"P...Penny?"
Ruby Rose looked like she saw a ghost. And, in a way, she had. This girl with her striking orange hair and penchant for green looked identical to the ensouled robot that had been part of Salem's first step of the war. The Fall of Beacon had been heralded by a match between Pyrrha Nikos and Penny Polindena at the Vytal Festival. A competition meant to bring the kingdoms together. But it had instead been the start of chaos. Salem's forces tricked Pyrrha into destroying Penny and incited a Grimm Invasion. The battles culminated with the release of a Grimm Dragon and a battle between Cinder and Pyrrha at the top of the tallest tower... which Ruby arrived to far too late to do anything but watch Pyrrha die. That said, the outburst of her Silver Eyes had paralyzed the dragon and critically injured Cinder, so there was at least something good that happened that night.
"Penny!" Swept up in her emotions, the only thing that stuck in her mind was being able to see one of her first true friends again, and she ran at her with such force that it looked like she actually vanished from where she stood and appeared on top of the girl, hugging her as tight as possible.
Of course, it eventually occurred to her that this couldn't be the same Penny, which led to her blushing like mad and leaping off the girl, assaulting her with a chorus of apologies.
Penny was honestly a bit frightened of the hyperactive girl who had taken it upon herself to assault her with hugs. The way she acted made it seem like the two were bestest friends forever when that couldn't be further from the truth.
"I'm sorry, Ruby was it? I'm afraid I don't know you. My name is indeed Penny, but I have no recollection of ever meeting you."
"It's like Edolas." Gray said. "You may very well be a counterpart to someone who existed in Remnant."
"If that's the case, then I'm gonna get a headache." Penny said as she decided to shake off her sour mood and at least give this energetic girl a smile. She may be grumpy, but she didn't want to entirely crush this girl's spirits. "But even though we haven't met. That doesn't mean we can't get to know eachother now. Name's Penny Solace. Mechanic Extraordinaire."
A wave of relief washed over her. Thank the gods that these people were accustomed to wacky dimensional craziness or else she'd have some serious explaining to do. "I'm sorry, I kinda lost control of myself there..." she muttered, rubbing the back of her neck anxiously. "My world's Penny was Penny Polindena. We were pretty close before she was lost... one of the first casualties in the War..." No, she had to stop dwelling on that. The past was the past. She should focus on the chance she had now. "But I'd be happy to get to know you! Penny is still Penny, no matter what dimension she's from." It was a bit ironic that this Penny was a mechanic, given that hers was a robot. "Mechanic, you say? Hmm... I might have to share with you some of my weapon designs." She already had a few drafts of updates to Harbinger. All that stopped her was the unspoken question: did she have the courage to modify her uncle's weapon, a weapon that felt so much like him? Perhaps some day... but not yet.
"That's understandable." Penny said as she placed her hands on her hips. "I don't blame you for reacting the way you did at all. And if that other me was friends with you, then I have a feeling I'll like you too. And don't you worry. She may have died but . . . that just means I'll have to do enough living for the both of us."
She then slammed a hand on the projector and a video feed of the Grand Magic Games began to play.
"Might wanna get comfortable. It's a long video."
She glanced sidelong at Ruby. "And I dunno why but." She wrapped her arm around Ruby and pulled her close. "I feel like I could get used to huggin' ya. Yer soft."
With the videos of this Grand Magic Game playing before her, Ruby wanted to focus on only one thing. But the orange haired girl at her side was making her think of another, one that made her cheeks pink with a quiet blush. She'd... never been called soft before. Nor had someone pulled her that close while watching a movie...
But this Penny was flesh. Completely organic. She didn't feel cold at all. This Penny felt so warm, she couldn't bear to not lean into her touch. If she could, she would probably spend hours just cuddling up with her. But that nagging voice in the back of her mind that told her to pay attention to lectures in the classroom told her that she had a fight to watch, and if there was anything that could wrest her attention from the cute girl at her side, it was a savage application of violence on a deserving enemy.
The video started playing, with the first fight shown being Mystogan versus Jura.
"Jura is one of the Ten Great Wizard Saints." Penny explained. "The Ten Great Wizard Saints are known as the ten strongest Wizards in all of Ishgar and Jura is ranked Number five. He's also a member of the guild Lamia Scale.
His opponent is Jellal Fernandes, currently masquerading as Mystogan, a former member of Fairy Tail. Jellal himself is a former Wizard Saint. This is a battle between two magical experts, pay close attention!"
. . .
Naturally that whole debacle with Jellal suddenly having a laughing fit and falling unconscious happened. Leading Jura to be proclaimed the victor.
"Oh yeah." Penny said as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Forgot that happened."
