Lessons of the Multiverse
Chapter 4: A New Stone World
Reviews:
bankleo305: Thank you to both. No-one else said so much as a peep to my upcoming novel.
ultima-owner: Theoretically, but the opening scene is what draws people in. That and the Characters.
J-SECTION-L: You can request whatever. I cannot promise you that I'll honor them all, but I'll see what fits my narrative.
"Speaking."
'Thinking'
"On Screen/Announcments"
*BONG*
The screen panned downward to show a dilapidated city with various humanoid stone statues. All of them had faded ripped clothing on. "On that day, every man, woman, and child on earth instantly turned to stone." A voice said.
Everyone in the theater, save for Alcor, stared in shock. They were quiet, but not for long.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Roman Torchwick cried out.
"WHY ARE THERE A BUNCH OF STONE PEOPLE?!" Yang asked nobody in particular.
Everyone turned to Alcor, all expecting an answer. "You honestly think I'm going to tell you why?" They still stared at him. "No, I'm not telling you why."
*BANG!*
The sudden sound of a door being slammed open caused everyone to turn back to the screen. They had all been caught off guard by the sudden noise.
"This is it, Bart!" A voice called out as a blond man walked into the classroom. "After five long years. I'm finally going to do it!" Many students looked at Sun Wukong in shock, save for a single one standing in front of a rather complicated machine. What was especially striking was the green-tinted hair pointed upward.
Penny and Winter immediately began to take notes on the machine with the writing materials provided by Alcor at that moment. Sun meanwhile leaned over to Neptune.
"Told you I was the main Character." He said.
Neptune only rolled his eyes.
"I'm finally going to tell her how I feel!" Bartholomew Ishigami's only response was to attach a fluid-filled beaker while he talked.
"Wow. Fascinating." Anyone could tell the bored tone in the teen's voice. "I can't leave the lab right now, but I promise you I'll cheer so vociferously, my vocal cords will snap." He said as he turned to Sun.
"Wow, Professor Oobleck sounds so done," Yang commented.
"IT'S DOCTOR!" Oobleck called out from across the theater.
"Did you not need glasses when you were younger, Dr. Oobleck," Weiss asked him.
Oobleck immediately lost his previous temper. "No, actually, I didn't need glasses until I was in my late teens." He explained.
"AWESOME! You mean it?! You rock, Bart!" Sun said as he walked up to Bart.
"No, you big oaf, I'm not going to project my voice one millimeter for your cause." He said, giving Sun the side eye.
"What? Come on, man!" Sun complained.
"I just noticed something. Sun," Blake said, "that version of you doesn't have a tail."
Everyone looked closer. "Huh," Sun muttered. "Guess this is a world without Faunus."
Adam mumbled under his breath about human oppressors and the like. Nobody paid attention to him.
"Look, you felt this way for five years and are only telling her now? I can't praise such illogical behavior. But I can give you something logical as hell." Bart grinned as he raised a round bottom flask filled with a slightly discolored liquid.
"I don't like his grin," Ruby said offhandedly.
Glynda and Ozpin raised an eyebrow. It's been so long since they last saw Bartholomew actually scare somebody, even if it wasn't technically their version.
"I've developed this drug as a type of 'Love Potion,' which maxes out your pheromones and grants you a Ten billion percent chance of winning her heart."
"Amazing. How advanced is this world to create love potions?" Winter muttered.
Both Raven and Qrow almost snorted at the Schnee's words. 'He's almost certainly lying, I can tell.' They both thought.
The screen showed Sun looking at the beaker intently before he turned and poured it into the sink next to him. "Thanks, but no thanks. I gotta do this on my own."
All the single males, save for the Adults, looked at Sun in shock. "Are you an idiot?!" Cardin exclaimed.
"Hey, I agree with the me on screen," Sun said confidently. "Sometimes, you gotta man up without any help."
"WELL SAID!" Port exclaimed, "Why such a lesson has most-" Port was muted again, not that he noticed. Everyone but Port turned to Alcor.
"What? You all would have done the same."
Bart gave Sun a smirk as he walked off. One of the other students got close to the sink, blushing a bit. "Seriously? You made a love potion?"
"Come on, don't be stupid. As if such a thing actually exists." Bart said as he lit a match before tossing it into the sink. "It's gasoline." The fuel caught fire as the other students flinched.
Various individuals who fell for the lie blushed in embarrassment.
Raven and Qrow smirked. 'Called it.'
"I refined it from plastic bottle caps. Consider the molecular structure of polyethylene. It's just one long gasoline molecule minus a few hydrocarbons." Bart tisked. "You can tell just by looking at it."
Some smoke rose over the heads of the more incompetent individuals. "What did he just say?" Cardin asked.
"Beats me." Scarlet David muttered.
"Idiots." Arthur Watts said. "He's talking about Molecules, the way elements arrange to form basic structures for everything in existence. Although, I wouldn't mind seeing the molecule for this 'Gasoline.' It's not one I'm familiar with."
Ironwood leaned over to Winter and Penny. "See if either of you can't find this 'gasoline' in the library during lunch." He whispered. They both nodded.
"Well, I can't." One student commented. "Me neither." Another said.
"Yeah, but wouldn't that have killed Sun if he drank it?" A third pointed out.
"Nah. The odds were ten billion to one—Sun's dumb but too straight-laced." The image switched to Blake looking up at a broken tree branch before taking a handkerchief and wrapping it around the break. She was wearing a headband that looked like headphones.
'Wait, is Sun confessing to me?' Blake blushed to herself.
Ghira suddenly got this feeling in his gut. 'I don't like where this is going.'
"Blake!" Sun's voice called out, prompting her to turn around and look at him. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Hey, Sun. What's up? What was it you wanted to talk about?" Blake asked him.
'Okay, Sun, this is it. You're finally going to tell her how you feel after five long years.' Sun thought to himself.
Both Sun and Blake blushed heavily as Ghira got up from his chair and walked over to Sun. He grabbed the monkey faunus' coat and held him up to eye level. "You stay the fuck away from my daughter." His tone sent shivers down his spine.
