So, just to preface: the Atlas arc was wrapping up, we were a few chapters away from finishing up the arc and I was looking forward to it. I'd wanted Atlas to fall so bad because I was tired about writing it. I wanted new territory. New stakes. Something different.

And just at the cusp of it, co-writer suggests we do Arrowfell.

What ensued is me getting a bit miffed but ultimately relenting. So, now we have a 304 paged mini arc. Consider this the direct to DVD sequel to Alien X-Tinction. I wish we put more focus on the other Outcasts- I realized yesterday that Min needed some desperate love during this arc. Maybe we'll fix that later, I dunno.

But yes, this is an adaptation of Arrowfell. I have not played Arrowfell, mind you. There are some Protector of Earth vibes in here. Love that game.

Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5

Today was just another seemingly unremarkable day up in the floating city of Atlas, and that meant the usual morning routine for Weiss. She wasn't the first member of her team to wake up. Ever since the Beacon days, Blake was always the first one to rise and that pattern held. Yang and Ruby were among the last to wake, depending on the day. Given that, the day before, Team RWBY had been alerted to a possible mission opportunity, Weiss already figured that Blake would be the first one there, no matter how early she actually started. She showered and dried off in no time, her attention shifting to her ponytail. Used to be that she could just tie it up in the right position and stop there, but she's come around to the idea of braiding it now. Honestly, that's the part that took the longest in the mornings.

After about twenty or so minutes to get the ponytail perfect and getting dressed in her armored combat outfit, she walked back to her bunk and drew Myrtenaster. She spun the revolving chamber of Dust, looking over the various vials inside and checking if any needed replacing. She popped open the chamber and carefully withdrew three of the vials, those for her Hard-Light, Ice, and Plant Dust. Taking out the depleted vials and putting in fresh ones took less than a minute, the revolver chamber clicking back into place with a simple flick of the wrist.

"There we go," Weiss muttered to herself, nodding in satisfaction.

She holstered Myrtenaster at her hip and made her way to the meeting point. It had been a while since she and her team had gone on a mission together, and she was looking forward to it. Plus, it was a chance to put her training and skills to the test. When she arrived at the docking area, she saw that Blake was already there, as expected. The two exchanged a nod of acknowledgement before settling in to wait for the rest of their team.

"So, any idea what we're in for?" Weiss asked.

"Nope. Just got the notice like you. Not getting briefed by the general, either, from the sounds of it," Blake answered.

"Clover?"

"No, he's handling Ace-Op missions. Someone called Harper's handling this."

"Harper? Hmm.." the heiress hummed a bit, trying to remember if she'd ever heard the name but only came up blank. The door to the hangar hissed open and the officer to brief them walked in.

A few minutes later, the door hissed open again to reveal the R and Y of Team RWBY, late to the briefing. The two sisters nervously entered, hoping that the officer handling the briefing wasn't as focused on punctuality as Harriet was. They saw Weiss and Blake already present, sitting on a few boxes and listening to some of the mission details from the woman in charge.

"Specialist Rose, Specialist Xiao Long. You're ten minutes late," the woman said without even turning around. The officer had short black hair, olive eyes, and a light brown complexion. Along with a pair of small golden earrings, she wore the standard Atlesian military uniform, with a mostly white, blue, and red color scheme, except her uniform also had a sleeveless collar top with black arm warmers. Over the arm warmers were two blue and gray metallic bracers, possibly her weapons, possibly just extra armor.

"Sorry, sorry! Slept through my alarm. All…5 of them." Ruby admitted sheepishly.

"Blake, why didn't you wake me up?!" Yang whined.

"I did. Multiple times. But you sleep like a rock." Blake huffed.

"I mean, she's right," Ruby said.

"Hush you," Yang pouted.

"Ahem," the officer cleared her throat, "Since you missed my initial introduction, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Olivia Harper. Specialist, formerly served under Commander Schnee, now in charge of my own unit."

"Oh. So you're kind of a big deal," Yang said.

"Kind of is an understatement but yes. Now, take a seat and I get back to it."

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, lieutenant." Ruby apologized.

"It's alright. Bree warned me your group would be…a handful." Olivia said.

"Good handful or bad handful?"

"I'll let you guess on that one," Harper said with a small smirk before bringing out her Scroll and bringing up the relevant footage. She tapped a button and used her Scroll to project a holographic layout of a mountain range beyond the cities' borders as Yang and Ruby took their seats.

