A/N: Good morning once again, everybody! Well, we're officially in October now, so let's start REALLY getting this arc into full swing, eh? Of course, compared to the episode this chapter shares this title with, this is the first to NOT share any similarities with the original at all. That being said, it's time to give the Saturdays their proper introductions, so let's dive right on in, shall we? This is…

Chapter 54: T.G.I.S.

…..

Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Friday Night, 9:45 P.M.

The small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia had become very infamous over the past several decades for being a hot spot for the strange and paranormal. Namely through one very iconic creature whose existence is still debated about to this very day; the Moth Man. Several sightings have been reported on the imposing creature since the 1960's, and the town of Point Pleasant has always been at the epicenter. It was to the point where the people actually embraced the Moth Man as a symbol for their community, going so far as to hold a festival in its name every year. However, this didn't mean they weren't afraid of the Moth Man showing up again. No, many still feared and respected the mysterious creature, and many made it a point to never try to actively seek it out should they incur its wrath.

…However, there were just many who were dumb enough to try, and that's where a certain group of teenagers came in. A group of two boys and two girls were driving straight for a place where they KNEW the Moth Man was said to hide out, and, much to the chagrin of one of these girls, they were going to stake it out. Nikki, a young brunette, was keeping her head low in the backseat of her boyfriend's Chevy Cruze, trying to make him see reason. "Grant, please for the love of god, you've got one last chance to turn this friggin' car around, ya hear?"

The redhead in the front seat moved his eyes up into the rearview mirror to see his girlfriend, hoping his gaze would reassure her. "Aw, c'mon Nikki, it ain't like anythin' will come of this. It's just a little fun, right?"

In the passenger seat, their friend Chad spun around, the blonde boy raising his hands above his head spookily. "Or are ya scared that the Moth Man'll getcha?! Heeheehee!"

Nikki rolled her eyes at this. "Chad, can ya shut yer yap?! Yer freakin' me out here!"

Next to her, her best friend, Jessie, reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Nikki, don't worry." the black-haired girl reassured, her hair falling over one of her eyes as she glared at Chad. "Chad's just bein' an ass. Nothin's gonna happen. Everyone knows Moth Man ain't nothin' but a local legend that all the adults like to hype up as if it actually happened to bump up tourism." Jessie gave her friend a wink. "Trust me, by the end of this, it'll just be a neat little story to tell everyone when we go back to school. We'll be fine, trust me."

"Alright, we're here." Grant said, bringing everyone's attention up to their destination. Of course, they could barely see out the front window, but from what they COULD see, the place was surrounded in thick foliage, and not too far away, there was a metal rail guard that separated the gravel road from the green hiking path that led ahead. And of course, there was spray paint on some of the pavement that pointed toward the trail that said; "Moth Man This Way". Grant took a deep breath. "Hah… the TNT Area. Well, we hoof it from here, ya'll. Let's head out."

"W-Wait, ain't some of this private property?" Nikki reminded. "What if we get caught?"

"At THIS time o' night? Nikki, yer bein' a worry wart again." Chad said as he climbed out of the car. "Now c'mon, we've gotta hike 'bout half a mile 'fore we hit Moth Man's hidey-holes! Heehee!"

Nikki grimaced at the young man's attempt to scare her before sighing and unhooking her seatbelts. "SOMEONE'S gotta make sure ya'll come back alive, I guess." And with that, the group took off on foot, walking along the forested, swampy path before finally coming up on a little offshoot.

"Ooh! Here's the first one!" Jessie pointed out, ushering the others to follow. "C'mon, let's check it out!" Chad and Grant went in straight away, though Jessie stayed behind to make sure she held Nikki's hand. "Don't worry, I'm right here with ya." With Nikki giving her a grateful smile, they both went in, quickly finding that the boys were already at the bunker.

The entrance to the place was practically covered in graffiti, no doubt left by the brave ones who'd come here before them. "Man, would ya look at all the paint here?" Grant trailed his hands across the defamed bunker, taking out his cellphone to shine a light inside. Thankfully, there was no Moth Man, just more graffiti. "See, Nikki? Other people've been in here before, an' I don't see no corpses."

Nikki crossed her arms with a slight pout. "Yeah, well it ain't even the dumb moth that I'm worried 'bout. We could get in BIG trouble if—" WOOSH! "H-Huh?!" Without warning, a flash of purple light flashed throughout the area, moving directly over their heads before…

SHA-KOOOOMM!

The ground shook beneath their feet as something made impact with the ground, bringing everyone down to their butts and making Grant drop his phone. "AGH! Oh, c'mon!" Grant picked up his cellphone, dismayed at the sight of a crack. "Man! An' I just got this…"

"Uh, bud, I think we've got more important things to worry 'bout than a phone." Chad pointed out, noting the bright purple glow that was shining through the trees as smoke billowed into the sky from the crash site. The young blonde immediately went trekking through the woods, eager to see whatever it was that had crashed. "C'mon! Let's see what the hell that was!"

"W-Wait, Chad!" Jessie called out. "Don't go by yourself, ya idiot!"

Grant reached out and grabbed Nikki's hand, who was still holding onto Jessie's. "C'mon, we gotta follow him. An' make sure to stick together, 'kay?" With that, the three followed after their friend, charging straight through the woods until they made it to a small clearing just past the bunker. They quickly found Chad, but their eyes were brought directly to the center of that clearing… where they saw a strange, glowing purple asteroid. "Woah… the hell is that?"

"All I know is that I ain't gettin' anywhere near it." Nikki muttered.

Jessie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, anythin' glowin' purple probably ain't a good thing to touch…" She saw Chad start to go near it and immediately punched him in the shoulder. "An' that goes fer YOU too, ya meat head."

"Ow! Aw, c'mon, Jess! Ain't ya curious?" Chad questioned.

But the black-haired girl shook her head. "Nah, not if it means gettin' mutated, 'cause I'm pretty sure a purple glow is bad news… huh?" Just then, she noticed something coming out of the trees… and she had to hold back a gasp as she pushed her friends away. It was a bear. A large black bear that had seen the impact as well and had come to investigate. "Get back!" she whispered harshly, making her friends fall back into the underbrush.

Unfortunately, the bear's curiosity was too great, the animal lumbering into the crater and getting close to the asteroid. Just as it did, however, the rock suddenly cracked open, exposing it fully to whatever glowing material was inside. And then… the bear suddenly began howling in pain, writhing upon the ground as it began to spontaneously grow and change shape. The teens gasped in horror as its transformation completed, now at least twice as big as it once was and with glowing purple patterns all over its fur, along with large, glowing teeth and claws. Its eyes glowed purple as well as it whipped its head around toward them, somehow figuring out that they were there.

"Oh crud, RUN!" Chad panicked as the mutated bear started toward them and he went to stand up, only to trip over a root that got caught on his foot. His fall caused everyone else to fall as well, leaving them at the mercy of the bear as it towered over them with its claws raised over its head. The four teens let out a collective scream and closed their eyes… only to then hear something hit the bear, sending it sprawling back.

"H-Huh?" Nikki peeked open an eye, wondering why they weren't dead yet. The others followed suit… but they quickly wished that they hadn't. For standing above them with the bear sprawled at its feet was a VERY tall, feathered creature with claws on its hands and feet, its long legs and arms giving it a terrifying silhouette. Its back was hunched and its head was squat, with a pair of antennae sticking out from the top and a pair of circular, red eyes staring down at them. Its most notable feature, however… were the pair of massive wings coming out of its back, both about eight to ten feet long. Nikki couldn't believe it, and neither could the others.

Jessie stammered out; "M-M-M-Mo-Mo-Mo—"

"MOTH MAN!" Chad screamed, belting out a high-pitched screech as he quickly turned tail and ran, with Grant and Jessie right behind him.

Jessie never let go of Nikki's hand for a second as they ran, though the latter couldn't help but peer back over her shoulder as the Moth Man stared after them. But just then, the mutated bear got back up on its hind legs and roared in challenge at the creature, leading the Moth Man to spin back around and raise its hands defensively. And it was then that she wondered; 'Did… did Moth Man just SAVE us?'

…..

Mount Rogers, Virginia. 6:30 A.M. Saturday Morning

"So, I hear that all of you might have a Cryptid problem?"

Cryptid. That was the new term that Doc Saturday just laid on the team's laps. Of course, the Earth natives had a good idea of what he was talking about, nodding in affirmation even if they were a bit taken aback by his statement. But as for the Remnant teens, they were straight up confused. "Uh… sir?" Ruby raised her hand. "What's a Cryptid?"

Doc turned his head toward her, nodding in understanding. "Ah, yes, you all probably wouldn't know what a Cryptid is since you're from a different world." He came up and extended a hand toward Ruby, leading her to crane her neck up to him. "Well, Miss… Ruby, was it?"

"Y-You know my name?" Ruby muttered.

"Heh, of course. You and your friends are all over the news these days." Doc chuckled before whispering; "And don't worry, I only watch the GOOD news channels, not whatever crap Harangue's shoveling out."

