Gamer4 in, and coming at you with some all-new reactions, now and for the remainder of this story! Real quick, I'd like to address something- I've been made pretty well aware that some readers are eagerly awaiting the return of Xenoblade 2. Of course, it is easily the most popular game in the series, I probably should have seen that coming. And yes, I'm planning on going through it, but it is ultimately only a sixth of the story I'm trying to relate here, and I do ask that you respect that. There is a lot more to the world of Xeno beyond just those borders- I'd like to at least finish introducing them all before I go back. To which end, let's get going!
Episode XIII
Gnosis
"Gears, blades, me losin' my arm to Crescent Rose... that's a hell of a lot to take in," Qrow grumbled as he took a long drink.
"I suppose that answers why I'm here, at any rate," Whitley huffed. "If I'm more prominent in one world, that would at least explain my presence as something other than random happenstance."
"Though it doesn't sound like I've made any major appearances as of yet," Winter pointed out.
"Then again, from the sound of things, we're only just getting started," Weiss countered.
"Hmm, quite a diversity of stories as well," Ozpin reflected. "We've gone from several fantasy settings with a touch of science-fiction to a full-blown space opera."
"Though we also seem to have hit a trend of catastrophic openings," Blake noted darkly. "That's what we were talking about earlier. Mechon destroying Colony 9... Jaune accidentally destroying Ansel..." She looked up to Vanessa, who was gently stroking the white cat, curled up happily on her lap.
"Oh, are you ready to continue?" she asked when she realized they were all looking at her.
"As we'll ever be, I suppose," Ozpin sighed.
"Very well. Continuing."
Upon being dismissed by Port, Jaune made his way to his cabin, a spartan white room with a simple, yet comfortable bed and a large window ovular window looking out on the stars. The expedition being put together as quickly as it had, there had been no time to furnish most of the cabins with any decorations, but they were perfectly effective for what they had to be.
"Eh, nothing a lava lamp and a few posters couldn't fix," Ruby shrugged.
"Amen to that!" Jaune chuckled.
As the door slid open, Jaune spied a large box on the floor. "Huh?" He reached down and picked it up- it was surprisingly light as he carried it to his desk. Attached to the top was a message:
Hey, Jaune! I've been developing this weapon on the side- things are getting dangerous these days, you can never be too careful! This is a prototype Mobile Weapons System- MWS for short. Give it a test run for me, would ya? If you give it the all-clear, I'll send it to the patent office!
-Neon
Jaune smiled- Neon was known for being a sporadic inventor. Sending random inventions to the patent office was something of a hobby for the hyperactive cat faunus.
"Hmm, I never got the impression that she was into anything scientific myself," Winter rubbed her chin.
"She must have some innovation to design weapons out of roller skates and glowsticks," Ozpin chuckled fairly.
Curious, he tore the box open and found a large metal device, colored a deep red. On one end was a set of fingers, like a prosthetic hand, while the other end had an opening to slot over his arm. Experimentally, he slid his arm in- the device immediately came to life. He threw a punch at the air- he could feel the power behind that swing. He adjusted his hand, and from the top of the device emerged a large blade of light- he sensed he could cut through solid steel with that blade.
"Hmm, I think this goes a little further than weaponized glowsticks," Qrow commented drily.
He opened his hand, and the hand at the end opened, revealing the barrel of a cannon- he didn't dare try firing it. He quickly pulled the MWS off and returned it to the box, powered down. "Huh... who'd have thought one of Neon's inventions could be this effective?" Of course, he didn't plan on getting into any major fights any time soon, but he could imagine it being effective, especially if combined with some elemental ether- the preferred energy propellant of the galaxy.
"I'm making one of those when we get back home," Ruby immediately decided.
"And you're giving one to me!" Yang grinned widely.
"And me!" Nora jumped up and down in excitement.
Blake, Weiss, and the remainder of JNPR felt chills run up their spines.
He placed the box on the desk and was on the point of turning out the lights when his scroll buzzed. He glanced at it, and rolled his eyes. "Great..."
He tapped the screen, bringing up a larger monitor upon which was his sister, Saphron Arc. "No," he said before she could even open her mouth.
"What?" Jaune stared.
"Well, that's a fine way to greet the sister you haven't seen in 2 years," Saphron crossed her arms disapprovingly.
"I know what you're calling for, Sapphron, and the answer is no."
"Is it so wrong of me to want you to come home for a while?"
"We've been over this- I can't go anywhere until the project stabilizes. Do you remember that, or were you not listening, as usual?"
"Not list- since when have I been like that to Saphron? She's always the one I got along with best- except Vermillion," Jaune checked himself.
"I'm sensing... a history behind this," Pyrrha said as delicately as she could.
"I've listened every time you've said it- about a hundred, at last count." Sapphron took a deep breath. "Jaune, our parents' memorial is a week from now... you could at least come home for that."
"I'm not coming home for obscure ancient rituals that you only know because of those books of yours," Jaune fired back. Honestly, his sister had to be the only person on New Vale who still hoarded- or, as Saphron liked to put it, 'collected'- paper books.
"Wha- no paper books?!" Blake gasped.
"Sounds like everything's been digitized," Whitley assessed. "Not too surprising, things are marching in that direction as things stand."
"This future is a nightmare!" Blake clutched at her head.
Yang rolled her eyes as she produced a paper bag for her partner to breath in. "Careful there, kitty... in and out... in and out..."
"Leave the books out of it!" Saphron objected, earning another eyeroll from Jaune. Of course she'd be more upset over the books than anything else. "The way I choose to live my life-"
"'The way you live your life?'" Jaune repeated, crossing his own arms. "All this is just a weird hobby!" He began working his uniform off. "You're gonna find yourself alone one day, and don't come crying to me when that happens."
"I don't get it either," Nora shook her head. "What could she have done to make Fearless Leader act like that?"
"I... I mean, I've fought with her once or twice," Jaune admitted, "but I never said anything like that to her!"
"Well, that's awfully rude of you," Saphron narrowed her eyes. "Look, don't worry about me- I just want you to promise you'll come home this year. If you don't-"
"When I have the time. See you later!"
"Jaune, don't you hang up on-"
Click.
