Vale Attacked By Unknown Terrorists.

Are Vale's Faunus Aggressors Connected To The White Fang?

Who Is Rita Replusa? Fanatic or Foe?

Mysterious Colored Creatures Seen Battling Gigantic Faunus: New Types of Semblances On The Rise?

Six-Man Huntsman Team Spotted in Vale Attack. Which Academy Do They Hail From?

It was everywhere she looked. From news reports with Lisa Lavender to written articles from other kingdoms, word spread fast in the last hour. As far as Ruby had learned, Remnant wasn't sure what to make of the attack on Vale. The good news was that her friends and the Rangers had minimized damages and kept the citizens from harm's way. And the bad news… spoke for itself.

Ruby neared the door and gently knocked on it twice. There was silence on the other end, yet the girl slowly inched it open and peeked inside. If she remembered right, this was the room Trini and Kim had made their own. The first thing Ruby saw was the Yellow Ranger on her bed… and she looked almost peaceful lying there. Ruby would have believed the girl was asleep if she didn't see-

No, it… it was probably better not to think about that now.

"Her Aura's still gone," Ruby looked up to see Jason leaning against the room's window, his sorrowful gaze locked on the girl's still form. "And… it's still not coming back." Ruby didn't know what to think about that. An Aura not regenerating could mean only one thing. She nervously crept to Trini's silent body, touched a hand to her forehead… and found it warm. That made her more confused than before, but to dwell on that would be digging a path she would struggle to leave. Ruby turned her eyes to Jason, who looked defeated. The Red Ranger never looked away from Trini, watching her as if she would wake up any second.

"I… I'm sorry about her," Ruby quietly spoke up, hoping to make the situation a little brighter. Jason gave her no response, but Ruby didn't know if he was silently listening or ignoring her. She chose not to clarify that aloud; she didn't want him to think she was prying. Instead, Ruby joined him in watching the motionless Yellow Ranger, allowing a sigh to escape her lips.

For a brief moment, Ruby found her mind asking her a question: what if that was Yang? Maybe it was the color that reminded Ruby of her sister that prompted the thought, but it still sent a shiver through Ruby's body. Yang was a selfless person; she knew this by heart. But if she threw herself in harm's way just to ensure Ruby, Weiss, or Blake didn't get hurt… Ruby wondered if- or when- she would see her sister out of commission like this. It was nearly enough for her silver eyes to glint in wetness.

"That's good to hear... but it's not gonna change what happened," Jason finally answered, his head hung low when Ruby looked back at him. There was so much Ruby wanted to say to him: that it wasn't his fault and he couldn't do anything to stop it, or that Trini knew what she was doing and chose to go through with it to save her friend. Before Ruby could think of anything else to say, Jason whispered again.

"Everyone's shaken… even me. We all want to say she'll be okay, but… all of this… was a disaster," That last word came out with a groan. "We weren't ready for Rita, she and her minions attacked the city, and Finster… Finster was one step ahead of everybody. He distracted us while he found his queen and freed her. We… failed. And now Rita's out there for real and Trini…" He stopped, keeping his eyes away from the Yellow Ranger this time. "I know Rita and her goons… part of me is saying I should have seen this coming."

Ruby stepped up to Jason and looked him in the eyes. "Jason… you can't beat yourself up over this. What happened to Trini wasn't your fault. Sure, your friends are upset, but you're the Red Ranger. You're the leader of this team. And if there's one thing I know about leaders… it's that they're not allowed to be failures."

Jason's posture became straight. "What did you just say? I'm not allowed to be a failure?" His brown eyes narrowed and something shot through Ruby's nerves, the girl taking a wary step back. "That's not something I get to choose, Ruby!"

"W-wait, that's not what I-"

"I've already failed once in my time as a Ranger, when Tommy destroyed our Command Center and separated me from my friends," Although Jason's voice was calm, there was still a stern upsetness to his tone as he glared at Ruby. "How many times have you failed, Ruby?"

"Uh… none, but-"

"Which is exactly my point," Jason cut her off. "You- a student who doesn't get the grasp of working in a team yet- aren't in the position to tell me- an experienced team player who has gone through victories and defeats alike- that I shouldn't lose. At all. Well, let me put something through that head of yours." The Red Ranger poked Ruby in the chest with each word. "You. Will. Lose. In one way or another, either tomorrow or years from now. And if you can't accept that… then you're not fit to be a leader."

"Jason-" The boy gently pushed Ruby aside and marched out of the room, closing the door behind him without looking back. The room was met with silence, both from the unconscious Trini and the stunned Ruby, who couldn't find the words to respond even when the chance to say them had passed. Lowering a hand Ruby didn't know she had raised, the silver-eyed girl lowered her head with a sigh and looked down at the Yellow Ranger.

