Transposition F — (For Chris Ayres)

by J-Dude2470

A change in fate leads Frieza to arrive just as the Eternal Dragon is summoned. A panicked wish sends not only Earth's fighters, but Namek's tormentor offworld. This wish has altered Remnant's fate, as all bear witness to a tyranny like no other. As hero and monster alike descend upon Mistral, what is set in motion will rock the very pillars of the world. —Post V4; Lng/AdultSit—

24. Reunions: One-Thousand-And-One Tales

Akira Toriyama, 1955 - 2024

"Go, Toriyama, and teach a dinosaur to ride a ball…"

---

Emerald peered out the dorm window, her eyes downcast as the last of the daylight began to fade. She stared at the note in her hands.

The door opened. She stuffed the note between her cleavage hastily, turning on the spot to see—

"Cinder!" She almost jumped. Her master didn't notice as she staggered in. "You've… been training? Again?"

Cinder didn't answer at first, slumping into a chair near the door. "I… almost forgot what it was to refine a skill. I've been complacent… The steady creep of progress… It feels… good."

Emerald felt a tingle down her spine at the sound of a melodic chuckle from Cinder's voice processor. She laughed. An actual, genuine laugh…

"Cinder, are you feeling…?"

Cinder's eye found her with an exhausted smile. "I literally just said I felt good. My goodness, I've been a terror… Have you been putting up with my nonsense this whole time?"

Emerald froze as Cinder stood up again. "N-nonsense? Ma'am?"

Cinder snorted, a hand over her face. "God, you're terrified to answer… I used to use a firm hand with you and Mercury, but we were also partners in crime. A deadly trio, efficient and deserving. But since what happened… I couldn't stand being humbled." There was a flicker of… shame on her face, as she stared towards the floor.

"I've been bitter. Foul. I was shaken, having come so far, only to taste the bite of humility… and then realize I was nothing, even at my best. But Frieza turned my eyes to the stars… It was all meant to be."

Emerald was still extremely cautious. "C-Cinder, our last… real talk—"

"I threatened you." Cinder admitted, still boring her eye into the wall. "I struck you, when all you had were my own best interests at heart."

Emerald froze. "I… I don't know what to…"

Cinder's face fell further. "You're worried this is a trick. That I'm trying to lower your defenses and get you to admit some final trespass… and make good on what I said."

Emerald's eyes were huge. "I-I don't know what this is…"

"I've given you every reason to distrust me. Frieza was right," Cinder slumped onto the edge of the bed. "I tried to distance myself from childhood, from who I used to be… and even after he stripped my soul down to its barest, I still lashed out like a brat."

"I-I wouldn't—"

"NO!" Cinder's tearsign erupted, scorching and spitting sparks. "I did! I've been a child. We ALL failed at Haven, and I blamed everyone but myself…" She took a deep sigh. "I'm better than this. We were born to have dominion over the stars… and these trials are all in preparation to that higher calling."

Emerald hardly dared to believe the words she was hearing… but the frustration in Cinder's voice, artificial though it was… it felt real.

"You just have doubts… you need to see… It was I who taught you to be wary of the sort who would betray you. Of course, I wouldn't voice those fears around HIM…"

Cinder stood up, and Emerald still visibly flinched. The Rogue Maiden winced.

"I chose you for my first disciple, yes, for your semblance… But so too did I see myself, before I learned to subdue the world and shape it to my own liking." Cinder closed the distance, hands upon her shoulders. "The world did worse than spurn us… It ignored us… Even the ones who call themselves 'compassionate' shrink from the sight of our need, our poverty. Their well-wishes are hollow… They would never sacrifice what it truly takes to mend a broken life."

"B-but you… took me in."

Cinder finally smiled. "Yes… I'll admit, even I wasn't sure what to consider you then. Perhaps it's… sentimental for my taste. But if you see me as… family… like you said before…"

Her claw of a left hand curled behind Emerald's back. Cinder's other hand found the back of her head and pulled her against the crook of her neck. Taller than her, Cinder's jaw nuzzled against the side of her head. A hug…?

"I WILL be better," Cinder told her. "For you, and for Mercury. For Lord Frieza… for myself…"

Emerald's eyes were huge, her mouth went dry. She shook, clasping Cinder back, terribly aware of the note stuffed down her front. Her master squeezed with a sigh.

"I actually can't remember the last time I… Well… it's good, isn't it?"

Her eyes were wet. She choked. "Y-yes… I…"

"Emerald… You've been denied comfort for so long… even from me. Family shouldn't WALLOW in sentiment… but…"

"What the hell is this?"

Emerald jolted, looking across Cinder's shoulder to see Mercury, hand still on the door. She couldn't even describe his expression.

Cinder gave one last squeeze before turning to the son of an assassin, heels clicking as she strode last him, a hand on his chin. "An apology. I don't suppose you're in need of some TLC too, Mercury?" she giggled.

"I'm… good, boss. Thanks."

Emerald couldn't help but analyze her. It was like how Cinder was before Beacon, but… without the tension. The sultry sway in her step was gone. No lacking dignity, but… something about how she carried herself felt like she was meeting Cinder for the first time. The person she was, not who she wanted others to see. She liked it.

"I'm going to freshen up," Cinder said, slipping past Mercury for the restroom door. "You two should consider getting some licks in with each other outside the city. Vacuo is best experienced at night, per my experience. That might be me remembering my few free hours when I was a girl here…"

The door closed after her, before the patter of water reached them from under the door, along with the first curls of steam.

Mercury stared at the door, before pivoting to catch Emerald's eye.

"I… think she's been rethinking things…?" she said, still as floored as he was. Cinder had NEVER spoken of her childhood, or where she came from.

Mercury took a cautious step away from the bathroom door. "I'm split between this and her knife in our ribs all the time. You actually buy this?"

"I think she's… trying…"

He gave a humorless snort. "To do what? Bury her tantrums until she explodes?"

Emerald considered. "No, it's like… She's more ambitious than ever, and everything she's been through has been a test… Something to spur her on…"

He scoffed. "So from getting burned on her delusions of grandeur to all part of the grand plan… Like a doomsday prophet, day after the world was booked to collapse." He turned to grab a pair of short ammo belts from a nearby drawer. "Miss me on her mood swings. So… wanna hug it out?"

"Piss off."

The door closed behind him. Emerald retrieved the note, staring at it with shaking hands. She sighed.

---

The light of the crescent moon shimmered over the shifting landscape below as it changed from open ocean to craggy, broken lands… and ultimately, shifting sands. It had almost looked like more ocean until they swept lower.

It was strange. They moved so fast that what had been an hour to midnight in Patch was shifting the further West they went. In real-time, still dark had changed to purple twilight, until the setting Sun rose from the West! They were chasing the sunset over the horizon, and winning…

"About seven," Jaune guessed, gaging the light. "We might get a better look at the city before night catches up with us again."

"Hey! Cheggidout!" Nora said, pointing below.

"Is… that a giant turtle?" Blake asked.

For the first time in almost an hour, Sun's steely gaze broke as he blinked, peering down at the shape on the horizon. Indeed, like a rock in the constantly moving dunes, a huge, hundred-foot tall mound of ruddy, leathery skin and banded carapace was treading the sands like a great ship on the seas.

"A flatback slider," Sun said, his first words in an hour as well. "Super rare. Nomads think they're good luck."

"Well that's something, right?" Gohan offered, eyes bright, turning to the other side. "Huh, Ruby?"

But Ruby was in a deeply one-sided conversation with her passenger, Neo, who was seated side-saddle on the small of her back. Or, well… she had been, and since leaned an elbow on Ruby's shoulder blades.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Super good for us!" Ruby answered, plainly distracted.

Yang frowned. "I can't believe she can sit up like that, speed we're going."

Weiss nodded sagely. "Bulma's warp-bubble spacetime… trappings. It's why we're not all being savaged by the winds right now."

"There a way to turn it off?" Nora asked, fanning herself with a buzz saw pace. "Even with the Sun on its way out, the heat is suffocating!"

"It'll pass, Nora," Ren told her.

"Uh… not really?" Sun said, apology in his eyes. "Everything just soaks up the heat. Three AM it'll still be like an open-air kiln."

"Ughhhhhhh…!" Nora groaned, her neck and arms going limp.

"Real heat's coming up fast," Yang said, eyes fixed on the ever-nearing presence of Frieza, looming in their minds like a great, jagged black tower. "Think we're about to—"

They all silently gasped as the top of the stepped pyramid rose into view, growing larger and larger, black against the yellow skies. The closer they got, the more they could see the raised rocky red rim of an enormous crater, and the innumerable lights slowly illuminating within it as night neared.

"Okay, landing! Plan time!" Ruby insisted, immediately sinking towards one of the Sunset Stones.

"She's right, we need to feel this out first," Weiss said, following as the rest of them drifted after her.

They set down on the striated stone plinth, the low skyline of Vacuo just visible in spite of the lowness of its buildings.

"Okay, so… Starr," Blake said. "Long shot, but can you… sense her?"

Sun peered out into the conquered Kingdom. "No. I can't pick it out from everything else. Have to do this the old fashioned way."

They nodded, the prospect daunting.

"I hate to be the one to suggest it," Ren broached, "but as we're already here, undertaking a hazardous journey through enemy territory, should we not split our efforts to find what we can about the Relic?"

"The… Sword?" Gohan asked.

Weiss furrowed her brow. "What's to know? Frieza wouldn't know about the Relics. Why would he?"

Jaune nodded. "And without the Winter Maiden, even he couldn't get to it if he did. The most we'd find is where the Vault is, and… we could just ask Ozpin about that."

Ruby hurried over. "Sooooo, we stick together! In disguise…!"

Yang blinked. "Disguise…?"

"Yep!" Ruby said proudly, an arm around Neo's back as the mute watched with vague interest. "Neo and I talked it over… metaphorically. Check it!"

Without Neo having so much as moved, Ruby was suddenly ensconced in folding pink shards as she underwent a stark visual change. Her red hair had become bright pink pom pom pigtails, her Silver Eyes blue. She wore a frumpy pink skirt and dress with armored pleats and rounded pauldrons a rusty color.

There were stares all around, but Yang alone groaned. "Oh no… I know where this is goin'..."

"Hmm? Where? Where is it going?" Weiss asked, absolutely lost.

Yang sighed. "It's… from a comic."

Nora's brain appeared to reset. "Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a disguise? If… y'know… it's less disguise than cosplay?"

"Not really," Yang deadpanned. "Because—"

"Because NOBODY will recognize it! Because it freaking SUCKS!" Ruby explained with a sudden popping vein in her fascimile's forehead.

Blake, half amused, smirked as she asked, "Why… did you read it if it sucked?"

Ruby huffed, crossing her arms. "Because after Beacon, with air travel restricted, all the GOOD manga from Mistral dried up! And then the only thing on the shelves… for months… was stupid High Guardian Spice!"

Yang had the weary expression of a hardened veteran. "Ruby has this weird theory that it ripped us off… poorly."

Weiss' head gave an involuntary spasm. "And by us you mean…?"

"Team RWBY!" Ruby confirmed. "Four girls from different backgrounds go to a school for warriors, get caught up in a bunch of stuff and then gotta save the world?"

Ren hummed. "That doesn't sound that specific…"

"Oh, I haven't even started!" Ruby said with a smirk, as she waved a hand over the cherub of a character she was disguised as. "This is Rosemary… Main character, leader, happy-go-lucky redhead with a tortured past… Sound familiar yet…?" She grabbed her scythe, which was disguised as a pinkish sword with red gems in the hilt and pommel. "She wields a really generic-looking sword her mother gave her called Flowering Thorn, which just sounds NOTHING like Crescent Rose… Oh, her mother, a famous warrior who left on a mission years ago and never came back?!"

Weiss raised a brow. "Well that's slightly closer…"

Blake couldn't suppress a giggle. "Did… you just call yourself the 'main character'...?"

Ruby blinked. "No, but… I mean, it'd be cool…" She shook her pigtails like a dog. "You want more! I've got more!"

She brought up her scroll and flicked something to each of her three teammates, who pulled out their own to brief text documents.

"Your covers and ripoff doppelgangers!" Ruby presented, smugly, zipping over to Weiss as pink shards overtook her. "You're Sage… Oh, sorry Sun, should I…?"

Sun almost didn't answer. "Hn? Oh… Nah, it's different, it's a girl."

"Right… Sage. Rosemary's childhood bestie and totally obvious love interest…"

Weiss flushed. "What?"

She looked over herself, her white hair turning turquoise, blue eyes red, ponytail tightened and braided as her clothes and shoes turned dark purple, and a wide witch hat of the same color bloomed upon her head.

"It's all here," Ruby said, pointing at Weiss' screen. "She's the caster, her mom is old-fashioned and she has this constant struggle between the way she was raised and the easier ways of High Guardian Academy."

Weiss waved away the purple mass atop her head. "I am not wearing this ridiculous hat…"

Blake frowned at the words on her scroll. "Swears occasionally… 'A-wood-elf-or-something…' Selectively terrified of… trees?"

"Pff… Yeah," Ruby said, "it was really dumb. It's 'cause her home, The Fairy Woods is being overtaken by this rot stuff that nobody is doing anything about even though Guardians are supposed to protect people or whatever… Ripoff Huntsmen."

"Fairy Woods? That's you being colloquial and flippant, right?" Weiss asked.

Ruby wilted, shoving a comic page before her. "Nope… And witches like Sage are originally from a place called Witch Country…"

"That's… exceedingly lame, and uncreative," Jaune admitted.

"Seriously, why not… the 'Fey Wildes?' " Nora asked. "Or… Wickatopia! Friggin' anything would be better than…"

The pink shards engulfing Blake revealed voluminous red hair, mocha skin, largely unchanged yellow eyes, a forest-green cloak and olive dress beneath, as well as…

"Uh… I don't think pointy ears are a thing even faunus have," Blake pointed out, checking her scroll's selfie camera for a better look at the austere face. She covered them with her hair, watching her real hair beneath the facade mold the mane of red accordingly.

"So… this character… 'Thyme'…? That would be confusing to hear only spoken aloud…"

Nora blinked. "Ohhhh! Rosemary, Sage, Thyme… they're all—"

"Herbs," Ren said, making Nora blink again. "...Which are not spices…"

Blake winced. "But… what's her problem otherwise?"

Ruby swooped in. "Well, she's moody and distant like she's got this shameful past she's trying to distance herself from —like you did— but… she really doesn't? She wants to go back to the woods and help her dad with the rotting forest thing, but her mom won't let her, so… Basically, your backstory is way better."

Yang couldn't help herself. "And Ruby thinks she's dark-skinned because some people at Beacon had a problem with you not being, despite your color being…"

Blake's eyebrows shot up in alarm. "I— Wha— Excuse me?! Who said that? So because I'm light-skinned, my color can't be…? My name MEANS 'black,' and I'm proud of it! Do they think the opposite would be better?! Like that Power Strangers TV show, where the black themed girl was dark-skinned, and the yellow themed boy was from Mistral?"

Yang snorted. "Yeah, nobody criticized them for that…"

Yang made a noise as she realized something. "Wait… You're not gonna—?" But the pink shards overtook her, and what remained was a waist-high, stocky, short-haired blonde with blue eyes. Not short for apparent age, but… small, broad busted. "Agh! What…? This is weird, my eyes aren't where my head is!"

Curious, Ruby waved a hand overtop 'Yang's' head, only to tap right against.

"That's my abs, sis… Like, I'm the same size for real. Neo can't change your actual body. Remember? When she was me, she was still short."

Weiss examined the disguise as well. "Yet her eyes are tracking us… Impressive…"

Neo's teeth flashed as she gave a thankful grin.

"More pointy ears," Blake said, eying the disguise in its brown and white overall shorts. "That hair won't hide those…"

Neo sighed, and pink shards covered the ears as they rounded.

Nora hummed. "So this one is Yang because…?"

Yang sighed, the disguise crossing her arms. "Her name is Parsley… She's the strong short blonde one… I'm the strong tall blonde one… Kind of a reach, Ruby."

"No it isn't!" Ruby argued. "It's the same but different! Total ripoff-artist strat!"

Weiss snuck into Ruby's pocket and scrolled through her… scroll. "Oh my god, this document… I thought it was weird you had this prepared! How long have you been at this?!"

Ruby's head whipped around. "Heyyyy! Weiss!" She clambered around Weiss' back, trying to reach her device.

" 'School doesn't care if students with no combat experience die…' 'Stupid healing water is plentiful, but nobody gets more.' 'Healing water heals rot, bad-guys act like they blew open their conspiracy and try to kill leads… Stupid leads don't get help because there might be a mole in the school. There isn't.' " Weiss smirked with a sigh. "And then the word 'stupid' is repeated twenty-seven times…"

Blake's character wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, that sounds pretty bad, as far as sucking your leads into the plot… Ruby just happened to tangle with Torchwick, and Cinder was using him and the White Fang to steal Dust. My background largely got us involved in all of that, and none of them saw us as a threat until what Ruby did to Cinder."

Jaune nodded. "Kinda weird to compare a made-up story with events that actually happened to us… but yeah, a lot more natural how we all got caught up in this than… that."

"Me next!" Nora demanded, springing up by planting both hands on Jaune's head. "Who am I?!"

Ruby snatched her scroll back with a huff, but nodded to Neo. "She's not really you, but…"

The shards swept over Nora, whose eyes turned pink, hair became a purple shoulder-length sweep that looked like an ax blade. She was adorned in an off-white robe with pink trim.

Ruby continued. "Amaryllis is kind of a bully, deliberately annoying and stuck-up…"

Nora blinked. "Why isn't this Weiss then?!"

"Heyy…!"

Ruby smirked. "...She's also the best character in the story… like… actually."

"Ohh…" Nora said, before snorting and crossing her arms. "A'ight, I'm down for best-girl status. Ren?"

"Not necessary," Ren said, a hand out in refusal. "I don't think I will need—"

But shards covered him, revealing a hangdog of a boy with uneven, scraggly silt-brown hair.

Ruby winced as Neo snickered in silence. "Oh, Neo… you didn't need to give him Slime Boy…"

"Slime… Boy?"

"That is not his name," Yang droned, her disguise's tiny eyes half-lidded.

Ruby shrugged. "They don't say his real name. He's weird."

Nora ruffled his hair. "Aw, don't worry honey, you can be my Slime Boy…" Her smile faded. "Mmm… that sounded dirtier than I meant."

Neo hooked a thumb at Jaune, chewing her cheek.

Ruby shrugged again. "Eh… Snapdragon?"

The shards changed Jaune to a freckled wisp of an effeminate-looking boy with green eyes and coral hair.

Ruby blanched suddenly. The freckles and green eyes, envisioned off the pages of a comic book, were far too reminiscent of—

"You look like if Penny'd been a boy," Nora blurted. "And really soft-featured…"

Ruby's stare spanned a thousand miles as her stomach fell out.

Jaune noticed, and seemed to shrink. "So, uh… what's his deal?"

Ruby averted her gaze. "Snapdragon's Amaryllis' friend… He starts to realize he feels more like a girl in a boy's body."

Jaune frowned, pouting. "I feel like you're trying to say something…"

"Eh?" Yang shrugged. "Seven sisters."

Jaune sighed. "I'm not number eight. I just have a healthy association with my feminine side. You should try it sometime…"

Yang's tiny disguised body suddenly bristled. "What the hell does that mean…?"

The eyes of Snapdragon flew open suddenly as he realized his mistake. "Nothing! That was automati—"

"You want in touch with your feminine side?" Yang asked, her menace somewhat diminished for her size. "C'm'ere, I'll make it easier for you. " She mimed a yanking motion, which brought every ounce of menace back.

Jaune blinked. "I-I'm fine!"

Ruby gave a hollow laugh. "Okay, so, SUN! Who do we—?"

"Don't bother."

The harshness of Sun's tone tore everyone's gaze. His eyes were locked on the point of the pyramid.

Blake took a cautious step. "Sun?"

"I don't need a disguise. None of us need a disguise! It's not like Frieza's gonna sneak up on us… Who's gonna recognize us?"

Weiss hummed. "He's got a point… I'm not sure if Frieza would recognize us."

Ruby winced. "Well, if things go badly, we have a panic button to fade into the crowd…?"

Weiss nodded. "And a decent counterpoint… But for now, let's save Neo's strength."

Neo rolled her eyes, as the disguises fell away. Ruby walked up to Sun, who was a statue.

"So… where do we start?"

The remaining distance was trivial. As Shade Academy rose into sight, they saw the Capitol for what it was.

Vacuo was separated from the sands by the rim of a massive red crater, and the city was set within. Shade was surrounded on all sides by a lush ravine. A crack in the crater's center ran just deep enough to unearth an aquifer, creating a ravine, whose bottom was lush with reeds, date palms and greenery. It ran across the breadth of the crater, sealing at either end. Shade sat upon a lone, raised formation, reachable only by a grand wooden bridge.

"Whoa! I didn't know it was in a big crater!"

"Ruby!" Weiss chided. "Have you never opened a history book?! It's from a huge chunk of the Moonfall. It's the reason Vacuo was impregnated with Dust! The world's largest recorded deposit was found here."

"We're not on a sightseeing tour!" Blake snapped. "Sun?"

Sun's nostrils flared as the darkening city became clearer and clearer. "Why's the East quarter so dark…?"

Ruby's heart sank. "It's not just normal dark… I can't sense any life there either."

He zipped down to what looked like a stain across the city. The others followed, trying to land with as little flare as possible.

They touched down with a brittle series of crunches. A smell of soot pervaded their senses. The area was deserted, a swath of the city that was simply… empty.

"Glass…" Jaune remarked, trying to keep stable footing.

Gohan stared around at the crumbling remains of homes. "There's nobody here… It's all… dead."

Yang winced. "No question what happened here… Blasted. Frieza just hauled off and carpet-bombed this part of the city…"

Sun sucked in air through his teeth. "Starr…"

He sprinted off, towards the furthest end of the scar, bounding house lengths at a stride.

"Sun wait!" Blake begged, as one by one they tore after him.

Ruby frowned, grabbing Neo's hand and whirling off faster than any of them. She appeared before Sun, arms out. He skidded to a stop.

"Ruby, don't get in my way!"

"Calm… down!" Ruby whisper-shouted. "This didn't just happen… If we don't keep this under-wraps…"

"She's right, Sun," Blake said, urging him. "We didn't come here to trip alarms and bring HIM right to us." She put her hands around his. "We'll find her… Just not at the cost of each other."

Sun took a deep, frustrated breath. "The dojo is in the East quarter…" He was antzy. Terrified. "It might be… She…"

"Let's go then," Ren said, watching him carefully. "Carefully."

Sun nodded. It was clear he still wanted to bolt, but soon they found less damaged buildings. Then a smatter of half-scorched hulks, abandoned, but repairable. Finally, the very margins were lit by whole adobe buildings, windows streaming light from indoors.

Sun's eyes all but bulged as he saw it. Scarcely bigger than the other buildings, plainly part of a home. Sanzang Dojo was written above in sharp letters, with Mistrali writing beside it. Its symbol was a golden staff with a broad ornamental top.

The studio had stained windows, but nothing like the floor-to-ceiling businesses of Vale. A plain wooden door was faded from the sunlight, advertising the dojo's hours.

Sun knocked roughly as they crowded the entrance. They stared between each other. The lack of foot-traffic was not a comfort, and some of them were starting to regret having come in such a number as twilight filled the skies above.

"Mmmmmaybe she's—" Nora began, before Sun made one attempt at the door handle… and the sweltering heat of the indoors greeted them.

"No… No no no…"

The dim interior was dusty, floor half covered in litter and cans. Sun took one step and found a red painted plaque, with a string to be hung over a handle. He picked it up.

" 'Assets seized… by order of the Frieza Force…' "

"Nobody's here," Ren said, as Sun took another step inside. Trinkets and an incense stand were overturned. The dojo had been looted, bare apart from a red training mat covering the majority of the floor.

"We need to get away from here," Weiss whispered. "If this was seized we'll look like looters… or otherwise really suspicious!"

Ruby stepped nearer. "Maybe she got out! If nobody was living here, maybe…"

Blake looked outside. "We can't know for sure. We… need to ask one of Starr's neighbors."

Sun looked too shocked by what he was seeing. "This is…"

Blake took his hand again. "Hey… Sun, we'll figure this out."

"If she's… it's MY fault… I'll have nobody…"

"That's not true…"

Yang sighed. "I hate to be the one to say it, but this was as far as this was supposed to go. Come here, find her place, grab her and go."

Blake frowned. "That was always a best-case. We came all this way, we can't just go without even knocking on a few doors."

"Fine, but… this is already sketch as hell, Blake."

They checked that the coast was clear, stepping back out.

Ren shut his eyes. Dark blue petals… everywhere. The city was thick with them. He'd seen it well before they landed. Fear. Didn't take an empath to see it.

His eyes snapped to a window, where unseen eyes were watching.

"Try there."

They scurried over, doing their best not to look threatening. Nora knocked on the door.

"Go away!" an eldery woman's voice hissed through the door. "You're trouble, I see it! I see it…"

"Please, you must know what happened to Starr Sanzang!" Blake pleaded. "That's all we want to know…"

"Who are you…?" the woman demanded. "I won't be had for harboring yours! You know full well! I see your ears! I'll call the Minutemen!"

Blake's blood ran cold.

"Sorry for bothering you, we'll be on our way!" Weiss hastily placated, arms out as she urged them all away from the doors and windows.

"No…" Blake said, nearly as rigid with worry as Sun. "My ears… Frieza didn't…"

"W-we don't know anything for sure yet," Jaune said.

Gohan edged closer. "Wait… You think Frieza… did something to the faunus?"

Nora whirled around, frustration overtaking her. "Why?! The heck does he care? Aren't we all just navel lint far as he's concerned?"

"We need to figure out what's going on here, before we take another step," Ruby said, commandingly. "If we don't know how Vacuo's changed, we won't know what to avoid doing."

"Now that's an ACE idea, sister! Bravo…!"

They twisted to see someone in a medieval-looking chainmail tunic, with an orange and red coat of arms, flanked by four blue guardsmen. The once independent Minutemen now wore ceramic breastplates and pauldrons, a far cry from their model of inspiration, but readily recognizable for their boss.

But the one calling the shots gave an insufferable toothy grin back at them from under his twin curtains of straight black hair, and his beak of a nose. Over his shoulder, he balanced… a lute.

"You mind, buddy?" Yang asked.

"Who me?" he asked, his vaguely nasal tenor hardly a pinnacle of masculinity, but safely away from grating by itself. "Nah… But y'know, a bunch of kids hanging around The Scorch, MINUTES from curfew, flouting laws against large gatherings —you're about SIX past the limit— and at LEAST one of you's a faunus…"

One of the Minutemen laughed under his breath. "She's a cat, but I'm seein' a fox…"

Tandem rolled his eyes. "I HEARD that, Curtis!"

"We'll take it under advisement," Weiss droned.

"OH no, sister! It ain't going down like that," he said, his grin only widening. "I'd ask for your IDs, but we both know you're not from around here…"

"And yours?" Blake hissed.

He flipped the lute back from his shoulder, strumming the strings chromatically. "I'm Tandem! A minstrel! Tandem Argent, specifically. Does the word 'Uplift' mean anything to you birds?"

"No," Ruby said, frowning.

"Y'know, there are just as many guys here," Jaune deadpanned.

Tandem snickered. "Do you know anything about Frieza?"

"You got a point, Cap'n Ren-Faire?" Sun snapped, losing patience by the second.

"My POINT, Colonel Capuchin, is that you are royally screwed."

One of the Minutemen turned his head. "Eh, I'd have gone with Lieutenant Lemur…"

Tandem leered. "It's a monkey…"

Another cocked his head. "You said capuchi—"

Tandem wilted, brows low. "Put it together, f*-pump! It's a monkey!"

"Sergeant Simian?" another suggested.

Tandem Argent seemed to vibrate with frustration. "It's MONKEY! How do you not get this?!"

The Warriors looked at each other, starting to slink away as Tandem lost focus.

"General Gibbo—URKKK!"

But with surprising strength, Tandem's fingers closed around his throat. "It's MONKEY! MONKEY! You VAPID WHORES!"

But as RWBY and company edged towards bolting out of sight, Tandem's brown eyes flicked towards them and plucked a string, holding the note as bright orange Aura shackles clapped over their wrists on threads leading back to the Lute.

"Not happening! You dunno who you're dealin' with, do ya?"

Yang and Nora gave the cuffs a casual tug… and surprise filled their features as they merely clattered.

"What the…?!"

"They're strong!"

Tandem flicked one of his curtains of hair at the part in the center of his forehead, grin flashing. "No shit, Shamino!" He regarded himself with both hands. "Seriously? You don't know who I am…? I should be… the most recognizable —human— bastard on the face of this planet by now! And these c*k-hydrants don't know who I am?"

He swept his arms out as he swiveled, waiting.

"None of you guys know who I am…?"

Nora's free hand hid the side of her mouth as she snickered. "He's funny…"

Weiss withered. "He just called us…" She frowned, turning instead to Tandem. "You're foul-mouthed…"

Nora winced as her chest shuddered with laughter. "Y-yeah…! It's funny…"

Tandem laughed derisively in return. "Yeah, laugh it up, you c*k-juggling thunder-c—"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ren snapped, stepping in front of Nora before she had even processed the insult.

Ruby and Gohan peered at Tandem Argent.

"His power's pretty high," Ruby noted.

Gohan nodded. "No more than a Huntsman like your uncle."

Jaune tilted his head, looking at the orange shackle on his wrist. "Yeah, but… I think he can actually use it… like us."

"Okay, bored now," Tandem sighed, rolling his eyes. "You bitches," he said, jabbing the stem of his lute at his men, "put THESE bitches to bed. Cut n' dry, no point wasting wall-space. Nobody's gonna find 'em…"

Yang scoffed. "You're gonna dirt-nap us? That'd be a neat trick, chuckles."

Tandem sneered, eyes flicking up to his hair. "Right back at'cha, rat's-nest! Gonna shampoo your way outta those—?"

With a grunt and a flicker of red eyes, Yang's burning aura burst, and with only a strain of effort, the orange cuff shattered into sparks. "Think I'll just do that."

Tandem's face pulled, preparing to strum his strings again. But the charred quarter was bursting with colored light as each of the kids followed Yang's example, popping their cuffs off in seconds.

Tandem clapped a hand on the back of one of the Minutemen, whose eyes widened in apprehension. "You got this, man!"

"Boss, I dunno…"

"Nobody's ever broken your—"

Tandem gave the first one a shove out towards the kids, where he stumbled onto his knees. "And that sounds like BETRAYAAAAAL!" He bellowed, pointing. "BETRAYED FRIEZA, this guy SUUUUCKS!"

The two outspoken Minutemen turned to him, instantly pale. "Please, sir! No, no betrayal!"

"We swear!"

Tandem cracked his fingers. "Cool cool… So get out there, where you might die, or stay here, where you definitely will!" He began to strum basic repeating chords, filling the air with radiant orange sparks. Weightless, the Minutemen were adorned in transparent, luminous orange armor pieces, bladed attachments mounting to their long rifles. They glowed as the men charged.

Weiss' fingers twirled as a pair of glyphs over her shoulder took aim while Ren and Jaune's weapons clashed with the luminous bayonets. The men's meager force had been amplified to inhuman strength through the Bardic Uplift's aid.

Tandem Argent jabbed a finger at Weiss as he strummed. "She's TRY-ing to en-CHANT us!" he warned, his voice sing-song. "She's-try-ING to en-CHANT us; f*ing-KILL-HER!"

Then, a streak of black and a streak of red flashed behind the next pair. Synced spinning kicks from Ladybug sent them careening back towards Weiss' glyphs.

With a pair of abrupt screams, the glyphs amplified their momentum as they sailed behind the kids and into the purple skies.

Tandem watched them, his strumming slowed as his mouth went slack, mouthing something no doubt vulgar.

Jaune and Ren shoved the charging pair off, the orange enhancements shattering. Before they even hit the ground, Sun swept underneath Jaune and Ren, his staff split into flintlock chucks, which he whirled like propellers.

Twin dust devils carried the goons skyward and out of sight as Sun aimed them high. Alone, Tandem stared into the monkey boy's leering blue eyes as his chucks slowed to a menacing steady twirl.

"Alright," Tandem said, nodding. "That was pretty slick. A few decent semblances. But an Uplift… is trained to use the power of Lord Frieza! A power that your dumb asses ain't never seen before!"

Sun's eyes narrowed. "Shut up and fight."

He leapt in, but Tandem was ready, striking his strings. A connected wave of orange musical notes blasted out, catching Sun in the chest and slamming him into the baked glassy sand, creating a plume of ashen soil.

"SUN!" Blake shrieked, blades crossed as she slashed the followup riff of notes as she landed in front of him, teeth bared.

"Two faunus, one fret!" Tandem bragged, plucking again and again. Blake's blades whirled like a blender, purple slashes trailing through the air as projectiles in themselves as she forced them to explode in midair.

"Damn it, will you stop cheesing my shots and D—!"

But a discordant series of twangs made him flinch, and he looked down to see his lute's strings had been severed, along with the neck of the weaponized instrument.

Blake stormed in, floating over the ground as she struck.

Spruce bits scattered as a steely viking-style straight sword swept through her neck, pulled from its concealed place in the shaft of the lute.

…But the real Blake appeared directly above Tandem, who whirled to parry her strike.

"F* ME!" he shrieked. "How'd you dodge that?!" With a palm strike against the flat of his blade, he caused a vibratory noise that he rendered into a pulse that blasted Blake away, tumbling back at the feet of her friends.

Sun exhumed himself from the sand to help her up as the Uplift stared. "And he's just UP now?! Nobody takes a hit like that! Your HEADS should have exploded! I'm Tandem, The Spoony, mother*s! Greatest Swordsman in the World?!"

Ruby snorted. "Says who?"

The Spoony one's nostril flared. "Uh, only Uplift WITH a sword, and that's pretty much game! You can take your Huntsman crap back to the playground, 'kay baby-fat?"

Ruby's smirk slithered off as she scowled. For multiple reasons. " 'Scuse me?"

Yang brushed past her, knuckles cracking. "I got it, sis."

"Oh no! Look out! She got this," Tandem mocked, blade reared back. "How 'bout 'get ventilated?!' GET YOU SOOOOOME!"

He charged her with supernatural speed, a speed only ki could conjure. She tightened her muscles.

There was a shock of impact, flattening the remains of a nearby building as a ring of scorched sand burst out from the point of collision.

As it cleared, Tandem stood, hands extended into a straight thrust of his blade… A blade all but sunk against Yang's middle. She stood in surprise, staring down… as he pulled away, all but the hilt falling away as flecks of steel into the sand.

Tandem glanced between Yang's unharmed belly and the remains of his sword. "Usually when I do that, there's a hole…" he croaked. "Heh… ha ha… You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would ya?"

"You're not wearing glasses."

"Yeah! They're called contacts! OOF!"

He went skidding over the sand on his back as she afforded him her customary greeting.

"Wait… but his power level is higher than us!" Nora said, tilting her head. "How'd you know you could just…?"

Yang shrugged. "I was gonna grab it, but I could just sorta tell at the last second…"

Gohan strode up to her. "You guys have full control of your mind, body and spirit! You were trained right. You can use your power BETTER than he can!"

Tandem The Spoony leapt to his feet, giving a petulant growl as he tossed the hilt of his sword away. "Don't bet on it, kid! You asked for it!" He held his hands over his head, more orange light building in his palms. "YOU FOOOOOL!"

Tandem's trump card was a proper energy blast, raw and unrestrained. It was thick, bright, careening towards them like a missile as it cast long shadows throughout the Scorch…

Yang stood her ground, taking a stance. With a grunt, her steely fist plowed into the pliable power… turning its momentum inside out.

Tandem Argent barely made a confused noise before he sailed off into the desert with a hoarse, girlish squeal.

Finally alone, they watched a plume of distant stand rise on the horizon. "Think he'll be back?" Ruby asked.

"Eh," Yang shrugged.

"So…" Weiss sighed, leaning against a blackened structure. "Frieza is teaching other people to use ki?"

Blake huffed. "Poorly, if that hot-shot was any indication. Still, changes things if we have to watch out for super-goons."

"Does Frieza sound like the teaching type?" Nora asked. "I'm not alone in thinking that's sus as heck, right?"

Gohan vaulted onto a half-collapsed rooftop. "Yeah, but Frieza's men were always like that. They can't sense energy, or hide it."

"So," Jaune said, "we at least can't be snuck up on as easily."

Ren hummed. "Not necessarily. With all these people around, it will be harder to pick them out from the crowd."

Sun nodded. "And any Huntsman-grade fighter could be one of these… 'Uplifts.' "

Yang sighed. "This is getting more and more risky, guys. We can't be getting into full-bore brawls with fighters who can take us!"

Sun huffed. "Go home if you want. Did as much as I can ask anyone, but I'm not leaving."

Blake put a hand on Yang's shoulder. "This isn't just about one faunus anymore. You all heard what they said! Something is happening to the faunus here, something systematic and…" Her ears winced as she let her imagination wander. "We can't let this be if it turns out there's a… genocide…"

The word gave them all pause.

Ren frowned. "Frieza isn't human though… Isn't every act of extermination he makes against Remnant a form of genocide?"

"Regardless, he's clearly singling out faunus!"

"COME OUT! We hear you!"

They all turned towards the voice, ready to bolt, but Neo waved her arms in front of the group.

Ruby mouthed a question at her, but Ren grabbed her wrist, turning and offering a nod. "Stay still."

Neo waved a hand before her, revealing a shimmering wall of air encircling them. And indeed, as another patrol of Minutemen hurried in, torches fanning the area, they stepped around the group without a single glance.

"Argent? ARGENT!" one of the group called.

"Damn fool, why won't he answer his scroll?"

"Does it look… like something went down out here?" another asked, examining the ruined structures.

"How could you tell? Place gives me the creeps."

The kids huddled closer and closer as Neo minimized their zone.

"He wasn't alone, he had four men with him!"

"Think something happened to the patrol?"

"Happened? To an Uplift?"

"We heard noises, and that hotspot is still reading several unregistered." He indicated his scroll, showing a map with a bright red heatmap coloring it.

"Noises like a one-man army being put down?!"

"Well, unless he went AWOL!"

Gohan's eyes flared open. "Someone's coming…"

Ren shook his head. "They were already here."

They snapped their heads moments before it happened. Standing atop a dilapidated church, among the few multi-story buildings, a figure in gossamer white stood against the rising moon, the light of day already dim enough that she appeared to glow at the edges.

"Leave this place!"

She leapt down, only to be caught by a long, gleaming white construct appearing beneath her. Like a great serpent, it flew down like a ghost, its long body encircling the blue-clad Minutemen as she hopped off.

The luminous beast's transparent body lit up the entire area, strangely intelligent eyes regarding the wary men. It had scales and wispy fur, a lengthy draconic body, but floppy ears and a nose that made it look part labrador.

But the steed's owner glared with glowing blue eyes, wielding a pair of elegantly-shaped daggers. Her black hair was tied tight in a bun at the back of her head, topped with a pearl-studded head chain, like a crown.

"Your masters forfeited this land when they carelessly burnt it! This place belongs to the people who are now but ashes…"

"Damn it! This is all we need right now…" one of the Minutemen said.

"Tandem Argent came this way, girl. Once we account for him, we'll be on our way."

"Listen to you sops! It's one girl!"

One of the others smacked him. "Idiot! She's not to be touched!"

"We need to call this in. Something's off. If Argent is really gone—"

The woman in white frowned. "That bastard paid for his crimes."

The others froze. The kids within Neo's illusory curtain glanced at each other.

"You saw it?"

She smirked. "It was me, you fool. I destroyed him, AND his patrol!"

The Minutemen were spooked, but a few of them stood their ground. "Nonsense!"

"How?!"

She took a step forward, the strange mount growling behind her. "I could show you… but you won't much like it."

"We read unregistered scroll signals in this area! No way it's just you!" the first said, waving his own device.

Blake gasped, pulling out her scroll as they each stared, dumbfounded. They began pulling out their own and hastily shutting them down.

"We'll take this to the Supreme Commander. If she's telling the truth, only Frieza can revoke the order."

"You've really done it now, Monden," the leader said, as they began filing out. "Lie or not, you'll be out of our hair soon."

Monden lowered her daggers. "You've no idea what victory means to me, cowards. If your master blinks first, I die smiling."

The guardsmen left, but Monden stayed, even as she scratched the beast under its enormous chin before it faded away as sparks.

She sighed. "I know you're there, children. I'm a friend. And you've a great deal of explaining to do."

---

They followed Monden in silence as she swept through the empty streets. Shutters were drawn over every window as they passed into the undamaged city. Many buildings were derelict, citing the same seizure order.

"I take it you've shut your scrolls off? Not enough, I'm afraid. Remove the Dust battery," she whispered. "Want to know how you were found so quickly? How I found you? Unregistered scrolls are tracked individually, but they're worried about the ones in close proximity to each other. Works like traffic measurement. All yours in one place might as well have been a flare gun. Fortunately, Vacuo tech isn't so precise. They only had a hazy idea where to find you."

A few buildings had been hastily retrofitted into barracks, decorated with banded smooth bits of flare all too reminiscent of the evil emperor himself.

They passed a holographic purple obelisk, labeled as "Provisions: Colony One" but the wording listed below was too lengthy to catch more than a few words.

Ultimately, Monden stopped at her door, a basic adobe house indistinguishable from most of the city apart from the family symbol engraved upon the door: a gold and silver snake intertwined, biting the others' tail after forming a symbol like a more complicated infinity sign. She checked every window with sight of her door, and carefully held it open.

"In, now."

They filtered inside. It wasn't a very large space, and largely neglected. A layer of dust and copper sand covered the ebony furniture. Only certain surfaces looked to be cleared for weapon maintenance or littered with papers, a wastebasket of ashes beside the coffee table.

"I've positioned motion sensors to alert me of any approach from the door or windows," Monden told them, immediately draining a stale pot of tea in the sink and filling the kettle with water. "But keep your voices down."

"Miss… Mon…den?" Ruby asked.

"Mrs." she corrected. "Mrs. Kaiserin Monden. You can say Mrs. Moon if it helps."

Ruby nodded. "Why… The guards don't…"

"Not from around here," Kaiserin said. "I'm Frieza's cruel little joke." She picked up a sparkling clean frame of their family, down by the reeds in the crater ravine. "This was my husband, Sebastian, and our girl, Atreya. He stood up to the guards, and was killed… Atreya and I were brought to Shade, to be executed."

"Wait, what?" Yang hissed, unable to bridge the logic of it.

"Why?!" Nora demanded.

"It was part of the Great Cull," Kaiserin said, flatly. "The night Frieza arrived, he conquered Shade, overpowered the Minutemen and the handful of Huntsmen who fought back. He immediately addressed the people, enshrining the new law."

"What… law is that?" Blake asked. "About the faunus?"

Monden shook her head, collapsing into a chair. "That was later. First was his foundation: all resistance is treason. Treason is met with death."

"All resistance?" Ren asked.

"Criminal conspiracy against the Frieza Force," she recited by heart, "theft and vandalism of Frieza Force property, resisting any command issued by a Frieza Force operative, or dereliction of one's duties by way of sloth or incompetence… That's not to mention slanderous statements, or virtually any speech he doesn't like."

"That's insane!" Blake remarked as the others considered it in horror.

"Incompetence?" Weiss asked. "So… if you don't do your job…"

Monden shook her head. "It's worse than that. Failure to fulfill Frieza's commands is taken for dereliction of duty. That goes for defeat in battle as well, so take care who you humiliate. Most of the Minutemen are pressed into service, and most aren't bad people."

"The Minutemen were volunteers," Sun said, bitterly. "Just civilians ready to act when needed. Now they're an army?"

Kaiserin nodded. "Most of them died in the Great Cull. People didn't take kindly to this alien freak, presiding over our lives. This is Vacuo, after all. Others understood the cost of fighting back, and there were riots between resistors and the people who submitted."

"Something doesn't add up," Ruby said, frowning. "Why were you and…your…?"

Kaiserin's fist shook as her other hand gripped the arm of her chair.

They all jumped as the kettle shrieked. She leapt up to fill the teapot with the boiling water, shoving a fistful of tea leaves in to steep.

"I didn't mention the other consequence for treason. The bloodline of a traitor is forfeit, as is their own life. For Sebastian's crimes, my daughter and I were to die."

Their eyes collectively gaped. Even Neopolitan's brows rose over her frown.

"A whole family pays for one person's crimes?" Jaune asked.

Monden leered. "Like I said, be careful who you pick fights with. You may well condemn a dozen innocents. Be careful who you trust as well. Failure to report seditious acts is seen as complicity with them. Most won't risk their families. Worse still, Lien has been disbanded as currency. Instead, the current regime has installed a social credit system, affording each a pittance or a bounty. The currency is loyalty. The more you do to benefit Frieza and his cause, the better your standing."

Blake's ears found a way to sag further as they twitched. "So… people are terrified to act out, and have every incentive to turn people in."

Yang sighed. "I knew things were gonna be bad… but this? Is this just what it's like on worlds Frieza's taken over?"

Weiss crossed her arms, shrugging her shoulders. "I think only Vegeta could possibly tell us."

Ren had been watching Kaiserin carefully. "Those men… they said you weren't to be touched."

She sighed. "I'm Frieza's little joke. A thing for him to torment as slowly as possible… and an example, to take the fight out of others. When my daughter and I were brought in to Shade, to be put before the firing squad, he was livid. He'd just received some news he didn't like… and then Atreya got away from me… slipped past the guards. She tried to reason with him."

None of them could find it in them to ask her to clarify. Even if the outcome was virtually assured.

"It was quick… so quick. I d-doubt she even felt…" She pinched the bridge of her nose, flicking away a pair of tears before they could fall. "When she was… gone… I raged at the bastard. Vowed to kill him for what he's done. And in return, he let me."

Ruby blinked. "Let you…?"

"Try. He made it clear to his men that I was exempt from the law, immune. He welcomed me to make every effort to stop him, just to prove to everyone else that I could not. That none can. I was his convenient example of the futility in resistance. Even with none trying to stop me, I could change nothing."

Blake nodded bitterly. "And… with the men you bring down punished for losing… everyday people grow to resent resistors."

Kaiserin shut her eyes. "Yes. I stopped fighting the Minutemen at all after I realized the fates of their families. But he noticed, and met the same fates out to those who failed to stop me. I put those men in a losing position."

She reached for the teapot, gathered several cups and then resorted to mugs when those ran dry. She began pouring.

"So… in light of this information…" Her eyes peered up. "...is what you're doing in Vacuo worth it?"

There was only the slight sting of judgment behind her words as she handed out the cups.

Blake took her cup and tasted it. "Koshary… Never had it so fresh… We came to get someone out of here. Starr Sanzang."

Monden raised an eyebrow. "All this for one person? Our people tend not to pry into the business of others. And I'd understand discretion. You don't know me, and I could be tortured for information. But no one has defeated an Uplift before. Not even close. And you children made Argent look like the fool he is."

Ruby set her tea down. "We're from Beacon. We've been trained by the people who arrived here when Frieza did, and we're working to grow strong enough to put a stop to this."

"There were others? Others like Frieza? Yes… Yes that makes sense," Monden said, taking another ponderous sip. "Early on, he was joined by a Lieutenant with power enough to make the Uplifts seem paltry, but she's always regarded him with reverence. She showed up out of the clear blue and immediately became the Supreme Commander, second only to the Emperor himself. People swear they know each other."

Gohan frowned. "But… that can't be… None of his men were girls, or… What's her name?"

"Supreme Commander Ginyu. Only name."

Gohan's jaw dropped. "What?! That can't be!"

Ruby blinked at the alarm in Gohan's every feature, frowning. "Remind me… that name's familiar… right?"

"Captain Ginyu, of the Ginyu Force," Gohan clarified. "He stole my Dad's body for a while, but he wound up in—"

"A frog, right?" Yang finished. "An… alien frog?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah… But… it doesn't make sense! He can't be that much stronger than anyone else here, he'd need to take a human body."

Kaiserin watched, plainly intrigued. "A body snatcher? What's next… But it explains why she's so gruff. And that name."

Yang sighed. "This just keeps getting worse for us… But at least if we ran into him… her… we know they don't have family to threaten."

Weiss winced, seeking Blake and Sun's eyes. "I hate to agree with Yang…"

"Pshhh! Thanks…"

"...but the stakes just keep getting steeper. We can leave right now wiser for scouting this place out. But if we foul this up, people will die. They probably will already after the scene outside…"

Monden hummed. "Argent has no loved. And his flunkies are largely loners he knows. Most of the patrols paired to Uplifts were mercenaries, not citizen conscripts."

Blake shook her head, eyes wincing shut. "This isn't just about Starr anymore! Mrs. Monden… what's happened to the faunus? News of Frieza has made it to the Kingdoms along with the refugees who fled—"

"People made it out?" Kaiserin asked, her pale blue eyes wide. "Small miracles… I'm afraid it's not good news, dear. I don't even understand his motive. It started with ape faunus, but expanded to the rest before long. They… reopened the old Rosenrot mine. Made it an internment and labor camp."

Sun's face went white. "No…"

Blake studied his face. "What? How bad is this, Sun?"