"Now where was I?" Harper asked.

"Location details," Blake answered.

"Right. This is the Einherjar Range, pretty popular hiking and mountaineering area outside of Mantle. Usually it's pretty safe...but recent reports have started coming in about an unusual number of Grimm in the area. Beowolves and Boarbatusks mostly."

"Routine search and clear then?" Ruby asked.

"Exactly. We're a bit wary about that many Grimm reports so close to Mantle. Better safe than sorry," Harper explained.

"So, just standard Grimm patrol. Gotcha." Ruby said.

"Should be a piece of cake then," Yang smirked.

The Manta ride out to the mountain range was relatively quick, but that didn't stop Weiss from daydreaming a little. At first, she was thinking about how different reality was from the ideal. She remembered when she was still at Beacon and how she thought it would take at least four or so years before she was given her Huntress license. She never expected to get it from Atlas at the special request of her father. Then her mind shifted over to Kylie. Was this what it was like for her when she got her Plumber license?

Did she truly deserve this? It felt so...rushed. Especially when she always felt like a rookie here and there. Sure, they'd taken down a God, but that was thanks to Min's assistance. Same with Haven- they had back up there. A jump on the group. Oh! She'd barely scratched the surface with her semblance, too.

What...really was she doing?

She took out her Scroll and dimmed the back cover so no one else could see her look at her Huntress license. All the relevant info was there like the Kingdom of Issue, the Academy, the license number and even any restrictions for the license holder. It was nice to have it in her hands but at the same time, did she really earn this? It was a small doubt, but when there was nothing else to do but think, small doubts often grew to grab one's attention.

Weiss took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Your imposter syndrome is showing. You're fine. You're doing fine. You're making a change in the world. This ISN'T all for nothing.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked, breaking the heiress away from her doubts.

"Yes?" Weiss asked back.

"You ok?"

"Fine, yes. Just...thinking about something. Nothing to worry about."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "If you say so...just wanna keep morale up, y'know?"

"Of course. Like I said, nothing to worry about," Weiss smiled, stowing her Scroll away for the time being.

"We're almost there!" Yang said. "Can't wait to bash some Grimm up."

"Time to gear up then!" Ruby said, taking out Crescent Rose's compact sniper form and loading in a fresh clip of bullets. Weiss nodded and took a hold of her rapier's hilt. The pilot began going through the landing procedure as the Team RWBY readied themselves for the trek ahead. Blake nodded as she readied Gambol Shroud, ensuring the ribbon was ready. Yang inserted a fresh belt of shells into her gauntlets and even donned the sunglasses she'd bought from Menagerie as the perfect amount of "extra."

"Touchdown in 3...2...1," the pilot counted down before the Manta shuddered a bit, having landed on the snow-covered ground, "Alright ladies, all yours!"

"Thanks uh…pilot?" Yang said, a bit unsure, "Never got your name."

"Name's Ash, but everyone just calls me by callsign, Four Seven Niner. Doesn't really matter to me which one you use," the pilot called out.

"Alright, Niner it is!" Yang said, making a finger gun and "shooting" at Niner as the airship's doors slid open to the icy mountain air.

"We'll call once everything's clear!" Ruby yelled over the engines.

"Got it, Red! Not my first rodeo here!"

With that, the four made their way off the Manta and out into the Einherjar Range. It didn't take long for the girls to stumble across their first Grimm, a small sloth of frost covered Ursa(yes, really, that's what a group of bears is officially referred to.) Yang smirked and fired herself into the fray to start off the fireworks. Suffice to say, those Grimm didn't stand a chance.

But they were only the tip of the iceberg. It felt like the reports were understating the amount of Grimm that were congregating in the range. The only good news about it was that they weren't anything crazy. A pack of Beowolves here, a flock of Razorwings there, the usual low-tier Grimm. But then the numbers of each pack began to increase. Eight Beowolves became sixteen, five Razorwings became ten, and so on.

That pattern held for a while, matching the reports that Harper had given them. After leaving the site of their most recent battle, a flock of Razorwings, the four had an extended break in the combat. They marched on further into the mountains, giving them some time to talk.

"So I'm not the only one that feels like something's off, right?" Yang asked as the team moved further along the mountain trail. Even from where they stood, the floating city and its more industrial counterpart could be clearly seen taking up a good chunk of the horizon.

"This many Grimm so close to Atlas and Mantle? We're all thinking the same thing," Blake agreed. While she didn't say it, the girls already had a likely idea as to why the Grimm were amassing like this.