"You understand… right?"

The silence she was met with was enough of an answer for Ruby, regardless if the girl was conscious or not.

Billy may be the guy in blue, but he was feeling blue right now. Well, mixed with a little red, too. He and Kim had marched into Ozpin's office despite the staff of Beacon Tower claiming he wasn't available. Billy had reminded Kim they were for a "reasonable discussion"... but the Pink Ranger looked like she would shoot an arrow through those glasses if she wanted to.

"Tommy told us what you did," she angrily whispered to the professor. "You kept Rita hidden right here. You locked her away, just like Zordon did. You know we're not from here, and you knew she's not, too. She was our only chance of going home, and you kept her buried! You lied to us!" At this point, the Pink Ranger was leaning across the professor's desk with clenched teeth. It took a gentle hand on her shoulder and a look from Billy to calm her down… but she still glared at Ozpin while she backed off.

"You'll have to forgive my friend's aggression… but I am not pleased, either," Billy told him. "All of this would have been avoided if you had come clean from the start, professor. But you believed you could handle Rita Repulsa… and look where they got all of us."

"Your disappointment is relatable, Mister Cranston," Ozpin replied. Billy swore he heard Kimberly muttering a quiet agreement. "But you are correct. I kept Rita contained because… well, to put it simply, I believed a proper solution would arrive in time." Billy crossed his arms with a scowl. "Yet when that 'proper solution' arrived, you sat back and did nothing. Does this mean, professor, that you do not trust us to handle the person who has proven to be our sworn nemesis?"

"Trust is the heart of a relationship," Kimberly seethed with fury in her eyes. "You didn't trust us enough to tell us about Rita, and you've destroyed the relationship we have. And yet you say you cling to it like it's everything-"

"Kim," Billy worriedly begged before she could go any further, desperate to keep a calm mind for the situation. The pleading look behind his glasses was enough for the girl to back off, a shaky exhale leaving her equally-trembling body. Once she calmed down and backed away, Billy returned his attention to the professor.

"It is not a matter of trust," Ozpin countered, earning a scowl from the Pink Ranger. "As the headmaster of Beacon Academy, I do what I must to ensure the world's safety from any threat. Rita Repulsa was an intrusion to that task." Billy hummed interestingly and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Is that so? And just what kind of threat were you currently taking measures against?"

Ozpin leaned forward with a serious gaze. "The only threat there is in this world. The Grimm." Billy expected such an answer. "So you say. You train warriors to fight them. The Huntsmen and Huntresses eradicate the Grimm, and yet… there are more. There are always more. If you want to end the danger that the Grimm possesses for good, you need to enact an alternative."

"There is much about the Grimm we do not understand, Mister Cranston-"

"Which is why you must understand," Billy interrupted. "If you are to end the Grimm, you need to do more than just fight them. You need to know where they come from, you need to know what keeps their numbers high… and what you need to do to diminish it. Because if the Huntsmen and Huntresses keep fighting this war, it will last for ages."

"A war is the very last thing Remnant needs at this time," Ozpin interjected, making Billy take a step back in surprise. "I'm not certain you see the irony in that phrase, professor. The people of Remnant know that the Grimm is a threat, but from what I've seen- and from what I've discovered from Beacon's library- it seems to me they think the Grimm are nothing more than common pests! And unless I've gotten the history wrong…" The Blue Ranger leaned closer. "There was a time when the Grimm almost drove you to extinction."

"They almost did," Ozpin explained. "Until we discovered Dust and used it to fight back." Billy drew away with a skeptical look in his eyes. "And that's all you've ever done since. You fight and you fight and you fight, as if that is the only possible way you believe you can win. It's gotten you nowhere, but you still fight when you could be learning about the Grimm! You said it yourself, professor, there is so much you don't know about the Grimm, and-"

"And that is exactly why I can't do more."

"Excuse me?" Kimberly joined him as he said it, frustration and bewilderment on both of their faces. "Do you mean to tell me, professor, that you refuse to study your enemy more than you already have?" Billy spat out. "That you are afraid to understand them? How do you expect to triumph over them, then?!"

"Because the Grimm is a complicated problem," Ozpin calmly answered. "The Huntsmen and Huntresses trained at Beacon- or at any other academy- are taught everything they need to know about the Grimm." Kimberly marched forward this time. "Everything they need to know about how to kill them! What about the rest?! How they act, how they move, where they are… even where they come from! You're keeping so much from them!"

"As I have told your friend earlier… secrecy is survival," Ozpin shut her down. "Some doors should never be opened. Some gates should never be unlocked. Some bridges should never be crossed… because nothing will be the same after that." There was a quiet fury behind Billy's eyes as he placed a hand on Ozpin's desk. "Professor Ozpin… I am going to give you one chance to withdraw that statement."

