Another Genesis
Countdown to Chaos - Part 1

"Sonic!"

"I'll handle my universe! You take care of yours! Don't worry about me and take the shot!"

"Hrrrgh! Eggman! Cut it out, ya nut! You're–! Gonna–! Mess–! Me–! Up–!"

"If I can't have the universe my way, then YOU won't have it at all!"

"Aw, man! It's this or nothing! CHAOS… CONTROL!"

"No you don't! FIRE!"

…

"That… That doesn't look right…"

"Oh for the love of… EGGMAN! What did you do!?"

The first thing he felt, other than the uncomfortably wet mud he was laying on, was the massive migraine rattling his head.

"Ugh… Feels like my brain's doing a spin dash in my skull!" Slowly, a green-eyed, blue-furred hedgehog with peach-colored arms slowly struggled to his feet. "I hope the kid got back to his own world okay. 'Cause I've got to get back…" He began shaking his head to get the rain off of his quills. He paused, looking at the sight before him. What he saw was a small rural village, one that sort of looked like Mobotropolis, being assaulted by black monsters with armor made out of stark white bones. Overlanders and Mobians were running all over, trying to escape from the rampaging monsters.

"...To business…?" He muttered to himself, not sure if he should be confused, horrified, or confused some more.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Multiversal Savior

Luckily, amidst all the confusion, Sonic managed to find something familiar. After spin dashing through one of the monsters, an orangish, yellow blur flew down and hovered next to Sonic. A look of worry on his face and beaded with sweat. "Sonic! You took a nasty hit! Are you okay?"

Miles "Tails" Prower
High Flying Hero

"I'm… I'm back at the city. With lots of black… monster things… Why!?" Sonic managed to sputter out. Tails' expression softened slightly as he gripped the hedgehog's wrist.

"You got hit bad! How many fingers am I holding up? Can you remember my name?" Tails ask worriedly.

"Three, Tails, and I'm fine!" Sonic reassured him. "It's the rest of the world that stopped making sense!" Tails looked at Sonic oddly. After a few seconds, he revved up his namesakes and began hovering.

"Uh huh. If you're up to it, let's get back to saving the city," Tails said.

"Sure, I mean– Hold on a second!" Sonic said, making Tails slow down briefly. "Where's Silver and Amy? We were just on the Death Egg about to rescue Sally!" Tails came to a complete stop in front of the hedgehog, looking more confused than Sonic himself.

"Rescue Sally? We came here to follow-up on Nicole. We finally managed to track down the Nuckelavee!" Sonic looked absolutely flabbergasted. Partly because he has no idea who or what a Nuckelavee was, and also because he's not sure if he could pronounce the word at all. "I'm not sure where Amy is, but we haven't seen Silver since we rescued the Wisps," Tails explained afterwards, turning his back to Sonic and flying back into the fray.

"I… Buh… WHAT!?" Sonic shouted. "Rewind a second. What the heck is a Nucka… Nuckle… Urg! What the heck's a Nuckleave and what's it got to do with the city!? Did Eggman send 'em!?"

"Sonic… What are you even talking about? Are you sure you can even fight in that condition?" Tails asks, looking back at Sonic. While he was distracted, a winged, four legged monster swooped down and tried to take a bite out of him. Sonic quickly curled up and launched himself at the monster, breaking through its stomach and coming out the otherside.

"I sure can, but you can't if you let one of the freaky monsters chew your tails off!" Sonic snarked, giving the young fox a wry smile as he rushed to fight off the other monsters. "Just give me the CliffNotes version about these monsters. We can talk about the rest later once the town is safe!" Sonic then jumped up and his curled up body tore through two more monsters. As he came out the monster's back, he uncurled and used that monster as a platform to jump even higher, landing an axe kick against a giant bird thing with an armored helmet.

"Got it!" Tails said. He started flying low to the ground, grabbing small, two legged lizard things and chucking them at lupine monsters. "These guys are called Grimm. They've existed since forever, and other than few failed attempts to experiment on them, they have no relation to Dr. Eggman," Tails explained. Afterwards, he twisted and turned his tails skyward, buzz sawing through another winged monster. "They only exist to cause as much destruction and chaos as they can."

"So they're basically eldritch Badniks?" Sonic asked, making Tails laugh. After dispatching another monster with a kick, he lifted the support beam of a broken house, allowing the people trapped inside to escape.

