Gamer4 in. I'm going to have to rewrite a significant portion of this episode to make everything work out- that's what I've done to myself. Welcome to the first Xenosaga episode! There's going to be quite a few differences between this story's take and what you may have seen in base YAX, primarily because in the meantime, I fully adapted the first game in the trilogy in a story titled The Voyage Home- check it out if you'd like. Here, I'll be taking more cues from that version of events, though I'd also like to take the chance to rewrite a few things that I feel didn't work as well as I initially thought. Hope you're all ready for a nice space opera- The Voyage Home, let's go!
Episode XI
The Voyage Home
"So, let me get this straight," Qrow grunted as he took his own seat on the sofa (which seemed to have grown to accomodate the new arrivals,) "the multiverse is real, and some crackpot in a black coat pulled all of you here to watch stories from across it- usually, but not always, starring baby Tai over there, left blue-coat in charge, and now she's showing you a bunch of scenes from one world in particular?"
"Yeah, that's about what we know," Yang shrugged.
"...I'm gonna need a lot of whiskey for this."
"All we've got is beer, I'm afraid," Vanessa apologized as she handed him one.
"I'll take what I can get," he muttered as he cracked it open and downed the whole bottle in a single gulp.
"Be glad you can get drunk," Vanessa grumbled, mimicking him before pulling out another two bottles.
"Wonderful, a host with as little acumen as Qrow," Winter rolled her eyes.
"Now, now, Winter, we ought not be rude," Ozpin chastised gently. "Young lady, if I may ask, what ended up bringing the rest of us here?"
"Heck if I know," Vanessa shrugged. "Maybe the Hand did it, maybe it was the will of whatever dark, vengeful god I pissed off to land this gig in the first place."
"And how do we go back?" Whitley finally spoke, his voice cold as ice.
"Best I can tell, finish watching the Xenoverse," Vanessa shrugged.
"Are we gonna have to catch 'em up on what's been going on up 'til now?" Nora asked.
"Later," Vanessa handwaved. "We're starting a new one."
"Exactly how many entries are there in this... Xenoverse?" Blake asked.
"Six. This one and one more."
"That's a lot of Xeno," Ruby's eyes widened.
"And you expect us to just go along with this?" Winter crossed her arms.
"Well... they've at least done us no harm so far..." Weiss admitted quietly.
"Hell, maybe it'll even do you some good," Vanessa suggested. "I'm not as obsessive about it as the Hand, but there's lots to learn from these stories." She threw a meaningful gaze towards Ozpin. "Lots of things."
For the first time, Ozpin looked nervous, though only Vanessa seemed to notice.
"Well, you can all do that- as for me, I'm leaving!" Whitley made to rise to his feet- before he could, a large white-and-grey cat leapt up onto his lap, looking plaintively up at him.
"Get off."
The cat laid down, tucking her paws beneath her and yawning before closing her eyes.
"It doesn't seem like she's going to leave," Ozpin chuckled.
"Am I drunk, or is that cat actually a cow?" Qrow blinked at the incredibly large feline.
"A common mistake," Vanessa acknowledged, "but enough clowning around, we've got a world to get to."
The new world began with a pitch black screen, several voices audible through the darkness.
"Hold your formation!"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Jaune, NO!"
"EVERYONE IS GOING TO-"
"He doesn't know how to leave."
"Okay..." Qrow raised a brow. "Do all of the worlds start off like that?"
No... I think this is the first," Ruby shook her head, wide-eyed.
"Who were all those voices?" Blake shuddered.
"Hmm... I know the first voice was Ironwood," Winter recognized.
"I think I heard Saphron in there," Jaune commented.
"One moment..." Weiss pulled out a notebook. "Now, who recognized what?"
After a few moments, she produced a list:
Hold your formation- Ironwood
Why are you doing this?- Ruby
Jaune, no!- Saphron
EVERYONE IS GOING TO- Weiss
He doesn't know how to leave- Ren
"Well, that's that mystery solved," Qrow snorted. "Now, what the hell are they all talking about?"
"I think the only way to answer that is to keep watching," Ozpin suggested.
The voices faded away, leaving a rather ominous soundtrack behind: ?2J945IsIQHg.
"Well, we're off to a roaring start already," Weiss crossed her arms as that ominous music continued to play.
"Hmm... that music... it's 'Atmospheres,'" Winter recognized. "A rather fringe composition."
"It's creepy," Ruby shuddered. "It's like we're lost in a dark cave, and we're about to turn the corner, and... brrrr!"
"After the voices we heard... I'm not feeling particularly comfortable myself," Pyrrha admitted.
