Chapter 8:
A Clash of Titans
"What do you mean we can't compete!" Yang says angrily.
"I'm sorry, but your team has five members, and all the others have four, if we let you compete in the festival you'd have an unfair advantage." The worker at the check in booth says.
"What if one of us sat out?" Stone asks, earring his teammates' confusion.
"Well, I suppose if one of you chose to abstain from the competition, then you could compete." The booth worker replies.
"I'm sorry, if you could just excuse us for a second." Ruby says, the team moving out of earshot of the worker
"You're not really thinking of…" Blake starts.
"It's no big deal to me, plus if I participated our team would have an unfair advantage either way, none of the other competitors can use magic, so it's only fair." Stone says
"Ok, but only if you're absolutely sure." Ruby says.
"I am, you go and win this! And just because I'm not competing doesn't mean I won't be cheering you girls on in the crowd." Stone says.
The team moves back towards the check in booth and gives the worker their answer.
"Alright, our fifth member, Stone, will not be competing, so our team will have only four members." Ruby says, the booth worker nodding and handing her a form to fill out with the team members' names. Filling out the form and handing it to the booth worker, the team is now registered and ready for the festival.
Amity Colosseum hangs above Beacon Academy as the Vytal Festival got underway in earnest. The competition was fierce, and over the three days of the festival Team RWBYS performed exceptionally, Stone cheering them on all the while from the stands. Team RWBYS had won all their matches and as the team made it through the brackets, Stone was joined by his teammates, first by Ruby, then by Blake, and finally by Weiss. The team was now competing in the Finals, Yang was fighting a student from Shade Academy by the name of Mercury Black, the fight had been completely equal, the brawlers fighting blow for blow, Mercury using his stout kicks against Yang's powerful punches, but eventually Yang was able to overpower Mercury and win the match by use of her Semblance. But as the match was called in her favor, Yang suddenly attacked Mercury for no apparent reason, supposedly breaking his leg, the crowd erupting in boos and yells of disapproval. Soldiers surround Yang, ordering her to stand down.
"Why'd she attack me?!" Mercury cries as he writhes in pain, his team member Emerald coming to his side.
"H-He tried to attack me, I saw it!" She says before looking up at the jumbo screens, seeing Mercury simply lying on the ground as she attacks him.
Yang's eyes go wide at this sight, looking around the stadium she sees the terrified faces of Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Stone, as well as all the guns pointed at her.
Mercury is carted away by two paramedics, Emerald running alongside them as they cart Mercury away to an ambulance.
"Hope they'll be okay, the girl won't leave his side." One of the paramedics says to the ambulance's driver.
"We'll take good care of both of them.: A disguised Cinder says, with a bit of venom in her voice.
Flying away, Emerald drops her Semblance and Mercury drops the act.
"So, you think it worked?" He asks Cinder as she smiles maliciously, fire welling up in her eyes.
X
Back at their dorm, Team RWBYS are discussing what happened with Yang. General James Ironwood had paid them a visit to tell them that due to Yang's actions, Team RWBYS had been disqualified from the festival. In addition he expressed doubt about Yang's claim of self defense, blaming it on combat induced stress, and saying that the public had already come to their own conclusions, leaving the team to discuss amongst themselves.
"You guys believe me right?" Yang asks her team, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Duh." Ruby says.
"You're hot headed but not ruthless." Weiss says.
"Of course, you wouldn't've attacked without reason" Stone says.
Yang looks relieved, when she realizes, one member hasn't said anything yet, turning to Blake.
"Blake?" Yang asks.
"I want to believe you…" she says.
"Huh?!" Ruby says, astonished.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss questions.
"Blake, Yang wouldn't attack someone out of battle haze if she didn't see them as a threat." Stone says.
Blake goes on to explain how someone close to her had changed, gradually, admitting that she even began to believe he was right, but saying that Yang was not him.
"I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me he attacked you. I need you to promise that you regret having to do what you did." Blake pleads to Yang.
Yang wipes away her tears, looks Blake dead in the eyes, and says in a calm tone, "I saw him attack me, so I attacked back."
Blake breathes a sigh of relief, "Okay, thank you." she says.
