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Vale City, near the Beacon Academy, Gayatit 52 Treichleam, two hours after breakfast (Tōkyō time: Monday 2 April, two hours before midnight; London time: Monday 2 April, two hours after lunch; New York time: Monday 2 April, an hour after breakfast)…
KK-KRASH!
Adam Taurus' head snapped over…
…then he awked as the sharp edges of a certain black variant ballistic chain scythe spun through the air at his face, making him bat away Gambol Shroud with his own blade…
PSSSHHEW!
…then he spun around to see a metre-long energy blade emitting from the device in Isaac Thomas' hand as the Wise Lone Sage assumed a single-handed Makashi duelling stance learned from Qui-Gon Jinn when the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei visited a galaxy far, far away some time ago. Seeing that blade, the still-intoxicated Blake Belladonna tensed as she drew back her own weapon while Isaac made a beckoning movement with his free hand's middle finger.
"Now enough talk. HAVE AT YOU!"
At that shout, Adam roared back as he charged…
"Ah! Hina was right!"
Watching the confrontation between the Wise Lone Sage of Yiziba and the field leader of the White Fang of Remnant almost a kilometre away was a certain seven-year-old from the city of Niigata, who had a slight frown on her face. "Right about what, Hinako?" Roman Leakee mused as he sat down beside the Spirit of Innocence while everyone in the warehouse once rented by Roman Torchwick not busy securing prisoners observed the live-time filming of the fight between Isaac Thomas and Adam Taurus courtesy of an automated camera that the New Yorker had set up earlier to force those who had allied with the bovine therianthrope from Atlas to see him being humiliated.
"Isaac-san is a HAM, Roman-san!"
"Oh?!" the Spectral Hound of the Dark Gaol prompted while his fellow American a kilometre away spun back to snare his empty wine goblet and fling it right at his opponent's face. "Why do you say that?"
"Because Hina SAYS so, Roman-san!"
That earned her raucous laughter from Roman and his fellow Florida Championship Wrestling co-worker — not to mention the Master of Plants and the Bright Genius of the Young Guns, both now helping making sure the still-living White Fang members were kept secure until Valean and Atlesian forces came to secure them — while the natives all looked confused, sensing there was a joke there. "You hang around Steve too much, Hinako!" Seth Rollins commented as he picked up one of Neopolitan's onyx-black dirks to bring over to the just-Gifted Ballerina of the Final Darkness.
"Steve-san's a smart man, Seth-san!"
More laughter from the Terrans in the room. Watching them was Weiss Schnee, who had been joined by two members of Team FNKI and the four of Team CFVY; they were relaxing enjoying some ice-tea. "To believe we just met real, honest-to-goodness ALIENS!" Coco Adel mused. "They seem so much like us! Even their names are like ours!"
"That is pretty weird," Fox Alistair commented.
"According to Miss Chiyo, we're supposedly descended from early Terrans," Neon Katt noted, making the others gape in surprise and disbelief at her. "Our ancestors were moved here to Remnant from Earth millions of years ago by the Alterans, where these Ori that the Two Brothers actually were part of came from. They're the ones Team SSSN found out about from those researchers looking over the Academy now." Updates about events at the Beacon Academy had been sent over secure encrypted communications via people's scrolls by Bartholomew Oobleck…along with a reminder of Glynda Goodwitch's admonishment to keep this "close encounter of the third kind" — borrowing the popular Terran term for first contact between species from different planets — secret from the locals.
"Yizibajohei are descent from Terrans, too; their ancestors were transplanted there a hundred thousand years ago," Yatsuhashi Daichi added. "And these Alterans ended up seeding Terrans all over the galaxy, it seems."
"Hopefully you'll be able to meet them soon, Yatsuhashi-san."
Everyone turned as Mihama Chiyo came over. As Neon and Velvet Scarlatina gushed once again on being close to the super-cute, bright pre-teen genius from Itabashi, the traditional leader of the Young Guns and the field leader of the Azuma Gang sat beside Flynt Coal. "What do you mean, Chiyo?" Coco asked as she crossed her arms.
"Your planet has a Stargate, Coco-san," Chiyo noted…
…before she winced as the shrieking noise of Wilt clashing hard with Isaac's evergreen lightsabre blade made people turn to watch the projection of the duel a kilometre away. After slicing the wine goblet in half with his blade, Adam pressed himself close to the native of Queens, though Isaac was experienced enough to keep the bovine therianthrope away from causing him harm. "No Semblance!" Flynt declared, shaking his head in awe. "Is he using his tech?!"
"Oh, no, Flynt-san!" Chiyo answered. "That's just old-fashioned experience and proper training under a good teacher."
"Who was his teacher, Miss Mihama? I'd like to shake that person's hand."
People turned as James Ironwood came up, accompanied by Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen. "You'll have to travel to a galaxy far, far away a long, long time ago to meet Qui-Gon Jinn-sensei, Ironwood-taishō," the Bright Genius said with a twinkle in her eye, earning her laughs from the other Terrans in the room as they gaped at her. The native of Itabashi then winked. "He lives in another dimension. Isaac-san followed a friend of ours, Hirosaki Chikage-san — she's a housemate of Neville-san's at Hogwarts — to that dimension to learn proper swordsmanship from the Jedi."
Jaws dropped. "You can go into ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS?!" Coco demanded.
"Hai, Coco-san!" the younger woman answered with an eager nod. "It's not really advisable to do so willy-nilly, but if you take the right precautions, it can go alright! Unfortunately, thanks to all the mesonium in this universe, you can only stay the equivalent of one solar year — depending on how long a solar year is for your native planet — in another dimension before being forced back. Only way around that if you want to stay longer — as Isaac-san and Chikage-san did — was to phase temporarily back to your home dimension before returning to where you were visiting."
"Sounds like a waste of time in the end," Weiss noted.
"It'd be pretty cool," Coco observed, nodding.
"What about this Stargate thing you mentioned?" Velvet wondered.
