Twelve hours earlier.
Earth 2024, Year 11 of the Human/Kaiju war.
Time: May 31st, 06:00 ADT
Location: Anchorage Shatterdome
Nickname: The Ice Box
Stacker Pentecost was sitting at his desk in an almost empty office. Two months ago he lost two of arguably His best pilots, and a Mark 5 Jaeger.
Problem was, they weren't destroyed. They had been searching the battleground for the past two months, and had recovered nothing of Diamond Banshee, not even a scrap of metal.
Even stranger, the Kaiju remains had been found the afternoon after the battle. Fifteen miles from where the fight took place. This confused the Marshall greatly. He knew one of the pilots of Diamond Banshee well, Shade Royal.
Shade was only two years younger than his adopted daughter Mako. Him and Hunter Green were the youngest pilots to ever enter the Jaeger program. The reason Stacker knew Shade so well was because of the fact that Shade's aunt, Summer Shepherd, had saved his life.
[...]
It was a week after the first Kaiju attack, Stacker was in a convenience store just outside of Los Angeles California on his way to the refugee camp setup outside of San Francisco. Then the worst happened. Three armed gunmen entered the store and ordered everyone to the ground.
Everyone, except a dark haired woman obeyed.
The gunman who spoke pointed his rifle at her."I said get on the ground!" He yelled.
"Listen," the woman stated "you have two choices, you can put the guns down and turn yourselves into the authorities… or, I can turn you in myself."
The gunman looked at each other confused. Did this woman just threaten them? They were armed to the teeth! And all she had was a tripod case! One gunman pulled the trigger. He Probably still regrets that decision to this day. Instead of the bullet entering her skull, the bullet was instantly blocked by a long white blade.
"What kind of magic was that?!" a gunman asked.
But before he knew it all the guns were cut in half, it almost looked as if the woman was teleporting.
"Well then," she said as she put her sword back into its case, "you still want me to bring you in?"
Near instantaneously, all of the gunmen rushed out of the store scared for their lives. The woman only walked out the back exit.
[...]
That was almost eleven years ago. Stacker had initially gone looking for her, only to find that, legally speaking, she didn't exist. He eventually found her two years later, trying to raise a child that wasn't her own.
He had just adopted Mako a few weeks earlier so he could understand the trouble she was going through. He eventually managed to get her a job in the Jaeger program, and things just snowballed from there.
She was talented and rose through the program quickly, however when the position as a pilot was offered, she turned it down. She had a nephew to care for, and while she knew they were not technically related, Stacker knew that she felt some sort of… duty to look after Shade. In any case, she soon had the position of designing Jaeger weapons. Something very few had considered before her. And eventually becoming the lead J-tech officer in the program.
Still, he doubted she was dealing with the loss of her adopted nephew well.
For this reason he had called her up to the office. The two of them were close, but she had said before that she had a husband and daughters out there looking for her. And she was the most stubborn woman he had ever met. Unfortunately, they had been searching for years and turned up empty handed. But one thing he never understood, was that she still held out hope.
The door opened and Summer came inside. She wore a plain work vest with a grey t-shirt and Brown work pants. She had silver eyes and, strangest of all, had red accents on her hair. And he often wondered how she found the time to dye it.
"You wanted to see me Marshal?" she asked.
She almost never called him 'Marshal' and she looked like She hadn't slept in days. He knew his suspicions were correct.
She was not taking this well.
"When was the last time you slept, Summer?" he asked.
"I'll sleep when we find my nephew." she answered.
He was afraid of this. Her stubborn side had taken over.
"We never saw the wreckage of Diamond Banshee. They're still alive out there." She stated "we found the Kaiju remains fifteen miles west of where the battle took place..."
Stacker noticed how she ended her sentence, there was something else.
"And?" he asked.
Summer sighed. "Something else killed that Kaiju."
Stacker actually stopped to think about her statement. Something else killed the Kaiju? The absurdity of the idea was not as prominent as one might expect.
"And why do you think something else killed that Kaiju, what could have killed it?" he asked intrigued as to where she was going with her statement.
She pulled up a chair and sat down across the desk from him.
"I never told you where me and Shade were from did I?" she said.
"No, you never did," he said. And It suddenly occurred to him that she never had told him. Why was that?
"Well… I'm gonna have to ask you something before I tell you. Decaf or regular?" she asked.
He was utterly confused, she knew he hated decaf, and what did coffee have to do with anything? "Regular, but why-?" He started to ask but was interrupted by Summer.