Sun's fingers clawed at his scalp as he bowed his head. "It was the biggest producing Dust mine in the Kingdom. Closest to Anser Ovarium, biggest deposit ever found. Mine companies kept egging each other on to reach deeper, get at the heart of it, well under the city. Rosenrot got close, but screwed it up for everybody. Broke a glass layer that sealed out the shifting sand." His eyes narrowed. "Made a ton of sinkholes, and the mine was condemned. Nobody'd work it. The place is a death sentence."

Blake's ears folded in fury as she visibly seethed. "But Frieza doesn't care… He'll just… force disposable labor to work at it… oh my god…!"

Jaune's teeth clenched. "I know everybody's suffering here, but…"

Nora hefted Magnhild. "This is basically extermination."

Yang caught her sister's eye. "Ruby?"

Kaiserin winced. "There are hundreds of faunus mining the Anser. It's impossible for that to go unnoticed, even if you could blink them away in an instant. And the human cost to their jailors would be total."

Weiss looked pained. "But… the number saved would be worth it, right?"

Ren huffed, shaking his head. "At first, maybe… but won't human labor just take the place of the faunus?"

Sun growled, immediately pacing. "I hadn't thought of that! You're right… but… I just can't accept that the best thing to do is NOTHING!"

Blake considered. They all did.

Kaiserin hummed. "Sometimes the best move is no move, at least until the circumstances favor you differently."

Blake blinked. "Or… we change the circumstances."

"Huh?" Ruby asked. "What are you thinking?"

"We could slay two Grimm with one stroke if we could get rid of the deposit they're mining altogether."

Sun frowned.

Kaiserin gave her a leering stare. "Reassemble the moon while you're at it, and split the land to usher forth the ocean. As long as we're entertaining flights of fancy."

Weiss sighed. "Well, we could certainly destroy it… But that much Dust going off would probably level half of the city. That's not even to speak of what it could mean to Vacuo long term. The Anser Ovarium is among the few real resources it has."

Jaune chewed his cheek. "But… it's Dust they weren't mining anyway, right?"

Yang reached into one of her side pockets, pulling out a pill-shaped device. "Would this work?"

Ruby gasped as Gohan's eyes lit up. "A dynocap?"

Blake stared. "It… might be worth a shot?"

Kaiserin peered at the tiny device. "I'm afraid you've lost me…"

Weiss snatched the dynocap, examining it closely. "Bulma was able to cart out scads of Theia airship parts with one of those," Weiss noted. "It's a device that can store objects of immense mass. Bulma never did tell us the upper limit…"

Sun's eyes lit up. "Hey, yeah! One of those practically drained the bay."

Nora tilted her head. "I'm pretty sure that's not possible."

"But with the relative eluvial fluidity of the sand," Weiss said, "this might be…"

Kaiserin Monden frowned at Weiss. "What does a girl like you know about Dust mines? You've seemed familiar from the start…"

Weiss sighed. "Well, being a Schnee, you tend to learn these things."

The aggrieved rebel's eyes grew bright with sudden recognition. "Weiss Schnee… Well, I'd never have foreseen that. Are our problems truly such a cause célèbre?"

Weiss' brow furrowed. "I'm not doing this on behalf of the Schnee Dust Company. My name is my sole affiliation with my father's business. Regardless, if we could find a way to get those people out, we might be able to ensure this doesn't repeat."

Kaiserin shook her head. "Frieza would find other horrors to bestow. But without faunus, internment would be pointless."

Ruby turned. "Yang, you don't think Raven's portal…?"

"She's not awake, and she doesn't know we're here. Even then, secret's up if we flood home base with hundreds of faunus."

Kaiserin was quiet for a long while. But finally, she heaved a reluctant, yet oddly satisfied sigh. "But… if there was a way… you're confident you can finish that place?"

Weiss gripped the dynocap, glancing at it, the tiny thing feeling strangely hefty. "No. It's a long shot, no matter how much these can store… This is a huge risk, and any mistakes we make can cost dozens of people everything… but…"

Ruby closed her hand over Weiss'. "But we could put a stop to something horrible. And by the end, all of Vacuo will know Frieza can be beaten… that there's hope. None of this really ends until Frieza is destroyed, but we can give people something to hold on to!"

Finally, for the first time since they'd met her, Kaiserin smiled. "Truth be told, you've already made me want to hold on to hope. Seeing the likes of you kids with powers like theirs, it's the brightest talisman of change we've had since this started." She sighed again. "I don't have a plan to free those people… but The Thousand-and-One Knights do."

They blinked.

"The who?" Sun asked.

"The resistance. The real resistance, more than a grieving widow, playing the court fool."

Blake's ears pricked. Of course, the others were hardly different, but only she could show it as such. "There's… a resistance?! Despite everything you said, the risks people have to take? People are still fighting back?!"

Monden smiled. "Hence the curfew, and the laws against large gatherings. I keep out of their way as much as possible. Too easy to track me if I took a more serious role in undermining the regime. They've largely given up on making me their unwitting mole. But in spite of that, I do have a contact or two with their cells."

Gohan frowned. "Cells?"

Kaiserin took another draft of her tea. "It's too risky for the Knights to work as a collective out of a single base. If one raid could end the resistance, it wouldn't last long." She reached for the table, opening a folded backgammon set, picking up and piling the white pieces on the center of the board. She set one of the black pieces among them.

"And with how ready most are to report each other, one turncoat could sink it all." She snatched every white piece off the board in one handful. "So they keep separate," she said, distributing the pieces along the board's different triangular wedges, "no cell aware of the others, and therefore unable to give the others away."

She stacked two pieces, setting them in the middle of the wedges. "All directed by a single point of command, carefully hidden, ordering strikes and actions from the shadows. Most of the cells I've known are families, united in their purpose, choosing to fight for Vacuo together and guard themselves from the consequences of collective punishment. Some of them are already wanted, but others have slick contingencies for discovery. Escape plans."

"And the others?" Sun asked.

"Mostly? Frieza's cruelty backfiring. When his fighting men have failed severely enough to forfeit their lives, they flee the city… or the bravest choose rebellion. If you're already marked for death, why not go down fighting? Thus, the old tyrant's steely grip serves to squeeze out willing soldiers and forge them into traitors."

Yang couldn't help a breath of laughter. "He tries to control everyone, scare people into obeying… but it just makes more enemies."

Ruby took a breath. "Okay… We can get around the curfew, Neo's semblance has held up so far. So we need to get into contact with the Thousand-and-One Knights… and…"

Kaiserin set down her cup in a saucer. "You need to find their leaders. I try to stay out of things, but I know they've been planning a push to free the faunus from the Anser mine for a while now. They're not the sort to risk men in fanciful suicide missions, so that tells me they may have a way to get those people out."

She stood up, striding to a map of the crater, pointing at the circled spot just outside the Kingdom's rim wall. "If you kids can prove you have the missing piece to executing that plan, they won't waste time."

Weiss stood up, holding up a hand. "W-wait… I know the faunus are in trouble, but should we wait for morning, once the curfew lifts? We'll be able to get around the city more easily in crowds."

Kaiserin hummed, shaking her head. "That may seem sensible, but more waking eyes to catch you will only make things harder. And while Tandem Argent may still be alive, he's not enough of a fool to stand before Frieza, having fallen to the enemy. The defeat of an Uplift will send shockwaves through this Kingdom, and we cannot predict how the Frieza Force will respond. But they will. And I wouldn't count on that response being tepid. The noose is tightening, and I advise you to be finished with your business by sunrise."

Yang crossed her arm, contemplative. "That doesn't leave a lot of time for messing around."

Ruby nodded. "Then… where do we start?"

Kaiserin smiled, pointing to a spot on the map along the ravine, dangerously close to Shade.

"The only establishments open at night are a convenience to the Frieza Force, establishments like Hoplites. Guards and Uplifts alike frequent them, one of the few perks of the graveyard shift. The Knights have gotten a lot of mileage out of hiding in plain sight. New Minutemen are conscripted all the time, hazed with graveyard shifts. As long as you're in uniform, unfamiliar faces don't arouse much suspicion."

She wrote something down, and slipped a note to Ruby. "Enter the club, ask one of the servers for a dancer by this name. They'll know what to do."

Ruby nodded. She looked to Neo.

"You remember what those uniforms look like?"

Neo grinned, blinking both eyes pink.

Kaiserin stood up, a hand suddenly on Jaune's surprised cheek as she examined him carefully.

"U-um…"

She smiled. "Hmm… I might have one more suggestion to keep questioners off your back…"

---

"Eyes to yourself, grunts! Out baby, out, OUT!" Tandem Argent shouted, his mere insistence bullying aside a crowd of recruits as they passed the entrance to Shade's bridge.

"He's doing a remarkable impression of someone we just met," Weiss noted, disguised as Sage as they all followed Jaune's Tandem disguise. Their illusory uniforms were allowing them to blend right in with the other Minutemen.

"God, blue again… I look so stupid in blue," Yang lamented, as Neo rode invisibly on her shoulder like a smug parrot.

"Not really," Blake told her, her ears hidden with Neo's semblance. "It's a complementary color; it makes you think of lightning."

"Yeah!" Nora muttered. "Stop muscling in on my turf, Yang…!"

"Can it back there!" Jaune shouted, stressing the nasal aspect of his voice as hard as he knew how. "I don't pay you for your opinion!"

Yang spoke through her teeth as they passed another group of real guards. "Hey… Jaune… lay off…!"

Jaune's long black-haired disguise faltered only slightly as he lowered his voice. "Hey yourself, I'm staying in-character!"

"Would you guys knock it off?!" Sun demanded, his eyes glancing continuously over to the pyramid. "I can't believe how dead and empty this place is now… Night's when some of these markets come alive…"

Ren wiped his forehead. "Were not kidding about the heat after dark…"

"Know what's worse?" Weiss asked. "It's winter here."

Ruby balked. "Wait, no it's not! It's August!"

Weiss nodded. "Vale and Patch are BARELY above the equator, Ruby… Beneath that, the seasons are flipped."

Gohan frowned. "But… wouldn't it be warmer there? Maybe Remnant is colder than Earth…"

"I always thought Vacuo was bigger than this," Ruby added, noting how much sky was constantly visible. "Even the bigger buildings aren't taller than most of the ones in Vale."

Sun gave a bitter sigh. "Well, you try building on sand! There's some sandstone, but nobody's putting up skyscrapers. Shade has the best foundation, and it's on a plateau in the ravine…"

"Kinda glad it's not that big," Yang said, hooking a thumb up at Neo "Polly's butt is sweating-up my shoulder."

Neo crossed her arms, pouting down at her.

Weiss hummed. "Well, it's that, or we run into her two-mile leash."

"Yeah yeah, I know…" Then she froze as they turned the corner, the others not far behind her. "Whoa… That's different."

The plaza around the corner from the Lady Matthias Archeia Preservation Society and its gold domed building was night and day, blazing literally with troughs of purple flame on the walk up to and along the walls of a night club adorned in lines upon lines of red neon, glass tubes long frosted by the constance of blowing sand over the years.

Hoplites, spelled in rigid, jutting letters, was built from the same adobe walls to shield or from the elements, but its proprietor had taken the rustic desert aesthetic and worked it into something simple but trendy. The red and purple glow told its tale well, immediately drawing the eyes to the golden pair of soldiers with gleaming armor and red plumed helmets guarding each other with spears and round shields.

Jaune's face froze at the sight of it.

Ruby blinked. "Whoa… That's… Jaune…?" She examined the neon soldiers. "Ohh…"

"Spoony!" a nasal screech of a voice called. "You lying fop!"

They glanced over at a small, colorful crowd standing out in front of the club. Currently racing towards them —astride a circular platform jetting green flame behind it— a woman who gave Neo a run for her money on size crossed the distance and landed before them, the platform disconnecting and folding into blocky shoes that were more like hooves for their bulk.

"You said you didn't come to Hoplites! Were you avoiding me?!" she demanded, her single swoop of yellow-green hair pairing uncomfortably well with her yellowed skin and one-piece jumpsuit in shades of light and dark green. Holding her hair up was an odd visor helmet that barely covered her green eyes, with a lightning Dust crystal set in its forehead as a conduit of some kind.

"Yeah, well…" Jaune babbled as the others stared. Jaune's improv might be all that stood between them and a fight. "A guy can't change his mind?" He fumbled for a moment, hoping to find a name tag or something. "...You…?"

The others stared at him, stunned into silence. It would have been better if he hadn't said anything. ANYTHING would be better than 'you'...

But as she blinked and recoiled… "Wha?! You know my name! I'm part of the…!"

She froze, then snickered, snorting as she did so with the gap in her top teeth showing, like a gremlin with a cold. "Oh! I get it! TEEEEEEEEAM?! We got us a live one! FORM UP!"

As the group beheld, the other three leapt in… and Gohan felt the back of his mind tickling. Then he noticed they all had a patch on their chest with an orange-circled, horned triangle with a purple center…

The first was a tall, built man with a strong chin, slender jaw and a sharp, youthful face. His stormy eyes gleamed with enthusiasm below his long, luxurious and swirly grey hair, which loomed over his forehead like a thunderhead. He wore dyed leather armor in pads of faded lavender and desaturated maroon over full-body black tights.

He vaulted over with catlike grace, twisting between several artful forms, before snapping to lean heavily upon one leg, cooking a fist back whole thrusting the other skyward.

"ULRIKH!" he cried, freezing in place with an accented tenor.

Floating over the ground, the next drifted beside him, springing onto one leg as she leaned forward, arms out like a "T".

She was extremely pale, at least what bare skin could be seen of her hands and face. She wore a trailing, gossamer bolero in sparkling midnight blue, its hood down to show her cream-colored, chest-length hair, a pair of neon-blue strips —literally glowing extensions— dropping down before her ears. She was so pale, the cream of her hair was darker… Her dress underneath was periwinkle, trailing around her flat boots and black stockings that rose beyond their gaze.

"NOVA!" she cried in an alto.

The third, a mountainous man with hair and goatee of literal flame, in a brown duster and black jeans. Somehow, his flat cap was untouched by his blazing hair. He leapt to their left, his back half-turned to them as his arm speared out to the side, front leg outstretched as he twisted on his heel.

"BRIM!" he boomed in a rasping accent different from their first.

The short green woman from before darted before Brim and beside Ulrikh, arm crossed over her chest, the other rising vertically in a fist.

"OLIVINE! And WE ARE…!"

They flashed as one into completely separate positions, arranged in formation like human stunt jets.

Together, they cried. "THE GINYU FORCE!"

The air sizzled with the surreal in the wake of it. Jaune was stunned into silence, and he wasn't alone. Yang blinked rapidly, doing double, triple and quadruple-takes and mouthing sentences only her mind could hear. Unseen, Gohan's eyes narrowed, and even Neo's cheeks threatened to swell her double-white eyes shut… before she began quietly giggling.

And then…

"Oh-em-gee that was so COOL!" Ruby squealed, her eyes like stars as her friends twisted to judge her. Even Gohan's eyes had shot open in blank astonishment.

"Ev'ry time! Thank ye, lass!" the huge Brim laughed, his teeth bared in an unstable, unbridled smile beneath tiny cerulean eyes.

The others left their poses with something like satisfaction… apart from Olivine, who crossed her arms.

"Eh, it's never the same without the Commander… But Tandem…" Her brows tilted under her visor expectantly. Her eyes narrowed. "Hmm…?"

Jaune snapped out of his revery, Tandem's face taut as he sputtered. "What are you kidding?! That was the—!"

He shook himself again, clearing his throat. "I mean… it was alright…"

Olivine's pruny, piercing gaze melted as she recoiled a whole step back, pinkening as she waved a hand off. "D'yohhh, sto-o-op…! I mean… how correct of you to say, but… You're so unlike yourself… and your voice is…"

"I… have a… cold…" Jaune managed.

"A sexy cold…" she muttered, leaning against him at her chest height as her finger drew circles on him. "I got your prescription…"

Jaune's eyes bulged out of his head.

"Olive!" Ulrikh chided, his tall frame leaning over and still towering over her. "Withholding lechery…! Is not becoming of Ginyu, da?"

She snorted. "Says who?" But then her eyes slipped over to Weiss, and her blue-haired disguise. "Mm? Hey, peon girl! What's your name? You look familiar…"

Weiss blanched, bewildered. "S-Sage. My name is Sage."

Olivine's eyes snapped open. She grinned. "THAT'S IT! Ha! What in the schist are the CHANCES?! No way! Tell me tell me! You read HGS?!"

"R-read… what?"

"No… way…!" Olivine hiccupped "High Guardian Spice! It's like, my new favorite series, and you look JUST like Sage! And your name is actually SAGE?!"

Weiss' mouth fell open.

Olivine's held her own head in her hands, grinning uncontrollably. "First my favorite character ALMOST has my name, Olive, the cat girl! Now THIS! I'm reaching levels of geek hitherto undreamt of by MAN…!" Her teeth were suddenly hidden as her eyes slipped over and her smile vanished. "What's your dig, dimples?" she asked in a low voice, leering at Ruby. "You constipated?"

Only a few of them dared to glance and see what she was talking about. To their shared horror, Ruby was chewing her cheek, positively fuming.

Ruby's eyes snapped up, as the handle of Hush smacked the back of her head, unseen by anyone.

"Y-yes," Ruby grunted, looking away. "Totally stuffy, and… bloated."

Nora leaned forward, hand beside her mouth conspiratorially. "That's girl-speak for 'farty'..."

Ruby blushed, glaring at her as she wondered how Nora thought this was helpful. Olivine was a girl…

The Ginyus each reflexively recoiled. Olivine just froze, nose wrinkling as she took a measured step back.

"Keep it to yourself, cherry-top…"

Nova scoffed. "You asked, 'Liv… Are you two coming inside, or are you two going to steal off somewhere to make remarkably average-looking children?"

Olivine twisted on the spot, leaping up to hover on her literal platform shoes. "How about you step down off that broom you ride AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR—"

"Olivine!" Ulrikh chided, grabbing her under her arms as she hung limply. "Comradery is Ginyu staple! Bringing down property value of team!"

"Disagree, mate! Nothin' like a good flyt ta' toughen yer' jaw!" Brim laughed, massive fingers tracing from his sideburns to his goatee, adding a chin-strap to his fiery facial hair.

Nova rolled her eyes. "Yes, and that was nothing like a good flyt… Tandem, come in, take a hike, just don't screw up our karaoke night."

Olivine's green eyes wheeled behind her. The Dust crystal in her forehead was ensconced in a beam that split in two and wrapped behind her to engulf the wrists holding her up.

"Durochka!" Ulrikh cursed, dropping her as he shook his hands at the electric current licking them.

Olivine smirked. "What's wrong Ulrikh Storm, dish it out but can't take it?"

He muttered something under his breath as he followed the other two into the bar. Meanwhile, Olivine turned back to Jaune.

"You should come serenade us with your… Hey, where's your lute?"

Jaune went white. A Huntsman without his weapon was conspicuous indeed. "I-it's… in the shop? I mean, it's not like I need it, right?"

She snorted. "Right… I'm still getting used to it. Even being the best, it's still pretty new, able to tear down a wall with your bare hands…! I'll appropriate something for your aural amusements… just don't keep us waiting…"

She entered the bar, leaving the group alone at last.

"Ginyu's got a new team…?" Gohan muttered.

"They're pretty strong," Jaune noted. "Stronger than this Tandem guy was."

Yang sighed. "And they're right where we need to be… Jaune, you gotta up your performance here! You went full cold fish! I thought we were toast!"

Ren hummed. "Those guys seem a bit preoccupied in themselves to even notice…"

Sun considered. "Do we change disguises? Send one person in who hasn't gotten their attention?"

Weiss crossed her arms. "Honestly? I know it's risky, but… they just gave us a perfect excuse to head in without suspicion. Jaune keeps them distracted, and Ruby and I can… go take care of her 'tummy issues' and find this contact of ours."

Yang sighed. "If you're all still set on doing this… Jaune, you CAN fake a string instrument, right?"

---

They entered the frosted glass doors to the oddly vacant club. It was roughly the same size as Junior's, but it leaned into the darkness, sandstone painted black to make the neon patterns on the walls stand out. The floor was glassy, traced underneath by purple neon to lead guests to the appropriate places. A necessity, since the ground was covered by a constantly replenished layer of fog produced by stage smoke machines. Namely the long, plush-cushioned lounge couches arranged around the half-moon stage and crescent-shaped bar that made up a central pylon to the space. Light from inside the white plastic bar gave a minor illusion that the surface itself glowed.

And serving the smattering of Minutemen who were largely crashed on the couches were built, coy-looking men in red and gold, proudly showing their pecs and abdominals. They were fully costumed realizations of the neon mascots. Of course, there was hardly a spring in their step.

The barkeep watched them enter, long white sleeves rolled up, handlebar mustache twitching neath his slick black hair. He was the most stereotypical image of a bartender Ruby had ever seen, right down to cleaning a glass with the bar rag.

Despite the borderline-dead atmosphere, the synthesized music was upbeat and high tempo… as the Ginyus performed the sacred art of karaoke.

"Ginyu Force YEAH! Ginyu Force YEAH! Ginyu Force YEAH! Ginyu Force YEAH!"

"They have a song…?" Yang sighed.

" 'Liv!" Nova screeched, failing to keep her voice away from the microphone as she scowled down at her teammate. "Step on my verse again and I'll put you in a blender, you little toad!"

Olivine's gapped teeth just grinned back as she gave a cocky frown of challenge. "Threaten ME with a good time!"

Meanwhile Ulrikh's eyes widened as he glanced around. "Nova, not say ' T'-word…!" OR 'F'-word… Nyet words…!"

Indeed, Nova shrank, going somehow more pale as she held the microphone limply. "Sorry, I forgot…!"

Gohan giggled, and only a few of their group turned to wonder just what problem there was with the word 'toad…'

With almost casual grace for a man his size, Brim snatched the microphone as the next verse approached. "Cripe, women! Let a TRUE star BURN now!"

He loomed over the stage, tapping his enormous foot. "Aye, me name is Brim Stooooooone!" He sang with menace, reaching over his shoulder to clutch the staff of the weapon on his back. "The keeper of the Catcher's Flame! A morbid fable writ in blood and shame…"

They tried their best to step toward the bar as casually and cautiously as possible.

"This happen a lot?" Jaune asked, before his eyes drifted to the bartender's name tag. "...Claude?"

"Don' get on me BAD SIDE…!" Brim growled more than sang in barely-suppressed aggression. "Our merry chase be played for keeps! One touch an' ash to ash y'll get the saaaaaaame…"

Claude looked seemed to measure his response, suppressing a sigh as he answered. "Every night… They… love karaoke."

Olivine took the microphone and clutched it in both hands. "Olivine Paz, the name! They caaaaall me the cryyyystal kinetic! Whoa-oh! It's true what they say; big things, small packageeeeeees!"

"Pathetic," Nova added under her breath.

"Cuz WE HAVE!"

Olivine bounced from foot to foot. "We have hit the scene, and we, the most prized elites… this side of the Universe! We're Lord Frieza's special forces uuuuuunit, Tokusentaaaaaaai!"

The other Ginyus cocked brows at her.

"What is word?"

She ignored them. "On BREAK we go out for parfaits…" she took on an uncomfortable look as she improvised yet more lyrics. "Of course, our Cap' requires… her special lactose pill…"

"TMI, you TROLL! Nobody asked!" Nova blurted, pink in her cheeks.

Olivine whipped around, glaring. "This OPEN-MIC NIGH—?!"

"Ginyu Force YEAH! Ginyu Force YEAH!" Brim and Ulrikh carried, forcing Nova to join in as Olivine instead defiantly chanted "To-ku-sen-tai!"

Meanwhile, Jaune was doing his best to retain Tandem's air of self-importance. "So, uh… I need one a' my… grunts to talk to a Mouse?"

Claude's brows rose. "The boss? …Nobody's upset, are they?"

"Nah, nah, nothing like that," Jaune insisted. "Here on behalf of a… Moonchild."

Claude froze, the Ginyus collective warbling almost fading into the background. "Say again…? Quietly?"

"Moonchild…?"

There was a lull in the singing as a guitar solo dominated the speakers.

"Oi, Claude, top me pint!" Brim ordered from the stage. Nova held up two fingers.

"Ginger beer and gin here!"

Olivine only held up one. "Ginger ale for me…"

As Claude whipped his head around and busied himself, Nova loomed over Olivine with a taunting grin. "That's not even alcoholic, you CHILD…"

Olivine gripped the microphone with enough intensity in her little hands to threaten crushing it. "I was talking to CLAUDE… you…! CLOOOD!"

The microphone squealed with her gravelly shriek, and literally every occupant in the room clutched their ears.

Claude mixed drinks and piled them onto a tray as the Ginyus proceeded into their final chorus. He pulled the server aside, whispering as he cocked his head at Jaune and the group.

Weiss sighed. "I really hope Kaiserin's information is current… and we're not about to get sold out…"

Blake nodded. "With present company, this place would be a serious fireworks display…"

The song ended, and suddenly Olivine shouted into the mic. "SPOOOOONY…!"

She pulled an acoustic guitar from behind the stage curtain, hurling it across the room.

With a calamitous crash, the guitar smashed into the bar counter, twanging into dozens of pieces. The woebegone bartender only stared. Every eye stared back at Olivine, who froze and blushed, chewing her cheek, as even the other Ginyus silently judged her.

"There's another one…"

She retrieved another, this time awkwardly huffing her way over to thrust it in Jaune's hands.

Claude leaned over the bar. "Down the walk. First on the left at the end of the hall."

Ruby nodded as Neo hopped down from Yang, still unseen as she followed Ruby and Weiss.

Meanwhile, Jaune ascended the stage as the Ginyus parked it on a pair of the couches. Brim took a whole couch to himself.

Jaune stared down at the handful of Minutemen, his friends. He closed his eyes, and took one quick strum of the guitar.

It gave a sour note, and his eyes blinked wide. He found the culprit, flicking the string as he twisted a tuning peg until it was the proper frequency.

He shut his eyes again, sweating.

Then he began to play, a gentle back and forth strum, interspersed with a high to low run of notes.

"Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest…" he crooned slowly. "White is cold… and always yearning, burdened by… a royal test…"

Sun hummed as so many of them blinked. "Okay, so he can do a bit better than 'fake it…' "

Jaune strummed a bit harder.

"Black, the beast, descends from shadows… Yellow, beauty buuuuurns… gold…"

There was a pause. Ulrikh leaned over, whispering. "What is being symbolism? Is limited color palette, da?"

But then, Jaune's guitar began a building, frenzy, measured strumming with a profound energy behind it, as if scoring an invisible duel.

"Okay, he pulled it together!" Olivine added, clapping with the rhythm.

"Wooo!" Nora cheered. "Go OFF now!"

Neo stopped at the fork in the hall as Ruby and Weiss moved past. She needed line of sight to maintain her illusions. They found the door. Ruby and Weiss shared a look, and knocked.

The door creaked open. A face pressed itself through the crack at their height. His little red eyes registered surprise as he took off his flat cap, his half-curled brown hair moving aside, a single pink streak running across it horizontally.

"Sorry, soldiers, are we short anything?" he asked, his voice small, but confident.

Ruby snorted, a hand over her mouth. Weiss frowned.

The man smirked as his brows lowered. "Yeah yeah, short jokes for Mouse…"

"S-sorry, sir, we're…" Ruby began, turning to catch Neo's eye, upon which their disguises vanished in a tinkling of pink shards. "We're not with Frieza."

He blinked, feminine jaw slack to reveal his prominent buck teeth.

"Inside, quick."

He closed the door behind them as they found themselves in a corner office with lavishly comfortable furniture and a desk that was actually a vast glass terrarium, housing a herd of squeaking, scampering potato-sized cavies in various colors. Meanwhile, a coarse-furred capybara lifted its square head to sniff the air at them.

"So…" he began, sinking into his chair. "I'm Marius, but everyone just calls me 'Mouse.' You know, the teeth… the ears…" He adjusted his yellow vest, a far more swanky sort than in his hard scrabble years. "I'd say you caught me at a busy hour, but… since money basically isn't a thing here now, I really… don't have much to do here, apart from picking up the slack and defusing the rough stuff. And let's be honest, I'm no bouncer…"

The capybara finally lifted lazily onto its paws and trotted over to greet the newcomers. Ruby couldn't help but fawn over the oversized rodent as it sniffed her legs.

"Scuff? Scuff… Watch out, she likes to—"

Ruby yelped as her vast teeth snatched a chunk from her skirt… and ate it.

"And that's where her name comes from. Shoo… shoo!"

With little provocation, Scuff turned tail and began sniffing around behind Mouse, minding her own capybara business.

"I don't keep wooden furniture… Guess why. So you're out past curfew, disguised as Minutemen… Do you have anything else for me?"

Weiss nodded. "The name Moonchild mean anything to you?"

He blinked, sitting up. "Monden… She sent you? She doesn't contact any of us lightly… This is strange… she doesn't generally need messengers, so… what does that make you?"

Ruby stood up. "We're from Vale. Not like… agents or… or whatever the Kingdom would send… We're called The Warriors in the Woods. And we have a way to help get the faunus out of the Answer—"

"Anser… mine," Weiss corrected. "But… yes. We have particular resources and skills, and we need an audience with the leaders of the Thousand-and-One Knights."

Mouse just blinked, scratching Scuff's brown fur as she stood beside the desk and practically drifted to sleep while standing.

"I… Y-you kids still look school age… Did these Warriors send the least assuming of you?"

Weiss crossed her arms. "Kaiserin sent us. Our friend is currently distracting the Ginyus, disguised as that Spoony lout. She sent us, and we're using his disguise, because we already knocked him out of town on the way into Vacuo. Mrs. Monden saw the whole thing."

Mouse loomed over his desk. "Wait, Tandem? The chainmail guy with the Lute? You beat him… He's an Uplift."

Weiss smirked. "Hence our recommendation."

Mouse squinted. "I'm… I don't know if I believe you. How?!"

Ruby shared a glance with Weiss, holding a hand up. "I don't know how we do that without blowing up the room, but…"

With a chirp, a ball of red light formed in her palm, flickering larger and larger into an energy sphere the size of a basketball.

Mouse stared at it, considering… and considering…

"Okay, get rid of that! I don't know if that's not just a flashy semblance, but whatever!"

Ruby let it flicker smaller and smaller until it diffused into the air. "So…?"

Mouse reached up to the corkboard next to his desk. "So… I'm not the deciding vote here in the first place? You'll have to prove yourselves a bit more than that to the others… But I can give you my token of favor…"

He plucked out a thumb tack holding a scrap of ratty, torn red and gold cloth. It looked oddly familiar to Ruby…

Mouse held it out. "It'll let them know you're serious… or that a mother of a raid is in the works. But we all choose our own tokens, and nobody but the guys at Three Sheets know this is the one I chose."

He let it settle into Ruby's palm.

"Just… be careful with that. It's all I have left of… someone I used to know."

Ruby nodded. "We will… So… Three Sheets is a…?"

There was a tearing noise.

"EEEEEEP?!"

Ruby and Mouse snapped to Weiss, who was bolt-upright, pink-faced as Scuff scampered out from under her skirt with a wad of something gossamer and white.

"No! Bad Scuff!"

---

Jaune made the last hit of the tune, to scattered applause —mostly from his friends— just as Ruby and Weiss returned in full disguise, Neo silently shadowing them as they rejoined the group.

"So?" Sun asked, as Ruby handed him the red and gold scrap.

"Another bar…" Ruby sighed.

"Called Three Sheets To The Wind," Weiss elaborated. "It's on the—"

"I've heard of it," Sun nodded, quiet. "Known quantity."

"Great… Now we just have to shake the dork patrol," Blake said, eyeing the Ginyus.

Jaune took notice of the gathered group. "So, that's all I've got in me tonight…"

"BOO!" Nova insisted. "One and done? Got somewhere to be?"

"Aye, least give us an encore, Spoon-doggle!" Brim Stone demanded, massive hand clapping his shoulder.

Olivine shoved the guitar back in his hands. "I'll nag you around town if I have to! Park it, Tan'!"

Ulrikh took a step back. "One to conclude night! Something you are feeling strongly… From the heart, da?"

Trapped, Jaune hopped back up, looking lost. "From the heart…" He set eyes on one of the neon soldiers on the opposite wall, its javelin and round shield gleaming in gold light.

Yeah… yeah, okay."

He closed his eyes, hesitating.

Then, three notes. Then the same three. Again, but the last note was lower…

"I never felt… that it was wise… to wish too much…" His voice quivered, like he hardly believed he was singing this at all. "To dream too big… would only lead… to being crushed…"

The Ginyus seemed taken aback by the gentle cadence, but it was nothing to his friends, who froze stiff as they listened. The Minutemen largely seemed to ignore it, or returned to their drinks for the mellow tune.

"Then I met you… You weren't afraid… of anything… You taught me how… to leave the ground… to use my wings…"

Ulrikh stood gobsmacked, while Nova's lone brow kept rising. Brim seemed particularly bothered as his tiny eyes glared in annoyance.

Jaune's voice quivered. "I never thought… a hero…" He blinked suddenly. "...would ever come my way… But more than that… I never thought you'd be taken away…"

Ruby saw Gohan sit confused, but he was the only one, as she set eyes on Ren who watched with a knowing, empathetic stare… and Nora, whose hand covered her mouth.

"Now it's cold… without you here… It's like winter lasts all year…"

Brim made to take a single step towards the stage, but in a single motion, Olivine swapped the lightning crystal in her helmet for a white one. A telekinetic swipe ensconced Brim, freezing him in place as the pint-sized Ginyu glared at him from beneath her visor, revealing the massive man's bald face and head.

"But your star's still in… the sky… So I won't… say goodbye… I don't have… to say… goodbye…"

Nova rolled her eyes and turned to order from the bar, only for Ulrikh's toned hand to shoot up, holding a finger to his lips as he watched Jaune's performance in a stern vigil.

Nora leaned into Ren as they watched Jaune gain a touch of confidence, even if his voice kept wavering. Weiss watched, glassy eyed. She too saw Ren and Nora in the midst of this. All her time with Jaune outside of training had given her insight into things like… this.

"My days of doubt… were in the past… with you around… You helped me feel… I had a place… direction found…" His eyes squeezed together. "You showed me that… a greater dream… can be achieved… Enough resolve… will conquer all… if we believe…"

Nova audibly groaned as she tossed back a shot. Brim's face and hair reignited as he struggled to free the rest of himself.

"The light you gave to guide me… will never fade away… But moving forward never felt… as hard as today…"

Olivine didn't notice Brim's struggle… or much of anything as her visor fogged. She idly flicked a switch on her helmet, powering a pair of tiny fans which began to clear her vision. In spite of the tears budding in her eyes… her hands clasped together.

"Now it's cold… without you here… It's like winter lasts all year…" Jaune stared up, into the stage lights. "But your star's still in… the sky… So I won't… say goodbye… I don't have… to s-say…"

He let the guitar sink in his hand and hang at his side, letting it sit on its side as he staggered offstage. "Th-that's all I've got…"

But the Ginyus —apart from Nova— approached. Brim flexed to blast out the few flecks of ice that held him back.

"Lily-livered tripe," Brim growled. "Don' be bringing that feely haggis here…"

Jaune glowered at his feet, but it was Olivine who leapt up, stepping between them on her floating platforms.

"SHUT IT, BRIM! He's sensitive, and haunted by the ghosts of his past! And it's HOT!"

"Aye, hot like week-old milksop…"

Nova backed against the bar. "Brim, isn't haggis something you—?"

"Nay everyone with me accent be LIKIN' haggis, ye bindt!"

Ulrikh, however, actually stepped up, eyes glassy, face statuesque. "Comrade Argent…" His hand found Jaune's shoulder. "I part with mat', and sestra."

"Cousin," Olivine muttered, hand on his back. "It was hard…"

Jaune found Ulrikh's stormy eyes. Though stoic, they were shockingly friendly from under his frizzy glam rock hair.

"Who you lose?"

The others tried not to arouse suspicion. Jaune was stuck, and as far as the elite squad were concerned, they were low-ranking dregs with no warrant to separate them.

But Jaune stared into the distance. "Someone… I didn't appreciate in time. Not enough. And in her time of need… I wasn't strong enough to help, not without being in the way."

Nova frowned. "Before uplifting?"

"It was a long time ago…"

Olivine wrote something on a bar napkin. "Hey… every Uplift knows the feeling." She stuffed it into his pants pocket. "Stop by my place if you need a shoulder, huh?"

"Aye, now beat it!" Brim boomed, pointing a thick finger. "Soilin' karaoke night!"

Jaune took the opportunity with nary a moment's hesitation. He shuffled past the bar to the others at last.

They moved as a group, stepping into the short antechamber, largely beyond the sight of the room. Nora crushed Jaune immediately with a side-hug, and Ren's hand was around his back.

"You okay…?"

Jaune shut his eyes, sighing as he nodded. "Yeah."

"A-plus stalling," Blake said, delicately. "I'll be honest, I thought we were blown when they wanted you to perform. I can't believe we forgot about his weapon…"

Ruby inhaled. "Riiiight, you were gone that time Jaune tried to serenade Weiss to the dance…"

Weiss dared to ask. "So… that song…"

Jaune gave a breath. "It was a… long way to Mistral."

Weiss nodded. "It's beautiful."

Jaune managed a moment's smile, not meeting her eyes.

"We might consider ditching the Tandem disguise," Yang said, eyes fanning the doors. "We really weren't ready to run into people who know the bastard. But I guess we're locked into this now…"

She took a deep breath, and walked out the door.

The plaza had become much busier. To their collective surprise, a steady stream of children in blue uniforms were being led towards the school.

"Keep order, eyes ahead!" the blue one ordered. For your family's sake, can't have you nippers late to night classes…" She rested her hatchet revolver against her shoulder. She had short brown hair, a sky-blue skirt and a puffy vest with long white sleeves.

"Yes, Miss Azura…" the children droned in a scattered manner.

Yang leaned towards Neo. "Switch Jaune's disguise, before someone else questions him!"

"Yes please…"

They shielded Jaune from view as he changed to a mere Minuteman.

"Nice not to be in the spotlight anymore… So, where's this bar?"

But Ruby noticed something. Something on the other side of the stream of kids. Stone-faced, she started walking.

Weiss noticed. "Oh no… Ruby!"

They looked over as Weiss hurried after her partner.

Ruby stepped through the throng of kids. "HEY!"

Porcine ears pricked up by the alley. A pair of tusks swiveled. Pigtails swished… as a more literal pig tail bobbed out the back of a pair of black spats.

And in that time, Neo had changed Weiss and Ruby's outfits to school uniforms matching the children.

" 'Hay' is for horticulturists, kid," the one with the ears said, her head shaved at the part on one side, while the other was long and held up by hairspray, blonde with hints of crimson. Her torn, sleeveless denim top clashed with her mini and thigh highs, not to mention the boots worn by all three. She idly twirled a chain flail, leering with the same pink eyes the three shared.

"Berry, don't be a Melvin," said the tallest, her red flat mohawk streaked with grey. She carried a sledge. Frankly their weapons weren't custom at all… Her clay tank top and black jeans showed off her muscle structure, at least compared to her fellows. The tusks protruding from the corners of her mouth forming a false, permanent grin.

"Leave them alone…" Ruby demanded, considerably shorter than any of the three.

Weiss looked past to see who she meant. It was a girl and boy, almost blending into the clutter by the wall as they cowered, their sand-strewn clothes nearly the same color as the adobe.

"Hear that, Mason?" the one in pink pigtails and her oversized black jacket laughed, like she had a stuffy nose. "Ballsy little squeaker, huh?"

Mason bent her back, still looming. "Just some vagrants, not your little schoolmates… Orphan trash past curfew…"

"Aww, but Mason, Styx…!" Strawberry mocked. "They don't have homes! Can't heed thuh curfew… awww… So unfair…"

Ruby felt a sensation creep down her spine like a lit fuse. She was shaking. The back of her head was aching as she realized how tight her jaw was. Her breaths were coming in jolts.

These… people… didn't care what happened to those children. No, it was worse than that… They had an excuse to hurt them, and they were eager to.

A wave of revulsion coursed through her. Ruby had never wanted to hurt someone like this. She didn't think that was in her, to feel that. She hadn't felt that for Frieza.

She had taken most of the people working under Frieza to be doing so under duress, with a few bullies like Tandem… but Frieza had truly delved for the worst sort of scum. People who were truly thriving in a world of his making.

But just as she and Weiss felt the wrenching anger reach its peak, they saw the children, barefoot and cautious, begin to slip along the wall as the trio's backs were turned.

"Please, she's just—" Weiss began, stepping forward.

"Schweinlins."

It had come so suddenly from behind that even Ruby and Weiss hadn't sensed it. Even the trio who faced the voice —the Schweinlins, apparently— blinked suddenly as if the woman had simply appeared.

They turned to see a woman in fair pink hair styled into elaborate curls, holding a painted white crook that Ruby could tell by sight alone was also a gun, and a strange one at that. It wasn't machined to insane tolerances given the imperfections she saw, so from its lack of trigger or feeding mechanism it could only be loaded from the barrel in the floor. Some kind of point-blank contact trigger…?

She wore a white sundress, a frilly bonnet, and a pair of black mary janes, yet carried herself with an utter air of importance. Even her eyes were stark white and piercing, whiter than the sclera surrounding them. Some people mistook Ruby's Silver Eyes for white, and she almost wished she could keep a photo of this woman to show people what that really looked like. Or she would have, if that stare didn't freak her out…

"Beau," Mason greeted back, cable-thick arms crossed.

"That's Miss Blanca to y'all," she snapped in her airy lilt. "An' we have us a situation brewin'. That boy Tandem's up an' vanished, scroll signal an' all. Patrol says ol' Lady Monden took credit, but I say she's coverin' for someone…"

Strawberry leaned back into the wall, elbows-up. "Wait, Tandem? But he's, like… one of us? That's impossible."

"He's a Spoon you could gag me with…" Styx muttered, giggling… before Beau's crook reached around her neck and twisted, forcing her to her knees with the flick of a wrist.

"This is serious, cherry pie, try to keep up!" Beau insisted, flicking to release Styx. "Now this whole hog-sized mess is gonna be in our laps if we don't get to the bottom of it and tie their tails to a tree, prompt-like."

"Who cares?" Mason asked. "It's Vacuo, everyone for themse—"

"Colony One, string bean," Beau corrected, as firmly as she could, taking a menacing step forward. "Do you realize the kinda' unrest we deal with if it gets around that an Uplift, specially chosen an' anointed by Lord Frieza, can be brought down? We all suffer if we allow his name to be impugned. So I suggest you saddle up an' help, 'for I report you for derelictin' your duties… You little beasts are already a pref'rential exception to the usual rule… You only remain as such long as you're useful…"

The trio's pink eyes widened at the threat, heaved sighs and gave a smattering of nods.

Beau tapped the crook against her other hand. "That goes for you s'well, gents," she said, eyes glancing at the rest of RWBY and JNPR. "An' you little ladies run along to school. Mae ain't big on truancy. Good little lambkins…"

The crook gently steered Ruby and Weiss into the throng of students. Indeed, Mae Azura was watching around the corner, eyes trained for any chicanery. They lingered on the pair as they were led away, seeking the eyes of their helpless friends as they marched off in the opposite direction.

Sun tried to act natural as they filed away. "So… what now?!"

Blake sighed. "Neo has to go with them, or their disguise fails and they get found out. They'll have to find a chance to slip away and find us."

"That means we're exposed instead," Jaune noted. "We have to wait for them to—"

But the Schweinlins had already dispersed, and in a sudden flash Beau dashed to a rooftop like a spear of light. Another flash and she was gone.

"Okay…" Nora sighed. "Now just blue-stuff…"

"Gohan," Yang said, knowing full well she couldn't see him with her eyes. "Tell Neo to follow them. We're gonna ghost around the corner."

Neo saw the boy approach and whisper. She considered, and nodded, following the red and white pair.

Thankfully, the others had nearly blocked line of sight with Mae before the last of the students had cleared the plaza. Their disguises melted away in moments.

Blake sighed, looking up at her ears. "Guess for the moment, we're stuck sneaking."

Gohan rejoined them in the alley, concern in his eyes. "They're heading for the school… where Frieza is…"

"They'll be okay," Ren said, smiling at him. "We need to stick to the shadows and rely on our speed."

"You heard what they said though," Yang said, peering everywhere. "They're looking for us now… Damn it, Ruby! This wasn't the time to get separated! She HAD to stick up for those kids…"

"It'll be okay," Jaune said. "We stay quiet, trust Blake's hearing, and keep track of any Huntsman-sized power levels. Remember, they can't suppress their energy. Nobody's about to get the drop on us."

"True, but…" Yang took a breath. "Okay, no point sticking around. We have to get this done. Sun, where we going?"

---

Ruby and Weiss were followed steadily by Neopolitan as they neared the bridge that led into Shade. They kept stealing glances, but the surrounding students were already watching them after the scene outside of Hoplites. They were certain to be seen if they tried dashing away, if only conspicuous for their absence.

Sure, the kids reporting students they've never seen before vanishing might not even be taken seriously…

Or it might be all too familiar to those who had seen ki users in action, drawing their pursuers…

Before they knew it, the top of the bridge was passing over them, and they were marching straight towards the main doors as Neo invisibly vaulted the wood beams.

At the bridge's end, she dropped down between the partners, still invisible, crouched as she landed. Hand on her hat, she rose back into view in uniform as a black haired green eyed student, the bowler taking the form of a modest flat cap.

"Smooth," Ruby whispered.

Neo grinned, pinching the brim of the hat with a subtle nod as her eyes alternated pink and white with each blink, settling to the green of her disguise.

"Not much avoiding this now…" Weiss breathed. "They're going to expect us to know our rooms. We need to slip into a big one."

They crossed the threshold. Shade Academy seemed smaller from the inside, but still grand. Doors of teakwood set into walls of stone polished to a gleam. The central elevator shaft was an ornate obelisk… or rather, it was an obelisk once it included the top of the pyramid it ascended into far above.

Guards were stationed before the open elevator shaft… something, Weiss thought, a velvet rope or two might have achieved…

None of the lecture halls appeared to be on the ground floor, only a dining hall on the far side of the inner courtyard, past palms and ferns… and a west wall cracked and peppered in fresh bullet holes and suspect stains.

It was so unlike any experience Ruby had ever had of Beacon. No idle chatter, no excitement, no complaints about tests or the hour... Heads down, eyes forward, with only the endless clap of shoes echoing off the stone walls.

They were ushered off up the first set of stairs, where at last the doors opened into proper lecture halls. They didn't set off for the first… it might seem too desperate of them to depart from the throng. But they settled on the second.

The seats were tiered and cushioned. The building had clearly preserved as much of its original parts as possible with minimal renovation. The blackboard looked ancient. Beacon had them too, a distinct holdover of times passed… but somehow they could tell.

They took the second row from the back —absolute back, again, would seem desperate— and waited for the room to fill.

Weiss was first to notice the desks came equipped with side pockets of school materials —something it would be conspicuous of them to lack otherwise— and in the right-hand corner, hastily-bound and printed materials that were little more than pamphlets. Frieza's immaculately rendered image was drawn from life, a deadly side-eye above a knowing, smug grin.

" 'Best Served Cold: A History of Conquest and Real Estate Speculation,' are you kidding me…?!" Weiss demanded quietly, before Ruby shushed her, eyes fanning the immediate students who seemed similarly alarmed.

Apart from a girl below their tier, who Ruby could see in her peripheral vision. Her pink and purple hair was tied tight in a bun. "Sure you're in the right class?"

Weiss and Ruby tried not to acknowledge her, but the callout was… more than a bit worrisome.

Neo, however, rested her chin in her hand and sent a sultry look down to her. She capped it off with a brief, but just-audible kissing noise as she pursed her lips.

The nosy girl turned away with a blush as though a spider had stared her down. A nude spider.

Purple banners were hung regularly from the ceiling with gold lettering.

'Vigilance, Obedience, Resilience,' said one. 'Secure Your Future Among the Stars,' and 'Ex Potentia Unus,' said others, though Ruby had no idea what it meant.

"Good evening, would you please turn to page fifty-six."

They turned to see her walking in, pewter suit matching her brown ponytail. She paused as she scanned the room. Ruby swore their eyes met for an instant…

"You'll be free reading for the next fifteen," she said, walking down to her desk and filing away a few papers as she adjusted her glasses. "Miss Crimson, Cobalt, and Fern, could you join me in the office, to finalize your transfer?"

Ruby felt her mouth go dry. There was silence as the three of them tried to play dumb… but the professor was looking straight at them.

Ruby dared a glance at Weiss and Neo… who stared at her as she began to pull her parasol from behind her back…

Ruby shook her head, standing up. "Yes, professor."

Neo stowed her weapon, as she and Weiss stood up, the eyes of the class on them… especially the nosy girl, whose smug smile could have peeled paint off the walls.

They followed into the office at the floor of the lecture hall, through a thick old door.

The door closed behind them as they stepped into the partitioned space. An old desk, cabinet, and a strange ornate casket in the very back, decorated with two huge birds on the top with their wingtips stretched forward, almost touching.

The cabinet was replete with small treasures. A golden cross… a drab, featureless wooden cup… a number of pill-shaped stones that almost appeared to glow.

