Galactic Shift Extend

by Seanzilla1988

A familiar Beastkin goes through a familiar abandoned Cauldron. However, she doesn't end up in another timeline, but Bellwood, home to a teen with a watch he wears on his arm that can change his shape to save the world from harm.

77. Grimm Eclipse

GammaTron: Welcome to part two! …Ignore the rubble and the robots fighting in the distance. I may have called in a favor that Kaito-Black owed and sicced Don ZenkaiOh on the robot Z0 brought.

SZ: Yeah…they've been going at it for quite some time now…*flinches as an explosion went off*yup…there goes the donut shop…and z0's going berserk over said donut shop's destruction.

Z0: BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! AND SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

GT: …Good thing we've got all this negativity. Lotta Grimm needed for this chapter. So…We do not own anything but our original ideas for this story, folks. SZ, let us flee for a safe spot as they rampage. *grabs SZ and runs off before the camera is stepped on by Don ZenkaiOh suplexing GaoGaiGar*

Z0: HELL AND HEAVEN! Gemu Giru Gan Go Gufo…

BOOM!

---

After arriving in their new world, the Omni Team had been put through some intense training and made many new friends in the form of Teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as their strange friends whom they had here as well. Right now they were just…relaxing and stuff given it was vacation for the two teams from Beacon.

"I'll be honest, I have never seen a rabbit like Bluey," Ren noted, watching as Lambda gave the Blupee a carrot that he happily munched on.

"Special," Lambda replied, petting Bluey.

"It was a…one of a kind discovery," Noel explained.

"I see," Ren noted.

"I have another pet at home, currently being taken care of by some friends of ours," Noel added.

"Mari…mink," Lambda added.

"...How many pets do you have?" Jaune asked.

"Just the three," both Vermillion sisters replied, "We love them all equally."

"Aww~ It's like with me and Zwei," Ruby smiled.

"Zwei?" Noel repeated.

"My Corgi a-"

"YOU HAVE A CORGI?!" Noel exclaimed as she was instantly before her with Lambda, Bluey on the latter's head.

"Noel, Noel no!" Mai yelped as she quickly pulled the blonde back, "...You too, Lambda…"

"...Apologies," Lambda whispered as she walked away from Ruby with Bluey giving a tiny wave.

"I am so sorry for them," Mai whispered as she bowed her head a bit, "They just…really like corgis."

"Adorable loaf of cuteness!" Noel declared.

"Precious doggos," Lambda added.

"Oh that we can agree," Ruby nodded, "And Zwei is the best boy in the world!"

"..." Noel and Lambda looked at each other for a moment before looking back at her, "Have you heard of corgi parties?"

"No, I haven't…tell me more." Ruby smiled.

"Oh geez…" Mai facepalmed as the three were now talking about corgis.

"And now there's three of her," Weiss sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to fight off the migraine.

"Ms. Vermillion!"

"Eep!" Noel yelped, jumping and turning to see Daishinji approach with Funkfreed in his sword state…while carrying a case.

"While you have handled his needs as an elephant, you have been slightly neglectful of his needs when he is a blade," Daishinji informed.

"Hah?!" Ruby gawked.

"I…I have?" Noel asked, worried for her elephant-sword.

"Ah. Small delay in the spear-building because you are in need of some maintenance lessons on sword care!" Daishinji declared, "Ruby, abduct her and bring her to the forge!"

"Eh?!" Noel exclaimed, about to run off before Lambda grabbed her with one of her Ancient Flails, "...mm…L-La-chan, let me go…"

"Negative," Lambda replied, "Wanting to see the forge."

"Hah?!" Noel gawked as her sister carried her off after Daishinji and Ruby.

"...She's gonna be okay, right?" Mai asked Ren and Jaune

"Eh, don't worry about it. They just…really like weapons," Jaune stated.

'...At least they'll have some form of common ground with her,' Mai thought.

---

"HNNNGGG!" Makoto and Yang grunted, currently arm wrestling as they gripped the edge of the table they were sitting at.

"...I'll bite. What brought this on?" Naoto asked, walking over to Blake as she was currently reading a book.

"They wanted to see who was stronger, so they decided on an arm wrestling contest."

"...Oh, that poor table," Naoto shook his head.

"Do you wanna know how long they've been at it?" Ben asked.

"H-how long?"

"I think it's been the better part of…an hour now." Ben explained.

"An hour?" Naoto blinked, "...I'll say it again…that poor table."

"Come on, Yang! You can do it!" Nora cheered on, "I got pancakes riding on ya!"

"...wait. You guys were betting?" Naoto blinked.

"I guess we are…"

"...I'm guessing it's food we're betting with?" Naoto asked.

"Yep. A tuna roll on Makoto," Blake replied.

"...Eh, I'll bet a smoothie on the table breaking," Naoto replied.

"I'll take that bet," Ben spoke.

"Give…up yet…?!" Yang grunted.

"Heh…as…if!" Makoto grinned a bit.

"Good…Didn't want to be disappointed!" Yang grinned back as they both stood up, gripping the table tight as the two brawlers attempted to push the other's arm down.

"If you really want them to go all out, why not suggest the loser eats Noel's cooking?" Skurd whispered.

"That's just cruel," Ben muttered before seeing Naoto grin, "...dude…don't do it, man."

"Losers eat Noel's cooking!" Naoto called.

"?!" Makoto froze for a moment, nearly losing before quickly pushing harder to get Yang's arm down, panic in her eyes, "I am so sorry, but I am not eating Noellie's cooking today!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Yang asked.

"Look over at Mai and what she's nibbling on," Makoto replied.

"You mean that…wha…what is that and why is it censored?!" Yang gawked.

"I like you like a sister…but…this is self preservation mode, buddy…so don't hate me!" Makoto began pulling her arm back to gain better leverage.

"Wait-wait-wait-wait!" Yang grunted as it got harder and harder for her, "Like heck…I'm losing here!" she snapped, her eyes flashing red as she started pushing back.

Kento walked past as he looked at what was happening. He tapped the table, making it creak…and crack apart into splinters as the two girls fell to the ground as a result of this, "Draw. Great, let's move on." he walked away.

"Ha! You girls owe us a smoothie!" Naoto grinned.

"Aw man~!" Nora complained.

"No way! I call foul he…he vanished…how'd he vanish?" Makoto blinked, realizing Kento was gone, just small sparks of electricity in the air where he was.

"His Semblance," Yang explained, currently lying underneath Makoto, "He's like fast…REALLY fast."

"Speed of lightning fast," Nora added.

"That is stupid fast…" Makoto muttered, 'And my boyfriend can turn into speedy aliens for crying out loud!'

"...Does that mean both have to eat Noel's cooking?" Nora asked, causing Makoto and Yang to freeze.

"Technically, neither of them won…" Naoto noted, a grin on his face.

"What did I ever do to you~?" Makoto whined.

"Yesterday morning involving my hammock being used as a slingshot with me as the ammo," Naoto deadpanned.

"I mean, Tsukasa does that to you all the time…" Makoto muttered.

"Yeah…but he's kinda scary…" Naoto muttered as, at that, a boot flew through the air and hit Ben in the face.

"Gah!" the alien hero yelped, falling onto his back, "...Why me?"

"See!?" Naoto pointed, "He does this somehow!"

"Seriously, I did nothing wrong this time…" Ben grumbled before noticing a note in the boot and read it, "'This is why I go solo more often than not. Being a team leader is more of a burden.' …Of course he'd say that."

"Well…we're doomed…" Yang sighed.

"We're goners," Makoto slumped.

"Unfortunately so Babe." Ben sighed, "Don't worry. I'll buy you all your favorite food for you to enjoy once you can taste again."

"Okay it's totally unfair now. She has a true love to take care of her after…I just have a Blake and a Weiss…" Yang complained.

"I'm not taking care of you…" Weiss called out.

"I will begrudgingly take care of you." Blake rolled her eyes with charming sarcasm.

"Mmm…"

"...I'll offer to buy her favorite too," Ben offered.

"My man!" Yang beamed as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "Ya know how t' pick 'em, Koto!"

"Of course! He's my man after all!" Makoto beamed as she joined her.

"Mako-Hmph!"

"...ahem! Uh hey," Naoto spoke up, earning Makoto and Yang's attention as he pointed down, "You may wanna let him breath."

"Hmm?" the two busty brawlers blinked at that before looking down, seeing Ben's face engulfed by the sides of their cleavage, "Oop! Sorry!" the two yelped as they moved away from Ben.

"GAh!" Ben gasped as he took in some fresh air.

"You know if I didn't have a girl I need to search for…I'd totally be jealous of you, Ben," Naoto stated.

"Or perhaps he enjoyed it~" Nora teased, "He is a boy after all."

"...and if it was Ren in that type of situation?" Blake questioned.

"Wha-~?! Pfft! N-n-no! That won't happen!" Nora denied as she looked away, chuckling nervously as she blushed.

"She'd kill us if we tried." Yang spoke to Makoto.

"Oh for sure." Makoto nodded.

"You don't get between a girl and her man."

"Oh yeah," Makoto nodded as the two high fived.

"I think I have brain damage…" Ben groaned.

"Oh you've taken it before from your woman," Skurd quietly huffed.

"Yeah…just her…"

"Well you obviously need to work up your endurance then," Skurd muttered.

"?" Blake blinked, looking down just as Skurd slithered back to underneath the Omnitrix, '...ok. I know I heard someone talking that time…'

"Joy…now are we going to finally do something interesting…or watch you all prove that between most of you, there is one living brain cell desperate for oxygen?" Weiss sighed.

"Well no need to be so crabby." Yang huffed.

"I'm sorry if I don't find your nonsense entertaining." she huffed right back.

"And here I thought we were becoming friends." Yang grumbled.

"Even if we are…that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy the same things as you. What makes you think I'd find you and your new twin from an alternate reality bashing your heads against each other entertaining."

"Wha…alternate…pfft…that's…." Makoto muttered.

"Alright I take it back…you're the smarter one Yang…" Weiss sighed.

"Hey…I mean thanks…but hey!" Yang put her hands on her hips, "Well what would you rather do…and don't say homework…"

"Please…I finished it all already." Weiss muttered.

"Same." Blake spoke up.

"...can I copy?" Yang asked.

"No." both replied in unison.

"Dang it…"

"...we feel your pain," Ben and Makoto admitted.

---

"Daishinji should be done with the final modifications in a few. He just needs to temper the blades and finish the inner mechanisms. Are you sure you want it to be totally 0 dust?" Ruby asked Mai.

"Yes, it will be more effective for me in the long run. The spear fighting style my Mom taught me works better without it. But if I am in the market for something that uses Dust I'll look you up again Ruby." Mai smiled, 'Thank god Tsukasa told me Dust stops working if you take it off this planet…'

"Ahh…can do!" Ruby smiled back, "Just happy to help."

"It means a lot, we've been struggling to find a place to repair it. So your help is greatly appreciated. We've just been on a really long trip." Mai sighed.

"Yeah no offense but you and your friends don't look like your…technical experts." Ruby muttered.

"None taken, we relied on smarter people for that." Mai nodded.

"Ah no worries, I enjoyed the challenge." Ruby smiled, "Still how bad was that Grimm that messed up your weapon like that?"

"Pretty bad…" Mai muttered.

As the two talked they walked past the teachers lounge and stopped as they heard a loud continuing beep coming from within. They walked back and peeked in to see what seemed to be an alarm going off next to a computer. They wanted to check but also knew it might not be smart to just barge in.

"Hello girls." Port smiled walking past them while wearing giant headphones playing something, which prevented him from hearing the alarm, "Oh what's going on in here, hmm…a whole lot of…oh a beeping light…Beeping light!?" he panicked running in, "All hands on deck! This is not a drill!" he checked the computer, "Oh…its just a bug with the security network in the Emerald forest…that's…WHAT!?" he shouted as his brows lifted up to show his shocked eyes. "Oh this is not good…wait…" an idea soon popped into his head, realizing he had by some students…some potentially…helpful students, "...oh miss Rose!"

"Eh?" Ruby blinked as Port ran out of the room towards her and Mai, "Is everything okay?"

"Well no…not in as many words…see the security system we use to track Grimm movements and prevent them from getting too close to the city just in case, has…gone down." Port explained.

"Oh is that all…what?!" the two girls snapped.

"Yes and I was wondering if you and your friends would…oh say help me out with this task?"

"...give us a moment," Ruby said as she and Mai huddled up, "We have to help, vacation or otherwise."

"Agreed, but….well technically I still don't have my weapon repaired," Mai whispered.

"We'll just all go. Four teams plus one incomplete one, that should cover it." Ruby offered.

"...good idea," Mai nodded before they looked back over at Port, "We'll help."

"Splendid! Oh and if you can keep this secretary from the other teachers…that would be pleasant."

"Shouldn't it be important to inform them as well?" Mai asked.

"Yes, but I am hoping you lot can finish the task before they have time to notice," Port replied.

"...What you gonna give us if we do?" Ruby asked.

"...oh you are a smart one, Miss Rose." he muttered, "I suppose I should have seen that coming given your parentage. Very well do this for me and I shall give you, and all your friends one month pass on assignments from my class…but not major tests!"

"Throw in a month's supply of cookies…and we have a deal." Ruby smiled.

"Two weeks…"

"Three weeks…and they have to be the good kind." Ruby replied.

"...Deal!" Port declared.

"...cookies?" Mai deadpanned.

"What? Cookies are good," Ruby argued.

---

"...something tells me we just got pulled into something," Blake muttered as she and the others were currently eating lunch.

"What makes you say that?" Rex asked, pausing from eating.

"...3…2…1…" Blake counted down as Ruby blurred into the area, a bewildered Mai standing next to her with bits of rose petals in her hair.

"We got a really important mission!" Ruby shouted.

"So much red…" Mai whispered.

"What mission?" Blake asked, "We're about to head out on break."

"Yeah we're going home to Dad and Zwei tomorrow," Yang added.

"This is more important!" Ruby shouted.

"How could it be more important than taking a break?" Jaune asked as he took a sip of his drink.

"The security system used to track and keep out Grimm from entering the city is shut down."

"PFFT!" Jaune spattake at that.

"Ah dude!" Rex exclaimed, ending up in the crossfire of the spit take.

"Why didn't you lead with that!?" everyone shouted.

"Wait. Why aren't the teachers taking care of this, sending Senior students?" Weiss asked.

"Could be that most Third years get to leave earlier…and most second years left already…and we're the first ones Professor Port found." Ruby spoke.

"Wait what about…" Yang paused, noticing their new friends, "Touma's team…aren't they coming…?"

"Hm?" Rintaro looked up from his book on pastries. He then noticed a lack of Daishinji and Kento left, "...I…do not know where my team is…our Leader vanished on us a few days ago…I really do hope that does not become a trend…"

"Well…we can bring Rintaro." Ruby smiled.

"Well…I couldn't help but hear the call to adventure." a voice spoke as everyone jumped to see Sun there, "I'm in!"

"Sun!?" Blake gawked.

"He's been living in our dorm since the incident at the docks…" Rintaro explained.

"Yeah no offense but I kinda don't want to spend my time here with Mr. Ogami and his never ending punches to the face when I mess up…or when he wants to make his son laugh at my pain." Sun explained.

"Yikes…" Naoto cringed at that.

"...well, we could use more people to help," Pyrrha spoke up, "Gives us a chance to clear more ground in finding the security system."

"Also faster we get it done, the faster we can all get back, prepare for vacation…and ban Ruby from cookies for said vacation as punishment for making us go on a mission without our consent." Blake added.

"HAH?!" Ruby gawked at that, "B…but….the cookies…"

"All in agreement?" Blake asked.

"Aye!" Weiss and Yang held their hands up.

"All opposed?" Blake looked at Ruby.

"NAY!" Ruby shouted as she raised her fist up, "This is mutiny I tells ya!"

"I vote Aye, majority rules, sorry." Blake smiled.

"NOHO~!" Ruby cried as she fell to her knees, crying small waterfall tears, "My cookies~"

"...Uh….th-there there…" Mai whispered as she gently patted her shoulder.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Had to help out with something," Sari called out as she walked over…and saw the scene before her, "...what….did I miss?"

"...well…" Makoto began.

"Oh please don't tell me we got pulled into a mission…" Sari sighed.

"Her fault," Weiss deadpanned as she pointed at Ruby.

"It's our job!"

"Not yet it isn't!" Weiss and Yang complained.

"I mean…but it actually is…" Rintaro argued, "More so for some than others…" he whispered.

"...he does have a point," Ben spoke up, "Plus…we can use this to get some practice in."

"SEE?!" Ruby exclaimed as she motioned to Ben.

"Ugh…so much for our day off," Jaune sighed.

"Aye…" Rex sighed in agreement.

---

"Alright Port gave us a map to the first Security Relay station, and the second one. I think with our big groups we should split into two decent sized groups and handle both." Ruby smiled as everyone met just outside the Emerald Forest while dressed in some more battle ready attire, "Then there is a third towards the edge of the forest for us to check out, we can move so that both Search parties meet up at the final Network Relay, boom bam, thank ya ma'am!" Ruby smiled.

"I am a man Ruby…" Rintaro muttered.

"No…it's an expression…"

"You are thanking someone who doesn't exist…?" Rintaro blinked.

"You know it's a good thing you are a good friend cause you are just a handful sometimes, man." Ruby complained.

"You honestly are," Kento sighed.

"Hmm….seems easy enough," Ben noted as he looked out into the forest.

"Question is who goes where…?" Makoto added.

"...scanning," Lambda spoke as her visor appeared, making some of the others tense, "...one inside a cave, one amongst ruins, and a third in an abandoned city."

"...what…did she just…" Jaune began as Lambda's visor vanished.

"Suggestion….each two teams will take along those that are familiar with this place," Lambda stated, "One to cover the one in the cave, and the other for the one amongst ruins."

"...yeah Lambda's really smart," Makoto muttered to Yang.

"But…that doesn't explain how she made a visor appear like that," Weiss stated.

"I am very fast," Lambda replied, "You just didn't pay attention."

"...ugh….nevermind then," Weiss sighed, "Let's just…talk on who goes where."

"Oh! I propose Team BANH goes with Team RWBY and Rintaro!" Makoto offered.

"Is this so you can team up with Yang?" Mai asked in a deadpanned tone, holding onto a regular looking spear considering her actual one was still being repaired.

"Shh…don't read my mind." Makoto spoke up.

"Well it's not going to be fun…but I suppose it's already decided." Weiss groaned.

"I guess I'll go with Team JNPR and RKLS," Kento spoke up, "While Sun and Neptune can split between who they'd like to follow, two joint teams of 10. Normally I think one team alone could handle each path. But given we are students, if we are busted, at the very least we won't be called out for going in recklessly."

"Oh good call Kento! Just what Touma would decide if he was around." Rintaro smiled.

"Well he is my best friend, of course I can think like him sometimes." Kento smirked before whispering to Rintaro, "Besides, your skill and sword alone should be fine if anything comes up, that girl is as strong as Yang and we've seen the damage she can cause when angry."

"Hmm…yes you make a good point." Rintaro nodded.

"Exactly."

"Well this should be interesting," Neptune noted, a clothed tube on his back as he looked over at Sun, "So who're you going with?"

'Hmm…can't say," Sun muttered as he looked between the two teams.

"Well you did drag me along," Neptune stated, "Plus there is the chance I may end up distracting the girls…"

"Feh," Ruby and Weiss waved off, making him gawk a bit.

"Already have a boyfriend," Makoto added.

"Hahaha…ah dude this place already has a pretty boy." Sun pointed to Kento.

"I find myself more classically handsome than pretty." Kento smirked.

"That's Kento for…everyone calls me pretty…I'm trying to start something else…" Ruby whispered.

"..." Kento smirked as he poked her shoulder and made Ruby's hair stand on end from a small jolt of static discharge that made her yelp from the jolt, "Oh look she went Super Ruby."

"AHH!" Ruby yelped as she tried to get her hair down, "K-KENTO!"

"What? I'd try it with Yang, but that'd probably earn me a trip to the stratosphere," Kento retorted.

"Smart man." Yang smirked as she tried not to giggle at Ruby's hair. She was totally failing though… "Pfft…Super Ruby…I gotta…I just gotta…" she held her scroll and took a picture, "Dad will love this."

"YANG~!" Ruby whined, now trying to reach up and grab Yang's scroll…while the blonde was holding it up in the air.

"Hold on…let me help with that," Mai spoke as she walked over, pulling out a hair comb as she began to comb Ruby's hair, "Trust me…I know how it feels when your hair gets messy and stuck in a certain way…"

"Really?"

"You think hair this long is easy to brush?" Mai questioned, holding up her ponytail.

"She's not wrong," Noel admitted, "Her hair just practically floats in the water whenever we go to a hot spring."

"Yeah, taking care of long hair is a chore." Yang sighed gently brushing some of her own hair with her hand.

"Seeing all Yang does for her hair is why I go short." Ruby admitted.