"Mr. Belladonna," Alcor began, "It would be ideal to put Mr. Wukong down, especially as this is merely a different universe."
Ghira glared at Alcor, Sun still dangling from his hand. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, the multiverse is full of differences. Remember what I said: There are only two rules to a universe: One, there is a universe, and two, there is a set of physics to that universe. Everything else is different. Including who one's spouse might be. Just because they might date in one universe doesn't mean the same here." Alcor said. "In fact, I know exactly who Blake Belladonna ends up within your home universe, and it isn't Sun Wukong."
Ghira glanced at Sun, who visibly looked saddened by that reveal, before dropping him in his seat. "I…apologize, Mr. Wukong. I let my temper get the best of me."
"It's…fine, sir," Sun said in a quiet tone. He was trying to process the fact the girl he had a crush on was never going to reciprocate more than feelings of friendship.
Ghira looked back at Alcor. "So if it isn't this boy here, which boy is it?" The overprotective father asked.
"Why do you wanna know?" Alcor's eyebrow raised.
"So I can make sure they treat Blake right." Ghira's short answer didn't satisfy anybody. Everyone with even the barest hint of romantic knowledge and parental experience knew what he was thinking.
"Well, then you'll be happy to learn it isn't a boy." Alcor clapped his hands. Blake blushed once she processed that statement.
Iila Amitola immediately perked up. "It isn't you, Ms. Amitola." Alcor's voice cut into her thoughts. She dropped into a mood like Sun's.
"Would you be willing to indulge us in who my possible daughter-in-law might be?" Kali asked.
"MOM?!" Blake called out in surprise.
"What?" Kali feigned surprise.
Alcor shook his head. "I will not divulge that information to you. And don't try to argue. It's best for us all if I don't."
"But…" Kali tried to protest. She had all kinds of ideas for a wedding.
"No," Alcor said in a final tone.
Up from the second floor, three students watched them. "Ten Lien on Heartbreak." One said.
"Thirty on making him cry." The second student bet.
"Fifty on her calling him a creep."
Yang humphed. "Well, that's not nice."
Ruby and Weiss nodded along, while Blake didn't seem to hear them. She was practically steaming at the fact she'd be ending up with a girl. She could almost imagine it. Was her nose bleeding? Because it felt like it was.
"I bet ten thousand she's into him too." Bart's voice cut in as the three looked at him standing by a second window.
"S-Seriously?" The three said in unison.
'All this time, I was afraid if I told her how I felt, she wouldn't want to be my friend anymore.' "You see, Blake, it's like this…" Sun began as Blake suddenly developed a blush.
The screen panned back to Bart, who was suddenly startled by something in the corner of his eye. It switched back to Sun. 'Wait, what's that strange light?' He thought as a green glow spread over the horizon. The view rapidly showed various people looking at the strange light.
Sun, acting on instinct, ran in front of Blake and threw his arms forward as if to block whatever was coming. "Hang on to the tree!"
"Wait, what is that?" Jaune asked.
"I…don't think any of us would know that," Ren said.
Penny, in an attempt to figure out the mystery light with her eyes, was met with errors and lockouts. ACCESS DENIED flashed across her eyes anytime she attempted to analyze what she was seeing. 'This must be Alcor's doing. Whatever it is, he doesn't want me to see it.' The Gynoid thought.
Something akin to visible radiation traveled through the air as the front of Sun's face began to turn to stone, followed by the rest of his body. He stood there, mouth agape and arms forward. It panned to show other people who had frozen in place as well, all across the globe, as a wave spread. At the beach, in the city, by a temple, nowhere on earth was safe.
The road was filled with vehicles all crashed into each other, stone statues sticking out from windshields. A horn could be heard. Overhead, a plane tilted and crashed into a building, causing a fiery explosion and sending debris crashing to the ground, the most concerning, a person's decapitated head.
It panned to a dog barking up its petrified owner's leg. 'Mom! Dad! What's happening?!'
Many other voices could be heard. 'Why is it so dark?' 'What's going on?' 'Why can't I move?' Rain started to fall. It panned back to the original girl. The Rain pooled in such a way that it dripped from her open eye as if it were a tear. 'Am I dying?'
Everyone, save for Tryian, looked at the screen in shock or horror. Even Salem was shocked. Whatever that was, it just took out an entire planet at once, just like the brother gods. Even with her experience, she couldn't stop such an attack. Many of the others, especially the younger generation, shook in fear.
A buzzing noise seemed to ring from the screen as it suddenly showed Sun's petrified body. A bolt of lightning crashed as Sun's voice called out. 'I'M STILL ALIVE! I'M STILL HERE!'
'Think Sun, think! Blake is smart, which means she probably got away. That means you have to stay alive so you can tell her how you feel!'
"His… will is keeping him conscious," Oobleck muttered in awe.
"It's rather impressive of Mr. Wukong," Ironwood said out loud. 'Such a strong willpower. If he weren't already a student of Haven, I would have invited him to our academy in Atlas. I could certainly use stronger-willed people in the Atlas Military.'
Time began to move, as without humans, growth overtook the city. Wild animals ran amok. 'Come on, Sun! You stay awake.' The screen paned to Sun, who had fallen backward. More of the city fell apart as towers collapsed and bridges fell. 'How many years has it been? Decades? Centuries? Millennia? Well, I'm not giving up!' He thought, surrounded by a mixture of concrete and wild foliage.
Soon, any existence humanity had walked the earth vanished. And a cave appeared on the screen. The sound of dripping liquid could be heard. Sun's statue lay face down in a bat-filled cave, all with a dripping liquid hitting his petrified head.
Ozpin looked at the statue. 'That's odd. He was shown having fallen on his back. How did he get on his front?' Nobody else seemed to pick up on the tiny detail.
A visual of an amber liquid dripping into a pool appeared, and a large crack was heard. On Sun's face, the stone over his left eye fell off. The eye, having realized it could see, looked around wildly.
"HE GOT OUT!" Nora yelled.
"How did he break free?" Phyrra asked.
