Chapter 2: Meetings and Greetings


? 10:39 am

To say that the first contact went well was… an understatement. First, there were Grimm attacking Ruby and her sister. Said sister had a means to retaliate via Yang's Ember Celica. Then, Yang fainted on the spot at the presence of the giant mechanized robot.

Said giant mechanized robot then knelt, spoke, and nodded! Where were the people inside to control the thing, Ruby didn't care. She was stunned, shocked even! But most importantly, she… was… beaming!

Beaming with excitement, beaming with joy, beaming with anything really. Here was a full-on mechashifting robot! ROBOT!

What was there to explain?! The wonders of a 14-year-old brain just can't stop processing what was happening; what even was this robot? Who made it? How did they manage to implement working dust-cycling convertible stabilizers? On a GIANT ROBOT no less?!

There were too many questions, but none of them being answered! "Come on! Work with me mouth and stop drooling!" Ruby thought to herself.

Ruby was awestruck. She had been awestruck for the last 54 seconds. Reaching out to slap herself, deciding that hurting herself was a no-go, merely pinched herself on the arm. "Ow," she muttered weakly.

Okay, so this was not a dream. This was definitely a realistic event.

The giant robot, she decided to call it Mecha in her brain, merely tilted its insect-like head, probably confused at her no good, anti-social, introverted self.

"Um… hi," she said, waving weakly. "Gah! Of all the things to say! 'uM hI'? Gods I'm the worst!"

The robot for the most part, or maybe the people inside it, merely shrugged as it knelt even more, its face so close to her and her sister's unconscious body.

"Is she alright?" It spoke, the inner cylinder rotating. Now that she could see Mecha's head clearly, she could see the visible yet tiny moving parts, from pistons to help its neck and weird circle things (which are probably there to help the joints).

"Pfft, yeah, she's fine. Just goes to show she can't handle so much awesomeness in one go!"

Mecha raised an eyebrow. RAISED! It was so emotive and life-like, it was as if talking to a more robotic human! Well, human-ish, it still had 4 eyes. And a weird mouth, all diagonally and stuff…

"Very well, are you both alright?" Mecha asked as his hands and feet shifted to a more comfortable position. She glanced at the robot's feet, surprised to see it was like that of a wolf's hind leg.

"I'm fine, thanks for the save by the way, Mecha-", Ruby cringed hard as she spouted the nickname that was supposedly for her own mind.

Mecha grunted as it gently carried Yang and placed her underneath the shade of a tree, whirring and mechanical noises followed soon after. That was surprisingly nice of it, or them, gods this was confusing her to no end, and she must get an answer fast!

Mecha then looked back at Ruby. "You must be Ruby, correct?"

Ruby gasped, stars upon her eyes. "EEE! IT KNOWS MY NAME!"

Ruby coughed at the back of her hand, calming herself for a bit before answering. "Y-yes! How did you know?"

"You were there when my offline motion perimeter feed was online."

Ruby titled her head. "Huh, but I thought it was offline?" This was good, she was getting some answers.

"A common misconception, but one that I have an answer for," Mecha said before tapping the side of his head. A holographic image of her and her sister, with crisp detail on their faces, projected right in front of her. This was when they first saw Mecha!

"While in stasis, the motion perimeter feed can record for long periods of time," Mecha said, as the video of their first interaction played. Their voices, their movements, down to the tiny waving of the grass; they were all there!

"It is only when significant motion is detected, or if said motion is in my perimeter, does it start to record, however. It comes in handy if someone tried to attack me."

"Oh, so that answers that- wait, Mecha keeps on saying I and me…" Ruby thought to herself. Surely, there was no way that this was a sentient robot… right?

Mecha then stopped the projected video feed. While Ruby was astonished, there was only one question on her mind.

"What gun was that on the turret and how exactly does it work?"

Okay, there were two questions on her mind… possibly more.

Mecha gazed at her and, to her bafflement, raised a hand. Said hand then began to shrink in on itself, transforming to the very gun that she first saw.

"This is an L30A1 120mm rifled gun, or at least, that was what the humans called it," Mecha said, on which she made a mental note on that. On the human part, of course.

"Huh, so someone did make him. But if that's the case, why was he abandoned?"