"Any luck, that'll satisfy the squealers," the professor said lowly, leaning back to sit on the desk. "Now… you're not in my class. What exactly are you doing?"

"We're transfers from Beaco—"

"Stop." Her eyes were steely. "There are no formal transfers. Are you even from Vacuo?"

Ruby stared over at Weiss, whose eyes were frowning at the nameplate on the desk beside her.

"Henrys… Diana Henrys?! The archaeologist?!" Weiss blurted, eyes wide.

"Who?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sputtered, hand against her face.

Henrys gave a huff and a smile. "The duality of man… So you're not from Vacuo. Where'd you get the uniforms?"

Ruby sighed. "Neo?"

Neo nodded, the pink shards revealed Weiss for herself, and otherwise changed Neo's hair and all of their uniforms.

"Neat trick. Find out too late you were pilgrims in an unholy land?" Henrys asked.

"We… got swept up in the crowd," Weiss admitted. "What kind of classes are taught at night like this? Some of the students we were with looked barely middle school age."

"Reeducation. Shade is no longer here to prepare well-rounded Huntsmen, just a mandatory-attendance indoctrination mill, with combat training for the especially gifted and vicious." Henrys leered into the floor. "The school and faculty operate around the clock to reach the whole population, some daylight hours, others nights like these."

She peered through a covered peephole in the adjoining door. "None of those kids will think anything of it if you just vanish after this," Henrys told them. "But if you're caught out after curfew…"

She paused. Now that she could see them without the disguises, she frowned at Ruby.

"You… This might sound strange, but what's your mom's name?"

"U-uh…" Ruby was utterly blindsided. She blinked several times. "H-her name was Summer… Summer Rose. My name is Ruby…"

Her face softened. "Was… I'm sorry to hear… I met your mom when we hosted the Vytal Tournament. Incredible fighter. Just fell short of fortune and glory in the finals against Atlas."

"She… almost won the tournament…?" Ruby asked, face slack. "Nobody ever told me…"

"We all spent time together while the other Kingdom delegations were here. Summer was a bright spark in the group… Bit featherbrained, but…"

Weiss grinned at Ruby knowingly. Ruby noticed.

"What?"

"The petal didn't fall far, did it?"

Ruby chewed her cheek, arms crossed.

"And you're Weiss Schnee," Henrys said matter-of-factly. "No history there. Disguising more than your clothes was a solid choice." She looked over at Neo. "And…"

Weiss winced. "Oh, she… can't speak."

Henrys nodded… and then began to sign at her.

Neo blinked, sighed, and signed back with a beleaguered frown.

Henrys teeth showed as she hefted a laugh. "Yes, you're right, I shouldn't have assumed you're deaf too. Good to meet you." She looked over at Ruby and Weiss. "She's fun. Ruby, if you don't mind, can I see your weapon?"

Ruby blinked. This was becoming a strange encounter. "I… guess?"

She unclipped Crescent Rose, holding it out.

"No need to unfold it," Henrys said, stepping down from the desk and letting her hand hover over it. "This is well made… Maintenance nightmare though."

Finally, she set her hand upon it, peering into it. Her face underwent a series of expressions. Several seconds later, she lifted her hand, mouth open.

"Frieza's left his mark on this thing…" she whispered. "Touched it himself… You've encountered him already, in Mistral."

Ruby's mouth and eyes gaped. "H-how…?"

Weiss smirked. "It's her semblance! She can feel the history of objects with strong attachments to someone's Aura, or things held in high regard by a lot of people."

Ruby cooed appreciatively. "How much did you…?"

"You're trying to stop Frieza…" Henrys surmised. "And you might actually have a chance… The Relics…"

All three of them recoiled. Even Neo's eyes flashed double-white.

"You know about that?!"

"I do," Henrys confirmed. "I've touched one myself… in the Vault under the elevator shaft."

Weiss and Ruby's eyes snapped to the other's, and both frowned as their heartbeats hastened.

"That's impossible!" Weiss said. "O-Only the Winter Maiden can open it! She's in Atlas!"

Ruby nodded. "And Frieza doesn't know about the Relics…"

"He does."

They gaped at Henrys, who reached for a bust on the desk… or rather, the high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat upon it. "That Commander Ginyu is always taking the Sword out of there, keeps it on her most of the day. I don't know what happens down in that Vault, only been there once. They made me help them find the damn thing."

Ruby's heart was pounding. "But how? How does he know about it?"

Weiss winced. "You don't think Headmistress Dahlia surrendered it, do you?"

Henrys shook her head as she slipped the hat on, reaching to a nearby coat rack for a brown jacket as she shrugged the pewter suit off. "No, it was some other crowd. Brokered a deal with him, and the Relic was part of it."

Neo leaned against the wall, frowning as she watched Ruby and Weiss becoming steadily more confounded.

"Do you know which of them opened the Vault?" Ruby asked.

Henrys slipped the jacket on, and slipped off her wire rim glasses into her pocket. "Ginyu did that. Apparently even she hadn't realized she could."

Weiss gaped. "You mean Ginyu just happened to steal the body of the Winter Maiden?! Out of anyone on Remnant? That's… that's so… Ruby, I have a bad feeling about this. How many people are in on Ozpin's secret? I'm really worried we know who Frieza made a deal with… and that's extremely… bad… news…"

"No," Henrys said, pulling out her whip and a holster with a .45 revolver. "It means you can sneak that Sword out of this Kingdom without carting someone half a world away here just to reach it. You got here by mistake, but whatever your purpose here was, you need to steal it now."

Ruby, Weiss, and Neo looked between each other.

"I mean…" Weiss began, "she's right, Ruby. We'll probably never get a chance like this again, especially once we finish our business here. If their guard is low around the Sword… it won't be soon."

Ruby stammered for a moment. "B-but… Remember what Kaiserin said? Frieza's gonna blow his top when he realizes what happened! People are going to die… Innocent people… because they didn't stop us. It'll be our fault…"

Weiss sighed, eyes soft. "Ruby, I-I don't think that's avoidable now… It'll be no different now than a month later."

Henrys put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. It was kind, but firm. Her hazel eyes stared into Ruby's. "His choices are not your burden. He's a monster, and Vacuo is dying slowly by the day as he hollows it out. The longer he lives, the more people suffer beneath him. The sooner you can bring an end to him, the more people you save."

She let go, eyes distant. "I saw Monden's girl die. You don't forget pointless cruelty like that. And so many others, daily, on the courtyard wall outside that door. Women, children…" A scowl overtook her, before she wrestled it back under control. "I saw fellow faculty… and… my own students. Aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses, put before the firing squad… Sometimes, they just stop showing up for class. Other times…" She slammed her eyes shut as she growled. "I can't stand it anymore."

Ruby's eyes were filled with pain. She kept trying to think, to consider another way. "M-maybe if we made like, a-a decoy? And he couldn't tell the differen—?"

"We don't have time," Henrys said, shoving a crude looking remote into her face. "We're going out to find Ginyu. If she has the Relic on her, I'm setting charges in the dining hall to draw the guards and force an evacuation of the students. Either you make use of that chaos to escape with the kids, or those guards suffer for nothing."

Henrys marched for the door. "Unless you want to stop me?"

She opened the door out into the inner courtyard —not to her lecture hall— and opened it wide, creating just enough of a gap for them all to follow her.

Neo cloaked the three of them, and they hurried out. Ruby felt thunderstruck. Henrys wasn't giving them a choice, forcing their hand. Make the lives she was certain to take mean something, or let their inevitable punishments be in vain…

"She's usually training the new crop," Henrys said under her breath. It didn't help how far sound carried in the inner courtyard. "She always keeps to theory while Frieza rests. For a damn tyrant, he turns in early."

They took the stairs to the third step of the pyramid, then following the perimeter walk. Eventually they found the opening to an exterior walkway and a large balcony.

"There they are… Uplifts… I hate these guys…"

The balcony was lined with adults of all builds and ages. Fighting builds, fit and healthy. And inspecting the line was a woman with long platinum hair in purple with the same crude brown ceramic armor.

"Mmm…" Ginyu's eyes lingered on one of the men. Then she grunted, looking away with her face flushed. She passed the next few with barely any consideration. Then she stopped on a young, slender man that was little more than a boy. In fact, he was jumpy and androgynous. Apart from the lack of large ears, he could have been Mouse' brother, or a rather masculine woman.

Ginyu's nose went red, and she turned towards the desert. "Candidate! I have... a special task for you! You are not to disclose what you see or hear or... experience! You will enter my office in ten!" Not looking at the boy, she pulled out something brown, crinkling in her grasp as she held it out.

"You will wear this bag over your head, and await further instructions!"

He took the paper bag, more confused than a snowman in a sack of flour.

"The rest of you focus on… focusing. I'm not your babysitter."

Henrys took a breath, stepping out as Ginyu stomped by and following at her flank. "Supreme Commander, I need clarification. You were present for the Cold transition of power, Lord Frieza's coronation?"

A look of abject terror crossed Ginyu's stolen face. "Oh space-lice… L-look, I'm not taking those questions until the appointed hours! Just tell the sprouts the standard line… And why are you in field gear? Ugh… Never mind…"

Ginyu vaulted the rail and floated down to the courtyard, leaving them staring after her.

Henrys couldn't see the girls, but whispered. "Heading for the shaft. Go. Go NOW…"

Ruby grabbed Neo and Weiss by the hand and leapt over after Ginyu. They landed behind one of the palms. Neo landed unexpectedly heavily, her knees buckling for a moment from the multi-story drop.

"Sorry…!"

They watched as Ginyu strode over to the elevator shaft. The guards stepped back without a word. Ruby bent her knees as they watched Ginyu step off and drop down. The guards prepared to step back before the shaft.

Ruby whirled. It was a fraction of a second, as they slipped past and down into the darkness.

The left guard stood up straight. "Hm? You feel that?"

"A little broad, isn't it? You could mean anything from a hangover to lactose intolerance."

"What, you too? I meant the wind."

"Exactly…"

"Dude…"

When they landed on the sandstone outcrop, Ginyu was already heading for the great golden door. The constant sound of water from the aquifer below covered their landing.

"Whoa…!" Ruby whispered.

"That… definitely looks like the kind of Vault that holds something a god made…" Weiss muttered. "Having never seen one before…"

They followed Ginyu from a distance as she hopped the Crescent-shaped platforms. Glowing fruit from the inexplicably alive palms lit the area as they glowed gold.

Without ceremony, casual as turning a knob, Ginyu tapped her foot as she pressed her hand against the door, which began the complicated process of unsealing its multitude of crescent-shaped components. The bright, frothing slate coast beyond the door was blinding in the relative dark of the cavern.

Neo beheld it all, shaking her head, eyes alternating as she blinked.

"I feel like Oz failed to mention this part…"

"Look!" Ruby gasped. "The Sword…!"

Indeed, floating above its plinth, the gleaming crystal blade and its spun gold ornamentation sat, waiting. Yet more casually, Ginyu walked up and grabbed the hilt, shoving the blade into a loop on her waist before turning, arms crossed.

"Ehhh… Come on… I've got things to do…" Ginyu muttered.

Ruby frowned. "She's waiting for—?"

Weiss gaped, turning back. "Someone's coming! Get into cover!"

"But we're invisi—"

Weiss pulled Ruby behind a flat stone formation as the newcomer dropped down from the shaft and made her way over, the crunch of sandy rock decorated with the tinkling of glass.

"No…"

Cinder Fall marched down, less of a sashay to her movements than Ruby had ever seen. But there was no mistaking her as she walked past.

"She DID survive…" Weiss noted. "Salem is working with Frieza… This is BAD…"

"Neo NO…!" Ruby hissed.

Weiss whipped her head around. Neo had stolen Myrtenaster off Weiss' belt and vaulted over the rock, and was making to sprint at Cinder when she landed…

Ruby whirled around the rock and tackled her, arms around her front as Neo glared a piercing dual-brown side-eye at her, struggling as Cinder carried on ahead.

It was trivial to pull her back behind cover, even with the rapier whipping about, singing through the air, but as Neo's back pressed against the rock, she glared at Ruby, face taut with betrayal.

"Neo, we can't!"

Neo's teeth grit as her eyes bored into Ruby's.

"We need to see what Cinder's doing here first!" Weiss insisted. "And if I'm right…"

"Finally!" Ginyu sighed. "I'm not your personal turnkey, girly."

Cinder only smiled, a hand on her hip. "You want me at my best, don't you? Better to serve Lord Frieza, and our common interests…"

"Hnf… So you say… I'll credit you for taking this training seriously, but don't let your ambitions get too big for those shiny little shoes of yours. You'll never match me on the battlefield."

Cinder stepped past her, past the Vault doors. "We should hold another match soon. I'm curious to know if you're right… See you soon."

Ginyu scoffed, turning to place her hand on the door again. "You've been less abrasive lately. I'd take that for you, finally learning your place. But like your master, I know you've just retreated into subtlety…"

"I suppose if I had, you'd never be able to tell."

The doors began to seal again, and Neo watched, almost vibrating with anger. Her eyes sought Ruby again, clearly resisting the urge to strike her with the weapon. It wouldn't have worked, but the fact that she didn't even try gave Ruby a surge of affection for the tiny terror… even if not killing her was a low bar.

Neo's brows creased with pain, as if to ask… 'Why…?!'

"It's what I was afraid of," Weiss explained. "Not only is Salem working with Frieza, but they're training her people…"

Ruby nodded, contemplating this new nightmare scenario. "Neo, you've seen what Raven could do once she figured out our powers. She's like forty times what we can do!"

"And both Ginyu and Cinder are Maidens too… They're certain to be just as powerful," Weiss said. "We can't take them. If either of them find us, we're DEAD…"

"We'd need Raven or Vegeta to take her down. I'm sorry, Neo…" Ruby eased her grip, her eyes sincere in apology.

Neo winced, looking back at the Vault, where Cinder had been sealed in. She looked back at Ruby, her eyes going pink as she considered. With a silent sigh, the bottom of her fist hammering the rock behind her, she nodded, downcast. She handed Weiss Myrtenaster, and for the life of her, even its owner couldn't find it in her to rebuke the tri-tone girl for stealing it.

Neo removed her bowler, her thumbs fiddling with the rim, almost affectionately as she stared into its mouth.

Meanwhile, Ginyu took to the air, eschewing the path altogether as she reached the bottom of the shaft back up.

Weiss stared after her. "Okay… The Sword is in the open. Henrys only gave us twenty minutes before all hell broke loose upstairs. We can't lose her!"

Ruby lifted Neo to her feet, patting her back. "Come on… We'll find her again, I promise."

---

Neo locked eyes with her. She nodded, one hand squeezing Ruby's shoulder briefly.

Blake's ears twitched, swiveling as they ducked into the next alley. "Sounds clear…"

"No big emotions," Ren added.

"Man this is more stressful than just having shorty with us," Sun remarked.

Yang sighed. "Well, we don't."

Nora peered back in the other direction. "Weiss and Ruby are moving around, but no flare-ups."

Jaune frowned. "They must be stuck in some kind of situation. Sneaking away couldn't have taken this l—"

"Guys, focus…" Blake whispered. "The alley across… We break for it on three… One… two…"

They were a mutter on the wind, there one moment, gone the next, past another few hundred yards and under a wooden awning where they stopped.

"Okay, it's— hmmph…!"

But Blake covered his mouth with her hand. Her ears were swiveled up and her amber eyes peered through the gaps in the wood slats.

They all froze, hearing the awning above creak, a few slivers and a trickle of sand dislodging as something above them shifted its weight.

Blake eased forward, staring up past the edge of the awning for the silhouette.

She saw it sooner than she ever expected, the huge man with brown hair. She ducked almost immediately, eyes wide. Blake shook her head at the others as they sidled against the alley walls.

There was a whistle of air, and another, smaller body landed there.

"So?" Mercury Black asked. "You seen anything?"

Yang blinked, before glowering up as her eyes burned red.

"Hmm…" Hazel turned, his black arm clenching as the blade-like bones swiveled on his rolling shoulders. "One of the Uplifts disappeared… But then he was spotted at that flamboyant rendezvous. A place the locals say he avoids."

They listened from below, their stomachs sinking with every sentence.

"So, scenario one," Mercury said, "big, stupid, paranoid case of crossed wires. Second… illusionist? Illusionist with serious horsepower?"

Hazel grunted. "Won't be sure until we find the lout, or what's left of him. But I have a feeling… Something tells me this has Ozpin written all over it. I just haven't decided how…"

"That's always what y—"

Hazel's black hand shot out, gently, but firmly gripping his upper arm.

"You can be flippant about everything… and everyone else, boy… But not this."

Mercury scowled up at him, but in the moonlight, Hazel's imposing features had him cowed. "Jeez, fine," he sighed, tugging his arm free, though the specter of fear still lined his face. "So say you're right, where do we take this if we find 'em? No love lost for her on bystanders, but the alien boss-man might not appreciate another city block gone missing."

"Both will appreciate discretion," Hazel said confidently. "Nothing we can't handle. Ginyu's pets are at a disadvantage without the Lady's endowment." He squeezed his fist, muscles audibly creaking.

"If it is them, they here for the Relic? Do we back up the clown?"

Hazel huffed. "Do as you please. I'm going to confirm the loss."

Without another word, they took to the air. The group below waited a whole ten seconds before daring to speak again.

"Their power blended into the background," Jaune whispered. "I can't believe we got that close without…"

"They're stronger than the others," Gohan said, frowning. "I don't get it… What could they be doing to train?"

" 'Endowment,' " Yang said. "Salem did something… Something to boost their ki?"

Sun shook his head wildly. "Uh! Are we missing the wildest part here?!"

Nora nodded rapidly, hand out. "Yes! THANK YOU…! They're freaking working with Frieza?!"

Ren urged her to quiet down. "That… is certainly what it sounded like. Or, they've placed themselves in his ranks to give Salem eyes on his operation?"

Yang sighed. "I guess… I don't know what's worse. Frieza and Salem joining forces, or a competing third party in our way?"

Blake considered. "Or… Salem allies with us against Frieza out of convenience?"

"Yeah… no sale," Yang droned.

"We need to get going," Sun said. "This is getting worse by the minute."

---

Invisible, Ruby and Weiss carried Neo up the shaft just in time to halt as Ginyu came down from the top floor and back to the courtyard, stepping past the guards.

Ruby nearly floated out after her, when Weiss' finger hammered against her shoulder. She stopped, and saw Weiss pointing.

Ruby's eyes went huge. Ginyu had come down without the Sword.

They both stared up the shaft.

…But that meant it was up there… where Frieza was…

But then the entire inner courtyard was interrupted by a struggle.

Was it Henrys?! She wasn't supposed to start yet…!

But a familiar accent graced their ears.

"Let them GO! It's just ME! We don't know each other!"

"Shut UP, we won't let you do that!"

Weiss and Ruby both froze. They didn't even look at each other before leaning carefully out the shaft to see. Weiss covered her mouth with a hand to keep herself making a noise.

"What are you doing?!" Mae Azura demanded, hurrying down the stairs to meet the newcomers.

The Schweinlins and a sultry girl with auburn and silver hair had frog marched a quartet who were all too familiar with Team RWBY, hands cuffed behind their backs. A pale, trendy girl —less pale than when they last saw her— in a black beret and heels, her brown hair twisting before her face in a single caramel curl… A long-haired, long-eared rabbit girl in shades of brown and gold… A boy of dark skin with bright red hair and a vest nearly the same shade, visibly blind with clouded eyes… Finally, a Mistrali boy, huge in stature, in a Wasabi-colored Yukata with tight-cut black hair.

It was Team CVFY… Captured…

"You bust my shades, Carmine," Coco Adel growled, never ceasing to struggle against the auburn girl, "and I'll bust your face!"

"Look, I get the statement," Carmine said, handling Coco with barely an effort, "but why even wear those at night?"

Mae tapped her foot. "Focus! Why have you brought these…?"

Mason, her hands on Yatsuhashi, pointed. "Uh… the wall?"

"Found them sneaking around," Styx explained, holding Velvet back. "After curfew, with faunus contraband."

"H-how could you do this to your own p-people?!" Velvet asked, holding back tears. "To a faunus, like you?!"

"Like you? You had your chance with thuh Emperor. Us guys took ours…"

Mae waved them off, violently. "We don't meet out sentences here while Lord Frieza is resting! Take them to the location at the West plaza. You fire one shot, and it's your head too if you rouse him!"

"Yeah?" Fox Alistair asked, a defiant smile blooming. "HEY! HEY FRIEZA! UP OFF YOUR FREAKY ASS—"

He crumpled as Strawberry struck him across the head. Velvet shrieked.

"Don't you TOUCH HIM!" Coco screeched, struggling anew.

"Keep it up if you want more'v what I gave him," Strawberry said, now hauling Fox under his shoulders as he hung limply.

Mae stepped close, leaning over, finding it in her to smile. "Always playing dumb about your little hasenpfeffer here, always the little stunts we couldn't quite pin you for…" She patted Coco's cheek, whose teeth snapped at her fingers. "But no getting out of this… Just sorry I can't be there…"

CVFY were carried out, and Ruby and Weiss were left to silently seethe. They carried up the elevator shaft a floor or two, floating until they found a support beam to sit on out of earshot of the guards.

"They're going to kill them," Ruby hissed, a shake in her voice as she tried to keep it down. "I bet anything they only got found because we alerted the city…"

Weiss sighed. "No time to waste. We grab the Sword, we go after them."

Ruby blinked. "Really? That's… Are we not worried about…?"

"Those three didn't care about other faunus, which I'm betting includes what families they had. Screw them…"

---

The whip snapped around the next column as Henrys traced the perimeter of the dining hall. She could hear a commotion in the courtyard and peered over.

No, another group, not Ruby, Schnee or the mute girl.

She was almost done here. Good news was it was just Minutemen in the hall. Azura was in the courtyard, but when they dispersed, she'd have a window, and hopefully the girls would have theirs.

Henrys scanned the columns. Her det cord blended right into the ornamentation. This was going to be one wild retirement party.

---

Ruby stepped out of the shaft and into the sleek, polished stone flooring just before plush, velvety carpet led into the headmaster's quarters… now under new ownership.

She was reminded of stories of wayward heroes, sneaking into the lair of a deadly dragon, sleeping atop its hoard, the foul breath making the air sweltering and stale.

There was no smell, nor any true heat, but Ruby and Weiss both felt the scorch of power wafting off of Frieza, as they couldn't in their first encounter. Honestly, in this form he wasn't much worse than being around Vegeta… except…

That wasn't the whole story. It was like they could feel there was a lid, a cap over what they were feeling. That body of his was restraining something, and Ruby's instinct was it was bottomless, just radiating, like light from an inferno peaking around the edges of a closed door.

They reappeared in a flitter of pink shards as Neo stepped forward and leaned into the wall ahead of them, sweating, breathing.

Weiss carefully stepped forward, a hand on her back. "Damn… She's exhausted. She needs a break."

Neo nodded, not looking at either of them.

Ruby felt a nervous shake run through her. "How long do you need?"

Neo took another breath, and held out five fingers, wiggling each to emphasize the number, and not just… her hand.

"Okay…" Terrified though she was at the prospect of being vulnerable in Frieza's presence, even for just five minutes…

Ruby measured every step. They were in a hallway that led to two glass doors set into the side of the pyramid on both ends. Walkways outside led down steps to a lush garden promenade one tier below. As the top of the pyramid, this office's ceiling sloped towards the unseen center past the wall before the elevator. It was all extremely recent construction. But before either of the glass doors were open frames that led further in.

Ruby edged around the southern frame, and saw a horn…

She froze… but then peered further… A statue. A life-sized statue of him. Even rendered in red stone, his pitiless cold eyes and predatory smile were haunting to behold.

She revealed more and more of the room, which was festooned with tributes. She could barely see the surfaces of the tables for the samplings of fine foods, wines, precious stones and jewelry in various stages of antiquity. Some of it clearly represented the only thing of value a home had to offer.

Apart from that, it was utterly spartan as a living space. No kitchen… but then, why would he handle any such tasks himself? There was scarcely any furniture. No sign of a bedroom, just viewing screen emitters… and she didn't want to think about his bathroom accommodations, whether he even needed them or… Come to think of it, she was fairly positive Frieza didn't wear clothes, so…

Ruby refocused, kept peering further around the corne—

The Sword…!

It was floating there, in the center of the room… just… slowly rotating in place. Just a few steps away!

Weiss watched her, looking around the room herself. She stifled a gasp, and her finger stabbed Ruby's shoulder with the speed and fervor of a woodpecker.

Ruby jerked her head to face her, and traced her other finger, pointing around the corner as her face paled.

She was caught between caution, and the hard time limit between Henrys' smokescreen and the fate of Team CVFY. Frieza was here, and detection meant death. But so would hesitation…

Ruby froze as she saw. Frieza. His white armor, his banded pink skin, those stubby horns…

And those red eyes, staring straight ahead. He was just sitting in a floating chair… thing…

It took every ounce of willpower not to jerk her head back around the corner, but as she carefully pulled back, some suicidal hunch stopped her.

Staring. Staring straight ahead, almost distant. Infinitely distant…

Weiss clapped a hand over her mouth as Ruby stood upright, and stepped into view. She was fully in the tyrant's line of sight. It was impossible that he could miss her… and yet, his eyes continued to bore forward into the distant city.

And then, as the silence became so complete you could hear a mouse wearing felt slippers, they heard something else… a rasping, vibrating purr every few seconds. Snoring…

Snoring…! He was asleep! With his eyes open, like a dolphin or a crocodile or something.

Ruby dared a step forward… and another, heel to toe so she didn't make a sound. She felt numb, she knew she was shaking, sweating. Those eyes… She'd seen them in nightmares since Mistral. Standing where she stood now had been a nightmare scenario, a thing she would only see the instant before she died.

One wrong move to wake him, and that would be true.

She looked back to see Weiss watch her, her eyes wet. She was thinking the same thing, wondering if this was about to go horribly wrong.

"Welcome, my dear…"

That was the kind of thing Ruby expected to hear with every step. Or a pink laser to her heart… Her heart, which was pounding.

Her hands clasped around the hilt. She had it. She had the Sword. Nervous energy jolted through her. She turned. The Relic was beautiful up close. It had such heft, perfectly balanced… It wasn't a weapon, despite its form. That was apparent just from touching it. Ruby could feel the power inside, ready to reforge the world around her…

She let the instinct pass, and began stepping towards the door. One step… Another…

"And where are you going with that, girl?"

She expected his voice with every beat of her heart, but it was just in her head. What if she wasn't immediately killed? Frieza was smart… What if she was used as bait to draw out the others? Tortured for the other Relic's location, for the location of the Earthlings? Bartered? Assuming he recognized her…

But against all instincts to the contrary, she crossed out of his hollow gaze. Weiss let out a shuddering breath of relief as she tried not to make any noise.

"We're halfway there…"

Ruby knew immediately what she meant. With this, they were two Relics down, and two to go. Salem, Frieza, all of it could be over.

Of course, Cinder complicated things…

Ruby squeezed the hilt as she crouched down. It was so light… but so heavy…

May those caught in Frieza's wrath forgive them…

Neo was catlike as she tried the glass door to the garden promenade outside. The first was a no-go. She swept to the other… Locked too.

Neo stood bolt upright, twisting, pointing Hush at the entrance to the other room.

They turned as a pair of tall brown boots stepped through. His green shoulder cape fluttered as the door closed behind him, bagged eyes the same viridian. His grey brows and fuzzy forward-swept hair was frayed and ragged with stress. His feline ears pricked with surprise. His tail was rigid.

Every party froze as Cagliuso Perrault took in the situation. His eyes flitted to the Sword…

Ruby and Weiss stared back. Any kind of altercation could rouse Frieza. If he sounded the alarm… Ruby might be able to move fast enough to put him out without noise, but—

"Go," he whispered, beckoning towards the open shaft.

Ruby and Weiss blinked at each other. Neo frowned.

"In fretta, ragazze…!" He told them. "As far as you can…"

Weiss clasped Neo's shoulder, tugging her back as they eased forward the shaft.

"You're… going to get in trouble for this… aren't you?" Ruby asked, guilt lining her eyes.

Perrault shut his eyes, taking a bracing breath. His hand closed over his dagger. "The trouble was mine long before. I ran, all this time. But now, I will face it instead… Thank you for this."

Ruby felt warmth behind her eyes. His eyes were steely, and there was no arguing with him. "You don't have to—"

"Please… for once, allow me to be brave…"

Ruby knew there was no talking him out of it. She nodded. Together, they leapt into the shaft.

---

Yang tugged at her ill-fitting blue collar. "Ugh… This one's B.O. was awful…"

Nora grumbled. "Shut up! You're not stuffing a skirt into these pants… All these layers, I feel like I'm gonna pass out in this heat…!"

It occurred to them that walking into another bar frequented by Frieza forces with no disguise was more than reckless. Loathe though they were to get anyone else in trouble, they floored a patrol of Minutemen and took their clothes. Then they realized they had nowhere to put their OWN clothes, so they had little choice but to wear one set under the other. There also weren't child-sized uniforms, so Gohan was still shadowing them, trying to remain unseen and keep watch. Spy movies never exactly covered this stuff…

Blake at least had a patrol cap she picked off one of the men to hide her ears, and Yang tried to tie up her hair in a more professional manner. But there was no question they were winging this.

They stepped through the front door, under the chintzy sign. It was an unusual building, formed around the geography. They were immediately met with a long set of stairs. A gentle, tuneless noodling of a piano wafted up to them from below.

They locked eyes with the hangdog of a man helming the L-shaped bar, a blue-eyed blonde in his thirties who looked like he'd lived through the Great War itself for how artificially aged he seemed.

The rest of the place was small. Bathrooms at both halls at the end of the landing, with the right hall to the ladies room bearing the title "The Hell Hole." The main room before them only housed a handful of booths, with one corner providing a stage for a piano, where one of the Minutemen was plinking away in amateur fashion.

Yang strode up. "So, uh… why's it called that?"

"Hm? The bathroom?" The bartender asked.

"Yeah. Men's room got no such honor?"

"Place used to be a front for a small-time crime family," he explained. "Little girl they raised in that room, nobody knows where they got her. Mistreated, used like a prop. One day, she grows up, goes feral. Killed everyone in the building, started a fight with the volunteers. Naked, covered in blood, head to toe… Last they see, she's in that room, sinks into the sand, never seen again."

"And people say she was a demon, returning to Hell, right?" Yang droned, sighing.

"You've heard it? You always waste people's time?"

"No, I've just read creepy stories before," Yang said with a roll of her eyes. "So, uh… this mean anything to you? From Hoplites?"

She passed the scrap of red and gold cloth over the counter. He raised a brow. He reached under the counter, and they heard something upstairs click. He scanned the booths.

"Slow night?" He projected. The five or so heads in the room looked up.

One of the men stood up and jogged past them to check each bathroom. The kids watched warily.

"Clear."

The one man out of uniform stepped their way, sweeping his shoulder-length brown hair over his heavy jade armor. It was distinct, ridged with gear-like teeth. It looked old, more like something passed on and refitted. In fact, as Blake looked at it, she realized the green wasn't a paint. It was copper… Old copper, oxidized to a green patina. She could see traces of it, now that she studied it.

His brilliant green eyes fanned over them. "So Mouse gave his token? I suppose this is to do with the rumor going around?"

"Which one?" Sun asked, as they cloistered-up.

"That someone strolled right in here and put out an Uplift. Permanently."

"Not permanently," Sun admitted, staring at his nails. "But he took a nice long flight, courtesy of her fist." He hooked a thumb at Yang.

"Oh? And what brings you here?" the green knight asked.

Jaune idly examined the jar of pickled eggs. "We're… looking for the leaders of the resistance? The Knights? We think we can help them end the internment at the mine?"

"You don't sound very sure." the knight said. "And frankly, I'm not sure how we prove you aren't spies. A fake defeat to get the Thousand-and-One Knights interested… a show of strength."

From seemingly nowhere, an ancient looking, green axe whirled.

There was a heavy, ringing CLANG, as Yang caught the head of the blade with her false hand. He wasn't an Uplift. She held it there effortlessly.

"Huh… You weren't kidding. You really do have that power," he grunted, straining to overpower her. "But you could just be someone Ginyu trained up on the sly."

"So do the rest of us!" Blake said, pulling the hat off to reveal her ears. "Please, we need to put a stop to our kind suffering like this!"

The bartender poured himself a drink. "Y'know Frieza has faunus Uplifts too? They get a pass, and they're the worst sort of scum."

"Adrian…" the knight warned. "This place is a check against the whole resistance being found and rooted out. We need to be sure that won't happen."

"Kaiserin saw us herself," Ren explained. "She sent us to Mouse… who sent us here. I understand your caution, but I sense… you do not really think such a large group has been trained and arranged in secret. The more people involved in an operation like that, the more conspicuously it comes off. The more opportunities there are for someone to blow it."

The knight crossed his arms, leaning against the bar, brow raised. "Keep going..."

"Basically, something like that would try to slip a single operative through the cracks, with an army on standby… not march a squad through the door. I do not think there is anything we could offer that could not be forged somehow, nothing you would believe. But you are a man of martial experience… and I know you're wounded more than you'll admit by the state of the faunus here…"

"My own satisfaction isn't something I would bank the resistance on," the man admonished. "But you're not wrong…" He offered his hand. "Major Kelly. I'm actually the warden of Anser. As such, when the time comes… I think you'll have a bit of help…"

---

Weiss flicked the cap off the plunger of the dynocap, revealing a suction cup she was able to affix to the Sword. The blade glowed, and with a pop of smoke and a noise like an engine winding down, the Relic had vanished to leave only the lone dynocap.

"Wow… okay…" Weiss said, putting the cap back on and slipping the device into her pocket. "I was concerned that a divine artifact might… explode, or something from doing this…"

"One less thing to worry about," Ruby sighed, leaning against the shaft beam. "Neo? You ready?"

The little deviant stretched her back, arms pressed against a cross beam. The pink shards ensconced them, turning them invisible… but quickly vanished to expose them yet again.

Ruby and Weiss blinked at each other. Ruby crept over beside Neo as she gulped a few oddly noisy breaths, steel ringing as she slammed her gloved fist into the beam in frustration.

"No, not now…" Weiss muttered.

Ruby rubbed her back. "You've never done this with so many people before, have you? Could probably do it for hours when it was just you sneaking around…"

Neo rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"She needs more time to rest, her Aura is nearly tapped out," Weiss sighed. "Okay, guess we'll actually NEED Henrys' distraction. Can you still pull off the uniforms? Don't worry about hiding my identity, we won't be that long."

Neo focused. The blue uniforms covered them. She let it fade again, but it was conscious this time.

"Okay," Ruby said. "Then we should set up…"

She scanned the shaft. It originally had multiple stops, but the other floors had been welded shut. Luckily for them, that was hardly an obstacle.

The welded seam squeaked as it froze, as Weiss turned it brittle. Ruby's fingers found the gap in the doors, and with a quick flex, the seam split, and the doors slid open.

It opened to a walkway that led to the second floor corner. They crept out, low under the railing as they waited, glancing about.

Meanwhile, Emerald Sustrai slipped out of the dorm at last, giving the note on her pillow one last look before shutting the door and adjusting the pack on her shoulder. She took one last look over the courtya—

"No goddamn way!" she whispered.

The Rose girl… Schnee… and… Torchwick's pet? Since when?

She reached into her pack. Guess she wasn't done with it yet.

She gave it a thought… and scribbled.

Three minds… she could do it…

---

Henrys snapped cord around the last pillar, eyeing the half-drunk Minutemen in the dining area.

'*Click*'

"What are you doing exactly, Doc?"

She raised her hands up. "Aren't you gonna shoot me?"

"Questioning first. Drop the weap—"

Henrys whirled, the det cord whip twisting the Minuteman's arm away before the rest of it coiled around him like a python.

She snapped it off and stepped back, flipping a switch on her whip.

She pulled the trigger. The cord around him beeped, and he screamed as he realized what was coming, before he vanished in a series of sparking blasts that ran up the length of the cord…

---

Ruby tried to keep her senses sharp. Frieza's proximity was making it hard to pick out specific powers, like a fog. Thankfully, her other senses weren't bad either.

…And they'd picked something up. Something getting closer, quickly. From the shaft!

Ruby took a stance as Weiss whipped around too and stared towards the source, teeth grit as she readied a blast of air… but the source vanished.

Perfect. Emerald slipped the note into Weiss' pocket. Her sensory hallucinations had refined over the past month. Training with Ginyu had taught her much, given she had the inexplicable ability to pick out things like air currents, like a damn cat or fly or something. Eventually, her illusions managed to flummox even that pompous windbag, to her irritation. Cinder in particular liked it as a training obstacle.

"Hm?" Weiss twisted.

"What?" Ruby asked, still checking the shaft.

"I thought I felt… Nothing, never mi—"

*'Boom!'*

There was a series of raised, distressed voices somewhere below as a struggle broke out in the dining hall.

The trio caught each other's eyes.

"Is that the signal?!" Ruby asked.

"Get ready by the doors! We'll blend in with the students!" Weiss whispered, as they edged along towards the promenade along the perimeter of their floor.

---

Henrys pulled out the empty coil of her spent det cord whip and swapped it for her standard whip, letting it become swathed in flame as she stalked towards the other Minutemen who trained weapons on her.

"What's wrong, boys?," she asked. "Head on a spike if you end up waking him?"

She could have gone out to the outdoor grounds from here, but the only way out would be to leap off the plateau. She had no landing strategy that wouldn't give her away as she landed down in the black ravine. The flames would be kind of a dead giveaway. She had to make for the front door.

She whirled to wrap the whip around the neck of a poor blonde pretty-boy near the back, tugging to pull him into his peers as the others stormed forward to swarm her. Henrys whirled to let the torch handle belch a gout of flame to ward them off. Those who didn't back off collapsed at her feet, rolling in pain.

The ceiling was low, with no rafters, but not so low that she couldn't hurl the barbed tip into it as an anchor point. The length of it retracted, motorized, tugging her into an arc across the tables and aiming for the end of the dining area to land—

There was a cacophony of smashing as she landed on a pair of guards and into a table, collapsing it beneath them. She sat up from the split wood and crushed dinnerware. "Damn, I thought that was closer…"

She idly scruffed the hair of the dazed man next to her and slammed him further into the splinters as she leapt to her feet.

But before she could clear into the courtyard, a guard dropped down from the next floor before her, scimitar in hand. He prowled before her, twirling the blade, daring her to make a move, relishing the duel to com—

He crumpled to the floor as the shot from her revolver rang out, her eyes rolling. She didn't even need to aim…

She put on a sprint, pulling the detonator… showtime…

The pillars blasted one by one in a shower of stone splinters behind her, shrapnel that shredded the tables that hadn't been flung into the center or tossed by subsequent explosions. The bright flashes blinded the courtyard and cast the shadows of the grand palms, which bowed from the shock.

Then, as Henrys sprinted away from the blast, stone scattering past her feet, the ceiling of the dining hall collapsed, starting at the back. It looked like a vast rolling pin was flattening it all, until smoke and powdered rock curled out into the courtyard like a coastal fog.

Ruby and Weiss watched with dry mouths.

"That's… a lot more than a distraction…" Weiss said, as the blast kept ringing through the hollow.

---

"D-don't you move from that spot! I'll be back!" Ginyu commanded as she blew the door to her quarters open, hastily pulling her pants back up, face red as she followed the source of the tremendous noise as alarms blared throughout the school.

"W-wait!" the candidate asked, prone, bare and vulnerable on the bed, the bag still on his head. "C-can you at least close the door…?! It's drafty…"

---

Ruby, Weiss and Neo filed out with the students pouring into the courtyard, descending the stairs into the cloud of dust as they saw Henrys tear for the front entrance.

"TRAITOR!"

They looked up. Mae Azura flew down like a sorceress from the upper floors, a mad gleam in her eye, keen to seize the ardent archaeologist.

But she slammed suddenly into a snowflake-shaped glyph, dazed as she bounced slightly, hanging in the air. On the sly, Ruby followed it up, hand extended. There was a BLAST of air and force as Mae went hurtling into the debris of what was once the dining hall, skipping out of sight into the night.

The panicked children hadn't even noticed the source of these impossible impediments, though Ruby smirked. She learned THAT from Goku…

Henrys managed to reach the bridge before anyone else, and with a crack of her whip, grabbed a support and flung herself to hang under it, carefully lowering herself into the ravine. Nobody had seen her. She smiled, recalling a conversation with those twins about how that bridge would make good cover for something nefarious. She never believed she would actually employ that advice herself…

---

Frieza jerked awake, blinking. The muffled alarms below filtered through the stone and from the opening to the elevator shaft.

"The devil…?"

He touched a series of buttons on his chair, and an emitter on the ceiling showed a grey screen. In only two rings, He saw Ginyu's flushed, half-irritated face.

"L-Lord Frieza!"

Red eyes leered as his horned head tilted. He could see the inner courtyard behind her, dusty and thick with haze. "What has happened? I was traipsing the lands somnial, only to be roused in most brutish a fashion. Did I not explicitly demand silence?!"

Ginyu saw a wide shot of Frieza and his entire quarters on her scroll. "Doctor Henrys, sir! Turned coat on us, collapsed the dining hall, typical agitator desperatio—"

But she noticed something. She looked at the feed carefully. Where was it? She left it right there…

She saw Cagliuso Perrault at the doorway, also watching the feed.

"Henrys?" Frieza balked. "Spurned my favor and her position to provoke some meaningless show of impotent… She's been silenced then?"

Ginyu felt herself sweat for the second time that hour… for different reasons. "Perrault! Is it safe?!"

"Hm?" he responded, brow raised. "The quarters? Of course, Commander…"

Ginyu felt a chill in her soul. He knew full well she meant the Sword! What did he do?!

"Henrys, Commander!" Frieza growled. "Her status?"

"We… Azura saw her last, leaving the Academy," Ginyu admitted.

"The disciplinarian? One of your own?!" Frieza demanded. "All failed to stop the plain little dirt-fancier?"

Mae Azura, dusty and disheveled, entered the frame, presently surrounded by the other four Ginyus. She was held fast by a long, claw-like device wielded by Brim Stone, hinged steel bars around her middle as he held the long staff of it. A mancatcher.

"It wasn't Henrys!" Mae insisted, eying Brim out of the corner of her eye. "Something impeded me! A-a WALL of air! Something shoved me into the rubble! I didn't do that to myself!"

Frieza lifted his hairless brow. "Is that so? Well as I'd like not to open a precedent for the Uplifts being capable of death, the Lady Azura will be granted the opportunity to retrieve the good Doctor… Her scholarly duties are henceforth dissolved until her quarry is confirmed killed or apprehended. The means is of no import to me." He turned, returning to his hover throne. "I shall be returning to my much required rest, which I expect shall not be disturbed again… Ginyu, have this handled."

The call ended, and Ginyu was left staring at her own reflection in the glassy surface. Nervous, angry.

"So Tandem wasn't Tandem?!" Olivine demanded, kicking a piece of debris, which clattered over the dusty floor towards the crushed, smoking dining hall. It was open to the black desert sky. "Tandem was…"

"Thought that mushy garbage was soft for him," Nova said. "But somebody took him out? And those soldiers with him…"

Ginyu turned to throttle Mae's neck, still held by Brim's weapon. "The Sword. Did Henrys have it?!"

"S-sword…? WHAT swor—?"

Ginyu gave Brim a look as she doubled her grip. "The Sword I have with me half the time! Golden hilt, and filaments and whatever, blue crystal blade?!"

The flames on Brim's hair and face built as parts of the mancatcher glowed cherry red.

Mae winced, teeth grit as she struggled. "NO! NO, SHE DIDN'T HAVE IT!"

"You're sure?"

"I-it was just her in her stupid brown outfit! DON'T BURN ME!"

Ginyu hesitated, but gestured to Brim. The claws of the mancatcher snapped open, letting Mae fall to her hands and knees, gasping.

"Do as Lord Frieza says," Ginyu sighed. "Find her. The rest of you? Henrys was covering for someone else's escape."

"A someone who is having the impeccable disguising ability," Ulrikh said, finger and thumb on his chin.

"I need to question Perrault here," Ginyu said. "Acquire anyone you can find to search, and vet them. Weapons, semblances. Be sure they are who they SAY they are. Nova? Do your thing. Check for anyone who tries to leave the city."

Nova chambered her gleaming crossbow. "The stars will reveal them, sir."

Olivine tapped her visor twice, and a display projected over her vision. "Not if I find 'em first… We've got something to settle…"

---

Ruby held tight to Weiss and Neo as they whirled over the rooftops.

"Come on…! Where are you…?!" Ruby grumbled, feeling a burning in her lungs as she strained to pick out the powers of CVFY and their captors.

"There!" Weiss cried, pointing towards the raised crater rim. "Eight of them… They're alive…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Coco Adel's gold and black chain gun, Gianduja, covered the dusty commercial plaza in ringing, clattering cases as it blasted Mason, who merely stalked closer and closer as the flashes lit up the night and Dust-laden rounds burst into smoke on her body. It was like firecrackers on steel plate.

When Coco's back touched the wall as she ran out of room, she ceased fire, the smoking barrels and discreet parts folding back into a dense, trendy purse. Or rather, a bludgeon in the shape of a purse.

She leapt forward to underhand strike the Schweinlin, but found herself slammed back into the wall as lights popped in her eyes.

"COCO!" Velvet screamed, tangling with Strawberry as she beheld their leader slump, shades askew, blood fountaining from her nose as her orange Aura flickered and broke.

Despite being held from behind by Strawberry, the swine backed off in surprise as she manifested a pair of long bladed tonfa, composed of gleaming, wireframe blue constructs. Hard Light projections, courtesy of Anesidora, her one-of-a-kind camera. They were the same blades wielded by Fox, who was still weak and recovering by the crater wall.

She used the moment, slipping instantly into a perfect imitation of Fox's reverse-grip style as she slashed left, right. Strawberry gave a tinkling laugh as she blocked by holding her chain taut between them, then twirling both free ends in a menacing flourish.

Velvet X'd her arms to shield herself, but the slam of the flail shattered the constructs, as well as her golden Aura, and she flew onto her back.

Yatsuhashi's vast body skidded back as well, as Styx Schweinlin's boot folded his huge copper blade, Fulcrum, into an unfortunate angle as he shielded himself.

"You were totally on-point, 'Sclados!" Styx laughed. "Way more fun to let 'em use their little toys…"

Carmine leaned back against a post, pulling out her buzzing scroll. "Hmm… Playtime's over, I'm afraid. Brass has a scavenger hunt for us now."

Mason grunted. "N' this is over finding Argent's… uh… what do you call a dudette who beats another dudette?"

"Comes down from Ginyu herself," Carmine confirmed. "Put them down, we need to get on this."

"Bummer," Strawberry sighed, hand out as a golden sphere began to form in it. "So sad, paninaros! Time to take out thuh Vale trash…"

Coco staggered to her feet, doing her best to stay steady, defiant. She spat a wad of blood, and straightened her shades. "V-Velvet… c'mere I…"

Velvet's ears twitched and bent as she more easily rose to her feet, shaking. "P-please! I can't! I c-can't…!" she sobbed, flinching into Coco, who took hold of her shoulders.

"J-just look at me! Guys… I'm sorry…"

"D-damn it…!" Yatsuhashi groaned.

Strawberry sneered as the blast built, her sisters just watching.

"V-Velvet," Coco said, shaking. "Velvet, I gotta tell you something… I gotta…"

"What… Coc…"

The bright ball made a loud, threatening buzz as Strawberry took a step forward, primed to fire…

Coco squeezed Velvet, her own eyes slamming shut as she prepared for the end.

"Velvet I LOVE YOU!"

The blast made a final pulse… before a slender hand closed around the ball, as a mass of scarlet appeared between them.

"Wha…?" Strawberry breathed.

The fingers squeezed, and the ball collapsed in a brief blast of smoke as it was diffused in an instant. Something blunt poked out and shoved her back several paces… the head of a huge, candy-apple red scythe.

Ruby glared at the four in turn, whirling Crescent Rose to both sides, above her head, before twirling and letting the point crack the stone beside her. No point to that really, apart from a brief warm-up, and some classic intimidation display…

"Leave. Now."

"Like… who's thuh pup?" Strawberry asked, her eyes flicking. "Where'd she come from?"

Velvet dared to peer past Coco's arms. "R… Ruby…?"

"I said go!" Ruby told them, firmly. "Or I'll blow you in!"

"Pffffff! HAW HAW HAW HAW!" Styx heaved, doubled over, as Mason snorted and Strawberry wheezed. "Aww, pup thinks she's a fierce doggy! Well not by thuh hair on Berry's—"

"Styxie! Shut up, get OUT! Grody-town!" Strawberry complained, blushing.

"I meant your chinny-chin- chin, sleeze-for-brains!"

"Eww! My face is flawless! I take it back, say the OTHER thing…!"

"Wait…" Mason frowned. "I've seen you…"

"Run, like the cowards you are!" Ruby ordered, voice shaking. "You don't care who you hurt. Not even children…"

Strawberry squawked with a laugh. "Whoa, far out! You're that little dweeb from outside Hoplites…! I wanted to take a swing at you…"

"This is your last warning."