"Well, that's a relief." Weiss noted. "But I still think some PROPER introductions are in order…"

Doc was quick to agree. "Of course, but you might want to wait on that until my wife comes out here. She's getting some of our analysis equipment ready, and—" But Doc cut himself off when he saw something out the corner of his eye… the smoking wolf contained within the energy cage. His eyes widened and he gasped at the sight. "Oh… so there it is."

Kevin went over and placed a hand on top of the cage. "Yeah, we made sure to contain it and keep it in a deep sleep for the night." He glanced down to the still slumbering canine. "Pretty sure it would've come back for us if we just set it out in the woods somewhere…"

"And you'd probably be right on that, young man." Doc confirmed, coming over for a closer inspection of the beast. "Hmm…" He gently reached his hand out and pulled up on the wolf's lips, peeking at its sharp teeth briefly before running his hand slowly across the fur on its back. An extra puff of smoke poofed up from the black fur as he did, leading him to hum ponderously again. "Mmhm, definitely a Cryptid."

Blake furrowed her brow curiously. "Okay, there's that word again; "Cryptid". Doc, sir, could you please explain what that means before we're all left in the dark?"

"O-Oh, I'm sorry, of course!" Doc apologized as he stood up, bowing his head to Blake apologetically. "Sorry for getting side tracked, but you kids ended up finding one of the most elusive Cryptids in all of North America…" He craned his head down to the sleeping wolf. "As for what a Cryptid IS, however, that's a bit more complex to explain. You see, a "Cryptid" can be defined as a number of things; a mysterious or mythical creature of unknown origin, an unidentified object can't be unexplained by conventional means, or even a species of animal that hasn't been classified by science yet." He gestured down to the wolf. "And what you have here is something that's definitely in the latter category."

Nora's eyes widened, intrigued by the man's words. "Oooh… so you and your family STUDY these Cryptid things for a living?!" She broke out into an excited smile. "That sounds so freaking cool! We don't have ANYTHING like this back on Remnant!"

Ren pursed his lips and gave a shrug. "Yeah, the only thing we have that's close to that are monsters that're always trying to kill us." Doc's eyes widened, taken off guard by what Ren said. "And that's not an exaggeration, by the way."

"…I see." Doc coughed into his hand. "Well, I'd certainly like to hear more about this world of yours and what sort of creatures DO live there, but before that, we should—"

"Doc! Sweetie?"

The sound of a new female voice graced the team's ears, leading them to move their sights back to the airship. What they saw next made several jaws drop, namely among the young men. Standing at the top of the steps leading into the airship was a Caucasian woman in her mid-thirties with long, white hair that reached down past her shoulders, holding a data pad in her right hand and some sort of recording device in the other. She wore a skin-tight orange jumpsuit that matched her husbands, with black sleeves, a yellow belt, and a zipper along the front. She wore bicep-length orange gloves and thigh-high black boots over her jumpsuit, and her lips were applied with pale pink lipstick.

"I can't seem to find that heart-beat monitor anywhere." she said as she gave her husband a questioning gaze. "You're absolutely sure you put it back?"

Doc smiled and waved up to his wife. "Honey, I KNOW I put it back… oh, wait! On second thought…" He pointed up to her and advised; "Check under the operating table, I might've put it in that storage cabinet by mistake."

"Ah, of course!" the woman snapped her fingers, pointing back to her husband. "Makes sense, hon. I'll…" But then she trailed off when she noticed several dozens of eyes all glued onto her, only now noticing that she was the center of attention. "Oh… right, we're technically visitors here. Morning, kids! Nice to meet you!"

"H-H-Hi." Neptune meekly said with a blush as he leaned over to his best friend. "Dude, she's a total—MMPH!"

"Whatever you're about to say, dude, don't." Sun advised as he pinched Neptune's lips shut. "Last thing I wanna do is get in trouble because you can't keep your hormones in check." He glanced back up to the white-haired woman briefly. "…That said, she IS very pretty—OW!" All of a sudden, the monkey boy was smacked in the back of the head by a folded-up piece of paper… held by a certain glaring cat girl.

"Sun…" Blake folded her arms disappointedly.

Sun rubbed the back of his head while lowering his head to his girlfriend. "O-Of course you're a lot prettier, Blake. I-I was just—"

Blake leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at both him and Neptune. "Admiring the mother from afar, huh? Why am I not surprised?" She shook her head and sighed. "Boys, always ogling older women." She set her eyes over to Rex… who was also getting a bit of an earful from Weiss. "You all need to control your hormones better."

It was then that Neptune noticed something, however, making him smirk. "Oh yeah… so what does that make Yang?"

"W-What?" Blake whipped her head around and her jaw dropped as she saw Yang of all people staring at the woman in awe, with Ben being just as taken aback as she was. "Y-Yang?!" Blake rushed right over and grabbed her partner, snapping her out of her daze. "What the heck?!" she whispered harshly. "Why are you staring at her?!"

Yang, without missing a beat, smirked over to her partner. "What, Blake? I can't respectfully admire a woman's good looks?"

Blake's cheeks flushed pink at that. "W-Well, no, but… right in front of Ben?"

"Oh, Ben's checking her out just as much as I am." Yang replied, winking over to her boyfriend. "Ain't ya, Ben?"

Ben cleared his throat, shutting his eyes as he collected himself. "W-Well, I can neither confirm or deny that…" His sights went back to the two girls as he shook his head. "B-But we really shouldn't be. Besides, we don't even know her name."

"It's Drew." The trio let out a collective scream, almost jumping out of their skin as they spun around to see the woman standing directly behind them with a smirk of her own. "Drew Saturday." Drew tilted her head toward the teenagers. "And what exactly are we all talking about over here?"

Blake began frantically waving her arms, wearing the most nervous smile she had in her life. "I-It's nothing, NOTHING, I assure you!" She abruptly bowed her head to Drew. "Please forgive us for our rudeness."

To her surprise, though, Drew let out a boisterous laugh. "Ahaha! Oh, honey, that's alright." She gave the teens a knowing wink. "After all, I don't even know what you were talking about, so it's all okay, right?"

Blake, Ben and Yang were surprised… but also a bit suspicious at the sarcasm in her voice. She MUST have known, there was no way she couldn't have overheard them. But then, they saw her glance over to a perplexed Doc, and they realized what she was trying to do; cover them. "O-Oh, right, of course!" Ben agreed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Nothing to worry about in the least."

"Great, really great." Drew extended her hand toward the hero. "So, you're Ben Tennyson. Big admirer of your work."

"Thank you, your husband said that you guys were big fans of mine." Ben returned the handshake. "That's really cool to hear, honestly."

Drew waved her hand at him. "Oh, you have no idea. When he was younger, our son Zak was OBSESSED with seeing you on TV newscasts when you first appeared." In her head, Drew added; 'Anything to keep him from watching that OTHER show was welcomed…'

Doc came up and placed a hand on Drew's shoulder. "Pretty sure we still have a lot of those original broadcasts on file, actually. Our boy's probably watched those a hundred times by now."

At that, Ben couldn't help but internally cringe a bit. 'Oh geez, don't tell me I'll have to deal with another superfan…' He shook that thought off and gave a small chuckle. "Heh, well I can't wait to meet him. He still on the ship?"

"Not right now, no." Drew shook her head. "We sent him off on his own mission in the forest."

"We think we've managed to locate a different species of Cryptid somewhere in these mountains, so we had Zak go off with his brothers to observe them." Doc explained. "Once they call in, we'll head over to pick him up and you'll be able to meet him then."

This managed to get Gwen's attention. "Wait… you said you had a son… and yet he has brothers, too?"

"Uh, heh, not biological brothers, I can promise you that." Drew assured. "Heck, they're not even the same species… but that's a discussion for later. For right now, I want introductions." She placed her hands on her hips as she and Doc faced the entire team. "I can tell we've got quite a few of you to meet, so come on, lemme hear your names and ranks!"

…..

Thankfully, it didn't take long to get through introductions. Though as they did so, Ren decided to keep breakfast going and get cooking. And needless to say, after getting a whiff of the pancakes he was cooking, Drew was NOT opposed to joining in when the team offered. "Oh god, I don't think I've EVER smelled pancakes that're this good!" the woman gushed as she watched the maestro at work on the outdoor grill. "Is he some sort of pancake savant or something?"

"Mrs. Saturday, you have not LIVED until you've tried Ren's pancakes!" Nora insisted. "They are to DIE for…" She zipped up and stared into Drews eyes with the utmost seriousness. "…And I mean that."

Doc gave a laugh at that. "Ha! Well, if they're that good, I don't see why we shouldn't join in." He craned his head over to the wolf, which was still sound asleep. "I'd say we've still got some time before our friend over there wakes up."

Drew reached over and placed a hand on Nora's shoulder. "And please, Nora, call me Drew. That goes for all of you as well." She quirked an eyebrow at the teens with a small smirk. "Mrs. Saturday's way too formal for me. Makes me sound old."