"My Semblance is literally electric based…long hair was never an option…" Nora sighed.

"Eh. Not really my thing either," Sari shrugged, "It's why I usually keep my pair in pigtails."

"I think we're getting off topic here," Naoto muttered.

"Do you want to enter the monster infested forest first?" Makoto asked.

"No, because I'm pretty sure I'd get jumped the moment I step in," Naoto countered.

"Smart man," Jaune nodded.

"...ooh! What if we drew straws?" Sun suggested, "Anyone from one team that ends up with the red straw has to go in first."

"Seems fair." Most everyone agreed.

"Anyone got any straws?" Rex asked.

"Hmm…let me see…" Makoto muttered as she reached into her tail, "I think I have some in here somewhere…aha! Found them!" she beamed as she pulled out a bundle.

"...you keep straws in your tail?" Blake asked with a raised brow.

"What? I like to be prepared."

-linebreak-

"...and yet somehow I ended up with the red straw…" Makoto muttered as she walked down the forest path.

"Well that's just how things go." Ben sighed.

"True," Mai nodded.

"...well least we can get this over with," Makoto sighed.

"Yeah…a few Beowolve's won't scare us," Yang added.

'...Why don't I like the sound of that?' Makoto thought.

"I think I see a small clearing ahead," Noel spoke up.

"Good. That might give u-" Mai began before some faint growling was heard, "...what was that?"

"...babe, please tell me that was your or my stomach," Makoto whispered with a pale look.

"...You know I can't tell you that and I'm sorry about it…" Ben sighed.

"...mmm~" Makoto began to whimper as a pair of red eyes flashed from the woods

"...wh…what a-" Noel began before another pair flashed, making her yelp as she quickly summoned Bolverk.

Slowly stepping out of the woods was a pack of large wolf-like Grimm, their claws dragging against the forest floor as they bared their fangs.

"...Beowolves," Rintaro frowned, about to pull his sword out before….

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Makoto screamed as she ran up a nearby tree, "I KNEW IT! DOGS ARE TRULY FROM HELL!"

"Wait! Makoto! I don't think that's smart…and they're chasing her…" Ben sighed.

"She's scared of dogs?" Weiss asked.

"She had some bad experiences…It's kinda ironic all things considered…" Ben muttered.

"I…did not help with that phobia…" Noel muttered as she sheepishly rubbed her cheek with her finger.

'…I know her pain,' Blake thought as she and the others began to pull out their weapons….except for Ben, 'Hm?'

"We must focus on saving her. Her fear and panic is making her more appetizing for the Grimm," Rintaro spoke.

"WHAT!?" Makoto shouted in panic.

"Stop panicking!" Rintaro shouted.

"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!" Makoto snapped in fear and anger.

"It is! I'm sorry, but it's still true!" Rintaro replied.

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONE DEALING WITH DEVIL DOGS!"

"...ugh. Ben, please go save her and calm her down," Mai sighed before using her spear to smack a Beowolf away, "We'll handle these things from here."

"Right…psst…Skurd…get creative with some abilities here." he whispered to the Watch.

"Hmm…Me?" the Slimbiote asked, peeking one eye out.

"I got a feeling like going Alien around these folks who fight monsters on the regular…is a bad idea." Ben whispered.

"Oh very well, I suppose it's only fair I use this as how do you say…rent payment," Skurd sighed, crawling along Ben's hand and covering it, mimicking his skin color before the palm exploded with fire, "And now you can use Pyronite flames from this hand."

"Oh, you are paying for your room and board and then some…" Ben whispered as he ran to help Makoto.

'...Ok. I know I heard someone that time,' Blake thought, slicing down a Beowolf with one of her blades as she looked over at Ben for a moment, 'Just who is he talking to?'

*BANG BANG!*

"?!" Blake tensed as she quickly turned, seeing a pair of Beowolves standing above her…before falling down with a pair of bullet holes in their heads.

"That was close. They al-kya!" Noel yelped as she jumped away from a swipe from one of the Grimm.

"I got it!" Sun shouted as he smacked the Grimm away with his staff.

"Thank you!" Noel shouted as she jumped and repositioned to fire at more Beowolves.

"My pleasure!"

"Ha!" Rintaro shouted as he sliced down a pouncing Beowolf, quickly turning as he blocked another's calw strike; he grunted, pushing it back before thrusting his sword through as a stream of water shot from the blade and into another one, the water seemingly disintegrating it away.

'...oh right. Magic swordsmen,' Ben thought, punching away a few Beowolves as he looked up at the tree Makoto was hiding in, "You can come down babe!"

"NO! I KNOW THOSE BEAST ARE STILL OUT THERE!"

"...Skurd?"

"One vine coming up," Skurd whispered as Ben's arm changed to a forest green, a vine extending out of his wrist as he used it to climb up…before going back down with Makoto in his arms, a content goofy smile on her face as he rubbed behind her ears with his free hand.

"Alright this should last for a few but when I stop she'll realize I Tricked her…and be pouty for a bit," Ben whispered.

"You know she will," Skurd muttered.

---

"GH?!" Sari grunted as she blocked a strike from a Beowolf, "Of course this wasn't gonna be easy," she muttered before pushing the Grimm away, quickly snapping her fingers before a bolt of green lightning zapped it.

"When is it ever?!" Naoto shouted, ducking under a bite from a Beowolf before he rose up and drove his knee into its jaw.

"Yeah that's pretty much normal around here." Kento shrugged as he deflected a Beowolf's claws.

"GH?!" Jaune grunted as a Beowolf forced him back, the blond using his shield to hold it back as it snapped at him, "Uh Rex! I can really use that weird Semblance of yours right about now!"

"Wh-Weird?!" Rex exclaimed as he ducked under a lunging Beowolf

"Yeah well…It's kinda weird." Jaune admitted, "I'm sorry if that's rude but I don't think I have the time to be careful with my words."

"...understandable b-" Rex began before a Beowolf bit his arm, "GH….oh you asked for it!" he growled, his other arm forming a Slam fist as he punched it away.

A few Beowolves yelped as Lambda smacked each one away with her Ancient Flails, swinging them a bit as she looked around at the few surrounding her, 'Processing…one will lunge at me from behind, one will attempt to bite my leg, one will come at me from above..and the fourth will aim at my neck. The rest will pile on afterwards to try and kill me…Response; smack the first two away, then go for a rising kock with my armor, then summon my blades to pierce the fourth one before it can come close to me, then send them out to pierce the rest before they can lunge straight at me.'

Two of the Beowolves snarled as they pounced at Lambda, only to get smacked aside by a swing of her flail before she did a rising kick, summing part of her armor as the bladed armor pierced the Grimm that tried to pounce at her from above. Another attempted to lunge at her before her blades suddenly embedded into the beast, making it grunt out before Lambda's blades unfolded, slicing the beast apart in a burst of fire as the rest of the Grimm surrounding her were burnt and sliced up. A moment of silence passed before the Beowolves began to fade into black ash, leaving Lambda standing there as her blades floated behind her, taking the shape of a pair of flaming phoenix wings.

"...That was literally the coolest thing I have ever saw," Nora whispered in awe…before raising her hammer up to hit a Beowolf in the face just as it tried to attack her from behind.

"...What kind of swords are those?" Jaune asked with wide eyes.

"...They remind me of those swords that Penny girl had…" Kento whispered to himself, "Autonomous moving all direction weapons…but these ones are one fire…Fire Dust, perhaps?"

"Ahh…." Naoto, Rex and Sari gasped quietly, 'How're we gonna explain that?!'

"That was awesome!" Nora called out, "Do it again! Light everything on fire this time!" she yelped when Ren gently smacked her head, "Sorry…"

"GH?!" Pyrrha grunted as she skidded back, "Heads up…Ursas are coming next!"

"What's an Ursaaaaaaaa?!" Rex exclaimed once he turned, seeing the large bear-like Grimm looking down at him with a growl. "HOLY FRIJOLES!"

"Oh…right…" Kento blinked, returning to reality as he took a step and vanished with a booming thunderclap and flash of light. The next moment, he was behind the Ursa as it groaned…and slowly fell apart in pieces.

"I...I barely even blinked," Sari whispered with wide eyes.

"Speed of light…" Lambda added, "Impressive."

"So anything else we need to worry about?" Kento asked, "Cause I would like to get back sooner than later. Chances are Daishinji has barricaded himself in the forge and has gone nuts…and Gods only know what Touma is doing…wherever he is." he paused, "I'm sure Rintaro is fine. He's so socially inept he probably can't get into trouble that isn't combat based."

---

"WOAH!" Rintaro yelped as an Ursa threw him around, his sword stuck in its teeth as it swung its head wildly.

"Monster bears! Why are there monster bears?!" Makoto screamed.

"Believe me, I have this handled! He's just feisty!" Rintaro called out as he was flung around, "Believe me, compared to Mr. Ogami's training, I feel no pain! No Fear!"

"I…!" Makoto began before an Ursa roared in her face…before she punched it so hard she ended up sending its head high into the sky, "BUZZ OFF, YOGI!"

"Wait…Babe…did you just realize it's easy to kill these things?" Ben blinked as Makoto also blinked in realization.

"...One moment," Makoto spoke to everyone before running off with Ben, using her tail to swat away a Beowolf when it tried to pounce her.

"Wh-?! Where's she going?!" Weiss snapped.

'...Oh don't tell me…' Mai and Noel thought as a green flash faintly went off.

"...What was…" Yang began just as a pair of Ursa prepared to attack her, only for their heads to suddenly be sliced off, "?!"

"Alright hellhounds! Ursas!" Makoto shouted…currently wearing Omniketsu as she hefted up her sword, "I hope you've prepared yourselves, for tonight! I STAB AT THEE!"

"What the…?!" Sun gawked as Makoto started to go nuts on the invading Grimm.

"..." Weiss and Ruby looked at Makoto as she began tearing apart the Grimm around her, then at themselves, then back at her and at themselves…before slumping by a tree and poking at the ground.

"Where…Where did she get that…?" Blake whispered.

"I don't know, but…" Yang paused as she gave a slow whistle, "Daaaang girl."

"Thanks!" Makoto beamed, "A very trusty outfit for combat and comfort!"

"I am not comfortable…" Omniketsu complained, "This just had to be one of the forms that was kept unlocked for this world."

"...Is she using half a scissors as a sword?" Rintaro blinked.

"Mmm…Wait, what?" Ruby snapped out of her funk to look at it, "AH~! It does look like half a scissors!"

"That's what you noticed?!" Weiss snapped once she was out of her funk.

"DIE DEVIL DOG!" Makoto cackled as she bisected a Beowolf once it pounced straight at her.

"Oh dear…I do believe she's snapped," Skurd whispered.

"Oh god…Makoto's snapped," Mai and Noel realized.

"That doesn't look like practical combat attire…" Rintaro muttered as he ignored the Ursa as it was trying to break his aura by biting his shoulder.

"It actually gives me a boost in power!" Makoto called out, using her blade to block a strike from an Ursa, "Oh btdubs, I saw one of the machines in the cave nearby!"

"We'll take care of it!" Ruby spoke up, "You guys…uh…deal with this."

"I know when I need to run the other way from a girl who will kill me," Sun spoke up, joining Team RWBY.

"I just can't help but see that attire as impractical. The boost in power aside…so much skin is exposed. What happens if your Aura runs out?" Rintaro muttered, still focused on that as he ignored the Ursa.

"Simple," Makoto began as a Beowolf and Ursa bit into her, only for her to end up poofing into smoke and an acorn as she sliced their heads off from above, "Nut substitution, baby!"

"I think you're enjoying this way too much…" Noel spoke up.

"You must not have Beowolves where you're from," Rintaro noted, "Because boy does she really not like canines…which is unfortunate. I've met some wonderful canine Faunus before."

"Technically, so have we!" Mai shouted, stabbing her spear into a charging Ursa as she quickly rolled out of the way of it falling over, "She's just afraid of most dogs!"

"The human-looking ones I am fine with! Because they are smart people! Normal dogs, however, are not safe! They are evil!" Makoto shouted.

"You know I had a dog before we met," Omniketsu noted, "Was a good doggo, too. Golden Retriever. I'm sure you would've loved them."

"...You did?" Makoto blinked, stopping for a moment before tossing a Beowolf into an Ursa's open mouth, "...Well, I'm fine with you in your more…canine forms, and I am getting used to Zed…mainly 'cause she's a space dog…"

"...So you do like dogs then," Skurd whispered.

"Very...VERY few!" Makoto hissed as she backfisted an Ursa in the gut, knocking it over several trees.

"Seriously, who's she talking to?" Rintaro pondered.

"Oh right…we can't hear him in that one…" Mai whispered to Noel.

"I totally forgot about that…" she muttered.

"I think your friend is slowly losing her grasp on her mind…maybe it's best to stop her rampage before she does something silly." Rintaro offered, "I would help, but I was explicitly warned to never get in the path of an angry lady…you just don't do it."

"...He's got us there," Mai muttered as Noel nodded a bit in agreement.

"Funky knows that already," Noel noted, looking over at where her elephant was keeping far away from Makoto while stomping on some Beowolves and stabbing an Ursa with his trunk in its sword state.

"I wonder if I'll find a cat that can do that," Rintaro noted, "It seems like a good ability to have, turning into a sword." he crossed his arms while tilting his head, "Then again…that'd probably be Touma's pet thing that can turn into a sword."

"He has a what?" Mai blinked at that.

"He doesn't have one. …At least, I don't think he does," Rintaro replied, rubbing his chin in thought, "...If he does, Daishinji is gonna be mad at him for not sharing a pet that can turn into a sword."

"Ah! D-Daishinji?! W-Where?!" Noel asked, frantically looking around now, "I have the kit for taking care of him when he's a sword! I promise! No more lectures, please~!"

"...Wow…" Mai muttered.

"Yeah…when Daishinji lectures…he makes sure to drill the point deep into your head," Rintaro muttered before an Ursa roared in his face, "...You need a breath mint." the Ursa actually looked offended for the moment before it was beheaded by Rintaro's blade, "...Did I do that right? Nora's going to be more annoying if I didn't."

"You did it right!" Makoto shouted as she ran by, drop-kicking a Beowolf into another as they crashed through a few trees.

"Ahh…good then."

---

"...I feel like I just missed Rintaro making a pun," Nora muttered before smashing an Ursa's head into its body, "RARGH! I hate when I miss that!"

"Nora…" Ren sighed, "Take it out on that Alpha Ursa."

"COME HERE BIG BOY!" Nora roared as she charged at the largest Ursa there.

"How many more left, Lambda?" Sari whispered as she and the rest of her team stood side by side.

"Scanning…" Lambda whispered as she surveyed the area, "...Only a few Beowolfs left and the Alpha Ursa."

"Oh good…so we just need to take the big guy down then," Rex noted.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Naoto added before blinking, "...wow. We really are reckless when together."

"Well as team leader…" Rex began with a grin, summoning his BFS as he pointed it at the Alpha Ursa team JNPR and Kento were fighting, "Let's get reckless!"

"You guys do that!" Neptune shouted, wielding a trident in his hand as he smacked away a few Beowolves, "I'll deal with the stragglers!"

"Understood," Lambda nodded, "Beginning 'Ben' Routine."

"...It's telling when Ben is associated with 'reckless,'" Sari sighed.

"And yet…it has proven effective."

"...Makes sense," Sari muttered, "...regardless…let's get reckless, I guess."

The alpha Ursa roared out, about to swipe at Ren before a bolt of green electricity shocked it, making it growl out in pain before Naoto suddenly slugged it across the face with an energy-coated punch. The Alpha Ursa attempted to bite at him before Lambda's mace clamped down hard on its jaw, making it grunt just as Rex slashed its back.

"Wh-?! Hey! Leave some for us!" Nora complained.

"Nora…" Kento held his sword out, "Charge up," he smirked as it began sparking electricity.

"Oooh~" Nora grinned at that as she grabbed it, feeling a tingly sensation as electricity began to course through her body.

"?! High levels of electricity detected," Lambda whispered as her visor began to flash.

"Ohhh~ Time.." Nora began, her eyes faintly glowing as she hefted her hammer up, "...to bring the hammer down!"

"...oh I get it," Sari noted before looking at Rex, "Toss me up!"

"Que?"

"I have an idea~" Sari grinned, putting her sword and shield away as she brought her hammer out, green electricity crackling through it.

"...Some of us may need to get to cover," Lambda advised to some of the others.

"Fast!" Sari added as she got onto Rex's Slam Fist, "This is gonna be a big boom!"

"You heard her!" Nora shouted as she jumped onto the same hand, "Toss us up, Roboboy!"

"I'm not a robot!" Rex complained.

"You sure? You got…know what? Not gonna question," Nora muttered.

"Good…so faster we deal with this thing…" Rex began as he reeled his arm back, "The better!" he shouted as he tossed the two high into the air.

The alpha Ursa growled out as it looked up, anware of the others beginning to flee as it glared at the two high up into the air. Once they were at the maximum height, both Nora and Sari gripped their hammers before spinning rapidly in place, becoming a spinning blur of blue and green electricity as they slammed their hammers down on the Ursa's head.

*KRA-COW! BOOOOOOOOM!*

"Hmm…maybe I gave too much energy. Oh well. At least we know it has no major ill effects." Kento shrugged.

"Easy for…urp…you to say…" Sari muttered, her eyes replaced with swirls as she and Nora struggled to stand.

"Ooh…That was a very tingly electric charge from yours, Sari…" Nora whispered, "...Though it oddly has a bit of a mint flavor…"

"Please don't mention mint…I normally don't spin that fast…" Sari whispered as she used her hammer to stand, "It was more of a heat in the moment kind of thing…"

"Ah, you alright?" Kento asked.

"Y-Yeah…Just…urp…need a moment…" Sari assured.

"...still," Pyrrha spoke up, putting her weapons away as she looked around, "I think that was the last of the Grimm…for now."

"Which leaves us with activating the thing," Naoto added, looking over at a large generator-like machine amongst some ruins, "...who's up for it? I'm really not much of a tech savvy guy."

"I'll fix it," Kento spoke as he dashed off again.

"...that man is a jack of all trades…"

"No kidding," Rex muttered.

"One relay left," Lambda spoke, scanning the area, "...Large signal detected near the final relay…threat level A."

"According to the map, the final Relay is near a deserted port town in the Forever Fall Forest." Pyrrha spoke.

"Probably…the city Lambda…urp. Mentioned," Sari muttered, "Also Rex?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time I suggest something reckless…try and talk me out of it…"

"Got it," Rex nodded with a thumbs up.

"Well at least we finished." Ren sighed, "With one final Relay to fix…"

"I think there's something else to think about," Kento spoke, walking back, "They didn't just shut down," he held up a device, "Someone stuck this thing to the side and was hacking into the system remotely."

"Huh? Mind if I take a look at it?" Sari asked, "Might be able to figure out just what it was doing besides shutting down the Relay system."

"Really now?" Kento asked.

"Yeah. Think of me as the tech equivalent of your friends Daishinji and Ruby…" Sari spoke before Kento stepped back and had her continue with a deadpan expression, "...In terms of my know-how on my subject, not their eccentricities."

"...Okay…But if you do something creepy, I am running for the hills," Kento informed, "Two are creepy enough. Don't need to make it a trinity."

"Please stay normal?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, we also have a Nora…" Jaune pointed.

"Hi!" Nora waved as Kento handed the device over to Sari.

Sari closed her eyes to hide the glow as she started to 'commune' with the piece of tech, 'This tech is pretty amazing for a place that hasn't been able to achieve travel into space yet. So you were built by someone called Dr. Merlot…yes, yes, I know you can shut down these Relay stations, but why? …A built-in camera that operates while attached to a Relay which causes the shut downs since you're draining their power? Okay, that's interesting. So what do they have on file?'

"What's she doing?" Nora whispered, "She's just…standing there…and not menacingly like it should be."

"She's using her Semblance inside of the thing to 'talk' to it," Rex explained, "I don't fully get it, but it's a pretty neat trick. Helped with some issues with my Semblance that I didn't know I was getting."

"Um…Any chance you guys saw a weird kind of Grimm at the Relay station this was at?" Sari asked, "Kinda looked like it was more…green than usual?"

"I didn't find anything…except…green…" Kento muttered, "I saw what looked like green dust along the ground…but…it didn't look like normal dust. It wasn't any normal shade of green to be a type of Wind or Plant Dust…it was more of a…toxic green…"

"Sari, what did the box say?" Naoto asked.

"Well, it used the energy of the Relay station to power up its camera that it was using to observe a green Grimm that was in the area," Sari explained, "Its maker is someone named 'Merlot' and it is the most recent model of its production just behind two others which are at the other two Relay stations in the area observing other green Grimm."

"...You're telling us that there's a Grimm that produces this toxic green Dust Kento found?" Ren asked.

"At least…it looks like Dust," Sari muttered, "I'm not really sure what the Grimm is…just that the creator is observing them in nature."