Salem.

As they walked though, Weiss took notice of something. It was almost completely buried under snow at the foot of a small tree up ahead, but it was there. A small glint, like glass reflecting the sunlight.

"If we're all in agreement then, I have just one question," Weiss said, forging ahead to where she saw the glint.

"Aaaaaand that would be?" Ruby asked. Instead of answering, Weiss swapped the Dust in Myrtenaster to the pale green cylinder and aimed the weapon's tip at the mound of snow. A small gust blew from the rapier and cleared the snow away from the source of the glint. Weiss knelt down and picked it up, turning to her teammates with the object in her hands.

"When did Salem get an engineering degree?" the heiress asked. In her hand was a metallic sphere, the size of a volleyball, with a glowing orange middle component and a dial on the top.

"O…kay? You know it could still be her, right? Black Knight has a habit of turning Atlas tech against us," Yang pointed out.

"Oh, oh, and the Forever Knight's kind of a techie as well. Think he built that armor himself," Ruby added.

"Yes, but here's where those theories fall apart. The Forever Knight has a certain aesthetic that he follows, always giving his gear a medieval spin. This has nothing like that. And as for the Black Knight, this looks nothing like any Atlesian technology I've ever seen. So I think we can rule out Salem," Weiss said confidently.

"Then that just leaves us with a metal orb that somehow managed to find its way onto a popular mountain trail dangerously close to Atlas and Mantle and we have no idea who placed it here or what it does," Blake said.

"Exactly!" Weiss said, maybe a bit too caught up in her triumph of proving Yang and Ruby wrong. It was then that Blake's ears flicked a bit as she caught wind of something.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Blake asked.

"What?" Yang asked.

"Sounds like…ticking?"

"Probably just Myrtenaster's chamber. It might be time to oil the gea-" Weiss began, but then froze when all four of them heard a loud click. The heiress turned to see the orb she held with the dial at the top turned before the entire thing pressed down. Weiss immediately threw the orb away, jumped in front of the others and brought up a shield glyph, thinking that the orb was maybe some kind of bomb.

The others braced themselves for the blast to come. After the device thudded into the snow, the central part of the orb began to beep red, as if it was going to detonate. After a few tense seconds, a slight purple glow outlined the entire orb. It then rose out of the snow, clicked again, and parts of its casing began to shift to show that it activated. Whatever this orb was, it began rhythmically pulse, almost like a mechanical heartbeat.

"Gravity Dust?" Ruby asked, noting the purple outline.

"Uh, Ruby, we can worry about that later!" Blake yelled, shifting Gambol Shroud into its pistol form. Around the area where the orb floated, black puddles began to ooze up from between the cracks in the stony ground.

As the puddles settled, Grimm started to pull themselves up from the sludge. Beowolves and Ursai clawed their way to the surface, shaking off any excess sludge from their coats as a Boarbatusk emerged and raked its tusks along the ground in challenge.

The sturdier Grimm quickly curled up into a ball and raced towards the Huntresses in a mad spin-dash. Weiss reinforced the barrier before the creature slammed into it, bouncing off because of the sheer momentum. With a flick of the wrist, Weiss turned the barrier glyph into a dart glyph, firing off a barrage of Hard Light spikes into the exposed underbelly of the Boarbatusk. The Grimm was dead and dusted before it ever hit the ground.

The Beowolves didn't take too kindly to that, howling and charging the team.

"Well, this should be quick at least," Yang grinned, slamming her fists together. Ruby shifted her weapon into scythe mode and raced out into the fray followed by the Bumblebee duo. Suffice to say, the Beowolves didn't really stand a chance. Yang punched holes through the Grimm's chests or outright punched their heads off if they got close.

Blake gunned down the Grimm with quick and precise shots, letting them only ever hit her duplicates. Ruby was slicing through the Grimm like paper, cutting them apart in record time. Weiss turned the Dust in Myrtenaster's chamber to fire and she began to easily incinerate any Grimm that got too close.

There was just one problem. The Grimm wouldn't stop coming. Every time one of the monsters was cut down, more would just rise up to take the vacant spot. For every Beowolf cut down, two more would rise up, the same went for the Boarbatusks and the Ursai hordes.

"How…how many are there?!" Yang huffed, swatting aside one of the rushing frost-covered boar Grimm with a makeshift Beowolf club.

"Still sure this wasn't Salem?" Ruby quipped.