"Hah, well you are FAR from old, so consider it done, Drew." Neptune said with a salute, with Sun giving him a slight smack on the back of the neck with his tail. "Gah! Dude, seriously?" The blue-haired boy deadpanned quietly. "I'm just doing what she asked."

"Just tone down the kissing up act, will ya?" Sun requested, eyeing Doc as he took a forkful of pancakes and started chowing down. "Remember, she's married and has a son."

"Exactly." Blake whispered as well. "Don't do anything foolish here, Neptune." After a slight roll of the eyes from Neptune, Blake turned her attention back to Doc and Drew. "So, Doc, Drew, we've heard that you'd be coming to meet us for quite a while now."

Gwen nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, after the museum robbery about a week ago, Grandpa said that you guys would be able to shed some light on the object that was stolen…" She craned her head over to the smoke wolf, sucking her lip in nervously. "Though honestly, I had no idea we'd be running into a Cryptid on this camping trip."

Doc swallowed his bite of pancake and chuckled a little. "Hehe, yes, you could say that this is a happy little coincidence…" He tilted his head toward Max with a knowing gaze. "Though I probably could've told you something like this would happen if you knowingly game out HERE to camp. Still like to live dangerously, Max?"

"Hah, what can I say? I wanted to give the kids an authentic camping experience in the Appalachians." Max gave a shrug. "Though if I'd known we'd run into a Smoke Wolf of all things, I probably would've reconsidered."

"Smoke Wolf…" Jaune started, raising a brow in intrigue. "Is that really what it's called?"

Pyrrha placed a finger to her chin. "A bit… on the nose, don't you think?"

Drew raised her hand defensively. "Well, in our defense, Pyrrha, we're not the ones who name them. The public usually does that for us." Her gaze shifted back to the wolf, watching its steady breath. "Our job, though, is to try and study these mysterious creatures as much as we can. To try and learn more about them and maybe even get them classified as real animals. You know about Gorillas, right?"

"Of course, who doesn't?" Ruby replied, only to quickly realize what Drew was getting at. "Wait… were GORILLAS once Cryptids in this world, too?"

Drew winked and pointed to the girl. "Correct! Back in the day, gorillas were thought to only be myths in Africa, but once explorers discovered them, they were classified as real animals."

"The same thing happened a couple years ago with a certain species of blue Maltese tiger, actually." Doc informed, still chowing down on his pancakes. "One that brings good luck to whoever's near it. You wouldn't believe how much of a hassle that was to get approved."

That got everyone's attention immediately. "Wait, tigers can be BLUE here?!" Yang exclaimed.

"And they can bring good luck?!" Weiss added.

"Wow… we gotta get one of those for Uncle Qrow!" Ruby smiled. "I'm sure his luck would turn around if we did!"

Doc and Drew both laughed at the suggestion. "Haha, you're a very considerate young lady, Ruby." Doc nodded. "But I'm afraid that the Maltese tiger's already rare enough as it is. We were lucky to find ANOTHER one to have it mate with, and at the moment, both of them are safe in nature preserves."

"We're hoping that the species will be able to successfully repopulate." Drew said as she eyed her plate. "Anything to save them from going completely extinct…" She shook her head as she tried to get back on topic. "But that's a whole different story. I'm sure you all are pretty curious about your Smoke Wolf friend, right?"

Weiss grimaced at the canine. "Considering that it almost killed Ruby and I, not particularly."

"Well, I am VERY curious indeed!" Penny nodded, eager to hear more. "Tell me, what are the behavioral patters of these wolves like?"

Doc pointed to the wolf with his fork. "Well, unlike regular wolves, Smoke Wolves tend to go it alone, at least until mating season. And, as I'm sure you've noticed, they're very territorial." He turned toward Weiss and Ruby with a serious gaze. "You girls must've accidentally stumbled into its territory by accident."

Ruby lowered her head with a grimace. "Ugh, of course we did. Lucky us."

"So are these wolves as rare as that blue tiger you mentioned?" Rex asked.

Drew shook her head. "No, Smoke Wolves are actually more common. It's just that they keep themselves so well hidden that people rarely see them." She gestured to the forest surrounding them. "Plus, with a habitat like this, it's easy to STAY hidden, so they never have to worry too much about people finding them. And when one IS spotted, they use their smoke as a defense mechanism."

Yang leaned forward, finding all of this very interesting. "And how exactly DOES it make all of that smoke?"

Drew smiled and stood up from the table, ushering her to follow her. "Come with me, I'll show you." She lead Yang, Ruby, and a few others over toward the sleeping wolf before pointing up toward its shoulders. "See that area between the shoulder blades? Inside there is a special gland that produces a smoke-like gas from the nutrients that the Smoke Wolf ingests. That's why it has a very noxious smell to it."

"Ooooh…" Ruby and Penny echoed as their eyes shined in curiosity. "So cool…"

Gwen tilted her head to Drew. "I'm guessing it's not JUST used as a defense mechanism, though. It must help for hunting, too, right?"

"You'd be right on that one, Gwen." Drew confirmed, her eyes settling on Weiss. "As you and Ruby found out, the Smoke Wolf uses that smoke to try and disorient its prey before going in for the attack. And it's very tenacious, so it rarely gives up before its prey is killed."

Weiss swallowed, her throat suddenly feeling quite dry. "U-Um… have they ever been known to EAT humans?"

Doc and Drew glanced to one another, wincing at the question. "Well… no dead bodies have been found yet." Doc answered. "Though there HAVE been some disappearances."

The former heiress raised a finger and pointed to the man. "Called it."

"B-But that doesn't necessarily mean that they EAT people." Drew emphasized quickly. "After all, there are plenty of creatures in the Appalachains that could also be responsible for those disappearances."

Kevin scoffed as he chewed on his pancake. "Psh, like what? Bigfoot? Or Moth Man?"

"Hah, don't be ridiculous." Doc waved off. "Sasquatches are found on the OTHER side of the States in the Pacific Northwest." The man smirked as he laced his hands together. "But if you wanna talk about Moth Man…"

The Osmosian gave a laugh and shook his head. "Dude, I was only joking…" But he trailed off when he noticed that Doc's expression didn't let up. "…Why do I get the feeling you're not?" No change in the man's face told Kevin all he needed to know. "You're serious?"

Rex raised a skeptical brow. "Isn't Moth Man just, ya know, an urban myth?"

"Oh, boys, there have been far too many Moth Man sightings to write him off as just an urban myth." Doc assured. "Go up to Point Pleasant and pretty much EVERYONE will tell you about their own personal encounters with the beast."

Ilia raised her hand to interject. "Um, excuse me, but… Moth Man?" She seemed very concerned at the concept. "Are you seriously saying that your world has some sort of half-man-half-moth creature that ISN'T a Grimm?"

Drew came back over and sat across from the chameleon girl. "Well, yes, Ilia… kind of. It's never been one hundred percent confirmed what EXACTLY Moth Man is. He got his name from the large wings, big eyes and antennae, but outside of the insect-like silhouette, no one knows what sort of creature he is since he was mostly seen at night." She pursed her lips in annoyance as she smacked the table with her fist. "Mph, and every time we head up to Point Pleasant, the thing's never there."

"Uh, not to be a drag, but haven't Moth Man sightings been on the downhill for like, almost fifty years now?" Ben asked. "After the Silver Bridge collapsed in the early 70's, he hasn't been seen since, right?"

"Exactly… until recently, that is." Doc said, pressing a button on his left gauntlet to bring up a holographic screen full of news paper articles. Much to everyone's surprise, all of them had a repeating word across all of them; "Moth Man". "Recent sightings of the creature have been going on for almost five months now, and we're taking the chance to strike while the iron is hot. That's part of the reason why we leapt at the chance to meet you up here, actually."

Ruby broke out into an excited smile and she let out a gasp. "AH! Wait a second! Does that me WE could go with you to search for the Moth Man?!"

Doc and Drew both chuckled at the girl's excitement, both of them impressed by her lack of fear. "Hehe, well, only if you all want to." Drew accentuated. "After all, you kids only just got introduced to the world of Cryptids, so we understand if this all might seem a bit much for you…"

However, Ben raised his hand. "Drew, I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we don't scare easily." He looked out to the rest of his team, receiving a collective nod. "We've handled plenty of monsters before, both on Remnant and right here on Earth. Hell, we've even met a few deities since we got here, too, so we know the risks in situations like these."

That made the Saturdays' eyes widen. "W-Wait, did you say "deities"?" Drew stammered. "What kind of deities?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Nora exclaimed as she reached for her scroll, pulling up a couple of pictures. "Here's us at the Aztec pyramids where we met Quetzalcoatl!" Doc and Drew were both slack-jawed as they saw Nora taking a selfie with an absolutely MASSIVE feathered serpent as it flew off into the sky over said pyramids, only for her to swipe her finger across the screen. "Ooh! And yesterday, we got to meet Hercules! Yes, THE Hercules!"

