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—

22. Speak No Evil

"Look, I know this one's a classic, but she came on TO ME, alright?!"

"Yeah, that old chestnut," Taiyang said, arms crossed from the bottom of the scrap pile at the end of the compound. "Like your head, after I crack it open!"

Krillin rubbed his scalp idly. "Pretty sure you roast chestnu—"

"Don't give me ideas…"

Yang stood by, rubbing her temples. "Nobody 'came on' to anyone, Dad!"

Tai grumbled. "Kissing ain't far off…"

"Wha— Dad, eurg! Oh my GOD! I was literally just trying to make Mom mad! We're not dating…"

"Darn right, you're not. Jeez, using that to tick off someone else… you are your mother's kid…"

Krillin watched his temper ebb, but remained cautious. "So am I safe to come down, or…?"

Yang frowned, turning to face her father. "Wait, hold up… How's it your business anyway, Dad? I just turned nineteen, I'm solidly adult."

Tai turned to her, hands on his hips. "Oh, cool! And you can exercise that adulthood under any roof but mine!"

"Wow, again with the Dad cliches! Well, that's fine; Krillin can build us a new roof, right?"

Krillin's face was blank as he teetered on the piece of airship. "What is happening right now…?"

"Not with my money, he's not."

"Uh! Ozpin's money!"

"Still no, nice try though!" Tai laughed, his frown turning cocky.

"Whatever," Yang conceded, a puckish grin forming, "got all we need right here!" she said, eying the pile of scrap.

Tai scoffed. "Come on, the man is twenty…" He found Krillin's eye. "S…sev…?"

"Twenty-six."

"Twenty-six years old! You're not seriously—"

"And Bulma's what? Thirty?"

He blinked. "Bulma…?"

"Bulma…?!"

"Lucky for you, you're not that slick, old man… Come on, what's even the difference?"

Tai put a hand out, a solemnity overtaking him. "Age matters less the older you both get, that's the difference! And it… It wouldn't work out anyway, she's… She's got a world, and a home, and a company waiting for her; she's not giving that up for a guy like me… and neither is HE!" Tai said with a smirk, hooking a thumb up at Krillin.

"So it's not worth it if it's not forever?" she challenged.

"I know more than any guy, there's worth in the brief stuff… That's half my love life."

"Then in the face of 'the coming Apocalypse' you know better about living life now."

Krillin watched the verbal ping-pong match from on high, eyes darting from speaker to speaker.

"Huh! Testing that whole 'not if you were the last girl alive' thing?"

"Hey, I'm not pushing forty, cataracts!"

"I see fine enough to know you're bluffing… Bluffing, or desperate."

Yang's jaw went slack, gasping with the insult, as a smile slithered onto her face and her eyes went wide. "Well, I… have no poker face, and THIS…" She waved a hand across her figure. "...doesn't DO desperate."

Tai smiled, crossing his arms. "I dunno, sweetie… 'Amputee' tends to shrink the dating pool…"

She gave a laugh of shock. "So does 'single father of two,' BUTTHOLE!"

Krillin just shook his head. "Holy…!"

"Hey, Krillin?" Yang called, finally meeting his eye. "Tomorrow night, eight-o'clock… We'll crash Weiss and Jaune's coffee thing."

"I… uh…" Krillin tried not to let Tai catch him staring his way.

Taiyang's brow rose, and he shrugged. "Alright… But I catch anything on my property…"

Krillin watched him turn around and walk off. "What…? You'll do what? Wait, what am I saying?! I'm not gonna TOUCH her!"

"Tease…" Yang muttered lowly, winking.

"I dunno yet… but you better not find out."

At long last, Tai walked off, a smug grin on his features. Before long, Krillin leapt down next to Yang, lost as a cat stuck in a tree.

"Hey, like, you're really cool, and plenty pretty, and confident and all that good stuff… but I think your Dad's—"

Yang snickered. "Relax, he just thinks I'm stuck doing this to save face."

"...Aren't you?"

She frowned. "Hey, I don't do pity-dates either, you're cool. I'm down to spend a few evenings having a good time if it lets me assert myself as a freaking adult?"

He crossed his arms with a pout. "I'm not sure I like being a prop in your little stage play… Actually, I feel a little used…"

She shrugged. "So, use me back, all's fair… You gonna complain about a kiss from a knockout like moi?"

"I am if your Dad tries to kill me in my sleep for it…"

"Hey, just know you skipped a long and very exclusive line…"

---

Bulma idly scratched Zwei's ears as she tapped in the last adjustments to the brainwave band.

"Oookay!" she said at last, turning the strap over to be sure. "With any luck, this should help trigger a sympathetic neural response! All that's left is to see if it works. Any interested guinea pigs?"

Blake sighed. "And that's just offensive, even if there weren't cavy faunus?"

Ruby nodded sadly. "Yeah, I never got it either… Guinea pigs are cute!"

Sun blinked. "What's a cavy?"

Bulma held out the band. "Well, as apology… take it for a spin?"

Blake considered.

---

Most of them watched from the deck as Blake squared up with Ruby and Weiss, the plated white band across her forehead.

Ruby put a hand out to Weiss. "Lemme handle this one? I'm a bit more experienced…"

"You only figured it out last night, and just this morning you almost blew up the house and all our friends…"

Ruby faltered slightly, swaying on her feet. "A-and it was a valuable learning experience for everyone…"

Blake grinned. "It's fine, Weiss… I kinda want our leader to guide me on this one…"

Weiss and Ruby shared a glance.

"Any particular reason?"

Blake shut her eyes, concentrating. "Everything feels… I don't know how to explain it, but… Ruby feels right for it…"

Ruby took a glimpse of the band. "How's your head feel?"

"Almost alien… but… familiar. I think it's working, there's definitely something there…! I just need to…!"

"Relax," Ruby offered kindly, immediately shifting Blake's pained expression, her folding ears suddenly pricked. "It's easier than you think it is… Now…"

Ruby readied Crescent Rose, leaning into a battle stance. "Let's go!"

Ruby was on Blake in a flash, but gave her just enough warning to draw her own Gambol Shroud in defense.

Blake didn't separate katana from cleaver, hefting the whole of her weapon to account for the massive scythe's bulk as its blunt end took a swipe. Blake parried with a glint of sparks, wincing from the sheer weight as Crescent Rose passed over her ears. She leapt up as the bladed end swept the other way, but as she landed, Ruby had already whirled to thrust the broad head flatly towards her like a push broom. The flat of Blake's own cleaver caught it with a deep and ringing 'CLANG,' both hands bracing as she skid back across the lawn.

And as Ruby appeared behind her to keep the pressure on, it only now occurred to her how fast she'd become. Using her new abilities on Vegeta was one thing, but Blake, ever swift and agile… was moving in slow motion. She could see her slow reaction, taking several ticks before Blake's amber eyes began to track what she'd just done. This fight could be over in microseconds if Ruby desired it.

Out of curiosity, she turned to see Weiss, and unlike their faunus friend, Ruby knew her blue eyes were tracking everything they did.

She had never quite pulled her punches like this. But thankfully, it meant every attack could be weighted to pressure her just enough as the bout became a dance of blades.

Meanwhile, Blake began to surrender to a sort of serenity she had never quite experienced. She was practically fighting for her life, just able to ward off Ruby's assault… and yet she couldn't shake the calm of every measured breath. Even as she twisted to deflect the scythe from hooking her ankle, it was almost automatic.

She remembered sparring with Adam like this, slightly overwhelmed. She always followed him, strode behind that rose on his back…

Blake leered, hypnotized at the silver clip on Ruby's cape.

She followed another rose now…

Ruby's scythe knocked back into war-scythe configuration, and with a whirl, it's blade came down into Blake's as she blocked.

But this time, Ruby did not relent. Blake was on her knees as grass blasted from the impact, and the ground cracked in a circle around her.

'Come on, Blake… You've got this!' Ruby thought, pinning her friend to the spot with steady pressure as she fought back.

Ruby could feel Blake's energy, steady, and frighteningly calm. She knew Blake's emblem was that of a belladonna… that being, the nightshade flower… but she could never help having seen it like a cool black flame. And that described her power perfectly.

And if it made sense, she felt that flame retreating, flapping as if caught in the breeze… but growing brighter as it shrank.

Then, all at once, that power burst.

Ruby stumbled forward, smashing through the smoky facsimile of her friend as she felt the real Blake warp behind her. She twisted to catch the cleaver falling upon the staff of her scythe as that little black flame erupted.

"Nnnng…! H- HAAAAA!"

With a grunt and a cry, Blake was shrouded in a purple burst, licks of black, like smoke, curling off the swaying flames and into the air like incense.

Ruby brought her own crimson aura out, forced to vie with the intense force Blake was now emitting. The two of them had always been largely on-par with brute strength, and it seemed little had changed in this new realm of life energy at its fullest potential.

"Yeah!" Sun cried!

"WOOOO!"

Both Blake and Ruby eased as they turned to their onlookers. Blake seemed in a daze, that familiar gleam in her eye of one seeing so much for the first time. Ruby chuckled at the constant between each ascendant thus far… that of staring at their hands like Blake was now, like she had suddenly sprouted feelers on her fingertips.

"IT WORKED!" Bulma shouted, hands in the air as she jumped up and down. "My Brainwave Band WORKED! I'm a GENIUS!"

Weiss and Nora both leered at her theatrics, but Blake only stared before hearing Ruby snicker. She found her leader's eye.

"Welcome to the club, Blake…"

---

Today, I change my place in history…

Ruby, Blake and Krillin found a clearing in the woods, safe from harming the house given the explosive tendencies of awakening. Yang pulled her voluminous hair through the band as she strapped it on.

Today, I'm gonna start a brand new life…

They squared up, the blonde brawler in a boxing stance.

Done with suffering, had enough of misery…

She was struck by multiple combatants in rapid succession, knocked around, immediately on her back foot before they relented, surrounding her. She took a breath, and Yang slammed her fists together as she turned the damage into power, flames towering as her hair glowed brightly, tossed by her own strength.

Finally on a path that's heading somewhere bright!

She rolled her shoulders as the band's effect took hold, shaking her head as incomparable feelings surged through her.

I feel a different kind of energy…

She lunged at Krillin, only to be blocked by Blake, and shoved off as she flipped back onto her feet, only for Ruby to appear from the petals and clash…

Kickin' everything to overdrive!

Yang and her sister flew into a flurry, and slowly… she felt herself drifting into a trance as the others joined into the melee…

Switched-on, revved-up, turbo-mode vitality…

She didn't feel super yet, but there was something new as she faced all three combatants. She noticed the fight less, and began to feel herself influenced by her opponents.

Find it hard to believe that I feel so alive!

Just watch me go, see me fly!

Don't look for answers, don't ask why…

Can't explain the way I feel…

Blake was fresh and not as versed in pulling punches… Ruby was too soft on her, their sisterhood —and perhaps Yang's own pride— influencing her careful, prodding blows.

But Krillin?

His rhythm, as their fists met again and again, was experienced and firm. Even as he shrugged her off into the air, he was on her in an instant from below, their parrying strikes floating her higher.

The pressure was balanced with enough room for her to just counter, and she could feel herself drawn closer and closer to something on the margins of her understanding…

It was just right…

An instant later, she exploded. The nearest trees flattened with a snap.

I'm soooooarin' like I never have before!

Flying, self-assured and free!

Yang landed among her beaming, cheering friends, fist down as her searing yellow aura bathed her like a heat haze, licks of flame scattered throughout like campfire sparks. The grass around her curled and browned in its wake, and as Yang stood up, flexing her left arm, the right feeling her bicep… she smiled.

…And I somehow feel I finally feel like me…

---

I looked in the mirror,

Sun leapt.

…and I've gotta say…

Tree to tree he dove, staff deflecting rounds as Blake struck, unseen. He blocked instinctively, but she grabbed the end of the staff, and used it to swing him multiple times between limbs.

It's been a long, long time since I felt this way…

He broke through the treetops as she released him, sunlight bathing him as she leapt up to give chase. He steepled his hands, and three golden avatars leapt from him.

Right now, I'm just a bit surprised!

They leapt in separate directions while vaulting him higher, towards enemies unseen. One shielded him from a flare fired by Yang from the ground, obliterated. Another was torn to shreds as it met the lightning strike from Magnhilde, its owner aiming from the opposite side to Yang.

'Cause I feel just fine,

And as if ready for it, Sun aimed his staff to block high, as the third avatar grappled with Blake below… as nothing less than Goku dove at him from above. He stabbed up to meet his fist with the staff, and they vied for mere moments, before Sun Wukong was ensconced in shimmering gold…

…and I might just touch the sky…!

The Saiyan from Earth relented, watching him slowly fall, eyes serenely shut.

I might just touch the sky!

---

Ruby, Gohan and Weiss pressed Oscar at the lakeside, the boy barely keeping up as Crescent Rose slammed bluntly into the dirt next to him. He wailed as the shock tossed him high, barely reacting before Gohan spiked him into the water like a volleyball as Weiss sent a bloom of ice after him.

…The result made the trio freeze awkwardly, but it was nothing to Oscar himself, stiff, teeth bared and unable to move as he sat trapped in a frozen shore.

But if I don't, I'll know that I dared with pride…

---

Oscar sat with a sheepish Ruby on the porch, draped in a blanket and still shivering as Zwei licked his frosted ankles.

Though I fail, I grow!

And tomorrow I'll…

touch the sky…

---

Jaune and Oscar sparred, cane to blade, step by step until the former's greatsword swung into the dirt long enough for Oscar to run across its broadside and tackle Jaune.

Nora was watching Krillin demonstrate the Multi-form technique again, inquiring with illicit interest.

I feel the sense of possibilities…

I could get addicted to that rush!

But all eyes were on Ren, band worn, perched lotus-style and meditating upon a tower of granite dwarfing the trees.

Open doors and so much hope in front of me…

In the dimming twilight, Ren's eyes burst open, and through sheer mental will, the trees fluttered and stones lifted against gravity as a grand green swirl pierced the long shadows, specks of pink scattered in the ethereal wind he conjured.

Full of confidence, every challenge crushed!

---

Nora drained an electrolytic drink before she dug in, stance wide as she plowed forward with another brand of sheer determination, pink, static sparks tracing between her limbs and every available surface as her carrot hair stood on end.

My heart's electric, racing endlessly…

Feeling like the stars have all aligned!

A charging Blake was caught and flung over Nora's shoulder, before Raven hit her like a bull, locking fingers as both pushed against each other like linebackers.

All at once, growling into a warrior's howl, Nora burst into a pink explosion that lit the entire clearing, the trees casting black shadows that waved against her boisterous power.

Illuminate the darkness that was blinding me…

Now I'm positive that it's my time to shine!

---

Ruby and Yang chased Gohan at full power in the next day's early light, blasting the earth behind them with enhanced gunfire as they fought to squeeze out every drop of even their now-inhuman speeds as they wove past limbs and branches after the Saiyan child.

I will explode, you'll see me rise!

With a glance, Yang and Ruby came to a silent agreement. Gripping the other's wrist, they whirled into petals together, coalescing again several stories higher, before Yang boosted her sister at Gohan with a slug of her cybernetic fist.

You may not even recognize…

I just can't wait for this reveal…

The boy saw his friend dive for him, and smiled as he glided out of reach, only modestly tapping Ruby as she plummeted into the side of a bluff.

Exploring!

Now I've opened up a door!

Ruby tumbled through the dark as she found herself underground, shaking it off as she stared for the entry-wound and light of day outside.

Finding so much more in me…

She lit up her scroll, revealing a shimmering sight as Yang and Gohan peered into the hole at her. Ruby's eyes lit up as her scroll reflected VEINS of brilliant, frost-like metallic crystals on the cavern walls. A natural marvel…

When I look inside, I'm liking what I see…

---

In the resurrected gravity chamber, Vegeta and Weiss engaged in hand-to-hand at six-times gravity, powers equal as the duel quickly became a brawl when she dodged a lunging fist. The tips of a glyph's snowflake fired gleaming blue bolts that arrested his wrists and ankles in midair, just long enough for Sun to take advantage, hands steepled as no fewer than twenty avatars crowded the chamber and tackled him, an instant before his power exploded with a roar, spraying the replica Suns around the dome like ragdolls before they vanished in puffs of golden smoke.

Yang and Blake vaulted over Sun to press the attack, Yang delivering a flurry of pressuring blows as Blake circled in flashes to probe his wider defense.

Vegeta's teeth bared as he lost patience and swept out Yang's leg, grabbing her by the ankle and flinging her bodily into the spot Blake next appeared, bowling them into the wall as Nora leapt onto his back.

…Or attempted to, as a gloved hand reared behind to cast her away and onto her back.

Mere moments later, bright blue flickered throughout the chamber as Weiss unleashed the might of a Kamehameha, a swirling helix along its core.

The Prince caught it readily, preparing how to punish the brazen attack… only to be struck with the heel of two palms in his jaw on either side, as the swirling helix deposited Ruby Rose and Lie Ren. Having disguised their petalburst as part of the outer beam, Vegeta took the full force of the beam as he sailed through the wall to the outside.

A number of them celebrated, but as she walked within range of the hole… Bulma glared icy daggers as Ruby felt a particular chill.

---

I'm climbing higher with the past behind me…

Blake knelt, laying fresh flowers beside the headstone of Ilia Amitola… soon joined by a solemn and sympathetic Weiss, hands clasped in a private prayer.

Heights like I never dreamed…

---

Finally learned I need to do it my way!

Jaune stood before his teammates on a rocky plateau, digging the point of his sword into the surface as Ren and Nora pulled their weapons, stone-faced. The blonde braced, and gave a nod.

Bullets and grenades flew, pummeling the sword as its owner fought against skidding towards the ledge… and fought to retain his own clarity.

Now I see…

what I can be…

And as his feet scraped the edge, he became stone still.

When I trust in me…

His eyes opened as a smooth yellow burst enshrined him, towering compared to those who preceded him. Ren and Nora lost their footing as their majority of the plateau crumbled beneath them, leaving Jaune alone on a spire of rock, staring after them in surprise.

…I'm FREE…!

---

I looked in the mirror… and I gotta say…

Blake and Ruby chased each other through the birch, a sash on their belts as they sought the other's.

It's been a long, long time since I felt this way…

They tore through football fields at a time, and as Blake labored to beat Ruby's immaterial semblance, something began to happen as she burst clone after clone to boost her own speed…

Right now, I'm just a bit surprised…

Ruby turned to make for Blake's sash, only to burst through a clone… and then froze as she saw the stream of clones around her looked a touch more solid… and she could feel Blake's power in each of them.

'Cause I feel just fine!

She whirled away from the nearest clones, only to find that the moment she got close, one snatched her sash.

And I might just touch the sky…!

Ruby snatched back reflexively, only to find another clone slightly further turn solid and wag the sash at her in victory, before the others vanished altogether.

It took her a moment to piece it together, but she gasped as she realized Blake's semblance had EXPANDED. She was leaving clones behind, but capable of switching the real Blake to any one of them in an instant…

I might just touch the sky…!

---

Team RWBY surrounded Oscar Pine evenly on all sides, landing one after another as the boy shakily wielded Long Memory, slamming its broad point into the grass and depressing the trigger as its gears spun.

Green lightning crackled along the staff as the boy was enclosed in a spherical shield, as the four ladies fired muted blue blasts over its surface.

Oscar huffed and puffed as he fought his own fear, white-knuckling the stave as he bade himself to calm… and shook less and less…

And as he stared into the kaleidoscopic wash of blue crashing over his shield, his fear faded altogether.

The shield broke.

Team RWBY were blown off their feet as a forest-green tidal wave broke over them. Their beams destabilized and fizzled out in the wake of whole chunks of earth rising… as Oscar stood at its center, calm as a Sunday morning.

And all at once, his power calmed, and shrank back into him as he stared about blankly, the stone chunks crashing down without notice or ceremony.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Ruby threw her arms around his neck, jogging Oscar from his trance as his face went red.

"I… wha…?!"

"You DID IT!" Ruby cheered. "That's EVERYONE!"

"I… did it…?"

"In two days!" Weiss agreed, unable to help a smile.

Yang scoffed. "About time we caught a break…"

Blake sighed. "And as predicted… he's a powerhouse…"

"Can I… uh…" Oscar asked, eyes still huge. "Can I get a few to myself? This is a little overwhelming…"

Ruby blinked, carefully backing off. "Yeah… ha ha… It really is…"

From the treeline the Saiyan pair watched.

