HoloRWBY-Alternate
AN: Sorry if scenes in this chapter seem all over the place or it just seems jumbled together. This chapter is mainly getting the pieces in their proper place for the rest of the arc. Hope y'all enjoy it, nonetheless!
Also, thanks to my friends who helped with this chapter, and hope you can guess the special appearance in the first scene!
Arc 1
Chapter 13: The Most Dangerous
Seiso City, Japan; 10:04 A.M.
Central Seiso City was a bustling metropolis, like most of Japan's major cities. The city proper was filled to the brim with people of every race, ethnicity, and Altered state as they went about their daily business. Amongst the crowd, a young man with short blue hair and red eyes. He wore a white suit and a black cape around his shoulders, and a large pencil was strapped behind him.
He walked through the mass of people with ease, though no one seemed to acknowledge his existence. He hummed as he stared at the city in interest. "So, this is the realm that was inspired by the one I created," he mused with a smile. "How interesting! I wonder how different this world is from mine!" His attention was diverted from his musings, causing him to turn to a department store to his right. "Oho?" he questioned as he stared at the familiar figures rummaging about.
Meanwhile, inside the store, the Holomems were currently helping their new friend Ruby Rose gather some basic necessities. "Why do I need so many changes of clothes?!" Ruby protested as she tugged at the collar of her new outfit. Said outfit consisted with a long sleeve black tunic and bell bottom jeans. Her boots were replaced with a brand-new black leather pair. Her cloak was still being washed at the Hololive HQ, so instead she found a cherry red serape to wrap around her shoulders for the time being.
"We don't know how long you'll be here on Earth, Ruby-chan!" Roboco told her cheerfully. "So, you'll need to be prepared for whatever the occasion calls for!"
"It's so easy to forget how girly Roboco-senpai can get sometimes," Okyau commented from the shoe isle.
"Yeah! It's pretty funny!" Korone laughed.
"Now we just need formal dresses and shoes!" Roboco told her.
"I don't need formal dresses!" Ruby protested.
"Relax! I've got the perfect ones in mind for you!" Roboco reassured her.
AZKi snorted and rolled her eyes to Sora and Miko. "Wait till Roboco-chan gets to the heels…" she mumbled to her genmates, making them giggle. However, Ruby heard her.
"You are NOT putting me in heels!" Ruby shouted at her, making everyone else laugh.
With the guys
"Thanks again for this, guys," Jaune commented as he exited the changing room with a new pair of jeans and a dark long sleeve shirt.
"No sweat, buddy!" Altare told him. "It's the least we can do!"
"Besides, this gives us something to do for a while that's not immediately life threatening!" Miyabi said as he walked up from one of the other isles. "We've had too many of those situations as of late!" Everyone started mumbling at that.
"Mhm!"
"Oh, yeah."
"Hear, hear."
"Don't I know it," Jaune sighed in agreement. "I don't think Ruby and I ever really stopped getting into them after the Fall of Beacon…"
"Well, here's a chance for you two to take a break from them!" Temma commented from his spot next to Astel. Miyabi nodded and handed a bundle to Jaune.
"Here's your hoodie, Jaune-kun!" the first Holostar said. "I had my associates here mend it for you! Good as new!"
"Hey! Thanks!" Jaune smiled as he took the offered article of clothing and unfolded it. He examined it. Astel and Temma noticed it and chuckled.
"You'll make Pekora-senpai very amused with a hoodie like that!" Astel commented.
"Pekora? The girls mentioned her before," Jaune mused, perking up at the name. "Who is she, anyway?"
"She's another Talent with Hololive," Vesper informed him. "She's the de-facto leader of the third generation dubbed 'HoloFantasy.' She's a demihuman species known as a Moon Rabbit, hailing from the moon, obviously." Jaune turned to him in shock.
"S-Seriously…?" Jaune swallowed thickly. "Is it weird that I think it's weird an entire species of people live there?" he asked.
"Not at all, considering you're from another world," Astel commented. "Just don't let Pekora-senpai hear you say that."
"Got it. Also, I heard one of you call her a Diva of Hololive. What's that mean? I mean, besides the obvious that she's likely a great singer?"
"We can discuss that later," Miyabi promised. "Right now, let's get you and Ruby-chan squared away with your household items, then we can explain everything else."
"Sure thing." Before he could say anything else, he heard screaming from the other side of the store.
"I SAID NO TO THE LADY STILTS, ROBOCO!" roared a furious sounding Ruby.
"BUT YOU'LL LOOK SO CUTE IN THEM!" came the reply of a chipper Roboco, making Jaune laugh out loud.