"Oh, that's a device that creates what we call on Earth an Einstein-Rosen bridge — a wormhole, I mean — between planets. The system was made by the Alterans to help with intergalactic travel when they were exploring this galaxy millions of years ago. After they ascended to non-corporeal form, they left the network behind for other people to discover. The Stargate on Earth is being used by the military of our most powerful nation for exploration purposes."
People's jaws dropped, then jolted on hearing running feet, making them look over as the four members of Team SSSN came in, accompanied by the Fukushima sisters save Mayako. "Miss Hinako?! Are you here?!" Sūn Wùkōng called.
Hinako looked over her shoulder, then she waved. "Hai, Sūn-san!"
Fukushima Fujiko and her sisters moved to gather close to the woman who effectively "salvaged them" the previous month while the team of huntsmen students from Mistral joined their friends. "Hinako-chan, Mayako-chan escorted Scamander-sensei and Candlewick-sensei back to Earth," the reborn first of her class reported. "Scamander-sensei wanted to get the sample he took from that kaijū that Miyuki-chan froze over to the Russians as soon as…"
"Whoa! Look at THAT, Nē-sama!"
Hearing the gasp of her sister Shirayuki, the adopted native of Maizuru looked up…
…then she boggled on seeing blurs of light in colliding arcs as two men tried to hack and slash away at each other. Awestruck at such a display of swordsmanship by the Wise Lone Sage, Fujiko sighed.
"Isaac-san is so COOL!" the Blizzard of Death then gushed.
Her sisters all gaped at her, then they snickered…
In a warehouse nearly a kilometre away…
Feeling a snarl rumbling in her throat even as the strange mental high she found herself submerged in moments before began to subside, Blake Belladonna took in several deep breaths while she watched the swift-moving sword fight between her former lover and her new teacher — even if Isaac Thomas hadn't made an offer to take the feline-form therianthrope under his wing, the fact that Blake's first lover took that plunge immediately convinced the daughter of the White Fang's first leader to do the same — that was shifting all over the floor of the warehouse. While the impossibility of someone who had NO Semblance whatsoever being able to keep up with the likes of Adam Taurus would have seemed like a mad dream to Blake, seeing the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei move just as quickly as the native Remnantian with his sword strikes and a couple well-aimed kicks to the gut was making the shadow-clone manipulator realize just how BIG and VARIED the wider universe around her homeworld really was.
While part of her was frightened at the idea of confronting such a universe, another part of her — the one that loved books, including a selection of science fiction and fantasy that had been popular in recent decades — was looking forward to getting out there and enjoying many "close encounters of the third kind" will species of other planets.
"How — can — you — DO — THIS?!"
Blake focused on Adam as he found himself back-to-back with his opponent, then stumbled as Isaac forced a little weight on the other man, making him lose his footing. The native of Queens was on him in an instant, snaring him by the neck with one hand as he pushed down with his lightsabre on Wilt towards the native man's eyes. "Oh, just a lot of thorough, intensive training by people who would have found you an annoyance at the most," the Wise Lone Sage calmly explained, clearly not winded by his exertions. "You're lucky I don't have a Jedi's ability to manipulate the Force. If I did, I could easily have imitated Master Anakin's move when it comes to dealing with idiots like you…"
"You — are — only — HUMAN!"
With a burst of power from his Semblance, the field leader of the White Fang back-flipped, sending his opponent tumbling back, the impact on his wrist enough to knock his lightsabre clear. Adam moved to hack the impudent human in half with Wilt, barely missing as Isaac somersaulted over to his side, getting back on his feet. Having moved AWAY from his weapon, however, made the native cackle in delight as he put himself between that blade and its welder.
"No more laser sword, you fool…UUMMPH!"
That was thanks to a punch to the jaw which jarred Adam's molars before his whole body then seemed to lift into the air due to a series of follow-up rapid gut punches, though the impact of each wasn't enough to make him drop Wilt or Blush. "Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!" Isaac chanted as he landed each blow in the soft flesh below his opponent's rib cage. "You honestly think I was never trained to fight hand-to-hand?!"
Several cheek blows made Adam stagger as his good eye glazing over because of how badly those hits were jarring his brain. "You really believe I just rely on my gadgets?!" the Wise Lone Sage then wondered. "Come on, Adam! Any fool would know that! Depending on only ONE Gift on Yiziba is a fast way of experiencing your death scene!"
"THEN EXPERIENCE YOURS, THOMAS!"
A storm of energy burst forth towards the native of Queens, who dropped to the floor, pivoted and spun around with his legs, tripping up the other man and making him expend all that energy into the ceiling.
The results were…predictable.
Isaac vaulted up, then somersaulted clear as a good section of roof came down atop his opponent. As Adam screamed in anger, the Wise Lone Sage flashed Blake a knowing look, getting a nod in return…
Back at Roman Torchwick's old warehouse…
"Oh, this is going to get GOOD!" Seth Rollins noted, a knowing grin on his face.
As Saeru Hinako snickered in amusement, Neopolitan came over to sit beside the Iowan and his co-worker from Florida Championship Wrestling. "Ti'ibie?" the Valean mercenary whispered, keeping her voice down as she really didn't want any of the natives to learn that she could talk again.
"Only the best," Roman Leakee advised…
Meanwhile…
"That is so AMAZING!"
Isaac Thomas also had quite the audience in the Doll House as well.
"Yeah! For a guy who isn't a FISS-type, he's one hell of a scrapper!"
Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos gazed upon Takino Tomo, who was slurping one of Mihama Chiyo's homemade shakes; since the Bright Genius often worked in the pocket dimension created by the first incarnation of Yiziba's most powerful reality warper, she kept some ready supplies in one of the shallow "caves" where synthezoids were created and moulded to take in a living soul for Gifting. "How did he learn to fight like that, Tomo?" the Mistralite warrior who would have been the Fall Maiden hadn't Cinder Fall interfered like she did the previous evening asked.
"Well, we don't have those stupid Grimm on Earth, but Yiziba's got its own bunch of creepy-crawlies that are a handful to deal with," the Wild Warrior of Passion noted as she watched Isaac continue to duck Adam Taurus' more wild swings with his blade, using Muhammad Ali's patented in-ring manoeuvres which made the native of Louisville the truly greatest boxer of all time. No doubt, the Wild Lone Sage was using some of his tech in a stealth manner to make sure that the dumb bull couldn't use that "semblance" gift of his to draw in the necessary kinetic power to unleash some choice energy blasts. "And you got all sorts of fighters on the planet that'll want to duke it out with you for whatever reason, so you gotta be prepared to deliver a curb stop right back if you want to survive."
