A/N (IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ) : Good morning, everyone and welcome back to the Mesoamerica Arc! And man… what a VERY pleasant title to come back to. Death and war should probably give you a good idea of who will be prominently featured in this chapter, I would think.
But before we get into the chapter proper, I have a couple of important updates concerning the upload schedule for the rest of the month. Chapter 27 is going to be delayed by a couple of days, as I have a feeling that one will be a pretty long one and I'm gonna need the time to write it up. You all should probably expect to see it on Sunday the 24th, but I have a feeling that the wait will be all the better for it. And, on that same topic, I'm also going to be posting Chapter 28 until the 31st, as I always like to post chapters on Halloween every year. Once we get into November, though, things should go back to normal, so just wanted to give you guys a heads up on that.
So, now that we've gotten that business taken care of, let's move on with the chapter, shall we? This is…
Chapter 26: Of Death and War
…..
"I grow impatient, children. Now ANSWER ME!" The group of teens all huddled together around Ben and Rex as the Mayan God of Death himself, Ah Puch, bellowed in annoyance, his red-eyed glare zeroed in on all of them. They had stared at the mighty being before them in disbelief for several moments in utter silence, letting the fact that he was there at all to sink in. However, in the process, they had delayed Ah Puch's answer, making the skull-faced got all the more irritated. "I repeat; what are you doing in my domain?!"
Ben gulped down whatever fear he was experiencing and steeled his nerves, stepping forward to kneel before Ah Puch in respect. "Mighty Ah Puch… as you know, I'm Ben Tennyson. We, uh… kinda had a fight some years back."
Ah Puch's eyes narrowed at the hero and he crossed his arms. "Yes, I did say I recalled that fight, did I not?"
The hero felt a slight chill go down his spine and he immediately began to patch up his error. "O-Oh, r-right! Of course you did, haha, silly me, must've forgot…"
"SPEAK, boy!" Ah Puch pressed, making most of the team start trembling at the sound of his voice. It was deep and guttural, almost monstrous, and they could already tell that they would be hearing it in their nightmares for a while. "I have no time for your prattle."
"Right! You got it!" Ben stood up abruptly and began telling Ah Puch why they were here. "You see, my friends and I are on a quest of sorts. We've come here to confirm that the old gods and such were all real things. I mean… I kind of already knew since I DID fight you, but I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't some hallucination or something." He bowed his head toward the god once again. "I promise you, that's really all we came for."
One of Ah Puch's eyeridges rose up in curiosity, a hum escaping from his throat as he reached his hand behind his back. "Hm… is that right?"
However, the hand didn't go unnoticed. "LOOK OUT!" Rex belted as he activated his Smack Hands and lunged forward. "He's going for a weapon!"
"Rex, NO!" Ben reached out to try and stop the EVO… but it was too late. Before anyone knew it, Rex had made it right up to the top of the Altar and punched Ah Puch right in the jaw, sending the death god careening through the back wall. Ben felt his stomach drop as Rex went straight after the deity. "…Oh no."
Weiss facepalmed at her boyfriend's actions. "Crap, and it was going so well!"
"I didn't see a weapon on him." Ruby pointed out. "Did you?"
Blake rolled her eyes and shook her head. "There goes Rex, jumping to conclusions."
Yang's sights went to her boyfriend in concern. "Ben, what do we do now?"
Ben's eyebrows furrowed as he raised a hand to Team RWBY, Penny, Ilia, and Team SN. "You guys should stay back. I'll go try and calm things down between those two before things get any worse." The hero faced back to where the two had gone before adding; "Oh, and if things DO get ugly… you should really stand back." The teens from Remnant all nodded to him before rushing off to a safe distance, while Ben ran toward the new hole in the freshly restored temple wall.
There, he found what he was fearing the most; Rex and Ah Puch engaged in battle. The EVO was putting a good walloping on the Mayan god, but at the same time, Ah Puch almost seemed to shrug off the attacks, blocking them with his arms as if they were no problem. It was then that Ah Puch grabbed both of Rex's arms and raised his foot, kicking Rex so hard that his Smack Hands were forced off of him.
As Rex crashed right in the opposing wall, Ah Puch let out a sinister laugh. "Hahaha… now THIS is what I was hoping for! For nearly the past decade I have been BORED! Finally, something interesting…" He then noticed Ben sprinting right up to Rex, and a slight smirk formed on his skeletal features. "And you… I have been hoping for a rematch with YOU for some time!"
That caught Ben's attention. "Seriously?!"
"Indeed… because back then, I was not at my full strength."
That nearly made Ben soil himself. "…What?"
With a mighty roar, Ah Puch suddenly began to glow with a bright red aura, and it appeared as if his body was growing stronger by the second. He focused right on the two boys and bellowed; "But now, that is NOT the case! SO COME AT ME AT YOUR FULL STRENGTH!"
Ben grit his teeth and he rounded about on Rex, who had only just gotten up. "You see what you did, Rex?! Now we're gonna get our asses handed to us by a freaking DEATH GOD!"
"So what?!" Rex clapped back. "You beat him last time!"
"Were you not paying attention?! He JUST said that he wasn't at his full strength back then!" Ben pointed over to the glowing death god as he ominously approached them. "But now he is and he looks like he wants to finish what we started! And all because YOU had to punch him for no reason!"
"He was reaching behind him for a weapon!" Rex argued.
"And WHERE exactly does he have room on that loincloth for a weapon, REX?!"
Before their argument could continue, though, Ah Puch had finally made it over to them and clasped his hands around their throats, silencing them both in an instant. The boys trailed their eyes over to the Death God glaring at them, their entire beings growing cold at the sound of his amused laughter. "Hmhmhm… I can tell that I will enjoy this…"
…..
(Mérida, One Hour Earlier)
In the city of Mérida on the Yucatan Peninsula, a rather sizeable group of young people were making their way toward the center of town, where their destination lay in waiting. All the same, though, they took their time to marvel at the sights surrounding them as they drove around the city, including the awe-inspiring cathedral whose steeples towered over the many other buildings surrounding it. Still, the ten teens couldn't stop for sightseeing at the moment, as they had a goal in mind and they intended to see it through. After driving through a few more blocks, they finally made it to a rather unassuming building, one that made the group in Kevin's car raise a few eyebrows.
"So… this is it?" Nora questioned as she, Jaune and Pyrrha all got out. "It seems kinda… plain."
"Yeah, aren't libraries supposed to be a bit more noticeable?" Pyrrha asked, facing Gwen as she too got out.
"Well, I chalk that up mostly to the architecture." Gwen reasoned, seeing Team CFVY and Ren coming out of Coco's roadster. "After all, if you look at a lot of the other buildings around here, you'll see that they also mostly have a flat exterior. But as someone who's seen pictures of the interior… I think you guys will be blown away. C'mon, let's go."
Gwen led the group up to the front door, which was actually more like a large metal gate, and off to the side, there was a plaque that read; "Mérida English Library". The group went inside, and while the entry room appeared to be rather normal, the further they went in, the more it became apparent that this wasn't any normal library. The main thing that solidified this for them was the fact that there was a large area in the middle of the library where there was no roof, letting the sunlight bathe the entire area while trees and other foliage grew right out on full display. There were also several tables strewn about the place that had at least four chairs at each one, and on the far wall, there was even a huge mural of a book shelf.
All in all, it definitely took the group aback. "…Holy crap, this is a library?" Coco uttered.
"Mm-hm!" Gwen beamed in excitement. "Isn't it fantastic?!"
Ren's own smile perked up at the sight of the place, feeling much more at ease with every passing second. "I can definitely agree with that. The ambience of this place is so relaxing. It appears to be the perfect place to sit down and read something."
"Blake is going to be SO jealous that we came here without her." Velvet said with a hint of guilt in her voice. "She probably would've been very jazzed to be here."
"Oh, I don't doubt that." Gwen winked. "Which is why I'm going to be bringing her here later on when we've got free time. Now c'mon, let's go see if we can get some help." The group made their way back to the central room and went to the front desk, where there was an older woman checking in some books. Gwen smiled to the lady and waved. "Excuse me, ma'am?"
The woman lifted her head with a "hmm?" before seeing the group of young people before her, her eyes widening considerably. "O-Oh my! Well, you're certainly a large group." The woman stood up and smiled to them, placing her hands together in a polite gesture. "I must say, I wasn't expecting any college field trips today, but… wait just a moment…" She narrowed her eyes at the group, as if wracking her brain to remember something before the realization finally struck her. "Ah! Wait, you children… you're the Omni-Hunters!"