"At last, we can do away with spoon-feeding them opposition," Vegeta growled.

Goku laughed, arms crossed in satisfaction. "Yep! From here the real training starts."

Krillin groaned. "Oscar's gonna be the same situation as Raven, right? Man… You guys'll never know what it's like to be passed up like that…"

"Hey Krillin!" Yang called, waving her whole arm as she approached. "Last night was a bust, but no excuses tonight! Wear something nice!"

Vegeta cocked a brow at the scene, as the monk had a moment of panic.

"I… nice? But… this…" Krillin pulled at his gi like it were some constricting mass.

Yang laughed. "Right, right…! That's all you've got, huh? And no money… Yeah, Dad won't finance that…" She considered, before snapping her fingers. "Right! We'll just pencil it into the date, my treat. I roped you into this in the first place…"

"I uh… thanks?"

She huffed in humor. "Don't make it this whole thing man, it's just dating… Later!"

As she walked off, waving with her back turned, Vegeta cocked his head.

"The girl desires you for a mate?"

Krillin went red, as Goku chuckled, leaning over to elbow him in the ribs. "You dog, you…!"

"Hey, it's not like that! She's just getting back at her dad, or… something… Or it started like that, but she wanted to gimme a chance or…"

Vegeta's brow quirked. "I thought her grievances were with her mother? Hmph… volatile creature… If she finds herself drawn to you it would explain multitudes about your people."

Goku smirked. "What about you Vegeta? Any plans with your new old lady?"

"She insisted I switch housing arrangements with her withered brother," Vegeta told him. "I agreed. All the better for mating purposes until she's conceived, and less spartan living space." He grunted as a memory floated to the forefront of his mind. "Sharing a bed has been somewhat revealing. Finally I see the soft edges of her humanity showing through. Consistently drapes herself over me after coition, and I awoke to find her clinging to me like a leech. Throwing her off only seems to entice her further, like some child's game…"

Goku laughed. "Yeah, Chichi likes to cuddle too."

The Prince recoiled, face screwed-up in anger and confusion. "Say that word to me again and I'll ensure it's the MOST you can achieve with your wife…"

---

"Alright!" Goku said, still hobbling, but looking far more spry than usual. "So you guys have proven you have control of your energy, but you don't know all you can do with it."

They had gathered once more by the lake side. There was a buzz of enthusiasm as there hadn't been since the first days of learning. It was like they had passed a written exam on the workings of pyrotechnics, and could now attempt the practical portion and actually blow things up.

Krillin nodded. "Yeah! You guys have the standard Kamehameha down… but that's pretty basic."

Goku raised a finger instructively. "It's not hard to pump out your full power into an attack. Some of you guys have shown already that you can tone it down, but the Kamehameha wave is still pretty much just raw force."

Vegeta stepped forward, crossing his arms. "You've proven just by overcoming your limiting shield that you possess an acute awareness of energy. Now put it into practice… Forge your energy into a stable ball, and retain control of it. Energy is far more difficult to control outside the body, but make no mistake: it is still in your control."

Jaune raised a hand. Vegeta glowered.

"Put that down! Or you'll get to see how I can emulate baldie's saw blade technique…"

Nora rubbed her hands together. "Ooh! Can we see that?"

Jaune retracted his hand as though burned. "No!"

Nora glowered. "I just meant the move, not you cosplaying as Yang…"

Yang's eyes flashed red as her hair whipped with her head turning, hands up in offense. "DUDE…!"

Nora didn't back down. "Hey, we know he has the legs for it…"

Krillin coughed. "Uh yeah, the Kienzan is kinda dangerous… Flattered, but we'll see how you handle—"

"The what?" Ruby asked.

"The Kienzan," Yang noted. "That… destructo-disk move he's got?"

"Oh that… Better name."

Ren considered. "That's… basically what 'Kienzan' means…? Though less destruction and more cuttin—"

"Scatterbrained time-wasters! You'll NEVER stand a chance against a foe like Frieza if you haven't the discipline to FOCUS!"

"Uh…?" Jaune dared.

"WHAT?!"

Jaune shrank, hands fixed in his lap. "I was just asking before… how far away can we control our energy?"

Vegeta let out a breath, satisfied. "Until it's spent, any energy you dispel from your being is still a part of you. You'll have full control of it as far as you can concentrate, regardless the distance, but I don't advise you to let it wander beyond your sight. Guiding it by sensing power alone… In theory it's possible, but even I wouldn't try it in combat."

Goku summoned a little point of yellow light atop his finger, and began letting it race in circles around them. "And… the bigger the mass of energy, the more it has its own momentum! Make one too big… or make one bigger than yourself… and you might not be able to control it at all."

Oscar frowned. "Wait… Bigger than yourself? How can you make a ball of energy that's stronger than you are?"

Krillin laughed. "That makes sense. You guys haven't really been in a big fight yet, so you probably haven't noticed that you're always replenishing energy."

Goku hummed as he nodded. "It's good not to picture your energy as like… a tank of fuel getting emptier the longer you go… It's more like…" He frowned as he strained to think of a comparison.

Vegeta stepped forward. "Think of your body as a reactor, constantly replenishing as long as it still has material for a reaction. Your available power is limited at any given moment, but you can always catch your breath without extensive periods of rest."

"So… like a body?" Yang muttered.

"With care, you can stockpile this replenishing power into a single attack, feeding it until it is far stronger than your maximum."

Goku let the little sphere spray into sparks. "The downside is time. You probably have to sit still for a good while. I had to distract this guy named Raditz so Piccolo could ready an attack like that. It's not really realistic in a fight where seconds matter, and we only did it because we were desperate."

Vegeta gave a humorless laugh. "Surprisingly cold of you to regard that bout of fratricide so casually, Kakarot."

"Frater… I don't know what that means."

"I mean that Raditz was your brother, and among five Saiyans who still lived at the time."

Ruby blinked. "Your brother…?!"

Goku sighed. "He took my son and wanted me to slaughter innocent people. He didn't leave me a lot of choice."

Krillin waved it off. "Okay, this ain't a history lesson! Point is… we want you to control stable balls of energy for as long as you can. Then we'll see if you can move them around a bit… Once you're comfortable, we'll go bigger and do it again!"

Goku nodded. "And! If there's time… we'll start again on these!"

He pulled a tiny bell out of his pocket, surprising most of them. Ruby recalled him tossing her one of those after she'd awakened, after weeks without them, having decided they were all too green to master efficient movement.

They had all been directed to spread out and practice, the three teachers and Gohan filtering among them.

The start had been rather easy, as a rainbow of various energies began to swirl between their collective hands. Too easy.

"OH!"

"Dude!"

A common problem made itself known. They had fantastic control, but this manner of external energy was something they had yet to calibrate. Their teachers had been correct; the Kamehameha was a poor yardstick for minute control, and all but Ren, Blake, Oscar and Raven produced flares of colored light like flamethrower spurts. Jaune's had blared to the size of a beach ball before it burst into sparks in his panic.

Of course, Raven and Oscar had produced nothing at all. She took rather longer to concentrate…

*'FWOOOOM!'*

Several of them cried out, and all of them flew several yards as a tidal wave of deep red blasted from between Raven's hands. It was like a firework shot from a mortar had landed among them and exploded right in all of their faces.

Five minutes later, all slightly ruffled, Oscar and Raven had been led a safe distance further from the rest of the group.

Krillin walked past Sun, humming appreciatively as a shaky yellow sphere grew less torchlike in his hands, growing placid as a candle flame. He saw similar progress being made throughout their circle.

"Knew you guys had this! Just dial it back… dial it in…"

"Like boiling water on the stove," Oscar said aloud, more to himself than anyone else.

"Uh… sure!"

"...Question!" Nora declared, her fingers swirling around her own baseball-sized ball of hot pink.

Gohan and their teachers all turned, apart from Vegeta.

"Yeah? Gohan inquired.

Nora smiled as her eyes filled with possibilities. "How do ya change the color?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes, loudly scoffing with a "Tcha!"

"The color?" Goku repeated. "Hmm… I dunno, that's never really mattered to me…"

Nora pouted. "Yeah, I mean… some a' these don't match Aura color, so it's gotta be possible, right?"

Ren smiled, his golfball of green rooted in place as his eyes closed. "She just wants to make the Kamehameha pink."

Nora shamelessly bounced where she sat. "Come on Ren! Pink-mehameha…!"

Gohan smiled as Krillin and Goku just shrugged at each other.

Jaune was experimenting with his golden ball ballooning larger and shrinking smaller. "Well, the only difference between colors is light frequency… Unless it works like temperature and chemical composition… but I don't think that's how it works with Aura."

Yang made a noise of interest. "Could you imagine getting saddled with a color you hated?"

"I don't think it works like that," Blake said.

Ruby nodded. "Red's always been my favorite…"

Goku snapped his fingers and a marble of blue formed. He frowned in concentration, and after a few seconds, it gradually shifted through a spectrum of hues. Satisfied, he let it pop out of existence and smiled. "Why not! See if you guys can shift it through different colors. The trick seems to be to tumble around this feeling in your belly…"

Krillin hummed. "Well, if it helps them with control…"

Within a half hour, balls of energy like will-o'-the-wisps danced in a multitude of colors. They raced across the fields, between trees and over the water, like enthusiasts with remote control drones. Ruby and Oscar chased Gohan with their own balls as he wove through the sky.

"Alright!" Goku said, nodding contentedly. "That's not bad! So let's up the ante! First, get rid of the old ones. You should always do this if you can…"

Again, like tiny fireworks, the energy spheres began breaking into sparks all across the field.

"Alright, now bigger! Just as big as you think you can control."

This went a lot faster, as the hum and warble of power began to accompany brilliant balls forming between their hands of mounting size.

Ren spoke up. "Does it… have to be bigger…? Can it be denser?"

Vegeta hummed in pleasant surprise. "Yes, and it's wise never to judge an attack by its size." He formed his own ball and built it to the same size as Ruby's. It then swept through hers like some vengeful spirit, dispelling it like a balloon full of dust right in her face. "As you become stronger, you will naturally achieve a greater energy density, and compress more into the same space. The more you can handle such power the more stable it will become."

"Big things in small packages!" Krillin laughed, eying a rueful Ruby, whose arms were limp at her sides after Vegeta had almost literally burst her bubble. "Yeah… You can put more power into a smaller attack too, but it's kinda like holding a ball underwater… Take too long, and it's just as likely to get away from you and sock you in the jaw."

"Uh… that looks a little…"

Krillin turned to see what Gohan was talking about, only to take a step back as the pink, strobing sphere in Nora's palms ballooned to the same size that she was.

"Relax, I got it!" Nora told them with a grunt.

Goku frowned. "No. Get rid of it," he ordered, stern as steel.

Nora found his eyes, ready to argue, but his glare cowed her. "Kay."

To the earthlings' surprise, she leaned back and tossed it over her head and behind her, on a ballistic trajectory, singing shrilly as it carried through the air.

"Wait NO!"

"Gohan, GET IT!" Krillin demanded, and in seconds the boy chased after the sphere, forming his own little gold ball and spearing it right through the middle. The supernatural surface dragged through with the smaller ball's momentum like rubber, before the sky was engulfed with blistering pink. The trees, waves on the lake and even blades of grass wiggled in the wake of the resulting shockwave, which encompassed several football fields.

Nora, if anything, seemed… encouraged.

"WOO-HOO! SEE?! That was aweso—"

"NO!" Goku barked, making her jump as he stomped closer. "NOT awesome! You let that go completely uncontrolled!"

"What the heck, there wasn't anything over there!"

"It doesn't matter," Goku said. "You're not listening. Power like this may not make a big splash, but when it's bigger than you can handle it could destroy cities, continents… even the whole planet!"

"I couldn't destroy a whole—"

"When I fought Piccolo at the World Martial Arts Tournament, we weren't quite as strong as you kids are now, but he still reduced the whole island to nothing but desert, toppled whole mountains trying to kill me! That's the kind of power you have right now, and you're only getting stronger."

Nora seemed to shrink, stung, arms crossed as she frowned. "Well I… You guys… You all were shooting stuff at Frieza, and there were explosions going off everywhere!"

Goku was about to continue his rant, but Ren stood straight up in threat, eyes boring into the Saiyan's as he walked over to soothe his girlfriend.

"That… You don't know any better, it wasn't as wild as it seemed," Goku said, his eyes softening. "If our attacks miss their mark, we diffuse them into the air to minimize damage. We can't always cancel them outright, and we're not perfect, but your attack was totally unconstrained for maximum damage."

He approached, wary of Ren's gaze as he put a hand on Nora's shoulder. "Just remember, we're trying to save this world, not destroy it. You can do better."

She nodded, still looking stung. She retreated into Ren's arms.

They carried on a while after, controlling larger energy balls, which traveled with wider arcs. Ruby watched hers sail over the water, its red reflection sparkling as she let it dip momentarily below the surface to spray yards at a time. She reeled it back in and let it whizz past her ear before decelerating it in smaller circles until it was back in her hands.

"It's so weird that it's all… solid," she poked it merrily. It reminded her of touching a lightbulb, almost uncomfortably hot. "And squishy…" Indeed, it was partly elastic, rippling when prodded, as if it had a more solid skin to it. She felt pressure and resistance… some manner of friction, yet no texture that she could feel.

Krillin chuckled. "Yep! And that can work to your advantage… Set me up, Gohan!"

The hairless hero moved until the lake was at his back, taking a firm stance. "Pelt me with some softballs, squirt!"

Gohan nodded, hand out as his palm glowed… before a barrage of bright bolts fired out, one after another in rapid succession.

But Krillin stood his ground, taking his time… and swatting the first over his shoulder and into the distant chop behind him, causing a plume of water to fountain from the spot.

The same happened with the next dozen, as the spectacle drew all of their eyes, their own energy balls bursting like bulbs as they were banished.

"Cool…!" Ruby squeaked.

"Yeah!" he agreed, still huffing with exertion. "And most importantly… you can aim 'em like this!"

With just that much warning, the next bolt struck Ruby in the face, a hot wash of bright plasma-smoke blinding her vision before clearing. She reeled back several steps, off-balance, just in time to catch the next and swipe it off-course… directly into Blake's belly, bowling her over.

"Sorryyy…!"

"Hey Gohan?" Krillin said, grinning wickedly. "Let's make these rookies dance!"

Gohan nodded, flashing a grin as he leapt ahead, side to side with him as they both doubled the barrage and turned it on the crowd.

It quickly devolved into chaos as each chose a different manner of dealing with the scattered shots. Blake was dodging altogether, clones dissolving with each near miss. Weiss grabbed Myrtenaster and sliced one aimed her way in half, blasting the resulting gold smoke past her on both sides. Yang was meeting them head-on with her fists, while Nora's Magnhilde batted bolts away with its heavy head. Sun attempted to deflect with his staff spinning before him, but the added mass of these energy blasts made that a bad strategy, knocking it from his hands as he dove after it.

Ren was managing to stop the blasts in place with the heel of his palm, canceling their momentum altogether before a burst of force blew them back at their attackers.

At the same time, Weiss had switched to shielding herself with a red glyph, which was reflecting the luminous missiles back with ease.

Gohan and Krillin were forced to dodge as their attacks began to turn against them little by little. "Alright! Let's turn it up then!"

The challenge factor became progressively more intense as Goku and Vegeta watched from above, taking themselves out of the battlefield entirely. At first, Gohan and Krillin began to circle them as they continued blasting, forcing them to adjust to moving targets. In time, all of them had a reliable strategy. Finally, Gohan and Krillin mixed things up further when Krillin switched directions, creating an opposing crossfire that forced all of them to adapt even to fire on opposing sides by employing their ability to sense energy rather than seeing the incoming attacks.

Soon though, the Sun had begun to set, and their little glen had been blown into a scarred battlefield.

Vegeta huffed, as all of them caught their breath, barely standing, clothing stained with soot and dirt. "Passable. But they'll hardly be facing attacks of that caliber."

"Still!" Goku said, enthused. "Not too shabby, guys! We'll start the bell training tomorrow. Actually, we're gonna have the bells from this point forward! Any move you can make, attack or defense, can be done more efficiently! It'll teach you faster than you think… Regroup tomorrow, yeah?"

Oscar groaned from the floor. "With bells on…"

---

Ruby sighed as the last of the various couples filed out, the door closing as the piles of rinsed dishes from dinner were loaded into the washer.

"Ugh…" Ruby glanced around in annoyance at the largely empty house. Or… empty compared to the recent situation.

Goku had turned in… Raven and Vegeta had "retired" to their Capsule house. Bulma was still milling around in conversation with her fath—

She sighed. Even HERE she couldn't escape it.

"Hey, if you feel left out, kiddo, I bet Oscar wouldn't mind linkin' arms," Qrow laughed, slapping her back as she stood rod-straight.

Ruby and Oscar met eyes across the kitchen, flushed at the suggestion.

"U-uh…! Three's a crowd!" Oscar said, as Qrow hummed thoughtfully.

"Yeah… That's rough."

Gohan approached helpfully, carrying the small yet cumbersome Zwei. "Well, there's gotta be some stuff we can do… that's not movies or video games."

Qrow shrugged. Oscar laughed.

"Your Mom did some work on you, huh? 'Games rot your brain,' that sorta thing?"

Ruby smiled. "Well, if you're more about books, I can show ya some old ones I like!"

"If you're goin' upstairs, take your laundry," Taiyang said from the other room.

"Kay Dad…"

Gohan joined her, having his own set of clothes to cycle into the dryer. The process wasn't long, but as he waited for her to finish extracting and folding her own spare set, she did a double-take at what was sitting politely on top of his pile. Namely, a set of white boxers with a brown teddy bear printed along its back.

She froze, fist to her mouth as she giggled. The boy saw and clearly contemplated hiding it as his cheeks pinkened… until Ruby sifted through the dryer to find a set of red-stitched black briefs. Printed on its own backside, outlined in white, a super-deformed Beowulf, closer to a puppy than what inspired it, gnawing on a squishy red heart in determined futility.

Gohan stared only a moment as Ruby smiled back, not meeting his eye as her cheeks pinkened as well. She folded the garment and tucked it into the pile, a finger to her lips in a vow of silence. He nodded, snickering.

Oscar followed them upstairs, tentatively. "Uh… did you mean me too?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"Oh…! Neat, I've never… been in a girl's… room…"

She snorted. "That's weird."

They entered the little room with its red and yellow beds, and Ruby brazenly opened the nightstand drawer which tightly held every article of clothing she owned. Oscar twisted away, feeling he'd crossed a line to witness this, as Ruby noticed the sudden surprise on his face. "Oh, yeah, Yang and I never kept tons of different clothes. Huntress thing; rock one really good outfit! Most of the drawer is just socks and undies and—"

"Y-yeah, I noticed…"

Oscar looked about elsewhere, to the writing desks at either side of the room. Ruby's was nearest to her bed, adorned in string bulb lights and numerous Grimm figures on the topmost shelf. As it happened, it was exactly where she was headed after she shut the drawer, plopping down into the wooden chair and flicking the string bulbs on. The effect was enchanting, as the darker corner of the room was dotted with scattered lights. Oscar imagined her nose in a book, feet idly kicking as she leaned back in that chair, the lights creating the illusion of reading by the light of fireflies. There was a warmth to it all. Fanciful mood on a budget.

"These are some of my favorites! The ones I could find hard-copies of anyway. E-books are cool, but nothing beats real paper…"

"Oh hey!" Gohan said, pointing at a bigger, thicker reference book in the back. Its size eclipsed the others enough for a title to be seen: ' Paean's Guide to Human Anatomy.' "Mom gave me one like this!"

Ruby took one look at it and froze, face flushed. "Oh, that…" She grabbed for it as hastily as if it had been a dirty magazine. "That's non-fiction…" She slipped it behind the desk on the floor.

Gohan hummed. "Yeah, Mom wanted to be sure I knew the differences of girls. So I wouldn't grow up like Dad," he explained.

Ruby vaguely recalled the swirling memory of the night they'd been intoxicated. She'd hoped against hope that some of what she heard were things she had imagined. "Right… that."

"Actually, hey! You're a girl!"

Ruby laughed. "Uh… yeah?"

"What's it like…?"

