The Orphanage


"What was that creature?" Ruby questioned.

"That was a Zoni. While we won't be getting to know more about them until much later, what I can tell you is that they are the keepers of time. That particular Zoni was fixing a time rift located on Remnant."

"A time rift…" Blake responded slowly, "So Summer was sent through time?"

"That is correct, several years into the past, to be precise, though, have no fear, it wasn't enough that it would be drastic. Your mother isn't going to have aged white hair."

That comforted the sisters. Despite the joy they have that their mother will be coming home soon, they were afraid that she might have been 100 years old or something.

"Hold on," Weiss butted in, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the Grimm have a Queen! How are none of you girls fazed by that? Why aren't you, Professor?"

"Doctor, Miss Schnee," Oobleck retorted, "And it's simple. Mr. Clank here only knows part of the information, while Headmaster Ozpin knows the rest. I'm simply reserving my questions for when I confront him on it."

Blake nodded in agreement, while Ruby only tilted her head.

"Weiss, I'm more concerned about the fact my mom's going to come home soon. Even if she doesn't know it yet."

Yang smiled, shoulder bumping her sister. Weiss merely rolled her eyes. The absolute insanity.

"I do share your concern, Miss Schnee," Clank offered, "But there's little we can do about Salem at this moment, so there's no point in being frustrated over it."

"Fine. What happened next?"

"Well, Summer had been on the planet Veldin for three weeks, surviving as best she can. It was at that point Summer made a choice that, unknown to her, would result in, and I'm not exaggerating here, the survival of the universe."


Summer wiped the sweat from her brow as she overlooked the plateau. Nearly a month on an alien world, with no way to get back home, was slowly driving her up the wall. She hadn't made contact with the locals, which, coincidently, spoke the same language as the people on Remnant.


"That is statistically impossible!" Oobleck cried out, "How could two civilizations, across entirely different worlds, possibly have the same language?"

"Under normal circumstances, you'd be correct. However, nearly all galactic civilizations across the universe speak what we call Interstellar Basic. It's so widespread that primitive worlds would end up discovering the language and, over time, adapt to Interstellar Basic."

Oobleck sat down, slightly grumbling, but accepting the answer.


Unfortunately, the written language was beyond impossible to learn. Summer's face was red with exhaustion. She had barely gotten any sleep. Due to her hesitation on confronting any alien settlements, she's been living in the wild and, while normally fine for her, living off the land doesn't really work when you have no idea which flora or fauna is safe. As a result, she's been forced to rely only on the supplies she had on her, plus her own aura to sustain herself.

Needless to say, she's at the end of her rope. And it's driving her insane.

Which is why she came to this plateau. Over the past few weeks, one of the things she learned is that large packs of those jumping frogs pass through this area at night. Fighting while low on energy was a dumb idea, but, honestly…

Summer stood up at the sound of hopping. Turning around, she saw dozens of hopping frogs passing by. The moment one of them saw her, it croaked, alerting the rest, which then began hopping towards her.

…She needed to let off a little steam.

For hours, she slaughtered horde after horde of frogs, Sundered Rose gleaming in blue blood. All the while, Summer's snarl…slowly began to turn. As the next horde approached, Summer turned to them, blue blood leaking off her cloak, and she was smiling, teeth wide open.

And she continued the massacre.


Ruby and Yang looked…almost horrified. Weiss and Blake were stunned, while Oobleck had a hand on his face in embarrassment.

"I take it you've never seen your mother act like that?" Clank questioned softly.

"No!" Yang yells, "Are you sure we're talking about Summer Rose."

"He is."

The sisters turned to Oobleck.

"Doctor Oobleck?"

"Miss Rose, your mother…this isn't something I should be saying. Qrow or Taiyang would've been better for this talk. But your mother…loved to fight. When she started a fight, it was usually very difficult to get her to stop. She mellowed out mostly when raising you two, but Taiyang did mention that, sometimes, there were moments where the old Summer would come up. I remember a bar fight she started. Once all the patrons were unconscious, Port tried to calm her down, only to toss him over the bar. The moment she did it, she realized what happened, and calmed down instantly. But, as I said, it's hard for her to stop once she starts fighting."

"So," Blake muttered, "Like a bloodlust?"

"Close, but no. Bloodlust implies a desire to see blood shed, in massive quantities. Summer only enjoyed fighting."

Ruby was…she didn't know how to feel. The image of a picture perfect mother has been all but shattered in her mind.

Yang then said, "I remember, sometimes mom would tell dad that she was 'going for a walk'. She'd come back sweating, but smiling. When I'd ask her why she's so tired, she'd say it was a 'very enthusiastic walk'."