Before the admittingly a bit amusing anticlimax struck, Ruby stood in awe of the massive area of effect attacks that these Saints had managed to pull off with such ease. Spells like these looked like full powered attacks from the likes of Salem's strongest forces, heck, some even looked as damaging as she herself could be! And to think that these wizards could throw out attacks like that continuously? Then again, this power was probably why they were given such lofty titles. Ruby Rose could not help but stand there in shock, jaw dropped, watching the exchange and clash of such high powered magics.
Buuuuut she ended up sweat dropping when she saw how the battle ended. A small pout puffed up her cheeks as she muttered something about killing the excitement, the heiress hadn't caught her exact wording. Weiss, on the other hand, couldn't stop herself from facepalming. "Really? That's how it ends? Seems kinda ridiculous given how ludicrously strong they were..."
"You get used to it." Penny said with a small chuckle. "But the fights only get more wild from there. The next fight is something to behold." She said as she switched it on.
"Erza Scarlet, an S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail. Versus 100 Monsters!"
To be honest, even Penny herself was still in awe of this one. Erza was a goddamn monster among monsters. She put all of them to shame.
"Holy-" muttered Blake, yellow eyes wide with sheer shock. That woman, the one this Penny called Erza, was the same redhead that she took note of earlier in the main area, radiating confidence and power. In some ways, she reminded her of a far more put-together Pyrrha Nikos. Though she didn't interact with that girl that often- that was more of Weiss and Yang's thing- she still knew enough about the sheer levels of skill and power the redhead had. Pyrrha was, after all, chosen to be the Fall Maiden.
"-shit," finished Yang, a look of complete and utter awe plastered to her face. This Erza was an absolute fucking beast! How could anyone have this much power?! Sure, producing violent bursts of magical effects was cool and all, but this chick kept it old school, summoning weapons from out of nowhere. That was so freaking cool. Hell, the blonde had no doubt that her younger sister was freaking out just as much over all the weapons Erza used. But she couldn't dare look away to check. Hmmm... while she personally didn't have a use for that power, Yang knew Ruby would love it. Maybe she could convince Erza to teach Ruby?
Penny couldn't help but snicker. "You guys are pretty cool, y'know that? I know for a fact you'll fit right in around here. Especially you, my soft Ruby." She said as she ruffled Ruby's hair. Truth be told, she was only doing it because she found the other's flustered reactions endearing. Plus she just looked like someone starved of affection and Penny was ready to give it to her.
"Anyways. The next one is Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail versus Rufus Lore of Sabertooth. Check it out, yo."
The comment of course caused the girl in question to blush the same shade of red as the highlights on her dress, which incidentally led to her cuddling up against Penny more. Such a reaction sent a small pang of jealousy through Weiss' mind, drawing her out of the intense battle between an ice user and a masked man with devious control over memory. While she immediately saw some similarity between Gray's magic and the ice type arsenal of moves she favored, it was the Sabertooth guild member who fascinated her more. Being able to combine different magics that he'd seen and negating attacks from others... it was a powerful skill set.
"I'm calling hax," muttered Ruby, "how's it fair for that guy to combine everything he's seen and make people forget magic they've used in front of him? Talk about cheap tactics." Says the girl who once defeated someone by simply speed blitzing them from out of nowhere. Nope. Nothing cheap about that tactic at all.
"This is a library. After reading the books, you're supposed to put 'em back!"
And Ruby's mood turned a full 180 degrees as she burst into a heady laughter. She only wished that Gray was here, then she could tease him about pulling that dumb oneliner. "Seriously? He actually said that? That's amazing hahahahaha!" Even though his smack talk needed some work, she had to admit that Gray could take a beating. It must be a trait of Fairy Tail mages to always get back up after getting knocked down. Was that the power and determination having such a closeknit guild created? She hadn't ever felt something like this in her home dimension.
"Of course," muttered Weiss, "Memory Make can only handle so much, if his brain has no time to process the attack, it's useless! Gray sure has a lot of skill to pull off something like that..."
Penny was almost giddy with the reactions of the girls around her. Truth be told, she didn't have many guild mates around her age, especially those who were female. Sure, there were a few, but they either hung out with the men or just kept to themselves. She had always felt somewhat isolated, even if she did love the guild with all her heart.
"There's one more." She said. "Fairy Tail's Laxus Dreyar versus Sabertooth's Orga Nanagear and Lamia Scale's Jura Neekis."
This would be the first time the girl's would witness both God Slaying and Dragon Slaying. She couldn't wait to see their reactions.
