Last time on RWBY X Meta Runner: Worlds Collide…
Ruby, Tari, and the rest of the group are on their way to The Battleground! The catch? They will be going to it without Masa. Suddenly, a new, unfamiliar figure unexpectedly attacked them! That figure was Subhowler, a Lycanoid who may have connections to The Battleground and, though possible, Yang. He then rounded up everyone but one of them, with Theo getting knocked out and pursuing that giant, heinous wolf monster. Back to Masa, he landed on Menagerie and took out the White Fang reinforcements there. Only when noticing Ilia Amitola escaped and began to pursue her and Blake Belladonna, the Distortion on the island. As the Nevermore Energy-powered Meta Runner and the Distortion Faunus clashed, Lin-Noir, secretly on the side of good, turned the tables on Vekk-Torr by making Masa attack the warlord once he arrived. Now, with the Dimensional Compass in his possession, he, alongside Ilia, ventured to Silica City not just to marvel at the city's sights. But to meet up with someone unfamiliar to the faunus herself, MD-5.
But why are they here, exactly? Stay tuned to find out!
"-king saying?" Sofia concluded.
"Who are you talking to, Sof?" Lucinia asked her sister.
"This disembodied voice mentioned this whole 'fate of a city' crap. It mentioned Silica City getting destroyed by Vekk-Torr." Sofia explained. "And not to mention, that voice said these two need to explain everything that happened with Masa."
"Well…" Ilia cooed.
"I'll answer that question. Ilia and I come from different worlds." Lin-Noir explained. "I am from Camylon, a world beyond your imagination, while Ilia hails from Remnant."
"Remnant? Like from the game?" Belle asked. "If so, coconut boy isn't the only video game character who jumped out of his game."
"In your world, what you call this 'game' where I come from, is my home. Remnant is under attack." Ilia addressed.
The three girls gasped at what Ilia said.
"You poor thing," Lucinia gasped. "Are you sure you'll get home safe?"
"I hope so. Otherwise, once Vekk-Torr destroys Remnant, I'll take refuge here." Ilia sighed.
"Okay, let's get back to the point." Sofia interrupted.
"I think the heavy is dead." Lin-Noir joked.
Everyone across the room fell silent following the jest by the Camylonian.
"What are all four of you staring at me for? This joke-telling stuff isn't easy, you know." He said.
"Well, you might want to get some new jokes, my avian friend." Belle critiqued.
"Anyway, here's what happened with your friend. When your friend, Lamar, decided to bring Masa to Remnant, Vekk-Torr wanted to ensure that he was under the influence of Nevermore Energy when the former returned." Lin-Noir recapped. "As he was doing that, Masa came to deny Lamar's capture and possession. Now under his control, Masa sent him to destroy the White Fang's top players."
"That's where I came in," Ilia interjected. "As Masa—That's his name, right?"
Lin-Noir nodded his head yes in response to her question.
"Thank you." She responded. "As Masa crash landed in the White Fang outpost in Menagerine, Sienna and Adam, the ones in charge of the post there, perished. Leaving me to warn the chieftain of my home of the threat Vekk-Torr created from Masa."
"Threat? Only when you play against him!" Belle jested.
"I'm dead serious. Your superpowered friend tried to kill me! And he would have gotten away with it if it weren't for my meddling superpowered friend, Blake Belladonna." Ilia revealed.
"Don't forget about me," Lin-Noir confessed.
"And my avian ally." She added.
"Thank you. Once I burst out of Masa's chest like one of those sci-fi aliens in your world, he ripped up Vekk-Torr like a feral wolverine against a block of cheese." He bragged.
"Burst out of his chest? That was gross!" Belle scoffed
"But he regenerated from his wounds thanks to the Nevermore Energy inside him." He replied.
"Oh, false alarm." She gasped.
"Glad to hear he's alright." Sofia chimed in.
"Agreed," Lin-Noir responded. "But I fear the same could be said about Vekk-Torr as well. He does not falter that quickly, no matter what foe is up against."
Vekk-Torr noticed a Camylonian muscle hovercar. As it grew louder and louder toward him, the warlord shielded his face as the car's lights shone. Two figures walked out once the vehicle stopped and swerved out of the way, evading the warlord. Once the engine got cut off, they approached him. On his left side was Rock-Skar, the general watching over the Kingdom of Mistral. But on the right was the form of a humanoid velociraptor. Its colors were chartreuse and burgundy, and its optics were pink, and he wore a silver, light blue, and dark green racing suit with a brown leather belt with numerous automobile tools in it.