"I mean, first, I have to watch her die, and the next time we see her, I don't even get along with her?" Jaune threw up his arms.
"I... suppose things like this are bound to happen, across so many universes," Pyrrha shrugged helplessly, still remembering the awful things her own other had said to Jaune in the world of gears.
Jaune groaned, tossing the scroll onto his bedside table and plopping down on his bed. "Memorial... our parents' bodies aren't even in those graves..."
"Especially in a world where our parents are dead!" Jaune persisted.
"Oh, dear... I wonder how that happened?" Pyrrha worried.
"I would speculate that it has something to do with that 'Fall of Beacon,'" Whitley crossed his arms.
Their parents' bodies were still on Old Vale, where they'd been since the Fall of Beacon. Unless the planet suddenly reappeared, the odds of recovering them seemed unlikely.
"I'd like to point out that that's three planets we've learned about that have disappeared," Weiss piped up. "Please tell me I'm not the only one concerned about that!"
"Not at all," Ren shook his head. "I daresay I'm growing more concerned about the state of this world by the second."
Jaune reached around his neck and removed the necklace upon which sat Coco's pendant. He only ever took it off to sleep. He gently placed it on his bedside table. As he lay in his bed, the lights flicked off. He rolled onto his side and gazed out at the infinite cosmos just outside his window.
Before he knew it, he was asleep.
"Ah, that would be so relaxing," Ruby sighed happily. "Look over and just see all of space stretching out forever... I could go for that."
"Good thing you're not agoraphobic," Whitley snorted.
"I mean, I'm not exactly a gorehound," Ruby quickly waved her hands, earning chuckles from her team that only doubled at the bafflement on Whitley's face.
And in his sleep, he had a dream- a very clear, very strange dream.
He was standing on solid ground, not the metal of a ship. He looked around- he could barely see, his surroundings enveloped in a thick fog. He could see only vague shapes, but he thought they seemed to be tombstones- a graveyard, then.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Nora objected. "You didn't tell us this was gonna bring in Silent Hill!"
"I don't believe that's what's happening, Nora," Ren shook his head.
"What makes you say that?"
"Konami hasn't raped it into a pachinko machine yet."
"Ooooohhhhh... good point."
There was a human shape standing next to one of the stones. Straining his eyes, Jaune thought he could make out the form of the girl he'd seen next to the monolith- the girl in pink. She was smiling, as she had smiled then, and like before, she was next to a monolith- but it was very clearly not the same one.
The monolith at the girl's side now was far larger than the one the Discovery had picked up, by a factor of three at least. Compared to the smooth faces of the Discovery's monolith, this one was imprinted with geometric patterns, and where the Discovery's had been etched with a prehistoric letter, this one had a large sapphire in the shape of an eye.
"Wait, Mini-Me has the Zohar?" Nora gasped.
"Depending on how literally we can take this dream, of course," Weiss pointed out. "It's difficult to say what's actually being communicated here."
"I'm guessin' it means something, though," Yang pointed out. "I mean, we know Mini-Nora existed, and we know what the Zohar looked like... this Jaune doesn't have any way of knowing any of that."
It was glowing, fighting back against the fog that struggled to encroach upon it.
Jaune found himself moving towards the monolith- he'd found the one in the Discovery's holds beautiful, but this one made it seem a cheap imitation.
There was another shape emerging from the fog- taller than the girl. She could only make out trace details- long, dark hair, except for a single lock of magenta, perfectly matching a pair of piercing magenta eyes.
"Renny!" Nora jumped up excitedly. "No one I'd rather be in a graveyard with an ancient artifact with!"
"That's... oddly specific," Winter quirked a brow.
"Meet Nora," Ren sighed with a small smile.
His mouth was moving, but this time, Jaune could actually hear the words:
"Jaune Arc again, is it? I promise, this time, I'll show you true happiness..."
"And that is frustratingly cryptic," Whitley crossed his arms.
"Meet Renny!" Nora chuckled.
Jaune kept moving towards the monolith, reaching out a hand to touch it. The gold seemed to ripple beneath his touch- it seemed as though he could step right through, if he so desired...
"Careful!" Ruby squealed. "I don't want it sucking you up, too!"
"I don't think you have to worry about that, squirt," Qrow gave her a side smile. "It's only a dream, remember?"
Night had fallen on the Discovery. Of course, night and day didn't truly exist out here in deep space, but most ships sent out this far had a simulated day-night cycle to keep their crew from losing their minds. At the designated 'night time,' lights around the ship dimmed except where it would put crew in danger. Most of the crew took the chance to sleep except for essential personnel operating a night shift, leaving the halls largely dark and empty.
"Ohh, liminality!" Pyrrha smiled. "I enjoy pictures like this."
"I... can't say I do," Jaune admitted, shifting uncomfortably. "Reminds me too much of the back-"
"Nope!" Ruby covered her ears. "I can't hear you! We're not talking about those! Lalalala!"
Even the First Division lab was rather dark compared to daytime as Pyrrha stepped in with a mug of hot coffee in her hand. She blinked in surprise when she found Flynt, Neon, and a handful of others still hard at work at their computers. "Still here?"
"We could say the same to you," Flynt pointed out.
"Well," Pyrrha rolled her eyes as she took a drink from her life-giving mug, "sounds like Chief tried to take the heat, but it didn't entirely work. Commander Rainart gave me quite the earful."
"Ouch," Flynt winced sympathetically. "Glad to see you made it out alive."
Neon put on her best 'severe' face: "You all act like a bunch of college freshmen! I didn't realize Sector was run by girl scouts!'" Her impression was... passable.
"Sounds like that guy's got a reputation," Qrow chuckled. "I imagine that working for Ironwood must be similar."
"Discipline is important in a military organization!" Winter chastised immediately. "Something a drunken vagabond has no concept of, I'm sure!"
"Hey, I've got discipline dripping outta my ears," Qrow argued halfheartedly as he took another long drink. Winter glared, but gave up a losing battle.
"It's... difficult," Pyrrha nodded. "But I'm glad, too. It wouldn't feel right, letting Jaune take all the heat. Still..." She threw a glance back at the pod where Penny slept. "He seemed... nervous about something. What could possibly scare a man like that...?"