If possible, this only made their jaws hang down further. There, with Ben, Gwen, Team RWBY and Team JNPR beside him, was a very large, bearded man wearing a lion's pelt over his torso, decked out in traditional Greek clothing and carrying several weapons on him… all while he winked and gave a thumbs up to the camera. Doc and Drew were utterly speechless, but that didn't stop the Saturday patriarch from trying. "I-I-I… what?"

"Pretty much exactly how we reacted, but it's true!" Gwen assured. "Quetzalcoatl even gave us his severed tail as a keepsake."

"Ooh! And look!" Pyrrha rushed toward the Rustbucket and went inside, where she was met by a series of excited barks. She slowly exited the vehicle while assuring the pets inside that she'd be back soon… before coming over with her own lion cloak. "You see this? Hercules made this out of the pelt of the Nemean Lion I slew!"

"…You're joking." Drew whispered.

Pyrrha put the tunic over her chest and spread her arms out, bringing up the cape to pull it over her front. "Go ahead! Give it a hit and see if I'm joking."

Doc and Drew were somewhat hesitant, but the former furrowed his brow, intent on getting to the bottom of this. "Alright, if you say so…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a yellow glove with a green gem on the back of it, pulling it onto his right hand and balling up a fist. In an instant, the glove began to glow green and then solidified into a powerful gauntlet, much to Pyrrha's surprise. "Let's see if this "Nemean Lion" pelt can withstand THIS!"

Doc threw a punch at the cloak… which glowed a bright golden color upon impact, eliciting a metallic TWONG! from the impact. The man could feel his whole body reverberating as he placed his hand over his arm, clenching his teeth from that one hit alone. "Shh—ah! What the…"

"It… i-it repelled the attack!" Drew exclaimed, her eyes beginning to shine in awe. "Doc, I think these kids are telling the truth!"

"You bet we are." Ben nodded.

"But… B-But how's that possible?" Doc asked.

Gwen came up to shed some light on the subject. "Let's just say that the gods have been slumbering for quite some time now. Not necessarily gone from the world, but more… in a reclusive state up in their own realms." She raised a finger with a happy grin. "But, something's changed in modern day thanks to people circulating their old stories again, and because of that, they're regaining a lot of the power that they lost over the centuries."

Ben's lips curled down at that. "Yeah, but that's also causing a lot of mythical beasts to pop up as well. We faught both the Nemean Lion AND the Lernaean Hydra yesterday."

Doc was in utter disbelief at this point. Granted, he was no stranger to the existence of gods given everything he's experienced, but still, it was a lot to take in. These KIDS had met and seemingly befriended TWO major deities from different pantheons "I… I-I'm sorry, I just need a moment." Doc placed a hand to his head, taking a deep breath. "Just to take this in."

Drew, meanwhile, was having an utter ball. "AHAHA! Kids, this is FANTASTIC!" She suddenly reached out and grabbed Ruby by the hands, locking eyes with the young huntress. "Do you think you could possibly introduce us to either one of them? It would be AMAZING if I could ask them some questions."

Ruby's eyebrow twitched nervously. "Ah, hehe… w-well, we don't exactly know where they went…"

"Or how to GET there in Hercules' case." Ilia pointed out. "He went back to Mount Olympus, and apparently you need permission AND a Pegasus to get up there."

"P-Pegasus? Mount Olympus… M-Mount Olympus." Drew echoed as her smile somehow grew wider. "Heh… hehehe… hahaha! Oh my gosh, Mount Olympus really IS the realm of the Greek gods! This is SO freaking exciting, I could just—"

"Grrrr…" Everything paused when the group heard a low growl, sending shivers down everyone's spines all at once. The team slowly turned their heads toward the cage, where they saw the Smoke Wolf begin to shakily stand up and open its blood red eyes. It shook the daze out of its head before finally spotting the humans, its lips curling up into a snarl before belting out a mighty roar at them. "GRRRAAAAOOGH!"

Doc and Drew were immediately on alert, the former drawing his Power Glove again just in case. "Okay, wolf's awake! Everyone be on your guard!" the man ordered, prompting the teens to draw their weapons as well. This wasn't something that Doc was expecting, but he decided to roll with it. "Oh, alright then. Well, glad you kids came prepared. C'mon, we gotta get this thing into the airship before it—"

PWOOF! Too late. The Smoke Wolf howled and let loose a burst of smoke from its back, sending it through the entire area. "NO!" Nora took up her hammer and went… straight over to the picnic tables, where she started spinning the weapon like a fan to blow the smoke away. "SAVE THE PANCAKES! Sun! Neptune! Get your butts over here and HELP me!" Not needing to be told twice, the boys went over and began spinning their own weapons like Nora, blowing the smoke back toward the wolf.

Drew covered her mouth, setting her eyes over to the rest of the team. "Okay, I need anyone brave enough to help me get that cage into the airship, pronto!"

Yang gave her a small smirk. "Ma'am, while I would love to try mixing it up with a wolf to get it on your ship… there IS an easier solution." She reached over and gave Ben a pat on the shoulder. "Green Boy, if you would."

"Already on it, Goldie Locks." Ben affirmed as he was already dialing up the Omnitrix. In an instant, Ben once again transformed into… "Gutrot!" before making his way through the smoke and toward the wolf itself. The beast glared at him through the haze, flashing its teeth as it went to bite him… only for the wolf to be blown back by the cage's energy bars. "Yeah, could'a toldya that'd happen." Gutrot opened his finger and pointed it at the reeling wolf. "Time to go night-night again, buddy boy."

"Wait!" Doc exclaimed, getting the hero's attention. "If you could, use a less potent anesthetic. We'd like to study the wolf while it's conscious."

Gutrot raised an eyeridge at the doctor, wondering if he was right in the head. "Uh, you sure, Doc? No offense, but sounds like you'd be takin' a big risk lettin' THAT thing stay awake on yer ship."

But Doc gave the hero a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Once we pick up Zak, he'll be able to keep it under control… hopefully."

"I… what?" But Gutrot shook his head, hearing the wolf starting to get back up. "Ugh, questions can come later. Let's just get this puppy nappin'." He stirred up a weaker anesthetic in his suit and then sprayed it at the wolf, which immediately started to get droopy-eyed before falling back to the cage floor. With its breathing once again steadying, the team were reassured that it was out cold once more.

"Hah… that was close." Jaune wiped his brow.

"TOO close!" Nora shouted, holding a plate of pancakes over her head. "But don't worry! The pancakes are okay!"

Drew couldn't help but laugh at that. "Haha! Okay, it's official; you kids are WILD and I love it." She put on a more serious expression as she looked to the wolf, however. "More importantly, we've gotta get this wolf on the ship so we can examine it closer."

Gutrot reached up and placed a hand over the Omnitrix. "Leave that to me, ma'am!" FLASH! "Gravattack!" The Gallilean focused on the cage and lifted his arm toward it, activating his powers to gently lift the containment unit into the air just slightly off the ground. He was about to head to the airship's stairs… only to realize he and the cage were FAR too big to get on that way. "Uh… you guys got a loading dock?"

"Of course." Doc reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a remote control, giving it a click and making the back section of the airship come lowering down. Once the ramp had dropped completely, Gravattack gave a thumbs up and headed up into the vessel, taking the cage with it. Doc faced the others with a single nod. "Well, I suppose now's a good a time as any to give you kids a tour of the airship. Any takers?" Immediately, all hands went up in excitement, making Doc laugh. "Hah! That's what I thought. Come on, kids, we'll show you around."

…..

The kids hadn't expected the tour to take almost an hour to go through, but ultimately, the team all agreed that it was worth it. The entire airship was ENORMOUS, but even then, some of the teens were still shocked at just how much the Saturdays had on it. Of course, there was your standard ship stuff that Kevin was especially fascinated by, the Osmosian practically going off on his own when they got to the engine room. "Woah… is that seriously a Galvin oscillator valve?!" He snapped his head to Doc in shock. "How the hell did ya get your hands on that?!"

"Hehe, I had a feeling you'd notice that, Kevin." Doc chortled. "That's actually a more recent addition to this ship." He reached out and rubbed his hand along the wall. "This old girl's seen some pretty heavy damage over the years, so every time we fix her, we like to make sure she's in top form." Doc pointed to the part in question. "And that gizmo, which was a VERY generous donation from the Plumbers, is helping with the airship's power output as we speak. Thanks again for that, Max."

"Ah, it was no problem, really." Max waved off. "Anything to help keep this beauty airborne and less prone to crashing."

After they managed to pry Kevin away from the engine room, they resumed their tour, where they found that the ship had a little bit of everything. A mini ecological greenhouse, a living room with a hi-def television set-up, a research lab where the Smoke Wolf was being kept, a kitchen and dining room, the works. "Man, you guys like to really keep your job and family life pretty close together, huh?" Jaune asked.