"Studying Grimm is nothing new. But these devices are disabling the Relays that act as an important safety net to keep Grimm away from population." Kento spoke, "If these were down for too long…who knows how close massive hordes of Grimm could get to a small town?"

"This was dangerous and endangered untold numbers of people. This is criminally selfish," Ren added.

"Alright…so…we got a bad guy. We should fix the last relay and contact the teachers. Promise or not, Professor Port has to tell Ozpin about this," Jaune spoke.

"Agreed. Any chance it could tell us where it last saw this 'green Grimm'?" Kento asked.

"..." Sari closed her eyes again for a few moments, "It was heading in the direction of the third Relay."

"Then let's hurry." Kento spoke, "I get a bad feeling about this. New Grimm types can cause untold damage if we don't understand their potential." he pulled out his Scroll and dialed up Ruby's number, "Ruby, please tell me you guys finished."

=Perfect timing! We finally got this freaky box off the Relay and booted it back up! But uh…we may have kinda broken it…= Ruby muttered.

=Not my fault! You said get it down…I got it down!= Yang shouted.

=A buckshot does not count!= Weiss complained.

"Bring it with you," Kento ordered, "Sari has a part of her Semblance that acts as a Technopath and she got a lot of info from this one we got off the Relay here."

=She's gonna get a vivid flashback of a Fire Dust buckshot to the face…fair warning…= Ruby muttered.

"Not the first nor the last time I've had to hear a device complain about that," Sari sighed, "Just ask Ben and Makoto about the oven…or the curler…or the waffle maker…not the toaster, though; that was Steel mistaking it for that SCP thing because he was on low battery…"

"Oh so you have more weird friends…I can relate," Kento sighed, "You don't wanna know what Daishinji does when he's on low battery, too…" he cringed and thankfully misunderstood what she said as a metaphor.

"What's an SCP?" Nora asked.

"In-homeland joke," Sari replied, "You wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain."

"Shoot. Those alway get me," Nora pouted.

"Focus, people," Rex noted, "Look, long story short; there may be a Grimm that's not only black and white, but green too. It's probably leaking some sorta toxic green-colored Dust-like stuff."

=I collected a few samples that were here= Weiss noted.

=We'll meet you at the final Relay. We just need to hope Makoto has calmed down from her rampage against the Beowolves…= Blake sighed.

"Yeah…She has issues with dogs," Sari cringed, "So just…uh…yeah, let her go wild until it goes by."

=And we lost Ben somewhere= Ruby admitted =One moment he was there and the next he was gone. Oh! I hope she's still going! I wanna see more of the scissor blade!=

'Ben went Omniketsu…' Team RKLS minus the L deadpanned mentally.

"...I wonder where Ben went…" Lambda tilted her head.

---

"Okay…ya happy now?" Ben sighed, facefirst in the dirt.

"Yeah…I…I think I'm good now," Makoto noted as she finished putting her outfit back on, "S-Sorry. Mind went blank with so many demon dogs without souls and growing their bones outta their bodies."

"Lord knows how bad you get during exceptionally scary horror movies…just mentioning Cujo made you almost have a panic attack…"

"CUJO?!" Makoto freaked, about to run again when Ben quickly scratched her ear, "?! Mmm~"

"Easy now. Just said it to prove a point," Ben noted, "Just calm down. Things are gonna be fine. You got it out of your systems so you should be good for a bit, alright?"

"Sorry…it was just extra bad…bears no big deal, giant killer boars no problem, literally anything…but killer mutant wolves…it was just too much…" Makoto sheepishly complained.

"Right," Ben nodded.

"I'm just glad she's finished…That was getting scary," Noel sighed, "I think you went overboard with the Diamondhead sword that could shoot exploding diamond daggers…"

"I think she went overboard when she had me use Florauna to entangle them then Pyronite to incinerate," Skurd countered.

"Guys! Mystery has gotten weirder! Someone is hacking into the Relays and we got a new mutant Grimm! Come on!" Ruby shouted as she skid to a halt in front of them, "Oh! There you are, Ben!"

"I got knocked out by a surprise Ursa," Ben quickly lied, really glad his tell wasn't known here, "Had the worst breath."

"Kinda tipped me over the edge," Makoto added, "Luckily, he ended up on a tree so he wasn't down below to get attacked while knocked out."

"Huh…Okay," Ruby nodded before smiling at Ben, "Glad to see you're okay!"

"Thanks, Ruby," Ben replied.

"So what's this about someone causing this?" Mai asked.

"And…m-mutated Grimm?" Noel asked.

"Oh! Well, Sari can talk to machines and the Relays had these box thingies on them, so she talked to the one they found and learned that someone put them on the Relays to watch these green-colored Grimm that may be mutated versions that leak a Dust-like substance that's probably toxic and are heading for the third Relay."

"...Oh great. Another one of these," Ben sighed, "Sounds like a Dr. Animo situation."

"Who?"

"Old enemy that likes to mutate animals into obedient monsters," Ben replied, "Easy enough to handle and good at his biology."

"I feel like that's almost way too crazy…" Ruby muttered, "But then again we don't get news from other Kingdoms often…so…I guess we don't know what crazies are out there."

"Trust us, you don't want to know most of it…" Mai sighed as she roughly elbowed Ben, making him grunt in pain.

"What I do?" Ben whispered.

"Oh…Ben…that's a very long list…" Noel sighed.

"Too long…" Mai added.

"You are just a powder keg of trouble, aren't ya?" Sun asked.

"When it's him or Makoto…usually both," Noel and Mai sighed.

"Ah, a love story as old as time," Sun chuckled, still finding fun in this, "Beauty and the Goof."

"Only both are goofs," Weiss retorted.

"I just choose to take the Beauty compliment," Makoto huffed, "Anyways…I say we go meet up with the others at the third relay."

"The faster, the better," Ruby spoke, "Something funny is going on around here."

"I'll say," Rintaro whispered as the group made their way.

---

"...jeez…" Naoto whispered as he and the others walked through what looked like an abandoned city.

"This used to be an attempt at a port town at the edge of the Forever Falls," Pyrrha spoke, "But it was too far from the safety of Vale, and eventually it was overrun by Grimm."

"It's a tragically common occurrence…" Ren sighed.

"It wasn't just the local Grimm. Aquatic Grimm must have been drawn to the town as well," Kento spoke up, "Aquatic Grimm are the hardest to understand or predict…they are much more unexpected, too."

"Dangerously so…" Pyrrha nodded in understanding.

"H-How so?" Sari asked.

"Last time was…" Kento turned to Pyrrha.

"Almost 40 Meters tall…" she sighed.

"...Oh my god," Sari whispered with wide eyes.

'And these guys have to deal with that stuff daily,' Rex thought in equal shock.

"I guess this is just the reason why we keep fighting," Kento spoke, "So one day…these tragedies won't happen again."

"...Then let us locate the last relay," Lambda stated as she walked ahead, "So no such tragedy happens today."

"She makes a good point." Jaune nodded.

"Well so far it's been a nice walk," Nora offered, "I guess we took down most of the Grimm in the Area already."

"...no. There's definitely something here," Naoto whispered, eyes narrowed as he cautiously looked around, "I can feel the bloodlust in the area…"

"It must be that strange Grimm," Kento spoke.

"..." Lambda quickly formed her visor as she scanned the area, "...correction. Several Grimm detected in the area…giving off a type of radiation…"

"Careful…" Kento spoke.

"...How many?" Sari questioned as she and the others pulled their weapons out.

"Two…the larger one is near the relay; the other is nearby," Lambda replied as her head moved, as if she was tracking something's movements.

"Where…?" Jaune asked.

"Close…but…down…" she blinked.

"A subterranean…it must be a Creep…a rare breed of subterranean Grimm that lives in deep cave systems…" Pyrrha spoke.

"Tch…a Creep of all things," Kento whispered, about to pull his sword out before tensing, "...MOVE!"

"?!" the others tensed as they quickly jumped away just as the ground beneath them suddenly exploded, a large beastly looking two-legged Grimm bursting forth from it. It seemed something akin to a theropod dinosaur as its main head was in the shape of a demonic Carnotaurus, multiple toxic/venom green spikes going down its back as a faint toxic/venom green mist seeped from its spines.

"That's…not a Creep…" Pyrrha spoke.

"The Green Grimm…" Kento spoke.

"Just take it down!" Rex shouted as the Grimm roared at him and…began trembling.

"Wait, no!" Kento shouted as he dashed at his top speed and tackled the Grimm out of Rex's reach before his Slam Fist hit it, the Grimm exploding not long after and sending Kento flying and stumbling along the ground.

"Did it just…explode?" Jaune asked in shock.

"It…suidice attacks?" Naoto gawked.

"It's producing a highly toxic substance!" Lambda called out, keeping her arm over her mouth as more of the toxic/venom green mist began to permeate the area, "Don't breathe it in!" she tensed as her visor flashed, "...Multiple lifeforms detected underground!"

"...Oh don't tell m-" Naoton before yelping as another Creep bursted from the ground, followed by another as they all snarled.

"Ranged attacks only!" Jaune called out as he helped Kento up.

"Mmm…I think that…was the dumbest thing I've ever done with my Semblance…after the time I literally…ran into a stop sign…" Kento grunted.

"Any ideas!?" Neptune called out, jumping away from a lunge from a Creep as he converted his trident into a blaster and began firing at them.

"Like Jaune said, keep your distance!" Pyrrha called out.

"They…are…fragile…me impacting it set it off instantly…just hit them with well placed shots…don't waste ammo on cover fire." Kento coughed out, "We need to move towards the town…the ground will be paved over, they can't tunnel after us…"

"...easier said than done," Naoto muttered, considering he and Jaune were the only ones without any ranged weapons or attacks.

"No choice, it's not wise to fight them if they use airborne toxins to get past Aura…" Pyrrha spoke, shooting several making them explode.

"I get that," Naoto sighed before rolling out of the way of a Creep's charge, 'Well…better late than never in figuring out how to make a projectile move….or…" his hair quickly began to change into white as he summoned a long blood-red energy sword before he stabbed the beast from behind, making it cry out as it exploded, "I can just make my attacks longer!"

"Did he just…" Ren began.

"His Semblance!" Sari called out, snapping her fingers as a bolt of green lighting zapped a few Creeps, "It's...oddly cool yet freaky at the same time."

"...How so?"

"My blood!" Naoto called out, jumping over a Creep before making a blood-red energy ax as he slammed it into its back, "I can channel it to make weapons or make attacks!"

"That is the most Metal thing I've ever heard!" Neptune shouted.

"Agreed!" Jaune called out.

"I see things in sepia tone…" Kento groaned as he covered his mouth, "Oh god…it gets worse…"

"Oh jeez…he's getting worse," Jaune whispered in worry, using his shield to deflect back a Creep.

"...Get to safer ground!" Lambda called out, using her flails to smack away a pair of Creep's into a third one, "Find a spot to get him an antidote and get away from the miasma!"

"Right!" Sari nodded, her helmet on as she looked around, doding a Creep now and again, "...That building over there! We can probably head to the second floor to cut them off!"

"But how are we…?" Rex began before a burst of flames went off, "?!"

"Go…" Lambda whispered, her armor fully out as her currently burning blades floated behind her, "I will follow behind you all…"

"Come on," Jaune grunted, carrying Kento as he and the others headed towards an abandoned building..

"If this gets worse…let me die…" Kento groaned.

"Not funny!" Nora snapped as she ran over and began helping drag him.

"I think if I wasn't what I am…I'd be a lot worse off…" Kento groaned.

"Don't worry, buddy…we'll get ya fixed up," Jaune whispered as he and the others ran into the building, Lambda shooting before the entrance just as the Creep's began to gather.

"You shall not pass," she whispered, before making a quick spreading motion with her arms, causing her blades to fly forth as they began to skid along the ground, sparks going off before a large wall of flames cut her and the horde of Grimm off.

"Wh-?! Lambda!" Sari called out.

"I said go!" Lambda shouted.

"That's crazy!" Rex shouted.

"I'll manage," was all Lambda responded before she took off into the air, causing some of the flames to hit the Creeps as she flew around them at high speed, each one's heads flying off before using her Flails to send their bodies into the air just as they exploded.

"The heck's gotten into her?" Rex whispered.

"...Obviously buying us time to help Kento," Sari whispered, putting her weapons away as she began to run up a nearby set of stairs.

"You okay?" Jaune asked.

"Mmm…holding up okay…" Kento grunted as electricity ran along his skin for a second, "But very potent stuff…again…probably lucky I was the one to take that blow…cause…my one benefit is keeping me awake…"

'...Thank Primus Ratchet forced me to take some medical lessons before I joined the team,' Sari thought as she walked over, "Anyone have a medkit? I might be able to make an antidote for the poison."

"I think I do," Neptune spoked, reaching for the tube on his back as he opened up a side compartment on it, "Gods knows how many times the guys keep reminding me and Sun about this…"

"Not enough…we need more," Sari sighed before an idea popped into her head, "...Someone call the others."

"...Good idea," Ren nodded as he put his guns away, "Nora?"

"Already ahead of ya," Nora said, having her scroll out as she put in Ruby's number.

=Hello?= Ruby spoke as Nora put her Scroll oh speaker.

"Where are you guys at?" Ren asked.

=We should be near where the last relay is=Ruby replied =What happened?=

"Kento took a blast from a mutated Creep, and we need something to make an antidote for its poison."

=What?!= everyone shouted.

=We'll be r-and Rintaro ran ahead…=

=I'M ON MY WAY!=

"We're inside one of the abandoned buildings!" Sari called out, already going through the small medkit, "Look for the one with the flaming wall!"

=G….wait…Flaming wall?=

"It's Lambda. She's holding the Creeps back while we fix Kento up," Naoto replied, standing by near the stairs with Jaune and Pyrrha in case any of the Creeps got past Lambda.

=Eh?!= Noel exclaimed at that.

"Bad situation…" Kento coughed out, "Ruby…tell Rintaro…stop holding back…" he coughed out.

=Eh?! But…=

"Tell…him…"

=...Rintaro, Kento says go all out= Ruby ordered.

=GOT IT!=

"...Wait. What did he mean by 'going all out'?" Rex asked.

"...Your swords have something else to them?" Sari guessed, 'If this is going where I think it is…Makoto's probably gonna be so excited…'

"If you tell anyone…we are boned…and you…probably…no…are totally gonna get arrested…" Kento grunted.

"Hey, our lips are sealed," Rex replied, "Not our first rodeo, amigo."

"Well to be fair, we've been so bad at keeping this secret when danger arises…" Kento groaned.

"Like…so bad…" Jaune and Nora muttered.

"I would like to point out…you're alive because of it…" Kento grunted as he forced himself to sit up.

"...We swear we won't tell anyone," Sari responded.

"I know, but…I have a question in turn for ya," Kento whispered, "Your friend Lambda…just what is she really?"

"Eh?"

"I've only seen one person do stuff remotely close to that and trust me…I could tell she wasn't a normal girl either…" he explained.

"L-Like Lambda?" Sari blinked.

"I can tell she's a good person, and she has Aura so she's undeniably alive by every measure…but let's just say…she doesn't give off the normal vibe of a regular girl…" he grunted.

"H-How can you…"

"Electricity is literally my thing…I can detect the bioelectric energy of all living things because of it…but her fighting style and the same weird feel…I gotta wonder…" Kento explained.

'...Oh Tsukasa's gonna kill us…' Sari, Rex, and Naoto mentally paled.

"...How about we agree on sharing after we survive, alright?" Sari asked.

"...Deal."

"Good…" Sari sighed in relief, "Now...let's see what we can do about some of those wounds."

---

"GH!" Lambda grunted as she flung another Creep into the air, causing it to explode as she quickly landed, "Another down…but they keep coming…"

"Move-move-move-MOVE!" Ruby's voice shouted as a blur tackled into Lambda and pushed her down just before a hailstorm of bullets began mowing down the Mutated Grimm, "...Oh wow! You're wearing swords on your legs!"

"What…just…happened?" Lambda blinked, her visor sliding up in surprise.

"Hah!" Rintaro's voice shouted as a three-wheeled motorcycle plowed through the Grimm, multiple mounted gatling guns shooting all at once and taking them out by the dozens, "I'm here!" he called out.

"...Analyzing…" Lambda noted, visor sliding down for a few moments, "...Birthday."

"Huh?" Ruby pondered.

"...I want…for my birthday…" she explained simply.

"...A girl after my own heart is what you are," Ruby smiled, helping her up, "Rintaro…cut loose and tear them all down!"

"Understood…I swear by Suiseiken Nagare…" he pulled out his sword before putting a belt on with a bulky black and gold buckle shaped like it could house three objects in it, "I will defend my friends' lives, both old and new, to the bitter end!" he sheathed his long sword into the buckle…the blade somehow shrinking down to the size of a small dagger as it did so.

"Kamen Rider," Lambda realized.

"Hah?!" Ruby exclaimed in shock, looking at Lambda with wide eyes as Rintaro pulled out a blue book and opened it.

=LION SENKI! This blue mane marks a new history of the noble king's battle...=

At that, a massive Lion covered in blue armor formed in front of Rintaro before it roared, making the ground shake. Water suddenly started seeping up from the ground around him as he flicked it closed. He slotted it into his belt before grabbing the handle of his sword.

"Henshin…" Rintaro called out as he pulled the sword out, letting it grow back to its full size.

=Nagare Battou! Lion~ Senki! Nagare Issatsu! Hyakujuu no oh to Suiseiken Nagare ga majiwaru toki konpeki no tsurugi ga kiba wo muku!=

The Lion roared as it suddenly jumped and landed on Rintaro as he swung his sword in a wide horizontal swing, sending out a blue slash wave of energy. A blue flash went off as the slash wave came back and collided with his head with a splash of water. In his place now stood a black armored figure with blue chest armor resembling a lion's head, clawed boots, and a black helmet with a blue boomerang-shaped visor and a sword-like horn jutting from the top of his helmet.

"Ha…" the Kamen Rider slowly breathed out as he held his sword out before tapping the book in his belt, "Lion Wonder!" he shouted as his chest armor flashed, summoning the lion from before as it ran out and began swinging its claws at all the Grimm, each swipe literally erasing parts of their bodies out of existence before it bit down on the largest of the Mutated Creeps…and bit down, causing it to explode with a large burst of green Dust…only for it to be dissipated by a sudden rain from seemingly out of nowhere.

"You know what a Kamen Rider is?!" Ruby asked.

"Translating announcement: 'When the King of Beasts and Suiseiken Nagare meet, the azure sword peels its fangs,'" Lambda noted.

"...Wait. That's what it says when he transforms? That's been bothering me for months…"

"Did…you not know?" she blinked.

"No! It's magic nonsense! No one speaks magic!" Ruby snapped.

'Adding to mental notes…Remnant has no equivalent to Japanese language,' Lambda thought.

"Okay, we're here a-!" Makoto began as she and the others ran over…before the Beastkin noticed the Kamen Rider, "...Babe….!"

"I see him," Ben sighed before looking at Weiss, "I'm guessing his name relates to either a sword or a lion."

"Blades," Weiss responded…before blinking, "...Wait. How did…?"

"Stay behind me! Nagare is especially good against poison!" Blades spoke up as he swung his sword and formed a stream of water he used as a whip to slash several of the Grimm, making them fade away like normal Grimm rather than explode.

'Ahh~! He uses water like Wizard's Water Style! And the poison dealing part feels like Beast's Dolphin Mantle!' Makoto thought with stars in her eyes, "Babe, I am fangirling out right now~!"

Blades swung his sword down into the ground before geysers of water began exploding from the ground, sending the Creeps into the air, letting them explode in the air before the water rained down on the rest…the water seemingly burning their bodies and slowly dissolving them out of existence.

"How is he doing that?" Noel asked.

"Holy Water," Ruby explained, "Blades's sword Nagare has the power to make Holy Water…which literally melts Evil…IE…Grimm."

"Oh~"

"...Larger energy signature detected," Lambda spoke as her visor flashed, "...The other mutated Grimm…possibly the Alpha for these Creeps."

"Where…?" Ruby blinked.

"There." Makoto pointed as an old building rumbled as one of the walls suddenly got torn down by a large figure sprinting through it, "..."

Standing there was possibly an incredibly large Beowolf…only it seemed to be as bulky as an Ursa while toxic/venom green energy permeated off the spikes on its back. It slowly looked up before roaring out at the group.

"..."

---

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!-!-!-!"

"AHH! The heck was that?!" Ryo yelped in surprise, putting his son down as he quickly pulled out his sword, "Are we under attack?!"

"Papa, I think that was a girl…it sounded like Mama when she found a spider in the house…" the boy muttered.

"Trust me Sora…your mama and I hate spiders with passion…" Ryo muttered, "...Still…that sounded like it came from the Emerald Forest….wait. But the students are on break…"

"...Didn't you complain about your friend Mr. Port taking care of something today?" Sora asked.

"Well yeah but it's not like he's…AH! PORT!" he panicked as he realized what happened.