"Oh, no!" the blonde knight giggled. "Sounds like a battle's about to start over there!" He turned to his new friends and grinned. "Do you guys want to go watch the fireworks?"
Naturally, they agreed, if only because it sounded like they'd be thoroughly entertained.
HoloEN HQ, outskirts of New York
"Well, the building's still up…"
"That's certainly a good sign!"
Tired, dull red eyes turned to stare at her companions from over her glasses. She wore a long-sleeve white blouse with black shorts and leggings. She held a katana at her side while her other hand ran through her red and black hair.
Her companions were just as exotic in looks as her. The first was just taller than her with long blonde hair with purple streaks in it and an angelic face. She wore a purple pantsuit and a halo faintly floated over her head. The second one was the tallest of them, with long brown hair tied up in a high ponytail and dark sunglasses on her face. Her outfit consisted of a white blouse and dark jeans and a spiked collared cape.
These three women were the managers of HoloMyth: Enma, Jenma, and J-Chad.
"Let's just hope the inside is as pristine…" Enma muttered, making Jenma roll her eyes.
"Have some faith in them, En!" the angel told her.
"I have faith in them. Just not in their ability to keep their home clean," Enma shot back, making J-Chad laugh.
"That's our Enma!" J-Chad said grinning. "Always so practical!"
"And pessimistic," Jenma said in mock exasperation.
"It's called being a realist. Try it out some time," Enma countered. As they reached the front of the house, Enma moved to open the door when it was suddenly slammed open, nearly hitting the swordswoman. Several short, punk dressed skeletons rushed out of the entryway as a tiny purple octopus with a halo chased them.
"Move! Move! Move! Mission is on!" the Takodachi exclaimed as the group rushed towards the road. The three managers blinked in confusion before turning to look inside. Sleep-deprived Deadbeats, flustered KFP employees, annoyed Chumbuds, energetic Takodachis, and stressed out Teamates, the faithful followers of their charges, rushed around the clearly expanded area as the Talents themselves worked on…Something.
Ina floated atop the dining room table, several portals and books floating around her as she examined whichever caught her interest. Gura sat on the couch, frowning deeply as her eyes switched between several TV screens and magically created ones, each broadcasting a different news station. Kiara was in the kitchen, trying to direct the chaos as she and several of Myth's followers sorted through several boxes of files.
"Yes, I know you're on a mission right now, but I wouldn't have called if it wasn't important!" Amelia snapped into her phone as she marched through the house. She tried to say something else but paused to listen to a response from whoever she was calling. "Yes. Yes, I'm sure it's crazy there right now, but listen, I had a Vision-"
Amelia didn't stop talking or walking as a dark portal opened in front of her. She simply walked behind it as Calliope walked out of the darkness and grumbled, "Ok, got the files, but Death-sensei didn't make it easy for me…"
"Over here, Calli!" Kiara called out. The reaper turned and walked to the kitchen, casually dodging Ame as she did so when the detective returned.
"No, I'm not sure. That's why I'm calling you!" Ame growled as she turned and marched down the hallway again.
"…" Enma stared at the scene in dull bemusement.
"AH! Enma-chan!" Ina shouted as she jolted from her position. She turned to the door and smiled. "I thought I heard you glaring at me! Welcome back, ladies!"
"Do I even want to know, Ina?" Enma asked her charge.
"Ame had a Vision. A big one," she supplied helpfully and turned back to her task. "A bad one…"
"Worse than Council?" Jenma asked incredulously.
"Eh…maybe," Gura commented, not looking away from the screens. "She got a scar from it…"
"She what?!"
"Jenma! J-Chad! Enma!" Kiara shouted as she rushed over and gave them a large smile. "Welcome back! Sorry about the mess! We had a situation come up!"
"Yeah, Ina told us," J-Chad replied. "What's this Vision Amelia had that has you five going so crazy?"
"Some eldritch deity, we think," Ina told them. "Ame's Vision was rather jumbled, but we do have a few details we're investigating."
"Like what?" Jenma asked.
"That," Gura commented, pointing to the screens. The managers turned and noticed each station was a news outlet covering the incident at the Cell.
"Someone actually broke out of the Cell's High security wing?! Impossible!" J-Chad scoffed.
"Five, actually. But they feature in Ame's Vision, so we think they had help escaping," Ina informed. "Or at the very least, weren't in the High-security wing."
"Five individuals escaped the Cell? Forgive me if I'm skeptical, even if they had help," Enma commented.
"We're skeptical, too," Calli told them as she walked up. "Watson's on call with one of her contacts, trying to get some information about the five, or at least, how they escaped so easily."
"Wouldn't that be in a report?" J-Chad asked.