"It can shoot high explosive squash heads, armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot, along with white phosphorous smoke rounds," Mecha said with a bored tone. This was definitely weird for Ruby. What the heck was a squash head?!

"It's not that great. Not like my EPCR, of course," he said as his cannon began to shrink back, only to stop midway as it expanded. It rotated in a clockwise direction, a bigger and longer cannon jutting outward with a few glowing lines forming on the base of his arm.

Shocked and flabbergasted at this new outcome, Ruby sped up towards Mecha's arm and dangled near the cannon. For the most part, Mecha seemed to be okay with this development, even chuckling to himself at Ruby's natural curiosity.

"What's EPCR? WHAT'S EPCR?!" Ruby all but demanded, trying her best to look angry at the giant robot, demanding to know more about this fascinating weapon that appeared out of nowhere.

"Energy Piercing Cannon Rifle, great for long distance sniping," he said, smiling at her now. And she was smiling back.

She was about to ask more when she heard her sister groan.


In the shade of a tree sat Yang, gently placed there by what she hoped was her baby sister. She could not handle the giant robot fiasco shenanigans, not like this.

Ruby merely hugged her as she hugged her back.

"Ugh, my head," Yang said as she let go of her sister, her smile being so precious. "Ruby… I had the strangest dream…"

"Yeah? What's it about?" Ruby asked with a cheeky grin. With her mind being muddled, she failed to notice the giant robot that saved both their lives. Chuckling, she spoke, "Well, there was this weird tractor that we found near the dirt path shortcut back home. Then we were attacked, and we were saved by the same tractor. Guess what happened next."

"Uh, it turned to a robot?" Ruby said as she shrugged.

"Yup, it turned to a robot- wait, how'd you know that?" Yang said, now sweating at the mere mention of the giant robot. Ruby chuckled and pointed a finger behind her.

Stiffening, she gulped hard as she turned to see the giant robot that saved their lives. "Oh… crap…"

"Greetings, it seems you are alright."

"OH, MY GODS IT'S REAL!" Yang all but shouted, clutching the tree as she reared back into it. "This can't be happening! How? Why? WHAT?!"

"Calm down, Yang."

"AHH! IT KNOWS MY NAME?! HOW DOES IT KNOW MY NAME?!" Yang said as Ruby rushed in front of her. "Yang! Calm down! He doesn't want to hurt us!"

Yang looked at Ruby, and looked at the robot, then back to Ruby. "Thewhatwhat?" Yang said, dumbfounded.

"It's okay, Yang. See, he isn't that bad. A bit grimy and mossy, and maybe a bit terrifying with that kind of face and lighting, but not bad at all! He saved both of us, isn't that what's important?"

Yang bit her lip. Yes, it saved them… It saved her sister. It saved her from the pain of losing someone she loved dearly. With a sigh, she let go of the tree behind her as she walked, albeit a bit shakily, towards the towering robot.

"T-thanks… for saving us," she mumbled. To her surprise, the robot merely nodded.

Trying to calm herself down, she breathed in deeply as she decided to ask it with a joke. "So, hotshot, you never really told me your name. Is that how you treat a lady?"

"Yaaanngg!" Ruby groaned. Really, Ruby should've known that the moment she wakes up, it's either "pun" time or best big sister mode.

"Sharp Shot," the robot said. Yang then remembered something. "Huh, so your name is the same decal on the gun barrel?" She then smirked as she crossed her arms. "Kind of a bad boy to be so narcissistic!"

"Wait, your name is Sharp Shot?" Ruby said, choosing to ignore that comment.

"Ruby, you've been awake this whole time and you didn't even bother asking him his name? Oh, where did I go wrong?" Yang said as she clutched her little sister's head, giving her a nuggie in the process. The two sisters "battled" it out as the giant robot, Sharp Shot stared at the whole thing.

"Fascinating, so this is what bonding looks like."

"Yup, can't ever let go of my adowable baby sister," Yang said, cooing at Ruby, much to Ruby's chagrin.

"Ugh, Yaanng! I'm not a kid anymore! I'm 14!" Ruby yelled ass he bit Yang's hand.

Yang merely chuckled, used to her shenanigans. She turned towards Sharp Shot as she grinned. "So, what are you, exactly? I've never seen a tractor like you before."

Sharp shot grunted, a bit of steam coming out of his… mouth? Yeah, it's definitely a mouth.