"I'm afraid I cannot. It may not be that way in your world-"

"Oh?" Billy stopped him right there. "Earth knows of the Power Rangers and the monsters they fight, but they also know something else. Our world's people know about Rita Repulsa." Something in Ozpin's eyes flashed at those words. "But they're not afraid of her. They know the Rangers drive her forces back and they know the Rangers won't stop until she's beaten."

"The people of your world…" Ozpin sighed. "So hopeful… So optimistic… but here on Remnant… they won't act the same way if they learn too much about the horrors that plague them. They will panic. There will be chaos. They will know the truth."

"Never in my life have I heard that sentence phrased negatively," Billy snapped with Kimberly scowling beside him. "I may not care about other 'truths' you're keeping from your students and the rest of the world, Ozpin, but what I do care about is this. Because you kept one locked up, that truth escaped, wreaked havoc on your city, terrorized your people… and our friend suffered the consequences." Billy couldn't stop the tear that trickled down from that statement, the boy spinning on his heel and storming towards the office doors. Kimberly moved to follow him, but not before giving the professor one last piece of her mind.

"Keep lying to your students. Keep them in the dark. Let's see how well that turns out for you. If our teacher was here… he'd say you don't deserve the position you're in."

Ozpin was alone again seconds later, his head hanging low while a sigh left his lips. "I wish the end is as simple as you say, Billy Cranston… but nothing about her is simple. It never has been… and I don't believe it ever will be."

Tommy's day couldn't get any worse.

First, Ozpin hid Rita and kept her under wraps. He hid the only thing that could get them all home… if Rita was telling the truth, for once. Tommy wouldn't dare listen to her after what she did to him, but if it was true… that was another matter for another time. Second, Rita attacked Beacon and Vale. She and her minions incapacitated four student teams, including RWBY and JNPR. Sure, the girls weren't down for long, but everyone else had taken quite the beating. And third…

…Trini.

A Ranger down. Tommy may not have seen it in person, but he could see Jason cradling the girl's limp body in his arms, both of them covered in dust and grime. If what he heard from Ruby was right- since none of his friends could bring themselves to explain- Goldar had impaled Trini's Aurazord through the stomach. And to make matters worse, one of Rita's minions had been in plain sight all along: Finster, in the guise of Doctor Steff.

Tommy wished he could make things better for everyone. But he was roughed up, too. The wound where Scorpina had nicked him was gone thanks to his Aura, but his head was still a little woozy. Weird… neither Goldar nor Scorpina didn't hit him that hard, did he? The sound of approaching footsteps brought the Green Ranger out of his thoughts and he turned down the hall to see two figures in black coming his way.

"Hey," Zack mumbled.

"Hey," Tommy answered, moving away from the wall he was leaning against. "How is everyone?" Blake gave the Black Ranger a comforting look until she neared Tommy. "We… just told Jaune and his team the news. He wants to get back out there soon."

"That's not happening," Tommy solemnly told the Faunus. "One of us is down. We're not at full strength. We're nowhere near ready to face Rita again until… until she wakes up." He met Zack's eyes for a moment. Both of them were thinking the same thing. Trini was a tough girl, but the mere thought of her never waking up was a thought they couldn't bear to imagine. Zack sighed, his arms hanging limp at his sides. "This… this is crazy, man. We weren't this beat since you showed up. Zordon: gone. Alpha: gone. Jason: gone. And now Trini's… out of action. I'm really hoping she'll be all right."

"Me too, Zack," Tommy told him. "And Jason, he… he's probably taking this the hardest." Blake turned her golden eyes down the hall. "My team may not know yours very well," she began. "But they're worried for you as well. I'll go get them, and then… we can work something out." The Faunus walked away, leaving the two Rangers alone. Once the boys were sure she was gone, Zack spun to Tommy and dropped his voice to a whisper.

"Okay, so I know we can trust them, but Ozpin? That man's a lost cause." Tommy couldn't agree more. "You know what I think, Zack? Everybody heads into the city, that island off the coast, camp in the forest… we go anywhere but here. No matter what he says or tries, we're not listening to that phony again. He had his chance and he blew it."

"Tommy, I'd like nothing more than to leave the old man behind," the Black Ranger replied. "But right now… we shouldn't leave Beacon. Not when Trini's… recovering. We don't ditch one of our own; that's not what we do." The Green Ranger nodded with a sigh. "You're right. I don't like it, Zack… but the second Trini wakes up, we're gone. All of us. The girls and their friends can come with us, we can say… we can say we've got something on Rita. Anything to- nnnngh…"

Tommy's brain spasmed with dizziness and a hand went to his forehead. A wave of something he couldn't place swept through his body, the world blurring around him while his hearing was filled with a high ringing. It was gone in a flash, leaving the Green Ranger struggling to come to his senses until he felt a hand on his arm.