Hearing such a comment from the native of Itabashi who was the wild one even before being Gifted, Pyrrha shuddered as the implications of becoming one of the Children of the Forge sank in. While it was expected that she would remain on Remnant to help put down the Grimm and finally end the terror campaign the Queen of Darkness had unleashed on the planet over the last two millennia, visits to Yiziba would also be in the cards. To confront a society that revelled in living in a state of total anarchy, with NO proper civil authority to guide various communities…!
Well, it certainly explained why some many sentient races living on planets near the World of the Forge preferred to NOT want to think of that place or those who lived there.
As the four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament for huntsmen turned back to see Isaac shift to close-range grappling moves to disarm Adam — who was visibly more dazed thanks to several repeated punches to the skull — the once-gynoid native of Atlas was busy looking at a projected computer screen emanating from the remarkable "personal administrative assistant" device that had been given to her by Mihama Chiyo before the young girl travelled to Vale to help out with the White Fang. On the screen there was the image of a human male in his late forties, with long greying brown hair tied in a simple ponytail, his face covered by a well-trimmed beard and moustache. He was dressed in a simple khaki and brown robe ensemble. Reading his biography, Penny then blinked before her eyes went wide. "Master Jinn was killed…and then REBORN?!" she demanded.
Pyrrha and Tomo gazed on her, then the latter flipped around to lean over the once-gynoid's shoulder to gaze at the screen. "Oh, yeah! Wasn't intentional," the Wild Warrior of Passion advised.
"But Yizibajohei frown on death cheating, Tomo," Penny observed.
A hand bopped her on the head, making the adopted Atlesian wince. "Oi! New girl! Pay attention! I said it wasn't intentional!" Tomo snarled. "Yeah, Chikage-chan's old man was being dumb spreading ebony mesonium around when he visited the Galactic Republic when that asshole Sidious started making his moves to take over the galaxy! He didn't realize what that stuff would ultimately do to Jinn-sensei or Maul-sensei when they and Kenobi-sensei had it out on Naboo in The Phantom Menace! Don't worry about it, alright?! After Chikage-chan got there on her Magical Quest last summer, she fixed it around! He'll live as long as Yoda-sensei will, but that's not death cheating, okay!"
"That'd probably fall under the category of 'luck of the fight scene', Penny," Pyrrha noted.
Considering that for a moment, Penny then nodded. "I would like to create a lightsabre," she then declared. Practically in answer to such a wish, her mind linked to the PAA to draw up a screen showing the specifications of such a device powered by the Atom of True Life, first designed by Hirosaki Chikage, the current incarnation of the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos, Nosyo'or'bem ("Dragonheart"); such being necessitated because kyber crystals from planets such as Ilum couldn't be permanently brought across the dimensional barriers. "It seems a most interesting weapon to possess."
"'Not as clumsy or random as a blaster'," a new voice called out, making Tomo and the Remnantians turn as two people arrived, one of whom made Penny's eyes nearly shoot out of her head. "'An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.'"
A chuckle escaped the native of Coruscant who accompanied Tomo's best friend into the Doll House. "I doubt Obi-Wan would appreciate being quoted like that. Especially since he never had to say that to young Luke," Qui-Gon Jinn noted as he sat where the Wild Warrior of Passion had been, focusing on the screen projecting the battle between his former duelling student and the quasi-humanoid man with the dark hair that seemed to radiate all types of hate.
The current incarnation of the Mistress of the Mind-Dive, Tum Kamtimta ("Soul Searcher"), rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe the idiot will learn not to fall back on the old theme music many Jedi followed which allowed that shrived old monkey Palpatine to do what he did to Anakin-kun sometime after you 'died' when he decided to close out the Clone Wars," Mizuhara Koyomi then advised as she shifted a chair over to sit down beside Penny.
"So, what are you doing here, Sensei?" Tomo wondered.
"Chikage warned me Isaac was getting into an interesting situation with this Remnant planet that attracted his interest sometime ago," Qui-Gon explained as he nodded in understanding. Even if he was well-trained in lightsabre combat, the Coruscanti master of the Force had understood for a long time there were many other forms of combat to employ which didn't require the use of such a killing blade. "I assume this incident he's involved in now is part of that."
"Unfortunately, Master Jinn," Pyrrha stated, bowing her head to him.
"Explain it to me, please."
The Mistralite smiled before she began…
Back in Vale at Roman Torchwick's old warehouse…
"That's quite the mix of fighting styles Mister Thomas is using."
Hearing that criticism from Glynda Goodwitch, the native of Buffalo in Iowa smirked as he crossed his arms. "On Yiziba, it's always wise to have a few tricks up your sleeve, especially if you're going to be living in the big cities," Seth Rollins affirmed as he indicated Isaac Thomas' image on the holographic screen. As the native of Queens flipped the dazed Adam Taurus up into a jackknife powerbomb to send the native of Atlas head-first into the hard floor of the warehouse they were fighting in — such being enough to make the field leader of the White Fang let go of both his weapons, giving the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei hyper-genius polymath the chance to flip himself in the direction of his fallen lightsabre — the current Florida Heavyweight Champion added, "You'd never expect something like THIS from a brainiac like Isaac back in the old days. It'd all be a duel of tech gadgets after tech gadgets…"
"What ultimately changed, Mister Rollins?" James Ironwood asked as he walked over to stand beside his friend.
"Tariko," Roman Leakee affirmed with a smirk.
Hearing the name of the woman who had launched Earth's second metahuman age, the Fukushima sisters gazed at the native of Pensacola. "Um, does anyone have any idea where Tariko-san is?" Fukushima Miyuki asked. "I mean, she's been missing since September. That's seven months! Yeah, people say she's often vanished for a bit, but not that…"
Saeru Hinako hummed. "Maybe Naomi-san could find Tariko-san."