Yang looks down, appearing as if she was going to start crying again, "I think I'm gonna rest up" she says, crashing onto Blake's bed.
"We'll get out of your hair." Blake says, signaling for the team to follow her out of the room.
Ruby and Stone begin walking back to the Arena, seeing that the next final match had been announced, Pyrrha Nikos of Vale would be going against Penny Polendina of Atlas. As they walk the team encounters a familiar face, Velvet Scarlatina of Team CFVY. The team chats with Velvet, Velvet giving her apologies for how people are reacting, mentioning off handedly that something similar happened to her team leader, Coco, mentioning how Coco had hallucinated during her battle with Mercury and Emerald. The mention of the hallucinations make Ruby suspicious, deciding to keep an eye out for anything similar. Arriving back to the stadium, Ruby notices something peculiar.
"Emerald's… here?" She questions, pointing out the girl to Stone.
"Either Mercury made a miraculous recovery, or something's not right here." He replies.
From a yellow maintenance door Mercury Black peaks out, he had been expecting Ruby to be two things, alone and unarmed, but he had noticed that Stone was with her and only the second prediction had come to pass, both the students having left their weapons at their dorm. This made things extremely difficult.
"Damn, that 'Dragon' is with her." he mutters quietly, shutting the door. He pulls out his scroll and proceeds to start dialing.
"Cinder, plans gone sideways, Ruby's not alone, that Dragon guy Stone is with her." he says to Cinder.
Cinder is unfazed by this, "It doesn't matter, those two cannot stop what's already in motion. Fall back, even without their weapons, they're too much for just you."
Mercury shuts off his scroll and walks into the darkened corridor, disappearing in the murky blackness.
The match between Penny and Pyrrha begins, Penny using her flight to outmaneuver Pyrrha and attack from the air, Pyrrha fighting on nonetheless. The crowd begins to notice that Pyrrha has begun to act erratically, swinging at things that aren't there and generally panicking. Penny sends her swords forward and Pyrrha sends out an electromagnetic shockwave, unintentionally wrapping the wires of Penny's swords around her body, and in one deciding motion.. CRUNCH!
Pyrrha was horrified at what she had done, Penny laid on the ground, crumpled and destroyed, her metal limbs being torn off revealing to Pyrrha Penny was a machine. The crowd is aghast, Pyrrha is in shock, Ruby and Stone are mortified, and Emerald is exhausted from using her Semblance, all of this was according to Cinder's plan.
In the areas surrounding Vale, Grimm of all kinds senses the spike in negative emotions coming from Amity Colosseum, turning in that direction and charging.
Suddenly the camera feed changes to an image of a black queen chess piece as Cinder's voice comes over the broadcast.
"This was not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children to people who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to wield both."
Many in the crowd look shocked and frightened by the message.
Cinder continues, questioning what Ozpin is teaching his students, suggesting he wanted to use victory in the tournament as a distraction for his failure to prevent the perimeter breach the earlier week, seeding doubt in the people's minds.
As Cinder finishes she cuts the feed, leaving nothing but static on the screen. And as the staff are trying to get the feed back up, alarms blare and the PA begins speaking, "Alert! Incoming Grimm Attack. Threat level nine, please seek shelter in a calm and orderly fashion."
People in the arena begin panicking and flee out of the arena. The announcers, Oobleck and Port, attempt to calm the people down, but this is all for naught, as a Giant Nevermore perches on top of the arena's forcefield, screeching and beginning to peck at it.
"A Nevermore?!" Sun Wukong says in disbelief.
"How did it get past the Kingdom's defenses?!" Coco Adel says surprised.
"It wasn't alone." Lie Ren says.
Stone turns to Ruby, "This is the scenario Ozpin was talking about, we need to get our weapons." he says, Ruby, looking sad but determined, nods as they begin to run back to their dorm.
Qrow Branwen runs out of Ozpin's office to defend the city as General Ironwood leaves as well, commanding his ships to engage the Grimm. Now alone in his office, Ozpin looks with a grim expression as a horde of Grimm are heading towards Beacon.
