Darkness settled over a wasteland. Purple crystals jotted out of the sands, the skies lit up with purple lightning, dark clouds blotting out the sun. In the center of this wasteland, a castle, tall and vibrant. There was a small village of people inside of the wasteland, each of them wearing rough spun clothing. Looking more like slaves than freemen, the people made do with what very little they had.
Farms were useless, the game was scarce, only the most vicious of creatures lived in these lands. Grimm traveled in hordes, nightmarish in size, nothing like The Kingdoms had ever seen. Where dozens of Grimm attacked villages, these hordes consisted of hundreds to thousands, like black locust sweeping across the landscape.
They never ventured close to the village by the castle. Inside of that very castle, the person who ruled this dark land, a woman with ornate hair dressed in a bun with six fixings. Sitting upon her throne, looking at the empty table in front of her. A jellyfish-like Grimm floated down toward her, revealing images of a fight, the woman's demonic red eyes gazed into the images.
Her deathly pale face had violet veins running from her eyes and through her head and arms. The black cloak she wore obscured her feet as she got up, walking with the Grimm creature. The woman watched in one image as a silver-haired man stabbed through one of her assassins, Mantis, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, her assassins' two most powerful Widow and Beetle were taken out by the blonde-haired boy she had once seen before.
He seemed to interrogate Beetle before killing him. A dark smirk formed over her lips, the diamond on her forehead glowed slightly, and she traveled through her walls the people outside suffered. She was their Goddess, and their ancestors' sins of joining The Traitor God submitted them to a life of servitude. Traveling down the steps of her grand hall, the demoness chuckled with delight as she felt a rumble.
Tapping her foot against the ground, the grand hall opened, magical sigils lighting up the building. A flight of stairs led to the bowels of this complex. Inside of castle's bowels, she drifted along the ground. A door sealed with various sigils stood in front of her, and she smirked while waving her hand in front of it.
The dark sigils disappeared, opening the door, revealing a horrific site behind it.
A giant beetle, fifty meters in length, its wings were torn off. Laying upon the ground, above it, a flower-like creature sunk its vines into the beast, barbed and draining it of energy. The Beetle's body was partially turning black from being injected with the vine's substance. The roots of this creature stretched all the way to a nearby small sea of this very sludge.
It glared at her, "I…will not break to you."
"I don't need you to break," She told it with a sneer, snapping her fingers four people were dragged in all tied up. "I just need you to give me what I want."
They couldn't even shout a word as they were stabbed with various vines. Blood slowly leaked past the vines embedded inside of the people, a thick sludge mixed with green energy began to pour into them. The Beetle tossed and turned in his prison of vines and chains, the being roaring out in pain as its chakra was slowly suckled by the plant before being transferred into the people.
One of the people turned fully midnight black, exploding into the black sludge.
"Failure," The Goddess stated and turned to one that seemed to slowly calm down.
The one that calmed down was a woman, a burst of wind tore the ropes off her body. Getting up, the woman removed the mask to reveal red eyes. She coughed up some of the sludge, growing wings on her lower back that began to flutter. Another one slowly stopped thrashing, a man, and he got up while growing two extra sets of arms. His hands became clawed, his face becoming misshapen under his hood. Freeing himself by cutting the ropes with his new claws, the man's face was feared from its baggy prison as his teeth began to fuse and mutate into mandibles that slowly pushed out of his jaw. He screamed in pain, agonizing pain until it finally stopped.
The last one swelled up, it looked like he was going to burst until his body became thin again. A dark mist flowed out of his bag. The mist melted through the ropes, not affecting his skin, and allowed himself to be freed of his bindings. She watched as he took off his mask, revealing a ghostly pale face underneath with dark veins flowing from his throat and down.
The Beetle thrashed about, "You're a monster…you killed them all!"