Gwen's eyebrows rose up, as did everyone else's. "Uh… yeah, that's right. How'd you know?"
"Dear, your faces are all over the internet." The older woman said with a knowing wink. "Just because we're in another country doesn't mean we don't know about you. Now, your name is… Gwen, right? You're Ben Tennyson's cousin."
The Anodite kept her smile, but on the inside, she couldn't help but feel a tad upset at that. 'A part of me wishes I was known by MORE than just Ben's cousin, but I'll take what I can get for now.' She gave the woman a nod. "Yes, that's right. And we're actually all here on a little expedition."
"Ah, how exciting!" the woman clapped her hands together. "I can only guess that you're interested in the local history?"
Nora popped up next to the two and beamed a big smile. "Yep, we sure are! But we're also REALLY interested in the local mythology too!"
"Exactly." Gwen affirmed. "So if it's not too much trouble, would you please show us where we can find some books on Ancient Mesoamerica? Maybe a few on the myths and legends, too?"
"Oh, why of course!" the woman agreed. "It's always so good to see young people taking interest in the local culture." She began to walk away while ushering them to follow here. "Come, come, I'll show you exactly what you're searching for…" With that, the librarian led them further into the library and proceeded to hook them up with any and every book they could possibly need. From modern-day paperbacks to old tomes that had covers almost as hard as wood. There was even one in brail that the woman suggested for Fox.
By the end of it all, Kevin was now holding a stack of books that was almost two feet tall, leaving the group astonished. "…Woah, that's a LOT of information." Yatsuhashi commented.
"You good, Kev?" Fox asked, the blind huntsman offering his own arms up. "I could take a few of those off your hands."
"Psh, nah, I'm good." Kevin scoffed. "This ain't nothin'."
Gwen bowed to the librarian with a grateful smile. "Thank you so much for helping us out, ma'am. We really appreciate it."
"Oh, think nothing of it!" The woman said with a wave. "I hope you kids are able to dig up some interesting facts about our lovely country. Have fun!"
With that, the woman went back to her desk and Gwen raised a determined fist to the team. "Alright, everyone, let's get reading!" A cheer came from the team, a few enthused, others not so much, as they returned to the open area with the trees and tables, the team bringing a bunch together so that they could sit down with one another and research together. Kevin placed the books down and everyone proceeded to take a book, the group diving in through the pages and taking in information.
This went on over the course of an hour or so, and as they went, the team couldn't help but be utterly fascinated by what they were reading. Pyrrha could feel her jaw drop as she read through her own book. "Oh my word… Gwen, I'm utterly fascinated by all of this, I must say. If you were to tell me that an everyday item like chocolate was discovered by an ancient civilization in your world, I probably would not have believed you."
"Yeah, I mean, chocolate's been around for a pretty long time in our world, too." Jaune added. "But the fact that the Aztec were able to make it without ANY sort of machine is pretty crazy."
At their words, Nora couldn't help but salivate just a tiny bit, making Ren give a sigh. "Guys, please, you're making Nora hungry. Besides, I thought we were supposed to be studying the Mayans."
"Well, to be honest, Ren, the Ancient Mayans and Aztecs DO overlap a bit." Gwen rationalized. "It's why they're grouped together under the "Mesoamerican" culture, because they lived so close to one another." She eyed Nora with a bit of a smirk. "But, uh… Ren has a point, Nora. You might wanna control your urges."
Nora's eyes snapped back up and she wiped her lips with an apologetic face. "Whoops! Sorry Gwen. Just couldn't get cocoa off the mind…" Her arm then rose up and pointed over to Coco. "And don't you say a single word, lady! I know how your mind works and how you'd try to spin it on me. Well lemme tell ya, I'm on top of my game today!"
Coco threw her head back and belted out a laugh. "Hahaha! Nora you know me WAY too well." The fashionista flipped through the pages of her own book before coming across something else. "…Oh boy." She leaned over to Gwen and showed her the book. "Gwen, how the hell do you pronounce this word?"
Gwen craned her head down and scanned the page, before seeing the word that Coco was pointing at. "Ah, that'd be "Huitzilopochtli", the sun god whom the Aztecs mainly worshipped." Gwen began listing the facts about this particular god on her fingers. "Huitzilopochtli was also said to be the god of the South, one of the MANY gods of war, and also of human sacrifice."
"Oh dear." Velvet lowered her head. "Here we go again…"
"Hey, don't blame me." Gwen shrugged. "The Mesoamerican pantheons just had a LOT of blood on their hands, and in the case of the Aztecs, they had a pretty good reason for it considering how they believed the world was created."
Yatsu raised a brow at that. "Really? So what exactly DID they think about that, then?"
Gwen reached for another book and opened it up, this one labeled; "Mesoamerican Mythology". She flipped through the pages before finally finding the myth she was searching for. "Well, let's just say that it's… pretty unique." Gwen turned the book around so that everyone could see the images that were on the pages, showing one of a rather crazy-looking god that had multiple limbs and a rather extravagant headdress. "Well, the story begins with this god right here; Ometeotl. Who, in actuality, is actually a duel deity that's the combined form of two fertility gods, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl."
"And I'm already lost." Fox said with a scratch of his head. "These ancient names are hard to keep up with."
"Don't worry, Fox, it'll get easier for you, I promise." Gwen assured before pointing to another image, this one of Ometeotl spawning four beings. "But anyway, soon after Ometeotl was birthed from nothingness, he spawned four more beings that would become known as the Four Tezcatlipocas… which is kinda redundant since one of them is literally NAMED "Tezcatlipoca"."
"That IS kinda weird." Jaune agreed. "It'd kinda be like naming your daughter "Daughter" or something. But who was Tezcatlipoca, then?"
Gwen flipped to another page, showing a dark figure that was depicted as having the pelt of a jaguar on him and holding multiple spears in his hand. "Well, he was the Black Tezcatlipoca associated with the North, the night sky, wind, discord, magic, jaguars, a lot of things, really. And again, he was a god of war. You'll find a LOT of those in Mesoamerican myths…" She pointed to another picture, this one of a blue figure with a rather enormous feathered headdress. "And this over here is Huitzilopochtli, the Blue Tezcatlipoca."
Velvet tilted her head. "I'm assuming that every one of these deities was associated with a color?"
Nora couldn't help but smirk at that. "Heh, if that's the case, then I think Remnant would like them."
"Haha, I'm sure." Gwen laughed before pointing to yet another picture… though this one took the others aback a little bit. He had golden skin across his face… but the rest of his body was covered in red skin that was falling off in ribbons. "And this would be the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec of the East. He was the god of agriculture and—you guessed it—war. But he's also known as the "The Flayed One" since he usually cut off his own skin so that humanity could have sustenance." There was a long, drawn-out silence where everyone stared at the redhead in disbelief, which Gwen had to nod at. "Yeah, kinda freaky, I'll admit."
"KINDA?!" Coco shouted. "Gwen, you essentially just implied that ancient humans used to eat the SKIN of this guy!"
Pyrrha felt a shiver go up her spine. "Ugh, definitely doesn't sound like a meal that I would partake in."
Gwen winced a bit and eyed the image of Xipe Totec in disgust. "Hm, I can agree with that. Especially since this guy was also associated with plagues, sickness and eye-infections." That elicited a slew of disgusted sounds from the group, with Yatsu's features even becoming slightly green. "O-Okay, okay, let's move onto our final deity and I'm sure you guys will feel better." Her smile came back as she turned to the next page, pointing to the god in question. "And trust me, I think you'll ALL like him."
The group were all hesitant, but they still peered at the page… and were rather surprised by the appearance of this god. He was mostly humanoid with green-colored skin, though much to their confusion, it appeared that one of his arms was actually emerging from his head, the hand of said arm being used to grasp a long serpent that had emerged from the god's headdress. All the same, however, the deity was covered in several colorful feathers, which mainly came out from his back, face and head. "Woah…" Ren said in awe. "Who's that one?"
"Hold up, I actually know this one!" Kevin said with a grin. "That's the guy with the dinosaur named after him, right?"
"That's right, Kevin!" Gwen confirmed with a proud smile. "That is indeed the White Tezcatlipoca, the feathered serpent himself; Quetzalcoatl."