"...I'll go wait in the office," Sora spoke as his dad ran off and straight through a wall, "Oh, Papa's gonna get yelled at…" he deadpanned.

---

"Ahhh…." Makoto shivered, her eyes blank with fear as she clung tightly onto Ben.

"Can't…breathe…" Ben rasped out.

'Reinforcing his torso with an underlayer of Petrosapien mixed with Tetramand and Appoplexian is barely keeping his bones from breaking…' Skurd thought.

"That…is not normal…" Blades grunted before using his sword to block a swipe at him, "Leave this to me, check on the others…" he groaned pushing its claw away and swinging his sword…only for it to thunk off the green parts of it, "Its skin is…reinforced as well…what a horrible monster…" he jumped back as it swung at him, he blocked swing after swing before blinking as it stopped…and slammed its arms down into the ground; Blades was confused why it would use such a power heavy move while out of range…but got his answer when a row of green crystals erupted from the ground and slammed into him.

"Rintaro!?" Ruby called out.

"Ugh…I'm fine…" he groaned, "I'll just need to get a little more creative…" he used his sword to help push himself up, "This is where your evil ends…As a Huntsmen and Swordsmen of Logos…I can't allow you to live another day." he warned with a serious tone, "I will cut you down…before you can cut down a single life…"

With that, Blades rushed as water formed along his sword. He swung as the water seemed to push his sword faster and cut through its torso, making it cry in pain. It swung down only for Blades to grab its arm at the wrist. He pulled and swung it around before lifting it into the air…and slamming it into the ground. Blades grunted as he took a step back before he flipped forward and brought an ax-kick down on its skull, slamming its jaw shut and sending several of its teeth flying. Blades jumped back as the crystals forming on its back suddenly grew like a self defense mechanism.

"I shall not falter!" Blades shouted as a lion roar came from his armor, he lifted Nagare up before swinging it down with all his might, the Grimm unleashed more crystals only for them to be sliced in half as the torrent of water from his blade struck the Grimm and like a powerful wave crashed into it with enough force to wash it along the ground and into the wall of a building.

Blades grunted as he jumped and lammed his knee into its snout. He twisted Nagare around before he stabbed it into its chest making the Grimm screech in pain as he pushed it in deeper and deeper. Blades grunted as the Grimm slammed its claws into his shoulder knocking him off. It slowly crawled up only to lurch as the sword stuck in its chest began moving on its own…and ripped itself out and flew into Blades' hand.

'Did…did he just summon his sword back like a jedi?' Ben blinked before Makoto hugged him tighter, "Ahh…!"

"...Maybe we better do what he says and check on the others," Mai advised.

"Agreed…Agreed…!" Ben agreed, rapidly tapping his hand on Makoto's arm as if hoping she'd notice and release him.

"Rintaro you good?" Ruby asked.

"Its body…it's filled with those crystals…" Blades explained, "I will need to utterly crush it 'till nothing is left!" he declared.

"...He'll need some help then," Yang spoke up as she gripped her gauntlets, "Even with his abilities, he's struggling against that thing."

"Ok…ok…!" Ben grunted, managing to reach up and scratch Makoto's ear, making her tense as she let go of him "BAH! Oh lord…as I was trying to say…we'll go help Kento out. Someone should go check on the relay."

"Noel and I can handle that," Mai spoke, "Besides…I think you better get Makoto inside before she spots that thing again."

"Right!" Ruby nodded, "Weiss, Yang, Freezer Burn!"

The Mutant Beowolf snarled out as it prepared to claw at Blades, only to grunt when it was suddenly hit by a barrage of ice and fire turned to growl at those who attacked it only for its growl to turn into a yelp of pain as Blades took this chance to slash it across the chest. The Grimm stumbled back only for its legs to suddenly become bound by black ribbon. As it tried to get free it was blasted in the back by a powerful shotgun burst and punch that sent it stumbling forward and falling over.

It pushed itself up and growled as it formed crystals around it as a defense, but many of them were cut down by Blades as he slid along the ground and passed the Grimm. It turned to gawk only to see Ruby as she aimed her weapon and aimed into a white Glyph before she fired and unleashed a massive blast of ice which formed into a spear like shape before it struck the Grimm and sent it flying through the air before slamming into a wall. As it struggled to its feet, it flinched as it was barraged with bullet fire from above as Blake jumped over it. But it was also kept in place by multiple blasts of ice which curved through the air and hit it from both sides. Instinctually raising its arms to its face, it tried to defend itself; it gasped in pain when Yang drove her fist deep into its stomach before unleashing a shotgun shell point blank into it, causing several crystals on its back to shatter and pop out.

Blades sheathed his sword back into his belt as he clicked the trigger two times causing his visor to light up, the lion chest plate began glowing as its jaw began forming an orb of water.

=Lion Senki! Issatsu Geki! Water!=

Blades roared as he unleashed a massive torrent of water from his chest armor before it struck the Grimm and trapped it in a prison of water. He leaned down and struck the ground with his arm before a geyser of water erupted from the ground and launched him into the sky. Blades rolled forward as both legs began glowing with glowing blue liquid energy.

"LEO CASCADE!" he roared as he aimed his legs down for a dropkick before he launched down and struck the water prison and the Mutated Beowolf before tearing through it, letting the water prison reform and slowly dissolve the Grimm within the holy water before exploding and raining the area around him with its sacred waters, "Phew…" he took a deep breath as his armor faded away into blue tinted pages as the magic rain slowly died down, the ground around Rintaro now looking healthier and richer as all the crystals and green dust from them was washed away.

"...That never ceases to amaze me," Yang whispered.

---

"...well, that takes care of those mutant Grimm," Naoto whispered, looking out the window as Sari was looking over a much larger medkit.

"Okay…antidotes…antidotes…" Sari muttered, working on it before a puff of smoke went off and she held up a beaker with a blue liquid, "Alright! This should work."

"Let's hope," Kento whispered as Sari handed him the beaker, letting him drink its content, "?! Gh….b-bitter…"

"Hey. All medicine is bitter," Sari retorted, "But more importantly, how do you feel?"

"Well…I think the slow shutdown of my central nervous system has stopped…" he grunted.

"Good. Then the antidote's working then," Sari smiled, "All that leaves is the last relay to be fixed."

"..."

"I swear if they blew it up…it's going to be a lightning storm for as long as I can make it," Sari informed, keeping her smile going…as green electricity crackled off her.

"No, no. At least…I don't think so," Naoto quickly replied, "Just um…where is the last Relay here, anyway?"

"Guys!" Ruby shouted while jumping up to the window, "We're good! We killed the mutated Beowolf!"

"Kento!" Rintaro shouted as he ran in and scooped him into his arms, "Don't leave me, my friend! You and the others are like brothers to me! I can't stand to lose you!"

"Rintaro….I'm not dying…stop crying…you know when you get started…you literally cry a river…" Kento groaned.

"You're not dying? That is wonderful to hear!"

"No crying…stop…don't cry…"

"And he's crying…" Nora spoke.

"..." Sari sighed as she walked over to the window and looked out, "Lambda! Do you see the Relay system?"

"Affirmative," Lambda replied from above the building, "Estimated 2.5 kilometers north. Sister and Mai have gone to check on it."

"Well that's good." Sari nodded.

"Rintaro, if your so concerned, use your sword to heal me!" Kento complained as he tried to push Rintaro off.

"...Oh right. I can do that," Rintaro recalled, bopping the bottom of his fist into his palm in realization.

"Mmm…you really are too dumb to live on your own…" Kento grunted.

"Hm?"

"Just start healing."

"Okay," Rintaro nodded.

"Ah! I just remembered! Lambda realized who you were when you just pulled the belt out, Rintaro!" Ruby recalled.

"Lambda…" Sari groaned, facepalming.

"Yes?" Lambda asked, peeking in through the window without her armor on.

"Why?" Sari asked as she gestured to Rintaro.

"...Hm?" Lambda tilted her head.

"Why did you call him a Kamen Rider?"

"...Because he had an oversized buckle," Lambda replied, "Analysis on previous encounters has a high probability that anyone with an oversized buckle that creates its own belt is a Kamen Rider."

"..." Sari looked up at the air, "You gonna take that from her?" a boot smacked her in the face before smacking Lambda, making her let go and land on Jaune as he was coming out to check the damages, "Gah!" the boot landed on her head and a slip of paper on the underside dropped, "'I don't take orders from anyone. Not even my pet dog that's actually a purple dragon.' …And now he has a dragon for a pet dog…" she sighed as she decided to just fall over onto her back, "Get me up when everything's over with…"

"...You sure you're the team leader and not her?" Kento asked, looking at Rex.

"Eh…I was picked…but clearly I am not qualified." Rex shrugged.

"Oh…so you're like Sun," Neptune noted.

"Hey…" Sun complained.

"Last month," Neptune reminded, making Sun pause before slumping.

"I think sometimes the picks for team leader aren't a 100 percent perfect…" Ren chuckled.

"What about yours?" Rex asked, looking to Rintaro and Kento, "You said he ran off to do something."

"Knowing Touma…he just had a random idea and left to work on it," Kento sighed with a chuckle.

"Or he left on a journey of self discovery," Rintaro offered, "He is wise, tactical, and always has a plan to save us and any life in danger. His swordsmanship may be really sloppy and his combat skills are lesser…but as a leader, I can't deny his skills."

"That sounds like he's pretty dependable," Rex noted.

"He is…he's kept us all together…acceptd all of us," Kento grunted.

"Helped all of us," Jaune added from outside.

"I honestly think Touma's more like the leader of all of us," Ren smiled, "He sees things different, and never judges anyone for who they are or their secrets."

"So…you guys are lacking the big Leader. Your…Captain," Rex mused.

"...You could say that," Ren nodded.

"Honestly…with our two teams, it's Ben who's considered our Captain," Sari noted, "He's just got this…way with folks." 'It honestly feels like Optimus at times when Ben becomes serious.'

"Th-hah-thanks…" Ben's voice wheezed from the stairs, "Help…Makoto is crushing my torso…"

"I just thought that was a couples thing…" Rintaro blinked.

"I can feel my ribs turning to powder…" Ben wheezed.

*Snap. CRA-KOOM!*

"Ow…" Ben and Makoto groaned, the latter finally releasing the former as both fell over with smoke coming off them.

"...I may need to see someone about this," Sari admitted, looking up at her held up hand still post-snap, 'Or take a vacation. …Maybe vacation.'

"Given how strong your Semblance is…I'm amazed you can use it so much…" Rintaro noted, "Normally such a powerful ability can only be used so much before it drains you of all Aura."

"We can talk shop later," Kento grunted, managing to stand up, "Right now…gotta see about that third box on the last Relay."

"Let's get ourselves on our feet," Jaune smiled, having been helped inside by Lambda who still sported the shoe print on her face.

"Let's deal with this and find who's causing all this." Rintaro nodded.

"Aahhh!" Ben gasped, sitting up, "I'm good!"

"Roasted squirrel half off…" Makoto groaned as she sat up…before her hair and tail poofed up, "...mmm~"

"...snkr!" Sun began to snicker before an acorn beaned him in the forehead, "Ow…!"

"Try it again…see what happens," Makoto frowned a bit in annoyance.

"Let's get this over with. I think Mai and Noel found the last Relay." Ben groaned.

---

"This should be it," Mai whispered, she and Noel looking up at a fairly large device as it stood out within the ruins of the abandoned city," Just gotta find the box attached to it…Noel?"

"Hmm…" Noel whispered, standing on top of Funkfreed as she examined it, "...I think I see it up top."

"You sure?" Mai asked.

"Well the machine is white and has a very fancy design…this…is a bulky red box just…I think…glued to it?" she noted.

"...noted. Just…get it before something else happens," Mai sighed.

"Hai," Noel nodded as Funkfreed lifted her onto the Relay, the blonde cautiously looking around it before she saw the same box as before, "I found it!"

"Perfect!" Mai spoke, "Just be careful in taking it off…we don't want anything to happen."

"Hmm…" Noel pondered for a moment, "...Funky?"

"Paon!" Funkfreed responded, shifting his trunk into a sword as he slid it underneath the red box.

"And just a little pressure…and…" with that Funkfreed slowly cut the attached box off and let it clammer to the ground, "Got it! Good boy, Funkfreed!"

"Paon!"

"Alright…now let's hurry and meet back up with the others," Mai said, walking over as she picked the box up.

"I wonder what they were doing?" Noel muttered, "It seems like a lot of work just to watch scary animals…and cause all this trouble. Feels like someone has a deeper reason for it."

"...what if…the person behind those boxes…" Mai paused as she held her chin in thought, "...is the same person who created those Freaky Grimm we saw?"

"Eh?"

"Noel…from the ones we encountered before, the ones Rintaro and the others faced weren't normal…as far as this world goes," Mai stated, "No these things seem more…man made."

"But these are monsters that as far as I can guess are magic…so…they are…mutant…magical…soulless monsters…" she said slowly, "If I wasn't so terrified…that would be the silliest sentence I have ever said."

"And yet here we are where such a sentence isn't silly," Mai sighed, "...we may need to have Sari look into this box."

"Good idea." Noel nodded before stopping as she saw Funkfreed looking out an old long since broken and paneless window, "What is it, Funky?" she gently nudged him to see, "...Is…that a boat?"

"A boat?" Mai blinked as she looked over at the window.

Sure enough an actual boat, a rather well maintained and large one was slowly pulling into port near the waterfront. A crane that one would assume was abandoned suddenly came to life and…began moving the maze of crates at the waterfront around. It moved some on and others off a similar symbol on the side of each crate and on the front of the ship.

"...an active crane? All the way out here?" Mai whispered as she and Noel looked on, "...Noel, do you spot anyone?"

Noel responded by summongi Bolverk, converting it into a sniper rifle as she looked through the scope, "Mmm…so far no one…"

"Well I guess we wait for everyone to get here…then investigate." Mai spoke, "Cause…I'm not so sure going there alone…is smart. That's more of a Ben move…"

"Well…I really wish I could argue…" Noel sighed.

"Still though…" Mai whispered as she and Noel lowered down to hide themselves from view, "Who could be all the way out here…and what are they trying to transport?"

A snarl soon caught their attention, making them look back through the window to see what looked like a pair of tall, red and black armored robots pushing a Boar-like Grimm into one of the empty containers with a pair of high-tech, double bladed lances.

"...Grimm," Mai and Noel silently realized.

"They're transporting Grimm…" Mai whispered before tensing, she and Noel going back behind cover just as one of the robots looked over, "...try and contact the others…we need to tell them about this."

"Hai."

---

"Ok…I should be good now," Kento grunted as he stood up, popping his neck as he stretched a bit.

"...and yet Mai and Noel aren't back yet," Sari spoke, "Which…should be…"

"Hmm?" Ben blinked once his Omnitrix began to beep, prompting him to lightly press down on it, "Rook?"

=No. It's Noel= Noel quietly whispered =We took care of the last relay, but we found something odd…and concerning=

"...concerning how?"

'Is he using his watch as a communicator?' those native to this world thought.

=There's some robots using the cranes here…to transport Grimm=

"?!"

"Wait," Ruby blinked as she ran over, "Someone's transporting Grimm?"

=That's right= Mai whispered =We don't know who exactly, but this seems way too coincidental….especially with those mutated Grimm=

"Alright we'll come to you and investigate." Ben sighed.

"That is most unusual…" Rintaro noted.

"Well let's go check it out." Ruby nodded.

"...Are we hijacking a boat?" Jaune realized.

"...I know how to drive a boat…" Kento muttered.

"Me too." Pyrrha smiled.

"We're hijacking a boat!" Ruby and Sun cheered.

"Oh this is gonna be fun," Rex grinned.

"..I'd argue, but…this is starting to get even more freaky," Sari muttered, earning the others' attention, "When I was 'talking' to that box we found at the first Relay, it mentioned something about a Dr. Merlot…chances are that's who could be the guy behind all this."

"Merlot…?" Makoto blinked.

"Like…the grape?" Lambda muttered.

"Colors seem to be a gimmick here…" Naoto whispered.

"...if someone really is behind this, then we better go meet with the girls," Kento suggested.

"Agreed," Ben nodded, '...and given our luck, I might have to resort to using the Omnitrix…'

---

"...move," Mai whispered, she and Noel running over to another container just as one of the robots passed by.

"I really don't like going inside these…what if we get picked up?" Noel muttered, Funkfreed in sword mode and sheathed at her side.

"Then we'll have to improvise," Mai whispered, pulling her Badge out as she tapped it, "I set the tracking beacon on…that way Ben and the others will know where we are."

"But what about the cranes?"

"...at the very least, we can hinder their progress," Mai whispered as she peeked out, "If we can deactivate them, it'll slow them down…for how long I don't know….though…" she paused as she looked over at a nearby radio tower, "...chances are those are used to disrupt any outside radio signals, so we were lucky in calling Ben when we did…"

"...if I can get a shot in, I might be able to disable it," Noel whispered as she summoned Bolverk.

"Good idea," Mai nodded before she and Noel went back into hiding just as another robot passed, "...and me with a normal spear…well…better than nothing," she sighed as she pulled her temporary spear out, "I'll distract the guards…you take that shot in."

"Hai," Noel nodded as Mai ran out of their hiding spot.

'HEY!" Mai shouted, earning the robots attention as a small group of them gathered before her, "...oh this was a mistake," she whispered before she used her spear to block a slash from one of the robots…only for it to be sliced in half, "...yup! Totally a mistake!" she yelped as she began to run, the robots chasing right after her.

"Oh dear…" Noel sighed, "Well…can't waste this chance.'' She took aim at the crane, taking the time to look for anything that could be controlling it, "Fire," She whispered as she pulled the trigger, sending out an energy bullet at it pierced right through the top of the tower, causing it to spark before a faint explosion went off, "Got it!"

=?!= the robots stopped for a moment as few turned to where Noel was hiding.

"...oh dear…I made a grave error," Noel whispered.

---

"This must be the spot," Pyrrha whispered as she and the others arrived at the docks Mai and Noel were hiding at.

"...yeah….great," Neptune whispered, hiding behind Sun as soon as he noticed the water.

"...so many containers," Naoto whispered, tapping the side of one as a faint growl went off, "...and they're all full of Grimm."

"How…I thought Grimm died if you kept them contained for too long?" Ruby pondered.

"Normally, but that's with scientists who trap them in isolation for weeks." Weiss spoke, "Catching them to study them is easy…it just depends how much you can learn fast."

"So…what? They starve to death in captivity?" Yang blinked.

"Well…that's oddly correct Yang…" Weiss blinked.

"Brutal," Makoto, Nora and Jaune whispered.

"AHH!" Mai's voice screamed.

"Mai!" Makoto ran towards her screaming, "What's…robots?!" she gawked.

"Robots?" the others blinked as they ran over…and saw the very robots chasing after Mai as they swung their spears at her, "?!"

"About t-AHH!" Mai yelped as she barely jumped from a slash, "Time you guys showed up! These guys are relentless!"

"KYA!" Noel screamed as she ran by, riding on top of an equally panicking Funkfreed as a trio of robots chased after them.

"Don't worry, Noellie! Imma comin'!" Makoto shouted, running up to one of the robots chasing her as she punched it…only for it to snap its neck towards her, "...errors have been made…." soon an entire group of the robots came out of hiding, aiming their weapons straight at the group, "...yup! Major errors!"

"I've never seen such advanced combat robots…." Rintaro muttered.

"Me neither." Weiss added, "Most of them are kinda lemons…"

"I still don't grasp that phrase…" Rintaro muttered, "But…it oddly makes sense despite that…"

"Ruby, I think this is the time to call one of the teachers…!" Jaune panicked as he quickly pulled his shield and sword out.

"On it!" Ruby yelped as she pulled her Scroll out, "Professor Port, we…!"

=Ahh finally..was wondering when someone would answer= a voice they didn't recognize spoke up, making the group tense =So sorry. The signal around there is usually bad. Anyway, I do hope you're enjoying touring my personal boatyard. Your the first human visitors I've had since…well ever=

"Uhm…who is this?" Ruby blinked.

=Terribly sorry, but I just got word that someone was snooping around, lots of someones. And I had to see for myself who you are, and judging how you're all still alive after that Mutated Beowolf, you must be Huntsmen, but given you sound so young…in training? That or you're just a woman with a very high pitched child like voice…=

"Wh-?! Hey~!"

"...hold on," Sari whispered as it began to click, "...are you Dr. Merlot by any chance?"

=Oh? So you've heard of me…oh most excellent= the voice noted =In fact after seeing your skills in action…and those rather…interesting swords your two friends are wielding, you're exactly what I need for a very important…experiment=

"What?" Ruby blinked, seeing Kento and Rintaro as they cut down robots, "Wait…do…do you know?"

=That's a trick question…I know many things…not about you clearly. But many many things. But this…maybe…maybe…but I suppose this…this is most useful, a chance presents itself!=

"Dude…this guy's crazy," Rex muttered.