"On the contrary, I saved them, from the wretched existence that is being human and Faunus. I made them me, I am a mother, giver of life. Their life, with pieces of me inside of them. You're just battery, but soon enough, you'll join my ranks. Chomei, if that is your name, how does the wound feel from being taken down by my hordes?" The Goddess inquired as she walked forward.
Thrashing about, the beast shouted, "I may have fallen, but my brothers and sister will come for me!"
"I sure they do, for this world's sake, after all, …more the merrier." She chuckled darkly, the beings kneeling behind her.
She turned to them, looking at the one with wings, "I shall name you Monarch."
"Yes mistress," Monarch breathed out, bowing further into the ground.
The six-armed brute monstrosity in front of her looked up, "What is to by name, Lady Salem?"
"I believe," Salem observed his new form, "Pincer."
The other man, lanky and thin breathed toxic mist from his mouth. She approached him, cupping his chin, making him look up at her.
"Your name, my son, is Bombardier." She told the poison breather, watching as he nodded.
Looking at the sludge remains of the failed subject, she sneered, "I suppose three will do…"
"What is our mission?" Monarch inquired.
She turned to Monarch, "Uzumaki Naruto, capture him, and bring him to me so that we may lure the ultimate prize."
The trio nodded, getting up slowly, walking out of the room.
"He'll find us," Chomei growled, glaring right at her. "You are the not first he has fought, and you will fall."
"My dear beast, I sure hope they come to me, we have an old score to settle after all…" Salem smirked, watching as The Beetle was about to say something.
With a snap of her fingers, electricity flowed from the flower above, electrocuting the beetle before it screams. She strolled out, a smug grin on her face, Salem ventured back up the stairs and caused them to rise back up, so the grand hall would look normal. As she made her up the stairs, back to her throne room, she stopped and turned toward the Grimm that had been following.
"Seer," she called its name and ordered, "Bring up Mistral's Storm Mountains."
The ball on the Seer's head lit up, connecting with another Seer, observing as a horde moved out. She watched as the horde of Beowolfs and Beringel. They are approaching a large cave system, but once they got to the entrance a jet of blue flames erupted out of it. Instead of being surprised, Salem merrily walked toward her throne, taking her rightful place upon this dark kingdom.
She snapped her fingers as a slave brought her a glass of wine. The slave bowed her head, backing away as her dark mistress took a sip of her choice drink. The dark mistress watched as those Grimm were slaughtered relatively easily, but it was fine. She had her ways, Chomei, the giant beetle had fought the same way in the sky.
However, everything had a breaking point. It had been a challenge, murders of Nevermore and fleets of Sphinx Grimm took time to make. The Giant Beetle was pushed, constantly, endlessly, for an entire two weeks. Fifty years ago, Salem had managed to capture this hulking behemoth, her grandest prize eluded her yet.
Chomei had fallen when she had designed Grimm specifically to detonate themselves into fireballs onto his wings. Right into the ocean, that giant beetle fell and grabbed by Leviathans, it was taken straight to hell. Sipping her wine, a little bit more, she got comfortable. Watching as more Grimm poured out of the forest.
'My wonderful, my feline friend, how long you'll last? You may be much smaller than that beetle, yet it makes you nimbler, a great flight risk if given the chance. Too bad, for you, I don't deal in chances. Still, the grand prize I seek bears seven more tails to your two, and I still cannot find him.' Salem finished her wine as she observed the battle.
"Slave," she called out to the girl that had handed her wine, "More wine."
"Yes, Mistress…"
The mountains rocked with blue flames shooting from inside of the cave. A cat made of blue flames, with dark blue markings across her body, lunged out and smashed through a pile of dark creatures. Roaring, her small stature of about twenty meters, and sleek form, easily dodged the several Nevermore in the air as they launched their barbed feathers.
Knocking down some trees, she grimaced as a squad of Beringels leaped onto her. Shaking them off, Matatabi charged a small ball of energy near her mouth. The Grimm had no chance of escape as she launched the ball of energy, burning everything in its path in blue flames. Dashing as fast she could, the flaming cat skidded to a stop near a cliff's edge.