"Ruby. When we get out of this," Weiss hissed, leaving her threat unfinished as she dodged a Beowolf slicing at her from behind. Blake sliced through three more Beowolves before her eyes locked onto the still pulsing orb. She jumped to a conclusion, but she didn't believe it at first. There was no real reason this should work, but if it did…

"Weiss, cover me!" Blake yelled.

"I'll try!" Weiss answered, quickly summoning up her knight to watch her back. If any of the beasts were brave enough, they'd be quickly dispatched thanks to the knight's massive greatsword.

With the plan set, Blake made a mad dash for the orb. Beowolves and Ursai tried to pounce and slow her down, but they quickly met their end as the Faunus ninja quickly slashed them with her bladed sheathe. Dodging the Grimm spawning puddles that surrounded the area, she quickly arrived in front of the orb and put Gambol Shroud into its sheath, giving the weapon much more striking power. She reared the weapon back and, with a yell, cleaved the orb clean in two.

Whatever substance it held inside rose into the air as orange smoke before fading away. The black puddles around the device dried up as the last few Grimm were cut down.

"Is that…is that finally all of them?" Ruby asked.

"Looks like it. All because that…orb was destroyed?" Weiss didn't believe her own words. That was too video game-y, for lack of a better term.

"Well," Ruby began, walking over to what remained of the orb and scooping it up in her hands, "if we have a piece of mysterious tech that none of us have seen before and only have the wreckage to go off, I think I know someone who can help."

It didn't even take the remaining trio of the team to understand who their leader meant.

It was a quick and uneventful trip back to Atlas aboard the Manta. Ruby sent a text to Ben letting him know they were on their way back. Half of the Outcasts had been given a mission taking them into another Atlesian mountain range, but they would be out of contact for a while.

According to Clover's briefing, there was an usually high concentration of electricity Dust in the area that Rook, Albedo, Neo, Kevin and Min were sent to, so Scrolls would be a bit spotty at best. Ben, Kylie, Ceres, and Rex had been dispatched to a local village to see if there was any trouble they could help deal with. It was kind of like the days before things started picking back up with Salem's schemes for Haven.

Soldiers and other military staff walked the halls of the military headquarters as usual, going about their business and personal assignments. Some of them were clad in the usual white and blue armor that was practically an Atlesian calling card while others wore the new officer's outfit, a white coat with red and blue accents and what seemed to be a blue pilot's hat. The ensemble was a little reminiscent of Marrow's outfit, truth be told.

Thankfully, among the busy agents of the military kingdom, there was still one who was mostly free, aside from the occasional order of medical prosthetic for the workers down in Mantle. Dr. Polendina was hard at work tinkering away at a medical prosthetic for one of his patients. Penny was there as well, bringing over boxes of supplies and checking on what upcoming appointments her father had.

"Mr. Nave's arm needs a tune-up, Ms. Anza's ADA seems to be malfunctioning and she can't determine the reason, and Mx. Gran is looking for an upgrade from the Mantle Techworks A-5 Enhanced Eye Replacement. They want to hear from an expert on the matter," Penny listed off.

"Hmm, Mr. Nave's scheduled for…?" Pietro asked, not taking his eyes off his current work.

"Next Tuesday."

"Right. As for Ms. Anza, tell her I can take a look at it next Wednesday at around two in the afternoon, as long as it doesn't conflict with her schedule. And for Mx. Gran…Mantle Techworks does good work, but if they're looking for an upgrade, I suggest Brokkr Workshop's 'Huginn' model. Good vision, not too high maintenance, reliable-" Pietro listed off before the doors gave off a gentle hiss as they slid open.

"Helllooo!~" Yang greeted with a bit of a sing-song voice.

"Salutations to all of you!" Penny saluted.

"Well, if it isn't some of the rising stars of Atlas," Pietro joked, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Rising stars?" Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, "Wouldn't go that far."

"Careful, it'll go to her head," Weiss quipped.

"Have some faith," Blake chimed in, "She's humble."

Ruby just chuckled a bit at the exchange before nodding to Yang.

"So, we went out on that mission Ironwood assigned us, right? Nothing fancy, just clear out some Grimm in the mountains. But…then we found something up there," Ruby explained. By now, Yang had brought out the remains of the neatly bisected sphere and put it on a table for Pietro to examine.

"No idea what it is, so we were hoping you could tell us," the blonde finished up.

