Getting up from the kitchen chair, Ruby walked over to the oven, the smell of chocolate chip cookies wafting through the air. Tilting her head down to see the oven's timer, Ruby tapped her foot in both impatience and anticipation. As the oven blared its little jingle, Ruby slipped on a pair of oven mitts and excitedly opened the oven door as she placed the steaming tray of confections on a nearby stove top.
"Oh man! These are going to be so good!" Ruby muttered to herself as she took the large mitts off, preparing to snatch one of the treats.
However, just as she was about to grab one of the sweets, a voice rang through the first floor of the house, causing Ruby to slowly look behind her.
"Don't you dare!" Yang yelled out from the living room.
At that very moment, Yang and Nora were engaged in an intense virtual fighting game. With the video game currently paused, Yang leaned from her current position on the couch and locked eyes with Ruby.
"Awww, come on sis." Ruby begged with puppy dog eyes.
"Don't you start that routine again! It's not going to work on me anymore." Yang continued.
"But I worked so hard on making these. Surely I deserve at least one of them." Ruby argued.
"Now hold your horses, missy! If anyone deserves the first bite, it's Renny. After all, it was his recipe that we decided to use." Nora added as she pointed toward Ren who was standing behind the couch, watching the game unfold.
"It still doesn't hold a candle to mine." Ruby said as she pouted.
"Ruby, with the amount of chocolate chips you were putting into the dough, it might as well have been a double chocolate chip cookie." Blake rebutted from the armchair she was sitting in.
"And would there be anything wrong with that?" Ruby retorted as she threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Honestly, we should have just gone with my idea." Weiss interjected.
"Sorry, Weiss but I don't think anyone would have liked white chocolate on their cookies." Jaune added apologetically as he scratched the back of his head.
"And when was the last time any of you actually had white chocolate?" Weiss asked.
"Not once, and I'm keeping it that way for as long as I live! White chocolate is sacrilegious in our cookies!" Ruby proclaimed.
"Just wait until Evan gets here before you start rampaging through the tray." Yang said with a small amount of irritation in her voice.
"Fine." Ruby replied as she crossed her arms.
"Hey Qrow, keep an eye on her will ya?" Yang whispered her uncle as he silently nodded and walked over into the kitchen.
"Do you really not trust your sister?" Ren said quietly as he leaned closer toward Yang.
"When it comes to cookies, Ruby has as much self control as a Grimm horde when it sees a group of huntsmen." Yang responded back, her voice barely audible.
"Alright, that's enough stalling! I think it's time I finally show you exactly why I'm the Road Brawler 6 master!" Nora shouted out with pride.
"In your dreams, maybe." Yang said with a smirk as she unpaused the game.
As both teens pressed the buttons on their controllers with focus and precision, the two characters on the digital screen leaped through the air. As Yang's fighter sent a flying kick across the screen, Nora's fighter blocked the attack and sent an haymaker flying toward her opponent.
Managing to barely dodge the attack, both opponents with each only having one hitpoint left, charged forward. As both characters prepared to perform a headbutt attack, the fighters attacked each other at the exact same time, knocking each other to the floor. As the screen flashed the words: "Double K.O." on the screen, the two huntresses looked on in disbelief.
"What?!" Yang yelled out.
"That can't be how it ends! Come on, one more round!" Nora said aloud as a menu popped on screen, questioning if the two players wished to begin a new match.
Without question, both unsatisfied huntresses silently came to an agreement as they started a new round, the game fading to a black screen as it loaded their next match.
From her seat, Blake saw Oscar staring out the window with a look of concern toward the massive tree that had recently appeared on the horizon.
"Hey Oscar, what's on your mind?" Blake asked with empathy in her voice.
"Oh, um, hi Blake. It's nothing. I mean, I'm fine myself, but Ozpin's been really anxious about the whole tree thing. Apparently he's never seen something like this before, and his attitude about it is rubbing off on me I guess." Oscar explained.
"I'm no botanist myself, so I can't really say much. Maybe some plant dust deposits collided with each other underground and caused the tree to be made." Blake said as she attempted to rationalize the bizarre phenomenon.