"This'll be a two pot explanation," she answered.
As soon as she said that he knew she was serious. They always measured how big a problem was, or how long something was going to take, in how many pots of coffee they were going to need. But before he could ask for coffee to be brought up to his office, Summer simply… vanished. She was gone. Only a few white rose petals remained where she was. Then a few seconds later, there she was again, holding two pots of coffee one in each hand.
"Yeah," she said, putting the pots to one side of the desk "it's complicated."
The Marshall was dumbstruck. Did she just disappear in the blink of an eye? And then reappear seconds later?
[...]
Summer had just used her Semblance in front of someone from earth for the first time in years.
"What..." was all Stacker could force himself to say.
"Well at least you're not trying to kill me," Summer said "that's a plus."
In truth Summer said it to try and lift the mood and maybe take Stacker out his shock.
"So… where do I start?" she asked.
[...]
Summer had been friends with Samuel Schnee for a while. Well, when he was attending Signal Academy of course. His wife, Silvia Schnee was visiting Vale that week with her son, Shade Schnee.
"Hey, Summer? There's supposed to be a storm in the path we're taking back to Atlas, and Samuel suggested you come along for some 'professional protection' as he put it." she said "to be honest he's probably just worried about me and Shade."
Of course Summer had accepted immediately, her and Sam had been friends since Signal. And besides, she'd be gone less than a week.
Oh how wrong she was.
A day after being out at sea, Silvia had always loved boats for some reason, the storm hit. They were too far from Vale to turn back, and the captain assured everyone that the ship was safe.
Still, Summer was on her guard. This much negative emotion coming from everyone on board was bound to attract Grimm. And she was right.
[...]
"Momma I'm scared." the five year old Shade said.
"It's okay Shade, the storm will be over by the time we get home." Silvia told her son.
"You know, I'm starting to think coming out here now was a bad idea." Summer told her friend.
"The captain says the storm is nothing to worry about," Silvia said "So why are you so on edge?"
Summer looked out the window of the room as the boat rocked with the rain and waves. "Something about this trip just doesn't sit right with me," Summer answered "maybe I'm just paranoid."
"Is it because of that Grimm sensing ability that you and your mother have?" Silvia asked.
However before their conversation could continue, the captain's voice came through the speakers in the room. "We got a massive Grimm up here! All Huntsmen get up here!" he said in a panicked voice.
"Wait, what!?" Summer was caught completely off guard by the announcement the ship's captain gave. How could a massive Grimm get so close without her knowing about it? Summer asked herself as she grabbed Sun's Light and teleported to the deck above. What she saw would be burned into her mind forever. It was the biggest Grimm anyone on the ship had ever seen! It was certainly bigger than a Leviathan.
However it was so different from Grimm. It had a reptilian-like body, and Instead of being black and red like most Grimm, it was a greenish color, and had yellow lines all across its body.
"What is that thing?!" someone on deck asked.
"No clue! Ready main cannons!" the captain ordered.
The cannons were quickly moved into position and started firing at the massive Grimm. Summer transformed Sun's Light into its sniper form and started to fire at the Grimm. The problem was that the creature was so big that nothing they threw at it did any damage.
Suddenly, one of Summer's rounds managed to hit the Grimm's eye, causing it to roar in pain. Summer knew this thing could tear this ship apart, and there was nothing they could do about it. She teleported down into the hold.
"Silvia, we need to get you and Shade to a life boat! There's no way this ship will make it!" she said.
Silvia grabbed Shade and ran up towards the deck, Summer not far behind. When they reached the deck, it was chaos. Everyone was running back and forth either firing cannons or readying lifeboats. Silvia looked up at the massive creature. She froze and her face went pale. The creature was now looking down at them, it's lizard-like face had no Grimm mask. And this only added to the fear everyone on board felt.
"Silvia! Get to the lifeboat!" Summer ordered.
Silvia snapped out of her shock and carried Shade to the boat. She helped Shade climb in before turning around to see if there was anyone else, but before she could get into the boat the giant creature drove one of its massive claws into the ship, tearing it in half. The lifeboat suddenly fell loose from the boat separating Silvia from Summer and Shade.
"SILVIA!" Summer shouted.
"MOMMA!" Shade screamed.
Summer scanned the wreckage looking for her friend to no avail. The storm rocked the lifeboat back and forth, almost flipping it, but for whatever reason the massive creature that had attacked them was gone.
"MOMMA!" Shade yelled, desperately searching for his mother.