"Gn-gn-gn-gnosis!" Ruby squealed.
The night crew had taken over the bridge- only Port remained, drinking some coffee of his own from a mug with a special bridge to keep from soiling his moustache.
"That looks... absolutely ridiculous," Weiss sighed.
"It is," Ozpin agreed. "However, that detail is quite accurate to our world."
"Ooooof course it is," Blake rolled her eyes.
"Now exiting the asteroid field," announced one of the pilots.
"Wonderful!" Port grinned. "Prepare for entry into hyperspace!"
"Aye-aye," the pilot nodded. "Nineteen minutes, thirty seconds to gate-in."
"Here it comes..." Pyrrha winced.
Abruptly, an alarm started blaring.
"And there it is," Jaune nodded grimmly.
"Captain! Warning signal!" the navigator on the port side called.
Port leapt to his feet, thoughts of his coffee forgotten. "No... is it them?"
"No... it's not," the pilot shook his head. "All gnosis sensors are reading null."
"Wait... huh? Not gnosis?" Ruby tilted her head. "But... Adam said they were coming, didn't he?"
"I'm not getting anything at all on this end," reported the starboard navigator. "An error, maybe?"
"No, there's definitely something going on," the port navigator shook his head. "But... it doesn't seem external."
"Not external?" Port repeated, baffled. "Then what is it?"
"Running search."
A moment passed as he tapped away at his keyboard. "It's inside the ship alright- it's in sector three!"
"Sector three- the lab?" Port asked, stroking his moustache in agitation. "PENNY?"
"Wait- PENNY's acting up?" Ruby's eyes widened.
"That... can't be good," Winter furrowed her brow. "Remembering what happened last time..."
"No!" Ruby leapt to her friend's defence. "There's no way she'd do something like that again, I'm sure of it!"
The lab lit up with the blaring alarms, immediately earning Pyrrha's attention. "No... this shouldn't be possible! Flynt, talk to me, what's going on?"
"This dropped right down outta nowhere," Flynt growled, tapping away quickly at his computer. "Second I know anything, you'll know, too."
"It's PENNY!" Neon squealed. "The bindings are deactivating- she's waking up!"
Pyrrha rushed over to PENNY'S pod, flashing with lights. "How- why now?"
Pyrrha gasped. "What if... what if somehow, she sensed the gnosis coming before anyone else did?"
"That... doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility," Winter acknowledged. "In theory, of course- Remnant is... still a long way from technology like that."
Jaune awoke from his brief nap to the sound of flashing lights and blaring klaxons. His scroll was lit up, connecting to PENNY'S system, showing the countdown until she awoke. His heart immediately felt as if a cold hand had clenched around it. "No... that's not possible! I'm the only one who knows the startup sequence!"
In an instant, he was on his feet, pulling on his jacket. He attempted to call Pyrrha on his scroll, but only received a dry mechanical voice informing him that, due to emergency measures, the network was closed to all but Class A personnel. "Shit!" He let the curse slip without thinking, narrowly resisting the urge to fling his scroll at the wall.
A vision went through his head- Coco, standing in front of him with her arms stretched wide... grunting as a bloody hand emerged from her back...
"No... this can't be happening... not again!"
"I certainly understand his panic," Pyrrha admitted sadly. "Without knowing the gnosis are coming, he must think it's going to be a repeat of last time!"
Aboard the bridge, an entirely different alarm began. "What now?" Port demanded.
"Large-scale spatial distortion!" one of the pilots reported. "An enormous mass is gating out!"
Port froze. "That... that shouldn't be possible! We're nowhere near a column area!"
"It's a breach in the structure of the UMN itself!" the pilot reported, eyes growing wide.
"That... that's possible?" Port asked, suddenly feeling weak in his legs.
The pilots were all panicking, each struggling to comprehend what they were seeing, let alone report accurately.
"Massive gravity fluctuations! Surface anomalies in spacetime!"
"This isn't possible- this... this defies all laws of physics!"
"We can't even compute their proper mass- it keeps fluctuating! All we know is it's huge!"
"This amplitude is like a goddamn tidal wave!"
"It's brute-forcing its way into normal space!"
"CAPTAIN!"
Port tightly gripped the arms of his seat. He knew there was only one thing it could be.
"There it is! Straight ahead!"
"...Gnosis..."
"It sounds like none of them have actually encountered gnosis before," Qrow noticed.
"If it's meant to be a civilian ship, that's not necessarily surprising," Winter nodded. "It's quite possible several of them don't even know anybody who's encountered one before."
All around the Discovery, rips were being torn open in the fabric of space itself. Pouring through them were vast creatures, easily dwarfing the Discovery in size- some looked like alien whales, others took the form of monstrous, eyeless birds with long, cruel scythes in place of wings. As if they were ships themselves, countless smaller creatures separated from these larger masses, of equally countless shapes and sizes, and all clearly converging on one spot.
"If you'll excuse me, I think I need to change my pants," Jaune admitted with a gulp.
"I've never seen so many grimm in one place!" Pyrrha stared in horror.
"I have... only once," Ozpin admitted, the white knuckles on his cane the only sign of his own panic. "I never wished to see it again, let alone creatures even worse."
The Discovery quickly began its counterattack, cannons opening up and firing at the encroaching force. It did little good- the shimmering gnosis phased directly through the projectiles.
"It... it's like a nightmare..." Weiss gulped.
The soldiers quickly boarded their AGWS- Anti-Gnosis Weapons Systems, large humanoid mechs specially designed to aid their pilots in destroying the gnosis. They carried sensors capable of scouting out a gnosis's Klein Point, their anchor to normal space and their sole weak spot. However, this spot was ever shifting, and the sensors were new technology, far from perfect. Even when a gnosis was struck down, ten more swooped in to take its place.
"Klein?" Whitley tilted his head. "As in, our butler?"
"It's the sole point that anchors them to reality," Vanessa explained shortly. "It's what allows them to interact with reality- but, as a double edged sword, if it's destroyed, it blasts them back to wherever they came from. AGWS carry equipment meant to pinpoint that weakness and strike it. But... like they say, it's imperfect. The Grey Effect is far and away more efficient."