"What's wrong, Little Sunshine?"
The native of Niigata shuddered on hearing that cute nickname applied to her by a certain adopted native of southern California and Massachusetts. "Well, Tariko-san's been missing for a while now, Naomi-san," Hinako explained as Naomi Haight-Ashbury came over to sit on the same empty cargo box that Neopolitan was using. As the just-Gifted Valean mercenary's eyes went wide while her psionic capabilities almost got overwhelmed by the transformed missile cruiser's cosmic-level aura, the younger girl added, "People are starting to get worried about her. Could you find her?"
Naomi hummed as her head rocked to and fro while she considered that request. "Well, I gotta get back to Chocolate City to talk to Papa J about what's been going down here. He's got to warn the cool cats at the SGC to not dial into this place until the Borg Queen's deleted, if you know what I mean." Here, she gave Glynda and Ironwood a knowing look, getting understanding nods from the locals. "I'll keep in touch with you on the flip side, Little Sunshine."
And with a flash of energy, she vanished. Jaws dropped on seeing her go like that, then Fukushima Fujiko gazed at the girl who helped "salvage" her. "Um, Hinako-chan, she didn't use a PAA…"
WHAT IN OUM'S NAME WAS SHE, ANYWAY?! Neo effectively questioned via a handy sign.
Hinako sighed. "That's a very, very, VERY long story, Neo-san…"
"There!"
Hearing Seth's warning, heads snapped back towards the holographic screen, which now showed Adam getting back to his feet, snapping up Wilt as he moved to charge towards Isaac. As the snorting bovine therianthrope seemed ready to slice his current opponent down, the Wise Lone Sage smirked…
PSSSHHEW!
"Now we're evenly matched again," Isaac calmly teased after his lightsabre blade easily blocked off Wilt's downward sweep; the native of Queens had kept his weapon behind his back as his opponent charged him. "Shall we finish this?"
Adam shuddered before yet another bellow of outrage escaped him…
Within the other warehouse…
The masked Blake Belladonna could only shake her head in disbelief on seeing what she now understood was a normal guy despite this "Gift" which made him a hyper-genius among his people standing toe-to-toe against her former lover. Even after what had to be some intensive minutes of fighting, Isaac Thomas didn't appear to be sweating whatsoever while Adam Taurus was now sucking in a lot of air in ragged breaths, his body quaking as the adrenaline rush which he had felt on getting a chance to permanently deal with the pesky alien was obviously draining from his muscles. As she felt Monica Khan's hands grip her shoulders — the niece of the current leader of the White Fang was masked by her old lover's cloaking Semblance as they observed their new teacher's work — Blake felt her breath catch in her throat as Isaac spread his legs, his free hand thrust forward while his lightsabre was held back as if to parry something…
Roaring, Adam leapt into the air, sending Blush spiralling like a propeller at his target while sweeping Wilt up to unleash a devastating down cut with the blade to hack Isaac in half. Grinning, the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei brought his lightsabre around in a cross-cut, bashing the combined rifle/scabbard into a nearby wall with enough force to blow open a large hole. That evergreen blade of mesonium-fuelled plasma then caught Wilt effortlessly as Isaac spun and twirled, sending the Remnantian flying out the hole he just made with the native's weapon. As Adam crashed down on the street beyond, Isaac calmly followed him outside, which prompted Blake to become visible, then she beckoned Monica to follow her out the original hole their fellow Faunus had made at the start of this confrontation.
Once clear of the portal Adam just made, Isaac's blade twirled to catch several bolts of energy from Wilt, sending those beams of energy careening off harmlessly into the air. Seeing that, Adam howled as his whole body seemed to darken, then he triggered his Semblance and charged at a near blur on his target, leaping once more into the air to cut Isaac down. Instantly, an explosion of smoke masked the blond man in a dense cloud of grey, though Adam instinctively knew that there was just no way that the annoying human could dodge or parry something like this…
KK-KRUNCH!
A howling scream escaped the field leader of the White Fang as a boot slammed into his groin!
Back in Roman Torchwick's old warehouse…
All the men there — regardless of if they were Remnantian, Terran or Yizibajohei — instantly winced, their legs coming together instinctively on seeing such a nasty strike by the Wise Lone Sage.
THE SQUIRREL MANOEUVRE! Neopolitan signed, grinning. ALWAYS GO FOR THE NUTS!
Seeing that, the older girls roared with laughter as Saeru Hinako and Mihama Chiyo rolled their eyes…
Back once more outside a certain warehouse…
Adam Taurus snarled as he tried to dismiss the near-blinding pain shooting up from between his legs. As he slowly tried to get back up, the voice of his current opponent then teased, "And your next line is…"
"YOU'RE READING MY MOVES! HOW?!"
The field leader of the White Fang jolted as he fully recovered, staring in dumbfounded shock at the Wise Lone Sage; both men had shouted those words. "It was quite easy to predict," Isaac Thomas calmly stated as he returned to the quite dramatic and disciplined Soresu opening stance he started this latest bout with. "Learn some new moves for a change, Adam! It was child's play to figure out your fighting style; I just finished analyzing it now! After I'm done with you, I'll make VERY sure that both Blake AND Yáng know how to put you down like the rabid BULL you are!"
Snarling, Adam quickly bounded up to the roof of the neighbouring warehouse, using his free hand to beckon his opponent up. "High ground, Isaac! It's over! Surrender and I'll make your death quick!"
"Don't underestimate my powers, Adam!"
With that, the Wise Lone Sage leapt into the air, bounding high enough to do unto Adam what the latter had tried to do on the former a moment before. Cackling, the bovine therianthrope leapt up, Wilt becoming a blinding crimson blur to decapitate and dismember the human, causing body parts to drop both on the warehouse roof and the street below. As the native of Atlas dropped to the roof with a scream of triumph, a FAMILIAR voice teased, "You will now say…"
"Good riddance to you, fool!"
