Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

While Lunartics Are On a Date

"Hmmhmhmm~" Summer hummed as she was baking brownies. She would look out the window and see the moon shining down on the property. She let out a smile… and then there was a knock on the door. "Hmm?" She turned her head as she walked over to the door to answer it. She turned her head to see Tai snoozing on the chair while the TV was playing a game of football. She let out a giggle and then opened up the door to see Weiss.

"Oh, hello Weiss!" Summer greeted.

"Hey Summer… is Ruby and Yang here?"

"Yang's just in the other room. Ruby's currently walking her dogs." Summer said.

"Good enough." Weiss said as she walked in, then noticed Tai snoozing away. She let out a snicker. "Reminds me of mom when she's "watching" a cooking show."

Summer snickered. "Don't we all?" She said as Weiss walked over to where Yang was at, who was in the middle of doing some yoga.

"Soooo… remind me why you got into yoga again?" Weiss asked, leaning on a wall.

"Wah!" Yang yelped, nearly falling on the floor as she was in the tree pose. "Whoa… you startled me there."

"Sorry."

"Well, ya know, I thought this would be a great way to focus on my balance…"

"…Sooo, translation: Focus on you being calmer in battle and not be a raging bear?" Weiss guessed.

Yang sweatdropped. "Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"Well, that would explain the different DVDs the Wii Fit Trainers gave you." Weiss said and looked into the pile. "…Ring Fit? Let me guess, core muscles?"

"Pretty much." Yang nodded. "…So anyway, what are you doing here?"

"We got a problem… as in a SPBRR problem." Weiss said.

"SPBRR problem?" Yang raised an eyebrow as she turned it off, wrapping a towel around her while drinking out of a water bottle. "Weiss, Blake's fine. They got Rosie with them… and we all know how powerful she is when she's not holding back. Her and Samus."

"Yeah, I know… but it turns out it's a muuuch bigger deal than we thought." Weiss explained.

"Oh please, you're worrying too much."

"Am I?" Weiss looked at her seriously.

Yang's smile disappeared. "…Oh, it's that bad?"

"Yes… and frankly, I don't want to repeat myself because Ruby needs to hear this too. Your mother was saying she was on a walk."

"Yeah, she should be back shortly." Yang said. "So how did you know Blake's in trouble?"

"Calyrex."

"Okay, that makes sen-… wait, what? Doesn't he-"

"We had some psychics who helped him out."

"Ah, got ya."

Meanwhile, with Ruby…

Ruby hummed to herself, walking around while having Zwei and Grim on leashes while Scarlet was casually walking alongside Ruby. "Aaah, I have to say… it's a gorgeous night for a walk." She giggled.

Grim's nose picked up on something. "Doom?" He perked up. "Doom Doom." He said to Zwei as he nodded as well.

"Woof!"

"Hmm? You picked up on some-" The two of them ran off, dragging the young huntress away. "-THIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"

"Zoro!" Scarlet cried and chased after them as they would slow down until they came to a stop.

"Ptooey!" Ruby spat out some grass. "What did you guys… pick… up… on?" Ruby would spot a cave. "Oh wow! I don't recall seeing this in Patch." She said as Zwei and Grim ran inside. "Ah! Wait!" She yelped as she ran after them as Scarlet ran after them.

"Please don't be home to a large grizzly bear… please don't be home to a large grizzly bear… or a mama Ursa…" Ruby hoped as they heard howling, forcing them to hide behind rocks as Ruby took a peek, seeing something that took her breath away while letting out a gasp.

A Stygian Zinogre was in the midst of a battle with a large Fulgur Anjanath.

BGM: Zinogre Battle Theme (Monster Hunter World: Iceborne)

The Zinogre howled and charged at the Anjanath, slashing it with its claws as the Anjanath had taken a step back and then shot out a breath of electricity at the Zinogre before chomping down on its mane.

The Zinogre snarled, bumping the Anjanath off of its back and then fired electricty at the monster, letting out another loud howl.

"Unbelievable… that Zinogre looks so majestic!" Ruby whispered before pulling out her Rotom Scroll.

"Bzzt! Are you nuts?! I know this is electrifying but-"

"I just want to take a picture." Ruby said as Zwei, Grim and Scarlet were watching in awe as Ruby snapped a picture of the two, and then the Zinogre was thrown right at them, destroying the boulders that they were hiding at.

