Questions and Preparations
It was the next day in the house and Oscar was in the living room by himself, not sure what to do right now. Ozpin promised that he would plan their next step while Oscar could go about the day however he saw fit. But the farmhand was wondering about some things on his own.
Mostly about the people who hate Ozpin and by extension him.
"I know it's not fair," Ozpin said in Oscar's mind, "If it were up to me, you would not be receiving any hate for my mistakes."
"Was what happened to Hazel's sister also your mistake?" Oscar then asked, "Did you send her to a mission she wasn't ready for?"
"Of course not," Ozpin said with a weary sigh, "It was…an extermination mission from a minor Grimm infestation. But then…a young goliath of all things appeared and the number of Grimm was greater than reports said. Despite their supervising Huntsman's efforts, Gretchen was separated from the rest of the team and killed by the young goliath."
"So…it was completely out of your control," Oscar summarized the situation.
"…Had I known that there would be that many Grimm or even just the young goliath, I would have sent undergraduates instead and one or two professionals as extra security," Ozpin explained with a sigh.
"You still feel guilty about it though." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"One of the many things over the course of this cursed existence," Ozpin admitted sounding sad.
"…Well, is there any way to break this curse?" Oscar then asked, "I mean…surely there's something that needs to be done?"
"Well…there is something that I assume I must do, but that's not something you can help me with," Ozpin explained, sounding grateful, "But I appreciate your concern."
"Umm…excuse me," a voice then sounded out, causing Oscar to jump a little in surprise.
"Oh, umm…Miss Pyra," Oscar said bashfully, "Is there...something I can help with?"
"Well…Mythra would like to speak with Ozpin," Pyra then said before wincing a little. "But you're the one with the questions!" Pyra complained to who Oscar assumes is Mythra.
In response, Pyra was replaced by Mythra, "Fine, fine." the blonde Aegis grumbled before giving a pointed look to Oscar, "Now get Ozpin out."
"Y-yes ma'am," Oscar stammered before his demeanor changed.
"Is there anything I can assist you with?" Ozpin asked politely, earning a scowl from Mythra.
"What are you up to?" Mythra asked, giving a small glare to Ozpin.
"I'm not sure what you mean," Ozpin asked with a confused look.
"You haven't told us how you plan to defeat Salem," Mythra said almost accusingly, "Qrow said that according to you the relics can't be used against Salem, why is that?"
"Because I don't know where she is now," Ozpin replied with a sigh, "I have tried to search for her, but she just…Wherever she might be seems to be well hidden."
"Can't you use that relic of knowledge to locate her?" Mythra then asked, "I mean, it does grant knowledge, doesn't it?"
"Not in the way you're probably thinking," Ozpin explained with a frown.
"So then how does it grant knowledge?" Mythra asked, as she crossed her arms across her impressive bust.
"Please…now isn't the-" "You remind me a little of Amalthus," Mythra interrupted deepening her scowl.
"…Is that a bad thing?" Ozpin asked unsurely, of course Qrow had informed the headmaster of Malos' Driver. But Rex and the others never went into any details of the man.
"What do you think?" Mythra snarked with a glare, "You better pray that my intuition of you is wrong, otherwise you're in for a world of hurt. Especially if whatever you're scheming hurts Rex." At that moment, Mythra flinched before covering her mouth at what she just blurted out. And then she was replaced by Pyra.
"Really Mythra?" Pyra questioned with a frown, only to wince at the response that came out of the blonde Aegis.
"…I take it Amalthus isn't someone trustworthy?" Ozpin questioned with a downed expression.
"Not to Mythra…or myself," Pyra admitted looking down a little. Then she addressed the headmaster again, "Can I speak with Oscar for a moment?"
That surprised Ozpin, but he managed a smile, "Of course." And then Oscar was back in control.
"Umm…yes?" Oscar asked, now feeling a little shy at Pyra wanting to talk to him specifically.
"What is it like having Ozpin... with you?" Pyra asked after a moment of pause.
"Huh?" Oscar didn't expect a question like that.
"I was just wondering…how do you feel about another person being in your head?" Pyra asked again.
"Well…" Oscar started awkwardly, "It's…how to say it…weird. Like…half the time I look into the mirror and it feels like…it's not me staring back from the mirror. It's just…weird."