"Maybe someone dumped a ton of fertilizer on a tiny little sapling that they loved with all their heart, and they then wished on a shooting star for it to be the world's most beautiful tree." Nora proposed.
"Regardless, if worst comes to worst, we could have Evan tell Ironwood about it. He probably has some experts that can help figure out what's going on.." Blake continued, causing Oscar to take a deep breath and relax slightly.
"Thank you Miss Bella…I mean…Sorry." Oscar stuttered out as he looked away out of mild embarrassment as Blake let out a small chuckle.
Suddenly, with a loud *SLAM*, Evan burst into the house, the front door threatening to come off its hinges from the teen's actions.
"Hey! Watch the door!" Weiss shouted out toward Evan as the young Saiyan practically stumbled into the room.
"I swear, don't you have any…Are you ok?" Weiss said as she began to continue her rant, only for her voice to quickly change to one of worry as she saw the look of panic in Evan's eyes and body language.
"NO! I'm not…" Evan immediately yelled out, as his mind was running overtime trying to formulate a plan, causing the once cheerful atmosphere in the room to switch to that of confusion and unease.
Taking a deep breath in, Evan paced around as he tried to regain his composure.
"Of all the things this far out in the galaxy, I never thought I would have to deal with the Crusher Corps of all people!" Evan continued, causing Oscar to stand up, his eyes glowing orange momentarily.
"The Crusher Corps? Who are they?" Ozpin questioned the young Saiyan.
"Ok, I need to make this quick." Evan thought to himself.
"The Crusher Corps are a group of six of the galaxy's worst of the worst, led by their leader Turles." Evan explained.
"They go to planets that are brimming with life, and they then plant a seed which grows into a massive tree. Most in the galaxy know it as the Tree of Might." Evan elaborated.
"And is the tree outside…" Ren questioned with concern, as he started putting the pieces together.
"Yep. The tree bears fruit that can multiply a person's power level several times once consumed. In order to do this, the tree will drain the host planet of all its nutrients, until there's nothing left but an uninhabitable wasteland." Evan replied back, causing everyone in the room to get up from their seats.
"Well, what can we do?" Blake asked aloud.
"Let's take the fight to them! Surely if we work together, we can chase them off!" Ruby claimed optimistically as she tried to rally the group of huntsmen and huntresses.
Immediately, panic set in once more on Evan's face as his brain immediately burned an image into his head: Team RWBY, lying bruised and beaten in front of Turles, with not a single scratch on his armor. With a sinister smirk on his face and his band of minions behind, the villainous Saiyan holds out his hand and kills the group with one swift attack as they scream out in pain.
"Not a chance!" Evan yelled out defiantly, resulting in the others going silent.
"This isn't like Torchwick, or even Adam! These guys are on a whole 'nother level!" Evan exclaimed, causing Qrow to take interest and step closer to the Saiyan.
"Are you certain? Adam's no slouch by any extent. It's not like he became head honcho of the White Fang because of his stunning personality." Qrow argued skeptically.
"Absolutely. Compared to these guys, Adam would be like a little bug on the wall." Evan elaborated with a dead serious look on his face.
"How long do we even have before the planet's done for?" Yang asked with concern as she gestured toward Evan for answers.
"I don't know…Hours? Days? Not much is known about the tree, much less the rate at which it consumes a planet." Evan attempted to give an answer as he looked toward Ozpin.
"When did people start coming outside and spotting the tree?" Evan questioned the man.
"About half an hour or so since you've arrived." Ozpin elaborated.
"That's good, then it might not be too late to destroy the tree." Evan said out loud.
"Is destroying it even a possibility?" Jaune asked hesitantly.
"It has to be, it's still just a tree at the end of the day. If it couldn't be destroyed, there would be no need for Turles and his crew to remain by the tree in the first place." Evan proposed.
"How did you know that they're at the tree?" Qrow questioned.
"I sensed them with…" Evan began to say as he scanned the room for something important.
"Hold on, where's the Lamp?" Evan interjected.