During their chat, the ominous music had continued, finally drawing to a close when they returned their attention to a screen that was still pitch black. However, that suddenly changed- the blackness was pierced by an arc of light, as a new song began- slow and low at first, but steadily rising. dfe8tCcHnKY
"Huh? What's-" Ruby started, only to jump as a sudden dramatic note was played.
Yang laughed. "Man, this music took a sudden turn for the awesome!"
"It does sound more inspirational now," Weiss agreed as the notes that had startled Ruby were followed by a dramatic drumbeat.
"I believe this piece is Sunrise," Ozpin smiled. "Certainly a much more uplifting piece than Atmospheres."
"I believe the Hand said something about this opening representing the themes of the Xenoverse," Vanessa commented. "'Our world is one of darkness, and in a world of darkness, we will provide our own light.'"
"Are you sure he said that?" Blake asked dubiously. "Sounds a little... smart for him."
"I'm sure he was quoting somebody else," Vanessa readily admitted.
As the music began to build up again, the arc of light grew, revealing it was, in fact, the sun, viewed from behind a planet, rising above it as they watched in wonder and the music reached its crescendo.
"Yes... yes, I'd call that far more uplifting," Blake nodded.
"That... was awesome!" Nora cheered. "I don't even care what else happens in this world, that was the coolest thing!"
"Cooler than the titans?" Ruby asked skeptically.
"Oooh!" Nora's eyes gleamed. "This intro... with the world of titans!"
"I love it!" Ruby's eyes started matching Nora's sparkle.
Meanwhile, the screen had cut to black again, this time with a simple white title card:
20,000 BC
The First Contact
"Wait- the First Contact?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.
"What about it?" Qrow glanced at her.
"The last world we were watching was the Last Contact!"
"It's difficult to believe there's not a connection there," Weiss agreed.
The world finally showed something of particular substance: a vast, desert wasteland, all hardpan, sparse bushes, and a few scant caves. The sun was rising, but it wasn't the triumphant sunrise of the intro- it was a cold, empty sunrise on a land that seemed anything but hospitable to life. There were a few animals roaming around, picking at what they could get from the skeletal shrubbery.
"I...er... don't know those animals," Ruby admitted.
"Hmmm... those are tapirs," Ozpin identified after a moment of examination. "Not too common nowadays."
From the mouth of one of the caves, several more animals emerged, eyes narrowed against the harsh sunlight. Compared to the tapirs, all of the audience recognized these animals as great apes- albeit not ones quite like anything they'd seen before.
"Oh, I see..." Pyrrha said quietly. "First... first is right. These are humanity's earliest precursors."
"Just look like a buncha monkeys to me," Yang scoffed. "The heck does any of this haveta do with all the other stuff we've been seein'?"
"It does seem rather incongruous..." Blake agreed.
The apes didn't seem to be in much better a position than the tapirs, stuck to scrounging through the dying foliage for any scraps they could find. They looked quite... pitiful, actually, scouring through skeletal shrubs for food that simply wasn't there. Overseeing them was a clearly female ape, with large, impossible to ignore mammaries. Expressions were difficult to discern from creatures more animal than human, but hers seemed a grim one.
"Their leader?" Jaune speculated.
"I doubt they have anything so formal as a leader," Weiss shook her head. "Though... probably the closest they have to that. An alpha, if you will."
She watched as one ape drew closer to a nearby cliffside, where a few decently promising plants seemed to be growing. He began picking disconsolately at them- only for his search to come to an abrupt, cruel end when a large cat dove down on him from the cliff above. The apes around began shrieking, hooting, and hollering. A few attempted to move forward to rescue their fallen brother, only to recoil when the great tiger snarled at them, bearing down on her kill.
Ruby jumped a full foot in the air when the cat appeared, its roar serving as something of a jumpscare. "AH!"
"Ohh, poor monkey man!" Nora sobbed into Ren's shoulder. He patted her gently on the back.
"There, there."
"Like getting ganked on your way to the bar," Qrow muttered as he threw back another beer.
"Can you think of anything unrelated to alcohol?" Winter scoffed.
"Are we... quite sure these are meant to be humanity's ancestors?" Weiss asked tentatively. "They seem to be clinging on to the evolutionary ladder by their fingernails."
"Maybe... things are going to get better?" Jaune suggested, though he didn't sound particularly hopeful.
The scene cut to the female guiding her small troupe down to a pitifully small pool of water, where they desperately began to scoop up as much as they could and bring it to their mouths. They hadn't been drinking for more than a minute, however, when they were attacked once again- this time by what seemed like a rival group of the ape-creatures. The rivals swarmed down the small hill leading to the pool, led by another female ape, screeching and hooting as they chased off the first tribe. The alpha snarled at the rivals, but retreated alongside her tribe, forced to watch the rivals swarm around the pool for themselves.