Pyra nodded with a sympathetic smile, "Sounds like your situation is different from mine and Mythra's. The form this body has signifies which one of us is in control, while with you we can only tell from your speech and mannerisms. Also, I don't get confused when I look in the mirror. Despite us being in one body, Mythra and I are basically different entities."
"Must be nice," Oscar said with a downcast look.
"I don't know," Pyra said sitting next to Oscar on the couch. The 14-year old farmboy looking away with a blush that was creeping on his cheeks. "Sometimes Mythra would shout when I think something she doesn't like, or just has me deal with the world instead of her," At the latter part, Pyra looked down at her legs in sadness.
"I guess we have something in common," Oscar explained, still averting his eyes from Pyra, "Though with me it's like…Ozpin being a backseat driver, telling how to do something and only getting in control when he has something to say to other people. Sometimes I feel like I'm just a vehicle for him to travel in."
Pyra let out a smile at the last part before turning to face Oscar who was still trying to look away. "Oscar? Is something wrong?" The boy was oddly tense too. The red headed Aegis leaned in a little to see the red creeping on the boy's tan face. "Are you sick?" Pyra then placed the backs of her fingers on the boy's forehead to try.
Oscar instantly jumped off the couch with a startled yelp, surprising Pyra. "S-sorry!" Oscar cried out before running away like his butt was on fire.
This left Pyra to blink in confusion, "What was that about?"
"…Idiot." Mythra muttered inside Pyra's head. The kid was a little like Rex when it came to a girl being close from what the blonde Aegis could tell. Part of her wondered if Ozpin had dragged the poor boy into something too big for him. Just like she and Pyra did with Rex.
In the training room, Mòrag was happy to witness something that honestly brought a smile to her face. Weiss was training her swordsmanship…with Aizen. The nobleman Blade approached Weiss earlier and admitted that how he dealt with his Driver's shortcomings wasn't very constructive. It wasn't an apology, but from what Mòrag could tell admitting that he was wrong about something was hard enough so she regaled that to Weiss.
Which was why the former heiress was sparring with Aizen using only Myrtenaster, no semblance, no dust shots. Just her skill with the rapier. And as much as the girl hated that almost smug look on Aizen, she managed to focus on the fact that she was indeed rusty in terms of swordfighting. Something that Aizen was more than eager to rectify.
"Why couldn't he just apologize?" Dahlia muttered. The ice bunny was not happy about this, because it felt like it was Aizen getting his way.
"Trust me when I say this, Dahlia," Mòrag said with a small smile, "To people like Aizen, just admitting that they were wrong is the closest thing they are capable of apologizing."
Dahlia let out a small sigh, "Speaking from experience?"
Mòrag chuckled at that, "Quite a few nobles of Mor Ardain have been like that, especially those who initially deemed me…unfit to be Brighid's Driver."
"How can you be unfit to wield Brighid?" Dahlia asked as Aizen parried a stab from Weiss. The nobleman Blade has only been using one sword and had one arm behind his back, much to the girl's ire.
It was Brighid who chuckled, "You have to understand, I am the most powerful Blade in the empire, which is why I am called Jewel of Mor Ardain. As a member of the Royal Family, Lady Mòrag had a stake in awakening me. Of course…there were those who thought that she was unworthy of me." The blue haired fire Blade actually chuckled at the last part.
"I take it you made them shut up?" Dahlia asked with an amused smile.
"You could say that," Mòrag admitted with a fond look at several memories of many Ardainian soldiers joyfully recounting how the Special Inquisitor "shut the idiots up". Because at that point she had long earned the military's respect.
Their attention was then drawn to yelp from Weiss. The former heiress was on her butt while Aizen was in the middle of lowering his leg, no doubt having kicked Weiss away.
"You're improving slowly," Aizen commented with an unimpressed look, "Having a strong foundation is all well and good, but you telegraph your attacks too much through your body language."
"But I need to do it perfectly," Weiss argued back as she stood up.
"That is your father talking," Aizen shot back with a frown, "And before you yell at me, perfection is something that none can truly achieve. But if we pursue it, we might reach excellence. And that is what I expect out of you…in time."
Weiss glared at her second Blade but saw the logic behind it. "Aizen…I know you are planning something to hurt my father, so answer me this: What if your plan doesn't go as well as you thought it would?" Weiss then asked. She had inquired about what he was doing, but the water Blade refused to answer. Only confirming that he was planning something against her father specifically.