"Sir, you seem to have been injured. Are you okay?" The general asked.
"Negative. That traitorous Lin-Noir manipulated Masa to attack me and freed him from my control." Vekk-Torr responded. "Bastard was clever enough to hijack my control over
Masa and snag the Dimensional Compass."
"Oh, man, not that!" Rock-Skar said. "Well, you're in luck. I have made a prototype of that relic's spiritual successor."
He then revealed a chrome icosahedron with ultraviolet light illuminating from every edge. Suddenly, Vekk-Torr ran toward it to see it for the first time.
"Ooooh… shiny…" The warlord marveled. "What the hell is it?"
"My liege, this is what I, and my friend and fell mechanic, Ni-Treaux, call the Black Loadstar. After years of examining the Dimensional Compass, I have created a device that mirrors its powers but is better at it in every way." Rock-Skar explained.
"Intriguing." Vekk-Torr praised as he snagged the device with his regenerated left hand from his general's hands. "Let's test it out."
"Sir, it's a prototype." Rock-Skar criticized. "I recommend we should–"
"That's none of your concern!" Vekk-Torr yelled.
The warlord then raised the Black Loadstar to the sky, and in a matter of seconds, the substance that once covered Remnant came towards it and immediately got absorbed by it. His body became more like the Grimm he currently controls as he looked on. His fingertips became sharp like swords, he grew spikes out of his knees, and he threw his tattered cape aside as he began to sprout dragon-like wings out of his back. He placed the gadget into his chest, and his body began healing. He then grabbed said cape and, using his magic, transformed it into the wings' techno-organic skin, completing his transformation. Once he fully recovered, he transmogrified his wings into the cape that he once wore. However, his right forearm and numerous wounds he obtained during the fight with Masa, mainly in the chest, hadn't regenerated.
"Sir, your wounds." Ni-Treaux noticed.
"What is it?" The warlord responded.
He then noticed the scars on his body.
"Oh, I see." He said. "I am not fully healed. Once I find the Dimensional Compass and transfer the power I have stored there to your trinket, I will be unstoppable!"
"May I remind you again that it's a prototype?" Rock-Skar advised.
"Rock-Skar, you have been a tinkerer for decades. Most of your creations go improvements that I handle all by myself." Vekk-Torr disclosed. "After all—"
The warlord raised his hand and opened a portal to his ship.
"Your creations always impress me." He finished.
He then proceeded to walk into it, and it closed. The two remaining Camylonians then looked at each other.
"Want to go to my concert in Argus?" Rock-Skar asked his friend.
"Sure," Ni-Treaux replied. "Only if you make me in charge of patrolling Menagerie."
"Deal!" The rocker general replied as the two got back into the car.
Back on his ship, Vekk-Torr began to analyze the location of the Dimensional Compass. He and his scientists are investigating every reality, every single one of them destroyed by him.
"Any luck yet?" He asked.
"Negative, sir," One of the scientists responded. "The majority of realities that we have analyzed are dead ones. There's no way we can find Lin-Noir in one of those."
"Keep looking. That traitorous avian and that relic are somewhere." Vekk-Torr scoffed.
Suddenly, one of the scientists jumped out of his seat, realizing he had found something.
"Sir!" He said. "I have found Lin-Noir!"
The warlord headed toward his location and came across his monitor.
"Silica City? That's familiar." Vekk-Torr wondered.
"What is it, sir?" The scientist questioned."
"I believe our old friend Tari hails from that place," Vekk-Torr responded. "Initiate the dimensional jump protocol. Set course for Universe 2019-26-Xi-Cailyx"
"Right away, sir." The scientist acknowledged.
As he began walking to his quarters, Vekk-Torr started to message the crew on his ship. He raised his left arm and delivered a verbal message across it.
"Attention all personnel on The Deathstorm; this is Vekk-Tor. Fasten all seatbelts, seal all entrances and exits, secure all vessels in the loading bay, lockdown all prisoner cells, follow all safety protocols, and we will launch when I arrive in my quarters." He ordered.
Suddenly, the alarms blared throughout the ship, notifying that someone had escaped custody. Vekk-Torr immediately activates his communicator on his wrist to talk to a security guard.
"Security, what the hell is happening?" He questioned.
