RWBY: Dual Eclipse
Author: Master C.V.G.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Scene Change
Chapter 32: In Which One is Absent
Darting through the trees, the Unlosing Ranger followed the path as detailed by their helmet's coordination system. The area in question was straight ahead.
Finding one of the trees to use as cover, they began a quick scan of the area, looking for anything of interest that Lionheart would send a group out this way for... bandit camps, Grimm packs, anything...
About six minutes of searching swiftly revealed nothing of interest.
'...an entirely nondescript area... not even pinging any Grimm nearby. If this is in connection with what that demon told me...'
A cross-reference with foot-traffic data turned up nothing as well, increasing suspicion of the orders given.
'...hm...'
The Unlosing Ranger was about to start heading back, but then an idea dawned. Reaching down to the belt buckle, a hand was held in front of it as a list of options began to appear across the visor. The list was scrolled down, to eventually settle upon a certain device.
'Let's see... only got six of 'em left. If I could get ahold of WHS I could order more..' A new alert blipped across the visor, showing orders for another patrol route far outside of Mistral proper. '...and that just cast the die.'
With a reluctant confirmation, two small machines began to materialize upon their hand, looking like common, garden-variey ladybugs. Holding their hand up towards one of the trees, the two ladybugs took to the air, each one finding their own tree to carve out a small nook into, blending in so as to not draw the attention of any wildlife or passing people.
'Adjust... get some slight overlap, and...'
Once the two drones had found suitable trees to plant themselves into, video feed began to stream into the visor.
'All right. Now for the other locations.'
Facing eastwards, the Unlosing Ranger took off to go check on this other patrol route. With only four of these spy drones remaining, caution and conservation would be in play concerning where they would be placed... though as Nelius's words echoed in their mind, a quick alteration to the plan was forming.
Beacon Academy Library
2:47 P.M. Vale Standard Time
"Blake, got a minute?"
The Faunus-formerly-in-hiding looked up from her novel, and upon sighting a familiar pair of rabbit ears she knew immediately who it was. Even then, she hadn't interacted much with Velvet, so to see her second-year classmate coming to her wasn't something she was prepared for.
"...something up?"
"It's about your team-leader." That got Blake's attention. "Maybe I'm overreacting, but ever since yesterday it's like she's pulled a complete 180- beforehand she was outright nervous to try and talk with Coco, and now... well..."
She gestured over towards the other end of the library - Ruby was talking with Coco Adel, second-year student and leader of Team CFVY, as if the two had been friends for a long while. Though somewhat obscured by the light chatter of some other students, Blake could hear the two conversing, talking strategy and coordination.
Coco sounded somewhere between surprised and delighted to help out, though there was a playful jab at Ruby's choice of attire. Ruby almost immediately fired back a jab of her own, one that saw Coco's eyes going wide before biting back a peal of laughter.
"...trust me, you're not the only one who's noticed. We know she had a chat with the Headmaster, but something tells me that alone wouldn't cause something like this."
Blake knew that Yang was putting together a plan to figure things out, but part of her was wavering on telling Velvet about this... less out of a lack of trust for her, and more out of a desire to get a solid lead first. It was entirely possible, if slim, that Ozpin may have delivered an ultimatum to Ruby, and she was merely overthinking this.
TDF Drydock 19
Unknown Time
Aika finished looking over everything, finding everything to her the next leg of her search.
As she was about to turn away from her console, a notification flashed about an incoming call. One look at the sender, and she couldn't help but release a long, suffering sigh before accepting the call.
"Hello, Montreal."
"Apologies, but this isn't Commander Montreal." A younger-sounding and feminine voice responded, which got Aika's attention.
"Then who is speaking?"
"Lieutenant Commander Fiolina speaking." Well, this was a surprise.
"Fio? Didn't expect you to be part of Montreal's group."
"It was a last-minute assignment. The new sector we're set to explore turned out to be much denser in scope than initially anticipated."
"How so?"
"For one, the sector has a much larger encompassing range than originally projected. Second, and perhaps the bigger issue, is that the EM waves appear to be somewhat more frequent around certain edges. To that end, Fleets 26 and 27 were also assigned to the exploration missive."
To that end, a spectrograph image was sent to Aika, showing the region in question. There was no uniform shape to the area, but in certain marked locations the EM waves that had been styming exploration and research appeared to be at their thickest, along the edges of the region...