"Wait, "feathered serpent"?" Nora asked, narrowing her eyes at the image in the book. She pointed at the god and asked; "…Then why does he look like a mutated man?"
The Anodite wore a sheepish smile. "Hehe… well, you can't say that the Aztecs weren't creative in the depictions in their gods. Honestly, they're one of the progenitors of abstract art and it shows. But in reality, Quetzalcoatl was more in line with being depicted as a huge feathered serpentine dragon in several other sites, including temples and pottery. Heck, Quetzalcoatl has his OWN temple devoted to him in the ancient city of Teotihuacan." Gwen turned the book back to her and began to explain more about the god. "Quetzalcoatl is unequivocally the most famous Mesoamerican god of all, being associated with the East, the dawn, arts and crafts, wisdom, knowledge and oddly enough, the planet Venus."
"Why's that odd?" Fox inquired.
Gwen gave a shrug. "Honestly? Because there's ANOTHER famous goddess who's much more associated with the planet, to the point where she was actually the source of its name another religion." The redhead waved her hand to get back on track. "But that's a whole other story entirely. Right now, we're focused on Quetzalcoatl and how awesome he was."
"So what exactly did he do, exactly?" Jaune added. "In fact, what did ALL of these gods do?"
"Well, remember how I said that Ometeotl spawned out of nothingness? Well, that was no exaggeration on my part." Gwen then pointed to a picture of all four Tezcatlipocas surrounding Ometeotl within a black void. "See, at this point, the world hadn't even been created yet, with no sky, no land, nothing but a massive ocean within this otherwise empty void. Ometeotl created the Four Tezcatlipocas in order to rectify this, so they got to work creating… only to find that whatever they made fell into the ocean."
Yatsu let out a little chuckle at that. "Heh, okay, I will admit, that does sound kinda funny. It's like an art project getting chucked into the pool or something."
Kevin scoffed at that lightly. "Pfft, yeah, if the pool had a giant monster waiting at the bottom." The entire group all eyed the Osmosian with stunned expressions before he gave a shrug. "Hey, I'm not kidding here." He nudged his head over to Gwen. "Tell 'em babe."
Gwen flipped to another page, revealing a huge two-page spread that had text near the top and an image of some ghastly creature going along the bottom. The beast was also made up of nothing but massive jaws filled with sharp teeth and long, lolling tongues, making the Omni-Hunters all recoil a bit. "Kevin's right, guys. Living at the bottom of this massive ocean was a massive eldritch horror known only as Cipatli. Think something along the lines of a Grimm only a million times worse and the size of a planet covered in teeth and jaws."
"I would very much NOT like to think about this, thank you!" Nora shouted, only for a bunch of other people who were in the library to shush her immediately. The Pink Dynamo covered her mouth, shifting her eyes nervously before whispering; "Sorry."
"It's okay, Nora." Pyrrha assured. "Honestly, if I were faced with a nightmare beast such as that, even I would be petrified." She looked Gwen once again with concern. "So, whatever these gods created would get eaten by this great devourer. What did they do about it?"
A clever grin worked its way onto Gwen's lips. "Well, fortunately enough, Tezcatlipoca actually had a plan. He sought to lure Cipatli up to the surface in order for him and his brothers to kill it. He lost a leg in the process, but in the end, they accomplished their goal."
Jaune was quick to point something out, though. "But that only solved one part of their problem. They're still left with an endless ocean, aren't they?"
"Well, waste not what not, right?" Gwen countered. "Because after killing Cipatli, the gods saw it fit to actually USE his body to form the land." Her lips pursed and her features grew slightly uncomfortable. "Only… there was one teensy-weensy, teeny-tiny problem with that… Cipatli was only MOSTLY dead. Often enough, its jaws would spring back to life and the gods would have to satiate it in order to keep it from destroying their new world. So guess what they had to do?"
Ren deadpanned and answered her. "Lemme guess; blood sacrifices?"
"And LOTS of them." Gwen affirmed. "Trust me, I believed that some monstrous abomination wanted to eat MY feet, I wouldn't blame the Aztecs for wanting to keep this thing at bay in however way they could. But hey, at least they had that hummingbird deal I mentioned a little bit ago."
Velvet leaned forward intently. "So, aside from the constant blood sacrifices, what happened after the world was formed by these gods?"
"Well, they went through four suns before settling on a fifth and final one for one thing." Gwen explained. "Several different gods attempted to fill the void in the new sky, including both Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl themselves. However, one way or another, these suns would all be doomed to fail."
"Usually because Tezcatlipoca was super salty that his first attempt at being the sun didn't go so well, so he kept trying to screw the others over." Kevin interjected.
Fox mulled that all over until he came to a conclusion. "So wait, I'm guessing that's how Huitzilopochtli ended up being the ultimate sun god?"
"Correct, Fox! Huitzilopochtli did indeed become the fifth, and if this legend is to be believed, the current sun in the sky." The whole group craned their heads upward, seeing the sun beam down on them as Gwen went on. "But of course, this isn't without its difficulties. See, at one point, Huitzilopochtli decided to rebirth himself through Coatlicue, a serpent-like goddess who also gave birth two four-hundred lesser sons and one daughter, known as Coyolxauhqui. Coyolxauhqui and her brothers were all furious at this so she cut off her mother's head… only for Huitzilopochtli to emerge from the stump, along with two large serpents that formed Coatlicue's new head."
Around the whole table, the group were listening intently as Gwen weaved the tale, all of them shocked at that last part. "Damn… that's metal." Coco grinned.
"Eeyup, and as you can imagine, Huitzilopochtli wasn't too happy about his new mom getting decapitated, so he returned the favor and beheaded Coyolxauhqui." Kevin explained. "Along with his four hundred brothers, too. But when he did that, he also inadvertently created the moon and stars, which were formed by all of his siblings."
Gwen picked it back up from there. "So, when Huitzilopochtli became the new sun, Coyolxauhqui, who was the moon, began to chase down her brother with the aid of her other siblings, which explains the day-night cycle." The Anodite raised a single finger. "But, its said that if Coyolxauhqui ever catches up to her brother, she and her brothers will consume him, leaving the entire world in a state of darkness."
Fox glanced off to the side. "Heh, guess that means everyone must've had a panic attack whenever eclipses happened."
"You think that's bad, wait till you hear what Egyptian myths have to say about eclipses." Gwen said as she closed the book. "Here's a little hint; it involve a giant snake."
The group gave a shudder at that. "Ugh, don't know what'd be worse, facing THAT or the freaking flayed guy." Coco commented. "But speaking of giant snakes, what about that Quetzalcoatl guy? Why's he so important?"
"Yeah, I mean, if the Aztecs mainly worshipped Huitzilopochtli, then why'd they revere Quetzalcoatl enough to give him a whole temple to himself?" Jaune added.
"Well, first off, the Aztecs didn't give him his temple in Teotihuacan." Gwen clarified as she opened a history book, opening it up to a section all about the city in question. "In actuality, that temple was built WAY before the Aztecs or even the Mayans even came together as a society. We really still don't know WHO built the city of Teotihuacan, but whoever did, they died out pretty much right before the Aztecs established themselves." The redhead flipped the book around, showing the group several images of the ancient city as well as the pyramids and temples strewn all over the place. "But what we DO know is that these people are pretty much where several Mesoamerican gods spawned from." She pointed to the largest temple out of all of them. "Including the one who this temple was made for; the Feathered Serpent."
Velvet placed a hand to her chin in thought. "Hm, so that's where the Aztecs derived Quetzalcoatl from? Very interesting…"
Gwen nodded in agreement. "Yep, but the Aztecs weren't the ONLY ones who had the Feathered Serpent in there religion. The Mayans also had him, though they called him either Kukulkan or Ququmatz depending on where they came from."
Nora couldn't help but laugh at that. "HA! "Ququmatz", now THAT'S a funny name!"
"Hm, right." Gwen rolled her eyes. "In any case, the Feathered Serpent is generally regarded as the most important being in all Mesoamerican culture." Gwen closed the book and put on a determined smile. "And that's exactly why we're gonna be looking for him!"
Almost all at once, there was a collective; "What?!" from the table before Pyrrha stood up abruptly. "Gwen, are you serious? You want us to head right for the top of the mountain right off the bat?"
"I have to admit, that sounds a bit much." Ren concurred.