Neptune scoffed. "Who cares? I'm just glad my buddy is free."
More cracking was accompanied as Sun groaned, pushing himself up from the ground. The stone shell broke off into many fragments with Sun calling out. "I'M FINALLY FREE! I CAN MOVE MY BODY AGAIN!"
"First words in so long, and that's what you say?" Yang commented.
"You try being petrified for that long." Sun bit back.
Yang bit back her retort from pointing out she almost certainly was in this universe.
Sun looked down in the palm of his hand. "Pieces of stone?" He asked as he looked at the grey chunk. He looked outside the cave, only to see a massive forest. All around him, people's frozen broken forms remained, half buried either in the ground or the cliffs that formed.
"Oh, no. So, everyone also went through all of that?" He asked himself.
"Not a bad body," Yang commented, taking in Sun's physical form. "Too bad we can't see how big his gift is."
"That's gross, Yang," Ruby the prude replied.
"Grow a little, Rubes. The life of a Huntress is too short."
"How long have we been like this?" He didn't want to know but knew he needed to find out. It switched to the Sun praying over a broken statue. "I'm sorry; I wish I could have done more for you."
'As long as the landscape has changed too much, I can follow the river. Back to her.' He thought as he took a quick drink. Sun then pulled down some vines to make some cover for his shame.
"Mr. Wukong, I would advise against doing that," Glyndia began, "You never know what plants are dangerous to the touch."
"Yeah, yeah," Sun muttered quietly. "You're not my mom."
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Sun said quickly.
A flashback to a stone statue of a bird appeared. "Something just fell from the sky." A girl's voice said.
"Is that a bird statue? It's so detailed."
"No, I think it's a real bird." Sun's voice cut into the conversation, startling the two girls. "I have a friend who saw something just like this."
Sun looked closer at the bird statue. "Poor little guy. I should take you to a vet." With that, he raced off, leaving the two confused girls.
"I think you scared them." Neptune poked fun at Sun, only to frown when Sun didn't rise to the bait. 'Man, the news he'll never be with Blake must have really shaken him.'
"Closed, oh Come on, man!" Sun complained as he looked at the sign in the veterinary window.
A giggle off to his side broke his focus. "I don't think they'll actually see you with that." Sun turned to look at Blake, only to blush more.
"Uh, r-right. I know that." The screen returned to the present.
"There it is," Sun muttered to himself. He stared at a massive tangle of tree roots and positioned high up was Blake's petrified body, having been turned 90 degrees by the tree.
"RAAAAGAHHH! You did it. You made it!" Sun called out to Blake. "And you too, tree! You did an incredible protecting her all this time."
"Dork," Yang commented.
Blake lightly punched her. "Let him have this; I wanna see where this goes."
"You don't fool me, kitty; you just want to see the romantic stuff."
Blake turned and blushed slightly. "No." She promptly denied it.
"Blake, I…" Sun started as he looked at her petrified form, "I have loved you for five, no for thousands of years. That's what I wanted to say to you." He fell to his knees, crying.
"It's so sad," Velvet told her neighbor, Coco.
"Trust me, the tone is going to change fast. It's just how these things work." Cardin waved it off. The two members of team CFVY glared at him for ruining a good moment.
Suddenly, the sniffles stopped as Sun looked back up and hopped up to the tree. He slammed his hand into the tree and looked deep into Blake's petrified face. "Listen up. No matter what it takes or how long it takes, I'm going to save you, Blake. Even if it costs me my…" Then his gaze looked to where his hand had landed, moving it out of the way.
"Follow the river downstream, you big oaf?" He said to himself.
"Wait, you don't think…" Ironwood began.
"I think it's very likely," Glyndia replied.
'Bart wrote that." Ozpin thought.
'Interesting,' Bartholomew thought to himself, 'I broke out first. Wonder how far I've gotten with survival.'
Sun ran downstream before stopping and looking up. "Tchee." The view panned up towards. Bart grinned from atop the tree. There were cracks in his face, like Sun. Unlike Sun's, though, they were parallel, going from his eyes to his hair. "Good Morning, you big oaf." He wore a white coat made from animal pelts with a formula on its collar.
"HE'S ALIVE!" Ruby called out.
"HOW!?" Roman asked in disbelief.
"Well, obviously, he broke out of the stone like Sun," Weiss commented. "It's like you're both professional idiots."
The two redheads looked at Weiss with a hurt face. She immediately shied away from it so as not to feel guilt from the half-effective guilt trip.
"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! BART! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Sun was crying as he jumped to hug Bartholomew.
"DON'T YOU DARE HUG ME WHILE YOU'RE BUTT NAKED! I'M NOT JOKING! HANDS OFF!" Bart yelled as he kicked Sun away.
Most of the audience laughed at the break in the tension. Yang and Mercury were practically on the floor with how hard they were laughing. Meanwhile, Sun and Oobleck pouted at having no respect for their other selves.
The scene quickly transitioned to Bart sitting down, cracking his neck. "Today's date is October 5th, 5738. While you've been sleeping, I've been up and diligently working my tail off for the past six months."
"Wait," Sun began to count on his fingers, "So it's been like..?"
"It's been over 3700 years," Bart said nonchalantly. "Or 3719 years, if you want to be exact."
Sun looked at Bart in disbelief. "How do you know what day it is? Got some kind of calendar?"
Bart blinked, looking confused at the question. "What do you mean? I just counted. The most logical thing I could've done."
"Wait, counted?" Ironwood asked. "He can't mean…"
"Four, five, six, seven, eight..." A petrified Bart counted out in his head. An eye and darkness suddenly blinked open. "Damn, almost lost consciousness there. It seems to happen nearly every 8,000 seconds or so, about as regular as having diarrhea. I'll need to think and count at the same time, run parallel processes. 116,427,065,530 seconds. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…" (A/N: The original source material claims 800,000 seconds, but that's a little over nine days. So you can see why I changed it.)
The audience looked at Oobleck, both on screen and in person, in shock.
"Holy crap professor. You do that regularly?" Coco Adel asked.
