Universe 2…

"Ruby! Get away from her! That's Neo!"

Instantly gearing up her gauntlets, now with both Weiss and Blake following from behind, the three of them opened fire and launched heavy Dust blasts off to where Rubio was standing. Exploding the numerous Grimm corpses scattered around upon contact, bursting into a black geyser of flakey Grimm flesh.

When the dust and black goo cleared, the three girls were left confused by how none of their shots managed to land, as the young man seemingly teleported a few steps back, and was completely unharmed by their power.

Not to be discouraged, Yang powered up her Aura and instantly transformed her eyes into a vicious shade of red, following up with a flurry of punches that launched even more flaming blasts off into the distance. Weiss joined in, loading in several cartridges of ice Dust, pointing her rapier forward and directing that cold energy forth with an efficient practiced motion.

But here, slowly, the horror was now starting to creep on their face the moment they witnessed this man blocking every single one of those shots with his red scythe, spinning around like a defensive vortex, forming a sharp dome around where he stood, even letting the scythe spin furiously around his shoulders and his back without his hands touching it.

"I didn't think I'd run into you guys, and so soon too," he smiled, before extending his hand. "Hi, I'm Rubio Rose. Nice to meet you."

"Back off, you!" Yang raised her fist once more, ready to strike. "Don't fall for any of her lies. This has got to be Neo. She's clearly here to rescue Roman."

"Roman?" Rubio raised an eyebrow. "Yang, what the hell are you talking about? Who the hell is Roman? And who even is this Neo?"

Without answering him, she fired off another blast. To only then see it miss completely and have it travel far off in the opposite direction out of the forest, setting fire to a line of trees and several rocks along the way.

"Ah, I miss you so much, sis," Rubio appeared behind Yang, poking her left cheek, which only managed to light a stronger fire in her eyes.

"How did you… but you were…"

Instinctively, Blake fired off several shots from Gambol Shroud, but within a blink of an eye, Rubio was gone from her sight, letting all the bullets fly past Yang's head, barely scratching a single strand of her golden hair.

"Man, I don't know who you are," said Rubio, reappearing behind Blake, patting her on her back, "but I sure am glad you're on the team. Let's get to know each other some more, yeah? You like coffee?"

Getting annoyed, Blake turned her pistol into a blade and swung behind with everything she had, only to then unexpectedly find her sword unintentionally clashing against Weiss' rapier flying toward her from the other direction, boosted intensely by powerful white glyphs beneath her steps.

The girls were getting more desperate by the minute, but they were still exhausted by this point, still at low power after the train incident with the White Fang. But what they were still able to notice about this strange person, surprisingly enough, was the fact that although it seemed like he was teleporting at first glance – the way the air all around seemed to also dash around following where the young man was going ultimately implied this man was not really teleporting instantaneously.

Crazy as it seemed, they concluded that this man was in fact physically moving all over the place, from point A to point B. They simply found it hard to believe on account of how ludicrously fast he was. The girls were not yet professional Huntresses, but they still graduated from their high school years, so their speed was trained and impressive.

But this was something else entirely, something they had never seen before in their entire lives.

"Ah, ha-ha, this is fun. Hey, do you guys know where I can get a charger? I wanna take a photo of all this, but my scroll is running low on juice. I really should've gotten an upgrade."

And before he could finish his line of thought, he found himself standing in front of a gigantic scythe blade positioned right over his torso. Holding that Crescent Rose from behind, Ruby Rose stood ready to fire and slice him clean off. Her face now showing a moment of cold killer intent, one she had only ever reserved for the most foul and soulless Grimm monsters.

"I don't know who you are," said Ruby, "but this stops now."

And yet, Rubio proceeded to casually turn around facing Ruby, smiling as wide as he could to show absolutely zero fear shining inside his silver pupils.

"I already told you, my name is Rubio. Some people call me Ruby. I'm… you."

"Prove it," said Ruby. "Tell me something only I would know."

"Why don't you use your Silver Eyes instead? You'll know I'm telling the truth."

"My what?"

"Oh, shit. You really don't know. The vision said this would happen, I didn't wanna believe it. Maybe the gravity of this place isn't that strong…"

"Hey, what are you mumbling about?" Yang shouted.

"Oh, don't worry about that, sis. You know me."

Yang paused, before shouting back:

"No, I don't! WHO ARE YOU?"