"Maybe so." Gwen balled her hand into a fist, her smile undeterred. "But I have a feeling that if anybody can pull it off, we can. At least, I'm pretty certain we can. After all, it's not like we haven't done anything big like this before, right?"
Kevin gave a shrug. "She's got a good point. We HAVE faced a lotta stuff that'd be deemed too much for some people. Finding an enormous feathered dragon god can't be THAT hard, can it?"
Fox deadpanned at that before raising a brow. "Don't jinx it, bro. You don't know what'll—" Beep-beep-beep-beep! Before he could finish, Fox was cut off by the sound of Gwen's Plumber badge going off, bringing everyone's attention to her as she reached for her pocket. "Oh boy, hopefully that's good news."
"Yeah, so do I." Gwen nodded before answering her badge. "Hello? Ben?"
"GWEN!" came a voice that distinctly was not Ben's. Much to everyone's surprise, it was Yang, and she seemed to be in quite the panic as the voices of their other teammates could be heard screaming on the other end. Along with that, they also heard what sounded like a loud roar and rumbling in the background, as if a fight had broken out while Yang was calling. The blonde shouted; "Guys, you all HAVE to get to the temple right now! Things have gone to shit SUPER quick!"
Everyone was now on high alert as Gwen tried to calm Yang down. "Woah, woah, Yang, slow down. What's going on? What happened?"
"It's—AH!" She was cut off as more rumbling was heard, along with what sounded like an entire wall collapsing. There was a brief pause, a wave of fear going through everyone before Yang's voice came back. "It's really better if you all come HERE to see it. Because really, you will NOT believe it unless you saw it with your own eyes."
The Omni-Hunters all eyed one another warily before Gwen made the final say. "Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can."
"Good, because trust me… you NEED to see this." Yang assured before hanging up, leaving the group on that note.
"Well… that's freaking ominous." Nora noted.
Kevin furrowed his brow and glanced over to Gwen. "Yeah… what d'ya think they found?"
"Not sure, but I know that we're going to find out. Huddle up everyone." Gwen motioned for the others to group up around her, which they did so without hesitation. The Anodite closed her eyes briefly, and once she reopened them, they were glowing bright pink. A large, pink mana sphere appeared around all of them and, after chanting a spell, Gwen teleported them away, leaving nothing but a bunch of tables with a tall stack of books.
…..
The moment the sphere reemerged at their location, they were met not with the jungle floor as they had expected, but rather the hard, stone floor, one that made their ankles hurt upon landing. "Yeeowch!" Nora winced, with everyone else experiencing similar discomfort. "Okay, who's idea was it to teleport in over a pile of… rocks?" However, the Pink Dynamo trailed off the moment she noticed that they WEREN'T positioned over a pile of rocks. Rather, they were inside of a huge temple, one that appeared to be in a rather sorry state if all of the wrecked walls were to be concerned. "…Okay, and immediately, I'm lost."
"Yeah, what the hell gives?!" Kevin exclaimed, scanning the room with a scrutinizing look. "I though we'd end up somewhere in the middle of the jungle, not in the… wait…" His head snapped back around to his girlfriend with widened eyes. "Gwen, didn't you say that this temple had been wrecked the last time you were here?"
Gwen didn't answer, though, the redhead facing away from the group as she stared at the room in astonishment. Her sights were focused mainly on the huge altar in the center, along with the pedestal at the very top of it. "…Uh, Gwen?" Jaune questioned. "You there?"
"This… this is impossible." Gwen finally uttered. "This place… it shouldn't even be—"
"GUYS!" At the sound of a shriek, the team all did an about face to see Team RWBY, Team SN, Penny and Ilia all coming their way through one of the many holes in the wall, all of them leaping over the rubble in order to get to them. "Man, are we glad to see you!" Ruby said as she went up and gave Gwen a desperate hug, taking the Anodite off guard.
Yang went up to the redhead as well, her voice filled with concern. "Thank god you guys got here quick. It's… it's awful! It's been nothing BUT awful!"
"You would NOT believe what's going on!" Sun shouted.
Neptune frantically pointed in the direction they came, the blue-haired boy clearly in panic-mode. "W-We've gotta get outta here, QUICK! Or else that thing's gonna do to US what it's doing to Ben and Rex!"
"Woah, woah, slow down, guys." Gwen soothed, placing her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "Just what IS going on here, anyway?"
Coco furrowed her brow at the group. "Yeah, you guys are acting like it's the end of the world or something. And what do you mean by "that thing"?"
Weiss grimaced, the former heiress seemingly irritated about something. "Well, long story short…" BOOM! The entire team let out a gasp as another nearby wall was broken through… and they all saw none other than Rex come flying through before making impact with the altar, crashing into its steps. Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly at her boyfriend and crossed her arms. "Rex pissed off the wrong death god. Hope you're happy, ROBO-DOLT!"
Rex let out a groan as he propped himself up, wincing as he felt intense pain shooting up his back. "Okay, admittedly, I guess I WAS a bit in over my head…"
"You literally attacked him for no reason!" Blake barked at him.
"He was going for a weapon!" Rex reasoned.
"AAAAAUGH!" CRASH! Before the argument could go on any further, the Omni-Hunters were taken aback when Four Arms came barreling through the hole, smashing head-first into the altar's steps. They all stared at the hero's backside before he pulled himself out of the rubble, shaking his head before yelling at the group; "Hey, guys! Mind actually sticking to the program?! Then maybe we can argue about this when we AREN'T being beaten up by—huh?" The Tetramand stopped himself when he noticed his cousin, his best friend, along with Teams JNPR and CFVY all now in attendance. "Oh, hey guys. When'd you get here?"
"Just moment ago." Pyrrha answered. "Now what in the WORLD is going on?!"
But, in the span of a mere second… BLAAAAMM! "AAAAAUUGH!" A huge beam of red energy suddenly blasted through the hole the two boys had flown through, and blasted both of them off of the altar and right into the opposing wall. The team all ducked as Four Arms and Rex flew over their heads, the boys slamming against the door frame and causing it to crumble around them.
"BEN!" Yang sprinted to her boyfriend's side without a second thought.
"Rex!" Weiss followed as well, joining Yang as she moved the rubble off of them.
As the rest of the Omni-Hunters stood in utter disbelief, Ren spun his head toward the rest of the girls and Team SN. "Alright, explanations would definitely be nice right about now!" Ren saw that they were about to respond… but then they fell short and froze in place, with Ruby and Ilia hiding behind Penny while Blake and Neptune stood close to Sun. "Hm? What's the matter?"
A trembling Ilia raised her hand and stuttered; "B-B-Behind you!"
Gwen's group all turned around… and they were met with something that managed to make their jaws drop. Before them stood a huge being wearing ancient Mayan clothing, its face covered by a skull-like mask with gleaming red eyes glaring back at them. After a bit of a stare down, Kevin managed to utter; "Damn… he stinks."
"You dumbass!" Coco scolded, whapping him across the head with her handbag. "Do you have a death wish?! You don't say that to the big scary guy!"
Gwen, however, felt a chill go through her entire being when she saw the being she recognized from so long ago… though the mystical energy she could sense radiating off of it also made her feel numb. 'His power… it's comparable to Salem's!' At that thought, she gulped and spoke the being's name. "It's… it's you. Ah Puch."
"THAT'S Ah Puch?!" Nora shouted.
"He's horrifying!" Velvet cried out, with Fox and Yatsu taking point with their weapons drawn.
Ah Puch snarled and, much to Gwen's shock, he spoke. "Hmph, I have been called far worse, girl." His sights went back to Gwen, his eyes narrowing at her. "And you… you are familiar as well." He pointed over to Four Arms, who was just starting to get up. "You were with Ben Tennyson all of those years ago when you trespassed in this temple, correct?"
Gwen darted her eyes back and forth between her cousin and the god of death before her, her nerves steeling as she replied. "Y-Yes… I was. I'm his cousin, Gwen. Please, tell me… why are you fighting them? There's no reason to fight."
"Grah, try telling that to HIM." Ah Puch pointed over to Rex, who was glaring right back at him despite Weiss giving him her own warning glare. "After I had asked why these ones had deemed it worthy to come into my domain, he attacked me for no good reason!"
"Dude, you were going FOR A WEAPON!" Rex argued. "I saw your hand go behind your back!"
