Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
While RWBY and the Gang Are In the Koopa Kingdom
"Hmhmhmhm~" Chelsea hummed as she walked around Beacon while having a lollipop in her mouth. She turned her head as she walked through the courtyard and then kept walking before stopping herself, then backed up to see Cardin strumming his guitar while looking at his scroll mounted on a tripod. What really made her curious was that he was wearing a blue buttoned shirt and khakis.
"What in…?"
Once Cardin finished, he smiled and then stopped the recording on his scroll. "That'll do."
"What the heck are you doing?"
Cardin turned his head to see Chelsea curiously looking at him. "Oh, hey Chelsea. I was just recording a cover of a song for my Lakitube channel, Eagle's Strum."
Chelsea's eyes widened. "You're Eagle's Strum?!"
"Wait, you know?"
"Well, yeah, Coco wouldn't stop buzzing about it so I decided to take a look for myself." Chelsea said. "Your acoustic covers of famous songs is pretty spot on. Just out of curiosity, why make this channel anyway?"
"Ya know how I cheered Kokoron up in space by playing the guitar for her?"
"Of course."
"Well, it just got me thinking… I could do this as a hobby for something I actually enjoy when I'm not doing Huntsman training or in the middle of a rehearsal with you guys, so I decided to make this channel. I don't care how many views or likes I get, I just really enjoy what I do."
Chelsea smiled. "Well, whatever makes you happy." She said. "Another thing, why have your head out of the shot?"
"Considering I'm already a celebrity with Sea5ons, I'd rather stay on the down low so people don't associate Eagle's Strum with Cardin Winchester of Sea5ons. I'd rather be incognito."
Chelsea raised an eyebrow. "Ooookay, whatever makes you happy, I suppose."
"So, how long have you been playing bass?"
"Huh?"
"I saw you playing it during the Strikers Tournament half-time show, so I was wondering how long you've been playing it."
"Oh, that? Well, I've been playing it for a few years now, even before the creation of Team ATMC."
"Nice." Cardin nodded and then looked up at the sky. "Ya know… sometimes I wonder if I'm all that cracked up to be with Laura."
"You still think that? You're a wonderful brother." Chelsea said. "You mean the world to her… just like how I mean the world to Kokoron."
"I swear, you two already act like siblings all the time." Cardin chuckled. "Both of you are there for each other, you tend to play pranks on each other… hell, I still find it absolutely hilarious that you tricked her into eating a jalapeno popper when you told her it wasn't that hot… and then she returned the favor by spiking your drink by making it spicy when you weren't looking."
"I still don't know how she managed to do that. I looked in my purse for like five seconds and then next thing I know, my mouth was on fire…"
"I'm amazed she actually went through with it when I suggested it to her."
"Wait, wha- YOU?!"
"Yup!"
Chelsea playfully punched him in the shoulder. "You ass!" She said, both of them laughing.
"So, you think I'm a good enough bro for Laura?"
"Yeah, and hey, siblings drive each other crazy but hey, they do it out of love." Chelsea said. "So really, I say you're doing alright with her… even if she thinks we flirt a lot."
"Yeah…" Cardin chuckled before he started to blush. "Hey, um, Chelsea…"
"Hmm?"
"I was wondering-"
Is he blushing?
"Ya know, I was wondering if… um… the two of us could-" Chelsea started to blush.
At that moment, Cardin's scroll rang, interrupting his sentence. "...Uh… one moment." He said as he answered it. "Hello?"
"Cardin, I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but Ozpin wants CRDL in his office right now. It's important!"
Dammit Russel! Cardin thought. "Alright, I'll be right there, Russel." He hung up and gave Chelsea a grimace. "Sorry about that."
"N-No, it's fine. You go do… whatever." She said with a fake smile, but on the inside, she was fuming. RUSSEEEEELLLLL!
Later, with Cardin changing out of his Lakitube persona…
CRDL walked into Ozpin's office, the leader having brought in his Gible with him, where they would see Glynda and Mavis repairing the window yet again.