"I don't think you've ever described 'em that way, but basically!" Tails said. He flew over to the support beam Sonic lifted, and after struggling for a few seconds, he swung it at the lupine monsters, cracking their skulls and killing them instantly.

"Alright. What about the… what did ya call it? Nuckleave? What's its deal?" Sonic asked.

"Nuckelavee. That thing has been rampaging through Anima for years. It was only a couple of days ago when Rotor and Nicole managed to predict its next target, which just happened to be Mobotropolis!" Tails said, moving his hands towards a small bag hanging around his waist. He opened it, and the boy's eyes widened. "Oh, CRUD! I think I dropped Nicole when I got hit earlier!" Nearly a second later, multiple bug-like Grimm started swarming around them, but were easily dispatched by swipe of Tails' namesakes.

"You go find Nicole!" Sonic told him. "I'll get rid of the Nuckleave before it can do any more harm!"

"Alright. Be careful though! There's a reason that thing has been destroying villages for years!" Tails warned him.

"Hah! Who do you think I am?" Sonic said, backhanded a werewolf monster. "I've handled worse than tall, dark, and gruesome!" Sonic said, rushing past ruined buildings in order to look for the Nuckelavee. Halfway through his search, he realized that Tails never told him what the monster looked like. Sonic sighed and sped up significantly.

"Oh well. Guess I'll have to take everything out!" Sonic said. "At some point, I'm gonna have to send a memo to Eggy, and tell him to not warp us to creepy reality again!"

In a flat, empty plain, the wrecked remains of a mustachioed robot lay on the ground, smoke billowing into the air as metal screeched from inside. From one of the machine's broken eye sockets, a bald man with an orange mustache crawled out of the wreckage, coughing and muttering curses under his breath.

"I hate that hedgehog…"

Dr. Eggman
Evil Genius

Eggman continued pushing himself out of his latest failure, landing face first on the floor. He growled in pain and annoyance as he picked himself up and gingerly rubbed his back. "Rrggh! Orbot! Cubot! You better have made it back!" More metal was pushed out of the way, causing a screeching sound that made Eggman winced. Afterwards, a red spherical robot and a yellow cubical one tumbled out of the wreckage.

Orbot & Cubot
Robot Lackeys

"Oh, yes, boss. Surprisingly in one piece," Orbot said, pushing the machine's nose out of the way.

"Speak fer yerself. I think I got a few screws loose!" Cubot said. His voice chip was on the fritz again, and his accent was probably to change in the next five minutes.

"I've been saying that for a while now," Orbot sighed.

"Can it, you two!" The two robot's flinched slightly, but obediently followed orders. Eggman was now rummaging through the Egg Wily Machine X for his Egg Mobile. "I need to figure out where we are. Once we get back to the Death Egg, I can–" With one tug, Eggman managed to pull free his floating vehicle. However, all that remained was a wrecked semi-sphere that couldn't even float. "Blast it, Al, I blame you for this!" Eggman seethed.

"Except you are the one who flew into the collapsing space-time vortex of certain doom, boss," Orbot gently reminded him. Eggman growled and slapped Orbot's head. With a sigh and a groan, he managed to push the Egg Mobile onto its side and started pushing, rolling it across the field.

"Come on. We need to find some sort of support out here," Eggman ordered, his two flunkies hovered behind him. "I can only hope Sonic is having a worse time than me."

Unbeknownst to him, glowing red eyes had started following his movements from the moment he landed.

"You'd be a lot more terrifying if you could actually hit me!" Sonic taunted as a long, lanky arm slammed into where he once stood. Currently, he was running circles around some weird… horse thing with another monster stuck to its body. At least, he thought it was stuck to its body. It was kind of hard to tell.

The horse thing screeched–or neighed?–and it suddenly went off in another direction. Sonic grumbled and chased after it. For some reason, the horse thing was never interested in him for too long, and went off to find some person trapped in rubble or being chased by Grimm. It was helpful in that regard, since Sonic was fast enough to save them and go back to fighting the weird horse thing.

Right now, there was a bird being chased by the wolf monsters. With a smirk, Sonic boosted and blasted through them, reducing the creatures to dust.

"Oh, are you a huntsman? Thank you so much!" The bird cheered. Sonic smiled awkwardly and gave him thumbs up.

