Ruby closed her eyes as the heat of the destroyed meteor swallowed her, feeling the metal of her sword and shield crack and begin to melt. They'd done it, they'd saved the world…

Tomorrow, her and Skarmory would… would… they'd go on new adventures. Maybe look for a way back to the human world. She was sure she had someone waiting for her there.

You do, the voice that had started Ruby's journey rumbled around her as the Aegislash floated in a white void, I'm sorry for taking them from you, even your memory of them, but you would not have been able to do what it took to avert the End had I not. We both knew that.

Memories flowed through her mind, of a scruffy old Qrow, and a caring older Dragon, and a loving younger one.

Qrow, Dad, Yang… oh, how could she have forgotten about them?

I can send you back to them. It can be as it was.

But .. she didn't want to leave Skarmory.

Well then, the voice rumbled, There is only one thing that can be done, is there not?

She'd find a way back, even if it took her years, that was what they di-

I will send you both there, the voice said, brooking no argument. And the next thing she knew she was falling and falling, and falling and-

Slamming into place, the twelve, thirteen now, girl jerking upright and gasping for breath. She was lying on a bed in Yang and her room, a portal opening in the wall next to her and out of it flew Skarmory. They turned to look at Ruby, opening their mouth and asking, "Ruby?"

Ruby rushed forwards, wrapping her arms around Skarmory's neck and hugging them tightly. The wings rose and wrapped her in armor of steel, "Hey, Partner."

"You're human," they said.

Ruby glanced down at her hand, feeling ghostly energy deep in her, "I think I can turn into a Pokemon if I wanna. Let's try, huh?"

Ruby willed her shape to change, and sure enough the ghostly energy rose up around her and transformed her into an Aegislash. Another burst of will turned her back into a human.

"Rosebud?" Dad called, walking into the room and stopping, before falling into a defensive posture, "What is that thing? What's that portal?"

"This is Skarmory," Ruby said, rubbing her cheek against the smooth metal of their head, "They're my partner. Skarmory, this is my dad, Taiyang Xiao Long."

"It's nice to meet you," Skarmory said.

"That's… why could I understand that? It just said its name, but…"

Ruby transformed back to Aegislash, to a yelp from her father, "That's probably my fault, come on Dad, I got a lot to tell you. It started with me waking up in a forest-"

—

"So, let me get this straight," Tai said, staring at his daughter who was sitting on the bed with the armored bird's head in her lap. Ruby was picking at a pinion of the razor sharp wings without a care in the world. Finally a feather popped off with the sound of crunching metal and the bird gave a relieved sigh, "During an hour long nap, you were taken to another world, turned into something called a "pokemon" and went on a months long adventure to save that world?"

"Yep," Ruby chirped happily, weighing the steel feather in one hand before putting it to the side and going to work on another battered feather, "We're Rescue Team Blade, because I was a Honedge and Skarmory has sharp feathers!"

"So you can turn into something called a Honedge now," Tai said, feeling a pounding headache and a desire to break his years of sobriety.

"No, I evolved a couple of times so now I'm an Aegislash," Ruby chirped, unaware of the aneurysm she was rapidly building Tai towards.

"Right," Tai said, "That's not how evolution works."

"It's how Pokemon evolution works," Ruby said, as if that explained everything, popping off another feather and weighing it before putting it into a separate pile, "it's more like… growing up, but not every pokemon goes through it. Skarmory doesn't, for example. They just molt their feathers once a year. That's what I'm helping with now."

"It feels good to get the old feathers removed," Skarmory sighed.

"And they're a good source of throwing weapons," Ruby continued to chirp, running a hand down Skarmory's head and spine, "I might use them to make my weapon when I go to Signal."

"So you still plan to go?" Tai felt slightly relieved at that.

"We can't get paid to rescue people without a Huntsman license," Ruby nodded, "and we wouldn't be Rescue Team Blade if we weren't trying to rescue people, but we need Lien for supplies. So, Signal it is! It'll take longer than I'd like to start operations on Remnant since I gotta go through Signal and Beacon, but it's better than nothing, right partner?"

"I don't know what a Signal or a Beacon is or why we have to go through them, but if you say we do, then I'm ready for it!" Skarmory said.

—