"Heh, well, the airship IS a second home to us, but it's primarily function IS to help with our research." Drew pointed out. "Now, if you want a more "normal" home, you'd have to come to our ACTUAL house."

"And even then, we have a lab AND a greenhouse there, too." Doc grinned with a small sigh. "Hah, the life of a Secret Scientist never lets up."

Nora nodded in understanding. "Hm, I see… soooo…" She raised a brow toward the couple. "You guys got a training room up in this puppy?"

Doc and Drew smirked at one another, the woman letting out a laugh. "Ha! What do you take us for? Come on, I'll show ya…" She led the kids down the hall before coming to a set of automatic doors that opened for her, allowing them all to step into a rather large room. "Ta-da!" Drew lifted her arms, gesturing toward all of the training equipment around them. "Weights, medicine balls, exercise machines of all kinds, you name it, it's probably here."

"Hm, not too shabby." Yang commented, picking up a medicine ball with one hand. "Granted, it's no Hazard Chamber, but it looks a lot like the one my dad has back home."

Ruby gave a wistful sigh. "Hah, yeah… reminds me of a simpler time, back when we all first met." She tilted her head toward the team, her smile widening. "You all remember that first day of training?"

"Heh, yes, I do…" Gwen glanced over to Yang. "If memory serves, you and I had a spar that day."

Yang's eyes lit up, giving her a nod. "Hey, yeah, that's right! Ya know, we should do another one soon, the more I think about it."

Nora bounced around to Ben. "Yeah! And Ben, you and I need to have a rematch, too!" She gave him a cheeky wink. "If memory serves, I kicked Shocksquatch's butt in our last encounter."

"H-Hold on, that match ended in a tie!" Ben insisted.

"Yeah, but I did spend most of that match on top…"

Yang sent a warning glare to the redhead. "Nora, phrasing."

"Oops! Heehee, sorry…"

Drew rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Well, I'm glad you kids are getting nostalgic, but we've still got a LOT of ship to cover here, so come on. It's time I introduce you all to one of our other family members…" The scientist rejoined her husband and they lead the group toward the front of the ship, no doubt where the controls for the ship were. Sure enough, the Omni-Hunters now found themselves in a large room with multiple consoles and chairs, with large windows allowing them to see out the front of the ship. "Welcome to the bridge, kids."

"Woah… so THIS is where you guys control the place." Sun said in awe, craning his head around.

"Man, this place is SO cool!" Neptune added, feeling excited at the thought of traveling in the massive ship. However, as he brought his gaze across the room… he spotted something out the corner of his eye. Neptune paused and craned his head up toward the ceiling… being met with a pair of bright red eyes staring down at him from above the lighting fixtures. "AAH! W-What the hell is THAT?!"

Everyone sent their eyes up as well, and immediately gasped at what Neptune saw… all except Drew and Doc, that is. "Oh, don't worry, everyone! She's the one I wanted to have you meet." Drew extended her hand up toward the eyes, beckoning them to come down while puckering her lips to make kissy noises. "Come here, girl, we've got company!"

The group heard what could only be described as a little chirp before whatever it was stuck its head out from above the lights, revealing what it was and making the Omni-Hunters to a double take. There was no WAY this could be real… and yet here it was. From above their heads came swooping down a Pteranadon, and not just ANY Pteranodon either. It was green and had light, fluffy feathers going down the back of its head and back, with its wings being long and black. Its beak, however, had a unique shape to it; long and thin toward the head before curving out at the end on both the upper and lower jaws.

Gwen had to slap herself as the Pteranodon swooped down and landed directly in front of them all. "Th-That's… that's an Ornithocheirus!"

"Never mind that!" Yang thrust a finger toward the creature. "That's a DINOSAUR!" Gwen nearly fell flat on her face at that.

Drew, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "Ahahaha! Oh my gosh, Yang, you're a riot." She set her hand on the Ornithochreirus' head, as if it was no big deal. "But no, this isn't a Dinosaur, she's a Pterosaur, big difference." She eyed the entire team, who were still slack-jawed at the sight. "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Zon. She's a sweet girl, so you don't have to worry about her biting you."

"And you just HAVE her hanging around your ship?" Ben muttered, glancing over to Doc. "Did… did you figure out how to clone extinct animals? Because I can tell you right now that's probably not the best idea."

Doc came up and placed a reassuring hand on Ben's shoulder. "Hehe, Ben, relax. Zon's not a cloned experiment… at least, not that we know of."

"We found her in the Amazon Rainforest YEARS ago." Drew explained, giving Zon a scratch under her beak, which she trilled at. "She was the last of her kind as far as we knew, and she took a liking to our family, so we decided to take her in." She smiled toward Team RWBY. "Would any of you like to pet her?"

Ruby practically lit up at the chance. "AH! YES!" She slowly approached Zon, being careful not to startle her. "H-Hi Zon… my name's Ruby. I—woah!" Without warning, the Pterosaur leapt forward a little, landing right in front of Ruby with a curious head tilt. Her red eyes met Ruby's silver ones before Zon let out an excited cry, bringing her head close to Ruby's chest for a little nuzzle. "O-Oh my goodness, you're REALLY friendly! Haha!" Ruby gently stroked Zon's feathers, which felt almost like fine hairs. "Ooh, and you're so soft!"

Drew and Doc blinked in surprise. "Hah… wow, I honestly didn't expect that." Drew admitted with a soft smile. "Usually it takes Zon a bit longer to get used to new people."

"Rubes is a whiz when it comes to animals." Yang said before she and Blake came up to Zon as well to introduce themselves. Weiss, however, decided to stay off to the side. "Weiss, c'mon, Zon's totally sweet!"

But the former heiress waved her hands frantically. "Th-That's okay, Yang, really. I-I don't want to crowd her too much—AH!" Just then, Zon once again jumped, only this time, she took to the air and flew right over Weiss' head… before coming down right on her shoulders. "BWAH!" CRASH! Everyone stepped back as Weiss went straight to the ground, with Zon chirping excitedly as she pecked at the white-haired girl's head. "…Can someone get this oversized bird off me?" Weiss muffled from the floor.

"I dunno, Ice Princess." Rex went into a squat in front of her, wearing an amused grin. "I think you made yourself a new friend!"

Weiss popped her head up and glared at her boyfriend. "Rex, get Zon off of me right now or I will carve you like a pumpkin!"

"O-Okay, okay, hold on…" Rex stood back up and raised his hands toward the Pterosaur, hoping to shoo her away. "Alright, girl, we've had our fun, but now it's time to—GAH!" And in one fell swoop, she tackled Rex to the ground and started pecking him as well, making the team laugh again.

Weiss smirked as she stood and brushed herself off. "Hmph, not so funny when the shoe's on the other foot, is it?"

"Ah! HAHA! AH! S-Stop, please!" Rex laughed as he tried to get Zon off. "Th-That tickles!"

"Hey, Zon, no." Doc said sternly, pointing at the winged beast to get her attention. Zon whipped her head up and stopped her onslaught, slowly getting off of Rex and allowing him to stand once more. "Good girl." Doc reached into his pocket and pulled out a treat, tossing it to Zon who caught it in her beak masterfully.

"Man, this place is amazing." Jaune commented.

Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Leading a family life while studying mysterious creatures. Sounds like you all never lack any excitement, that's for sure."

"Oh, you don't know that half of it, Pyrrha." Drew concurred. "Studying Cryptids is only part of the job. The other half is—hm?" A sudden beeping noise cut Drew off, leading her to reach down to a pouch on her belt. "Oh, the communicator. It's probably Zak. Give me one second everyone…" She brought out her communicator and flipped it open. "Hello? Zak, sweetie?"

"Mom, you there?" a young male voice replied in a hushed tone. "We've got a situation…"

Doc came over, both he and Drew focusing their attention squarely on what their boy was saying. "We read you loud and clear, Zak. What's happened?"

"So, about those Wampus Cats you had us checking out? …Turns out you guys were on the money today. We've spotted poachers, and they're closing in on the pride." Zak paused a moment as he silently counted heads. "From what I can tell, we've got at least twenty or thirty of 'em coming."

That made everyone do a double take, including the team. "Poachers?" Ilia furrowed her brow. "Here, in the Appalachians?"

"How do they know about those Cryptids?" Penny inquired.

Doc also put on a more serious expression. "Unfortunately, sometimes the wrong people are just able to get a hold of information that they really shouldn't know about. And that leads to situations like this…" He focused back down to the communicator. "We'll be at your position in a few moments, Zak, so hold on… also, expect us to bring some major back up."

"Hah, sweet, I—w-wait, Fisk, don't put your weight on—"

"GYYYAAAAAAH!" A sudden cracking sound and a loud scream came blasting through the communicator, followed by a big crash and the sound of someone rolling down a hill.

"Huh? HEY! We've got spies!" came an unknown voice over the other end.

Zak sounded distressed, shouting: "GAH! Crap baskets!"

Ruby's eyes widened at that. "Huh, he says that too."

