very aggressive steel type. The kind of aggression a Pokémon can get if they're outright abused and then abandoned in unfamiliar territory."

That was always a tragedy to hear, but thankfully the number of trainers who were 'that' callous were a rarity and very often were reprimanded until they either shaped up or became permanently ostracized from society. And it was 'very' hard to get pokéballs to catch and abuse/neglect pokémon to that degree when you were an outright pariah. "Hm, someone who entered one of the recent tournaments. I assume you're looking for both the former trainer 'and' the released Pokémon."

"I have people on the search for the Pokémon right now. There are a few signs in the forest of a rabid aron, and we're closing in but haven't explicitly found the little one just yet. As for the culprit, he was a rather young, very unskilled trainer named Riddick von Hossendorf. Ironically if he'd had a steel type he might have made it past the second round. The police have apprehended him, though it seems he doesn't actually care that his released aron has hurt others. He's just annoyed he's in jail and claims his second round opponent cheated by using a psychic against a poison type."

"So a sore loser to the point your son and my grandson look downright humble in comparison."

That got Shingen chuckling for a moment. "Yes, it's oddly nice on occasion to see how the more exacerbating members of our family are still good people, even if we at times think they've still got room to grow. How's this for an idea for now? I find a way to direct her towards the wayward Pokémon where she then subdues it, either capturing it or leaving it for one of my people to attend to. And on her way back to Viridian she sees the former trainer of the abused pokémon. An example of a bad trainer that she should want to be the exact opposite of. Bit harsh but that seems the quickest and easiest way to convince her to start thinking of how to actually be a trainer for the pokémon she has."

"..hm, go on."

"I then offer to help her train her pokémon for a while, building her confidence in herself and her bonds with her pokémon until I feel she's ready to go out on her own to Pewter City. The details of the offer will of course change based on how she acts both to the aron and the aron's former trainer."

Not a terrible idea, but the professor knew well enough how sharp Yang could be. "She'll possibly see right through that. At the very least she saw through 'my' attempt to get her out of the lab before I was done even making the offer and came to a rather 'bad' conclusion."

"Ah, but it's one thing to see the hook. It's another to not want to bite it. And I'm sure if we play this right she'll bite."

"The fishing analogy falls apart a bit when we want her to heal and move forward, not capture her. And we certainly don't want her to hurt Mr Hossendorf."

Shingen's expression changed in a hurry there. "Do you honestly think she would seriously harm him?"

"I honestly think she wouldn't know his body couldn't take it until 'after' the fact. She lived in a world where people had their own HP bars, and while they probably don't measure it in precisely the same way, I'm sure her first instinct will be to strike him with force that would be noticeable to someone with aura and catastrophic for someone without."

"..hm, thanks for the warning. I'll try to tread as carefully as I can."

Author's Note: Been a long time since I posted anything for this fic. Not sure how long it'll take for me to do another chapter for this, or when I'll finally be able to muscle my way through whatever's causing the writer's block for the Modern Warfare reaction fic. Still, this feels like too good of an idea to let rot in a corner. Just whish I had a better idea of 'why' I had writer's block for over a whole damn year.

Had to do some reevaluating what I was going to do with the overall plot when I came back to this story. At first I thought I should just have Grimm somehow streaming into the world, the various trainers contending against grimm that are slowly seeping in and Mewtwo essentially being a god of war trying to bridge the hunters of Remnant with the trainers from his own world into a united front. But somehow that just didn't feel right.

It'd probably be better for Yang to have a more standard G1 journey with some alterations here and there. Still not a hundred percent sure how I should pull it off.

As a side note, when I was looking at my old notes for what I was planning on later, I'd originally planned on her getting a sandshrew before reaching Pewter, but then when I was pushing myself to write again it felt like an aron from generation 3 somehow fit better..even though I'm not as familiar with gen 3 pokemon and kept writing it as "agron" even after double checking Bulbapedia and seeing that "aggron" is the evolved, cool looking steel and rock badass. Not the cute little metal dino thing with a single spike on its back.

Any suggestions for color based names for an aron? And maybe some ideas for how Shingen could try getting Yang, someone who generally goes with the flow, to take on more of a leadership role? I'll take any suggestions that come my way.