"I don't understand it… how can a ladybug crack the darn thing?" Mavis wondered in bewilderment.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Glynda grumbled.
"Wait a second…" Cardin looked over at Mavis. "I know you!"
"Huh?" Mavis turned her head. "You know me?"
"Yeah, you were part of Fairy Tail! I often read the history books at my mother's library during my free time. You were the Spring Maiden back in the day!"
Mavis blushed. "They wrote history books about me? Oh my… I'm so honored…"
Ozpin chuckled. "You four might be wondering why I called you up he-" He spotted the Gible. "Forgive me, five." He smiled.
"What's up?" Cardin asked.
"There is some strange activity going on in the Emerald Forest. I'm not sure what it is, but Professors Lucario and Robin had sensed something strange going on from inside the forest. When they came back, Lucario was in rough shape. Robin said it wasn't a Grimm that roughed him up."
Ozpin chuckled. "Normally, I would send in a second year such as CFVY, but they are in the midst of recovering from a mission that they bit off more than they could chew. Let us just say they had to call in the Doom Slayer to help get them out of there."
"What happened to them?" Russel asked.
"No idea, but they're in the middle of decompressing and I don't want to disturb them. Especially Miss Scarlatina. Whatever had happened there, it had freaked her out the most."
"I was wondering why she looked so freaked out…" Cardin rubbed his chin.
"Indeed. So that's why I've called you fou-five to see if you can go to the Emerald Forest and see what's causing trouble."
"We'll hop right to it!" Cardin said with his team nodding. "Come on, Mako. Let's go."
"Gib! Gible!"
A few minutes later…
CRDL arrived at the cliffside, looking down into Emerald Forest. "This brings back memories." Dove said.
"Yup." Cardin nodded. "Alright, let's get to-"
"Wait a moment, you guys!" A voice said as the five turned around as heavenly lights came down as Palutena and Viridi came down.
"Oh! Palutena, Viridi, what are you doing here?" Dove asked.
"We thought you could use a ha-... wait a moment, did you three change your looks?" Viridi asked, noticing that Russel was now wearing a Rathian S Blademaster armor set with his Shortwings having been upgraded to look more like the Twin Flames dual blades, now called the Twin Shortwings.
Dove was now wearing Wroggi S Armor with Hallshott now upgraded to look more like the Poison Barb long sword, now called the Poison Barbshott.
As for Sky, he was now wearing Legiana Beta Plus armor where his Feather's Edge had been upgraded to look more like the Legia Frostreaver Switch axe, called the Legia Frostedge.
"What do you think?" Cardin smirked.
Palutena let out a chuckle. "Someone's been busy Monster Hunting." She winked.
Viridi sweatdropped. "Sheesh, I go back to restoring Mt. Glenn for a few weeks and you guys just look more badass than usual…"
"That's what you get for not getting out as much." Palutena teased.
"Hey, I'm not as sociable as you." Viridi rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, we thought it'd be best if we gave you these." Palutena said as she and Viridi handed them Wirebugs and Scoutflies.
"Whoa, what are these?" Cardin wondered.
"These are Wirebugs. Helps you fast travel by grappling onto something and you can swing around. Think of that Spider-Man fella you met up in space."
"The Scoutflies help you track monsters that you are searching for. You want to specifically look for an Anjanath, a Magnamalo or even a Zinogre? They'll help you track 'em down." Viridi said. "They're also pretty good at identifying each individual footprint so you don't go around in circles trying to find your monster."
Cardin nodded. "Thanks." He turned around. "Let's rock." They hopped down into the forest as they ran off.
"Hmm…" Palutena looked at the launch pads.
"Are these launch pads?" Viridi wondered.
"Yeah, for initiation. Think of it like as an entrance exam to enter Beacon Academy."
Viridi raised an eyebrow. "What's Ozpin trying to do, kill everyone off?"
"Perhaps it'd be best if I were to talk to Ozpin about this. The launch pad sounds fun but given some strange activity that's going on in the Emerald Forest… they may have to retire this."