"That," Oobleck replied, "Was likely Summer going up against the entire Grimm population on Patch."

With nothing more to say, but certainly more to contemplate, Clank continued.


As Summer kicked the last frog off her axe, she panted, her boots making a small splash due to the amount of blood on the ground. Her instincts kicked in, as she spun around, seeing…a robot, nervously approaching. Before she could get a better look at it, she felt her knees buckle, and she fell to the ground, her vision going dark.


The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that it was bright. Her eyes fluttered from the brightness as she moved a hand to shield her face. Sitting up, she groaned-

"I wouldn't move too much, darling." A metallic, feminine voice softly said, "You've had a long fight against the traveling Horny Toads."


Ruby and Yang bursted into laughter.

"Seriously?!" Yang screeched through the laughter, "That's their name? 'Horny Toads'?!"


Summer turned her head slowly, and saw a teal and light gray robot tending to supplies. Summer's hand briefly cackled white, when she realized, not only was Sundered not on her, but it was nowhere in sight. She sighed. She was worried about not having her weapon, and she didn't know how much Aura she had left (her Scroll was out of power), so, for all she knows, she was defenseless. Might as well play nice.

"Where am I?"

"An orphanage near Kyzil Plateau. I had heard that a mysterious person was living near Krukback. I've seen you a few times, but never got close. I came up to warn you to stay away from there, as the Toads like to migrate through there at this time of the year. Then I heard the fighting…and the laughing."

Summer wilted, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, that's on me. I…really enjoy fighting."

"I could tell."

"If you knew that, then why did you help me? You could've just left me there. I'll be honest, if the roles were reversed, I might've."

"Because I can tell when someone is lost," she turned around, revealing her bright teal eyes, "As I said, I saw you a few times before, and you looked like a lost little Cyzatar. OH! Where are my manners, I'm Nana."

Summer raised an eyebrow. A robot called Nana…in an orphanage…

"Summer. Rose."

"Well, it's good to see you, Miss Rose."

"I'm happily married, thank you."

"Well then, Mrs. Rose. May I ask you a question?"

"Depends."

"You're not from around here, are you? And I don't just mean you aren't from this planet."

"What makes you say that?"

"You look at me with confusion, and a slight tinge of worry."

One one hand, Summer wanted to make a comment on her eyes having emotion scanners or something, but decided against that in favor of sighing.

"Yes. My world doesn't even know about life on other planets."

Nana put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, dear, that bad? Most worlds that haven't developed space travel at least know of other planets."

Summer gave a sad snort, "Well, guess Remnant's in the backwater amongst backwaters."

"And you have no way home, do you?"

Summer shook her head. Nana approached her, placing a hand on Summer's hands.

"You poor girl. Do you have any idea what to do?"

Again, she shook her head. At that moment, the orphanage shook. Not violently, but noticeable.

"What was that?" Summer cried out. Nana looked nervous.

"Oh, dear, what has he done this time?"

"Who?"

Nana began walking away, heading out of the room, followed closely by Summer. They went down a metal hallway, down the stairs, and saw a smokey crater near what Summer assumed was a closet. And, at the center of the blast-

"My axe!" Summer screeched as she ran to the crater, kneeling down. Sundered Rose's handle was scorched, and the blade was warped. Not to mention the dust cartridges were completely destroyed. Nana observed a smoke trail from the blast lead to the opposite end of the room, where it looked like it stopped at the wall, and into a cluster of items in a pile.

"Ratchet!" Nana yelled out. A scuffle could be heard, and Summer turned to see the pile of stuff shift. A furry head popped out of the pile. His face was black from soot, but she could see his normal fur was yellowish, with his ears having orange claw markings on them. An arm bursted out, holding a wrench in his hand, as he tried to get out.

"Sorry, Nana."

"What did you do?" Nana scolded. Ratchet climbed out of the pile, the entire front side of his body covered in soot. Summer noticed that he was- "...about the height of Ruby." She muttered.

"The stranger's weapon wasn't working, so I tried to fix it."

"And why did you think it was a good idea?"

Ratchet looked sheepish, "Well, I thought that it would be helpful."

Nana groaned. "Ratchet, you shouldn't mess with other people's equipment, especially weapons. If it wasn't for the nanotech you got today, you would've gotten seriously hurt."

"Yeah, but it was worth it!"

"And why was destroying our guest's weapon 'worth it'."

Ratchet wilted, "Well, when you say it like that, it does sound stupid. But, I learned that it wasn't her weapon that was broken, but the bullets. For whatever reason, they were completely inert."