"Those jerks!" Nora cried. "We need some water too, y'know!"
Almost as if in response, the other tribe's alpha turned towards the camera and snarled.
"AH!" Nora yelped, hiding behind Ren. "Don't let her get me, Ren, don't let her get me!"
"It can't see you, you simpleton," Whitley rolled his eyes, still struggling to maneuver out from underneath the cat.
"Shut up, Whitley," Weiss hissed.
The camera spared Nora by cutting to that evening- the sun was setting, as the tiger from earlier almost seemed to gloat over her kill, her eyes glowing as she glowered around at anything that might attempt to take her prize.
Back in their cave, the apes were huddling together for warmth and basic comfort, eyes wide as they heard the distant growling of their predator. The alpha gazed almost sorrowfully around at her thirsty, hungry, eternally hunted tribe- two parents huddling around a child who desperately needed water, but couldn't get it while their rivals guarded the pool. Perhaps she only understood it on a primitve, almost unconscious level, but she certainly understood it nonetheless- if something didn't change soon, she and her entire tribe would simply fade away.
"So much for the 'uplifting' intro," Yang rolled her eyes.
"Perhaps," Ozpin considered. "But then again, it is oft said that the night is darkest just before the dawn."
And eventually, dawn did come- and the alpha was awoken by a shriek coming from outside the cave. She immediately moved to the entrance, and from there, it didn't take long at all for her to see the source of the commotion.
"What is it? What is it? What is it?" Nora asked eagerly.
"More creepy music!" Ruby moaned.
And, sure enough, another bizarre song was playing as the alpha exited the cave: rcC6B-i28YE.
"Requiem," Winter picked up. "No, not the Mozart one. It's actually a common title."
The alpha stepped out, and, standing atop a small hill just outside her tribe's cave, was something unlike anything they'd ever seen before.
A tall, perfectly geometrical monolith, crafted of pure gold, etched with several intricate, equally geometrical patterns. The only curve upon it was the large sapphire set within, in the shape of an eye. It would be a near perfect rectangle, if not for two hexagonal protrusions on either side of the eye, giving it almost the appearance of a cross.
"What... what is that thing?" Weiss asked.
"I can tell ya one thing- apes didn't make that," Yang nodded.
"Aaaaaaaaaliens?" Nora asked, eyes widening. "Ren... Renny, I think we may actually be seeing aliens!"
"For once, Nora... I think you may be correct," Ren agreed.
Jaune looked it over. "Hmmm..."
"You see something, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.
"Using its thickness as a baseline... it's four times wider, except for those notch-thingies on the side, and nine times taller," he reported.
"How did you notice that?" Weiss asked, surprised.
"He's always had an eye for details like that," Pyrrha reported proudly, before raising a thumb and forefinger to her chin. "Hmm... four is two squared... nine is three squared... I wonder how far it would go if there were more dimensions?"
"Who says there aren't?" Blake speculated.
Qrow leaned towards Ozpin. "Oz... is that one of... y'know... the things?"
"No," Ozpin shook his head- and that wasn't the only thing that was shaking. "This... this is something else altogether."
If the audience found the monolith curious, the apes found it absolutely mind-blowing- never had such design been seen in their world. They milled around it, observing with wide eyes as it simply... stood there, innert, immobile. The alpha watched her tribesmen draw close, only to immediately pull away, as the music continued to get more and more intense. Finally, she began to move towards it herself, inch by inch, steadily rising from her previous knuckles-on-the-ground motion to a more upright position as she reached out to touch it.
Nothing seemed to happen immediately. One by one, the other apes, driven to curiosity as well, began moving forward and running their palms over the monolith, feeling its smooth surface, running fingers along the geometric patterns and the curve of the eye. Though the music continued to increase in intensity, the object simply stood there, twinkling a little in the sunrise, but doing nothing else.
Then, just as abruptly, they were looking at the desolate landscape from a birds-eye view once more, the music cutting out and leaving them with silence.
"Gah!" Ruby jumped. "How do you do a jumpscare by taking away sound?!"
"I... still don't know what any of this has to do with what we've witnessed before," Weiss reflected, "but... I admit, I'm intrigued."
"There's something... wrong with that thing," Blake said through narrowed eyes. "I can feel it."
The next shot was of the apes going through several skeletons laying on the ground near their cave, forcefully reminding the audience once more of how close they were to dying out altogether. The alpha in particular knelt over the pile of bones that had once been her mate, feeling something in her chest wholly alien to her. Not far to the side, the skeleton of the great cat he had perished killing.
She looked up- in her line of sight was none other than the strange golden monolith.