Styx and Strawberry laughed, while Carmine watched from the side with narrowing eyes.

"Ruby! RUN, kid!" Coco cried, her eyes fearful. Fearful of the prospect of seeing another comrade destroyed utterly. "You don't know what they can—"

It was so fast, even the Uplifts attending could barely react. Strawberry stepped forward to slap Ruby with the back of her hand, letting her chain go slack at her side. But she was gone, as petals popped into the air, only to be sucked into the vacuum of air left behind. Strawberry found the vicious tug of Crescent Rose under her belly as she tracked Ruby to the side of her, just before she was dragged sharply up as Ruby left.

With her prey caught in the crook of Crescent Rose, Ruby flipped forward, spinning to fling her into her sisters. Copper dust blasted as stone crunched below. Carmine leapt away before Strawberry bowled through the pole she was leaning against, bending and collapsing it before the straw-haired porcine punk blew through a storefront.

Coco Adel flipped her shades up, eyes like pin pricks. "...do…?"

Ruby remained in midair, glaring down at the other two sisters, who looked up at her from the ground as Carmine perked up. "Interesting…"

She pulled out and twirled a pair of bladed sai on her fingers, each centered with a lightning Dust gem.

Mason's thick brows quirked, and with a blink of her glowing pink eyes, Ruby suddenly felt herself ensconced in a paler red glow than her own. She grunted, feeling herself locked in place. She couldn't move a muscle!

"Not from around here, huh?" Mason asked, as Ruby strained. "That's my semblance… You're Bricked. Can't really hurt you, but…"

"Owwww!" Strawberry groaned, clutching her middle as she staggered out of the broken store window. She moved her hand away, wet with red. "I… I'm bleeding! Y-you tacky little SHIT!"

"She has Uplift powers," Carmine noted, striding up and peering at Ruby's frozen form. "How'd you do it? That's sure a new trick outside the Frieza crowd."

"Who cares! Break her stupid red lawnmower!" Strawberry told them.

"Coming alone was a mistake, dweeb," Mason said, rearing her sledge back. "Maybe you'd a' stood a chance against me if I had to split my attention… Instead… I'll just split your head."

Mason swung… only to find the sledge had slipped out of her hands. She wheeled around to find its haft held fast by a trio of small black glyphs… which swiftly turned red.

Mason reeled as the hammer shot back, striking her ankle at ballistic speeds, splitting the ground and upturning dust. As she hobbled past, she reaches for Ruby… who broke into pink shards of air as Weiss stood suddenly between them.

"Good to know."

With a twirling leap, her heel connected with Mason's jaw, tossing her onto her back as Carmine raised her sai.

"Schnee?" Yatsuhashi muttered as Fox hauled himself up against the wall, listening intently.

"A-ADA, you know the drill…" Fox whispered, his blank eyes peering out.

Weiss came down with a zip of her blade. But Carmine was ready, the blade caught in the prongs of her sai. She twisted the sai, binding Myrtenaster between the prongs like a sword breaker.

"The plot thickens!" Carmine's velvet voice preened. "The crown princess of Dust, in our little town! And she's been busy… Not the biggest with Dust, but I'll charge this little number to your acco—"

The sai both crackled with electricity… but Weiss only grinned.

"It's insulated, but I'll do you one better."

With the press of a trigger, the rapier's blade, the sai, and indeed Carmine herself were crystallized suddenly within a blooming tomb of stone.

She slid her blade out, kicking the van-sized hunk of stone away.

With Mason's concentration broken, Ruby was free, and they stood side by side as Strawberry and Styx squared up.

"A few sucker shots and think you're hot stuff?!" Strawberry huffed, her chain creaking as she pulled at it with both hands.

"We'll see!" Styx laughed. "Who's afraid of the big bad pup?!"

Styx jumped forward, clapping her hands together before sweeping them out.

Before their eyes, the area was a'swarm with gnarled, twisting violet branches. Aura constructs. It was like a pile of firewood being arranged in hundreds, if not thousands of pieces. Styx and Strawberry were hidden from view as the sticks formed a gleaming, tangled dome, arranged into partitions and tunnels to be as disorienting as possible.

Eventually, a wall of them separated Ruby and Weiss as they built between them, and Ruby found herself in a twisting square corridor, barely able to peek through the gaps as she heard Styx laughing from beyond the bounds of the area.

Suddenly, Strawberry was racing down the corridor at her. But in the corner of her eye, she glimpsed her strawberry blonde hair from behind as well.

Yet… she didn't sense them…

Ruby stood her ground, twirling Crescent Rose around herself as both of them leapt at her.

They were both scattered apart, into golden straw-like filaments that drifted on the air and faded away.

Then it came.

She leapt back as the length of chain swept through out from the walls like an ancient booby trap, flailing at her from somewhere above.

Ruby vaulted and twisted, skidding on her knees as the chain kept lashing.

But then one of the gnarled sticks extended, tripping her. Another few locked over her knee as she landed on it.

This time the chain struck true, belting her in the temple with force enough to dislodge her from the pinning branches. Her vision swam, and her face felt white hot. Despite being such a cobbled weapon, Strawberry wasn't weak, and the flail was effective.

She could hear and feel Weiss fighting nearby, beyond her sight. It sounded like she was having about as much trouble, though her power wasn't fluctuating.

Suddenly the purple stick walls were speared by more branches, obstacles to hobble her as the walls twisted. It was like some kind of fun house.

Then the entire other end of the hall was filled with a crowd of Strawberrys, racing at her!

But none of them were real. The Schweinlins were laboring under the impression that she needed to see them to know where they were. That was fine by her.

Ruby sidestepped as the chain whipped down again. This time, she seized it, and yanked with all her strength. Strawberry was dragged through the ceiling with a shriek. Ruby planted a foot into her back as she came within reach, and sent her tumbling into the crowd, which blew apart in a flurry of straw filaments.

With a growl, Strawberry caught herself, sticks manifesting from the walls to support her as she sprung back at Ruby with a squeal.

And Ruby suddenly found herself caught as more sticks emerged from the walls. Under her arms, between her legs, crossing under her chin, like dozens of toothpicks holding up a rag doll. Her limbs were basically pinned!

Strawberry raced towards her, feet away…

But Ruby felt a ping of power… and smirked.

Mason tore through the wall in a ragged hole, her back intercepting Strawberry, who shrieked as both were blasted through the purple stick walls and into the sandstone crater wall beside the astonished CVFY.

Ruby grunted, red petaled power surging as she whirled like fluid through the sticks and materialized beside them.

"They tell me we blondes have more fun," Yang said, arms crossed as both swine sisters groaned, working to stand again. "I don't think we have the same idea of fun."

"Nice timing," Ruby said, smirking.

"Watcha' been up to, troublemaker?"

"Oh, you know… stuff."

Yang locked eyes with CVFY. "Stuff, huh? 'Sup, Team Bean…"

Fox blinked uselessly. "Yeah… ADA's giving the same readings. Scattered, too fast for hypersonic pings. They're the real thing."

Yatsuhashi stomped over to the porcine pair against the wall. He grit his teeth, his huge hands clasping over their foreheads.

Mason and Strawberry's eyes shot open, reeling as Yatsu focused.

"Whoa!" Coco breathed, removing her shades altogether. "Yats', you…"

Even Ruby and Yang froze as they beheld it.

"You feel that?" Yang asked.

"He's…" Ruby began, "doing something to their minds…"

But Yatsuhashi cried out as Mason's power erupted. He was blown off, into the purple edifice, thumping against the undulating walls.

"WHERE AM I?!" Mason demanded, staggering to her feet, panting in fear. "What's going ON?!"

She wheeled around, finding Strawberry and plucking her to her feet. "Snap out of it! We're under attack!"

"Masoooooon…" Strawberry complained, rubbing her head forehead as if she just woke up. "We're invincible and stuff, remember? Cool your jets!"

But a cacophony of shattering branches announced Styx being blown through her own constructs, digging a trench through the ground with her head.

Jaune and Sun walked through the hole in the flickering walls, sword and staff aloft. Weiss stepped between them, as Blake, Renora and Gohan edged over the roof of the structure.

Ruby had to grant it… they looked pretty awesome.

Velvet's jaw was slack. "You guys are all here?!"

Styx hauled herself out of the rubble, grabbing Mason's shirt and shaking the dust out of her hair. "What are you guys DOING?!"

Mason slapped her away. "I don't know! Last I remember we were partying!"

"No, we were thumping some punks!" Strawberry argued. "D-different punks… I don't…"

Styx slapped her.

"OWWWW-UH! You SKANK!"

"Well these're here now! Look alive n' junk!"

With a cry that shook the earth, the Schweinlins were engulfed in pillars of gold, red and lavender fire. And then the stick-made edifice reformed in undulating partitions that rippled and stretched like endless halls.

A dozen Strawberrys cackled down one hall towards Sun, who steepled his hands as he answered in kind with luminous avatars, bounding towards them head-on.

But as the monkey clones barreled through the straw women, the wall behind Sun opened up.

Sun cried out as chains wrapped around him, before tossing him into the walls to ping off their narrow, knotted surfaces.

He was half crammed into the narrowing tunnel… which began to narrow further and further.

"Nnk! Come on…!" He wedged his staff into the closing walls, but Strawberry was already prepared with a glowing sphere in her palm.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel full a' monkeys! Love yuh, Styxiiiiiie!"

Sun winced as he was pelted with exploding gold bolts… until an arm burst through the wall behind Strawberry and crossed over her neck, shattering the walls to reveal the rest of the purple, psychedelic funhouse.

Yang flipped her backwards, tossing her towards the bare ground, but the purple sticks appeared to warp into a flexing mass that stretched to cushion her fall. She growled as she sprung back at Yang…

Meanwhile Ruby and Ren's blades whirled from both sides as Styx hid within some constantly shifting geometric shape of her stick constructs. Ruby spun like a rotary saw as she hacked away at the protective shell, but leapt to invert herself as spokes burst out of the mass to impede her.

Ruby snipped the spokes as they shifted directions in the attempt to catch her, slashing Crescent Rose in a variety of directions without losing her momentum. She caught Ren's eye as Styx conjured a wall around them to slowly close in, filling in the space to trap them. With a nod, they both let the crook of their blades swing around one of the errant spokes. And fling their momentum into crushing kicks.

They both burst through her shell, planting feet into her gut and lower back. Styx's eyes went huge as she gasped out both lungfuls of air in shock and pain. Her eyes rolled back as the stick structures wobbled and shifted and shook around them in chaos.

With a few twirls, Ruby smashed the back of Crescent Rose over the top of her head, crumpling her onto her back, unconscious. The stick structures fragmented like television static, before popping out of existence one by one.

Jaune clashed with Mason in rapid clatters, his huge blade looking terrifying for how fast he could wield it. Frankly, he finally had some idea what Ruby felt like with such a speedy and huge weapon. Sparks flew as her hammer scraped his blade again and again with swing after swing… and then Jaune froze as he was ensconced in red.

Bricked.

Mason reared her sledge back as she stepped past him, ready to swing into the small of his back…

The red light faded as she swung… into an impassable sphere of multicolored light. Jaune's shield.

The hammer bounced away with equal force to her swing, throwing her off-balance, and into the tripping ribbon of Blake. After that, Nora stood waiting…

Mason flew vertically dazed, her back on fire. Directly in her path, Nora had dashed above her, read to swing again. Mason swung her sledge as well, and the heads of both hammers met.

The wooden haft stood no chance, and Mason vanished in a huge, exploding pink cloud.

As Yang grabbed Strawberry's chain, her superior strength letting her pull armful after armful towards her as they struggled, the head of the dull iron hammer shattered into the back of Strawberry's head, and she went limp.

"Huh… I'll take it."

And like that, the Schweinlins were all flat on the floor.

Yang found Yatsu's Fulcrum, bent out of shape, and effortlessly bent it straight again as she handed it back. "Fancy seeing you guys here…"

Coco whistled, face pink at the feat. "Look who's talking… Guess it's all fancy when you can lay an Uplift out cold…"

"Gather them up," Yatsuhashi said. "Quickly."

"Yeah, no prob'," Nora sighed, pulling Mason along by her arm as Weiss' glyph carried Styx.

"Yatsu…" Velvet said, ears down.

"This is necessary," he muttered, laying hands on the unconscious girls one after another. "The less they can report, the better."

"Screw it," Fox said, stalking closer. "They're down, let's put them out! They'd do the same to us! Three less Uplifts making life hell…"

Even his own team looked floored by the sentiment. Ruby frowned.

"That doesn't matter right now. They'll have to answer to Frieza when they wake up. That's just as bad."

Weiss only leered. "Nothing we do can compare. Let them be scared for once, like everyone they betrayed."

Fox spat. "Fine. You're right. Dead in their sleep's too easy…"

Coco caught her breath as she was tapped from behind. She turned to see Velvet.

"So… what was that you said, before…?"

Coco turned pink, stumbling as her eyes peered over her glasses. She readjusted them in a flash. "Oh. Um… I-it was just… I thought we were gonna die, and…"

Velvet smiled, her shoulders squeezing as her ears flopped into a fold. "And… what?"

They all twisted as a red explosion splintered in stone shards, and Carmine stepped out, sai twirling, the flecks of stone orbiting her as she prepared to weaponize them…

…before blinking at the mob scene formed in the square.

"Who are these…? What did I miss exactly?"

In seconds, Carmine Esclados had been disarmed, overpowered and put on her knees.

"And her?" Ruby asked, catching Coco's eye.

Coco took clear pleasure in standing before the kindred fashion fiend, bending over.

"No special treatment. Yats'?"

"No, you idiots!" Carmine struggled. "You're gonna blow this! I'm with the Knights! I'm a double! A mole! You wipe me, nobody's helping you!"

"Bullshit," Coco hissed, even as the others mustered closer in interest. "You were gonna stand there and let them execute us!"

Carmine grinned, shrugging. "I said I was with the Knights, I never claimed to be a good person… Told you I wanted your purse."

There was a thwack as the folded Gianduja smacked her across the face. Carmine didn't even flinch.

"That's all you're getting, you trashy thu—"

"Ruby! You made it!"

They turned as Gohan leapt onto Ruby, followed slowly by Neo.

Ruby tousled his hair. "Yep! And we've got stuff to report… First though."

Yang nodded at Neo. "Good call hiding the fight. This place crawls. If Neo hadn't covered your tracks and domed-up this plaza, we'd be swarmed with more loser Frieza trash. NOBODY would have missed that purple madhouse whatever."

Neo sighed as she gave a dramatic bow.

"Can we focus please…?" Weiss asked, turning back to Carmine. "So a double agent? Then I suppose you know where the leaders are?"

"The sewers," Carmine said without blinking. "I know the bosses personally."

Everyone in Yang and Sun's group blinked. CVFY and the rest of them watched skeptically.

"Is that…?" Ruby asked.

Jaune nodded. "We found the other cell Mouse directed us to. That's what they told us. We came to find you guys when we saw you get into… this."

"Seriously, I can take you right there, or you can explain when you stumble your way down there why their most valuable asset is mind-wiped!" Carmine insisted.

"So what?" Blake asked. "You joined up on the sly?"

"Of course! How the hell else do we fight these freaks? I'm the Knights' foot in the door!"

"Hon'...?" Nora broached, a hand on Ren's back as he peered.

"I think she's telling the truth…" he said, after hesitating.

Sun groaned. "And if she's not, we show Frieza the heart of the resistance. She's real eager to go there…"

Carmine scoffed. "Seriously, kids? Of course I'd take you there. You're a SQUAD with Frieza's power, and you're not already on his payroll. The SHIT I had to go through to give us ONE leg up… You know what a sight your little crew is? You're the oasis to some Sun-beat pilgrims…"

Velvet reached behind Carmine and slipped her scroll out. "We can't risk this leading them to us."

"Remove the batt, leave it by the wall. I'll grab it later," Carmine said.

"So we're really doing this?" Fox asked, seeking Coco and Yatsuhashi's eyes.

Coco sighed. "I dunno…" She flicked her shades down to meet Ruby's eye. "Are we, wiz-kid?"

Ruby gave Carmine a long look.

"Come on, kid, we're two of a kind, shop at the same store and everything," Carmine laughed. "Besides, if we get there and they don't know me? Wipe me, take me out. Let's just get off the surface before somebody happens onto this little sitch."

Ruby sighed. "Alright. We can't waste time."

There was a collective unease, but Coco spoke first.

"Alright then. Let's get a bit more acquainted. This is gonna be a little weird… Fox? Let 'em in on the secret."

Fox nodded, focusing.

'Welcome to TeamSpeak.'

Each of them recoiled apart from CVFY themselves.

"Whoa! Was that in my brain?!" Sun demanded, fascinated in spite of his stress.

'Relax,' Yatsuhashi said. 'Inside voices. Uh… literally. Just think what you want to say.'

'It's easy!' Velvet added, beaming brightly at them despite her lips not having moved. 'Fox's semblance lets us coordinate ENTIRELY through mental connections.'

'Just keep it to one at a time,' Fox insisted. 'Used to doing the team. This group's big though. Remember, you're routing through my head…'

'So BOSS…!' Ruby cooed. 'No wonder your team is so awesome!'

'This from the half-pint who just saved our bacon… FROM bacon…?' Coco asked. 'We NEED the full story later. I remember your team blown to every side of the map 'fore we left. I remember HER missing an arm…'

'Huh,' Yang hemmed. 'Can I call myself a cyborg…?'

Nora shrugged. 'Eh? No objections here.'

'W-Wait, I said that out loud?!' Yang thought, eyes wide. 'Er… thought out loud? Egh… Is there a filter?'

'Was there one to begin with, Goldie?'

Every single one of them looked up at the unfamiliar voice. It was scratchy, and childish. More childish than Ruby, as young as anyone at Beacon had ever heard her. They blinked around, searching for the source.

'Wait… Oh no.'

Finally they turned to the one among them whose eyes had flitted white in surprise, still caught with her arms crossed… the one among them with no voice.

"Oh my GOD!" Yang blurted, laughter belching from her diaphragm.

'Neo…?!' Weiss said, eyes gaping.

'Can you pretend you… DIDN'T hear me…?'

Ruby dashed up to her, startling the tri-tone terror as she picked her up by the shoulders. 'Ho-lee CATS!' She giggled aloud. 'Your voice is so WIDDLE!'

'They clipped my cords before puberty,' Neo droned, glaring murder into Ruby's eyes. 'So I don't know what I'm s'posed ta' sound like, Red…'

'Hmm… right,' Ren said, hand to his chin. 'Your inner monologue never grew up WITH you… Intriguing…'

'So she DOESN'T talk, like, normally?' Fox asked. 'That's a new one… Here's to the differently-abled.' He thumped his chest with the side of his fist. 'Represent.'

'Hells yeah,' Yang agreed, flexing her right arm.

Neo very suddenly leaned forward… dragging her tongue over Ruby's wrist.

"GAH!" Ruby recoiled, dropping Neo, who landed back on her feet readily.

'Don't complain. I could'a bit you…'

'That's true… I guess. Thank you…?' Ruby said, wiping her wrist off on her cape.

Blake hummed. 'We're gonna have a lot to discuss. Walk and talk?'

Weiss nodded. 'Right… Where were we going again?'

---

With a heavy scrape of iron, the manhole cover slid over, and Weiss went… white, peering down into its depths as they wafted up from below.

"Ugh…" Ruby grunted, waving a hand in front of her nose. "Sewer level… we meet again…"

"No! No!" Weiss uttered in horror, shaking her head before wincing and holding her nose. "I am NOT going down there! That's a SEWER! You know what a sewer IS, right?!"

'Uh, yeah?' Nora said, not pleased either.

Coco snickered. 'Come on, I got swallowed by a Blind Worm a while back. This ain't so bad.'

'You wha…?!' Sun asked, astonished. 'How'd you survive?'

'They don't digest things very fast. Plenty of time for Velvet to do her thing.'

'Your welcome!'

Weiss paced dramatically. 'That's great—'

'It wasn't.'

'...but I will NOT touch anything down there! These clothes are brand new!'

'Isn't it anti-stain and… everything else?' Blake asked.

'And hydrophobic-coated, yes, but NOTHING will get this clean from what's down there!'

'Well there's no other way in, princess fussy-pants,' Carmine droned, hopping down onto the ladder. 'My drip is delicate too. 'Course, I'm not the one who decided to wear white.'

One by one they began to hop down, while Weiss paced uneasily, and Neo dismissed her illusory dome.

'Ruby!' Weiss said desperately. 'Tuck in the train of your cape! Don't let your beautiful hood be DRAGGED through all that…'

'Uh…' Ruby hummed, blushing at the compliment. 'Yeah, that's a good point…'

She awkwardly stuffed the end of her cape down the back of her skirt, safely protecting it from the foulness below.

Weiss dropped down onto a glyph in the narrow tubular tunnel, lined with greasy bricks. It was pitch dark after they returned the manhole cover to its place, the white snowflake the only source of cold light.

'Really, Weiss? The glyph?' Yang asked.

'I'm not stepping on this!'

'We're not ankle-deep in it, there's a walkway.'

'It's narrow!'

'Ugh!' Nora exclaimed, wafting the air pointlessly. 'Phew! Ruby! Take a pill or somethin'...' she giggled.

'That wasn't ME!' Ruby said, red-faced as Gohan chuckled behind her.

'No…' Weiss said. 'It was Vacuo… ALL of Vacuo…! Eurggghh…' She held her nose, wincing as she peered into the murky channel of unpleasantly colored fluids running beside the walkway. 'That's BLACKWATER… Oh god…! You know what blackwater IS, right?!'

Ruby blinked. 'Uh… poop?'

'This is so disgusting…! This smell is NEVER coming out of our clothes!'

Neo grinned wickedly. 'Imm'a smear some on her face…'

'You will NOT!'

'Alright, so… which way?' Sun asked, before staring in another direction and going white.

Carmine pointed. 'Well NOT back there—'

'Huh? Why…?' Ruby said, muscling her way towards the darkness as she lit an energy sphere.

'Wait, no, you don't wanna—'

Nora, Velvet and Weiss screamed, echoing through the dark as Ruby froze, and the others were a chorus of gasps and noises.

"No…!" Jaune breathed aloud, while Sun seethed in silence.

"Oh my god…" Blake stammered, immediately shielding Gohan's eyes.

Even Neo's mouth fell open. 'This is… a lot…'

Ruby sank to her knees, the light from her energy ball flickering and casting disturbing shadows upon the sewer walls as they all stared at the mound of filthy, decaying forms, empty eyes twisted, faces pulled in silent howls of despair. Blowflies kicked up into a horrible swarm from their fetid nests as they were disturbed by the light. Feasting rats darted off into the dark, startled by the screams.

'It's… a mass grave,' Yatsuhashi noted, his massive fingers curling and creaking. 'They couldn't even haul them somewhere proper?! Just… dumped them in the sewer?!'

Ruby once more felt a striking anger fill her. The bodies were all ages, pockets turned out for valuables before they'd been piled here. Some of them were facedown in the blackwater. The indignity… the callousness… She could make out more than a few tiny forms, squeezed under the weight of the rotting throng of which they were now a part.

Gohan wrenched free of Blake, shaking in horror and anger. He sprinted over to Ruby, taking her hand without a word. She squeezed it back, unable to tear her eyes from it. It was incredible that the deathly stench hadn't struck them before the expected odor of excrement.

Coco grabbed Carmine's shoulder and spun her against the wall. 'How many, Carmine?!' she demanded, snatching her shades off. 'Which ones did you help them put here?! Or did you just loot them before that part?'

'Not as many as you think. Just the ones I wasn't alone for, in which case I sent them in the Knights' direction. Not like they care enough to check my work. Not usually on put-down duty anyway.'

'The fact you EVER called yourself a Huntress…'

Carmine rolled her eyes. 'I HAD to keep my cover! If I split, they'd come at the Knights twice as hard, knowing they'd been used and we had a weapon to fight back with now. I'm worth more to the cause from the inside. I've helped way more people than I ever cut down, just because they think I'm THEIR gal.'

Yang huffed, hooking a thumb at the miserable pile. 'I'm sure THEY'D understand, right?'

'I don't give a damn if you kids judge me,' Carmine said with a sigh. 'But like it or not, that pile would be taller without me. I can still ask THEM, the ones I snuck out.'

It was rotten feelings all around. But ultimately, Carmine Esclados turned the other way. 'We're wasting time. Pay your respects and let's move.'

---

Despite the mental link and their buzzing minds, it was oddly quiet after that, for a good long while as they crept. That said…

'You ALL just wound up in Mistral?' Fox asked. 'And then Frieza showed up… That's a rough weekend.'

'Rougher for Mistral,' Sun added bitterly. 'What's your history with Goggles?' he asked, head nudging towards Carmine.

'We escorted some nomads, hard done by from some poor kid with an unstable semblance. Basically an emotion bomb. Kept drawing the Grimm. She did merc work while looking for him. She traffics people with powerful semblances to some group we've been chasing since we heard about them. Or did. The Crown.'

'Don't get cocky, Adel, you lucked out,' Carmine commented, stepping over a channel of running filth.

'I meant that you clearly changed track. Big leap from kidnapper to freedom fighter.'

'Not as big as you'd think… Frieza rattled a lot of cages. In Vacuo, you adapt or you die.'

'Okay, so can we talk about that whole Salem and Frieza working together thing?' Nora asked, hand raised. 'You're SURE it was Cinder?'

Weiss frowned. 'Saw her, heard her speak with Ginyu. Not exactly chummy, but…'

'It… KILLS me to let that floosie slip by,' Neo muttered. 'And Snow's little ice pick would have been PERFECT…! Tween her collarbone… down to her black, lacy heart…'

'Snow…? You mean ME?' Weiss asked.

'Who else in this crew would I call 'Snow,' Snow?'

Yang snorted. 'Y'know, I'm not big on hearing your bloodthirsty inner thoughts… but with that voice they sound less menacing and more…'

'Oh? Try me.'

'Okay, how about that stuff you wrote before, about when you were going to stab me?'

Paradoxically, Neo cleared her throat, turning around to walk backwards as she fixed Yang with her coldest smile. 'You toyed with death, and lost…' she began, head tilting eerily. 'By rights… your life was mine…'

Yang snorted, and the smile was wiped right from Neo's face.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry…! It's too precious…'

Neo scowled, both eyes swapping to a muddy brown. She tried to catch Ren's eye.

'Yes. Very threatening,' Ren offered with his own smile.

Neo ignored him as Yang and a few others kept snickering. 'I know where most of you SLEEP…'

Fox kept stride with Jaune. 'So for real… the Grimm serve a master? How are we just learning this now?'

'That's… a lot of unimportant details. Secret ancient war between two basically-immortals.'

'And Salem IS the Grimm,' Ren clarified. 'She's only a master in so much as you are the 'master' of your own fingers.'

Coco sighed. 'When did the world go and get so crazy? What sadist is to blame for pegging us with the 'living in more interesting times,' jinx?'

'A little green alien boy,' Gohan said, without an ounce of humor or irony. 'His name is Dende.'

'Aaaaand that's about all I can take this hour…' Coco laughed, also without a trace of humor. 'Oh, 'cept the obvious thing… How'd you guys do it?!'

Blake smiled. 'It wasn't easy. Ruby was the first. She edged along the verge of death before she could figure out how to consciously control her ki. Then, turn off your Aura's shield with that control to access the power you're constantly wasting.'

'The verge of death…?' Yatsuhashi asked, blinking.

Ruby clasped her hands behind her back. 'I nearly suffocated under my own weight in a chamber with a hundred-times gravity…'

Weiss hummed, nodding. 'And I was drowned.'

'Okay, so… that's pretty metal,' Fox admitted as CVFY stared at them with unease. 'What about you, Carmine? Match your experience?'

Carmine studied them. 'Tracks pretty well. Ginyu is brutal. Even after their… 'vetting process'... she figured out that after beating her lessons into us and savaging us until we collapsed, the best way to make us break through is to bring us to the brink of death and hold us there… barely alive, until we grow desperate enough or fade enough to feel through to our power. It sometimes took days…'

Jaune swallowed. 'I… can't believe you went through that and survived…'

Carmine's eyes stared daggers into the darkness. 'Me either. Most didn't. Plenty of people jockeying for that kind of power, but without WILLpower, drive, and a hell of a lot of luck… most people just crumble. It's why there are only so many Uplifts, even though Frieza has designs on all of Remnant.'

'I'm… surprised they let it get to that point,' Weiss said.

Carmine shrugged. 'Wasn't a matter of that. They didn't kill them outright. But keep someone under that kind of strain for that long, even if it's not fatal, and eventually they just break. We're a species that's never realized this power, so to Ginyu, it stands to reason you need to push them harder than anyone's ever been pushed. To her credit, it eventually worked…'

It was a grim picture to add to the pile. Ruby pictured a monstrous, steampunk industrial machine, with a feedstock of people, and a low yield for shiny new Uplifts, ready to mete out horror upon the world. Conflicting that the ones who volunteered weren't exactly good ambassadors of Man, but all the same… it felt like a waste of life.

Velvet's ears perked up. 'Wait… so… This power is already inside people? This isn't from some alien mutagen, or Frieza blood serum?'

Blake shook her head. 'Aura has been the cause and solution to the whole thing. See, the Grimm aren't soulless, they possess…'

But Ruby was nudged by Yang, who silently bade her to hang back slightly as Blake continued.

"Huh…? What's up?"

"We need to talk," Yang sighed. "Back at Hoplites…"

Ruby sighed.

Yang's eyes flashed red. "Hey, I'm serious…! Look, I'm glad we found CVFY, and I'm glad they're not dead. But you can't just go off on every injustice you come across…!"

Ruby stopped, facing her. "They were going to kill those kids."

Yang didn't wince, but her eyes softened just slightly. "And they've probably killed hundreds just like them when we weren't around. Ruby, you didn't even try something subtle, like, ask for their autograph while the kids run off! You almost blew us, and if we get flattened by Frieza out here, what does that mean for Remnant?!"

"I…" Ruby frowned, sighing again. "Yeah, I could have been… I just… I know we can't be here to save everyone, but I refuse to turn my back on the people I CAN…!"

"I'm not asking you to," Yang said. "It's the whole reason we're still here. If Neo hadn't been there to save that fumble, you couldn't have saved that."

'Yeah, you couldn't.'

Ruby and Yang turned to see Neo watching them, the slightest smile alight in the dark as she leaned both hands on her parasol.

"See, even the sociopath thinks so."

'All sorts of things I could leave under your pillow, Goldie.'

"All sorts of ways I could origami your spine, dairy queen."

'Oh, more ice cream jokes, how ever will I match your razor wit…'

Yang crossed her arms. "Uh huh. Did you have a point?"

'Nah, left it with your daddy, but don't be too hard on little Red. Visit to the school was pretty prof'table, ac'shully.'

Yang blinked. "Meaning…?"

Weiss hung back, having eavesdropped on the entire conversation. She held her palm out, and dropped it in Yang's hand.

Yang looked down, rolling it in her palm. The dynocap.

She met their eyes, frowned… She pushed the plunger.

'*BAMF!*'

The rest of them twisted around as the cap burst into smoke, and attached to it, the gleaming crystal…

"S-Sword…" Yang breathed. "Holy crapshit… Is this the RELIC…?!"

Carmine quirked her head. 'Relic…? Isn't that the sword Ginyu's always carrying around?'

Sun's eyes went huge, and he wasn't the only one. 'Wait! Ginyu already had it?!'

Nora threw her hands out. 'HOW THE…?! But he'd need…!'

'The Winter Maiden.' Weiss confirmed, staring at her, flatly. 'It's Ginyu's new body. I don't know how, but…'

'Salem… must have told them,' Jaune croaked.

Ren's eyes pierced the wall for miles. 'With Frieza there, Salem had no choice… Maybe she promised something? Or traded information?'

"You're sure Frieza isn't forcing her to help?" Yang asked, still marveling over the gleaming piece.

Ruby shook her head. "She's so secretive, I doubt Frieza could find a way to her without her allowing him to. Then there's Evernight, and…"

Yang snapped out of it. "S-so you guys swiped this?! This… This was gonna be the hardest part of this whole thing!" She took a few deep breaths, a smile blooming. She depressed the plunger.

'*BAMF!*'

Then she swooped in and scooped Ruby and Weiss into a spinning double hug. "I can't BELIEVE YOU GUYS! You really pulled a rabbit out your—! Oh… sorry Velvet, trying to catch myself on that kinda…'

'Eh, I'll allow it,' Velvet muttered, nonplussed.

Weiss, meanwhile, held onto Yang for dear life. "I-swear-to-Deha-Yang , if-you-drop-me-in-SEWAGE…!"

"D-don't forget Neo," Ruby said. "Without her, we wouldn't have made it as far as we…"

'Nope, you wouldn'a… Wait…' Neo's eyes went stark white as she turned to see Yang set the other two down. 'Don't even think about it! No no no no no NO!'

But Yang scooped her up, even as Neo jammed the tip of Hush repeatedly into her eyes.

'Aww, she's trying to blind me… All ki-hardened, no escape!'

'I'm gonna take a dump in your boots when you least s'spect it…'

Blake blinked. 'Wait. So Frieza KNOWS about the Relics… and we just stole one from him?!'

'Whoa-HO, he's gonna be PISSED!' Nora said, grinning mischievously.

'Is he?' Fox asked. 'Because pissing him off doesn't historically end well for Vacuo. This Sword is worth that?'

'It's one of four keys to getting rid of him altogether,' Ruby explained. 'The others are at the other schools. We get the set, all this ends.'

'The hell ARE these things?' Coco asked, as CVFY blinked as a unit.

'Long story short,' Weiss sighed, 'That whole secret war thing? Ozpin's the other side of the conflict with Salem, and the schools hid four divine Relics of virtually unlimited power.'

Yatsuhashi hummed. 'And if Frieza knows about them, then it's a race. I'll be surprised if he's not already tearing Vacuo apart to recover it.'

Ruby winced. 'I mean, maybe? Have it on good authority that he's asleep… Had to sneak it out literally under his nose. He sleeps with his EYES OPEN, bee-tee-dubz!'

Velvet's eyes went huge. 'W-well… regardless… it's worth it to put an end to all this. Frieza can't help being what he is, even when nothing has offended or challenged him.' Her ears folded, anger and bitterness quivering in her voice. 'It's been one monstrosity after another… He's a sadist and he HATES our kind, human AND faunus. The faunus were just easier to round up…'

Blake and Sun hung back to offer her comfort, but she held out her hand, shaking her head.

'But the problem with constantly doing his worst is that we're hard to his rages… He can hardly do worse by us. What, he'll kill us?! He does that every day! And he knows that he needs people to do his labor, to fight his wars.' She fixed Ruby with a hard stare. 'So do it. Hurt him in the ways he can't hurt US…'

Fox managed a grin, his cloudy eyes aimless. 'So basically, it's good to see you guys.'

They continued down the endless fetid passages, curve after curve, slope after slope. Eventually they had to take ladders into the deeper parts of the sewers, and the temperature kept dropping as they went.

"I'm glad to get away from the heat," Nora said, her nose almost permanently wrinkled, "but the tradeoff is a bit much… That smell is just getting worse."

'Surprised the sewers are so big,' Blake said. 'It's all ancient.'

'Storm-drain style,' Sun said. 'Believe it or not, it DOES rain in Vacuo sometimes? An' when it does, it comes in buckets. System's GOTTA be prepared.'

Blake frowned. 'It's a leftover from the monarchy, right?'

'You really want a history lesson on the SEWER, whiskers?' Carmine asked. 'Fine. Each district took care of its own water treatment until they banded together and sprung for an automated system. And instead of dedicated sewer workers, they flooded the tunnels with—'

They rounded a corner, and immediately heard a scrape and splash of scratching chitin.

"Oh." Blake said, reaching back for her blade as the massive skittering crab splashed its way into the light with predatory speed. Its round, shiny carapace nearly scraped the ceiling as its tweezer-like claws reached out beneath its black eyestalks.

'Don't worry, I got it,' Carmine said, twirling her sai before adjoining their hilts, telescoping the pair into a single trident twinblade.

With a single electric jab under its eyestalk, the black orbs shrank into its body as air squealed out of its fuzzy-looking mouthparts in a shriek. It retreated slowly, unwilling to face away from them.

'Like I was saying… mole crabs.' Carmine sighed, trident over her shoulder. 'Cattle prods work too.'

'And those are down here… why?!' Ruby asked.

'Better than full-time clog-removers. Mole crabs eat just about anything, and the babies can fit into smaller pipes. They basically clean everything down here. Pretty good system, actually. It's got that real 'work smarter not harder' shine to it…'

'W-wait,' Weiss said, her eyes going huge. 'But if those things are down here… why didn't they eat—?'

'Those bodies you saw?' Carmine finished. 'Hadn't gotten to 'em yet. You think those are from the whole month? That was a DAY of executions. Body disposal has never been hard in Vacuo. You thought they just dumped them down here to be jerks?'

Gohan froze, and he wasn't the only one. His teeth bared. 'A day…?!'

But none were quite as silent as Sun, who seemed lost in thought. True, deep contemplation… and as they trod forward, grim resolve.

Ruby hung back to find the boy Saiyan. He'd been particularly quiet. "Hey Rosebud… you… okay?"

Gohan blinked, his hard expression softening. "Uh? Oh… Yeah. It all just reminds me of Namek."

"Huh? Oh… back where Frieza was, before you all…?"

Gohan nodded. "There weren't as many Namekians, not enough for cities like this. Just a handful of villages. The first time I set eyes on Frieza, his men were exterminating one. It was just some elders and kids left. One of them was Dende."

Ruby listened intently. Gohan didn't usually share things like this. Bad memories.

"They had one of the Dragonballs. Krillin and I tracked the signal there, and we saw…" Gohan's scowl was intense, worldly for a child. "The Dragonballs are important to Namek. The Namekians guard them, only let the worthy make wishes. Frieza had to threaten the elder's kids to make him hand it over… The village elder, he realized their scouter devices were how Frieza found them. He took a chance and destroyed them."

Ruby felt her heart sink. "If that worked… I can't imagine Frieza took it well."

Gohan nodded, shaking. "They killed one of the kids first… blasted in the back as he ran. Then the elder himself. But, honestly… I don't think it would have mattered, even if they'd done everything Frieza asked. I managed to save Dende and run. Seeing this city… It's the same thing, but with thousands of people here!"

"I know," Ruby said. "That's why I did what I did before. I just… couldn't stand it."

Gohan nodded. "Yeah. It reminded me of saving Dende. I couldn't sit there and hide, I tore out, attacked… Maybe it wasn't smart but…"

Ruby's smile glowed. "We really are alike, huh? Just… sucks we're still sneaking around like this."

Coco lowered her shades. "Yeah, kid? This is one bad night here. A particularly bad one, sure, but…"

She gave Gohan a hard look over.

"So… why do you guys roll with a little mascot-boy now?" she asked. "I can't avoid asking any longer."

"I'm Gohan," he replied, uncertain if he should take offense.

"Well hey, Gohan," Coco said cooly, grinning as she tipped her beret. "Where you from?"

"Earth. I like your hat."

"Thanks! Me too…" She turned to Ruby to whisper. "So where's 'Earth'…?"

"The other planet where humans come from." Ruby said, awaiting the inevitable crack. "He's half human though. Gohan's like twenty times stronger than any of us."

Coco blinked. "You guys should put together a pamphlet with all the tea, 'cause this whole scene has been a one-oh-one course in competitive mind-blow…"

"We did," Jaune told her, immediately fwipping out one of the leaflets dropped over Vale. "Bit more of a TL;DR though…"

'God…!' Weiss complained, capelet held over her nose. 'I can smell it through my MOUTH! That doesn't even make SENSE! I'm going to smell everyone's… ORDURE in my nightmares!'

She choked in a dry heave, eyes watering.

As much as the others weren't keen on her dramatics, they had little to say, because they couldn't deny that the ever-present smell was beating them down slowly. And the specter of the grave they passed before was a lingering token of solemnity. Even Yang was having difficulty with it.

'Well, at least if anyone has to do anything, any place is good, right?' she offered halfheartedly.

'With the diseases down here?!' Weiss said. 'I'll hold it…'

'Yeah,' Ruby chuckled weakly. 'That splashback is deadly…'

'Quit your belly aching,' Carmine groaned. 'We're almost there.'

Nora suddenly felt a tap on her side, and looked to see Neo. 'Oh… Hi…'

'Listen, Sparks… I was just tooling before, with Ren.'

'Watch it,' Nora warned, her inner voice a low growl.

'Hey, I'm serious! I wasn't tryin' ta' steal 'im, I just knew it bugged you. I'm an agent of chaos, and you're fun to tease.'

Nora huffed. 'Yeah? You have a sick idea of fun…'

'Well… yeah,' Neo admitted, her eyes alternating as she shrugged her arms. 'But I'm telling you I'm sorry, alright? Since I don't gotta write it down or somethin' awkward this way. Been a long time since I could just spill like this. It's hard not to be understood sometimes, and since that Beacon dust-up… I've been alone.'

Nora blinked, taking a breath as her scowl softened against her wishes. 'And… Ren helps fill the void, huh?'

Neo glanced at him, a genuine little grin on her lips as both eyes pinkened. 'It's not like it was with Roman, not really… but I know he still understands. He's a dork, too polite, an' sometimes he's a real dum-dum… but I'm glad he's yours, y'know? I see the way he looks at you. Needs a strong gal to take care of 'im.'

Nora leered, but couldn't help a wince of a smile. 'Fine. Apology accepted. Us short girls have to stick together…'

'Pff. I ain't short, Sparks, I'm PETITE.'

'Isn't that the same thing…?' Ruby asked.

Neo rolled her head back to look at her, brow raised. 'You expect ME to be a wordsmith…?'

A few of them snickered. Neo kept stride with the rest of them.

'Truth told, 's'been diff'rent, running with this crew. Good diff'rent. Maybe a year on my lonesome, nothing to dream for but Red's blood on my blade… maybe it softened me some? I 'unno. Our mess with you kids wasn't personal, n' you ain't done wrong by me. I like ya' fine.'

She made a noiseless laugh, shoulders just shaking briefly as she gave the floor a hollow smile.

'How screwed up is it, the doll I made to kill is one a' the closest saps I got now?'

'Aww…' Ruby cooed. 'Neo likes us…'

'Don' let it go to yer' head…'

Blake's brows quirked, ears perked. 'That's… strangely forthcoming of you.'

Neo leered. 'And don' YOU get used to it, Belle. Only sayin' it cuz Blink's little trick only lasts while he's 'round.'

Blake smirked. 'So that's MY nickname?'

'What? You're the hot one.'

Blake gave a cough of laughter. 'Am I…?!'

'Those hips don't lie.'

'I think I preferred it when you didn't speak,' Yang droned internally.

'Aww, don't be jealous, Goldie. We'll always have the train,' Neo said, grinning wickedly. 'But hey, bein' lit'rally 'dumb' does have its perks. Nobody expects ya to say the right things. But typin's no fun and miming is teeds… tee-dee…' She wracked her head for the word. She gave up. 'It's annoying sometimes…'

"Speaking of, shut it. We're here," Carmine announced, her fingers grazing the edge of a brick. A brick with a jagged-tipped circlet carved into it. 'Actually a metal latch in the brick. Use a magnet and sweep to open, but my semblance will work too…'

She waved a finger left to right, and they heard a mechanism within slide over with a scrape. The section of wall swung in, a concealed door, revealing an awesome sight…

"Dude…!" Sun cried out.

"This is under Vacuo…?!" Velvet asked, awestruck.

"Hold on, I know it's big," Fox said, listening to his earpiece. "But it's too big. Can someone let the blind guy in on the 'oohs' and 'awws'?"

"Well…" Ruby sighed.

They were instantly on the shore of a pristine lake dotted with innumerable islands of baked gray sand. The sandstone ceiling largely stretched into the darkness, hints of a red sandstone ceiling visible. Supporting it were thick, angled crystal columns, impure as they were, a mother-of-pearl luster peering through the dusty surface. They were like stalagmites, bristling into the far darkness in countless numbers, and it was impossible to tell where their growth had started.

The gray sands below were so different from the usual copper of Vacuo's deserts, merely coated with a dusting of it from the inevitable sprinkling of that ceiling.

And on a distant peninsula, an edifice of gray stone arose from the shore, a massive white bonfire on the top illuminating all of the cavern that they could see in a cool light.

"Unnn… fresh air…" Weiss said gratefully, stepping onto the soft ashen ground.

"For real," Yang said, closing her eyes. "Finally, a place that doesn't smell like someone letting off a hot, wet, raunchy fart in my face…"

"What a lovely image," Weiss groaned.

But as they stepped through, each and every one of them froze in their tracks, seizing like they'd been flash frozen.

"Nnnng! Not again…!" Ruby groaned through her teeth.

The sandy floor crunched as someone stepped into view from the side, fist against her hip as she carried a pair of multi-pronged whips that matched her dreadlocks. They could feel her piercing green eyes locking them in place as she focused, clad in pink and green.

"Carmine? Wow, sweet haul. These the ones they're expecting?"

She angled her view just enough to lose Carmine, who rolled her neck and strode to the newcomer's flank. "Yeah, plus some others. Already Knights, just not seasoned enough to be down here."

The other froze Carmine as she fixed her with a look. "So they're here why?"

"Nnn… Umber, piss off…"

With a sigh, the woman caller Umber slipped on a pair of mirrored shades, and immediately every one of them was freed of her stony glare. "I'm waiting…"

Carmine shook herself out. "So I'm their prisoner."

Umber cocked her head. "Like, pretend?"

"These kids were at Three Sheets. You must have gotten word down here by now!"

Umber's extremely white teeth flashed in a grin. "Yeah, we heard about some Uplift-scale tourists. They tried to knock you over?"

"They're the real thing," Carmine admitted.

"Interesting."

"That's what I said."

"I know you… Seen you at Shade," Yatsuhashi said, eyeing Umber with the same unease as the rest of them.

"Oh yeah… Well you know how it is without a scholarship. Everyone needs a part-time, right? Welcome to The Well."

Sun took a step further, eying the distant structure. "How do you guys get news down here?"

"Think we chose the depths under the sewers for the fragrance?" Umber asked, motioning as she walked over to a nook behind the entrance where she'd clearly been sitting in an old chair when they came in. There was an arrangement of covered PVC pipes coming out of the exposed sewer wall. "Pneumatic delivery system. Took a little setup, but no signals to intercept, no drain on the grid. Blends right in with the sewers."

"W-what… is this place?" Jaune asked, still beholding the alien-looking cavern and its disparate floor and ceiling.

"Can't you tell?" Carmine asked. "It's the piece of the moon that made this crater. A bit cooked, and no Dust that wasn't activated on impact… hence these growths," she said, noting the crystal columns. "But a neat little cavity where the aquifer seeps in. Everyone just cares about the Anser deposit, but this? Can't put a price on this…"

They crossed the distance to the lit structure, Neo hitching a ride on Yatsu to maintain her tether. The structure was a perfectly packed tower rising from the dust. It was carved and molded like a massive sand castle.

"Yeah, was mostly a camp until I went Uplift," Carmine told them. "My semblance got strong enough to fuse all this dust solid. I'm no architect, but…"

"We really get up to some crazy stuff," Ruby noted. "Basically walking on the moon."

"One small step at a time," Coco added.

Fox's voice filled their heads. 'I cut Carmine from the chat. Act natural. Something's weird. I can sense a MASSIVE Aura coming from that building. Never felt something this big except Frieza.'

'Yeah, I feel it too,' Jaune said. 'It's… strange. Like I'm feeling a LOT of people, but it's one power.'

Nora glanced over. 'Ren?'

'They're… definitely glad to see us. But there's something more. I can't figure out what. Don't drop your guard.'

They made it to the tower, and saw it overlooking a vast training camp along the shore beyond it. Many looked to be asylum seekers, but others glanced up at them as they worked forges, cooked, sparred…

"All these people… Come to hide, or fight?" Sun asked.

"Some are in no position to fight, and we're just waiting for the chance to move them offsite," Carmine told them, basking in the sight of it all. "We have a path under the desert, and a site near Eclipse for people to escape elsewhere."

Coco frowned. "Under the desert? The entire desert?"

"The aquifer that runs through the ravine goes a long way, and it carved some paths we've marked. We can march people out right under Frieza's nose." Carmine shrugged. "The ones who want to leave, I mean."

"What's with the silver armbands?" Nora asked, noting the more militarized members, each wearing the same bands.

"Before the Thousand-and-One Knights, we had a different name," Carmine told her. "Some of us are nostalgic."

'This is wrong,' Ren thought to the others. 'The ones with the bands… I barely feel any emotion from them.'

Weiss narrowed her eyes. 'And they all have the same energy, like they're the same person. What is going on here…?'

'Those stares are going a bit long,' Neo added lowly. 'That's not curiosity, Red. Take it from me, those're lions in tall grass.'

Unsaid, it wasn't what they felt before, the massive power that felt like several in one. This was several, OF one. The prior power was up in the tower, vast and undimmed.

"Wait here," Carmine said. "You're about to be granted quite the audience."

They didn't have to wait long. Blake heard their muffled voices as Carmine ascended the steps inside the tower. They could feel the descent of its occupants. More than that, a brilliant glow illuminated every step down the spiral stair.

