Finally got the time to watch Volume 9, the extra animatic on RT's website included. Overall... it was alright. The villain was great. I don't think he's quite up there with Watts and Tyrian as the series' best villain, but I'd put him neck and neck with Torchwick in the runner-up spot.

"I can Fusion Summon. I can Fusion Summon. I can Fusion Summon…" Ruby merrily sang, the silver-eyed Signer dancing with glee in the elevator to Ozpin's office. If she had been half as good on the ballroom floor as she was now that she was alone and ecstatic, maybe she could have kept up with Penny.

But why shouldn't she be over the moon? Everything was coming up roses, both figuratively and literally. Her team was set to leave for Mountain Glenn with their licensed hunting duelist chaperone at noon, and just as promised, Blake had taught her fusion summoning right after breakfast. It really was incredible how easy it was to bring out an Extra Deck monster when you could just leave all the work to an easy-to-manifest spell card like Polymerization. Even Link Summoning hadn't been so simple. And seeing Starving Venom Fusion Dragon in the flesh at last!? Awesome! Ooo, she couldn't wait to use him in a duel!

His card radiated excitement and vigor from her Extra Deck, even the elegant Black Rose Dragon seeming to laugh at her fellow magic monster's eagerness. Which all just fed back into Ruby's own cheer and intensified her happy dance.

"I can Fusion Summon. I can Fusion Summon. I can Fusion Summon—"

"They were here, Ozpin! They were here!"

Ruby squeaked as the elevator door pinged open, only for the force of a heated discussion to stop her dancing cold and nearly bowl her over altogether.

"I understand your concern, James," Headmaster Ozpin calmly replied, General Ironwood's palm slammed down on his desk. "But this is nothing we didn't already know. Nor did the CCT contain any information about Amber's location. All our enemy did was waste energy."

"Knocking out a dozen of my men is not a waste of energy," Ironwood hotly countered. "We should have technicians go over the Tower. We have to be sure it wasn't tampered with—"

"Which I am already doing," Ozpin informed the general. "I assure you, aside from admittedly Dr. Polendina, Beacon's technicians are just as capable of running a routine virus sweep as Atlas'. Unless you want to have Pietro drop whatever important projects you have him working on and fly halfway across Remnant just to satisfy your 'concern'?"

Ironwood sighed, his anger deflating against the headmaster's logic. "Point. But there must be more we can do to flush out these pawns–"

"Pawns?" Ruby squeaked up. "Did something happen last night?"

The two headmasters turned towards her, the young red-hooded Silfer Red shivering as two of the most powerful people on Remnant whirled on her in the midst of their argument. Fortunately, Ozpin hadn't been too worked up as it was (Ruby didn't think she'd ever heard of him even getting a little mad. A little stern at times maybe, but never angry). And while General Ironwood was certainly heated in his words to his fellow teacher, his fervor simmered down as soon as he saw Ruby.

"Ms. Rose," the general warmly greeted. "Don't worry. It's nothing you need concern yourself with."

"Are you sure?" Ruby inquired. "If I can help–"

"Do not worry, Ms. Rose," Ozpin spoke up. "Just keep focused on your team's mission. It will require everything you have. With that in mind, may we continue this discussion later, James?"

"As you wish," the general nodded, making for the elevator. Given he'd been present when they'd made the plan for this Silver Eye lesson, he understood the importance of it before the Mt. Glenn mission. He shot Ruby a friendly smile as he took her former place in the elevator. "Best of luck."

"You too, sir," Ruby replied with the same friendliness.

The doors whooshed closed and she was left alone with her enigmatic headmaster.

"Alright, professor!" Ruby grinned. "How do I laserbeam monsters with my eyeballs?"

Ozpin chuckled. "I've been told that it's more productive not to think about it that way. To start, think back to what triggered your abilities the first time, during Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna's duel."

Ruby's brow furrowed, images of Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's clash filling her mind. Her hands clenched into fists as shame flickered over her face, remembering the madness that had gripped Weiss and Blake at the time, how badly they wanted to tear each other apart due to their issues and the magic flooding them at the duel's climax.

The duel their team leader had put them up to hoping it would help them.

With the benefit of hindsight, the plan had actually worked. While the reveal of Blake's true identity and her and Weiss sharing memories due to their dragons had never been things Ruby had predicted, the duel was the root cause of the Schnee heiress and the Odd-Eyed Bandit reconciling and becoming the inseparable friends they were now. But at the time, all the Silver-Eyed Signer could think was…

"I wanted to protect my friends," she confessed. "I didn't want them to hurt each other and I wanted to do everything I could to make sure that didn't happen."

Ozpin nodded. "Your father has told you that your eyes channel Creation Magic, yes? It is the desire to preserve life that draws that power through you and into this world. Preservation is the enemy of destruction, creation's opposite… and the being of the Grimm."

"Dad did mention that mom used to blast Grimm with them. Ooo, that's even more cool! Me, Black Rose, and Starving Venom can all blow them up together," Ruby jittered with excitement. "Where do we start?"

"Your enthusiasm never fails to be admirable," Ozpin complimented. "Alas, you'll find that though your power can be explosive to access, control may be a long process to master. To start, focus on creating a stable state of mind that you can access when you need it. Don't think about your eyes as a way to destroy evil or even the Grimm. Rather, envision them as a way to protect and evolve the life that already exists."

"Stable mindset, protect people, gotcha! Basically, be a hunting duelist," Ruby said, eagerly nodding. Her eyes twinkled with glee, envisioning all the innocents she could help with this power. No more near misses like with Junior and Lil'Miss at The Club. "Thank you, professor."

"You're welcome, Ms. Rose. Best of luck on your team's mission over the next few days. Speaking of…" Ozpin reached under his desk and brought out a sizable brown box. "Your father sent you a care package for it."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

Yang tapped her knuckles against the metal crate. "Okay, we're past Mistral customs. You can come out now."

Nothing stirred for a few moments. Then, a quiet, fearful voice whispered from within. "... are you sure?"

"Completely," Yang brightly smiled. "Don't worry. Aunt Sienna knows how to make human officials look one way so that they don't look another. It's almost like watching a dance."