"...wait..." Something didn't add up. "If the areas here and here were thickened up, it'd almost form a fully spherical barrier around the location."
"You noticed as well. Some of our scientists back home are under the belief these waves aren't natural, that someone or something cast a veil over this region."
"But is it to keep others out, or keep something locked within?"
"I fear there's only one way to answer that question, Admiral."
Meanwhile...
Yoshitsuna Warship
"I'm quite certain it was on this frequency..." York continued to adjust the communications receiver, trying to reacquire Nelius and Epsilon's message.
"I'm here to ask you one question, and one question only... EXPLOSIONS?!"
Click.
"- in other news, binary world system Haephnes and Drazil are set to finalize -"
Click.
"-zzrttt- Remnant, has some interesting-FFZZFFT-"
"Eh?!" York took notice of the frequency, and tried cleaning up the signal. That was Epsilon's voice!
"Remnant?" Zio found himself curious, and so began to take notes.
"-ZFFTT- a shattered moon - its nearby world-FFFZZTT"
"This is it, dood! The break we've been searching for!" At that, Zio activated his communicator.
"Mita - I believe we've got something."
"What did you find?"
"A broadcast - seems Nelius and Epsilon are on a world called Remnant."
"Remnant... never heard of that one before. Maybe the TDF know more."
Beacon Academy
10:43 P.M. Vale Time
Yang had been waiting for what felt like hours, listening for signs of Ruby finally falling asleep. Having lived with her sister for so long, she knew what to listen for... and sure enough, Ruby's breathing began to steady into a much calmer rhythm, and after another two minutes for sake of safety, she took a quick glance across the dorm room and visually that Ruby had fallen asleep.
For a moment, her thoughts drifted to her partner sleeping in the bunk below her - Yang had tried to convince Blake to investigate alongside her, but the cat Faunus had insisted on making certain on a solid lead first. She was planning on simply asking Ozpin about Ruby's sudden change, and taking Weiss with her.
A simple, yet effective plan, but something in the back of Yang's mind was insisting on doing this.
Yang was more than prepared to silently slide out of her bunk and head for the door, yet her body felt... sluggish, heavy...
'Ugh, what... I know I didn't train that hard today...'
She had been feeling much more tired than before, and before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep.
Unknown Location
Unknown Time
"Wha-"
All around her, there was naught but rolling fog; skyward, an endless void. She took a look down at where the ground would be, only to find herself in her casual clothing instead of her favored sleepwear. At least she felt something like solid ground beneath her.
"Where?" No matter where Yang looked, there were no identifying landmarks. "Hello?" Her voice echoed for about three seconds as she tried to find something, anything around her.
Without warning, the fog and void disappeared in a snap, being replaced by a location all too familiar to the blonde brawler.
Her home on Patch. Everything was there - her dad's flower bed, Zwei's favorite nap-stump, the one tree she nearly felled in a single punch... yet unless she was in need of contact lenses or her favorite pair of aviator shades, everything looked a bit brighter than what she remembered.
Faintly, she could hear something that sounded like fighting. With little time to question events she took off towards the sounds, and from where she was hearing the sounds, whatever was causing them was coming from behind the house... which was odd, since usually the front yard was where they held sparring practice.
'Heck of a time for me to not have Ember Celica.' She rounded the corner, and what she witnessed next stunned her.
There was Ruby, Crescent Rose in-hand, but she looked to be fighting someone... a someone that looked kinda like her, yet was clad in a white-colored cloak and armed with some kind of axe-rifle hybrid. From the way Ruby was utilizing her scythe, it looked like she had been learning and incorperating new maneuvers - hooking the opponent's weapon, pulling to redirect said opponent...
'OK, this dream is getting weird.' True, she had been wishing for Ruby to grow more independent and skilled, but this... was not quite what she had envisioned.
"No mere dream, Yang." The older Ruby-lookalike suddenly spoke, as if peering into Yang's thoughts.
"Wha-" Before she could articulate her thoughts, both Ruby and her doppelganger were already regarding her.
"...mom, how did Yang get here?"
'Mom?!' If Yang had been curious before, now she was alarmed.
"Same way you have, Little Rose. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter..."
"Huh?" Ruby had a blank expression on her face, her mother's words soaring well over her head.