"Think about it," Rubio tapped his head, "if I wanted you dead, I would've killed all of you by now. With how fast I am, that should be child's play. Did you not see all those Grimm I killed?"

Looking at one another in silence, Blake then shrugged and said:

"She kinda has a point. I mean 'he,' I mean…"

"This is really confusing," said Weiss.

"You still haven't answered our question," Yang still stood far away on top of a tree, folding her arms. "You said you are Ruby. So tell us something only our family would know."

"If you insist. Our father is Taiyang Xiao Long, you're my sister, Yang. My mentor is our uncle, Qrow Branwen. Your mother is the Pirate God Raven Branwen, and my mother is Summer."

"Pirate… God?" Weiss turned her head, "Did I hear that right?"

"That sounds… strange," said Blake.

"I still don't know what's going on," Ruby scratched her head, "but I don't think this person is lying. I think he's telling the truth. He seems genuine."

Teleporting behind Ruby, Rubio had now transformed into the form of a young woman, wrapping her arm over Ruby's shoulders.

"Ya see?" Rubio chuckled, "We're all family here. There's nothing to worry about."

"Ah, what the…"

"How did you do that?" Ruby stepped away, now confused once more.

"Do what? This? You can't do this, huh?"

"So, tell me exactly how you're not Neo?" Yang folded her arms, still exercising combat caution.

"She can transform," said Blake, still unsure of what to think. "Is this an illusion?"

"Uh oh," Rubio stepped back, still grinning, however, "I'm assuming this Neo person has illusion powers then? No wonder you're all so paranoid, ha-ha."

"It helps keeps us safe," said Weiss. "You never know what kind of people we're going to run into out there."

"Well, you'll be happy to know, my dearest friend Weiss, my defense against that is simply the fact that I do not know who this Neo is, as I have already told you all. That person doesn't exist where I come from."

"He… she really is implying what I think she's implying?" Blake asked.

"No, can't be."

"It's the only explanation that makes any sense, my friends," Rubio smiled. "I'm in an alternate universe."

Pausing for a brief moment of silence, the four girls continued cycling through all their disordered thoughts, trying to rearrange the discord into something that was more logical.

Breaking the silent air, Ruby said:

"But then… what are you doing here? Where did you come from? How did you even get here?"

"Well, that's… what I'm trying to figure out myself, unfortunately. I'm looking for my mother, Summer. She's supposed to be on this mythical mountain called Mt. Nephilim, a place beyond space and time. I sought out the help of Raven, the Pirate God, who opened a portal as far as she could, sending me through. And here I am."

"You – talked to my mother?"

"That's right. It's kinda a long story. Basically, the fabric of space and time was starting to crumble in my universe. Which was the perfect opportunity for Raven to open a portal into places so far away, places we couldn't access under ordinary circumstances. One thing led to another, bada-bing, here I am."

"I have… so many questions!" Ruby cried.

"Why is your world crumbling apart?" Weiss asked. "How did that happen?"

To that, Rubio simply smiled, getting to meet the ice princess for the first time once again. He responded:

"Oh, ho-ho, you're going to love this next part, Weiss."

Universe 1938…

In the land of Mistral, on different soils, under different skies, two confused young men clashed violently against the royalty of Tyrian Callows, consort of the Queen, alongside Sienna Khan, one of the last remnants of the White Fang rebellion.

Strong metals crashed into each other, sparkling of powerful energies that were only possible with mighty Auras emanating from these fighters.

Unleashing the spearhead from the long chain, Sienna sent it forth flying at speeds that not even rifles could compare, aiming it straight at the brothers. With it now loaded with burning fire Dust, the impact would be empowered. And there, landing on the tip of Krim's own spear, the attack had been gracefully nullified, so quickly, so skillfully, so precise.

Spinning the burning spear around, Krim powered himself up and charged forth, leaving behind a crater of crushed rocks. He, too, was contending with the speed which Sienna was launching her dart at. Perhaps moving even faster, and more importantly – dashing forward with the strength of a raging bull, a bull the size of a locomotive with its engine spewing out uncontrollable steam no metal could hold.

The steam then formed into strong gusts of wind, pouring from every inch of his bloodied and bruised body. Tattered pieces of his long coat now flowing – on the activation of his Semblance, summoning from his body raging cyclones circling his body as he approached. These gusts blew back trees, lifted boulders, splitting the very ground itself.