"IT'S DOCTOR! And no, I am not capable of that. Clearly, this version of me is far more accomplished." Oobleck complemented his more capable self.
'For a Human to be capable of that,' Arthur Watts thought, 'Inconceivable.' He felt a twinge of jealousy.
Sun followed behind Bart. "Wait, so all that time, you just counted?"
Bart looked upward in thought. "Well, yeah. Even if I willed myself awake, I needed to keep an accurate measurement of the time because waking up, as with no supplies in the middle of winter would mean game over pretty damn quickly. Which means I would have to start up in the spring when I had the best opportunity."
"Practical and smart." Raven complimented. "Maybe not the best physical physique, but he clearly makes up for it with his pragmatism."
Qrow hated agreeing with his sister on anything, but he did on this. Living in a bandit tribe, you needed to be careful during winter months when food and warmth were scarce.
"All right, we're here." Bart stopped in a clearing, giving Sun the side eye. "We need to put a pin in the small talk and get to work."
Sun looked at the camp in disbelief. "Bart, you're telling me…you did this…all by yourself?" The screen panned to show the tree house, pots filled with food, and primitive weapons.
Bart started to talk as he made his way to the shelter. "Until now, I've been lacking the manpower to get anywhere but the bare necessities. If I'm going to rebuild our world, our civilization, I'm going to need the grunt work of meatheads like you." He said, climbing the ladder. "In other words, I've been waiting for you, Sun. I was ten billion percent sure you were still alive in that stone. You were so hell-bent on confessing your love. For a guy as stubborn as you, even a few thousand years wouldn't slow you down or stop you from making that happen. You're not that weak!"
Sun felt touched. With a sniffle, he turned to his team. "Why can't you three be that supportive of me?"
Team (S)SSN looked at Sun in muted disbelief. Neptune spoke up. "He's calling you a stubborn idiot."
"NOPE. NOT LISTENING!" Sun plugged his ears.
Sun's team facepalmed. 'Thank you for proving our point.'
"Of course, I'm not." Sun's steely determination showed.
The scene showed nighttime, as Bart was starting a campfire. Sun's voice continued to talk. "All right, Bart, you leave all the hard labor to me, and I'll leave the brainy stuff to you. No Problem!" It showed Sun chopping wood.
Fire danced in the night sky, shifting from a gorilla-like animal to a primitive hunter to a samurai followed by an Astronaut. "It took humanity two million years to crawl up from the stone world. We're about to do it in a sprint."
Bart's eyes shined with determination. "I swear, I'm going to take back the world, and through science, I'll find out what happened to us and how we broke free of the petrification."
The view switched to Sun. "I swear, I'm going to save Blake!"
A giant rocket was shown on screen. "We may be a couple of High School kids," Bart began, "But we're going to rebuild civilization from the ground up. You and I are going to be like Adam and Eve and bring life back to this world. This is exhilarating, get excited." Bart grinned. Then, a Title Card popped on the screen.
"WOOOOOO! You can do it!" Ruby cheered out.
"Hell yeah!" Yang called out as well.
Various people cheered at those declarations. Weiss meanwhile raised her hand. "Um, question. What were those images that we saw in the fire?" She asked.
The others showed visible confusion.
"Oh," Alcor began, "Well, to make it simple and in order, a Primitive human, an old hunter from the Cave age, a Samurai, which is an ancient warrior from a specific country, and an Astronaut."
"Wait, that thing was a primitive human?" Mercury began, "It looked more like a gorilla."
Alcor nodded. "In most universes, humanity evolved from the same ancestors as gorillas and chimps."
"Evolved?" Oobleck started pulling out a notebook, "How does one… evolve?"
Alcor blinked. 'Right. All the humans on Remnant were created by gods, not through trial and error.' "How to put this best? Eh, I'll use birds." Alcor said. "When a large population of a type of animal forms, genetic diversity can occur by simple chance. An example would be birds. In one example, a bird can come into existence with a narrower and slightly longer beak than its relatives. And depending on the environment, that becomes an evolutionary advantage. The bird with slightly different proportions can survive better in certain environments than its smaller and flatter-beaked cousins. Evolution is that, but multiple subtle changes over millions of years, all branching from a single common ancestor. For humans, the first thing to develop was the advanced brain. With that, humanity learned to walk on two feet, as that's more energy-efficient than four legs and exposed less skin to the blazing hot ground. Evolution kicked in again, causing hips to narrow and backs to straighten for balance, which made humans better at running from predators or running to prey. The humans who didn't evolve like so died out, both from a combination of disease and their inability to compete with their superior cousins, leaving only a specific branch in the end. That's evolution or Darwinism at its finest. If you want to learn more, books can be had in the library."
"Wait, how do Faunus fit into evolution?" Sienna asked. The others were curious as well.
"I'll be honest, they don't," Alcor said nonchalantly.
"Wait, what?" Ironwood began, "How can they not fit into evolution?"
"Because there's no conceivable way for Faunus to have evolved into existence. If Faunus naturally evolved, it would be more than just a single animal trait stuck to a human body." Alcor said in a cold tone.
"How?" Adam asked, a slight growl in his voice.
Alcor gave him a pointed look. "Well, for one thing, two different types of Faunus, like a Tiger and a Rabbit, wouldn't be compatible if Faunus naturally evolved into existence, let alone Faunus and Humans."
"Compatible?" Ghira asked.
"Hmm." Alcor nodded. "As proof of that compatibility, look no further than Miss Scarlatina." Everyone's eyes looked towards her. Alcor continued talking. "If Humans and Faunus weren't genetically compatible, she wouldn't exist right now. Isn't that correct?"
Velvet tried to make herself smaller.
Alcor tried to coax her. "Come now, tell everyone what your parents are."
Velvet looked away in embarrassment at all the attention. "Mother is a Faunus, but my father, he's human."
Yang looked at her before looking back at Alcor. "I don't get it. What's so shocking about that?"
