Number 9's core had been shattered; this was not the plan. He had it, right in his hands, the power of captain Ashiro and the core of Number 8, but somehow, they killed him, even after all his plans had gone off without a hitch, after he had learned every single technique and weapon they used, he didn't understand. He could hear them celebrating as he died, one of them was crying, why? He still wanted to know more, even as he faded, he still wondered why they celebrated, what caused this celebration, how long they celebrated, wasn't celebration supposed to be positive, why would a human cry when happy? Humans were such interesting creatures, he wished he could learn more, but he couldn't, he was dead, they would make a weapon out of him, and he would be locked to a human forever, trapped, unable to learn. 'Is this what sadness feels like? Interesting.' He thought as he finally faded to black.

He opened his eyes… wait a minute, how? He's dead, or rather, he's supposed to be. He covered his eyes to block out the sun and began making observations. Firstly, he was no longer in Japan, the climate was far too temperate and the forest that surrounded him was unlike any he had seen. Secondly, he had lost number 2's power, he could tell because he was back down to only two eyes, his muscle mass had been reduced back to his old slim build, and he had lost his tail.

"How… confusing…" he mumbled to himself, his voice had returned to its original higher, more nasally tone. Then he heard the scream, his head turned, readying his transformation in case the scream was that of a human who saw him. That's when he realized two more things, the scream came from nowhere in sight, and he hadn't just lost Isao Shinomiya, but every other human he had ever absorbed. "Ah," he said to himself, "that is concerning." The scream rang out again, this time much closer and accompanied by laughter. There were two humans near him, he needed to hide. But before he could move deeper into the forest an idea crossed his mind, he was out of transformations, which meant he needed new ones, there were supposedly two humans near him. Which meant if he killed one of them, there would be no other human around to witness him. The scream rang out again much closer, the laughter soon followed, he needed to act quick. He pressed himself against a nearby tree, using his natural beige coloration to blend in, then he waited.

Summer Rose was barely holding on; she had been ambushed, her legs were slashed when she was off guard. Her attacker had somehow managed to pierce her aura, causing her to need to use her weapon as a crutch. Even though she escaped with her semblance her attacker still followed, laughing all the way as he continuously dashed in and slashed at her. She had managed to swing at him with her axe, but her last attempted counterattack had thrown her off balance, causing her to fall.

"Well, this has been fun," her assailant said, creeping up behind her, "but I think I should start to finish up." He said with a mad chuckle.

She looked back to see who her soon-to-be murderer was and saw a man of middling height with slicked back black hair, he was wielding two pairs arm blades with gun barrels between each pair. A scorpion tail arched over his back holding steady above his head which held an insane smile. Summer was tired, she knew she was too spent to use her semblance and she was in no position to swing her weapon, so she closed her eyes and waited…

Then a new sound rang out, it sounded like a cross between a knuckle cracking and a gunshot, she then heard an impact behind her and an "OOF!" rang out as she opened her eyes and saw the faunus go flying. As she looked in shock something dropped from the branch up above and was now looking down at her. As she turned her head to thank her savior, her fear was renewed as she gazed upon the being standing over her.

It was tall, lanky, and vaguely human shaped, it was a sickly beige color, and its head was shaped kind of like a mushroom. As it looked down on her with two small beady eyes it did something that made her terror grow… it spoke.

"Ah, good," it spoke in a nasally, monotonous tone, "you're close to dying, I got here just in time."

Summer couldn't get a word out before two large, wing-like growths sprung from the being's back and wrapped around her like jaws.

"No need to resist, no one has ever escaped." The being said as she was engulfed in its massive jaws.

She opened her eyes, and she saw her house, she was nearing the front yard where she saw her husband and two daughters waiting for her. She took a step forward and they all noticed her. Ruby and Yang squealed in joy as they cheered her return, her husband Ty simply waved with a smile. She was okay, she was safe, it all must have been a dream, she was so relieved. She ran towards her family relieved to be home, but just as she reached them, just as she was about to embrace her husband. The being was in his place, baring its teeth like a sadistic grin.

"I knew it would be easy." It spoke, before reality collapsed, the walls of flesh caved in around her, and she was gone.

It was done, the woman had been absorbed already, all had gone to plan, or so he thought. He heard the bushes rustle as the second human came into view, he was confused at this, didn't he land a hit? He didn't look like he was wearing a defense force suit.

