Hello all you Boils and Ghouls, and a VERY belated Happy Halloween to you all! Such a shame I never get to celebrate it anymore, but oh well; what can you do? I just wish to say that I am SO sorry this chapter took so long to be finished, but I'm having computer troubles that I can't control anymore; I'm hoping to get a brand new one by Black Friday, so hold on tight...
That being said, I need to address an issue I'm sure is wandering around...
NORMALLY, as soon as a chapter is posted, I start writing the next one. There, I said it; I try to work back to back on the chapters and only take breaks when absolutely necessary OR when my comp just goes kaput...
With that out of the way, let's start on the new chapter! Oh - first thing's first!
Disclaimer: Only Dichro, Quartz, the Kuroto wannabe, and any other OCs mentioned are owned by me. Kamen Rider and RWBY are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.
)-Legend-(
"Yo!" - Speaking
'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking
"Dearest love," - Reading
"Kaishin no Ippatsu!" - Specials
)-Vale/Forever Fall Outskirts-(
)-First Person PoV-(
As I lead Quartz away from prying eyes, I just now notice that we were coming up to the border of the Forever Fall Forest - No wonder the Grimm were able to get there so fast...
Anyway, as I lead her there, she tried to introduce herself to me as if she didn't know me and I had to tell her who I was. She was shocked at first but then she started acting weird soon after, so I took note of her actions. She was holding her hands together rather nervously... Almost like she was expecting to be scolded or spanked or something; poor thing was starting to act more and more like Ruby. I turned to her with a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's okay, Quartz... You didn't do anything wrong."
"But I was TRYING to do bad things and they kept messing up!" she almost shouted at me...
I simply shook my head and asked her why she even thought it was necessary. She told about overhearing what it took to cure Ruby and decided that finding a way to complete her game wasn't worth waiting around. Normally, I would have agreed, but this was a special case; a first case, technically, but a special one nonetheless. I sighed as I replied, "Normally, yeah, that's what's needed. But you're special - you and Ruby both are; for reasons I cannot go into just yet, but I promise that I will eventually." I gave her a quick, brotherly, one-armed hug and said as I let go, "We need to go about this as carefully as possible to find a way to help both of you survive this." Quartz looked at me like she was confused and asked if I meant it, to which I replied, "Of course I do; you're a lot like Ruby and my baby sister, so I have to help you clear this." As I said this, a thought came to mind; 'If anyone knows how to clear Skyliners, it's the very AI that came out of it,' I deduced in my head. Snapping my fingers in realization, I cried out, "I GOT IT!" which spooked Quartz as I heard her squeak out in surprise. Turning to her and muttering an apology, I asked her, "Quartz, from what you can remember, is there an ending to the game Skyliners?" My hopes were starting to rise as I watched her raise a hand to her screen face and start rubbing it in thought.
Those hopes, however, were dashed as she shook her head negative and said, "I'm afraid not... Skyliners is a game that doesn't have an ending..." As I hung my head in dejection, she then said something that gave me some form of hope back; "The closest to clearing the game that I can think of is clearing the Tutorial level..."
"There's a tutorial level?" I asked her. She nodded affirmative before she explained what it was; "The Tutorial Level is where the player learns what's needed to create and operate a city and is usually finished when we build the city's own personal Cross Continental Transit tower..." At hearing this, multiple ideas and theories started to run through my head; each one involving what would happen if another tower were introduced to Remnant, but ultimately it all came to the same conclusion - That this had to be done in order to help not just Ruby and Quartz, but also the rest of Remnant...
That we HAD to build this new tower...