"Don't mention it. Now hurry up and get to the safehouse before those things jump you again!" Sonic urged him. Huntsman? What're those?

"Oh, right! Thank you again!" The bird said, waving as he ran away. Sonic waved as well, and turned back to the freak of nature.

"So, which head do I hafta crack to kill you?" The hedgehog said, smirking. The horse thing's head twitched and let out an ear piercing roar, galloping straight towards him. Sonic smirked and jumped over two extending arms. The horse neighed in outrage, and spun around in order to kick him with its hind legs. Sonic raised a hand and used it to push off the hooves before it could connect with his face, which propelled him into the air and allowing him to homing attack the humanoid face with resounding crack. Landing, Sonic quickly uncurled and turned around, rushing back to slam into the side of the horse body, each strike cracking off one of the exposed ribs. Just as he bounced off, the Grimm's hand launched at him and managed to grab a hold of his leg. Sonic shivered at how slimy and eerie it felt.

The Grimm then slammed Sonic into a nearby building, practically destroying the wall. Sonic groaned and dry heaved at the force, absentmindedly noticing the yellow force field that formed around him. "All right, buddy, if that's how you wanna play it, then fine!" Sonic snarled. As the gnarled hand kept applying pressure, Sonic began to curl up and spin, bringing in the hand with him. The horse thing started screeching and trotting backwards, trying to free itself as Sonic fell to the ground and started charging a spin dash.

SNAP!

With a loud shriek of pain, the arm retracted, though at that remained was a red and limp stump. It blinked, and was immediately brought to the ground when Sonic's spinning body slammed into the horse's nose, causing it to cave in slightly and breaking the armor. Sonic then ricocheted into the humanoid face, making the spine snap backwards and taking out the two horns. "Heh, not so tough now are you… Oh come on! I've taken out Super Badniks tougher than you with that!" Sonic groaned, massaging his chest.

The horse thing ignores him as the spines on the back of the humanoid begin to extend, causing the humanoid to twitch painfully. Said spines then started jutting out of its back, and the broken stubs it has for horns shot out of its skull, becoming twice the size of the original horns.

"Oh! Scary!" Sonic said, crouching down and running back towards the thing. But instead of charging at the blue blur again, it turned around and went off in another direction.

"Oh, come on!" Sonic grumbled. He sped past the horse demon and jumped over destroyed houses, frowning slightly as he turned around and saw the monster barrelling through them. With a grunt, Sonic picked up the pace and reached the outer walls of the village. He couldn't see anybody that the horse thing was gunning for. Though he did see Tails on the ground.

Sonic frowned. The horse thing seemed to go after people who were distressed or in danger. Tails didn't seem to fit in either category, but just to double check, Sonic turned around and rushed over to his younger brother. As he got close, he could hear Tails whispering under his breath.

"I… remember everything… differently?" Tails murmured. The horse thing roared, and extended its unbroken hand to attack. Sonic burst forward and wrapped his arm around the fox's waist, allowing them to avoid it.

"Yo, Tails? You still with me?" Sonic asked, placing him on the ground. Tails was visibly shaken, tightly clutching Nicole to his chest and just staring at the forest around them.

"Y-yeah, yeah, I…" Tails began, but faltered. He turned to Sonic with a heavily concerned, almost horrified look on his face. "Sonic, there was another world! We were rescuing Sally, and then we met those robots from the other universe, and then…"

"See! I'm not crazy, and neither are you!" Sonic comforted him, but with an "I told you so" voice. "Like I said, one thing at a time. Let's finish taking care of ugly here, 'cause I am sick of running in the rain!"

As the two bumped fists, the immediately jumped out of the way as the horse thing's fist came crashing down. "That thing's been giving me trouble. No matter how many times I hit it, it keeps getting up!"

"Its hide is definitely stronger than most Grimm!" Tails said, dodging the arm stump. "Think we should combo it up?"

"You know it!" Sonic answered. He jumped up and stomped the horse's battered face, using it like a spring to propel himself to Tails. They locked hands and began spinning unison, barrelling towards the monster at an incredible speed. It reared up on its hind legs to kick them with its front hooves, but the duo managed to swerve around it and strike the horse's head. Afterwards, they separated and repeatedly bashed their bodies into the monster's humanoid torso. The two landed behind the horse and smiled at each other, only to hear the thing turn its neck 180 degrees, staring at them. It let out a piercing roar, causing them both to wince.