She blinked, as Oscar tried to ignore the conversation as politely as he could. "Uhhh… I don't know? A few days outta the month it kinda sucks… What's it like being a boy?"

This time Gohan blinked. Oscar answered though. "Uh… sweaty?"

Ruby snorted. "That's not different… I mean, probably takes longer to get dressed and stuff. I'm not huge on makeup, just lip gloss, eyelashes… I don't care about the rest like Weiss does. Skirts are really comfortable? Kinda sucks for boys you don't use them usually… They're breezy! An' these are kinda fun…"

With two fingers of each hand, she lifted under both sides of her chest and began to alternate flicking both features up with a merry jiggle as she snickered. Oscar turned scarlet, and looked as though he might have a heart attack.

"You guys ever do that…?" she asked with a stage whisper. "Y'know…? With the…?" She glanced low, pink, one cupped hand tapping something invisible as demonstration.

Oscar shook his head as quickly and stiffly as possible. "No, definitely not! And don't make that gesture again…"

"Too bad… I would…"

Gohan's eyes lit up. "Oh right! We can pee standing up…"

Ruby frowned. "Hey, I can do that too… It's just harder…"

"Ohhh…"

"B-but anyway!" Ruby said, realizing they'd strayed into a tangent. "These…!"

She passed over some thin books with end-covers in Mistral characters. "These are manga… don't think you'll vibe with those… Ah!" Ruby found spines with gold lettering, faded and musty with age. "The Girl in the Tower… That one's older, not the most progressive. Main character isn't very active… Ooh! The Shallow Sea! That's faunus myth; there's a God of Animals! I… don't think that one's real? Given what we know? There's the Infinite Man, and it's about a magical man who lives over and over agai—"

She froze, peering slowly over at Oscar. "This one's about Ozpin, isn't it?" she droned.

Oscar flashed momentarily. "Your assumptions are correct. A sorry tale, but it's difficult to go unnoticed in this world for long. Still, a worthy lesson… and, perhaps, a comfort. Power invites challenge. One day, even the likes of Frieza need fear the weight of their own name…"

"Lucky for you, you change every life, huh?" Gohan observed.

Ozpin smiled. "My saving grace…"

Oscar flashed again, and Ruby turned back to her books.

"Let's see… The Gift of the Moon… That one says the Moon is actually the Sun, but broken, and that the SUN Sun is fake."

"What?"

She pulled another. "Leviathan's Call… The Ferryman's Cask… A Titan's Tears… Oh! Imogen and the Eye! It's part of the anthology… Imogen doesn't have a weapon, or powers, but she returns this magic stone to this statue deep underground, all while seven ArchGrimm stalk her in the dark!"

Then she gasped, tugging out an incredibly worn tome. "The Warrior in the Woods! My all-time favorite! A boy in a peaceful village learns that it has a secret protector! He falls for her, and when she vanishes one day, he protects the village himself, because no one else will…" She bounced in place as she flipped through the illustrated pages. "It has fighting! Grimm! A one-sided ROMANCE!"

Oscar seemed lost in thought.

"...And the fact that the Warrior has Silver Eyes…?"

Ruby froze, locked eyes with him. Then she flipped through to the story's end, her mouth slack and open.

"Ohhhhh… That's what that was about…"

---

Jaune stepped out of the upstairs barber, looking down the steps at the others mingling in the twilight. "Thanks again, Mister DeSeville! Sorry about your shears…"

"Not your fault," the faunus called out the door, "been meaning to replace those…"

Jaune locked eyes with the others as they blinked appreciatively.

"Hey Jaune!" Nora praised. "That look works for you!"

Ren nodded. "It… has a certain dignity."

Weiss smiled his way, crossing her arms. "I told you that scraggly cut could be better. Marble in need of a sculptor, that's all…"

He appraised his own hair, shorter and tighter than before. In lieu of bangs, his hair swept up with a slight clockwise twist as it approached his hairline. While slightly ragged, it had been tamed and coiffed into a slick whole. It was almost military, but certainly held a heroic quality.

"Thanks! I… It was getting long anyway."

Blake smiled. "What was that about his shears?"

Jaune's face fell slightly. "Heard that, huh? Yeah… okay, so… I might have forgotten to lower my power? And my hair was strengthened when he tried to cut it?"

Blake couldn't help giggling as Nora snorted loudly with laughter. "You DORK!"

Weiss just flashed a grin and rolled her eyes.

Ren shook his head with a smile. "Buuuuut, it will serve as a reminder to be mindful of these things now."

---

Krillin emerged from the dressing room, tapping the point of his dress shoe into the floor as he checked the fit and tugged on the collar of his navy blue Polo shirt. "Thanks for the rest of this, but the shoes are the most expensive part! I can go without…"

"Don't start with that again," Yang sighed with a smile. "You helped me through a lot, I owe you… Just take it, you look good!"

She finished the transaction before he could say more. "Yeah, wearing it out, Mister S."

They left the tailor and found the others loitering in front of The Magic Bean, and minutes later were gathered in a booth and adjacent table.

"Did you see Jaune's?" Nora asked. "Mister strong-man! Just powering up, he blew up a mountain!"

Ren shook his head. "Actually, I think it was more of a plateau—"

"Nobody likes a hair-splitter, hon'..."

"I don't think you guys saw," Blake noted, "but I pulled off a five-hundred foot vertical leap, and I was only trying moderately hard."

Sun frowned in recollection. "What's so special about that? I saw you pull that off on the ship when we were fighting that Feilong. Seriously, it was weird. She did like a hop, a skip, and then sprung off a railing into the clear blue sky. It was like gravity turned off or something."

Weiss blinked. "Was the ship an Atlas model? That is strange…"

"Jumping's overrated anyway!" Nora dismissed. "We're all gonna learn to FLY, soon…!" She snuck an arm around Ren's back. "...And I'll bet all this heft and stamina has… other uses."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Nora, swear to god I'm gonna find you a muzzle or something. You have been down horrendous for weeks."

Sun just swirled the dregs of his tea, strangely serious. "About time we had a real break in this thing." He flexed his fingers, staring through his palm as his muscles creaked. "I hate sitting here, doing nothing while the world pretends everything's cool. I want to get back in that grav chamber."

Everyone but Weiss and Jaune blanked at his sentiment, only glancing at each other.

Blake rubbed his back. "I know how you feel, but we're not 'doing nothing;' rest is as important to the process as work. Learned that the hard way back at Beacon."

Sun frowned. "I'm not worried about someone coming to Vale… Frieza's already in Vacuo, right now. He's squatting in Shade Academy, doing who-knows-what!"

Jaune nodded. "You're worried about your family?"

His eyes winced. "Yeah. My… family…"

Weiss sighed. "I mean… I understand. News sources almost seem to be ignoring Vacuo. It's just a blackout. I can't tell if that means nobody is getting out to tell the world what's going on there… or if they're trying not to cause more panic after Mistral."

Sun sighed. "Last thing we got was a whole Atlas flotilla getting picked apart by a Kingdom with no military. They didn't even get CLOSE."

"The last anyone heard," Ren began, "was that Vacuo had a weapon that destroyed a Kingdom. I'm not sure I blame them, trying to draw attention from that."

Krillin nodded. "It's not fair, but there's nothing to be done until we can face down Frieza. Anything short of cutting off the head won't change anything. Remember, this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. If we don't pace ourselves, we wipe each other out and lose more than we ever gained."

Sun slapped his cup down. "We can still help people!" he insisted. "He can't be everywhere at once. And he's not gonna care about a few people!"

"Maybe," Krillin said, "or we kick the hornet's nest and he finally takes the fight on the road."

Sun just stared into his lap. Blake's lips pressed into his cheek as he winced.

"I… just hate feeling useless. I get why Ruby did what she did."

Yang's eyes flashed red as she shot a look… but calm overtook her. "Yeah. I mean, I get it… Most of you guys weren't here to see Vale dealing with everything after Beacon."

Nora's eyes seemed to fog as she stared into the steam of her decaf —Ren's orders— and sagged with the memories. "Sure, I mean… Ren n' I aren't from here, but… Beacon was our home! And now it's still swarming with monsters."

"It's just… not the first home we lost."

Krillin looked around the group from his corner in the booth. There was weight behind the stares of these kids. Sun seemed to grow a little lighter in his seat.

Weiss gave a sad smile. "Beacon became more home to me than Atlas ever did… but I feel the same here."

Krillin smiled. "Because home is with the people you love… if that doesn't sound too schmaltzy…" there were some smiles blooming through the group at the sentiment. "I didn't know who my parents were. I was a foundling, left at Orin Temple. Barely more than an orphanage, frankly, with a lousy rep. Trained since I was four, but if the temple monks cared, they didn't see how the kids all formed their own twisted pecking order. Guess who always came last… hehe."

He smiled into the middle distance. "Wasn't until I set out to meet Master Roshi that anywhere felt like home. I'll be honest, I was a lout… Those bullies rubbed off on me, and I didn't like Goku a bit. Just competition… But that big lug? He's been my brother ever since…"

Sun finally managed a smile. "Alright, fine… You guys get it… Just… Promise, all said and done… we're gonna free that place."

"We will," Blake said, an unusual amount of confidence behind her voice. "I'm not sure I believe the same things Ruby does… but we've come too far. I mean, look what we've done!"

"Yeah!" Nora agreed. "Dunno 'bout you guys, but I feel like I could rip a Beowulf in half like copy paper!"

"Mmhmm!" Krillin intoned. "You kids? You're the strongest home-grown humans on this planet! Everything else is freaky aliens like us…"

"We're going to see this through," Blake affirmed. "That's what I believe."

There was a satisfied sort of calm that rippled through the room. Until finally, Sun eyed Weiss and Jaune. "So hey, never thought this group therapy stuff would be my bag! Props…"

Weiss couldn't suppress a giggle as she squeezed Jaune's arm.

---

The trip back from Copse Landing was sedate, but pleasant, each couple on the other's arm as they stargazed in the warm, gentle night. The refrain of crickets was constant, and calming. And as they returned home, Yang stopped short a distance from the house as the others continued on.

Taiyang and Bulma too sat on the shaded deck, absorbing the balm of darkness.

"Hey, what's up?" Krillin asked.

Yang smiled down at him. "Just makin' sure Dad sees this… Hold your breath…"

"W-wait! Hold on!" Krillin said. "You don't have to do that! And I don't want you to do it at all if you don't mean it…"

She blinked, surprised, but just laughed as her smile brightened. "You're not the first guy I've kissed, y'know? Don't worry about that. But you do pass the first date. All gentlemanly and stuff."

"...So this isn't just to defy your Dad?"

She stood up straight. "Well… You're probably the most interesting guy I know who's single… Stood by me through all that stuff with my Mom… Probably saved me, my friends and my sis from a lot of the crap when Frieza showed up. Totally changed my life and everything I knew about the world, helped me become stronger than I ever thought a person could be…"

"I mean, you wanna sell it that way…" he laughed, scratching the back of his head.

"I've barely started!" she said, hands on her hips.

"Oh come on, I know who I am…" he groaned. "Bald, four-foot- nothing, and a total dork. I'll own it!"

"Hey, maybe I like dorks! Seriously, don't neg on yourself, it's unattractive… You really don't get it, do you?"

"Huh? Get what?"

"The Saiyans? Goku, Vegeta, Gohan… Look, they're freaks of nature. They're just fighting gods, and honestly, it's hard to think we could reach their level."

He smirked. "Tell me about it…"

"That's why everybody looks up to YOU," she said, as he recoiled. "You're just HUMAN! But there you are, swinging at the best of them! Sure you got creamed, but you leapt in at Frieza! Not a lot of people would have done that. You make us all feel like we have a shot at this… Diving in when you're the weakest, the way I see it, you're the bravest of your friends. There's a lot to admire about that…"

He went red, tapping his foot as he smiled at the grass by his feet. "Wow, I… Yang…"

She chuckled. "So believe me when I do this…"

Yang leaned in, a finger tapping his chin up as their lips met. It was not a brief connection. Krillin stood, still stunned as her nostrils puffed across his face, the subtle chirp of her lips breaking the seal just a touch as they worked against his… The smell of coffee still on her breath, combined with a scent of cherries… Yes, somehow he could still smell things.

He followed her lead to respond in kind. But at last, she pulled slowly away, eyes opening with a flutter.

She smiled at him. "You're not too bad at that… And your nose doesn't get in the way."

He chuckled, still red. "Y-yeah… you too."

---

Weiss remained latched to Jaune's arm all the way to her door before letting him go. Blake and Sun were already ahead of them

"Next time, let's head over to Vale," Weiss told him. "Just us, no tag alongs. There are some decent things to do for… relatively cheap."

He laughed. "Relatively… So, you really think the hair's okay?"

"I'd go as far as to call you handsome… The scraggle never did you many favors."

Jaune winced. "I mean… I know… someone who apparently thought it was alright."

They hugged and bid each other goodnight, and he came close to Sun's room at the end of the hall, where he and Blake were also ending their evening.

"Hey…" Blake said, a hand on his cheek. "You okay?"

Sun nodded. "Yeah… Yeah, it's just a lot."

"Just keep us… keep me in the loop, alright? Sun, you were there for me, even when I didn't think I wanted you to be. I will be there for YOU."

"Thanks, I'm… I'm just angry… An' yeah, maybe a little scared."

She sucked her lips in, considering something. "Want me to sleep over?"

His eyes widened. "Whoa…! I… I mean…!"

She smiled, pink in the face. "I don't mean sex…" she said, in a tinkling laugh. "Not that far anyway, I'm in no way prepared for that…"

"Yeah… yeah, me either," he said, waving a dismissive hand, but unable to keep the smile off his face. "But I could stand some company. Y'know, long as you don't cramp my style, steal the covers or whatever."

She chuckled, letting herself in.

He closed the door behind them, unsure what to do as he kicked his shoes off, and she, her boots and socks.

"So, uh…" he began, "we gonna draw a line down the middle of the bed, or…?"

Her ears folded down, confused. "I… was thinking we'd just lie together… Is that not ok—?"

"No! No, it's… It's great… I'm just not sure of the… boundaries."

She blinked, but laughed again, shrugging off her jacket to leave her white tank top, laying it on an end table. Then she hooked her baggy pants at the waist and dropped them down to leave purple underwear.

His eyes went huge, and he diverted them immediately. She noticed, sighing. "It's too warm for pajamas, and I'm not sleeping in these. Are you gonna keep those jeans on all night?"

"Well, I didn't…"

"Sun, do I have to spell out that you're my boyfriend? You didn't sneak into the RWBY dorm, you can look."

'Not THIS time…' he thought. "Wait… boyfriend?"

"Oh my god! We've kissed before…!" She slipped into the bed, hunkering down with… well… catlike liquification. "Are you coming?"

He shrugged, still taken aback at the scenario, but stripped off his shirt and was soon left in his boxers alone. Blake smiled as he slipped in beside her, and she molded against his chest.

Sun wrapped an arm around her bare back. She was so soft… And her hair smelled like lavender.

"Uh… goodnight?"

"Hmhm… Goodnight…"

---

Nora loomed over Ren, stroking his hair as she stared down into his eyes with adoration. She curled her toes, wiggling from knee to knee.

"Mmm… babyyyy…! H-how ya doin' down there…?" she cooed. She watched his brows, seeing as his nose and mouth were not visible from where she was… and preoccupied.

His brows creased, and he patted her thigh.

"Hmm?" She lifted herself higher, and he scooted back into view as he could speak again.

"Something's… different," he told her, plainly uncomfortable.

"...What?"

"There's a very sharp… metallic taste?"

Her brows furrowed with confusion… but then flew into her hair as she slid off the bed with a gasp.

"Oh no! Be right back!"

She closed the bathroom door and sat, reaching immediately for some paper. After a prudent mopping, she held it up. It came away… red.

"Oh damn it!" she groaned, attacking the offending issue, tossing the paper. "Not yet…! We're about to learn Multi-form! That's so unfair!" Nora finished, crossing her arms indignantly as she pouted.

Ultimately, she reached under the sink for a little box, and pulled out a little wrapper, which she tore to retrieve a torpedo-shaped applicator…

A minute or so later, she tossed the empty tube and wrapper, sighing as she flexed her legs uncomfortably.

Great. What was she going to do?! A week without?! "Stupid body…! Stupid gross, bloody…"

There was a knock. "Nora…? Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" she said. "Just… gimme a few…"

So what now? Accept defeat? Just rubbing and kissing? The typical thing was out of the question, but…

But…

Her eyes opened, and she winced at the idea that had just crossed her mind.

"Butt…"

Did she have to? Was she desperate enough to do THAT? She supposed it couldn't be as bad as when he didn't realize he'd done it… At least she had time to prepare.

Nora sighed.

She left minutes later, returning to the bed after thoroughly washing her hands.

"Everything okay?"

She didn't answer at first. "Uhhhh… Might have to change plans a bit… but… Yeah, we can't do things the normal way for a few."

"Oh… So, it's your—?"

She slammed her eyes shut. "Yeah! Yes… That… It sucks."

He sighed with a quiet laugh. "It's fine… We can wai—"

"Huh? No! I mean… that's cool, but… what would you say to doing it another way?"

He blinked. "Another way…? Liiiiike…?"

She winced. "Like…" She hooked a thumb, jabbing behind herself.

"Like… in your anu—?"

"Yes! Y-yes, just… Stop talking…" she begged, going absolutely red. "Does that sound…?"

He took a quiet, but very visible breath as visions fogged his eyes, and color filled his own cheeks. "A-apart from hygienic concerns—"

"I took care of that!" Nora blurted, a hand out in a stopping gesture. "Don't ask… I… it's fine…"

"It sounds… interesting. But you seem… uncomfortable."

She shrugged. "I think anything up there SHOULD be a little uncomfortable…"

"I'd try it, but—"

"I have ONE condition!" Nora told him, finger stabbing the air. "We do that… and then, we learn Multi-form… Then you split yourself, and… I get to watch you do the same thing to the other you…"

Ren blinked several times as he reared back, like he'd been kicked in the head in slow motion. "I see…" He considered… and pondered… He was pink in the face. "That's… fair. To ask nothing of you that I would not do myself…"

Nora's mouth hung open. "Wow, for real?" Suddenly, the prospect of the vista in her mind's eye parted the clouds in her mind. She gave a hiccup of laughter. "Alright… on your back."

He obeyed, uncertain.

She elaborated as she hopped a knee across him. "If we're doin' this, I'm in control for the start… Also, d-don't stare at my string!"

"String?"

"Shush… H-here I go…"

"Don't you need some kind of—?"

"I said 'shush!' I found some petroleum jelly and… We're good…"

Ren watched her hover, as she had numerous times before… but this time there was an energy and a nervousness… excitement. But with a wince, and a guttural groan, she began to descend.

He rolled his eyes into his head as he felt her encompass him slowly. She was shaking, jerking away, wincing with a hiss every time she went too far. Her breaths were shaky, ragged. It seemed difficult for her. He rubbed her thigh in calming circles.

"Nora, if it's too…"

"Shut up, I-I-I'm fine…! Just… N-never thought I'd— nggk! …I'd let a guy do th-th-this, but life has a tendency to… ggk! Do… uh… THIS to you…"

He pressed his lips together. Her progress was slight. It might even have been painful, and she just wouldn't own up to it.

But then Ren had an idea. His Aura flooded out to her, the color draining from the world as his semblance filler her. Seconds later, her breath eased. With one long breath, she exhaled, gently planting down into his lap as he groaned in delight.

"Mmmmwhat did you do…?"

"I-I calmed you," he said. "I've heard half the problem with this is muscle relaxation."

Her mind clearer, she nodded. "Huh… I mean, yeah… I've flushed bigger stuff than you… Can't-believe-I-said-that…" She gave an experimental wiggle, rising and falling, breathing carefully. "Mmm… yeah, that's a LOT better, Lie…! That's almost nice…"

"What's it feel like?" he asked, trying to keep his concentration as she began to bounce slightly.

"Y-you've got one, Ren, use your imagination!" But a beat or two later, she stuck her tongue out and to the side in thought. "It's like… when you really gotta… and then… you do? But over and over again? That satisfied 'oh shoot, it's good to be rid a' that' feeling?"

"Oh…"

She winced as she became more daring, rising and falling from greater heights. "Y-yeah… If it were a- anyone but you, I'd never be d-doing this… My butt is my business…"

"I'm honored."