"Tommy, you okay?" Zack asked him. "I-I think you spaced out for a second…" Tommy gently removed the boy's hand from his limb, meeting his eyes confidently. "I'm good, Zack. Just… feeling a little off about things." The Black Ranger didn't reply as he replayed the words in his head. He was already opening his mouth when Tommy beat him to the punch. "Zack, I'm fine. Really. Don't worry about me."

"Okay," he whispered back. "I'm… I'm gonna go see how Billy and Kim are doing. Trini was… close. To both of them." The Green Ranger bid him a silent farewell and watched Zack depart… but once he was out of sight, his hand went to his side. The wound Scorpina had given him was gone…

…but why did it still feel achy?

The pounding of Jason's heart was nothing compared to the blows he landed on the sandbag. Punches and kicks that came easy to him were unleashed on the bag. A jumping kick sent the bag swinging backwards and the Red Ranger leaned to the left when it swung back in his direction. The boy went back and forth with his inanimate sparring partner, switching between attacking and dodging whenever the bag wanted payback for the pummeling he was dishing out.

The boy didn't bother keeping track of time. Everything was a blur to him as he tried to focus and distract himself from… everything. Comfort from the familiar movements warmed him from within, allowing Jason to clear his mind. He wasn't stupid, though: he knew this wouldn't be enough to forget about Trini even if he wanted to forget. But he lost. They lost. Not for the first time, not for the last. And none of it would have happened if a certain somebody wasn't so closed and secretive when he urged others to be open and trustworthy to each other. The irony was almost painful to Jason, who ended up hitting the bag harder after that thought.

It was then that he finally felt the sweat on his brow and the ache in his lungs. Jason stepped aside from the sandbag's retaliating swing, catching it in his palm when it came around again. The Red Ranger allowed himself to catch his breath, careful to keep it and his body steady. He didn't know what he was going to do about Ozpin. Heck, he wasn't sure if he could do anything at all. The students and faculty alike respected him, and the last thing he wanted was to ruin that.

"Um… hi."

The quiet, meek voice made Jason raise his head and open his eyes. The silver-eyed brunette stood between the gym's doors, her face tightened in worry. She was watching Jason closely. The boy remembered her expressions from their previous conversation, varying from confusion to downright shock while she struggled to get a word in. Jason was far from being in the mood to talk… but he knew turning her down would be a bad call for them both. A sigh left him before he turned in Ruby's direction.

He said nothing as he crossed his arms, silently allowing Ruby to go first. It took the girl a moment to recognize this before she awkwardly cleared her throat and slowly moved toward him. "I know you're probably still mad at me, but I just wanted to say… I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to make you think that… that you're not allowed to fail, Jason. What I meant was…" Ruby swallowed before continuing. "I wanted to let you know that you're not allowed to feel like a failure. Even though we… We all feel like failures right now." Her silver eyes went alight upon realizing her words and her voice broke out in a frantic panic. "Y-you know what, I'm sorry I- I shouldn't have said-!"

"Me too."

Ruby blinked. "...what?"

"You're new at this," Jason whispered. "You haven't been a leader as long as I have. You don't know the struggles and the difficulties because you haven't experienced them yet. You always look at the bright side of things… which can be good. Or bad. But right now… cheering me up your way isn't gonna do a lot." The brunette remained quiet for a little bit, the look in her eyes telling Jason she was thinking back to their previous conversation and where she went wrong. That amount of optimism, that hopefulness, that belief in heroes and justice… It made Jason want to wonder one thing.

"What made you want to be a Huntress, anyway?" Ruby perked up at his question, the familiar spark in her eyes flashing until the girl brought herself from the brink of bursting into excitement. She cleared her throat, silently accepting the seriousness of the situation before explaining. "Well… it's thanks to my mom."

"Your mother," Jason repeated. "You said your parents attended Beacon, yeah?" Ruby nodded. "Yeah. She was… the best mother a girl could ask for. Excellent at baking cookies and fighting Grimm. Yang even called her 'supermom'. We were a happy family." Ruby's tone had changed, dropping into slight sorrow. Jason was quick to piece things together. That "happy family" didn't stay happy for long. He was eager to know more, but he didn't want to push Ruby into discussing something she had trouble bringing up.