"But only PENNY can produce it!" Ruby yelped. "Hurry and wake up, PENNY!"
Colonel Vernal quickly took over the situation. "Shifting to DefCon 1! Winchester, I want your team at Sector D! Do not allow the enemy anywhere near the reactor!"
Cardin hurried to his own AGWS unit, sporting a pair of guns larger than he was himself. Looking around, he spied the deploying combat realians preparing for battle... without any such AGWS. "Brave little soldiers, aintcha," he scoffed. "Well, let's see how you do as shields..."
"It's... strange," Blake furrowed her brow. "Normally, he'd be all for something like that, but... he almost seems to resent that they're not standing up for themselves."
"Doesn't make him any less of a chode," Yang growled.
"No, no, of course not, but... I don't know," Blake shook her head helplessly.
He took off, three realians forming a phalanx in front of him.
All around the ship, non-combatants were either hiding or running for cover as what seemed like giant, transparent insects swarmed the halls around them. There were some that picked up some rifles and opened fire at the enemy, but this did no good whatsoever.
The two pilots, Jason and William, were two of the non-combatants to do so. Within seconds, a large, humanoid creature landed before Jason, seizing him with a bulbous, three-fingered hand and slamming him against the wall. Before William's horrified eyes, Jason's body began to crystallize, starting at his feet and working its way up to his head, until his entire form was little more than a pillar of salt that quickly fell apart under the gnosis's clutches.
"Eep!" Ruby gasped.
"That... that's just... wrong!" Pyrrha gaped.
"I don't like it!" Nora edged as close as she could to Ren. "Renny, I don't like it!"
"Neither do I, Nora," Ren agreed, crossing his arms.
"There's certainly no grimm I'm aware of that can do that," Winter growled, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" William's fear turned to anger as he unloaded the remains of his rifle at the creature. It remained unfazed, turning slowly towards him and bringing a large fist down upon him. A second later, all that remained of William was a broken pile of salt.
"Dear God," Qrow stared, putting down his bottle for a moment.
"Worse than grimm indeed," Ozpin nodded.
Down in the lab, a dark fear had taken over Pyrrha. On one hand, PENNY- awakening without any authorization. On the other hand, the ship was now under attack from the very threat the robot was meant to combat. "Can we bring PENNY under control?"
"Negative, she's starting up in auto-mode! She's rejecting all outer commands!"
"Auto-mode?" Pyrrha repeated, eyes wide. "We disabled that mode after the incident!"
"It seems she's bypassing all the safeguards they put in place to prevent a repeat," Ren realized. "But how? "
She circled around, struggling to put together a plan. "Where's the chief?"
"He should be heading this way!" Neon reported.
Pyrrha produced her scroll and attempted to call him, but received the same notification. "Damn!"
"I think that measure might be doing more harm than good," Weiss commented frustratedly.
As if the curse was a signal, the lights all around the lab went out. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Flynt admitted. "The power just suddenly-"
They were interrupted by a loud clunk- slowly, everyone turned to face PENNY'S pod as it slowly slid open.
An arm emerged, helping to pull up her torso. It was PENNY, identical to the way she'd appeared in the virtual world, down to the visor over her face.
The visor raised, revealing a wide pair of crimson eyes, the irises rapidly growing and shrinking as she took in everything there was to see around her.
"PENNY? You're... you're good, right?" Ruby asked tentatively.
She took one slow step forward, causing many of the scientists to step back- or even fall back in some cases. Everyone there had either witnessed her last awakening, or heard what transpired in enough detail to fear her now.
Only Pyrrha stood her ground, but her heart was racing as the android she and Jaune had spent so much time on moved slowly towards her. "...PENNY?"
"She wouldn't hurt Pyrrha- she just wouldn't!" Ruby stood firm.
"No, I suppose she wouldn't, at that," Vanessa whispered to Jack.
"...Your sense of humor is scary sometimes, V."
Jaune turned back into his room and grabbed the MWS Neon had constructed for him. He didn't plan on taking on the gnosis like this, but it made him feel safer to have something. With the system over his hand, he turned and dashed into the hallway.
"Well, I could really do worse than that weapon, I think," Jaune chuckled nervously.
"Damn right, you could," Yang grinned. "I gotta get me a coupla those!"
In response to the emergency, several blast doors had sealed themselves shut- for all the good it did. Just as weaponry phased through the gnosis, the gnosis were capable of phasing through metal with ease. It was the humans and realians struggling to escape the gnosis that were more impeded by the measures meant to protect them.
"They really are just like ghosts," Pyrrha shuddered.
"Fat lotta good blast doors do against somethin' like that," Qrow's eyes widened.
Jaune stuck to what shadows he could find, keeping low, avoiding the creatures' attention. He had to find his way to PENNY- to know how she'd activated, and perhaps, to direct her against the gnosis. This was the exact situation she'd been developed for, after all.
Moving carefully, he managed to direct himself away from where the gnosis were most prominent, towards quieter areas of the ship.
He was just turning around one corner when there was a roar of gunfire- he dropped to the ground, hands over his head, with a rather appropriate scream.
"Don't shoot at him, you idiots!" Pyrrha roared with uncharacteristic fury. "Does he look like a gnosis?!"
"Hold your fire, HOLD YOUR FIRE!"
The gunfire stopped in an instant, allowing Jaune to look up and see the barricade of AGWS and gun-toting realians he'd nearly been torn apart by. He looked around, seeing the bullet holes all around him. If any one of them had hit him...
"YOU?!" screamed the pilot of the lead AGWS- a voice Jaune now recognized as Cardin Winchester. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Well, at least he's not actively trying to kill Jaune," Blake crossed her arms. "A step in the right direction, I suppose."
Jaune wasn't a confrontational man by nature, but getting shouted down after such a close brush with death pushed him over the edge. "What am I doing? What are you doing? You nearly killed me!"
"The ship's in a state of emergency, if you hadn't noticed!" Cardin roared. "What the hell are you doing running around like an idiot?!"
"I... I got lost-"
"Lost?! This is a Sector ship- you built the damn thing!"
"Third Division built the ship- I'm in First!"
"We could ask what each of those divisions are supposed to do..." Weiss pondered.
"But I don't really care," Yang agreed.