The Atlesian ships begin engaging the Grimm, but something is wrong, the rearmost ship is not firing. Inside the bridge is completely destroyed, as Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan walk towards the control console. Roman begins directing the ship's fire towards the remaining airships, taking them down in a hail of lasers. Laughing maniacally, Roman then pulls a flash drive out of his coat and inserts it into the console, flashing red with the black queen chess piece. All the Atlesian Knight robots who were defending Vale now have their visors turn from blue to red, as they turn their fire on the civilians and Huntsmen and Huntresses.
"A Bullhead flies to the landing pad of Beacon, opening its side door revealing the head of the White Fang in this area, the bull faunus Adam Taurus.
"Bring them to their knees!" He shouts as more Bullheads appear, releasing their cargo of either Grimm or White Fang members to attack the academy.
X
At Beacon, Blake and Weiss are watching the chaos unfold around them.
"I don't believe this…" Weiss says.
Blake pulls out her Scroll and calls Yang, "Yang are you ok?" She asks.
Yang is running down the hallways of the dorm with Zwei, "I'm fine, is Ruby with you, she's not answering her Scroll."
"YANG!" She hears Ruby's voice calling for her from down the hall, Stone running alongside the girl.
"There you are! You had me worried." Yang says, hugging her sister.
"Yang, people are in danger out there, you go ahead, Stone and I need to get our weapons and we'll be right out." Ruby says, Yang nodding and continuing on her way, Zwei running right next to her.
Ruby and Stone burst into the dorm room, seeing the Chaos occurring outside, with Grimm and White Fang attacking students and civilians alike. Ruby grabs Crescent Rose and Stone grabs Highlander, but before they leave, Stone presses his door, and in a puff of smoke, it miniaturizes again.
"Never hurts to be prepared for the worst," He says, before the two run out of the room to join the fray.
In the distance, the ground shakes as a mountain begins crumbling, revealing a large dragon like Grimm. It stretches its wings before taking to the air, roaring and dropping a black substance, creating more Grimm as it flies. Ozpin sees this terrible sight in the distance and looks troubled. Calling Pyrrha and telling her to meet him at the elevator.
"I hope that transferring the Fall Maiden's powers to Pyrrha would be enough, but this might be too much. I had hoped I would not have to use the failsafe, but it seems I may have no choice…" he says, pulling out his Scroll and dialing Ruby and Stone.
Ruby's scroll beeps and Stone's small rectangular black device, what he called a phone, rings, they pick up and are greeted by Ozpin's face, "
"Ruby, Stone, we have two problems I need you two to address." he says
"And those are?" Stone asks.
"One of the Atlesian ships turned it's guns on the other ships. Ruby, I want you to handle this one, General Ironwood is waiting with a dropship." Ozpin says.
"Right!" Ruby says, hanging up and running off to her rendezvous with Ironwood.
"And Stone, there is a Grimm of massive proportions heading this way. I want you to stall that Grimm for as long as you can." He says, before cutting the feed and running to the elevator, frantically pressing the button and inputting the code to take him to the underground atrium.
Stone looks a bit hesitant, seeing the massive draconic Grimm in the distance and getting closer, Stone thinks to himself "Can I really take that thing on? I'm like half that thing's size"
The Grimm gets closer and closer, Stone comes to a decision, "I may not be able to match that thing's strength, but I can fight smarter than it" he thinks, preparing to fight the Grimm.
Stone begins gathering his mana as a white light envelopes him. The white form begins growing, going from a humanoid bipedal figure, and shifting into a large quadruped figure. The light fades as Stone has now been replaced by a 9 foot tall and 35 foot long Dragon with brilliant silver scales and a yellow frill stretching from the top of his head all the way to the end of his tail, his 90 foot wingspan cresting over the buildings of Beacon. The Students, Huntsmen and Huntresses, White Fang members, and even the Grimm are given pause, as a loud bellowing roar rings out from nearby, as they see Stone in his dragon form take flight to combat the Wyvern Grimm. His time in this form is limited due to Remnant's weak mana and his aura's strength won't change, but he still has to stall the Wyvern.
"I may only be a Young Adult Dragon, but that doesn't mean I won't give this Grimm the fight of its life!" he thinks to himself.