Music began to rise- not the previous ominous music associated with the object, but that same triumphant sunrise music from before. As it reached its first crescendo, the alpha reached out and grabbed one of her fallen mate's bones. Slowly, she knocked it against one of the cat's bones.
"Wait..." Jaune said, eyes widening. "Wait... I think I see where this is going!"
The music dipped low, then began its second crescendo as she brought the bone down again, continuing to disturb the bones of her mate's killer. At the height of the second crescendo, she raised the bone in the air and brought it down on the pile with enough force to shatter several of them. As the music reached its climax, she turned her eyes towards the cat's skull and brought the bone down with even more force, shattering it.
A brief cut to a vision of a tapir falling to the ground.
She brought the bone down again- there was a vision of two medieval knights engaged in combat.
Down came the bone- with it came the vision of a cannon bringing down a wall.
The skull had shattered to fragments, bringing with it a vision of a vast, sprawling city protected by weapons far more advanced than this, the very first, the bone wielded by the alpha of this small tribe.
Filled with a sense of triumph, the alpha cast the bone into the air and let out a holler.
Everyone slowly looked to Ruby, with stars in her eyes. "The first... weapon..."
"Well... there are certainly pros and cons to that development," Blake pointed out. "But... I suppose this will make it easier for them to survive..."
Seemingly to prove her point, the next shot was in the late afternoon, going on evening. In a small dip beneath the monolith's shadow was a fire pit, over which the tribe was cooking the meat of several slain tapirs. Perhaps coincidentally, the world around them was starting to seem greener- more vegetation bearing more fruit.
"Fire, too!" Weiss's eyes widened. "Two of the most important inventions in mankind's history, within weeks of each other?!"
"I mean, we don't really have a timeframe," Blake pointed out, "but otherwise... yes, it would certainly appear so."
Next was another sudden cut, this time to the tribe surmounting a hill and rushing down the other side towards the watering hole- and their rivals. They advanced slowly, each with a large bone in their hands. The rivals looked up at them and began snarling, until the alpha played her first trump card- one of the apes behind her held aloft the head of their old enemy, the tiger, aloft on his bone. Several of the rivals let out screeches of fear, turning and abandoning their fellows to the oncoming tribe.
The rival alpha, however, maintained her ground, as did about half a dozen others. It was time for the alpha to play her own trump card, slowly moving towards the pool, across which her rival waded, hooting, hollering, and doing everything she could to maintain her air of dread.
The alpha moved forward, one arm behind her back. When she was close enough, she unleashed her second trump card- a bone to which had been tied one of the tiger's largest teeth, making an effective spear that she shoved into her rival's chest.
"Man!" Yang yelped. "This alpha doesn't screw around!"
"Certainly not with the people driving her tribe to the edge of extinction," Blake agreed.
"Ah, the birth of the tactics that ol' Jimmy ignores in favor of just throwing more guns at the problem," Qrow chuckled.
"I assure you, he puts quite a bit more thought into his tactics than-" Winter started, but Qrow cut her off with a
"Yeah, yeah."
"Zip it, you two, I will turn this house around," Vanessa muttered.
The alpha drove the tooth in until the loose 'rope' broke apart, separating the bone from the tooth altogether, leaving the latter embedded in her rival's chest. It was her tribe's turn to hoot and holler as they bore down on their rival's leader, taking turns beating her down with their own bones. The remainder of the rivals, now truly terrified, turned and ran, leaving the alpha's own tribe to reign victorious.
The alpha moved away, her bone in hand, and... began to truly think. Thoughts beyond the simple urges to eat, drink, and reproduce. She began to think as a human might.
Never again... never again will we be driven to the point of extinction. No matter what we must do to survive, we will. Even if the world itself decides we must die, we... will... survive.
A word came into her mind- a word unlike anything the apes had experienced before- what we might today call a name. Salem. I am... Salem. And we will survive.
She wasn't quite sure what that would entail next... but she would think of something.
"Wait, waitwaitwaitwaitwait!" Ruby waved her hands wildly around. "That ape... the alpha... that was Salem this whole time?!"
"As in, super-big-bad-evil Salem?" Nora agreed.
"Wait, you runts know about Salem?" Qrow almost choked on his beer. Ozpin didn't speak, but his grip on his cane grew notably more white-knuckled.
"A little- the Hand told us she's like, the ultimate evil of our world," Ruby nodded. "So, you know about her, too?"
"Yes... quite so," Ozpin nodded. "There are many gears turning in an attempt to bring her machinations to a halt. I didn't wish to tell you so soon. Everything she touches turns to nightmares- I wished for you to live a happy life a little longer."
"And nobody ever told me?" Winter crossed her arms.