"It's Salem! She's loose!" The security guard answered
"Is she armed?" He questioned the guard
"Well," She stated. "She is–"
Suddenly, Vekk-Torr heard the sound of a laser blast that killed the guard. Salem then picked up the dead guard's communicator and picked it up near her face.
"Vekk-Torr, I'm not going to stop until I get my hands on you and you release the Grimm from your control, and you and your army leave my home!" Salem ranted.
"Ooh, feisty. I like that." He jested.
Meanwhile, Salem was busy killing the security guard. She wore a short-sleeved robe made of techno-organic fibers with a neatly removed right sleeve, showing her new cybernetic arm. It has red trim flowing from her raised collar with a scarlet trim bordering the outer edge of a narrow window exposing her bust and her kite-shaped arc reactor, reminiscent of circuitry, reaching her knees, displaying her cybernetic enhanced hind legs with thrusters similar to a jet and a rocket. Said cybernetic arm has a humanoid shape with a spiked pauldron akin to a pufferfish and a forearm that can convert to a blaster or form a wrist-mounted blade. On her left arm, she wore a Camylonian vambrace which can create a wrist-mounted plasma energy blade. Completing her look is spinosaurus-like silver bone armor on her left shoulder, waist, and back and a charcoal-black and bone-white jetpack. As two more security guards bolt towards her, she converts her cybernetic forearm into its blaster form and fires at them, killing them. She ran across the hallway to find the warlord and hopefully kill him. As Vekk-Torr exited to head to his quarters, he saw the dead guards fighting the escaped prisoner. Suddenly, both the Camylonian warlord and Remnatian witch noticed each other running through the hallways, and the latter leaped at the former with her blades about to strike the former aggressively. In response, Vekk-Torr stiff-armed her and threw her against a wall.
"All stations in Sector 7, stop whatever you are doing and apprehend Salem now!" He ordered.
Soon, everyone in the sector of the ship began running towards Salem in hopes of restraining her. Many of the crew and soldiers tried dogpiling on her; some even grabbed onto her legs, but she shrugged them off like a nasty rash. As Vekk-Torr reached the elevator, he immediately got tackled by Salem.
"You aren't going anywhere." She growled.
She then activated the thrusters on her legs, and the warlord struggled to steer her like a rodeo bull toward the elevator. Then the rocketing duo barged through the elevator doors, wrestled upwards, and bounced from wall to wall inside the shaft.
As they got near the warlord's quarters, Vekk-Torr used the tendrils that were once his right arm and made them grasp the doors to barge through them, and the dimensional jump could commence.
"Thanks for the lift, Salem." He taunted.
As they barged through the doors, Vekk-Torr immediately kicked Salem off of him and ran to his quarters. As Salem recovered, she pursued him, only for his quarter's doors to close in front of her.
"Damnit!" She hissed.
"All stations, prepare The Deathstorm for Dimensional Jump. Location: Universe 2019-26-Xi-Cailyx." Vekk-Torr ordered.
Suddenly, Salem felt a rumble on the ship. It has taken off to the universe where Vekk-Torr is going to! Then, Salem thought of an idea, an awful idea.
"How about I send Vekk-Torr to a dimension where no one can ever see him again?" She whispered.
As The Deathstorm was about to take off, Salem focused on the door as she prepared to blast it down. She converted her new arm into its blaster form and began charging a shot to blow the door down. In his quarters, Vekk-Torr was in the middle of a conversation with Yang via video meeting.
"As of now, Subhowler is sending those meddlesome punks to The Battleground. By the time they are caged, the rest of those Distortions are easy pickings." She informed
"Excellent, Xiao Long." He replied. "But first, I have to make a stop so I won't have to face a few more intruders and traitors."
"And what will that be?" Yang asked.
"A world beyond your own." He responded.
"One more thing, get me a souvenir." She requested.
"I will, but if you give me Tari in exchange." He offered.
"Seems like a fair trade." She retorted. "See ya when you get back."
The door then gets blasted as the monitor goes off, and Vekk-Torr turns around to see Salem, who was ready for a fight since she escaped imprisonment.
"Right on cue." He said.
"The only thing that is right on cue… IS YOUR DEATH!" Salem roared as she rocketed toward the warlord and delivered a lethal spear that smashed through the glass window and into the dimensional tunnel.