The Wyvern Grimm sees Stone approaching and roars, unfazed by the Stone's small size, he was half the Wyvern's size. Stone opens his snout, but instead of a roared reply, a jet of freezing cold air shoots out from the Silver Dragon's mouth and strikes the Wyvern, knocking it off balance and sending it plummeting into the ground. Stone lands as the Grimm recovers and engages the dragon in a battle.
Blake encounters Adam Taurus in the school's cafeteria, Adam begins taunting Blake as she begins fighting him, easily being overpowered. Adam goes to make a killing shot until he is interrupted by Yang, punching him in the face and interrupting him, squaring up to fight the Bull Faunus.
Ruby's escort is taken down but she uses her semblance to get herself to the outer deck of the Airship, shortly after touching down, a familiar face comes out to greet her. Roman Torchwick with Melodic Cudgel, as the two begin a melee.
X
Ozpin meets Pyrrha at the elevator, with Jaune tagging along. The three go down to the underground atrium. Ozpin puts Pyrrha in a machine at the end of the hallway containing the former fall maiden, Amber. Ozpin attempts to transfer the Maiden's powers to Pyrrha, but is interrupted by an arrow striking Amber in her tube, killing her. Ozpin turns around to reveal Cinder with her bow in hand.
Jaune attempts to charge Cinder before being stopped by Ozpin, who has released Pyrrha from her tank.
"No boy, she is beyond you, go, get Glynda, Ironwood, anybody, and bring them here. Go!" Ozpin says, Jaune and Pyrrha running past her unimpeded.
"So, all this time, and it was right beneath our feet." Cinder says coldly, her eyes scanning the room. She looks up to see a large crystal, swirling with energy, but she writes it off as a decoration.
"Any final requests?" Cinder asks, her Maiden powers coming in full force.
"Yes in fact," Ozpin says, "Let me talk to her, your master. I know she's watching" Ozpin says.
Cinder tilts her head at this request, as if listening to a voice only she was able to hear, nodding and closing her eyes. When Cinder reopens her eyes, her orange sclera had been replaced with pitch black spheres, with two crimson rings.
"You wanted to speak with me Ozma? Well you wish is granted, say what you wanted to say so my servant can kill you." The Salem possessed Cinder says.
Ozma remains silent, "What, nothing to say? Well then, let me speak, did you really think you could protect your school from my Grimm, even with that Dragon delaying my Wyvern, it's only a matter of time." To Salem's surprise, Ozma simply starts to laugh. "What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself!" Salem shouts.
"It's simple Salem, you never realized Beacon's true purpose. How it was built on a convergence point of Remnant's Leylines. Yes it was meant to guard the Relic of Choice, but it was also meant to funnel Remnant's mana into the crystal you see above us." He says, and with a yell he slams Long Memory into the spell circle that was used to capture Remnant's mana, the glyph glowing with all the colors of mana, as the crystal shatters, and the mana contained within is focused into Remnant's sky, tearing open a hole in the fabric of the multiverse. But this is not all the mana did, it also funneled into 14 people on Remnant, igniting something within them, and the mana targets four girls in particular.
Ruby and Roman are battling it out on the outer deck of the Airship, until their battle is interrupted as a brilliant white flash of energy envelops them both, as well as Neo within the bridge, the three disappearing from Remnant.
Weiss is defending an evacuation point with the members of Team JNPR as well as Neptune, Sun, and many other students from the other academies. Suddenly, Weiss and all of Team JNPR, are enveloped in white light as they disappear, confusing the other defenders.
Blake and Yang are still locked in combat against Adam Taurus, Yang attempts to charge Adam, but is only met by Adam's blade severing her arm, Yang doubles back in pain, collapsing next to Blake, and before Adam can deal the finishing blow to the pair, Adam is blinded by white light, and when his eyes readjust, Blake and Yang are gone.
As Qrow and his Brother-in-Law Taiyang Xiao Long are fighting Grimm in the City of Vale, they are interrupted by the brilliant pillar of white light emerging from Beacon, and before they can react, they are enveloped by white light.
Stone is knocked down, the Wyvern managing to overpower him. As he hits the ground, his aura breaks, as well as the time limit on his dragon form runs out, as he turns back into his human form as he was before, clothes and all. But before the Wyvern can bring it's foot down on him, a brilliant white flash envelopes both Stone and the Grimm, and when the light dissipates, it reveals Stone missing, and the Wyvern missing half of its body, including it's head, as its hindquarters slump to the ground and begin dissolving.