"Yeah, because when I want to initiate humans and faunus into an academy, I definitely think: "Oh, let's just catapult everyone into the stratosphere, work on our landing strategy and focus on killing Grimm just to collect some random item because we can pretend ALTITUDE SICKNESS doesn't exist"!" Viridi shook her head. "Oi vey… does NOBODY see an issue with this?"
With CRDL…
The team walked through the forest, their weapons in hand while Mako was walking side by side with Cardin, ready to chomp down on anything. They took down an occasional Beowolf, but to their surprise, the Grimm population seemed to have dwindled.
"...Is it just me or are the Grimm here practically non-existent?" Dove wondered.
"No no, I'm thinking the same." Sky nodded.
"That's peculiar… I remember Ozpin mentioning the Emerald Forest being a hotspot for Grimm." Cardin said. "...Honestly, we should be glad and yet… something about this bugs me."
They walked into a clearing, where they would see a battle taking place where a female Treecko, a male Rhyhorn and a male Yanma were fighting a few Izuchis and a Great Izuchi. The Pokemon were also heavily battered from the monsters. The monsters were also pretty roughed up from the Pokemon, making it evenly matched.
BGM: Shrine Ruins - Battle Theme (Monster Hunter Rise)
"HEY!" Cardin yelled. "You leave them alone, you assholes!"
The Great Izuchi snarled at them and roared directly at these intruders for daring to interrupt their battle against their prey. The Pokemon quickly ran to the huntsmen for protection as the two Izuchi hissed and charged ahead.
Trinity of Terror - Izuchi and Great Izuchi
Russel clapped his hands. "Hah!" He said, extending his arms out as an aura barrier surrounded the group, where the Izuchi slammed into the barrier as they hissed, when Sky proceeded to lift his hands up in the air to create a fog to cover the area, which in turn confused the monsters.
"Alright, ten to fifteen minutes tops. We gotta take 'em down fast." Sky said. "Russel, let go of the barrier."
"Right… I hate not having to fight when I have my semblance activated." Russel said, letting it go as they disappeared into the fog.
The Great Izuchi narrowed its eyes, looking around for its prey as did its cohorts. In the fog, Dove activated his semblance, detecting heat signatures around him. He immediately recognized the shape of the creatures. "Flank 'em!"
Cardin smirked, as he and the Pokemon surrounded them and then when Sky deactivated his semblance, the fog disappeared and everyone lunged at the disoriented monsters, slashing them down as they would retaliate by swinging their tails, but they would dodge while the Rhyhorn impaled one with its horn to finish it off, Yanma using Aerial Ace on the other Izuchi while Treecko used a Quick Attack into the Great Izuchi.
The Great Izuchi attempted to slash at the Treecko, but Cardin got in the way and countered it with his Charge Blade, then he jumped back. "Mako, rain down hellfire on 'em!"
"GIIIIIIBLEEEEEEEE!" Gible cried, unleashing Draco Meteor where several meteors came crashing down on the Izuchis, the Great Izuchi could only look up from exhaustion as the Draco Meteor slammed into it to finish it off.
End BGM
"Woo! That's what I'm talking about!" Russel exclaimed happily, high fiving his team as the Treecko hugged Russel's leg and Yanma nuzzled his neck while the Rhyhorn nuzzled against Cardin's leg. "Heheh, you're welcome!" He said as heavenly lights surrounded the monsters and were whisked away.
"Don't mind me, I'll just take these bodies for future use. I have a feeling that our Dog Faunus friend in Atlas will like this present~" Palutena smiled.
Cardin, meanwhile, was not celebrating. He had noticed two things about the Izuchi that were taken away by Palutena.
The first one he noted was that Izuchis aren't typically the kind of monsters to attack at random unless they were either random they felt threatened or they were hungry and were scavenging for food. They were already well fed when he had seen slight bulges in their stomachs, seeing as how they had already hunted.
The second thing that caught his attention? They had glowing green eyes.
The second part was enough to make his fists clench. Now it all makes sense. The activity in the Emerald Forest is not just a freak accident… Calasmos's influence had struck the monsters within the Emerald Forest, which would explain how the Grimm population was practically nonexistent in the Emerald Forest.