Gohan watched with a curious frown as they stepped into the light, though the woman's form was already so clear for the rainbow of an Aura wafting off of her. They didn't even need to sense her. Her power didn't rage or billow as in combat, but she plainly couldn't suppress it. Even from just what he could sense, Gohan could tell she was still primarily using this excess for her Aura shield, which must have been considerable by most measures.

The woman held herself with dignity, and the man brimming with importance as his grin simmered at them. At a glance, it was clear they were twins. Each the same piercing olive eyes, the same jet black hair, tied in a top knot for the man and a pair of loops tied into a similar knot for the woman, and each were adorned in silver diadems and chains. He wore a brilliant blue linen duster adorned in spirals. She, a flowing dress of layered cool colors, from white, to greens, blues and purples.

Carmine simply knelt to the woman's side, receiving a warm nod, clear fondness in their eyes.

"Presenting, Jax Asturias, son of Finn, of the lost line of Malik… and Gillian Asturias, child of Finn, of the lost line of Malik. The true heirs to the forsaken crown of Vacuo, and leaders of the Thousand-and-One Knights."

"Please, Carmine," Gillian insisted. "No need to stand on such formalities. We have esteemed guests, and greater things to enact."

'Not a chance,' Fox projected to the others. 'It's been a thousand years since Malik, and there's no record of those bloodlines.'

"Wait, I heard about this!" Velvet said suddenly. "That's how Carmine got into the Uplifts… She gave away her bosses, the ones queuing up for a coup of the city!"

"The Crown," Fox confirmed. "You're the ones who were trafficking people… for this takeover scheme. Ginyu took their operation down."

Jax scoffed. "That commander might be powerful, but she's not a thorough one. It was a ruse of course."

Carmine grinned, leaning against the frame of the entryway. "Even I can't believe how easily they swallowed it. Sure, lost our old haunts, but a pretty savvy trade. A couple decent doubles to take the fall, a few soldiers die for the cause… they blow up the spots we abandoned. Meanwhile, we go further underground. Rebrand. Ginyu calls it done, and Frieza trusts me enough to teach us their dirty little alien tricks."

"So what?" Yang asked. "Some goons dressed up like you and waited to be murdered?"

"You'll find Jax… inspires great loyalty in his subjects," Carmine said, eying the regal twin. "He doesn't need the threats Frieza does."

"They threw their lives away for that…?" Ruby asked, as her brain itched. More than that, Jax too had that same energy as the others in the camp. His, however, was considerably more substantial. It was curious, because all told, Jax was frail-looking. His power was muted. If he was a fighter of any stripe, he was mediocre.

Gillian, however, had the muscle tone of a Huntress. Apart from her visibly grand Aura, she just felt so much… sharper.

Jax regarded Ruby like a wise teacher might, despite his relative youth. "We cannot supplant something like Frieza without a means to challenge his power. A double agent was our only in, and for his arrogance, the demon is no fool. Nothing less could have swayed him, and true believers were prepared to die for that chance."

Gillian held out a pacifying hand. "We're quite aware that our parties may once have been… at odds."

"Yes," Yatsuhashi grunted. "You could say that."

"But whether you acknowledge our claim to this Kingdom," she continued, "we share the same goal!" She patted her heart. "Our desire has always been to restore the independence of Vacuo from the influence and exploitation of the other Kingdoms. And at present, the clearest threat is Frieza. A scourge on our very world."

Jax took a closer look at their group. "Carmine, old friend…?"

Carmine sighed. "Don't be pompous, J, I've seen you drunk."

His regal demeanor faltered only for a moment, blinking several times as his face slackened. "I've received Kelly's report. He said they were a younger sort, but…" He looked directly at Ruby, and Gohan. "Carmine, they truly have that ability?"

"Three unconscious Uplifts and a pretty comprehensive how-to guide they shared afterward," Carmine assessed, idly twirling one of her sai on a finger. "I don't get why them, but there's no mistaking that for anything else."

Gillian nodded. "It's a pertinent question. Just who are you people?"

"CVFY here knows them already," Carmine slipped in. "From Vale somewhere, apart from the obvious."

Jax crossed his arms. "Indeed. Frieza's very existence is a secret that's scarcely left Vacuo. But his power?"

Carmine cut in again. "Apparently the ankle-biter is from another world! Even though he looks distinctly local."

The twins glanced at each other. Then at Gohan. Then back again.

Gohan nodded. "Frieza wasn't the only one who got sent here. My Dad and the others have been training them."

"Ah, so it's not that you're special," Jax said, pacing as he regarded them. "Like with most things, it's about who you know…"

It was galling to Ruby, hearing him speak with such superiority. This man who tailored some fancy robes and decided he had the right to boss people around. He didn't even have a particular presence about him to command such authority. It was like someone playing a role in a movie. A miscast.

Jax took a breath. "Normally I wouldn't much entertain the idea of even accepting the aid of your sort."

His eyes sneered at CVFY. "A team of Huntsmen who abandoned their home in its needy hour to settle for our Academy. A prodigal son, the Kenyte nomad who turned his back only to crawl home when adversity reared."

Fox felt Jax's stare, his cloudy eyes narrowed.

Jax turned to Coco. "At least the leader owned her heritage. The faunus from Atlas, the Mistrali… A pack of disloyal itinerants, belonging nowhere. Vacuo least of all."

The upperclassmen burned as a unit, while their friends immediately stepped in.

"I'm Vacuo born and raised," Sun told them, "and I was always taught if you could survive here, you were welcome here. You'd make a lousy rep for the rest of us."

Jax's nostrils flared, but he ignored Sun. "And the rest, outsiders. Of course, I could never miss the presence of a Schnee. A royal in kind if not in writing. Bearer of the sins of her family and her Kingdom, which did its level best to strip ours of every resource they touched."

Weiss merely froze, not in surprise, nor shame. "Do you have a point, or did you just want to turn away the ones even SHE admits are the best shot you have of freeing Anser?"

She pointed idly at Carmine, who was eying Jax with nearly as much ire as RWBY. Gillian seemed moments away from grabbing him.

Jax caught the stare of his sister, and there was almost an imperceptible shake as he blinked. "My point is that despite all of this, we can hardly afford to discriminate when faced with this caliber of enemy. The Knights… the Crown… however you see us, we will readily assist…"

"We're The Warriors in the Woods," Ruby told him. "And Kaiserin Monden told us you had a plan to get the faunus out. We have a way to get rid of the Dust deposit they're after, so Frieza won't ever have a reason to use the mine again. We might be able to do more, we just don't know what you've figured out."

Gillian and Jax blinked, sharing a glimpse.

"Get rid of it?"

Ruby braced. "I know it's a big part of—"

"No," Jax said, a burst of mirth in his voice. "That's perfect. Frieza has yet to make a push to wider conquest, but without the Ovarium, it will stall his ambitions, at least."

"No love lost," Gillian said, smiling. "That thing has been the siren call that led Vacuo to be impoverished in the first place."

Even Sun was surprised to hear this sentiment. But Gillian stepped among them, Aura still gleaming as she strode down toward the shore, pointing into the darkness.

"The challenge we face is connecting this chamber with the mine. If we can manage that, the detainees can escape with no one the wiser. Not until it's too late. With no witnesses, Frieza's forces will be chasing their tails, combing the desert for a nonexistent track."

"Then we just collapse the tunnel behind us…!" Jaune said, his eyes alight, despite present company. "Nobody'll dig up the mine to find those faunus. They'll basically be gone without a trace!"

Carmine nodded. "Our biggest problem's been knowing which way to dig. Between my telekinesis and these Uplift powers, I've managed SOME progress. But the sands shift, after all. A Vacuo classic. And down here I'm basically blind."

'How awful for Carmine…' Fox mocked inwardly.

Not hearing his thoughts, Carmine continued. "No signals can make it through that much rock and sand."

Blake peered into the dark cavern ceiling. "You couldn't break into the mine and dig your way back?"

"Still need to breathe, toe-beans. That's suicide, even for us special types. Plus, you wouldn't suggest that if you saw how full that place is."

"Okay," Ren said. "So we need to create a stable tunnel directly to a precise point in the mine from this cavern. Is there a quick way to the surface from here?"

Carmine shrugged. "A sieve or two. Why?"

"Can you guys feel the powers in the city too?" Ren asked.

Ruby smirked, peering into the ceiling, looking past it. "Yeah. Power-up a little and we'll see clear as day."

"See what?" Gillian asked.

"Power levels!" Nora said, no emotion in her voice. "Almost as easily as everyone can see yours…"

Gillian frowned, catching Carmine's eye. Carmine blinked, shaking her head at Gillian.

" Yyyyyyyyeah, I'm done pretending that Queen Wincest here isn't glowing. What's up with that?" Nora finished, crossing her arms.

Gillian frowned. "Wince… Pardon me? What does that mean?"

Nora was implacable. "Just that if bro is the king and you're his queen, it sounds like your family tree is shaking up to be a stick."

The room seemed to freeze in time. The color drained from Ruby's face. The others stared at Nora with ever-slackening jaws until they heard Neo mentally guffaw, her shoulders and chest spasming as she otherwise went unnoticed.

'Someone FINALLY said it!' Neo thought aloud.

Gillian's face contorted, lip thin as said stick as her Aura flared. "You impertinent common vagrant! How DARE you insinuate—!"

Ren moved between them as Gillian readied a slap, only for Carmine to step in front of her and hold the assumed heiress back. She whispered as Gillian fixed Nora with a glare that could sear bark. Jax was as stunned as if Umber's gaze were upon him, his eyes enormous.

Gillian took an extremely deep breath as her glow bloomed in turn. "My semblance permits me to be gifted the Aura of living things. I am, effectively, stockpiling power in the hopes of challenging that devil directly at a further juncture. Once I've power enough to do it, of course."

It was quite the bombshell, and their faces told it. It also matched what they could feel.

'You guys are the experts here,' Fox projected, catching RWBY's eyes. 'That sound plausible?'

"That's… one powerful semblance," Yang conceded, eyes agape.

"I… don't know," Ruby said, answering Fox. "But I don't think every fighter in the city could give that much."

"Seriously?" Coco asked.

Gillian stopped dead, as Jax listened intently.

"You don't get it," Blake said. "Frieza's worse than anything you've seen yet. He can transform, like he did in Mistral."

"Transform?" Jax repeated. "You mean, into something worse than what we've seen?"

Gohan nodded, stepping closer. "Yeah. He basically doubled his strength, and he says he has more forms after that…"

The Crown twins offered each other a concerned look.

"That is… distressing," Gillian admitted. "Thank you for that. So few have dealt with him in anything that could be called a fight, his limits have been hard to quantify. Fortunately, my stores are not a one-time infusion. Our people can make regular contributions to the pool, until the time is right."

'We're outta the sewer,' Neo said, 'so why does it stink more around these two?'

Ren frowned. 'Agreed. She's not telling us the full truth.'

'Like her semblance isn't as passive as being 'gifted' Aura?' Yatsuhashi suggested. 'Like she's taking it, perhaps by force?'

'Maybe… I don't know.'

Carmine cleared her throat. "So what was this about sensing powers?"

Ruby nodded, as they shelved the topic. "If a few of us can get to the mine up on the surface, we can charge enough power to be felt from down here, and you guys can use that as a guide to tunnel right to it."

"Then, we reach the deposit and take it out before we make off with everything that place has," Jaune said, liking the plan more and more.

"I can point the way," Carmine said, "but you'll need me on the tunneler side to keep the sand out of the way."

Ruby agreed. "We'll need another hand or two to help with the faunus."

"I'm going," Sun said immediately.

"Me too," Blake added. "The more faunus we have with us, the quicker they'll trust what we're doing. Those people will be weak, scared."

Yatsu and Coco both had a hand on Velvet's shoulders as she stepped forward. She twisted.

"I'll be fine. They're right. It'll smooth things along if I'm with them."

Weiss turned to the others. "My semblance can go a long way to give the tunnel some support, so I'll need to stay on this end."

Jax nodded. "Warden Kelly is on standby for your arrival. The city is on alert. We've been receiving reports of increased activity since your coming. Take a quarter hour to prepare. First light will be in two hours, and we need this finished by then."

Several of them blinked at each other. Two hours? It felt like such a mad rush to Ruby. It seemed impossible that the night had nearly ended… And that meant everyone back in Patch had already woken up to realize they had all gone.

As if the true perils before them hadn't been so terrible, she couldn't believe how much more her stomach twisted at the thought of landing back home and explaining this entire night. Even if they came home victorious, they were in for all manner of lectures…

"Of course, after this, I do hope it won't be the end of our cooperation?" Jax said, his smile bright as he lifted his brow.

"No offense," Yang droned. "we'll WORK with you… but we don't trust you."

Jax steadied a breath as he took in all their glances. "Let's not be hasty. I really think you 'Warriors' should stay. The battle is here, my friends."

"We can't," Ruby said, as she swore the spiral pattern on his clothes glowed… "We have our own way of fighting this. We're sorry."

Jax's smile vanished. He blinked. He didn't seem angry, just confused. "I beg you to reconsider… We'll be far more capable together than apart…"

Ren in particular watched Jax closely. He saw the same confusion bloom in Carmine and Gillian.

"Like Ruby said, we can't," Weiss told him firmly, as the regal pair stared.

"I will."

Everyone turned. Sun Wukong had his hand up, his gaze stony.

"What?" Blake breathed.

"I'm staying," Sun repeated, wincing, barely able to meet Blake's eye.

"Sun, what…?" Ruby began. But Blake walked up and took his hand.

"Excuse us a moment…"

Blake dashed down to the shore with him, well out of earshot of the others.

"Sun? What are you doing?"

Sun turned away, down the dark split where the gray sands met the black waters. "I can't leave, Blake. Not after everything we've seen here. This is my home."

Blake followed him at a respectful distance as he strode idly. "Sun, we can't just leave you here! We need you…"

"Vacuo needs me more," he said, turning around and looking her in the eye. He wasn't upset, but the determination in his eyes... "The faunus too. The best people they have looking out for them are a couple thugs playing kingmaker! Everything about this is fishy, and they need someone to keep them honest at least!"

"All by yourself…?"

"Nah. I'll help the brew crew find their footing. Don't know 'em as well as the others, but we all fought at Beacon. We can trust them."

Blake took a nervous glance over at the Asturias twins, well out of earshot. "Then maybe we should take them down before this can get worse? Will people down the chain even realize the leaders are different? Most don't know who they are."

Sun shook his head, sighing. "Nah, bad idea. We don't know how they work this place, or who else knows them. We break up the Knights, all those people standing up to Frieza NOW lose faith in the fight. Nobody to trust. We were all saying before how amazing it is there was even a resistance in the first place. Wreck this now, they'll never trust anyone again. Vacuans aren't big on letting themselves get burned twice."

Blake huffed. "So we play along? With you sitting here, awaiting a knife in your back?"

He smiled. "If that's how bad they want me gone, guess I'll be doin' somethin' right."

Blake's ears folded back. Her hands found her elbows. "What if I need you…?" She sniffed. "Maybe I should stay too?"

"You belong with your team. I'll be fine. I'll check in every week, alright? You just take care of your ow—"

She closed her arms around him, neck craned as she took his lips in hers. She didn't stop. He held her as she shuddered.

---

Oscar sat on the porch, the Sun bright and gleaming. It was a beautiful morning, and yet the tension in the air…

Taiyang paced constantly, the jingle of Zwei's collar constant as he followed along. Qrow was propped up against the barracks.

The back door opened as Bulma walked out, carrying two cups of coffee.

"Tai… Come sit down, have some coffee."

"I can't. Damn it, those kids… What the hell are they thinking?"

"Won't know 'til they're back," Qrow said, tapping his foot. For the first time in a while, he was nursing his flask. "That's just the reality."

"I can't believe…" Oscar muttered, as morning birds called. "They all went, without a word to me."

"It's not you, kid," Qrow rasped. "They knew Oz would stop 'em."

'They were correct. I cannot imagine what they hoped to gain from this… excursion. This is reckless in a manner uncharacteristic of… MOST of them…'

"Ye of little faith," Bulma sighed, planting down in a lawn chair. "Those kids wouldn't all have gone there without a good reason. They know better than to take on Frieza themselves!"

"After Ruby scared the hell out of me, I don't know what to believe," Taiyang muttered.

"There haven't been any real flare-ups!" Krillin called from the roof, where he, the Saiyan Prince and their Spring Maiden stood sentinel, all peering into the horizon. "If they picked any fights, they happened while we were asleep."

"Prodding a sleeping beast," Vegeta growled. "I can't imagine what they're up to, let alone why it's taking so long."

"Maybe we should just ask them?" Raven said, reaching for her blade.

Vegeta's hand closed over hers. "Wait. We don't know their situation. Blundering in could bring Frieza himself here, let alone down on their heads."

"Hey Goku!" Krillin called down, through the open window. "Can we raise King Kai?"

Goku, still bedridden, winced as he sat up. "No. He can reach us any time, but to reach him he's gotta be listening."

Bulma stood up, reaching an arm around Taiyang's back.

"I'm telling you guys, those kids aren't dumb. They'll be back… And they'll have a heck of a story for us."

"They took the mute too," Qrow noted. "Trust her a notch less…"

"Well… law of averages."

Their eyes fixed on the distance, none could notice the shadow fixated upon them, lurking in the trees.

---

They climbed out of the trough between two dunes, a web of smooth stone under the sand.

"Anser is that way," Carmine told them, straddling the crags. "Just follow the floodlights, can't miss it. Don't be long."

"We won't," Blake said. "Just do your part."

"Don't worry, kids," Carmine sighed. "I'll take care of your friends."

Ruby frowned as they locked eyes, but leapt into the air without a word, Velvet carried by her wrists. Sun and Blake followed. They crested the dunes.

"Oh… okay…" Velvet squeaked, shaking. "I've jumped out of airships before, but this is a little terrifying…!"

"It won't be long," Ruby said, as their target came into view.

It was dark still, but as Carmine had said, the floodlights atop the guard towers were impossible to mistake, even miles off. Right against the crater wall on the west end of the city.

"I can't see much, but… the faunus," Ruby said, feeling out. So many powers, all so weak…

"I can," Blake said, her eyes cutting through the darkness. "Too much."

Anser was exactly as advertised. Relics of rusted, sand-seized mining equipment littered a yard enclosed by a thirty-foot razor wire cage. A cage with a redundant layer of chain fence, in case anything or anyone muscled through the first layer.

"Brothers…" Velvet breathed. "The things we had to do when Frieza started rounding us up, just to avoid ending up here. Hid me in a Knights safe house, and they kept riskin' themselves going back to that school and then seein' me after… I never thought I'd be breaking IN to this hell."

"Sorry," Ruby croaked. "I'm pretty sure we got you guys caught, roughing the guards up."

"Hnn… All's well that ends well, right?" Velvet offered, giving a shaky smile. "Never expected to see Team RWBY back together, let alone today."

They landed before the yard, and it only got worse the closer they came. There was one major building that was clearly a foreman's office or worker's lounge, now used as primary housing. But it was utterly insufficient for that task.

Faunus were pressed for space to lie on the bare sand in sets of clothes they evidently had been detained wearing. Stained copper, their skin and hair scarcely different, having so little shelter from sandstorms regular to the region. Rubbery, dehydrated skin, peeling milky scales, matted fur…

And even in the dead of night, they could hear the echoing clink of pickaxes from the gaping stone maw at the far end of the camp.

"HEY!" They glanced up, a Minuteman nearly hidden by the glare of a floodlight. "ALARM! OUT AFTER CURFEW! OUT—"

There was an immediate ring of gunfire as the man slumped over the railing, falling to crumple in the sand below.

"Gods…!" Velvet breathed.

"NO!" Ruby shrieked, the man's unsuspecting family in her thoughts.

Blake and Sun saw it in stark clarity as the camp awoke with a start, flinching and huddling as two thirds of the guards immediately engulfed and eliminated the other third.

"No!"

"Traitors!"

"I KNEW I—!"

But inside of a minute, the only noises were the chattering faunus in the caged yard, and rubber soles on thin steel as the winning faction arranged themselves along the top patrol scaffold.

Between the primary floodlights, the vast profile of the Warden, Major Kelly, stalked into view.

"No front door, only on the top here. Was never meant to let people leave, really."

Blake stepped forward, as Ruby regarded the empty vessels now littering the upper level with shock.

"That wasn't necessary! You said you replaced the staff here!"

"Not everyone. They're as good as dead for what's about to happen anyway," Kelly said. "Come along. I take it we're about to see something impressive?"

The four caught each other's eye in deep concern. There was no time to argue.

Instead of leaping to the top, Ruby grabbed their hands, and whirled straight at the fence.

Ruby felt her consciousness, her sight blur as her body, the flurry of petals, filtered through the chain-link fence.

They appeared on the other side to mutters of surprise on all sides.

Kelly blinked. "I suppose that counts."

Velvet swooned. "Ruby? Your semblance…? That… that was new…"

"And dizzying," Blake added.

"STARR!" Sun shouted into the floored crowd. "STARR! STARR SANZANG!"

"Oh god…! SUN?!"

They all twisted as someone emerged from behind the office, shambling up to them through the sand. Sun practically vibrated in place as his mouth fell.

Eyes of brightest blue shined from the dark, messy auburn hair tied into a rooster crown of a ponytail, save three bits of bangs that hung over her kind face and sturdy jaw. A once-white sleeveless sports top and black baggy shorts were all she wore, apart from a tied orange gi and plaid red and orange sash tied around her waist.

She looked as astonished as she was horrified. Like everyone there, she was sandy, skin tight and gaunt. Sun's abdominals were evidently a familial feature, and hers were all the more pronounced for her famine.

"You're not… captured?" Starr asked. "What the hell are you doing here, you need to get—"

Sun took one step forward and gave one of the most tender hugs Ruby had ever seen. And frankly, she didn't think Sun had that in him.

"I'm sorry… I should've been here."

"God, no! It's the only thing that saved you from… this…! Knowing you were out there kept me going this whole time…"

She backed up holding him at arm's length. "Please, please tell me you didn't come here just for me!"

Sun finally managed a smirk, shrugging. "I… eventually came for more than just you?"

"What ARE they here for?" A lioness lady demanded.

A slow loris boy, thin as a rail, began to hyperventilate. "We're all gonna get in trouble! What are we gonna do?!"

"Please, tell us the Kingdoms know this is happening! Are you the first wave of invasion?! Our children are working these mines!" A reptilian lady with a frilled neck begged, shaking as she sobbed.

An old badger man, fur on his arms jabbed a pointed finger. "Don't be daft! No army's gonna stand against Frieza! We're all gonna be flayed aliv—"

"PLEASE!" Velvet cried, louder than Ruby had ever heard her. The ringing in her ears was proof. "We're getting you out of here! Everyone! We're going to end this place for good!"

"You're going to get us all put in double shifts!" Another cried in fear. "We're barely keeping the elders alive as it is!"

There was a massive, ringing clang as a green copper ax embedded into a railing above.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS," Kelly said, the faunus stepping off immediately. "We have a job to do. For your Kingdom, and Crown!"

Ruby, Velvet, Sun and Blake silently agreed, marching off to the mouth of the mine. Starr followed cautiously as they passed a shaded spot where injured fanus were kept. Bruises, breaks, abrasions. Beyond that, they were wading past faunus. There were open latrines in full view of the rest of the camp. In full smell-range as well, and Ruby wasn't sure if it was better or worse for having dredged the sewers earlier.

"No dignity… privacy… This is horrible," Blake said, voice shaking. "This is as bad as anything's been since the Great War. I never thought I'd see this kind of… in MY lifetime, with my own eyes…!"

Starr's blue eyes dulled. "It's worse than it looks. I guess we know now why the guards weren't as bad as they could have been to us… I'd… I'd rather not repeat what…"

None of them asked her. None of them wanted to know.

"Just… what is the plan? How can you possibly…?"

"We're gettin' everybody out underground," Sun told her. "We've got a way. And we're getting rid of this mine for good."

"I… I don't understand," Starr admitted, the logistics of it all torturing her. "What about the injured, the elderly? Some of these people can't be moved except on stretchers."

"Our friends have that under control," Ruby said, trying to sound as comforting as possible. "No one gets left behind today."

Starr stopped altogether as she saw where they were headed. Directly into the entrance to the mine, barely boarded-up with ancient-looking wood pillars and beams.

"You don't mean… Not here?"

Sun turned to her. "We have ways to keep it stable long enough, and then when we're done there's no trail to follow."

"You have 'ways?' What ways, Sun? This is suicide!"

They took a few steps into the tunnels. Even from a completely untrained eye, it looked remarkably, nail-bitingly unstable. Sand constantly trickled down from somewhere, and distant muffled clatters spoke of shifting sandstone somewhere unseen. It reminded Ruby of tunnels they'd made from sand on the beach as kids, clumps detaching slowly over time as the tide rose, with the certainty of experience telling them the whole ceiling would drop any second… It always did.

"Starr, Velvet, step back," Ruby said, as she nodded at Blake and Sun.

Both heeded them, if only because of an ominous clatter in the ceiling. But as the trio focused, there was a rumble.

"Listen!" Starr cried, eyes on the stone above. "Get outta there! It's gonna—"

But her mouth went slack, and there was a murmuring from the camp, as stones began to stand on end from the floor like barely-inflated balloons. Eddies of sand swirled around them, as their hair and clothing began to lift and wobble in a building breeze.

The air split in an audible rip, as auras of crimson, gold and deep violet burned into being around them, carrying sifting sand up in the currents to spray over the ceiling. The tunnel was a rave of flaring color, and there was barely a murmur as the echoes of the three voices howled over the rush of air.

Starr just stared. "Sun…?"

---

Dust shook loose from the cavern wall back in the well.

"That them?" Carmine asked, staring into the collapsed tunnel ahead. "Still don't get how you—"

"Got them," Weiss said, pointing directly at the energy signature through the mounds of desert rock. "Just follow my lead."

Carmine looked to the others, who were all staring the same way. "I don't feel a damn thing… You better be right about this, moneybags, or I don't know how we'll dig our way out."

"Trust us on this one," Yang said, preparing golden spheres in her hands. The others who could did the same.

Weiss thrust her blade ahead, and a red glyph forced the way ahead, stone crumbling with the rolling force as Carmine's telekinesis shielded them from dropping sand and fragments. The others marched past Weiss, energy spheres vibrating as they disintegrated the larger chunks.

Once they had made a few feet of progress, glyphs lined the walls, freezing the sides and top while the bottom glyphs formed a floor with traction enough to proceed.

"Alright! It's working!" Jaune said, his own shield at the ready as he helped bore the tunnel.

"F-for now," Weiss groaned. "We'll see how I feel when we get to the e—"

But suddenly Weiss took a surprised breath, as her aura swelled with multicolored power. She looked behind her, to find Gillian, a thread of energy flowing between them.

"This should help," Gillian said, as she and Jax followed closely. "Feel any better about it now?"

Weiss' eyes went wide as she blinked, flexing a hand. She was bursting with power now…

"Much better…"

---

The brittle ceiling clattered down upon them, but the billowing power disintegrated the stones and clumps before the three could be touched.

"Wild," Velvet whispered, as Starr stood speechless. "Ruby, you've seriously achieved something here, haven't you?"

Starr shook her head. "What is this?"

Velvet smiled. "Power. Real power."

Blake peered into the stone. "Nn! It's working! Here they come!"

The faunus backed away as the stone wall crumbled. "Collapse! COLLAPSE! Get out of—"

But as the floor fell away, a gleaming red glyph burned through the dust, as white glyphs immediately began to buttress the ceiling.

Ruby, Blake and Sun let their power subside, as the others marched out of the new tunnel and into the camp of stunned faunus. There was a pause as the dust settled, the Warriors locking eyes with the interned and the awful visage of their bare living conditions.

"Where'd they come from?!"

"A way out! THERE'S A WAY OUT!"

The first few desperate people sprinted at the angling tunnel, triggering a river of others.

The first few paused as they saw it, the mile-long, twenty-foot wide tunnel with its icy ceiling, walls and glyphs for flooring and light. A strange, supernatural-looking causeway, where Weiss and Carmine were concentrating on keeping it stable.

Suddenly, an ear piercing whistle rang over the building frenzy. Several animal ears visibly flinched, as everyone turned to…

"Neo?" Ruby asked, seeing the woman's fingers in her mouth.

'What? I can whistle… all sorts a' noises too.'

In demonstration, she clucked her tongue, popped with her lips and made a number of disconnected consonant plosive noises.

"Huh… Fair enough." Ruby cleared her throat. "Please take the tunnel in an orderly fashion!"

In a flurry of pink shards, luminous arrows formed a funneling guide towards the mouth. Neo aided this further with a sort of semaphore of motions with her arms.

"Thank you, Neo… Our associates will help to safely move your injured and your elders!"

"SCREW-OFF, siren-pipes!"

They turned to see a middle-aged woman with the ears of a bear.

"I'm not going! And you can't make me! You're all just gonna get caught and killed!"

Sun stepped forward, flabbergasted. "You've gotta be kidding me! They sent you here to die! What better chance've you got here?!"

"For god sake, Astor!" another cried at her.

"It's too dangerous! I don't want to be buried alive!"

"Please!" Jaune tried to say over the building throng if fearful or stubborn faunus.

Coco took off her shades. "We don't have time to—!"

"We're staying, and we're reporting this! They'll find yo—"

"SILENCE!"

Harsher than anyone expected, Jax's voice cowed almost everyone.

"Please, my friends! My countrymen! Now is not the time for fear. Now, is the hour of COURAGE! The proud faunus, shall you join me, and fight for your Kingdom and your Crown?! Shall you take this chance, and strike at the heart of Frieza, and his infernal machinations?!"

Team RWBY couldn't help but notice how immediately his voice had an effect on the crowd. Even the fearful, the badger, the stubborn bear and many others… they seemed energized by his oratory. And in a group this size, it was impossible to miss Jax's power spreading to all of them. Even to Team CVFY and Neo, who calmed and grew more determined with every word.

The heroes stood stunned as the crowd all began to file towards the tunnel, and into the bowels towards the Well.

Suddenly, Neo tugged at Ruby's sleeve.

'Hey, Red?'

"H-huh? Yeah… it's weird, right?"

Neo's eyes focused suddenly. 'N-no. I mean… I think I'm gonna stick with these guys, see what I can do.'

Ruby blinked. "Stick…? You mean stay? In Vacuo? But without the code book, you can't… What's this about?"

Neo's eyes blinked, alternating as she sagged slightly. 'The book…? Right. Yeah, you're right. We gotta go back… Never mind."

Yang stared at Neo a moment, and then marched up to Jax.

"Okay, what the hell is your deal? What are you doing to people?"

Jax and Gillian watched her carefully. Jax spoke. "I'm sure I've no idea what you me—"

Yang took a menacing step closer. "Nah, shut up! We can feel your power affecting these people! Neo's got it now! Those people back downstairs…"

Jax sighed. "Very well. It's my semblance. I have an inspiring presence. It comes with being a royal. When others hear my voice, they are inspired, emboldened. The lemmings feel as lions. It's nothing so nefarious, and it confers my blessing of protection."

"Like… a buff in a video game?" Ruby asked.

Ren's eyes narrowed. "Then why has it not worked on us? Why would you not 'bless' Carmine?"

Jax laughed. "Well, clearly something about your expanded powers interferes with it. I don't understand it myself. We must press on, now, if that's all?"

None of them quite dropped their guard, but Jax stepped past them, and no soul stopped him.

With a sigh, Yang turned to Ruby. "Take Weiss and Blake, kill that deposit. End this place."

Yang grabbed a stack of wooden pallets and thunked it down beside a group of children with rather miserable-looking injuries. "Alright, kids! All aboard the Yang-train!"

Yang crossed her arms and took a broad stance… before splitting into two… and then four. Then eight, as the faunus and virtually everyone else muttered surprise as the Yangs dealt the pallets before each other.

"You think I was jokin'?" the Yangs asked with synchronized winks.

Calmed by the bright look in her collective eyes, the first group ambled onto a pallet, only to shriek in surprise and laughter as a Yang hefted the pallet half onto her shoulder easily with one arm. They were all smiles as she marched back to the tunnel, and the others approached those too ill and weak to follow, thrusting down pallets of their own to repeat the task as needed.

Ruby and Blake followed the faunus downstream. One nod at Weiss, and she turned to the tunnel, reinforcing the glyphs with a thicker layer of ice.

"Let's do this quickly."

"Wait!"

They turned to see Starr.

"Sun told me… you're going to destroy the Ovarium? You're going to need someone who's mined it."

"Starr, NO!" Sun cried, bringing up the rear. "It's too dangerous!"

"Since when do you tell me what to do?" Starr asked, arms crossed. "You and your friends don't know where to look, do you?"

Weiss sighed. "I have some idea, but…" She couldn't help but wince as her eyes met Sun's. "It would help to have her along…"

Sun let a stream of air out the side of his mouth, realizing at a glance that he couldn't win this argument. "Then I'm coming too."

Coco winced. She looked left… then right… She growled. "Ah damn it! Hold on, I'm coming too!"

Ruby quirked a brow. "Coco…? You want to… why?"

"Yats', hold this for me!" Coco tossed her bag to the man, who grabbed the heavy weapon with one arm. "She'll only get in the way with my Dust rounds… Gillian?"

Ruby and Weiss watched all the more confused as she approached the aspirant queen.

"Can you give me the same boost you gave Schnee? If they're going after the Anser deposit, I can help with stray Dust. My semblance can—"

Gillian smiled, brows risen. "We are aware. It's quite the ability. Yes, with a bit of help you could be very thorough."

She extended her hand, and the tunnel-like thread between their Auras gleamed as Coco's bolstered.

"Go now. Embrace this destiny," Gillian insisted.

---

"Th-this was the closest route, from the Rosenrot days… Collapsed, obviously." Starr said, holding her elbows as she watched the ceiling with ragged breathing.

"Got it," Weiss said, red glyphs burrowing through the sand as before, though her progress was slower without Carmine.

It didn't take long, however, as they uncovered old braces and equipment… before Ruby and Weiss screamed and the others jumped.

"Joss… Damn it…" Starr moaned, looking away from the desiccated remains of a woman with blue crustacean plates embedded in her skin. She looked mummified, drained by the shifting sands too quickly to even rot. "This place… this goddamn PLACE!"

The tunnel collapsed behind them, the darkness becoming more complete. Starr flinched into Blake as Weiss reinforced their part of the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, b-but there's nothing we can do for her now," Blake said. "This place isn't a mine, it's a death trap."

"It's a tomb," Sun said lowly.

"We need to k-keep moving," Weiss said. "There can be gas pockets, radium, all kinds of stuff underground that I have no idea if we can deal with and not pass out."

Coco rattled suddenly, handling her shades as she slipped them in a pocket. She was sweating, eyes tiny.

"You okay…?" Weiss asked.

Coco was taking deep breaths. "F-full disclosure? Don't spread this around, but… I'm a claustrophobe."

Ruby hummed. "Yeah, this is a little like a closet, if you squint hard enough…"

Everyone turned to her.

"Is she joking?" Starr asked.

"She's not," Weiss sighed. "But… if you're afraid of tight spaces…"

"Ohhhh…" Ruby uttered.

"...then why did you come down here?" Weiss finished. "Coco, we can handle this if—"

"I-It's because of my semblance," Coco said, hands on her elbows. "I can 'Hype' Dust up, enhance its effect, set it off. It's why—"

Ruby gasped. "Why you can solo so many huge Grimm! Regular rounds become explosive ammo!"

Coco smirked. "Yeah, you've got it! It goes off under the skin. And, well, even without the Anser itself, there's a lot of Dust they can keep digging for. Unless…"

"That's why you had her boost you," Sun said. "You can set off the Dust even where we can't see it."

Coco shivered. "Yeah, though… that'll basically guarantee a collapse."

Ruby put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we can handle it. It's a great idea."

Weiss nodded. "Yes. Without residual Dust, there will be nothing to go after."

"Okay, yeah," Coco said. "But c-could we start moving…? Before we run out of air?"

Weiss blinked. "Right…"

She began to bore forward. It took mere seconds before more faunus bodies were exhumed. Ruby could feel Blake's blood boiling as they carried forward into the dark.

Eventually, they reached harder rock, and Weiss' progress slowed.

"Th-this must be as far as they dug this," Weiss said, as stones tumbled below and the ceiling sifted sand over them. "We're heading past Remnant strata! Pure lunar regolith!"

Indeed, the copper sand began to mix with darker and darker grey powder, until the grey was all there was. Then they unearthed shards of many-hued crystals the size of dinner plates.

"Geode pieces!" Weiss explained. "The Anser was sealed inside a geode cluster, protected it from triggering in the Moonfall! They breached it and broke the shell, destabilized the entire mine…"

"Y-you know a fair bit about…" Starr stammered.

"Weiss Schnee, comes with the territory."

"Schnee…"

But moments later, they came across much, much larger shards, like whole windows of shimmering, frosty gems, and a gap.

"Is… this?" Ruby asked.

Weiss frowned, peering into the gap. "We're here."

Only a few feet in, the grey moondust opened to a chamber of stale air.

"Whoa…!" Sun intoned.

"Unstable… really unstable," Weiss breathed.

Much like the Well, a lattice of crystals bridged the distant floor and the ceiling. An icy, sooty miasma lingered in the air. Gleaming flickers lined the area, from consistent orange flames to crackling snaps of electricity.

"Dust mines are generally inert," Weiss said. "This place has activated Dust. I'm amazed this hasn't caused a massive reaction."

"I think it has," Starr said. "We hear rumbling from deep in the mine all the time. Maybe our mining disturbed it?"

Weiss shook her head. "I've never heard of something this bad. You might be right. There couldn't be this much standing material spawned from Dust reactions that long ago. This is recent. And it's spawning other reactions."

Ruby saw immediately what she meant. Natural magma Dust was drooling from above, which would certainly activate anything it came into contact with. Lightning Dust was sparking into standing water from other Dust types. The local gravity was in flux, and free crystals were drifting idly. A few others were constantly crushing a dense center.

"Well… at least there's room to breathe," Coco muttered.

They proceeded with caution, Sun grabbing hold of Starr and Ruby aiding Coco as they ventured into this cavern of curiosities.

"My god…" Blake said in hushed tones, as they drifted around a column of ice and stone. "You see those gravity wells?"

"And elsewhere," Weiss agreed. "Fused in the center and then thrown. I know that blue glow anywhere."

"Me too," Coco said. "You think…?"

As they approached, the way was barred by prisms of gleaming transparent cerulean. Flecks of floating stone and ice bounced easily off it.

"Hard Light Dust," Blake said, reaching her hand out to touch the solidified air. "Formed naturally?!"

"Those monkeys have been busy on those typewriters down here…"

Starr and Sun both gave her a withering glare.

She blinked. "Uh… sorry… What I mean is, that's a very specific fusion of Dust types. Finding it down here means this place has been active, with all manner of Dust types intersecting."

"Really specific," Coco said. "Velvet has to pay enough for the stuff… Hard Light is what she uses in Anesidora."

"How do we get past this thou—?" Starr asked…

…before Sun's palm touched the hard light surface, clawed, and flexed.

With a brittle shatter, not unlike the breaking of Aura, the barrier split into pieces and began to melt away. "Let's go."

Starr just stared. "Sun, you… You really have changed…"

They floated deeper and deeper in, past pockets of intense heat and cold, howling wind and icy fog, until at last…

"That's it!" Weiss gasped.

Ruby nodded. It was unmistakable. "The Anser…"

So big its top and bottom were embedded in the floor and ceiling, the Anser Ovarium was an oval-shaped, bulging bubble of frosted crystal the size of an eight-story building. It was supported by jutting crystal pillars at diagonal angles. The swollen core was composed of banded layers of every color of Dust. Though gleaming from its center, refracting through prisms and facets innumerable, a heavenly gold filtered through it all.

It was orbited by a ring of slowly swirling stones, traveling in the same direction as the swirl in the massive crystal's shape.

"Or…" Weiss whispered, as they floated nearer, "the Hard Light came from this… I've never seen a single adjoined crystal of multiple Dust types. Not in this… prismatic way! How did this form?"

"Weiss, it's gorgeous, unique even, but…" Blake said politely.

Weiss sighed. "I know. It's just… Well, we are taking a souvenir…"

She reached into her pocket for the dynocap… but paused… frowned… and pulled out both the cap, and a folded piece of paper.

She glanced at the note, glanced at the words.

Find me. Where the last war ended. Where time began anew.

"Schnee?" Coco asked.

Weiss shook herself and depressed the plunger on the dynocap, releasing the Sword. She handed it to Ruby as Starr watched, utterly lost.

The dynocap's suction cup tried to affix to the frosted surface, but…

"Damn… Need to be careful."

Weiss took Myrtenaster and began to scrape the surface of a particularly flat face, removing the uneven surface before licking her thumb and rubbing it over the suction cup.

"There…" Weiss said, finally affixing the capsule, depressing the plunger. "Stay back!"

Coco peered at the device. "Wait, so what do these things actually do—?"

The Anser began to glow, brighter and brighter, the light casting bright spots of colored light all across the cavern like a disco ball. It was truly a breathtaking sight…

…Until there was an earsplitting, echoing crack, and the glow receded to a third of the massive formation. A split had formed, like hot glass in ice water, and in a split second the chunk vanished in a burst of light.

Sun snatched the dynocap from the air as it fell.

"Wait! No no no!" Ruby groaned, as they beheld the remaining facets of Dust, a cross-section of the previous wonder. It looked oblong and unstable. They could now see the liquid core where the glow was coming from, and several huge bubbles, cavities under its surface. "We only had one cap! That was supposed to take the whole thing!"

Starr beheld it all in bemusement. "What did you just…? That was your only shot? So what now?"

Coco shook her head. "If I set off my semblance, this thing'll blow us halfway to Argus. This can't be the only option we have! We staked everything on this!"

"We can't just let it out and use it again?" Sun asked.

Blake scanned the darkness. "Sure, just find a surface big enough in this cramped cavern full of unstable Dust! There's no way, not without setting it off."

Ruby considered. "If we had Jaune, maybe he could seal in the blast and Coco could set it off inside?"

Weiss shook her head. "That chunk we took is too big, this thing could collapse in the time it would take to bring him here."

Coco shook her head. "And I don't know if I can be that precise. If we can't remove the Anser, my semblance can't even deal with the ambient stuff."

Sun scratched his head. "And you can't… make it go off… LESS 'Hype,' with all that extra power?"

"Not how that works, local boy," Coco droned. "And if I could, I'd be too drained for the rest."

"But without it, this place would offer less than other mines, wouldn't it?"

"It won't matter, the cruelty is the whole point!" Starr said, increasingly bewildered. "B-but… what is that pill thing? And what's with the Sword?"

Ruby only just remembered she was holding the crystal blade. "Wait… the Sword!"

Weiss stared. "Well… Relic of Creation… You think you can… change it? Alter its structure? Dust is largely just silica, so… maybe you can reduce it to sand?"

Ruby considered. "I mean… maybe you should? You seem to know about it more than I do."

"But you're the one with a connection with the divine. If it works for anyone, it should work for you."

Ruby held the blade in both hands, pondering. "Alright… It's just sand, right? Just be sand… be sand…!"

She floated up to the remaining Anser, looking over its surface. There. A fissure had formed in it. Perfect for slipping the blade between, scraping in with a satisfying sound until it was flush.

Come on, Deha… This is one of yours, right? Please… guide me…

She felt it… So immediately familiar. The presence. And she knew she could do far more than her initial ambition.

The Sword glowed… its brilliant ornamentation gleaming white. Every eye was filled with its soothing light, which crept up into the ceiling and below through the floor. In the light of the glowing blue blade, they saw the Anser turn grainy, and sprinkle down bit by bit in billions of individual shards.

"There! It's done!" Ruby said. "Coco! Now!"

Taking a few hard breaths, Coco swept her arms out, and her Aura pulsed out into the darkness as they saw crystals illuminating the entire cavern as they too were taken by the expanding power.

In seconds, there was utter chaos. Lightning bolts coursed through as spears of ice and stone bloomed like thorns in the earth. Gouts of flame combined with torrents of water and created a miasma of steam and ozone, while gravity wells sucked in everything that wasn't nailed down.

After a few terrifying seconds, it had all balanced out, and every phenomenon died with the aplomb that followed the finale of a fireworks show.

Apart from the Sword, it was black. True black. So black that even faunus eyes were useless to pierce its crushing dark. Blake began to shake, her teeth chattering as her amber eyes strained.

No… I can see, just not with my eyes… Sense it… Sense…!

And so, it was terrifying as great cracks and grinding sounds shot out in the murk. Sand was filtering in from the ceiling. Stone was crumbling, straining to tumble through. Everything had begun to rumble.

"It worked…! REALLY worked!" Weiss said, feeling the air currents as a glyph formed above to shield them from falling stone. "The whole cave is destabilized! RUBY!"

"ON IT! HOLD ON!" Ruby clipped the Sword onto her belt, took Blake and Weiss' hands, braced, and whirled into the darkness.

Once upon a time, they'd have been doomed in this scenario. Ruby had been fast, and her semblance would have saved them from debris and crossed gaps, but she could only burst so far before she was burned out.

But these days?

That sensation of immateriality overtook them as Ruby swept through falling rock and squeezed through narrowing spaces from the falling ceiling. Ruby was even worse off than the others without the use of her eyes, but their training had served them well. She could feel the cavern as it moved, as columns fell, as stalagmites were flattened. It was chaos, but it might as well have been standing still.

She knew exactly where to go. The crack where they entered the—

"Oh CRAP!" Ruby squealed as they manifested into being. She'd forgotten the path behind them had collapsed as they dug, and there was no open exit to this chamber anymore.

She reached out with her palm, once more invoking a blast of force. It punched through sand and stone, until she saw a flicker of light.

She whirled again, through a constantly shrinking gap, smaller than any of them might have been physically. The point of light went out…

The stragglers above flinched and screamed as a PLUME of sand ejected out the mouth of the mine. Many coughed, peering through the sandy cloud, pierced only by the floodlights.

"O-okay, enough of that!" Carmine shouted, before the cloud dropped to the ground like every particle had suddenly turned to lead. The air cleared, Ruby and Weiss picked themselves up. Blake and Sun had held Starr protectively against the wipeout. She still looked stunned. Coco shared the same look of shell shock as Blake.

"You're back," Gillian noted, staring back at the collapsed mine. "The Anser?"

Ruby nodded. "M-mission accomplished."

"More than accomplished," Weiss said, patting her clothes. "The mine is worthless now. Even the tertiary Dust was blown after the Anser turned to glass."

Gillian blinked. "To glass? How in the world can you have achieved that…?"

'Think I have an idea,' Neo said, smirking at the Sword as Ruby saw the state of the empty camp.

Yatsuhashi was the only member of CVFY not present. Ren stood by as well, his eyes on the sky, unmoved by their dramatic entrance.

"Immaterial," Jax said. "This is a red-letter day! The pull of the Anser will never again draw invaders to our doorstep. You, the Warriors, have done us all a great service…"

Coco Blake and Sun had barely stood up to receive this pompous accolade.

"You alright?" Sun asked her. "You're shaking."

"M-my eyes are good enough in darkness, I'm not used to real black dark like that. It actually really bothers me…" Blake admitted, her ears still down, eyes pinpricks. She stood up.

Coco patted her back. "H-hey, I get it."

"The faunus, how far along are we?" Blake asked, stepping to peer down the mouth of the tunnel.

"Your friends took the last of the injured down five minutes ago," Major Kelly said, followed by his men. "None of the patrols or the other Uplifts got wind of us here. Seems the East safe house was enough to draw them off."

Ruby's brow twitched as the sentence formed a paper jam in her mind. "East safe house…?"

"Alright!" Yang said, stepping out of the tunnel with Jaune, Nora and Yatsu, carried along by Gohan. "That's everyone."

"None too soon," Jaune said. "Weiss' supports are on their last legs."

"Yeah, hurry it up, people!" Carmine said, huffing as she actively stabilized the tunnel walls.

"Hold on!" Sun barked, turning to Kelly and the Asturias twins. "What do you mean the East safe house drew them off…?"

Kelly didn't answer, looking to the twins. Finally, Jax stepped forward.

"The Uplifts needed to be drawn from this operation. If anyone saw or heard the firefight, if there were any witnesses who could tell the powers that be, 'dear god, Lord Frieza, they vanished underground,' the entire resistance would be compromised. They would blast every sieve and pathway connected to the surface, until they found us or buried us by incident! We had to draw them as far from here as possible."

"So you drew them… to a safe house?!" Weiss demanded. "A place full of people they're actively looking to kill?!"

"No… You moved those people out first… right?!" Ruby demanded, as the others. "You wouldn't just… betray them…"

Gillian was resolute. "It had to be worth their time. A simpler ruse would never have drawn them in."

Nora stepped over, surprisingly light of step. "Th-these people trust you… Trust you to keep them away from the fire. You can't just…"

"Sometimes sacrificing pawns is necessary to forge a greater victo—"

"NO!" Ruby said, her teeth bared. "Not like this! It's heartless!" She could feel herself shake. "Sacrifice is something you do for others, when there's no other way! It's a leader's duty to find ANY other choice, not… to throw people away, because it's convenient… Whoever's blood you have, you're not fit to lead, Jax… let alone rule this Kingdom."