"Did… did that even damage it?" Tails wondered.

Sonic groaned. "Honestly, Eggman's mechs aren't this annoying to deal with! You have Nicole on you, right? Maybe we can get her to scan it and see if it has a weak point somewhere," Sonic suggested, both of them taking off once the horse thing went on the offensive again.

"You're right!" Tails said, opening the PDA while Sonic distracted the beast with another flurry of spin attacks. "Nicole. I think we've got the Nuckelavee on the ropes, but… N-Nicole? Nicole, are you okay?" Instead of response, all he got was static and messed up audio.

"Argh! Tails!" Sonic heaved from the other side, with a hoof buried in his stomach and launched into a nearby wall.

"Hold it there for just a bit longer!" Tails called out, and Sonic responded with a thumbs up, racing back towards the Nuckelavee. "Nicole, what happened? You were fine just a moment ago?" Again, Nicole's voice came out glitchy and scratchy, and the screen on the PDA was filled with red static. He could barely make out what she was trying to say.

"Geneeee–! Veveveve–! Eg–n! So–! F-F-F-F-Freeeeeeee–!"

"The… the Super Genesis Wave? Is that what you're trying to say?" Tails asked, but the only response he recieved was more static.

"Tails! We can worry about the messed up reality later!" Sonic said, bashing his skull into the monster's horse head, deforming it even more.

"Right! Nicole, do you think you can help us?" Tails asked. After a while, Nicole's screen managed to clear up a bit, showcasing a screen with lines of ones and zeros. Binary code, which Tails can easily translate. "Sonic! The Imp's head is controlling it! We gotta decapitate it!"

"On it!" Sonic said, dodging another hoof stop from Nuckelavee. As he runs underneath the monster, he notices the limp arm from earlier, and gets an idea. Sonic grabbed the stump and began running in between the Nuckelavee's legs, trying to tie them together using the stretchy arm. Before he could finish, the monster's claws managed to scratch his eyes and knock him away. Thankfully, Tails was nearby and managed to grab the limp arm to finish tying the knot. The Nuckelavee screeches as it tumbles to the ground and squirms desperately.

"Sonic! NOW!"

Sonic dashes by and punches the Imp head across the face, causing it to snap to the side. Then, he rushes back and curls up, slicing through the monster's neck. He landed with a flourish and extended one hand, catching the Nuckelavee's head. He starts spinning the head like a basketball as the body starts dissolving. The weapons stuck to the back clattered uselessly on the ground.

"Well, that solves one bit of weirdness for today. Time to move onto the next crisis," Sonic said, crushing the monster's skull in his hand. Behind him, Tails nodded.

"The Nuckleave–!" Sonic said, pounding his fist into an open palm.

"The two sets of–!" Tails said at the same time. The two looked at each other awkwardly, both of them raising an eyebrow at the other.

"Sonic, we just killed the Nucklea–Pfft! Now you got me saying it!" Tails said with a laugh. Sonic just looked confused.

"Wait, that was… Huh. Well, you never showed me what the Nuckleave looked like. How was I supposed to know that weird, horse-imp thing was the one we were supposed to take out?" Sonic said back. "And even if you did show me, we still have to deal with the dual memories from the Super Genesis Wave!

Tails shrugged. "Okay, fair enough. Either way, that should be the last of the monsters here. Now, we just need to check in with the mayor, then we can focus on… whatever happened to the previous world." Tails became somber for a moment, shaking his head slightly. "It's like I'm waking up from a dream that felt too real. Or maybe still dreaming it."

"Yeah, and I'm starting to remember new old stuff too." Sonic said. "I remember certain things happening, but it feels like I got some of the details wrong. Like the king being a mayor instead, Eggman looking different when they first met, those funky monster schools, and…" Sonic shivered, and he scratched the back of right hand anxiously. "Nicole, you're crazy smart. Got any ideas?" He turned to Tails, who was holding the PDA that housed the holo-lynx. But like with Tails, there were only static and harsh sounds coming from her speakers. Sonic gave Tails an accusatory look. "You didn't drop her on a rock, did you?"

"It wasn't me! Nicole was fine just a moment ago. But when I grabbed her and got my memories from the other world, she suddenly started bugging out!" Tails said. Static started sparking from her screen, and Nicole started speaking again.