Finally, she stopped, lifting free with a groan. "O-okay, you want to take the reigns?"

He sat up. "Oh… Alright." She turned from him, still on her knees, back popped towards him with her hands on her thighs. He squared up behind her, taking aim…

"Ngk! Higher honey…! Th-that's i… MMMnnnnnn…! Oh… shit…!"

He froze. "Don't say that in this context…"

Her eyes blinked open uncomfortably. "R-right… sorry. Careful… Oooooh, that's it…"

Ren carried on, delighting in wrapping his arms around her waist, as he sought the heat within as gently as he knew how. All the while, he was careful to employ his semblance. He wasn't sure, as they coupled ever more deeply, whether it was responsible to tell her how incredible this feeling was. Nora was so loving, and if she thought he loved this, while she hated it… she might choose to take on that burden for his sake. Regardless if it was merely pain, or the embarrassment of the nature of this particular union, it would not be worth her suffering for the sake of his pleasure.

He listened, felt for every twitch that might indicate some concealed hatred. All the while, he needed to filter out the bliss screaming through his hips as her body fed him delight with every motion.

And then… something incredible happened.

Those very feelings began to manifest before his eyes. At first, he sought an open window or some source for the phenomenon, the specters filling his vision, surrounding her.

Petals… luminous petals, like sakura blossoms swirled in a wind that wasn't there. They cast no light upon their dimly lit home. There wasn't a lick of air moving. This was entirely in his own mind, but he knew instantly that it was no pathology. No spots in his eyes from blood pressure.

No, he knew instantly… intimately… These were his loving partner's feelings.

They came in different hues, and each was instantly identifiable. There was a flicker of red petals in the midst of the swirl. Pain… anger… but so slight. But more than the mere color, he could feel the greater context. Discomfort, annoyance. There was a flicker of purple. Embarrassment… Disgust.

But the body of the swirl, engulfing the others in a relative maelstrom… pink. Love.

His breath hitched in his throat. Her feelings for him were beautiful. Words, however many spilled from her mouth, could never have conveyed this. This was what wars were fought and lost for… This was the muse of poets and painters, and it would always lose something in translation.

"Ren, you stopped… Y-you alright?"

He hugged her, held her… He needed to do better, and now he could. He returned to his task.

"Ohhhh?"

He angled, and moved, caressed and kissed her, all the while keen to how it stirred the petals. He changed his pace, his rhythm, until the red petals shifted in a flurry. They poured in mounting excitement. The red, the purple, they were turning a golden yellow: Joy.

"Ohhh! Oh, Lie…! H-how are you doing that…?!" she groaned breathlessly.

He turned her chin towards him, and caught the side of her mouth, prompting a moan from her as their tongues clashed. He continued to follow the cue of the petals, anything that accentuated her delight. He kneaded her breast with one hand… rubbed between her legs with the other. Pink and yellow flared through the room. His mouth found her neck… her ear… He nipped and nibbled. All the while, there was such passion in his motions as she adapted to the act, and she began to respond to greater and greater force as he delved between the cleft of her hind side. All had smoothed.

Then, very suddenly, she wormed out of his grip and wrenched free, falling flat on the mattress before rolling onto her back. Red faced, she hiked her knees high and held her arms out expectantly. He fell into her arms, and with a tremendous groan, her head reared back as he reseated himself, and it all carried on until pink and gold were all that remained.

---

Sun awoke with a start to the looming shape standing at the end of his bed. "Blake…?"

It was her, but… unnaturally still. And… wearing his shirt and a pair of his boxers?

From the lit bathroom, Blake leaned around the corner, a toothbrush in her mouth. "Hmm?" She turned to the sink and spat out the lather, rinsing the brush.

He blinked. "So, what…?" He pointed to the figure.

She chuckled. "It's a gift. Stone Dust clone."

He got up and inspected the perfect replica, standing legs apart. "Uh… thanks. So… why is it wearing my clothes?"

She smiled, suppressing a laugh as pink kissed her cheeks. "Because it's not wearing any… Because I wasn't wearing any…"

He froze, his eyes gradually widening as he swallowed. She finished lacing her boots and walked out the door. "I'll meet you at the house. I won't be offended if you take your time, I had an early start."

With a wink, she left, shutting the door. He finally dared to look back at the curvaceous facsimile, its empty stare only colored by an illicit smile.

He hesitated, checking the window, as if he might be judged for what she'd expressly indicated he should do. He pinched the inner edge of his open shirt, and brushed it away from the womanly lump it covered. His jaw dropped. "Ho…! Wow!"

Real. It was for real.

He took a breath, and gently grabbed the band of the boxers, tugging them taut. He glimpsed a stony tuft, and a particular form and curve that would certainly be omitted from this part of a store mannequin.

The band snapped back into place as his heart hammered.

"Dude…! Awesome…!"

---

"Mmmm…! Omfff…! Tha's goo…"

"Nora, don't talk with your mouth full…"

She swallowed, but he was already there with another. "I don't think I can swallow this much…!" She took a breath. "Alright… mffff!"

Faces around the dining table were wide with horror. Qrow looked up from his newspaper, lips pursed in confusion as Nora packed another morsel of syrup-sodden pancake off Ren's fork. Weiss had frozen mid-pour as coffee overflowed her cup and into the saucer beneath.

"Welp, breakfast is ruined," Yang declared, trashing her plate and making her way outside.

"Uncle Qrow, where'd you get a newspaper?" Ruby asked, picking uneasily through her hash browns. "We have Scroll signal here."

"Always support the local news," he answered. "Plus, all the real news is done by local places. Not so easily bought, more detail-oriented. No fluff pieces about airheaded celebs and their mindless drama… No offense, Schnee."

"None taken."

In an observant mood, Ruby noted something on Nora's chair.

"Nora, did you take a cushion from the living room?"

The grenadier leered. "So what if I did?"

"...Why?"

"Nunya…"

Ruby shrugged. "Whatever…"

One way or another, breakfast came to an end shortly after, and Goku stood in the door, fist in the air.

"Alriiiiiiiight!" he cried, rife with infectious enthusiasm. "Up and at it! Let's strike while the porridge is hot!"

"I don't think that's the phrase…" Yang muttered.

"So where's Vegeta?" Bulma asked. "Haven't seen him all morning."

"Locked in the gravity chamber," Weiss told her. "He's been doing that a lot lately."

"Come on, Team!" Ruby said brightly, checking her weapon and clipping it on her back in a fluid motion. "Let's make it happen!"

She was first on the lawn as they shambled out the door. The burning dawn pinkened the clouds, as the calls of morning birds echoed across the valley.

And yet… as Ruby walked out… she began to frown, leering out into the trees.

"...What is that?"

Goku and Krillin glanced at each other as they recognized the same thing. The power lingering in those trees… their unseen friend. The intruder.

"Hm?" Jaune asked. "What's what?"

Ruby was unusually quiet, serious. "Out in the trees…" she whispered. "Someone's watching us…" There was a shiver in her voice.

As if to accentuate it all, Zwei was locked in the same direction, sniffing before he growled protectively.

Jaune peered out. "Y-yeah…! They're strong… Ruby, you sound…"

She nodded. "I can feel… hate… It's scorching at me."

She didn't want to admit it, but the feeling was terrifying. It was such a focused, single-minded loathing, and being under its gaze made her feel like a child again.

A rough hand found her shoulder. She jumped, looking up to see Goku. "You need to face it," he said. "Feel it out, find it… Don't rely on your eyes, or your energy."

She seemed frightened at the notion, but steeled herself. "Alright…"

The others watched the exchange, lost.

"Wait, why?" Yang asked.

"What's this about?" Qrow asked.

"Why Ruby?" Weiss demanded. "I'm going out there!"

"Yeah!" Gohan agreed, squaring up.

"No," Goku said firmly. "We stay nearby to back her up… but this is something she needs to handle. They're focused on her."

"WHO is?!" Oscar asked. "Who could be here with the barrier up?"

Goku hadn't taken his eyes off Ruby's back. "Someone who was here when it was created."

The little dog was latched to her heels for a few steps, but Ruby turned.

"Zwei, no… Stay at the house."

The monochrome corgi whined, and gave a distressed complaint to argue.

"Zwei… stay."

The little dog froze, whimpering shrilly, but ultimately obeyed.

Ruby wanted to do virtually anything but enter those trees, but she forced herself on, step by step. For the sake of perspective, she looked West. Frieza's power was ever-present, and it was disturbing how quickly they had gotten used to feeling it there. But the knowledge of something so much worse was helpful, in its own way.

Blake approached the Saiyan. "Wait… Did you know?!"

Goku didn't answer immediately. He took a breath. "Yes. They've been here the whole time. I didn't notice until we cleared out the Grimm."

"So we've been living here for WEEKS with some dangerous squatter camping in the woods?!" Weiss surmised.

Krillin saw smoke and held his arms out in placation. "We wouldn't have let anyone get hurt! We scoped her out ourselves!"

"YOU knew about this too?!" Yang said.

"Well you can't be watching all the time!" Nora argued.

"Hey, what's up out here…?" Taiyang asked, stepping outside.

"Training isn't the same as fighting someone looking to take you out," Goku told them. "I thought this was a good opportunity."

Yang gave a ragged gasp. "Ruby…!"

She tore off for the trees, and the others followed suit. Goku and Krillin's protests fell on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, Ruby followed the power, listening, quiet as she passed under boughs. Her eyes scanned all over. Eventually though, she found an unnatural shade of blue, and jogged quickly over to it.

It was a camp. A mere few hundred yards from the house, with a bed of scrap cloth sewn together. The creek was audible from here. There was upturned earth, where the remains of old meals —or whatever— had likely been buried.

Ruby could feel the presence, but knew, eerily, that it was hiding now.

"It was you I felt before, wasn't it?" she asked, hoping to provoke a response. "You can fade away somehow… Why are you watching me…?"

But there was nothing. She was still, listening as the wind rustled the trees. Her eyes checked every branch. She didn't like that this person could obfuscate their power. Could they do that without having control over their ki?

If not, then she was up against someone she definitely couldn't beat in a fight.

But something familiar sat in the middle of the little camp. She checked left and right, before bending to pick up the little black bowler hat, a red band over its brim…

Then there was a thrash of bushes. She twisted to see…

"Yang?"

Yang staggered into view, boot caught on something in the forest floor. She seemed to catch her breath, bent over as she held a finger out, begging for a moment.

Ruby stared. Something was wrong.

Finally, Yang's head turned up from her bowed position, smiling.

But her eyes… Ruby gasped. "You…!"

As Yang pulled out a pink parasol from behind her back, Ruby twisted away from her as something unseen fell from the trees above her.

Reality shattered in glasslike shards as Ruby grabbed the point of a long silver skewer aimed for her back… staring into the same eyes she'd seen on Yang, who shattered with the rest of the illusion. Pink, and brown…

With a flick, Ruby disarmed her, the skewer sailing off into a tree before she flipped the slight woman onto her back.

"...Neo?"

Ruby stared into a face that was taut with frustration and hatred, unlike she'd ever seen in the silent henchwoman. She was usually so stoic, jovial even, but at present she looked deranged.

Her long, wavy brown and pink hair was unkempt and wiry. The little skin she could see, from the neck up, was just south of filthy. Her broad-tailed white jacket was scuffed, stained, its bright pink cuffs and interior dusty and faded. Her brown corset and tight pants had made out better, if only because the accumulated filth stood out less, but were still torn in numerous places. Her tall white boots were streaked in equal measure.

Neo immediately fought back, her closed pink parasol, Hush, in her other hand. But without the skewer, it was nothing more than a blunt instrument.

"Stop!" Ruby demanded, sitting on the tiny woman with her knees, twisting the weapon from her grasp and pinning her wrists to the leaf-strewn ground with her hands.

If anything, Neopolitan grew more desperate, defiant and agitated, panting and heaving with effort as she tried to squirm, swung her head to hit Ruby's and even bite if she could get close enough. It looked like a child's tantrum, and her two-toned eyes grew wet as she recognized her helplessness. With a blink, they both turned brown.

She reared back and made to spit in Ruby's face, but even that came nowhere close as she tired and was left with her breast quietly heaving, just glaring at Ruby with her teeth bared.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked her. "Does Salem know you're here?!"

Neo blinked, eyes both pink, recoiling at the accusation. Her brows settled, still furrowed from her rage, mouth relaxing without quite closing. The expression seemed to ask… "Who?"

"RUBY!"

A crash of brush announced the arrival of the real Yang, as others followed close behind.

Yang set eyes on Neo and blanked. "Her?!"

"Wait… Torchwick's toadie?" Weiss asked.

Neo struggled anew at the mention of the name, but Ruby readily overpowered her. Compared to their last encounter, it had been child's play…

Jaune scratched his head. "This is Neopolitan?"

"I remember her!" Sun cried. "What's she doing here?"

"So… you've met?" Krillin asked.

But the gears in Ruby's head were turning. A chill ran down her spine. "It was you…"

"Wait… What was her?" Yang asked.

"When we got back from town that night, after the news from Mistral… I saw Yang come to bed twice."

The others frowned, but the rest of Team RWBY understood.

"I thought I'd just dreamed it… Yang came to bed, but she didn't say anything. She was… shorter. I'm sure of it now! I felt something sharp poking my stomach…"

Yang gasped, stomping through the leaves to snatch the skewer from where it had been embedded in the tree. "...But then I showed up… The hall window was open…" She picked up Hush, slotting the skewer into its handle. She glared red into Neo's eyes. "She tried to KILL you!"

Krillin reeled. The fact was damning, he knew.

"And you, Yang."

Yang twisted to see Raven hop down off a branch. The Maiden strolled past, eyes inscrutable as they peered at Neo… who went pale with recognition. As did both of her eyes, turning stark white with another blink."I remember this one… She incapacitated Yang on your merry little train ride. Had I not been watching, and intervened, she was moments from gutting her with that little poker."

Suddenly, Ren's eyes flared open. "Ruby! Knock her out! She's about to—"

Time seemed to slow for Ruby as she twisted back to see what Neo was doing. There was a sad, solemn fear in her eyes. Her tongue was twisting to reach something at the back of her teeth. She seemed to be wincing, bracing. Her eyes were watering. Whatever she planned to do… she didn't want to do it.

*'CRACK!'*

With a smack across the head, Neopolitan was out like a bulb.

---

"I don't believe this!"

Taiyang paced before Goku and Krillin in the sitting room. Yang stood by, arms crossed, fuming quietly.

"You guys let this person just trespass on our property! This person, who YOU KNEW could be dangerous! Who, turns out, TRIED TO KILL YANG!"

"And who apparently is here to kill RUBY!" Yang added. "Yeah, you guys really had a lid on this thing… She nearly gutted her on your watch!"

Krillin shared a look with Goku, both of whom sulked where they stood like children.

"Yang," Krillin began, "sir… w-we didn't know…"

Father and daughter both whipped towards him. "EXACTLY!"

"You just let some strange woman live here, hiding?!" Yang said. "What, so we'd have some killing machine as a training partner? Krillin, I can't believe you'd keep this from us!" Her face fell, hurt. "From ME… This… this is NOT cool…"

"I… I didn't like it either, Yang," Krillin said, "but… Goku's never steered me wrong. I trust him."

She snapped around. "You trust him with Ruby's life?" She shook her head. "Well you screwed up, right?! That was NEVER your call!"

Taiyang nodded. He seemed to be finding it hard to speak.

Goku sought his eyes. "I take full responsibility. I thought if she got anywhere near that we'd be able to stop her first. I failed. Krillin isn't at fault, he begged me to tell everyone, and I asked him to trust me."

Taiyang shook his head, straining before finding the words. "Even after what happened that night in the chamber, you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't let her face this 'Neo' girl until I was sure she could handle it."

Tai's lips pressed together in anger. He took a stride forward, face to face with Goku. "My kids are all I've got! If you or your friends EVER do something to put them at risk, I don't care WHAT'S at stake, you're not allowed NEAR them again."

Goku let out a breath. "I'm sorry."

Weiss waved from the kitchen. "Uh, hey? Should we really have her on the table where we all eat?"

Ruby leaned past her. "She kinda… stinks…"

The kitchen door opened as Bulma huffed her way inside, carrying an assortment of tools. She dropped them on the counter beside the bowler hat and parasol. "Goku, you're unbelievable!"

She brought out something that looked like a UV lamp, and began fanning it over Neo's prone form. "Pretty little thing, huh? So she was already here? Just waiting…"

"She was Roman Torchwick's… enforcer?" Blake explained. "Never heard her speak… I suspect she can't. I couldn't ever be sure where they featured in Salem's plan."

" 'Plastic soldiers and pawns,' " Ren said suddenly.

"Huh? What?" Ruby asked.

"That's what Tyrian said about Torchwick and the White Fang," he explained. "She might not be that involved…"

Ruby nodded. "I asked her about Salem… I don't think she'd ever heard that name before."

Bulma's device passed over Neo's cheek, before lighting up, revealing something embedded in an upper molar, with a thick cable moving higher through a channel in her skull.

"What?" she said. "There's something here alright, linked up through the orbital bone…" It traced up to meet behind her left eye…which lit up with the rest of the artificial material.

"This eye… it's false!" Bulma exclaimed.

"What?"

"FALSE?!"

"Ohhh," Nora said. "Is that why they're different?"

Yang shook her head. "No, the color switches all the time. She kept doing it when I fought her. Dunno if it's to psych you out, or just what she does. Creepy little…"

Bulma hit a button, and a screen connected to the lamp returned a flashing "Mg - 12."

"Magnesium? Oh my god!"

They were silent, leaning in as Bulma slid a finger carefully between Neo's eyelids… pushed it in, and gave a twist.

The brown eye popped forward… and then Bulma lifted it out of her hollow socket.

There were a half a dozen shrieks.

"EURGHAAAA!"

"What the HECK, dude?!"

"Oh my GOD that's not right!"

Bulma, trying to hide her own wiggling mouth line, leered at them all as she held the eye on its black tether. "Oh calm down! It's just… just an eye… Basically a camera…"

The initial shock passed, Blake leaned closer. "So… what's this about magnesium?"

"It's used in things like fireworks, right?" Weiss asked.

"Among a million other things," Bulma confirmed. "Here though? This is a flashbang!"

Ruby blinked. "Wait… So she could always pull her eye out and throw it at people?!"

Bulma shook her head. "No… This is a shaped charge, aimed right for the optic nerve. It's a suicide device… hooked right into a trigger hidden in her teeth."

"What?" Yang whispered.

Ruby, among several others, stared in shock. "She… she was going to kill herself?"

"That's just… crazy!" Krillin said.

Ruby turned to Ren. "You knew… How?"

Nora gave a humorless laugh. "So, y'know how Blake can move between her clones now? Well… Ren figured out he can see feelings… and feel feelings… OTHER people's feelings… That first thing wouldn't be very impressive."

Ren nodded. "I could feel her fear, her sorrow, and… I knew what she was about to do."

"It would have worked too," Bulma said, examining the advanced optic. "The point of this seems to have been to make it almost impossible to disarm… before it did its job." She turned over a series of scuffed, sanded down access points. "This has been tampered with. I can access the flash charge… Someone did this to her, and someone else altered it without the same tech on hand."

"That's Atlas tech," Weiss noted.

" 'Former Atlesian Infiltrator,' " Qrow said. "That's what Leo called 'er. 'Course, I don't recall Atlas having an 'infiltrator' position. Looks like a black op to me."

Blake sighed. "I don't think we're gonna get much more out of her until she wakes—"

There was a sudden commotion after Bulma extracted a nipple-shaped lump of white material from the cavity and closed the hatch. There was a slight mechanical whirring after she worked it back to its socket, and Bulma looked over to see Neo's real, pink eye open and staring.

Neo rolled back off the table and onto her feet. She grabbed Bulma by the wrist and pulled her close, backing into a cupboard as she faced the group like a cornered animal. Zwei pranced just out of reach of her, barking in alarm, and then growling in threat.

Bereft of immediate weapons, she stepped on Bulma's calf, forcing her to a knee as Neo put one palm against her head, and wrapped the other arm around her neck. She put tension against Bulma's head in threat.

The message was clear. Let me go, or I'll snap her neck.

"Neo, stop!" Ruby said, stepping closer. "What do you want with me? Nobody needs to get hurt."

Neo's eyes blinked, both brown again as she leered at Ruby.