'I could've told you that!' Summer wanted so badly to scream that at him, but Nana held a hand to her.

"And the explosion?"

"...I made it not inert."

"Ratchet, even if you discovered what was wrong with her weapon, you still damaged something very close to her. No, say you're sorry."

Ratchet slowly approached, rubbing his shoulder.

"I…I'm sorry."

"Now, I want you to go upstairs, and get the bathwater ready. You're absolutely filthy."

"Yes, Nana."

As Ratchet began heading upstairs, Summer looked at the remains of Sundered. This wasn't a simple bolt out of place. The entire thing was wrecked. She wasn't a mechanic, so she'd need one to fix it. Problem was, she had no money, no way of learning the written language here, or anything like that. Nana placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry about him. He means well, but tends to…experiment without permission."

She honestly wanted to retort to that, but noticed something. The quietness of it all.

"If this place is an orphanage, then…where are the other kids?"

"...Ratchet's the only one here. The rest have…moved on. A few years ago, Veldin became the center of a 'colonial trade dispute', which, in terms of a galactic scale…well…"

"It became a warzone."

"Not untrue, but it certainly left orphans from it. As a result, I made this place to help them. Over the years, they slowly got adopted, well, all except Ratchet."

On one hand, she's happy that children could find new families. On the other, it left this seemingly nice robot all on her own.

"Why hasn't Ratchet?"

"Because no one knows what he is. And I've tried looking on the Holonet. The closest he could be is a Cazar, but even they have differences, such as fur texture. This…resulted in him being mocked by some of the other kids. I know it sounds cruel, but parents are much more hesitant to adopt someone if they don't know its species. Think of how many potential dangers they could be in."

"If no one knows what he is, how did he come here?"

"I found him in a cradle when he was an infant. There was only a note, that said 'keep him safe'. I fear whoever his parents were...they aren't around anymore."

Summer felt a ping of pity for the boy. Not a perfect comparison, but it'd likely be how the first Faunus felt when they were amongst humans, though to a much more extreme version. Summer turned back to Sundered's remains.

"Why don't you raise him?"

"I'd love to, but my programming is only meant for being a nanny carebot, not a parental carebot. And I'm not capable of having adaptive programming installed onto me. So, unfortunately, I'm unable to raise him…actually…how about a deal?"

"A deal?"

"You have children of your own, right?"

"How do you know that?"

"You mentioned someone called 'Ruby', and that Ratchet would be her height?"

Summer's eyes briefly widened. She didn't even realize she said it out loud. She sighed, "Yes. But I'm in no position to raise a child. I have no money, no place to live, I don't even-"

"Then here's what we'll do. I'll not only provide the first two, but I'll help teach you how to write in basic. It won't get you back home, but it's a start, and will help you focus on more productive activities."

Nana held out a hand. Summer didn't know how to respond. She had her own mission, get back home, get back to her girls. And, yet, her motherly instincts seemed to be screaming at her to help the boy.

The final nail was the idea of Yang and Ruby having a little brother…or older, since she didn't actually know his age.

Eventually, she took Nana's hand.

"Deal."

Nana clapped her hands in joy. "Wonderful. Oh, Ratchet's going to be soo happy to hear this."

Summer smirked, "Not sure about that. He might be wondering, if he destroyed my weapon, why I'd be adopting him?"

"Don't be silly. No, you wait here while I go clean him up."

As Nana went upstairs, Summer found a nearby chair, and sat down, looking at Sundered. She grabbed a nearby cloth off a counter, and began wiping the soot off it. The damage was…intense. The firing chamber was completely destroyed, the wooden parts of her weapon were scorched and cracked, and the axe itself was bent. She could imagine, in time, the blade itself could be repaired, and even the firing chamber replaced, but with the wood damaged, and no suitable trees (she wasn't going to test how strong Veldin tree are, as few as they come), she'd essentially have to rebuild it from the ground up.

After some time, she heard footsteps above her, which then came down the stairs. Ratchet came running up to her, wide eyed.

"You're really going to adopt me?"

Summer's eyes briefly looked at Nana, still on the stairs, as she smiled and gave two…thumbs(?) up, considering she only had three fingers per hand. Her eyes went back down to Ratchet.

"Yes, I am."

"Even though I broke your weapon?"

Summer flinched. "That…will be hard to replace-"

"I'll work twice as hard to fix it!"

Summer's eyes widened in horror, "No, no! I don't want you to think I'm adopting to make you work, or anything. Besides, I know that kids like you usually have the best intentions."

"You do?"