Before Summer could shout again the lifeboat finally flipped over from the rocking waves.
Summer reached out for grabbing Shade as soon as the boat flipped. She pulled him close, hoping against hope that they would survive. She somehow managed to get her head above water and grabbed onto a lifeboat. As she hauled Shade onto the boat, she looked around and noticed that none of the wreckage was visible. And she had no way of knowing where they were.
Over the next several days they were adrift. The only food they had consisted of emergency rations in the compartment in the lifeboat. Fortunately by some miracle, she still had Sun's Light at her side.
Three days passed with no sign of land or airship. But there were also no Grimm, and Summer could only be glad for that.
On the fourth day the impossible happened. Summer spotted a small fishing boat. Drawing Sun's Light she transformed it into its sniper form and loaded a burn Dust round into the barrel. Aiming upwards she fired it hoping it would act as a flare. The bullet glowed in the sky before exploding about a hundred feet in the air. Thankfully the fishing boat noticed and started turning in their direction. Summer finally believed she would see her family again.
However her expression turned dark when she remembered Shade. There was no way of knowing if his mother was still alive. And she doubted Samuel would be able to cope with losing his wife, after learning that Shade would most likely be their only child. Losing her now would probably break him.
When the boat made it to their location she was confused at the boat's design. shouldn't a boat all the way out here have cannons of some kind to deal with Grimm?
"Hey there! Come on and get on board!" a man whom she assumed must be the captain yelled from the deck.
Summer helped Shade onto the fishing boat before climbing up herself.
"What are you two doing all the way out here? And in a lifeboat!" the captain asked.
"We were attacked by something. I have no idea what it even was." Summer answered.
the captain rubbed his chin as if in deep thought.
"How long have you been adrift?" he asked.
"We've been separated from our ship for four days now." she answered.
The captain nodded as if he expected this. "Well at least the story of you getting attacked checks out. Whatever attacked you is now tearing up the coastline." The captain said, "has been for the past three days."
This terrified her. It made sense that that monster would find its way to the coastline. She just hoped it stayed away from Patch. who knows how long that thing would take to kill.
"Look, we can get you two to Los Angeles but that's the closest city," he said "It's about eighty miles west of here. From there you should be able to contact the coastguard and try to find the rest of your ship."
"Are we gonna find Momma?" Shade asked her.
"We're going to try. Don't worry" Summer said.
"The closest place with a dock should be fine." she told the captain.
He nodded before going into a room on the other side of the ship.
Summer decided to think about their predicament. They were on their way to a coastal city, probably just an over sized village, called 'Los Angeles'. She had never heard of the city before, and since she knew most of the villages close to Vale, that eased her worries just a bit. but then she started noticing something strange. No one on board the ship carried weapons. She would have been less confused if the boat had cannons or there was a huntsman on board, but there were no cannons, and she had yet to see anyone that resembled a huntsman. Eventually one of the crew members approached her.
"So, I assume you haven't heard yet?" he asked her.
"It depends on what you're talking about." Summer answered.
"Well, you've been at sea without a radio for at least four days, so I'm pretty sure you haven't been up to speed." he said.
"You're probably right, mind filling me in?" She asked.
"Well, it hit San Francisco three days ago, who knows how they're holding up, and so far Washington's thrown everything they have at it, but tanks, fighters, and guns have only managed to slow it down." he explained "They say if it doesn't go down soon they may just have to draw it out and drop an ICBM onto it."
Summer wasn't sure what an 'ICBM' was, but she guessed it was probably a big explosive of some kind. Atlas never really liked showing off their best tech too often.
"How long till it reaches Mistral?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Not sure where that is so no clue, but if it's inland it's probably safe." he said.
She froze at hearing this. How had he never heard of Mistral? Whatever she was going to say next was drowned out by Shade tugging on her cloak.
"Where's Momma?" he asked with tears welling up in his face.
She kneeled down and hugged Shade. "I don't know, but don't worry, we'll find her." Summer said.
A few minutes later the fishing boat docked at what had to be the biggest dock and city Summer had ever seen.
"Never been to the big city huh?" the captain asked.
"Never any this big." she admitted.
She knew she had to keep calm, but this place was WAY bigger than Atlas, and that was the biggest city on Remnant! Summer started to panic and grabbed Shade before teleporting to a secluded area. There was no way she was anywhere on Remnant, she'd been to almost all the major cities on the planet! And this place was bigger than anywhere she'd ever seen!