"Let's do it, then," I said as I walked ahead and simply stretched my left arm over my chest with my right arm holding it by the elbow. I heard a strange noise similar to stuttering, but more fritzy; if that even is a real word, coming from behind me, so I assumed that it was Quartz being surprised. My assumption was correct when she cried out "WHAT?!" as I started to stretch out my right arm. I turned my head to her and explained, "Whatcha mean 'What?' I mean it - let's build that tower." As I said this, I started to work on stretching my legs as she once more exclaimed, "But that's a bad idea! Vale already has its own tower - what if the other kingdoms find out and try to blame Vale for having an extra tower-"
"Then pardon my language," I started as I stood back up and turned to her, "But FUCK them!" I walked up to her as I continued, "This isn't about just Vale... Nor is it just about Vacuo, nor Mistral, and not even Atlas..." I held her by the shoulders as I looked her square in the eyes for a few moments; my determination at seeing this through growing by the second. "This is about you and Ruby. And what happens to the two of you WILL matter in the end. Let the rest of the world think whatever the hell they want - I'm doing this for my friends and you should be, too; that's where it matters the most!"
I watched as she stared in shock before I smirked under my helmet and said, "Now how's about we get started?" I took my hands off her shoulders and got into a thinking pose as ideas swarmed into my head as I muttered a little too loudly, "Of course, I'm going to need some power-ups before we get started - heavens above knows you might not be able to control that power of yours entirely..."
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" Man, that Bugster has a pair of lungs on her... All I could hear was ringing after that! Smacking my head a bit, I shook out the cobwebs she just put in my brain before finally explaining to her what I meant, "You weren't meant to be able to act on your own - even in the game... You've always had someone to tell you what they wanted you to do and you always had to follow it; in other words, you've always done what the player has asked you to do. So for this to work, I need to know what you want to do so that I can act as your avatar to select things for you." As I looked to her when I finished, I could see excitement start to form in her smiling expression before she clapped her hands repeatedly. That's when I suddenly found myself looking at the sky with a hefty weight on my chest and abdominal area...
As I looked down, I could see her hugging me and saying "Thank you!" over and over again - I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped me as I replied, "It's no problem, but we need to hurry. There's no telling how long Ruby has."
"Oh that's right - I forgot!" she exclaimed as she jumped off me and started to look around. "But um... where are we building it?" she asked. I looked around, quite stumped by the question myself, before I nodded as I saw a large clearing nearby and pointed to it saying, "How about over there? It's large, open, and has a path leading up to it that we can work with." As I turned back to her, I noticed she was looking at the spot in thought and nodded after a few minutes before saying, "That'll DEFINITELY work!"
With our goal in mind, I ran to the spot; determined to fix this mess as soon as possible.
I just hope nothing bad happens while we're gone...
)-Beacon Academy, RWBY's Dorm-(
)-Third Person PoV-(
"Oh you are so pweshus - we're gonna be best fwends, oh yes we are!" the heiress coo'd as she sat on her bed, and cuddled and held Snowbell, or Schneeglocke if you were to ask a certain white-haired, teenaged, opera singer; while said little caterpillar was chirping up a storm trying to cuddle her back as well as trying to coax her to play with it. Anyone else who was watching the scene would have said that Weiss never acted so childish in their entire time knowing her and that she never looked cuter than she did now...
Anyone, that is, except for the two people watching her from Team RWBY's Dorm door...
Blake, being a Cat Faunus, had this nagging feeling that somehow this thing she was 'cuddling' and 'playing with' meant bad news for all of them... Her co-watcher, Ren, on the other hand was having different thoughts running through his mind as he examined the scene before them; his most prominent thoughts were what it was, where it came from and why was it here. His thoughts soon changed to what would happen if Nora ever got ahold of it, thankful that she and the rest of his team were busy helping Jaune finish up his new weapon, and... Needless to say, he hoped and prayed that she would never be allowed near it. Those thoughts soon changed when he saw it wiggle out of Weiss' arms and started to crawl and roll all over the heiress' lap and covers in much the same way a puppy would a new home. Seeing her giggle up a storm at the sight made Ren and Blake each quirk an eyebrow as they both thought at the same time, "Just how much of a childhood was she denied?" And how was Yang taking all of this, you ask? Well...
She decided the best way to deal with it was by not being in the same room as them; and checking on Ruby while she was at it.
