Last time on RWBY X Meta Runner: Worlds Collide…
It was fight night at The Battleground! As Theo, Penny, and Ironwood came to the abandoned Joyworld, they met the Knight of the Core, Lin-Noir, one of the individuals who saved Silica City. In The Battleground, they reunited with the rest of our heroes and saw the gladiatorial matches, many featuring Ruby and Yang. Once the sisters met face to face in the tournament finals, it was a battle that will go down in Rose-Xiao Long history. Yang thought she was about to take out her sister for good, but Ruby thought smart and countered Yang's attacks, making her the victor. As her reward, the gamble paid off as Tari was back with the group. But now, the clock's ticking for our heroes—they have one week to defeat Vekk-Torr's generals and the Living Black Hole himself to save Remnant from destruction. With Yang refusing to join them alongside the Remnanmt Resistance Front, a militia group founded by Roman Torchwick, she committed suicide. However, another Knight of the Core has offered her a second chance to fight on the side of good.
Will Yang accept this offer? Stay tuned to find out!
Silica City, Remnant Resistance Front Hideout
14 days since The Onslaught
Lamar walked up to Weiss and sat down on the sofa where she was watching TV.
"Weiss," Lamar said. "Before she died, you called Yang a fool for going rouge and joining Vekk-Torr's side."
"I did, why?" Weiss asked.
"There has got to be good left in her. There has to be!" He ranted. "If not, she's nothing like… like… Hazel Rainart!"
As he blurted out the name of the ex-Beacon Huntsman, Ozpin walked over to the duo and stood behind them.
"It was a mistake." Ozpin sighed. "A mistake I have repeated once more."
"No, we all share that burden. None more than Ruby." frowned Lamar.
"Comparing Yang to Gretchen is like comparing apples to oranges. It's not a fair comparison." Weiss claimed.
"You're right," Tari confessed as she sat beside Weiss and Lamar. "Unlike Hazel in the past, Ruby is still on our side."
"Agreed," Ozpin replied. "Much like Hazel-"
"Hazel's dead!" interrupted Tari. "I saw it when I touched Ruby's arm at her house in Patch. He perished when Vekk-Torr began his conquest of Remnant."
"The Onslaught…" answered the Beacon Headmaster.
"The what now?" Lamar questioned him.
"It was the attack Tari saw. Two weeks ago, Vekk-Torr attacked Remnant and successfully overtook it under his iron-fisted rule." Ozpin explained.
"Thanks for the explanation." acknowledged Tari. "But I hear you were talking about Yang, correct?"
"We are," Weiss responded. "As well as the fact that she became another Hazel."
"That's a load of crap!" exclaimed Lamar. "There's got to be some good left in her. There must!"
Joyworld
"No," Yang told the Knight of the Core. "I chose my side."
She then walked away from him and exited the arena. As she arrived at the boomerang coaster's entrance, she looked back at the food court building where her short reign as champion of The Battleground lived.
"You have to muck up everything for me, Ruby!" She hissed. "You are nothing more than a punk."
"Blaming others for your defeat, I see." A voice from out of nowhere replied. "It's like a great man once said: You must lose things for just how valuable they truly are."
Yang turned around and saw that Erde-Vere followed her to the ride.
She saw the seven-and-a-half-foot Knight of the Core tower over her like a skyscraper.
"I am offering this chance for a reason." He told her. "A chance to become what you truly are."
"Listen, big, tall, and arboreal. I chose my side. I went rogue." Yang explained as she stood up and balled up a fist. "I am sick and tired of being treated like a worker bee, you stupid turtle!"
She then delivered a right hook towards the Knight's face, and he preceded to catch it with his hand.
"Maybe you are offered a second opinion." He proposed as he crushed Yang's balled fist, metacarpal bones included.
Yang let out a scream of pain so loud it echoed across the entire park. As she clenched her broken hand, she turned and snarled at the Knight as she prepared to deliver another punch.
"Let's see you catch this, tortoise brain!" She yelled as she threw a punch at the Knight.
Erde-Vere then caught the punch, twisted her left arm like a lightbulb, lifted her from her right arm, crushed it, and broke both legs with a roundhouse kick when he caught her by the feet. She threw the mangled body onto the stairs, and the throw preceded to break her spine. Yang groaned, trying to recover from all the harm, but Erde-Vere stepped on her chest and crushed her ribcage. She screamed again, this time quieter than before due to the shattered ribcage.
"You think you are a wisecrack, aren't ya, Mr. Turtle?" Yang taunted as she coughed up blood.
"I am not a turtle." bellowed Erde-Vere. "I am a Camylonian—a Knight of the Core. One with a stronger mind, heart, and will than even you, your corrupted master, and his generals COMBINED!"
He proceeded to pick her up by the collar and raised her to his face.