Alcor sighed. 'These people.' "Let me put it this way. Do any of you know what a Liger is?" After a round of no's from everybody, he continued. "A Liger is a hybrid animal between a Tiger and a Lion. How does that work? Well, both animals are related close enough that they can produce offspring, but, and this is the caveat to such a hybrid, the offspring is incapable of producing offspring of its own genetic pattern due to too many differences between the two parents. In fact, many health concerns come up when hybrids are talked about, not just reproduction. In other words, unless Miss. Scarlatina is incapable of producing healthy offspring; she is not a hybrid of a human and a Faunus. Because they're both the same exact animal."
The majority of them looked at Alcor stupefied. Adam, meanwhile, was twitching, likely with rage. 'How dare he claim Humans and Faunus are the same!'
"When it comes to outside observers like me," Alcor began, "Faunus are no different to humans as white-skinned humans are to black-skinned humans."
"HOW?" Emerald asked in disbelief.
"Simple. Evolution. Evolution is a result of minor changes over time. Skin pigmentation is an extremely minor evolutionary trait that doesn't fundamentally change genetics between two skin tones. And this isn't a superficial change; there's an actual evolutionary advantage to skin tone changes. Darker skins have a natural resistance to things like skin cancer, while lighter skins can more easily absorb Vitamin D from Sun Light."
"Does that mean Humans with darker skin are better suited for sunny locations like deserts or coasts while humans with lighter skin are better suited for locations like forests or temperates?" Oobleck asked.
"Actually, yes. Darker skin is the original skin tone of humans, at least in most worlds; it's just that when humans migrated to new climates, skin tone evolved to better suit those new climates, which had notably less sun around the year. But even with those changes, humans are the most genetically similar species alive. Two random dogs have more genetic diversity than humans."
"So, Faunus are simply humans with an extra trait like a skin tone shift only, not natural?" Ghira asked. "If so, then how did Faunus come to be?" He wasn't expecting a genuine answer, but Alcor couldn't help himself.
"Two idiots doing something they shouldn't have," Alcor mumbled to himself in frustration. Unfortunately, those with heightened hearing overheard him.
Kali, Blake, Sienna, and Velvet looked at Alcor in shock. "You know who created Faunus?" Kali asked in disbelief.
Alcor blinked before holding his hands to his face in frustration. "Dammit, I said that out loud." He breathed, dropping his hands. "You know what, it's not my problem. My job is to show you the history of other worlds, not of your own. Three individuals already know how Faunus came to be; ask them."
"Who's them?" Blake asked.
Alcor rolled his eyes. "Not my problem."
Everyone gave Alcor flat looks of disappointment. "You know, you're kind of an asshole," Ruby said, not thinking her words through. Team (R)WBY, Taiyang, and Qrow immediately turned and looked at Ruby in shock. She flushed. "Whoops, said that out loud."
Alcor smirked. "Any of you want to know another interesting fact about human biology? While in the mother's womb, the first thing to fully develop is the anal cavity. Which means everyone starts out as an asshole."
It took a few seconds before some people snickered or snorted. More specifically, the more immature people. Yang and Taiyang looked scandalized. "Why don't people like our jokes?!"
Qrow took a drink from his flask. "Because yours have horrible timing and aren't that clever. While Alcor's timing wasn't the best, it's still clever."
Both Yang and Taiyang sat in the corner, casting an aura of depression. Blake tried to comfort her (future girl)friend by patting her on the back.
Weiss spoke up. "Another question: what is an Astronaut?"
Everyone blinked, including Alcor. "Oh, right, that. An astronaut is someone who has trained and traveled to space."
Everyone, save Yang and Taiyang, who were still sulking, looked at Alcor gobsmacked. "What?" Arthur Watts asked not so quietly.
"You mean," Ironwood began, "This world has achieved space travel? With technology that looks inferior to our own?"
"Yep," Alcor said, pulling out his phone to look up the information. "Let's see here: the petrification took place in the year 2019 in that world, and the moon landing was in 1969, so exactly 50 years prior to what you see on screen, three humans landed on the moon. Prior to that, the first man-made object in space was a rocket called the Bumper-WAC in 1949. So, in about the span of 20 years, humans went from shooting empty rockets into space to walking on the moon. What you saw on-screen prior to petrification was 70 years after space exploration first started."
Everyone was gaping, even Salem and Ozpin. It only took humanity 20 years to walk on the moon from when they first started? Not even during the age of magic did they ever walk on the moon.
Penny raised her hand. "So, hypothetically speaking, could we reach the moon if we continue to observe this universe?"
Alcor got straight to the point. "Yes."
Everyone looked around. "What would be the benefit of that?" Winter, still gobsmacked, asked rhetorically.
"Satellite constellations," Alcor answered honestly.
"Satellite what?" Watts asked, his interest as an engineer peeked.
"Satellite constellations are the patterns satellites move in orbit. Prior to petrification, this world had thousands of artificial satellites in orbit. They ran on solar energy and did everything ranging from global communications to weather monitoring to satellite imagery to global navigation to even imaging far away stars without atmospheric interference and many more things that I can't remember of off the top of my head." Alcor explained in a bored tone.
"I-incredible. The potential." Ironwood commented.
"It would also be a great communication system between kingdoms. Laying out wire is a no-go because of Grimm, and because of the number of satellites in orbit, the odds of a total network blackout are practically non-existent thanks to failover protocols. With Remnant's current system, you'd only have to knock out just one of the CCTs to bring global communications to a halt." Alcor commented off-handedly. Salem's cabal had to fight the urge not to freeze at that. Alcor had not so subtly exposed their plans to the rest of the audience.
Ironwood meanwhile got this feeling in his gut, like what Alcor said was foretelling a future event. He leaned towards Winter and Penny. "Take extra caution not to miss anything in regards to space travel." He ordered. They both nodded.
Sun was running down a pathway, carrying a basket full of food. He stopped before Bart and dropped the basket in front of the scientist. Bart looked at the haul in disbelief.
"That's definitely a plus-sized haul you got there, Sun." Bart asked in disbelief, "You got a real-life cheat code for stamina?" He asked rhetorically.