Ah Puch snarled back; "Oh, really?!" The death god reached behind his back and pulled out… what appeared to be a dead animal of some sort, though the group couldn't exactly tell what it was since it had been skinned from head to toe and had all of its bones removed. "Does THIS appear to be a weapon to you, boy?!"
The Omni-Hunters all couldn't help but gag as the scent of the skinned carcass wafted through the entire room, with nearly all of them plugging their noses. Rex's features soured as Weiss continued to give him the stink eye, but still, the EVO felt it best to give a witty response. "I mean… in the right hands…"
Once again, Ah Puch growled and hoisted the dead animal up above his head. With his mouth opening up wide, the god dropped the animal into his mouth and he ate it whole, making the teens' stomachs churn at the sound of him chewing on it. He swallowed his foot and almost immediately, they could all smell the awful stench pouring from his maw. "YOU need to learn to not judge too quickly, boy." Ah Puch grumbled. "Otherwise, you will likely anger the wrong person…" Suddenly, a flash of red light erupted throughout the room, before dying down to reveal that Ah Puch had teleported right in front of Rex. "…Just like you have now."
With reflexes so fast that one could blink and miss it, Ah Puch slammed his open hand right onto Rex's mouth and smashed the back of his head into the stone wall, a muffled scream of pain being elicited from the EVO. Weiss' face paled in horror. "Rex, NO!" she screamed, seeing the blood begin to trickle down the wall behind him.
"GET OFF MY FRIEND!" Four Arms bellowed as both he and Yang went on the offensive, the two charging at Ah Puch with their fists raised. Unfortunately, all the death god had to do was look at them and his eyes flashed, causing a red aura to suddenly surround the couple as they stopped in midair. With a single twitch of his neck, Ah Puch sent both of them flying across the room and back to the altar, much to everyone's shock.
Coco grit her teeth and immediately went for Gianduja, the rotary cannon transforming out of her purse. "Alright, I've seen enough!"
"Yeah, let's teach him some manners!" Nora agreed, bringing out Magnhild and pulling up the front of it so that all six grenades were prepped and ready to be fired. "Hey, bone-face! EAT DUST!" With that, Nora let lose her all of her grenades while Coco unloaded a huge barrage of Fire Dust at Ah Puch, though the god seemed slightly unimpressed.
"Child's play." Ah Puch raised his hand and the explosives and bullets all stopped in midair, just as Four Arms and Yang had before. He then snapped his fingers and made every single bullet and grenade disintegrate, leaving Coco and Nora flabbergasted.
"N-No way…" Coco lowered her sunglasses to make sure she was seeing things right.
Nora shook her head in disbelief. "H-How did he…"
"I am a GOD, children." Ah Puch emphasized before directing his attention back to Rex, the young man's features beginning to grow paler with each passing second as his head continued to bleed. "And as you can imagine, I am NOT to be trifled with…" SHINK! "Urgh!" Ah Puch grimaced at the sharp pain that entered his other arm near his elbow, craning his head around to see that Weiss had pierced it using Myrtenaster. The entry point of the wound then began to freeze over, with ice covering his entire arm slowly but steadily. Still, Ah Puch merely sneered at her. "A surprise attack… smart, but foolish at the same time."
Weiss simply glared coldly at him, her blue eyes filled with resolve. "Let… my boyfriend… go." she spoke in a dangerously low voice.
There was a pause before Ah Puch gave a small chortle. "Hmhm… as you wish." Ah Puch then pulled his hand away from Rex's face… but in doing so, something strange happened. From Rex's mouth, a small, fiery white orb came out, almost as if Ah Puch had pulled it out without needing to reach in and grab it. He let Rex fall to the floor as he pushed Weiss and her weapon off of him, making the ice break off his arm in the process. "But first… I believe THIS should be a sufficient lesson for his impudence."
"Rex!" Weiss lunged toward the fallen body of her boyfriend and immediately turned him over onto his back, lifting his head up to hold off the bleeding on the back of his head. But when she saw his face… she gasped before letting out a bloody scream. "NO!"
Gwen immediately sprinted over, her spell book in hand as she was going to prep a healing spell for Rex. But, the moment Weiss let out that scream, she knew that there must've been something far worse going on. And the moment she saw Rex , she was right. The young man was utterly lifeless, his head lolling off to the side as his jaw hung open, his limbs having gone completely limp. But what horrified her and everyone else most of all were Rex's eyes… which had become completely blank. His pupils and irises were utterly gone, leaving them nothing but a pair of white orbs in his head.
The Anodite watched as Weiss wept over Rex's body before sending a hard glare up to Ah Puch, who still held the white, fiery orb in his hand. "What did you do?!"
"Calm yourself." Ah Puch advised, raising his other hand. "If you believed I killed him, you are sorely mistaken." He presented the orb to the two girls, who stared at it in stunned silence. "I hold in my hands your friend's very soul, and within it, he is very much still alive. It is all a matter of me returning the soul and he will resume having a physical form."
That was all Weiss needed to hear before she got to her feet, her features now filled with more righteous fury than ever before. "…Give him back. GIVE HIM BACK!"
"I will, but first, I wanted to get my point across to him." Ah Puch glared down at the soul in the palm of his hand, which was all but defenseless to his will. "Young man, I know you can hear me, and it is evident that you have made many foolish mistakes this day. Jumping to conclusions, getting into a fight with a being more powerful than you… you are simply lucky that I am in a good mood today, otherwise I would have more severe punishments in mind for you." He approached Rex's body and sat him up, placing his other hand on the back of the EVO's head. There, a glowing red light came and, in an instant, Rex's wound was healed. "Learn this lesson well, boy; do not trifle with the gods. Others may not be as merciful as I am being to you today."
With that, Ah Puch placed Rex's soul back inside his mouth and made him swallow it down his gullet.His body began to glow with a bright light and before anyone knew it, his eyes began to flutter back open, and he was met with the sight of Ah Puch beside him. "…As much as I hate to admit it, you're right."
Weiss gasped and rushed to him immediately. "REX!" she practically screamed before throwing herself into his arms, crying into his chest as he was tackled down. The EVO was taken aback, but began to soothe her instantly, her crying beginning to ease a little. "I… I-I thought I lost you!"
"Hm, not a chance, Ice Princess." Rex smiled, bringing her head up to meet his gaze.
Gwen came up and knelt near the couple as well. "Rex, are you alright? That experience must've been… pretty intense for you."
Rex nodded solemnly at that. "In all honesty, it was. When I felt myself leave my body, I was scared out of my wits… but it also finally became clear to me that I screwed up BIG TIME." He craned his head up to Ah Puch before bowing to him. "I'm sorry for misjudging you, and I now know FULL well that what I did was pretty idiotic."
"WHAT?!" Weiss exclaimed, her glare coming back as she narrowed her gaze at Ah Puch. "Rex… this guy just removed your soul from your body! And you're apologizing to him?!"
"I know it's complicated, Weiss." Rex said with a shake of his head. "But when my soul was in his hand… I could feel him conveying to me that he wasn't REALLY going to kill me. It was just so that I could learn a lesson, and believe me, I've learned it." He glanced back up to Ah Puch, giving him a respectful nod. "I've also learned to believe in the gods, too, so there's that."
"And that will serve you well, too." Ah Puch approved. "Many gods are respectful, though many do not appreciate ones that are skeptical of their existence, even after seeing them with their own eyes." He faced Weiss and nodded to her. "And you girl, you have every right to be angry at me after what I put your mate through. And for that, I apologize."
Weiss eyed him suspiciously before turning her head away. "Hmph fine… but was the whole fight REALLY necessary?"
Ah Puch stood to his feet and began to make his way back toward the altar. "In all honesty, no. However, after almost a decade dealing with nothing but solitude, I was admittedly bored and wanted SOME form of entertainment." The Omni-Hunters all deadpanned at that as Ah Puch approached Four Arms, an amused smile forming on his skeletal lips. "And if I may say… you have certainly gotten better over time, young Tennyson. Even at my full power, you were able to keep up with me… mostly."
Four Arms deadpanned and reached for the Omnitrix, transforming back into Ben. "Yeah, I guess… but damn, I'm lucky I didn't fight you at full power back in the day, otherwise I probably would've been a smear on the temple wall."
Jaune's jaw dropped when he heard that. "Wait, are you serious?! You only managed to beat him because he wasn't at full strength?"