She spent the next few days with Shade, teleporting around the city. Suffice to say no one here had their aura unlocked. And she never found any huntsman either. She knew she'd have to get some money for food and clothing soon.
As time went on, things began to add onto the growing mental list that proved that Shade and herself was no longer on Remnant. Reason one, she had found a library and found that there was no mention of anything on Remnant. The second reason was the fact that everyone she passed looked at her clothing as if it was foreign.
After about a week passed, she had gotten Shade and herself some new clothing as well as a case for Sun's Light. No one she found carried a weapon, except for maybe the occasional pistol or knife.
One day, she and Shade were in a convenience store when it got robbed. She quickly subdued the robbers and made her own getaway.
[...]
The Marshall listened to her words. The story was so long and detailed, that fact alone gave her story credibility. But also her strange ability to teleport also gave it even further credibility, though it still confused him.
"And that's pretty much up till you offered me a job, I hadn't been able to keep one for longer than a month due to my lack of credentials." she finished.
"You still haven't explained your ability to teleport. Would you mind explaining that?" Stacker asked.
"People on Remnant have a unique trait called Aura. It's a lot like a force field in the movies." she said "Aura further allows us to use an ability unique to each person, Semblance. Some people can create copies of themselves, others can absorb hits and hit back with greater force. My Semblance is point to point teleportation."
Stacker nodded "So I assume Summer Shepheard is not your real name?" he asked.
"Summer actually is my first name, but my last name is Rose. Summer Rose." she answered.
"So you believe Shade is alive, and quite possibly in some other alternate dimension?" Stacker asked.
"The more I think about and the more I dig, the more likely I think it is." she answered.
"And what evidence have you found to prove such a thing?" he asked.
"The video feed." she stated flatly.
Stacker had almost forgotten about it. When they lost radio contact with Diamond Banshee They switched to a live video feed. The video was covered in static, and you could only make out distinct shapes every now and then.
"How did you manage to get anything from that?" Stacker asked.
"I thought I saw and felt something the first time. Something familiar. I wasn't sure about it until I went through it frame by frame, but now I know," she said "that thing wasn't a Kaiju. It was a Grimm. Specifically a Grimm called a Leviathan."
"And how do you suggest that this is some kind of… 'creature of darkness'?" he asked.
"When I went through the frames I found this." she handed Stacker a picture that was apparently a single frame of the video. The picture showed a Kaiju, but it was black and had a white mask on its face.
"I think this thing killed the Kaiju before going after Diamond Banshee. And I also think it dragged Shade and Hunter to Remnant somehow." she stated.
"You had just mentioned that you felt something familiar when Diamond Banshee fought this… Leviathan Grimm. Care to explain that?"
Summer sighed. "When I turned fifteen, my mother began training me to learn how to use a genetic ability that my mother, myself and if I am right my youngest daughter have to sense Grimm. It's an extremely rare ability event for those from Remnant. Apparently, from what I have learned, only those that have silver eyes have this ability."
Stacker sat silently for a few seconds. "So it's just your family that has this ability?" he asked.
Summer shook her head. "No, on my last mission before I arrived here on Earth. I had rescued a young boy that was the same age as my oldest daughter from enslavement. He also has silver eyes as well, but at the time I doubt he could sense any Grimm."
"Is that why you went out of your way to help LaRue and Lanphier rescue LaRue's children?"
Summer simply nodded.
Stacker sighed. "Promise me that you won't do anything like that again without informing me first."
Summer smiled. "Sure thing."
A sudden electronic ring from a screen on Stacker's desk alerted the two of an incoming call from the LOCCENT control room. Stacker accepted the call. "What is it?"
"Sir!" Tendo Choi responded. "We just got a message from the UN. They want a sudden mandatory meeting in twelve hours."
"Alright," Stacker sighed. "Tell them we will be there." He turned to face Summer. "Go get some rest. You're going to need it."
[...]
Present time.
Yang had just gotten the biggest shock of her life. Her step-mother, Summer Rose, whom everyone thought had died, turns out to be alive in another world.
"M...Mom?" she asked in confusion as a single tear rolled down her cheek. The blonde brawler walked over to her younger sister's side to get a better view of the holographic picture of her mother. Sure enough there stood in front of an office workbench that was covered in Jaeger and weapon blueprints. Her white cloak hung on the chair behind the workbench. But what confirmed that it was her mom in the picture was Sun's Light in a display case that hung just off to the side on the back wall. More tears began to flow down her cheeks as Cerise walked over and began to comfort the two sisters.