That caused Adam to jolt…as the body parts of his "fallen" opponent vanished, replaced by a tiny spheroid machine that was floating in mid-air at his eye level even if a fair-sized cut in the metallic hull allowed severed circuits to spark. Blinking on realizing that yet AGAIN, Isaac predicted EXACTLY what he was going to say, Adam slowly turned…
…as the air two metres behind him fizzled into the intact body of the native of Queens, his lightsabre held down by his side. "You just wrecked a perfectly good hologram projector, Adam," Isaac said. "While I was keeping you busy, Blake — who watched it all from the shadows — was so nice to set it up for me just in case this would happen."
As the darkened areas of the Remnantian's body began to fizzle indicating that Adam was starting to lose conscious control over his Semblance, the native of Atlas sputtered out, "H-how…? Th-that's not p-p-POSSIBLE…!" He then pointed in accusation at Isaac. "You're only HUMAN…! YOU'RE ONLY HUMAN!"
"Oh, spare me that!" the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei sneered. "'Umale mabeku', Neopolitan called you! In my adopted language, it means 'sub-human trash'. Befitting for someone like you, Mister Taurus!" As that statement sank home, making Adam's teeth gnash as his Semblance darkened, Isaac's finger tapped a control to turn his evergreen blade into a dark ruby shade with a core of pure black. "And no, I don't mean your physical looks! I've been a dozen moves ahead of you all this time! Predicting you is BORING! And that's NOT a state you'd want someone like me in!"
With a scream, Adam leapt up and back to attempt a retreat…
…only to have his tunic sliced opened by Isaac's lightsabre, the sudden injection of ebony-pattern mesonium being enough to send the equivalent of THOUSANDS of volts of electricity through the Remnantian's body. As a howling scream escaped the field leader of the White Fang — instantly cut off when he crashed down on the roof of the warehouse where he had first confronted the Wise Lone Sage — the native of Queens dropped down to a perfect three-point stance nearly, he then deactivating the blade before securing it on his belt, then he calmly rose to his feet.
"Checkmate."
Back where everyone else was…
A roaring scream of delight escaped the locals who saw this save for the members of the White Fang, all of whom looked devastated at the sight of their leader being brought down so easily by a mere HUMAN of all things. As Seth Rollins and Roman Leakee high-fived each other and the Fukushima sisters all screamed banzai cheers at such a show of swordsmanship, Leno Lu'umlo nodded in delight before teleporting himself off Remnant for home.
Only Neopolitan noted his departure…
And once again with Isaac and Adam…
"Do it…finish me off…!"
Hearing that groaned hiss from Adam Taurus, Isaac Thomas shook his head. "No," the Wise Lone Sage answered. "Killing you is too EASY for someone like me. You might say it's not SPORTING!" An amused smirk crossed his face as his peripheral vision picked up Blake Belladonna and Monica Khan leaping onto the roof, keeping their distance from the man who once claimed the former's heart from the latter. "I just beat you in front of someone you still care for," he then added, pointing towards the raven-haired feline therianthrope huntsman nearby, making Adam's good eye widen in shock. "Besides, it's a point of propriety among natives of Yiziba, even adopted ones like me."
The smile then turned ghoulish. "You're Blake's fight scene. Not mine."
As Adam jolted before he sent a pleading look towards his old lover — getting only a head turned away in answer — the native of Queens added, "You'll live. You'll live knowing you LOST to me today. I know you won't tell Salem or any of that death cheater's friends like Miss Fall. You're too PRIDEFUL for that." With that, he turned to head over to where Blake and Monica stood. "Know this, Adam Taurus: It will not be ME that will stop your dreams of genocide. It'll be Miss Belladonna here…along with the one whose arm you took last night within the confines of Beacon!"
After taking a step, he looked back. "I'll ensure that."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
A weak yet deep chuckle answered. "Them…?" Adam demanded as he rose. "Don't bet on it, Isaac! Do you really think you can help a COWARD and a woman whose WILL was shattered by my blade last night to defeat ME?!"
He smirked on seeing Blake instinctively cringe from that sneered comment…before his good eye widened in outrage as the niece of his current leader moved to comfort her, she sending a warning look his way. "Think of what just happened to Neopolitan, Adam," Isaac then commented. "Master Leno — you'll remember him as the man your people couldn't come close to touching — isn't the only one on Yiziba who can access the greatest power in the known UNIVERSE! By the time I'm finished with Blake and Yáng — and Weiss and Ruby as well — they'll be so insanely strong, there's no hope at all that Madame Salem will ever sink this planet into misery as she's done over the last two millennia! You better pray that when that fight scene comes, friend, they'll be as merciful as I was today!"
He then turned fully away. "Otherwise…you are already dead."
Adam gargled…
…before the nearby roof suddenly transformed into a slender teenage woman with clearly reptilian skin features. As Isaac smirked knowingly, Blake and Monica gasped in stunned recognition. "ILIA?!"
Instantly, the newcomer snared the staggering Adam, then dropped several spheroid devices on the roof between herself and the Wise Lone Sage. All of them suddenly exploded in balls of blinding light, causing Blake and Monica to shriek as they spun away; Isaac's only response was to raise his cape as his own goggles automatically shaded over to protect his eyes. After a moment, the effects of the flash grenades faded, allowing the native of Queens to do a cursory scan of his immediate environs. Noting that Ilia Amitola — he had learned of the chameleonic therianthrope from Menagerie in earlier examinations of local data banks — had been able to get her wounded leader to a nearby Bullhead to escape Vale altogether, he sighed. "Well, now that that's over with, let's make sure about the others."
Hearing that, Monica perked. "You're just letting him go?!"
"Relax, Monica," Isaac stated as he beckoned both her and Blake to follow so they could rejoin the others. "His pride has been hurt way worse than any physical wounds I delivered to him just now. His worldview's been badly shaken up. He's always seen himself as being on top of the world, even above someone like Salem. Now I've blown holes in that large enough to sail a starship through." He then gave Blake a knowing look. "And I hope the chance comes that you and Yáng DO show mercy at the end, Blake. There's nothing worse than punishing a fanatic like him by making him watch as the society he wants to turn on its head moves on to the point where your father's dream of equality between humans and Faunus comes true. That will hurt someone like Adam most of all."
"It'll be a long fight," Blake warned.