The Zinogre shook it off and then spotted the intruders, its eyes widening as the Anjanath let out a roar, but then the Zinogre turned around and tackled the beast. Zwei, Grim and Scarlet got into a battle stance. "Uh… I wouldn't!" Ruby said, clasping her hands together and putting her hands to the ground as a reflective wolf-like shield rose from the ground.

"Ooooh, good thinking!" Rotom said.

"Thanks… I still can't believe the Wario Bros doesn't think tomes aren't magic." Ruby mumbled.

The Anjanath kicked the Zinogre down, breathing electricity at it and then looked at Ruby. It let out a snarl and charged at them, but the Zinogre bit down on the tail and slammed it into a rock wall and then shot electricity at the Anjanath.

The Zinogre let out another howl, powering itself up as it charged at the Anjanath and slammed into it with enough force for the Anjanath to fall off the cliff and into several rock spires, being impaled by them to finish it off.

End BGM

The Zinogre let out a victorious howl… before collapsing. "Oh no…" Ruby whispered, dismissing the shield as she ran over to it. "Rotom… can you check this one's vitals?"

"I can try!" Rotom said as he started to scan the beast.

The Zinogre let out some labored breaths, letting out a small growl. "Shhhh, it's okay… that beast is gone now." Ruby whispered, gently stroking its snout to calm it down.

"Ooof… that Anjanath did a number on this guy." Rotom said. "I hate to say it, but… this big guy isn't gonna make it."

"Aww… you poor thing…" Ruby whispered, gently rubbing its head as the Zinogre gently moved its head, accidentally knocking Ruby down as the Zinogre put its head on her lap, it's breathing still labored. Ruby continued to gently scratch its head as she closed her eyes and started to hum.

"Roark…" Scarlet could only say as Zwei and Grim tried to get it back on its feet, but to no avail. The Zinogre let out a low growl before its breathing stopped.

"He's gone…" Rotom whispered as Ruby let out a small sigh, gently closing its eyes as she slowly got up while Zwei let out a sad howl.

"Poor thing…" Ruby whispered.

"Doom! Dooooom!" Grim spoke up, catching their attention as they walked over to the Houndoom where they had found an egg lying in a nest.

"…Oh, I get it." Ruby said. "He was protecting his little one from that Anjanath…" She said as she saw it start to move about. "Oh!" She whispered as the egg started hatching before a small Stygian Zinogre popped out.

The Zinogre tilted its head at Ruby, letting out a cute little howl before jumping into Ruby's arms. "Oh!" She whispered as she let out a smile.

"Aww, it thinks of you as its mother." Rotom said and glaced over at the Stygia Zinogre. "…Perhaps we should take it back."

"I'm not sure how to take care of a monster though…" Ruby said.

"Weiss has a Rathalos. I'm sure she'll teach ya a thing or two." Rotom pointed out.

"Good point." Ruby nodded. "Come on guys, let's head back."

"Woof!" Zwei barked happily as they all walked off.

Back at the Rose-Xiao Long home…

"…Ruby, what is this?" Weiss asked. "And don't say "It followed me home"."

"It's a Zinogre… it imprinted on me after it hatched. I also saw its mother taking on an Anjanath who had invaded its territory. Unfortunately, it died from its injuries after taking out the latter."

"Ooof…" Yang grimaced.

"So uh… yeah, I have another dog. Go me!" Ruby giggled.

Weiss sighed. "Ruby, I don't mean to sound rude, but do you really need another dog? You have Zwei, you have the Houndoom… I'm still not sure if the Zoroark counts as a dog… but really, do you really need another hairy, drooling, disgusting-" She made eye contact with the Zinogre, as it let out a little bark while tilting its head. "-Most adowable little pooch I've ever laid my eyes on!" She said, picking it up and scratching it behind the ears. "Who's a cute pie! Who's a cute pie! You are! You are! Yes you are! You are so adowable! Yes you are! Who's the most adowable pooch? You are!"

"Weiss, let me fawn over it! It's so stinkin' cute!" Summer exclaimed.

"…Sis, you have a knack for this." Yang teased.

"Apparently so." Ruby shrugged, watching Summer and Weiss fangirl over the Zinogre.

"Another one?" Tai asked, looking at it. "Ruby, I don't think we need another dog in this house. Nope. Not this time. I'm putting my foot down on this one!"

Five minutes later…

"Zzzz…" Tai snoozed away on the chair with the Zinogre on his lap, the former scratching him behind the ears as the latter curled up on his lap.