Weiss began to tickle Snowbell's underside, watching it squirm, chirp excitedly, and try to reach for her fingers with it's legs in retaliation. Seeing that she was in no immediate danger, despite what her instincts were telling her, Blake turned away from the heiress for only a brief moment to look out the window - only to notice something visibly odd to appear in the side near the Forever Fall Forest. She decided to investigate what it was she was seeing before she walked closer to the window with a soft "Huh?" being muttered as she got closer. Hearing this, Weiss looked up at Blake asking, "What's going on?" The raven-haired girl merely spoke "You may want to see this," as she continued to stare out at the window. Weiss picked up her little friend and held it close to her chest as she got up and walked over to the window.
When the heiress looked out of it, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
)-Meanwhile-(
)-With Dichro and Quartz-(
Upon reaching their destination, Dichro and his Bugster friend began to examine the clearing, upon Quartz' recommendation, to find any traces of blemishes or possible hazards that could potentially disrupt or even destroy their project, but soon became thankful that the worst they could find was that it was slightly uneven terrain and nothing more. They soon contemplated on how large the tower would be but only for a few moments before the dichromatic warrior shrugged and said, "Honestly, this one is all you, Quartz - you're the engineering genius... All I am is the guy who picks what you want." At hearing this, Quartz looked at her new friend in shock and awe before asking what he meant. Under his helmet, the Ant Faunus simply smiled as he turned to her and said, "That's the way these types of games normally work, right? The player picks what they want and the game does the rest? Well I'm throwing a spin into that and letting you decide what you want and I'll select it for you; I'll be your human - er... Faunus cursor." Excitement boiling within her, Quartz couldn't help but tackle the poor Kamen Rider in a bear hug as she repeatedly said "Thank you!" over and over.
Upon letting go, she turned to the clearing and said, "We're going to make the BEST tower I can think of - but we need a solid foundation to start off with." Hearing this, Dichro merely waved her off as he walked towards the center of the clearing and said, "Then leave it to me; just tell me where to stand and I'll do my part." With that said, she told him to stop where he was and raised her crane arm above her head; this resulted in a large but short cylinder to form around Dichro with an upside down pyramid on top of where the center of the cylinder was. When it finished forming, she told him to try and make contact with the pyramid in any way he could. Looking around, the dichromatic warrior began to try and will any power-ups nearby to him as he raised his arms to either side. He did everything he could think of to force the power-ups to him, but none came... 'Maybe I'm trying TOO hard?' he questioned himself as he looked around. Deciding to try his theory out, he spread his arms out once more and simply brought them together in a slapping motion without his hands making contact with each other. True enough, the moment his hands moved, a plethora of power-ups were brought to the forefront; more than he could think of using at the moment, in fact. He pointed to each one, deciding whether it's good or not, before settling on 2 particular power-ups; the familiar Speeding-Up medal and a blue medal with the image a Rider jumping. With the two power-ups selected, the others soon shot off like rockets before the selected medals sped towards him and shattered upon contact.
"SPEEDING UP!"
"HIGH JUMP!"
"Okay, that should do it," Dichro called out as he looked at his target. With a quick leap, he reached up to the pyramid and threw his left hand onto the top of it. Upon contact, the pyramid glowed softly as the cylinder began to fill up with concrete that seemingly came from nowhere; hardening as it took the shape of it's supposed container. Throughout the concrete, wire meshes and rebar poles formed in such a way to give the shape more stability and strength as it dried. The ground soon became covered in a circular foundation fit for a tower. As this finished forming, Quartz raised both her hands up and spread them outward once they were above her head. The result of this soon became clear as girders and railings of all kinds soon formed from the new foundation as well as several other building materials.
