The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Sixty Seven, Pumpkin Pete's Madness.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Sanus, Vale, Beacon Academy-
Clank.
Clank.
Clank.
'I really don't understand why they asked me for….this.' Pyrrha thought to herself while holding several plastic bags of cereal in her hands, the familiar bunny logo plastered on the spine, as she walked down the hallway towards her room. 'It's so unhealthy.'
As the sun began to rise beyond the window covered halls, the Champion of Mistral pondered her team's….strange fascination of unhealthy tasteless flakes from one of her past sponsors, Pumpkin Pete's.
While yes she did do it because of the money and 'brand' recognition, she really doesn't like the cereal or its company in general. Always trying to sell their products with colorful advertisements and gimmicks yet always keeping the formula, created sometime after the Great War, the same calorie filled slop that somehow made millions of lien every year.
Clearly, she was in the minority on the matter but she does know that no one in Beacon Academy, except for Jaune and Ruby, enjoyed the cereal as anything more than a bargain bin snack for rare occasions.
Yet something felt off, like something wasn't right in the world.
A cereal that can cause stomach ulcers and insomnia-like 'sugar rushes', shouldn't be an instant success due to a small change in the formula.
"Still, it is tasty for some people." Pyrrha muttered to herself while turning a corner. "I can't fault them for that….but why Pumpkin Pete's?" 'And why this new flavor?'
Stopping halfway towards the middle of the hallway, she placed the bags down and pulled out a green and black box with a grinning chibi Beowolf on the front, looking at the title with confusion.
"Pumpkin Pete's Grimming Flakes. A chill down every bite?" she muttered out loud. "The tasty treat that'll unleash the beast within? This goes against the last sponsorship, you can't just market the Creatures of Grimm as a food mascot, that would…well lead to kids being sorry for the Grimm." 'Or for parents to sue, especially in Anima and Varuco. Just what were they thinking!?'
Taking a deep breath, the P of Team JNPR put the box away and began walking back to her room, her boots making a loud clanging sound with each step she made.
'Maybe I should get my greaves and cuisses oiled? They seemed a little loud lately, maybe rust?' she thought to herself before turning to her left, only to notice something…off about the atmosphere.
That being the sense of dread permeated from the far left doorway like a heavy fog…which unfortunately was her room.
'Eh?' she thought before walking to the door, hearing the sound of scratching and broken glass from within. 'What's going on…wait? Did someone get hurt? Is there an intruder!?'
CRASH!
BAM!
A loud gurgling growl bellowed from behind the wooden doors as Pyrrha dropped the bags and kicked down the door with her left foot, quickly using her semblance to 'summon' her weapons to her hands.
"Hand in…..th…e…air…." she yelled before trailing off in shock.
For in the new destroyed room, claw marks and broken furniture rampant in the small dorm room, were gray skinned humanoids with flaking skin, deep red eyes, balding skulls, shark-like teeth, massive claw-like hands and feet, long snake-like tails protruding from their spinal column and ripped clothes that hung loose against their bodies as they were busy fighting amongst themselves for a tattered box of cereal.
Yet for the red head, these humanoids weren't just strangers…..
They were….her team.
"RRRRIIII!"
"RRROAAAAARRRR!"
"SKIIIIII!"
'W….What…..what the….!?' she thought before seeing the ripped box in their clawed hands and put two and two together, causing her to gasp in shock. 'The cereal! The cereal is tainted!'
"Riii?" said a semi blonde haired humanoid as it looked in Pyrrha's direction, along with the other two humanoids, one with fading orange hair and one with a single magenta streak, before growling at her with aggression. "RRRRRRIIIIIIII!"
"RRROAAAAARRRR!"
"SKIIIIII!"
"Shit!" the champion yelled before using her semblance to quickly 'push' them out the window, sending them flying as the red head heard another cry of aggression just behind her.
Only to see several hundred humanoid 'Grimm', all with various shades of balding hair and ripped clothing, right near the door, growing and scratching to force themselves into the room.
Pyrrha's eyes widened before throwing the bags of cereal at them, the boxes getting ripped around with the plastic as she quickly used her semblance to create a 'road' of 'flying' metal appliances for her to run out of the room and above the castle grounds. 'Olk, this was a new application for my powers…but how did….oh no.'
As she looked upon the school ground, she saw fires starting, broken glass and the bloody remains of students and teachers alike, the humanoid 'monsters' racing across the ground or crawling up the sides of the castle in search of their next meal.
"How….How….HOW!?" she yelled while horrified that a single cereal caused all of this destruction. "PUMPIN PETE'S IS DISGUSTING SLOP!"
"RRROAAAAARRRR!"
Her eyes widened before seeing a bat winged humanoid with rabbit-like ears flying towards her, jaw wide open as milk seemed to leak out of the hole in her throat.
"RRROAAAAARRRR!" the humanoid cried out before Pyrrha's blade pierced its head, spraying blood onto the screen as everything went black.
"I'm sorry…Velvet."
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Pyrrha Nikos (Pumpkin Pete's Madness Pyrrha Nikos- PPMPNRWBY)
Age: 17
Affiliation: Ultimate Evil (Not intentionally, just by her status as a cereal mascot for Pumpkin Pete and by proxy, Ace of Cakes CO.)
Dimension: - 2000- 02 PPMPNRWBY
Abilities: Enhanced strength, speed, durability, agility, and endurance, javelin handling and knowledge, rifle handling and knowledge, shield handling and knowledge, swordsmanship skills and knowledge, high aura pool, Huntress skills and knowledge, pin point accuracy, hand to hand combat skills, aura handling and knowledge (limited).
Semblance(s): Polarity
Bio: In this timeline, the lien prices of Pumpkin Pete products, even with the sponsorship of Pyrrha Nikos, began to drop to abnormally low levels, failing to even get a gross estimate in the following two years. Threatened by the concept of bankruptcy, Arc of Cakes CO, the parent company of Pumpkin Pete's, decided to alter the formula in the cereal to give it some 'oomph' while also giving the normal bland cereal flakes an updated flavoring. However, unbeknownst to the employees or board of directors, the 'Pyrrha Peach Cobbler' flavoring was accidentally replaced during production with an experimental growth formula called G-99.W or 'Grinning Explosion'. This particular formula, created using the 'genetic' extract of multiple Grimm species, was considered a failure due to giving the test subjects, in the initial testing stages, increased hyper aggression, an addiction to anything Pumpkin Pete produced, genetic mutation and Grimm-like tendencies such as feralization and insatiable bloodlust, when consuming the unnatural substance. This simple mistake caused every single person that consumed the new and 'improved' Pumpkin Pete's cereal, regardless of species, age or gender, to mutate into monstrous cereal craving monsters that first consumed all the cereal in the world, being named 'Cereal monsters' due to the 'non threatening' actions, but once that run dried, they turned on both the humans and the faunus, killing and eating them in a blind madness that threatens to wipe sentient lifeforms off the face of the planet. Yet there is hope as Pyrrha Nikos, the only one not to eat the cereal due to her dislike of its contents, was able to escape an infected Beacon Academy and become a 'Cereal Killer', hunting down anyone infected by the initial outbreak and killing them for revenge. In a way….this is ironic, a champion sponsored a cereal for fame and now she hunts down the victims of a cereal gone wrong, which surprisingly has the same flavor as red meat now. Mmmm, taste that? It takes like….ruin! Pumpkin Pete's Grimming Flakes. The tasty treat that'll unleash the beast within. [Sponsored by Ace of Cakes CO.]