"The hell are you-"
"Lieutenant! More gnosis approaching!"
Cardin glanced down at his radar, and spun to face his squad. "Russel, away from the wall!"
Before Russel could react, a large manta-ray style gnosis had burst throught the wall. From below, tentacles emerged and sunk their way into his AGWS- they could hear him screaming as the machine was violated, and the scream's end when he collapsed into salt within. On the outside, the gnosis seemed to integrate itself into the machine, growing and expanding, generating a blood-red eye that glared at the others as it forced the device's gun to turn on its own comrades.
"And it can possess the AGWS!" Ruby cried. "Why wouldn't they?!"
"You gotta be kidding me!" Cardin cried, turning his own gun around and opening fire. The AGWS took damage, bits and pieces blasting away, but the gnosis's presence seemed to strengthen it, and there was no destroying it.
"Yup, it's official," Qrow chugged. "I'm actually glad we 'only' have to deal with grimm instead of these things."
This gnosis was not alone- along with it came towering behemoths- great trolls that swatted aside everyone in their path. Gunfire roared, but they saw little more success with these gnosis than the ones outside.
"Stand your ground!" Cardin barked. "Run, and I'll kill you myself!"
It was enough to keep his men in line, but Jaune was free to dash behind the nearest corner, where he crouched, watching the carnage unfold.
"Keep going, Fearless Leader!" Nora cried. "You gotta get to PENNY!"
He was approached by one of the realians. "Mr. Arc, you must vacate the area," he said. "Go down this corridor past section E to the hangar. You'll find the escape pods there."
"But- what about you, and the others?"
"We will hold off the enemy as long as we can."
"You can't ask me to run off on my own!"
"I normally love this about you, Jaune, but the best way you can help them now is to get to PENNY!" Pyrrha pressed.
"This is what we were made for," the realian responded, maintaining admirable control, though Jaune could see the trembling in his hands. "This is what we were born to do."
"The hell are you doing?!" came Cardin's cry. "The fight's over here!"
The realian directed one last reassuring look at him and returned to the fray.
"Do as they say!" Winter urged fiercely. "Feeling must be set aside at times like this, lest you lose everything regardless!"
The bridge had fallen into absolute dissaray. While everyone there had, of course, heard of gnosis before, none of them had ever engaged in an active conflict with them.
"Delta Sector has gone silent! Fire control net down to 20%!"
Port's gaze was fixed on the battle. "Fire control, what's going on? Focus on the whale!"
"We're too close- we'd end up damaging ourselves!"
"Breach in the reactor room!"
"Emergency core shutdown! Switch to reserves!"
"Over 70% of AGWS destroyed!"
"Is anyone answering the distress signal?" Port demanded.
"I'm sending it as far as I can!" the navigator cried. "This is the cruiser Discovery with the 117th Marine Division! We're under attack by gnosis! Absolute coordinates are-"
One woman had collapsed. "Why... why now? Why did this have to happen?"
"They're... not holding it together very well," Jaune observed sympathetically.
Port didn't answer, but he certainly had his suspicions. Based on everything he could tell, this sudden turn of fortune had a clear cause- the gnosis wanted that golden monolith sitting in their holds.
"They're trying to get the Zohar!" Ruby cried.
"Except we've already established that that thing isn't the real Zohar," Weiss pointed out.
"True..."
"Oh! Oh! I just put it together!" Nora grinned. "It's a decoy- a fake to attract the gnosis!"
"Not to discount the possibility altogether," Ren considered, "but I highly doubt that the Chateau would go to so much trouble just for a decoy."
"Yeah, I'm guessing there's a little more to it than that," Qrow agreed, sharing a quick glance with Ozpin.
The ship rocked with another attack.
"Logic drive down, fire in Sector F!"
"Damn!" Port cursed. "Where's our first officer? Where's Hazel Rainart?!"
"If I had to guess, following Taurus's orders and going to secure the... false Zohar," Whitley speculated.
In place of an answer, he got a sharp cry from the remaining navigator. "Defensive breach- we're wide open! It's heading right towards us!"
Port looked up to see one of the colossal creatures making its way right towards the bridge. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before the front of the hull was destroyed, sucking him and everyone else on the bridge out into the silent vacuum of space.
"Man, this is the second world in a row where Port got killed in the first fight!" Nora crossed her arms. "That guy just can't survive for beans!"
"Hmm... I doubt our Port would appreciate that," Ozpin noted thoughtfully.
Just as Whitley predicted, Hazel was indeed rushing through the ship's corridors towards the monolith in question. He had already donned his spacesuit- he carried his helmet under his arm as he sprinted through the chaos. The only thought in his mind was securing the object per Adam Taurus's orders, and nothing would stop him from doing so.
He arrived in the holds to find Vernal and her men sticking to his own orders, protecting the monolith above all else. "What's the status?" he demanded as he donned his helmet at last.
"We've connected the main field generator and this block's sub-reactor. We can keep going a little longer."
"Good," Hazel nodded, moving towards the monolith. "All of you, evacuate. I'll keep this thing safe."
"Commander, I object!" Vernal spoke up. "Purging this entire block to execute a gate jump- this is suicide! You know what happens when a human enters hyperspace unprotected!"
"Death?" Winter guessed.
"Yes... if you're lucky," Vanessa said ominously.
"That doesn't matter," Hazel shook his head. "All that matters is getting the Zohar to the Commander. We have just enough power to get us to the column area. Get in the pod."
"Commander!" Vernal continued to object. "The gnosis are swarming all over the place! We should accompany you-"
She was cut off by another rocking of the ship- its integrity wouldn't hold out much longer.
"Listen closely," Hazel ordered, his voice surprisingly calm, given the situation. "The gnosis are absolutely insignificant compared to what we will face if this thing awakens. Launch the escape pod and inject yourselves with eight milligrams of DIG-Beta. That should lower your life functions to the point the gnosis will ignore you. Besides, this... this is their real prize. Commander Taurus has sent reinforcements- you must survive until then."
"Wait, so she's with the Chateau too?" Blake immediately noticed.
"Looks like the entire military squad was," Qrow grumbled. "Go figure."
"Not necessarily- we only have confirmation of two," Winter objected.