"Yep, Yang once blew up the side of my house, all because she wanted to bake my cookies."

"Yang?"

"One of my daughters-"

"Wait, I'm going to have sisters!?"

"Yes…once I find out where they are?"

Ratchet's eyes drooped. "Oh, they aren't with you?"

"More like I'm not with them? I'm a little lost."

"Well, maybe I can help you find them."

Summer chuckled, "Like I said, the best intentions."

Ratchet was practically bouncing, as Nana had both hands on her mouth and, if she wasn't a robot, would be crying.

"Now, Ratchet," she softly said, "We should help Summer with the paperwork, right?"

"Oh, right!"

Summer smiled as she stood up. Then a thought occurred to her, "Ratchet. You said you made my ammo work. How'd you do that?"

Ratchet perked up, "Oh, it was tricky. For some reason, your bullets were being heavily suppressed, and I first had to find out how they worked before I could figure out how to bypass the…"

The words seemed to drown out as Summer and Nana continued on with the papers. It was…an unusual experience so far but, maybe, this could work out.


"I got a brother?" Ruby excitedly questioned. She turned to Yang, gripping her shoulders and shaking, "Yang, we've got a brother!"

"Yes, Ruby, we heard!" Yang jokingly replied.

As the two siblings talked all about the 'brotherly shenanigans' they'd mess with Ratchet, with Weiss and Blake simply smiling at their antics, Oobleck scooted closer.

"So," Oobleck exclaimed, "I assume things went well."

"For a time," Clank replied, "Summer did have difficulties learning our writing, but she learned. She even unlocked Ratchet's Aura."

That was a bad time to be drinking his coffee, as he ended up spitting it directly at Clank. Clank had barely a microsecond to duck, though the top of his antenna did get coffee on it. He looked at Oobleck with unamused eyes. The commotion also drew RWBY's attention.

"Sorry." Oobleck, to which Clank wiped off any coffee from his head.

"No, that's my fault. I should've expected that reaction."

"I'm sorry," Blake, "I was busy watching the siblings be siblings-"

"Hey!" Said siblings complained.

"-But, did you say that Ratchet, and alien creature, had Aura?"

"Why, yes, Miss Belladonna. Any creature capable of level four sentience is capable of Aura. Even robots."

"Incredible." Oobleck muttered, no one noticing the smug grin on Ruby's face.

"What happened next?" Yang questioned, wanting to know badly.

"Unfortunately, not much happened for many years. Nana was able to get them a place to stay, a garage on the Kyzil Plateau, but it was mostly calm for them. There was one incident where a traveling businessman saw Summer's rebuilt weapon in action, and wanted to see if she'd be willing to make an investment," Clank groaned, "If only we knew how helpful that would be, along with the headaches."

"So," Weiss commented, "Was it a good investment, or a bad one."

"Both."

"OH!" Ruby cried out, "I wonder what weapons Ratchet has. Maybe, since we saw him with a wrench, Mom made adjustments to let it transform into a gun!"

"What?"

Yang chuckled, "Ruby's a bit of a weapons nut. Loves weapons, almost more than she likes friends."

"Yang!"

"Ruby, the first moment we got to Beacon, you said, and I quote, it's like meeting new people, but better."

As Ruby and Yang bickered, Clank's eyes widened in horror.

'By my father, there's TWO of them now.' Clank shook his head, "Perhaps we should continue with the story."

"Oh, hehe. Sorry."

"Now, it started on the planet Quartu…"


Author's Notes: Yeah, when Ruby and Ratchet meet properly...Remnant's screwed. I also gave as close to an in-universe reason why everyone speaks the same language, with a few exceptions, such as the tyhrranoids.

As for Summer's battle frenzy...let's be honest, ALL of team STRQ is crazy. Qrow's a former bandit with bad luck, Raven's a bandit chief, Taiyang married the bandit chief, and still has hope for her. And Summer thought that taking only Raven to go up against the Grimm Queen was a good idea (to be fair, we don't know the specifics, but it's safe to say Raven and Summer were the strongest in whatever plan they had).

It also should now occur to you how BUSTED Ratchet could potentially get. Remember, Nanotech, functionally, works the same way as Aura. And now Ratchet is going to have both Nanotech and Aura. And a Semblance to boot! And a changeable weapon (because, if anyone from Remnant raises Ratchet, he's going to have a changeable weapon.)

Anyways, we've reached the end of the prologue, and we'll be getting into Ratchet and Clank proper. For those who might've wanted to see Summer's years on Veldin raising Ratchet...Let me be blunt, I would likely have botched writing that portion.

As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.