"Mom, dad, get here as soon as possible, PLEASE!"

"Don't worry, baby, we're on our way!" Drew shouted before deactivating the communicator and setting her sights on the teens. "Alright kids, I hope you're ready for a fight, because we've got some Cryptids to save."

Ben grinned as he nodded over to his team, who all brandished their weapons once again. "Drew, we're ALWAYS ready."

…..

A couple miles out from where the Omni-Hunters were camping, a young man was swinging his way through the trees, trying to put as much distance between himself and his adversaries as possible. He appeared to be about sixteen years old, with dark skin and chocolate brown eyes as well as two-toned hair. Most of it was short and black, with a bit of scruff toward the back. But his bangs were long and white, a stark contrast to the rest of his scalp. He wore a black t-shirt under an orange hoodie with black sleeves and drawstrings, complete with two "S" logos; a small one on the left pectoral and a bigger one on the back. He had on tan cargo pants with a black belt and black boots with orange soles, which shook the tree branch he landed on.

In his hand, he held a claw-like weapon that resembled an animal's paw, which was stuck on the end of a long, metal pole painted yellow. It also had a grapple function, which he was using to swing through the trees. With an irritated face, he looked down to the ground and called out; "Gah, Fiskerton, I TOLD you to lay off those instant cheese steaks!"

Bursting through the underbrush came a large, shadowy creature, its form revealed as it leapt out into the light. It was very tall, about seven feet or so, and was covered almost head to toe in thick, tan fur. Its limbs were lanky while its body appeared quite strong, its hands and feet resembling that of a gorilla. However, its facial features were much more feline in nature, complete with pointed ears, a short muzzle, and big, red, round eyes. The creature grimaced up to the young man and shook his fist. "Gagajeebahrah! MmMm!" he babbled out.

"I don't CARE if they're delicious!" the boy argued back, seemingly understanding him. "You're packing on the pounds, man!" He pointed to the creature's gut, which WAS beginning to get a bit pudgy. "Eat a salad, would ya?"

"Blegh!" Fiskerton stuck his tongue out before hearing approaching footsteps, causing him to gasp and reach down for the nearest, biggest rock he could find. About the size of a human head, he chucked the rock at their pursuers, causing them to yell in shock. "Garaga-ragah!" Fisk shouted.

The boy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're right. But we're talking about this later!" With that, the young man shot his claw out at the next tree and swung down to the ground, joining Fiskerton in his run. "Hey, have you seen—"

"FREEZE!" The duo gasped at the sight of a bald man leaping out from the bushes, armed with a rifle that he pointed straight at them. "Alright, kid, who the hell are you? And who's your freaky friend here?"

With narrowed eyes, the young man answered; "Name's Zak, and this is Fisk. But you probably don't really care 'bout that, do ya?"

"Hey, no sassin' me, kid." The man threatened, raising his weapon. "Remember who's got the weapon here."

Zak smirked and raised his own weapon. "Hah, whaddya think THIS is, bro?"

"HA! Like a little stick is gonna stop me—AH!" All of a sudden, the Claw shot out from its pole and grabbed the gun, with Zak pulling it straight out of his hands. "Gah! W-Why you little—agh!" The man went to lunge at Zak… but ended up getting tripped up by something. He fell right into the mud, but he quickly picked his head up and growled at Zak. "You are gonna pay for—huh? ACK!"

The man doubled back when, from out of thin air, a massive lizard suddenly appeared in front of him. And not just any lizard… but a Komodo Dragon, one that had to be at least twice the size of a normal one. The beast hissed and stuck its tongue out at him, licking its chops as it came in closer. "Komodo, no!" Zak shouted. The dragon stopped short and looked back to Zak in annoyance. "These guys are jerks, but they're NOT on the menu."

Grumbling in disappointment, Komodo went back over to his family, with Fisk giving a little giggle at his expense. That earned him a snap from the dragon before Zak ushered them to follow. "Now c'mon, we've gotta get to some sort of clearing before—ah!" The clicking of several guns alerted the young man to the arrival of the other poachers, who had taken the time to surround them. "Oh… not good."

"Heh, you got that right, kid." The poacher from before stood up and crossed his arms, wearing a victorious smirk. "Get 'em, boys!" But before anyone could do anything… the sound of roaring engines suddenly came reverberating throughout the area, bringing their attention skyward. "W-What the… holy cow."

The poachers were taken aback by the sight of the airship flying in, all while Zak, Fiskerton and Komodo grinned up to the craft. "Hah, sweet! Right on time!" Oddly enough, though, he noticed the airship flying fairly low to the ground, but it didn't take long to figure out why as the back hatch opened up and several people suddenly came falling out. And, as they came in closer, Zak's smile increased tenfold. "HAHA! Double Sweet! We've got back-up, guys!"

In an instant, a green flash enveloped the area before something landed with a mighty THWOOM! Once everyone's vision cleared, the poachers were aghast at what was standing before them. "HUMUNGOUSAUR! GRAAAAAHH!"

"B-B-B-BEN 10?!" One of the poachers squeaked out before turning to his mud-covered leader. "Boss, you didn't say NOTHIN' 'bout Ben 10 bein' 'ere!" From there, the rest of the Omni-Hunters came in for a landing, with Gwen, Kevin, Team RWBY, and Team JNPR forming a large circle around the group while Ilia, Penny, Rex, Team SN, Doc and Drew formed an inner layer to the circle. "O-Or THEM!"

The lead poacher was practically trembling, especially since he didn't have a weapon. "I-I-I… I didn't think—EEP!" He suddenly found his whole body constricted inside of Humungousaur's hand, the Vaxasaurian bringing him up to eye level.

"No… you didn't." Humungousaur tossed the poacher up into the air and then gave him a THWACK with his tail, sending him through more bushes. The hero craned his head down to Zak with a grin. "Hey there. Zak Saturday, I presume?"

Zak was wide-eyed and shaking in anticipation. There he was, Ben 10 in the flesh… talking to HIM! "Woah… THE Ben 10! U-Uh, yeah, I'm alright—oof! Agh, mom!"

"Oh, Zak, sweetie, are you okay?!" Drew asked, meticulously inspecting him. "They didn't hurt you boys, did they?"

Fiskerton shook his head while Komodo hissed, denying the question… which earned the Cryptids several stunned stares from the rest of the team. Blake and Sun were especially taken aback by Fiskerton's appearance. "…Gorilla?" Sun asked.

"Cat?" Blake followed up.

"Both?!" the couple echoed.

Ilia, meanwhile, was fascinated by Komodo. "Woah… aren't YOU a big guy?" Komodo gave her a curious glare before suddenly vanishing, taking her by surprise. "Hah! Well, you've got some neat powers…"

"Let's save the small talk for now." Humungousaur advised, slamming his fist into his hand. "And instead, let's kick some bad guy butt." He craned his head down to the Saturdays. "Doc, Drew, take your boys and—"

But Zak interjected, raising his Claw up. "Woah, woah, with all due respect, Ben 10, I am NOT passing up this chance to fight along side you and your team." The pole suddenly extended, doubling in length so that Zak was holding it in both hands. "Besides, handling situations like this is all part of the job."

"Yep, exactly." Doc affirmed, putting his Power Glove back on. "This is the other half of the job I mentioned before."

Drew reached onto her back and unsheathed a double-edged sword, which, when pulled out, made a flame-shaped piece fold out at the tip. All at once, the sword began heating up to the point where flames were literally spinning around it. "It's our job to make sure that all Cryptids are protected, so we're fighting with you. Like it or not."

A smile came to Humungousaur's face at that. "Haha! I like your spirits! Alright then, let's do it!" He stomped his foot to intimidate the poachers, making them shake in their boots. "Guys, you know what time it is!" On cue, the entire team shouted; "IT'S HERO TIME!" before engaging the poachers.

Without question, the large group of bad guys were overwhelmed by the sheer force of the heroes, finding themselves woefully underprepared even with their greater numbers. Kevin didn't even have to absorb any dust as he merely walked forward, bullets bouncing harmlessly off his stone skin before grabbing one of the poacher's guns and absorbing the metal it was made of… and then promptly knocking him out. "Man, after fighting supervillains for so long, this feels… kinda underwhelming."

Rex found himself only using his Smack Hands to literally smack the poachers away like flies. "Yeah, and once you've fought a hoard of Grimm, bad guys like these just kinda pale in comparison."

Penny wasn't even using any of her weapons, instead resorting to simple punches that were enough to send any one man flying. "Indeed. These people have no idea what they are in for."

"You DARE insult us?!" One poacher exclaimed while taking aim at the EVO and android. "Why don't you say that again when you're both on the ground, you—AH!" He let out a shriek as a mana projectile cut clean through his weapon, slicing it right in half.