"Yes. And an INTERESTING one, too!" he affirmed with a wink.
Both natives stopped as they stared askance at him, then Monica shook her head, putting her fists to her hips as her tail whipped around in annoyance. "You want to know something, Isaac?! You Yizibajohei are just plain STRANGE!"
"Of COURSE we are, Miss Khan! Being normal is…!"
Here, he made a face as if he had smelled something vile. Blake and Monica stared at him before both snorted, trying to fight back the laughter that surged up in answer to THAT comment.
Finally, it was just too much for them.
As delighted and relieved laughter echoed over the industrial sectors of Vale City, the three new friends leapt to the lane below, then headed off to join their friends…
In reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of Vale city, aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship Normandy, lunchtime…
"SAL-U-TA-TIONS!"
Hearing that cheerful and quite ear-jarring greeting, the small group of huntsmen who had been relaxing in one of the main lounges on the Normandy gaped, then they spun around…
"PENNY!"
Penny Polendina gasped in understandable surprise as both Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna nearly speared her with their joyous hugs, their colliding with her sending them and the once-gynoid from Atlas flat onto the deck as the members of Team RWBY present nearly squeezed the air out of her lungs in delight. As the two natural-born huntsmen from Atlas whooped on seeing their adopted countrywoman quite alive and well, the others in the lounge applauded…then all the alumni of the Beacon Academy, even Weiss and Blake, gasped in disbelief on seeing the OTHER "victim" of last night's battle walk into the room, cheeks red in embarrassment as she tried to discretely cover herself given how form-fitting her new jumpsuit was. "PYRRHA!" Coco Adel screamed out.
Pyrrha Nikos awked as her tall peer nearly sent the Mistralite into a bulkhead with her own hug. Before the would-be Fall Maiden could say anything, they were immediately joined by a laughing Velvet Scarlatina, then Blake and Weiss. As the still-normal huntsmen fired concerned questions at the would-be Fall Maiden, Penny smiled before she rolled on her back before somersaulting back to her feet; unlike her fellow "dead" Vytal Festival participant, the Atlesian wasn't the least bit embarrassed by her new mode of dress. "Hey, Penny! Are you still combat ready?!" Flynt Coal wondered.
Green eyes brightened for a second. "Of course, Flynt…!"
People then blinked as Penny's voice trailed off for a second while a confused look crossed her face. "Are you okay, Penny?" Blake wondered as she came over to squeeze the shoulders of her team leader's beloved friend.
The Atlesian blinked several times before she sighed. "No, I am not combat ready, Blake Belladonna," she declared in a forlorn voice. "I may be a battle doll as Lady Ayumu so arranged when she came to Remnant from Earth last night to assist Isaac Thomas in rescuing both Pyrrha Nikos and I, but I am not properly Gifted, so I am clearly not ready in the Yizibajohei sense to engage in battle. Therefore, I cannot say I am combat ready as I was when I was simply a gynoid."
"'Gynoid'?" Neon Katt wondered.
"From the Terran language known as Greek, Neon; that is one of the classic languages on Earth." As the people who attended Beacon nodded on noting that the once-gynoid had addressed her fellow countrywoman without family name as she normally did, Penny added, "It is based on a combination of the words guné (meaning 'woman') and eidés (meaning 'likeness'). It is a term that Isaac Thomas introduced to me last night before my bout with Pyrrha Nikos. I find that a far more satisfying term to use to describe what I once was than 'artificial person' or 'synthetic person'."
"Even though technically, both Penny and I are now synthezoids."
Eyes locked on Pyrrha. "Did it hurt?!" Velvet wondered.
The Mistralite huntress shook her head as she reached over to scratch her schoolmate's head between her upper set of ears, making the leporid therianthrope shudder in delight at such an act of friendship. "It really doesn't feel much different than what I felt like when I was in my old body. I still feel my aura and semblance in me…even if something else is also starting to probe inside my body. Yomi told me that's the sentience of the Great Crystal of Power starting to analyze my aura, which will allow various Gift seeds to seek me out to permit a perfect match before I'm Gifted."
Confused looks answered her…
"Pyrrha-san, you need to explain some things first!"
Hearing that scolding voice from the Bright Genius, Penny beamed. "Hello, Chiyo. I have yet to sense a Gift that would merge well with my own aura," the Atlesian then sadly reported as the nominal leader of the Azuma Gang came into the room, making the native Faunus all shudder as they once again felt themselves emotionally overwhelmed at the presence of such a cute girl while the human ones just smiled in greeting. "How long does this process last?"
The native of Itabashi hummed as she walked over to a nearby replicator unit. "Well, it depends on what your inner soul desires, Penny-san. And yes, you DO have a soul, so don't worry about people here who might turn around and say you're like one of the Grimm." As the Remnantians winced, Chiyo smiled as a good-sized pile of danishes appeared. "Ah! Dekimashita!" she called out before placing the plate on the table before going over to make another while people took their seats. "It can happen almost instantly. It can take time. One person I know of, Cordelia Chase-san, was pre-Gifted some years ago and she still hasn't found the right sort of Gift for her to take. Good thing she's protected by her friends in Sunnydale; that place is even WORSE than some places here on Remnant!"
"I thought you Terrans didn't have Grimm," Sūn Wùkōng noted before biting on a danish.
"No, we don't have Grimm, Sūn-san. What we do have in many places all over the planet are interdimensional invaders from pocket dimensions that are closely connected to our own who are normally addressed as 'devils' or 'demons' by most people on Earth," she noted. "Sunnydale is a place in America where there's an interdimensional nexus that allows these invaders to come into our dimension proper, often to cause trouble. Fortunately, there are a whole group of Gifted people there and in nearby Sweet Valley that can handle them. Cordelia-san is affiliated to the group in Sunnydale; they call themselves the 'Scooby Gang' after an old American anime series that's very popular."
"How many nations are on your planet?" Neptune Vasilias asked.