"You wanna get angry about that, talk to Ironwood, he's the one in charge of the efforts in Atlas," Qrow muttered.
"So, Ironwood is involved in a conspiracy, just as father said?" Whitley piped up.
"Shut up, Whitley, you have no idea what you're talking about," Weiss fired scathingly.
"Now, now," Vanessa interjected. "That's enough, Weiss, he's your brother."
"But-" Weiss started angrily, but Vanessa ignored her.
"Yes, Ironwood is involved in a collaborative effort unbeknownst to much of the Atlesian public. But it is not against you or the Schnee family- it is against a far older, far more powerful evil. As long as your father doesn't align himself with that evil, Ironwood will not turn against him."
A long silence fell, until it was finally broken by Nora.
"You're telling me the first human... sort of... to achieve rational thought in this world... was Salem?"
"It makes you think, doesn't it?" Blake pondered.
At last, they returned their attention to the screen, Ozpin far more intently than before this revelation.
Salem looked down at her bone, its service done for the moment. She looked to her people's celebration, and threw the bone up into the air. The camera followed it... until it suddenly jumpcut to a satellite orbitting around a large, blue planet.
"You think this world has enough jump-cuts?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms.
"This one is interesting, though," Ren put in. "How many thousands of years must we have jumped through to get here?"
As if in answer, the year appeared: 2001 AD.
"2001?" Jaune repeated. "That... that's thirty-two years ahead of us!"
"From the distant past to the not-too-distant future in the blink of an eye," Pyrrha reflected.
Another musical track began to play, neither ominous nor truly triumphant- it was far more soothing than anything they'd heard up til now: p3WoaOIKXwk.
"Oh, I like this one!" Ruby beamed. "Yang, it's the love song from Mickey Three Musketeers! OW!"
Weiss had just slapped her upside the head, more disdain on her face than had ever been there before. "That's the Blue Danube, you boob."
"Heheh... boob..." Ruby winced as she pressed in the lump Weiss had just raised. Winter watched on with a sort of entertained bemusement.
The music continued as the camera lovingly showed off the planet and the many structures around it, the most immediately eyecatching of which was a large, metal ring encompassing the entire planet, held up by three great towers at three strategic points on the globe. Atop each were multiple spinning discs large enough to be lived and worked in. Towards one of these towers, there was a large space shuttle, cruising through the empty vacuum.
"I... loooooooove... spaaaaaaace," Ruby reiterated, drooling a little.
"Do you really think we could accomplish something like this... in just thirty-two years?" Jaune asked, eyes wide with wonder.
"I suppose anything's possible," Pyrrha smiled.
"Unfortunately, while we are fighting off Salem, I don't see it as very likely," Ozpin admitted.
"All the more reason to take her out quick!" Ruby decided, eagerly clutching at a scythe that wasn't actually there.
The camera entered the ship, which was very similar to the interior of a plane, except for the pen floating across the seats. It was drifting towards a man strapped into a seat to keep from floating away himself. He was of average height and build, with a mop of untidy red hair as he leaned back, snoozing away as if this was just as normal as a flight over the solid ground.
"Huh?" Nora looked caught off guard. "Renny... that's my Dad!"
Ren leaned forward. "Hmm... he does look a great deal like your description..."
"Pretty easy on the eyes," Yang smirked, "but... a little nerdy for my tastes- ow!"
Nora was glaring at her. "Hands off my old man, milkbags!"
"Kay, okay, geez!" Yang grumbled. "Who knew you were such a daddy's girl..."
Ruby smirked. "So, I'm guessing you don't want anyone seeing those pictures of Daddy's Little Princ-"
"LALALALALA!" Yang screamed. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LALALALA! NEITHER CAN ANYONE ELSE! LALALALALA!"
"You have... interesting nieces, Qrow," Winter fought back a chuckle.
"Oh, wait 'til they really get going," Qrow didn't fight back his.
A woman appeared, wearing shoes made of velcro, allowing her to walk on the floor relatively normally. She reached out and plucked the pen out of the air before it could ricochet again and quietly slipped it into her pocket before turning to the sleeping man. "Mr. Valkyrie, we'll be arriving at Rhadamanthus soon. It's time to wake up."
"Hm? Oh, yes," Mr. Valkyrie agreed as he shook himself from his slumber- he had a slight accent. "Thank you."
The woman nodded and strode off as the camera panned back out, showing the top of one of the great, space-reaching towers- it was continually rotating clockwise, and in the center was a rectangular opening towards which the ship was now moving. The ship turned in conjunction with the opening- it was almost a dance, perfectly matching up with the music.
"It's beautiful," Weiss admitted with a smile.
"I do wonder how much work must have transpired to construct things like this," Blake nodded.