As they started to come together, Quartz walked onto the new foundation, a stone walkway forming underneath her feet, before stopping on the other side and turning around completely. With her arms stretched to the sides, a transparent tube began to form around her with the addition of several support beams on the outside of the tube to keep it stable and a metallic platform under her feet that began to lift her up to the higher parts of the soon-to-be building. As she ascended, plates of green-colored metal began to appear around the girders that now formed the skeleton of the building; each with the same pyramid similar to the foundation with the tips pointing to their respective plates. Immediately as the plates started forming, Dichro's first thoughts at seeing them were getting out before he got stuck and simply ran out between two of them. Noticing the focus points, as he called the pyramids, he ran onto one of the plates and kicked it; this caused the plate, which was larger than he was even in Kamen Rider form, to slam into the foundation and start to form a wall. He noticed the other plates were starting to do the same as the one he just kicked but saw that others started to form that needed to be pressed down just like the one he was on. 'Looks like it's time to take the initiative and just run like hell,' he thought to himself as he started to run along the new wall and take in just how fast and big this tower was going to be.
His mind wandered once more. As he continued to help build the tower, he thought, 'I can already tell this is going to turn some heads.'
)-Beacon Port-(
He had just found the person responsible for catching one of Roman Torchwick's highest pawns.
He had just learned of the existence of an entire realm outside of Remnant.
He had just witnessed an inexplicable creature being born.
And he is walking away from it all with a potential new piece of tech to further protect Atlas with.
All in all, General Ironwood was feeling pleased with himself as he continued to walk to his personal aircraft out of Vale accompanied by a few Atlesean Guards as he held the Gamer Driver in his hand. His thoughts, however, soon drifted to the boy's advice on said device. 'If what he's saying is true,' the general mused to himself, 'Then I'm holding what could be the most powerful weapon in the world... If I have to reveal Penny's existence to the world, and even my own personal project, in order to protect this device, then so be it; this device must NOT fall into the wrong hands.'
"Whoa, look at that!" someone cried out in awe off in the distance. This cut the Atlas Headmaster's thoughts off as he looked around; trying to find what it was that caught everyone's attention. One of his guards pointed towards the Forever Fall Forest's direction, and, when he looked, he was left in the same awe as those he was surrounded by. In the distance, a metallic pillar of green was forming - rising, almost - from the ground up; it looked as if a new tree or plant was growing with the way it was forming. What's more, a brilliant yellow streak was circling and wrapping around the new pillar that continued to grow in height. The general was so in shock at the sight of it all that he lost all recognition of his surroundings trying to walk towards the unknown structure. It wasn't until one of his guards called out his name and yanked him back by his robotic arm that he realized the mistake he was about to make. He looked down and realized that his foot was a mere INCH away from stepping over the edge of the port.
Turning around, he thanked the soldier that had saved his life who, in turn, asked the general, "What in the world IS that?"
As he thought of what it could be, his mind came to so many conclusions that he couldn't decipher any of them as the true purpose; an enemy stronghold, a new battlement, a secret Valean Project - the whole works. Giving up the endeavor, he simply shook his head and replied, "I honestly cannot tell..."
)-Meanwhile-(
)-Beacon Headmaster's Office-(
Ozpin was doing some simple records checking and paperwork when a soft beeping alerted him to new action in Vale City. As he sipped his coffee, the Beacon Headmaster thought it was something of little importance that still needed to be seen regardless. He pressed a few buttons on his desk as a holoscreen appeared in front of him, but the scene shown on it was anything but little.
He watched as a giant tower was forming from the ground up, encircled by a yellow streak, as if it were a plant growing; he even noticed some platforms appearing on the sides like leaves on a stem.
Once more, Ozpin was left utterly speechless as his mug, for the second time in his life, slipped from his hand and shattered against the floor.
)-With Dichro and Quartz-(
)-First Person PoV-(
I cannot BELIEVE I'm actually doing this!
I cannot BELIEVE I'm actually doing something so damned EPIC!
As I continued to run around the tower, my thoughts continued to run in disbelief of what Quartz and I are actually accomplishing - and we've got NO co-ordination, either, which is NUTS! I couldn't help but laugh loudly in excitement that I was sure Yang could feel all the way at Beacon. At the same time, I could feel the guilt that was boiling up in Yang as time went on, so I had to keep going; it was our only shot at curing Ruby AND keeping Quartz safe. I noticed several large platforms appearing every so often so, like I did the foundation, I simply punched the icons to select those spots and let it do what it wants to do.