"Now, SUCCUMB TO YOUR SINS!" He declared.
Suddenly, Yang's body became stone as she made eye contact with Erde-Vere.
"What!? What's this!? NO! NOOOOOOO!" She screamed in fear as she immediately turned into stone.
Yang's Conscience
In a flat, sunny, greasy field with clear skies, Yang woke up as she woke up from a nightmare.
"Where… where am I?" She asked.
"This is your conscience, Yang Xiao Long," Erde-Vere responded as she walked behind her.
"How do you know my name?" The rogue Huntress pondered.
"My kind knows everything and everyone that existed. The Knights of the Core are the ultimate champions of peace throughout the omniverse. Alongside us, Rooks and Spectators protect realities by hunting down destructive anomalies known as Distortions." explained the Knight. "As it turns out, you are a special Distortion, one no Camylonian has seen in centuries. You are a Distortion protecting the reality you call home."
"Hold on. A 'special' Distortion that is heroic?" Yang retorted. "I told you, I chose to side with Vekk-Torr."
"I know. But your path to darkness didn't start there." He said as an arch made from stone emerged from the ground. "Follow me."
The two walked into the arch, and once they walked through it, they were in a past moment of Yang's life.
Vale City Sewer System
Eight days before The Onslaught
Yang was in shock at what she saw—a vision of her past in the sewers of Vale. As Team RWBY, donning breathing masks with Air Dust, entered it via the sewer hole, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang huddled to discuss the plan.
"We know the Everglade is in this sector, so we must take it out ASAP," Weiss noted.
"I agree, Weiss, you and I will go east. Blake, Yang, go west." Ruby ordered.
As the two duos separated, the two present-day figures entered the vision.
"I… I remember! It was the time when my anger started to take over me!" Yang exclaimed in shock.
"So you remember this." Erde-Vere acknowledged. "Tell me more."
"It was a routine response to a Grimm in the sewers. It was going alright for me and Blake until things went down the crapper." Yang illustrated the mission.
"And can you explain this 'down the crapper' thing?" The Knight asked.
"Follow me." She informed him.
Yang then led the way where her past self and Blake were about to encounter the Everglade. As the pair of Huntresses walked into the sewer, Blake heard an echoing snarl.
"Good call, Ruby," Blake said as she prepared for combat. "Let's get that son of a bitch."
Yang followed suit and activated Ember Celica. As the blonde's shotgun gauntlets locking and loading echoed throughout the sewer, the Everglade noticed it and swam to the source of the sound. As it traversed in the excrement-scented waters to the duo of Huntresses, it prepared to lunge at Yang with its massive jaw.
"Look out!" Blake yelled as she pushed Yang away from the alligator-like Grimm when it surfaced from the foul-smelling waters.
As its jaws closed on Blake's entire body, with her head and feet sticking out, it flailed its head like a dog and shook her wildly. Yang fired at its head, releasing her and throwing her and Gambol Shroud into a nearby wall.
"Blake took a terrible hit, so it was up to the rest of us to kill the thing," Yang explained to Erde-Vere.
"I see." responded the Knight.
"And this is where things went down the crapper," Yang added.
Ruby and Weiss ran toward their teammates and checked on Blake.
"Blake, are you okay?" She asked her injured teammate.
Blake replied with a groan of pain.
"That's not good," Weiss confessed.
"That Grimm here in these sewers is HUGE! We need to stop that thing!" Yang exclaimed.
"Good idea," Ruby responded to her older sister. "Yang. We need you and Weiss to take out the Everglade while I take Blake back to the surface."
"We can't," Yang contended. "We need backup."
Ruby facepalmed and sighed.
"It would be too late when they arrive. We need to act fast." She retorted.
"I don't care, Ruby. I am saying with Blake." Yang declared.
Then, the two sisters approached each other and looked angry and tense.
"Fine. Cover Blake, and I'll get that thing's attention so Weiss can kill it." Ruby sighed.
Ruby and Weiss bolted to the Everglade in pursuit. As it prepared to pounce at its new foes, Yang, struck with grief, thought of an awful idea. The Everglade leaped out of the foul-odored waters and attempted to attack Weiss, only for the latter to summon a glyph, blocking it. It landed on the concrete walkway on the side where Ruby and Weiss are, only for Yang to fire at the sewer's water, igniting it, which started to spread like a spilled cup of water on a tilted table, making it dangerous for her team and the monstrous Creature of Grimm.
"Yang, what the hell are you doing?" questioned Ruby as she saw her sister exiting the sewer.
She sprinted to her, grabbed her by the left sleeve of her jacket, and yanked it.
"Hey, HEY! What the hell are you doing?!" She demanded.
"Let go. You are going to make us extra crispy!" Yang bellowed.
Ruby turned to Weiss, informing Yang that she was retreating.