Ruby sighed… before appearing right next to them and pulling Bulma along to safety in a whirl of red and cyan petals.

"Whoa…!" Bulma cried, wobbling as they reappeared near the door. "Thanks for the save…! I'm gonna need a minute…"

Yang stomped forward, knuckles cracking. "Hey pint-sized, you wanna try me again?! I freaking dare you…!"

Zwei echoed the sentiment, jowls quivering as they raised above his teeth in threat.

Blake suddenly made a move, kusarigama whirling towards Hush through a plane of glass-like air. The Neo they had been watching too shattered, as the real woman had snuck behind the facade to reach for the bowler and weapon.

She snatched only the hat, tumbling away in fright and staring daggers at Blake.

"Whoa!" Jaune remarked.

"Yeah…" Sun agreed. "You feel that? Her energy spread out through that wall she made. Was hard to tell where she was…"

Blake smirked. "Use your other senses too, you can feel her displace the air."

Neo retreated to the cupboard again, death grip on the bowler.

"Neo…" Ruby began again. "Why are you trying to kill me? What did I do that's got you this worked up?"

Neopolitan blinked, eyes swapping pink and brown as they widened in offense. Mouth pursed, she threw the hat against the floor in front of her, and then jabbed a finger at it, never taking her eyes off Ruby.

Ruby stared between her and the hat. Neo's eyes had turned glassy.

"You think I… killed Roman Torchwick…" she realized, as the clouds parted in her mind. "Of course you do…" She paused for a moment, as the notion filtered through the house. "Neo, I… I saw him die, but… I didn't kill him. I wouldn't have done that, not unless there was no other choice!"

Neo's fists creaked as she stood rigid. It was clear she didn't believe a word of it.

Krillin scratched his head. "So hold on… Who is this Torch-guy? And why did you guys have it out?"

Blake sighed. "Roman Torchwick and her were the frontmen for Cinder's operation in Vale. A series of Dust robberies and terrorist strikes that set the stage for the Fall of Beacon."

Qrow grunted. "They drove a train into the city square, making openings for a Grimm attack. It was never supposed to do any real physical damage, just damage confidence in Oz's ability to keep security during the Vytal Festival. They put James in charge, and his Atlesian delegation meant the security had a lot more automated defenses than before… Defenses that a virus turned against their masters when they incited enough fear and panic to spark a massive Grimm attack. Made everything a lot worse."

Yang nodded. "Ironwood went after the lead Atlas ship after it took down the others in a surprise attack. Something happened though, and his ship crashed. Ruby took off from the rest of us to do it herself."

Ruby took over. "After the attack on the city, Torchwick was arrested, and… I guess he was held up on Ironwood's ship. She broke him out and planted the virus. When I got there, they both found me on top and… well… we fought."

Gohan waited. "So… what happened?"

Ruby sighed, looking Neo right in the eye. "They pretty much had me on the ropes from the very beginning. I could barely handle them enough not to get blown off the ship. But there was a moment up there where she had me, but got distracted… I hit the button on her umbrella, and she was so surprised she got carried off by the wind."

Neo's eyes narrowed at the memory, nostrils flared.

"After that I stood a chance, but he was still kicking me around. But… we were way up in the air, and he wasn't paying attention to the Grimm swarming everywhere. A Griffin struck when his guard was down… It ate him in one swallow…"

Neo's eyes jammed shut, and then she charged Ruby mindlessly, unarmed.

Ruby appeared before her, hands gripping her shoulders and stopping her charge with a shove as Neo hit the ground on her backside, glaring up.

"Neo, I did NOT… kill him!" Ruby said, standing firm. "You and Roman weren't exactly my favorite people… I wanted to bring you in… but I never wanted you dead! I never thought he deserved what happened! Never! I wish you'd understand…"

Yang pulled Ruby away as gently as she could. "Save your breath, sis… Nothing you can say is going to make her believe you."

Ruby shut her eyes, knowing it was true.

But then, Oscar took a step closer. "Uh… Well, if nothing you say can prove it… maybe show her?"

Weiss crossed her arms. "How? Ruby was the only one who saw it…"

Oscar flashed, his voice and demeanor shifting dramatically. "Yes, Miss Schnee… making it Knowledge."

Neo frowned at the change that had come over Oscar. Ruby and Yang shared a glance. "But… I thought Knowledge from one person couldn't—"

"Knowledge that isn't volunteered," Ozpin said. "If you permit it, any Knowledge of yours may be accessed."

Ruby considered. "Hmm… Why not?"

Yang watched Neo carefully as Ruby jogged off to retrieve the breathing gold and blue lamp. Moments later, she returned, letting the Relic drift before her.

"You know what this is?" Ruby asked.

Neo eyed the odd artifact warily, utter confusion overtaking her as she shook her head.

"This is the Relic of Knowledge," Ruby explained. "One of the four given to humanity by the twin Brothers who created Remnant."

Neo's brows slowly lifted into her hair, blinking rapidly as the first wavy smirk they'd seen overtook her.

Yang snorted. "Yeah, that look is understandable…"

Ruby shook her head. "You don't have to believe me… Ask the Relic anything."

Neopolitan's brows flattened in a frown. She let her jaw hang open and pointed into her mouth.

"Oh… right…" Ruby turned to Oscar. "Does it matter that she can't…?"

Oscar's head shook. "The intent to ask a question is all that is required."

Neo shrugged, standing to peer into the blue. She touched it cautiously… but nothing happened. She poked it. Then she poked it again. She tapped the gleaming blue material.

"Oh… It won't tell you anything secret."

Neo crossed her arms… but eyes brightened as another idea took her.

"...Or anything that somebody somewhere doesn't know."

She frowned again… but blinked, and reached for the Relic again as her eyes burned blue.

A split second later, she staggered back, shielding herself as if the house were collapsing. She looked around in a panic, set eyes on Blake… and scooted back until she smacked against the floor cabinets.

"What the…?"

"What… did she ask…?"

Neo caught her breath, and frantically mimed a circle in the air.

"The Sun?"

"The Moon," Ren corrected.

Neo pointed at Ren with a nod, and then raised her fist high, before dramatically slamming it into her hand. Her fist opened, fingers wiggling out into the air.

"The fall…" Ruby said. "You asked how the Moon was broken."

Their eyes met. Wary, Neo slowly nodded. She turned her gaze back to Blake, eyes wide. She lifted her hands beside her head, pointing two fingers and mimicking cat ears on her head with a look of ghostly fear.

Blake's actual ears flattened. "Y'know… to a faunus, that's a lot like pretending to be from Mistral by pulling at the sides of my eyelids."

"She saw Beerus, that Destroyer God," Bulma deciphered. "Yep… He's a cat."

They gave her a moment, before Ruby gently bumped the Relic back within her reach. "Whenever you're ready…" She winced apologetically. "I… understand if you need a minute first."

Indeed, Neo stared at the lamp with apprehension. Her hand shook as she reached for it… but then her eyes went blue again.

Her mouth dropped open as the scene played before her.

I don't care… WHAT you say…! We WILL stop them…! And I WILL stop YOU! BET ON THAT!

…The REAL world… is COLD! The REAL world doesn't CARE about 'SPIRIT…!'

Neo watched, almost timid as her eyes swam with the vision.

You wanna be a HERO?! Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history!

But as it wore on, she reached a hand out, as if she could change the past… As if she could warn the one she so cherished.

…I'll do what I do best! Lie…! Steal…! Cheat! And SURVI—

Neo's eyes slammed shut. She batted the treasured lantern away as the spell broke, and she turned away, slamming her fist again and again into the floor. Her hand crept over her face… but even as she hid it, Ruby could see her chest shudder… See the tears rolling down her face.

They waited on the miserable sight, but eventually Ruby approached, a hand on her back. "Neo…?"

She flinched at her touch. Ruby stood up. "Okay… a little longer."

As she rejoined her team and offered her would-be assassin a reprieve, Yang frowned at her. "You're too damn nice… You know she's killed people, right?"

"I mean… we've never seen her kill anyone?"

A number of them groaned… and Ruby even saw Neo shoot her a glance that even through her tears could only be read as "...Really?"

"The people hurt in the Grimm attack, anyone who fell prey to the machine takeover, the men on those military airships…" Blake surmised. "I'd call her at a minimum complicit in that… and possibly the entire Fall of Beacon."

Ruby looked over at Neo, who apart from her tattered garb looked ready to fall apart like a pile of dry leaves.

Weiss sighed. "Ruby, you are such a mark for a sob story… She… tried… to… KILL… you… AND Yang, who never did anything to her."

Ruby hadn't taken her eyes off the woman. "I have to give her the chance to change…"

Yang sounded like she might spit something up.

"Whether she deserves it or not," Ruby insisted quietly. "What happens if we can't trust her? We chain her up? With everything she probably knows by now… we can't turn her in, can we?"

Qrow gave a gravelly hum. "She's got a point… Just the circumstances would be enough to draw investigation out here, and that might jeopardize everything we're working towards."

Ruby quietly approached. "Neo? I'm sorry, but… we need to answer some questions ourselves… Maybe somewhere more comfortable?"

Neo didn't face her, merely nodding.

---

A while later, Neopolitan was seated in the reading chair, still very much the center of attention. Ruby had offered her scroll, with Weiss as the recipient of any answer she might inscribe.

"Okay, so… how long have you been here?" Ruby asked.

Neo sighed, before tapping on the scroll. Weiss' scroll dinged. She read the result.

"Long. Too late to catch Ruby. Too soon when she came back…"

Yang recoiled. "She's been here for months? Like, while I was still here?"

*'Ding'*

Weiss frowned, reading it back. "One, SHE can be directly spoken to. Two, you could have gotten your rematch a LOT sooner than this, Goldie. "

" 'Goldie…?' "

"But…" Weiss hesitated.

"What?" Yang snapped. "What'd she say?"

Weiss sighed. "But no fun plucking a wilted daisy?" Weiss finished.

Neo smirked at Yang, preying on the knowledge that she might have struck any time in the past months…

"Nah, I get it," Yang admitted. "She means this." She flexed her prosthesis. "Before I left, I was a wreck. Ruby knows. So suddenly you believe in fair play? Wouldn't stab a cripple, but an unconscious person's cool?"

Fingers tapped furiously.

*'Ding'*

"...She says you 'toyed with death and lost.' 'By rights your life was hers,' " Weiss said, visibly disgusted by the sentiment. "Okay, I'm going to paraphrase these from here on out…"

Taiyang took a few loud steps closer, but Yang turned and barred his way.

"Dad, stop! It's fine…"

"Yang, step away…"

"Dad, not… now!"

Ruby found an opening and carried on. "You… look pretty messed up. Like, you haven't taken care of yourself… Like you've been starving. Why haven't you left? It's not like I'd have come back and taken off in a few hours… And you must have figured out I left for Mistral."

Neo nodded, but began tapping again. Taiyang stood, belligerent, but still.

*'Ding'*

Weiss blinked at the small text wall.

"Short answer… Conditioning? Behavioral constraints… Atlas programming..." Weiss frowned as the others reacted.

"Programming?" Sun said.

Ruby gasped. "Wait! You're a ROBOT?!"

Neo stared at Ruby, rolled her eyes and clapped a hand over her forehead with something like a smile.

Qrow laughed. "Nah, kiddo, like a damn sleeper agent. Associative aversions, trigger phrases…"

"That stuff's REAL?!" Jaune exclaimed.

Neo audibly sighed, pointing at Weiss' scroll, impatiently making a rolling motion with her finger.

"Okay, keep your corset on…" Weiss cleared her throat. "They planned on Roman getting caught after the breach. She kept her code book on hand. There's a code book now… Needed the others to direct her. I guess she can't act on her own in 'operations mode?' Can't do much without a 'keeper.' She brought it back when she freed Torchwick from the ship."

"Keeper…"

"So…" Ruby began, "someone has to give you orders?"

Neo nodded, tapping again.

*'Ding'*

"On an 'op,' she's on a leash… Can't leave two miles from the operation area without orders. Feels like her head is going to explode, she says."

Bulma chimed in. "Be more than a feeling if the remote antenna in that eye hadn't been sabotaged. Probably worked as a manual kill switch too."

Neo stared between her shoes, wincing at what Weiss was about to say.

"After Beacon, Roman never found her. The others never came for her. Cinder left them to rot. Neo found the book, but it didn't matter, she couldn't leave. She had to stick it out in the Emerald Forest, fending off the Grimm they stirred up."

"So…" Blake said, thinking, "you've been sitting forever in those woods, waiting for someone to let you leave?"

Neo nodded. She began typing again.

*'Ding'*

"One loophole. Can't remove SELF from area. Can BE removed, reset bounds. Stowed away on vehicles until found Red's address. Found ride to island. Train to house."

"And once you were here…" Nora said.

Ren nodded. "Not so easy leaving."

Neo nodded.

Weiss put the scroll down and took a breath. "Okay, I'm just finding this hard to swallow. I can't imagine General Ironwood authorizing something like this… It's… It's downright vile! Completely dominating a person's will like this? Just look at the state of you now!"

More typing.

*'Ding'*

"Off site experimental research... Leftover from prior administration, funded by leeching earmarked public works Lien for Mantle? Oversight minimal... Facility defunct. She escaped when they lost control of 'one of their toys.' " Weiss nodded. "I see…" She kept reading. "She wasn't the only operator, just the only one to survive the incident. Same treatment. Eye replaced. Vagus nerve cauterized. Forced juvenile hysterectomy?!"

"Sick bastards!" Blake blurted. "They just wanted to hollow a person out and make them a murder-puppet…"

Yang frowned. "Wait, they took your womb? So how did you get so…?" Yang gestured over Neo, specifically her broad hips and disproportionate chest.

*'Ding'*

"Apparently they let her keep her ovaries…" Weiss read. "Ugh…"

Bulma tapped her arm idly. "I think we passed over something. Cauterizing the Vagus nerve… presumably not below the neck… well, that would explain the voice."

Ruby reeled. "They took her voice?!"

Blake huffed. "Makes sense… Harder to talk when you can't, if today has been any indication."

"Wouldn't be able to say the codes herself either," Krillin suggested. "Y'know, if that's a thing…"

There was a lot of muttering as they took it all in. But finally, Ruby saw Neo holding the bowler hat so carefully.

"You and Torchwick… So… it was more than just 'business' n' stuff?"

Neo's face was inscrutable. She didn't look at Ruby, but seemed almost to smile sadly.

*'Ding'*

"She says, 'he was special, Red. We understood each other.' "

Ruby nodded. "Does he know… sign language?"

*'Ding'*

"He had a semblance nobody else knew about. He understood what people meant when they said something. What they really meant. Even if they couldn't say anything."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Whoa…!"

"That… actually makes a lotta sense," Jaune said. "Think how much of an advantage that is when dealing with other criminals! Seeing through half-truths, veiled threats, setups and traps… You can get an angle on anyone…"

*'Ding'*

Weiss peered into the screen. "There's an emoji of a lightbulb…"

Neo pointed a finger at Jaune approvingly.

*'Ding'*

"It's what Torchwick hated about you, 'Red.' 'You were a brick wall. You always said what you meant…' Interesting…"

"Oh…" Ruby uttered, unsure what to say. "Thanks…?"

Yang scoffed. "Okay, so if he was so 'in-the-know,' why didn't he know more about Salem?"

Neo frowned, tapping.

*'Ding'*

" 'Who the hell is Salem?' " Weiss blinked. "Wow, I think she's serious, guys."

"Cinder's boss," Yang said. "Basically."

Neo began typing again, but Ren strode forward.

"You and him… never wanted anything to do with Cinder."

Neo froze. Her eyes alternated with rapid blinks as she stared at him.

Ren continued, more confidently. "But he… He could tell Cinder was too dangerous to refuse. She would never tell either of you what was at stake, but Roman knew the things she planned… the people she worked for… were going to change the world one way or another." His eyes softened, even as Neo leapt to her feet. The others slowly turned to stare at him. "You couldn't escape, and the only way to survive was to carry on with Cinder's plan."

Neo just stared at him in question.

"I know… because I can read your feelings," Ren explained. "My name is Lie Ren." There was a quiet pause. He laughed. "It's good to meet you too."

Neo looked floored, almost elated. Nora stared at her partner with almost as much surprise.

Ruby filled in the blanks. "Neo, you and Roman… you never meant to get wrapped up in all that, did you?"

"Pretty sure she could've tipped someone off or something, but whatever…" Yang muttered.

Neo didn't take her eyes off Ren, but shook her head at Ruby's question. Then, her countenance darkened.

Ren nodded. "And now that Ruby's off your list… Cinder is next."

Determination filled Neopolitan's face. She nodded.

"Well," Jaune scoffed, planting heavily onto the couch. "We can certainly help with that. Gotta find her at some point for the Beacon Relic, right?"

Ren smirked. "We try not to kill if we don't have to. But if we can bring Cinder to justice, we will."

Neo crossed her arms, pouting at the restriction. But then her expression softened. She gave a sigh.

But Taiyang finally chose this moment to speak up. "Yeah, I still don't trust this. And in case it bears reminding… this is my house. And you tried to kill my girls…"

Ruby took a step between them. "Dad, it's okay! I can look past that! Yang?"

Yang huffed. "Whatever, your call."

"I CAN'T look past that," Tai said firmly. "There's no promise she can make that's going to make me trust her being anywhere near my family."

Neo stared at him, her mind a mystery. But finally, she seemed to have made up her mind. She turned over the bowler, and reached into a fold, pulling out a matchbox-sized, dog-eared little book. In tiny handwriting, the words "T.V. 0-11 Codes" were written in red pen. Neo seated the hat on her own head, and approached Tai with her palm out, offering the little book.

Bulma's eyes gaped. "You'd let him control you…?"

Ren nodded. "It's the only thing we could really trust."

Taiyang took it gingerly, flipping through the little book with her finger. It wasn't long, and in moments he found something, finger stabbing the page as his eyes peered over it.

"Ferrum pulmonis."

Neopolitan's eyes shrank, her mouth hanging open as one hand clutched her throat. She began straining, trying desperately to open her lungs. Instead, it was as though she were in the grips of anaphylaxis, throat swollen shut. She doubled over, grabbing Tai's shirt to keep from collapsing.

"Dad NO!" Ruby cried, reaching to support Neo as she wobbled, her face going progressively redder.

Yang couldn't help staring in shock. "Okay, seriously, stop messing around! She is going to die!"

"Should I care…?" Tai asked, looking down at Neo coldly. "She sure didn't."

"Tai," Qrow warned, as Ozpin manifested.

"Be sure of your actions, Taiyang…" he said. "Forgiveness is always a difficult road… and vengeance, a temporary balm. It damages your enemy and yourself!"

Despite Ruby's efforts, Neo fell onto her back, tugging at Tai's socks. Her real eye was bloodshot.

Taiyang just stared, leering down at her. But finally, he spoke.

"There is nothing I won't do to protect this family… You get it?"

She was writhing. It could barely be discerned from spasms, but she managed a nod.

"Omega… Ulysses… Mu."

Neo gasped all at once as her throat relaxed. She gulped down the free air as the Xiao Long patriarch pocketed the little book and strode towards the stairs.

"Don't make me regret this."

Once he was up the stairs, they heard a door slam.

"Everything gotta be so damn dramatic," Nora complained.

Ruby sighed. "That… could have gone worse?"

"And… we're not done," Weiss said, bringing over the Relic. There are a few things you need to know…"

---

Mere minutes later, Neo came staggering out the kitchen door, swiftly followed by Ren, Nora, Team RWBY and Gohan.

In a single vault, the little assassin leapt to the roof and scrambled to the highest ridge, sitting down uneasily. She leaned back flatly, just staring out into the trees she had called home for the last several months.

The others could tell in an instant where she had gone and why. Ruby held a hand out and gave her a minute or so before they followed with barely an effort, lining up along the ridge to sit and join her.

"It's a lot, I know," Ruby said, planting down. "The whole world just changes. Gods… Magic… Aliens… and here we are, trying to deal with it all."

Nora leaned over to Ren. "Is she saying anything?"

Ren sighed. "You didn't even know Cinder was a Maiden, did you?"

Neopolitan looked over to him, still incredulous. She shook her head.

Ren nodded. "She just knew Cinder was strong, organized, and had powerful friends. Nothing like this. Weakening the Kingdoms was the only endgame they could see."