Another moment. Still no movement from within the crate. "... what if they don't look the wrong way?"

"Then Aunt Sienna will kick their butts. She's awesome like that. Well, her and Adam," Yang giggled, bashfully curling her black hair when she spoke the latter name. "He's sort of Aunt Sienna's apprentice. He's from Mantle, like you. He uses a Six Samurai deck and the combos he can pull off with it are so cool."

"Six Samurai?" the voice within the crate piped up, no stalling this time. "My parents said that's was what the SDC mine overseers used."

"They do. One of those bastards branded Adam because he came back from his lunch break a minute late. He lost track of time looking at the sky," Yang scowled, only for admiration to flush over her face. "But he didn't take it lying down. He took the guy's deck and kicked his butt! And me and my Odd-Eyes are gonna be just as cool someday. We're gonna help all of our people!"

There was some skittering within the crate. The lid finally creaked open, the scared, dark blue face of an eleven-year-old Ilia Amitola peeking out from inside. "You don't really think you can help everyone, do you? There are a lot more humans than there are of us."

"I mean, not all humans are bad. At least that's what my mom and dad say. There are some that have been helping us plan protests and showing up to join our marches. So if those good humans join us, the bad humans won't stand a chance," Yang shrugged. "And I mean, we were able to help you, so that's a start at least."

Ilia's skin shifted from her frightened blue to an amazed orange, looking at Yang with awe. "Blake, are you serious?"

"Of course," Yang bluntly confirmed with a smile. "Wanna help?"

"M–Me?!"

"We can find a safe place for you to stay if you want, somewhere Atlas will never find you. You deserve that much at least," Yang said. "But you're an incredible duelist, Ilia. If you're up for it, the White Fang would be lucky to have you."

Ilia's skin shifted its natural tan, only for a deep scarlet blush to heat up her cheeks. "I… I mean… I… sure. Yes! I won't stand on the sidelines and let people get hurt anymore! I'll fight for our people, for every faunus who can't… who shouldn't have to fight for themselves!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Yang cheered, hi-fiving the stunned chameleon faunus. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"What the hell, Tai?! You left them alone in the house! What were you thinking!?"

"You don't get to barge in here and lecture me about how I take care of my family, Qrow! Didn't you have a mission in Mistral for your great lord and master Ozpin? What're you doing here? Or did the kids only have the bad luck to be in danger because you blew it off–"

CRASH!

Blake flinched as she recognized the crunch of a punch being thrown. The well-made floorboards of the Xiao-Long family cabin muffled the impact from completely reaching up from the lower floors, but it was still audible to the young blonde girl.

And the even younger silver-eyed girl curled up on the bed across from her.

"Why are dad and Uncle Qrow fighting, Yang?" Ruby tearfully asked, her cute crimson hood pulled over her head. "Did we do something wrong by going out on that walk?"

Blake winced, looking away with guilt at the bright red, childish wagon that she'd carried her sister through the woods in during that 'walk'. The 'walk' that she'd brought Ruby on to an abandoned cabin, reasoning that she couldn't just leave her sibling alone in the house while she was on her search for her bio-mom. The 'walk' that had led them right into the jaws of a horde of Grimm.

She'd thought Uncle Qrow had been on a mission in Mistral, but if he hadn't miraculously arrived when he did, they would have been dead. She would have gotten her little sister killed.

She was worthless, a monster. No wonder Raven had abandoned her at birth. No wonder mom… no wonder Summer hadn't come back to her. No wonder dad was out dueling all the time. It was all her fault.

Maybe… maybe she should just leave already, before she completely destroyed her family.

She heard the door slam open, her father stomping out of the house. Uncle Qrow furiously chased after him. If she was going to leave, if she was going to keep from dragging her loved ones down any further, she wasn't going to get a better chance.

Blake hopped off her bed and grabbed her deck. Once she made sure she had her best cards and wouldn't be complete Grimm chow, she walked for the bedroom door. She grabbed hold of the knob–

"Where are you going?" Ruby squeaked up, poking her head out from her red hood with tears glimmering in her eyes. "Please don't go, Yang. I don't want to be alone. I promise I won't do anything wrong anymore."

Blake's heart broke, her will shattered. She dashed over to Ruby's bed and engulfed her sister in the tightest, most loving embrace she possibly could. For a moment, she was worried her little sister might struggle to breathe a bit, but she felt the toddler's little fingers grab at her arms and pull her closer.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Ruby," Blake promised. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You won't go away like mom?"

"I promise," Blake swore. "And if I do, I'll always come back, safe and sound."

The sisters laid on the bed together in a warm embrace until their uncle came to get them later that night with the news that their father was in the hospital.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"Hey! Guys! Look who dad sent us for our first mission!" Ruby cheered, rushing onto the Beacon landing platform where Team RWBY and Team JNPR were already assembled. In her hands was a familiar, smiling corgi. "Zwe–"

"ZWEI!" Weiss screeched.

A line of glyphs was conjured from her to Ruby, the heiress rocketing across the landing platform. She rammed into her team leader and smashed the younger girl into the side of a Bullhead, snatching up the adorable dog and ecstatically hugging him to her chest.

"Oh, my adorable little fluffy boy! I've missed you so much!" Weiss jubilantly cooed, cuddling her cheek against the corgi's face as he happily licked her. "Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Oh, I wish you could stay with me forever and ever and ever! My goodest, goodest boy! Who's my favorite Xiao-Long/Rose? You are! Yes, you are! Yes, you are!"

Ruby groaned as she staggered up from her knees, feebly reaching out her hand for her partner. "But, BFF? Why? I'm only second place?"

"Third, actually," Weiss offhandedly confessed, most of her attention still devoted to snuggling with Zwei. "Your father was an exceptional host over break."

"Betrayal!" Ruby squeaked, her eyes misting up. "The worst part is that it never comes from an enemy!"

Yang chuckled at the charming interaction between her little sis and the heiress. She glanced behind her back at where her own partner was currently cowering behind Bumblebee and Argus Chariot. "You can come out now. I don't think Zwei's getting out of the Ice Queen's hug any time soon."

Blake's head peeked out from the cover of the duel runners. Her amber eyes narrowed in suspicion at the adorable, slobbering corgi. "He can manage cook times. You don't know what he's capable of."