Eventually, though, all things must come to an end...
I noticed the top of the tower had a rather bulbous shape to it at first and ran up to it to investigate; it was only here, and just now, that I was able to truly comprehend just how tall this tower was...
It was easily taller than even Beacon Tower - I could see for miles on end where I was. I felt a small tremor before looking down; that's when I noticed the bulbous shape was actually opening up into comma-shaped, glossy blue panels that looked oddly enough like solar panels. They also reflected the sky quite beautifully, I might add. I quickly stood on one of the tips as steadily as I could before seeing that there was a final icon; one that was above some strange prong with a golden sphere at the tip and a couple of light-blue rings going around it. I considered just slapping it like before just to end this, but I thought, 'Why not end this with some style?' So I lept as high as my super-powered legs could take me and pulled the GGD out just enough to unlock it from its holster, turned the dial to its default position and back to Perfect Puzzle, before slamming it down into the holster as quickly as I could.
"DUAL GASHAT! PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!"
As I threw my foot forward, I noticed a light blue energy spiraling around my leg along with the normal blue energy and the yellow speed-up energy. As expected, I actually crashed my kick into the icon instead of the actual building which allowed me enough footing to kick off of it into an unintended back-flip that, somehow, I landed perfectly on one knee. As I looked up, I could hear the GGD make the same sound that signaled the death of an enemy upon the finisher's completion.
"All clear!"
I smiled widely and prayed that it worked before watching in amazement as the yellow orb changed to a beautiful lavender color and glowed softly. As the glow became more brilliant, a pulse of green energy shot out from the rings surrounding the prong. I tried to block it, but as I did I felt nothing and was wondering what happened; so I looked out to the city and watched as the pulse shot over the entire city of Vale and actually reach Beacon. It was then that I heard the familiar chime of the Level Up sound, but, this time, I heard something else; something different... I looked back at the prong and saw that there were two simple words above it along with fireworks firing behind them that were also repeated in the same voice that called out when I leveled up, and it nearly brought me to tears.
"GAME CLEAR!"
We had done it - we cleared Quartz' game! I cheered in absolute joy and nearly fell off the tower as my foot slipped. Looking down, I decided to simply hop off the "petal" and slide down the entirety of the tower, being mindful of where I was going to keep myself from breaking any windows by mistake and wondered if Ruby and the others were alright.
)-Meanwhile-(
)-Team JNPR's Dorm-(
)-Third Person PoV-(
Yang, in all her carefree wonder, was not usually nor easily displaced by current events. This time, however, was one of those rare moments that she could truly say she was caught off guard. As she sat in a chair seated next to the occupied bed, watching over Ruby as an Eagle would her chicks, Yang contemplated and replayed the events that had happened prior to Ruby's illness in her head; each time she came to the same, sickening conclusion - that she was the one at fault. "I'm so sorry, Rubes..." she apologized to her sleeping half-sister, "I am SO so sorry... I should have tried to stop you from touching that thing - I should have known that's what it would do..." She shook her head as she rested a hand on Ruby's arm before continuing. "Like I said before, I know things that I really wish I didn't; things that would make anyone feel... Useless. That's the best way I can describe this... It's just so frustraitin' that I can't do anything to help - that's the entire REASON I wanted to be a huntress to begin with! I figured that if I could help people while I'm just travelin' around wherever I wanted, then that would be the best way possible for me to do some good... But I was wrong; just like when I tried to find my mom all those years ago, and nearly lost you because of it."
She looked down at her feet solemnly, her hand still resting on Ruby's arm and gently gripping it more, before she continued, "Now I know... I know that I have to do more than just wander around, lettin' the wind take me wherever; I need to learn to stand my ground for what I believe in - to find something to focus on and to protect what's precious to me." The blonde brawler looked back to Ruby with a sad smile and said, "Startin' with you and Dichro. I promise, Ruby, that I will NEVER harm you in any way or push you away when you need me. You thought I was a great Big Sister before? You're going to be in for a surprise once you wake up."