"No. Anderson's trying to keep this all hush, hush," Calli answered with a scowl, and J-Chad did the same.
"I hate that guy," she muttered.
"How did he even get to be head of the Cell?" Jenma questioned. "I don't think he had a stellar record in such fields."
"Ame's been trying to find that out since he got the job," Gura said helpfully. "Seems to think it's some big conspiracy or something…"
"There is NO WAY a pencil pusher from suburban America can get such a job without some under the table dealings!" Ame suddenly shouted. Gura just gave the managers a satisfied smile.
"See?"
"Yeah, yeah! Thanks!" Ame groaned as she walked back into the living room and hung up the phone. "Just talked to someone on the inside of the Cell, and they confirmed what we suspected."
"You mean they weren't in the High Security wing?" Calli guessed.
"In a manner of speaking," Ame answered. "The five escapees were from C Block."
"Oh, Death-sensei," Calli groaned, and J-Chad wasn't far behind her.
"What's so special about C Block?" Gura asked.
"C Block is sort of a middle ground between the Medium and High max security zones of the Cell," J-Chad explained. "Any object or person in C Block is labeled dangerous on the principle they cause mass harm to the world or the people, but are not hostile."
"Like some of those fictional SCPs Ame rants about?" Ina asked.
"They're not fictional; they're real!" Ame protested.
"You know I've met Cthulhu, Ame. He's chill, but he's not as kind as the one in those forums."
"But you admit he's a gamer!"
"Ame's conspiracy theories aside," J-Chad interjected and earning a cry of indignation from the detective, "that's not a far-off comparison, Ina. The SCP Foundation and C Block of the Cell fill a similar purpose: the containment of people or objects that are harmful to the world at large."
"But more to the point," Enma continued, "is that C Block isn't under jurisdiction of the Cell."
"Then who is?" Kiara asked.
"The Court of Ancients," Ame told her, causing a chill to run down everyone's spine. "For millennia now, the Court has supplied security for that specific section of the Cell. No one knows why, and the Court ain't sharing."
"If that's the case, how did these individuals still escape? The Court would never send incompetent guards to the Cell," Jenma questioned.
"It's likely because the C Block guards got lazy," Ame predicted. "C Block has been leaderless for years, and there hasn't been a major breakout attempt on Cell grounds for nearly one hundred and seventy years."
"The old fogies left them leaderless for years?" Gura asked.
"Well, there was talk about tasking some new hot shot team to the post, but they were apparently disqualified for some reason," Ame explained. "But I don't know the details."
"Getting back on topic," Enma spoke again, "what did your contact say about the escapees? Do we have names? Powers? Anything?"
"Nothing beyond that those five specifically are the most dangerous individuals to society as a whole," Ame told them. "Whether they are poor fools in the wrong place at the wrong time, to the worst scum of the multiverse is on the table."
"That narrows things down," J-Chad said sarcastically. "What's next?"
"Calli, Kiara, Ina, and Gura can continue with the investigation on the Cell breakout," Ame instructed. "No use in letting this effort go to waste. However, we have more pressing matters, too." She pulled her blouse aside to show where the eyes were on her collarbone, making Jenma gasp as Enma and J-Chad narrowed their eyes at it. "We need to investigate which Eldritch being these eyes belong to, and we need to find the other person that featured heavily in my Vision."
"Who was that?" Jenma asked, opening her phone.
"A girl in a red cloak…"
Meanwhile, with said girl in a red cloak…
After an eventful day of shopping, Ruby, Jaune, and the Holomems all decided to have an early dinner and quickly found a restaurant that could fit them all, while A-chan excused herself to continue her research into the dimensional rifts as Astel, Temma, and Fubuki's gen-mates left to complete missions. "So, what now?" Jaune decided to ask once they were all seated.
"Now, we let you two rest for a few days," Miyabi said after sharing a glance with Sora. "You two have been running ragged for several days now, from what I'm told. So, you will be getting some well-deserved R&R."
"Then once you both are well rested, we'll start on saving your home," Sora finished.
"Shouldn't we get started right away, though?" Ruby asked in concern. "Salem might-"
"It's best we can do for now," Sora explained to her. "Right now, we don't know if we can even use the dimensional rift that brought you here to return there. A-chan's working on that right now, but it's going to be a slow process."
"Besides, rifts don't last that long, anyways," Fubuki commented. "And they're the most unstable when the Reality Web is repairing itself. Going through it now, even if we could, would be a bad idea." Ruby grimaced at this, feeling very disheartened by the revelation.