"A little help?" She asked.
Weiss nodded and froze Yang's left hand and left foot with Myrtemaster, then Ruby picked up Gambol Shroud and fired at the Everglade's jaw, knocking two teeth out before it could bite Weiss. Weiss then used the flames to scorn and blind the alligator Grimm on its right eye. Then, Weiss jumped out of the way so that Ruby could use Crescent Rose to shoot it between the eyes to kill it. Weiss used water dust to extinguish the blaze before it spread any further, alongside splashing Blake, waking her up. As the steam cleared, Ruby picked up her injured teammate, and when she looked up, she saw the ice that imprisoned Yang had melted and shattered, and Yang opened the cover to make her escape.
"Ruby and Weiss managed to defeat that thing and save Blake. But in the end, all three of them never envisioned the idea of me doing the one thing no Huntsman sound do—go rouge." Yang explained.
She walked away from Erde-Vere and unexpectedly entered another moment in the past.
Professor Ozpin's Office
Seven days before The Onslaught
Yang was in shock at what she saw. It was the rest of Team RWBY in Professor Ozpin's office worried about Yang's disappearance and possible betrayal. Ruby was crying, with Blake comforting her team's leader by hugging her. Weiss was in a sorrowful mood as the trio sat near Ozpin's desk and waited to hear from the headmaster himself.
"Any word yet?" She asked.
"No," Ozpin replied. "Yang's location was unknown when she exited the sewers yesterday. I hate to say this in front of you three, but Yang has gone rogue."
The three girls were shocked by this announcement. Ruby ran towards the elevator, crying after Ozpin gave his update on Yang. Weiss and Blake followed, trying to help their leader. Yang, seeing this, knelt and started to cry. Erde-Vere soon caught up, and she hugged him. As she opened her eyes, they were in her team's dorm.
Team RWBY's Dorm
Ruby unsheathed Gambol Shroud when no one was around and pointed it at her stomach. With tears in her eyes, she prepares herself to commit suicide.
"Is this how Team RWBY dies? A member going rogue and its leader killing herself?" Ruby sobbed.
She swallowed a tear, readying herself to end her own life.
"So be it." She said.
"NO!" A voice screamed.
Suddenly, Jaune tackled her to the ground, and Pyrrha threw the weapon aside with her semblance.
"Ruby, this is not you!" Jaune confronted her. "You do not give up easily."
"Jaune is right, and we'll help you three through this," Pyrrha added.
"Thanks." Ruby sighed.
Vale Docks
Six days before The Onslaught
Yang walked out of the dorm and saw another vision, one of herself at the dockyards at Vale. As she sat alone, Sun came from behind and strolled to her.
"Yang," He started. "We were looking all over Vale for you."
"Yeah, I've heard." She responded. "She tried to kill herself."
"All because you abandoned your team," Sun explained.
"That's because SHE held me back!" Yang bellowed. "And there's no other way why!"
Yang stood up and confronted the monkey faunus.
"So it is true. You have gone rogue." Sun sighed as he turned away from her.
Yang's face went from anger to shock, and as her present-day self looked at this reaction, she darted to a nearby wall and started to bang her head on it. As Erde-Vere caught up with her, Yang grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Let me out of this nightmare! Let me out!" She pleaded.
"Yang," The Knight advised. "I—"
"LET ME OUT!" Yang yelled with tears in her eyes.
Joyworld
15 days since The Onslaught
The Yang statue immediately exploded and knocked the Knight on his behind. The rogue Huntress then ran away to the front of the park. In a few hours, Erde-Vere walked across the abandoned amusement park to look for Yang, only to find blood splatters everywhere he went. As he found her at the Ferris wheel, he saw her bleeding, crying, and wearing the bracelets that once belonged to her. As she balled up her fists, she activated her gauntlets and prepared to kill herself again.
"If I were to die from Ember Celica, so be it." Yang wept.
She punched herself in the head with both fists, sticking sticky bombs on where she landed those punches.
"Yang, no!" pleaded Erde-Vere.
Then, the sticky bombs exploded, blowing her head up and killing her. As fragments of her head splattered across the ride, Erde-Vers shielded his eyes from the blood about to blind him. As he uncovered his eyes from the splash of blood, he saw something next to Yang's headless cadaver—a needle akin to a cactus. He picked it up and analyzed it.
"Braane-Strom." He grunted.
Suddenly, Yang's head, from the neck up, regenerated. Once she regained consciousness, she gasped. She got up and held her head like she got a concussion from a Gruff.
"What the hell just happened?" She exclaimed.
Erde-Vere turned around to see Yang fully healed.
"You were in the control of Braane-Strom. One of Vekk-Torr's generals." He explained.
"I… I remember." Yang gasped. "Ever since the Grimm went bananas, those robots started to take over the planet!"