Jax looked like he'd smelled something particularly foul. He merely turned. "I think you people were leaving?"

As the Warriors mustered, and the Knights marched to the tunnel, they felt for signs of what they spoke of.

"There's a hotspot…" Jaune said, peering into the sky, which was growing brighter by the minute as first light approached. "Yeah… Their diversion worked."

Yang sighed. "So… what do we do? We're outside the city, a Relic richer, the faunus are safe…"

"Relatively speaking," Blake muttered, as they watched the twins' backs vanish into the tunnel.

"We could head for home right now. Veer out into the desert, disappear…" Yang sighed. "But we're not gonna do that, are we?"

Weiss looked to her partner. "Ruby?"

Ruby frowned. "I'm not going to drag you guys deeper into this, but I can't turn my back on the suffering WE caused. None of this would be happening if—"

"Save it," Nora droned. "We're not letting that wannabe blueblood get the last word."

Jaune nodded, smiling. "We just have to give those people time to run, right?"

"We can take those goons!" Gohan said, pumping both fists.

"It's risky, but," Blake began, "I'm not willing to leave things on that note either."

Ruby blinked, surprised. She couldn't quite find it in her to smile. Even she knew this was reckless. "Alright. Then we need to hurry."

Sun neared Blake. "You guys gonna be alright?"

Blake put her hands on his shoulders. "Are you? We'll be fine… Just…"

Her lips found his. She squeezed. "Be careful… Don't sleep where they can find you."

"Nah… Don't trust them a bit." Sun took a step towards the tunnel.

Starr watched with wide eyes, but she elbowed him in the ribs the moment he was in range. "So it's like that…? I wouldn't have figured a cat was your type…"

"Starr, c'mon…"

"We better take off too," Coco said, as Fox nodded.

"But win one for us, would you?!" Velvet added.

Ruby felt her cape tugged, and looked over to see Neo.

'Looks like you're about to lose the privilege of hearing my voice, Red. Anything you want to say while it's convenient?'

"Uh… well… thanks, for being here. You show a lot of initiative, you work well on a team. You're a good friend to have."

'Friend, huh? Bit presumptive, but… yeah, someone had to pick up your slack. You kids aren't ace on the whole STEALTH thing… but…' She sighed audibly, smirking. Her eyes flitted double pink. 'You wanna play friends? Alright, Red. I can do that.'

As CVFY and Sun headed down the tunnel, Neo turned to—

'Ren? That goes for you too, hear?'

Nora crossed her arms as Ren smiled serenely. "I know," he said, with a chuckle.

They could feel the blessing of Fox's TeamSpeak leaving them as the tunnel began to collapse. Neo hitched a ride on Yang's shoulder. There was a nod shared between the group, and they took off into the sky.

---

As the Warriors passed overhead, a hooded figure took notice from the twisting alleys. His Cheshire grin widened. His yellow eyes blinked to lavender. His snicker, his barely restrained whine of mirth drooled from his throat like tar…

---

Mercury and Hazel stood over the man, facedown in the copper sand several miles from the city. He groaned idly. "Nnnn… That shoud'th really annoy Lorde British…"

"I'll be damned," Mercury said, foot tapping his side. "Whoever it was, they didn't end him. And he wasn't buried yet."

Hazel's fingers tugged at Tandem's scalp, pulling his face out of the grit.

"Who did this to you?"

"Eh…?" The Spoony One stirred. "Did what?"

Mercury's foot rolled him onto his back. "Delivered your ass to the Aux-Arcs?"

"Ozarks…?"

"Jog his memory…"

Hazel's massive boot stamped into his face. It looked remarkably fatal, but with the ever-loose sands, Tandem emerged, lifting himself upright as he blinked.

"WHOA, I'M UP!" He stared up at Hazel. "I've woke up next to worse…"

"You… How'd you end up here?" Mercury said, slowly. "Spill, before the heat-death of the Cosmos… Like you could tell."

"Some blonde dragon-lady," Tandem groaned. "And her faunus freak entourage… Buncha' brats, dunno how… Were those kids from the f*ing Q Continuum…?"

"They travel with a Schnee? A redhead with a scythe bigger than she is? Ginger with a big shiny hammer?"

"Uhnnnn… A Schnee…? Huh… Yeah… That one skirt with the magic…" He twirled his finger in a circle, picturing a glyph as he searched for the right word. "...shit. That makes sense…" He winced, mind still cranking. "...Right?"

"What'd'ya know?" Mercury said, kicking Tandem over. "Guess you were right, Haze. Score a hash for your one-track mind."

"So… are you guys gonna…?" Tandem clucked his tongue, thumb swiping across his neck. "Y'know…?"

"Your failure was inevitable," Hazel grunted. "And none of our concern."

"Right… Yeah!" Tandem stood up, wobbling yo his feet. "If anyone asks, uh… Say Spoony was abducted by NINJAS!"

"...Nin—?"

"NINJA'S! Call the cops…!"

---

Ginyu paced the line of garbage, dozens and dozens of faunus, traitors and failures put on their knees in various stages of injury. The black stone steps of the Dis Pater Bank of Sanus reflected the flames of the blasts that had collapsed most of it onto its squatters and acted as a signal flare to every watchful eye in the city.

On any other day this would be quite the find. To think the Thousand-and-One Knights had descended so quickly to use this bank as a stash after she and Frieza himself had visited to oust Kin and seize his assets. They clearly were aware that the place held nothing of real value to Lord Frieza. Such a bold and slick move… They housed the scum in the emptied vaults. How they snuck so many in, she wasn't certain.

But as Blanca and the other Ginyus interrogated them, the Commander herself knew they wouldn't retrieve the true prize.

She had grilled Perrault, to the extent that she could. Sealed him in the office, broken his leg to boot. But the coward wouldn't talk to any but Frieza, and he was keen to wait for him to rouse. The explosion had forced her attention, easily seen from the headmaster's office. But even then, Ginyu was sure she already knew…

This was a distraction. Something to draw them off. Astraeus was still scoping the city, but in all likelihood the Sword was long gone. And she didn't know what to do.

"Now y'all best stay where you are!" Beau said over the roar of flames. "Breakin' curfew, you may as well burn! But maybe y'll last 'til it lifts at Sun-up…"

Her white eyes gleamed against the fire that had engulfed the rooftops of some nearby homes. Vacuo didn't have zoning laws as other Kingdoms knew them, and the bank's blaze had spread on the breeze. She'd ordered her Minutemen, among the dozens tearing the bank apart to bar the doors and keep their weapons trained, as the occupants pounded on the doors and flung chairs at the windows. Or, they did until they glimpsed the guns pointed their way.

Their cries for help, choking and coughing as smoke crawled down from the ceilings, sparks and flecks of blazing timber dropping behind them… Even Olivine and Ulrikh winced as they avoided the sight, let alone ghostly pale Minutemen. Beau Blanca's cruelty was well known, but even for the Frieza Force, her one-upmanship was… to be respected for its ambition.

"No one here has seen it, sir!" Olivine reported dutily, offering a stiff salute.

"Don't be so damn chipper when you say that!" Ginyu growled. "Recoome, anything?!"

"Am being Ulrikh, Kapitan… as always."

"Whatever! Report!"

"...Nyet."

"Even threat a' Catcher loosened 'em none," Brim reported, his flaming facial hair a goatee as he reined in his hair to a flat-top. "Much use as a caber to an armless whelp."

Ginyu rounded on the small crowd of innocents, ranging from the distraught to the defiant. "Anything! Anything you scum know of the Sword! Who took it, where they went! You'll go free! Your family goes free! Best deal you'll ever get! Spill your guts, or we'll spill 'em for ya!"

Every man and woman under Frieza's command watched him with astonishment.

"S-sir…!" Olivine sputtered. "Lord Frieza's code specifically forbids—"

"We could ALL burn for this!" Ginyu cried, looming over her. "These riffraff don't matter! That Sword is worth anything!" She turned to the cowering masses again. "Tell me! For the sake of your own lives!"

There was a clear effort among the family of otter faunus, a young orphan teen, a hard old woman, among dozens of others. They wracked their minds, heads snapping from person to person, hoping anyone would answer as the homes before them burned.

"North! I saw him flee to the north! With the sword, right?!" cried a young woman with skunk-pattern bangs.

Ginyu stepped across from her. "What did it look like?"

"Look…?"

"The SWORD!"

She shook, mouth going dry. "I-it has a silver blade…! A-a-and—!"

Ginyu pointed a palm, brimming with purple power. "You don't know anything…!"

The light filled the street as she prepared to unleash her wrath.

'*KUCHIKA-CHINK!*'

Ginyu's eyes drifted up as she flinched, teeth bared as a red and purple glob erupted at her feet. Flame flared-up, swirling around a purple singularity that sucked the nearby flames right out. Glass crashed from multiple buildings, particularly from the burning homes nearest, where its residents choked. Air returned to them as Ginyu was ensconced in flames.

But before she could react further, a luminous sphere had engulfed her, trapping smoke and flame within as she cried out indignantly.

"H-hey! What idiot has this much of a death wish?!" She slammed her fist into the sphere, only to be knocked back into it. "W-what the hell?!" She coughed, picking herself up again and levying another blow. "D-do something!"

Jaune strained, hidden atop a nearby roof as Neo's illusion began forming a vast dome around the area.

"I-It's true!" he whispered. "Just like Oscar… Her magic is breaking…! Through…!"

Ruby nodded. "Be ready! GOHAN!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

The boy came screaming down from above, both feet extended as Ginyu, his Team, and Beau stared above.

But nothing compared to Ginyu, whose eyes gleamed with recognition as she slumped on her knee at the bottom of her cage, choked on the smoke and fire-consumed oxygen.

"Y-you—!"

As Jaune lowered the shield, Gohan's attack hit her with the force of a five-hundred-pound bomb, flattening buildings as a crimson whirl swept through the burnt homes. The swarms of Minutemen were hurled as projectiles, scattering across alleyways and rooftops. Basically every non-Uplift on Frieza's side had been neutralized.

In moments, dust had plumed into the air. The occupants of the burning houses found themselves beside the hooded girl in a haven not unlike that which trapped Ginyu mere moments ago.

As the dust cleared, Gohan was standing atop the Maiden's prone shoulders, Frieza's right hand knocked cold in a crater deep enough to break through a layer of the sewer below the street.

"Th-the CAPTAIN!" Olivine shrieked. "What…?! H-how?!"

"What in hellfire…?" Beau exclaimed in a whisper, the first time any of them had seen her rattled.

Ulrikh grabbed a disk from his back, whose sides sprung out with four bladed points with embedded crystals. He touched the green crystal as he flung it into the air, releasing a blast of wind to clear the air and reveal the area in the pre-dawn light.

The bewildered citizens found themselves at the bottom steps of the bank, near enough to the tighter alleys to flee as the girl in the red hood flowed between them.

"You're surrounded!" Ruby called, drawing their eyes as the crowd watched in awe. Other nearby homes and flats peered through cracked doors and windows.

Ruby leapt up to the top of the bank steps, amid the standing pillars and half-collapsed walls. "This is your one chance to run! Leave this city."

Weiss, Blake and Yang landed beside her. Jaune, Ren and Nora touched down on the scorched rooftops on the opposite side.

"And who, pray, tell," Beau began, her predatory gaze falling on them as she tapped her crook against her other palm, "are you foolhardy nippers…?"

But her eyes dilated as she gasped, and those eyes set upon Ruby's waist. Or rather, what hung from it.

"The Sword…"

With a rending of air, auras burned and towered to fill the street with light as Gohan leapt away.

"We are the Warriors in the Woods!"

Gohan landed beside the bystanders and fugitives as they beheld the awesome sight. "It's time to go…! Now's your chance…"

Many of them sidled off immediately. The patriarch of one of the burning homes held back. "I've never seen…"

The skunk girl looked starstruck. "They… you saved us… They… They're afraid…"

Brim's tiny eyes found the crowd as they crept away. He turned for a whole second before Beau's crook grabbed his thick wrist. "Nevermind them, fire engine… Our prize is here. Woe betide us if we let 'em get away!"

Ulrikh crossed his arms. "Warriors in Woods? Ty s uma soshla? Where is being woods in which to be warring?"

Olivine leered. "Wait…! It's them! From Hoplites! You killed Spoony!"

"I didn't?" Yang said, ready to rumble. "But whatevs. Is the flattened Maiden not the canary in the Dust mine for you…?"

Beau Blanca tilted her head, grinning darkly. "It was a clever trick, goldenrod! But if you was all hopin' we'd turn tail…"

Olivine grabbed her scroll and flung it, as it spun and took on the arcing path of a boomerang. She had modified it into some kind of drone.

As it passed behind them, a feeler-like cord spun out of it, grazing all four members of RWBY before returning to its owner's hand as she leapt up to grab it.

"Scan complete!" she said, peering into the figures. "Pfff! It's a bluff! Any one of us muscles any of them out by a factor of two! Within standard margin of error, of course…" She put a hand to her ear. "Nova, bring the rain."

"Huh? Why? On who? You guys are just dealing with the rabble, right?"

Olivine looked up, reeling. "Eh wha…?! Are you not paying attention?! Our Captain is DOWN! We're under attack, you moonstruck—!"

'*KUCHINK!*'

Ruby felt their eyes snap over to her. She peered through her scope. Indeed, Nova Astraeus had been drifting above them, heedless to Neo's disguised dome. A ten-foot circle of the dome shattered as her shot screamed through, and—

"PROXIMA!"

Ruby reeled as her round was sniped from the air, disintegrated in a smear of sparks. The blast hadn't come from Nova herself, but… she swore a star had glimmered…

Nova stared down through the hole in the false ceiling with the scope of her platinum crossbow. "There you are… PROXIMA! CETUS! WRAITH!"

RWBY leapt apart as three beams shot down through the dome at light speed, creating more pink rips in the sky.

The square was instantly in chaos as Ulrikh leapt to Jaune's group on the rooftops and Brim cracked his knuckles to confront Yang first, drawing his mancatcher.

Their eyes on Nova, nobody saw as Beau appeared behind Weiss. "Peekaboo, sweet-tea…"

Her crook grabbed and tossed Weiss through the bank doors to shatter the opposite wall, twisting to tap Blake firmly in the calf with the bottom of the weapon. It fired, unleashing a fiery blast than made Blake cry out as she was forced to one knee.

Beau reared back to swing the crook at her head… only to find it entangled with Crescent Rose in the backswing. "You hoodlum!"

She yanked with surprising strength as Ruby dug in with her boots. And from behind, Blake slashed at Beau's exposed ankles…

Beau screamed indignantly, an awful screech of anger as she bent forward.

Lifting her off the floor, Ruby whirled above the crater, spinning her by the crook and tossing her at Olivine, who barely ducked as the pallid belle collided with the exposed sewer main with a splash.

"Nanner-nanner boo-boo! Stick your head in— YAGH!"

But Ruby had to duck as another beam of pure starlight streamed past her to scorch the earth in a pale flame.

She stared up. Nova's superior position was going to become a problem, and fast. Ruby whirled up to meet the threat.

Meanwhile, the ground rumbled, and with a brilliant white burst, stone was cast over the street as Beau Blanca emerged with a demonic screech.

"Filthy children…! Where you goin', red rover?!" she demanded, her perfect white garb marred in unsightly stains as she tracked Ruby's climb.

But as she zapped in that direction, she slammed head first into a white glyph. Dazed, she examined the angled platform, before another appeared beside her, glowing red…

Beau was thrown into the collapsed vaults, its shiny black stone coated in dust and rubble. She picked herself up, hearing the clap of heels.

"There'll be blood, treating Miss BEAU this way!" she growled, glimpsing the pointed blade of Myrtenaster aimed her way.

"Wealth and fame didn't make me better than other people," Weiss told her. "Power certainly doesn't make you better. Also, as a wearer of white myself, you did nothing to protect against staining. I can smell you from here."

Weiss braced as Beau zipped ahead. She drifted back as she deflected a jab, a swipe, both lifting her ponytail as they passed, the crook sliding over her blade.

Another jab reached past Weiss altogether, snagging the thick open door of a vault by its rotary crank.

Weiss heard the scream of steel as she yanked, dashing under Beau's arm and behind her as the Uplift tore the door off and hurled it over her head…

With a ring of steel, the door split in two directions to collapse an office section and crush several teller booths as a gleaming greatsword cleaved through it. The Gigas' massive arm flourished the blade, long as a billboard as it loomed behind Weiss. She backflipped to plant her feet on the broad side of the blade, serving as a springboard as the massive arm flung her down at Beau.

Weiss swiped as she passed, splitting Beau's bonnet, as her crook's curving end struck her in the middle. Winded, she struck the floor on her shoulder and rolled into the corner of a rack of empty deposit boxes that all spring open.

Beau twisted to catch the massive Gigas blade as it swung down at her, the tip of her crook twirling to meet it.

With a burst of fire and a spear of white light, the crook's contact trigger pierced through the ghostly blade.

As flaming white shards scattered and vanished, Beau tore off her bonnet, hair ruffled as her white eyes bored into Weiss.

"I call that round a draw, snow pea…"

---

Ruby dodged strike after strike from the twinkling ink. For being fooled by Neo's illusion, her eyesight was perfect. From one sniper to another, game recognizes game.

…And it was about to be her downfall.

Once she was close enough, Ruby pointed a pair of fingers beside both of her eyes, cape fluttering wildly. "TAIYO… KEN…!"

The blinding stream of light burst from her… and it had more effect than she dared to dream.

"AUYEEEEEEEE!"

Nova didn't merely clutch her face in pain… she dropped like a fly sprayed with vinegar. She passed directly into Ruby's path. And while she admitted this was cheap, keeping Nova on the ground would make her far more manageable… so…

With a shriek, Nova plummeted past Ulrikh to crater further up the street as Ruby gave her a swift kick in the spine, chasing after her.

But before she could follow-up on it… she froze.

"Aughhh! You dim BITCH! My eyes…! My SKIN…!"

Nova's eyes were an angry red, and her pale face and legs were taking on an awful brown and red rash.

Shaking from her revery, Ruby reduced Crescent Rose to rifle mode, and used its heft to smash Nova across the back of the head.

"Nyehehehe! Poor Novaaaa…"

Ruby turned, cycling her chamber as she stared down Olivine. The short green gremlin approached smugly.

"Go figure, she can use the biggest stars to snipe her enemies, and the more starlight she absorbs, the better! But she's photosensitive!" Olivine snickered loudly. "Sh-she can't even take advantage of the BIGGEST star on offer without burning herself!"

Ruby raised a brow. "You're not worried at all that I just took her down? I feel like this isn't what you were expecting…"

"It's hardly the same thing," Olivine said, waving her off. "Nova's constitution is so frail, of course she keeps her distance from the fight! I don't know how she got picked for this in the first place…"

"As opposed to you…?"

With a button push, her lime-green visor gained several shades further of tint. "Just try that flash move on me, baragaki!"

"Bara… wha…?"

Olivine's gapped buck teeth gleamed as she grinned maliciously, snickering. With some mechanical clunks, her hoof-like shoes extended, giving her some added height. Meanwhile, she swapped a purple crystal into her visor. With a lavender glow that accented her greens, she reached out to pull in clumps of debris, shaping them into thick hands of rubbish to reinforce her own feeble arms.

"I hope you didn't think my size offered you an advantage! My Crystal Kinesis is UNRIVALED!"

Threads of gravity reached out to other bits of debris, and Ruby twisted to blast them at terrific speed as they tried to close her in. She never took her eyes off Olivine, who blinked at the feat, charging a lime green blast. It was clear she had been expecting this would split Ruby's attention…

The blasts came one after another in rapid succession, and Ruby batted them away with careful aim. Eventually she let them pass her as she vaulted them, rolling over them as she closed the distance.

"W-what the…?!" Olivine grunted as Ruby gained ground.

Finally, Ruby shoved a blast directly back into the stream, causing enough of a scrum as blasts piled up and merged like droplets of water. It was just enough of a break to charge a red blast of her own…

"HYAAAAAAARGH!"

The blast overtook the stream, bowling back towards Olivine. The green Ginyu saw it coming with a shiver, but…

"No CHANCE!"

Olivine put her all into a full-powered beam, which finally overtook the mass.

Ruby cried out as the cumulative power slammed into her. The back of the bank erupted in festive plumes of crimson and radioactive green.

"Bahahahaha! Now ya' get it, cherry chump…?! We're worlds apart you and m—"

A burst of power cleared the air as stone collapsed around Ruby, panting as she remained with her smoking palms still outstretched in a block, clothing scuffed.

With a jolt, her palms unleashed a crimson burst. Olivine, still surprised to see her standing, brought her clumped hands up. Debris was tossed everywhere as she flinched, eyes opening to realize her false arms were gone.

"Okay…" Concentrating, more debris gathered to ensconce her body, more debris forming thicker arms. "I miscalculated! As a sniper like Nova, clearly I should prey upon your lack of close-quarters skill!"

Ruby only answered by twirling Crescent Rose open, rearing the scythe into a backswing as she lowered her stance…

Olivine snickered. "See! Only a rank amateur would need to overcompensate with a melee configuration CLEARLY designed to intimidate! Everyone knows a scythe is impractical as a real weapon against anything but grass— AGH!"

She cried out as Ruby hurled the scythe, spinning like a saw blade as it struck her and ground against her debris armor, tearing bits and pieces away. Ruby whirled up to catch Crescent Rose as its momentum dimmed, the blades red hot as she reached for one of Olivine's legs and tugged it out from under her.

As Olivine toppled onto her back, Ruby cycled her firing chamber in threat. "I dunno… you're green enough."

---

Yang dashed from rooftop to rooftop, clashing and deflecting as Brim Stone kept up with her. His sheer speed was shocking for a man so big, but he didn't lumber about as he lashed out. His movements were inefficient, but not as a result of his mass. It was a little terrifying.

Yang planted a hand on his fist as it shot low, legs spread-eagled as it passed underneath. She vaulted to hook the crook of her elbow under his chin and spun around his thick neck as her other arm grappled with it. Her knees struck his back again and again as she tried to choke him.

With a whirl of his weapon, the mancatcher reached from the side and grabbed her middle. He wrenched her off, flinging her through several burnt homes with an impact that rumbled the neighborhood.

"Slippery lass! A fleet finger through the flame might not sear, but play with fire long enough—"

Flares burst out of the dust and crashed over him, his teeth grit as he flinched.

"...You're gonna get burned, blah blah, put that classic back on the shelf, you're not clever," Yang droned, dusting herself off before aiming behind herself and firing both barrels, sure as always to chamber harmless gravity rounds so she didn't grapeshot the city with artillery-grade buckshot.

Brim's tiny eyes gaped in surprise as the rooftop collapsed from under him, and then there she was, ready to catch him with a gutting uppercut as she switched back to normal shot.

He groaned in surprise as his bulk was propelled upward, and she darted up to meet him. Blow after crushing blow pummeled his gut, seemingly stun-locking him skyward as shockwaves filled the air.

An elbow, and he flew left. She caught up. A roundhouse, and he flew right. Double shots, and he stalled altogether. She appeared below him, and finally had cause to use Bulma's new feature.

With a chatter that left her barrels glowing cherry red, she emptied automatic fire into his vast form, tossing him feet at a time.

She dashed ahead, a hammer kick ready to finish it…

Brim's sausage fingers extended out, and streams of searing plasma caught her in the side. Hot… Incredibly hot.

A hand shot out and grabbed her around the ankles. They landed in the street market like a bomb. Yang was lashed into the floor like a cudgel, and in seconds he was flailing her through walls and kiosks.

A golden blast caught him in the face, but he didn't release her, only smashing her all the harder, finally making her cry out as her bones creaked and her boots sizzled.

"Y'know what heat is, bairn?" he asked, pausing. "It be vibratory! It be speed, at the atom level!"

"H-hot," Yang groaned, mustering a cheeky grin.

His shark-like smile grew dark. "Aye…"

She was hurled down the street, carving a rut through the ground with her body, but he kept up with her, torching buildings as he got faster and faster, his burning hair and beard growing to the length of a foot. His image was smeared by his own heat haze.

"Cannae keep up?! Heft n' haste in one glorious package!"

Finally, as Yang stood up, she felt the jaws of the mancatcher close around her bare middle with a sizzling grip. It had her arms, she was pinned, and he held her out like a marshmallow on a stick.

"An' now… Catcher's Flame'll feed…"

Yang groaned, and then cried out. She looked down to see the jaws of the weapon glowing brighter and brighter, like a brand, and then more. Her skin was sizzling, blackening… Tears filled her eyes, and the bastard was laughing…

Blake's Kusarigama hooked around his neck and tugged from behind. His thick muscles creaked as her ribbon seared, but as Blake tugged, a bloom of ice from the loaded pistol doused his head.

With a reach of his free hand, he grabbed her ribbon and yanked her over his head and into the adjacent building with a clay-strewn crash. With a flex of his neck, the ice shattered.

"Ah, some days ye catch the fish! An' some days the fish catches YE!"

"C-couldn't agree… more…!"

He looked down to see Yang's eyes burn, the golden light within her pupils boring into his tiny turquoise orbs as her hair bloomed white, and then gleamed a heavenly blue that filled the dawn streets.

Stunned, he saw her burns mend, as her muscles creaked, as well as the joints of the catcher.

"HUAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

With a burst that broke his posture, the jaws of his weapon were blasted into shrapnel, which punched through the walls on either side of the lane. She floated before him for only a moment, glaring.

"You're not the only one who runs HOT…!"

Brim's eyes bulged out as her fist sunk into his gut. He was lifted entirely off the ground by the blow, before a spinning kick sent him up several dozen stories.

But she was already there. With a wink, a double ax handle came crashing down upon his flaming head. He tried to brace with what remained of his weapon, but the iron staff crumpled.

He screamed back down to the floor, but consciousness remained. On the way down, Yang darted beside him as he plummeted, sinking blow after blow into his sides, keeping him on track to slam into the abandoned street.

A shockwave swept kiosks and litter around every crack as he struck the floor. He stared up into her golden pupils, her blue glow vying with his ruddy orange as he reached out. A gout of intense plasma streamed into her, but she split through it like water. Her fists full of blue light, she sank into his pinned middle with a gleaming blast.

When the dust settled, Brim was twitching on the floor, foam on his lips. Yang stood atop his hulk, still burning blue.

"Not gonna lie… You coulda' jumped in a little sooner," Yang laughed breathlessly.

"Sorry," Blake said, recalling the sight of her burning belly. "You guys set a lot of stuff on fire…"

Yang looked back down the road. A road that was full of steaming buildings, and many… MANY shimmering ice crystals. She remembered Blake's kusarigama being pre-loaded with ice Dust.

"Yeah, that's fair. I'm spent after this though. Let's make the rest of it count…"

---

Ulrikh was spider-like in his agility as they flew. His lanky proportions made him slippery as his vast shuriken whirled in his hands, deflecting Jaune and Nora's strikes, which just missed him. He almost casually twisted the four-pronged star back and forth against Stormflower's chattering shots.

"You no amateurs!" Ulrikh praised. "Is not being your fault, da? Mine semblance is allowing me to be feeling air currents! Is subtle defensive strategy, like cat or housing fly…"

He drew a hand through his bulge of hair. "But Sun is rising, and Supreme Leader Frieza will be expecting magic sword. Is nothing personal, zayka."

They saw the disc of his shuriken had firm buttons, and each prong glowed with a different colored Dust crystal. Water, lightning, air and ice. He pressed in a pair, and they immediately saw the utility of it as a VAST cloud immediately flooded out and enshrouded the entire combat zone.

Once upon a time, Ulrikh Storm was probably a decent support Huntsman, or whatever he'd have called himself. But with the amplifying effect ki had upon Dust, he truly lived up to his name now.

Below, Ruby pressed the stave of Crescent Rose against Olivine as they vied with each other, before the thick fog settled over them.

Both looked up, but Ruby fired to propel her scythe and break the standoff as she leapt away.

"Storm's finally pushing the win-button, huh? Nyehehehe!"

She pushed a button on her visor, and in moments, she could see through the dense moisture as Ruby was outlined in shades of red.

"Thermal imaging! Here comes the pain, green-thumb!"

Olivine kept her debris-arms in place as she slid out of them in a sneaky bid. They stayed there, floating as she circled around to Ruby's back. She extended her hand…

And the sharp butt of Crescent Rose's stave reared back and struck her forcefully in the visor.

The distracting arms crumbled as her concentration broke, and she ambled backwards. "Ugh! What… the…?!"

Ruby turned to peer at her through the fog.

"My advanced optics! Lucky shot!" Olivine growled, before looking back to see Ruby vanished. Her breath caught in her throat.

The attack came from her side… her back… Slashes from the murk. Olivine reached for a wind crystal, but it was shot out of her hands.

"No! Nonononono!"

She crawled after it as it scattered into the mist.

She found it… under a black and red boot.

Olivine cried out, falling onto her backside as she scooted backwards, fumbling for her scroll. "N-no! Your semblance, it's not sensory! H-how are you doing this?!"

She flicked the scroll's feeler out again grazing Ruby, who retreated into the murk.

"The numbers don't add up! I'm twice your Aura output!"

"You're stronger…"

Olivine turned to see the reaper to her right.

"...We're just better than you."

Olivine jumped as the voice came behind her… and saw Ruby again… and to her right. There were TWO of them…?!

"We don't need to see you… We can feel your energy."

A third, right in front of her.

Olivine gave out an anguished scream and unleashed a shockwave, forcing the red trio back as she darted for the sky, to get above the fog and—

But as she emerged, Crescent Rose was aimed directly at the gravity gem still lodged in her visor.

"Oh. And High Guardian Spice sucks…"

"...What?!"

'*KUCHINK!*'

---

Jaune deflected the shuriken as it passed in a steady orbit, slashing the air, more to suppress Ulrikh than expecting to hit him. They managed to drift over to the Scorch, the scar of city where they fought Argent. It was so long, it skirted the bank as well, and it afforded them more leeway to fight unabated.

"How is happening?!" Ulrikh demanded, more fascinated than afraid as the kids operated uninhibited in the shroud of fog. They were even flowing around the husks of burnt buildings as they otherwise APPEARED from the gloom. "You are wonderful…!"

"Don't sweet-talk ME!" Nora grumbled, bashing out an entire hollowed-out wall, leaving the building's uneven load to slowly crumble.

He corkscrewed around a lateral swing of Nora's hammer, using it as a bar to swing up from. He stabbed a few buttons on the shuriken as it passed again.

Wind and lightning. The weapon orbited more and more tightly as it generated a minor cyclone, pulling the fog into its mass and creating an instant supercell. Debris was drawn in even as it tugged at every bit of loose grit and black glass.

Jaune saw it as clearly as Ren did, even without the sight of deep blue petals. In his pressured state, Ulrikh had sacrificed his advantage. The cyclone was too chaotic for him to feel their movements by air currents, not with precision anyway. Nora's swings were getting grazes in. Jaune swept in on his other side, and then Ren saw it…

Ulrikh dashed above to escape the pair… and directly into the slamming palm of Lie Ren, into his temple.

He tumbled, debilitated, into the heart of his own cyclone. Eyes distant, he snatched his shuriken and aimed it…

A crackling golden lightning strike carved through the air towards the three of them, but as they forked, they funneled directly for Nora. Her muscles creaked as her blue eyes burned, and her teeth glinted.

"Vot der'mo…" Ulrikh muttered, eyes wide., as the whirling hammer honed in on his head.

---

Weiss held Myrtenaster with a wobbly hand as she readied a thrust on one of the last unspoiled lengths of tile in the vast bank hall. The glyph spun underneath her.

"So many irons in that fire a' yours!" Beau sang, scuffed, but strong still.

Weiss sealed her wrists in black glyphs as she struck, crossing the distance in a flash. But Beau broke free with a flick of her wrist, and Weiss found the point of her blade funneled down the end of the crook's barrel.

"AGH!"

Once Myrtenaster was flush with the contact trigger, Weiss was blown onto her back as the blade was fired into the far wall.

"No, darlin'... Y'only need the one right tool…"

Weiss took stock. She was on her last legs, but hopefully the others…

Her eyes drifted. Then they widened.

"W-well, I guess when all you have is a hammer… you look a lot like a NAIL…"

Beau's lips twisted in disdain. "That's not the expression, 'nilla bea—"

There was a clink and clatter of breaking glass.

"NORA… SMASH!"

She burst through one window, and Yang through the other, still burning blue. Beau's eyes gaped as she held her crook in warding, but—

Her eyes bulged as a flaming fist struck the small of her back, and the head of the hammer into her middle. If her eyes weren't already white, they might have blanked out entirely.

The tile and remaining bank walls shattered in the shockwave, the dusty remains falling in with finality as Beau Blanca was rendered unconscious.

Weiss tugged Myrtenaster from a stone pillar as Ruby and Blake wandered near, and Jaune and Ren touched down.

"Thanks," Weiss breathed. "Is that the end of it?"

"Yeah," Jaune answered, looking back over at the outline of Shade. "They're all down. We should go while the going's good!"

Yang huffed, peering over at the crater in the road. "We don't need the Winter Maiden now… We could rob Frieza of a major player! She teaches the Uplifts!"

"We talked about that," Ruby said, firm. "We don't know what happened to the original Maiden's soul. If we… kill Ginyu… Sh-she'll never even have a shot at being human again…"

"So you're gonna make me the bad-guy, like this whole trip?"

Ruby felt confusion as it felt like someone walked over her grave. Aggression. From Yang? No, that couldn't be… Something was wrong…

"They're all away!" Gohan said, drifting in as Neo sprinted over from the rooftops. "We need to go, guys!"

They all flinched as Neo's illusion burst at once, pink shards raining down from several stories up. If it wasn't conspicuous before…

"Up!" Nora ordered, bidding Neo over, who climbed on as—

Nora's blood went cold as she saw it. He was midair already. She couldn't warn Neo as she dove.

"By Her WILL!"

Ruby twisted to see it… his face… his smile… those yellow eyes, which flicked mulberry… A glint of silver…

Aggression…

And before she could think, carrot-orange hair filled her vision as she was shoved away.

Ruby reeled back, with a perfect view of Nora, as Neo flew off her, unable to keep her grip as she slammed head first into a wall.

Nora Valkyrie froze in time, eyes like pinpricks. Ruby, Ren, Jaune saw the puncturing tail whip up… and sink under Nora's jaw.

It seemed unbelievable as the long steel injector pulled free, and Tyrian Callows tilted his head, teeth bared in a throaty giggle…

"NORA!"

"NO!"

Ren was on him in an instant, eyes aflame, deflecting the stinger with Stormflower's blades as it struck again. A crushing kick sent the faunus skidding backwards as he cooed in intrigue.

"Ohh! You too have drunk of his well…! I was watchi—"

"SHUT UP!" Jaune screeched, as Ren caught Nora, who blinked as she stumbled, weak-kneed. The color had nearly gone from her face.

Yang charged in, passion free as she aimed a ceramic fist.

But the deadly tail whipped around, and Yang found her blow deflected. More than that, the tip had sunk into her elbow, steel splintering. To her own horror, she leapt back to realize her prosthesis had gone limp, hanging dead as her stump tried to lift it. He'd managed to break her arm's control center…

"T-Tyrian…!" Ruby croaked, numb, watching red trickle from Nora's wound.

"W-what did you do to her?!" Gohan demanded, caught between fear and fury.

Ruby could see it in the eyes of RNJR. They had experience with Tyrian, and his venom. His stinger had only grazed Qrow. A scratch. But it had nearly killed him in days.

Nora had just taken a full dose.

Ruby felt her eyes going wet. This couldn't be happening… Not for her… Not because of her…!

" I'LL KILL YOU!"

Tears were budding in Ren's eyes as he held Nora, who was still too stunned to react. Ruby had never seen his face like this, screwed up in a snarl of pain and rage. Neo got to her feet, clutching her head, taking in the scene.

There was a sudden multicolored cacophony as Weiss, Blake and Yang blasted Tyrian for wont of any words to express their hate.

Tyrian cloistered, his wrist blades out as the dust cleared, only slightly annoyed. "That's the spirit…! Make me earn my penance…! Redeem EVERY MARK!"

He threw off his cloak, and they all had to stop dead at the sight.

Scars. Crescent-shaped scars on virtually every inch of him. Arms, legs… His cheeks were banded with them.

"I punished and PUNISHED for my failure…! I could not even slay a mere Huntsman…"

"You'll PAY for this!" Jaune croaked.

"For this…?" Tyrian chirped, his eyes huge, pupils tiny as he leaned over, arms going slack. Laughter bubbled up in his throat. He couldn't contain it. "You… You still don't KNOW?! HahahaHA!"

His palm supported his cheek as he carried on into hysterics.

"Know WHAT?!" Yang demanded, shocked at the hoarse tone, the quiver in her voice. She kept glancing over at Nora, forgetting her dead arm completely after being sure she hadn't been grazed with his toxins.

"No! No no no, it's too good to give away!"

"Y-you're sick…!" Weiss managed, tears trailing down her face. Blake's ears were folded back, and she couldn't even speak over her lips pressed together.

The golden rays of the sunrise suddenly found a twisted bit of steel to reflect off, and the arrival of dawn made itself known.

"Take Nora and go," Ruby ordered, inordinately still. "All of you."

They stared at her. Even Tyrian grinned as he gave a hiccup of laughter.

"Ruby…" Yang broached.

"I've got it."

Weiss shook her head. "He's like four of us…"

"I can handle it."

"Ruby, I can—" Gohan began.

"I know you can… Please…"

Jaune and Ren both stepped forward.

"There's no way we're just gonna leave you to—!"

"Jaune!" Ruby snapped. "Ren… Don't you leave her side. Not for a s-SECOND…" She turned, voice breaking, looking into Nora's gaunt face, sucking her lips in for only a moment. "I've got him."

It struck all of them, but Jaune and Ren most of all. Ruby, ever the optimist… For her to acknowledge it… That these may be Nora Valkyrie's last moments…

"Ruby…"

She turned, seeing Nora, her eyes narrowed even as she took steady breaths.

"Break his legs…"

One by one, they took to the air. Yang lingered, hesitating… but she took off as well.

"Perfect," Tyrian hissed. "Both prizes for the plucking! And a wondrous hunt once we're done. You do well to deliver yourself and the Lady's blade… And I must confess, I envy your humbling of the Maiden and her troupe…!"

"You tried to sting me before. And at Oniyuri," Ruby gathered, steeling herself. "I thought Salem wanted me alive…"

"Ah! Yes!" he chuckled. "Fear not, little rose…! You'll be delivered quite unspoiled. I've venom to subdue and venom to subtract… Your friend received the latter, hn-hn-hn-hnnn…!"

Ruby felt her teeth clench, and her grip on Crescent Rose tighten.

"You should rejoice! You've no idea how you shall be exalted! We shall serve her together!"

"This might surprise you, but I want to help her," Ruby said. She must be calm.

Tyrian blinked rapidly, his slouching posture straightening as his head tilted again. "H-h-how unexpected! You would betray sacred Ozpin…?"

"Betray? No." Emotions under control… "You don't understand what we want, Tyrian. You don't understand her."

His smile vanished instantly, his tail twitching.

"You think you're helping her, but you're not. You're enabling her. She's in pain, lashing out. She wants the love of her father, and she doesn't realize her father… he'd have given everything to know her. He's gone because he loved her…"

"The Dark Brother, the Destroyer…?!" Tyrian whispered, his face growing more dangerous by the moment. "He who spurned Her…?" He let out a growl. "You speak HERESY…!"

"It's the truth. Her… crusade… None of this will bring her peace. You may serve her… but you don't know what she needs. And she won't find it in something like you."

She could feel it coming. His nostrils flared. She could read his heaving breaths.

Ruby whirled around his charge, and he barely turned in time to find Crescent Rose in rifle mode at his face, charged and—

'*ZOT!*'

Tyrian was blown out of the bank and into the Scorch, carving a rut through the ash and sand as Ruby followed. Here, they could fight without causing harm… Hopefully.

Ruby landed as he dug himself out of the sand, shaking himself as he blinked.

"This isn't gonna go like last time, Tyrian. I hope you're ready."

As his teeth bared, lights streamed from below him as he was engulfed in a lavender pillar of power, arms outstretched as he let out a guttural cry. Sand and glass swirled around the pillar and into the dawn sky.

This was it. Tyrian's power dwarfed the others. Whatever Salem had done, she'd found a shortcut to power that Ginyu had missed. She had to find her center… the scent of cookie dough… She inhaled…

"Kaio…! KEN…!" Her power soared, climbing and pulsing alongside Tyrian's. Her crimson power flickered, muscle tone in harsh relief…

Outward! Through the root! Goku's example was the key…

"ATTACK!"

Her aura soared. She could feel it, double the power, double her maximum coursing through her! Her eyes went huge, it was overwhelming, her heart was pounding out of her chest! Everything was… overclocked. The shadows on her body darkened as a harsher red ensconced her.

Everything was sharper, colors were brighter… She could smell her sweat, his sweat, the woody ash and the salt of the sands. She could hear every whistle of wind and distant noise of the waking city.

And she could feel him. His breathing, his heartbeat… the twitch of his muscles. He was an open book.

She felt it immediately, the added power pooling, burgeoning. She remembered, she had to expend it nearly as quickly as she received it.

She had to floor him, fast.

Ruby knelt, and took off, blasting sand and glass in a plume as she charged him, collapsing a nearby husk of a building with the force. Tyrian's blades flicked out as he tore at her with an inevitable, crooked grin.

Ruby's power gave a low whistle as she left a burning trail in her wake, changing direction as he spun to swipe at her, and slammed a boot into the back of his neck.

She didn't wait, changing direction back to her original position.

He just missed her with a kick of his own as she flowed around him and snatched the faunus in the crook of Crescent Rose. She planted her foot down and blasted into the sky as she spun, dragging him along before hurling him directly above and spinning to take aim with the unfolded scythe.

He spun to stability, blinking down at her before both machine pistols in his blades chattered.

Ruby cycled her bolt, and fired back…

She'd never done it before, but she knew she could do it now. Cycling shot after a shot, she sniped each round as it came. She was burning through ammo, but the thunderous cry of Crescent Rose became a cacophony as the high-powered rifle kept pace with an automatic weapon.

The rounds met in midair, sparks and smoke blasting into a filthy haze as Ruby swapped mags and barely broke stride. She lost sight of him but for his muzzle flashes through the orange, slanted crepuscular rays poking through the smoke. Her barrel sizzled and glowed cherry red.

She felt it, turning her muzzle to the ground with a whirl. Ruby fired, pluming sand into the air and lifting herself off the floor as she stood upon the blades of her scythe, just in time for Tyrian's ambush to miss as he plunged through the smoke to ride his blades down. The sand, loose from her shot, swallowed him up as he struck.

She let the elevated state leave her, for the moment. Goku wasn't kidding. The Kaioken ravaged her in the same breath as it enhanced her. She was already sore all over. She couldn't do more than bursts at a time.

She also couldn't take her inner eyes off Tyrian.

It slashed! Out from the sand… She pulled her head back as the injecting tip just missed her. He was burrowing through the sand and ash.

Ruby whirled left, back! The tail struck!

She whirled, only petals. He couldn't sting petals.

She reformed with her grip on his stinger and spun, pulling him from the sand. Spin… spin… release!

She flashed into his path, an air blast prepared for his—

"URGH-HHH!"

He'd gotten around her as she struck, planting a foot into the small of her back. He appeared in her path and the point of his heel buried into her gut.

He knocked the wind out of her. Her diaphragm spasmed. She remembered him doing something similar in their first meeting. It had all but finished her then.

Her eyes grew steely. It wouldn't this time.

She fell back from the hit, drifting. An easy target. She had to recall their advantages. Ruby could see it in how he fought. He was stronger, and in theory he was faster, but…

He took the bait, flipping overhead as he prepared a hammering kick. She barely had to move as it sailed past.

"Showy."

His brow rose as he wound-up like a spring, arms out as he spun back at her. Crescent Rose blocked each revolving hit readily.

"Reckless."

Her foot was perfectly positioned to slam into his jaw. Tyrian cried out as he recoiled back ten feet, descending into an anguished growl as he bared his teeth.

He ducked suddenly, and the mechanical tail extended! He'd been hiding this, as it stretched beyond its bounds, its parts held along a wire like a whip sword!

But it didn't faze her as it wound overhead, and she batted it back away. "Predictable!"

He tried to use its added momentum to come back the other way, but a quick snipe deflected it again.

But this time he flipped back, pulling the extended tail back in like a ballerina might tuck in their arms to gain speed, before the tail shot straight out like a harpoon.

"Nn?!" Ruby felt the steely appendage wrap around her wrist and TUG! Crescent Rose was lost from her grip and went sailing to plant into the top of a stone pillar by its razor point.

"Oh ho ho! Any more words to the wise…?" Tyrian asked, leering at her like a predator.

Ruby couldn't help feeling instinctively naked without Crescent Rose… but she wasn't helpless. She had the Relic, but she knew she didn't need it yet. She took a breath, lowering her stance, head down. Her left hand was a fist out low in front of her… Her right, open and high behind her.

"Yep… KaioKEN!"

Her muscles burned as her aura stormed once more, but she crossed the distance and swung her arms, her open hand like a claw, raking up his front. He tilted back as he drifted in a daze, and her free hand only had to close around the barbell of his stinger as he passed. Her fist gleamed with energy, and she brought it down upon the murderous mechanism, which crumpled to clattering bits.

As he recognized his loss, he gave an insane shriek and lunged at her, blades singing left and right, but she was almost not there at all, until her fist found an opening and caught his belly. She twirled, and her heel caught his back to slam him towards the ground. With that same low whistle, she intercepted his path, power in both hands.

Golden light streamed through clawed fingers as she unleashed an expanding blast, wide enough to drape Tyrian's limbs over and carry him off through a few hundred yards of ashen sand.

She swept over to retrieve her scythe as her blast stalled and the earth rumbled. Her hand barely touched it as the luminous spheroid split into a spray of bright bolts headed straight for her.

Taking a firm grip of Crescent Rose, she extended her ki-hardening into the stone pillar and twisted.

"HYAAAA!"

Like the sweep of an enormous broom, she launched the stone pillar underhand as it slipped off her scythe. With a follow up blast of air from her palm, the hurtling stone was blown into a shotgun blast of smaller chunks that met Tyrian's counter in midair as the Scorch was filled with the chaos of random gold blasts and cratering red rocks.

And she swept low into the chaos to meet Tyrian, as she saw him across the field, dusty, singed, and deranged of countenance in his beastly eyes. He leapt from stone to stone from her projectiles as he crossed the distance. Her very skin burned, even if the exchange had lasted mere seconds.

She dodged right as he leapt at her, and caught him around the middle with her scythe as she passed him.

"GYOO-HAARGH…!"

Winded, Tyrian spat red with the impact, and she was sure she felt a crack in his ribs as she threw him down against his momentum. Ruby landed on his back to ride him, taking aim for his head as he toppled burnt buildings and they left a trail of dust and devastation in the empty Scorch, in defiance of how destroyed the zone was already.

Her slice missed as the tail, though defanged, swung to parry her.

He shrugged her off as he twisted to slide on his side for a surprise attack, but as she released from the Kaioken, she hardly found it surprising at all as her boots surfed the sand sideways.

"Sloppy! You're losing control…" she said, as his guns chattered and she deflected them idly. "Wasting energy!"

She reached under the sand with War Scythe mode and scooped him out, tossing him high. Before he could recover, she leapt up to swat him with the blunt end carrying him higher, before he growled and twisted with murder in his gaze.

"EeaaaaAAAAAAAARGH!"

His purple aura blasted into being, wobbling around him in a storm as the shockwave struck the sand, kicking up dust and fluttering her cape as he held his hands over his head. Power streamed into his hands as his body creaked, a purple throb Ruby could feel more than she saw.

No… He'd destroy the CITY with that!

She dug in, squared her stance… Darkest red swirled around her as her muscles quaked. This had to be her LAST use of the Kaioken. She couldn't take any more.

Red filtered into brightest blue in her hands, as she clasped them to her side…

"Kameeee… hameeeee!"

Tyrian cackled madly, legs splayed as he threw down a wide torrent that bathed the Scorch in its lavender glow…

Ruby slammed her clawed palms out.

"HAAAAA!"

The Kamehameha wave's soothing blue energies swirled around its blazing white core, the most intense she'd ever produced as sand, stone and chunks of buildings were drawn into the stream. Shadows flickered as the debris broke up the blinding light.

But Ruby was focused only on Tyrian, who she sensed at the mouth of the ragged cone of death coming for Vacuo…

She shook, sweat trickling from the constant radiating heat… and her fear.

This was the real thing. Nobody was going to pull back if she couldn't overpower this. She'd be vaporized. Vacuo would die… because she failed…

Like… Like Nor—

The beams collided in a burst of color as ejecta from his blast washed over hers. She felt the impact in her bones, even as she pushed back, like two droplets of oil and water refusing to be joined.

Tyrian's beam was huge and powerful, but ragged and unfocused. Her Kamehameha was bright, constant, and dense. Her body ached from the strain, but she was doing it! She was gaining ground!

"HyaaaAAaaAARGH!"