It was the two daughters of Taiyang's turn to both look utterly gobsmacked. When the two lightning wielding warriors clashed, the sheer power and destruction behind each of their magics had set a fire in both of their eyes. To Ruby, the display of technique and control left her craving more. To Yang, the sheer force of their attacks had her wishing she could unleash powers like that.
In the back of her mind, Ruby realized that the mages were fighting with their fists just as often as their magic. Is hand to hand combat really that important here? It had always been one of her weaker points. She had spent so much time working with her weapon that she really hadn't considered taking time to train to fight without it. Sure, she had several plans in place that would allow her to get her weapon back if it was knocked away from her, but those all involved misdirection and speed. She barely had any means to attack without relying on Harbinger or, in the past, Crescent Rose.
And then the final clashes between Jura and Laxus, two massive powerhouses in their own right, absolutely stunned the sisters.
"Oh fuck," whispered Yang, who was immediately bopped over the head by Weiss, calling her out on her language.
"Oh flapjacks," muttered Ruby at the same time, who was not bopped on the head because she wasn't adding quarters to the swear jar every two minutes. But once the adrenaline rush from watching that fight died, she was back to looking solemn. Even Weiss and Blake possessed far better hand to hand skills than her... What use would she be in a world where a fist was as important as a blast of magic?
"Hey!" Natsu shouted from behind the group. "Why didn't you show any of my fights!"
Penny snickered at that as she turned to face him. "Because they're going to experience your power first hand, Natsu. The best way for these girls to learn is through experience. So we're all going to take turns sparring them and you're going to be the first."
Natsu's eyes lit up at that. "I'm fired up!" He said with a grin. He then pointed at them. "Which one of you wants to fight me first? I won't hold back!"
Penny glanced at the others. "It's okay to be nervous. But the best way to get used to learning magic is to have no choice but to use it. Magic comes from deep within. If you have faith in it, it will come forth."
She placed a hand over her chest.
"Unbreakable minds and unbreakable bonds. That is what it means to be a Fairy Tail wizard. Natsu taught me that when we first met."
Truth be told. She idolized Natsu more than anyone else in the guild. He was, after all, the one who saved her life. But that was a story for another day.
Facing him, Natsu, in battle. Why did that set a fire in her unlike anything she'd ever seen before? It was like every single cell in her body was vibrating with a want to show him everything she could do. It was similar in part to the determination she had come to after Qrow's death, though not nearly as somber. Back then, she moved with a singleminded need. But now, she felt more... free. She was stoking this flame because she wanted to, not because she had to. "I call-"
"Dibs!" yelled Yang, cutting off her younger sister and practically leaping to her feet.
Despite the over a foot height difference, Ruby walked right up to her, poking her toned chest. "Why should you get to go first?" Her tone had a certain edge to it, one that sent the weaker minded on the battlefield running like first years. The way her eyebrows angled was eerily similar to Summer's most lethal stares.
"Beeeeeecause you'd want to analyze his fighting style before you had a chance to battle him yourself? Have I mentioned you're my favorite sister, I love you, andIhaventfoughtanythingindays?" Beads of sweat formed on the blonde's brow as she rapidly tried to save face.
"What was that last part?" Ruby cocked her eyebrow, an extra dose of venom sinking into her glare.
"I love you?"
"That's what I thought." Relaxing, she acquiesced with a nod. "Alright, take the first crack at him." She's not wrong. I could use the time to analyze his style.
Blake just shook her head with a bemuses gleam in her eyes. This happened far too often for her or Weiss to get surprised by their partners' interactions.
And so the stage was set. Natsu Dragneel versus Yang Xiao Long. The Dragon Slayer found himself staring her down from across the grassy field they had chosen to fight on, a wide grin on his face.
"Show me what you got." Natsu said while beckoning her to attack.
"Watch the fight very closely." Penny said. "Natsu may not be an S-Class Mage, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have the power to be one. He's already been nominated once before to take part in the exam after all.
Notice how he has absolutely no openings despite his relaxed demeanor. Natsu is a natural born genius when it comes to fighting."
That much was true. Ruby had analyzed plenty of hand to hand styles in the past due to wanting to help her sister reach her maximum potential. While she had no practical application of them, she did know a thing or two about stances and Natsu had absolutely no openings, despite just standing there relaxed. If he wasn't grinning like a bobcat, she might have found him quite intimidating. "You can't discount my sister. She was one of Beacon's top hand to hand students and one of the physically strongest freshman ever to walk the halls." Now the number one in physical strength was actually Nora Valkyrie. They had had an arm wrestling match a few months into their first semester to prove just that. And as much as she wanted to root for her sister then, it was clearly no contest. Nora was a freaking monster. Not to say that Yang was a slouch. Ruby had complete faith in her sister's power. "She might not have her aura, but she worked out more than all of us. She still has her sick guns." Both sets, actually. Though one was worked into her robotic arm.