Sun's face held pride before looking down and dropping his jaw. Bart was sorting through the foraged food. Various fungi popped up on the screen. "Amanita Virosa: Toxic. Bunashimeji: Safe. Amanita Muscaria; Toxic. If something looks like it's out of a video game, pass it up."
Bart moved on to plants. "Next, Mugwort. That's edible. Wolfbane…are you trying to poison us?" He asked in disbelief.
"What's he doing?" Cardin asked.
"Barty is simply sorting out what is unsafe to eat, kid," Qrow said, taking a swig. "Honestly, it shouldn't be that hard to tell."
Cardin's question prompted Glynda to lean over to Ozpin. "Perhaps we should start incorporating lessons in identifying safe food in the wild."
"Not a bad idea, but we'd need a teacher with experience with that…" Both Ozpin and Glynda turned to Qrow, who hadn't noticed their eyes yet. Currently, Qrow was employed at Signal Academy, but his contract was due to expire within a bit of time. They could poach him as a part-time teacher at Beacon to teach wildlife survival, which not only filled the teacher gap for such a class but also made Beacon safer overall by having a high-level hunter on the premises. Qrow's semblance notwithstanding.
The only other real downside is they would need to find a suitable substitute teacher for Qrow whenever he went on Ozpin's missions. But that could be ironed out later.
Suddenly, a fire raged as the food deemed safe was cooking over it. Sun took a bite from a cooked mushroom. "Aw, man! What the heck did you season this with?" Sun complimented.
"Please don't talk with your mouth full," Glynda said. Sun merely rolled his eyes but said nothing.
Bart stuck his fingers in a jar and grabbed some salt that he then sprinkled on his cooked mushroom kebab. "Just some salt I pulled from the seawater. A little pinch of it will make almost anything palatable."
"We can use it for pickling food as well. One of primitive man's greatest discoveries." Bart then took a bite of his mushroom kebab.
"This is perfect," Sun started, "I may not know all the stuff you do, but I'm gonna break my back working for us." He stuffed the drumstick he'd been holding into his mouth and jumped up, grabbing the now-empty basket.
"AHHHHHH! Time to check out the other direction." Sun called out as he ran off. Bart simply waved him bye, enjoying his meal in peace.
"Woah," Sun said, looking up at the grapes. "Are these grapes? Are they safe to eat?" After a moment, he picked a bushel off. "Well, only one way to find out. Get in my belly!" He said, taking a bite.
"Mr. Wukong! You should know better than to eat something you're not certain is safe to eat!" Glynda called out.
"In case you've forgotten, teach, that's not me!" Sun called back. "Of course, I wouldn't do that! I'm from the fucking desert!"
"Don't swear at me! I'm simply looking out for your best interest!" Glydna yelled back.
"I don't need somebody looking over my shoulder!" Sun called out. "I've been fine on my own, without any parents!"
"I…" Qrow stopped the teacher from continuing.
"Let it go." She looked at him before backing off.
Sun's face twisted as he jumped back. He quickly spat out the grapes before noting something in the distance.
A few immature people snickered at Sun's misfortunes. But they stopped when it panned to a female statue sitting up against a tree. Yang felt familiarity looking at it.
"I know I've seen her before on TV. She was called the strongest Primate Highschooler, Yang Xiao-Long." The shot panned up the petrified body, which did cover up the private bits.
"Oi! Primate?! Say that again, monkey boy!" Yang called out to him, her eyes turning red. He immediately waved his hands in surrender.
"That's not me!" He called out in fear as he hid behind Neptune.
"Guess even she couldn't fight it."
It switched to Sun entering the cave he first woke up in. He stepped back in shock when he saw a pot collecting the dripping fluid. "Whoah! No way. Bart and I haven't been here yet, so that means somebody else survived!"
"It was me, you idiot," Bart said from behind him. Sun suddenly jumped.
"What?! No Way!"
Ruby snickered. "This Sun is funny."
Neptune nodded. "Yep. Maybe we should trade up." He said to his team in a joking manner. Sun audibly squawked at the idea.
Sun looked back at the pot that was collecting fluid. "Are we seriously the only humans left?"
Bart took a step forward. "We'll get more people. That's a top priority." Bart turned to Sun and deadpanned. "I mean, just a couple of dudes. Can't really restart humanity if you catch my drift."
"R-Right, that's true."
Some gagged at the mental image, but a few daring ones, well, they blushed. Heavily.
'Well, it is Professor Bartholomew,' at that moment, a trickle of blood dripped down Blake's nose as she looked at the younger version, 'although his younger self is hot enough.' The mental images flowed.
Yang raised an eyebrow at Blake, 'Why do I like you?' Then, she blinked. 'Okay… where did that come from?'
Alcor, who read Yang's mind, fought the urge to blink in annoyance. 'Fuck, bleed over. I didn't close the space between dimensions tightly enough, and some of her future self's thoughts were bleeding into her head. I'll have to fix that at the next 15-minute break.'
Bart took another step forward and picked up a piece of stone fragment. "Besides, why, after 3700 years, did we break free from our petrified condition?" Bart asked Sun.
"The stone rotted away?"
Bart sighed. "Something like that," Bart smirked, waving the stone fragment around. "Say this strange mineral had been corroded. Can you chalk up the timing to mere random coincidence? Six months apart is a relative blip when dealing with thousands of years. There's a reason why be both reanimated so close together."
Salem and Ozpin nodded. Yes, six months was a very short period of time. To everybody else save Alcor, it was a long period of time, but to them, it often felt like only a few days at most. The older one got, the faster time seemed to move.
Bart looked upward. "We both drifted up here, so it would make sense this cave factored in somehow." Another drop fell. "See that, the stuff dripping from overhead?" Sun looked up. "That's our miracle fluid, made from bat guano, good old nitric acid."
"You mean," Juane turned a little green, "The thing that's going to save humanity is bat poop?"
Some of the others shuddered as well. That was a very unpleasant thought. Penny looked around, confused. 'Why are my fellow students looking ill?' She didn't get the whole stigma.
"WHAT!? NO WAY! WHAT IS THAT?" Sun called out in shock.