She smiled. "Oh, there are lots!" she noted as she brought over the second plate of danishes. She then tapped a control on the table between everyone to allow a hologram of Earth to appear. "This is Earth," she announced before pointing at one archipelago off the eastern coast of the largest continental mass. "This is Nihon; 'Japan' in English. I come from here, as does Hinako-chan, Ōsaka-…" She caught herself. "I mean Ayumu-san, Yomi-san and Tomo-chan…"
"DAMN IT, ŌSAKA! JUST BE ŌSAKA!"
Everyone jolted, then Pyrrha sighed. "What a maniac…!"
"Who the hell was that?!" Flynt wondered.
Penny leaned over to whisper, "A very silly person, Flynt."
"Is that the name of the One Above the Gods?" Neon wondered.
"Hai, Neon-san. Her proper name is Kasuga Ayumu; in Japan, the family name comes first. Everyone nicknames her 'Ōsaka' because she lived in the city of the same name before she moved to Tōkyō last spring and joined us in our school." Here, the Bright Genius pointed out the two largest cities in Japan.
"That's quite the writing script you people use," Sage Ayana noted; both city names had been displayed in both the Latin-like script used on Remnant as well as the proper kanji.
"It's one of three forms of writing we constantly use in Japan, Sage-san," Chiyo noted. "Anyhow, here's the United States of America; most people call it 'America', the 'US' or the 'States'. This is where Isaac-san, Margo-san, Roman-san and Seth-san come from," she explained as the globe twirled around to display the most powerful nation of Earth. "Isaac-san comes from New York City here. Margo-san currently lives in Savannah down here. Roman-san is from Pensacola here. And Seth-san hails from Buffalo here." She indicated the locations in question.
"How many people live on Earth now?" Coco wondered.
"Oh, it's over seven billion people now, Coco-san."
Jaws dropped as that number sank into people's minds. "How in Oum's Name do you feed them all?!" Blake demanded, her eyes nearly popping out of her head in disbelief. "The landmass of Earth is almost the same as Remnant, but we've only got a fraction of those numbers in all the known kingdoms…"
A tired sigh escaped Chiyo. "With much difficulty depending on which country you're living in, Blake-san. Earth isn't a fully equal place technologically or socially. Hopefully, our presence there will change things over the next few decades, but you don't want to force such changes too fast. If you did that, wars result."
"And given how alien races close to us have taken considerable interest in Earth, that's not a smart thing to do," a strange voice hailed, making people look up as the master of the Normandy came in, accompanied by the current leader of Atlas' military forces plus the headmaster of Beacon and two of his teachers. "I trust everyone's recovered?"
"What happened to Neopolitan, Isaac?" Monica Khan wondered. Once they had boarded the ship, the young huntsmen came to the same lounge she and her friends had been occupying. That had made for a couple tense moments before her former lover had cleared the air with her peers, then everyone got to talk about what had happened over the last day.
Isaac Thomas took his seat. "She's gone now to gather some of her personal possessions and clear out of Vale City for the time being. She didn't tell me where she was going to now," the Wise Lone Sage announced as Shannon Ozpin and James Ironwood sat to his left while Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen sat to his right. "As to what she will do, that's ultimately up to her. Fortunately for him, Leno won't force Neo to join up with him or follow a specific path from now on; despite his insistence on ensuring a balance remains between faces and heels, he doesn't try to enslave people."
"I believe that needs to be explained first, Isaac," the headmaster of Beacon warned.
"True, Professor. True," the native of Queens noted, holding up a warning finger. "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is the first class of 'Yiziba 101'. That number is often used in higher schools on Earth to denote an introductory course of study." As his audience tensed, he reached for the table to tap a control to draw up a new hologram. "Let's start with Professor Ozpin's suggestion and explain face/heel/neutral social divisions…"
That moment in downtown Manhattan (local time: An hour before lunch; Moskvá time: Monday, an hour after supper)…
A tired sigh escaped the middle-aged red-haired woman now standing in the middle of the main examination space used by the American magical research group at the headquarters of the Department of Magic, she trying to keep a firm handle on the wild levels of magic that she had trained herself for over a CENTURY to master. "N'júton Artemísovich, if this is meant to be a joke, my comrades and I do NOT find it the least bit amusing," the woman known throughout the world as the "Bloody Siberian She-Bear" nearly growled out as she glared at Newt Scamander.
A tired sigh answered the famous farmer's daughter from near Múrom east of Moskvá from the magical zoologist from Devonshire. "Do I look like I would joke about something as awful as THIS, Svetlána Il'ínichna?" he answered as his eyes misted over before he wiped his face down, then he glared at the crystal of mesonium that was holding the remnants of a Remnantian king taijitu. "In all my years of tracking down and researching magical creatures, I NEVER thought I would run into ANY sort of living remnant of the Great Expulsion that survived to this day…" A wry smile crossed his face as he gazed on his current host. "Until I got the chance to travel to another PLANET, of course!"
"Bózhe moj, man! Are you saying that a whole PLANET is being overwhelmed by…?!" Here, Professor Vladisláv Konstantínovich Kuznetsóv paused as his own skin turned especially grey before he focused on the cursed thing that had been brought by both Scamander and his American colleague to Earth from Remnant for the Russians to examine. "What type of mad bljad' is playing around with the descendants of…of…of THEM?!"
A hand grasped that of her former subordinate; back during the Wars of Liberation, then-Lieutenant Colonel V.K. Kuznetsóv commanded the battalion of curse-breakers and warders that helped the Moskvá Mágicheskie Front fight their war of near-annihilation against Gellert Grindelwald's Magische Reichsarmee for the future of magicals and normals in an age where a third group of humans were rising to make their own long-lasting impact on mankind. "Calm down, Sláva! You know N'júsha wouldn't bring something like THIS to our attention just as a mere prank!"
The experienced curse-breaker and ward master stared at his old front commander and now minister emeritus of Russia's magical government, then he sighed. "Yes, my Marshal, you're right," he affirmed as he gently patted the hand of Svetlána Il'ínichna Múrometsa before he gave Scamander an apologetic look. "My deepest apologies, N'júton Artemísovich. It's just that…" Here, he scowled as he fought down the urge to draw his wand and blast that crystal with its dark contents into nothingness. "To confront remnants of the beings that the Wise Ones nearly killed themselves to forever remove from the Svjaschénnoe Tsárstvo Imperátora Túndry during that hideous time before Vladímir Rússalovich Taychéshko and his friend removed those mezhzvjózdnye mónstry from our planet…!"