"What's going on?" Weiss asked as she exited the bathroom while cleaning the side of her mouth with a wet paper towel.
Ruby pointed at the picture of her mom on Hunter's phone.
'Summer Shepherd, Jaeger weapons and J-Tech chief, Summer oversees all Jaeger repairs, upgrades, and maintenance. She is also the inventor for 88% of all the Jaeger weapons that are used to kill Kaiju. Her most famous Jaeger weapon invention is the plasma ion cannon used by both Gypsy Danger, Crimson Typhoon and Diamond Banshee. Summer Shepherd is also known as the person who started the Great Cookie Civil War in the Jaeger program which ended up a three way fight between Striker Eureka, Echo Saber, and Hydra Corinthian.'
"What does she have to do with you two crying your eyes out?" Weiss asked "especially you Yang."
Yang said nothing as she reached into one of Cerise' saddle bags and pulled out Ruby's doggy face pillow. She turned it over and unzipped a zipper on the side. The blonde brawler reached in and quickly found what she was looking for. Yang pulled out a large scrapbook that was hidden inside with the words 'memory is the key' on the front in bold letters. She grabbed the book and opened it up to the first page before showing it to Weiss. On that page were five more pictures of the same person on Hunter's phone with much younger versions of Yang and Ruby. There was even a picture of her holding a one month old Ruby while the both of them were sleeping. At the top of the page, was the words 'Super Mom' written in bold letters and white roses.
Weiss did a double take as she looked back and forth between the scrapbook and the picture on the phone. "H..How is this possible?" Weiss asked in shock.
"I...I don't know." Ruby answered as she wiped the tears off her face.
"Do you think Shade knew that his aunt was your mom?" Elena asked.
"I need to talk to him." Yang said in a firm voice "Where are they again?"
"They said they would spend the rest of the day training." Petra answered.
Yang got up and grabbed both Hunter's iPhone, causing the holographic screen to deactivate and turn on the normal one, and the scrapbook out of Weiss's hands. She walked out of the room, followed by everyone else, and headed towards the closest training hall.
[...]
Back on Earth, Stacker Pentecost, Summer Rose, Hercules Hansen, and Tendo Choi had just finished a group call with the world leaders announcing that in eight months they would pull their funding from the Jaeger program.
"What do we do now?" Tendo asked.
Stacker looked at all of them. Tendo, He'd been the chief LOCCENT manager for as long as the Jaeger program had been alive.
"We only have a few Jaeger's left, and we just lost our biggest funding pool." Herc said.
Herc Hansen, A close friend to the higher ups in the program, he and his son have now been piloting the only remaining Mark five Jaeger, Striker Eureka.
"We don't need em." Stacker replied.
"He's right, We just have to go on the offensive for a change." Summer stated.
Summer Rose, A puzzle to even Stacker himself, but still a close and trusted friend nonetheless. That morning she had told him that she was from an entirely different universe, and he was inclined to believe her.
"Herc, gather up the rest of the Jaeger's and make sure they get to Hong Kong." Stacker ordered "Tendo, track down as many intact Jaegers and pilots as you can."
They both nodded and walked off to fill their respective orders.
"You think we can pull this one off?" Summer asked.
"If we don't, we'll all die." he answered.
[...]
The sound of two wooden bo staffs clashing against each other filled the training hall. Shade and Hunter were sparing against each other to build upon their pilot compatibility and combat skills. However, Shade's fluid motions were being hampered by something on his mind.
"Geez Shade, what's got you so riled up?" Hunter asked as he leaned back to dodge an overhead horizontal swing from his partner.
"I've been worried about everyone back home is all," Shade responded as he sidestepped a lunge from Hunter.
"That I can understand," Hunter said as he used his bo staff to block a downward right to left swing.
"Your family lives in Louisiana," Shade stated as he jumped over a low swing. "But my aunt and Mako are probably still in one of the Shatterdomes or something."
"I don't know what to tell you, I have it easy, everyone I know is inland" Hunter said as both pilot's bo staves stuck each other. "But I know how you feel about Mako, she's like a sister to you right?"
"Yep, true enough. Truth be told I probably don't have anything to worry about." Shade stated "Stacker's way to over-"
He was interrupted when Yang punched through the doors to the training hall they were in. Her hair ablaze as she entered the building. He had no idea why she was so mad, but then again Hunter probably did something to her hair again.