"He does seem highly impressive," Pyrrha concurred, standing with the Team RWBY pair while the rest of Team JNPR loaded their supplies onto the Bullhead that would take them to their away mission. "Though, isn't he your dad's therapy dog? Shouldn't he stay by his side?"

Yang sneaked up behind Ruby and snatched the note that'd been sent with the loyal pooch. She figured her sister wouldn't want her concentration broken as she desperately tried to find an opening to cuddle Zwei herself through Weiss' greedy defense.

"Dear girls. Congratulations on your first away mission. I am so proud of you. But I'm also a bit scared. I know, I know, you and your team are kickass duelists, but please put your old man's mind at ease and take Zwei as a medic just in case. I've already cleared it with Ozpin," Yang read off. "And don't worry about your old man. It's flu shot season, so I've taken a cushy gig guarding the hospital from any Grimm attracted by the negativity spike for the next few days. I'll be surrounded by doctors if anything flares up while you're away. Have fun on your mission! Love, Dad."

"How did he send a dog through the mail?" Blake pondered.

"I suppose one picks up many tricks as a veteran hunting duelist," Pyrrha shrugged. "Speaking of tricks though, did you guys suffer any side effects from the one you pulled last night?"

"Other than the stunned looks of passersby?" Yang joked. "Making the world's first-ever Pendulum Synchro Monster really started the night off with a Yang if you know what I mean."

Blake groaned at the pun. Even Pyrrha's polite smile dipped, though Yang merrily noted that The Invincible Girl couldn't hide a bit of a childish snigger. Seemed that the dance was as successful at helping the Argus girl perk up as Team RWBY's ace had hoped.

"How long until people start trying to make their own Pendulum Synchros?" Yang asked. "You think they can do it without magic?"

"Magic was what Pyrrha was referring to," Blake pointed out, turning to the redheaded champion. "We did get some memory sharing like Weiss and I had after our duel, but a lot less. Maybe because the cards have all been fully crystalized now or because we were working together instead of fighting each other?"

"Either is a potential explanation," Pyrrha remarked. Her brow furrowed in thought, her fingers rising to stroke her chin. "By any chance, was Ilia in one of the memories?"

Yang's incorrigible smirk blossomed at that question. She eyed Blake as the secret cat faunus groaned.

"Don't start," Blake pleaded.

"Come on, partner," Yang teased. "We've got to keep Pyrrha in the loop about her fellow… what'd you call it, P-Money? Emperor?"

"That is the term we discovered through research," Pyrrha confirmed. "So, Ilia was in one of the memories?"

"It was right after Blake and Sienna Khan smuggled her out of Atlas," Yang said, nudging Blake with her elbow. "And it wasn't the tiger she was enamored with, but the lady. Eh? Eh?"

"We were kids! I'd just helped her get out of a very stressful situation! I was basically Ruby back then!" Blake protested. "That doesn't mean Ilia had a crush on me! And even if she did, she definitely doesn't now. You've both seen what she's like around me now. She hates me!"

"Does she?" Yang queried. "Or is she just feeling hurt? I mean, Adam came for your head, but every time we run into Ilia, she's always just yelling at you to walk away."

"I would have known!" Blake argued. "I'm not Jaune!"

Pyrrha's eyes suddenly went skittish flickering back at her team's bullhead where her team leader was trying to convince Nora not to bring two suitcases of pancake mix to their away mission. "Wha—what about Jaune?"

"Please, the way you were looking at him last night, everyone with a lick of social competence could tell you wanted him to do 'extreme dancing' with you," Blake rolled her eyes. "Social competence that I have, unlike him. I am attuned with myself and my friends. Someone so calm and precise would never miss someone having such a blatant crush on them—"

"Ren," Yang retorted, nudging her eyebrows towards where Nora was swooning as Ren nonchalantly offered to take half the pancake mix in his suitcase so there'd be room for everything.

Blake froze. "… shit."

"Hey, maybe this means we won't have to fight her?" Yang comforted her, patting her partner on the back. "You bat your eyelashes at her, and suddenly one of the White Fang's strongest is fighting for us."

Pyrrha winced. "I don't think it'll be that simple. Ilia is driven to make sure the horrors she's suffered never happen to any of her people again. Seducing her may not be effective."

"Of course it won't. She's not some princess from one of my books," Blake scoffed. "Ilia is principled, fierce, and loyal. She may feel trapped now, but she'll always do what she thinks is the right thing… why are you looking at me like that?"

Yang rubbed her hands together as her partner went on about her old chameleon friend's admirable traits. Went on about them in a very specific tone that she recognized from why her dad rarely reminisced about Summer or when Ruby rambled on about her favorite monsters. Perhaps Blake hadn't just been unaware of Ilia's extra affection in their relationship.

"Zweihänder! How splendid to see you again, my boy!"

"Aarf!" Zwei cheerfully barked. The adorable corgi leaped out of Weiss' grip as she and Ruby were pulling each other's hair to snuggle him.

The dog pattered across the landing platform just as Professor Port and Professor Oobleck arrived. The former knelt down and extended his hand to the canine.

"Shake," Port declared. Zwei extended his paw into the professor's hand and the pair shook. "Ah! Good grip! Pristine coat! That's my boy! Hope you're keeping Tai out of trouble."

"Aarf!" Zwei barked, his tongue panting out his mouth as his tail merrily wagged.

Yang cocked an eyebrow. "You know our family dog, professor?"

"Of course, Ms. Xiao-Long!" Port laughed. "Who else do you think could train such a magnificent hound?"

"Peter here trains huntsman therapy and disability assistance dogs when he's not teaching," Oobleck revealed. "Helps keep his house clear of mice."

"They bring only disease and famine!" Port shouted. "Cats are insufficient to annihilate the scourge! The noble canine must know how to destroy every last one of them! Isn't that right, Zweihänder?"

"Grrrr!" Zwei snarled, nodding along as if mice were worse than Grimm.

"Now then, Team JNPR, you're with me," Professor Port commanded, heading over to the team's bullhead. "Team RWBY, you're under Barty's supervision for this mission. Try not to give him too much of a runaround. The old man just isn't as fast as he used to be, hoho!"