"Then I must adjust my plans," Aizen replied easily, "I doubt everything will go as perfectly as I would like, but if it does…all the better for me. Take your team for instance, your father had done slight research on the first years on Beacon and let me tell you, he wasn't happy about what you had. Even less happy about you never doing anything about it, much less answering his calls." At the latter part, Aizen let out a chuckle.
Weiss looked a little skeptical, "What does my team or my father have to do with this?"
"Simple, your father is obsessed with everything going exactly as he wants them to. And that is his greatest weakness along with his arrogance," Aizen explained simply before smiling, "Although one must know how to exploit those weaknesses to get any headway. But back to my point, your father grumbled about both you not being a leader and not having a team worthy of a Schnee. His words not mine." The last sentence seemed to be added as an afterthought.
Weiss let out a sigh at hearing that before giving Aizen a hard look, "Yes I had to learn that I can't always have everything. And…if I can't be the best leader, then I just have to do the next best thing. Being the best team mate."
Aizen chuckled at the response, "Are you telling me that you were content with following that Ruby girl?"
"No you dolt!" Weiss shouted out in offense, "It's just…Ruby was bumped up two years ahead, so if I wanted my team to succeed then I had to put in effort to make sure she was caught up academically."
"So, you were carving out success with what you had at your disposal," Aizen summarized before smiling," Sometimes you find that the next best thing might actually be better than what you initially planned."
For some reason that sentence rang alarm bells in Weiss' head. "…You wanted my sister to be father's replacement, didn't you?" the white haired girl accused.
"So what if I did?" Aizen asked with a small smile.
"…So I'm just a back-up pawn to you," Weiss said feeling a little used now that Aizen revealed that she wasn't even his first choice.
"Essentially yes," Aizen said, earning a furious look from Dahlia, "However…you are welcome to try and prove me otherwise." The nobleman Blade had an amused look at the last part.
"So that's what I'll do," Weiss said with a determined look.
Outside of the house, Blake was leaning against the railing that overlooked the cliff. Though instead of the view she had her eyes on Perceval's still inactive Core Crystal. Nox had thought that it should be her who decided what happens to him. Easy for him to say, seeing as Blake had no idea what to do with him. Should she awaken him? Or should she hand him over to someone else? Part of her feared that Adam might somehow reincarnate as Perceval. Another part of her didn't want him to remind her of what Adam was. But there was that nagging feeling at the back of her head that wanted to know why it felt like it was Adam talking instead of Perceval.
"Something on your mind?" was the question that startled Blake so badly that she almost dropped the Core Crystal.
Turning to the culprit, it turned out to be that Alrestian named Zeke. "What are you doing here, sneaking up on me," Blake shouted out accusingly, ears flat against her scalp.
"Whoa, whoa," Zeke said, putting his hands in the air in a placating gesture, "There's no need to be angry."
Blake took a deep breath, ears unfolding along with her nerves. "Sorry, I was just…deep in thought," the feline admitted still holding Perceval's Core Crystal.
Something that Zeke noticed, "Is that the Core Crystal that Fang leader used to have?"
"His name was Adam," Blake said with a frown, "…And yes."
"Uh-huh," Zeke sounded out with a thoughtful look, "You planning to resonate with that?"
"…I don't know," Blake admitted, looking down.
Zeke let out a sigh before deciding to take a shot in the dark, "The Blade that will awaken from that will not be the same one that killed his own Driver."
"What?" Blake asked in confusion.
"When a Blade is awakened by a new Driver, they lose all memories of their past life," the Tantalese Driver explained, "That means the Perceval you will awaken from that will not be the one who killed that guy.
"…What if Adam somehow comes back through this," Blake then asked, waving the inactive Crystal in front of Zeke.
"Excuse me?" Zeke asked with a baffled look before actually laughing. His laughter ceased after a few moments when he realized that Blake was serious. "You're serious?"
"This isn't funny! I felt as if it was Adam talking not Perceval!" Blake snapped at the man before turning away, "Do you know what it's like? Having the person you thought was beyond saving suddenly apologizing to you for all they had done? I mean, it just doesn't make sense, but I feel like…Why did I feel like it was Adam that apologized to me in the end?" Blake asked while hugging herself.