"Well, I suppose that makes a lot of sense." Pyrrha admitted. "I mean… defeating a god is a major accomplishment, and hearing that you did it when you were only ten definitely was astonishing to hear."
Ben sighed as his shoulders slumped. "Yeah, guess it WAS too good to be true…" He craned his head up to Ah Puch with a questioning gaze. "But that brings me to something else… why WERE you only at part of your strength back then?"
"There are many reasons, really." Ah Puch explained. "For one, I had been dormant for over a thousand years, and unfortunately, my full powers hadn't completely returned to me." The Death God folded his arms and lowered his head a bit. "And the other reason… is somewhat more complex. I do not know if you children will understand…"
Ruby, ever the optimist, came up to Ah Puch with an encouraging grin. "Ah, c'mon, considering we're talking to YOU, I think we're willing to believe anything right now."
Ah Puch stared at Ruby in surprise before a soft chuckle came from him. "Hmhm, alright then. To be completely honest, it boils down to… belief." He reached a hand up to his chest as he explained. "You see, gods like myself draw our power from the belief that mortals have in us. Without mortals believing in us, however, our powers diminish greatly, and in the case of myself and many other Mayan gods, that has been the case for several eons."
"Oh… well, I guess that's not too surprising." Ruby admitted. "But I've gotta say, it's still curious. Back in our world of Remnant, there's still plenty of people who worship the Godly Brothers, even long after they were said to have left."
"You're right, Ruby." Gwen confirmed. "But sadly, that's not exactly the case here in our world with the older gods, unfortunately."
"So then… why IS that?" Velvet piped up. "Considering how prominent these gods were back in the day, why are they not worshipped as much anymore?"
But, just as Ah Puch himself was about to answer, a new voice entered the conversation. "Hehe, there's a very simple explanation for that, young lady, hehe…" The team all gasped and spun around toward the steps leading into the room, and were taken aback by the sight of a rather thin old man standing at the base.
He was hunched over and holding a rather long spear in his hand, using it as a walking stick as he came into the room. As he grew closer, they could make out more details of him; namely the fact that he had a rather large nose, almost beak-like, in fact. Most of his body was covered in black and white war paint, including the upper half of his face, with the other half occupied by a long white beard that almost reached his waist. Slung over his shoulder was a satchel that was filled with things that clattered about as he walked, and neck, wrists and ankles were donned with gold accessories. His lower half was donned in a blood-red cloth that was also embroidered with gold patterns which matched the ones on Ah Puch's garments.
The team blinked to make sure they were seeing things correctly before Kevin piped up. "Uh… who's the geezer?"
"Hmph, I was wondering when you would show up, old friend." Ah Puch said, much to the surprise of the others. "Finally took notice of the temple coming back?"
"Heh, how could I not?" The man spoke with a Hispanic accent, his voice rather raspy as a sign of his age. "After all, it was hard NOT to notice…" He then whirled around and pointed his spear at Ben and Rex, making the two heroes give a panicked shout. "Especially when you and those two hooligans over there started to WRECK it! Really now, this place is practically my second home and you decide to have a fight in it AGAIN?!"
The statement made Ben do a double take. "W-Wait… your second home?"
"Of course!" The old man slammed his spear on the ground defiantly. "You ARE in my temple, are you not?"
The team let those words sink in, putting two and two together in their heads before letting out a collective shout. "Y-You're… you're Ek Chuaj!" Blake exclaimed, pointing at the old man. "The Mayan god of war and merchants!"
With a gnarled grin, Ek Chuaj let out another laugh. "Haha! Indeed, that would be me!"
Yang furrowed her brow a bit at the old man. "Huh… you know, I thought he'd be taller for a war god."
Just then, however, a mischievous glint appeared in Ek Chuaj's eye, and a chuckle escaped his throat. "Hehe… is that so?" Ek Chuaj suddenly took in a sharp breath of air, straightening his back as he puffed out his chest. And then… his entire body began to change. Ek Chuaj's muscles rippled as his pecks and abs exploded into being, leaving everyone stunned as the feeble man had transformed himself into what could only be described as a "brickhouse". His eyes glowed a blood red color as he grimaced down to the group. "Perhaps THIS is more what you had in MIND?!"
Yang was left slack-jawed like everyone else, but still found it within her to speak back to him. "Uh, yeah okay, I'm convinced. Now could you maybe go BACK go being a nice old man?"
Just as suddenly has he transformed, Ek Chuaj popped back into his normal form, his grin returning. "Of course! Haha!"
The entire group sighed in relief before Coco raised a brow to Ek Chuaj. "As crazy as that was, I'm guessing that means you're also the cocoa bean guy?"
"That is ALSO correct." Ek Chuaj reached down into a pouch that was hanging from his loincloth and pulled out a cocoa bean, one that appeared to have been freshly picked. "Cocoa, coffee, chocolate, what have you, if you consume it, odds are I am the one responsible for it! Tell me, any of you kids avid coffee drinkers?" Almost everyone gave an affirming nod to the old man, who chuckled as he stroked his beard. "Hehe, I thought so. In that case…" Ek Chuaj pulled his satchel off his shoulder and opened it up… before then reaching his entire arm into the bag. A whole slew of odd noises came from the bag as he moved his arm around, searching for something within. "Hm, no, that's not it… OOH! Haha, definitely NOT that… ah-ha! There we are!"
Ek Chuaj pulled his arm out, revealing a rather large back of coffee beans that had the words "Ek Chuaj's Mayan Brew" on it, along with an image of him winking and giving a thumbs up. He stepped up to Coco and offered it to her. "Here ya go, young lady. A bag of my special brew for you and your amigos, on the house… on the presence that you do not destroy my home anymore than you already have."
Coco blinked and humbly took the bag from the old god, a bit stunned by the offer but nonetheless grateful. "Uh… sure, thanks old man."
"No problema, chica." Ek Chuaj said with a bit of a smirk. "I hope you all enjoy it… for there is literally a lifetime supply in that single bag!" He winked and wagged his finger at her. "Bet you will never be able to reach the bottom!"
"Hehe… thanks, I think?" Coco shook her head before setting her sights back onto Velvet. "But I think you were just about to answer my friend's question about why you and your kind aren't worshipped as much anymore."
Ek Chuaj snapped his fingers. "Ah, yes, correcto. My apologies…" He faced the bunny girl again and raised a single finger up. "Young lady, the reason why not many people believe in us anymore can be boiled down to many factors, but the two primary ones are these; time and change."
"…Wow, that is actually a pretty clear-cut answer." Fox admitted.
"Yes, indeed." Yatsu explained. "I can imagine that over time, the old ways would be eroded from a culture quite a bit as it grows and changes."
"Yeah, but… to the extent where people barely worship other gods anymore?" Nora pointed out. "Seems kinda… I dunno, a bit odd. I mean, back in our world there are people who worship all kinds of gods."
Ben scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, and so does Earth… though the most prominent religions today mostly all worship a single Abrahamic God. The one with the capital "G" that I mentioned before we left my parent's house."
"The other polytheistic religions sadly aren't as prominent as they once were, with only Hinduism being the stand-out of them all." Gwen continued. "They're all still around, especially in the modern day when many of them are actually coming BACK, but back when monotheistic religions were on the rise… let's just say that it wasn't cool to worship things they perceived as "pagan" in nature."
"Heh, to say the least." Kevin remarked. "The crusades, the inquisition and colonialism all wanna say hi." The Osmosian waved his hand to brush the topic away. "But those are stories for another day. What really matters is that things have gotten a lot more lax when it comes to people's belief systems these days, so there are more people who're starting to believe in the old gods again."
Ruby smiled over to Ah Puch and Ek Chuaj. "And I guess that's where you guys come in, right?"
"Exactly." Ah Puch nodded. "With each passing day, the number of people who begin to believe in the old gods again keeps growing. It may only be steady at the moment, but it is enough for us to reemerge."
Ek Chuaj lowered his head and stroked his beard. "Unfortunately, with our reemergence also comes the return of ghastly creatures that we shared our world with back in the old days." He wore a serious expression as he looked out toward the Omni-Hunters. "It is with this that many gods are concerned whether humanity will be able to handle these types of threats or not." A slight chuckle came from him as he smiled to the team. "But fortunately, with young people like yourselves, I believe that the world is in good hands. Just be sure that you are ready for monsters and the like."