"Face the music, Ice Queen- they're the commanders! If they're working for Taurus, the rest of the soldiers are too, whether they know it or not!"
Winter bit a lip, but was unable to refute the point.
"Commander!"
"Now!"
Vernal took a deep breath, then raised her hand in salute. Her men followed suit. "Take a good look, men... this is what a real soldier looks like." At last, she followed his orders, taking her men into the escape pods.
"I... I know they're working for Adam, and that's awful, n' all," Nora scratched at the back of her head, "but... that's kinda..."
"It's quite alright, Nora," Ren smiled. "Even villains may have the elements of a hero within them, after all."
Gunfire roared around Jaune- he remained on the ground, hands over his head as Cardin and his unit fought back with all their might against the encroaching gnosis. Through sheer desperate fire, they were taking some out, but it was clear they couldn't hold the line much longer.
One of the more insectoid gnosis began to glow, bounding forward and exploding, destroying practically the entire squad, as well as many of its own.
"Suicide bomber!" Yang growled. "Doesn't it care that it just wiped out half its own guys?!"
"I don't see why they should," Whitley huffed. "They hardly strike me as any more intelligent than the grimm, and I've certainly never heard any stories of them working together."
The shockwave knocked Jaune back a full three feet, his scroll hitting the ground and spinning away while Cardin's AGWS was toppled. He spilled out of it, groaning.
"Crap- get up, Cardin!" Ruby yelped.
"Cheering for CRDL, what are these worlds doing to us?" Weiss shook her head.
"I know, but right now, he's the only one who can protect Jaune from the gnosis!"
Jaune looked around- the AGWS were all destroyed, their pilots all dead except for the heavily-breathing Cardin. The realians were all on the ground, dead or close to it.
Cardin's breathing grew more shallow as he took in the same scene. "Dove... Sky..."
"I... certainly wouldn't wish that on any of them..." Pyrrha looked downcast.
Distantly, they could hear the sound of even more approaching gnosis. Cardin looked around- until his eyes fell on Jaune's scroll. Without a second of hesitation, he picked it up and began to tap away on it.
"I just got a bad feeling," Blake's ears flattened.
"Hey- hey, what are you doing?" Jaune asked, pulling himself to his feet.
"Pulling our asses out of the fire, is what I'm doing," Cardin grunted, stepping on top of his fallen AGWS, keeping the scroll out of Jaune's reach. "Don't worry, I'll give it right back when I'm done."
He looked around at the fallen realians. "Hmm... based on the old 508s, aren't they?"
"What of it?" Jaune asked, nerves showing through his speech.
"Fourteen years..." Cardin muttered, almost to himself. "Has it really been fourteen years since I survived Hell? There was no humanity out on those fields... only survivors and the dead. You had to do what you had to do... how many realians did I tear apart before I found your dirty little secret...?"
"Ripped them... apart?" Jaune gasped, staring with horror at the hooked scar on Cardin's face.
Jaune finally confronted him with what he'd been wondering ever since he spotted the deformation in question. "You're a flesh eater... you ate them..."
"Is that what you think?" Cardin asked, not looking up from Jaune's scroll. "Well, fine by me- go on believing that."
"Is he trying to say he didn't?" Blake narrowed her eyes.
"He's a fool if he is," Weiss glared. "The evidence is on his face, plain for all to see!"
"It doesn't matter- all that matters is, that's how I found the control code. A nice, convenient little function."
Jaune took a step back. "No... you wouldn't-"
"To survive, I'd do anything," Cardin insisted. "Including... having these marionettes hold the gnosis back for us."
With a few taps of the scroll, the surviving realians' eyes opened, and the trembled as they were slowly forced to their feet.
"Bastard!" Blake hissed. "And I was starting to think there was more to him!"
"A Cardin's a Cardin's a Cardin," Nora clenched her fists. "I'm not surprised at all."
"Stop it!" Jaune pleaded, aghast. "What- what do you think they are?! This is a clear violation of-"
"Rights are for peacetime, kid," Cardin interrupted. "I know the Vale Charter: Weapons-Grade Realians are required to be equipped with a remotely accessible behavioral limit and self-destruct system in case of emergency or malfunction. Use of these functions will be determined by the senior officer in charge of the situation." He made a show of looking around, his arms spread wide. "Well, that's me, isn't it?"
"Don't you try to justify this!" Jaune growled, just as enraged as the others. "You must have been waiting for a chance like this!"
A trio of hulking gnosis shambled into the corridor- the realians were forced to drag themselves forward, preparing for their final mission.
"Stop it! You have no right to play god with their lives! Using them as bombs- I won't let you-"
"Let me?" Cardin sneered. "You lost your chance to stop me a long time ago. If you're so against it, why didn't you take the protocol out of them? You're in the right company- it would have taken you two minutes to disable the function and turn them all free."
"Wait- I could have?" Jaune stammered. He remembered how his other had so effortlessly repaired whatever was wrong with the realians before. "I could have!"
"Then... why didn't you?" Blake sent a portion of her glare his way.
"I... company protocol dictates-" Jaune stammered.
"Of course," Blake crossed her arms. "Protocol. I'm not mad, Jaune... just disappointed."
"Hey!" Nora stood up for him. "Even if he had, he'd only have been able to free so many before he got fired, and couldn't free anymore! At least this way, he had more of a chance of changing things from the inside!"
Blake bit her lip, but chose not to answer.
"Exactly," Cardin nodded. "Protocol. Talk pretty about humanity all you want- in the end, none of it matters in a real crisis. They're lucky, in a way- so many of us plod along through our lives, just looking for a reason to live- but here's their purpose, in clear black and white. Here... is the reason they were born."
His finger hovered over the last button, the one that would send the signal for them all to detonate... and hesitated. Looking down at them, they all suddenly seemed to take on a different form. Instead of the combat realians he knew they were, they seemed to take on the form of a slender young woman with brown eyes and matching long hair. From the top of her head came a pair of rabbit ears, and she smiled gently up at him- a smile that seemed to sooth his soul.
His finger trembled over the button, but did not make contact.
"Wha- who brought Velvet up all of a sudden?" Yang tilted her head.