Within the station, Mr. Valkyrie began walking around the inside of the wheel, where centripital force allowed them to walk along the curve as though it were solid ground.
"Wiggy," Yang quirked her brow.
"That's what you'd have to do in a zero-g environment, Yang!" Ruby beamed. "Ohhh, this is so cool!"
He was walking towards the elevator that would take him to lower orbit when he heard a cry: "Daddy!"
He turned and just had time to break into a smile before he was tackled by a ballistic pink missile. "Oof! Hello, Nora!"
"She got very excited when she saw your ship coming in," smiled the woman behind the missile- she looked very much the part of an adult Nora, right to her smile.
"S'that so?" Mr. Valkyrie smiled down at his six-year-old daughter. "Well, I've got something that was excited to see you, too!"
He reached into his bag and produced a stuffed animal. Nora gasped. "Is that a sloth? Isitisitisit?!"
"Not just any sloth," Mr. Valkyrie lowered his voice conspiratorially, kneeling to Nora's level. "He's a Martian sloth with information that could destroy the whole universe. I need you to protect him from the evil Venusians. Can you do that for me, Nora?"
Nora's eyes widened at the sudden severity of the situations. "You got it, Dad! I won't let those nasty Ven... venu... those bad aliens anywhere near my sloth! I gotta protect the earth- I love it almost as much as you do!"
"Glad you remembered," Mr. Valkyrie chuckled. "They say, if you like it, you should put a ring on it."
"And you put rings on two things- Mommy and the planet!" Nora recited the rest before eagerly sprinting off with the animal held to her chest, running around the inner circle, enjoying seeing people who had once been sideways and upside down from her perspective suddenly rightside up again.
"It must be like a playground to her," Pyrrha chuckled.
"I'm happy to see her getting along with her father," Blake nodded, smiling.
"Yeah... he was a really cool guy," Nora agreed wistfully.
With Nora gone, Mr. Valkyrie turned to his wife. "You are a sight for sore eyes," he said happily.
"Glad to see you too, honey," Mrs. Valkyrie agreed, pecking him on the lips. "But... a little surprised. I thought you were supposed to be on Mars for another couple months!"
"Well, you know Mr. Baum," Mr. Valkyrie shrugged in a not-quite casual way. "He says 'jump,' we say 'how high?'"
His wife narrowed her eyes. "You're hiding something."
Mr. Valkyrie glanced around, before finally saying, "It's... something big. I can explain later- not now."
"Alright," Mrs. Valkyrie relented. "Just... try not to get too over your head, okay, Klaus?"
"Do I ever?" Mr. Valkyrie put on a winning smile before turning and making his way to the elevator.
"More mysteries, of course," Weiss sighed.
"What kind of story would it be if it gave away everything at the beginning?" Ren pointed out.
"Romeo and Juliet?" Jaune pointed out.
"Hmm... yes, I suppose we could have done without that opening verse," Pyrrha agreed.
In the next scene, Mr. Valkyrie was sitting in what looked like a briefing room alongside three others- two women, and, at the head, one other man.
He sat next to a dark-skinned woman with brown and matching eyes- the woman across from him had shoulder-length black hair and a pair of amber eyes. There were wrinkles on her face that indicated she did quite a bit of smiling, though she seemed rather businesslike at the moment.
"Wha- Mom?" Blake gasped.
"Oh, that's your mother, huh?" Yang asked. "Niiiiice."
Blake narrowed her eyes and attempted to throw Nala at Yang's face, but sensing a greater threat, Nala attacked Blake before she could be thrown. There was much screaming.
"Finally, I get a break..." Yang muttered.
"Hey, isn't that...?" Qrow looked at the brown-haired woman. "Oz?"
Ozpin, however, could only look at the man.
The man, meanwhile, was tall, with dark hair matching his darker skin- though not so dark as the first woman's- with dark brown hair and eyes. He wore a dark green suit trimmed with silver. "Ah, Klaus. Glad you could join us. Apologies, Mrs. Belladonna, Ms. Skye- he was coming all the way from Mars."
"No issue at all," Mrs. Belladonna waved aside with a smile. "I quite understand the vastness of the universe."
Ruby's eyes widened. She pointed wildly at the man in the suit. "He looks like Ozpin!"
"Ozpin?" Yang asked, looking closer. "Huh... yeah, he kinda does, doesn't he?"
"His hair and skin tone are darker, but he certainly looks similar," Ren agreed.
"Is that the Mr. Baum that Mr. Valkyrie was talking about?" Jaune wondered.
Ozpin swallowed. "If I'm not mistaken..."