"Maybe he was," Zeke said, earning a baffled look from Blake. The crown prince of Tantal had his hand on his chin in a thinking pose. "Sometimes when a Driver awakens a Blade, the Blade is influenced by the Driver," Zeke explained with a small smile, "Perhaps Perceval inherited what little good…Adam had left at the time of the awakening."
Blake wasn't sure what to think. Perceval said that the Adam that she knew may have never existed, but if that was the case…then the dark Blade wouldn't have been the way he was. "So, if I were to awaken him…will he still have that good in him," Blake had to ask.
"Maybe," Zeke shrugged, "Or maybe it will be overwritten by something from you. Who knows? Still…a lost lover being reborn as a Blade…hmm…yeah that would sound romantic." The last part was said in a dramatic tone.
Something that made Blake scowl, her past relationship with Adam wasn't a show. "Urgh!" Blake groaned before deciding not to deal with this guy. Therefore, she speedwalked past him and into the house, putting Perceval's Core Crystal away. She would decide what to do with it later.
Later on in the afternoon, Ozpin had decided to share the next part of his plan.
"You want us to what?" Weiss asked in disbelief.
"We must get the relic of knowledge to Atlas," Ozpin explained.
"But why?" Electra asked.
"Because we don't have a Spring Maiden to seal the Relic back," Qrow said like it was obvious, "Besides, I wouldn't trust it to be safe with Raven being the current Spring Maiden."
"And I don't think she would help us even if we knew where to find her," Dragunov added in with a frown which was shared by Yang.
"Especially since it got the target off her back," Yang also added in with a scowl.
"Indeed," Ozpin said in a disappointed tone, "And because of that, Atlas is currently the safest place for the relic."
At this moment, Mythra piped up, "Speaking of which, what does that thing do exactly?"
This question earned everyone else's curious looks.
"Now that you mention it," Rex added in," It's called the relic of 'knowledge'. Does that mean it can make a person…smarter?"
"That's intelligence Rex," Nia corrected, earning an embarrassed look from the salvager.
"Does it make you know everything?" Pandoria asked eagerly.
Ozpin chuckled at the questions before taking the glowing blue lamp with golden framework. "While the relic of knowledge does grant knowledge, it does so in the form of answering three questions."
"Any question?" Mythra asked with an eager look.
"Well, there are restrictions," Ozpin replied as the lamp that was previously the size of a fist grew bigger. That was convenient for transport. "The lamp can't tell you about events that have yet to happen. And it can only do so every 100 years."
"That's…incredible," Blake said, sounding impressed.
Which granted Mòrag an idea, "Could it tell us how to return to Alrest?"
"Or why this Salem has the power to open breaches to our world?" Zeke added in.
"OOH!" Nora suddenly exclaimed as she moved right next to the relic, "Can we ask for more questions?!"
That last one earned baffled looks.
"Nora, they're not wishes," Ren said with a sigh. Otohime meanwhile covered her face with her hand.
Ozpin chuckled at this, "I'm afraid you won't be able to ask it anything. The questions were used up before I sealed the relic." During this explanation, a very miffed Nora returned to her seat next to Ren. The orangette pulling her eyelid down and blowing a raspberry at the professor as she did.
"Well at least we know what it does," Ruby said, finding a silver lining.
"When were these relics sealed away?" Brighid asked with a thoughtful look.
"It would take a little over twenty years for the relic to answer new questions," Ozpin replied, realizing why Brighid asked that.
"We can't wait that long," Rex muttered with a put-out look.
"Of all the stupid-" Nia grumbled at their only chance at getting home being useless right now.
"Well, unless Malos somehow ends up here I doubt we have to worry about him getting to the World Tree first," Zeke said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Is he really that dangerous?" Blake asked, having heard of Malos by now, but only that he was an evil Blade.
"He used to wipe out entire towns in less than a day," Mythra explained with a frown.
"I take that as a yes." Nox showed on his scroll.
"…So, what's the plan now?" Jaune then asked, having taken a seat furthest from Talos who was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.
"As I said we will go to Atlas," Ozpin explained, "Right now Atlas might be the safest of all Kingdoms despite the titan laying waste upon the Grimm in Battle for Beacon.
"I would imagine any of the Great Titans might start exterminating the Grimm, should any of them appear here," Azurda pointed out, "But I doubt this Salem has power to open a breach that large."
The Alrestians shuddered at the thought.