"F-F-F-Findddddd auhgdand–! Doeneoviwh ters-ters-ters-ters–!"

"Find? Who are we supposed to be looking for?" Sonic asked, but only received static in response. Tails thought about what she said for a moment, and seemed to come to a sort of conclusion.

"I… think I know what she means?" He started, getting Sonic's attention. "When I touched her, Nicole let out some sort of energy. Once I absorbed it, I remembered both worlds but she became bugged. I think that if we can find the other members of the Freedom Fighters, we'll be able to restore their memories."

"Yeah, but won't that make Nicole even worse?" Sonic asked. "I mean, if she became bugged when you grabbed her, and if we restore the others' memories, she could get even worse. Maybe even to a point where you or Rotor can't fix her."

"That's certainly possible, but remember, I said she transferred energy to me. My guess is that it's leftover energy from the Super Genesis Wave. If that energy is what's making her bugged…"

"Then we might be able to restore our friends' memories and fix Nicole!" Sonic finished for Tails. "Let's go see the Mayor, and tell him we dealt with the Nuckleave. Hopefully, he'll give us some directions," He said, rushing off to the village square.

"Right!" Tails, flying behind him. "And it's called a Nuckelavee!"

The two ran inside city hall, dashing through the front doors and running past the mayor's office. Moving to the basement, they found a large metal with a mechanical lock on it. Sonic looked to Tails questioningly as he plugged Nicole into the electronic lock.

"These doors are made out of scrapped Super Badniks. Even they are strong enough to take out the Grimm," Tails explained. "If Eggman wasn't such a jerk, he'd probably own the richest security company on Earth." Sonic snorted at the comment.

"Yeah, like that would ever happen," Sonic said. After a couple more seconds, the lock on the door disengaged, and chipmunk with brown fur and wearing a blue suit and boots walked out.

"Nicole! Boys! Thank the Brothers you're safe! Did the Nuckelavee give you any trouble?" Mayor Nigel Acorn asked. Behind him, guards started leading the citizens out of the safehouse. As they passed, they cheered for Sonic and Tails, who both made brief waves before turning back to Mayor Acorn.

"Nope, just a laugh!" Sonic said haughtily. "We've cleared the rest of the monsters in the city, so it should be safe to start repairing the damages. You might want to get another group of huntsmen in case another wave of monsters comes in though…"

"Of course! We'll get started on that straight away!" Mayor Acorn said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. He didn't notice Sonic's flinch when he did. "You've done the people of this world a great service by destroying the Nuckelavee. No doubt those who have been slain by its hands have been laid to rest after all these years."

It's weird seeing the king–er, mayor–so healthy, lively… and not a total jerk, Sonic thought to himself. Maybe some good will come from this world change after all.

"Now, to my understanding, the Freedom Fighters have yet to reach the Mission Quota for this month?" The Mayor asked. Sonic looked confused and glanced at Tails, who silently shushed him before he could ask anything.

"Yeah! We've been so busy with tracking down the Nuckelavee, haven't really had the time to do missions that can fill the Quota," Tails said, laughing nervously. The Mayor did as well, but it soon pewtered out into a sigh.

"It's unfortunate really. You do so much for this world: stopping Eggman and his schemes, aiding the people and the faunus, yet those deeds don't qualify for the Quota, and the ones gain who recognition are those showboating narcissists who become huntsmen for the glory and fame, rather than the duty," Mayor Acorn lamented. Sonic only understood half those words, but Tails was able to pick his slack.

"It's a necessary evil in my book. If the Mission Quota didn't exist, the world would probably be a lot worse off because of it," Tails replied.

"I suppose you're right. Now then! Is there any way I can help you boys? Unless you fulfill the Quota in only 2 days, all of you will have your licenses revoked!" The Mayor told them.

"Yeah, actually. We need to see Rotor and the other Freedom Fighters. Hopefully, he'll have some other mission that can take on so we can fill the Quota thingy," Sonic said. "The only problem is that we have no idea where he is. Can you put us in contact with him?"

"Not directly, but I can point you in the right direction!" Mayor Acorn said, leading the two to his office and turning on his computer. "I know you are all working on a top secret project. The only communiqué I received was from Rotor, and it was highly encrypted."

"Looks like a set of coordinates to me," Tails said, linking the PC up with Nicole so that she could download the file.