Ruby felt her feet sink into the black sand as Tyrian's output suddenly increased with a pulse that flattened the remaining structures for a hundred yards. Purple tongues of power were reaching out to her over her beam, as the sand was eroding out from under her as a mist of material was being blasted away.

The mulberry light was getting stronger, and Ruby could see his attack was advancing, overcoming her!

She felt something shift as the tongues of power lessened. He'd stopped emitting a beam, and she could hear him cackling madly as he fired blast after blast into a building mass, glomming together.

It was bad… She was pinned down, while he was free to flee if things didn't go his way.

But Tyrian was predictable. She had to anticipate what he'd do then…

With the amount of power he wasted as he fought, it was possible he couldn't keep this pace up, that this was the candle burning brightest before going out. But the price of being wrong was every life in Vacuo.

But this was everything she had! DOUBLE everything! Unless she made a very different gamble…

She hesitated for only a moment. King Kai had warned them against this. She remembered Goku's contorting body, his power losing control. She took a shaky breath… focused…

" KAIOKEN-TIMES- THREEEEEE!"

The burn she felt seared her inside and out! The fires of the Kaioken were a torch, and if she hadn't already been emptying herself of power, it might have destroyed her altogether.

Her Kamehameha hissed as it expanded, barely controllable and utterly intense. The sky above her was a kaleidoscope of roiling blue punching into purple as the radiating heat lifted away…

"The curtain FALLS!"

And there it was…

Tyrian had darted around the blast, just as she expected… but struck nothing but air.

Her petals reformed against the sand below to plant her foot into his gut. His eyes bulged as her full tripled power was brought to bear upon him, even if she didn't have much left.

He hurtled into the remaining azure and lavender energies, like a bullet through a balloon. And like a balloon, the mass popped as she shielded her eyes…

---

The blast illuminated the skies of Vacuo as sand and dust poured through the streets and around buildings. A shockwave erupted, waking any who might still have slept as windows shattered for miles.

Particularly the headmaster's office of Shade Academy.

Frieza awoke with a start as he was bathed in glass and wind, blinking.

"Hn…?! What foolish…? Perrault?!"

Staggering over, the hobbled Huntsman lumbered into view. "Yes, I am here."

"Do you know what's at hand?" He asked, drawing himself to his feet.

"And more…"

---

RWBY and the others whirled around as they felt it, before the shockwave from the mushroom cloud of blue and mulberry lifted fingers of dust from the shaking desert.

"Wreck him, R-Rub'," Nora muttered, on Ren's shoulders. Her veins were turning black as she shivered.

"You feel that?" Yang asked. "Is that what I think it is?"

"The Kaioken," Blake said immediately. "She pulled it off."

Weiss examined the sight with concern. "So is that desperation, or…?"

Ren shook his head, not even looking, his shaking hand squeezing Nora's. "No. Ruby's been winning from the outset. Their skill level isn't close, but Ruby knows the power gap is too big. Evening the odds."

Jaune watched him. "Ren, are you al—?"

"No. We need to keep going."

---

Bulma and Taiyang watched Krillin and Vegeta as they saw Goku blink through the window.

"Someone's gone down, hard," Krillin said through clenched teeth. "Power level's dropping by the minute. I don't think that's on the OTHER side..."

"Someone's employing Kakarot's Kaioken technique," Vegeta noted. "They finally bit off more than they could take. No sign of Frieza yet. The others are on the move."

Raven's hand shook as it gripped her hilt. "And we still don't know what's going on…!"

Goku shut his eyes. "King Kai… Please… hear me…"

---

Tyrian Callows was seared all over, hanging in midair, teeth bared as he guarded his body. The energy plumes had vanished, leaving smoke to hang in the air.

"This… it isn't possible…!" he whined, hating his own labored breaths. "I cannot fail Her…! Not again…! I AM HER PERFECT INSTRUMENT! AND YOU, HER PUPPET! YOU CANNOT DENY YOUR DESTI—!"

She slammed him suddenly from above, hurtling for the ground, but she was already there, palm out to catch him as he fell upon his back.

He cried out, as both heard an awful snap as he bent, supported only by her one hand, a pillar, the sword upon which he'd fallen.

Even Ruby felt a chill run down her back at the sound as his legs went limp. She dropped him onto the sands.

"You're too dangerous, Tyrian," she told him, a quiver in her voice. "I won't kill you… but I won't let you hurt anyone else. Your spine is snapped. You're done fighting… for good. Nora was the last person you'll ever—"

"Kill…?"

She inhaled sharply. Her eyes were wet.

"We both know, don't we?" he whispered. "A scratch, that's all it takes…"

"S-stop…!" Ruby croaked, feeling the tears coming. "Why…? Why are you like this?! Why do you enjoy it…? Causing people pain…?!"

His yellow eyes were wide, and so was his smile, as he whispered, confided, tilted his head. "It's just my nature…"

"Look, there they are!"

Ruby's eyes snapped over. Up the hill, at the edge of the Scorch where the intact buildings still stood, the two drab children from outside the bar peered down, drawn by the battle.

She realized her mistake an instant later, as Tyrian's eyes bulged, his teeth breaking into a terrifying grin as he flipped himself onto his front, and energy gleamed in his palm…

Ruby prepared for the attack, but instead he fired a tiny shot at the floor… jetting him over a hundred feet into the sky, before he loomed down at the children. He took a great breath.

Opening his mouth to an inhuman size, a golden beam blasted out, headed straight for the children, who froze in terror.

Ruby's teeth bared as she saw it. Her jaw tightened.

With a whirl, she was between the kids and the thundering blast. Crescent Rose in hand, she swatted the beam as it met her. The luminous blast only resisted a second or more, before she cried out… and it rebounded upon its maker.

Tyrian's eyes bulged in surprise as his blast was crammed down his throat, lips shut reflexively as he reared back, grunting as his body began to expand… and expand, like a balloon. His face twisted, all went taut.

Ruby saw a split of golden light along his freakish bulging form before twisting to stoop and drape her cape around the children as a fiery blast signified the end of Tyrian Callows.

She turned to glimpse back. There was only a sooty red sprinkle raining down from the smoky cloud where the murderer once bobbed.

Ruby looked down at the astonished children, who regarded her in awe. "You two okay?"

"Uh huh…"

"Are you a superhero…?"

Ruby managed a smile for them. "My name is Ruby Rose. I'm just a Huntress… You'd better hurry. Stay safe, okay?"

They both nodded without a word, turning, feet beating the tossing sand as they fled behind some houses.

Ruby finally turned in full to the sight of it. Dirty smoke still hung in the sky. In the sand, smoking, she glimpsed a scuffed bit of shiny steel, the remains of his replacement tail.

She winced, turning away. There was nothing of him to mourn… and no cause to celebrate either. She engulfed herself in crimson fire, and took off into the desert.

---

A vein on Frieza's temple throbbed dangerously as his teeth bared. Cagliuso Perrault stood upon a broken leg, defiant before him, dagger in hand.

"You gave the Sword away…?!"

"Si, usurpatore," Perrault confirmed, not blinking. "I cannot defeat you, mostro, but I will not run from the fate of Jackie… Maia… Gretta… Dahlia. Not a moment more. I was a coward… and I can only hope this will balance the board."

Frieza seethed. He could feel his own wrist twitching.

Perrault took up a combat stance, his splendid boots squeaking as they scraped tile. "Come, cold one! FEAR ME, if you dar—!"

The entire headmaster's quarters was bathed in fuchsia light.

---

The kids turned as a pink light burst behind them. A thin ray had burst from the top of the great pyramid, striking a dune seemingly without cause, only the barest thump of noise reaching them after several seconds.

"That's him, isn't it?!" Weiss asked. "Ruby, please be okay…!"

"She's coming, almost here," Yang said. "Make for the rocks! If his eyes are good enough, he might spot us out here."

Nora's arms squeezed Ren's neck as they landed by one of the Sunset Stones, wedging between a vast red pillar of sandstone.

"Lie… I'm not gonna make it," she croaked, eerily quiet.

"That's not true!" he said, as firmly and as calmly as he possibly could, setting her onto a nook where she could lie down with him as he sat with her. "Don't give in… I know it hurts, you can—"

"No, it…" Nora began weakly, bags under her eyes as she clutched herself tightly. "It's just… cold… Like ice water under my skin, and… So damn cold… Why's the wind gotta be so stiff, damn it?"

Neopolitan stood rigid, nursing the bruise on her head, but otherwise just holding her elbows as she watched the two of them. Her playful demeanor was gone.

Ren could feel her, agitated and scared. There was a lot of fear in the air. Most of it was Nora, intermingling with love. Though, he felt the ghost of affection himself as he realized the pink petals weren't just coming from her.

"We're really just stuck here?!" Blake demanded, watching Nora with growing worry, taking deeper and deeper breaths. "We need to get her to a hospital."

Jaune could barely steady his breathing. "If Frieza sees us, that's it, there's no escape for any of us. We can't fight, run… Hiding is all we've got until…"

Gohan watched it all, feeling helpless. "N-Nora… I'm sorry…"

Nora hiccuped, laughing. "Not your fault, kiddo. Bein' strong don't make you per…fect."

Weiss stood up. "She's here!"

Indeed, Ruby landed between the rocks in their chosen crevice, weary, ragged, but fine. "How is she?!"

"S-still breathing, for now," Nora joked, before her laugh became a hacking cough, and her teeth were stained purple. Ren was on her immediately, as Weiss covered her own mouth in both hands.

"We can't stay here any longer!" Yang said.

"It's not going to matter," Ren said, a shiver in his voice. "There's nowhere to take her for hundreds of miles! We need to get Raven's attention and—"

"Hello? Team RWBY? Are you there?"

They all looked up.

"...King Kai?!"

---

Frieza stood over the unconscious Ginyu, his breath shaking. He scanned the obliterated bank. Two of the other Ginyus on the street, splayed in uncomfortable positions. The big red one, down a blackened market street. Blanca, in the middle of the building. Pipes were venting and spraying from the crater his second in command was lying in.

"Your veneer is tarnished, oh invincible emperor."

His eyes darted over. Kaiserin Monden stood against the Sun, the Wasting Winds buffeting her clothes as she peered down at him from the last remaining pillar of the Dis Pater Bank.

He was furious beyond words. She filled the silence.

"Your greatest, titans beyond measure, reduced to fools overnight. All by a plucky band of children."

Children…?

"There's no coming back from this. No threat, no punishment will change the fact that, in their eyes… you're still morta—"

Her eyes closed in serene peace as blasts from his eyes erased her in an instant.

Frieza shook, a moment before one of his splayed feet stomped down upon Ginyu.

The Winter Maiden gasped, choking out as her eyes went huge.

"Get up!" Frieza hissed, shaking.

"L-Lord Frieza?! What…?!"

The ceramic of Ginyu's armor crunched as the tyrant's foot pressed harder still.

" 'Is it safe…' "

Ginyu stared up into his pitiless eyes, squeaking as the pressure mounted.

"That is what you asked the traitor Perrault, is it not…? The Relic was already taken. For your own sake, you risked my immortality… MY VERY EMPIRE…!"

"L-Lord Frieza…!" Ginyu sweat, mouth dry. "I didn't want to disturb y—"

Frieza's face contorted as he ground the ceramic into her chest. "Hold your duplicitous tongue!"

Ginyu cried out, teeth gnashed, before being kicked over with force that shook the debris and wrested an awful gasp from her.

"You are relieved of command, Captain," Frieza ordered, coldly. "Fetch me Cinder."

"C… Cinder?!"

The square scorched with tongues of red power, steam erupting from everything with a fleck of water still within it.

"NOW!"

Frieza shot into the sky over Vacuo, his eyes racing over every inch touched by the golden dawn.

The thieves were long gone if they could subdue his Ginyu Force, even this sorry excuse for the name. But he would strike fear into these verminous dogs yet…

Surrounding the margins, within sight of the crater, were a few humble settlements. Roving nomads, with homes of thatch and scrap, never settling for the constant motion of the Malikine sands.

His hand was a claw as it was filled with a bloody red light…

---

"Are you safe?!" King Kai asked. "Good grief what happened in this city?!"

Jaune stood up immediately, hope in his eyes. "Yes! We're clear for extraction!"

"Nora is hurt, badly," Ren said, his voice shaking. "We need to—"

They each turned as they felt it, just in time to see the expanding, boiling red and orange mass in the distance. It was a hemisphere, cells on its surface convecting like a star, burning as the noise and the wind met them, before the sphere simply began to shrink.

A few stunned moments later, and it happened again, engulfing a small collection of buildings on the sand, smoke expanding from the base as it rose in rings to closely hug the expanding blast.

"NO!" Ruby cried over the howl, aghast at how indiscriminate it was, how sudden it was.

"It's him!" Weiss shouted. "He's hitting the surrounding settlements! Nomad tribes!"

Nora strained to sit up, watching the ensuing chaos. Neo did her best to keep Nora from exerting herself, though the expanding spheres were reflected in her wide, white eyes.

Ren might have had an empathic gift, but none of them needed it to feel the searing hate of Frieza's vast, roving power.

Ruby shook her head. Helpless, again. "What… what do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do," Yang said. "We knew this might happen. We need to get the Relic home."

Suddenly, with a grunt, they missed Nora leaning against the wall as she drew herself to her feet.

"I'll go."

Nearly all of them moved to set her back down, but froze.

"You'll…?" Blake began.

"You guys l-leave," Nora said, reaching for Magnhild. "I'll get his attention."

Ren was too stunned to speak. Trails ran down Jaune's face as he just shook his head.

"No…!" Weiss said finally.

Nora winced. "If that bastard wants to find someone, let 'im find me. If this can save a few more people—"

"No!" Ren said at last, hand on her shoulder, supporting her waist as his eyes overflowed. "We can save you, this just happened! It's not like with—"

But Nora just gave him a soft smile, shaking her head. "Lie… we both know what this is. I'm not going to die on some hospital bed, waiting for this to eat me alive! I'm not gonna die running… I want to go out fighting."

Blake shook her head. "It won't BE a fight! He'll torture you!"

"W-we are NOT," Weiss choked, barely holding herself together, "g-going to FEED her to his ego!"

"I'm sorry," King Kai offered, his voice shaking. "Oh, I'm so sorry… I'm afraid… Nora's take on the situation is correct. She's fading… The venom inside her is ravaging her body. I'm afraid… what she's suggesting may be—"

"We don't leave people behind!" Ruby argued, her voice cracking.

"Y-yeah!" Gohan added.

"This is MY choice…" Nora insisted, pale, her hair looking weaker and more frayed by the minute. "Please, let me choose this, while I still can. I choose a meaningful end."

Another blast lifted their hair, engulfing the desert in light.

"There's no time, gang," Nora told them, already turned towards it.

"I'm staying too," Ren said, as frail as he'd ever looked.

"What?!"

"Lie, no…!" Nora said first, hands on his chest. "I'm the one on the way out! Don't throw this away!"

"What we do… we do together," Lie Ren said, firmly, cradling her head. "I won't let you face this alone."

Nora seemed to break. "L-Lie…!"

Neo in particular stomped over, her eyes laced with dread and sorrow. She stared up into his eyes, shaking her head several times.

Ren smiled. "Neo… You don't need me. You've got friends all around you now. Take care of them back home."

Neo blinked, her eyes an aimless pattern of colors, though always with at least one shocked white. She sagged, and backed away, still shaking her head.

"Then I'm staying too!" Jaune burst, suddenly breaking, gasping with tears. "I c-can't just leave you to…!"

Both partners put their arms around him.

"Jaune…"

"No."

"You need to keep going, Jaune," Nora told him. "I always knew, if any of us was taking this to the f-finish… it'd be…"

Even Jaune had to tilt his head. "Always?"

"Okay, maybe not always," she snorted. "But we kicked some ass… Now you come back n' kick HIS… for JNPR…"

Jaune just stood there, his breath wobbly as his tears fell.

"No," Ruby said, as frozen as Gohan. "W-we can't just let this… This is—"

"Ruby?" Nora said, as sharply as she could manage. She pulled Ruby and Jaune in by their shoulders, whispering. "D-don't… you… DARE… make me the reason you fall apart. Don't make ME fuel for your guilt complex. This wasn't your fault… We all knew this was possible. Promise me…?"

Ruby froze. It was such a cutting, direct and earnest request… Demand…? Regardless.

"I-I won't. I promise… I—"

Nora hugged them both. Even at her most frail, it was still so firm.

Ruby blinked, hugging back. "W-wait… No… Th-there has to another w— AGHH…!"

Still in her grasp, Magnhild's head thumped against Ruby's back as she pulled the trigger, and the Silver Eyed girl went limp in a cloud of pink smoke, surprise etched onto her face.

The others reeled, Yang in particular baffled.

"N-Nora!" Ren said in shock.

Nora smirked. "You know h-her," she explained, coughing. "She doesn't give up on people. You'd hafta' drag her away. Guess that fight took everything outta her, huh?"

Nora smiled fondly. Ruby wasn't wrong. They could portal out, put Jaune's shield around it and draw Frieza's attention. Though that wouldn't stop him from destroying the settlements…

No. Frieza would only be sated by blood. It might as well be hers. It only made sense.

It was selfish. Even if she somehow survived the venom, this was the only way to save these people. It felt wrong for her to survive at their expense. The guilt of it…

Was this what you felt, Pyrrha?

Guilt… This was going to be so hard on Jaune…

Yang scooped Ruby over her shoulder. "Y-yeah… I get it. You guys—?"

The red and black portal opened beside them, its bounds pulsing.

"Get outta here," Nora said, leaning on Ren. "But… Yang? We decide who the stronger one was?"

Yang blinked… and blinked. "You, Nora. Was always you," she conceded with a croak. She stepped through.

Nora coughed as she laughed, bending over. "You are so full of crap…"

Weiss threw her arms around the couple, barely holding together. "We love you two…!"

"L-love ya', Ice Queen…"

Blake and Neo were next. And Jaune…

"I… I can't…"

"Shield the portal, but… don't watch?" Nora asked. "Y'know, what I said to Ruby goes double for you… You're a great leader. Sometimes… things just happen…"

"I…" Jaune was still frozen, shaking his head, but formed the bubble around himself. "W-wait… No! I wo—!"

But an arm pulled through and tugged him in, as Raven stepped through.

"What's taking so l—?! Why…"

She tapped the shield as she stared around, finally settling her gaze on them. "Come on! What…?!" Her eyes narrowed curiously. "What's happened to you? She looks terrible."

Ren and Nora only looked at each other. Nora nodded. Uneasily, Nora took to the air.

"Hey! The hell are you doing?!"

Baffled, Raven pulled herself through the portal again, outside the barracks into the balmy noonday Sun.

"—just take off for Vacuo without a word?!"

Krillin had his hands out, exasperated. "What could possibly have been worth risking—?!"

"It can't be!"

Many of them froze as Ozpin, split from Oscar, unclipped the blue blade from Ruby's belt, groaning in Taiyang's arms.

He held the Sword of Creation across his palms, mouth agape. "How did you do this…?! The Winter Maiden—"

"HEY!" Raven shouted, drawing the attention of the throng now scattered over the yard. "Where are those other two going? And the faunus boy?"

Bulma nodded. "Ren, Nora… Sun… What's—?"

"Frieza's pissed," Yang said. "Sun stayed to help Vacuo. Tyrian jumped us, he… N-Nora…"

"Tyrian?" Qrow breathed, the madness mounting by the moment. "Salem's—?"

"Nora's dying!" Gohan blurted suddenly, on his knees, tears rolling down his face. "She was stung… Frieza started t-to… They're gonna sacrifice themselves…!"

"We HAVE to go back!" Jaune said, leaping to his feet and storming the portal… which shrank to a window the size of his head. "No! Let me go!"

"If you shut that, there's no way back!" Blake said.

Raven hesitated. "Is there any saving—?"

"I doubt it," Qrow said, a hand wiping over his face. "I barely got nicked by that stuff, an' I barely made it… God damn it…!"

Raven sighed. "Then why would I—?"

Weiss shuddered. "F-Frieza needs to see we have the Sword… so he doesn't..."

"Trying to keep him from tearing that whole city apart," Vegeta surmised from the roof. "If his focus is kept, then maybe."

Raven growled. "Fine. Keep that shield of yours strong. We'll…"

"What?" Bulma demanded. "Just wait for those kids to be MURDERED?! We've got to DO something!"

---

Nora stumbled as she landed in the sand before the sunset stone they'd used as cover. Ren took her hand, stabilizing her. They nodded at each other.

"HyaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAARGGH!"

Despite a sputter, pink lightning spat from Nora before her aura blasted like a bomb, and with a grunt, Ren was right behind her, his own green surging. Wind howled and sand billowed, an instant dust storm with them in the eye of it, as the sunset stone formation blasted into chunks.

Above, Frieza's hand stalled as he took aim at the next settlement. His eyes flared. Fuschia power surged around him, and he darted straight for the disturbance on the horizon…

"That did it," Nora sighed, chuckling weakly, then hacking roughly, spitting a wad of plum-colored ichor onto the sand. "Here he comes… Lie… go, you can still make i—"

"No! I won't leave you!" he said, taking her by the waist.

"Please…"

He said nothing, as they both felt the despot's power loom closer, like a meteor.

"Lie…" She leaned into him, shrinking against his chest. "I'm really sc-cared…"

He already knew. Her brave face wasn't necessary now the others couldn't see. He felt his own eyes growing warm.

"I hate this…!" she growled, purple tears running down her cheeks. "I don't wanna die…! This SUCKS! It SUCKS! SCREW THIS!"

She stomped the sand as she grit her teeth, the tears coming more and more as Lie Ren just held her.

There was a tremor, and they both stepped apart to face the point of impact. Dust blocked their sight, but they could feel what laid beneath the murk quite clearly.

With a burst of air, he was revealed, tiny red points burning through them. Nora hefted her hammer.

"Well if this isn't a fine 'good morrow,' " Frieza said, his voice dangerously low. "A plucky band of children indeed… Where is my Sword…?"

"Safe," Ren said. "And already beyond your reach, in another part of the world."

"In Vegeta's hands?" Frieza asked, a smile forming, even as his brow remained furrowed and deadly.

"Yes. Your fight is with us."

Frieza's eyes narrowed. "Yes… yes yes, I remember now… Mistral? Forgive me, you fleas scurry by and large beneath my notice. And yet I never quite forget a face."

He gave a brief chirp of mirth.

"Ah, well, naught to worry then… I can trust Vegeta as far as safeguarding his only path to immortality… And here I feared it was a third party…"

"Fear surrounds you," Lie Ren told him.

"Hmm?"

"Interesting to hear you reassure yourself. All your power, and the thing that dominates your soul… knowing that one day, your turn will come for a reckoning."

Frieza's leer turned all the sharper. And then he laughed, somehow a more dangerous sound…

"Ha! Well, while we're entertaining such insights, I suppose I shall note this goading as a means to draw my ire from the young lady…?"

Ren's nostrils flared, and his eyes grew steely.

"Oh, I see I'm correct," Frieza said, smile only broadening. "Curious, for having most certainly prompted this meet… You must think yourselves brave. Must know your fate is decided…"

"Y-you run your mouth," Nora hissed, coughing. "And that's coming from me!"

Frieza tilted his head. "Oh dear, what is your affliction, child? It looks quite miserable…"

"What's yours? You look like you're wearing black briefs on top a' the worst sunburn I've ever seen. Who literally boxed your e-ears? You polish that big purple hubcap on your head? Makes a great target…"

"Ah ha ha…" Frieza stepped closer. "I suppose your next jab will be at my feet? Have you any notion how many times I've entertained the same conversation, child? The defiant warrior, stalling me to the most acrimonious of ends. You think yourselves clever, special. Even as pawns to be taken, you justify this as a necessary step on the path to my fall."

Nora failed to suppress a cough, as Ren carefully edged his way closer to her.

Frieza lowered his voice. "This bravado is your own comfort… You suffer in vain. As it was for those of the last hundred worlds. None who live remember their plight. None will recall yours, when all is cinders."

"I d-dunno what's more painful," Nora said, "the venom in my veins, or your annoying froo froo voice all the time!"

"Oh? Is that your hinder? Was it that zealot devoted to the crone? The mad fellow with the sting?" Frieza chuckled. "And here you are, left behind to molder… how admirably cruel…"

Nora sneered. "I chose this."

"Mmm… Well, I'm afraid I've little time to indulge you… Before your every orifice exudes the boiled remains of your innards. It might even be of greater sadism to watch you wilt…"

None of them said anything for a while. Nora looked ghostly against the copper sands, her eyes bloodshot, though her veins were tar black…

"Hmm very well," Frieza sighed, an arm behind his back as he rubbed his first knuckles against his chest plate. "I suppose I've my creature comforts, same as any. Of course, my indulgences have consequences…"

Ren froze in shock as Nora, hammer aloft, advanced to stand almost nose to nose with him, looming down from the precious few inches that separated their height. He watched the complex maelstrom of emotion swirl around her.

"You just gonna TALK, shrimp?!" Nora demanded, before hopping back just a step and delivering an incredibly swift smash to the side of Frieza's head.

The air rattled with the blow, sand curling down the dune in a small flurry. For as exhausted as Nora Valkyrie seemed for just standing, her ferocity was as great as Ren had ever seen it.

But Frieza hadn't even flinched. Hadn't blinked. It wasn't that new to them, of course. They'd tried their strength against Vegeta, Oscar, Raven, and the result wasn't much different. And yet, the futility of it was still so draining to behold.

And so, Nora kept it up, crying out with every swing as she slammed Magnhild into his knee, directly against his horn… and yes, directly upon the plum-colored, gleaming armored membrane encompassing his skull.

The hammer was deflected as he stepped in, grasping her by the wrist as she struggled. But of course, it was fruitless.

"So many have come before my wrath willingly, you know?" Frieza told her. "This notion of self sacrifice, always so sure they'll remain stoic and dignified as they meet with a hero's end…"

Frieza's sharp nails squeezed into her wrist, and she groaned as his grip tightened… and tightened…

"A-Agh…! Let…!" Nora released one hand on the hammer, morphing it back into its launcher form. "G-Go ARGHHH!"

Plum-tinged blood oozed from under Frieza's nails as he squeezed tighter still.

"NORA! LET HER GO!" Ren leapt in, diving… as a thick tail shot out from nowhere and caught him across the collar, sending him into the dune as sand buried him deep.

Nora reached for his hand as Magnhild dropped into the grit, trying to pry it off as her eyes streamed and she grunted and cried out in pain.

"But the reality is," Frieza continued, his grin sharklike as his other hand brushed her fingers, "whatever the world, young or old, few are truly prepared for the realities of true agony."

His digits closed around her pointer finger. He bent it back with an awful SNAP.

"EEEEEEAARRGH! AAAUUGHH…!"

Nora's eyes were shut like a vice as she screamed, purple ichor running down her chin as she flailed, helpless.

Frieza let her fall, writhing onto her back. "This is pain. You'd best make a friend of it… I do wonder, in that state, can you hold your breath…?"

Nora whimpered as his foot planted on her belly, and begin submerging her under the sands.

"N-n…! H…!"

The sand covered her face as her unharmed hand failed, grabbing at his leg…

"STOOOOP!"

Ren exploded from the dune, streaking over as his green aura flickered scarlet. "KAIOKEN!"

Lie Ren's energy towered as he was awash with the dark red glow, streaking towards them.

With a blast of air from his hands, the dune around Frieza blasted away, leaving Nora exhumed to roll down the hill on her side, coughing out sand and ichor.

Automatic gunfire pounded Frieza's body like artillery, but once more he was a stone in a river, unmoved.

"I'm perplexed, boy… What part of this hasn't met your expectations? Did you hope to stall me until she succumbs? Or did you both pray for a quick death…?" He grinned, waving a welcoming hand down at Nora. "Grant it yourself then… A true test of valor! Spare her from me, in mercy's name…"

"L-Lie… No…"

Ren's eyes were full of furious tears as he looked down at her, full of conflict.

A pink spear shot through Nora's knee.

"Aughh!"

Ren saw red as he stormed between them, darting at Frieza, who didn't move as both of Stormflower's bayonets plunged into his collar.

But he watched, numb, as both of the green blades shattered on contact.

"Ah, young love," Frieza sighed, sinking a fist into his belly with such an impact that his back bulged, his pupils shrinking as his body bowed around the force. "It drives me to retch…"

His other fist raised to deal a savage backhand upon his head. Sand plumed as he was slammed through the next dune. The sieve below collapsed, causing the surrounding sands to drain into the vast underground with a constant hiss.

Nora held her perforated knee with shaking detachment as she felt after Ren. With a few heavy breaths, she pulled her finger straight again with a snap.

"RRRRHHHHHHGH…!"

Heaving, she reached, pulling Magnhild from the sand and morphing it back to its hammer form. Using its broad head as a crutch, she lifted back to her feet, favoring her better leg as she raised it to the sky.

Frieza watched in amusement as he heard the sky snap with current, and darken, before a smashing strike blinded the trough with blue. Nora cried out as her muscles creaked, black blood spurting from her knee. She crackled, ensconced in the blue gleam as she looked up at the villain.

"Okay…"

With a takeoff that began to collapse the dune, she charged up its slope, cresting the top, staring down at Frieza as she held Magnhild over her head, bringing it down like a meteor…

The entire top of the dune, or what was left of it, blasted out into a plume that fountained into the sky, high enough for all of Vacuo to see.

And yet, as Nora stood suspended in midair, a purple hand held the hammer back as she strained to reach him.

"Was that the last gasp then?" Frieza asked, head tilting. "I cannot say I expected more."

Magnhild was snatched from her hands, and—

"Ugh-UHNNN…!"

Nora Valkyrie's eyes shrank to dots as she heard and felt a rupture of flesh and a snapping of sinew. She couldn't even comprehend the sudden pain, the sickness, wrongness of everything… as she slowly stared down.

Her hammer's handle was sticking at least a foot out of her back, its top shoved into her belly… Blunt, thick, agonizing. Her teeth were slammed together. Every breath was a spasm that made her wince, her heart was hammering in her ears. She felt ready to fall apart completely.

"Perhaps this is premature," Frieza admitted, floating back as she let Nora fall to the floor far below. "But there's only so much enjoyment to be had from a broken toy…"

"NORA!"

Lie Ren burst out from the underground, charging Frieza with terror in his eyes.

There was a casual glare from Frieza as a pair of smoking holes burned into his shoulders, and he came crashing down.

Nora saw it, eyes streaming. Every breath was pain. She didn't know how she was still alive…

She stood to her knees, hands on the buried hilt, tremors across her body. Tears streamed as she tugged…

Frieza looked down, his mouth open in polite puzzlement. "Oh…?"

With a gurgling, sucking cry, she pulled Magnhild from her middle, black and plum draining down her, spurting as she took her weapon in both trembling hands.

"Kaioken…! T-TIMES…!" Her aura sputtered to life, wobbling, chaotic as she reared back. "ONE-MILLION!"

Against all reason, without a wit to her dwindling life, she was engulfed by the dark crimson fire. And she screamed.

"AUUUGHHAAAARGHAAAAAAANNNNNNG…!"

Her body contorted, muscles and bones creaking as she seemed to contort, winding like a spring, convulsing and shrieking… It was just like Goku…

Curiosity lining his expression, Frieza drifted to the ground before her, examining the phenomenon in amusement. "Now now, look what you've done to yourse—"

'*PAAAAAANG!*'

With a ring like a ten-thousand pound bell, Nora's limbs unwound in a snap, and Magnhild slugged Frieza across the face with such immense force the next dune was punched clear to the other side as though erased. Frieza was blown through, over miles of sand, to vanish into the crumbling formations of sandstone on the horizon with a spray of debris weighing tens of thousands of pounds.

Nora froze, quivering… smoking, as the head of Magnhild wobbled on its frayed steel. It gave up, snapped free to hit the sand with a thunk as she was left with naught but the bloodied handle.

"Ha… ha ha… G-get… bent…"

She slumped onto her side, shaded from the morning Sun. Her body seemed to almost glow.

"NORA!"

Lie Ren clawed over the sand as he leapt, rolled and heaved his way to her. She turned onto her back, offering a smile.

"H-hey," she said, weakly. "I think… th-that's all I got left. Not bad for a dummy with a hammer, huh?"

Before he could answer, she convulsed, choking, before snapping to something like clarity.

"Nora, don't talk! St-stay…!" he pleaded, taking her hand in his. "I love you…"

Her eyes narrowed. She smiled. "Lie… I lo… I love…"

She choked, rattled, convulsing in his grip. But at last, she came to a stop. Her hand clasped his. She took a breath. A tear left her eye. Her other hand lifted, finger extended. She brought it to his nose.

Her hand fell limp.

He watched her swirling with pink petals… her love, the strongest he'd ever felt… But then, bit by bit, the petals began to vanish. One, after another… until none remained.

And suddenly, that glow in her skin began to bloom, and bloom in pink. He watched her become… fuzzier. Her hand felt lighter… less substantial… until…

The wasting winds gusted, and tiny glowing specks, like embers or bubbles began to drift from her on the wind. Tiny flecks of pink light, like glitter or stars.

"Nora…! NORA!"

His hands sifted through, straining to hold onto some part of her as she drifted steadily away.

"NO-O…!" he bawled, his face pained as tears burst from his eyes, and he sucked the next breath through his teeth. "NOO-O-OOO!"

He was left, clutching naught but air to his chest as he shuddered. He could feel his heart tearing in half.

Matter and energy are always in flux, and if you're not careful… prolonged contact with that energy could reduce your bodies to energy as well.

He never could have fathomed that King Kai's words would be so haunting with hindsight. He was numb, as the splayed alien toes stomped into view without a word…

---

"Nora Valkyrie… eighteen… Oh, I'm sorry… Such an awful thing, so young…"

Mist. Mist and a vague, warm, woody smell, like mahogany. A flutter of paper.

"W-wha…?" She croaked, blinking, stumbling… Or did she? She couldn't feel the ground… Everything was in flux. "Where…?"

She stared around. She knew this place. A massive interior… the desk, helmed by a great, huge red ogre, busy turning pages in a —relatively— small book.

"Orphaned at seven… Took the loss and turned it into aspirations for a 'Huntress' career. Defended others against an unexpected attack… Chose to defend another school from the same fate with no prompting…"

"Um… Mister…?"

"Hold on, now, just a little patience my dear… Faced and escaped Frieza? Not many who can say that… Helped mount an effort to stop his invasion, liberated a faunus labor camp, and sacrificed your life to draw Frieza's attention away from bystanders." Yemma clapped the book shut in one hand. "Hmm! Frieza's presence in the West Galaxy is distressing, to say the least… but it's good to know such valorous warriors are there to oppose him. It's an open and shut case, my girl. A few indiscretions, but it's clear where you belong… And as such a noble warrior, obviously you'll keep your body."

He steepled his fingers. "Now then, no point keeping you. If you need to visit any non-warriors, just flag down an ogre. Flights leave for Heaven regularly. Peace be with you…"

Nora didn't even have a moment to ask as the world filtered around her, and she finally felt the solid ground under her feet. Maybe she hadn't HAD feet until then?

Marble buildings, pink skies, golden clouds smeared across the curved horizon. Lush green grass and boughs…

She pinched her wrist, looked over herself. She stared up—

"Oh my god…"

A ring, golden and misty, inches above. She waved her hand through it, disrupting it like smoke, before it reformed moments later. A halo…

I really died…

"Oh! Oh no…!"

She turned, the voice ringing in her head as she faced its owner.

"Nora… I came as soon as I heard… I'm sorry…"

She gasped. It was really…

---

Ruby awoke in her father's arms. Home. Everyone else was pacing, watching the West. Everyone but Zwei, who sniffed her with a whine. Goku was watching through the window. She reached for her belt, stood up instantly.

"Ruby!"

"The Sword?! Is it—?"

"I have it, Miss Rose."

She turned to see Oscar and Ozpin, the latter still staring at the blue and gold blade.

Nobody was talking. Eyes were downcast.

"We really just… left them… No…"

"I hate to tell you all," King Kai said, discomfort laden in his voice, "but there's… a knock at the door."

"Door?" Bulma asked.

"The portal," Raven said, striding over as she swept a hand over. The black and red mist cleared into a window, through which they could see—

There were gasps. Taiyang stood bolt upright, finally setting eyes on the true threat that gripped their world with his jaw agape.

Frieza stood, peering in, his smirk widening as he finally caught sight of them.

"What an idyllic spot… Rather domestic trappings for you, Vegeta."

"Frieza…!" Vegeta growled. "Boy, the shield is still strong?"

"I… yes…"

Raven widened the portal, allowing them to stand virtually face to face with him… and revealed the forlorn vision of Lie Ren, held by his neck from the villain's tail.

"No!"

"Let him go!"

"REN!"

Frieza chuckled. "Oh, I would happily release the lad. Let me bring him to you, boy… Your vexing barrier disallows this. If I cannot… well… I can certainly still make the attempt…"

Ren was slammed against the shield. Weiss and Bulma shrieked.

"G-guys… Shut it…" Ren groaned. "Leave me!"

"Where's Nora?!" Yang demanded. "What did you do, you son of a bitch?!"

"Oh, the girl…" Frieza droned. "Overdid it, I'm afraid she won't be joining us. Honestly, I'm surprised it matters to you, having abandoned them so…"

There was a wavering whistle, and several people landed behind him.

"Lord Frieza!" Ginyu uttered, bowing.

Ozpin raced forward. "Jól! Why are you…?"

"There it is!" Ginyu cried. "The Sword! Fork it over, you brat!"

"Jól, it's me! Professor Ozpin! What's happened to you…?"

"Ginyu?" Vegeta grunted. "Ha! Found a way off your lily pad, have you?"

Ozpin, Qrow and Raven stared at him.

"What are you on about?" Qrow demanded. "That's the Winter Maiden."

"Not anymore," Vegeta explained. "Ginyu is one of his greatest lieutenants. He can swap bodies, so clearly your Maiden has been misplaced."

Ozpin paled. "What…?!"

"It's SHE now, monkey!" Ginyu snapped. "Or, I suppose always was."

"Like I give a shit."

"Mercury, where the hell is Emerald?" they heard the voice ask beyond the portal. Neo's ears perked up as she strode closer and closer.

"I can't find her, she won't answer the damn scroll."

"Cinder," Ruby whispered, as Frieza sneered.

"Quiet! All of you… There's an exchange to be made."

Ren groaned as the tail wrapped tighter around his throat, choking as he clawed at the muscular mass.

"I'll make this simple. Return the blade and the boy goes free."

"No deal," Vegeta said without hesitating. "But it's nice to see you squirm, Frieza…"

A pair of knuckles struck the small of Ren's back. His eyes bulged open as blood spurted from the back of his throat.

"But I wasn't speaking to you, oh prince of dregs… I'm speaking to the boy."

"STOP! JUST STOP IT!" Weiss shrieked, tears running down her face.

"You COWARD!" Bulma added, shrinking into Taiyang, who could only watch in dread at the sight of the awful alien in the flesh.

"Ren! Hold on!" Blake pleaded.

"One of the JNPRs?" Cinder muttered. "Is that luck or kismet?"

"Just stop this," Jaune asked, looking beaten as a dog. "You've taken ONE life, isn't that ENOUGH?!" His voice broke, tears running down his face.

"I merely broker a deal, you fragile thing. But I would not count the girl as my doing. Damaged goods at best…"

"SHUT UP!" Jaune snapped.

Frieza leered. Then another two jabs struck Ren in the sides. "Know your betters, boy! One more outburst of that sort and I'll wrench off his long-tressed head. I tire of this stalling! Lower the shield, or he dies screaming!"

"I…"

"Jaune!" Yang warned.

Vegeta snatched his hair, tugging his head back to meet his eyes. "Don't you dare! The boy is lost, you can't be such a fool!"

But Jaune couldn't keep Vegeta's gaze. He caught the pink eyes of Ren, seeking his.

Still gripping the tail throttling him, Ren's lip quivered as his head gave the slightest nod. His free arm crossed his chest, the underside of his clenching fist tight over his heart.

Lie Ren shut his eyes. Jaune's mouth went dry.

"EAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGG—!"

All eyes turned to Ren as he cried out, aura flaring red as the Kaioken engulfed him.

"What?!" Frieza cried in surprise, blinking… before the portal was engulfed in an ear-splitting blast.

"RE-EN!"

"No!

"What happened?! What did he just…?!"

Thanks to Jaune's shield, not a whiff of the blast snuck through, but ultimately, the smoke and sand cleared, leaving the group on the other side backed off several paces in surprise.

Frieza himself had barely leaned away, coated in soot as his teeth bared.

"Fool…!"

It was nothing but shock. Even Vegeta was stunned. "He… blew himself up…?!"

Krillin sagged. "Rather than force us to make the choice…"

"NO-O-O…!" Weiss sobbed.

"Damn it!" Yang cried.

"REN…!"

"G-gone…" Jaune croaked. "They're all gone… I failed ALL of them…!" He bowed his head, clutching the grass, weeping into the dirt…

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

Gohan stormed to the front, slamming his fist into the shield through the portal, again and again and again. Frieza could only leer.

"Where is that then?" Frieza hissed. "The Mistral continent? Or could that be Vale? I see the Sun is quite higher…"

"Looks like Vale," Cinder said, finally stepping fully into view, before leaning down, hands on her knees as she examined Gohan. "Oh, I remember you…! I thought you were a Maiden… No, you're something VERY different, aren't you?"

Neo edged into view, scowling, furious tears budding in her eyes. She stared at Cinder… at Frieza…

"Neo…?" Cinder breathed, surprise lining her face. "Well this is a surprise… I did wonder what happened to the two of you. How did you come to align with Ozpin?"

The ground seemed to shake as Neopolitan's teeth ground together. She quivered, her fists clenched. All around the cabin, pink, chaotic constructs surged into being.

"The hell is she doing?!" Qrow demanded, stepping away as the air filled with the strange, three dimensional static.

And in one vast burst, it all went white and vanished as she fainted.

"Dramatic," Cinder said, brow cocked.

Gohan's rage broke as he turned to catch her, and Ruby finally strode over, numb with worry and sorrow.

"Ruby…"

She looked up as Cinder locked eyes, her mouth parting, before she settled into a pleasant smile.

"Of course YOU would helm such a heist," Cinder laughed. "I'm sorry I missed it. I see we've both been busy."

Ruby froze, trying to process it. It didn't sound like a taunt. If anything, it sounded… oddly sincere, like two old friends running into each other. She had no idea what this was…

"Ah!" Frieza intoned in sudden interest. "Yes, yes, this is the one who vexed young Cinder so… The cherub too small for her skirt…"

"When does it end, Frieza…?" she asked at last, a shake in her voice.

"What's that? Speak up, child."

"Ruby…!" Qrow and Taiyang croaked at once, terrified, despite the shelter of Jaune's shield.

Ruby faced him squarely, those awful red eyes boring into hers…

"When will you be satisfied? How many more people have to die?! How many worlds do you need to end, or own, before you can hang it up and let people be…?!"

"I'm afraid I don't understand the question, my dear," Frieza said, his grin returned. "Satisfied? I merely take ownership of that which is already mine by right. Must I be satisfied with less than I am entitled?"

"Entitled…? To worlds other people already—?"

"A god does not concern itself with ants that would impede him… I will arise to the station to which I am suited, immortal as to align with my boundless might."

His head tilted dangerously. "And you are standing in the way."

"Y-you just… don't care… Your whole life, what you live for, what you want… it's so hollow," Ruby stammered, shaking her head, not sure if she should hate or pity the thing before her. "Just to keep living, to keep taking, spreading, KILLING, until everything is just YOU… There's nothing in your soul…"

Frieza rolled his eyes. "I take it we're at an impasse? Unless you have any more pearls of perfunctory wisdom…"

"You're not a god, Frieza," Ruby told him, shaking. "And you never will be."

Taiyang felt himself growing faint as his daughter exchanged barbs with a being that could raze Kingdoms. Only Bulma supported him as his knees shook. Meanwhile, Team RWBY moved in slowly to back her up, though they seemed more interested in how this verbal battle would end than joining in themselves.

"As impotent a response as would be expected of a churl," Frieza droned. "Immortal or not, a flea like yourself could never appreciate the difference, could you? I wonder, what did you think of my Colony One? A much quieter, far more compliant place now."

"You mean scared… empty. You robbed them of their culture, color, their soul… Is that how every world of yours is…?"

Frieza huffed. "Scurrying vermin, incapable of appreciating an enclosure sanitized, ordered! You'd all prefer to wallow in your own filth and muck, heedless of your own pestilence!"

Ruby felt her heart pound, every sight of misery they'd experienced flashing in her mind's eye. "How dare you act like it's for our good…?! Everything has been changed to cater to YOU!"

"I've yet to hear why it should not…" Frieza said, eyes shut as he smirked.

"What's your plan when you get too big? When you have to deal with real gods? What happens when you meet Beerus?"

His eyes flared open. He stared a hole into the sky.

"Where have you heard that name, miss…?"

But he froze. It was like he hadn't seen her properly before, as he examined her closely.

"What… did you say your name was, girl?"

She didn't shy away. She let him look. "I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."

He didn't react to the name, only continuing to scan her features.

And then his eyes flared. "Ruby… Rose…"

A predatory smile crossed his face. She felt a chill. What was he doing?

"Y-yes? What?"

His smile only widened. "A rose by any other name… still stunning for its thorns…"

"I… I don't…"

"What are you up to, freak?" Vegeta demanded.

"Cinder," Frieza called, his voice oily.

"Lord Frieza?" she asked, as curious and surprised as any of them.

"You can summon her, correct?"

Cinder smiled. "Yes… It seems they've purged this place of Grimm… but not entirely…"

She reached for her left arm, thumb pressing into the bony black…

"RAVEN! SHUT IT!" Qrow shouted.

Without a word, Frieza's hungry leer vanished. But not before something squealed from the trees.

They all looked to see something watching them on two legs. A Grimm, insignificant, its tar-black legs twitching. A creep.

The air by it split down the middle, and bit by bit, it tore open into a black door frame.

Every one of them took aim, but Vegeta was fastest, blasting the mouth of the portal as the Creep was obliterated. Trees surrounding it split and fell, but something stirred behind the smoke as they watched with bated breath.

"Here again…?" she asked, her shape a silhouette. "What a rare thing… Though I do feel rather… unappreciated."

Salem stepped through. They were all keen and alert. Weiss and Blake noticed something come over the Xiao Long clan. The earthlings saw STRQ and Ozpin frown, analyze. To be fair, so were they, but…

Salem peered around the compound, the house. Her red eyes flashed over to the Sword, only for a moment. And its holder.

"Ozpin… or however you go by this time… How many lifetimes since we met like this? The dual form is new…"

Oscar looked over to the double of himself Ozpin occupied. Both were frozen, but Ozpin's face paled. He could feel it too, nagging at his mind…

"No…"

Salem swept by, train trailing the ground.

Gohan saw Ruby drop to one knee. He twisted to look at her face. Her silver eyes were huge... her mouth, hung open… Tears trailed down her face.

Finally, Yang, her face ghostly, said it outright. "Why…? Why do you have her VOICE?!"

Salem smiled. "It's not the homecoming you expected, is it Yang…?"

"Summer…!" Qrow croaked. "No, god damn it, NO…!"

"Nor the reunion of Team STRQ you expected…"

For the rest of them, it finally clicked. Bulma turned to Taiyang's ghostly visage. Then back to Salem, trying to reconcile the angelic face in the photos with this corpse-like phantom.

"M-mom…?!" Ruby squeaked, staring into those red eyes. The hair was all wrong. Gaunt features, harsh, veins black and face white… and yet she could see her underneath it all.

Taiyang's hand covered his mouth as he stared, but flashed back to his daughters, who shared in this heartbreak.

Ozpin remembered it clearly. Hazel had said it…

I see… the Silver Eyed girl. You… destroyed her kin no less than mine… if only she could know what fate you resigned her mother to…

I think you know… deep down… I think you've always suspected…

I think if you're absent such fears, you'll find them quite… founded…

Ruby, meanwhile, could only hear Tyrian's words rattling in her mind.

I AM HER PERFECT INSTRUMENT! AND YOU, HER PUPPET! YOU CANNOT DENY YOUR DESTINY!

It all struck her at once.

That's why Salem wants me alive… That's why Mom never came home… She needs human hosts.

Why had it never occurred to her, or any of them to wonder just who Salem was possessing this time?

"Taiyang," Salem said, the voice of Summer Rose twisted with a harshness that was heartbreaking to the Xiao Long patriarch. "I think I was more than fair to your family. You served as an obstacle, you defied me. And yet, you lost your fire."

She glanced over at Yang, who was still frozen, tears budding.

"I took pity on you. I did not seek reprisal for your part, spared you… Yet here you are, harboring the seeds of defiance in your garden again."

"I-I'm… going to protect my family," Tai said, standing his ground.

"Well you've done everything wrong to that end…"

Yang stepped between them. "What the hell are you talking about?! You're mad people want to stand in your way, because you want to kill the world?!" Yang's eyes ran. "Summer left to save her family FROM YOU! Your people came in and killed OUR friends at Beacon! Your stupid inferiority complex doesn't give you a right to our lives!"

Yang heaved her breaths as Salem just watched, pitiless. Taiyang and Krillin both backed her. Qrow stepped closer, his long legs wobbling, as did Bulma, who felt ashamed not to try supporting them.