"Crazy…and clearly dangerous if he's collecting Grimm," Ren frowned.

=If you children would like more info…all you need do is take that ship to my private island=

'...ok. That doesn't scream 'Come into the obvious trap because I am the intellectually superior one!'' Most of the group thought.

=I would advise taking my offer, less my machines have to take you all…the hard way=

"We can take 'em!" Yang shouted, punching another of the robots.

"Hopefully…" Makoto chuckled as she punched another.

=Mmm yes….but can you handle them…and the Grimm at once?= Merlot questioned, one of his robots near one of the containers =Granted I would lose something in the progress, but sometimes…you need to sacrifice something for the greater good=

"And what's to assure us we won't encounter worse odds in your island?" Kento asked.

=Oh you can't, but in the moment…whats your options?='

"...give us a moment," Ben whispered.

=Of c-= Merlot began before Ruby put her phone on mute.

"Yeah this totally screams trap," Naoto deadpanned.

"And Merlot obviously wants to steal Rintaro and Kento's swords for god knows what," Sun added.

"That…would be bad…" Rintaro muttered.

"Why?" Sari asked.

"End of the world." both swordsmen replied bluntly.

"...yeah we need to stop Merlot," Sari whispered with wide eyes.

"Agreed," Kento nodded with a frown, "We can't contact the teachers without him hacking into our Scrolls, so it's just us for now…"

"...we're not seriously going out there, are we?" Neptune nervously asked, "Over the long….huge….body of water that is the ocean?"

"..." Sun said nothing as he kicked Neptune into a crate, "It had to be done." he sighed, "Load up! We got a trap to trip."

"...guess we have no choice then," Ruby and Ben muttered as the former un-muted her Scroll, "WE'll do it."

=Ah splendid…please take one of the nearest crates. We don't want anyone…especially…Ozpin to take notice=

"Wait. Yo-and he hung on up me," Ruby muttered.

"Okay everyone…try not to take up too much space…this is gonna be an uncomfortable ride…" Kento sighed.

"I don't like this…but…we'll have to roll with it for now…" Rintaro sighed, "I wish Touma was here to outsmart this man…"

"We'll just have to think up of something on our own," Kento sighed as the group began to walk into the container Neptune was in, the Robots moving to give them space.

"You know y-" Skurd began to Ben quietly.

"Not now!" Ben hissed as he quickly forced him back underneath the Omnitrix.

"...ok that's it," Blake frowned as she glared at Ben just as the robots closed the container behind them, "Who are you talking to?"

"Huh?"

"Oh yeah…" Yang muttered, "Blake's a Faunus, see her bow?" she pointed as the bow flickered about like ears, "She uses it to hide her cat ears. Kinda everyone knows but she feels more comfortable hiding it."

"And ever since we met, I've been hearing you whispering something to someone," Blake stated, "...and furthermore, what was that green flash we saw earlier after Makoto dragged you off?"

"..."

"...oh this is gonna suck so much…" Makoto sighed.

"You're literally not from here are you?" Kento asked bluntly.

"We are aware there are other dimensions." Rintaro spoke.

"...WHAT?!" both Team BANH and RKLS gawked at that.

"Our swords: the Seiken are said to be items that keep our world intact, defending it and keeping it in balance." Kento explained.

"Your swords are Infinity Stones?!" Ben shouted.

"Not sure what that is…" Rintaro muttered.

"Wait…other dimensions exist?" Ruby blinked.

"Granted we've never gone beyond the veil of our dimension, but we know there is something beyond it." Kento explained.

"...so…that explains why none of us got a boot to the head after what Lambda did," Sari whispered.

"So…you're all from another dimension?" Weiss blinked, 'I wasn't taking that comment I said earlier today seriously!'

"Though…going to other dimensions is considered…bad…" Rintaro coughed, "As it could…maybe…potentially…invite something…bad over."

"There is a legend that once in the past a Swordsman tried…and…brought a monster worse than Grimm back with him." Kento explained, he looked to the others, "Not to…be…judgmental but…you didn't…I don't know…leave the door open?" he chuckled.

"We can't guarantee your safety…" Rintaro added.

"...no…we….got here through-if you'd believe it-...a smoothie shop," Ben muttered.

"AH! So that's why there was one there!" Ruby realized.

"This is so stupid…but your also some of the nicest people we've met, so I'm just gonna assume…most of you are stupid and literally lost." Weiss sighed.

"Emphasis on the lost part," Makoto sighed, feeling slight relief they don't' have to hide this info, "Technically…we cant' even get home because…well..."

"Our home's been locked up somewhere," Noel added.

"How…can…you know what? Maybe its best we don't know cause I feel its breaking so many rules." Weiss sighed.

"That's very smart…" Rintaro whispered.

"We'd like to help…but we don't even know if…we can…" Kento sighed, "The Seiken's power are meant to protect this world…who knows what will happen if we even tried tampering with the veil between dimensions."

"The fact you confirm other forms of humans and Faunus exist beyond our understanding of the reality border…is…honestly rather amazing…and almost insane." Rintaro added, "Full disclosure, we assumed you'd die if you left…"

"So wait…you guys know other dimensions exist?" Blake asked.

"...I mean…Touma did bring Excalibur back from Avalon…" Kento muttered, "A void between reality…"

"...he has us there," Ruby nodded.

"So…while we wait to arrive at wherever Merlot is hiding…" Kento began as he sat down, "Mind telling us more about yourselves? We did promise to talk about what Lambda is after we fixed the last relay, Ms. Sumdac."

"...you sure you can take it though?" Sari asked, "I mean…most of us would kinda…blow your minds honestly."

"We fight immortal demons summoned out of books, while three men who have turned into literal Demon lords have walked around for millenia plaguing humanity by causing disasters, and unleashing monsters on humans and Faunus alike." Kento pointed out, "Also my father sacrificed my entire hometown to some ritual and now he's a wanted fugitive helping those same monsters destroy life as we know it."

"I'm an Orphan raised by my mentor the former Swordsmen of Water till he died facing the same monsters and then was raised in a government facility for years honing my combat abilities to the peak. I've only been in the outside world as it were for about a few months." Rintaro added.

"Did we mention our swords are magical…and sentient?" Kento asked.

"Or that we use magic books made from the pages of an ancient tome said to have given shape to the world, left behind by the gods?" Rintaro smiled.

"...I think our minds were just blown from that alone," Naoto whispered with wide eyes.

---

"Mmm…pick up," Port whispered as he tapped his Scroll, "Come on..Ms. Rose and the others should've been…"

"PORT!"

At that a wall was busted in as Ryo slid to a halt, he gasped for breath as Glynda followed soon after, entering through the door like a normal person.

"What happened!? Where are the kids?!" Ryo demanded, "They were still here…but now…nowhere…and what are you hiding from me man!? I know the face you make when you hide something!"

"...oh dear," Port whispered before tensing when Glynda glared at him.

"They vanished didn't they?" Glynda sighed.

"...at this point, I believe so," Port sighed, "Something was up with the relay system and I had sent them out to go fix them…I tried to contact them truly I have, but I haven't heard anything from them since."

"Ah…we can only hope they can handle themselves." Glynda sighed.

"Glynda…I wanna put faith in them as a supporting teacher…but…hahaha…these kids are more then a little stupid…and this is coming from me…" Ryo spoke, "That sweet blonde one alone runs in like she's asking for traumatic brain damage…"

"I know," Glynda sighed

"I just wish we knew what was happening so we could know how to help." Port sighed.

"I know what's happening." Ozpin's voice made them all yelp and jump, "Greetings all." He took a sip of his mug of hot cocoa.

"Gah…Ozzy…we've been over this…stop doing that!" Ryo complained.

"My school, I can do as I please." he smirked.

"Wait, you already know what's going on?" Glynda blinked.

"Well…not with you and the other students no…" he admitted, "But I know what's going on." he smirked as someone walked in behind him and put a robot head down on a table, "It would seem Merlot is back," he sighed, "Thankfully…someone was doing some soul searching near one of his targeted relay points. He not only took down all the Grimm, but the robots he sent to set up his little research spot."

"Wait, what?" Ryo and Port blinked at that.

"You think he wouldn't tell me is he saw something strange?" Ozpin smiled.

"Sorry for taking off," the person behind Ozpin sighed, "But I do this from time to time so…don't expect it to be the last." he adjusted a hat on his head.

"T-Touma?!" Ryo gawked, "Your…already back?!"

"Well I wanted to spend the vacation on my little camping trip, but compounding things have brought me back." the young man sighed as he adjusted his black long coat lined with pockets and a slight silver trim. His head covered in a black hat with a red ring, at his side was a red version of the sword Kento and Rintaro had, "But when a building suddenly goes kaboom, and you see robots leaving with carts filled with this toxic green Dust crystal. You realize you should tell someone."

"...that is a fair point," Port muttered.

"Don't worry, I left a tracker on Rintaro for just such an emergency, I'm gonna need an airship, emergency supplies, and a Daishinji." Touma muttered.

"Can we give students airships?" Port asked.

"Oh I wasn't asking. I was just telling you everything I'm taking!" Touma laughed as he was already down the hall and turning a corner.

"Wh-wh-what?!"

"Almost like he never left…" Glynda sighed.

---

"So…let's see if we got this straight," Jaune muttered as he and the others took in the info Ben and his team shared, "Rex has some sort of nanite master control thing in him to let him use those weapons of his, Sari's technically half alien, Naoto was basically a world jumper before he met you guys, Noel and Lambda are some kind of cyborg clone..and are-like with Mai and Makoto-are from some bad alternate future where its controlled by some corrupt world government, and Ben….can turn into….aliens…"

"That's basically the gist of it," Mai muttered.

"I KNEW IT! ALIENS DO EXIST!" Nora declared.

"Not the point." Ren spoke gently, tapping her head to calm her down.

"It's all so surreal when you think about it," Pyrrha spoke.

"So that's why you were so weird. I just thought you were like Jaune…didn't know how to fight." Ruby muttered.

"Well outside of transforming no he cannot," Skurd stated as he moved from underneath the Omnitrix.

"Kill it!" Nora shouted, pulling out her hammer.

"AHH!" Ben panicked before Makoto grabbed Nora's hammer.

"It's okay! It's cool!" Makoto complained, "You are a really strong lady…"

"It's the weird voice I keep hearing." Blake spoke, "You have an alien…uh…what is it?"

"Ah its just Skurd…he's stuck to me cause he uses my alien watch as a free Food supply." Ben sighed.

"And I happen to provide a boost to make sure he doesn't die or humiliate himself," Skurd huffed.

"He looks like someone hacked him up," Neptune muttered.

"Or sneezed," Sun added…before he and his partner got smacked across the face by a vine, "D'oh!"

"Hmph!" Skurd snorted as Ben's arm reverted back to normal.

"...hmm…." Kento began to ponder as he held his chin in thought.

"Something up?" Jaune asked.

"Well…Merlot is expecting us to arrive at his island, and chances are he's seen us fight," Kento muttered, "...however…he doesn't know all of our skills, especially Ben's."

"Wait. I'm the secret weapon?" Ben blinked.

"Just run in, as something big…make a lot of noise, and we'll deal with things like the island defenses that keep people out…or in." Kento spoke.

"Huh?"

"Think; if he has a boat going to and from his island, and does all his work there, why has no one ever found it?" Kento pointed out, "All these robots, machinery…and Grimm…that can't go unnoticed for long, especially with how Atlas patrols the waters for dangerous aquatic Grimm…"

"It's cloaked from detection…an unmarked island." Weiss realized.

"If Atlas hasn't found him…either they aren't as good as they claim…or Merlot is better at hiding." Blake nodded.

"But then that means no one will be able to find us." Ren added.

"Not exactly…" Kento smiled.

"What?" Jaune blinked.

"Oh see…we have a tracker in Rintaro's jacket." Kento smirked, Rintaro blinking as he began patting himself over frantically, "A really strong one."

"You chipped me!?" Rintaro shouted.

"We needed to." Kento smiled, "Professor Ozpin, Touma and Daishinji all have the code to track it. We'll have a ride out, once we take down what hides the island from detection."

"...oh I get it," Makoto spoke up as a grin grew on her face, "While we're there, those back at the mainland will call for backup…and poof. This place gets swarmed in no time at all."

"Exactly." Rintaro smirked.

"But as I said, we need to distract Merlot's work…and destroy whats hiding his island. Otherwise…we'll be stuck on the twisted island of Dr. Merlot." Kento added, "So…the bigger the better."

"Good timing too," Naoto spoke as the container suddenly rocked a bit, "I think we're here."

"...well…" Ben began as he turned the Omnitrix on, "Here's hoping I get something big…"

"Better close your eyes," Noel advised to those native to this world, "Things are about to get…bright."

"...wait your gonna turn into something giant…while we're all still stuck in a crate?" Blake asked.

"I think you forgot to get that one braincell you shared with Makoto back…" Kento smirked.

"...ah shoot," Ben whispered in realization.

"WAit!" Makoto called out, running to the back of the container as she gripped it…before she pulled back to show some open space, "Okay! We're good babe!"

"What are you planning?" Weiss sighed.

"Merlot's expecting us to come out…but he's gonna be in for a rude surprise~" Makoto smirked.

"See…he left the brain with her." Kento smiled.

"Clearly one of them needs to have one." Weiss shrugged in agreement.

---

The robots stood ready outside the crate, aiming theri spears at it as they waited for those inside to come out. However a bright green flash soon went off, making them tense up as they stood ready. A thud soon went off, followed by something denting the crate from the inside. Another dent happened before the doors were suddenly blasted off, crashing into a few of the robots. Stomping out was what looked like a large, muscular humanoid triceratops-like creature with dark-bronze skin. He was completely decked out in what looked like gladiator armor colored in a mix of black and green as the Omnitrix symbol rested on the strap across his chest. He roared as Skurd formed in his hand and became a flaming spiked mace. He then swung, unleashing a surge of fire as he smashed several robots that were too close and blasted the others with fire, sending them flying.

"Whoo…! I don't know who or what this guy is…" the creature began before backhanding a robot away, "But man, he's a beast!"

"Hmm….Ben, I think I know what kind of Alien this is," Skurd whispered to him, "Recall when you and Rex picked up that blaster in that one version of New York?"

"You mean that Triceraton blaster? Yeah…huh. Guess I ended up scanning it," he realized before a laser hit him in the chest…only it barely even affected him, "...hey. That kinda tickled…"

"It would seem fate gave you yet another large bruiser of raw strength and power…your favorite." Skurd muttered.

"Well yeah…why think…when you can smash!" he roared, slamming his Heatblast mace into a robot, crushing it flat, "Also hey…I got a trifecta of dino-aliens now!"

"Y…huh. Astrodactyl, Grimlock and now this form….pterodactyl t-rex, and triceratops," Skurd noted, 'Add in Humungousaur and he technically has a dinosaur quartet...well quintet...may need to debate that later.'

"Only thing left is to name this guy," Ben's new form noted before using his tail to smack some leaping robots away, "...Makoto's gonna give me that cute pouty look if I name it without her."

"Then do what Triceratops do best, and run through everything." Skurd offered.

"...know what? Fine with me!" Ben's new form roared as he charged, literally plowing through a group of the robots as they were sent flying in multiple directions.

"Ahh…" Makoto whispered as she watched, biting her knuckles lightly as she and the others were trying to sneak away during the battle, "I really hope he didn't name it yet…"

"You can have your weird couple time later." Weiss sighed.

"It's wonderful couple time…" Makoto huffed.

"Look, Radio towers." Pyrrha pointed out.

"Hmm?" Makoto blinked as she followed the others over some rocks, the group seeing a few radio towers in the distance, "Oh there th….wait. This seems too easy."

"Scanning…" Lambda whispered as her visor scanned the area, "Multiple Grimm and robots detected near each of the radio towers."

"Also to be fair…If your island is unknown and hidden…would you need to make it difficult?" Kento argued.

"...eh. Fair enough," Makoto shrugged, "And if I were a bettin' girl…his main lab or something-the guy just screams mad scientist obviously- is probably somewhere underground...or hidden in one of the many mountains here."

"You think so?" Rintaro asked.

"Hey. I used to be in the Intel department at my old job. Gathering intel and going undercover's my thing," Makoto grinned.

"First things first…destroy the towers jamming all signals and detection." Ruby spoke up.

"Okay, it shouldn't be so hard. They are pretty close together." Yang spoke, "We'll just follow Ben's path of destruction and deal with the towers until…" she paused.

"He runs headfirst into a rock and gets stuck?" Weiss pointed.

"I'M GOOD!" he shouted with a rock stuck to his horns.

"Oh Ben…" Mai sighed.

"Probably best to split up and cover more ground," Naoto suggested, "One for each team to handle the towers…"

"While the rest covers them and sends any nasty beasties packin'," Rex grinned as he punched his fist into his opened palm.

"Makoto…uh…can you like…guide him?" Kento pointed.

"That I can do," Makoto nodded as she jumped down, "Hang up, babe! Back up's coming!"

"And that's our cue," Sari whispered as she and the others went off.

"GH!" Ben's new form grunted, holding a Beowolf back as it roared in his face, "Whew! Two words…breath…!" he began as he gripped its head, breaking its lower jaw before tossing it into a group of robots, "Mint!"

"SHOULDER CHECK!" Makoto shouted as she charged through a few Boarbatusk, "Enjoying yourself, honey?"

"You kidding? I'm a goddamn gladiator triceratops!" Ben's new form laughed, using his Heatblast Mace to cave in a Ursa's head.

"And yet you came barging out like a berserker," Skurd muttered.

"I can't help it…I just wanna fight! Ah…I think this alien is like crazy violent or something…probably not one for parties!" he chuckled.

"...also has really sharp teeth for a Triceratops…" Makoto muttered.

"I don't think they work like the Earth dinosaur," Skurd argued.

"Well…you did say he was like a ber…serk…er…" Makoto trailed off.

"...TRIZERK!" both Ben and Makoto exclaimed as they punched out a Beowolf in unison.

"God I love you babe, you just get me…NOW LET'S TEAR THIS PLACE DOWN AND LIGHT IT ON FIRE!" Trizerk roared as he tackled a Ursa through some steel walls that made up a small port for the large ship. He also kept running until he slammed into another rock, letting it slowly crumble, "YEAH!"

"Oh gods! He's like a violent dinosaur frat boy! HELP!" Skurd cried.

"Uh…oh!" Makoto gasped when a pack of Beowolves began to run towards her, "Hey, babe! Bowling manuver!"

"Hmm?" Trizerk blinked, pausing from punching in a robot's face as he noticed teh Beowolves, "...oh hell yeah!" he grinned, dropping the Robot as he ran up and grabbed Makoto, spinning her in place as he tossed her, the Beastkin curling into a ball as she crashed through the wolf-like Grimm, "STRIKE!"

"Wait…!" Makoto shouted, uncurling herself as she did a drop kick into an Ursa's gut, sending it rocketing into another pack of Beowolves…followed by a group of robots, "BOOM! TURKEY BABY!"

"Still the king and queen of bowling!" Trizerk laughed.

"Oh lord…" Weiss muttered, she and a few of the others near one of the Radio towers.

"I got it!" Ruby cheered, "And cloaking down, we should get some signal."

"Another one down," Lambda spoke as she flew down, "Kento and the others should be finished with the last one."

"SMASH!" Nora's voice shouted, followed by a loud boom as the ground shook a bit.

"...ok. Two types of electricity at once…effective, but…maybe too powerful," Sari's voice muttered.

"Seriously…I keep tasting mint from Sari's…spicy mint," Nora whispered.

"I think we should get you to a doctor after all this." Ren sighed.

"Agreed," Kento sighed, "Any luck with the tower Rex!?"

"Amost, just about to…ha yes!" Rex grinned as the last of the radio towers began powering down, "Last one down…heh. Nanites for the win!"

"Alright," Kento began as he ran over to Weiss and the others, "We should be good to go."

"I got a signal!" Ruby called out, her Scroll out as she looked at it, "And we got a call….from Dr. Merlot…"

=Hello~= Dr. Merlot greeted.

"You hacked my Scroll!"

=It's rather easy. Do you know how cheap Atlas Cyber security is?=

"Well jokes on you…." Yang began as she and the other two teams ran over, "We just took out your radio towers, so Atlas and anyone else can find your little island."

=Yes that is rather annoying…oh well I'm sure I can get something out of this. I will have to move though…oh well I should have time, please do come in I have a presentation and everything for visitors=

"Ha! As if!" Trizerk laughed as he and Makoto tossed away a pair of Ursas, "You just got some kind of trap waiting for us!"

=Oh come now…would I lie to you? I'm not that devious=

"Says the man who hid himself on an undetectable island," Blake argued.

"And made MUTANT GRIMM!" Ruby shouted.

=Sometimes you need to get your hands dirty for the greater good after all….something that fool Ozpin failed to realize=

"Picking up some hostility there…" Yang muttered.

"It wasn't subtle…" Blake whispered.