"You better run Hunter, Yang's going to kill you now." Shade chuckled.
"What the heck did I do?" Hunter retorted.
"SHADE!" Yang yelled.
This took the two pilots by surprise. What did Shade of all people do?
Yang walked up to Shade and shoved both Hunter's phone and what looked to be a scrapbook into his hands. Shade finally looked at Yang and noticed the look on her face. It was a face mixed with fear, anger, worry and what was the most confusing, hope.
"Why are you showing me the picture of my aunt?" He asked, looking at the picture on the phone.
"First page." Yang demanded as she pointed to the scrapbook.
Shade opened up the book. And when he saw what, or rather, who the pictures were of. His blood ran colder than Atlas during a winter blizzard.
"H-how, do you have a picture of my aunt Summer?" he asked.
Just then, the rest of team RWBY as well as Rona, Petra, Elena and Aaron ran into the room. The two dragons stayed outside but they listened in on the conversation.
Shade stood there, dumbstruck. How on earth did someone, FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE! Have a picture of his aunt?!
"T-that's my… my mom." Yang said.
Shade simply stared blankly at Yang.
"Wait a minute. Hold on!" Hunter demanded "Are you saying that Shade's aunt is from Remnant?! And on top of that, she's your mom?!"
"Is she… alive?" Yang asked.
"Yes, She's been raising me for the past twelve years." Shade said, still in partial shock.
"Okay, there is no way I can do this, you two sort out family issues, I'm getting a headache." Hunter said before walking out of the room.
[...]
"My brain…" Hunter muttered to himself.
"You Okay?" Petra asked, who had followed him out of the room.
"Yeah, seriously though, my head hurts, got any aspirin?" Hunter asked.
Petra just looked at him confused.
"Er, stuff to make headaches go away." he clarified remembering that not everything was the same on Remnant.
"Oh! I have some Ache-aid, would that help?" she asked, pulling out a bottle of pills from her jacket pocket.
Hunter eyed them skeptically before taking the bottle and examining it. "Huh, looks like Tylenol." he muttered. "Out of curiosity, why do you keep these on you?"
"Migraines, I've had em ever since I was a kid." she answered.
Shrugging, he opened the bottle and consumed one of the pills. Yep, sure tasted like Tylenol.
"Should kick in in a few minutes." she stated.
"Thanks." he said.
[...]
Back in the gym, things were not so calm. Yang snapped, eyes turning red with rage, and was yelling at Shade.
"Why the hell didn't you tell us!"
"How could I have known!" Shade responded, scared of what was going to happen.
"How could you have not known! Ruby looks almost exactly like our mother!" Yang yelled back, her rage nearing a boiling point.
"You didn't have any pictures of her at your house that either me or Hunter could see," Shade calmly said. "We honestly thought Teresa was your mom until we weren't in enough pain that we could think straight."
Yang's right eye twitched for a split second. She grabbed the wooden bo staff and tore it out of his hands. With one hand she crushed it in half before using the same fist to try and punch a hole in Shade's face. The two of them had brawled from time to time, but Yang had always come out on top. In the meantime Shade was desperately trying to dodge her attacks.
"You. Hold. Still!" She said through gritted teeth.
Shade didn't have his weapons on him so there was no way he could go on the offensive. He couldn't hit her, that would only make her stronger, and he hadn't discovered his Semblance yet, so he had no advantage.
Soon Shade tripped on a spot Yang had punched, leaving him open for Yang to attack.
"Shade!" Rona yelled.
Yang jumped up ready to slam her fist into Shade. The ensuing explosion of dust caused a large smokescreen throughout the room, blocking the combatants from view.
When the smoke cleared, everyone saw that Yang's fist had made contact with a dinner plate sized black glyph which was being projected by Shade as he held up one arm.
"..."
Everyone was silent. No one said anything. The only noise was that of a ringing sound emanating from Shade's glyph.
"What?!" Weiss said shocked.
"No way, He unlocked his Semblance." Rona said.
"Isn't that your Semblance Weiss?" Elena asked.
Weiss simply remained silent.
"Umm… could you… get off?" Shade asked warily.
Slowly, Yang's eyes shifted back to their normal lilac color. After a few seconds she proceeded to get off of Shade. He lowered his arm as she did so, and proceeded to get up. Once he was on his feet, Yang punched him in the face.
"Ahhh! What was that for?!" he said panicking a bit.
Yang only glared at him before walking off. Ruby stepped in front of her.
"Yang… what's going on?" she asked warily.