"Ha! Faster than you and your dinosaurs! Unlike them, my cards are ahead of their time," Oobleck laughed back. "Team scouts, get your duel runners secured and ready for landing strategies."

Yang nodded and took hold of Bumblebee's handles. She turned to Pyrrha as her friend did the same with Argus Chariot. "Don't worry about me too much, 'kay P-Money?"

Pyrrha giggled. The Invincible Girl turned and beamed at her rambunctious teammates, her face bathed in sunlight as she watched Jaune diligently listen to Ren and Nora's instructions on how to prep the airship's duel runner clamps for her mount.

"I'm not worried. Not anymore. I'm not alone," the redhead preened. She turned to the blonde duelist. "You can handle this, Yang. I mean, your entire team can, but you especially."

"Damn straight," Yang grinned, fist-bumping with the redheaded champion. "What are aces for?"

She and the Invincible Girl shared one last excited smile before Team JNPR's strongest rolled Argus Chariot onto the bullhead taking her team to the frontier. Soon enough, the airship was in the sky and soaring away.

And yet, she felt Blake looking on her with… worry?

"What's up?" Yang inquired to her partner, the pair striding towards their own airship with Bumblebee in tow. "You worried about facing Ilia and everyone else?"

"Well, yeah, but also… your memory," Blake clarified. "I felt what you felt then, Yang. Everything that you were putting on yourself. And then I remembered the story you told me after our duel and… you know what happened to your family wasn't your fault, right? You were just a child."

"Sure. Then," Yang shrugged, taking Bumblebee up the airship ramp and locking its wheels in the clamps. She glanced across the hull to where Ruby had finally convinced Weiss to let them both give Zwei belly rubs, a loving smile lifting her lips. "But I made Ruby a promise. And no matter how amazing she gets,, she still trusts me to keep it."

"To always come back? Safe and sound?" Blake inquired. "Yang, in the profession we've chosen, that's not always a promise we can keep–"

"Oh, relax, partner!" Yang called, teasingly slapping her teammate on the back. "I'm not pretending to be strong. Whatever's out there, we can handle it."

"Pretending to be strong? I never said you were pretend–"

"Look sharp, girls!" Professor Oobleck clapped. "We're about to take off!"

Ruby and Weiss reluctantly stopped petting Zwei and made for their safety positions. Yang escaped the conversation with Blake and hurried towards her own. She watched the bullhead's doorway seal up as the airship began to rise.

Next stop: Mountain Glenn.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"Ladies, you still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as hunting duelists, or huntresses if you prefer the colloquial term, has begun!" Professor Oobleck announced once he, Team RWBY, and Zwei had been dropped off among the ruined buildings and teeming undergrowth of Mountain Glenn. "From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Weiss nodded.

"Yeah!" Ruby said. "Though if we happen to see some evil people hiding here while we're out killing Grimm, we can go after them, right?"

"Of course not!" Professor Oobleck refuted. "This sector has been marked as a recent hotspot for any Grimm activity. If any hidden group harboring ill intent could survive here with such negativity, they'd need significant numbers or fortifications. Best to regroup and attack in force if we find any here. Any single hunting duelist would struggle against such a force alone."

"Well, I did mean us taking them together, but okay," Ruby shrugged.

"Now then, girls," Oobleck smirked. "Show me what you can do."

"Gladly!" Yang cheered, revving up Bumblebee as a pack of Beowolves emerged from the buildings. "Got anything special you want to show off, Ruby?"

"Hehehehe. You know I do," Ruby snickered, deploying Crescent Rose as Weiss and Blake did the same with Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud. All three duel disks chimed into hunting mode, the hunting duelists drawing exactly what they needed. "Come on, ladies! Let's let the siblings welcome the new guy in properly!"

"You already told us this plan before we left," Weiss pointed out, summoning The King of D. and The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor to stand before her. "You don't have to be so dramatic about it."

"Aw, don't be an Ice Queen about it," Blake chuckled, Performapal Odd-Eyes Synchron and Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn rising into the twin pillars of her Pendulum Scales. "They're really excited about it."

"And who says I'm not?" Weiss smirked, the purple spiral of a galaxy opened up before her, the Level Four monsters on her field morphing into golden nodes of energy and streaking inside. "From the black darkness hidden behind the mirror, bare the fangs of rebellions against the stupidity that would make you guilty of its crimes!"

"Rise from shadows, my monster," Blake chanted. "Carve an arc upon the world and reclaim our destiny."

"Xyz Summon! Rank Four! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

"Pendulum Summon! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

The dancing dragon with dual-colored eyes and the black beast of uprising roared as they took the field before their mistresses. Unlike when they'd first been summoned against each other so many months ago, the brothers grinned at each other with ecstatic excitement. Odd-Eyes in particular was giving Zwei a run for his money in the adorable tail-wagging department, while Dark Rebellion was challengingly grinning at Yang's deck.

"Wooooaaahhhh!" Yang cackled, throwing her head back as she slapped Synkron Resonator onto Bumblebee's duel disk, Red Warg swiftly appearing beside the fiend by its own effect. "And I thought just having one of those bad boys on the field was a rush!"

"A rush?" Obbleck queried, rushing around the dragons at superspeed as Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Zwei began a happy conversation of growls and barks. "Ms. Xiao-Long, are you being metaphorically poetic, or does the summoning of these monsters provide a real stimulant to you all?"

"Both, professor," Ruby smiled, summoning Twilight Rose Knight and using its effect to call out Baobaboon from her hand. For some reason, the Beowolves at the line of buildings had halted their previous advance once Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, the Grimm unnaturally still as they stared at the dragons. It gave the leader of Team RWBY time to fiddle with the key card Blake had given her, flipping it through her fingers with building elation. The only one who might have been more excited than her was the monster in her Extra Deck who'd waited long enough to be called out for combat. "Ready, Yang?"

"Depends on if someone doesn't want to disappoint her brothers," Yang teasing said, pointedly looking down at a certain Synchro Monster as Synkron Resonator broke into an emerald tuner ring and Red Warg dissembled into six twinkling blue stars. "Never looking back, flap your beautiful wings and strike the enemy at the speed of light! A whisper to a roar across the cosmos!"