"Damn it," she cursed, turning toward the encroaching horde. 'No choice, I have to make a dive for it.'
Matatabi jumped backward, launching several dozen fireballs from her mouth. The fireballs impacted the Grimm in front of her, but she couldn't turn around in to counter the large claw that came from beneath the waves. Within a moment, she was caught in the grip of a giant Grimm, a Leviathan, it quickly slammed itself with her underwater. Trying to use her flames, Matatabi managed to boil the water around them, but the beast didn't let go.
Her head cocked up, observing several long snakelike Grimm with wings swimming underwater. She struggled more, charging a Bijuu Dama in front her, intending to take the head of the beast in front of her. With blasts of lightning impacting her back, the giant cat lost focus, and the orb dissipated.
Swallowing water, she felt her flames flicker. The beasts behind her didn't let up, blasting her with their lightning beams, electricity crackling all around her underwater. She reached up, drawing back, managing to claw the face of the Leviathan holding her down. Slicing one of its eyes out, she felt herself then beginning to get dragged.
'Chomei put up a better fight than me, whoever is behind these monsters knows us very well. It can't be, damn it all, I can't just go like this!' Matatabi mentally screamed at herself, she looked around and focused.
She took one last deep breath, glaring up at the beast's eye and noticing a jellyfish-like creature nearby it. Sensing energy heading into and from it, she figured it was some sort of sensor. Grimacing, Matatabi did the one thing she could do and smirked.
'You'll not have me yet,' Matatabi spoke as she closed her eyes before allowing her flames to fully die. 'If you're out there, I'm sorry Naruto, but I'll have to extend our reunion another few years. Father will not like me being captured, now to do my duty!'
She started taking massive gulps of water, she smirked as she looked up at the sensory creature. Drowning herself, she weakly closed her eyes, thinking of her former Jinchuuriki, Yugito Ni and the one she had to find again.
'Sayonara, for now, friend.'
Salem was standing up from her throne, watching as twin-tailed cat drowned itself. She lowered her head, smirking before snapping her fingers. The Leviathan suddenly ignited the ocean around it with its red-hot flames. Matatabi's heterochromatic eyes widened, her blue flames reigniting just enough to keep her alive and boil away any water inside of her.
'She tried to kill herself?' The dark Goddess sat back on her throne, analyzing what she just witness, 'Interesting…"
The woman chuckled, 'I wonder, with two of them how much more powerful that flower that's growing will become?'
She leaned back, finishing her second glass of wine, 'I do hope my flower blooms, ever since I fed most of that beast's energy to it, the petals have slowly opened up.'
Naruto was watching as Emilia slept on a bed. He had kept his promise of getting her to a shelter. Sighing, the blonde exited the room. He watched as a matron approached him, stopping in front of the blonde, she spoke.
"We cannot keep her here more than three days," The Matron said as she clicked her heels. "The shelter has to cycle out homeless women and children, there are simply not enough beds."
"I understand, but she's been on the streets for a while, can you make an exception?" He argued with The Matron.
"No, I'm sorry, but she'll have to get back into a line that forms every three days." The Matron replied, and then sighed. "I don't like it either, in a perfect world we'd have enough room to shelter everyone. However, that's not the case."
Naruto grimaced, and took a deep breath, "So what if Winter comes and she can't find a place to stay? C'mon, she's just a little girl, Dattebayo."
"The rules are rules, I wish we'd have to resources to bend them, but unfortunately it is not the case. You were lucky to even find the one bed here," The Matron stated before starting to walk away.
Naruto reached out but failed to catch her in time as she continued to walk off. He glanced into the room, watching as Emilia coughed a little, she was at least in fresh clothing now. Growling, the blonde just felt his frustration boil and he debated on his next move. It was currently three in the morning, and he needed sleep before he met up with Ozpin.