"Er, scratch that. Either way, I think we ought to let Yang here in on our little secret."
Warship Yoshitsuna
Unknown Time
"Remnant... seems that's a first." Aika reported after about a solid two hours of searching the TDF Planetary Registry. "No worlds with that name are registered with us."
"I got York and Zio attempting to better triangulate where the signal is coming from. Once they figure out its general direction we can bounce some info over to you all." Mita was on stand-by for launch. "Who knows, some of your folks in the field might find something."
Aika was going to respond, but something reached her console.
"Hm?" Seeing that it was a message, she opened it up. "What in the..."
"What happened?"
"A message was sent my way, but it would appear to be corrupted... not certain what caused it, but we should be able to clean it back up."
About three minutes later, the message was restored.
Sender: Azura M.
Subject: Status Report
Hey everyone at W.H.S. Azura reporting.
If you're receiving this message, then I've made a breakthrough regarding the gate accident. This world I'm currently stuck on is called Remnant. The local populace is struggling against malicious beings called the Grimm. They make use of weaponry capable of shifting between melee and ranged forms, and seem to wield their soul for offensive and defensive capabilities.
That said, I have run into two possible complications.
First, there appears to be a Netherworld Demon whom landed here, and while he has mentioned working with one of the local governments to disrupt an attempted overthrow, prior experiences within my family line have told me to remain vigilant. I will be sending some of this information to my contact in one of the other kingdoms.
Second, I find myself unable to make use of Remnant's technology in order to create new gadgets; whether this is due to mismatching technology levels or something else I know not, but should this get through I would need to request additional L-drones.
Should anything new come up, I will be in touch.
"World Hero Society... that's a name I haven't heard in a long while."
"That right?" That got Mita's attention.
"My brother and I had received offers to work with them several years ago, but obviously my brother was the only one who took it. Either way-"
Aika sent the message down to Communications, who would send the message off to its intended recipients.
"Still, that's another bit of news regarding this Remnant place. Something must be disrupting communications from that world... yet, what could be, and why?"
"First thing we need to figure out is where this Remnant is located. Once we know that, then we can puzzle out why and how this world has gone under our figurative and literal radar."
"Fair point. Your crew ready to depart?"
"Just waiting on confirmation for the new search coordinates from Command."
"I don't quite remember asking... how exactly did the current Rhodonite heir go missing?"
"Reports state that she was last seen playing around with prototype Dimensional Gate technology, apparently mistaking it for something else... I wish not to speak ill of her, but at times I wonder if she really is ready to take over her family's kingdom."
"Then again, considering who she's descended from, wouldn't surprise me at all if her flightiness was inherited. I'm willing to bet there's all kinds of stories about the Rhodonites."
"Perhaps, but we're not here to simply exchange rumors. We're here to get her home... and speaking of which, our new route has been confirmed. Time to move out."
Beacon Academy, Grimm Studies
Wednesday, September 28 9:04 A.M.
Professor Peter Port was, once again, entangled in another of his long-winded, and frankly fanfiction-esque ramblings, giving Yang plenty of time to dwell on her dream last night.
She hadn't seen Summer Rose since she was a child, after she left on an important mission... one that resulted in her death. Yet, to see her casually sparring with Ruby... and what did she mean about a secret?
'Let's see... I'll have a chance to chat with sis after class, before we have to attend Combat Class.' Lilac-colored eyes quickly flicked upwards, seeing Port still enamoured with his story. Then they flicked to her right, seeing Weiss and Ruby taking down sparse notes.
The look on Weiss's face was somewhere between surprise and utter confusion, though whether it was due to Port's "story" or Ruby actually paying attention was yet to be determined. Blake, sitting to Yang's left, simply had an eyebrow raised, probably in unison with Weiss's mixed expression.
Team JNPR, seated about two rows away today, appeared to be business as usual, with Ren needing to keep the nigh-boundless ball of energy named Nora under control, and... well, Jaune and Pyrrha being themselves. If their situation could be compared to anything she had witnessed, it'd be a lot like one of the books she borrowed from Blake's shelf, about three rather different people more or less parenting a fourth.
She quickly diverted her attention back to Port. Thankfully he didn't appear to notice her mind was on other subjects, but the portly Professor was known to trip students up with a sudden change in topic.
Still, it was going to be a rather long hour before this class was finished for today.
Chapter 32 - Complete