"I activate Polymerization!" Ruby shouted, slamming the spell card she'd sought for so long into her duel disk. As the fusion vortex appeared before her and sucked in Twilight Rose Knight and Baobaboon, she could only salivate at the idea of using it in a duel. "I fuse my two Dark-Type monsters on my field!"

"Synchro Summon! Level Seven! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

"Fusion Summon! Level Eight! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"

Clear Wing flashed onto the field, as resplendent as the night of the dance as its greeted its siblings. Starving Venom's roar soon joined to complete the set and for a moment, it was one of the most awesome moments of Ruby's life.

Then the four dragons' eyes had all started glowing, their mouths dipping into snarls. Zwei, who'd been merrily conversing with Odd-Eyes only a second before, suddenly dashed away and hid behind Oobleck with a whimper.

"Ms. Rose?" the professional hunting duelist asked, instantly on-guard. "What's happening?"

Ruby was about to ask that herself when her teammates suddenly stood ramrod straight. Their eyes all shined with unnatural blazing radiance, black light from Weiss' eyes, red from Blake's, and white from Yang's.

"Unite as one," they all chanted, in perfect unison. "Unite as one!"

"Oh, not good–"

Ruby's words were cut off as golden light, the same color as Yang's hair, suddenly flared through her own eyes. She felt some stirring force pour out of Starving Venom and into her, the same one that usually imbued her with an adrenaline rush of Creation and Destruction Magic. Only now it was flooding her with a thousand times the usual amount, the power growing every second as her body snapped straight like her teammates, as if commanded by puppet strings.

The last thing she saw before the glow consumed her vision were the four dragons of Team RWBY throwing their heads up to let out a cataclysmic roar and the Beowolves by the buildings fleeing in utter terror.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"I'm sorry, commander," Perry sighed, holding up his clipboard. "But Adam and Torchwick were clear, we're to keep working on the train."

"I'm telling you, we're far enough along on the train and bombs already. We've even got the portable hardlight dust generators set up," Ilia argued. "We need to start on escape tunnels. That dark-haired bitch says we launch in a week, but if she decides to speed up the schedule, we won't be able to get all our people out."

"Why do we call her 'the dark-haired bitch' anyway?" Perry inquired, tapping his glasses atop his Grimm mask. "I mean, she has at least two people with illusion semblances working for her. We don't know her real name, so I doubt she'd let us see her real appearance. She's probably actually a blonde."

"Or a redhead. Truly, her darkest secret," Ilia chuckled. "You should hear the aliases she throws out for us to call her. She changes them every other meeting like she's just thought of one she likes better. Fall. Autumn. Madam. The Lady Rhodes. The Lady Inferno. She's like a psychopathic five-year-old playing pretend."

"Ha! That's most five-year-olds. Still, when you've got as much power as she does, guess you don't have to grow up–why is your Extra Deck glowing?"

"Huh?"

Ilia's head whipped down to her Extra Deck, Number 103 blazing with shrieking crimson light. The chameleon faunus reached for Ragnazero, only for her oldest card to sear her hand like a hot pan.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUIGOH

"Gah!" Ren exclaimed, dropping Number 102 from where he'd been holding it up for Astral to connect with.

"Ren!" Nora shouted, rushing around Team JNPR's campfire to check on her partner. She glared down at Star Seraph Sentry as it laid upon the grass of the Vale frontier, shining a striking scarlet. "Hey! What was that about?"

"It's not just Number 102," Pyrrha revealed, pulling out her Extra Deck as Silent Honor Ark blazed like its fellow over one hundred Number.

"Uh, Astral? What's going on?" Jaune nervously queried.

Astral barely heard his partner, his gaze drawn towards the sky. The horizon back to Vale emanating power unlike anything he'd felt since he'd first awoken from the key back in Ansel. The very firmament of Remnant pulsed with Destruction and Creation Magic, a quartet of colors flashing through his mystically attuned vision. Red. White. Black. Yellow.

"Team RWBY…" he mumbled, suddenly recognizing the magical tempest as a more complete, but infinitely more chaotic version of the circuit of power that'd run through them when they'd summoned their dragons before. "... what have you done?"

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

Taiyang ground his teeth together as a pulse of Light Magic flared through his forearm, his Signer Mark blazing with crimson power under his leather bracer. The huntsman leaned against the hospital wall and looked about for a doctor, but a sudden sensation from his Extra Deck, accompanied by a bright white glow from his oldest friend, reassured him that it wasn't his heart acting up or an enemy being near.

"But, if none of those what's happening…" he inquired to Red Dragon Archfiend. "... then what the hell is?"

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"I've brought you more than enough for the work crews. I conduct any more raids before the Vytal Festival and Sienna Khan might be able to track my forces back to camp."

Lil' Miss chuckled from her throne underneath Mistral. "I don't see the issue, Raven. You know where the White Fang's base is. Why not attack first and wipe them out? Scared the tigress will be too much for you?"

The tall woman adorned in red and black with an enormous Grimm mask over her face snarled. "You have enough villagers! There's no reason to risk anymore. The work crews are full so long as Bryn can do her job and keep them in line, and your immortal has more than enough souls to keep your hunter's unruly 'pet' contained down by the crack–Gah!"

The mighty leader of the Branwen Tribe grabbed at her arm, the scarlet mark of the Crimson Dragon's tail flaring from beneath her sleeve. Lil' Miss might have mocked her for it if the Mark of the Spider on her own forearm didn't light up at the same time, her Earthbound Immortal howling an alert in her mind.

And that was before the entire mountain shook, a deafening roar emanating from below. Even caged in the spider's web, the dragon below had sensed the onrush of power that felt like it had crossed continents. Of course, to that particular prideful dragon, 'cataclysmic divine being' just translated into 'worthy opponent'.

Lil' Miss had no desire to discover what it meant to her.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

Cinder was grateful that she and Emerald were in their dorm room 'prepping for their away mission' when Hermos had lit up this time (Mercury was still out skulking and mopping after the dance). Though the half-Fall Maiden didn't even need his help to sense the mystical surge stampeding through the air, the Scarab Grimm inside writhing and shrieking in terror and… celebration?