The good doctor made his way over to the device and upon laying eyes on it, his brow furrowed. He took the two halves of the sphere and held them together to see what it looked like whole and he started humming to himself in thought.

"Unusual tech indeed," Pietro said, continuing to look it over.

"Is it…rare? Valuable?" Ruby suggested.

"Well, sadly, I can't rightly say. I've never seen anything quite like it. Possibly a container of some kind?"

"When we found it, it was like a Grimm lure. They wouldn't stop spawning until Blake here put two and two together and slashed it in half," Yang smirked, giving her girlfriend a pat on the shoulder.

"Perhaps an unintended consequence? No technology exists that can just attract the Grimm like that. Although…" Pietro trailed off, thinking something over.

"Although…?" Weiss asked, hoping to hear the rest.

"If it's unusual Grimm attacks you're looking into, may I suggest Essen?"

"Essen?" Ruby repeated.

"Affirmative!" Penny chimed in, "Essen is a rural village beyond the city borders. Its main source of income is farming, but often relies on imports from the nearby fishing village of Dormir."

"There's…a farming village out there?" Yang asked, a little surprised at that.

"Affirmative! They have acquired Dust technology to keep their harvests preserved!"

"Huh…thought the farmland outside the city was special," Yang said.

"Aside from a few lessons in agriculture, why there?" Weiss asked, getting things back on track.

"Well, as it so happens, a local Huntsman had a run-in with some Sabyrs three days ago. It doesn't sound too serious, but the Grimm haven't been sighted near Essen for months," Pietro explained.

"Months of no activity ended by a sudden resurgence…almost like they were lured there," Blake suggested.

"Possibly. Worth investigating though, isn't it?" Pietro asked.

"Definitely," Ruby said before she paused, "Wait…whaaat was the name of the town that Ben and the others were sent to again?"

"Well wouldn't it be convenient if it turned out to be 'Essen'?" Yang smirked.

"Thanks Dr. Polendina," Ruby nodded.

"Any time. And if anything comes through with the device, you'll be the first to know," Pietro said.

"Second technically!" Penny quipped.

Essen was a small town located on the eastern coast of the largest lake on Solitas, close to the Kingdom of Atlas. Wooden shacks with straw-covered roofs made up the homes. As a farming community, the community contained both a huge windmill and multiple silos.

Ben and a few other members of the Zeta Squad were assigned to work in the fields, as the harvest was vital to the town's finances. Colder environment farms typically choose to cultivate vegetables such as carrots and beets that can withstand lower temperatures. It reminded Ben of working on Oscar's farm way back when.

Of course, they weren't working alone. Overseeing the fieldwork and moving a cart around to help with the harvest efforts was a rather large man clad in a very viking-esque outfit. The entire outfit was made of heavy furs with some armor underneath, no doubt. The only parts of the outfit that were not outright fur or armor were the leather shoulder pads he sported and his leather cap, complete with wing adornments. A necklace of blue and yellow beads hung around his neck, ending in what seemed to be some kind of tooth, maybe a recreation of a Grimm trophy. At his side was a sheathed blade that was far too big to be considered just a dagger, but not quite long enough to be considered a full-on sword.

"Everything's coming along well, I see," Russet said, stopping by Ceres to collect what she'd managed to harvest already.

"Do you folks often get this help from Atlas?" Ceres asked.

"Not really. We've put the request up multiple times, but very few respond to it." Russet said. "We don't get much 'action' back here."

"Well, I'm enjoying it." Ben, as Wildvine, quipped. He was using Wildvine to easily pluck a bunch of vegetables out of the ground.

"Glad one of you is," Russet chuckled, "Though I have to admit, I don't think any of us were expecting...well, somewhat of a celebrity response like this. I mean, Ben Tennyson himself? That's doing wonders for morale around here, given recent events!"

"I'm not a celebrity." Ben scoffed. "...right?"

"I dunno, Ben. We're kinda famous cuz of the Vytal Festival, stopping Haven Academy's destruction, and a bunch of other side activities." Kylie said, as she walked by with a basket full of vegetables. "Plus, kinda hard NOT to talk about the dude who can turn into aliens."

"Around here, it's a mix of the Vytal Festival and your competition with...what was his name? The millionaire with the suit?" Russet rubbed his bearded chin in thought.

"You mean Nesmith?" Kylie asked.

"Yes! Him! People were talking about that for weeks around here!"

"I'm shocked you're not more phased by this, dude." Rex said, as he pulled some more vegetables from the ground.