"If it helps, he was the same way with Zwei." Summer whispered.

"I'd believe it." Ruby said with a giggle.

"Soooo, great… you're here. Now I can finally tell you what we all found out about Blake." Weiss said.

"What is it? She found intergalactic catnip?" Ruby asked.

"…If that was the case, I wouldn't be so worried." Weiss rolled her eyes. "But no… she's unbelievably stressed out at the moment."

"How stressed are we talking?" Summer asked.

"Stressed enough that she's casually throwing out F Bombs like you wouldn't believe." Weiss said.

"…Whoa. You sure this is Blake? Cursing isn't her style." Yang said.

"Trust me… we've heard it." Weiss said. "And it's easy to understand why she's so stressed. Apparently SPBRR ran into this parasite called the X-Parasite, and from what I've gathered… it's pretty nasty. It latches onto its host and then kills it from the inside, then it mimics its body and produces… well, a copy."

"A copy?" Yang asked.

"Yes… like say, if this Parasite latches onto Zwei. It kills Zwei and it produces a copy of Zwei… and from what I've gathered, it can produce more copies asexually, I believe."

"Oh my… that sounds like an apocalypse waiting to happen." Summer said.

"Exactly. And to make matters worse, one of the parasites latched onto Samus and nearly killed her, but luckily there was a Metroid vaccine that killed it, but now Samus has been weakened since her armor had to be surgically removed… and now there's an X Parasite of Samus wandering around this station that they're in and is hunting them down."

"Oh geez…" Yang whispered while Summer rubbed her chin in thought.

"Okay… so that sounds horrifying. We all know Samus's strength when she's not holding back." Ruby said. "But surely that's all they have to worry about, right?"

"Well… there's a Metroid that likes to snack on Blake and it kidnapped her at one point and sucked up all her aura." Weiss said.

"…Oooooh, that's lovely!" Yang grimaced.

"Oh please tell me that's it…" Ruby hoped.

"…I wish. SPBRR's time at the station has been nothing but hell… and on top of that, this eel happened to go and eat Blake alive, and she also drowned, so… yeah…." Weiss grimaced. "You can see why I'm so worried! And now on top of that, freakin' Ridley is going over there too!"

"Holy crap." Yang grimaced. "The girl's having it rough over there."

"Is there any chance that we can go and give SPBRR some back up? Sounds like they need it." Ruby said.

Weiss sighed. "I wish… Arceus was saying that if we attempted to go help them, it'd make things worse. Samus is the only one who can safely absorb the X-Parasite… and if we go there, we'd unwittingly make their lives worse. They're trying desperately to not let the Parasite or the SA-X out of the station otherwise the whole galaxy is toast."

"So… what I'm hearing is… we just have to hope for the best?" Yang asked.

"Unfortunately. We just have to have faith in them… which sucks, because it sounded like Blake was at her breaking point. And I have a feeling she just did… whatever's going on at the BSL station."

Ruby folded her arms. "I mean… this is Blake. She's strong… she can handle whatever's thrown at her, right? We just have to hope she and everyone else can get out of there in one piece."

"Yeah, and Rosie's with them, so I'm sure they can handle it." Yang said.

"I hope so." Weiss said… and then suddenly, Summer let out a loud gasp. The trio turned to her, seeing she was looking absolutely horrified.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Weiss… you said that the X-Parasite can produce asexually, right?"

"Of course."

"…And one of them is currently taking the persona of Samus." Summer said. "…Oh no… oh no no no…"

"What's wrong?" Yang asked before her eyes widened, realizing what Summer meant. "…No!"

"I don't get it, what's going on?" Ruby asked.

"…It means that if there's one SA-X roaming around that station… there's a high chance there could be more in that station." Summer whispered. "SPBRR is in grave danger…"

"Oh my gosh…" Ruby whispered as Weiss stood there, paling at the thought of more SA-X's roaming around the station as she put her hand over her mouth, she backed up… looking like she was about to faint.

"Oooh… hell."

So, fun fact! I was originally gonna pair Ruby coming across a Stygian Zinogre while Calyrex and co were contacting Blake, but as I was writing, I realized it wouldn't make an ounce of sense to jump over to what Ruby was doing and then jump back to the others contacting Blake. It didn't make sense to me so I decided to cut it out and decided to make it into this chapter instead. (Chapter 69 meant romance, after all. ;) )