Standing behind him, powerful electrical currents began coursing through Azur's veins, lighting his tanned dark complexion into almost like that of diamonds, luminous and brighter than any light bulb. With his own Semblance, now powered by Aura, he slammed down the hammer of his revolver to instantly deliver several rapid-fire shots following behind his brother's furious circular cyclones. Combining the wind with lightning, along with the fire of Krim's spear, the force of this attack pushed on like a cosmic heavenly meteor from the far black skies.

Before Krim could make contact, however, Tyrian came out of the shadow, dashing in front of Sienna – there, he raised his foot high over his head and slammed down the ground, an axe kick smashing the rock in such a violent but precise way that it formed a rectangular block the size of a large car out of the very soil. Lifting this heavy slab in front of the two of them to act as a shield against the two brothers' devastating combination offense.

Krim was, of course, strong enough to crush through this wall of stone like it were made out of cheap plastic. But it bought Tyrian and Sienna just enough time to take several steps back and out of the danger zone, quickly dashing away into the bushes.

"Weird to see you here," Sienna cried, "but I won't complain."

"It's my homeland," Tyrian smirked. "Less talky, more fighty!"

Now deciding to go on offense, Tyrian leaped out of the dark lines of trees and headed straight for the brothers. Seeing this, Azur immediately held his revolver to the side of his hip, now letting the gun morph into a long blade, filling it up with potent electrical power, before unleashing a slash faster than the eye could track. Slicing off several trees in the distance behind where Tyrian came from, while simultaneously setting fire to the grass, now lighting up the darkness of night.

The slash of the sword was quick, but Tyrian managed to be faster, leaping high above, now coming straight down driving a vicious kick aimed at Azur's head. Tyrian would quickly be countered however by Azur's own lightning kick, reaching up high with his lean long leg, roundhouses clashing to shake the very air around them, almost rupturing into an explosion.

Without any hesitation, Krim turned around spinning his spear for a fierce stab toward Tyrian, which was instantly and gracefully avoided as Tyrian flipped himself over the deadly cyclones, landing on the tip of the spear itself before launching himself off into the distance, regaining his balance on the ground.

Approaching behind Tyrian, Sienna reappeared, now with a stronger determined look in her eyes. Holding strong on the chain wrapping around her forearm, she powered up her Aura, and here – activated her Semblance.

With a strong rumbling at the back of her throat, the ground now began to shake. Confused, Azur and Krim were not sure of what to do, a part of them was even curious of what Sienna was truly capable of. Only to then curb those thoughts the moment Sienna unleashed a mighty animalistic roar that echoed through the night.

The roar that sounded like that of a king – a tiger lord.

The moment the two brothers heard this sound, they fell onto their knees, feeling weak in their joints, almost as if the energy was leaking out of their bodies in an uncontrollable manner. They could hardly move a single finger on their hand, let alone a muscle. And to add this to the bruises and other injuries on their bodies made the pain so severe they almost wanted to lay down and outright surrender.

"Nice trick," Tyrian smiled, stroking his chin, "glad I didn't get hit with it."

"I can choose my target," Sienna winked. Before charging up her Aura, and leaping off the ground toward the brothers to deliver several devasting combination kicks to the brothers' faces, launching Azur into the air, while smashing Krim to the dirt.

Curious, Tyrian took out his scroll, and the moment he did so he noticed that peculiarity when he glanced at Sienna's Aura level. He then told her:

"That Semblance of yours ate a big chunk out of your reserves. Let's finish this quick."

"I know, I know!"

Hitting Azur with a knee strike, she held tight onto the spearhead on her metal chain, charging it with thick Aura before driving it straight down where Azur was kneeling.

But his efforts surprised her as he now somehow managed to muster enough strength to raise his sword, blocking the attack with immaculate skill and precise timing. Sienna never expected him to recover from the roar so quickly. She knew the effect of her Semblance was not permanent, but she had never met anyone with the strength and will to fight back so thoroughly.

Krim too had now gotten back on his feet, holding strong onto his spear once again to now power up his windy Semblance, conjuring a massive hurricane this time and launching it forth in the form of a ball, flying toward Sienna almost like that of a projectile. She barely mustered up enough speed to get out of the way of the destruction.

"You got us good," Azur spat out a mouthful of blood, "but you're not going to do that again."

Powering up her Semblance, she delivered another devastating roar. But this time – the brothers were no longer distracted as they immediately dashed out of the way. This was demonstrative of their extensive battle experience and swift reaction to decode and counter so quickly.