Trembling, the man turned to his left to see Gwen, her arms crossed and shaking her head. "Just… don't, okay? I'll make it easier for all of us." Without wasting another second, Gwen made a mana bubble and began going around, collecting all of the poachers that were being taken out. "Let's see, two… four… seven…"

She kept counting as more of the bad guys fell, thanks in no small part to the hunters wiping the floor with them. From being electrocuted, being set on fire, and of course being frozen in place, the teams from Beacon and beyond were practically laying waste to their adversaries. "I honestly feel kind of bad." Weiss admitted. "We're essentially beating up on normal people."

"Yeah, who're trying to kill an innocent creature for profit." Blake reminded. "Suddenly doesn't really make you feel sympathetic anymore, right?"

Weiss nodded promptly. "Yeah, you're right. I'm thinking WAY too much about this."

Ruby was batting one of the poachers away with the head of her scythe, not noticing that there was another sneaking up right behind her to hit her with a Billy club. "HA! I got ya now—WAAAAGH!"

The Hooded Huntress gasped and spun around, just in time to see Drew come in with her Fire Sword and blast the poacher away with a stream of flames. Ruby's eyes lit up immediately and her hands flew up to her face. "AH! Drew, I LOVE your fire sword! It's so amazing!"

"Aw, thank you, Ruby." Drew winked. "I'll tell you more about it later."

Meanwhile, Yang and Doc were actually both punching out poachers as they came their way. "Gotta say, Doc, you're pretty good!" The Blonde Brawler commented. "Where'd you learn to fight?"

"Just something I picked up naturally, honestly." Doc admitted. "You?"

"My dad. He's a teacher at the combat school I went to, so I got some EXTRA lessons in ass-kicking." Yang thrust her leg out and kicked a poacher in the chin, sending him sprawling to the ground in pain before blasting him away with a shot from her Ember Celica. "Nice, huh?"

"Not bad… but can yours do this?" Doc's Power Glove switched from a green glow to a fiery red before he sent out a blast of heat energy at his foes, forcing them all down to the ground.

Yang gave a whistle, nodding in approval. "Whoo, yeah, that's pretty awesome!"

Just then, however, one of the bigger men in the group came forward, with a rather large machine strapped to his back. "You little twerps are gonna regret this!" He reached behind him and pulled out a gatling gun, which was attached to the machine to no doubt be fed ammo. "Haha! Alright, time for the big guns! EAT THIS!" He pulled the trigger and let lose with as many bullets as he could fire… only for someone to suddenly get right in the way.

"Everyone, DUCK!" It was Pyrrha, and she had her Nemean Lion cloak raised up in front of her. As the first bullet hit the pelt, it began to glow a bright gold and made the projectiles ricochet off into different directions. The team followed her advice and immediately ducked as the bullets flew all over the place, shocking the large man.

"AGH! Dude, stop! STOP!" the head poacher called out. "This is workin' AGAINST us!"

But, as it happened, the man would have his weapon stopped FOR him as Ren came up from behind and sliced through the chamber feeding bullets to the gun, as well as cutting through the straps. Once the weapon was off and the large man thoroughly confused, the ninja called out; "Jaune, Nora!"

On cue, the duo came charging in, with Jaune slamming his shield right in the man's head while Nora swung her hammer into his gut. With a successful take down, Team JNPR gathered up, with Nora resting her hammer over her shoulders. "Woohoo! Nice work, team! Big Guy's taken down!"

"Yep, now there's only like, twenty left—" Jaune was cut off when a bunch of bad guys were sent sailing over their heads, courtesy of a Humungousaur tail swipe. "…Make that twelve." However, right at that moment… a very loud and unsettling sound was heard.

RRRRRAAAAOOOOWWWRRR!

The fight paused for a moment, with everyone feeling a chill go up their spines. "…Uh, what was that?" Neptune asked.

Blake's ears perked up, recognizing the sound pretty well. "It's a cat… a big one, by the sound of it."

Across the battlefield, Zak heard this and his eyes widened. "Oh geez… it knows we're here." He raised his arms and called out; "Everyone, we need to get outta here before—" THWOOM! But it was too late. From out of the forest, a beast lunged out at the whole group, leaving all of them in a state of shock. It was indeed a massive cat, one resembling a mountain lion that was at least four times the size of a regular one. Instead of having brown fur, though, its fur was completely black, and its eyes blazed with bright gold. However, the most notable feature about this beast… was that it had SIX legs. It was utterly bizarre, but also fascinating to see at the same time.

"Oh… my god, what the hell is that thing?" Ilia muttered.

"That would be a Wampus Cat." Drew answered, seeing the beast's gaze going straight for the biggest creature among them… that being Humungousaur. "And it does not look happy."

The Wampus Cat let out a mighty roar and pounced right at Humungousaur, who caught the beast before it could sink its claws into him. "G-Good six-legged kitty! Don't be mad, okay? We're trying to—AGH!" However, its extra legs managed to get in a swipe at his abdomen, which didn't draw blood, but still hurt considerably. Then, its hind legs managed to claw into Humungousaur's knees, taking the Vaxasaurian off balance and forcing him to fall to his back.

…But unbeknownst to him, Zak was still fending off a poacher directly behind Humungousaur, and the young man didn't notice the hero falling until it was too late. "Oh… you've gotta be kidding—"

"Watch out!"

Zak snapped his head to see who had shouted, only to suddenly get whisked away by a flurry of red petals. The poacher wasn't so lucky, though, getting crushed by Humungousaur as Zak was pushed out of the way… before he and his savior were sent tumbling down a nearby hill. "AGH! AUGH! OOF! ACK!" Both of them shouted painfully as they bounded down the slope, only to land in a heap at the very bottom. With his vision blurry, Zak held a hand to his head, shaking it to try and stop the ringing in his ears. "Ugh… okay, what the heck was that a… a…"

But the boy's voice was caught in his throat the moment he saw his savior. As it turned out, she was actually a very pretty girl with black hair that had red highlights at the tips. She wore really cool clothes in the same colors, accentuated by the red hooded cloak hanging from her shoulders. And, the second she opened her eyes, he was taken aback. They were sterling silver, and as their eyes met, they both found themselves stuck there for a moment. Zak could feel his breath being taken, feeling himself heating up gradually. '…Wow. She's… EXTREMELY pretty.' It was only then that he registered that there was a weight on top of him, and since she was propped up above him, that could only mean one thing; '…She's also on top of me.'

She must've realized this as well, letting out a shocked gasp and rushing up to her feet as her cheeks burned bright red in embarrassment. "AAH! O-Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Ruby waved her arms as she apologized, bowing her head profusely. "I-I didn't mean to send us down that hill, honest! I was just trying to saved you from being crushed!"

In her head, however, Ruby was having a mental crisis. 'Oh gosh, what the heck WAS that just now?! Why am I blushing? Why couldn't I look away from him for like, a MINUTE to get off of him sooner?!' Her hands covered her eyes in shame. 'Is there something WRONG with me? Oh god, I feel sick…'

"H-Hey, it's okay." And just like that, Ruby was once again snapped out of her stupor, slowly craning her head up—or rather down—to the boy. He was smiling at her, his cheeks also a bit red as he went to get up. "Thanks for the save, really."

"O-Oh, here!" Ruby extended her hand. "Let me help you up. It's the least I can do."

Zak gratefully took her hand. "Thanks…" As he rose to his feet, he managed more of a gauge on her. She was somewhat petite, standing about three or four inches shorter than him. Still, that did nothing to deter her awesome appearance. Zak's hand went to the back of his head sheepishly. "So, uh… who do I have to thank for the save?"

"Hehe, right." Ruby laughed nervously. "My name's Ruby Rose. And I take it that YOU must be…"

"Zak Saturday." Zak extended a hand for a formal shake. "Nice to meet you."

As if in response to her embarrassment, Ruby's confidence shot through it and she returned the handshake. Meeting new people was always a strong suit of hers… even if this encounter did feel a bit different somehow. "Nice to meet you, too, Zak."

"You're one of the Omni-Hunters, right?" Zak followed up. "Ben's new team from another world?" His smile widened in excitement as she nodded to him. "Oh man, you cannot IMAGINE how many questions I have for you guys. Coming from another dimension entirely sounds awesome!"

"Hah, yeah. You can imagine what it must be like for us being in THIS dimension." Ruby chuckled, raising a brow at him. "But we've got a few questions for you guys too, because from what your mom and dad told us, working with Cryptids must be SUPER awesome."

Zak was quick to confirm that. "Oh yeah, it's…" But then his eyes snapped open in realization. "Oh shoot! The fight!" Ruby gasped as well as their eyes moved back up the hill they just came down. "Come on, we've gotta get back to—" However, just as they started climbing, two HUGE shadows came flying over their heads. The duo were stunned to see Humungousaur and the Wampus Cat come dropping down the hill, barreling toward them at high speed.

"Oh… crap baskets." the two echoed, much to their surprise. But before either one could comment on it, Ruby gasped and activated her Semblance, bringing Zak with her to get them both out of the way. As Humungousaur and the massive feline scuffled across the forest floor, Ruby and Zak remerged in a burst of red and orange petals, the latter breathing fast. "Zak, are you—"

"That… was AMAZING!" Zak exclaimed, his eyes shining as he asked her a ton of questions; "How did you do that? What happened to us just now?! Can you do that again?!"