"Let's hope that," Dromarch said, voicing everyone's thoughts on the matter.
"Anyway, Atlas has recalled all their troops," Weiss then explained.
"Not everyone," Qrow piped up before taking out his Scroll and showing a map of Anima, "Atlas has a large military settlement at the northern town of Argus. There's no way they would leave that abandoned. And if we play our cards right, we could get them to escort us straight to Ironwood."
"Well we do have the missing heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," Blake said with meaningful look.
"Ex-heiress actually," Weiss said, still feeling bitter about it.
"And Miss Schnee has no value to Jacques," Aizen added in, "Especially if he had spun some kind of tale about his daughter committing suicide despite his best efforts to console her."
"…And I thought my old man was bad," Zeke commented on Weiss' father.
"How can anyone treat their daughter like that?" Joana commented, now wishing for an opportunity to kill that moneyhungry leech herself.
"I do believe we have another problem," Otohime spoke up earning curious looks.
"And what would that be, Miss Otohime," Ozpin asked.
"How are we going to explain him," the beautiful water Blade asked while pointing at Tora.
Which reminded everyone of the problem that Nopon don't exist on Remnant.
"Meh meh?" Tora sounded out, "What problem?" But the inventor was oblivious to it.
"Masterpon is strange creature in a strange world," Poppi explained, she was once again in her alpha form.
"Yeah…that would be a problem," Penny agreed, but she had her own reservations about going back to Atlas. Namely facing an angry general or angry father…Or both.
"How are we going to hide Tora?" Nia asked with a frown.
"Would it really be that bad if Tora was seen," Nora asked, "I mean, he's kinda cute." That last part made the Nopon stutter.
"I have heard stories about people kidnapping Nopon and keeping them as pets," Brighid commented with an evil smile.
"Mehmehmehmeeeeh!" Tora cried out. This of course made several Remnans to remember something. Faunus are already mistreated, how bad would it be for a Nopon? Not to mention they were going to Atlas where the Faunus are least appreciated.
"Please tell me that doing that is illegal," Blake then asked with a look of dread. Alrest sounded like a paradise up until now for Faunus compared to Remnant, but now she had doubts.
"Brighid," Mòrag said in a scolding tone before deciding to ease the growing unease, "The said acts are mostly done by children who don't know better. Until their parents scold them about it. Besides, kidnapping a Nopon is just as much a felony as kidnapping any human."
"What about Gormotti," Blake asked, earning a facepalm from Nia. Which earned the feline faunus several stares from Alrestians. "What?"
"Why does everyone talk about humans and faunus like they were two different things," Pandoria asked.
"Huh?" Every single Remnan sounded out.
"Aren't Faunus a type of human too?" Rex asked sounding completely serious.
"He's not wrong," Ren agreed, before deciding to ask," But... how do you classify 'human' in Alrest?"
"Ahem!" Azurda then piped up from Rex's helmet before flying out and landing on the table. "If I may try and explain, in Alrest all civilized races in Alrest are classified as human." This revelation earned several surprised looks from Remnans. "Ardainians." The tiny titan pointed to Mòrag. "Tantalese." Then to Zeke. "Gormotti." Then Nia. "Urayans, Indoline and Leftherians." At the last one Azurda pointed to Rex.
"So…human is just a blanket term that covers all civilized races," Blake summarized as she, along with others, was thrown on a loop.
"Exactly," Azurda exclaimed putting his tiny paws on his hips with a proud look at his accomplishment.
"…Now I really want to visit Alrest," Blake muttered under her breath. Maybe she could learn something there.
"So," Kasandra piped up from her spot next to Qrow, "We go to Argus, convince the people there to let us go to Atlas, then we speak to Ironwood?"
"Sounds about right," Qrow said, reaching for his flask…only to think better of it. He didn't feel like dealing with his Blade trying to snatch it right now.
"I believe we still haven't solved the problem of Tora," Penny pointed out, reminding how they all got a little sidetracked.
"We could always put him in a bag," Dragunov suggested with a grin.
"Tora not a luggage!" The Nopon waved his arms and wings frantically. Which of course earned multiple laughs.
After that, the gang started preparing for their departure to Atlas. Although they first had to wait for the investigations to come to conclusion. Which they thankfully did. After that, Blake went to tell her parents about going to Atlas to help her friends. Which of course meant that the two wanted to meet Blake's friends.