Surprisingly, this didn't deter her. "Until one day, my mom left on a mission… and she didn't come back. My sister and I were upset… Well, I couldn't understand what had happened, and my dad… shut down. That left Yang in charge of raising me, doing everything she could to make sure her little sister was okay. I was too young to properly remember that day… or remember her, for that matter. All I know about my mom is what Yang told me." Her silver eyes stared off into space as if she was staring right through Jason at nothing in particular. "The things my sister and my family told me about my mom… she sounded like somebody straight out of a story, like those I enjoyed reading as I grew up. Summer Rose was somebody who helped others and stood up for those who couldn't defend themselves… so I decided that's who I was gonna be, too. I wanted to be just like her: a fearless champion dedicated to protecting people from the Grimm. I built Crescent Rose, my uncle taught me how to use it, I tangled with some goons that were robbing a Dust store, and now here I am, training to be a Huntress with my friends… which probably wouldn't be happening if Ozpin didn't let me in two years early. I think I impressed him."

Jason didn't learn about the growing smile on his face until Ruby smiled back, a delighted chuckle leaving him. "Y'know, Ruby… I like that about you. Sure, you're still learning, but your desire to be all of that- to live up to your mom's legacy- is a great reason for you to be a Huntress. Even though…"

Even though your teacher lied to me. Even though the man you look up to is hiding things from you. Even though it's his fault my friend is-

It took a lot of mental effort to drive those thoughts away and focus on the moment. "...even though you've got a lot to learn about leadership. Heck, you can ask me for advice if you want to." Ruby smiled and brushed a hand through the air with a small chuckle. "Uh… thanks." There was a brief pause before she gathered the strength to speak up again. "Wh-what about you? What made you want to be a hero?"

Jason shook his head with another chuckle. "Well… it's not like I chose to be one like you. More like I was chosen." Ruby's face lit up. "Oh! Um… sorry, that came out wrong. Again."

"It's fine," Jason calmed her down. "Anyway… when I was ten, my parents sent me to camp one summer. And there was this kid named Brandon, who'd' just spent the last three months making this amazing bow and arrow. When he finally took it to the range… an older kid came and snapped it in two." Ruby's eyes went wide in surprise before lowering in thought. "What… What did you do about it? Did you beat him up? Tell on him? Offer to help Brandon make a new bow?"

Jason sighed, his head hung low. "No… I didn't do any of that."

Ruby's heart sank. "Jason… were you scared to stop it? I mean, a lot of kids are scared of bullies. You shouldn't blame yourself for not being able to stop it." Jason didn't meet her eyes. "I do blame myself, Ruby… because I was the one who broke it."

The brunette froze. "Y-you? You di- but- I- you- how?" Jason didn't leave her lingering for long, as much as one would've found amusement in Ruby's brain short-circuiting over this. "You wouldn't know it by looking at me now, Ruby… but I was a big jerk as a kid."

"B-but how?" Ruby asked desperately. "How did you go from a meanie to… to that?" She gestured at him with both arms, her jaw fighting a losing battle to stay attached to her face. "The camp told my parents and they sent me to a karate dojo. I thought it was a waste of time since I already knew how to fight. Looking back, beating on other kids doesn't count, does it?"

"N-no! No, it doesn't!" Ruby agreed. "So what happened next?"

"I told my instructor it wasn't my fault," Jason continued. "That the kid needed to drink more milk or whatever." Ruby let out a soft hum at that but didn't interrupt the boy's story. "He said he dealt with kids like me all the time. Out of control, entitled little boys who wouldn't know a real problem if it hit them in the face."

"Sort of like Weiss, then," Ruby muttered. "Before she came around, she was full of herself. But don't tell her I said that."

"I told him he didn't know me. And what he said next… that stayed with me," Jason reminisced. "He said 'I know you're angry. I know you break things and you don't know why. I know you're scared all the time, and I'm pretty sure you've been told to bury those feelings. But most of all, I know deep down… you think you're worthless. You think you're broken.' And that's when I denied it and tried to hit him."

"Did he kick your butt?"

"No. He didn't fight back. Instead, he caught my blow and reminded me that he didn't say I was broken, only that I thought I was. And my attack proved it. That's when I had enough and tried to leave the dojo. He made no move to stop me." Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the sounds and voices from that day coming back to him crystal clear.

"He said 'Walk out that door and, I promise, you'll eventually become everything you think you are.' But if I stayed, we could both find a way to deal with my feelings and be in control for once. But only if I wanted it. And so I asked him… if it was what I wanted. And my instructor told me that it would be the toughest road I would ever walk. But if I decided to take it, it could turn me into somebody who wasn't afraid of anything."