"...keep him talking…" Kento whispered to Ruby, "The more he monologues the more he'll reveal, the more he'll let slip, and we can use."

"Oh~" Ruby nodded, "Okay so…what is your plan here then? You're making Mutant Grimm…who and what does that help?"

=Well that's a good question indeed. See the Grimm are far more interesting than just Monsters. Examine how quickly they develop, how quickly they adapt, evolve! They are a wonder of science, to just destroy them would deprive us of vital information, potential discoveries of betterment!=

Kento gave the okay hand sign and a smile as he dashed off to help clear a path ahead. Ruby nodded as they followed the path of destruction.

=Now I know what you're possibly thinking…'but how can we use Grimm if they are wild beasts?' That's just it…they are beast, meaning they can be tamed…improved. We can make real progress by turning the beast hunting us...into our own tools=

"...and that toxic substance that was on those Creeps and that Beowolf…was it something you found on this island?" Rintaro asked.

=Oh yes. I've learned while it causes mutations…it improves on a Grimm's combat capabilities. Granted those Creeps and Beowolf were merely test subjects I wanted to examine, but the improved versions will listen to anyone with a simple command=

"Grr…" Trizerk frowned at that as he changed back into Ben, "What if people got hurt? You realize your little 'test' could've put an entire city at risk."

=Well come now…research and tests often have casualties…but sadly it is a price for science to progress= Merlot responded in a tone that made most of the group scowl.

"I suppose anyone saying it's for the better of any cause makes it easy to do anything and not have remorse for the damage you leave behind." Kento spoke with a frown as he gripped his sword, letting it spark with electrical energy as he held himself back, "Talking about such things would be a waste of breath, so let's cut to the chase and talk about how you did this. How can you control Grimm, something we know as a fact is not possible?"

=Ahh. Now that one I am particularly proud of= Merlot stated =See the substance found here on the island…while it is highly toxic, when used with certain chemicals and the right equipment, it makes even a Deathstalker as tame as a newborn pup…meaning it can grow..learn properly…be in better control of its base instinct and follow commands! Merlot Industries would've succeed in this…had certain…incidents hadn't occurred=

=And that is why that line of thought is the reason you cannot be trusted= Ozpin spoke.

=...Ozpin…= Merlot frowned.

"When d-" Jaune began before Ruby hushed him.

=When you first put that thought of experimenting on Grimm being a good idea, your obsession has and will be your own downfall= Ozpin stated.

=The Grimm are the superior species, fascinating in their own biology! Their unbridled raw aggression and lack of sentience makes them the perfect vessel! We could've had the Grimm fight for us!= Merlot argued.

=You mean like the Mount Glenn Disaster?=

=...would you believe if I told you that it was not my fault?=

=I can't hold you solely responsible for that, but you did play more than a small part in all that went wrong there=

=Admittedly, Mountain Glenn is a bit of a sore spot for me. Decades of hard work, countless research projects-not to mention all of the specimen I'd collected over the years-all lost without a trace=

=Ignoring the countless lives lost to the tragedy and the chance for Expanding and growing the world for more to live in. Yet all you care about is your lost science projects like thousands didn't die=

=My…you seem almost…more passionate Ozpin…what has changed in the years since we last met? Normally you only speak down to me from your ivory clockwork tower…yet here you sound so passionate in your disdain? What variable has been introduced since last we talked?=

=Lets just say, that finally after a long time I am seeing a new light in the horizon…and it has illuminated all the things I have put behind me=

=Well no matter, I have work to do and your beloved pupils can't possibly change my plans. I had many things left in store to show them. It will be one heck of a show~=

"...psycho," Rex whispered once Merlot hung up.

"Understatement," Weiss added.

"Professor Ozpin, what's going on?" Ruby asked, "How do you know Dr. Merlot?"

=Once upon a time I knew him as he worked as a respectable businessman, at least on the Surface. He had his main lab in Mount Glenn, where he used it to conduct wicked experiments upon Grimm without our knowing. Once upon a time many considered him an eccentric but helpful man of science, but we didn't know the twisted insanity he hid from us till it was too late. For years we assumed he died in the Mount Glenn disaster, but lo and behold, he has arisen from the Dead to continue his work=

"...Not if we stop him," Ben spoke up, earning the group's attention, "He said he's been getting this substance from the island…meaning there has to be a pipeline to help gather it, and a facility to help store it for future use."

=Very astute young man. Yes I believe the best course of action is to destroy his lab and ensure this substance can never be used again. Normally researching it would be the proper thing to do…but if it does as Merlot claims, then it's best for all of Remnant that it be destroyed and lost to history. Find his lab and see if you can bring it all down on this well of toxic energy and use the rubble to plug the hole=

"So…destroy everything and anything~?" Yang smiled.

=I didn't say that, but…I'm not saying you can't~= Ozpin replied.

"Taking that as a yes!" Yang beamed.

"Wait," Sari spoke before Yang could run off, "We don't know if this toxic goop is volatile. We saw what it did to those Creeps when they exploded…who's to say the raw material isn't as explosive, if not worse?"

"...She makes a point," Pyrrha muttered.

"...wait…what if…" Makoto began as she looked over at Rintaro, "What if we used his sword to nullify the stuff?"

"Hmm?" Rintaro blinked at that.

"Could that work?" Weiss turned to Rintaro.

"I've…never used it to purify such a large quantity of toxic material before…" Rintaro muttered, "I think what we would need wouldn't be water…but Fire."

"And the person for that…is currently away," Kento sighed.

=Ahh….about that…= Ozpin muttered, earning the group's attention =Ironically it is thanks to Merlot that he has returned early=

"He?" Teams BANH and RKLS repeated.

"Wait…Touma is back!?" Rintaro asked with a smile.

"He's there?!" Kento asked.

"Is he?! I have so many complaints about him ditching his idiots on us!" Weiss added, Kento pointing to Rintaro who was oblivious.

"Touma! Help! We need your weirdly specific brain!" Ruby called out.

=He's not here, he's already left to find you. He's on an Airship heading your way as we speak. Rintaro's tracker…= he quickly explained.

"So he's on his way here?!" Jaune asked.

"Correction…I am here."

"AHH!" the group jumped as they quickly turned, seeing Touma standing there.

"Wh….bu….how…?!" Nora stammered.

"Someone gave a me a shortcut," Touam shrugged, "Also…a note oddly for your new friends."

"Oh no…" those not native of this world whispered as they braced themselves.

"All it said was 'next time...try not to be so secretive around those who know about dimensions and such'," he added.

"Oh phew for a second I thought…" Ben began before hearing a yelp as Naoto was the one hit with the boot this time, "There it is…"

"Being honest…World-hopping travelers sounds like it could be a potential story in on itself," Touma admitted excitedly, "Oh how wonderful that would be, what adventures, the mystery, the wonder!" he grabbed Ben by the shoulders, "What Spectacular Stories have you had my friend?! I must know and document them!"

"...wow," Mai and Sari blinked.

"It's like a male Noel….jacked up on coffee," Rex muttered.

"Touma!" Ruby shouted, slapping him, "Focus up!"

"I will get those stories…" he replied simply as he hadn't let go of Ben.

"M-maybe we can trade story's after we deal with the mad scientist on the Island of Dr. Merlot," Ben offered nervously.

"..." Touma let go of Ben as he took out a tiny notebook and began scribbling something, "...On the Island of…Dr. Merlot…" he muttered to himself, "Saving that title for later." he walked off.

"Yes…he's very weird." Daishinji spoke, suddenly standing behind Ben and Makoto.

"AHH!" said couple yelped in surprise.

Daishinji ignored them as he walked around revealing he had a large cloth covered item on his back, "Anyway, I worked as fast as I could but sadly this is the 0.9 version of the commissioned item," he explained to Mai, "But should suffice till we can return to Beacon for the finalized version. Sadly this one shall only be able to deflect and accelerate…ah…hmm…23 times." he handed it to her.

"Wh-?! 23….23 times?!" Mai gawked.

"Well I'm sorry but I did my best given you asked for it to not use Dust." Daishinji sighed, "Don't worry the final product should be at least twice that before needing to return to your hands."

"...know what? Not gonna question it…but I'll take it," Mai muttered.

"Excellent….now let's see what we can do about this guy's hidden lab."

"Scanning," Lambda whispered, her visor looking along the ground, "...Pipe leading to a large facility...approximately 1.50 miles from our current location."

"Hmm…I count there are still several dozens of Grimm in the path, about half a dozen robots, several of which have what I can only assume are heavy weapons with explosive ammunition." Daishinji cupped his ear, "Judging by the sound…there are two main paths that lead to what seems to be the front entrances of this facility…"

"There is also an elevator leading deeper into the facility," Lambda added, "Detecting Multiple robots and mutant Grimm within it…along with a heat signature."

"Must be Dr. Merlot," Blake guessed.

"Hm…two paths," Ben muttered, "Doubt splitting up this time will be easy."

"That Merlot fellow is paranoid and stuck in his own ego…of course he wouldn't make this easy," Skurd deadpanned.

"I think he just got ahead of himself and wound up biting off more than he can chew." Touma spoke, "Look at the reaction this toxic substance has…for him to even manipulate it into a crystalline form…that complex must run a lot of energy…" he paused, "I think it be easier if we set the entire thing to self detonate, bringing itself down on the source, and crystallizing it so it can't leak into the water." he explained, "I'm going to need to get down there first and see if we can even access his network. Hmm…" he walked ahead as he began doing something with his fingers where it looked like he was writing in the air. As he did he ignored Grimm as they lunged at him, ducking under them with little thought given, "No…but maybe…hmm…" he walked over a Creep, letting it get pounced on by a Beowolf, "Hmm…but then that would…oho no not that again…but then…" he stopped as a Beowolf missed him and fell into a pile of green ooze letting it melt away. He then stopped and turned around to the others, "I got it!"

"...uh…what…?" Naoto began.

"That's kinda his thing," Jaune replied.

"Quick, I need something big and fireproof!" Touma shouted, "Hurry we don't have all day, chances are he'll escape in an evil scientist escape pod if we take too long!"

"...big and fireproof huh?" Ben grinned, activating the Omnitrix, "I think I have just the guy."

---

One of Merlot's Robots walked around hefting a large belt fed gun connected to its back. It was on defense mode upon being alerted to intruders. It felt a sudden shake and turned to see what it was, it saw what could be a flaming boulder…quickly slamming into it and then several more. The fire sprang off it, shooting off into the pools of green ooze causing them to light a flame and burn away leaving dry ground.

"Nice shot Yang!" Touma smiled.

"Makoto helped!" Yang cheered.

"Of course, we needed distance! The more muscle the better!" Makoto smiled.

"Why isn't Ben in pain?" Noel asked.

"Holy Fire, only burns evil, heals the good." Touma smiled.

"And boy it felt good!" Darukania's voice laughed from the flaming ball, uncurling himself as he punched a robot away, "Kinda like a nice hot spring!" he pulled out his sword and smashed another, "Now if I had a good Rock Roast, it'd be perfect!"

"So you literally said screw A and B, I'm taking C…" Naoto muttered noting the path caused by this destruction.

"I figure both are filled with guards and Grimm." Touma figured, "Now they'll need to struggle to make it all the way here to us."

"I dig it!" Makoto grinned.

"But what about the giant door?" Rex pointed out.

"Give it a second…" Touma held his hand up to hold him back, "And…" at that the door opened on its own, "Right on Time Dr…oh your being far too easy to read." he chuckled.

=I do not know how you got in here young man...but you just reek of Ozpin…= Merlot growled over the intercom.

"I am but a humble Novelist, I love a story, but I know what makes a story, the trends, the patterns, or…tropes as people call them. I like the simplification but I feel like so many people put unneeded stigma on the concept…shame that. Ruins the fun of just enjoying the story." he rambled as he walked in, "But they are still a fact of storytelling. And with you, oh I can tell…you want an audience, you want to prove your point against us." he kept walking as a door opened, "This complex is so large, but unguarded. You have no concern of anything going wrong, no…you want a challenge. To gloat that you beat Ozpin's chosen few."

=...hmm…oh that sounds truly tempting…= Merlot admitted =And you and your friends' swords interest me…hmm…very well. But know once I beat you…your sword is mine=

"You're free to try." Touma replied nonchalantly.

"Oh he's good," Darukania and Makoto whispered.

"So this also builds his robots…" Touma found a monitor connected to a glass wall showing a conveyor belt assembly of the robots they found on the island.

"Hmm…" Sari put a hand on it, her eyes glowing briefly, "Huh. Interesting schematics for assembly. It's actually 2.67 percent more proficient than my dad's assembly lines. But the power drawback for that increase…" she shook her head.

"Well…it's run by a mad man…so…" Touma typed for a bit, stopped, then typed one key before hitting enter.

"What did you do?" Blake asked.

"I changed one number in the code." Touma explained as the mechanical arms were going haywire and were now sticking random parts on the robots, making useless mishmashed mistakes of machinery and anatomy.

"Password is '0ZP1N' then an underscore followed by 'GR1MM' followed by an…" Sari listed as Touma nodded at times.

"...What are they…?" Yang began to ask.

"Intel gathering," Makoto replied, "Scientists really need to learn how to block Sari out."

"Well that should put a stop to the endless robot army for a bit till he fixes the code." Touma offered, "Let's move it!" he cheered as he jogged ahead, "If I'm right…this place will have traps and guard robots along the way, heavy hitters lead the charge, if it moves break it!" he ordered, "We can't do anything from these terminals, we need to find one down near his important machinery!"

"Sari…" Naoto began.

"He's right. Merlot was smart in keeping things isolated," Sari frowned, "I have all his passwords, but the major systems with all his vital data are not connected to these systems."

"How did you…?" Mai began to ask Touma.

"Know that? Well I had to think like a mad scientist, if I built a giant complex with dozens of systems…would I be silly enough to leave them all linked. Answer…no…that would be too easy." Touma smiled, "Obviously the story can't end that quickly, no no, we still have to fight our way through the dungeon to reach the climax at the core of the facility."

"But this is real life…" Naoto pointed out.

"Ah but what is life, if not the fuel for fiction and story!" Touma laughed, "If you think things are so simple because it's real life you will never get a job fully done! I've always wanted to do something dangerous like storm a compound…you have no idea how hard it is to do this…not Train hop across the country levels of difficulty, but then again that one is difficult when you're young…"

"Touma how many stupid adventures have you gone on!?" Ruby shouted.

"You say stupid…I call it inspiration!" Touma laughed, "By the way robots." he stopped as a robot's spear almost struck him, "That…is a nice robot…"

=Oh why thank you. Merlot Ind-bbhbhbhbhb!= Merlot sputtered a bit =Oh no…don't even try it with me!=

"What? They really are." Touma complimented as he pulled out his sword and sliced the robot clean in half.

"He just goes at the beat of his own drum," Sari noted.

"I like this guy!" Darukania laughed.

"Just 'cause he's evil doesn't mean I can't be honest. Besides…I already see victory in our ending." Touma replied, "I could get mad for his views…or I could go in with a clear head, and make sure no one gets hurt."

"Understandable," he nodded

"Alright now where?" Yang asked, noticing branching paths in the hall.

"Hmm…making one has worked so far…where is that elevator?" Touma asked.

"Lambda?" Noel spoke as Lambda scanned the area

"It's in this direction…" she pointed to a wall, "I think if we…" she flinched when Touma stabbed his sword as the blade was covered in fire…and began cutting through the wall till it fell down creating a makeshift door, "...or we can take a shortcut…"

"That's easier." Touma smiled, tapping his sword on his shoulder.

"...oh he's like Ben if he were smart," Skurd whispered.

"Y….hey~" Darukania frowned at that.

"Come along, ya big lug," Makoto said as she began to lead him towards the makeshift door, "...oh but first," she began as she tapped the Omnitrix, changing him back into Ben, "Don't wanna get stuck."

"Here, we go, reactor room, if there's anything of interest it has to be there." Touma read a small touchpad to control the elevator, "Alright everyone pile in…but no poking, prodding, pinching or complaining about space." he ordered as everyone got in, "Also…be prepared for him to cut the cable on us!" he declared.

"WHAT!?" they all shouted.

"What…you don't expect villains to trap the elevators?" Touma asked, "You really shouldn't give them so much credit…"

"Would you believe most of Ben's enemies sUUUUUUUUCKKKKK!?" Makoto screamed as the elevator suddenly began going down fast.

"Called it!"

"Anyones…have any ideas…!? Because I…" Jaune grunted, currently stuck against the wall as he tried to move, "...wait…we're in a giant metal box…Pyrrha!"

"Oh…well I've never stopped something this big before…but I can try!" she held her hands down as a black glow formed on the elevator floor as they shakily began slowing down.

"Anything to slow us down." Touma spoke stabbing his sword through the wall along with Kento, Rintaro and Daishinji as they caused some friction to help slow down, "Weiss…any chance you can use a glyph to help Pyrrha?!" he grunted.

"On it!" she pointed down as a Glyph formed under the Elevator and helped with slowing it down.

"Ben, any chance you have Lodestar?!" Mai called out as she and the others gripped her sides.

"I'm checking!" Ben called out as he was going through his selection, "Darukania, Omniketsu…no Shocksquatch, Fast Track…Upgrade. I…"

"Wait Ben go back!" Makoto called out, "Try going Upgrade!"

"...oh! Got it!" Ben quickly nodded, going back to his previous selection before pressing down. He quickly took form and melted down into the ground.

"...what's he…" Nora began before the elevator came to a screeching halt, causing everyone to fall over as she ended up landing on top of Ren, "AHH!"

=Sorry about that guys!= Upgrade sheepishly chuckled.

"Next time…let's lead with that…" Touma chuckled sheepishly, "Ah…my arms feel like jello…"

"I just want it known…I hate all of you…" Daishinji spoke up.

"We know…cry about it to your sword…" Yang groaned.

"He does…" Ruby muttered.

"I know…" Yang sighed.

"At least…it stopped," Pyrrha whispered as she sat up.

"...uh…Pyrrha?" Sari spoke up.

"Hmm?" the red head blinked before Sari pointed down, making her look...and saw she was sitting on top of Jaune's face, "AHH! I-I'M SORRY!" she yelped as she quickly got up, her heavily blushing face matching her hair.

"What happened?" Jaune asked, "I think I blacked out for a second…"

"Aw…she ruined it…" Nora muttered as she was on top of Ren.

"Nora…get off me."

"But I'm lazy…" Nora argued.

"..." Ren said nothing as he gently pushed her off and stood up, "And you landed elbow first on my lungs…not exactly pleasant."

"...sorry…"

"Oh that was worse than the roller coaster…" Noel whispered as she and Lambda stood up, the former feeling a bit dizzy as she had swirls in her eyes.

"Everyone okay?" Yang asked, helping Ruby.

"I think my back got turned into a pretzel…" Ruby groaned.

"Well…now the elevator is…Ben?" Blake blinked.

"Yeah this seems like some whacky nonsense…" Touma muttered, all the while scribbling in his notebook, "Gods I love today."

=Save the story brainstorming for after we deal with Merlot and his freaky creations= Upgrade stated.

"Oh that's cute…he thinks he can get Touma to stop." Yang giggled.

"I can do both!" Touma cheered as he finished, "Now bottom floor avoiding all the forced stops where we would have likely needed to fight countless monsters."

=Can do= Upgrade responded as the elevator began to lower down once more.

"...ok legit curious," Yang began as she looked at Makoto, "Just how many aliens can your boyfriend change into?"

"Right now…he's stuck with a randomized list of 10." Makoto explained, "Normally he has a long list of a couple sets of 10, I think it's more than a few hundred by now…but not all of them are combat focused. Also…Ben has a preference for big and strong."

=If it ain't broke…don't fix it~= Upgrade chuckled.

"Yes and that's gotten you into trouble many times," Skurd muttered, currently resting on top of Lambda's shoulder

"I think there is a time and place for complaining about someone's fighting style." Rintaro muttered.

"True…but my point stands," Skurd stated.

"Well thankfully we don't need to be methodical and specific. I need someone to run in, fight everything and anything, be loud, be explosive…but most importantly…be distracting." Touma smiled, "Keep all eyes on you…and we'll do the hacking, and computer stuff while they look the other way. Classic misdirect."

"Isn't he…?" Noel muttered.

"Ben?" Touma smiled.

=Oh no yeah I disabled all the listening devices in here, we are isolated and private= Upgrade chuckled, =Ah…yeah I figured it be better then listening to him gloat and monologue about how impressed he is we're alive.=

"They always do that," Touma smiled.

"So both of you are genre savvy enough to know…one of you would do that…?" Jaune blinked.

"My brain hurts…" Nora muttered.

"Eh. I'd do it too," Rex shrugged, "Just use my Nanites to hack into the guy's machines and wreck the process all together…but I know how to hold back at times."

"So we clear on the game plan?" Touma smiled, "Go in loud, annoying and ruin the party like that one person you never invite but somehow always crashes the party."

"I'm game," Naoto grinned, his hair flashing white as he pounded his fist into his open palm, "Been waiting to go wild."