Salem feels as these events happen, "What is going on Ozma?!" Salem screams.
"It's simple Salem, I have freed them, they are no longer on this plane, the shield around Remnant has been broken and all the Planeswalkers in this area have had their Sparks ignited, or in my case, reignited." Ozma says as both he and Cinder are enveloped in the same white light, disappearing from Remnant.
Salem at her castle scowls at this revelation. She had not planned for this. Now she had lost her Fall Maiden, mere moments after she had gotten her. Her plans were ruined, and Ozma had escaped her once again.
X
Ruby awakens, feeling warm wind on her face and… sand? Standing up, she sees a vast desert with a large sandstone structure in the distance. She looks around a bit more, and sees her teammates, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Stone, all lying in the sand, she runs to them.
"Guys!" she shouts running towards them. The group begins to stir and come to their senses, Ruby then sees Yang is missing her right arm, and runs to her sister to make sure she is ok.
"Ugh, that Wyvern did a number on me." Stone says
"Aah, my head is killing me." Blake says.
Ruby gets Yang to her feet, and thankfully the wound on her arm is closed, whatever brought them to this desert has sealed Yang's wound
All of Team RWBYS are now on their feet, and they see Ozpin a few feet away, getting back to his feet.
"Ozpin, what happened?!" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, where are we, somewhere on Vacuo?" Weiss asks as well.
"No, we are not on Vacuo-" Ozpin starts.
"We're not even on Remnant anymore." Stone finishes Ozpin's sentence.
"What?" Blake asks.
"Ladies… Welcome to Tarkir." Stone says, as a loud roar sounds in the distance
X
Jaune wakes up to the sound of birds calling out overhead, opening his eyes he sees a vibrant, thick jungle canopy.
Standing up he finds his sword and shield right next to him, arming himself, he picks a direction and begins walking.
Jaune feels like he has been walking for hours, until he hears voices nearby. He walks to a clearing to see people wearing strange armor, adorned with scaled armor plates and colorful feathers, a few of them riding large scaled and feathered creatures.
A female voice comes from the group, "You there! In the jungle!" Jaune is surprised, as the voice continues, "Get out here now!"
Jaune complies with the voice, sheathing his sword and walking out of the jungle, arms raised. Approaching the group he sees the origin of the voice, a woman adorned in armor with orange feathers with blue accents. Standing next to her is a large reptilian beast with a long fang filled snout and covered in brilliant orange feathers.
"I, uh, I don't want any trouble. I just don't know where I am." Jaune says hesitantly.
"Your armor…" The woman asks, "You're not from here, are you?" She asks.
"Uh, no, no I don't think I am." Jaune says nervously, noticing the pair of Chakram Blades on the woman's hips.
"You must be the same as me and that Minotaur." She says, "Apologies for the hostility, you can't be too careful with those Dusk Legion fanatics running amuck in our empire. My name is Huatli, what's yours?" she asks.
"I-its Jaune." He stammers out.
"Well, Jaune, let me be the first to welcome you to Ixalan." Huatli says.
X
Nora awakens in a large forest. Birds calling and animals moving through the brush. Sitting up she is met by a… LION PERSON?! Nora freaks out at this revelation, she had seen Faunus before, but not a freaking lion person! The lion is dressed in a leather kilt, and has two gold pauldrons on his shoulders, a pair of circular headed axes on his back, one gold and one silver. Lion begins speaking in a calm voice.
"You are a long way from home, aren't you little one." the lion asks, Nora nodding in response.
The lion kneels down to Nora's level, "What is your name, little one?" The lion asks.
"It's… It's Nora." She says.
The lion smiles in response, "Well, nice to meet you Nora, my name is Ajani, Ajani Goldmane."
X
Pyrrha awakens on the shore of a craggy beach, steep cliffs boxing it in as a steep hill leads up. As she awakens and her vision clears, she sees a woman, clad in a white cloak and shining armor.
"First Planeswalk?" The woman asks Pyrrha.