"It's… mom. She's alive and Shade didn't tell us." she stated.
Ruby's face lit up like she had just gotten a plate full of cookies and strawberries placed in front of her. Then her expression turned to that of confusion.
"But… how?" she asked.
"I don't know." Yang replied.
"I have a headache." Shade said, rubbing his head.
Just then Hunter walked into the room.
"Here-o buddy'o! Take one a these! Knock that ache clear outta the park!" Hunter said, stumbling towards his partner.
"Hunter are you okay?" Rona asked.
"Juuuuuust fiiiiiiine." he replied.
He turned and held out a bottle in Shade's general directions.
Shade took the bottle and quickly turned to look at the ingredients.
Acetaminophen. Or, by it's more recognizable name, Tylenol.
Shade let out an audible sigh. That was one thing that he never told anyone, the only reason he even knew about it due to a very unique, and embarrassing, situation. Hunter was allergic to the stuff in a very weird way.
"Alright, who gave him these?" Shade demanded.
Petra, who was now standing in the doorway, raised her hand.
"That would be me, why? Is he not supposed to have headache medicine?" she asked.
"No, medicine is fine. But for future reference, if we survive the rest of today, never, ever give him this stuff." Shade stated.
"Whoooo!"
Everyone turned around to see that Hunter was, somehow, hanging from the ceiling.
Shade just facepalmed, Ruby, Elena, Yang and Aaron were trying to figure out how on Remnant he got up there, Weiss had officially passed out from the pure insanity of their situation, Blake was nowhere to be found, Rona was rubbing her temples, and Petra was calling for Hunter to get down.
"You get down here!" she demanded.
"Sorry! I'm kinda stuck!" Hunter answered.
"Has this happened before?" Aaron asked Shade.
"Once" he answered "and I still to this day cannot get that image out of my head."
Flashback…
Hunter was sitting on top of Diamond Banshee's nuclear reactor chest piece. In boxers. Drinking a coke. And singing.
...Present day
Shade shuddered at the memory of his partner's insanity.
"Oh my darlin, oh my darlin, won't you come and sing with me~" Hunter sang. Still hanging from the ceiling "Come on Petra! Sing with me!" Hunter continued to sing whilst swinging back and forth from his current position.
"Nope. Never giving him that stuff again." Petra agreed.
[...]
It had taken them a good thirty minutes to get Hunter down from the ceiling, and a couple of hours to finally get him into a position where his team could deal with him.
He was currently toying with one of his shotgun shells off in a corner of their dorm where Petra had promised to keep an eye on him. A knock on the door grabbed everyone but Hunter's attention. Shade opened the door to see Weiss standing in the doorway.
"Excuse me Shade, but, could I talk to you for a second?" she asked.
Shade looked to Rona Who just shrugged, then to Petra who was too preoccupied trying to keep Hunter from eating his shotgun shell.
"Eh, sure." he agreed, stepping out into the hall before closing the door behind him "What's up?"
"It's about… your Semblance." she stated.
"What about it?" he asked, not sure where she was going with this.
"It's just… it looked exactly the same as mine." she said.
This surprised Shade. Weren't all Semblances different? In at least one way or another?
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Weiss responded by holding out her hand and summoning a white glyph.
"Are you able to do this?" she asked.
Holding out his hand, he focused all his aura into one spot, hoping for a similar reaction to that of Weiss's. After a few seconds, a much smaller glyph appeared in Shade's palm.
Shade could have sworn that Weiss's eyes tripled in size.
"T-that's… i-impossible." she stuttered.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Your Semblance is exactly the same as mine." she said.
"I… guess it's a coincidence?" Shade said.
She shook her head "It's more complicated than that," she stated "you're not the only person to have an identical Semblance to me, at least three other people do."
This confused Shade even more. How on Earth could five people have the exact same Semblance?
"My Semblance is hereditary." she explained "My mother, my sister, and my uncle and I all have an identical Semblance."
Shade's eyes went wide. There was no way he and Weiss were…
"The only way you could have an identical Semblance to me, is if you were related to me." Weiss said.
"But… that's impossible! I'm from another dimension! How on Earth could I be related to you?!" Shade demanded.
"I have no idea." she stated.
Shade rubbed his head trying to process what had happened. First, he found out that somehow his adoptive aunt was from remnant, and was the mother of the first two people he met. And second, he was apparently, If the situation was to be believed, related to someone from remnant.
"We have to talk to Ozpin about this." Shade stated.