"I've been 'space famous' for far too long." Ben said. "I kinda go numb to it."

As he said that, Russet turned his attention skyward. He held a hand above his bushy eyebrows to shield them as he looked to the horizon.

"Did any of you call for a ride back?" Russet asked.

Ben's face lit up. "Nope, but I know who that is." He grinned dopily.

"Just don't suck face as Wildvine. It's gonna be weird." Rex rolled his eyes.

"So, in other words, we have more guests? Should I get some drinks ready for them then?" Russet asked before he was taken by surprise as a green flash suddenly flared out.

"Could use something myself. Call a break real quick?" Ceres asked as the Manta flew over the village, making for a spot to land at the other side of town.

The Manta landed in a large, empty zone. The second it opened, Ruby shot out and rushed to where Ben was. She slammed into him and wrapped him in a hug.

"Ya know, should've expected that," Yang sighed as she hopped out of the Manta.

"Are you saying you wouldn't do the same if I was the one out here?" Blake teased, taking fake offense.

"Ok, you know that's not true," the blonde pouted before Blake gave her a quick hug in apology, before walking over to meet up with the other Outcasts.

Ben awkwardly pulled Ruby off of him. "I literally saw you like a few hours ago!"

"I knowwww, but still. Look at my hard working boyfriend~" Ruby gushed.

Ben blushed. "Not in front of the cool viking guy..."

"Viking guy?" Weiss repeated.

"That would be me. Russet Ka, Guardian of Essen, at your service," said viking guy answered as he walked over to the group.

"You gave yourself that title, didn't you?" Yang joked.

"Haha, ah, no. It makes sense you haven't heard of us. It's...sort of an informal organization. The Guardians are a volunteer group, working as freelance security and protection across all of Solitas."

"So you're mercenaries?" Blake questioned.

"Mercen- of course not! We don't demand payment for our services unlike…SOME freelance groups do. We offer protection to complete the circle that the villages beyond Atlas and Mantle need to survive. They rely on each other for survival and we're just making sure that everything is safer for them," Russet scoffed.

"First I'm hearing of this group," Ben said, as he finally pried Ruby and her suction cup arms off of his body. "But it sounds like a better alternative to the military."

"Don't let Ironwood catch you saying that." Yang joked.

"So, are you like the leader of a wing or something?" Ruby asked.

"More like just one agent. I said we're a volunteer group, and that means most of us are either from other kingdoms or left Atlas after graduating. Kind of like the Happy Huntresses. The one in charge of it all would be Thornmane," Russet answered.

"Thornmane...I've heard of him before. Clover mentioned him a few times." Rex said. "He was a student of Atlas Academy and trained under the General."

"Have you met him?" Weiss asked.

"Maybe," Rex shrugged.

"It makes sense one of the Ace-Ops would mention him. Almost made it into that unit himself!" Russet grinned, "Didn't exactly pan out, but if it did, I probably wouldn't be here today!"

"Alright, interesting." Ben said. "Maybe we'll meet the guy soon."

Didn't pan out? Blake thought. Ever since she'd uncovered some cracks in the Atlesian military, she'd been super wary of what was going on around her. What was the extent of this 'pan out'?

"Maybe. Though, I still need to ask. What brings four more Huntresses like you out here? Not exactly a very active village in terms of missions," Russet asked.

"Even though you did report seeing Grimm around when they haven't been around for months?" Yang countered.

"Hm, yes. I'm not exactly a 'fighter' at my age. We've had some other hotblooded youngsters take care of them with ease." Russet said. "But never mind that."

"Well...we came here to investigate that," Weiss added.

"I see...well...if it's Grimm you're after, the caves nearby and Crossed would be the best places to look."

"Crossed? That another settlement?" Ruby asked.

"It was, yes. Grimm managed to trample it a couple of weeks ago," Russet nodded.

"Woah, really? How come we didn't hear about it sooner?" Ben asked.

"News doesn't really get around to the military until weeks after the incident." Russet explained. "A majority of the townsfolk survived, and are living here for the time being."

"Refuges...so that's what you meant earlier about morale," Ceres chimed in.

"Seeing you around helped. The Grimm hadn't been around Crossed for some time as well, then they just appeared one day and destroyed the town," Russet said.

Yang and Blake shared a look. They were both thinking the same thing. There was probably another orb somewhere in Crossed that lured the Grimm in.

"...maybe we should investigate, then." Ben said. "I've got a multitude of aliens that can examine the scene with ease."