Weiss stood up. "So, just to assess… the Huntsman Academies hold the four Relics, which Dehadikeh and Doyadano gifted humanity. Salem is the embodiment of the Grimm, who Doyadano created without realizing i—"

Neo stared at her in plain annoyance.

Weiss looked put-out. "Okay fine, you remember all that. What you didn't hear is that she wants those Relics now. Together, the Relics are virtually limitless, and Ozpin has been working for thousands of years to stop her from getting them and just flooding the Universe with Grimm or… whatever she's planning."

Pink and brown eyes glazed over, lost.

Ruby recognized the issue. "Oh! Right, the vision doesn't cover that… Ozpin is from those wizards, and the Relics have forced him to live life after life until he can stop Salem. You already met him, he's Oscar downstairs. The boy with the green clothes and freckles?"

The slight assassin ceased to look bored, but she still stared, before her eyes fluttered shut and rolled around under the lids. It looked as if her brain had undergone a factory reset.

But then, her eyes suddenly focused even harder on Ruby's, brows furrowed as she leaned uncomfortably close.

"Huh?" Ruby uttered, leaning back. "What? Is there something on my…?"

Neopolitan blinked as both of her eyes went white. She pointed at them.

"What? Your eyes?"

Neo sighed. Then, her body was slowly swarmed by a field of tiny, luminous pink shards, which folded over en masse until—

"Whoa…!" Yang whispered.

"Cool!" Gohan proclaimed.

Ruby looked into her own face with wide eyes. "That's so weird…"

Neo had formed a perfect disguise, identical to Ruby in every way. She continued indicating her eyes… and then Ruby's.

Ren hummed. "I think… she's noticed your eyes, Ruby. Couldn't tell you how I know…"

Ruby laughed uncomfortably. "Yeah, so… turns out I'm a demigod or something? It's a whole thing…"

Neo nodded, plainly fascinated as she shifted back to her usual appearance.

Weiss cleared her throat. "So that's the Remnant side of things. Not trying to distress you, but you were involved in something far bigger than any of us could have suspected."

Neo grew agitated, gesturing to the land and sky, arms sweeping over the vista… before plopping heavily into her lap.

Ren snickered. "Neo was just trying to survive… She never wanted the world to end. She LIVES here."

"Salem uses people," Blake noted. "You're hardly the first."

Neo nodded, glowering out into the distance.

Ruby liked where the conversation was going. Neopolitan had become far more reasonable, and seemed minutes from joining their cause, if she hadn't basically decided that already.

"Neo, I'm sorry for what you've gone through… We've lost people too. But, if it helps… do you know anything about the Dragonballs?"

She frowned blankly, shaking her head.

"Sorry, don't know how closely you've watched us… Kinda creepy to think about." Ruby admitted. "Basically, Gohan's friends on… you know, the other side? Of, like… the grave…? They're teaching this little alien boy how to… uh…"

"Oh, for goodness sake," Weiss complained. "The details aren't important. The Dragonballs are from another world, and we think someone we're in contact with can produce some. They evidently have the ability to grant wishes… If all goes well, we're planning on bringing back everyone lost to Salem, Frieza and the Grimm."

Neo stared. They could all but see the goosebumps rising on her body. She put both hands on Weiss' shoulders and was face to face with her, eyes boring into hers. Despite the gulfs in power between them, Weiss couldn't help but feel a chill.

"Yes, she's serious," Ren told Neo, whose head whipped around. "One of our biggest concerns is… some people we lost at Beacon. So the wish should apply to Roman Torchwick as well."

Neo let go of Weiss and stumbled back a few steps as the notion filled her. She didn't smile, but the enthusiasm behind her stare was palpable. She found Ruby's eyes, frowning.

Ren chuckled. "She thinks you should be very concerned for yourself if we're being untruthful to her about this…"

The threat washed over Ruby, but she couldn't help but smile. "The balls are pretty proven. I guess Goku and Krillin have both died before? The ones they have are just broken right now, and… well, they're trying to fix it. We can't promise anything."

Determination filled Neo's body language. She stared into the distance, chest puffed out, fists balled at her side.

Ren translated. "Then we burn our way through her… Salem, she means."

Yang snorted. "Wow, triple-scoop, that's a far cry from the whole 'better the devil's right hand,' schtick."

"She's no hero," Ren told them, "but everyone to do with Cinder is due a reckoning." They all stared at him. "So she says anyway."

"I'll admit," Weiss began, "you're ignoring the whole Frieza element of this. You did see what we dealt with in Mistral, right?"

Neo fixed her with a gaze and stood up… before pink shards swarmed her again… and nothing less than the red eyes, stubbed horns and diminutive white and purple visage of Lord Frieza stood before them.

All of them recoiled as Neo stood before them, miming a silent, evil laugh and swishing the long tail.

"Even the height is accurate," Blake noted.

"He really is that puny, huh? Well… until he changed," Yang said.

Neo dispelled the facade, watchful of the undercurrent of fear that had struck every single one of them at the sight.

Ren nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely serious," he agreed. "She knows enough about what we've been doing to realize she was outmatched. And between what she saw from Mistral and that Frieza frightens US? She's keen to let us handle the 'grunt work.' "

"Heh. Sure," Weiss said. "We're basically standing in the path of a walking Apocalypse. It's inevitable we'll deal with Salem and the Grimm. With the Relics we can put a stop to all of it, but you're taking a big risk with us."

Neo considered, but shut her eyes, shuddering with a smile as she chuckled silently.

"To hell with it, she says," Ren told them. "She's been sitting around so long she's 'in a mood to fight the hurricane.' She's been watching us, she knows what we're up against."

Ruby stood up straight… wobbling only momentarily before recovering and walking over beside the newcomer.

"Neolandra?"

Neo bit her tongue even as she stuck it out in disgust.

"O-okay!" Ruby laughed, hands out to calm her. "Neo… I don't think my Dad will be okay with you learning to control energy like we've been doing… but we could use someone with your skills on our side. And hey… if we really do save the world, who knows? Maybe crime and… y'know… murder n' stuff… You might have better options?"

Neo sat there, looking vaguely amused, if unimpressed. All the same… she held out a hand.

Ruby smiled brightly. She took her hand, and shook.

"Thank you."

Even Neopolitan couldn't help a wry smile.

Yang leaned over to Blake. "So does this count as community service for attempted murder?"

Ren leaned over. "She apologizes for trying to kill you…"

Ruby laughed nervously. "All is forgiven."

Yang stood up. "Uh, and what about me?"

"What ABOUT you, Goldie?" Ren retorted. "Oh, Neo… that's not very productive…"

Suddenly there was a rather loud, muffled squeal. Neo blinked in surprise, staring down at her midsection with a wince. It was her stomach.

"Oh!" Gohan said. "Yeah… you've been in the woods all alone this whole time. It's about lunch right?"

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "All this excitement's got me starving!"

"You guys bailed on breakfast," Nora reminded her.

"And my appetite vanished with your self control," Yang argued.

Weiss stood up, hands out against any further discussion. "Okay, can we at least agree that nobody is eating anything until she showers and puts on fresh clothes?"

As Neopolitan feigned offense, Ozpin and Qrow watched from below.

"Hell of a thing," Qrow remarked. "Hope this doesn't bite us."

Ozpin smiled. "If nothing else, Ruby has a habit for procuring allies wherever she goes… A talent that is sorely needed. Though this time, it feels like a collaborative effort."

"She's not exactly the sort of element we'd hope for…"

"Perhaps… but I think we'll need friends from all walks of life in the coming days."

---

Ruby and Jaune stepped into the Barracks, arms full of sundries as they knocked on the nearest door.

There was no answer, but the door opened anyway. "Hey Neo, we got you stuff for your roo—"

"Oh…!" Jaune exclaimed, as they peered through the open bathroom door. "Uh… comfortable?"

Neo was soaking in the tub, largely hidden by suds and faced away from them. She craned her head back over the side of the tub to stare at them upside down. She offered them a two-finger wave, entirely unbothered by her state of dress.

"You're totally selling me on that bubble bath," Ruby whispered. "Good thing we had an extra room here! Krillin wanted an even number and all. We… didn't have many options for clothes in your size? But hopefully—"

She was interrupted as Neo leaned over and pressed a button on the toilet, causing a stem to extend within and fire a jet of water in an arc across… and ultimately onto the floor.

Neo's eyes seemed to sparkle with enthusiasm as her head kept turning between them and the device, as if to say, 'you see this?'

"Oh…!" Ruby intoned, glancing at the fresh puddle it had created. "Yeah, we have bidets here… Weiss was excited about it."

Jaune made a noise of understanding. "Right! You're from Atlas too… Just another slice of home…!"

Neo tugged the drain and rose to her full… 'height,' before grabbing a towel. But not before she'd turned brazenly to face them as she first focused on her hair.

"OH-Okaaaaay…" Ruby said, pulling an about-face as Jaune froze. "You're… confident."

Neo strode by them, draped in a towel at last as Ruby dared to turn around.

"So uh…" Jaune finally stammered. "That really is her natural hair."

Ruby frowned. "Huh? How can you tell…?"

Neo suddenly spawned a curtain of pink shards before her as she investigated the offered garments.

"Oh, now you care…" Ruby sighed, as Neo bent over to rifle through the clothes.

But after a few seconds she froze, then bent rod-straight, fixing Ruby with an unimpressed frown.

"Hey, I told you!" Ruby said. "Unless you want to wear Oscar's old slacks or Krillin's dress clothes!"

The pink swarmed around Neo for a moment, before she skipped through the dissolving curtain in her old clothes. Or rather, in an illusion of her old clothes. She linked arms with Jaune as she passed, forcing his arm to wrap around himself as she danced around him like a maypole. She made it one revolution before letting herself wrap into a lean against his chest, smiling up at him mischievously.

"You're… still not actually wearing anything," Jaune noted, feeling her damp skin despite her apparent decency.

"Yeah," Ruby huffed, "you can't go around naked, even if it looks like you're wearing stuff!

Neo rolled her eyes, blowing a puff of air loudly up into her hair to make her bangs flutter before she released Jaune into a spin, then hiding behind her pink curtain again. They could make out her form squeezing into something. And then there were tearing noises, before the curtain vanished in a tinkling of shards as they faded from sight.

Neopolitan's arms were crossed as she looked down over the black tank top and white, rose-pattern pajama pants, torn off at the knees.

"The pee-jays?" Ruby asked, staring ruefully at the torn knees. "Mmm… good thing those are my old ones. I guess they're comfortable though. Your old stuff wasn't just dirty, it was… kinda wrecked? We're taking them to the tailor."

The miniature mute nodded as she walked past, patting Ruby's cheek approvingly as she did.

"Uh… your welcome."

Neopolitan grabbed the parasol by the door frame —its hidden skewer confiscated per Taiyang's insistence— and made to lead the way back outside as she held the weapon against her shoulder. But—

"Howdy, neighbor!" Krillin greeted. Neo recoiled in surprise, blinking.

"Oh hey!" Ruby offered brightly, noting the three plates of paninis held aloft on the monk's hands —the final one balanced atop his head— and taking the precarious one as he bowed slightly.

"Wasn't big on hanging with the others so soon after…" Krillin began, not finishing. "Well, figured our newest might feel similar."

Neo's eyes went huge as she snatched two of the paninis and stuffed the first into her mouth with wolf-like ravenousness, eyes shut in satisfaction.

Ruby laughed. "Wow… That's the quietest blender I've ever seen."

Jaune sat down on the hardwood floor as Ruby went to the bed. Neo joined her, legs crossed. Krillin joined Jaune on the floor.

"It figures," Krillin said. "I'm the one that kept sneaking her leftovers when no one was lookin.' Me playing bellhop, just need the cute little burgundy outfit… Look, Ruby…? I'm sorry. I never thought we were putting you in real danger."

Jaune swallowed his first bite, eyes still closed. "Well, not her specifically."

Krillin winced as though he'd been struck by a slung rock. "Well… Look, I… When you get into this stuff, you guys have already felt it: you start being able to feel aggression and evil. Just look West and you can get a blast of that greasy, black aura from the real Mccoy if you want proof a' that. I've felt power black as coal from Piccolo, Vegeta… Whenever I saw Neopolitan here… she just felt sad. I wanted to help her… I just didn't count on personal feelings only showing themselves to the person."

Ruby smiled. "I agree with you."

"You… y'do?"

"I'm not mad," Ruby explained. "I'm glad she's here. You were right… she needed help. She deserved to know the truth. Now, we're a little bit stronger!"

Neo's brows knit, just staring into the side of Ruby's head, as if she might come into focus if she stared hard enough.

Krillin chuckled. "Yeah… Goku's always tended to pick up friends like sneakers track chewing gum. Usually people who wanted him dead too."

"But, uh… it's not me you have to convince," Ruby admitted uneasily. "It's—"

"Me?"

They turned as Yang walked into the doorframe, arms crossed as she leaned into it. "Yeah… Not to cut the picnic short, but we're hours behind on today's training, and—"

"Haha!" Krillin nodded. "Yep, Goku and Gohan don't want you kids missing this one! Alright…"

The last few bites were finished, and they began filing out. But Krillin was caught on the shoulder by Yang's ceramic fingers. "Hold up."

Ruby turned, grimacing at Krillin in apology. "Yang…"

"Ruby, I'll see you out there. We need a minute."

Ruby didn't want to throw Krillin to the wolves, but knew more than anyone that this private meeting would happen regardless if she stopped it.

The moment the barracks door shut, Yang slowly pushed his shoulder against the wall, looming over him… and smiling.

"Uh… Y-Yang?"

"Relax… I get it, y'know? Goku's always been mysterious and impressive, and he's like your big brother. You trust him. And go fig, you want to look out for the little guy… It's something I like about you…"

Her eyes were half-lidded as she brushed the hair out of them, leaning over unexpectedly as Krillin froze in place, and just melted as her lips melded against his.

He was stunned, bracing a hand behind her neck. Was this really happening?

And in more dreamlike behavior, Krillin felt the warmth of her left hand reaching under his waistband. He went cherry red.

"Yngmmm?!" he mumbled against her mouth as she boldly wrapped her fingers around—

And with a sudden, intense pressure, the dream became a nightmare as Yang's grip strengthened to become… decidedly uncomfortable.

Yang wrenched her mouth away, still eye to red eye with him.

"Urghhhhh…! Yang! What…?!"

She wasn't smiling anymore. "Do I have your attention?"

Yang wasn't quite hurting him, but while he could certainly build his power and escape her grasp, his hand on her wrist felt like a pitiful gesture.

"Y-yes?"

Yang's nostrils exhaled loudly. "I still basically like you… but I need you to listen… This Neo shit?! Was a SUPER… red… flag."

"I-I'm sorry!"

"I know you're sorry… I know you never figured… Just save it… But this is your ONE… warning."

He yelped as her grip tightened and his eyes teared up as she tugged him closer.

"If you EVER… put Ruby in danger like that again… THIS…" She squeezed. "...will be the least of your worries."

"Right…! I believe you…! Nrgggg!"

She loosened her grip, but didn't let go, her eyes softening. "What gets me is you know after everything we went through with Mom… You know what I'd do to keep Ruby safe."

She finally let go, hand retracting as she drew to full height and leaned back into the opposite wall. "I'm willing to call this a really… really stupid call, and you just didn't think it through. But this is your ONE screw-up, okay? You've earned another shot, just because you helped me get back to her in Mistral. You had my back, I haven't forgotten."

She turned to leave, back to him.

"I'll… do better," he said, lamely. Before she reached the threshold, he blurted, "S-so… By chance, you mean…?"

She turned in surprise, and chortled. "No date tonight… It'd be weird. Tomorrow maybe?"

"Y-yeah… sure!"

"You still want to after that? You're gutsy… or…" She paused, cheeks going pink. "So, situations like that get you going?"

"I… don't know? I've never been in that situation."

"So, that was you shrinking in terror?" She smiled. "Nice."

The nature of her compliment rattled in his brain like the puck of an air-hockey table as she left out the door. Minutes later, he still had no idea what had just happened.

---

Neo vaguely followed Ruby and Jaune as they joined the others, already mid-action as they sparred. The air was full of the jangle of bells, as each had tied the little petal bells to their hips and were working to wring the inefficiencies out of their movements. If the bells ceased to ring, it meant they had canceled out their momentum such that the little ball within would not rattle.

To Neo, it was like skirting a minefield as the lawn seemed to sporadically pop people into existence in various states of struggle. Or no… it was like being in a dark room with a slow strobe light, revealing only instants of her surroundings with every flash.

"Clear a path!"

She twisted as she noticed the shirtless form of Vegeta marching by, Raven following shortly behind.

"Vegeta, we have towels in our house."

"Expended," he rebuffed, before catching sight of Neo and pausing with a quirk of his brow. "Which one is this?"

"Neopolitan," Raven explained, as the girl tucked Hush under her arm and removed the bowler with a flourish as she bowed, never taking her eyes off the Saiyan Prince. "You missed the commotion earlier. She's been here since before we arrived, waiting to assassinate Ruby over a misunderstanding."

"She can tell me herself if it matters," Vegeta said flatly. "I swear they sprout up like weeds…"

Neo planted both hands atop Hush's handle as she planted it in the ground, before pointing at her open mouth apathetically.

"She can't speak," Raven explained.

Vegeta growled. "Ridiculous… So she's here specifically for the Rose girl?"

"She was. She's agreed to help us now."

"Of course," he scoffed. "Because everything revolves around that brat with these people."

Raven approached, smirking as her hands found his shoulders and began to massage them. "Don't be so caustic, my Prince. The girl will have her uses. Don't forget, her mother was a dear friend and comrade of mine, and a true warrior."

"Tch… We shall see," Vegeta said, shrugging Raven's hand off as he grabbed the other by the wrist and pulled her along. The bandit smiled at this as she was made to follow.

"Hey! Nero!"

Neopolitan twisted around with an indignant glare. She found Bulma, waving at her a short distance away… beside nothing less than an Atlesian Manta Fighter.

"Hey, take a joke," Bulma said, noting the tri-color girl's ire. "I'm Bulma… you tried taking me hostage?"

Neo walked over, more interested in the craft than anything else.

"The kids went to bat for you, but you caused Tai a lot of aggravation… so you're gonna pull your weight around here, missy!"

Neo didn't indicate she'd heard Bulma, poking her head into Manta 5-1's personnel bay and hanging off its mounted turret with something akin to joy on her face.

Bulma frowned… but also smiled. "Oh, you like it, huh? Well good, because you're gonna help me disarm its anti-theft countermeasures. I've found little traps in this thing that prevent reverse-engineering. Erasing the onboard computer… Sending distress signals from the black box on a military frequency…" Bulma pulled over a ceramic box with significant weight to it. "Eventually I'm hoping to retrofit the power source with this fusion battery, once I can build an adapter to match the voltage. It's just a spare from my house, but it's miles advanced over this Remnant stuff. I'll tune the alternator and then we can figure out how to balance and bolt this monster on…"

Bulma walked through the bay to the other door, where on the grass was the cigar-shaped capital ship weapon… the Gungnir Lance.

Neo peered over, before almost audibly gasping, a hand to her chest as her mouth opened into an astonished smile, eyelashes fluttering as if Bulma had offered her a diamond ring.

She immediately flipped Hush over to grab its pointed end, the cane-end catching the lip of 5-1's wing as she used it as a hook to swing over the top.

Bulma blinked as she heard an odd fluttering noise, and then saw Neo floating down with her knees raised from the open parasol, to land straddling the beastly cannon. She ran a hand along it, a caress, before turning to meet Bulma's eye and hike her leg over to mount the Lance side-saddle.

"I see!" Bulma laughed. "Well at least you're motivated. Hopefully those little hands of yours are ideal for working with electroni—"

Neopolitan suddenly reached behind herself and pulled out a handful of little black pucks with wires attached to them, snipped off several inches above the connection. Bulma leaned over to get a look at them, wide-eyed as she turned her head to gaze at the small pile of the same she'd already removed herself.

"Trackers…? But wait, when did you…? How…?!"

Neo dropped the pucks, holding her hands out and wiggling her fingers as if in explanation.

"Little hands… right… You've dealt with these before, haven't you?"

The dairy deviant flicked the bowler atop her head in answer.

"Hey, does that gun work?" Goku asked, popping his head in.

"Hmm?" Bulma blinked as she saw his thumb hook toward the turret. "Well, sure, the whole ship's operational, technically." Her eyebrows lowered suspiciously. "...Why?"