"That's a strong ability," said Azur, "but all we have to do is move faster than the speed of sound, and you won't be able to catch us."

"Then I'll just have to get you distracted!" Sienna fired off her spearhead once more.

Wrapping the chain around her leg as the dart flew through the air. Being prepared this time, Azur now parried the attack, only to then realize Sienna was actually attacking the both of them at the same time, bringing the dart back by pulling the chain wrapped around her leg, so she could kick it and send it forth flying toward Krim, who narrowly managed to catch the spearhead with his bare hand.

The sharp edges cut deep into the palm of his hand. But what was much more damaging was the ice Dust from within the spearhead exploding to trap Krim's left forearm in a thick block of ice. Now in control of his arm, Sienna pulled hard on the chain to yank him over to her, with the intent of kicking him in the face.

Only to instantly see Krim dashing in, still holding strong onto the fiery burning spear he held. As such, the logical defense was to carefully kick on his weapon instead, which managed to reset the both of them at a far neutral distance once the ice on Krim's arm shattered into a thousand pieces, letting Sienna retrieve her chain.

Walking up from behind, Tyrian cackled with a certain darkness in his voice, while sarcastically clapping. He said:

"Your reputation precedes you two, sons of the Fleet Admiral. But you're on my homeland now, and you are trespassing on MY property!"

"The Empire will find out about this," said Azur, "a Mistralian official – working with that Faunus rebel."

"They'll find out sooner or later," Tyrian smiled. "What matters is staying ahead of the curve."

But before they could resume their fight, a sudden crack in the air had come upon them rupturing the very fabric of the atmosphere before their very eyes. For a brief moment, their eyes came upon the sight of what seemed like an opening to an endless black void, which immediately closed just as fast as it opened. It disappeared, but not before striking the very ground they stood on with what seemed almost like divine lightning, splitting the cliffside in two.

The shockwave of the blast shook Sienna and Tyrian off balance, forcing them to leap off the rocks and into the far night sky, escaping the two brothers, who were also retreating into the back of the dark black woods.

A mere coincidental series of events? Or an opportune moment?

During the escape out into the open sky, Tyrian asked:

"You found something good here, yes?"

"Were you following me?" Sienna turned her head.

"Staying ahead of the curve, dear, like I said. I go where I please. My homeland, my property. The Gladiators were a good place to start anyway. They are powerful, they may give us some clues if she was ever here."

"I found out something about a warrior who was here six years ago. Her name was Penny Polendina."

"Polendina? Like Pietro Polendina?"

"That's right. You think she could be a sister to the Superman?"

"I've never heard the name Penny. What else did you find?"

"Not much, those two guys killed the Gladiators I met. I didn't get a chance to ask more questions. I don't even know where those two came from."

"No matter, they won't do much now. Not in their… condition."

"The Gladiators did show me a little bit about this Penny's fighting style. She apparently fought with a bunch of swords. How she did that, I have no clue."

"That's our lead then. We might be on to something. Let's keep digging. I can almost taste it!"

The cracks in the air continued to rupture.

Back at the camp in the middle of the Forever Falls, Jaune sat alone in his tent talking to his sister through their scrolls.

"It's been a crazy week, lil' bro. They've started rioting outside our apartment building. Just two blocks from here, the grocery store even caught fire. Burned to the ground."

"Gosh, that's crazy."

"I know, right?"

"You're not going outside, are you?"

"I went out to restock the other day, but I made sure to get food for the whole month. It's definitely not safe to go out now. But don't worry, I'm keeping the door locked all day. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out."

"I say get a second door, ya know. Better safe than sorry."

"I got a gun with me, Jaune. I'll be fine. I promise. They still haven't really targeted the electrical buildings yet, so we still have power. But if the light goes out, I'll have to start burning through the backup Dust reserves. I have enough to last a couple of weeks, though. So don't worry, I've got it all figured out."

"Well, I'm still worried, but if you insist. Be sure to call me every two days or so, just to let me know you're okay."

"Okay, I promise I'll call."

"Okay."

"What about you? How are you holding up at that camp?"

"It's getting real heated. The nomads are super tense. And the soldiers aren't letting up either. It's really hard to tell what they're thinking. But I think if we just buckle down and do what they tell us, we'll be fine. We're still getting some rations here and there. So there's that at least."