They immediately started getting sucked into it by its gravitational forces, but both managed to cling onto the ship's hull. Salem began climbing toward the warlord and delivered a punch that made the warlord lose his grip even further. She then gave a few more blows to his face until Vekk-Torr grabbed one of them and headbutted her in retaliation and gave a punch that sent them falling into the tunnel even more.
"Nice try, but I can do better." He said as he activated the Black Loadstar.
A portal to a dimension that Vekk-Torr conquered and destroyed quickly opened. He kicked Salem into it and pursued her via the tunnel's gravitational pull. As they entered the portal, Vekk-Torr's cape transmogrified into his wings, swooped in on Salem, grabbed her neck, and rocketed toward a dead, lifeless planet, and the portal they entered closed. To combat this, Salem converted her arm into its blaster form, and she fired at him. When she blinded him with one of her shots, the warlord cried in agony, loosening his grip.
"Gaarg! You'll regret that, you pest!" He yelled.
He preceded to open another portal, this time to the planet's surface. He then uses the tendrils to ensnare Salem and throw him into it. Salem responded by grabbing one and, using her jetpack and rocket legs, rocketed toward him and delivered a headbutt and slice from her plasma blades that sent them both into the portal. When it closed, Salem plunged her blaster arm into the warlord's chest and fired at the wound where the Black Loadstar was. By doing so, they teleported through alternate apocalyptic and lifeless cities such as New York, London, Tokyo, Austin, Texas, and Sydney. Vekk-Torr grabbed Salem's arm with the tendrils ad her face with his left arm and proceeded to fire a blast of magic, which scarred her face and threw her to the ground.
"Had enough?" He asked.
Salem rocketed by delivering an uppercut with her plasma blade on her left arm, blinding the warlord.
"I have had enough of you!" She shouted as she fired a powerful blast of energy from her blaster.
The shot sent the warlord crashing into the apocalyptic, lifeless, and cold cityscape below. Suddenly, the city's destroyed skyscrapers began to get unrooted from their foundation, and Vekk-Torr preceded to throw them at Salem like javelins. She then donged and blasted each building thrown at her, and the two rocketed towards each other and grasped hands as they got close.
"You're dead, bastard!" She hissed.
"No, you." He responded.
Vekk-Torr opened a portal below them and thrashed Salem with his tendrils like a paddle ball (with the paddle being himself in this analogy), and she fell into it. As it closed, he realized they were both above Silica City, the home of MD-5. Knowing this, he then created a Lurker, a manta ray Grimm.
"Now go, find Lin-Noir and the Dimensional Compass." He ordered it.
The Lurker zoomed off to the city below. As Salem fell to the ground at Silica City, Vekk-Torr landed on him, crushing her. As he got up, he picked up Salem by her neck. The Deathstorm appeared from its portal, hovering above the city.
"Citizens of Silica City, you are the first to witness the death of your world by the hands of the Living Black Hole himself, VEKK-TORR!" He bellowed.
Then, the bystanders began to panic after his announcement across the city. Elsewhere, Belle, Sofia, Lucinia, Ilia, and Lin-Noir exit the MD-5 hideout to the sounds of panicking civilians, looting, and fires outside.
"What's going on?" Lucinia questioned.
"It's Vekk-Torr. He's here." Lin-Noir retorted. "We gotta go."
The Lurker that Vekk-Torr summoned came up from behind them and struck Lin-Noir in the back, making him lose the Dimensional Compass from his grip. The manta ray Grimm then grabbed the Camylonian artifact with its mouth before the latter could shatter and fly off with it before Lin-Noir could catch it.
"Dammit!" He badgered. "I'll pursue the compass; Ilia, you're with me. The rest of you need to find a way to distract Vekk-Torr."
Lin-Noir and Ilia bolted in pursuit of the Lurker. As the duo left, Sofia called Marco on her phone.
"Ollo?" He greeted.
"Marco, no time to explain," Sofia replied. "We must stop a warlord planning to destroy the world! And fast!"
"Ohhhhhh-kay. I'm coming to your place as soon as I can!" He piped.
Elsewhere, Vekk-Torr was busy choking Salem as he walked through the city, as the citizens ran in horror. When the Lurker caught up with Vekk-Torr, he threw Salem aside and knelt towards his creation of Grimm. He then took the Dimensional Compass from its mouth and transferred the power to the Black Loadstar in his chest via the tendrils on his right arm. The duo of Lin-Nor and Ilia came toward him, and they readied their arms as they approached.
"Oh, good. Company." He jested.