The Belladonna patriarch seemed a little suspicious of Roze and Dragunov. Which was shifted to Yang when Dragunov mentioned that Yang did sometimes like staring at Blake's backside. Much to the blonde Driver's embarrassment and Blake's mortification. Ilia had also come, being a little curious about what kind of people Blake made friends with.
Of course, the chameleon was a bit suspicious of Weiss. Although Ilia's apprehensions diminished when Dahlia off-handedly commented about Weiss calling the busty Blade "mother" by accident. Something that once again made team RWBY and Blake's parents to laugh. Dragunov also laughed his head off, never having heard of this before. Roze and Nox looked highly amused, and even Aizen brought a hand over his mouth to hold his laugh with poor results.
"Did you have to bring that up?" Weiss complained with a furious blush. Wishing that the floor would just devour her right now.
"It felt appropriate, my little Weiss," Dahlia said in a motherly tone, which didn't do the former heiress any favors.
The "appropriate" being answering Kali's question of how Weiss saw Dahlia. "Aww," Kali cooed at the embarrassed girl. "Well if it makes you feel better, Blake was very cuddly when she was little," the older feline faunus revealed with a smile.
"Mom!" Something that Blake didn't appreciate.
"Lady Belladonna, I know it is not my place to say this, but can you please not embarrass my lady? It is making her very distressed." Nox showed on his scroll with a respectful bow at the end.
"Thank you!" Blake called out in relief.
"Aww, but it's not fair that only Weiss would feel embarrassed now would it," Kali asked with a charming smile. This caused the dark Blade to look confused.
Dragunov also had a very evil look. "Dragunov, don't you dare!" And Yang noticed it.
"What was it your father once mentioned?" Dragunov muttered with a fake contemplative look. Then he snapped his fingers, "Oh, right! When you had your first haircut, you somehow managed to throw a tantrum so bad, that you broke the barber's teeth. As a two year old."
"You must be joking," Ghira said in disbelief.
"Oh, trust me. Yang would definitely do that," Ruby supplied "helpfully". Earning a betrayed look from Yang.
"Says the girl who tried to build a cannon out of plastic bottles and empty cartons when she was 4 years old," Roze said offhandedly, earning a series of shocked looks from anyone that wasn't Yang. "But then when you actually ignited the explosive in it, the "cannon" combusted, covering your face in soot. Your dad actually thought your face burned off."
"…Really Ruby?" Weiss questioned with a look of disbelief.
"…I hate dad," Ruby muttered before hiding her face in her hood. Because where else could Roze have heard that from.
"Are you guys trying to embarrass us," Yang then asked accusingly.
"So what if we were?" Dragunov asked with a shit eating grin.
Yang replied with a smirk of her own, "How about I tell everyone your little secret."
That made the draconic Blade drop the smirk, "Don't you f***ing dare!"
"Swear!" Ruby called out, before covering her mouth in embarrassment.
"Dragunov, what is Yang talking about?" Roze asked with a questioning look in his empty eyes.
"What did you do?" Dahlia also asked with a highly suspicious look. A look that Weiss shared.
"Oh it's not what he's done," Yang said, taking great pleasure at the discomfort Dragunov was in.
As this banter happened, Ghira and Kali started feeling like third wheels.
"Well, they're certainly lively," Ghira commented to his wife who was smiling from ear to ear.
"I never thought I would see our daughter this happy," Kali said, especially when you consider that Adam's death was merely a day before yesterday.
Ghira let out a small sigh at seeing Dragunov and Yang glaring at each other. Weiss turning away from an amused Dahlia with a huff. Blake who still looked embarrassed and Ruby who was apparently giving Roze a silent treatment. Seeing as the still hood covered girl wouldn't acknowledge her Blade.
And Ilia who was practically hiding, smiled a little. Blake was right, Weiss wasn't anything she thought a Schnee would be. But that Aizen Blade gave her the creeps. Especially from what she heard of his proposal yesterday.
After about two weeks, Qrow managed to get the Alrestian crew some fake IDs from some of his…shadier contacts. Because if the Alrestians were planning to go with them to Atlas, they would need them. Thankfully the only ones who really needed them were the Drivers so the pro huntsman didn't have to pay an arm or a leg to get them. Then came ironing out the details on what to do with Tora and possibly Poppi. Penny suggested they played Tora off as a stuffed toy or something, while Poppi just had to wear clothes that hid the fact what the artificial Blade was. Because they doubted that anyone would see the childlike Blade as anything but a robot.