"I don't think this is a vision, the way Jaune was seeing Nora," Ren speculated. "It's more like he's personally seeing things. But yes... why he's seeing Velvet, I couldn't say."
"Let alone why that memory seems to be stopping him," Weiss chipped in. "If anything, that would normally spur him on!"
A voice spoke from the ground, from one of the battered, bleeding realians- Jaune saw it was the same realian that had previously stood up to Cardin, the one that had beseeched him to run and save himself. "We... will not... let you hurt them..." He was glaring up at the gnosis, his eyes flashing- a second later, though Cardin had not activated the protocol, he and the other realians all exploded, destroying the bridge over which they'd been fighting.
"They... did it themselves..." Ruby stared with wide, tearing eyes.
"Loyal to the end, looks like." Qrow made to take another drink, before looking at his bottle and tipping it over, spilling some on the floor.
"Let us remember their bravery," Winter agreed.
Cardin dropped the scroll in surprise, but Jaune, eyes wide, made no immediate move to pick it up.
The smoke cleared, and on the other side of the shattered bridge stood at least one gnosis, tilting its head at the humans still standing across the gap.
Cardin's shock turned quickly to anger. "Son of a bitch!"
"Dammit, why won't you things just DIE ALREADY!" Yang yelled.
The gnosis leapt over the gap, as several more were appearing alongside it. With nothing else to do, Cardin grabbed Jaune by the scruff of his neck and hauled him into a retreat, right into the realian maintenance bay.
"He's still protecting Jaune!" Pyrrha stared, surprised.
"He's a soldier- it's his duty, regardless of personal feelings," Winter noted. "His devotion to that duty is laudable, if nothing else."
A gnosis phased through a wall, swatting Cardin out of the way, and grabbing Jaune around his chest before slamming him against the opposite wall. Jaune found himself struggling to breath, his eyes wide as he looked down, his heart sinking as his body began to crystallize, starting with the feet, and slowly spreading up his legs. As they turned white, he lost all feeling in them- which made sense, he supposed, in a strange, detached way.
"No!" Ruby yelped. "They wouldn't kill Jaune again, would they?"
So... this is it, huh? This is... how I die...
Countless memories ran through his head- he supposed this was what people meant when they described life flashing before one's eyes. He saw his birth on Vale, his sprint for life during the Fall of Beacon, meeting Coco, building PENNY... losing Coco... and now, this. This was it. He was... going to die.
Then, he saw something strange. Standing just off to the side, almost as ethereal as the gnosis themselves, there was a young girl in a pink dress- the same one he'd seen in front of the monolith. Her mouth was moving, but this time, he heard her voice:
No. You won't die here.
"You'd better be right, Mini-Me!" Nora chewed through her nails.
As if in agreement, the wall on the opposite side of the room turned yellow with heat- it began to melt, until it was destroyed altogether. Through the ensuing hole stepped PENNY, ready for battle.
"YES!" Ruby leapt in the air and cheered. "I KNEW IT! PENNY TO THE RESCUE!"
Her scarlet eyes immediately located the gnosis's klein point- her arm turned into a cannon and she hit it with unerring accuracy. The gnosis immediately crumbled to salt, just as its victims did, releasing Jaune in the process. His lower body immediately returned to normal even before he hit the ground, taking in gulps of sweet, precious air. It took a moment to wrap his head around the fact that he wasn't going to die, and another to realize why.
"Good deal," Qrow chuckled. "Thought for a sec he'd have to go through the rest of this mess without his legs."
"P- PENNY?"
PENNY moved further into the room, taking in the gnosis incursion. Jaune was still on the ground, as was Cardin, looking up at their savior in awe. "What the hell...?"
"Wait... he's never seen her?" Ruby tilted her head.
"It looked to be a top-secret project, there's no reason he would have," Weiss speculated.
"Oh, yeah!" Yang grinned. "Time to show you how a real hunter operates!"
PENNY's visor lowered, and from it emerged a wave- the Grey Effect, forcing the gnosis to manifest absolutely in a radius of several thousand kilometers around the ship. No more phasing, no more invulnerability. PENNY took advantage of this by blasting and slashing away every gnosis in the room.
"Oh, that is so cool!" Ruby started drooling again.
"She's even more efficient than-" Winter stopped herself mid-sentence.
"Than what, Ice Queen?" Qrow immediately jumped on the moment of weakness.
"Than the paladins!" Winter quickly covered her slip.
"Yeah," Qrow chuckled. "I'd hope she's better than some hunk of junk my niece could punch to death."
"Nailed it!" Yang whooped, oblivious to Winter's seething.
As PENNY cleared the room of all threats, Pyrrha appeared on the other side of the hole, gingerly stepping through before hurrying to Jaune's side. "Chief!"
"Pyrrha?" Jaune wondered aloud. "What are... you doing here?"
"PENNY got the rest of the team to the escape pods," Pyrrha explained quickly. "I wanted to make sure you were okay, so..."
"Yeah, no way she was leaving without her beloved chief!" Nora smirked.
"I... well, that is to say..." Pyrrha spluttered.
PENNY turned to see a swarm of gnosis coming down the only exit available- there was a flash of light as she utilized the UMN to call forth a pair of gatling guns that sprayed them away like flies. A troll gnosis attempted to attack from behind, slamming down on her with the full weight of its body- a second later, PENNY'S sword emerged from its back, slicing it cleanly in half. Jaune and Pyrrha remained rooted to the spot, watching in awe.
"Even we've never seen her at full strength before," Jaune realized.
"They must be proud, seeing all their efforts bear this sort of fruit," Ozpin smiled.
PENNY turned to Jaune. "Jaune," she greeted. "There is no need to worry- I am combat ready."
The ship rocked a third time. PENNY glanced around. "The ship is unstable. We must proceed to hangar one. There is a 99.998 percent probability that the gnosis are targeting the object stored there. My assigned duties are to verify and preserve the integrity of that object, and to preserve the lives of Sector staff members."
"Protect... the monolith?" Weiss tilted her head in confusion. "Protect Sector personnel, I understand, but who could have given her orders to protect the monolith? She's been awake less than an hour, and none of the Sector staff seemed to know anything about it!"
"That... is strange," Blake nodded. "I wonder...?"