"Vekk-Torr, this charade ends here." Lin-Noir threatened.
The warlord scoffed and threw the Dimensional Compass at Lin-Noir like a ball, and the latter caught it quickly.
"Take your compass," Vekk-Torr said. "It was useful when it was. Now, it's garbage."
"You won't get away with this," Ilia grunted.
"I already did, my faunus friend." He jested. "And now, this world will-"
Suddenly, a black van rammed into his left foot. He began to feel pain as the vehicle struck him in the foot by hopping on his right leg and holding his injured foot. With him off guard, Salem saw an opening and shot him in the knee, tripping him and making him fall on his face. Everyone, including Ilia and Lin-Noir, looked confused at her when they saw that.
"What? I'm on your side!" She declared.
By her announcement, everyone acknowledged it and resumed what they were doing. Lin-Noir and Ilia turned to the van as its windows rolled down, revealing Marco and the rest of MD-5.
"Hey, Sof told me about you alien punks." He said.
In Remnant, Yang was busy preparing the tournament's bracket in The Battleground. That was until she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." She informed.
Two VekkTroopers proceeded to open the door and enter her quarters.
"Mistress Xiao Long." One of them informed. "Subhowler has returned with the interlopers that attacked Vale."
"Oh, great. Send that wolf punk in." She responded.
The soldiers nodded in agreement and signaled to send Subhowler, who walked into her quarters, carrying Ruby and Tari in each arm like beer kegs.
"You rang, boss?" He asked.
"Good timing." She replied. "Bring them to me."
Subhowler then tossed the two heroines toward her feet. Ruby gritted her teeth as they got up and walked toward her sister.
"You ratted us out?" Ruby berated. "Why the hell would you? We're sisters! Huntresses! Teammates even!"
"That was then." Yang sinisterly jested as she walked towards Tari. "Now we are rivals."
She then picked up Tari by the collar and pulled her closer to her.
"So you're the pound of flesh making all the ruckus," Yang recalled.
"Yang, remember who you once were! Remember what happened before Vekk-Torr invaded Remnant!" Ruby Interrupted.
"Heyheyheyhey! Hey, baby sis." Yang boasted as Subhowler and the two VekkTroopers cornered her. "Like I'm going to give you back to her? Lord Vekk-Torr has plans for this troublemaker."
"No! Yang! Listen to me!" Ruby criticized.
"Hit the bricks, Rubes," Yang responded. "And take your rat pack back to Patch."
Ruby looked at her Camylonian prosthetic, Subhowler, and the bracket Yang was working on.
"You know something? I'm joining your tournament." She proclaimed.
The VekkTroopers lowered their weapons in confusion. Subhowler backed away from the confident huntress and towards Yang.
"Are you letting that Distortion join this tournament?" Subhowler whispered.
"If she wins, Ruby will tell you all we know. If we lose, Vekk-Torr gets me." Tari interrupted.
"Intriguing." Yang complimented.
She then pulled out her scroll and called Vekk-Torr.
"Lord Vekk-Torr, I got Tari." She informed.
"Excellent, Xiao Long. Your souvenir is ready for you." He
Suddenly, a portal to Silica City opened, and a Scytheclaw, a Therizinosaurus-like Grimm, walked out of it. It then looked at Tari as she distanced away from it. It hugged her like a giant teddy bear and ran into the portal. Then a Lurker zoomed in and delivered a TasDeck, which Yang caught and zoomed back into as it was about to close.
"Don't worry, Tari. I'll beat the crap out of her and the rest of her gladiators." Ruby whispered.
In Silica City, however, Vekk-Torr recovered from his injuries and is ready to deal with the seven interlopers with his army of Grimm. These included Ursas, Beowolves, Creeps, Manticores, Ravagers, Lurkers, Scytheclaws, and a few new Grimm from Remnant's past, such as dimetrodon-like Slitsails and ankylosaurus-like Demolishors. As the Scytheclaw carrying Tari and the Lurker who gave Yang her souvenir returned, they immediately started looking for Tari's server after the former threw Tari towards the warlord. Tari was soon immediately abducted by The Deathstorm's tractor beam and got teleported to a prison cell. The interlopers immediately saw this happen and were shocked by it. Salem fired a napalm blast from her blaster arm that started a blaze that blocked the vision of the Grimm.
"Lin, I'll get them away from the Grimm and find a way into his ship," Ilia advised as she jumped on the van's roof. "Punch it, Marco!"