"Well, be sure to keep your head down then. We don't want to cause too much trouble. The soldiers may be rough, but I'm sure it's because of this war and the stress that comes with it."

"They're beating up people, sis. Some of them anyway."

"Pray for them, then. For both the nomads and the soldiers. I'm not saying there aren't bad people there. But let's pray for them. And for this country."

"Yeah… yeah."

Universe 2…

Sitting in the cafeteria, the four girls talked with Rubio.

"What you just told us… is INSANE!" Yang cried, widening her eyes.

Weiss in particular, seemed disturbed and fascinated all at the same time. Leaning forward, she tried to hide her excitement, but it was clear to all.

"It's definitely… a lot to take in," she said. "I find it hard to believe I'm so different in this alternate reality. And you said you're my… best friend?"

"See Weiss?" Ruby nudged her, "We're the bestest bestie better than the resty in every reality."

"Never happened, now," Weiss pushed her aside, "I want to know more about this version of myself in your world."

Rubio smiled, reminiscing:

"On my world, you are the most powerful of us all. There is no equal."

"Whoa, look at you Ice Queen," Yang teased.

"I'm still having a hard time picturing this," Weiss shook her head. "I know I'm good, but I'm not that good. I mean, what about my sister, Winter?"

"You have a sister in this world?" Rubio's eyes widened, "Now that is wild."

"Wait, what? Winter… doesn't exist?"

"I've never heard that name before," said Rubio.

"Huh… wow…"

"Matter of fact," Rubio continued, "I think you are so strong, you might be an anomaly. I don't really know where you came from, where the source of your strength is. But there doesn't seem to be a limit in sight. You have never been hurt, you have never bled, you have never even sweat."

"Wow, you sound so cool, Weiss," Ruby almost squealed.

"I know right?" Rubio smiled. "She's amazing. You know I raced her once, before I came over to this world. It was the fastest I've ever gone. I really pushed myself."

"Really? Who won?"

Smiling, Rubio shook his head, reminiscing humbly. He replied:

"The race was sort of a bet. I wanted to leave to find that Mountain. I told her to let me go if I win. I think… I think she respected me enough to honor my wish. The race was really just a formality."

Approaching their table was none other than Team JNPR, good friends to RWBY. Jaune Arc, the unexpected leader, leading his teammates Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren.

"Hey guys," Jaune waved his hand.

"Hello again," Pyrrha smiled.

"What are you beautiful people up to now?" Nora chimed in, as cheerful as ever.

Only for them to then notice this new stranger's face, one that was instantly familiar to them. Yet, they dared not make a conclusion just quite yet.

"Who… is this?"

Turning her head, Ruby stuttered for an answer:

"Well, you see. This is…"

"I'm Ruby's cousin!" Rubio blurted out, interrupting Ruby, smiling as wide as he could.

"Psst," Weiss nudged him, "do you actually have the enrollment papers?"

"No, I don't. Please help me," he whispered back, grinning still.

"I'm not going to help you forge documents," Weiss cried out under her breath.

"I will," Blake chimed in.

"It's settled then, ha-ha!"

Weirded out by them whispering to each other, Jaune wasn't entirely sure what to make of this. He scratched his head, then asked:

"I didn't know you had a cousin. Hello there, are you from Patch, too?"

"Well, you see…"

"She's from Mistral!" Ruby jumped in. "I mean, he's from Mistral. He lives in Mistral. He just moved here. On a boat! That's right. The boat traveled like really far, and got here. When she arrived, he ran out of money?"

Shaking her head, Blake explained:

"It's a really long story. We'll tell you about it later."

"Okay? I guess we should introduce ourselves. I'm Jaune Arc. These are my teammates – Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha."

"You guys seem familiar to me," Rubio said out of the blue.

"We do?"

"Yeah, I've seen you before, Mister Arc. You're really something else. Keep being you, my friend.

"Huh?"

"And I've seen the both of you as well," Rubio continued, "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. You guys look cute together, not gonna lie."

"What?"

"Aw, shucks."

"Wait… you know our last names?"

"Does this mean you know me, too?" Pyrrha asked.

To which, Rubio surprisingly responded:

"Actually, no, but still yes? You seem more familiar than everybody else here. But I can't quite place my finger on it. I don't think I've actually met you."

Massively confused, Jaune and his team stared over to RWBY for answers, only to get a simple shrug from Yang as she then said:

"Like we told you, it's a really, REALLY long story."