"Agreed." Weiss said.
"No Hunter! You do not eat Gravity Dust!" they heard Petra shout through the wall, followed by a large crashing sound.
"What happened to him?" Weiss asked.
"Anti-headache medicine. Never give it to him. Ever." Shade answered.
[...]
In another part of Remnant, Atlas to be specific, General James Ironwood was standing on a catwalk overlooking a massive steel machine that had been pulled from the ocean a week earlier.
"General, we're ready to start reverse engineering it." a scientist stated.
"Fine, proceed." he answered.
Said machine was 'laying' inside their largest hangar in Atlas. It looked like it was some kind of giant robot, only missing one arm which had later been located about two hundred meters away from it.
From the initial examination, the robot had been severely damaged, the torso had dozens of claw marks, and several sheets of metal were missing, presumably by whatever this thing had fought. The head of it was also examined and the inside of it looked to be some kind of cockpit to pilot the massive machine.
The damage to the machine looked almost irreparable. However that was what reverse engineering was for. The most confusing part about it however, was the large circular object in the center of it's chest piece. It was most likely the power source for the machine given its size and location.
James knew he would have to talk to Ozpin about this, such a machine just 'appearing' out of nowhere was simply impossible.
After a few hours passed, several of the scientists reported.
"General Ironwood sir, we've finished the complete examination." the scientist said.
"And what did you find?" James asked.
"Well, we've found that all of the extremities and robotics draw their power from the central device fixed in the chest piece," he said "but we have also discovered that the device is lined with a thick layer of lead, presumably to block some kind of signal or radiation from either getting in or out."
"Have you found out what kind of Dust can power such a device?" James asked.
"That's also what's confusing us, the entire configuration isn't set up to be powered by Dust, and we haven't been able to open the power supply due to several warnings and complications posted throughout the device, which also describe it as a 'nuclear reactor'." the scientist explained.
This confused the General greatly.
"What are these warnings?" he asked.
"They warn about severe nuclear radiation from inside the reactor, and to be frank, I would rather not find out what this 'nuclear' radiation can do to a person." the scientist stated "and until we can find a safe way to open and examine the device, I suggest we focus on repairing and possibly improving the entire machine. It could be a very valuable military asset."
"Very well, focus on repairs and construction until we can find a way to safely examine the reactor." James ordered.
He would be heading to Vale in a couple of weeks. And he would be having a very unpleasant conversation with headmaster Ozpin about this, as well as another issue.
[...]
Meanwhile on another planet, a man and a woman in futuristic armor walked into a tram passenger car. "Next stop Armory," an automated voice announced as the tram departed.
"I swear Kimball and Doyle argued more than discuss the mission they gave us." the man said to the woman.
"I know but they were right about how serious this mission is." the woman replied. "We need to get those munitions and food rations everyone desperately needs."
"Are you sure that the idiots can handle being bait for Locus and Felix's troops?" the man asked.
"They have to so that everyone else can get the supplies. Besides, we are going to be right there with them." the woman quickly responded.
The man sighed. "As long as I don't get run over again, I'll be okay with the mission."
"What about a grappling hook to the balls?" the woman remarked.
"You are never going to let me forget that, are you." The man griped as the woman was the reason why that happened.
The woman laughed. "Nope!"
"Now arriving at the Armory." the automated voice announced as the doors to the tram opened up. The man and woman stepped out and made their way to where the rest of their friends were at.
"Well, should you tell them or should I?" the man asked.
"I'll tell the idiots," the woman responded. "They'll listen to what I have to say."
[...]
A/N: Well guys here is the second promised chapter and I hope it explained some things. Also, those of you who had followed this story since the beginning probably are going to be excited for the next chapter. I know you have waited over a year for it.
Now for some important news. The following chapters will return to the normal schedule of once I complete it, I will upload it. Also I will be going on my family's annual vacation up into the mountains to help clear my head and refresh. I do not want to burn out on this story. So look forward to the next chapter releasing in September.
Now onto the reviews!
MarauderPrime12: Thank you.
LordMatthaios: I'm glad you are enjoying the story.
TheSilentChloey: Surprise! I'm glad you liked that last chapter and hope this one answered some questions.
Hamm1999: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS! Sorry but I won't be answering any more spoilers. But as for when in the TF2 timeline, it is after the comics are over.
Ultimatrix bearer: Surprised you didn't I? And thank you.
Well that's everything for this chapter. Look forward to chapter 27! Have a great day everyone.