"Now I understand…" Cardin said, catching his allies' attention. "They had glowing green eyes."
"Are you saying…?" Russel wondered.
"Yes. Calasmos." Cardin nodded as they felt the ground rumbling as they turned to see large monsters stampeding toward them, all under the influence of Calasmos. "Palutena! Viridi!"
"We got ya!" Viridi said, whisking them all away to safety as they ended up at the cliff overlooking Emerald Forest, where they would see the rampaging monsters were heading straight for Beacon.
"We gotta warn Ozpin!" Cardin said as they took off with the Pokemon right behind them, Viridi making sure to heal them up.
Once in Ozpin's office…
"What?!" Ozpin said in surprise.
"Yeah, it's bad! They're heading straight for Beacon!" Cardin said.
"...This will not do." Ozpin said. "Glynda! Gather all the students and faculty members into the Emerald Forest!"
"Right away!" Glynda pressed the intercom. "Attention students and faculty. Report to the Emerald Forest immediately. We are under attack!"
BGM: Emergency (Astral Chain)
Once everyone had gathered at the edge of Emerald Forest, they would see that the monsters were rampaging toward them. "This is bad!" Tatsumi exclaimed.
"We got this." Coco said.
"Y-yeah… we do…" Velvet nodded, her ears notably lowered, seemingly still rattled. Coco gently took her hand.
"It'll be okay, bun bun."
Palutena raised her staff up in the air, pulling up a barrier. "This should slow them down, but not by much!" She said as Viridi clapped her hands as the vegetation started to move and attempted to grab a hold of many monsters as possible.
"I don't know if this will be enough, but we'll provide support!" Viridi said.
"Cardin!" Chelsea ran up to him. "You think this will be enough? RWBY, JNPR and JINXY are not back from their mission yet!"
"We'll be fine without them." Cardin said with a smile.
"Okay!" Chelsea nodded.
"Chelsea, before we begin this battle… I want to ask you something."
"What is it?"
Cardin blushed. "When this is all over, do you want to go out on a date with me?" He asked, loud enough for RDL and ATM to hear it.
Chelsea's eyes widened. "Are you kidding?! I would love to!" She smiled, completely oblivious to Akame fist pumping.
"Hey, lovebirds! Battle first, THEN make love later!" Mine said, cocking Pumpkin.
"Let's rock." Cardin smirked.
End BGM
"Hard to believe that this is now the Emerald Forest…" Ozpin lamented. "It was merely known as the main venue for Beacon Academy initiations every single year. Now it's a major hotspot for monster activity and a war zone for us in case these guys go on a rampage and try to breach the line that borders between this forest and Beacon…"
"Right… well, I think we need to have a little discussion about-" Palutena abruptly stopped, turning her head. "What the…"
"You feel it too?" Viridi asked as she turned her head, her eyes widening. "What the hell is that?!" She wondered as the sky suddenly turned scarlet red.
BGM: Shadow Queen's Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)
"I don't like the looks of this…" Port said as they would see Heartless raining down and Grimm rising up from the ground as they let out a roar.
Palutena scowled. "Viridi, stay right here. I need to go take a look." She said and took herself back to Skyworld.
"Uuuuh… okay! I'll be here…" Viridi turned around. "Alright, let's try to protect Beacon from these things!"
At Skyworld…
"Status report! Where is that red sky coming from?" Palutena demanded.
"It's awful! It's coming straight from Peach's Castle!" A Centurion said.
"What's worse is that Grimm Ruby captured Ruby and Pittoo!" Another said.
"She what?!" Palutena said in shock before clenching her fists. "This will not do. You said the source is coming from Peach's Castle?"
"Yes!"
"Then I should pay Peach a visit. She might be in some serious trouble."
Ibuki: Nan-chan...
Yes?
Ibuki: Ibuki's definitely hearing some CardinXChelsea fans screaming in delight.
Oh, you too? Ahem, anyway, this Gaiden idea was inspired by DarkRebellion!