"O-or HER life…! GIVE HER BACK!"

Summer's brow rose. She gave a tired smile. "Very well. Take her…"

"W-what…?"

All of them were puzzled. Vegeta beheld it all with wary bemusement. Weiss, Blake and Jaune's necks were growing sore, snapping between Ruby and the mounting crowd around the corrupted Summer Rose. Raven might have been made of stone.

But then, inky smoke, like a swarm of hornets, lifted, streamed away from Summer to cloud the air above them. It swirled there, as the shell of Summer Rose wobbled and collapsed to her knees.

They were all wary, but as they watched… white hair returned to a faded red. Milky skin pinkened, though the veins remained. Red eyes turned Silver again…

"Y-Yang… Tai…"

Gentleness returned to her voice, almost unrecognizable from the harsh, worldly lilt of Salem. Higher, almost bouncy, youthful.

"Careful!" Krillin shouted. "This could be a trick…!"

"I-I don't care…" Yang warbled, sliding to her knees to give her surrogate mother an arm.

"Yang… my little dragon…" Summer Rose rasped, a frail hand taking her left. "Oh… What happened to your arm…?"

"I-I'm good, Mom… I-It's alright. It's…"

Yang was overwhelmed. Her eyes squeezed shut as Summer's arm wrapped around her.

"You're so grown up… I missed everything. You look just like her…"

Yang shuddered in gasping tears. She was a child again. It was like the years between were just a dream.

"R-Ruby…!"

The child of the Rose shuddered to hear the call.

"Little Rosebud…"

Ruby Rose was given wings. It was no distance at all, and yet she felt every inch of separation, until she'd damn near tackled her mother like they might merge into one.

"Mom!"

"Ruby…"

"I-I-I waited…! I gave up…! But I knew you were there…" Ruby confided, shaking and squeaking in sobs.

Summer weaved fingers through Ruby's hair, and the young reaver only sobbed harder, as over a decade of deep-rooted sorrow fountained up from places Ruby Rose forgot she still had.

"I'm so sorry, I… tried to ensure you wouldn't fight our—"

"Mom, i-it's… we know," Yang said, squeezing harder.

"Y-you tried…!" Ruby managed, her voice barely holding together. "I know you had t-to try…! I-it's alright!"

This time, it was Summer who couldn't hold back her spilling tears. "So long, trapped in the back of her mind… hoping to hear that… that you'd understand… that you could ever forgive me…"

"I love you, Mom…"

"You've been so strong… And I know what you've done. Cinder… Tyrian… You've been a little nightmare," Summer laughed, breathless. "Tai… you've done this all alone… Look at them… Our perfect girls…"

Taiyang choked, he couldn't stop it anymore. "Y-yeah…!" His voice caught in his throat. He took a breath. "Q-Qrow too… H-he never left their…"

"Qrowley…" Summer looked past to lock eyes with him. The font of misfortune couldn't find the words, just nodding. "I knew I could trust you…"

The Branwen son felt a choke, his eyes glassy. He hadn't heard Summer's pet name Qrowley since…

She took a breath, several breaths, growing weaker by the word. "R-Ruby, you need to know… sh-she wants your—"

"I-I know…" Ruby managed, rubbing her eye. "I'm her next… body."

The Xiao Long family felt a chill as they heard it. They stared up at the swirling mass that was Salem.

"We won't let that happen!" Yang said, more to Salem than anything else.

Summer shook her head. "R-Ruby, there's so much… She's… She's not what you think… And… the plant… The Dust… she's… she…"

"Dust…?" Ozpin repeated, utterly thrown.

But Summer grew all the more frail by the moment.

"W-wait! NonononoNO!" Yang cried.

"MOM!" Ruby shrieked, supporting her as she felt Summer's heart rate waning.

"Sh-she's…! What's wrong?! SUMMER!" Tai cried, terrified to lose her all over again.

"SUMMER!" Raven cried at last, tears in her eyes. "I… I'm sorry! For everything…! I was wrong! I know it now! I was WRONG!"

But before anything else could happen, the literal dark cloud descended. Ruby found herself staring into the face of Salem.

They backed off, as a family, as the witch stood up with no sign of her vessel's prior weakness.

"I'm sorry to sully such a… tender moment," Salem said, taking a breath. "I'm afraid she's been mine too long to persist without me. As a host, she's worn down. I'm in need of another…"

Yang and Tai formed ranks around Ruby… and then half of the household joined in.

Salem hummed. "No, not now. You may be at ease for the moment. I'm not so desperate as to wrest Rose, nor Relic from this rabble. Dear Ozpin knows full well… my ways are far subtler than that."

Oscar and Ozpin watched in utter uselessness. It was all too much.

Salem began to stride back to the treeline, more for the symmetry of it than any real need.

"But make no mistake… I will have you, girl. And the Relics. This course was set further back than your earliest inkling. Your new friends, that Frieza… An amusing wrinkle… but of no consequence. It is inevitable, the end of your ilk. All this you shall witness…"

"Wait wait!" Krillin cried finally, passing Goku by the window, who watched in silence. "This is all wrong! You and humanity don't need to be enemies!"

"I believe humanity made it quite clear that we cannot coexist."

"That was then! You can stop this NOW!"

Salem turned. "I know. And I will."

Yang finally found it in her to stand.

"Your father was taken from you… How could you do that to someone else?!"

The portal opened, yawning black as Salem's red eyes glowed. "Don't speak of my past like you know, you mayfly… you flickers in the dark of eons. Your kind knows nothing of loss, of isolation. Your fleeting existence, your pains are a pale, insincere imitation. And yet your cruelties, boundless… I've nothing more to say to you…"

She turned, stepping toward the portal.

"Stop!"

Ruby almost couldn't bear the sight of Salem, wearing her mother's body and soul. But she jolted as she said it.

"DOYADANO!"

Salem froze. It was quicker than if Ruby had used her Silver Eyes. She turned, looking over her shoulder, saying nothing. Her face was a cipher.

"His name… Do you remember his name…?"

Salem stood, a step from the portal, far longer than simple bafflement might explain. Finally, she drew herself straight. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She turned away.

"Use your time well. As always, it is against you."

Salem stepped through. She had done virtually nothing, and yet the wounds left in her wake were the sort that might never heal.

---

Cinder Fall finally used her scroll to track Emerald's. It was at Shade. The school courtyard was still in shambles from the collapsed dining hall. The headmaster's office wasn't much better off.

She opened the dorm room door. "Emerald?".

But Cinder only had to take a few steps in to see the scroll, and the wrinkled, folded note left on the bed.

Her heels clicked as she crossed the room in a few quick strides. She picked up the note. Her eye scanned line after line. She frowned… and that frown softened the further she got.

In fact, her frown inverted. She winced, planted herself on the edge of the bed.

By the end, she just stared, the fire in her gaze gone out.

Her thumbs began to burn the edges, but after a moment, a breath of frost put it out again. Cinder folded the note, pocketed it. She stared out the window, into the arid horizon.

---

Cinder,

By the time you're reading this, I'll be gone from Shade. From Vacuo. From Salem, and ESPECIALLY from Frieza.

I tried confiding what I thought, and you almost killed me for it. But you're wrong about him. I hate the Kingdoms, but none of this will end the way you hope. Salem and Frieza will throw us away the moment they have what they want. Both are using you, and you won't see it.

I owe you everything. I meant it when I said I love you. And because I do, I'm doing the only thing that can save you now! Even if it means fighting you from the other side.

I'm joining the only people who can help you, who have a shot at stopping Frieza. I'm joining Ozpin and those Beacon kids.

I know you won't see it that way. I'm probably dead to you now. But I want you to know, even if this ends with my throat cut by your hand, I'll never give up on you!

This is where we part ways, for now. I hope the next time we meet isn't also the last.

Emerald

ps: (I wrote this before this morning. When you said you wanted to be better, I believed you. I still do. I'm worried that leaving will send the wrong message, but in the end, your change of heart is driving me even harder to pull you away from that. Because now, I have SOME hope that you'll listen.)

Emerald Sustrai adjusted the strap of her pack as she stopped for a moment at a hill on the edge of the desert. She looked back to where she'd left Vacuo behind. She'd follow the coast most of the way.

Her new quilted white leather jacket wasn't much for Vacuo's weather, but where she was going, it was probably for the best that she tried to separate herself from the old look. Out there, she was a criminal after all. At least the white reflected the Sun.

A strong part of her wanted to go back, make an excuse, and burn that letter before Cinder or anyone else found it. But she knew, in her heart of hearts, there was no going back.

---

In the dusty neighborhood, the two orphan children raced off with a surprising lightness in their stride. One of them paused at the sight of a clothesline, laundry hung out, forgotten. She snatched a faded red sheet, draping it over her head, tying it around her neck. It fluttered, trailing behind her as she ran.

---

A/N: Hehehe… You never wondered who she was, did you?

Well, ONE of you did, and you know who you are.

More on that later, but… yeesh, it really HAS been a while, hasn't it? Hopefully this is worth it. Downer ending, yeah, but…

---

Firstly, Transposition F has a RWBY/DBZ Discord, and has for a long time, but here's the code anyway.

TPrSvY9

With things in RWBY being what they are, we fans need to stick together. Come on in, make some friends, watch some movies! We have fun.

I've got something special for you guys this time around!

Transposition F infrequently has scenes built around music and songs, with timing or specific deliveries.

It bothered me for a long time that I couldn't really get this sort of thing across the way I wanted to. These setpieces are usually imagined with a visual medium in mind, and being constrained to the written word is a source of frustration for me.

Well, while animation is still a bit beyond my reach, for now, audio sequences are finally something I can give you alongside chapters!

How is this? Well, I've actually had the ability to do this for a while, but until a few months ago I didn't have the library to do most of the scenes I want to. Now, there's very little I CAN'T do.

If you haven't guessed, I'm talking about AI voice models.

Wait, hold up, come back!

I know there's a pushback happening these days against AI generation, and if I were just running lines through a text-to-speech generator, you'd have a cogent point.

But think of it more like a filter, or the audio equivalent of motion capture. I have to do my own vocal performance, and the model can only do so much for me. I have to speak in the same tonality and rhythm of each individual character. And no lie, it sounds HILARIOUS to hear me affecting my voice to sound like Ruby or any number of characters so that the AI processes it authentically.

Why not just hire REAL voice actors, J-Dude?

I've tried that in the past. For fan projects, it's an organizational nightmare. This stuff can take a long time to crystallize, and people you're not paying can be fickle with their time and attention. Not everyone has the same microphone, or good quality equipment… I'm NOT making money from this story, and even paid, VA's who can mimic a specific voice… it's rare.

At one point I had KRWBY Productions offering to voice my material, but they've dissolved now.

Basically, this is the only reliable way I can achieve this. I'm not trying to rob anyone, and I think I'm a decent actor. Believe me, I've sunk more of my money into paying freelancers and equipping myself than I could DREAM of profiting from. This is a labor of love.

To FIND these audio scenes, just go to YouTube!

Search up "JJMDude" to find my channel, or search up the following sequences.

" Ginyu Karaoke Night"

More on these guys later, but I was so jazzed about having a replacement Ginyu Force that I wanted to do something that bothered me for a while.

The only English version of the famous "Tokusentai!" song is… bad. Not incorrectly translated, but rather, accurately translated to the point of being stiff, awkward, not rhyming, stretching or cramming words.

The replacement Ginyus gave me an excuse to try my hand at doing the song with my own characters, but keeping the basic spirit of the original. Plus, the novelty of the characters sniping at each other between lines for fun.

I'm not a strong singer, and you can tell, but it's Karaoke, so being scuffed makes sense. I liked this result enough to put part of it into the chapter proper to help introduce them.

" TeamSpeak"

This was my first REAL stress test, with so many characters in the same scene, and despite Sun and Velvet being kinda rough (and Yatsuhashi just being my own voice with pitch shifting), I feel like this seriously pops off. It starts off at the end of the Schweinlins fight to the sewer scenes.

This is unlike the others, because it's not timed around music. The music is purely a use of leitmotifs and mixes of DB, RWBY and a few other tracks I used to give Carmine a theme of her own.

This one I insisted on doing because voice selection is so important here. I feel like in a purely text-based environment, pointing out how unexpected Neo's voice sounds gets pretty much ignored compared to her personality coming through her words.

This scene takes advantage of the things the text can't on its own. Carmine, as mentioned before, uses Tara Strong's voice. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it almost sounds like an original performance she might actually give, distinct from the model's origin.

Fox only speaks in the CVFY books, and I saw an opportunity. If you also watch Camp Camp, you know Rooster Teeth has had Dante Basco (the voice of Zuko from Avatar) on speed dial for a while now, and the Venn Diagram of voices who appear in both shows is pretty wide.

For the life of me, I could never understand how they resisted having one of the big five from Avatar in RWBY, even as a cameo. RWBY takes a lot of inspiration from Avatar and plainly looks up to it. So if they won't, I will! I think Dante's voice works great for Fox, and it was fun to voice him. I kinda have to do an almost Brooklyn accent, which is interesting, since he doesn't SOUND like that.

Lastly is Neo. I'll go into giving her a voice PERIOD in the breakdown later, but the casting of a certain Sarah Silverman performance turned out remarkably well in coupling with her personality. A really solid model.

" Battle of the Rose"

(Coming soon, too many delays; just editing)

Another music-based scene, basically the portion where Ruby gets to fully unload and kick ass. The track of the (basically) same title is not from RWBY, but I felt like it matched the atmosphere I wanted. A last hurrah before things delved further and further into darkness and sorrow for the remainder of the chapter.

There's no voice model for Tyrian, so this is one of the few voices I do myself, just a microphone and my own two lungs. And believe me, if I couldn't at least get it in the ballpark, I wouldn't bother. I had to do Ren's lines myself because his model wasn't equipped to raise his voice at all.

If I ever can animate this sequence one day… Well, any sequence, but for now, enjoy the sound effects and the vibe.

These are JUST the beginning, and if you check in on the regular, I VERY much plan to go back and adapt scenes from prior chapters.

---

Eh… We have some business on the docket first. A lot of things happened since Chapter 23 came out, so down to "current events."

Let's do this in order.

RWBY/Justice League Part 2

Mmm… Tradeoffs with this one. A bit of a mess, honestly. I enjoyed it, but I can't pretend it's as good as part 1 was. It solved the issue of the battles taking places in boring places, but… yeah, Watts being the villain… On one hand, nice to feature Sabat more, especially since he basically never interacts with RWBY in the series proper. Ruby decking him in the face is a clip for the ages. But it was also the most obvious and boring choice they could have made. Dr. Merlot actually gets name-dropped, but that's it.

The fights and character interactions were fine. My biggest problem was not finishing Watts off (I'm guessing in case of sequels?) and just how the hell he and Killgore were doing what they were doing. Okay, Watts digitally backed himself up, fine… Now he's altering Grimm to be worse and releasing them across the whole DC Earth… how? Are they robots? Is it genetic engineering? There's some stuff about simulations, and…

Admittedly I'm operating on my ONE time watching it, months and months after the fact, but I remember feeling like Watts was practically a reality warper, and I couldn't grasp the how or the why.

Maybe I just need to see it again, but… it's harmless.

Akira Toriyama, and Rooster Teeth

What a week… Two days from each other. I think as big fans of Dragonball AND RWBY, this was the strangest precision shotgun blast of grief and misery aimed at us specifically. What's that subreddit? Fuck you in particular? It certainly felt that way.

But enough about that…

I've never felt a particular kinship with Akira Toriyama, and given his age, I never thought this was something we'd be seeing in a long time. Now that it's happened, I'm shocked at how much more Dragonball means to me, how certain lines hit harder. The outpouring of the Internet was the sort of thing I haven't seen in a long time.

This man changed everything, almost casually. Dragonball feels like this by-its-pants make-it-up-as-you-go opus that managed to be revolutionary. Not without its problems, but it inspired EVERYTHING going forward.

Knowing he's gone?

Rereading Chapter 16 of this story feels different now that BOTH Akira and Monty are gone, the basis for Dehadikeh and Doyadano. It's the kind of parity I never asked for, but… well, I'm gonna do my best to make lemonade of this situation.

I've heard people suggest that my dedication to Chris Ayres should now include Akira, and as much as I understand that, I feel like that's an awkward and uneven thing to do. If I did that, I feel I'd have to do that for Monty years and years after the fact.

The dedication to Chris is purely a personal matter in respect to THIS story, because of how principal Frieza and his performance in particular is to its very existence.

As for Rooster Teeth…

Ugh… I'm not surprised at this outcome. I basically resigned myself to this after Volume 10 wasn't immediately greenlit. It was a bad omen, but to date with the company shuttered, I haven't lost hope that RWBY can survive this with another company. Who knows, maybe this will be a blessing in disguise? Supposedly the buyers are cool with CRWBY staying together, meaning for better or worse the series wouldn't lose its soul.

I guess we'll see.

My primary concern is preserving RWBY for future generations. I've already bought a V1-6 blu ray just in case, but it would break me if RWBY became lost media, available nowhere but torrents. I'm already uncomfortable knowing the select pieces of RWBY merch I own are effectively ungettable now with the RT store closed, aside from Ebay.

But… that's all depressing.

Volume 9 Beyond

Getting the full animatic, upsetting to hear things like Vale getting wiped-out off screen, but it's interesting to hear things like the Asturias twins apparently set to be fully canon and the next disciples of Salem… Y'know, since she's definitely running low after Volume 8. I bet that would extend to include Carmine in V10.

As to the shorts…

Deeply interesting to see Raven and the as of yet not-revealed Summer Maiden in Vacuo, and hey, I'm pretty sure she's not based on The Little Mermaid, so scooped 'em so far.

That said, HOLY SHIT, Sun and Neptune, people are DEAD! Knock it the hell off and stop harassing people who are mourning!

As to the "Junior Detectives" thing… *Ahem.* Vegeta-as-voiced-by-Lanipator?

"IT'S NOT FUNNY! IT'S NEVER BEEN FUNNY! IT'S NEVER GONNA BE FUNNY!"

No, seriously, even back in sacred Volume 2, the Junior Detectives thing was weaksauce, and they were always my least-enjoyed Chibi sketches.

The Jaune and Oscar one was fine. The Somewhat one was cute, and of course teases someone who is probably Neo returning via portal.

Of course, that strong part of me wants to believe it's Penny somehow, despite the fact that Somewhat seems familiar with whoever it is, and they never met Penny.

But then, the portal looks like the sort Ambrosius created, which muddies things a lot. Dunno.

What I DO know is that I'm extremely torn about how entirely snubbed Penny has been. At once, it's comforting to NOT see Pietro or hear the RWBY/JL movie talk about her. I was positive RWBY Beyond would go over the crew left in Atlas after V8 making their way to Vacuo, which would mean seeing Pietro dealing with the fallout. They didn't, so I don't have to have my heart ripped out in one hand…

…On the other? It feels like Penny's been thrown the fuck away and forgotten as hastily as possible. And every moment I see Winter propped up as the Winter Maiden, I feel unreasonably angry.

My friend was insightful in explaining that anger. That it felt like Penny was used as a stepping stone to further WINTER'S development, that she was meant to have the power long enough for Winter to be made worthy of it, and then bend the knee.

Yeah. I find Penny doesn't haunt me as constantly these days as she used to (operative word being "as" )so that's progress, I guess? I'm still resolute in my goals though. More on that in a sec.

Oh, and the Boba thing was cute. I like seeing things like Ruby getting recognized for the message, as the martyr and heroin that helped to deliver the people of Atlas from annihilation. Go figure, I love Ruby, I'm in Yang's camp here.

Moving forward

No matter what fate RWBY is met with, I'm as resolute as ever. Hopefully it's clear after this chapter, but I'm playing the long game, I've BEEN playing the long game, and I'm not about to stop any time soon.

I know some people lament how immense these chapters can be and how long it takes me to make them, but you guys should know by now that I'm slow but consistent. My releases are content bombs. And it's not about to end any time soon.

---

Oh my glob, we're only JUST NOW getting to the breakdown?

This is gonna kill me…

So we start with Emerald and Cinder as very nearly our bookend. Cinder has a new outlook on life. She's practically a new person.

Cinder's story has been a lock for a long time, but I'll confess this is a newer idea of mine. It occurred to me that regardless if you could feel BAD for Cinder after Chapter 20, she was still this petulant, entitled, vile thing. Having Frieza call her on that seemed like a good move, picking out her worst qualities and showing he doesn't respect this part of her. Anything less would impugn Frieza's standards.

The thing is, villains have flaws by definition, and you can have a selfish sadist, sure. Frieza is a perfect example of that. But Cinder's brand isn't fun or imposing. She's too off-step to justify her arrogance. Frieza points out this childishness, and I realized… if Cinder didn't TRY to change in some way, it wouldn't make sense. She wouldn't rise in Frieza's esteem, not realistically.

So, hearing such a devastating teardown of her character, from Frieza himself? It's about the only thing that could force her to actually sit down and do some soul searching.

And what she found should terrify you.

Volume 8 tried to have Cinder humble herself, but it was only an act to deceive others. Which is why it didn't work. Her actually changing would be interesting, but it all vanished once we saw she was only pretending.

Here? I don't want to give everything away, but Cinder is TRYING to keep a lid on her temper. She's trying to frame her life in different terms. The people who humbled her in the past aren't beneath her, aren't nobodies who dared to ruin her rise… They're extraordinary people, with a duty to push her, to show her how much higher she has to climb still.

Deflating her head like this means she almost ADMIRES her foes. And yet, she still feels bound by destiny to kill them. She's no less dangerous, and now she'll thank you for pushing her along her path and forcing her to be stronger.

My buddy read the opener and confided in me how CREEPY he thought Cinder is like this. I like that reaction…

Until the end, Cinder's part in this chapter is pretty minimal, and most of it is to outline Emerald's faceturn.

And… I guess I can discuss the cast reshuffling here.

To put it dispassionately, the cast is refocused. Sun leaves to aid Vacuo, and Renora die… rather horribly.

This is twofold. Sadly, Ren, Nora and Sun don't have a lot of story relevance from this point forward. They don't connect to the places we go in the next arcs or the people we meet, so either I make up stuff about Nora's family to maintain her relevance or Renora just take up space. I like them as characters, but they only contribute so much, and with characters like Emerald poised to join the crew, there's a need for room on the roster.

And of course, I promised no encounter with Frieza would be without cost. Retaining his menace is paramount, and given a big part of this chapter is him being bamboozled while he's sleeping… Yeah.

Gives me no pleasure, but Team RWBY and the core Z cast they pair with are the focus at the end of the day, and the more characters are just hanging around while I look for something for them to do, the longer all of this becomes, the more scattershot everything becomes.

Anyway… Yes, a direct name-drop of High Guardian Spice. That will never date this at all, well after everyone else has talked about it…

Yes, in Transposition F, High Guardian Spice is fictional material on Remnant.

I think it's a nice slice of levity before we delve into the dark corners of Vacuo. More to the point? I've sat through that pile of crap twice, and I couldn't help picking up on similarities with RWBY that are just too conspicuous for me.

I try to have a little self awareness by Ruby's suspicion of being ripped off being treated like a weird conspiracy theory by the others, but I do believe Spice tried to make their own RWBY and failed miserably.

I almost didn't include this, given how distracting it could be, but my buddy watched Spice with me and came to roughly the same conclusions. He practically turned to me and said "do the bit. Screw this show…"

And of course, giving Ruby an instant secret dislike of Olivine for being a fan was fun as hell to me, with a nice payoff to finish the fight they have later.

The primary motivator for all that is probably the people I've seen insisting that Spice is better than RWBY.

What?!

No. No it is not. RWBY had a rough start visually, but even at Volume 1's worst and most confused moments it had more substance and staying power than Spice. They knew how to establish the characters, make them likable, they explained what a Huntsman was, they told us what the struggle of the series was going to be for the world and the characters.

Spice is a knockoff that said "hold my beer" and attempted a handstand on a surface that couldn't hold its weight, subsequently tumbling through a nest of hornets and into a lagoon of annoyed barracudas.

If I'm being extremely charitable, RWBY took a while to establish its world and characters and power system, beyond its first season (though Spice had the benefit of a consistent runtime) but its characters were consistent and made sense. The world had an intrigue to it, we knew shadows were stirring. We knew what we were training to fight.

HGS… I don't think any amount of time will make its story compelling. It's bland and listless, and I dare you to forge an emotional connection to these characters.

This chapter really WAS a mix of cornball and dark-as-black reminders of Frieza's poisonous influence.

The Scorch, if you don't recall, is from Chapter 18, when Cinder finally achieves an energy blast that obliterates a swath of the city. Close to Starr's dojo, and an ideal place to hold a fight or two without risking discovery or collateral damage.

Here they encounter Tandem Argent, that spoony bard himself. First seen in chapter 23, first mentioned in chapter 20, but not seen.

Full disclosure, Tandem is a straight-up cameo from a source of great inspiration to me, Noah Antwiler, or as he's better known, The Spoony One.

A reviewer of games and movies from before Jontron was even a thing, I always thought he was funnier and more talented than virtually any of his contemporaries. From him I learned about wrestling, DnD , and experienced so many things that even the modern Internet has yet to dig into from the past.

Tandem is the name of his classic DnD character, and virtually every line he spouts in this chapter is a reference or a line from his body of work.

Sadly Spoony is more obscure nowadays. After getting funded to do a movie by his , he realized he had absolutely no idea what to do and just sort of… vanished. But his heyday is a wellspring I'll always come back to, and having him here as a minor villain was unreasonably fun.

Soon though, the kids realize the situation they've run into is complicated, because Frieza is such a bastard he resorts to the death penalty for basically anything, and his punishments don't end at the individual in question. This was introduced in Chapter 4, WAY early, as a means of forcing the populace to self-police each other. Of course, we learn later that his extreme lack of leniency frequently forces resistance despite this.

We also meet Kaiserin Monden, from chapter 6. The bereaved mother based on the Childlike Empress from the Neverending Story. She explains the situation, telling the kids a little too late how even defeating Frieza's men effectively puts them and their families at risk.

This was, admittedly, a difficult thing to deal with. I want Frieza's planning to disincentivize disobedience and rebellion, to specifically make would-be heroes into rabble rousers who get people killed. It's basically inevitable that in the course of fouling Frieza's plans, any savior will leave a pile of bodies in their wake.

By design, he bloodies and deadens the morale of those who would resist. And yet, in spite of that cost, fighting back is the only moral path.

I try to have RWBY remain hands-off until the consequences of inaction outweigh the lives caught in the crosshairs, or have people beyond their control make the choices that end in lives being lost.

It's meant to feel uncomfortable and ambiguous. But then, so did the Atlas arc. My fear is having things taken the wrong way, and for people to go, "damn you, RWBY, if not for you, this wouldn't have happened!" like certain people did when the big fallout with Ironwood happened. That's always the risk when your villain is smart and tries to force the hero into a no-win situation.

It's not entirely untrue. They seriously raise Caine by the end, but it's more that they facilitated the actions of others. People like Monden, looking for a way out. People like Perrault, trying to regain lost honor. People like Henries, who need a cause worth finally risking their skin for.

Monden introduces the Thousand-and-One Knights, based in name off Scheherazade's "One-Thousand-and-One NIGHTS," and tells of the plight of the faunus, held in the labor camp of the Anser Mine.

The Anser Ovarium is one big reference to The Goose that Laid the Golden egg. A profitable place that produced a steady yield of Dust until they tried to carve it open and reach the true treasure within… only to spoil the good thing they had.

Meanwhile… invoking the imagery of death camps, I won't deny, is pretty extreme. But with Frieza… I just can't imagine less. Vacuo's sorry state is meant to communicate how Frieza runs his empire, and how EVERY Frieza world is ultimately governed. The horror is the point, the stakes on display. A show of how even without destroying a world, Frieza turns it into the worst version of itself. He brings out the kind of evil in people that goes largely unseen until you go actively looking for it.

Anyway, Neo helps disguise them, and we get the point of personal humor for me, which is Jaune disguised as Spoony.

This is personally funny to me, provided you know Spoony's voice range. It's actually not THAT far removed from Miles Luna, and I could imagine Jaune doing a passable imitation of his voice.

They head to Hoplites, the gay bar mentioned in Chapter 20, and run into something unexpected.

Ah, the replacement Ginyus! I was back and forth about doing something like this for a while, but when I finally needed to populate Vacuo with more goons, I started struggling to think of new bodies to fill the cast.

I almost ALWAYS try to give new characters some kind of folklore ties to fit RWBY and inspire their design. I won't deny though, I'm running on fumes in that department. I already lampshaded the Schweinlins back in Chapter 18 (the dining hall scene) but rando goons… well, I can't just have generic Uplifts. "Oh, a dude with a… longsword… in grey clothes… and brown hair…"

Nah, that's crap. Why mention them at all? An Uplift is special. These aren't the dime a dozen elites Frieza cruises with on his ship. These people had to beat the odds just to survive the process.

But when two of my best options were both characters to do with sheep, Beau Blanca and Mae Azura (Bo Peep and Mary, you know the one) I knew I needed to take a step back.

Okay, so away from the fairytales… RWBY has plenty of characters based purely on color schemes. Why not just do that? So I looked up a bunch of complementary color swatches to see if I could get the juices flowing.

It worked. After eliminating several, I came down to four that I really liked.

Wait… four? Well why just randos? Why not a Ginyu Force?

I went from sputtering to firing on all cylinders. All four I'm fairly happy with, even if I'm not overly happy with the fight towards the chapter's close. Ulrikh's power is a little whatever, but I like his personality and design. A bit Jojo. Nova's personality is more of the straight-man, but her power and design I'm big on, especially her photosensitivity. Brim Stone (his first name is actually Bream) is like if All Might were as villainous as he looks, but with a personality more akin to Anderson from Hellsing, and I can't pretend I didn't have Anderson in my mind while writing his dialog.

Ah, and Olivine. Oh, I had fun with her.

She's… another reference like Spoony, closer to a cameo than a character really. If the name "Peridot" means anything to you, then you know who she basically is, but RWBY-fied. I like the idea that she's the nerd crushing on the other nerd, and consequently making Jaune's interactions with her while he's disguised awkward.

Hmm? Why that cameo? Oh, because the color scheme I got immediately made me think of her, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

This is definitely the callback section of the chapter, with reappearances of things like Mouse, the Puce business front, Major Kelly.

With the whole Karaoke thing, and Hoplites having the theme it does, not to mention Spoony being a bard… it seemed prime for a callback to Jaune with the guitar. He gets to surprise everyone by being more capable than expected and maintaining his cover. We get a cover of Red Like Rose Part 1, and given Hoplites is symbolized by people in very Pyrrha-style armor, he advances the Weiss plotline a bit and bonds with his team through "Cold."

Then we split our party so Ruby, Weiss and Neo can discover the deeper situation in Shade.

Henries, I just went full ham with. Tell me how many Indiana Jones lines you noticed if you can… if you want. Her semblance gets her up to speed and directs her to send them after the Sword, not giving them the chance to refuse ny setting up a distraction.

I didn't originally know what det cord was until a few months back, but once I did, I knew I HAD to give her whip the option to detonate.

The scene with Frieza, sleeping with his eyes open in full view of the Sword, was something I had to set up back in Chapter 20 first. And it was worth it. The tension of Ruby stealing right in front of his unconscious face was only made better with the fake-outs where it looked like Frieza had woken up.

Then Perrault, who had always been Puss in Boots, gets to benefit from the lovely phenomenon of "The Last Wish." I always intended for him to go out in defiance of Frieza, but the way it lines up with his arc, fearing Death in that movie… Man, what are the odds of that lining up so well? I couldn't have known that was gonna happen.

I know some of it is convenient, like showing up just as Cinder goes in for training, forcing the Sword into the open. But I don't think Ginyu is actually negligent with the Sword. They know Salem would like nothing better than to snatch it if she could, and honestly, putting it in Frieza's personal quarters is about as safe as safe can be. It's a pretty ballsy/suicidal move to waltz right in front of Frieza's face and steal the one thing of value he owns in the entire West Galaxy…

And yes, they COULD have probably broken out at the top floor… by breaking glass, letting in the outside wind and otherwise disturbing the tranquility that was keeping them from being instantly murdered.

Diana Henrys finally springs into action, causing one hell of a scene. Brief, fun, frenetic.

Before that though, Team CVFY make their return! And they're about to be vaporized. I don't STRICTLY keep to the Vacuo books, but I try to draw from them enough that you can fill the gaps.

They're caught by Carmine and the Schweinlins, who are basically just valley girls in personality, cruel, and a bit dumb. Pointless sadism like killing homeless children for not heeding curfews is pretty common for Uplifts, as seen later when Beau insists families in burning homes stay inside until the Sun rises.

It's an interesting reversal to make the three little pigs the villains, with Ruby representing the wolf as part of her own tale. I like the semblances of the Schweinlins, especially Styx's. It's the sort of thing I wish was in an animation though, rather than me trying to describe a Doctor Strange style warping of geometry and space to create arenas that benefit them.

Ugh…

But for the life of me, I will NEVER set fights with lots of characters in such small constraints again. Both the fights between the Schweinlins and the Ginyus later on are set within the city, trying to be slightly low-key (not so much the Ginyu fight) and have to worry about collateral damage.

This means that characters with Z powers have to shove the scale of their fights into RWBY-scale areas… Oh, and like nine other people are fighting too.

It… It's not my best work. I don't think the fights are BAD, just frustratingly constrained. And not just because of space, but word count.

"Nani?! J is worried about WORD COUNT?"

Ha ha ha, funny… Yeah, it's called pacing.

In a video, it'd be no trouble to get a bunch of cut-to's of the characters all fighting. But with so many characters, I can only dedicate so much to each of them before the fight becomes THE set piece of the chapter for no reason. That means these fights are over pretty fast.

But hey, now things get really interesting! CVFY meet up with the crew and start to catch up, but hey! Carmine is a double agent for the Knights! And she might be able to get them an in with the resistance leaders. And after some back and forth, CVFY shares one of their secrets to success: Fox' semblance, TeamSpeak.

Once I read what his semblance was in the books, something occurred to me… What if he ever encountered Neopolitan?

I reasoned that, in canon, Neo probably WOULD have an inner voice Fox and the others could hear… and an idea took root.

This leads to a tidbit of knowledge from the RWBY Guidebook. See, originally Neo WAS going to be voiced, by Sarah Silverman, but it fell through. I'm not sure what her performance would have been like EXACTLY, but given my version of Neo lost her voice as a preteen… I opted for the youngest version I know. That being, her Wreck-It-Ralph performance.

And… it fits!

So, for this chapter, we get to finally hear what she's really thinking. Nothing extravagant about her personality, just mostly verbalizing what it feels like she's already thinking. She's a bit sassy, witty… she's Neo!

I can see an argument AGAINST doing this at all, that the uniqueness of Neo is in her lack of voice… but it's only temporary, and it's not like we've never seen her put words out into the world in text messages or her famous Wile E. Coyote signs.

And after some catching up in the sewers, we come to the resistance.

Or rather, the Crown, rebranded and making a silk purse of a sow's ear.

I actually can't believe how well this part of the plot came together. Jax and Gillian Asturias are from "Before the Dawn" and were serviceable antagonists, but their presence was pretty minimal and they didn't have much personality. Their attempted coup of Shade was brute force.

But here, they've gone from an underground organization, to the resistance movement attempting to unseat Frieza. With an existing despot taking the "throne," their entitled bid for power benefits from the legitimate needs of the common folk as they're driven into their arms. Frieza has already done their dirty work, and if he can be stopped, Jax and Gillian are perfectly placed to take Vacuo with little to no resistance. As heroes even!

And even though RWBY are unaware of Jax's mind control, and can tell they're not the right sort to lead this resistance, they know that unseating them would leave the forsaken of Vacuo helpless, with no one to turn to.

It's such a rough situation, and RWBY can't do much to help yet. But at least they manage to stop a great atrocity from going any further, and achieve what they came for, with a Relic in the bag they never expected to get.

The Ginyu fight following all of this opens with Ginyu herself getting floored by Gohan and some cunning tricks.

While not foolproof against magic, Jaune's shield seals Ginyu into a space with air totally consumed by the fire, weakening her enough for Gohan to knock her out and give them a shot against the other Ginyus and Beau.

The fights are raw, unhoned strength versus efficient movement and control.

I definitely feel how Gohan's immense strength detracts from the threats, given he generally allows THEM to handle things until he's truly needed. I guess they don't want to rely on him if they can manage without, even if he would solo every encounter with little difficulty.

Once the dust settles though, Tyrian gets the jump on them, and things get really serious.

Wait what? How'd he get the jump on them J? Yeah, that's understandable, but hear me out. Despite being as strong as Frieza and Salem's people are, they're still not so much stronger than other humans or Huntsman in raw power to stand out.

They haven't encountered Tyrian or basically anyone on Salem's crew since they learned to sense powers, so they don't recognize their specific signatures (save Gohan, who never met Tyrian).

Otherwise, they're not always actively feeling out powers or super alert, and being beaten down doesn't help the clarity of their senses. Let alone they'd just won and were mid conversation.

But… Yeah, Nora takes a full dose of the Grimace shake, and even Ruby can't fool herself into thinking Nora will survive that.

And so begins… Ruby vs Tyrian.

I've wanted to do this fight for a long time, a first feature of the kids using the Kaioken, and a real test of skill against a foe that crushed Ruby prior to this.

I… am very satisfied with this sequence. Fast, powerful, and not overly derivative. It's not TOO one-sided, and once it's decided… I really like how Tyrian goes out.

Yeah, as fun as Tyrian can be, there's only so much to him in the first place, but going out with a bang like this to show how far they've come… I think this is a good use for him.

Okay, it's pretty wild that Ruby literally makes him a paraplegic, but she's trying to stop his chaos without ending his life. And then Tyrian proves that nothing would stop him from using even the barest of capabilities to keep doing what he does.

Poor Jaune. You might notice that Ren and Nora follow the JNPR Death Theory. Nora is poisoned, Ren effectively ends himself. The poor guy has lost his whole team now.

Oh? And that scene with Vegeta and Jaune from chapter 19? Seems like a familiar situation…

Much as I wanted Ren and Nora to give Frieza a decent swing at things, they really are just NOTHING to him right now. They'd get owned by NAIL as they are, and Nail couldn't make Frieza flinch.

Ultimately, Nora can only even achieve a moral victory by maxing out the Kaioken to the extent that it's basically already killed her, and punt Frieza away. It doesn't actually do anything, but it's at least surprising to him. She can hang her hat on that without shame at the inevitable loss.

But still, Frieza would never miss an opportunity to taunt, or try finding where his token of immortality has been spirited off to.

Having Ruby in a position to speak to Frieza when neither can hurt each other is a rare thing. His cold superiority against her moral clarity… until she finally touches a sore point, and he actually gets a good look at her.

Ooh boy, I was saving this one! I gave you guys one last chance in the last chapter, with Frieza wondering what about Salem was familiar to him.

It finally clicks for him, specifically recalling when he first met Salem and saw the form of her host… who I never quite described.

Obviously Frieza doesn't know Ruby's relation to Summer, but if Salem is involved, he can guess that what's coming will hurt her.

But yep, Salem used Summer as her host the entire time. Cinder was first introduced to her in this form too, early in the possession.

Having them all recognize her voice first… Yeah.

Oh, if you're wondering where the Creep came from, that's from chapter 18, spawned from the Grimm fluid injected by the deathstalker.

Salem being Summer possessed by the Grimm is actually something I thought was the case in RWBY until The Lost Fable in Volume 6.

You see, in the ending monolog by Salem in Volume 3, there's a very specific shot. Ruby visits Summer's grave, and the camera focuses on it, zooms into it. Then, we fade to Typhon, ascending a purple slope to where Salem stands, our first glimpse of her.

I believed this was communicating a deep connection between Summer and Salem. I think that much is inarguable, even if it's only about Salem's part in Summer's fate.

But I always took Salem as an embodiment of the Grimm, possessing Summer. Given TF was planned before Volume 6, relying on my own theories was all I COULD do.

But hey, if the canon disagreed with that idea, then I could just take that route myself.

I hinted back in Chapter 20 that Summer would have more or less the voice of Zoey from Left 4 Dead… who is also voiced by Jen Taylor, who voices Salem. None of you guys picked up on that, heehee…

Poor Ruby… Yang, Tai. I considered having Yang call her "Summer," but she was the first mother Yang ever knew. I can believe she'd just call her "mom" in the heat of it all. Meanwhile, Ruby, who has felt for Salem since hearing her story, must face the conflict that her mother is still alive… a slave. Salem allows them a moment with Summer, purely so they can realize Summer is too worn to survive without her.

It'll certainly color and muddy Ruby's intent regarding Salem going forward.

Krillin, less paralyzed by it all, continues to prove he's the MVP by trying to reach Salem, who rebuffs it. Yang backs him up.

But Ruby is the only one who says the one thing that makes her hesitate. It's still not enough.

A pretty sobering end to a pretty harrowing little outing, and a status quo that's now been shifted considerably. Hopefully this has been worth the wait.

And ooh boy, as always, there's more to come. With Emerald on the way, the Sword in their possession… there's a lot coming, and I don't dare spoil it!

---

Comment time!

nsipidscholar917

Hope it met your expectations! Thank you for the kind words.

Yadiel

This long.

BlueJack22

Yep. I know it's kind of a trope, but Jaune really DOES need to do some personal work first… Especially now.

Thunder Dragon

Lolno.

I don't believe this is anything but a copypasta, but if you're serious, write your own lame bullshit.

I haven't the slightest interest in writing anything to do with Broly or the usual garbage the most boring fans are all drawn to. You have a "challenge" for me, write a massive fanfic to your extreme specifications.

No. Not for all the meth in Mistral.

ilikefreedom

Hehe, thanks, I was plenty excited to finally have Frieza meet the full cast.

Guest

Well thank you very much! I've put a ton of effort into this, and I like to think I know these characters. Always glad to see people enjoy and appreciate it.

roneruaberego1

What exactly happened in Chapter 18 SPECIFICALLY to prompt that?

Yeah, you're REALLY alone in your take on Chapter 16, and I'm pretty sure at this point you're just mad this isn't a stomp fic. It's clear you hate RWBY, and you're sour that I decided half the fun of this was getting RWBY on Z's level.

They're stuck on Remnant, what did you want exactly? Because it sounds like you just wanted to see Z characters tear Remnant to bits while its inhabitants "ooh" and "ahh" like good bitches.

You don't make sense, and you won't be missed.

Guest2

Energy sense. Though I guess that doesn't work for characters like Frieza. Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much, the warp bubble idea is just me trying to reconcile nerd stuff that strikes me.

Sabo99

Funny, though not sure I'd use that one. Even for Goku that seems a bit awkward.

Kage-kitsune9001

Well, your notion of normalcy really depends on what the limits are. It seems quaint to us, but to them, maybe not so much?

Yeah, Cardin just would have felt wasted if he didn't have some wrinkle to his character.

Well Ginyu legitimately fears Goku IS a Super Saiyan when he first realizes how strong Goku is. I didn't add that.

Actual Super Saiyan Blue in the Frieza saga would be the most unbalanced thing ever.

Yeah, I felt like breaking down Vegeta's notion of pride into something more nuanced would help him as a character as well as his connection with Weiss.

Hands of Fate and Destiny

I know I have the characters down pat, but I'm always happy to see my humor is actually working. I don't really think I'm that funny, so I do try extra hard to keep the standard high on jokes.

Thanks about the fights, though the Nail fusion likely wouldn't have mattered much given the mindscape flattens strength, meaning skill is the only real decider.

Well sure, Frieza's final form is so beyond his others, he's virtually untouchable at their level. But don't worry, I've got plans.

Scott Kanouse

Oh no, Goku will come back faster, though he's significantly more damaged than when he got her. And he'll have a handsome boost. Maybe not much more than when he first fights final Frieza, but…

You'll see.

Imperial Stormtrooper

TF is about the struggle against Frieza. You're talking about stuff that would be another tale altogether if ever.

Apex85

Thank you!

Kage-kitsune9001

Yeah, it bothered me that it took so much to reach Neo, and… well, it's my story, lol

Well, the Kais can't really speak to the dead beyond their own jurisdiction. Living yes.

I really wouldn't call it Ruby's "sunshine and rainbows" stage, like it's something she needs to shed. No no, that lightness in her heart is like a layer of armor. RWBY as a whole is about Ruby NOT losing that optimism, that willingness to believe in people, the idealism she carries from childhood.

Ruby is constantly tested by the darkest parts of humanity and the cynicism of the world, but to prevail she MUST hold true and be unbendable to it all.

tactical deer

This story certainly won't.

CheesusChrist15

To quote Team Four Star, let me cope.

MasterAyaka

Speaking of, the AO3 version is where that's largely going to be relegated.

Dontus -not Donut- Powerus

Your posts have been… a trip. Glad you're enjoying it!

Guest3

Thank you!

RandomPeon

You make me feel like what I'm doing is really worthwhile. I don't know about making other writers look back. Maybe the ones that insist on really boring crap or don't make the most of the opportunities at hand.

Yeah, The Warriors in the Woods has come to mean more to me since the idea struck, and I just love the idea of them leaving this anonymous impact on the world.

And yep, you figured it out! The only one who did, as I've seen.

I feel like some twists like that aren't worth as much if I don't give you guys a chance to guess it before it happens, and that means leaving clues. How MANY clues is the question, I guess. But I love how naturally you assembled that idea.

Don't worry, Penny will come in due time. You know me.

fangs of death

Thank you!

Ultimatrix bearer

Shucks, though I'll agree I'm not as strong at choreography as I am at just having characters do things and build off each other.

I dunno, I think the healing factor is enough to make it distinct, even if I try to explain why that works the way it does. I'm open to ideas on semblance expansions though. Semblances are hard to come up with.

bruh12354

Glad you enjoyed it, the image training was fun for me too. I think you can usually tell when I get into something based on the details.

Right now, just TF with the Frieza saga is a bear on its own, and I'd have to really hunker down to take on future stuff, if it happened. Just following those sagas wouldn't be enough. There needs to be a greater point to it, and wrinkles that echo into the Z timeline.

fatquacker

No, that was the basic Kaioken, Goku was just too overzealous about getting back into the action, and he just hadn't healed properly.

The idea with reinjuring him is the same deal when Dragonball proper does it. Nobody ELSE has a chance to do anything when Goku can just fight everyone's battle for them.

I can keep Vegeta under wraps because he only cares about Frieza, or another fighter who can actually threaten him. Gohan doesn't really like fighting, so sitting him out is possible.

Goku will not pass up on a fight, and will just nuke any chance that tension can happen.

I think I considered having Salem abduct him somehow, but that honestly felt more forced than this, and it would keep him from interacting with the others, when he's far from done contributing as a character.

I agree, simply having these characters bounce off each other is frequently enough when you actually try to play it right. I think other stories don't give the characters a chance to breathe and are too "go go go" with plot to let anything really connect. Those little moments are what bind characters together and make them feel like friends. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have MUCH of both casts together, instead of the standby of "one character crosses over, that's the story! Fish out of water, one-sided!"

It's nice to hear someone noting my immense word counts as a positive, because most people complain it's not more bite-sized. I definitely started out more modest, but I really hate bot ending a chapter on something bigger that nudges the story ahead. I guess I could do "Chapter title, part 1-5" or something, but I worry the payoffs would be too small. We'd be on Chapter 50 or 60 if I did what I did early-story and post 10k word bites.

Monster King

Thank you, will do!

Son Kenshin

I… don't watch Naruto, so that flies over my head.

My problem with the fruit isn't its implausible nature, my problem is it's an EXTREMELY POWERFUL tool if used correctly, and Jaune never even considers using it to set things right. His whole time in the Ever After is him haunted by what he did to Penny and everything else that went wrong, and he literally has nothing but time to craft a scheme to go back to the past and save everyone.

But because that would IMMEDIATELY change the entire plot, and the writers don't want to undo any of Volume 8, Jaune NEVER thinks of this. RWBY never ask about it, the fruit that takes you back in time.

Bullshit. They'd move heaven and Earth to have a second chance at the whole Atlas situation, maybe even the Fall of Beacon.

The point is, the fruit is meant to be a one-time freak accident, but they write it like a macguffin that can be found and used.

I don't know much about Star Trek, really? Or I've never WATCHED it, anyway. I might check it out, but clearly I forgot when I read this the first time around.

Spiderboy2004

I'm a nerd that can't help injecting science into things, and by avoiding the usual trope of "bwah, dimensional portal!" I had to find a reason that two identical species called "humans" lived on different planets.

At that point, once the idea of galactic colonization becomes a thing, species like the Saiyans somehow still being their own thing (despite being able to interbreed with humans?!) stops really making sense.

I know what you're saying, kinda, but that's also the point. Because Saiyans are TOO damn special in Dragonball, and they're the only ones that can do anything. Backbuilding ties to humanity suggests a great potential like that lurks in humans as well, and gives non-Saiyans a chance to actually matter.

For me, the tradeoff is perfectly acceptable. Saiyans are an important part of the Universe, but cease to be the only thing that friggin' matters. Goku would be a lot more special if he was the best because he was the best, rather than being the best because he's the best… plus alien super genes that give him an automatic crushing advantage over anything that isn't like him, or something akin to a literal god. Or, you know, an ACTUAL literal god…