Not to mention that the Remnans thought that Rex needed clothes that didn't make him look like a diver. Something that the salvager was confused about. After all, his salvaging outfit was designed to be used both in and out of work conditions. It wasn't the best possible in the market, but it was certainly better than average. Azurda had insisted on it when Rex had a particularly good haul one time few years ago. Rex wasn't happy about the change, but considering they were not on Alrest he did agree to go shopping the day they would leave for Argus. Nia was also suggested to have new clothes, but the Gormotti girl was a little more adamant about not needing a new outfit. Dagas' disagreements weren't well received by his Driver either.
Now the gang was standing in front of the house they had rented for a long time.
"Okay, does everyone remember their missions?" Ruby asked enthusiastically.
"Get Rex some new clothes so he wouldn't look like a scuba diver," Yang said jokingly.
"I will miss riding on this helmet," Azurda lamented at the loss of his ride. Speaking of the tiny titan, the gang was planning to play him off as an exotic pet.
"…I'm not sure I'm gonna like this," Rex complained with a pouty look.
"Oh please, well make sure you get something comfortable," Weiss shot back.
"And within our price range," Nora added in.
Something that the former heiress clearly didn't appreciate.
"I'm just glad I won't be needing a new disguise," Talos decided to contribute. According to the metallic Flesh Eater, no one in Mistral had seen him outside of the rags he had gotten over the course of his trip so they could play him off as one of their Blades.
"I still don't like that you used Pyrrha's modified ID to get here," Jaune said with a frown at Talos. As it turned out, Pyrrha had granted Talos her Scroll and all her bank accounts so he could make the trip. Unfortunately, at Mistral the officials finally did a double check and found out that the ID belonged to Talos' deceased Driver. Worse yet, Pyrrha's bank accounts had been frozen shortly after, meaning that Talos had been stuck in the city ever since.
"What else was I supposed to do?" Talos shot back with a sigh, "I wasn't sure how any of you would have reacted. I felt that I had no place to go anymore."
"We are still glad to have you with us," Otohime said with a small smile.
"Yeah!" Electra agreed.
Ren and Nora let out small smiles themselves. They weren't exactly okay with what Talos had become and how, but they were going to give him a chance.
"Kos-Mos and I are travel ready," Penny said happily.
"There is an 87% probability of Master being grounded by her father, or placed under house arrest by the general," Kos-Mos then said, spreading some worry about her Driver.
"I'm not sure about general Ironwood, but would Penny's father really do that," Rex asked.
"Well... I did kind of run away from home," Penny admitted in embarrassment.
"I can relate to that," Weiss admitted with a sigh.
"Now," Roc then sounded out, "I believe we still have a few more things to do before the train leaves."
"Indeed," Aizen said with a small frown, "Starting with who wants to carry that Nopon if he is to act like a stuffed animal."
During this conversation, Poppi started looking up. Something that Nia noticed.
"Something up there Poppi?" the Gormotti asked.
"Anomaly detected!" Poppi exclaimed while pointing straight up.
"Say what?!" Everyone barely said that when another breach opened above them.
"Everyone! Anchor your-whoa!" Zeke's exclamation was interrupted by an instant pull. Last time it was gradually growing stronger, this time the pull was immediately strong enough to pull Dragunov and Talos in, and those two are the heaviest among them. Which meant that everyone was pulled in before they could react. Rex, Pyra, Roc, Wulfric, Nia, Dromarch, Dagas, Tora, Poppi, Mòrag, Brighid, Aegaeon, Zeke, Pandoria, Team RWBY and their Blades, Team JNPR and their Blades, including Talos were sucked in. Finally, Qrow, Kasandra and even Oscar were also sucked in. All the while Ozpin was afraid that they would face Salem on the other side.
Once the gang had been sucked in, Sun and Ilia rounded out from behind the corner in a hurry. They heard the yelling from their friends.
"Guys! Where are you?!" Sun shouted out, his weapon at the ready, as did Ilia.
"Blake! Blake!" Ilia called out to the empty area that Blake and the others most likely occupied.
"What happened?" Sun wondered aloud utterly confused and worried about the Beacon teams.
AN: Now as a certain someone once sang, I LIIIIED!