"Ha! I say bring 'em on!" Yang pounded her fists together with an eager expression. "We have to deal with monsters practically all the time back in Remnant, so I'm sure that we'd be able to handle whatever the ancient world has to throw at us."
"Oh, really?" the war god tilted his head curiously. "And what would these monsters be like?"
"They're called "Grimm"." Weiss explained. "They're beasts that come in all sorts of different forms, though the most common ones appear as animals like wolves or bears."
Blake picked it up from there. "They're also soulless creatures made from darkness itself, and their master is a witch named "Salem". She wants to take over our world using these Grimm, along with ancient artifacts which, when brought together, will actually bring our own gods back to our world to judge whether it's worthy to continue existing."
Ah Puch and Ek Chuaj both stared at the girls after finishing their account, though they didn't appear to be all that surprised. "Hm… I see." Ah Puch scratched his chin in thought. "It certainly sounds like you all come from quite a dark world…"
"Eh… not exactly." Neptune shrugged. "I mean, it's not like the Grimm have completely taken over or anything." The blue-haired boy couldn't help but sour at the thought. "Though… that definitely WOULD be a pretty bad scenario."
"Well, it is always good to look at the positives." Ek Chuaj encouraged. "Still, it appears that you all have quite the fight ahead of you."
Ben nodded to him. "Yeah, that's actually part of the reason why we're searching for you guys in the first place." Ah Puch and Ek Chuaj listened intently as Ben elaborated on that. "See, this eventual fight against Salem is likely going to be pretty intense, probably even bloody and life-threatening. I figured that we'd probably stand a much better chance if we came back to my world and search for potential recruits to help us in this war." The hero placed a hand to his chest. "Of course, I have plenty of allies in the world I can call upon, but…" His hand then gestured to the two gods before him. "It would also be pretty helpful if we had some gods such as yourselves on our side."
Ah Puch narrowed his eyes at Ben. "Are you suggesting that WE should fight your battles FOR you?"
"N-No, of course not!" Ben quickly denied. "I would like it if you would be able to fight along side us. This conflict will likely affect BOTH of our worlds, so if Salem succeeds in her goals, no doubt that Earth would be next." He bowed his head toward both gods and knelt before them again. "So I humbly ask… when the time eventually comes, will you help us?"
Ek Chuaj and Ah Puch eyed one another once again, pondering the request over before the war god spoke up. "I hope you know, Ben Tennyson, that it is not the way of the gods to get directly involved with the conflicts of mortals." Ben craned his head up to him as he continued. "We are all-powerful beings who are beyond human levels of power."
"I know, and I understand if you can't—"
"Who said we weren't?" Ah Puch interjected, taking Ben and everyone else by surprise. "Especially since we have not made that decision yet. Still, I will admit that the idea sounds tempting. After all, I am a god of death…" The skull-faced deity gestured over to his compatriot. "And he is a god of war. When it comes to us, we go hand-in-hand with the battlefield."
"You would greatly benefit from us being on the front lines, of course." Ek Chuaj agreed. "And the fact that both of our worlds could potentially be in grave danger is also a great factor. Unfortunately, we are unable to do anything until we consult the rest of the pantheon on this matter."
Across the room, Ilia quirked a brow. "The REST of the pantheon?"
"I can only assume they mean the other gods." Penny whispered to her friend.
Ben nodded in compliance, standing to his full height. "I see. Well, I would at least like to thank you for taking it into consideration."
"Think nothing of it, Ben Tennyson." Ek Chuaj. "However, while we are uncertain of being able to help you in your conflict, perhaps there is something else we can help you with? You HAVE come all this way, after all."
Ben exchanged a glance over with the rest of his teammates, the teens all mulling over what they could possibly ask for. However, it was Nora who eventually thought of something. "Ah! Ooh! OOH! I've got one, I've got one!"
"Ah, yes!" Ek Chuaj smiled humorously. "The excitable young lady with the red hair. What is your request?"
Nora clapped her hands excitedly and asked her question. "Well, since we're on this expedition, do you think you could point us in the direction where we can find even MORE gods?"
The others all brightened up at the idea. "Hey, Nora's got a point." Jaune concurred. "Having another lead would definitely help us out."
"Hehe, well, I do know my way around Mesoamerica…" Ek Chuaj admitted as he once again went back to stroking his beard. "The other gods may not appreciate a bunch of kids come knocking on their doors, but eh, might make for a good joke, hehe…"
Ah Puch crossed his arms expectantly. "Tell us, which gods did you have in mind?"
Without any hesitation, Nora said; "Can you tell us where Quetzalcoatl is?" And with those words, both Ah Puch and Ek Chuaj felt their faces fall in surprise, the latter's jaw hanging open while the death god simply remained still as a statue. Nora and the others grew concerned at this prolonged silence before the Pink Dynamo raised a finger to them. "Uh… did I say the wrong thing?"
"Hah… well, not exactly, young one." Ek Chuaj muttered, finally getting a hang of himself. "It's just… well, we weren't expecting you to shoot that high."
"Indeed. Old Kukulkan isn't exactly an easy serpent to get the attention of." Ah Puch added.
"Wait, wait, wait, hold the phone." Sun waved his hands around, bringing the conversation to a halt. "Just who the heck are we talking about here?" He pointed between Nora and Ah Puch. "Nora said Quetzal-whatever and next YOU said something about cucumbers. I'm really not following here."
The whole group facepalmed at the monkey boy's confusion before Blake came in to correct him. "Sun, Nora said "Quetzalcoatl", which is a god that I heard Gwen mention before. And Ah Puch… well, in all honesty, I have no idea who Kukulkan is, actually."
"He is the same deity that your friend is referring to." Ah Puch clarified, pointing to Nora. "We simply refer to him by a different name in our lands. However, no matter what name he goes by, he is universally known as the Feathered Serpent, a fixture throughout all Mesoamerica."
"And he sounds AWESOME!" Nora exclaimed, turning to Team RWBY, Team SN, Ilia and Penny as she explained. "It's said that HE'S the one who created all of humanity, and that he along with four other gods actually formed the land out of an ungodly abomination!"
Ren put a hand to Nora's shoulder to try and calm her down, all while shaking his head to the others. "Believe me, you don't want to know the details."
Ruby's eyes widened in shock. "Woah, seriously? …Wait, you said he's a feathered serpent? Would that technically make him…"
"Yep!" Ben said with a big grin. "He's an Enormous "F You" Dragon!"
Yang brightened up immediately at her boyfriend's proclamation. "Alright, I'm in! Where do we find this giant flying snake?"
Ek Chuaj cleared his throat, bringing the group's attention back to him. "Ahem, I am afraid that will not be so easy, niños." He pointed his spear up toward the sky. "It is as Ah Puch said, Kukulkan is not so easy to get the attention of. For the most part, he has been dormant just as we have, but rumor has it that he has been hibernating in the heavens for quite a while now."
"The best luck you could possibly have of getting his attention would to be to venture to Teotihuacan itself and go to his pyramid." Ah Puch suggested. "Otherwise, I am unsure of any other methods."
Gwen's hand went to the back of her neck, rubbing it uneasily. "Hm, I see. Well, if that's the best that we have to go off of, then I suppose we'll just have to give it a shot. If we get Quetzalcoatl's attention, then neat." She moved her hand up to the gods standing across from her. "But otherwise, since we already came across you two, I think this expedition's already proven to be a great success."
"Other than the whole misunderstanding thing." Weiss interjected, narrowing her eyes to Rex who nervously laughed. "We're gonna be having a little chat about that later, mister."
"Aw, c'mon Weiss!" Rex implored. "I already had my soul literally separated from my body, haven't I had enough?"
Weiss pursed her lips in thought before a thought entered her mind, and a sly grin came to her lips. "Oh, alright, I won't give you anymore grief, Robo-dolt… that is if you show me a great day on the town tomorrow."
Rex returned the smile and pulled Weiss into a hug. "Just name the town and I'll show you THE best time ever, Ice Princess."
"Good." Weiss reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I can't wait."
While most of the girls cooed at the sight of the little exchange, Ah Puch quite audibly gagged. "Gah, and that is where I draw the proverbial line. If you would be so kind as to take your affection elsewhere, I would be VERY grateful."
Ek Chuaj rolled his eyes and sent the couple a reassuring wave. "Ah, don't take him so seriously, niños. However, I DO think it would be best if you leave now. After all, Teotihuacan is quite a fair distance away, and I am sure you will want to be there before the day ends."