Still, that fight a few hours ago changed things. He knew that chakra, no matter how dark it was, was Chomei's. Chomei was in danger, and somewhere deep inside of him, he knew that as a fact. His eyes focused on the room number she was, one-zero-one-zero. Tenth room, tenth child ward, what he came to learn about it. All those children, no parents, only a monster could cause such suffering.
He feared that very same monster, somewhere deep inside of his heart, he knew who that monster might be. Why else would these people hunt down Bijuu, even if Chomei was the only one to fall. From what Naruto gathered on Grimm, even if they were all weaker than even Shukaku, numbers often triumphed in a fight. Chomei probably put up a great fight, a spectacular fight, but without a Jinchuuriki his powers wouldn't be as focused.
His power diluted, hopeless outnumber by Hagaromo knows what, it wasn't hard to reach the conclusion that he'd been captured. The only question that remained, as simple as it was, where? Sighing, thoughts and worry filling his head, Naruto walked toward the entrance of the shelter. He'd have to come back, hopefully, Emilia would still be there, he wasn't just going to abandon her.
Flopping down on his motel room mattress, the blonde yawned as he felt his skin slightly crawl. Watching as a tiny black bug crawled on the mattress, the blonde flicked it off before adjusting himself. He'd have to vacate the room before eight in the morning, meaning he'd get only four hours of sleep. Yawning, he closed his eyes and slowly began to drift off.
A sound from his scroll snapped him out of his long-desired feeling relaxation. He looked down it, it was from Qrow. Answering the call, Naruto leaned on his pillow.
"Sup?" Naruto answered, rubbing his eyes.
"Nothing much, I'm at my favorite joint in the city, wanna get some drinks?" Qrow inquired, the blonde hearing tap a bar table of some kind.
He thought it over, looking at the small mirror in the room, "I don't have any Liens on me."
"Pfft, Lien Schnee, c' mon kid. What's the worst that's going to happen, you get a little drunk and crash at my place?" Qrow pressured Naruto lightly, chuckling over the phone.
Naruto sighed, "I have to do something important tomorrow, sorry."
"Ain't no sweat off my back," the man replied as he was heard taking a glass into his hand. "More for me, I guess."
"Right," Naruto lamented as he looked up at the ceiling, "Night, Qrow."
"Night lightweight."
Ozpin was sitting in his office, late at night, the man was finishing going over qualifying students for the tournament. That what he should've been doing, but instead, he had an old tome book. One of the many things he had collected over his years, and previously, like any fable he thought of it as having a hint of truth.
The tome had pictographs on pages opposite to translated texts. Pictographs depicting eight beasts surrounding a single person with another beast at his back, that person had something in their right palm. The beasts held different numbers of tails, going from one to nine. The first one, with one tail, was a Tanuki. The second one, made of flames and bearing twin tails, was Cat. The third one, three tails, was a Giant Turtle. The fourth, a massive Ape with squid-like tails. The fifth was some weird hybrid of a horse and dolphin, bearing five tails. The sixth one, with liquid running off its body, was a Slug. The seventh, easily recognizable with its one tail and six wings, was a Beetle. The eight was an Ox mixed with an octopus. However, unlike the four, The Nine-Tailed Fox stood behind the being.
Analyzing the tome, Ozpin leaned back, reading the fable aloud.
"Many generations ago, prior to the rise of empires and kings, there laid The Ancient City of Konoha. There, amidst tragedy, a child was born during the night of The Nine-Tailed Fox. That child was chosen, cursed to bear its power, he grew up alone." Ozpin flipped the page, continuing, "Summer came, Winter went, Spring breathed life, Autumn took it away. The boy, mischievous, took pleasure in pulling many pranks on the citizens of Konoha. Many likening him to The Nine-Tailed Fox that had killed many."
The page had the picture of a very demonic looking Fox, with it barely hanging over the child.