Mr. Baum cleared his throat. "Well, we may as well begin this properly. Amber, Klaus, allow me to formally introduce Mrs. Kali Belladonna, the current Prime Minister of Menagerie. Mrs. Belladonna, this is my top scientist, Klaus Valkyrie, and a very fine benefactor of ours, Ms. Amber Bailey."
Several handshakes and polite dialogue went around.
"Mom... the Prime Minister?" Blake asked, aghast.
"A change of the status quo, I imagine?" Weiss speculated.
"Er... yes!" Blake nodded quickly- they weren't to know that her father essentially filled that very role in their homeworld.
"Can't say I know that Bailey woman, though," Jaune noted.
"She... in our world, she's a victim of Salem's machinations," Ozpin told them.
"Thank you very much for coming to SkyTree Rhadamanthus," Mr. Baum continued, bowing slightly in Kali's direction.
"Thank you very much for having me, Mr. Baum," Kali replied.
"Please, please... just call me Ozma."
"Absolutely- if you'll call me Kali."
"Even his name is similar!" Ruby cried.
"With this, I'd certainly say there must be some connection between the two," Pyrrha agreed. "What exactly that is, I can't say..."
"If I'm not mistaken, this is an ancestor of mine," Ozpin said slowly. "I believe I recall the name on my family tree."
Qrow narrowed an eye at him, but didn't press him.
Ozma chuckled. "Very well, I accept your terms. However... let us move beyond the pleasantries."
A hologram appeared on the table between them, showing a globe of the planet far below. "As you know, Sector Industries has been developing the most cutting edge technology for decades now, even up to the orbital ring and the Sky Trees that hold it up. As such, we are often privy to a great deal of information long before the general public. Not long ago, our readers in the ring detected a highly unusual signal within the depths of Menagerie."
He pressed a button, and a point on the globe began glowing with an intense light. "What we detected was a series of pulses- pulses of electromagnetic waves, stronger than anything we've ever seen. Not just in Sector's history, but in the history of mankind. For the moment, we have designated these signatures TMA-1- TychoMagnetic Anomaly."
"So, I'm guessing those pulses are supposed to be impressive?" Yang asked, her arms crossed.
"Incredibly impressive, yes," Weiss agreed, her eyes wide. "If he's properly describing what we're seeing, this TMA-1 could be enough to power all of Remnant for years!"
That certainly got the audience's attention.
"Impressive," Kali nodded. "So, let's see if I can guess what you want- you want me to permit an expedition into Menagerie to locate and identify TMA-1?"
"You catch on quickly," Amber nodded.
"I've been through the rigamarole enough times," Kali bowed her head.
"You will, of course, be compensated for the intrusion," Ozma assured her. "We are also willing to allow complete oversight by the Menagerian government. I'm sure you can appreciate what a discovery of this magnitude could mean to the planet at large."
Kali nodded absentmindedly, gazing at the globe. "If you'd permit me to ask one more question... do the Saviorites know about this as well?"
A shiver seemed to run across the room, Amber and Klaus's faces becoming particularly grave. Ozma managed to maintain his composure as he answered. "Yes... we have reason to believe they do."
"The... the Saviorites?" Pyrrha asked- the cold front had spread even to the audience.
"Very, very long story short? Not the kind of people you want with a power source like this," Vanessa explained.
Kali nodded, more seriously this time. "Alright, I'll permit your expedition, under the conditions you've outlined, plus one more."
"Name it," Ozma nodded amiccably.
"I want to be there when you find it."
The camera slowly zoomed out as Ozma and Kali shook hands, turning to the planet below and zooming in towards Menagerie.
"So, looks like Menagerie has something pretty worthwhile," Yang smirked.
"Of course, that also paints a target on them," Weiss put in fretfully. "A target for organizations like these... Saviorites."
Blake nodded her agreement. "Hand... are the Saviorites anything like... like the SDC?"
"And what, may I ask, is so revolting about the SDC?" Whitley couldn't help interjecting from behind the mountainous cat. "I'll have you know that-"
"Shut up, Whit-" Weiss started, but Vanessa cut her off.
"That'll do, Weiss," she said severely. "As to your question, Blake, the Saviorites are, in fact, worse. If I may paraphrase one of my favorite authors, 'Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims is the most oppressive. Far better to live under the SDC than under the Saviorites. Jacques Schnee's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will do so without end, for they do so with the approval of their conscience.'"
Whitley seemed as though he was going to object again, but something in Vanessa's tone seemed to break through to him- he leaned back, a look of thought on his face.
The camera zoomed in on several vehicles travelling over a deserted landscape towards a vast body of water. Another title card read ONE MONTH LATER, LAKE TURKANA, MENAGERIE.
"Lake Turkana?" Blake blinked. "I... don't think that's an actual location in Menagerie."