"I feel the same way, Vladisláv Konstantínovich," Scamander declared.
As the party who had come from the Ministry of Magical Affairs in Sankt-Peterbúrg nodded in approval — those who were old enough like Múrometsa and Kuznetsóv to remember Scamander's visit to the Soviet Union in the early 1930s all knew that the quirky Englishman had done far MUCH more than just catalogue magical creatures in the Ródina — Peter Candlewick took a deep breath. "Still, this doesn't answer the big question we now face. A whole PLANET is being plagued by these Grimm and whoever is controlling them. If what Professor Kuznetsóv just confirmed is true, these things ARE the literal descendants of the alconóst." The whole room seemed to chill a dozen degrees on his saying that one word. "If Isaac's plan to help the people of that planet — who ARE our distant cousins thanks to the Ancients! — is to succeed, we need to give him a sure-fire way to eliminate these things wholesale."
"Tat'jána Andrévna Chapáeva speaks very highly of Isaák Fomích Tómas," Múrometsa declared as her companions gazed expectantly at her. As her countrymen looked expectantly at her, the woman who had been the TRUE threat to Grindelwald during the Wars of Liberation took a deep breath. "We will need to consult with our wise comrades. They may bring news of this to Comrade Túndra, most likely. As to what HIS reaction will be…!"
Shudders ran through everyone there. Magicals had long known of the oldest of the Great Old Ones whose spiritual domain literally covered the Arctic region of Earth. Encounters between Túndra and magical researchers and explorers who ventured into those frozen wastes from Eurasia and North America had been well documented over the centuries. Through them, it had been learned that the three-million-year-old nature spirit tended to respect more those who were touched by the Atom of True Life such as the Undying Lord of Rügen and the Praetorian Guardian of Old Rjazán', which could be found in considerable quantities in both Canada and Russia. During the dark years leading to the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia before, the ancestors of the modern gamájun in the cold steppes of Siberia had taken advantage of that, winning Túndra's everlasting protecting and helping them overcome and annihilate the alconóst…
Or so people had believed until now.
Considering what the reaction from Earth's oldest sentient being could be like once it learned of the descendants of the accursed alconóst living many ages after Túndra had demanded their complete extermination, even a hardened warrior like Svetlána Múrometsa found herself shuddering in fear. Much that the Bloody Siberian She-Bear who had been the lethal bane of old imperial Russian purebloods during the early years of Iósif Vissariónovich Stálin's rule over the Soviet Union had gladly faced down even metahumans during her campaign to help liberate Europe from Gellert Grindelwald's and Adolf Hitler's dark grasps, she cared NOT to face the likes of the Ancient Emperor of Ice…!
"You won't need to bug the Major about that, General."
Hearing that from the reborn living spirit of America's first nuclear surface warship, Múrometsa gazed over. "What does that mean, Naómi Evgén'evna?" the veteran of the magical side of the Russian Revolution and the Second World War asked, referring to Naomi Haight-Ashbury with her chosen name and the patronymic based on the given name of the first captain of USS Long Beach, retired Vice-Admiral Eugene Parks Wilkinson from Naomi's namesake city.
"Now that I'm able to tune into the songs of Mother Gaia and Father Vólos…" — her mentioning the name of the old Slavic god of the earth earned the cruiser a smile of approval from Múrometsa and several of her friends — "…there's something way up in the steppes the beautiful wise ones…" — that was Naomi's nickname for the gamájun, everyone automatically knew — "…often use when they want to avoid the pigs that want to turn them into bed warmers!"
"You mean the supposed 'gamájun redoubt' that's said to be there, Mama Cass?" Candlewick asked.
"Yeah, Pete!" Here, the adopted native of Long Beach and Quincy then blinked. "S'funny…!"
"What is it, Naósha?" Múrometsa asked.
A curious look crossed Naomi's face. "It reminds me of Little Snowfall and her sisters…"
People blinked at that observation…
To Be Continued…!
WRITER'S NOTES
What happened to Steve Austin is first noted on in Extreme Shipgirls.
The multi-dimensional "Magical Quest" Hirosaki Chikage (Dragonheart) engaged in over the past few years was first noted on in various places; this is a recurring theme in several of Fred's stories using her. Her maternal grandfather Hirosaki Ryūji (first introduced in Fred's Illusions series) engaged in a similar quest in the 1930s before the Second World War/Wars of Liberation. An example of what happened can be seen in Fred's Icemaidens series. It was noted in The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone that Ryūji made use of ebony-pattern mesonium to aid in his dimensional jumps. It was because of that, as noted above, that both Qui-Gon Jinn and Maul of Dathomir (AKA Darth Maul) were able to survive their deaths as shown in The Phantom Menace; this, of course, negates what was shown to have happened to Maul in the more recent The Clone Wars or Rebels televisions series.
Translation list and source language (all Russian unless noted): Ti'ibie — Yizibajohei version of kayfabe; Chocolate City — Nickname for Washington D.C. or other cities with large African-American populations (English); Bózhe moj — God help us; Bljad' — Whore; Moskvá Mágicheskie Front — Moscow Magical Front (a front is the equal of an army group in the West); Magische Reichsarmee — Imperial Magical Army (German); Svjaschénnoe Tsárstvo Imperátora Túndry — Sacred Realm of Emperor Túndra; Mezhzvjózdnye mónstry — Interstellar monsters.
Ilia Amitola first appeared in the RWBY episode "A Much-Needed Talk" (fourth volume, eighth episode).
The name of Newt Scamander's father is not known; the use of one of his middle names "Artemis" for his father is Fred's choice. Also, Svetlána Múrometsa first appeared in the third Wizards and Avalonians side stories to Fred's Phoenix From the Ashes; her back story is better described in Magic and Canada. Vladímir Taychéshko (Lord Rjazán') first appeared in Fred's Wanderers; his own back story is also better explained in Magic and Canada. Tat'jána Chapáeva (the Philosopher) has been mentioned in other stories of this series.