"I am what you may call, a tank."

There was a long and awkward silence as both Yang and Ruby looked at each other and back at Sharp Shot. Bewildered would be the proper term to describe their inner thoughts. Ruby decided to snap out of it first.

"Uhh, the who and the what now?" she asked incredulously.

"Buddy, I've seen tanks before, and none of those have big guns or turrets," Yang said, crossing her arms as she furrowed her brows at Sharp Shot. If he was taking them for fools, then he's got a whole lot of things coming to him. "Tanks are containers for liquid, like, you know, water?"

Sensing the confusion, Sharp Shot gave a small "oh" as he shook his head. "For such an advanced weapon system regarding your gauntlets, you sure lack some technological advancements. This world truly is fascinating."

He then proceeded to tap the side of his head, his eyes beaming a hologram right in front of them. She jumped, surprised at the sudden realistic-like hologram of yet another version of his "tank" form. Looking at Ruby, she didn't seem fazed by this at all. Maybe she saw Sharp Shot do this already?

"This," he gestured, "is a tank. Built for infantry support, it was first used to combat trench warfare."

She glanced at the rotating hologram of this "tank" thing. It was angular and sleek, like him before he became a giant robot. He then proceeded to show different versions, from what he called the M1A1 Abrams, to a Leopard 2. Ruby, ecstatic at this new information, began taking it all in.

As Ruby was looking at all these vehicles, she then noticed something. "Heh, nothing gets past Rubes when it comes to these things," she thought to herself as she smiled warmly at her younger sister. It may be an overstatement, but she was willing to do anything to keep her safe and happy.

"Hey, this turret looks… kind of like yours," Ruby said, pointing at one specific tank: the British Challenger 2. "And the vehicle part… it looked exactly like the Abrams…"

"Hey, yeah, what gives?" Yang said, remembering that certain vehicle design.

"Indeed, a spot-on comparison. It was because I scanned a lend-lease prototype." He then transformed back to his tank mode, the hologram now coming from the headlights of the vehicle.

"It was dubbed the M1 Wales, 'the desert conqueror'. It was designed to fit the Challenger's turret to an Abrams hull, should a joint operation be conducted, along with testing the compatibility of both. It was successful, but it would take some time to be accepted. There were only 3 that were made."

Tanks, hulls, Abrams… these were all too much for Yang at the moment. She didn't even know that Vale had such a project like this. And then it hit her, something Sharp Shot had said.

"You said, 'this world' a while ago," Yang said as she looked at the tank right in front of her. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

Ruby, catching on, looked at Sharp Shot, her eyebrows raised high as she realized something.

Sharp Shot was silent for a moment, before transforming back. Looking at it now, it was an amazing thing to witness. Satisfying, even. Individual bolts shifting, turning, fixing themselves to fit in spaces she never really thought could work.

He then projected what appeared to be a spherical orb. Said orb had blue lines glowing, with constant orange sparking through. She was about to ask what it was; however, Sharp Shot spoke first.

"Behold, Cybertron… My home…"

To say that both siblings were surprised was an understatement. No wonder this tank can do all these things! No wonder she didn't recognize the engine nor the vehicle itself. It was, literally, out of this world!

"YOU'RE AN ALIEN?!" Ruby screamed, her mirthful face projecting all the happy emotions in the world. Yang was… completely taken aback. Here was an alien, right before them, probably much more advanced than any of the people in Remnant.

She then began circling Sharp Shot, asking so many questions that not even an advanced alien robot may comprehend. She sighed in resignation; this day was too much for her.

Sharp Shot then spoke of how his world was purely made out of metal, and that there were others like him, with some being jets and some being cars. It awed them both, but there was something else he wasn't saying, if that tone of his was indicating something.

"I then arrived at another planet called Earth. Much like your world, this world was filled to the brim with humans. Although they did not encounter those vile beings, they had made certain advancements far greater than your own."

The mere thought of alien humans brought a chill down her back. "Wait, they didn't have Grimm?"

"Is that what you called them?" Sharp Shot said as he placed his finger underneath his chin. Ironically, it made him look a bit human. "Well, thank you for the additional information. But yes, in the moments where I showed you the tanks, I had a glimpse of your connections."

Tapping his head once more, he showed a projection of the CCT towers. It amazed both of them to no end how Sharp Shot can project such things before their very eyes.