"Hey you freak!" The human spoke, seemingly not scared of him, fascinating. "She was my kill!"

Number 9 raised a finger, ready to hit him with another attack, but then something piqued his interest, the human had a tail, like a scorpion's.

The human raised a wrist mounted weapon at him and fired, the bullet merely ricocheting off his skin despite the softening effect fusing had. "Grrrr!" the human growled, "just die!" The human charged him, wrapping its wrist blades and tail barb in a purple field of energy.

"Hm?" Number 9 vocalized, intrigued at the field's potential effect. Though he was soon disappointed as the blades shattered on his skin, and though the stinger did pierce, the venom was a simple neurotoxin, one he easily neutralized.

"Wha-what?!" The human yelled, voice sounding on the verge of breaking.

Number 9 grabbed the human by the throat, though its blades proved ineffective, its tail could prove a useful tool. The massive fleshy jaws formed again as the human struggled, futilely punching and stinging his arm. As the jaws closed around the human, he stared into its eyes and noticed its fear. Little did he know, it was not fearing death, it was instead afraid of Number 9's eyes. Which, unknown to the kaiju, had gone from black to silver.

Tyrion was inside his goddess's palace, he didn't remember how he got there, last he remembered he was in the clutches of that… thing. But all his thoughts were pushed aside when his goddess turned towards him, he bowed to her as she laid her eyes on him.

"Arise Tyrion," she said to him, which caused a wave of ecstasy to flood over him, "you have done well." She held her hand out as she praised him, "come to me, and be rewarded."

"Thank you, my goddess!" Tyrion shouted as got on his feet and walked towards her, reaching for her hand.

But as he took it, reality collapsed around him, and he was now holding the hand of his target, who should have been dead. "What!?" he tried to pull away, but her grip was like iron, "What is this?!" he shouted in fear as the fleshy walls around him started to close in. He stared in horror as his targets skin began to split, revealing cluster of sickly beige tumors that covered her form until she was replaced by the thing that stole his kill.

"Huh," the thing said, "that was much easier than expected." It said in its monotonous voice, "I wonder if all humans in this area are as weak willed as you two?"

Humans? Why did it call him human? He wished he could question more but the walls closed in on him, and he disappeared.

From the two humans Number 9 had absorbed he had gained much information. For starters, he was no longer on earth he had been sent to a new planet the humans called remnant. They used a substance called dust to power their technology and make ammunition as opposed to fossil fuel or kaiju tissue. There was also more than one sentient species on this planet, humans and faunus which hated eachother over their superficial differences. Kaiju also didn't exist on this planet, instead there were the grimm, which were controlled by a supposed immortal witch, and are fought by the huntsmen which use their "souls" to fight the grimm with auras and semblances, and act like a less organized version of the defense force… it was perfect. A world with humans far weaker than the ones on earth, already on the verge of constant war, constantly under assault from a nearly infinite enemy. It was as if someone had given him a laboratory with enough materials to experiment forever, and alongside his new lab came new questions as well.

Is it possible for humans and faunus to breed? How does dust interact with biology? Can kaiju be made using dust? What is a soul? Can he absorb semblances and auras like he can memories and physical traits? (That one he could test right now) How do the grimm operate? How strong is an average grimm compared to an average kaiju? Where does dust come from?

So many questions he had, and he had all the time in the world to answer them. But first, he needed to establish a base of operation and start producing kaiju. He began walking through the forest, sensing a cave in a nearby mountain with high levels of fault energy.

Once he had reached the cave he had found it infested with grimm, this gave him ample opportunity to test his own combat capabilities against the grimm. The results were as expected, the smaller grimm could not pierce his shell and even the larger specimens could only barely scratch him. His ranged attacks and assimilated tail were more than enough to clear the large cave. Fortunately, one of his minor questions was answered, the grimm were susceptible to the basic neurotoxin of the scorpion faunus he absorbed, paralyzing most specimens in a matter of seconds. He would have to modify it to be lethal in the future.

He reached the bottom of the cave and found something interesting, a source of fault energy, and around it was dust crystals that had seemingly formed from the residual energy… how interesting. He would have to experiment with the implications of this formation, but first, he needed a vanguard, and he had the perfect type of kaiju in mind.