"Hey, Neat-o!" Goku called Torchwick's partner, unnecessarily loud.

Neo threw her hands out in offense at being so confidently misnamed for the second time in that many minutes.

Oblivious to her gesticulation, he carried on to ask, "How'd you like another shot at Ruby? Like… in the literal sense of the word?" He explained, lifting the turret's long barrel so she could take its handlebar controls.

"What?!" Bulma cried, as Neo backed away, hands out in objection. "Are you totally nuts?!"

The action on the lawn paused as Ruby eyed the situation with apprehension.

"Nah, it'll be fine! I could take a few shots to the face back when we first met!" Goku recalled. "I just wanna show 'em how tough they really are!"

Ruby looked around to the blank faces of her friends. She finally caught Qrow's eye as he shadowed the lesson with consideration. "Hey, your call, kiddo. Either you know your own limits, or you find out."

"Well… okay," Ruby said, walking into a perfect kill zone for the Manta's broadside. She took a fighting stance. "Yeah… YEAH! Ready!"

There was a thrum as the weapon powered-up, and Neo took aim… before nudging her sight lower.

'*NnnKA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KA…!*'

Thick blue bolts hammered the grass before Ruby, spurting dirt into the air with military precision… as Ruby's eyes were a blur, and her vaguely surprised face tilted as she stood entirely still from the deadly barrage.

Neo peered over the smoking gun as Goku seemed to pout.

"Hey, that wasn't even close!"

Yang gave a bark of laughter. "Wow, this morning she stopped at nothing to take Ruby out. Now she's shying away from free shots."

Ruby's face brightened. "Hey, Neo, it's cool! I know for sure I can deal with it now… Thanks though! FIIIIIIRE!"

Taiyang, alarmed, jammed her head through the thin second-story window of his bedroom, just in time to see a chewing stream of plasma bolts racing past Ruby as she leaned almost trivially out of their way at unimaginable speeds. By the end of the volley, her movements grew more erratic as she almost seemed to play with twisting and contorting herself around the shots.

"RUBY!" Tai cried.

She whipped around at his call just as the next volley splashed against the side of her face. The force bowled her over like a ragdoll.

With an incoherent cry of fear, Taiyang planted one knee against the bottom frame of the window and knelt under the low top, toppling out the window like a tchotchke off a high shelf and into his garden.

He sprung up almost instantly and raced over to her. "Baby-girl! Oh my GOD!"

The others watched with bemusement as he slid to a stop, ready to cradle his unmoving daughter, until—

"That didn't even HURT!" Ruby cried, sitting up suddenly as her father leapt half out of his skin. "That was AWESOME! I'm indestructible!" she screamed, throwing herself onto her back with both fists in the air.

Taiyang blinked as she finally looked up, smiling at him.

"Oh hey, Dad! I just got shot in the face, but it's a'ight."

"With an armor-piercing anti-Grimm weapon…!" Weiss noted, eyes huge. "That plasma is meant to melt bone-plating…"

"And she just…" Oscar noted.

"Took it in the face like a—?"

"Choose the end of that sentence carefully," Taiyang warned.

Yang froze at the expression on his face.

"Yeah, I got nothin'..."

Taiyang, lost, finally met eyes with the gunner, Neo… who slowly sank below the gun sight as if it might hide her.

His nostrils flared as he glared.

"It's cool, Dad, Goku knew it'd be alright."

For all of Son Goku's frequently irreverent behavior, they all saw his eyes widen uncomfortably as he recognized the unfortunate nature of this attribution.

But instead of shouting, Taiyang stood up, sighed, and walked back towards the house.

"So who's next?!" Ruby asked, as Neo smiled again, loudly pulling back the slide on the weapon.

"Nobody!" Bulma said, hand grabbing the weapon. "Without the engine running, this gun drains the ship batteries. I don't want my only way of powering this thing to be jury-rigging the fusion battery." She idly kicked the large ceramic unit with her foot. "And I need to make sure Remnant tech doesn't need some magic element that gets fried by raw current. Some of the stuff I read about Dust online called it magic…"

"Mmm… Nah," Sun told her. "Not really, people just say that…"

Blake stepped in to elaborate. "Remnant mostly thinks magic doesn't exist."

Bulma crossed her arms. "And that's just confusing… Sure I know magic exists, and all the stuff you, Goku and the guys can do isn't magic, but how far off is it really?"

"Ah, an interesting question!" Ozpin said through Oscar. "It's true that matters of the soul and the supernatural are largely facts of life here. Semblances are so varied and capable of such powerful effects, it's understandable if one were to think it was splitting hairs to differentiate them from magic…"

He drew Long Memory to full length, and began drawing in the dirt with a corner of its end. "Remnant has such experience with the soul that we've developed a more nuanced cultural understanding of supernature. Josephine who owns the hardware store at Copse Landing can manifest a massive construct of Aura around her body, effectively making her a giant." His drawing finished, depicting a smaller human body within a larger one. "Now, why do you suppose there is merely a construct, and that she did not herself grow to such immensity with her iwn body?"

Bulma blinked at the image, before answering. "Well… it might take a lot more energy to change someone's body like that."

"Precisely!" Ozpin said. "True transformative ability is rare, and very exact in its nature, because while semblances rely on the unbridled power of the soul, they must still be limited by one's own power. Power which is finite, and measurable." He pointed at Ruby for a moment. "Miss Rose' semblance is unusual, but within the bounds of physical possibility, as while she becomes momentarily amorphous, her mass remains the same. I am even aware of a young woman who was capable of transferring energy into the surrounding air as to briefly shed her mass and therefore shrink in size."

Bulma nodded, trying to follow. "So, semblances can do incredible stuff, but the math all needs to add up… and magic doesn't?"

Oscar nodded. "It is magic's defining quality, the reason much of our world confers it exclusively to the realm of fantasy. Magic still requires a sort of power, but the energy required for profound effects largely comes from the ether, very nearly creatio ex nihilo."

"Gesundheit?" Ruby said, uncertainly.

Ozpin chuckled. "Creatio ex nihilo, 'creation from nothing.' It bridges extreme needs and alters matter in impossible ways. Like a human being changing at will to and from the form of a bird…"

A number of them glimpsed Qrow for a moment, before Weiss cut in. "It's why Dust is sometimes called magic: Dust crystals themselves don't contain any detectable energy until they've been disturbed or smashed or something. It's largely believed that they get their power from some latent undercurrent in Remnant's atmosphere, because it doesn't work outside of it. You can amplify Dust by running power through it, but they all channel roughly the same free energy, and nobody has determined a source."

Bulma hummed. "Yeah, that tracks. Mostly know magic from Baba and Shenron, and the things they did always felt like they logged in as admin for the Universe… Not sure what I'd rather have, Cosmos-bending powers, or the ability to dodge bullets…" She considered something. "Although… any of you want to help me with something real quick? I've been wondering about your speeds."

Ruby, Blake and Oscar followed her with a nod from Goku. They followed Bulma into her —actually rather trashed— Capsule House. Bulma dug into an underside compartment of her bed, pulling out empty chip bags and cans.

Blake picked up one of the blue and yellow cans, its logo emblazoned with a mascot of a squat robotic cricket with a very human face, a black arrow pointed to the bottom of the can. " 'HETAP…?' "

Bulma groaned needfully. "Ugh… I'd KILL for a HETAP…"

"...What is it?"

"Soda."

"What's with the Cricket guy?"

"That's Hetappi, the mascot… Ah! Here we go!"

She emerged with an open-ended plastic gun, switching it on.

Oscar frowned. "Don't we have lots of guns though?"

"It's a LIDAR gun, for measuring speed with extreme precision!" Bulma told him, spinning it on her finger like a gunslinger. "I haven't been able to see Goku or the others while they're fighting for years, frankly. They move too darn fast! I've always wondered just how fast…"

"Ohhh…" Ruby awed appreciatively. "Cool! I wanna know too!"

They walked outside. Gohan was fending off Ren, Nora and Jaune simultaneously, the petal bells jingling incessantly as they focused.

"Hey, Gohan!" Bulma called. "Yoohoo!"

He ducked as the three friends managed to swing at the same time to slug each other across the face with their weapons by mistake, crumbling as they groaned. Gohan hopped over in a couple swift bounds.

"Yeah, Bulma?"

"Let's start big!" she said. "Doubt I'll get Vegeta to cooperate, and… no offense, Oscar, but you're pretty new to this stuff. Gohan, I want to see your fastest! Just a quick dash…"

Gohan was overcome by a pall of concern. "My fastest? You sure?"

Bulma readied her gun. "Yep! Any time!"

Gohan winced. "You might want to lie on your front…"

Bulma hummed a tone of confusion for a moment, but ultimately listened, digging down onto her knees and elbows, slightly apprehensive. "O-okay, kid! Whenever you're read— YYYYYYYYYY…!"

Gohan whipped off into the distance in would could only be described as a snap, trees ruffling and windows rattling. All their clothes billowed, and even the airship creaked as its aerodynamic body pivoted ever so slightly with the pull.

Bulma finally lifted to her knees, rattled, but eager as the LCD numbers on the back of the gun's readout climbed like a slot machine.

"Come on, baby! Mama needs a new pair of peer-reviewed shoes…!"

As several of them leaned over to watch, the readout hit not a number… but a letter… and then added a greater-than sign to that letter, before flashing "ERROR" multiple times.

"What?! 'C?!' " Bulma read, leaning back.

"Great," Yang sighed. "It's busted."

"See?" Nora asked, unable to see the readout herself. "See what?"

Ruby put her hands out, an idea flashing in her eyes. "No no! Maybe it's 'Si…!' Like… 'How fast…?' " She closed her eyes with a smile. " "Yes… YES fast…! All of the fast…"

Several of them stared at her. Bulma gave an appeasing smile. "No, but I appreciate you for trying, Ruby... It means 'C' as in… the speed of LIGHT…!"

Weiss' face seemed to collapse into itself. "What…?"

"Isn't that… literally impossible?" Jaune asked.

"Unless you're making wormholes from one place to the next…" Bulma said derisively. "That or… Well, maybe…"

Blake considered. "We've been moving fast, but… wouldn't a fraction of that turn the very atmosphere into sandpaper for us?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah… In scif-fi movies, you know how when there's re-entry and the space capsule catches fire? That's literally the friction of the air contacting the ship as it slows down from tens of thousands of miles per hour in space."

"Wait, that's what that is?" Ruby asked, blinking in surprise. "I thought there was just a wall of fire at the edge of space or something…"

Bulma nodded. "Jaune's right. Hell, that kind of thing should be setting this whole place on fire with how you all are moving… Skin should just be ground into mulch!"

She gave it a moment's more thought. "Unless… you guys are also forming a warp bubble around yourselves and you just don't realize it…"

Weiss hummed. "That would make sense… I barely feel the wind when we get moving… If we're warping space WITH us instead of moving IN space…"

Jaune was visibly excited as Ruby, Yang, Sun and Nora just frowned like cave people. "It's the basis for warp travel in sci fi shows! You can't beat the speed of light… but if you warp spacetime AROUND you, you can cheat, because space can move however fast it wants!"

Bulma leaned her head on her hand, eyes to the sky. "Though that presents other things that should get in the way… Hawking Radiation should obliterate anything inside the bubble, and… well, I'll figure it out some other time…"

"Hey, that's all interesting," Krillin admitted, "but let's keep the nose to the ol' grindstone, huh?"

Yang flashed a grin. "Oh, so that's what happened…"

Several of them chuckled as their eyes flashed between Krillin's eyes and mouth.

"Yeah yeah, yuck it up," Krillin said, trying not to snicker himself. "Just remember!"

"Still as a stone," Ren began."

"STILL AS A—" Ruby began, stopping short as she realized Ren had beaten her. "Yeah…"

"Quicker than LIGHTNING!" Nora finished, her hammer sweeping left and right… as her own petal bell jingled. She stopped, pouting like a doused candle. "Mmm… easier said than done."

But moments after, Ren spun into a kick that had started and ended with a surprising amount of snap to it.

What was more…

"Hey!" Ruby gasped. "Ren, you didn't jingle!"

"Yeah!" Goku said excitedly. "That was it!"

Nora sprang over and hugged his arm. "You're on a ROLL today, baby cakes! How'd ya do it…?!"

Ren pinkened at the attention, a tiny smile overcoming him. "I… Well, I thought about the laws of motion… Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so… if you match your starting power against your stopping power, you cancel out your momentum precisely."

"Newton's third law," Bulma said, nodding appreciatively.

"Who?" Ruby asked.

Sun shook his head. "Wow, who'd a' figured there'd be so much science to all this stuff?"

Bulma frowned. "Me?"

"So…" Weiss pondered, easing back and forth as she contemplated recreating Ren's method. "We use the same amount of power… Wait. Can we…?"

Weiss leapt forward far more suddenly, her feet barely tapping the ground after she swiped Myrtenaster and landed. The bell still jingled, but barely. "Of course…!"

"What?" Yang asked.

Weiss' mind was clearly racing. "Since we awakened these powers, we've been controlling the energy in our limbs to move faster… but… What about moving our whole bodies?"

Smiles began to grow on Gohan and Krillin as they glanced at each other, teeth flashing. "Yeah?" Gohan said. "Kind of like…"

"Like controlling our energy balls earlier!" Blake finished, as the idea seemed to take root in the others. "But controlling… everything?"

Ruby cooed in understanding, but gasped. "Wait… DOES THAT MEAN…?!"

Goku chuckled wickedly. "Why don't you find out…?"

Ruby was shaking in open-mouthed excitement, but closed her eyes and stood flatly in place, chin high as she focused.

The grass around her seemed to buffet in shimmering waves, and they all felt a slight wind as her energy began to shift as a whole.

Then, all at once, Ruby Rose levitated five feet off the ground.

"That's it!" Sun cried.

"YEAH!" Gohan cheered.

"That's the way, kid!" Krillin added, fist pumping.

Ruby opened her eyes, staring down at all of them as she twisted in midair, beginning to laugh gleefully. "Guys! Guys! I can FLY!" She did a small midair loop in place, floating to a stop. "I CAN FLY!"

Her whole team beamed up at her in equal parts humor and eagerness, even as Blake asked. "But couldn't your semblance already sort of—?"

"BLAKE, COME FLY WITH ME!" Ruby shouted, not even hearing her question as she drifted in a swift circle.

Yang couldn't help herself. "Hey sis! We can see up your skirt!"

Ruby crossed her arms, lounging in midair. "No you can't!" she laughed confidently. "Combat skirts have coverings!" As if to demonstrate, she flapped her knees open and shut, making the ruffles of her skirt visible. Indeed, the ruffled mass was visibly impenetrable, which hardly mattered to a pale-faced Oscar Pine. "You'd know that if you wore 'em…"

Weiss, smiling despite herself, leered over at the Earthlings. "You planned this somehow, didn't you?"

Krillin's teeth shined as he smiled. "Some of these things just lend themselves to each other, ya know? Figure out how to move energy around, only a matter of time before you apply it to yourself."

"And," Goku added, "only a matter of time until you caught on that moving along the ground that way… means you can move up and down too…!"

"What are you sitting around for?!" Ruby demanded, floating upside down. "Come on up, the fresh air's FINE!"

"Hold on, Ruby!" Goku asked. "Just stick near the ground until you kids get a feel for it! We'll all take it for a spin in a bit, 'kay?!"

There was a loud smattering of ascent through them all, and excitedly they spaced themselves out as an effervescent energy sparkled through the air.

And within a matter of minutes, the air was full of something else.

Weiss' heels left the ground, and she was visibly rapt as the corners of her mouth began wiggling up into a smile of sheer wonder. She couldn't help herself, twirling like an ice ballerina as she laughed melodiously.

Moments later, Ruby flitted by, grabbing both of her partner's hands as she joined her spin, like a two-person skydiving circle, but floating rather than falling.

Nora slid on her backside down the roof to vault between their circle and perform a half-loop into a corkscrew in the opposite direction. "It's SO EASY!"

"And…" Krillin huffed, jabbing left and right as Yang took sparring to the skies, "it opens up all sorts of maneuvers and gives you options, escape routes!"

Yang gave a left hook that involved her whole body. "This is AWESOME!" she said, dropping to swoop into a literal flying uppercut that Krillin caught, flipping back off of it. "Planting on the ground always gave me firm footing, but… now it's like I can just fix in the air, and put WAY more into every hit! I'm not just falling, pushing myself away… This changes everything!"

Goku watched as more and more of them tried working sparring into their midair motions. Neo stood beside Bulma, watching the proceedings with rapt fascination.

"Alright… How's about we take this show on the road?" he suggested hooking a thumb to the sky.

They all turned to see his gesture, and in seconds they had all bunched up. Ruby collided with Ren and Oscar on the way over, nearly dropping them all from the air as they argued, mustering above the widest section of lawn.

Krillin and Gohan flanked Goku, and as a unit, they turned. "Try to keep up!"

The trio gently took off, due East, and with apprehension, the group spread and arranged as they followed. Team RWBY took the lead, as Oscar and Sun joined the survivors of JNPR, spreading as they just cleared the treetops.

And then, Goku looked behind before being engulfed in a burst of power. Gohan and Krillin imitated him… and suddenly burst off at fantastic speeds like missiles, leaving trails behind them in the clear afternoon sky.

The group watched it in a moment's hesitation… before Ruby was engulfed in crimson fire, and rocketed off after.

And seconds later, like a salvo, the heroes of Remnant forged a mismatched bow of colors as they traced into the blue.

Come slide down rainbows in the sky,

Let's fly AWAY!

Ruby watched the world fall away below, skirting the tallest trees and cresting the island's meager peaks before they reached the deep blue shores of the sea.

Like a bird, you're free to,

see the boundless face of the earth…!

They followed Goku out, diving low as they tasted the cool ocean air. Ruby twisted to see her teammates close by, the same wide-eyed, childlike awe on their faces as they shook their limbs loose and flowed ahead with the breeze as they neared the city of Vale.

Oscar and Jaune were cautious, clumsy even, but were gaining confidence by the second. Ren and Nora were hand in hand as the ginger girl twirled him along like a doll.

Let the winds ROLL you like a kite,

and glide AWAY!

With a burst of speed, the few inhabitants who looked up barely glimpsed smears as they wove past buildings and the vast raised highway, passing the bright burg in seconds as they carried on East and the trees began to change color.

Weiss seemed starstruck, hypnotized by it all, the corners of her eyes wet, while Blake seemed caught in an endless fit of giggles at the feat they were engaged with.

Yang, however, had an expression of disbelief, yet determination. Her lip quivered… yet she slowly lifted a single fist out before her with the sweetest smile, like a cape and cowl superhero…

A distant storm seemed to grow before their eyes as they dipped past the sea cliffs of ForeverFall Forest and into wild Grimm-controlled lands beyond Vale's borders. Ruby saw her friends rolling and diving between trees and tight chasms of rock, and she too was taken with the need to dive below the treetops and dash between the endless trunks… until she burst through the other side.

And all at once, the land seemed to fall away to a vast, green low valley…

Far beyond the clouds

you'll find another place…

Below stretched a pristine, untouched paradise. A verdant sprawl of green, dotted with idyllic towers of twisting stone, rolling planes and crystalline rivers and lakes. Wildflowers had infested the hills in brightest orange and indigo. It might have been an incredible site for a Kingdom unto itself, had its openness not been a sure invitation to Grimm attack.

And yet, the way it stretched felt a mirror to Ruby's own feelings. No borders, no barriers, just beauty and the free air.

Like flying. Like freedom.

The constant lick of vertigo as she reckoned with being so high, yet being so safe and in control… The flap of her clothes against her body as the rush of chilled air seeped under them… The clarity in her sinus as the wind brought all manner of aromas of water and life from below…

Or at least, until that looming thunderhead was right in front of them, and Goku, Gohan and Krillin had speared directly into its murk.

If…

the road ahead you seems so

cold and gray…

The storm was an engulfing mass of towering cloud, stretching higher than they could see. They felt so small beside its imposing grandeur, the flash of lightning bolts flickering to illuminate its inner mass at random like static, if not for the vibrating air in their chests as thunder radiated out like the pronouncements of some primordial god.

In spite of their collective power, they hesitated. Beyond was mystery, lashing rain and the dark. Beyond was danger, the unknown.