Show him what she got, eh? Alright. Smacking her fists together for good measure (and ignoring the momentary pain of raw flesh against metal, dear gods it was weird not having aura), she cocked the shotgun gauntlet on her wrist and fell into a boxing stance. As much as she just wanted to jump right in and get in the thick of it, she knew that would be pointless. She could get severely damaged here without her aura, especially if she couldn't properly call forth whatever magic lay inside her.
And I can't exactly take it easy. But if I use my best attack right now, he's probably going to block it. I've got to start with the basics. Footwork and balance, something her father had drilled into her. Steeling herself, she looked back at the pink haired fiendishly grinning mage and bared her own animalistic grin. "This is going to be so fun!"
With that, she shot forward, cocking back her right arm to aim a jab at his face. But, it was merely a feint to cover up her true attack, a hefty gut punch with her left. The moment she would strike true, she'd fire off a shotgun round point blank, amping up the force of her punch. Of course, she could have done something similar with her metallic right arm, but she was saving that for when she needed it.
"Heh. Too easy." He said before kicking off the ground with a burst of flames, propelling himself into the sky. "Attacking straight forward like that is no different than just screaming that you're about to do a feint!" He said as he as he hovered in mid-air for a bit before grinning like a madman.
Penny sweatdropped. "Oh no. He wasn't lying when he said he was going all out."
Natsu held his hands above his head as a gignatic sphere of flame began to form, causing the surrounding area to be illuminated in an orange glow.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" He said before tossing it . . . directly behind her and missing her?
But no, that was exactly what he was aiming for. In an instant, faster than any average human could see, he was already in front of the blast and kicked it with his right foot sending it flying directly past the blonde's face and into a nearby treeline which immediately exploded, creating a huge crater that spanned for almost fifty feet in every direction.
"Gotcha." He said with a coy grin, knowing that if he actually hit her with any of his attacks, she'd be in for a bad time.
Now Yang would have insisted on any given day that she wasn't scared shitless of the massive ball of fire headed her away, but anyone who knew her well could see the sudden panic widening her lilac eyes. Had she been at full power with all of her aura, then maybe she would have countered with her own flames, or took the damage to power up her semblance. But without either, she just stood there, frozen briefly in fear. She nearly gasped when the flames soared right past her not just once, but twice after Natsu kicked the fireball away. How the actual fuck do you do that? With his smirking grin half mocking her weakness, she tried to laugh it off, but all that came out was an awkward chortle. "Haha, I knew you were doing that..."
Mock her feint and then feint right back. What a dick. A strong dick. But still a dick. He was toying with her. And that was annoying her. "Natsu?" She started, her tone uncharacteristically soft. "Thanks for..." In that instant, she made use of their close proximity by sending a rocket powered punch from her robotic arm right at his gut, the fist spinning rapidly to add more destructive torque. "Leaving yourself open," she completed with a smirk.
"Slow." He said as the fist slammed into his open palm, his grip stopping it in its tracks. "Slow and weak."
He looked down at the arm and then looked up at her.
"You lost this fight because you're seeing this arm as merely a weapon when it's much more than that. It's a part of you."
He looked her dead in the eyes.
"You were afraid earlier. Yet you foolishly moved forward."
He jumped backward and allowed his magical energy to explode around him, magical energy so intense that the ground began to shake from its sheer force.
"You remind me of how I used to be." He said. "Always charging head first into things without regard for your own safety. But where has that gotten you? Nowhere. If you continue on such a path, you will only bring destruction to yourself and those you love. You must know when to give up and run away. Listen to me, Yang."
His magical power increased even more.
"Fear is not evil. It lets you know what your weaknesses are. And from there, you can become stronger as well as kinder."
A punch that had drilled right through the chest of dozens of her most dangerous enemies was flat out caught by a boy her kid sister's age. A single. Fucking. Boy. And he had the gall to mock her more? Just what was up with this kid? And what the fuck did he mean with the whole 'it's a part of you' crap? Of course it's a part of her, it's a goddamn arm! And how dare he call her on her fear? How would he know any different? He had power here. She had nothing. Even the weakest mage could Blast a hole through her without aura.
Any conscious thought was trapped under a wave of primal fear as his magic sent her to her knees, face heated through the sheer power of the flames blazing around him.