"Caves or a ruined village...we might need to check both," Weiss suggested, "Tell you why before we go."

"Oh, there's a story here, isn't there?" Kylie asked.

"One that we don't have all the details for yet, but yes."

"Alright, then we'll split up." Ruby said. "Ben, Kylie, Rex, you're with me at the town."

"That leaves myself, Yang, Blake, and Ceres to check the caves," Weiss said.

"How far is the town from here?" Rex asked Russet.

"A few miles west," Russet pointed out, "Just be careful out there. From what the survivors told us...it wasn't pretty. They mentioned screaming...but not human screaming."

"Well, that's terrifying." Rex said, as he formed the Rex Ride. "Hop on."

Ben, Ruby and Kylie hopped on, as they suddenly took off west. Ruby held onto Ben tightly, making him blush.

"And how far away are the caves?" Weiss asked.

"Half a mile outside of town, Southwest. Won't take you more than...I'd say half an hour to get there?" Russet guessed.

"Well, good thing we have a flight to catch." Yang grinned. "Come on, gang!"

The town of Crossed was very similar to Essen, a farming village with resilient people that survived out in the harsh tundra. It was around the same size, if not marginally smaller than its counterpart. As Russet said though, that all changed a few weeks ago. Crossed was nothing more than ruins, now. Straw roofs had caved into the rooms beneath them. If the roofs were intact, the interiors were not. The Grimm must have been able to break down the doors and storm the houses. If they didn't break down the doors, then they broke down entire sections of the buildings. Beowolves or Boarbatusks weren't strong enough to break through stone on their own. Bigger Grimm must have made their way here and ran rampant as well.

As the group got closer to the ruins of the village, they could see the diminutive Swindlen picking through the ruins like vultures, scavenging for whatever they could find. The creatures seemed preoccupied with their "looting" to notice the Rex Ride pull up at the edge of town.

"Wow, bunch of little freaks here." Kylie said, pulling out her gun. "Think they're gonna cause trouble?"

"Nah. These little gremlins aren't concerned with attack. Just theft." Ruby explained. "They're like little kleptomaniacs."

"Reminder to keep my hands in my pockets." Ben said, as the Omnitrix started to beep. Ben gave it a weird look. "That's strange."

"What's up?" Ruby asked.

"The watch just made a weird beeping noise..." Ben pressed it a few times, and it made the sound of something like 'starting a car'.

"That ever happen before?" Rex asked, dismantling the Ride and looking over to Ben.

"Not like this, no," Ben admitted.

"Well, it is a new model." Kylie said. "You haven't figured out everything."

"Kinda wish I did." Ben said, as the Omnirix whirred back to life. "Must've done a cycle reset or something."

"Oh, so it's like a computer update. Always does it at the most inconvenient times," Rex joked.

"I guess. Everything seems to be fine now though," Ben began scrolling through forms just to make sure.

"Well, go Clockwork and see what happened here!" Kylie said. Ben nodded, as he scrolled to Clockwork's image on the icon select. He activated the watch, and slapped down the faceplate-

But nothing happened. Ben blinked, and shook the watch. "Uhhh, Omnitrix?" Ben asked, making a face. He slapped down the faceplate a few more times. "Ughhhhh."

"You're kidding," Ruby groaned.

"Of all the times..." Ben hissed, still trying to make the Omnitrix work a bit, before accepting that something had gone wrong with it, "Greaaaat."

"Come on! What!?" Rex sighed.

"Well, maybe if Clockwork doesn't work...try another alien?" Kylie shrugged. "Maybe the other aliens are locked because of the reset."

"Fine. I'll try..." Ben scrolled through the Omnitrix, and found an alien he'd never really used. "This guy. I think he'll be useful."

Ben slapped down the Omnitrix- Orange fur spread out from underneath the Omnitrix, running up Ben's arm and quickly reaching his face, covering up his eyes. The fur grew all around his body, as he started to roar and snarl. His jaw unhinged, gaining more bestial teeth. His hands became more 'dog-like', gaining claws that were sharp enough to claw through metal.

Ben finished his transformation, and let out a roar similar to a bear. The Omnitrix rested on a green and white 'collar' around his neck.

"What the heck is that?!" Rex said.

"A Vulpimancer. Big blind doggo." Kylie said. "They see with these gills on their neck, kinda like a bat or something."

"Well, it's a dog. It can sniff something out, at the very least." Ruby pointed out.