"Monster, demon, freak! They would cry, jeering him, many people not bothering to look upon him. The boy envied many, grew jealous of others and sought to become stronger. That need for strength pushed him to new limits, a constant need to validate his existence." The silver-haired man continued to read, flipping the page.
The next pictograph depicted the young boy becoming a young man.
"Many years went by, the boy found friends, and soon he left the village to travel with an old sage he met. Years went by, the boy did not grow in strength much, but he grew in intellect and learned of the world around him. Upon his return, he learned of others like him, Jinchuuriki. That they were being hunted, and so, he must train himself further." Ozpin noticed a trend as he read it aloud, 'You still needed to validate yourself.'
Stopping his reading, the man yawned, "The boy at the docks seemed very familiar to that fable…if you're wondering why I read it aloud."
"I was hoping you weren't going crazy, Ozpin, because then I'd have to take charge." A blonde-haired woman stated, walking over toward him.
The silver-haired man laughed slightly, "Looking to move up in position, Ms. Goodwitch?"
"The only natural choice would be that I'd take over, after all, I am your direct successor here. Unless you have a secret deal with Oobleck I don't know about," Ms. Goodwitch replied, a certain poise to her movement and voice.
"Please, as if there would be anyone else. Just wondering about the strangest things, fables and fairytales coming true, all the typical stuff we work against in the shadows." Ozpin explained, and yawned, "I haven't had much sleep."
"You almost died."
"We all must die at some point, Ms. Goodwitch, but a man once said. "All men die, but many never truly live." If I fear death, around every corner, then I'd never have the willpower to accomplish what I must in the here and now." Ozpin closed the tome as he spoke.
Getting up, he stretched, "I suppose you came to argue Team RWBY's inclusion, or JNPR's?"
"Both, actually, I believe too young. Let's put in our veteran teams, we've still got two months to train them, and I think our veteran teams would show more promise." Goodwitch argued, looking at the files on his desk.
Ozpin nodded, "Maybe so, but lest we forget, they've been incredibly active. Ms. Rose's team has already stopped some bad men from doing bad things, and Mr. Arc's team continues to grow despite his fake admissions."
"I'd flung out."
"And, that Ms. Goodwitch, is where you still have to learn. If someone, somewhere, is so passionate about being apart of this. That they would seal their fate, put their lives on the line with little to no training, just for a simple chance at making difference…that is who we need." Ozpin retorted, putting the files up.
Glynda rolled her eyes, "And yet, who is going to compose the letter when such hopefuls die?"
"I would, gladly so, and that's something you need to learn. Talent may be great, a certain skill set, awe-inspiring. Pyrrha Nikos, probably the greatest potential in this school, but she lacks that significant drive. To know that you're hopeless, out of your league, yet, you still try." The silver-haired man continued, motioning her to walk with him.
"I won't be around forever, Ms. Goodwitch. If it hadn't been for that blonde stranger today, I'd probably been as good as dead. However, I wish to meet him tomorrow on time. In order to do that, I must have my rest. Good night, and please, think over my words." Ozpin patted her shoulder as he spoke, "You may be master, but even a master can learn from her elders."
"Yes sir," Ms. Goodwitch conceded, "I'll sign the paperwork needed to get them going."
"Right. By the way, Glynda, would you like to accompany me? The place we're supposed to meet is a good restaurant, we should treat ourselves, we work too hard. Especially you, with all your worries, think it over." Ozpin pressed a few buttons, looking at Glynda with a smile.
Glynda smiled, "I'll clear something up, good night Headmaster."
She watched as he rode the elevator down, walking over to the desk. Picking up the tome, he had been reading, she looked down at it.
'The Tale of The Fox Boy…an ancient folklore. It holds weight, even if the Titans remain hidden, yet, I fear for you.' She opened the to the tome's last page, depicting the death of The Fox Boy at his own hands.
"Some fairytales and folklore, no matter how important," she closes the tome fully, "Should be forgotten."