Her translation of the bug's sentiments wasn't exact, but she thought it was vaguely…

'The new lord! The new lord! The new lord!'

"Cinder?" Emerald inquired, pulling the card she'd stolen back when they'd first met from her deck. As a failed experiment, the card's aptitude for magic was far less than Hermos', but the titan did still have some soft sheen to it. "What's going on?"

Cinder scowled, wishing she had an answer to that question.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

Ozpin's blood ran cold as Timaeus shined like a sun, the scant magic left in his own body vibrating like a mouse that just knew it'd been sighted by a cat.

"She did it. She actually did it," he murmured, not having fully believed in his heart of hearts that even she could manage such an impossible feat until that moment. "Two to four… and then back to one."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

Far away from Beacon, beyond an ocean and across a continent of dark soil and a blood-red sky, an elegant woman with skin like ash held aloft a shining card with the image of a dark purple and black dragon.

And laughed.

"Hahahahahahahaha!" she laughed to the churning firmament, the hordes of Grimm surrounding her castle howling at the shattered moon with reverence and terror. "At last! All four have been forged and they live!"

She looked down at the mud pools that birthed the creatures of destruction, their deep ebony sludge bubbling and boiling. Her lips bent up into an excited grin.

Her dragon card flared again, this time advising caution.

"I know, I know. Only the card of the king can truly make them a true god," she cautioned. "But I'm working on correcting that as is. Maybe… just a little peek."

Her loyal friend's glow faded, and her smile grew. With an eager glint in her eyes of obsidian and blood, she strode into the mud pools until she was fully submerged in the hellish sludge.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"Uh… okay…" Ruby murmured. "I don't think we're in Mountain Glenn anymore."

A soft hue of silver had fallen over her vision, letting her see through the golden shine that had blinded her before, like glasses helping to focus her blurry sight. Not a ruined building, overgrown shrubbery, or even Zwei and Professor Oobleck were in sight.

It took Ruby a moment to recognize the churning cosmic storm she, her teammates, and their dragons had ended up in. It was the same tempest she had glimpsed overtop the Beacon ballroom when Odd-Eyes Wing Dragon had been summoned, only now Team RWBY stood at the corners of an imaginary square from each other, their respective dragons hovering behind them.

"Cool," Ruby murmured. "Guys, are you seeing this? Guys?"

"Unite as one. Unite as one. Unite as one."

Ruby pursed her lips in annoyance, her teammates' eyes and those of their dragons still blazing with magical light. Even Starving Venom was still a trance even if her eyes seemed to let her avoid being consumed by this power like her friends. An ethereal tube seemed to connect each dragon to their duelist, pumping Creation and Destruction Magic between the pair. Though, Yang and Clear Wing's connection seemed to be chopped up and incomplete, like a garden hose leaking water from holes poked along its length.

The girls were surrounded by a swirling sphere of mystic power, sheltering them from the cosmic storm in alternating hues of gold and dark purple. The orb linked to each of Team RWBY's dragons like the dragons were linked to them. And from its other side, right where the shattered moon would have been if they were looking up at Remnant's normal night sky, thick coils of power connected to the protective sphere from a glittering foil card in the center of a brilliant galaxy.

It was majestic, blinding in its beauty, and yet so complete and hypnotic that Ruby couldn't tear her eyes away. Divine felt like too insufficient a word to describe it. This power and balance beyond God Cards, beyond even Gods themselves if they were real. The leader of Team RWBY didn't know if she knew because she was a Silver-Eyed Warrior, or a Signer, or whatever her bond with Starving Venom was, but she could feel what that card was made of in her very bones.

And it was everything.

Every magic. Creation. Destruction. Order. Chaos. Light. Dark. All of them existed in that single glittering card at the center of all that was and all that would ever be. Whoever could wield it could tear about the stars themselves… but what person could wield it for any amount of time without tipping its paramount threads of perfect balance one way or another?

Other lines broke off from the celestial card, like those connected to the gold and purple sphere surrounding Team RWBY. Red and blue tendrils rose beyond Ruby's sight, though a spider web of thinner, more desperate strings of those colors did fall back down into her gaze, as if pleadingly reaching for where the Silver-Eyed Warrior stood.

And yet, to either side of the glittering card was the horror, the source of the raging cosmic storm that Team RWBY were lucky to sheltered from. To the left, was a gaping pit of a black hole, hungrily swallowing everything it could touch. It clashed with a blinding nova on the right.

But the nova's light was not beautiful like the card at the heart of existence was. It was harsh, agony to even glimpse. It pushed against the hole of darkness' influence, but it left nothing but itself in its wake. Nothing but itself and the destruction it left. In some ways, Ruby was more terrified of it than its foe, especially as her Signer Mark flickered when she looked at it, Black Rose Dragon's terror seeping through her duelist's veins.

Although, as Ruby squinted at the horrifying glow, she thought she spied something familiar. Something she hadn't seen in a long time, save in her dreams. Something like… stardust?

"Magnificent!"

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked, her gaze whipping back to her friends and their surroundings in their orb. And when the orb flashed purple, someone new figure joined Team RWBY and their dragons.

Although, whoever it was, their magic scroll reception must not have been good. The tall figure's voice was female and held herself with elegance and pride, like Weiss had back when Ruby had first met her. Unlike Weiss, the figure's features were completely concealed by a mass of writhing, hissing shadows, as if her very essence wanted to tear her apart, but just… couldn't. For whatever reason.

The only thing Ruby could truly see about her were her eyes. Deep pits of black and red, like a Grimm that could think like a person, but still wanted you just as dead as any other Grimm.

At least, her eyes normally would have looked like, probably. But right now, they were alight with wonder and excitement as she flourished around to each of Team RWBY's dragons.

"Oh yes! You four are even more magnificent than I dreamed!" the shadowy figure cooed, flickering between Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion, her voice as thrilled as Ruby's own whenever she nailed the forging of a particularly awesome card. Though her hellish eyes did narrow when she spotted Clear Wing's ragged connection to Yang. She tutted and twisted up to the dragon's face, lovingly rubbing the majestic creature's cheeks. "Oh, you poor girl. Your siblings became too impatient. I know your pain. But you need not be saddled with an unworthy pillar. There are few cancers that surgery cannot remove–"

"Uh, hi!" Ruby nervously waved, wincing as the shadowy figure whipped towards her in surprise. "Uh, yeah, you. The murky hellperson with the piercing Grimm eyes–Woah!"