"Great! Let's get moving then. The Tornado is parked just outside the village walls, right?" Sonic asked Tails.

"Right… I think," Tails said, a bit unsure of himself due to his scattered memories at the moment.

"Boys, if I could trouble you for one more thing…" Mayor Acorn said, grabbing both of their attention. Sonic gave him a wink and nod, and Tails gave him a thumbs up. "While I would not ask you to prioritize your friends, I ask you to let me know the moment you've found my daughter. "I know that she can take care of herself, but still, in these dangerous times, it would ease my mind to know my Sally is safe."

"...But no matter which path you take, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best." With his speech finished, the huntsman-in-training from the four kingdoms–Vale, Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral–applauded. Near the back of Beacon Academy's auditorium however, a certain group of students were making their own plans for their first missions.

Team RWBY
Problem Children

"This is perfect!" The team's leader, Ruby Rose, cheered. "All we have to do is shadow huntsmen working in the southeast!"

"Yeah! We'll follow them around by day, and give 'em the slip at night!" Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long, said.

"Let's check, search and destroy. Chances are they'll have missions that are where we need to be," Ruby's partner, Weiss Schnee suggested. The quartet nodded, and walked over to one of the many holographic screens that popped up after Ozpin's speech.

"Okay let's see here… Missing cattle, high Grimm activity… How about this one?" Ruby asked, pointing to an option that read "Roaming Badnik Horde."

"Ruby, Eggman's Badniks aren't something we can keep up with. We'd better leave that mission to the professionals," Said the lone faunus of the group, Blake Belladonna. By virtue of being a faunus, she was also the shortest member of their team, standing at a mere three feet tall.

"I think we can take 'em!" Ruby proclaimed, pounding a fist on her chest. Yang glanced worriedly at her sister.

"Ruby, we didn't even win against the E-106 thing Roman managed to find. Glynda had to come in and save our asses," Yang said gently.

"But–!"

"Ruby, no. Grimm are one thing, but Badnik Hordes are another," Weiss said firmly. She and the leader stared at each other for a few moments, and after a while, Ruby relented and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Fine, fine! No Bandik Hordes! I thought we handled ourselves on the bridge pretty good!" Ruby huffed, scrolling through possible missions again. "How 'bout this one then?" She asked, clicking on the mission to get more details.

"Quadrant 5… strange Grimm activity… It's certainly close to where we want to be. Pretty sure that's our best bet," The Cat Faunus reasoned.

"Alright! Quadrant 5 it is!" Ruby cheered. She typed in their name to register for the mission, only to receive a wall of red text. "What!? First years can't register for this mission!?"

"So much for that plan… Any other bright ideas?" Weiss asked. Slowly, Ruby raised her hand and pointed to the Badnik Horde mission. The other three girls gave her deadpan expression, and Ruby sulked back into her red hood.

"Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first year students," A wise voice said. The team looked behind the screen, and saw their headmaster with a tablet in his hands.

Professor Ozpin
Beacon Academy Headmaster

"This region in particular seems to be rather popular. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that the four of you will somehow go there no matter which job you choose," Ozpin said, glancing at Ruby in particular. The other girls followed his gaze and found Ruby sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck.

"Whatever makes you say that?" Ruby asked in a sweet voice, trying so hard to not look suspicious.

It didn't work.

"I'm still curious as to how you managed to find yourselves at the docks last semester, and how you really learned about that hideout in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses have reported seeing Badniks and rose petals in a dance club some time ago," Ozpin continued, Ruby slowly sinking into her hood with each passing comment. "Oh well. I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for. So, how about this?" He turned to the rest of the team and tapped the screen of his tablet. The holographic screen automatically entered the authorization tab, and the four girls' mouths dropped when they saw that Team RWBY was registered for the Quadrant 5 mission.

"Instead of waiting for you to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?" Ozpin asked rhetorically.

"We won't let you down. Thank you, professor," Ruby said, bowing slightly.

"Do not thank me for this," Ozpin told them. "Teamwork and persistence have carried you far, but you must understand: the things that await you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your huntsmen at all times, and do as they say. They will be leading you on this mission, and you will be sent back if they find your skills unsatisfactory." Ozpin watched as he let his words sink in, smiling inwardly as the nervousness soon turned to looks of fierce determination.

"Good luck," Ozpin said, walking past the girls and going back to his office.