Ruby stared at him in awe, her mind piecing together the rest of the story. But Jason reminded her that it wasn't done yet. "In the years since, I practiced karate not as a means to defend myself, but to maintain self-discipline. I wanted to make sure nothing like that incident at camp happened again. I became a valiant person, a kind young man, and I started teaching karate at the Angel Grove Youth Center. I made fast friends with Zack when we first met, and everybody else hit it off with me when they came along. We were your ordinary band of high school students… until one fateful day when an earthquake struck the town. Everybody scrambled to get away, but as for me and my friends, we were all whisked away to the place that would become our headquarters… and we met Zordon, our mentor. Rita had just escaped from imprisonment, and he had chosen us to be the Power Rangers."

"That was… a lot to take in, wasn't it?" Ruby asked, a nod from Jason quickly answering that. "Not what I expected to happen that day. Everybody else didn't want a part of that, but me? I thought it over. Zordon told me I was a natural-born leader, and I have my self-growth to thank for that. I ended up telling my friends to give it a chance… and now look at us. We ended up being a symbol of hope for Angel Grove… and I've met a lot of little boys who adored the Red Ranger the way you did for your mom. If only they knew who they were talking to when they said it… besides the most respected kid in my town's community, of course."

Ruby couldn't suppress the smile that broke out on her face. "Wow…" It was like seeing one of those kids while morphed all over again. Maybe it was a face Ruby wore when she saw a Huntsman or Huntress in person. Jason would need to ask her about that later. "So… does that mean we're good?"

A brief nod was all Ruby needed to release a sigh of relief. "Good… because I needed that." Jason needed it, too, because he felt like a weight had just been lifted off of him. Talking about their pasts gave the two a nice break from everything that had happened, but there was still the matter of the future. Trini was out of action, Rita was on the loose… This time, Jason didn't feel as upset about it as he did earlier. Besides, he was just about finished here, so he focused on the others and-

"Hey, Rubes. How ya holding out?" Both red-clad teens turned to the gym's entrance, where a blonde girl with purple eyes and crossed arms leaned against an open door. Ruby greeted her sister with another smile, prompting Yang to respond with a raised brow. "I'm fine. We were… talking things out."

"Alright. Well… Tommy says we gotta come up with the next step. We've got a madwoman on the loose and a Ranger down, so we can't mope around when there's work to be-" Her eyes landed on Jason for a moment, who had an arm on the sandbag he was using earlier.

"Is that my bag?"

Jason didn't have a clue as to what she meant… until he noticed something on the punching bag's underside: a taped-on piece of paper with a burning heart emblem on it. It was the same sigil that could be seen on Yang's top… and the realization struck the Red Ranger like a train. "Um… I can explain…"

In one of Beacon's locker rooms, everybody went quiet when they noticed Jason, Ruby, Yang, and Tommy approaching a square table displaying a holographic map of Remnant. Billy rose from his place on the bench and Zack moved away from a locker he was leaning against. Weiss and Blake already stood by the map while Kimberly sat on another bench, the Pink Ranger adjusting the various types of Dust in her arrows. "Everyone, listen up," Jason called out, drawing his friends' attention. "Rita may have caught us off guard, but that's not gonna happen again. Right now, we're back where we started: we don't know where Rita is now, but we know where she's been." He pointed at a symbol of two axes over one continent: Vale's emblem. "The only lead we have right now is that Finster commandeered an Atlesian craft, which we last saw leaving the city. Billy…"

The Blue Ranger stood at attention. "You've proven to be efficient with scrolls and every other piece of technology this world has to offer. I need you to check the kingdom's transportation registers. Finster's cover as an Atlesian should have provided him with every resource he needs, including a vehicle. Finding the serial number of the ship he used shouldn't be too difficult because Atlesian ships coming into the city isn't a regular occurrence." Ruby interjected with a quick piece of advice. "Weiss will help you out if you get stuck; she's a cinch with her home kingdom's tech."

"Naturally," the heiress acknowledged with a proud smile.

"In the meantime…" Jason turned to Zack and Kimberly. "The city took a beating during our fight. You two are on cleanup duty. Damages, relocating civilians… I know that's a little out of our element, but that's what Huntsmen do here." Ruby spoke up again reassuringly. "Yang and I will join you. You should be good at helping people as you are at fighting monsters, but we'll be two extra pairs of hands just in case."

"The rest of us will keep things situated here at Beacon," Jason finished. "I'll make sure the teams Goldar and Scorpina fought are recovering. Blake, make sure to keep an eye on Trini; let us know how she's doing." The cat Faunus nodded sympathetically. "And Tommy, you-"

The Red Ranger was rudely interrupted by a series of coughs from Tommy. The Green Ranger cleared his throat and kept his eyes on Jason, awaiting his words. "You… you good, man?" Tommy hummed in approval before Jason finished. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. You were saying?"

"Okay, uh… Tommy, I need you to look into Grimm activity. There were a lot of negative emotions from all of us back there, so we need to know if the cleanup efforts are gonna have any unwelcome guests." The Green Ranger nodded, but his eyes were staring off into nothingness. "Got it. Better get going, then." He was already off without another word… and Jason caught a faint glimpse of his hand resting on his side before the Green Ranger vanished from sight.