"Right here." Oscar stated as he leaned down to pick up the golden relic from the other side of the chair that he was sitting on.
"Ok, I'm going to need you to hold onto it." Evan explained.
"I see. You going to go and teach those guys a lesson?" Nora asked with a cheerful and fierce demeanor.
"No, I'm heading to Atlas." Evan simply said.
"What? But, you're still heading to…I don't understand." Nora sputtered out, the gears in her brain locking up as she tried to figure out Evan's plan.
"Listen, as it stands right now, if it were just the matter of annihilating the tree, then that would be one thing. But since the Crusher Corps aren't going to stand by and let me destroy it, I also have to take them all out too. And they aren't slouches either, Turles especially. In my normal state, I can't beat them, but as a Super Saiyan, I can definitely stop them in their tracks." Evan elaborated as he put a hand up to his chin.
"However, I don't think I have enough energy to take down Turles, his crew, and the tree all by myself. The one place on Remnant that has people actually strong enough to help me take out the tree would be in Atlas, so that's where I'll be heading. Once I tell them what's going on, I'll head straight to the tree and deal with the Crusher Corps. Hopefully by the time that I'm through with them, Elm and the others will be there to back me up." Evan continued discussing his plan.
"So why won't you bring the Lamp with you then?" Weiss inquired.
"With the speeds I'll be going at, I'm not going to risk losing the thing somewhere in the ocean as I'm blasting my way through the sky. Regardless…" Evan explained to her as he turned to face the whole group.
"I can't be everywhere at once, so I need you guys' help in evacuating the townspeople. If the tree has already been planted, its roots won't be far behind. They're massive from what I've heard, and they don't care what gets in their way. Those things will drain the oceans dry to get their water, so a coastal city like this is going to be on the chopping block." Evan stated.
"We'll do our best." Jaune replied back.
"Good. I'll head back to the military base and see if I can't get Cordovin and her troops to cooperate with the evacuation efforts." Evan said as he walked toward the front door, only for Ruby to rush up toward the teen.
"Do you really think you'll be able to stop the tree in time?" Ruby questioned the teen worriedly.
As the room went silent for a moment, Evan looked down at her and gave a quick but firm response.
"Count on it." Evan declared as he stepped out of the front door and leaped into the air.
/-/
As Evan rushed through the halls of the military base, he flattened out the spare Atlesian school uniform and straightened his pair of orange aviator goggles that he quickly put on while in the barracks. Going up to the door of Cordovin's office, Evan attempted to turn the doorknob, only for it to be locked.
"Cordovin! Let me in!" Evan yelled out as he furiously pounded on the door.
"Now this is interesting, I thought that you were planning on leaving, yet here you are back in my base." Cordovin said aloud from within her office with an irritated growl.
"This is an emergency! Lives are on the line! Now is not the time to be acting like this." Evan continued to exclaim.
"And you seem to forget that you have no power to demand anything from me. You should be beyond grateful that I've ordered my men to keep quiet about that horrid form of yours, but don't go thinking that I was doing it for your sake." Cordovin announced.
"To hell with this." Evan muttered to himself as he gripped the doorknob tightly, crushing it easily with his immense power. As the door opened without effort, Evan stepped inside to see Cordovin, her face filled with anger.
"How dare you! Damaging Atlesian property and walking into my office like you own the place! Have you lost what little reason you had left?!" Cordovin shouted.
"Can you just listen to me? That giant tree outside is dangerous! Its roots are heading here as we speak at lightning speeds. We need to start a full evacuation of Argus if everyone is to survive." Evan stated.
"What utter nonsense! Even if that were true, the city of Argus has stood for decades! Our walls will hold no matter what comes their way! Now get out of my sight or I'll have you removed by force!" Cordovin argued.
"This isn't going anywhere. I gotta do something, and quick!" Evan contemplated as he noticed in his peripheral vision a security camera hanging from the corner of the room. Looking back to face Cordovin, Evan stepped away from the desk.
"And here I thought that Caroline Cordovin was someone worthy of respect. So much for that! I've met soldiers that have more sense than you!" Evan said, causing Cordovin's mouth to fall open out of stunned silence.