"I'm sorry?" Pyrrha asks, confused.
"Hah, yeah, your first Planeswalk can really take you out of it." The lady says.
"Sorry, but could you tell me who you are, and where I am?" Pyrrha asks.
"Apologies for the informal greeting, I'm Elspeth Tirel, and the Plane you are currently on is Theros." she says.
X
Ren awakens in a large sprawling city, with even higher tech than could be found in Atlas, holographic pictures, flying vehicles, and dozens of robots. Ren retreats to an ally to catch his bearing, when a feminine figure clad in golden armor and white robes approaches him.
"I take it you are not from Kamigawa?" She asks.
"Kami-what?" Ren says in response.
'It is alright, you must have recently ignited your spark." The stranger says, "Well, you are currently on the plane of Kamigawa." she says.
"Sorry, but just who are you?" Ren asks.
"I am the Emperor of Kamigawa." The woman responds.
X
Roman Torchwick shifts on the ground, regaining control over his limbs.
"Damned Ruby. I'll make her pay," he says.
Opening his eyes he sees many trees with vines crawling up their trunks and into the thick canopy above.
"You hear my Team RWBYS," he yells, "No matter where you are, I will find you, and I will make you pay for destroying my-!"
He is interrupted by a concerning sound, multiple thundering sounds nearby, and the ground shakes, causing a puddle of water right next to him to start to ripple, impact tremors, drawing closer and closer. But wait a minute, that's not just a puddle, it looks like a footprint, large with three large clawed toes.
From behind the thief, comes a low rumbling sound, wait… that's not rumbling, that's growling! Roman Torchwick quickly turns around and is paralyzed by fear, being greeted by a large bipedal creature, covered in yellow, red, and green feathers, with a reptilian snout full of sharp teeth, snarling at him. Roman stutters in fear, completely unable to move as the beast roars in his face, rears up on its legs and prepares to strike.
Out of instinct Roman draws Melodic Cudgel and fires a flare at the beast, to no effect. Roman begins to scream as the beast brings down its mighty jaws on Roman Torchwick and snaps him up in its mouth, killing the criminal in seconds. Thief, Criminal, Dashing Rogue, all of these are words Roman Torchwick would use to describe himself, words that meant nothing to a mad Regisaur.
xxXxx
So we're finally off Remnant. And while RWBYS managed to stay together, everyone else has been cast to the winds of the multiverse. I will go into further detail of Qrow, Taiyang, Neo, and Cinder's wearabouts as this fanfic goes on, I could not fit them in this chapter as it was long enough as was.
Team RWBYS as well as Ozpin have ended up on the Dragon filled plane of Tarkir, and Yang has still lost one of her wings, but can she learn how to fly without it? Or can she find a suitable replacement.
Jaune has ended up on Ixalan and met the Warrior-Poet Huatli, and it seems she is aware that he is a planeswalker. (As you may know from MTG's lore, Huatli was aware of planeswalkers, and that she was one, even though the Immortal Sun prevented her from leaving)
Nora has ended up on Alara, specifically Naya, and met a certain familiar Leonin, Ajani Goldmane to be precise.
Pyrrha had landed on Theros and met one of the greatest heroes in Theros' history, Elspeth Tirel, despite being from Cappena originally, she still did go down as a hero in Theros' history.
Ren has wound up on Kamigawa, and as we know from Neon Dynasty, Kamigawa had quite the technological boom in the 1200 years since the last set, and he has been found by the Wanderer.
It seems while location might change, however in this case the ending doesn't, as Roman Torchwick still dies here, just this time on Ixalan and in the jaws of a dinosaur instead of in the belly of a grim. He may have been a Planeswalker, but that meant nothing to a Regisaur that had just had its nap interrupted by a tiny screaming figure.
Obligatory Disclaimer is Obligatory: I do not own, nor do I claim to own RWBY, Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, or the Mahou Universe (This Includes MSF High). They are owned by Rooster Teeth, Wizards of the Coast, and Akuoreo and MSFHighWraith respectively.
(PS: I will be including the links to Aku's and Wraith's DeviantArt channels going forward, I felt just leaving their usernames wasn't enough, so if you want to go check out their work, the links are right up there.)