As soon as she said this, though, Yang felt an unusual amount of excitement and looked around confused at what it was that caused her bondmate to exude so much emotion when she suddenly heard the bed squeaking and jumped in shock when she saw Ruby sitting upright and wide-eyed in curiosity like nothing happened. "Rubes!" she called out to her half-sibling. As soon as she turned to face her, the blonde brawler continued, "What are you doin'? You should be restin'."
"But I feel fine, Yang," the crimsonette replied, "In fact, I feel better than fine; like when I used to do 'that' before going to Signal Academy."
"Wait... Really?" Yang asked in disbelief. Ruby merely nodded before jumping, quite literally, out of bed and twirling onto one foot as she landed with a joyful cry of "Whoop!" The blonde sibling continued to stare at her younger sibling in disbelief for a few moments before she settled for bringing her into a hug with a wide smile on her face. "I'm just glad you're okay, sis," she said as she loosed her arms before resting her hands on the crimsonette's shoulders, "You have NO idea how worried I was about you."
"I'm sorry..." Ruby whispered softly as she looked down, only for Yang to lay a hand on the top of her head and forced her to look up at her. With a small smile, the blonde brawler said, "No, Rubes... I'M the one who should say sorry... I knew what was goin' on, somewhat, but I did nothing to stop it... I'm sorry."
For the first time since they were young, Yang was surprised when her half-sister initiated their next hug as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around her big sister's neck, and was even more surprised as she suggested, "Let's just agree to disagree, okay?" Smiling broadly, the blonde brawler hugged her little sister tightly and nodded before asking, "How about we go back to our dorm and get dressed? I'm sure the others are worried about all the noise just now."
Nodding as she let go, Ruby quickly replied with, "Sure," before she left the room in a hurry. It was then that Yang realized her mistake when she heard the little reaper cry out, "OH MY GOSH, THAT IS SO CUTE!"
'Oh no... She found THAT thing,' was her final thought before she slumped out of the room.
)-Back with Dichro and Quartz-(
Quartz had just walked outside the front entrance to the completed and empty tower before she felt something crash into her back after hearing someone yell, "LOOK OUT!" Laying flat on the ground with her right leg tangled into someone else's, she tried to look around to find who had crashed into her; it turned out, as she found, that it was none other than Dichro still in his Puzzle Gamer form. "You could have warned me..." she deadpanned. Chuckling nervously, the dichromatic warrior quickly untangled his own leg from her's as he got up and turned to help her in return, to which she gladly took in hand. Turning to admire her work, the Bugster couldn't believe how beautiful the tower itself was and thought, 'Ruby never would have built something like this.' Apparently, her friend held similar thoughts as he stated, "Sugoi! This is just absolutely amazing!"
"Sugoi?" she asked curiously as she turned to look at him, having never heard the word before. Dichro chuckled lightly as he explained, "Sugoi means either 'Awesome' or 'Awful', depending on the context." She muttered a quick "Oh," as she turned back to the tower before a thought hit her.
"Hey, Dichro..." she called for his attention before asking, "What do you think we should call it?" Looking at the tower, the young man thought for a second before deciding on a suitable name that he could think was most fitting of any other.
"How about... Vale Blossom Tower?" he suggested. Quartz quickly agreed and jumped in joy saying, "That's perfect! We should go tell the others!" Taking this in mind, he asked her if she could teleport him with her to make the trip faster. Again, she agreed as she held his shoulder and both figures dissolved in a flurry of orange pixels.
)-xXx-(
Once more, I am SO sorry for the delay on this chapter, but do bear in mind that I'm also trying to fix this as soon as I can. I promise the story has NOT been abandoned, but will be put on a temporary hiatus... Until the next chapter, though...
See ya next game!