"It's no wonder that they have you working this far away from Atlas. I bet it was to just finally get a break from your inane chatter." Evan added as he watched Cordovin's face go red with rage.
"Leave my office this instant!" Cordovin yelled out as she pointed toward the door.
"You are an absolute disgrace to the kingdom. You don't deserve the title you have, much less the honor to wear that uniform." Evan continued as Cordovin now looked about ready to explode on the spot.
"You'll rue the day that you even thought to say such slander against me. I'll have your name dragged through the mud when I'm through with you!" Cordovin screeched.
"Now's my chance." Evan thought to himself.
"You pathetic, insignificant…" Cordovin continued as time seemed to practically stop.
Moving at speeds faster than the camera could record, much less Cordovin could comprehend, Evan stepped behind Cordovin's desk and used his Ki to deliver a precise and focused chop to the back of Cordovin's neck. With his work done, Evan stepped back to where he was before as time continued onward.
"worthless-" Cordovin shouted out before falling unconscious on her desk.
"Cordovin?" Evan called out, trying to make everything seem realistic as he rushed forward toward the lady. With the room now silent and peaceful, Evan concentrated to not let out a sigh of relief in front of the camera.
"Cordovin! Oh, what am I gonna do?" Evan exclaimed as he stood in the office to the cameras with a look of worry on his face, but internally, determining what to do next.
Rushing out of the room, Evan looked around and spotted two soldiers turning a corner and walking toward him.
"Hey! Stop!" Evan shouted out as they stopped and faced him.
"What is it?" One of the soldiers asked.
"A bunch of roots from that giant tree are heading toward the city, I explained the situation to Cordovin, but she started freaking out and tried to come up with a plan. I don't know if it's old age, stress, or whatever but she practically fainted on the spot." Evan explained to the now shocked soldiers.
"Before she lost consciousness though, she told me to have all units focus on evacuating the city. I'll head back to Atlas and see if I can't get Ironwood to send some of his fleet over and help deal with the roots. Can you two head to the command center and help get the news out?" Evan inquired.
"Of course. We'll get started right away as the soldiers sprinted down the corridor and further into the base.
"At least that's one problem taken care of." Evan thought to himself.
/-/
As Evan flew away from the military base, which now had airships moving into the city itself as sirens and alarms from the base blared, the teen stepped down to a cliff edge next to a nearby forest. Looking back toward the city, Evan looked to the horizon, spotting the wicked tree in the far distance.
With a look of determination on his face, Evan turned away as he looked on toward the clear north horizon and secured the goggles around his eyes. Getting into an Olympic sprinter type stance, Evan took in a deep breath as he listened to the sounds of the waves crashing against the rocks of the cliff.
Steeling his resolve, Evan blasted forth into the air, destroying the entire cliff in the process as it collapsed into the sea. As wind brushed violently against his face, Evan was left with his thoughts.
"If I can threaten the Crusher Corps to leave, then I'll be able to conserve more of my energy toward destroying the Tree of Might. Most of the Crusher Corps are utter scum, so I'll give them one chance to hightail it before I decide to start fighting them. A strong enough show of force should be able to convince the cowardly ones to run. Although with Turles here, things are going to get complicated. If he's a Saiyan warrior like me, he won't back down from a fight, much less flee the planet. So if it comes to blows, I might have to kill him." Evan contemplated.
"For all I know, he could be the only other Saiyan left alive after Frieza's destruction of Vegeta. If he dies, then the Saiyan Race is essentially done for. Can I really go through with killing him? Maybe we could imprison him instead?" Evan thought to himself before shaking his head.
"And how exactly would we do that? Use the gravity machine to keep him motionless with an intense enough gravity? Turles can casually survive ten times gravity, so who knows how high the machine would need to be set to? Even if it could do that, we would have to keep it running at all times so he doesn't get a chance to escape. Then it would come down to if the planet even has enough gravity dust to keep the machine going. Not only that, but there's also the factor of whether or not the device malfunctions and stops working after so much constant use. And what if he breaks out while I'm somewhere else in Atlas or Remnant in general? He'll kill anyone and anything that gets in his way. Can't risk that." Evan decided.