"Yeah, very true." Ben said before he and the others gave one final bow to the pair of gods. "Thank you very much for hearing us out. It's been quite the experience, I can say that much."
"Indeed, it has." Ah Puch concurred before furrowing his eyeridges at the hero. "However, I still expect a full rematch from you down the line, Ben Tennyson. I would hope that you do not disappoint me when that time comes."
Ben couldn't help but sweat nervously at the sound of that. "Uh, hehe, yeah… sure thing."
Ek Chuaj bowed back to the group as well. "It has truly been an honor to meet all of you, and I hope that our paths end up crossing once again one day."
"Likewise." Gwen returned. "But for now we should be leaving."
"Adios!" Ek Chuaj called out as the group of teens all left the temple, waving to them as they did. Once they were all out of the structure, however, Ek Chuaj eyed his compatriot with a knowing glance. "So… do you think they are ready?"
"For what's to come?" Ah Puch crossed his arms and shook his head. "No, not nearly. But… if they can get Kukulkan up off his scaley behind, then perhaps this world will stand a better chance." The death god's eyes narrowed as he raised his head. "Which reminds me…" He did an about face and set his sights up to the top of the altar, with Ek Chuaj mimicking him as well. "Just how long have you been observing us… all seer?"
A soft chortle came from atop the altar as a lone figure donned in grey revealed himself, smiling beneath his grey beard. "Oh… long enough." Orson answered.
…..
Meanwhile, outside of the temple, the Omni-Hunters had reconvened into one spot, preparing themselves to teleport back to the Rustbucket III. However, there were still many in their group that were still coming to grasps with what had just transpired in the massive stone structure. "Haha! Man, I can't believe that we met a pair of ACTUAL gods!" Fox exclaimed.
"Heh, I'm still getting over what happened to ME, dude." Rex ran a hand through his hair, letting out a relieved sigh. "Man, am I glad that nothing worse happened…"
Weiss hooked her arm around his immediately. "And that makes two of us."
It was then that Ben clapped his hands together with an excited grin. "So, should we head out to find that Enormous "F You" Dragon now?"
"Hell yeah, we should!" Yang pumped a determined fist. "Let's go track down this Quetzalcoatl or Kukulkan or whatever his name is!"
"Okay, okay, hold on just a sec." Ilia interjected, raising her hands up to everyone. "Here's essentially what you're saying we should do…" She pointed two fingers right over to the sisters, along with Ben. "You guys are saying that, even after meeting a god of death AND a god of war, we should head out and find, and I quote; a "Feathered Serpent" god that may or may not even be awake." She then pointed a single finger up. "Using, might I add, a method that we're not even sure will work. Did I get that all right?"
There was a bit of silence after the chameleon girl's mini-rant before Penny piped up; "I believe it's a sound plan!"
"And that's all well and good, Penny." Ilia assured the android before going back to the Tennysons. "But in all honesty, I think we could all use a breather after the experience we just had, don't you?" She craned her head up to the sky and saw that the sun was already well past its zenith. "I mean, it's WAY past noon already, and I'm pretty sure that none of us have had lunch yet, right?"
At the mention of lunch, the whole team immediately felt their stomachs rumbling, causing all of them to give sheepish laughs. "Uh… hehe, yeah, you've got a point, Ilia." Jaune concurred. "My stomach IS kind of running on empty."
"Yes… and it's also just occurred to me that we have no hotel yet for the night either." Pyrrha pointed out. "Perhaps we should take a break from the expedition and get everything set up for our overnight stay before heading to Teotihuacan."
Gwen nodded at that. "Good thinking, Pyrrha. We definitely should. Besides, I need to get back to that library and set those books back anyway." She ushered everyone to then group up near her as her eyes began to glow pink one again. "Now huddle up everyone. It's time we head back to the city." With that, the team all crowded around one another and Gwen created another mana sphere around them. The Anodite chanted the same incantation that she had before and, in a brilliant flash of pink, the entire team of Omni-Hunters were gone… all while unaware that a certain team of villains were secretly watching them from above.
…..
High in the sky above the Temple of Ek Chuaj, Khyber's ship flew in its cloaked state, with its external cameras focused down onto its quarry below. The occupants of the ship watched as the heroes all discussed what they were going to do before disappearing thanks to Gwen's spell, which served to pique the interest of a certain Fall Maiden. "Hm… so they're headed to some place called "Teotihuacan"?" Cinder quirked a brow in Rojo's direction. "Just where is that?"
"It's further into central Mexico." Rojo answered, pulling up a map of the country on a nearby holoscreen. "A couple hours out from here, but flying in this baby, we should be there in no time." The redhead pursed her lips as she remembered what else the teens had said, though. "But what I'm more interested about is what they were talking about down there. "Something about… gods and serpents?"
"Heh, sounds like the kiddies are chasing myths." Mercury scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "How cute."
Emerald gave him a skeptical look. "I don't know, Mercury. Remember, Salem's told us that the gods of OUR world are pretty real, so who's to say the ones in THIS world are real too?"
Mercury only gave a shrug. "Eh, honestly I've only half-believed Salem on the whole "Gods of Creation and Destruction being real" thing. I'm a skeptic, what can I say?" He handwaved the subject nonchalantly. "I'll believe it when I see it. I'm not about to buy into fairy tales so easily."
The room gave a soft groan at Mercury's stubbornness before Neo stepped toward the windscreen, pointing down to where The Omni-Hunters had been before tilting her head. "You're wonderin' what we should do about this, right, Neo?" Rojo guessed, which the monochromatic girl quickly confirmed with a nod.
"Well, considering the heroes said that they will not be headed to the city until later on…" Cinder went over to the backpack she had taken with her and zipped it open, revealing that she had brought the Seer Grimm with her. The jellyfish-like creature floated up and Cinder wore a rather nefarious smile. "I think this gives us the perfect opportunity to conduct a little experiment that I've been wanting to try. I'm going to go contact Lady Salem."
Rojo gave her a thumbs up. "Gotcha, Cindy." With that, she then faced her mentor, the Zaroffian standing at the helm of his ship. "So, teach, what do think our plan of attack should be? Pre-emptive strike?"
Khyber shook his head, however. "No, not in this case. After all, the best time to hunt prey is when they least expect it." He turned around to his former apprentice and brought up his hand. "Rather, we will head to the ancient city and wait for their arrival. They will never expect us there…" Khyber clenched his hand into a fist as he finished. "And it is then that we shall strike while the iron is hot." He went back to facing the front of the ship and put his hands behind his back. "Inform the mutants and Subdora immediately. We are going to this… Teotihuacan."
…..
A/N: Oh boy, that's definitely not good. Seems like the villains are already hot on our heroes' trail, and Cinder seems to have a plan cooking up in her devious mind. Just what COULD it be this time?
But, more importantly, the meeting with Ah Puch went… surprisingly well, at least in the latter half. The first have was obviously quite problematic with Rex jumping to conclusions, but given what he's gone through, his mind must always be on alert for stuff like that. Still, getting his soul separated from his body will VERY likely encourage him to not do something like that again. Plus now his skepticism in the gods existence can be put to rest as well. Of course, though, Ah Puch wasn't the ONLY god that we got the chance to meet in this chapter, because Ek Chuaj decided to show up late to the party! But that's okay because he's brought some coffee as a consolation gift! The gods truly work in mysterious ways…
With that said, though, there was also talk of many other gods at that library, namely of the Aztec variety. And of course, we DID have to go right to the big one. I've seen you guys talking about it in the comments, and now… it's officially time for the search for Quetzalcoatl to begin. Only question is, will the Omni-Hunters find HIM… or will Quetzalcoatl find them first? Guess we'll have to find out… NEXT TIME!
Now remember, the next chapter won't be posted until Sunday the 24th, so keep a sharp eye out on that date. But until then, here's the usual preview! After taking the time they need to settle into their hotel and eat something, our heroes finally head out to Teotihuacan… only for the Ministry to meet them there almost instantly. It's there where Cinder brings her little plan to fruition… and it's not exactly good news for the heroes. Will they be able to fend off this threat… or will they get some unexpected help? Thanks for reading everybody and I'll see you all next time! And of course, as always, stay safe out there!
P.S. If I were to cast either Ah Puch or Ek Chuaj, I would personally have them be voiced by Frank Welker and Carlos Alazraqui respectfully.