"Well, I'm… not gonna argue with that logic," Yang put in. "We all gonna head out or what?" Most of the group voiced their agreement, but Jason wasn't one of them. He had the nagging feeling that something wasn't right here. Regardless, he turned back to the others. "Okay, then. Let's get to work, people. The sooner we find Rita, the sooner we can-"

Another series of coughs interrupted him… but this set was louder and echoed through the locker rooms. Jason practically forgot everyone else's presence as he all but bolted for the adjacent hallway. Once he looked out into the corridor, he saw something that sent a sharp pulse through his body.

Tommy had his back turned to him, and the Green Ranger was slumping to the ground with a hand on his chest while coughing violently. The boy was trying to both breathe and stand up, but it was proving to be a difficult struggle. Jason was just about to call out to his friend, but someone else beat him to it. "Oh my god, Tommy!" Kimberly dashed past the Red Ranger in a hurry, Billy and Zack hot on her heels. A groan came from Tommy as they approached, but not out of discomfort.

"I told you, I'm… I'm fine!"

"You sound anything but fine!" Zack retorted while Billy fished out his scroll and began a medical diagnostic. Their faces stricken in shock, Kimberly and Jason got in front of the coughing Tommy, the Pink Ranger placing a gentle hand on his face. "Tommy! Tommy, look at me! You're gonna be-"

"No! Enough about me! You need to… to…" More coughs kept him from going any further, but Jason didn't like what he was hearing. "Tommy, if you think we're gonna leave you after everything…"

"Jason…" Billy spoke up, his eyes on his scroll. "I'm getting traces of some kind of neurotoxin in his system. H-how did it get past his Aura? And why isn't it doing anything to slow the-"

"I'm FINE, Billy!" Tommy suddenly roared, startling the Blue Ranger. "It's nothing, I can still… I can still do something… which is what the rest of you… should be doing now." His words were starting to slow, his body disagreeing with his mind. He tried to walk away but failed to make it three steps before collapsing in an exhausted heap. Zack was still struggling to understand. "When did this happen? Wh-what kind of poison is it?"

Neither of Team RWBY had an answer for that. "Grimm can't poison anybody," Ruby said. "And the last time we fought, it was with your enemies, not ours!" Jason and the other Rangers scrambled to put the pieces together. None of Rita's minions were capable of poison back on Earth-

Wait. Back on Earth. But here on Remnant, with their bodies changed…

"Scorpina!" Kimberly blurted, her thoughts equaling Jason's. "She must have done this!" She stayed close to Tommy, who tried in vain to push the girl away. "No time… you gotta…" More coughs erupted from his throat, and Kim learned his forehead was getting warm when she placed a hand against it. "Billy, talk to me! What did she do to him?!"

"Its chemical readings are similar to a baeocystin compound," the Blue Ranger stammered. "They're known for hallucinogenic experiences-" A low groan from Tommy followed by more weak coughs cut Billy off, who could only watch as the Green Ranger fell on all fours with heavy gasps. Panic surged through Kimberly as she tried holding him up. "No no no, stay with us! Stay with us, Tommy! Please!"

This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not this soon from what happened to Trini. They couldn't be down by two. The frozen Jason faintly heard Ruby telling Weiss to call the health center, but all of his focus was on his friends huddled around Tommy's worsening state. "Jason…" the Green Ranger croaked out amidst ragged breaths. "After Trini… didn't want you… to… worry…"

"Tommy…" Jason couldn't find the strength to follow through, but the chance to do so vanished when the Green Ranger collapsed on his face and went limp, much to Kimberly's horror. The Pink Ranger quickly turned Tommy onto his side with frantic breaths, placing a finger on his neck.

Her panic faded and her breaths died down. "Pulse," she gasped, the word accompanying a satisfied breath. "Breathing…?"

"Faint," Billy said worriedly. "He's unconscious, but vitals are steady. The toxin's getting to his head, we need to fix an antidote. Uh, a natural steroid should do the trick, a-and an antitoxin or a-"

"Guys," Jason finally spoke up. "This doesn't change the plan. We work on finding Rita, yes… but we also need to take care of Tommy. Once I'm done with the rest of the Huntsmen, I'll look after Tommy and find a way to cure him. Billy, make sure you send me what I need. And Blake? If I'm called away… look after my friends. Both of them."

"Alright," the Faunus quietly whispered. Jason and Billy helped Tommy to his feet… with the Green Ranger slowly waking up in their arms. Tommy fought to regain consciousness, drowsy eyes turning to his red and blue teammates. "Jason… Billy… you shouldn't… I can… handle this…"

Can you?