The shadowy figure was inches from Ruby's face in the blink of an eye. The leader of Team RWBY leaped away from the sudden closeness, her back smacking up against Starving Venom's limp tail.

"You're cognizant? You can see me? How… ah. You have Silver Eyes," the shadowy figure deduced, raising two fingers to Ruby's eye level. Then she turned those fingers skyward. "Can you see it? The source that you channel your power from?"

"S–See what?" Ruby stammered, more creeped out than she'd ever been before. "That card in sky? In the middle of a galaxy?"

"Incredible," the figure whispered. "I cannot see you or your friends in this storm any more than I imagine you can see me, but your voice is young. And if you can already glimpse the code…"

She looked up at Starving Venom. "You chose your pillar well, my child."

"Okay, enough! What the heck is a 'pillar'? In this situation, I mean," Ruby demanded. "And who are you?"

"You and your friends are the pillars of the god-to-be, those who embody the aspects of each of his components. The stubbornness within hunger," the figure said, gesturing to Starving Venom, then turning her arm to Weiss and Dark Rebellion, then Blake and Odd-Eyes, and finally Yang and Clear Wing. "The preservation within rebellion. The anger within joy. The will to move forward without throwing away the past. However, it seems the Synchro Dragon has been forced to bond with an unworthy candidate who cannot even move forward."

Ruby scowled, even if the figure couldn't see it in this mystical place. "Don't talk about my sister that way."

"Sister? What a quirk of fate. Or perhaps the Fusion Dragon and a Signer Dragon finding a Silver-Eyed Warrior to be a worthy champion gave the Syncrho Dragon unrealistic hopes for her kin. Unfortunate," the shadowy phantom mused. "To answer your second question, I have had many names over many lifetimes. The Girl in the Tower. Champion of the Tormentor. The Queen, if one is feeling dramatic. My personal favorite is The Smith. Though, you may call me–"

"The Queen?" Ruby gasped. "You're 'The Queen'?"

"You've heard of me?" the figure queried, surprised.

"A Dark Signer told me about you," Ruby revealed. "She told me you rule Remnant."

"The bug? Well, I suppose she's not entirely wrong. I did rule this wretched world once, and if it was worth my time, I could do so again," The Queen shrugged. She looked over the rest of Team RWBY, their eyes still glowing and still chanting for unity. "This, on the other hand, is troubling. The instinct to combine is here, but your sister's failure to rise to the Synchro Dragon's level weakens it. The Card of the King could still fuse them easily. With any luck, that girl and her Scarab can create it once they have all the maidens' powers. But in the event that an alternative is required…

The shadowy figure turned back towards Ruby, the young woman skipping back in fear.

"Tell me, girl. Do you know what those eyes of yours do?"

"T–They channel Creation Magic," Ruby stammered, glancing up at the glittering card still twinkling through the sky. "From that thing up there?"

"Just Creation Magic? Do you not feel more emanating from its radiance?"

"Professor Ozpin said my eyes could only channel Creation Magic."

"Ozpin? Hahaha!" The Queen chuckled. "Rule Number One, my dear. Ozpin lies."

Ruby growled at the insinuation about her headmaster. "And you're trustworthy?"

She couldn't see the shadowy figure's mouth, but she got a very bad feeling that the wicked phantom was smiling.

The Queen flickered two cards into her palm as if they'd come from up her sleeve in the real world. Ruby recognized one of them, a classic trap card called Ring of Destruction. But the other was a spell card she'd never seen before. There was a black dragon with wide, swooping wings on its image, a blue gem implanted in its forehead. She'd never seen it on a card before, but she knew she'd seen it somewhere before… wait…

"It can't be," the silver-eyed girl whispered, the image of the statue of the Legendary Dragons in the Beacon courtyard flashing through her mind.

The cards flashed before Ruby could say her guess at the card's identity out loud. In their place, an enormous black dragon towered behind The Queen, warped by twisted armor and thick black horns as it spread fiery red wings.

"You can trust my word, my dear," the shadowy figure promised. "You can trust that so long as all four dragons and their pillars are together, this trance will continue indefinitely, which profits none of us. Time is passing in the real world after all. So, you need to overload the link with imbalance."

Ruby recalled the end of Weiss and Blake's duel, how she'd put a stop to the chaos then. "With my eyes. Or Black Rose Dragon."

"Your Signer Dragon is cut off from its full power behind the seal of Remnant. That's why it fled here. No 'Majestic' forms for it or any of its kin. Though I admit, the substitutes they developed with their duelists, Accel Synchro and Double Tuning, were impressive. But we're getting off-topic," The Queen snapped her fingers. "Destruction Dragon."

The black dragon nodded to its mistress, spreading its wings. The red appendage seemed to suck in power from around it, steadily growing with power… just as the dragon's maw turned towards Yang.

"What are you doing?" Ruby shouted.

"You're going to use your eyes. Channel Creation Magic or whatever other power your emotions draw upon, but you are going to use them, right here, right now, to break the link," The Queen declared. "Or I'll do it by breaking the weakest link."

"What?! No!" Ruby exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock. "You can't!"

"Of course I can. Either way, I win," she nonchalantly stated. "Destruction Dragon, you may begin charging. Give her to the count of three."

The dragon's jaws opened, its razor-sharp fangs revealed. The entranced Yang didn't notice, continuing like Weiss and Blake to chant. "Unite as one. Unite as one. Unite as one!"

A panicking Ruby glanced down at her arm, only to find Crescent Rose and her deck completely absent. They must not have gotten brought into this mystic observatory realm or whatever it was. So instead, the the red-hooded hunting duelist dashed in front of her sister, spreading her arms wide as she faced down the towering dragon.

"If you want to get to her, you have to go through me!" Ruby shrieked. "That still a win–AH!"