"...hmm…I may have something," Sari spoke up, earning the group's asuggeston, "Touma wants us to go in loud, annoying and ruin the party right? Well…one way to ruin a party is a food fight, or in our case…" she grinned as she brought her sword and shield out, "Food War…so I say we go in like we're about to have another."

"Food war?" Touma blinked.

"You don't wanna know," Blake sighed.

"I feel bad for missing it." Touma chuckled.

"I honestly don't," Daishinji deadpanned.

---

"Mmm…come on come on…why isn't this working?" a skinny, elderly man with wild silver-white hair and a full faced beard muttered, his cybernetic eye glowing a bit in annoyance as he typed away at the keyboard, "I can't connect to the speakers…oh its those students of Ozpin. They honestly think they're clever…well they'll have hte last last o-"

*BOOOM!*

"?! Wh-what was that?!" the man exclaimed before typing on the keyboard, causing a monitor to turn on as it showed the robots firing at something, only to suddenly get scattered by a wave of green and yellow lightning, "?! What the…?!"

=Huh…didn't think I could actually pull that off= Sari noted as she walked onto the screen a bit, =Good idea K…er, Espada=

=You don't have to force yourself. 'sides upon accepting this job, I am more or less a secret, anyone who knows me is the only one with proof of my existence=

=Ahh…eh fair enough. Still...lets light up the joint, Kento!= Sari declared, swerving out of the way of some laser fire before snapping her fingers, causing bolts of electricity to shock another group of robots.

"?! Impossible!" the man exclaimed with wide eyes, "How did they get so close?!...In fact, how are they even alive?! I cut the…!" the monitor soon went bluescreen on him, followed by a chibi Upgrade doing a taunting motion right at him, "...they hacked me?! They…hacked me?!"

---

"Move, move, move!" Touma called out as several of them ran past the robots and let the others cause destruction and chaos, "We only have so long to get started. Aha!" he pointed at a computer monitor, "Bingo!" he plugged his scroll in and began typing away.

"Take your time man!" Rex shouted, his BFS out as he sliced down a few Grimm, "We're gonna have some fun here!"

"WHOOO!" Nora cheered as she rode on top of an Ursa.

"Nora! Get down from there!" Ren complained as he shot a Robot's head off.

"We got it handled!" Makoto shouted, throwing a robot at another making them explode.

"This'll take a while anyway but we're in so no stopping it." Touma smiled before spinning around and decapitating a robot that tried to sneak up on him.

"May as well leave our mark!" Yang laughed as she uppercutted a Beowolf into the air before Makoto delivered a dropkick to it, sending it rocketing into a group of them.

"HA! Eat it, ya soulless mutts!" Makoto mocked as she landed near Yang, "You can't stop Team PUNch!"

"Ah…now there's two Yang's…I missed a lot." Touma muttered.

"You have," Blake added before using one of her blades to cut down a Creep.

"We had to train with Mr. Ogami after the food war," Jaune sighed, blocking a Beowolf away with his shield before Naoto kicked it away.

"Spoilers, me and the guys did NOT enjoy it!" Naoto added.

"No one ever does…" Touma sighed, "But well we're on a time table, download what info we can, set this place to blow up, and head for the back exit."

"Back Exit?" Noel blinked.

"Of course, places this big always have a back exit. For if something goes wrong and you need to escape from the most inconvenient location fast." Touma explained.

"That doesn't…"

"Then how'd all the Grimm get in through that one entrance?" Touma pointed out.

"...fair point," Noel nodded before quickly turning, converting Bolverk into a rocket launcher as she shot down a few flying bee-like Grimm, "DIE WINGED SPAWNS OF EVIL!"

"...insectophobia?" Weiss guessed as she sliced down a Boarbatusk through its abdomin.

"Yup!" Mai nodded as she flipped away from a red robot.

"Well can't blame her, some of these Grimm get creepy." Touma spoke, "It looks like he brought some from all over Remnant here."

"...now that Deathstalker he mentioned in his monologue has me worried," Jaune whispered.

"Foreshadowing my friend, never good." Touma spoke, he then pulled Jaune aside as a black streak ran past and almost him, everyone paused to see a large rabbit like Grimm with antlers, "Jackalope…"

"Evil bunny…" Noel and Lambda awed in shock.

"Well that's gonna give them nightmares," Mai muttered before dodging another Beowolf, "...know what? Since we're going crazy..perfect time to test out the new spear!"

She quickly unfurled the wrapping covering it, letting it fly into a Ursa's face before it was cut down. It was a long pure red spear, its shaft had multiple angular markings along it, towards the edge two red tubs of metal curved around one another forming a small two pronged sharp tip at the very bottom, and the head of the spear was two pronged blade with a glowing orb like center.

"...oh I l-" Mai began as she gripped her weapon, only to yelp suddenly when the tip suddenly curved downward before the entire thing began to fade from red to deep navy blue, making it look almost like an anchor, "A-an anchor?!"

"Give it a swing!" Daishinji shouted, rolling out of the way of a bee Grimm's sting before slicing it down, "I had fun with that mode the most!"

"...ok but how's an a-!" Mai began as she swung her weapon, causing water to appear around it as it sent out a cutting wave that sliced down a few robots and Grimm, "?!"

"That was difficult! It took me all morning to finish that! The metal you gave me had a lot of potential…so…I melted it down and reforged it then used special sonic waves to forge and make it able to alter size, shape, even color. The water bit…sadly no that is Dust but that's just cause I don't have time to invent something that's…not dust related. Sorry!"

"...know what? I like it," Mai admitted before swinging her weapon, decapitating a pouncing Beowolf's head off its body, "Thanks!" 'Honestly can't wait to see what the complete version is like.'

"My pleasure!"

"Mmm…" Lambda frowned as she and Pyrrha stood back to back, the two surrounded by some robots and Grimm, "...strategy complete. Ms. Nikos, aim between the feet of the robot on the lower most left."

"Hmm?"

"Reflection," she explained as he swords floated up and began going behind the enemies.

"...understood," Pyrrha nodded, her Xiphos changing into a rifle-like formation as she shot between a robot's legs, making it tense before her shot pierced through its head from behind, the bullet going through the body of a Ursa before it deflected off Lambda's sword, shooting right through the beast's head as it shot another robot, followed by another Grimm for the past few seconds until they all fell over.

"That was so cool…" Ruby awed.

"Right?!" Nora beamed…still riding on top of the Ursa as she smacked a Beowolf away.

"Any luck Touma?!" Kento shouted as he shot by, slashing down a Robot before he quickly ducked, letting Rintaro jump over as he bisected an Boarbatusk.

"Almost done, just give it a moment." Touma spoke, "It's like literally that last little tick that takes forever!"

"He's not wrong!" Makoto admitted as she and Yang punched a Ursa away.

"Agreed!" Fast Track's voice shouted as he blurred by, crashing through a herd of Creep's as they were sent flying.

"And we're good!" Touma shouted, "Run down this tunnel!" he pointed to a walkway built into a tunnel-like structure, "It leads to our exit!"

"Then let's make sure we're not followed!" Fast Track shouted, slapping down on the Omnitrix as he changed into Armadillo, "Heads up! Things are about to get shaky!"

"You heard him"! Sari shouted, bashing a Creep's face in with her shield before she put her weapons away, "Lets go!"

"Alleyoop!" Nora shouted as she jumped off the Ursa, making it growl out before a energy bullet it shot it through the head, "Thanks Noel!"

"Hai!" Noel shouted as she and the others began to run through the exit, Armadrillo following behind htem before he stopped.

"Not sure if ya can hear us doc, but…sayonara!" Armadrillo shouted as he slammed his hands on the floor, the area beginning to violently shake before rubble began to fall down from above.

"So what exactly is gonna happen?" Mai asked.

"The machinery will go into overdrive, overheat while over producing the crystalline version of this toxic substance, go boom, and leave the entire supply as crystals that can't leak into the ocean." Touma explained,

"And by the time that happens, we'll be far away in an airship!" Armadrillo shouted as he caught up with them, a flash going off as he changed back into Ben, "Good timing too…the Omnitrix is on recharge mode right now."

"Oh? So you have a limit on how long you can sustain your forms?" Rintaro questioned.

"It's kinda finicky like that," Ben shrugged.

"Usually happens when he transforms too many times in the same sitting," Skurd added.

"Ahh…interesting," Rintaro noted as the group began to run into a large room.

"?! Halt!" Lambda shouted, making the others stop.

"...oh now what?" Rex groaned.

"Large signal detected…directly below us," Lambda whispered as she looked down, "..bigger than Funkfreed…covered in toxic radiation…"

"Oh so…there's the Deathstalker…" Jaune sighed as they all gathered up close to be ready for whatever was coming.

The walls ahead began to tremble before they began falling apart, a large pincer claw reaching around for anything to grab. It was massive, maybe even bigger than the ancient one those native to this dimension knew of. The claw pulled back as it crawled around the building over the tunnel they where in as they saw the dents of its legs walking over them.

"...ahh~" Noel gasped as she fainted right on the spot.

"That…is…big…" Jaune muttered as he stood next to Naoto.

"So…that's not normal then?" he asked.

"Nope…"

"Oh hell no, that is a freak and a half right there…" a voice spoke as black demonic arms slung over their shoulders, a red skull like face resting between theirs, large silver mandibles extending from his lower jaw. He looked up with them as they flinched, "Woo…yeah that is some freaky work…so…how do we kill it?!" he asked, gripping their shoulders as a red scarf moved around as if alive and began poking Jaune's face.

"AHH!" Jaune freaked.

"NOT YOU!" Ruby exclaimed.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Yang snapped.

"What is that?!" Naoto shouted, jumping away.

"Hello~" he waved.

"Desast?!" Touma called out.

"What…I'm here to help!" he laughed, vanishine as he wrapped his arm around Touma's shoulder, "See…we can't let humans go and learn to command the Grimm…that is…unless they pledge themselves to…us~" he explained before raising his index finger as he blocked a swing from Kento, "So…I'm here to murder the nerd…so…what's say you and I work together Riders? Come on we'll make a hell of a team~ Think of it…we could even be friends after!"

"...This guy's like a freaky monster version of Deadpool," Ben whispered to Makoto.

"No kidding…"

"Just as annoying," Skurd added.

"WELL!" Desast shouted as he jumped and appeared before the couple, "What do we have here?" he began sniffing them, "Travelers from beyond the veil~? Well now I've never murdered technical aliens…but boy would I love to! But later…and preferably anyone with a sword…and strong…otherwise…what's even the point of it~Hahaha!" he wrapped his arm around Ben, "You…you just smell of Heroics…what do you say hotshot? Wanna fight to the death with an immortal? Bet you I last longer~"

"...normally I'd be freaking out at something like you, but I literally foguth and dealt with scarier," Ben quipped.

"Oh ho! Well ya haven't met me yet!" Desast laughed.

"Desast!" Touma got his attention.

"No need to yell Swordsmen of Flames…I'm perfectly able to hear ya. But I am here on business…after I collect the nerd's head on my sword…I'll gladly fight ya…I'm sure…" he looked them over, "Some of you have grievances to air with me for…oh…the Riders I've killed…the monsters I let lose on your childhood homes…But well…you can fight me…which would take all of you…or you can fight that…before it escapes to the ocean and…makes its way for mainland…" he chuckled as he leaned in close to Touma to stare him in the eyes, "You know what you have to do…and I know what I gotta do. So…how's about you save some fun for me~?" he tapped his shoulder as he began walking off.

"...We're on a time limit anyways…" Touma whispered as the Deathstalker roared out.

"Then I better get to killing!" Desast laughed.

"Jaune, you and the others run off to the ship," Touma spoke up as Kento, Daishinji and Rintaro walked up beside him, "We'll hold back the Deathstalker."

"You sure?" Jaune asked out of concern.

"It's no big deal, we can handle this," Kento assured.

"It will be tricky. No doubt it has unknown abilities. But nothing we can't handle together," Daishinji spoke.

"And our armors will defend us from the toxic elements longer," Rintaro explained.

"Also our leader is back and we want to show off." Kento smirked.

"Besides with Desast hanging around…a fight with him is far from smart."

"Ya get me buddy!" Desast laughed.

'Yep…A battle junkie Deadpool…' Makoto and Ben thought with drops of sweat going down the back of their heads.

=Oh n-BZZT! You don't!= Merlot's voice snapped as a metal wall blocked the exit =I will not be humiliated by Ozpin's wretched students! My magnum opus will make sure you don't leave here alive!=

"Oh that's cute…he thinks he's a threat," Desast chuckled.

"It…It's honestly sad how mad scientists tend to think the same, just in different methods," Ben sighed.

"Tell me about it," Sari shook her head.

"They just never learn," Rex shrugged as Kento, Rintaro, and Touma put on copies of the same buckle while Daishinji pulled out his sword.

"Any chance you can translate what they say like with Lion Senki and tell me after everything's done?" Ruby whispered as Touma pulled out a red book, Kento a yellow book, and Daishinji a pink book.

"Affirmative," Lambda replied.

=BRAVE DRAGON/LAMP DO ALANGINA/HANSELNUTS TO GRETEL=

"Henshin!" Touma shouted, drawing his sword from his buckle and swinging it in a large X as fire shot out.

=Rekka Battou! Brave Dragon~! Rekka Issatsu! Yuuki no ryuu to Kaenken Rekka ga majiwaru toki, shinku no tsurugi ga aku wo tsuranuku!=

"Henshin!" Kento shouted, swinging his sword down as lightning fell from above and struck him.

=Ikazuchi Battou! Lamp do Alagina~! Ikazuchi Issatsu! Lamp no sei to Raimeiken Ikazuchi ga majiwaru toki inazuma no tsurugi ga hikari kagayaku!=

Daishinji flicked his sword as the blade folded forward and opened to reveal a gun barrel built within, "Henshin." he aimed and fired.

=Hanselnuts to Gretel! Juuken Gekidan! Ken de ikuze! No~! No! Ju de go! Go! Bang! Bang~! On~juu~ken Suzune~! Suzune Gakushou! Amai miwaku no juuken ga, okashina rhythm de beat wo kiri kizamu!=

"Henshin!" Rintaro declared, becoming Blades.

The four ran forward as elemental energy covered them before forming their armor. Touma's was white black and red, with a dragon on his right shoulder and a large fire-like visor that arched out to the sides. Kento was now clad in white armor with gold accents and a golden lamp and cape on his left shoulder, his visor curved up and around his horn almost making a complete circle. Daishinji was now covered in bright magenta armor with brown armor on his torso, shoulders or legs.

"Ha!" the four shouted while running past the Deathstalker, leaving slashes along its exoskeleton which cut deep and caused it to bleed the toxic green ooze.

"So cool~" Makoto awed, stars in her eyes.

"So what are their names aside from Blades and Espada?" Ben asked, looking at Weiss, "I'm guessing something sword-related like Rapier or Saber or Zweihandler?"

"Saber…" Weiss began as she pointed at the Red rider deflecting the Deathstalker's stinger, "And Slash," she pointed at the magenta rider next, said rider flipping out of the way as he slashed the Deathstalker's back, "So…you got one right."

"Ren's also a Rider," Nora added as she leaned against Ren, "And he's the new Kenzan!"

"...Let me guess: green ninja-themed Wind Rider?" Makoto guessed.

"Exactly!" Nora cheered.

"Then…"

"It needs repair! YEARS! Left alone! Abandoned! I allowed him to use it once for personal reasons! But that sword must be healed!" Slash shouted.

"I can and will shoot him if he tries to take it before we can get them back to perfection!" Ruby growled, Crescent Rose's barrel aimed at Ren with a twitchy eye.

"I made the smart choice and let them fix the sword." Ren sighed, calmly putting a finger on the rifle and moving it to aim at the mutated Grimm, "Besides it meant more than enough they helped me reclaim it. I can wait a few more weeks to get it back." he smiled, "I just wish they'd stop being so trigger happy…Mostly because Nora is ready to give Ruby traumatic brain damage…" he motioned to Nora; as she was standing behind Ruby hammer aimed at her head.

"I'll do it too...and make it look like an accident~" Nora smiled in a rather…creepy tone as Ruby's demeanor rapidly changed from her rather crazed to terrified, even hiding behind Ben and Makoto.

"...That's freaky…and I'm a gods damn monster," Desast muttered from nearby.

"Will you get out of here?!" Weiss complained.

"And miss out on the fun? As if! I'm an instigator of chaos!"

"Weiss, Weiss, let me tell you a thing about Instigators of Chaos," Sari whispered, "You can't stop them; you can only direct the chaos. Case in point…" she looked up at Desast, "So…you're pretty strong, right?"

"Strongest there is!"

"I see…I see…so if you're so strong, then why is that…" she pointed to the mutated Deathstalker, "Not even paying any attention to you?"

"...Say what? It…it's ignoring me? A-Are you ignoring me? Hey! Hey! You're ignoring me, aren't you?!" Desast demanded, pointing at the Deathstalker…which turned away from him to stab at Slash who jumped out of the way, "Le Gasp! You are ignoring me!" he pulled out a jagged long sword, "You dirty son of a…I'll cut you!"

"You're welcome," Sari smiled at a gawking Weiss.

"Usually Ruby ends up cutting his head off to make him stop," Pyrrha whispered.

"That works, too," Sari nodded, "So long as they're either immortal or can regenerate their head…or they can reattach it."

"He's the former," Blake stated as Desast let out a crazed battle cry as he charged at the Deathstalker…only for its calw to slam onto him, "...and durable…"

"...Something tells me he's gonna be attached to you guys because you attract chaos," Ben noted.

"Don't say that!" Weiss snapped, "I do not attract chaos!"

"I do!" Yang and Ruby admitted.

"What are you…?" Saber blinked, looking at Desast.

"I shall not be ignored! I will cut this thing! Then…I'm gonna go up there…and I'm gonna cut the little redhead for manipulating me! I respect it…but I must be avenged!" he shouted only for the Deathstalker to sting him with its tail and lift him into the air, "I'm okay!"

"Sari, it worked…but I think it also backfired just a tiny bit…" Ben muttered.

"I'm starting to see that," Sari whispered, her pigtails drooping.

"The poison melts my insides! It tingles!" Desast laughed as he stabbed his sword into the base of the stinger, "After this…you owe me Ramen!"

"Wha-what?!" Saber asked.

"I help you fight, ergo that means I do you a favor. Which means I am now owed a favor…I demand Ramen! The good kind! I want you to splurge!" he cackled as he sawed away at the stinger, "All I get when I ask is bulk instant Ramen…I may not have blood…but I know if I did I would be done in by all that sodium in that stuff!"

"You want to be paid…in Soup?!" Blades asked.

"How dare you! Ramen is not just simple soup! It is a dish and artform!" he grunted, ripping the stinger out as he fell down to the ground…while it was still impaled in his abdomen.

"I like ramen as much as the next guy, but…wow," Naoto muttered.

=AHA! Finally got this w-WHAT!?= Merlot snapped as Espada slashed down the Deathstalker, making it reel back =M-my creation!=

"Oh right…This guy," Naoto recalled.

"Must've finally gotten through that 'virus' I left him," Ben noted.

"Why is the armor so dense at vital points?" Blades grunted.

"No doubt he has genetically modified it…denser armor and skin…" Slash spoke, "I can feel it when we strike it…the sounds inside…it not only has exterior skeletal structures, but…internal…it's built stronger then normal Deathstalkers."

"So it's more like a walking armor…" Espada spoke.

"Then we need to pierce it through with something stronger." Saber pulled out another book as he flipped it open.

=KING OF ARTHUR!=

"King of what?" Ben and the others repeated.

Saber ignored them as he closed Brave Dragon and slotted the new one into his belt. He pulled out Rekka again before swinging the sword down.

=Rekka Battou! Nisatsu no hon o kasaneshi toki seinaru tsurugi ni chikara ga yadoru! Wonder~ Rider~! Dragon! Arthur Ou! Futatsu no zokusei o sonaeshi yaiba ga togisumasa reru!=

Saber grabbed a second wider sword with a blue guard and handle before the left side of his arm turned blue with a knight helmet-like shoulder guard and a silver coat tail along his red one. He lifted the sword up before swinging it down, unleashing a slashing wave as it tore through the claws of the Deathstalker.

=Impossible!= Merlot gasped.

"Well I guess I can show off a new trick I learned with this sword," Saber spoke as he held his second sword, "Kingexcalibur…show them your true form." he used the bottom of the sword to tap the book in his belt.

Everyone felt a tremble as the compound began violently shaking. The sound of metal bursting and rending filled the air before something large burst through the ceiling above them. It finally impacted the ground before the Mutant Deathstalker. It was a giant duplicate of the sword Saber had, nearly 8 meters in length. Saber swung Kingexcalibur around as the giant version of the sword floated up and mimicked his movements.

"...A giant floating sword!" Makoto awed before turning to Ben with stars in her eyes, "If circumstances were better, I'd be saying 'best. trip. ever.' right about now!"