"Your Cross Continental Transmit Systems, while advanced on their own right, pose a possible flaw. Should one fall, the rest will falter."

"Well, that's true, but, you know, that's how it is I guess," Ruby said as she began to contemplate the CCT. "Hey, if the alien humans didn't have Grimm, how do they communicate in longer ranges? The CCT was made for that, after all."

"Huh, so she did research about it. I thought it was just a fluke!" Yang furrowed her brows as she thought long and hard.

"Who are you and what have you done to my sister?" Yang jokingly said as she placed her arm around Ruby's shoulder. She truly didn't know if Ruby was about to use the CCT for her school project.

Before Ruby could retaliate, however, Sharp Shot spoke. "Via satellites instead. Weather reports, Global Positioning Systems, whatever the CCT could do, a satellite from Earth can do it better."

He then chuckled as he looked at the horizon. "It also doesn't have the cons of having to lose all communication should one tower fall."

Hearing that humans, alien humans, managed to bring something to space without using dust was fascinating to learn. With them going to the moon (a full whole moon!) and placing satellites onto their orbit, it all sounded so absurd that they had a collective thought of Sharp Shot merely pulling their legs, only to realize that, well, Sharp Shot was there. He was an alien. A proper alien! Not those rubber suit greys in those movies that they watched. An actual, biomechanical alien!

Hey, if learning was like this all the time back at Signal, she wouldn't complain much to her dad about it. Wait a second…

"DAD!" Both Ruby and Yang yelled as they realized they were gone for too long! They were so intrigued with all this information that they forgot that they had to go home by 11! Gasping at the position of the sun, and by glancing at her scroll, Yang turned to Ruby and hollered.

They'd be so grounded at this point! Ruby was about to rush back home, only to stop when she saw Sharp Shot.

Sharp Shot, bless his heart (or mechanical fuel), decided to simply look on and walk towards the tree line, not wanting to get them in more trouble. Ruby, however, did not get the memo and decided to dash right in front of him.

"Come on, where are you going?!"

"Is it not obvious? I require a place to stay." He then pointed at a nearby cave. "Must be nice to be THAT tall," Yang sighed.

"Then come stay with us! I'm sure dad would be willing to accept and help you out! Well, you know, as long as you ease him to the secret, and stuff. We'd help fix you up too, with all that rust in your turret!" Ruby said, desperately wanting Sharp Shot to stay by their side.

"Oh, so she wanted to still take him in, eh?" Yang shook her head at her sister's antics. "Come on, Rubes. You know dad won't allow Sharp Shot to be with us."

"We got to try! I can't stand seeing someone in need of help and not being able to do something!" And there it was, something she inherited from mom; her absolute kindness. She smiled at the bittersweet memories, shaking her head a bit as she walked towards Ruby. Sharp Shot, for his part, simply transformed back into a tank.

Opening the hatches, Sharp Shot welcomed them in, with Ruby bounding towards the commander's hatch, glancing at Yang with a sweet grin in her face.

"Alright, fine… Dad's a softie anyways, I'm sure he wouldn't mind a new vehicle around!"


? 11:34 am

"Nope. Nuh uh. You can't keep that thing." Their father, Taiyang Xiao Long said, his arms crossed as he frowned at his daughters.

"Aww why not?!" Ruby squealed, with Yang looking exasperated. Taiyang was a well-toned man with moppy blond hair and a growing stubble on his face. He had deep blue eyes, one that spoke of kindness and sorrow. He was wearing a light brown button up shirt, with a brown leather vest overlapping it. A single pauldron sat upon his right arm. He had a heart-shaped tattoo underneath the pauldron. He was also wearing light orange pants, with simple shoes to match.

He was, to say the least, fuming at his daughters. "Where had you two been, huh? I had been worried sick and was about to find the both of you, only for the two of you to come back with a very rusty modified tractor!"

"Dad, I can explain!" Ruby said as she climbed down the hatch. With an "oof", she landed on the ground, dusting her skirt as she looked at her dad.

"Oh really?" Taiyang challenged.

"An unwise decision," Sharp Shot thought to himself. Ruby inhaled deeply as she spoke with a thousand words coming out of her mouth.