"You asked for it!" Marco retorted as he put his foot on the gas.
"Go! We'll cover you!" Lin-Noir acknowledged.
Vekk-Torr used his wings to fan out the blaze and see the seven interlopers escaping from him.
"Seize them! Crush them! Kill them!" He ordered the sinister monsters.
They immediately pursued the seven as he left to find something to repair himself. As he flew across the city, he couldn't find anything powerful to heal him. That was until the Lurker saw something in an abandoned building. He then launched his tendrils at the abandoned building, and they immediately began to quickly absorb the damaged technology left behind by the individual that worked there once before. Vekk-Torr then zoomed toward the building, smashing a hole in the wall and seeing a piece of tech that Tari once called her home. He examined it, but then, the Black Loadstar jumped out of his chest and merged with it. It then lodged itself into the warlord's chest, and soon, both Tari and Vekk-Torr began to scream in pain at what was happening to the latter.
"NO! My server!" Tari screamed as she began to get erased in her AI form.
"YES! This power!" Vekk-Torr sinisterly smiled as his body began completing the process of repairing itself.
His chest fully healed, and he wore a new breastplate with his symbol, a manta ray with spikes across its pectoral fins, on the front of it. His new right arm is similar to his left, but now it is a silverish gray, with ultraviolet light illuminating through the crevasses and his symbol on the back of his hand. He then destroyed the building with a snap of his fingers and threw a magical bomb that began to fizz to the planet's core.
"And now, back to our scheduled programming." He said as he flew off to The Deathstorm.
Meanwhile, Tari woke up in the artificial body she once lost.
"No… this can't be right." She groaned.
She instantly noticed she was in the MD-5 hideout. Then she saw the memorial of her and Theo, grabbed her hoodie, which she put on, and the glitched Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, and exited the hideout.
"Minus the property damage, this is like a usual day here." She complimented.
As she walked further, the tractor beam picked her up and abducted her again.
"Nonono! Not again!" She quivered.
While abducted, she saw cracks in the streets and realized that something was afoot—Vekk-Torr was destroying the world she once called home.
As it was happening, the group managed to lose the Grimm, only for the van to get flung by the crack in the asphalt. The five in the vehicle immediately jumped out and started to get pulled by the zero gravity pull of space. Lin-Noir flew in and saved Ilia while Salem pursued the others, only to be swarmed by Lurkers.
"Lin, what about the others? And Salem?" Ilia questioned.
"Save the city in this; I'll send them where they can't be hurt!" Lin-Noir responded as he gave the Dimensional Compass to her and put her down on the ground.
Ilia then luckily twisted the compass open and threw both hemispheres like frisbees.
"Smart move, kid!" Lin-Noir shouted. "This will store the city and its inhabitants until freed and placed into a new world!"
Lin-Noir then pursued the pulled individuals as he attempted to grab Belle's hand.
"Oi, it's too late! We're goners!" She cried.
"Not yet!" He responded as he opened two portals.
Sofia and Belle entered the leftmost portal, while Lucinia and Belle entered the rightmost. The Dimensional Compass began covering Silica City and ensealing it. Lin-Noir and Salem started to fly near the sealed city, but The Deathstorm flew off via Dimensional Jump, and the planet exploded. What remains of it is the rubble of the planetoid itself and Salem, floating in the vacuum of space. As she woke up, she saw nothing but the remains of the planet.
"This…" Salem sobbed. "This is all my fault."
Suddenly a Bot-Boy that survived the blast zoomed toward her and wiped the tear from her eye.
"Everything that happened just now isn't your fault." It replied.
"But everything else is." She cried. "I knew we shouldn't have attacked Vekk-Torr."
"Who's we?" It asked.
"Me. Tyrian, Hazel, and Arthur. All of them except me perished when he arrived in my world." She answered.
"I… feel your loss already." It replied.
Salem then hugged the Bot-Boy, making him close to her, and continued to cry for the ones who perished when the planet exploded.
"I know why you cry," It consoled. "But it is something I cannot do."
Meanwhile, in Camylon, one of the portals that Lin-Noir created opened to the main hallway of the Spectrum Castle, where Ark-Thor and the Knights of the Core once called their home. Suddenly, Sofia and Belle fell out of it before it closed. As they got up, Sofia immediately ran across the hallway, crying after seeing the world they once called home get destroyed by Vekk-Torr.