"Probably one of those weirdo worlds that's a fusion of yours and ours," Jack guessed. "I don't think Mars exists in your world, either."
The cars cruised along, eventually arriving at a camp along the lake. Out of the passenger seat stepped Kali Belladonna, dressed for the trip in sunglasses and covered from the sun.
Ozma was right nearby, ready to greet her. "Ah, greetings, Kali. Right in time- we can't be certain, but I believe we are on the verge of uncovering the anomaly as we speak."
The entire area was being dug up in search of the source of the anomaly. Kali kept an eye out for anything that Menagerie's governing body might disapprove of, but everything seemed to be going very by-the-book. Abruptly, Amber appeared. "Ozma! Klaus believes he's located something."
Ozma turned to her and nodded. "Quickly."
"This had better be impressive," Winter crossed her arms.
Kali fell into pace behind the others as they hurried across the ground to where Mr. Valkyrie was bent over, dusting off the top of a vast stone surface, carved with intricate symbols and designs. In pride of place was a small indentation in the rough shape of a cross.
"You believe this is the place?" Ozma asked.
"Quite positive," Klaus agreed.
Kali watched uncertainly as Klaus reached into his shirt and produced a necklace, at the end of which was a stone talisman perfectly matching the indentation. "Show us your secrets," he whispered as he placed it in its slot.
The effect was almost immediate, as all the intricate designs in the slab began to light up. A deep rumbling, crackling noise was coming from the lake, amplified by the water- they could see lights from the bed, leaking up to the surface. The ground was quaking beneath their feet.
"NOOOOOO!" Ruby wailed. "WHAT HAS SCIENCE DOOOOOOOONE?!"
Then, from the lake, stones began to rise- great, ancient stones, smooth from the water, yet still at perfect geometrical angles, only made clearer as the lake rolled off of them. One by one, they rose, forming a pathway towards a large, round structure- a temple, almost, near the lake's center.
The camp was falling apart in the quake, and several members of the expedition were rushing around, attempting to salvage what they could, but Ozma, Kali, Amber, and Klaus had eyes only for the lake.
A column of light erupted from the temple, piercing into the sky, and from it came a pulse that knocked Kali, Elma and Klaus to the ground. Only Ozma was able to keep his feet, and only barely, raising an arm to shield himself from the fierce wind.
The column began to fade, and in its place, born aloft by an unseen force, there emerged from the temple a new object- a very familiar-looking monolith, large, made of gold, imprinted with intricate geometric designs, set with a large blue sapphire in the shape of an eye.
"The monolith! The monolith!" Nora cried, pointing dramatically.
"I suppose we ought to have seen this coming," Winter mused.
"It must have been countless millennia since it last saw the sun," Ren reflected, eyes fixed upon the anomaly. "What must have happened between its appearance to the apes and now?"
Weiss's mind went in another direction. "If working with that monolith allowed humanity to advance from apes to where they are now... what will finding it again wreak?"
All four explorers stared fixedly at the monolith as a song began to well up.
"What is that thing?" Amber asked, an uncharacteristic terror in her eyes.
"It's... beautiful," Klaus said, wide-eyed.
"It's... singing," Kali observed, her ears twitching.
"Wait... singing?" Jaune blinked in surprise. "I heard the music, but I thought it was just for us!"
"Apparently not," Blake shook her head. "I suppose we have to wonder now how much of the music we've been hearing has been for our benefit, and how much has actually been occurring in the world."
As they stared up at the monolith, the clouds overhead broke, and over an area that saw roughly an inch of precipitation a year, it began to rain.
"Just like before, the second it appears, it starts making the area around it more hospitable," Blake realized.
"Yes... whatever that thing is, it's certainly nothing like we have on Remnant," Ozpin agreed. He felt a weight on his lap, and looked down to see the large cat migrating to him from Whitley. "Oh, hello, there, young one." She looked up at him and purred as she began nudging his chin with her nose.
"Well, now that I'm released, I believe I will be taking my leave," Whitley rose to her feet.
"Please do," Weiss agreed. "We were doing splendidly before-"
"Oh, Existence, I can't take another episode of this," Vanessa groaned. "Schnee twins, other room, now." She rose to her feet with a look that brooked no argument. As an afterthought, she reached out and grabbed Ruby by the hood. "You too, Rose."
"Um, okay?" Ruby agreed, rising to her feet and allowing the young woman to drag her along with the two white-haired siblings out of the living room.
"Oh, dear," Ozpin chuckled as he scratched Nia under the chin. "I believe we have the makings of another Glynda on our hands."
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Away we go- I hope you've been enjoying the new viewers' interjections. To let me know, go ahead and drop a review, and until next time, don't you dare go hollow- Gamer4 out.