The Queen didn't even let her finish talking before her writhing arm suddenly expanded into a lance of writhing shadows. Ruby yelped as she was grabbed by the hellish phantom's claw and smashed down to the ground by its unnatural strength, pinned where she could not shield her sibling.

"One," The Queen warned, her dragon's throat beginning to glow.

"Starving Venom! Starving Venom, help!" Ruby cried, only to receive no response. "Odd-Eyes! Dark Rebellion! Clear Wing!"

Nothing. Nothing from any of them. The dragons were as entranced as the rest of Ruby's team. She was alone. And unlike when she was trapped against Lil' Miss Malachite, this wasn't a duel. This was magic and mysticism and nothing she understood, not really. It wasn't fun and games like asking Dad about their dragons or bugging Ozpin or Oobleck for what they knew about her eyes. It wasn't beautiful like Mom and Stardust Dragon, or Astral's Chaos Xyz Evolution.

The Queen was going to kill Yang. She was going to murder her big sister.

"Two," the shadowy figure warned, her beast's scales beginning to expand to accommodate its power. "I do suggest hurrying up."

"Stable mindset, stable mindset, stable mindset…" Ruby rapidly repeated, desperately trying to follow Ozpin's advice from that morning. Think about what she wanted to protect. Wanting to protect life. What could she want to protect more than Yang?

'You won't go away like mom?'

'I promise. And if I do, I'll always come back, safe and sound.'

But she couldn't come back from this. While that promise from so long ago normally filled Ruby with safety and warmth, in such a tense situation, her mind couldn't help spiraling into all that had led to it.

Yang about to open the door to their room and never come back, no matter what she'd claim later.

Dad and Uncle Qrow shouting from the kitchen.

A grave with no body sitting on a cliff. The image of a rose engraved in the tombstone, just below 'Thus Kindly I Scatter…'.

"Three."

"NO!" Ruby screamed, desperately struggling against The Queen's grip. "YANG!"

But her shouts did not wake her sister and her strength could not break her captor's grip. Destruction Dragon threw its head forward and a titanic fireball surged for Ruby's defenseless sister. And despite her most fervent efforts, not a hint of extra silver came to her vision.

She was grateful then for the pain that ran through her arm, her Signer Mark flaring bright.

Black Rose Dragon appeared in a flash of scarlet, launching itself in front of Yang and hunkering down to completely shield the blonde. A second later, and it would have been too late. As it was, the fireball slammed into the majestic wyvern, a sonic boom erupting from the point of impact and shearing through the swirling gold and purple sphere.

Yang was safe, oblivious in her trance of glowing white eyes. But Black Rose Dragon crumbled, the valiant beast's body smoking as it fell to the ground. The beautiful creature groaned and shakily tried to rise again, but Destruction Dragon put a stop to that. With nary a shift in expression, the infernal beast stomped its foot atop the Signer Dragon's head, icy and cold to the other monster's shrieks of pain.

"Leave her alone!" Ruby yelled, helplessly thrashing against The Queen's claw as tears rushed down her face. "Leave us alone."

"I did tell you could trust my word, my dear. This will end up one of two ways. Which of them, is up to you," The Queen reiterated without a care. "One."

Destruction Dragon turned back to Yang. Orange light built in its maw.

"No! Stop! I'm trying! I promise, I'm trying!" Ruby wailed. "Just please, don't do this!"

"I don't see glowing," The Queen shrugged. "Two."

Destruction Dragon's scales expanded, the flesh between its armored scales blazing with fire and death.

It was the first time Ruby ever hated a monster, this beast that would so casually execute her beloved sister. And the fact that she'd been made to hate such a beautiful creature made her despise The Queen even more, this hellish shadow that thought so little of life. She wanted her gone, burned away like The Light wanted to scour the Darkness above.

For a moment, when she was feeling such rage and hate, the silver lens over her eyes started to dim, nearly replaced by something… gold?

The glittering card in the galaxy, The Code as her enemy called it, seemed to twinkle brighter for just a moment.

The pain from Ruby's Signer Mark eased, the Light Magic it pulsed through being balanced out by some other force, something that filled the young huntress with fire and fury the likes she'd never felt before. She growled and snarled, baring her teeth like fangs at The Queen, wanting to rip her shadowy form apart until she was nothing but scraps!

But then Black Rose Dragon moaned in agony, its head still pinned helplessly under Destruction Dragon's paw.

Ruby whipped back to her precious monster, her dear friend. Her dear friend, who was so afraid of this place and yet still had not hesitated to jump into the fray where her Signer needed her. Now she was suffering. Just like Yang would suffer and die if her sister couldn't buck up and be the bee's knees everyone kept telling her she was. She was Team RWBY's leader! Their lives were in her hands! Those lives were precious!

'Thus Kindly I Scatter…'

The Code glimmered brighter again. The golden tinge vanished from Ruby's vision. And its silver lens began to brighten.

"Disappointing. I know I would have stopped at nothing to save my sibling if it had been possible," The Queen sighed. "Three–"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Ruby roared, silver volcanos erupting from her eyes and flooding the yellow and purple orb. Her friends and their dragons were all consumed by the blinding argent sun, even Black Rose Dragon and Starving Venom whisked away to safety.

Destruction Dragon split back into its original two cards as the Creation Magic approached, returning to its mistress' palm just as the silver wall crashed into her.

Ruby finally glimpsed a part of her other than her eyes then, the glow of her magic ripping away enough of the shadows surrounding her to reveal the hellish woman's ashen lips.

And the smile that adorned them.

Mountain Glenn Arc: Start.

At this point, I should really just start expecting these arcs to take a chapter more than I plan for them. We were supposed to be at the first duel of the arc by now, but then I just kept thinking of more and more stuff for the other world sequence, and then I thought of that great establishing character moment for Salem and... yeah. It's like the ending to Weiss and Blake's duel but even bigger.

But this did work as an effective tone-setter for the arc. Team RWBY aren't in the kingdom proper anymore. Team JNPR is too far away to come to their aid. Oobleck and Zwei are there, but other than that, our heroes are on their own. And the danger is VERY real.

Remember to check out and add to this story's TVTROPES PAGE! I check my stories' pages often and I always enjoy it when they grow. :)

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!