"That's Vekk-Torr's army." He noted. "He also took control of the Grimm as well."
"And Beacon?" Yang asked.
"All of its students have been brainwashed. As well as Haven, Atlas, and Shade." He replied.
"Damn, he's got the whole world in his hands." Yang sighed.
"Most of it, but not all." countered Erde-Vere. "There are a few who fight for this world."
"Ruby!" She exclaimed. "Is she okay?"
"She is." He retorted. "She and her friends are at the recently arrived Silica City, northeast of here."
"Thanks." She smiled.
Yang bolted to a storage building and kicked down the door. As she entered, she pulled off the tarp covering her motorcycle, Bumblebee. As Yang left the abandoned park, the blonde took a detour to Vale.
Vale
Once she arrived in the city, she saw numerous VekkTroopers and brainwashed Huntsmen and Huntresses patrolling the city like guard dogs.
"Not good." She thought. "I gotta find Ruby."
As she turned around, one of the VekkTroopers followed her in pursuit. As it leaped onto its bike, Yang shook it off as she swerved on the street. Then, as it fell off of her, several more VekkTroopers followed in pursuit, all riding VekkCycles, which are magically enhanced Camylonian hovercycles. As they stopped her from leaving the city, she was thrown off her motorcycle by force at the dockyards. She fought off the VekkTroopers one by one, disarming them and ripping their limbs off as they charged in. As more came to the scene, they piled on like young children. As the ceaseless piling of VekkTroopers continued, Yang's strength began to struggle with the weight of the dogpile. Then, a memory flashed in her mind, this one a happier time when she was about to leave for Beacon.
"It's okay. I've always got your back, sis." The voice of herself echoed inside her mind.
She shed a tear, and as the VekkTroopers piled on, she regained her strength. Her muscles swelled, her eyes turned red, and her hair glowed bright yellow with a fire-like effect. She then broke free of the pile as a geyser of flame, taking out the VekkTroopers on top of her and about to be. As the smoke cleared, Yang walked out of the smoke as pieces of VekkTroopers fell like rain. As she picked up Bumblebee, a larger VekkTrooper with black armor, large hands, shoulder-mounted missile launchers, and spider-like legs, with its face being a screen, landed in front of her. As it prepared to fire, Yang fired a round from Ember Celica at its head, and it fell to the ground. Seeing the motorboat on her left, she placed Bumblebee and the monstrous VekkTrooper on it and headed to Silica City once she found the keys.
Silica City
Once she arrived there, she saw someone with a moving truck.
"Hey!" She hollered.
The man turned around to see Yang unloading her stuff from the boat.
"Can I borrow your truck?" She requested.
"Oh, sure. The truck's on me." He accepted as he threw the truck keys to Yang.
She loaded the truck with the large VekkTrooper and Bumblebee a few minutes before driving off. As the man waved farewell, she started to look for her sister. She looked for signs of her sister all across the city until she came across a familiar foe—Neo. Who miraculously recovered after her fight with the Sinister Statues. Yang parked the truck near the place Neo was about to enter, and as the latter put her hand on the scanner, it opened the door.
"Time for a little surprise." She thought.
Remnant Resistance Front Hideout
As Neo sat down with her dum-dum, Roman, he, Ozpin, and Roa-Nyn were analyzing the map of Vale after Lin-Noir's reconnaissance. Thanks to the Camylonian raven, they now know that every student at Beacon, alongside dozens of VekkTroopers, was patrolling over the city streets.
"This is worse than we thought." Ozpin sighed. "Braane-Strom has the city in a police state."
"With every Huntsman and VekkTrooper at every city block," added Roa-Nyn.
"Now what?" Roman asked.
Suddenly, everyone at the front heard a knock on the door. Lamar ran for it, but thanks to her Semblance, Ruby beat him to it.
"This has got to be the delivery." Lamar jested.
Ruby opened the door, and to her surprise, she saw Yang in the doorway. She gasped and cried at the sight of her sister.
"Ruby," Weiss interjected. "What's the–"
Weiss started to cry at the sight of Yang and hugged her team leader.
"It's okay to cry. I'm here." Yang chimed in as she hugged her teammates.
"I knew it!" Lamar cheered.
Tari and Theo came toward the reunited teammates.
"We saw you die." Tari proclaimed.
"Well, that's because you didn't hear about my healing factor," explained Yang.
"And the robot behind you?" Theo asked.
"It's a long story," responded Yang.
With Yang joining our heroes, how does this impact Braane-Strom and, more importantly, Vekk-Torr?
What is Ruby's plan to take down Braane-Strom?
And what is this new breed of VekkTrooper that Yang brought over?
Be here for when all of those questions get answered in the thrilling conclusion of Episode 1—Chapter 11: Mind Versus Muscle!