"I did anticipate that question," Bart began, "But I'm not going to waste my breath explaining to a simpleton like you."
The cinema suddenly showed a petrified swallow resting on a log. "Let me guess," Sun proposed, "You pour some of this liquid on the bird, the stone breaks, and the bird wakes up."
Watts scoffed. "Obviously, it's not that simple, or Young Bart would have already begun reviving people by now."
Hazel gave Watts a look. "Give the boy a break; most of us wouldn't know that."
Watts rolled his eyes. 'I'm surrounded by idiots.' He suddenly felt like he just knocked off somebody by the name of Scar for whatever reason. Maybe some drug lord?
"Oh, how I wish it were that simple; that'd be awesome," Bart said in an exasperated tone. They watched the bird do nothing before falling back in a defeated sigh. "I've been busting my ass like hell, trying to find a solution, but I'm no closer to the answer than before you showed up."
Sun looked away, partially in shame. "So, what you're saying is that there are things even science can't explain."
Watts let out a very audible curse. "HOW DARE YOU INSUATE SUCH A THING! EVERYTHING CAN BE EXPLAINED BY SCIENCE, AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOU BESMRISH ITS GOOD NAME!"
Sun yelped as he hid again from the very angry scientist.
"Tch, don't be absurd. When faced with the scientific method, fantasy and magic never really stand up." Bart said as he walked into the lab. "If only I had some alcohol, I could then make some Nital." Sun seemed to have a look of realization at the word Alcohol.
"Combine the Nitric Acid with Alcohol; we get Nital, a powerful etching agent used in industrial settings." The infographic on the screen showed the chemical makeup of the Nital.
Watts, who had calmed down somewhat, sketched down the chemical recipe for Nital. Who knew when it would come in handy?
"What… did you just say?" Sun asked.
Bart looked at Sun, confused. "Huh? I said we could make Nital. The chemical can get into the ferrite grain bounds and-" He was interrupted by Sun.
"No, don't confuse me with some science talk." Sun shook his head as he pulled out a fistful of Grapes. "Wine comes from grapes, right? And that is a type of Alcohol."
Bart looked at the grapes in shock before turning to Sun and grinning. "Not bad, ya big oaf!"
"Way to go, Sun!" Neptune called out.
The other students cheered in their own ways as Sun blushed from all the praises. "It's not that big a deal."
"Not that big a deal?" Wiess began, "With this, they may actually solve petrification. Or at least, start freeing more people."
It shifted to the afternoon, where Bart pulled off a couple of grapes and crushed them in hand. He looked incredibly bored. Bart then glanced up to see Sun place down a large container of grapes before jumping in and crushing them under his weight. He began to rapidly stomp his feet with a yell.
"And back to being hardworking and funny," Ruby commented as she nibbled on a cookie.
Sun, deciding to go all in, said, "It's my best traits." He winked at the reaper but suddenly leaned back in fear as Yang gave him red eyes again. 'Okay, note to self, don't flirt with Ruby, at least when the family is around.'
"Yeah, OK. I'll let you handle this; it's only logical." The screen then showed Sun pouring the mashed grapes into a vase. "Making wine is a stupidly simple process; you just crush grapes, put them in a container, and mix the wine every day for three weeks."
"It can't be that simple," Taiyang said, mimicking the thoughts of his daughter.
Qrow and Raven nodded before Qrow opened his mouth. "Actually, it is. The only reason why I haven't bothered to do it myself is because I'm often away on week-long missions." The male of the twins said.
"Yep," Raven confirmed. "In fact, the tribe often makes some alcohol for us to enjoy at dinner."
Roman Torchwick raised an eyebrow. 'I see a way to make some illegitimate money.' He smirked and signaled to Neopolation. Roman Torchwick was a man of many businesses, so why not his own wine? Of course, he would have to go through a shell group with no "official" ties to him, but that can be sorted later.
Sun then began to strain the wine, keeping the floating bits out. "I just thought of something," Sun prompted, "underage drinking is a crime too."
Bart bit out a chuckle. "Not a problem, 'cause we're both a little over 3700 years old." He said, waving his cup of wine around.
Many of the adults shuffled a bit. "I mean," Ironwood started, "If you wanted to be loose with the law, then technically, yes."
Glynda rolled her eyes. "Even if they aren't technically violating the letter of the law, their bodies are still that of teenagers. Alcohol will impair their bodies' current job of brain development." She pointed out that fact.
Sun thought about that for a moment. "That's right." He paused before bursting out in laughter. He picked up the jug to his lips and drank simultaneously as Bart. Sun quickly spat out the foul drink.
Bart grinned. "Not bad. But it's ten billion times worse than what was on the market in our time."
Roman frowned. That's right, he'd have to make a good product if he wanted to sell. This was going to be tricky. But at least he wouldn't need to go through an official inspection by Vale, so that would speed things up.
Sun looked shocked. "That was so easy, just smashing some grapes and waiting around."
"Unfortunate as it is," Bart cracked his neck, "Our pace is about to slow down cause now we have to distill this into something we can use."
The scene shifted outside the hut as a large container sat over a roaring fire. "This will be a distilling course for Dummies. First, we heat, then we drip the alcohol from the water. This works because Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water. Do that a few times, and we'll get as pure alcohol as we can. Don't worry; people were doing this as far back as three thousand B.C. in Ancient Mesopotamia. Now get exi…" The container broke apart, splashing Bart in a bunch of wine.
A lot of the immature people snickered at Bart's misfortune. Bartholomew, in good nature, laughed along. Port was also boisterous, realizing he had been talking to himself for a while.
Dripping clothes dried on a clothes rack, as Bart, humiliated, worked on fixing the pot at night. Sun tried to coax him with some food.
The days rapidly moved as seasons changed and snow covered the ground. Bart still sat at the large container, even in the freezing cold. Sun meanwhile went off to see Blake's statue and brushed off some snow. It was only when he touched his chin that he noticed all the facial hair that had been growing.