"Oh, and he can't talk." Kylie added.

"...well, not the first non verbal alien he's had." Rex said.

"We'll work on a name for it later," Ruby said.

Ben immediately began to sniff the air, searching for anything that didn't really "fit" the ruins. The Grimm presence did not make things easier. To a Vulpimancer, the Grimm were pungent. He actually had to double-take after sniffing the air and smelling the monsters in the ruins. Not pleasant. He tried again, focusing on anything that wasn't just lost beneath what smelled like burning tar. After a while, he finally managed to pick up something, something human. He barked and motioned for the other three to follow him into the ruins.

"Well, looks like he found something. Lead the way, doggy buddy!" Rex said, making the Rex Ride. Ruby and Kylie hopped back on and trailed Ben as he galloped towards the ruins.

As they made their way into the ruins of Crossed, some of the Swindlens stopped scrounging and made their way to watch the large dog-like alien and Rex Ride go by. They turned their heads in curiosity, some even moving to follow them.

The group passed by plenty of ruined houses until Ben came to a skidding halt in the snow. The Rex Ride came to a stop behind him and immediately they all began to feel a bit uneasy. Laying in the middle of the snow, surrounded by some rubble and some Beowolf tracks was one of the villagers that wasn't lucky enough to escape.

Rex looked away. "Oh, God..."

"Poor guy." Kylie said. "If the Grimm didn't kill him, the cold did. Look at his skin..."

Ruby hopped off the Rex Ride and steeled herself. It was always...chilling to see the victims of the Grimm. Some people like to think that the Grimm are a joke. People have said that the Grimm hold no real power, that they're not scary. After all, the Hunters of the world can deal with them with such ease. People think that just because the Grimm don't kill Hunters every day, they're weak. Those are the people who've usually never seen a Grimm face to face.

The red hooded huntress made her way over to the man and turned him over in the snow. This is where things got...weird. The body was surrounded by Beowolf tracks and rubble, but neither one of those seemed to be the reason why this man died. There was nothing to indicate some stray rubble had struck him in the head, nor any signs of struggle or claw marks from a Beowolf.

"It's not the rubble...and it wasn't a Beowolf..." Ruby muttered, "then what...?"

Ben sniffed the corpse a few times and shook his head. "No lead, huh? Maybe whatever did this got killed not too long after." Ruby said. She pet the dog's head. "Don't worry. You did good."

By now, the Rex Ride had been disassembled and Kylie and Rex began to search some of the houses for anything out of the ordinary. Ruby had managed to fill them in on the mysterious orb her team discovered, so maybe they would find another one here. Rex slashed away at two of the gremlin-like Grimm that were picking through the ruins, leaving behind nothing but ash as the BFS cleaved through them easily.

"I don't like this," Kylie said. "I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone right now."

"Always scary to be in the aftermath. Your imagination just runs wild with what you think happened." Rex shuddered.

Ben shifted back to human and knelt down next to the villager.

"I can't be the only one who thinks this is...out of character for the Grimm, right?" Ben asked, gesturing to the body, "I mean, no claw marks, no bite marks, nothing that would come from a Boarbatusk or a Megoliath. He's...practically untouched."

"Kind of a dark train of thought but...I get what you mean. It's weird," Ruby agreed, looking around. There had to be something they were missing, but what?

Rex and Kylie soon came back from their searches of the surrounding area, neither having found anything major, just ruined houses.

"There's a few signs of Grimm activity- we also found more bodies, kinda like this. But they were in their beds." Kylie shivered.

"It's gonna be burned into my mind forever." Rex said, looking away.

"In their beds?" Ruby asked, "That...that doesn't make sense..."

"No signs of a struggle either. Maybe some sort of mental attack?" Kylie pondered.

"Salem's been evolving, after all. We know her Grimm are getting more...dangerous." Rex yawned. "Sorry."

"Grimm with a mental attack?" Ruby repeated, "I...don't remember hearing anything about that from Port. Or from the Grimm course in Atlas. Still weird that all of Atlas' courses are taught by holograms."

"Eh, most of the veterans are out on missions. Makes sense none are around to teach," Rex shrugged.

"Ok, maybe we need to head further in. You want the most damage done, you'd probably set the orb in the middle of town," Ben suggested.

"Fair enough. Be on guard- I dunno why, but I feel like something's watching me..." Kylie said. "Or I could be paranoid."

Kylie would soon learn she wasn't off.