"I have to at least try to get through to him. If I could change, then there has to be a chance that he could change for the better too. For all of the Saiyans who perished on that horrible day, there must be a way forward for both of us. But if things turn south, Turles stands his ground, and the tree keeps on expanding…" Evan thought as he imagined the dreaded outcome.
"I'll just have to cross that bridge if it comes to that." Evan concluded as he continued his fast-paced flight.
/-/
"There you go, just like that." A pilot kindly said as they helped the small child up and into the interior of the Atlesian airship.
The aircraft itself, aside from the pilot seats, was filled with a combination of young children, preteens, and elderly people.
In front of the vehicle was dozens more of the same types of individuals as they watched their friends, family, and neighbors get secured in their seats by the other pilot.
"Ok. That's all we can fit. Everyone please step away from the aircraft. Clear away from the courtyard until the next ship has landed and turned its systems off. Your patience and cooperation is needed if we're to complete evaluation efforts." The first pilot loudly explained to the group of people as both pilots returned to their seats.
As the crowd of people quickly backed away from the vehicle, the aircraft's engines came to life. Sending great bursts of wind in each direction as the aircraft took flight once more.
/-/
Watching another Atlesian aircraft rise from deeper in the city, Ruby and company rushed alongside a collection of soldiers as they escorted a group of adult civilians toward the front gates of the city. Driving her motorcycle carefully, Yang helped as many people that could fit onto the attached flatbed trailer.
"This way come on! There's a sanctioned safe zone close to the mountains northeast where you'll be protected!" A sergeant declared as the group bolted toward the gate, only the ground to shake wildly, throwing some of the people off balance and onto the pavement.
"Oh Gods, what is that?!" A female civilian exclaimed as she pointed toward the south side of the city.
Repeatedly rising out of and back into the dirt, gigantic green roots the size of buildings wormed their way through the rocks and soil as they rapidly approached the city.
Breaking through the walls of the city with ease, the great roots dug their way through building after building with no signs of slowing down. As the last airship took flight, the vehicle had to take a sharp right in order to avoid one of the rising roots. As gigantic clouds of dust and smoke bellowed out from the heart of the city, the ground continued to shake wildly.
Suddenly, one of the buildings behind them began to tilt as another one of the roots burst from the building as it started to topple over toward a small group of frightened civilians.
Instinctively firing their weapons, the group watched in horror as their bullets collided with the roots, but with no effect.
Running up to Weiss's side, Jaune used his semblance to amplify Weiss's as she stabbed her weapon into the ground, creating a massive 100 foot summoning circle underneath the civilians.
Emerging from the circle was a large white and blue armored knight, over 30 feet tall. Getting to its feet instantly, the large summon took up a firm stance as it pushed against the falling building, its strong limbs barely able to hold the weight of the structure.
"Ruby! Blake!" Weiss yelled out as both she and Jaune began to sweat profusely from the strenuous task.
Nodding in understanding, Ruby used her speed semblance as she rushed toward the civilian, grabbing them and carrying them to safety. As she did this, Blake and Nora sprinted in alongside her and helped save the remaining citizens.
"Let's get moving people! Follow up behind me!" Yang announced as she revved up her motorcycle.
As the saved civilians rush behind Yang as they head out of the city, Weiss removes her rapier from the street. Dispelling the summon as it faded away into white smoke, Weiss and Jaune leaped out of the way of the falling building as they panted from exhaustion.
"You…alright?" Jaune asked concerningly
"Y-Yeah." Weiss answered as they both got to their feet.
Quickly, Ruby and company ran out of the front gates of the city reuniting with the rest of the group. About a mile ahead of them were countless citizens and soldiers, most of which were now looking on at the destruction of their home in silence.
Turning to look back at the town, the group watched as the massive roots tore through the city. Reaching the ocean, the roots finally came to a stop as they slammed down on the beachside, crushing both the military barracks and the road to the military base simultaneously.