"Sof! Sof! Get back here!" Belle exclaimed as she pursued her toward a giant doorway.
"Don't you get it? It's gone!" Sofia complained. "Silica City, Earth, all of it! It's all gone!"
"Lin tried his best to save our world," Belle informed her.
"And look what we got in return," Sofia grunted as she balled up a fist. "FUCKING NOTHING!"
She punched the gigantic steel doors, which slowly opened to see an empty laboratory with two vats of enhanced Grimm liquid with Camylonian technology used to examine, analyze and improve it and two cannons to shoot the crystal cocoons into another dimension once the
Distortion got concealed in it. Belle then walks into it and is surprised by the room's interior that Sofia unexpectedly opened.
"Sof, your fist begs to differ." She wondered.
With a surprised look, Sofia looked at the hand she used to punch open the lab door and balled it up into a fist. She then flexed her arm, smiled, and kissed her bicep.
"I agree with you, Belle. We can always make something from nothing." She complimented. "I hope Lin, Luc, and Marco are doing the same thing wherever they're at."
On Remnant, however, Lin-Noir woke up in a grassy field in the kingdom of Vale after miraculously saving Silica City from destruction. With it now stored in the Dimensional Compass, thanks to Ilia, he preceded to pick the compass up.
"Thanks, Ilia." He remarked as he twisted the compass open to let out a baseball-sized spark (Silica City) inside it.
It then flew up in the sky and quickly crashed into the ground, making a crater the size of an automobile tire. He then closed the compass and clipped it to his right hip as he watched the fissures spread far and wide in all four directions across the ground. The crevices on the terrain began to glow a bright white light from their ends to the crater. Then, Lin-Noir flew away from the excavation, allowing a massive beacon of white light to shine in the night sky and Silica City to emerge from the spark. In Vale and Patch, many citizens watched it in amazement. By the time the city finished emerging from the spark, Lin-Noir had flown around the city, and he saw it the same before Vekk-Torr arrived, minus the damage the warlord did to the abandoned building, magic bomb borrowing excluded. As he landed at the top of the highest skyscraper, he saw none other than Ilia.
"You know, the view is more beautiful when you see the city up close." She marveled.
Lin-Noir smiled and laughed at what Ilia said.
"The same can be said about standing on the roof and seeing the night sky here on Remnant." He responded.
The citizens of the surviving city began to cheer for the duo that saved them, and the Camylonian raven and the chameleon Faunus heard them loud and clear.
"How does it feel to be a hero?" Lin-Noir questioned.
"Feels good." She smiled. "I have made my friends and my kin proud."
Meanwhile, in Vale, Theo, who was in his mech, saw the massive beacon shine in the night sky, interrupting his search for Subhowler. As he arrived at the Atlesian Military hangar, he walked in unannounced.
"Hello, anyone home?" He asked.
Suddenly, General Ironwood walked in front of him.
"No one is home, invader. Now leave." He commanded.
"You don't have to be rude, Mr. Ironwood," Theo responded as he jumped out of the mech's cockpit. "I need your help."
"It's GENERAL Ironwood! Gaagh! You are making me look like Hedley Lamaar by saying that." Ironwood exclaimed.
"Sorry about that, Mr. General." Theo sighed. "But I require your help. I need to find The Battleground."
"The Battleground, you say?" Ironwood retorted confidently. "Lucky for you, Penny and I have been tracking movements inside Joyworld."
"Joyworld? What's that?" Theo asked.
"I'm glad you asked," Ironwood replied. "It was once a famous amusement park here in Vale until Grimm overran it. Once Vekk-Torr took over Remnant, it now serves as a fighting pit for creatures beyond our imagination ever since the takeover of the planet."
"Did you just say 'fighting pit'?" Theo Interrupted.
"Yes," Ironwood answered.
"So that means The Battleground is in Joyworld!" Theo realized.
"Glad you have connected the dots there, Theo." Ironwood acknowledged. "We will happily oblige to help you."
"Crackerjack!" Theo exclaimed in joy. "Theo, Penny, and Ironwood to the rescue!"
"Penny, inform the crew to fire up the engines. We are going to Joyworld!" Ironwood ordered.
How'll Theo, Penny, and General Ironwood react to Yang turning on Remnant?
Who else will be participating in the tournament?
And if Ruby and Yang face each other, which sister will emerge victorious?
Be here for when all of those questions get answered in Chapter 9: Fists of Fury!