"We were just going for a walk when we found this abandoned tank and then Yang said that we shouldn't take it, and then we were attacked by Beowolves and Ursa, which we totally defeated, then we came back to this tank to see if there was anything good, but then we lost track of time so we decided to check if the tank had any power so Yang decided to try it out for a test drive," she exhaled, only to inhale deeply once again, "and then she turned it on and we were both surprised that it can still work so Yang decided to drive it only Yang decided to drive slow because we didn't know if there was any damage in the gear box, which we checked out, so that's why we were running late, please forgive us and can we please keep the tank?!"

Ruby panted, exhausted by that whole thing. Surprisingly, her father managed to get all of that. With a look at Yang, who simply shrugged her shoulders, muttering, "what she said," he simply sighed as he brought forth his right hand and dragged it on his face. "Okay, I get finding the vehicle, but have you seen the condition of it?"

He then walked around the tank as he pinpointed certain things with distaste. "Those tracks are muddy and grimy, there's foliage everywhere, that turret thing has quite a lot of rust, there are loads of gravel stuck in the headlights, and there's even vines growing on the side of the gun."

He then crossed his arms. "Overall, unsanitary and very unpleasant to look at."

Ruby whined as she stomped her boot to the ground. "But we can fix that! Please? Can we at least try to fix him?"

"Him? You named it already, didn't you?" Taiyang groaned in indignation. "Ruby, this isn't like owning a weapon, you have to own a license- "

"But Yang already has a license!" Ruby all but countered. "She can own this thing," she paused as she glanced at Yang, "right?"

"Y-yes," her father muttered, "but! And a strict but! Modified vehicles are another thing entirely. This? This is a really big tractor, and a very old one at that."

"Old? If I am considered old, I don't want to know what new is to them," Sharp Shot said with a small shake from the turret.

"You need a license for driving a modified vehicle, a few paperwork regarding the modifications of said vehicle, along with," he said, glancing at the disgustingly muddy license plate, "well, a new license plate… How did it even have a license plate in the first place?"

"Uhh, maybe it was placed there for reference? The license plate isn't even a valid one," Yang said, covering for Ruby.

"Regardless, maintenance is another thing. How much dust will it take to power it? Will it need additional gasoline for it to work? How about the engine? You said that you didn't even know if the engine would work, and judging by the look of that tractor thing, you'd have to replace the engine at some point."

Sharp Shot could not deny, those were valid arguments if it wasn't for the fact that all he needed was a bit of Energon and some time to repair himself manually.

Ruby was in tears. Taiyang couldn't bear to see her in that state, but sometimes, he must lay down the law. "W-well… I… I mean…" Ruby stuttered.

"I'll do all the chores in the house! A-and I won't have any cookies for a whole month! Just… just please… can I keep it? It doesn't matter if Yang is t-the one who owns it…" Ruby blurted out, praying, begging her father to change his mind.

Grunting, looking away, it didn't matter. Her tears were too powerful. And Taiyang broke. "Alright! Fine! Uhh, why can't I ever defeat those teary eyes." He chuckled as he hugged Ruby.

"Okay, okay, we'll do something about it. You're still too young to drive it, so maybe Yang should manage the license for now. When you turn 17, then we'll talk about getting you that license, okay?"

Ruby was ecstatic as she gave her father a huge hug! "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Heh, no probs. Just make sure to keep that bargain of yours…"

"Erk," Ruby had made a terrible mistake. Yang laughed as she patted her sister's back. "Goodluck Rubes," she said, winking at her.

It was, most definitely, a terrible mistake.


Somewhere, in the Earth's Exosphere:

A lone satellite was hovering in the middle of nowhere, receiving information and sending out signals. Said satellite was cryptic in nature, with sharp fin-like structures jutting outwards from its body.

It opened its crimson eyes as it scanned its surroundings, its brows furrowing as it spotted what appeared to be another satellite.

[Soundwave, in preparation. Seeking all locations for the deserter.] It spoke in an alien language, its fins spreading wide. Tentacles and wiring began to move outward towards the satellite, its electrical circuits hijacked by the other.

It was time to hunt.


Author's Note:

Thank you so much for the reviews on the first chapter! I'll admit, I wasn't expecting my first work to be well received, but I'll do my best to keep this up :D

Also, apologies if this is a bit of a slow chapter, but I honestly want to manage the pacing before just throwing in action scenes all the time, oki tnx bye~