"Assigned?" Jaune blinked in surprise. "Assigned by who?"
PENNY ignored him. "Additionally, there are enough life pods there to accommodate everyone still currently on the ship. I suggest using one to escape."
"And then she ignored Jaune when he asks her a direct question?" Pyrrha joined in the confusion. "Even stranger. You'd think she'd be wired to do whatever he said."
She herded them all towards the door, Jaune still spluttering questions and objections. She turned at the last minute to see several more gnosis crowding into the room. She looked behind her to ensure that the others were safe, then turned and shot at the nearest window. She dug her heels into the metal of the ship and watched as the gnosis were all sucked out into the vacuum of space just before the door closed, allowing her to dislodge her feet and pursue the others.
"I believe that's what they call a 'pro-gamer move,'" Qrow chuckled.
"Qrow, you're usually cool," Ruby winced.
"But sometimes, you can be almost as lame as Dad," Yang agreed.
"Oh, no need to flatter me so."
Hazel was having trouble disengaging the inhibitors keeping the Zohar in place. "Dammit! Will my death be for nothing?!"
He spun around when the doors opened and four newcomers entered- Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Cardin Winchester, and their escort, PENNY. They were all fighting back against the gnosis that pursued them- Jaune with his MWS, PENNY with her blades and cannon, and rifles for Cardin and Pyrrha, who had picked one up from a fallen soldier.
Jaune turned to take in the room. "Wha- Commander Rainart?"
"Wha- what are you people doing here?" Hazel reacted in kind.
He froze when he saw PENNY. "So... it's finally functional..."
"So it wasn't him," Jaune took a deep breath. "At least we know that she's not working for the Chateau."
PENNY casually stepped further into the room, aiming her minigun and destroying the remaining pursuers almost offhandedly.
"The ship will soon be destroyed," she declared unnecessarily. "We must make haste."
"Oh, is that what all the fire and explosions were about?!" Yang slapped a hand to her forehead exaggeratedly. "Thanks for letting us know, PENNY, that clears everything right up!"
Jaune nodded, hopping in one of the escape pods with Pyrrha.
PENNY turned her gaze on the monolith, moving forward and casually pushing Hazel- a man easily three times her size- out of the way as if he were a bothersome insect. Her gaze ran up and down the object, taking in every inch of its surface.
"What- what are you doing?" Hazel demanded.
"A fair question, I think!" Weiss nodded eagerly.
"Not like she's gonna answer," Nora chuckled. "She wouldn't answer to the guy who built her, what makes ya think she'll respond to some rando?"
"What are you doing?" Cardin shouted from his position near the last remaining escape pod. "C'mon, you wanna die here?"
"He raises an excellent point," Whitley agreed.
Before they could argue the point any further, a circle of color appeared in the chamber's ceiling- a circle that the monolith gravitated up towards. When it touched the ceiling, it phased through, almost like the gnosis had before. Hazel watched, wide-eyed, as his objective disappeared before his eyes.
"Well... really no point sticking around now," Jaune shrugged hopelessly.
Grunting furiously, he turned and hopped in the pod as Cardin bid him. PENNY grabbed on to the top, and they ejected moments before the chamber was entirely destroyed, along with the rest of the ship.
From her position atop the pod, she watched the monolith drift through space- directly into one of the large, whale-shaped gnosis. It was, perhaps, the largest gnosis on record, easily the size of an entire planet... and it was currently swallowing up her objective.
"I want to know who told her to pursue that thing, and I want to know five minutes ago," Winter said from above her crossed arms.
Lines of text appeared before her eyes:
Status?
Her response appeared beneath in similar text.
The target was not the true Zohar- merely an emulator. Shall I pursue?
Negative. Deploy tracking device and rendevous on New Vale.
Affirmative.
"So she is receiving orders from a third party," Ozpin mused. "Assuming, of course, there were any doubts before."
"Well, at least we have something to call the monolith now– the emulator," Weiss reflected.
"And despite it being a mere copy, whoever's controlling her still wants it," Winter observed. "For good or for ill?"
Just as she'd summoned the gatling guns earlier, she now summoned a long rifle, specially designed to negate recoil, particularly in space. She fired, not a bullet, but the requested tracking device, making its way towards the planet-sized gnosis and managing to plant itself just before it left the area through another rift in space.
"It was a little tense to ask earlier, but... how is she summoning weapons to her like that?" Ruby asked. The unasked question was, of course, Can I do something like that in my world?
"The UMN," Vanessa answered. "Good for more than just internet and warp gates. Technology can be fitted to be sent or called through it, assuming you know the proper codes and frequencies. Sort of a more scientific version of re-quipping from Fairy Tail."
"Awesome..." Ruby's eyes shone.
"Heh, wonder who'd win in a fight, PENNY or Erza Scarlet?" Yang chuckled.
Next, to find a mode of transportation. She maximized her vision, able to see across entire solar systems.
There, in the distance, was a small freighter, the word Serenity written across the side. She ran the name through every database she had, finally picking out a name- the Serenity was registered to a Mr. Qrow Branwen. Very well... the Serenity it would be.
"Oh! Oh! Uncle Qrow's coming in!" Ruby cheered.
"Hmm... not sure how I feel about that," Qrow rubbed his chin.
"Oh, I'm sure it will be nothing but flattering." Winter's voice dripped with sarcasm.
She kicked off, using a couple blasts from her cannon to direct herself towards the ship in the distance.
XXXX
The game plan is to have one more Voyage Home episode, just so we leave off on a breather, then have a couple episodes of Childhood's End/ Xenoblade X. Of course, it doesn't need to be reintroduced, but I feel like it would be rude to give all the other worldlines a multiple-episode intro then stiff X with only one, even if it is my least favorite Xeno game. And the timeline killer. Once more, I ask that everyone keep requests for revisits to other worlds to a dull roar- there's little more discouraging than working hard on an episode and only receiving reviews calling for something else altogether. Tell ya what- if no reviews between now and the end of X's introductory episodes call for more Xenoblade 2, it'll be the first worldline we revisit. I think that's a fair deal, don't you? Still, I'll ask for any constructive criticism you have to offer, and until next time, don't you dare go hollow. Gamer4 out!