However, AZKi noticed this. "Don't worry, Ruby-chan. It'll turn out alright, I'm sure," she said comfortingly. "From what I was told, you addressed Remnant and explained the situation, did you not?"
"W-Well, yes, but-"
"Then have faith that your words resonated with them," AZKi told her. "The fact you stepped up will go a long way in helping everyone, even if only few act upon them."
"But how?!" the silver eyed girl's face was sorrowful. "Look, I get what you're saying, really I do! But it…it's just…!" Ruby fell quiet, unsure of what to say next.
When she felt hands on her shoulders, she looked up to see Jaune and Korone staring at her. Jaune smiled. "It's ok, Ruby, I'm having trouble with that, too," he admitted. "But we've had the world against us before, right? We made it through then; we can do it again. I know it!"
She stared at him for a moment before she sighed and gave him a small smile. "…Yeah…" A waiter arrived to take their orders at this point, which took a bit of time. As the waiter left, Jaune decided to change the topic.
"Hey, you guys said you'd explain the Diva thing when we got our stuff squared away?" he asked, making Ruby turn to him with a raised eyebrow.
"I did say that," Miyabi admitted with a smile. Turning to his Holomem counterpart, he asked, "Would you like to do the honors?" Sora smiled and nodded.
"Sure!" She turned to the Remnant refugees and explained, "The Divas are the seven strongest Idols in Hololive. One of the highest honors and positions we as Idols can hold without becoming full staff members."
"We also handle the most critical and most dangerous missions that come across Yagoo's desk," Fubuki continued. "Missions that most Altered would find impossible to complete."
"Wow. That sounds awesome!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Wait. You said 'we.' Are you a Diva too, Fubuki?!" Ruby asked, her eyes widening. Jaune's eyes did the same as Fubuki laughed.
"Good catch! Yeah! I am. I hold the Fifth Seat, right after Matsuri-chan. She holds the Fourth Seat," the fox girl explained.
"My gen-mate Suisei currently holds the Third Seat," Sora explained. "While the Second Seat is being held by another of Fubuki-chan's gen-mates, Akai Haato, who's in Malaysia on a mission."
"Where does Pekora stand in this?" Jaune asked, curious.
"She holds the Sixth Seat," Miyabi told him. "But don't let that fool you. She's able to hold her own against almost everyone above her."
"And let me guess," Ruby asked as she turned to Sora. "You seat high on the First Seat, right?" The Idol giggled.
"Guilty as charged!" she admitted.
"Wow. And I thought you were all impressive before!" Jaune exclaimed. "What about the Seventh Seat?"
However, as soon as he asked, the mood became somber. Ruby and Jaune were shocked by their new friends' faces twisting into melancholic frowns while Sora's smile seemed to fade a bit.
"A good friend," the First Hololive answered and said nothing else.
Meanwhile, further in the countryside of Japan
Deep within a massive cave, an underground vault holding a massive Void Gate was receiving some new visitors. Cries of young women resounded through the empty space as five individuals were thrown out of the Gate and onto the harsh concrete ground. As the last one left the swirling darkness of the portal, the Gate shut off.
"Well, that didn't go as well as I planned," a young woman with two-toned hair and amber-gold eyes muttered as she stood up and brushed the dust off her gothic dress and jacket.
"I'm just glad we got through the Gate before it shut," the second young woman, a tall, dark haired beauty with horns commented standing to reveal her true height over the others. "Traveling through them is disorienting enough without having to find another after one shuts on us!"
"I thought it was kinda fun."
"Right?"
This came from two young women, twins in appearance. One wore a white dress and a blue and black jacket; the other wore shorts and a white top with a black and pink jacket. The only other differences to them were the blue one had long blonde hair with blue highlights with pink eyes, and the other had short blonde hair with pink highlights with blue eyes. They also had dog ears on top of their heads and tails wagging behind them.
"Yeah! Can we do that again?!" asked the shortest of the group. She had bright purple eyes, long light-purple hair, and a crown of gems around her head. She wore a white dress, and her feet were…crystals?
"Let's not, Koseki." The tall one shuddered. "Once was enough!"
"Boo!"
"Ladies, please! No need for that!" the goth girl said, her eyes bright in the darkness. "Freedom is close at hand!" She pointed to an elevator, causing the other girls to look towards it. The goth smiled eerily.
"With this…our Advent begins…" she announced as she walked towards the exit, the others right behind her.
None questioned the lack of guards. If they did, maybe they would have known something was wrong in the vault, as bright, red gold eyes observed the five, unnoticed.
AN: For those who didn't catch it, the special cameo at the beginning the VTuber model of Kugeki, who made the HoloChronicles videos on YouTube, which helped inspired a lot in my story.