"Huh? Did… did you guys hear that?" Neither of the boys responded as they kept carrying Tommy through Beacon's hallways. Tommy shook his head, which was feeling… better somehow? His side wasn't in pain anymore and the coughs were gone, along with the heat in his head. Tommy blinked…

…and fell to the floor. Darkness swirled through his mind before the Green Ranger hoisted himself up. Jason and Billy were gone… and so was everyone else. And everything else, for that matter. Nothing but blackness surrounded the Green Ranger: a blackness that was filled with a steady green mist.

Tommy Oliver. The Green Ranger. I was there at your beginning, in servitude to our empress.

Tommy stared at the darkness. He knew that voice. "Scorpina…"

Is it? Or is it merely a memory? How do you know I am real, Tommy? How do you know if anything is real?

"I don't know what you did to me…" Tommy spat, his fists balled. "But I am gonna-!" He froze. His hands were covered in white gloves… and he saw his body was covered in a green suit with golden shoulder pauldrons. Tommy briefly patted his face only to feel a familiar helmet around it.

It was… his Ranger suit? But how…?

"You're not doing anything."

Tommy spun around. Behind him was a dark-haired girl dressed in yellow, and she was glaring at him suspiciously. And surprisingly, she was wearing the attire she normally sported back home. Tommy stepped forward. "Trini…?"

"You didn't do anything to save me, Tommy," the girl spat at him. "You didn't even know what happened because you left us. You could've stopped me from doing something reckless… and now I may be dead."

"Wha… Trini, that's not my fault! I didn't-"

"Maybe not," a new voice called out, drawing Tommy's gaze to a figure emerging from the mist: a girl in pink. "But you were the one that brought us here. You were the one who left us stuck in this world with no way back. What happened to Trini may not be your fault… because everything else is. Everything that happened to us here is because of you."

Tommy was quick to realize what was happening and shouted into the darkness. "Oh, very funny, Scorpina! Creating fake versions of my friends to guilt-trip me? That's not gonna work! If this is your way of getting to me from the inside, you might want to try something a little more-"

"What makes you think she is doing this?" Zack stepped out of the shadows while staring Tommy down intimidatingly. "What if this is all you, Tommy? What if you've been thinking you're not worthy to be one of us? That you're nothing more than Rita's puppet with shackles you can never break? Because you have been thinking that."

That made Tommy recoil. "I… I don't have time to deal with you! Scorpina! Stop this right now!"

You just don't get it… her voice whispered. …do you, Tommy? That question wasn't in her sinister tone anymore, but it was a voice that sent a wave through the Green Ranger. That was his voice now. But that shouldn't be possible! He was-

-right here? Of course I am. I've always been here. I've always been with you. You could've had it all if you had just stayed by our empress' side. You know it deep down. You don't belong with them. You never did.

"St-stop it!" Tommy snapped. "This isn't real, I know it! None of this is real!"

"Just as we thought. You think this is all a trick," Billy said (when did he get here?). "A ruse. A distraction. Excuses. You're afraid, Tommy. Afraid to face the real truth of it all. You're looking for ways to avoid it even now. You're pulling back curtain after curtain only to find nothing there, looking for alternatives where none exist. But there's no dodging the truth now. You're flawed, Tommy. You always have been and you always will be."

"ENOUGH!" Tommy shouted, drawing his Dragon Dagger… but it wasn't the Dagger. Instead, the Green Ranger was shocked to see a sword with a wicked blade in his palm. He knew it instantly, much to his horror: the Sword of Darkness. But it was supposed to be destroyed!

Evil can never truly be destroyed.

"So, you're falling back to this," Tommy looked up to see Jason marching towards him until all five teens surrounded him. "Use force when all else fails. And just like that, you broke one of the rules of being a Ranger. And that, Tommy, is why you'll never be one of us. That's why deep down, you'll always be a slave. To Rita, to Zordon, and now to Ozpin. He knows you've seen through the lies that all of his students are oblivious to. He knows that you've learned they're nothing more than puppets fighting a war that can't be won. They're pawns in a chess game, their lives meaningless to him. And if you tell them that… you'll fail this world just like you failed yours. Like you failed us for thinking you could be a Ranger... when you're actually a pathetic excuse for one."

Tommy shook his head. "You don't know that."

"We already do," his false friends spoke as one. "And you already do. But if you can't accept that… then we'll do it your way." They all reached behind their backs and held out familiar devices in front of them… that opened to reveal glowing Power Coins and colored bursts of light that streamed outward, flooding each of them. Before Tommy could clear his mind, they all lunged at him and the last thing he saw before everything became a blur was the Red Ranger's fist zeroing in on his face.