Clenching her fists in anger, Yang's purple eyes turned red as he hair filled with fire.
"We have to do something about that tree!" Yang yelled out.
"Yang, Evan's on his way. We just have to wait for him to arrive at the tree and do his thing." Jaune stated
"And what if Evan shows up too late to stop it? None of us know when this situation will be too far gone to be fixed! This is our home! I'm not going to just sit back and wait for it to be saved!" Yang exclaimed.
"And what do you suggest we do? You saw what just happened. None of our bullets even scratched the roots, so I doubt we could even damage the tree itself." Blake argued, causing Yang to angrily grumble to herself.
"Actually, there is one way." Ozpin said aloud as he stepped forward, holding the cane out toward Ruby.
"Miss Rose, please hold out your hand." Ozpin stated.
"Ozpin? What are you doing? I can't take that! I thought you were planning on using that on-" Ruby stammered out.
"Miss Xiao Long is right. Time is not on our side at the moment. If we don't act now, we might not have a place to call home tomorrow. Now please hold out your hand." Ozpin continued.
Doing as she was told, Ruby took the cane in her hands as a light orange glow emanated outward, briefly covering Ruby in its light before dissipating.
"There. I imbued you with the ability to use the cane. To unleash its power, hold your hands around both the handle and the trigger, and then point it at your target." Ozpin instructed.
"Oz, this is crazy! You're not really thinking of going through with all of this!" Qrow argued as he marched up next to Ozpin.
"It took everyone on Ruby's team to take Adam down, and the kid's saying that those freaks at the tree are stronger than him!" Qrow continued angrily.
"If the Crusher Corps are as formidable as Evan claims, then conflict with them should only become a last resort. If they are quick about it, they can sneak close to the tree and use the power of the cane before those barbarians have realized what's happened. Once the job is done, they can slip away so Evan and Ironwood's reinforcements can take care of the rest. There should be more than enough power in that cane to wipe out the moon and then some, so I imagine this should be more than enough to deal with this tree." Ozpin explained to Qrow as he turned back toward Team RWBY.
"I wish I could do more to assist you, I really do. Unfortunately, this new body of mine is still inexperienced in handling the full extent of my arcane prowess. And a smaller team will be better able to avoid the attention of Turles and his crew. However, the feats that the four of you have accomplished in your short career as huntresses is astonishing. If there was any group that complete this task, it would be you four." Ozpin stated proudly.
"The rest of us will stay with the soldiers and protect the civilians from any Grimm that show up because of the Lamp. That means it's all up to you four. But be warned: You'll only have one opportunity to use it, so make sure you have a clear shot." Ozpin said aloud as he showed the golden Lamp attached to his waist.
"Thanks." Ruby replied as Jaune's team and Ozpin went up to reunite with the soldiers and civilians, leaving Qrow as the only one left behind.
As Yang and Ruby walked up to the man, Qrow started to speak with a small smile on his face.
"When I found out that you two wanted to be huntresses, I always knew a day like this was on the horizon." Qrow said with a dejected look.
"But now that it's here, it's just…" Qrow continued before being cut off as Ruby and Yang hugged him tightly.
Going silent, Qrow embraced the two sisters before looking at them with concern clear on his face.
"Be careful out there, ok?" Qrow managed to squeak out.
"Of course." Yang replied warmly.
"We'll be back before you know it, Uncle Qrow." Ruby added cheerfully.
As the trio stepped away from each other, with Qrow turning away and heading toward Ozpin and the others, Ruby and Yang looked to Weiss and Blake.
"So, how are we going to get there?" Weiss asked the group.
Looking toward the motorcycle with a now empty trailer attachment, Yang began to smile.
"It may not be a comfortable ride, but it'll do." Yang said aloud.
/-/
Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Leave a review to let me know your thoughts. I should have the next chapter out within two weeks or so.
If you wish to support me, or even gain access to the next chapter right now then please go to
www . P a treon . com (slash) Alist0r
for more details. Even helping me out a little really goes a long way.
Until then, see ya!