'Well…somehow I've been showed up by a giant magic sword,' Rex thought.

"Did neither of you notice that it has 'excalibur' in its name?" Skurd muttered.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" many shouted as Saber swung the giant sword and hacked off the entire tail of the Mutant Deathstalker before swinging it around to take off its arm.

"I spent time practicing with this thing," Saber explained, "It still has secrets left to discover."

"Ahh~ There's more~?!" Ruby whispered, stars in her eyes as she took on a more chibi-form.

"Seriously, does no one even take note of this 'form's' book being named King of Arthur?" Skurd asked once more.

"We're still catching up to the giant sword," Ben replied, "Kinda makes sense, too. I mean, they use swords and books. Of course that'd be one."

"Not surprised since different versions of Excalibur exist," Makoto shrugged.

"THERE ARE DIFFERENT V-!" Ruby began excitedly as she floated up.

"Ruby! Ruby, calm down…!" Yang exclaimed as she grabbed Ruby's hood, dragging her back down as she was back to normal, "You can ask later, little sis."

"Our friend Tsubaki has one," Mai noted.

"Later!" Yang repeated, keeping Ruby down.

"Mmmm!"

=Th-This is impossible!= Merlot snapped as the Daethstalker roared out =My masterpiece! My magnum opus! Just…Just who the hell are you?!=

"Touma Kamiyama, Kamen Rider Saber…" Saber declared, "And I'm the one who decides how the story ends!" He held up Kingexcalibur as it began glowing, the giant version mimicking this effect.

=King Slash!=

Saber swung down as both swords unleashed a massive flash of blue light in the form of a bright arc of light…before it exploded outwards as a beam of blue fire-like energy as it swallowed up the Mutant Deathstalker and tore apart the building beyond it. The moment the light subsided, they all gasped at the giant hole that led to the outside.

'...Yeah. I really gotta start thinking on some other new modes for my BFS,' Rex thought with wide eyes.

"Well…" Saber reverted to his original form as he pulled out his Scroll, "I think that…should set off a critical explosion…everybody run!"

"You're good for a change, Benjamin!" Skurd informed, the Omnitrix green once more and the Slimebiote already looking at the hanges, "And most fortuitous! Your last one selectable here is your Citrakayah sample!" an explosion went off deeper in the structure, "...Best hurry."

"Gotcha!" Ben nodded, pressing down on the Omnitrix as he changed into Fast Track, "Alright guys, hang on to me tight!"

"What are y-AHHH!" Weiss screamed as she was suddenly carried off.

"Oh n-" Blake began before she was suddenly carried off as well, "AHH!"

"Wow! He's as fast as me!" Ruby awed before tilting her head, "...Huh…"

"What, Ruby?" Yang asked as Nora and Ren vanished from the speedy alien zipping by.

"It's weird, but something blue, furry, and that fast makes me think of hedgehogs," Ruby admitted.

"...A blue hedgehog?" Yang repeated, raising a brow.

"Yeah…weird, right?"

"It'd be weirder if the hedgehog knew an echidna that acts like a 'brave noble warrior' and a two-tailed fox sidekick."

"Honestly sounds like it would make a good movie," Makoto shrugged as Noel and Lambda were carried off next, "Ooh! Maybe a video game or comic, too!"

"You're just playing along even though they know we're from another universe already?" Sari whispered.

"Huh? Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" Makoto asked before Sari yelped as she was taken next with Rex, "...I'll ask later."

"...Oh n-" Jaune began as he and Pyrrha were soon carried off next, "GAH!"

"Go!" Saber shouted as the Riders began running.

"Got it!" Naoto shouted as he began to run.

"And three…two…one…" Makoto began before she was carried off, "WHOO~!"

"Wait up!" Ruby called as she grabbed Yang's arm.

"Oh not again," Yang paled before yelping as Ruby shot off, leaving behind dissolving rose petals.

---

"Tch! Blasted brats!" Merlot growled out, quickly trying to grab some papers and stuffing them into a bag as the room around him began to fall apart, "All that progress gone…well they haven't heard the last of me. I'll make something that'll surpass Ozpin's students and those swordsmen! I'll create a Grimm that can eliminate others, even the one controlling them!"

"Oh ho ho…oh that's cute."

"?!" Merlot tensed as he quickly turned, seeing Desast standing there amongst the rubble.

"But while I like your game…I got orders from the big boss…they don't like a regular old human stepping on their game…" he walked forward as his body twitched in a very unnatural, disturbing and horrific way, his eyes began glowing, "That person…Is very…very angry…" he spoke with what seemed like a second voice hidden with his own, a…very different almost feminine voice that overlaid and mixed with his masculine voice, "So…let's have a talk about why…we don't need your business…"

"?!" Merlot tensed up, feeling the bloodlust emanating from Desast as he slowly approached him

"Remnant…only has room…for one Monster~" Desast tilted his head with a smirk audible in his…oddly altered voice.

---

"Phew…made it out of there…" Sari whispered, sitting down as the group were on the airship Touma brought.

"That is one speedy alien," Yang noted.

"It was so fluffy, too!" Ruby added.

"I have a form faster than him," Ben shrugged, "XLR8. Not as fluffy since he's a lizard, but speed is his game. His whole race has a game that only lasts a single Earth minute with how fast they can move, even. Broadcasts to other worlds often have to be slowed down to their slowest speeds in order to get the whole game at a reasonable speed for folks to watch."

"I'd…urp!...believe it…" Jaune groaned, his face looking a little green.

"Motion sickness?" Noel asked, earning a groan, "My mama can relate to that. It was not a pretty picture when she had to get on a boat to go to one of the other Hierarchical cities."

"Oh boats are the worst…" Jaune groaned.

"...Ginger ale helps," Lambda suggested, turning her head for a moment as she looked outside a window.

"...You okay, Lambda?" Rex asked, "You've…been oddly silent during the whole Deathstalker thing…"

"...For a moment as we were leaving, I thought I saw something…" Lambda responded, "A gear…in the sky."

"A gear?" Pyrrha repeated.

"Like…the kinds used in machines and such?" Ren asked.

"Correct…only bigger," Lambda responded.

"...eh. Probably something from one of Merlot's machines," Yang waved off, "For now, once we reached the mainland….we can get back to our vacation."

"And I can't wait for Ruby and Daishinji to finish my spear," Mai stated as she looked at her weapon, "It's honestly so cool…"

"Speaking of…" Daishinji noted.

"You have to do something important with it," Ruby informed.

"Hm?" Mai blinked.

"This weapon was built with you in mind, forged from your hard-earned rewards and the remains of its past life that gave itself up for its final, greatest battle in that life," Daishinji explained.

"What truly completes a weapon, what makes it more than just that but a true part of you…you need to give your new weapon a Name," Ruby stated, a firm look in her eyes.

"A…A name?"

"You think weapons are given names just because of a wielder's preference? No," Daishinji shook his head, "When a weapon has a Name…it is telling it 'you are a part of me.' Giving it that name, as many Huntsmen do to theirs like Ruby and Crescent Rose for an example, and acknowledging that it has a Name, such as the case of my team and our sacred swords, will let you truly unleash what it is capable of."

"...A name…" Mai whispered, taking that in as she looked at her spear/anchor.

"Our weapons have had Names since before we ever took hold of them," Kento spoke, "We've never had to forge our own weapons because of it…"

"Ah…Ren still has his original weapons…and a Seiken…" Rintaro spoke, "Why don't we…?"

"Yes…" Ruby spoke up, cutting him off, "I know where he's going and I have waited for this day!"

"..." Touma flipped a switch as a door shut to separate the pilots cabin from the passengers, "Nope~"

"HAH?!" Ruby and Daishinji gawked, "Why~?!"

"Oh no…I just meant I want to fly in peace so…I'm turning on silent mode…" he shouted, putting headphones on, "What's that…sorry…We'll talk later! Just draw something up for me!"

"Oh what a pity. I did hope to tell him of a few of your misadventures since I became your assistant, young Benjamin," Skurd noted.

"..." Touma paused as he suddenly pushed the control stick down, sending Ben flying out of his seat as he was not secured in it…and through the door which quickly closed behind him, before the ship righted itself.

"...You are an evil, evil little ball of slime that likes to sample the Omnitrix's DNA samples," Ben groaned, his voice muffled from the dashboard.

"One that got you away from a weapon equivalent of Science Mode in trade of sharing a few good tales," Skurd stated.

"...Ok fair point," Ben noted, "Still gonna get you back."

"How so?"

"Care to learn about the adventure where I got Darukania and two other alien forms?" Ben asked, "It involves an ancient curse, ancient machines that could easily double as magic, spirits, and a brave silent knight that lost his memories out to save his princess from the curse."

"...Enlighten me," Touma smiled, putting the ship on autopilot as he whipped out a book and pen.

---

"Thank you, please do come again," Rook said as a couple walked out of the Smoothie shop.

"Please tell me dat was da last one…" Bobo groaned, slumped in the kitchen.

"I believe they were," Rook replied, seeing the sun starting to set.

"Oh thank whatever gods dis place has!" Bobo exclaimed in pure relief, "That freakin' Coco gal was a complicated gal t' serve…"

"Her order was rather complicated," Rook admitted, "At least her teammates were simple enough."

"And ya sure lettin' dat bunny gal take photos of yer weapon was a good idea?" Bobo asked.

"It seemed quite fine," Rook replied, "It was merely a few photos."

"I don't know. Dat bunny girl just rubs me da wrong way when it comes ta photo takin'. Like she's doin' something more wit' dem den we think."

"You'd honestly be surprised what the weapons in this world can pull off," Tsukasa stated, relaxing in a chair nearby as he took a sip of a smoothie. He then suddenly looked upwards as if at something specific, his gaze seeming to…go beyond the ceiling the others could see.

"...Is…everything okay?" Rook asked.

"...Gonna need to…check on something, I'll be right back," he explained simply as he walked through a Dimensional Veil and vanished.

"...And just like dat, I'm preppin' da store," Bobo stated, getting up and putting the 'CLOSE' sign up.

"For cleanup?"

"No. Fer whatever he has ta check. If dat guy has ta check somethin', it's more den not a good sign," Bobo replied.

"...oh that is true," Rook whispered in realization, "Allow me to assist. I believe some of the ingredients Tsukasa had brought can create a makeshift gunpowder if needed for explosives."

"Good idea. Da more boom da better."

---

"So Skurd goes 'That's it! Karma for you!' and slaps the Omnitrix. Next thing that happens? I turn into Cannonbolt and Skurd gets flattened on the ground under me," Ben spoke.

"I immediately regretted it the moment I realized we were still high up," Skurd muttered.

"You two either get along really well or not at all. I know that type of dynamic tends to be rather entertaining. But seeing it in real life…clearly you two like each other, but are too prideful," Touma noted.

"Oh no fooling/That much is true my good swordsman," Ben and Skurd muttered.

"And yet you can easily admit to it as well? You two are quite the enigma wrapped up in the mystery hidden in a riddle found in a myth," Touma noted.

"Believe it or not, he and his fair lady have gotten into quite the arguments before from the stories I've heard," Skurd admitted.

"They say love is often difficult to find. And beyond the happy ending it still has its bumps and hurdles," Touma spoke, "But…it's always something worth fighting for."

"...Yeah. It honestly is," Ben smiled a bit as he looked out the window, '...Maybe once we're back home, I'll need to think on how…'

"Gah!"

"Makoto?!" Ben asked, opening the door to see her holding her tail that was sticking straight up.

"Owowowowowowowie~! What's going on?!" Makoto panicked, "It feels like I'm on pins and needles soaked in Noel's fruit punch!"

"What's wrong with my fruit punch?" Noel asked as Funkfreed trembled in his scabbard, "Funky?"

"Gh?!" Blake winced as she held her head, taking her ribbon off as her cat ears stood straight up, "What…is this…?!"

"I haven't had this happen since I made Mr. Ogami furious!" Sun groaned, his tail in the same state as Makoto's.

"We're not being followed by another Grimm, are we?" Neptune asked.

"It wouldn't affect us if it was a Grimm!" Blake argued.

"Then wh-?!" Makoto began before Tsukasa appeared through a veil, holding an equally shaking Bluey in his arms "?!"

"We need to go…now," he stated as he handed the Blupee to Lambda.

"What's happening?" Makoto asked.

"I stopped it for a moment, but if I'm not doing it 24/7 we are never leaving this dimension," Tsukasa explained.

"Wait, what?" Rex blinked.

"You're talking as if our world is going to be locked….up…" Weiss slowly noted.

"...La-chan," Mai began as she and the others looked at Lambda, "What…did you say you saw in the sky again?"

"A gear….a really big gear," Lambda replied.

"Look, if you wanna go home…we leave now," Tsukasa explained simply, "This world will be safe, but we don't have the time to go about and undo what's about to happen without making an even bigger mess."

"...We're heading there, aren't we?" Ben asked, with a serious tone in his voice, "To where our home world is locked up and where this one is getting locked up?"

"Yup…and telling you right now? As a dimension traveling Kamen Rider…these guys are Bad News…bad as in they even scare Kaito, IE the guy who set you on this trip to begin with," Tsukasa explained, "But…in saying that…don't expect…or take this world too seriously…or you'll suffer for it." he smirked, "Anyway, we need to move…what I did to halt it...might have some…ripples…"

"Oh I hate when you say stuff like that," Makoto cringed.

"Why?" Ben asked.

"Because if Kamen Rider Decade says something that sounds normal when talking about something he's done? It's not normal and things are not gonna be fun," Makoto replied.

"...Hoo boy," the others not of this world whispered in worry.

"...One moment," Lambda informed before giving Ruby a paper, "Your translations and a cipher to use to learn it."

"Oh! Finally!" Ruby beamed.

"Translations? Cipher?" Weiss repeated.

"For the Riders' books…"

"...can I see?" she asked, "That's...honestly been irking me for some time now."

"But wait, what about…" Mai began.

"AH!" Daishinji shouted, kicking a door down, "I…FINISHED!" He held a spear up.

"When did…You had a portable forge, didn't you?" Ruby pouted.

"Sorry, Ruby," Daishinji apologized, handing it to Mai, "Your spear, Mai. Don't want to leave without this, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't. Thank you, both of you," Mai thanked as she looked at it, seeing the emblem she had been given in this World engraved into the side at the top, "...Remnant."

"Hm?"

"Outseal: Adept Remnant. That's her name," Mai stated, "A unification of what she once was, where her new power came from, and to hold a memory of the two who gave her new life."

"Good name." Daishinji smiled.

"Aw…It's perfect!" Ruby smiled.

"Great, great. Now get going!" Tsukasa ordered, making a veil form, "All those not of this world in the veil!" he punctuated by grabbing Ben by the shirt and lifting him up, "...I have to say it…"

"No don't you…" Ben realized.

"Yeet!" Tsukasa tossed him in.

---

"AH!" Ben cried, landing in the shop.

"AH!" Makoto followed as she landed on Ben, "Ugh…Ben, you…okay cosmically, how do I end up falling on you like this?" she noticed she was smothering him again, "I mean at a point I just wonder how impossible this is…"

"Incoming," Skurd warned.

"Oh geeze!" Makoto rolled out of the way with Ben before Mai was tossed through with Sari, going over the counter.

"I wish we had more time to say goodbye than that," Noel sighed as she and Lambda walked out, Lambda doing her best to calm down the frightened Bluepee.

"Poetry for later?" Lambda suggested.

"...Good idea," Noel nodded as they walked to the side before Rex and Naoto screamed as they sailed all the way into the kitchen before a small explosion went off in it.

"YOU JERKS!" Bobo snapped in the kitchen as they heard Rook cough out a wheeze, "WE WAS JUST STARTIN' TA MAKE DA EXPLOSIVES!"

"I'll need to come back here again," Tsukasa noted, looking at his camera, "The photos will be worse than normal due to the rush. Hugo will be disappointed with that. …Eh, I'll distract him by throwing a sheep in his bed." he looked around and nodded, "That's everyone. Good. Now then…I'll need to be extra precise for this one…" he reached into his jacket and tossed out a backdrop display for photoshoots, causing it to bounce before unfolding and letting a backdrop fall, revealing a view of Beacon at night, the broken moon showing the emblem on Kaenken Rekka on its surface.

"Hey, is this…?" Makoto began.

"Yes," he replied quickly as he scratched his chin.

He reached up and flicked the top of it. The backdrop proceeded to roll down and reveal a new scene as the windows shined with the veil's light. The new backdrop was interesting. It was of the famous Tokyo Skytree, the day sky showcasing two symbols in the air above it. One was of a gold gear with an arrow broken up into a white 'V' with four bars separated by jagged designs in either red, blue, yellow, and pink with hints of crimson, cobalt, topaz, and onyx in them. The other was what looked like a cartoonish blue hedgehog head's shadow with conjoined eyes. He exhaled and smirked.

"Bingo," Tsukasa smirked.

---

"Um…I don't understand. Why am I hitting a ball with a piece of wood?" a bulky blue robot with glasses asked, holding a baseball bat.

"You're doing it to hit the ball so you can run around the bases until someone catches it and tags you with it," an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog with emerald green eyes replied.

"But if I'm just running around them just to come back here then why am I even running in the first place?"

"Ugh. I can't with this guy…Why do I even try?"

"We're all just having some fun here!" a slim older-looking red robot called from the outfield.

"Vroon!" a yellow robot wearing a vest and had what looked to be dreadlocks made from cables standing on second base, "Just play the game by the rules! You're taking up too much time and we're gonna have to kick you out! Ya stupid blue machine dingus…"

"But what is the point of rules if they are not understood!?" the robot named Vroon complained.

"I'm gonna take that bat upside your head if you waste this day anymore!" the yellow robot shouted.

"There's no need to get violent!" a slim and short female robot whose armor was all pink with a heart-like shape to her face scolded on third base, "And stop being a butt, Gaon!"

"What do you expect? I'm stuck with three cold annoying machines!" Gaon complained, "I demand to swap! I want to be on Kaito-kun's team!"

"We're all just having fun here!" the hedgehog called before zipping over to behind Vroon, donning a catcher's outfit, "Alright! Bring it on, Tails!"

"Hope you're ready for my fastball, Vroon!" a twin-tailed yellow fox on the pitcher's mound called.

"Good luck!" a lynx in purple clothes cheered in the stands by an elderly lady, a twin-tailed silver fox, and a robotic parrot on the fox's head.

"Don't worry, Vroon! Just keep your elbow up, eye on the ball, and take it for a ride!" a young-human-man cheered from the bench for the team currently at bat, he was dressed in a literally colorful attire with his white hoodie splashed with streaks of different colors.

"A ride? To where? Ahh…This game is making me Vroon-Vroon!"

"Ah mou…here we go again…" the Pink Robot groaned, "I just wanted to sit at home and eat chips…"

"You need to get out more, Magine, why waste a day as nice as this!" the red robot spoke up, "Getting out there, working up a sweat, get limber!" he punctuated by dancing before grunting as a pop filled the air, "My back…"

"AH! Juran!" Magine panicked, running to his side, "Are you okay!?" she quickly began smacking his back.

"Vroon, they are distracted, put some head on that swing!" the young human cheered.

Tails tossed the ball up and clapped it in-between his two large fluffy tails. He spun around, jumped, and shot the ball out from between his legs with his tails as his 'throwing arm.' Vroon yelped as he closed his eyes and swung, hitting the ball…and sending it crashing right through the nearby scoreboard.

"...Did…Did we win?" Vroon asked.

"Run, Vroon! Full Speed Zenkai Run!" the human cheered.

"AH!" he panicked as he ran as fast as his big clunky feet would allow.

=We're not gonna be allowed back here, are we, tune?= the parrot deadpanned.

"Only if a certain lazy boy doesn't fix that!" the elderly lady called.

"Hai, hai…" an older blond hedgehog with his quills grown out to reach past his knees sighed as he walked over to the damaged scoreboard with a toolbox outside the playing field, "Okay…quick patch job and…hm?" he looked at his toolbox, specifically at a device inside.

"AH!" Vroon panicked, running off the field while swinging the bat around, "I am too scared to open my eyes!"

"After that blue boy!" Gaon shouted, chasing after him, "Stop swinging already!"

"I'm scared to stop! Everyone is yelling!"

"Because you're swinging a baseball bat!"

"...Does this count as an out or something?" Tails scratched the back of his head before the blond hedgehog waved him over, "What's up, Skye?"

"Seems we have some visitors," the hedgehog replied, showing him the device, the screen flashing with a magenta emblem resembling a barcode.

---

SZ: Done! And to surprise you lot! This world is a new story w-Zzzzzzz!

GT: He's down. But, yes, the world the group just traveled to is actually a story we are going to publish real soon! As will this one!

Z0: Just like the series that comprises half of it, its first debut will be a side story that happens between two chapters.

GT: Eeyup. So get ready, because for fans of what comes…it'll be zenryoku zenkai!

Z0: It'll be crazy fun! Just enjoy folks.

GT: Read and review!