Ruby looked on with a somber sigh. Should she stop this? She could see the pain her sister was in, even if the blonde wasn't admitting it. She had seen it even in her first punch. Yang wasn't being herself. Could she ever be herself without the powers that defined her? Ruby knew there was a lesson to be learned here, and that was the only thing stopping her from bolting out and stopping this. They were in a different world. Different rules. And Natsu was trying to impart that. Something Ruby had already noticed in the fights she had seen in the video.
"Like you know anything about fear," Yang growled, eyes shut so tight steaming tears were forming in the corner of her eyes and evaporating mere moments after they manifested. Remnant was a world built on fear. Any moment Grimm could come and take everything you loved. And it nearly had several times over. This place was perfect and cheery in comparison. Amassing what strength she could, she managed to roll away from him and struggle to her feet. "I'm outa here." Her voice was low, almost a whisper.
"Yang," murmured the younger sister in a similar tone. She knew this had been a risk. Yang was stubborn to a fault. She'd stick to her guns and never take his clear advice if she didn't think he needed it. But she had ran off as soon as she could move properly.
Letting out a low sigh, Ruby darted her silver eyes toward Blake. They didn't need to speak for the Faunus to know that her leader wanted her to go keep an eye on their resident anger ball.
Suddenly Natsu was punched in the back of the head and sent flying into a tree.
"You could be more tactful, Natsu."
Natsu turned around. "Hey, what's the big idea-" He instantly shrunk back. "ERZA!"
He instantly bowed before her. "I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!"
Normally he'd challenge her to a fight, but the glare in her eyes told him that talking back to her would be a bad idea right now. In fact, he could feel her drilling a hole in the back of his head.
"I shall go speak with her." Erza said as she followed Blake. "And I will bring her back by force if necessary."
Natsu was sweating bullets. He had unintentionally gotten Erza invested in this and that was the last thing he wanted for Yang.
The sudden reaction of the redhead had honestly caught Ruby by surprise. She girl had moved so fast and so suddenly that even she had difficulty tracking her. While her violent means of scolding Natsu reminded her of a certain white haired former heiress, that state of hers was practically a copy of the stare Qrow had told her everyone feared from her mom. A stare that she herself had managed to live up to. And seeing as that Erza stare even made Ruby freeze up, that must be some stare. The leader didn't really have a metric to compare it to, but she'd definitely argue that Summer and Erza were equally intimidating. She still had a ways to go before she became that intimidating.
After Erza left, a silence pervaded the area. People locked in their thoughts, be they of Yang or the pink haired dragon boy that had triggered this event. Letting out an uncharacteristic grumble, one that only came out when she was frustrated with a failed experiment, Weiss broke the silence. "No point standing around here waiting for them to come back. This is Yang we're talking about. Miss Hair Trigger temper. She'll burn out her fuse eventually and come back to apologize. She always does."
Weiss wasn't wrong there. Yang always was the one who'd get the most angry over something the fastest. And she'd tend to run off, to isolate herself from the cause of that anger. Didn't always help, but at least it let her focus on something else. "Natsu," started Ruby, "still wanna fight? Sounds like Weiss is in the mood."
"It pisses me off." Natsu said suddenly, flames flickering around him. "The look in her eyes. The look in the eyes of you guys. All I can see is sadness in them. Your words contradict how you really feel inside. Was Remnant really that hard on you? Was it so bad that you couldn't even open up to someone and ask for a helping hand? Was it so lonely that even smiling makes you feel guilty?"
He stood up, white scarf billowing in the breeze as he grit his teeth in silent anger.
"I won't stand for it. That sadness of yours. I'll burn it away."
A somber smile graced Penny's lips. "And that's what I like about Natsu. No matter what, he's always facing forward. Even if you're in the depth of despair, he's ready to drag you out of it."
With his white scarf billowing and the unyieldingly optimistic attitude, Ruby found a smile crossing her lips. A genuine one, not cloaked by any sadness. "He's like Mom... a ray of sunshine in the dark..." A hesitant hand reached out to grasp at Penny's, just something to hold to remind the 'fearless' Ruby Rose that she was here. That this world so full of cheer and wonder and magic was really real. A world her mom had made her home for ten years... "I wish I could stay as optimistic as you, Mom..." She had been, in her youth. But in the last three years, ever since she stepped into Beacon at the tender age of 15, that bubbliness had been near-beaten out of her by sadness, suffering, and war. In the last few years, she had gone from Ruby Rose, Signal's Top Student, to Ruby Rose, General of Remnant's Special Forces Unit. That was a lot for a kid like her to handle, but it had to be done. It was what she could do to avenge all that death and suffering. Too many people had been lost for her to worry about optimism. Was it a bit fatalistic of her to focus so much on beating Salem, even at the cost of her own life? Perhaps. But what small peace they had obtained was worth it in the end.