It cut to Bart pulling up a clam from under the snow and grinning. He demonstrated the motion on himself before pointing the clam at Sun's face. And in a rapid barrage, all the facial hair was pulled out, and Sun's lips were puffed up. Bart rolled on the ground at his misfortune.
Now it was Sun's turn to be laughed at. He didn't take it as well but was still cool about it. However, he did make a mental note to learn to shave when razors were not available to avoid that situation. That looked extremely painful.
Soon, winter gave rise to spring, and armed with distilled alcohol, Bart and Sun attempted to revive any of the birds with different nital solutions. As Bart kicked a bucket in disappointment, a sudden drop fell, and he turned. There, lying by its lonesome, was a single feather that had been freed from the petrification.
"They did it." Ruby breathed out.
A second passed. "THEY DID IT!" Everyone who was not a mature adult called out. This was phenomenal; they could start bringing people back.
"Wait, who's going to be first?" Cardin asked.
"Well, obviously, it's gonna be me," Yang commented. "That close-up shot of me was enough of a clue."
"Maybe," Weiss spoke, "But it could also be a literary distraction. The obvious choice is Blake; after all, she was why Sun was so determined."
Blake blushed at that. She wondered if, at any point, Adam would have done the same for her if they were in the same situation. After thinking about it, she realized probably not. The Adam she knew wasn't that kind.
"Listen up, Sun." Bart paused as he stood over a bird statue and poured what was in the jug onto the stone. "It's not that there aren't things that science can't explain. Not at all. Rather, Science is the painful, slow-in-the-ass process we use to determine the world's truths." A crack was heard. "When we discover something that shocks us, then break it down, that's science." The bird's eye was shown before the rest of the stone broke away, and the bird rose in the air.
"That bird," Winter commented, her eyes slightly wet, "It's beautiful."
"Yes," Penny said, taking a few internal pictures of the bird. "I agree, Specialist Schnee."
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!" Sun called out, seeing the bird take flight. Bart smirked as he sat down.
"I did it. I'm going to beat back fantasy with science as my only weapon. And with this, I'll save everyone." Bart said to himself. "Now get excited."
"Dr. Stone will return later. A Mad Bomber vs The Avenger of Ruby Shippuden will begin in Fifteen Minutes. Please be ready at that time." Those words flashed on the screen. A timer then appeared, counting down.
People got up and began to stretch. Alcor looked at his phone and disappeared. He needed to take care of that bleedover before it became a nuisance or, even worse, an inconvenience.
Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang were both horrified and relieved to return to the world of shinobi. They likely wouldn't be seeing Qrow, but at the same time, they didn't know who it was they would be watching. And Alcor had disappeared before he could answer questions.
Roman and Neo went off to sketch up some ideas for their new source of income while the other villains gathered for an impromptu meeting outside of the Faunus' hearing range.
"Damn that Alcor. He's all but completely ruined the plan!" Arthur bit out.
"Perhaps if you might not have been so inquisitive, then he wouldn't have revealed that." Cinder pointed out. Arthur gave her a glare that could melt icecaps.
"Oh yes," Cinder's eyes rolled, "That'll help."
"Well, at least I'm trying to add and salvage to our plans." Arthur boasted. "All you're doing is following orders like the good dog you are and not contributing anything."
"HOW DARE YOU! I should skewer you right where you stan…" Cinder hissed at him.
"Enough, both of you." Salem's voice cut in. "We will not bicker like children."
They both stepped back from tearing each other apart. "As Arthur so helpfully pointed out, we'll have to draw up new plans," Salem said. "But, we won't know what will be the best to implement until we've made through profiles of everyone. Ozpin has not divulged my true identity to any of his students, so getting close enough should be no issue. The issue… is Ironwood. He's paranoid and likely ordered the two under him to avoid us at all costs. But we might be able to exploit that as well."
"Yes! You speak truth, my goddess. By Your command." Everyone mentally rolled their eyes at Tyrian.
Blake looked at Sun. "So, you, uh, had feelings for me?" She asked.
Sun looked off to the side. "Yeah. Still kinda do. But… I know when I'm beaten. Whoever is going to end up with you is going to be lucky. Shame Alcor won't tell." Blake remained silent. "You know, I thought I had a chance."
"It's not your fault. You're handsome, and you're funny to boot." Blake commented, "It's just, well…"
"You?" Sun offered.
"In a way, yes. My… old relationship with Adam was… difficult. And it left an impression on me. But don't let my personal distaste for men stop you. Whoever you end up dating will be very lucky to have you." Blake tried to motivate him.
"Does that mean you find men ugly?" Sun asked. "Because if that Bull is your example, I don't blame you. Who would want to date garbage?"
"No." Blake shook her head. "If my reading habits say anything, I'm still sexually attracted, and if my future relationship becomes a more open one, I might be… down to have some fun. But I have issues trying to romantically connect with men." She held out a hand. "I wouldn't mind being friends. If that interests you."
Sun looked at her open hand for a moment before taking it. "I suppose this is where I reintroduce myself. Hi. I'm Sun Wukong. I'm a Monkey Faunus, and I study at Haven Academy in Mistral. I like hanging out with friends."
Blake smiled. "I'm Blake Belladona. I'm a Cat Faunus; I'm the daughter of Chieftain Ghira Belladonna and study at Beacon in Vale. I like reading."
"Look at you, with quite the pedigree." Sun jokingly teased.
Blake let go of his hand. "Stop that, mister stowaway."
The two just laughed. Over around the corner, both of their teams smiled. Yang looked at Neptune. "We're still gonna kick your ass at the VYTAL Festival."
"Oh, it's on, sister!" He dramatically pointed at the Busty Blonde.
Sun and Blake looked at each other again. "Should we tell them we can hear them?" Sun asked.
"Nah. Just let them be."
Hallo! It's been a while, huh? Well, I've been decent. Tried to get a job and all that. But failed the interview. Oh well. At least I'm now taking Google IT certification online, so I'm not entirely unproductive. If you want to support my writing, I have a financial self-help book for sale. Only one easy payment of 99 cents. Financial Advice from a Basement Gremlin by Avraham Cox on Amazon Kindle store. Get it!