With a nervous smile, Ruby raised her hands to the boy. "H-How about we save the questions for when my friend's NOT about to be eaten by a giant six-legged cat?"

Zak's eyebrows rose up, getting back on track. "Oh, right. Gotta take care of that. He reached down to his hip… only to find out his weapon wasn't there. He whipped his head around the area frantically, and gave a sigh of relief when he saw it. "Hah, phew, there it is…" Zak ran up and picked up his Claw, showing it to Ruby. "Won't get far without this."

"Ooooh…" Ruby stared at the weapon, having never seen one like it before. Sure, the design was quite standard for an extendable staff… but the animalistic claw on the end was what got her attention. "What is it?"

"Well, I call it "The Claw"." Zak pointed to the three-toed paw at the end. "But this part's really called "The Hand of Tsul 'Kalu". It acts as a conduit for my powers… which hopefully will cooperate and work for me, because if they don't, we could be in big trouble."

Ruby nearly blanked out at that. "Say what now?"

Zak craned his head over toward the Wampus Cat, the beast using its front paws to grapple with Humungousaur while keeping itself steady with its other four. "D-Don't worry. Come on, I'll show you." Zak led Ruby over to the fight and shouted up to the hero; "Hey! Ben 10, pull back! I know how to calm it down!"

"Gah! Well…" Humungousaur was a bit hesitant at first, but then he remembered what Doc had told him earlier about Zak being able to keep the Smoke Wolf under control. Did he have some sort of special ability to calm Cryptids? 'Well, only one way to find out.' Using all of his strength, Humungousaur pushed the Wampus Cat off of him, rolling away to a safe distance. "Alright, Zak, it's all yours!"

"Thanks!" Zak saluted before jogging up toward the beast, with Ruby and Humungousaur watching from a safe distance. The boy took a deep breath, centering himself before raising the Claw, making it open up before his eyes began to glow a bright orange. The two heroes were intrigued as the Claw also began to glow, doing exactly what Zak described and acting as a conduit. Before long, the Wampus Cat's own eyes began to glow a faint orange as well, and that's when Zak began speaking gently to it; "We mean you no harm." He extended a hand toward his allies. "We're the ones trying to protect you."

The Wampus Cat didn't seem to believe him, taking a defensive stance while letting out a threatening mewl. Ruby gasped as Humungousaur leveled his tail in front of her for protection, just in case. All the while, Zak pursed his lips, knowing it'd take more effort… all as his head started to ache. "I know…" he took to his knees, keeing his eyes locked on the feline's. "You're trying to protect something important, right?" He pointed off in the direction of a bunch of thick trees. "Them over there?"

Ruby and Humungousaur craned their heads in that direction, and were left astonished by what they saw. Gathered together in a big bushel were at least twelve Wampus kittens, all about the size of Golden Retrievers. Ruby's eyes lit up like stars, her hand covering her mouth as she squeaked out; "Ah! Six-legged kitties!"

"We want to make sure that they're protected, too." Zak emphasized, earning him a skeptical eye from the Wampus as he pointed at the kittens. "Go to them, take them as far away from here as possible and don't turn back. We'll take care of the people trying to hunt them, I promise." He gave the mother one final nod, hoping she was reassured. "Please."

The Wampus mewled again, only this time, it wasn't in a threatening manner. More cautious, if anything. The six-legged feline went out of its defensive position and blinked her eyes, the orange glow disappearing before going up to Zak and nuzzling him with her snout before bounding over to her kittens. As the three of them watched the mother lead her babies into the woods and out of sight, Zak gave a sigh of relief. "Phew… glad that's—guh! Ugh!"

"Zak?!" Ruby exclaimed, taken aback as he suddenly started holding his head in pain. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine… in a few minutes." Zak slowly stood, rubbing his temples all the while. "Grrr… stupid powers. I can't use them anymore without getting a major headache."

"Hm, well, you were really impressive either way." Humungousaur commended with a grin. "You communicated with that mama cat and got her to get her babies away safely. Far as I'm concerned, I'm chalking that up to a success right there."

The black-and-white-haired boy smiled up to the hero, ecstatic at getting a compliment from him… only for a certain someone to interrupt. "NO! You little bastard!" The trio snapped their heads up to see the lead poacher, his face still covered in mud, pointing his rifle right at them with a snarl on his face. Humungousaur immediately jumped in front of the two younger teens as the man went on a tirade. "Six months, SIX MONTHS I've been planning this hunt, and what do I get for it?! ZIP! NADA! ZILCH! All because you had to come in and screw it up! Well, I'm not going down until I take someone WITH ME—" CRACK! "AAUGH!"

From out of nowhere, Yang came onto the scene and practically smashed her fist into the man's jaw, knocking out several teeth and HIM unconscious. She flexed the pain out of her hand as she glowered down at him. "Yeah, not today asshole."

Zak's eyes widened in shock. "Woah… who's that?"

In a flash of light, Ben transformed back to normal wearing a snarky grin. "That would be my girlfriend."

"AND my sister!" Ruby added as she waved up to her. "Nice job, Yang!"

"Thanks, sis! You guys okay down there?!" Yang called back as the rest of the team grouped up. Behind the blonde, they could see Gwen approaching as well, having collected all of the poachers in her mana bubble which had since tripled in size.

"We're fine, don't worry!" Ruby assured. "Zak got the mama Wampus to get her kittens and leave!"

They heard Doc and Drew sigh in relief. "Oh, thank goodness." All at once, the team and the Saturdays came trailing down the hillside, with Drew immediately running over to her son to pull him into a hug… whether he liked it or not. "Hah, excellent job, sweetie. Does your head hurt after using your powers?"

Zak's face turned red again, embarrassed for an entirely DIFFERENT reason now. "Mph, a little bit, yeah." He wiggled his arms free, giving his mom a gentle push back. "Mom, I appreciate the concern, but…" The boy thrust a hand out to the Omni-Hunters. "Would you please not dote on me in front of my peers?"

"Oh! Right, sorry honey." Drew apologized, wearing a small smile as she set her gaze out to the teens. "This IS the first time you've had a really BIG group of other kids around, after all."

"We'll try to tone it back a little, son." Doc added with a wink as Fiskerton and Komodo joined their "brother" as well.

"Heh, thanks." Zak set his sights onto the Omni-Hunters, taking a deep breath before introducing himself. "Um… hi, everybody. I'm Zak Saturday." He extended a hand of friendship. "It's really cool to meet all of you."

Ben came forward, bringing his own hand in to reciprocate the handshake. "Likewise, Zak. You obviously know who I am, but please, just call me Ben." He took a glance back toward his team, all of them seemingly quite eager to meet Zak. But this didn't really seem like the place to do it, so the hero got an idea. "Before we really get started on introductions, though, why don't we head back to the airship? Besides, I can tell that we've got a LOT to talk about."

Zak was quick to agree. "Oh, no doubt." He saw Ruby giving him two thumbs up out the corner of his eye, which he returned with one of his own. "And I can't wait for it."

…..

A/N: And there you have it! The Saturday family is all accounted for! And indeed, this is a completely original look I came up with for Zak, who I felt changed the most from his original design in Omniverse… and not for the better. I wasn't a fan of the long-haired look, the freckles or the permanent orange eyes, so here, he looks a bit more like how you'd expect his original design to be AS a teenager. Of course, though, the rest of the Saturday family basically look the same as they did from the original series as well… especially Drew, who's gained quite a bit of attention from the boys of the team… and Yang, hehe.

In any case, this chapter was pretty much devoted to explaining what the Saturdays are all about and what their job entails, as well as just getting to know them in general. Granted, we didn't get much for Zak yet, but worry not, I'm giving him a WHOLE lot of focus in the next chapter, you can bet on that. But one thing we can take away here is that, like in the original T.G.I.S., it seems his Cryptid powers haven't fully recovered yet, resulting in headaches whenever he uses them which is unfortunate. Speaking of, not only do we get a Smoke Wolf, but a Wampus Cat as well! Let it not be said that the Appalachians are lacking in Cryptids.

Oh, and of course, that bit at the very start. THAT was to set up the overall plot for this Halloween story arc; the Moth Man and the return of a certain substance that Zs'Skayr was especially fond of, Corodium. And don't worry, the spooks are only gonna keep on coming from here!

With that being said, NEXT TIME, it's time for Zak and the team to really get the ball rolling on interactions as he and they exchange their stories. Needless to say, the Omni-Hunters are gonna be pretty floored when they hear what Zak's deal is, that's for sure. Meanwhile, though, as Doc and Drew are studying the tablet that was stolen from the museum… the Ministry find out about the Corodium crashing on Earth via the news, and they're eager to retrieve it and please their mistress… though they have to call a certain Transylian in order to get it. Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll catch you all next time! Stay safe out there!