Yet as Ruby looked back at her friends, she could feel them galvanize. Was this anything less than what they were tasked already?

She smiled.

When night never turns to day…

don't you be afraid,

Go fly AWAY!

One by one, Team RWBY punched through the top of the thunderhead to the bright skies, transformed into a heavenly kingdom of platinum white.

CHA LA! HEAD CHA LA!

No time to hesitate,

go on and search the Earth…

Within it lies a magic surprise!

The gloom and fear of the storm was replaced by a celestial plane of clouds, the Sun barely shrouded by a halo of mist to create a constant ring-like rainbow as they soared across the puffy columns and under arches.

Ruby looked back and below to see the clouds dragging, parting in their wake like a fluffy, misty ocean.

They crested the thunderhead to vast layers of cumulus thousands of feet below, a sheer drop. And they jetted off under the watchful eye of Krillin and Goku, as Gohan joined their meteoric fall.

CHA LA! HEAD CHA LA!

Be cool,

don't be afraid,

you've got the POWER…

to get ya through the night!

They burst through the lowest clouds to a misty wetland of amber grasses and a vast, mirror-flat lake.

Gohan took Ruby's hand, and spun to boost her as he released, launching her ahead almost too fast for her to control.

CHA LA! HEAD CHA LA!

No time to hesitate,

go on and search the Earth…

Within it lies a magic surprise!

Her power coursed as she rode the razor's edge, gliding just over the water as she stared down into her fuzzy reflection, cape trailing to nearly blend into her crimson aura trail. She rolled slowly as she traced her fingers through the mirror surface, disturbing the water in tiny trails.

CHA LA! HEAD CHA LA!

Be cool,

don't be afraid,

you've got the POWER…

to get you through the darkest night!

She saw the clear landing spot ahead of the silted shore, covered with dandelions, and as her momentum began to flag she let her power flare and burst ahead. The lake waters curled over her on both sides in tubular form as her aura pushed away what was ahead, and rushed in to reclaim the trough behind her as a diamond-dust of spray filtered out into the air.

Her boots touched down, spraying silt as she ground to a quarter-mile stop, twisting around as the wind she dragged with her swept across the shore. Her cape became a flag as her wake washed past her, tossing thousands of stems of dandelion fluff skyward. It was enchanting…

And one by one, Team Ruby landed to join her, clearing the air as they stood together.

Sparking…

Ruby sighed contentedly.

"Where the heck are we…?"

---

A/N: Dunno if this is a record, but since this WAS originally the second half of the prior chapter, I'm not gonna credit myself TOO much for getting it out in a shorter time span.

I probably credit it more to how much of Neo's stuff was dialog and exposition relating to it, both things I tend to breeze through compared to action sequences.

I also credit it to how many combat sequences involved the entire group, which meant unless I wanted to spend PAGES to say what each individual character was doing in a few instants of time… I was generally skimming to put the idea across rather than being blow-by-blow precise.

This is the other side of Dragonball-style combat that sadly drags things down somewhat. I've probably mentioned this, but unless I presented you an itemized map to refer to of available landmarks in every battle that took place in a large area, you're going to have to take my word for it that there was a tree nearby available to swing off of, or a rock formation to smash into. I can front load that those things exist to some extent, but it doesn't present as exact of a sense of space like pure Ruby combat does. It sucks describing how characters are vaulting past countless limbs of clusters of trees, because unlike a visual medium I can scarcely make that feel as impressive as I'd like.

Basically, with Dragonball scales comes a sense of generality, and I'm trying to figure out how to minimize that.

Anyway, current events…

---

I really wanted to get this one under the wire because I wanted to preempt anything we might see or learn regarding Neo, seeing as she'll be at least AN antagonist in Volume 9.

But as a personal wellness check on myself… I'm not ready. I'm not ready, I'm not okay, and I feel a shortness of breath all the time as everything to do with Penny sears my heart and mind, and other aspects of my life start collapsing in on me.

I'm not ready. I don't want to hear Weiss explain what happened among the portals and rainbow road, I don't want to know what Ruby might discover as she wanders. I don't want them to enshrine this all in canon and leave it behind. Leave HER behind as someone who WAS. I actually can't stand it, and I've been crying all month and I feel so fucking alone… Volume 9 coming up has just amplified everything I had tried to distract myself from, and the wounds feel as fresh and open as that Spring morning when the world ended.

The only thing keeping me sane is my work, is the ever-creeping moment when I can finally bring Penny into Transposition F, and I can SHOW you all what I love about her… how MUCH I love her… and hopefully make you love her too, if you didn't.

But don't take this to mean I'm going to give her some special exemptions from consequences or insulate her from conflict or sadness. No. I'm better than that. That's emotional masturbation.

I take the old Don Bluth approach: heft tragedy, sadness and hardship by the armful onto a heroic character, as much as they can stand… so long as they make it through to the other side. Characters must EARN their happy endings. Strife and joy… heartache and kindness… cruelty and Love… these are all counterbalances in storytellings. It's meaningless to give a character happiness without making them struggle and sacrifice to achieve it. They are tested, tried, made to persevere with no knowledge that their efforts won't be in vain.

That is what I want for Penny. That is what she… what YOU deserve. I refuse to bungle this up and tell her story poorly.

The funny thing is, I'd say Penny's trails in Volume 8 would have made for EXACTLY the kind of Bluth-style triumph and repayment of suffering I'm talking about…

But they decided they didn't want her anymore. They decided she was worth more as a martyr. Fuck that.

And I just HATE the conflict swirling in my head that dares give me hope, because I know I'm just going to be disappointed. It feels so clear that Rooster Teeth considers this the end of her story. Whether it's the credits theme about her, or the last scene where we see her with Winter, where her theme music resolves. I don't know that much about music theory, but I've picked up on things, and music "resolving" rather than having a more ambiguous trailing-off typically indicates some manner of finality vs continuation. Then there's the fact that the final episode was literally called "The Final Word."

It all just makes me sick to my stomach, and this year has practically mocked my pain with how many damn "Pinocchio" movies have come out, just this constant needling. The best of which, naturally, was the Del Toro version, which was awesome, but also included such haunting lines as "real little boys DON'T come back…"

Believe it or not, one of the things that actually gave me such miserable hope for Penny was a major subplot from —of all things— "Sonic Frontiers."

I'm NOT big on Sonic, never played the games, really only care because the movies are awesome and Snapcube has done a lot with the material in recent years —go figure their figurehead is named "Penny," thank you Miseria, Destroyer of Men— and basically I was taken in by a video that was nothing but cutscenes about Egg-botnik and his newly created AI, Sage. Spoiler warning, but it's actually a really disarming, heartwarming attempt to humanize the decades-old villain by having this little girl AI protect him and gradually earn his respect and eventually… his unspoken love. By the end they even refer to each other at least once as Father and daughter. Frankly, it made me a mess given some of the parallels at play. I can't speak for the gameplay, but someone clearly wanted to up the ante on character writing in those games.

At the end of the story, making me feel numb all over again, Sage sacrifices herself to stop the world-ending threat, ending on this haunting note of Egg-botnik watching the sky where she vanished in silent mourning. There's even a song where she sings about her feelings towards him as a goodbye. There are too many similarities to "Friend" from the Volume 8 end credits for me.

However, what's stuck in my craw is the fact that, despite having such a goodbye song, if you 100% the game, there's an after-credit scene where Egg-botnik actually manages to retrieve her data and save her. This has RUINED me for giving any hope that Penny will somehow be saved by the strange powers and properties of the new land RWBY find themselves in for Volume 9, even though I know it's not true. I know it won't happen. I know no matter what I do, this misery won't go away, and one episode of Volume 9 will almost certainly leave me SCREAMING.

I guess… I'd like to ask, if any of you guys love DBZ and RWBY and feel what I'm saying and want some like-minded people to talk to on the regular, come join my Discord… Only if you REALLY plan on talking though, we get a lot of lurkers who introduce themselves and then just vanish. We do watch parties, we have dedicated regulars, and we're pretty relaxed.

And, frankly… I could use some more friends to get through this with. I can't watch these episodes alone. I haven't linked the Discord in a while, but here's your invite.

TuFVm5pYr8

---

Anyway, away from my personal depression…

I want to announce that this initial training arc only has ONE CHAPTER remaining until we enter our next arc.

Actually, it might not be an arc of more than a couple chapters… maybe ONE chapter if I got crazy with it like in the last. But basically, the training wheels are coming off soon, and while we're not done with preamble —or anywhere NEAR Act 3— we're in for some serious stuff with the story movie forward towards respective goals.

So we start following up on where we left off with Tai being made to realize Yang was basically playing the same type of game Raven once played with him, but Tai's objections to the idea is so abrasive that Yang doubles down out of sheer defiant instinct.

Tai recognizes this and basically corners Yang into putting her mouth where her mouth is… nope, didn't mis-speak… while the two banter in their custom of stone-cold personal attacks in good-humor. Y'know, like in Volume 4.

Then we transition into one of our two musical scenes, this one being a montage.

I think it's easily arguable that "Touch the Sky" from Volume 7 could have been used later in place of "Cha La Head Ch La," in a more literal sense. But I thought a soaring flight scene to Cha La better symbolized the freedom and possibilities the kids had access to. This is effectively the moment when they, barring greater strength and specific techniques, have attained the full suite of capabilities the Z-Fighters possess. Therefore, the classic Dragonball Z song feels appropriate to finally induct them into that world in full.

Oh, and this is basically the Filipino version of the lyrics, because I think those are the best English lyrics available. Frankly the others come off cringe to me, as transliterated. There's just no way to put "dinosaur" into lyrics without it sounding utterly out of place. I like the Amalee version's feel, but she also messed with the lyrics in ways I didn't like.

Anyway, Touch the Sky…

I can understand if there's some disappointment about awakening virtually every other character in this sequence, but I tried to make each awakening fitting, or at least impactful. Yang's inspiration is pretty obvious. Sun and Nora's for example are based off trials faced by their character inspirations.

Pretty much, it would take WAY too long to make these all individualized, and I'd have to actively hold the others back from progressing unless I want their strengths to be lopsided. This montage gets the point across and speeds along something that was going to happen one way or another.

We also get some semblance evolution here. Blake gains the ability to shift from one clone to another, opening her to all manner of strategic possibilities. It also symbolizes her turn to face her fears, as rather than solely as a means to flee… it presents her the opportunity to return.

Ren also attains his empathic trait from Volume 8… albeit not under the same dramatic circumstances as when he stood up to the Ace Ops.

I know the him attaining it while trying not to hurt Nora during sex is KIND OF a breach of my promise not to make the lewd stuff plot-necessary… but I'm excusing myself because it took nothing to explain that when it became relevant later.

Let's see… we go into some energy control and blast deflection… The kids have their own little dates, with Ruby, Oscar and Gohan going over some fairytale books, both inventions of my own and canon ones from RWBY literature.

Jaune gets a haircut.

…No, it's not QUITE the banana hair, it's sleeker than that.

There's some romance and some feelings tossed around. Krillin gets some appraisal that I concur with; I really do feel he's more heroic than he usually gets credit for… Renora scene… and a fake-out that I rather liked.

…Then we get to arguably the biggest addition to this chapter… Neo.

I wonder how many of you guessed she was the one slinking about the property? I'm sure you'll let me know. Yeah, maybe not a hard guess given virtually every other major character is accounted for.

And yeah, don't know how many have read the Myers book about that little girl named Trivia Vanille, but this isn't THAT version of Neo. Dunno how much of that backstory I'll fit into this, but yeah… She was a child turned into a sleeper agent. I was concerned for a while about the believability of her conditioning, but if people buy the Winter Soldier, I don't see why not this.

I really wanted to nail her personality and I think it worked pretty well. It was surprisingly fun to communicate her gestures and stylish flourishes, and things like the sour grapes between her and Yang add a lot of color to their scenes.

Oh, and the part about her false eye and the flashbang… Yeah, I wanted her knowledgeable enough of what she was up against to consider suicide as an alternative to capture, and cyanide capsules feel pretty archaic. From that point on, it's basically a Mass Effect reference to Mordin's suggestion —and Cerberus' adoption— of ocular flashbangs.

Another thing I'm proud of is Roman Torchwick's semblance. Him getting blasts of Cinder's intentions beneath her vague and threatening words, proving that she's not to be trifled with, embroiling both criminals in this grand scheme… I can't think of a moment in three volumes where it's not plausible that he could read into their words. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but the idea that in a world of loneliness that Neo and Roman had this special connection, making his loss so devastating to the point she would seek revenge… I just really jived with that.

Suffice to say, we haven't heard the last of Neo's past, and while I don't plan on her going full Z-Fighter, there's a lot of fun to be had with her skills and engagement as an ally. Just her criminal tendencies introduce such an element of fun and chaos to the mix. You can probably tell I'm forming something of a "B Team" out of Bulma, Neo, Taiyang and Qrow, a series of characters without Z powers to act as support or to achieve smaller, more stealth-oriented objectives.

I'm aware this chapter is a bit… "dirtier" than others, but some things were impossible to resist. A chance for Yang to give Krillin the most confusing sexual experience of his life as reference to the Yellow trailer… How do I turn that down?

Likewise, I tend to try NOT to make Team Four Star references, but this chapter gave me a couple that just fell into my lap. I allowed the plateau one, and then when I wanted to show how Bulma tends not to be a great housekeeper, I needed to describe some clutter. What better than HETAP cans…?

I guess lastly is the science and magic stuff worked in towards the end.

No… don't me about whether or not Z Fighters can breach the speed of light in this arc, in any arc or even OG Dragonball. It's not really important what the numbers are, and it's MASSIVELY ambiguous. The discussion is really just a vehicle for the notion of the warp bubble as an explanation for how they can move the way they do without being set on fire. An explanation I quite like.

The next thing is FINALLY tackling the bugbear that's haunted RWBY for a long time, and that's the difference between semblances and magic.

More than liking my explanation, I think this is actually how the distinction works in canon RWBY. You see me trying to salvage my early mistake with Maia Tommelise for having her physically shrink. Because we know semblances can't do ANYTHING. It tends to either be an unseen augmentation or effect, or some kind of energy-based construct. Like Vine's arms sprouting energy extensions, or Elm sprouting energy roots to plant into surrounding material. You don't see Huntsmen turning into werewolves or things like that, and drastic changes like that tend to be attributed to magic.

Like I said before, we have one chapter left of this arc before we move forward with the plot, but don't take that to mean we'll be winding down in excitement!

I've felt particularly motivated to get writing down, so I'm hoping the next will be nearly as fast as this. No promises, of course.

---

Review review!

RandomPeon: Meh

Guest1: Well aren't you dramatic? See, this is why I'm gradually learning to care less about turning people off: there's always SOMEONE who will hold some weird hangup, and you will never please those people.

Though I'm least concerned when it's a guest review, because for some reason FFN membership curates craziness…

ArguableReader: I think you're forgetting my changes to Raven's motives. I'll give you Salem, since she's largely steered clear except to foul her efforts, but she left Yang to specifically protect her.

But hey, you seem pleased regardless.

Probably stick with the Trunks angle of not using the Saiyan naming conventions. Trunks follows the Briefs theme, and being real… Vegeta would probably just name a worthy Saiyan kid "Vegeta." The kid would probably have a corvid name, like Rook or something.

Tristen343: The possibility of Trunks is predicated on them all surviving Frieza. But… no, there would be no Trunks in this timeline.

Thank you for the patience. I don't generally get reviews or pm's urging me to release, but nonetheless it's nice to hear people express their satisfaction with the release pace. I tend to spur myself on more than anything.

TF2 Crossover Man: Thanks man. Hope coinciding with Volume 9 works too.

Guest2: Maybe I didn't explain well enough. The sand wall is just a path that opens to their hideout, and it collapsing happens every time they seal it. If Cinder hadn't seen it, I don't know how she'd know what happened apart from the password no longer working.

The second part… I just don't agree with you. One thing I HATE about RWBY in the hands of Rooster Teeth is how many times they have created nullodrama by muting a character's reactions. Examples include Ruby's total lack of response to apparently seeing Yang die in Volume 8… her own sister. Another is Ruby seeing Penny alive again at the start of Volume 7. She barely sounds choked up. There was even a comic made in response to this inadequacy that aimed to fix this unsatisfying interaction, and I definitely prefer it.

This is in aid of Rooster Teeth's pretensions to "subtle" "less is more" emoting… but they suck at forging the nuances of that sort of underplay. They got it right ONCE when they showed Ruby in literal shock after Penny got spliced in Volume 3, and that's largely due to how they shot it.

Now, again, that's not to say that I always go for screaming and shrieking. Sometimes juxtaposition is great too. The prior chapter's Beacon scenes, I got to show extremes from Yang coming emotionally undone from all that had become of her, and also Jaune's heartbroken emotional shutdown where he barely says a word or makes a sound. I underline the tiny details as if carefully choosing a shot. I understand that subtle things can be powerful when contextualized.

As to my use of italics and capital letters, EMPHASIS is VERY important, and I'd rather communicate clearly where the emphasis is in a sentence so there isn't confusion. Capital words I tend to abstain from unless a character is actually raising their voice, and bold I tend to avoid using to this end just because bold REALLY stands out on the page even compared to capital words. And avoiding bold lets me use it in other ways, or allows me one more degree of emphasis for when shit REALLY hits the fan.

Assassin Sylar: What on earth is this a response to?

Ultimatrix bearer: I actually had a discussion in the Discord about what it took for a character to be beyond redemption, and the conclusion we came to… is they pass that threshold when the audience ceases to like them, ha ha… After all, Vegeta has probably killed infinitely more people than Cinder could dream, but nobody the audience or characters like. Killing Pyrrha puts her over, and being generally disliked makes it worse. And Vegeta is just too damn likable by comparison. Adam being creepy and taking Yang's arm tips the scale for him.

Discount Super Saiyan? Well, have you perhaps considered that both Silver Eyes and SSJ share a core in both races, given their relation in respect to their origins…? Not to be rude, but I'm under no obligation to respect anyone's headcanon.

I'dMakeANameButIDon'tWantTo: I won't deny, your prior absences made me feel worried, just because I'm paranoid and constantly worried about fans dropping RWBY or the series decline leading to things like cancelation. Suffice to say, the RT drama has not been good for my mental health.

But seeing you around IS, so thanks for sticking around!

X3runner: I really hope you're speaking to far future hypotheticals, but glad you like the character writing. Ruby's sense of duty and personal responsibility are one of my favorite things about her, but it's undeniably a strain on her mental health.

mastercheif1229: This soon enough?

GuestGuy: Glad people seemed to like Weiss' awakening. I'm really satisfied with it for sure.

Same with Raven-x-Vegeta, though I'm surprised there actually WAS a little pushback this time around. Less than Yang and Krillin, which I feared would get outright rejected and built-in an ejector-seat.

Also, don't apologize for long reviews, I will never complain.

Scott Kanouse: I think you're missing Raven's desire for redemption and how motivated she is. This is actually a pretty important part of the plot, but you'll just need to trust me here.

fatquacker: Don't worry, hopefully my summation of Krillin's character in this chapter says a thing or two about the respect I have for him, and presenting him with opportunities to be better than his usual self would be shameful to pass up.

And yes, I agree, actually bothering with the courtship aspect of romance is more than Toriyama tends to do, let alone how useless female characters tend to become after they've been relegated to "caregiver" and removed from conflict.

Suffice to say that won't happen here.

CheesusChrist: Lmao

Guest3: Thanks, good to hear!

Matthew: I'm always glad to give just enough hints that people, but not EVERYONE, pick up on it.

Hearing that "Dreams" is your favorite is awesome given the subtextual importance it has to the story's themes, and hearing you say that probably made my week, so you know!

Son Kenshin: Hahahaha, oh wow, some thirst in that sentiment. Don't think I'll be doing THAT.

Glad you liked the intervention scene. Ultra Instinct has an aura construct? This has been a point of fascination to me since you said it.

We're nowhere NEAR endgame, and seriously… SERIOUSLY do not pin your hopes on Goku sacking up and just wading into combat with Frieza. You WILL be disappointed. This is a VERY long journey, and I would never have started on this road if Goku and Frieza were just going to throw down like in canon, but with an entourage this time. This. Is. Not. That. Kind. Of. Story.

MasterAyaka: I'm very glad to be able to respond to all of these knowing I barely took more than a month this time… Feels good.