I don't own RWBY, this is purely fictional work.

Chapter 1 Washed up and not alone

On the sandy beach, in the middle of a clear sunny day, *Cough Cough* a person is washed up on the shoreline. It is Ruby Rose as she crawls further inland before rolling over to take in some deep breaths and to relax her body after her mid-falling with Neo after Cinder betrayed Neo by launching a torrent of flames into Neo's face. Neo lost her grip and the two fell then there was nothing but darkness and then a splash. She seemed to have landed in an ocean, thankfully there was land not too far away but it still ended up as quite the swim.

Ruby thinks to herself, 'Where am I…and where did Neo go?'

Ruby props herself up and looks around the empty sandy beach then behind her where there is a steep grassy ledge to go further inland. She walks towards the ledges then activates her semblance to rocket over it and now she stands on top gaining a better view of the shoreline and seeing a portion of the land before her. Ruby looks from side to side of the shoreline and doesn't see her weapon, her teammates, or Neo. She looks back inland and sees a hilly grassland with sparse trees dotting the area and a tiny mountain in the distance. She hears the sounds of birds and insects but no sounds of her friends and teammates.

'What should I do,' Ruby thinks about her situation as she is alone, on some piece of land she is unfamiliar with and doesn't have her weapon. Ruby then remembers she has her scroll and quickly pulls it out and turns it on but nothing. She pushes the power button again and still nothing happens, 'Don't tell me that my scroll broke from the fighting. *Sigh* Now what?'

She could stand where she is until one; she spots something or someone swimming in from the ocean or two; someone else walks over to her. Another thing she could do is simply walk forward and hopefully spot someone or something that'll aid her in finding her friends or finding a town or settlement. She takes a deep breath and decides to walk towards the mountain and from there, she'll gain a better view of the area. With a goal in mind, she starts walking.

Nearly an hour has passed and Ruby observes as well as complains, 'Just where did I wash up on? This area is so...so hilly.'

Everywhere she looked there was some sort of hill, in fact, there seemed to be as many hills as there were trees, and most of them just dotted around the area at random. Ruby had already on a few occasions either gone around the dispersed hills or used her semblance to go over them as this area isn't very enjoyable to trek through. To make matters worse, navigating is impossible due to how random the hills as well as remembering, only the mountain is the only real landmark she can recognize.

Until she finds a nice miniature valley to stroll on but as she walks towards the middle she spots an animal trail. Curious, she investigates the tracks, and the closer she gets to them, she realizes how big they are until she is standing by side one of them. She gets on one knee then places her right hand inside the track and sees that her hand has plenty of space to move around. She mutters as she examines, "Not an Ursa as this shape isn't round enough and the claw marks are too thick, hmm…not a Goliath as their footprints are bigger than this. Could be a Manticore but…the spacing seems kind of short. Just what could have made this track?"

Her eyes follow the tracks that go along the valley and then disappear around the bend heading north. Ruby ponders for a bit, 'I should probably avoid whatever made these tracks, it could be some sort of Grimm. I'll go the opposite way.'

Ruby goes east and then around a bend that still goes towards the mountain. For several minutes, nothing happened until Ruby spots a deer running towards her until it spotted her and changes direction, or would have if a spear out of nowhere suddenly hit the deer and causing it to fall to its side. Ruby is shocked by this and soon realizes that she is standing out in the open. She quickly scans her surroundings for a place to hide and spots a tree that seems thick enough to hide her. She uses her semblance to dash over there and make herself slim enough to completely hide by the tree. For a few moments, Ruby held her breath and peered around the tree to find whoever killed the deer until she noticed a shadow coming into the clearing and towards the dead deer. Soon who or what killed the deer enters Ruby's view and she can't help but gasp but quickly covers her mouth and completely hides behind the tree. What she saw was the strangest being she had ever seen, at first she thought it was a Faunus but this being couldn't be one as she was way too different. At first glance, she thought it was some sort of dragon Faunus but once the person came into full view she is far more dragon than person. She looks like some wingless green dragon with some strange embedded purple sphere in the middle, a large tail that suddenly ends three-fourths with a strange flat circular tip, and a human-like body where the neck and head of a dragon would be. The human part has a few patches of green scales all over her body but her hands are completely covered in scales with dangerous-looking claw tips. She has two pairs of green horns on top of her head with the front pair being bigger and slightly curved forward while the back pair is small but also curves in the opposite direction. Her green scales sparkle in the sunlight, her hair is a light purple while the strange sphere part has a darker shade. The only clothing she is wearing is an animal hide outfit covering her large bust which makes Ruby go slightly red in the face.

This draconic being looks over in Ruby's direction as she heard something and was about to move her way there but the deer started twitching, catching its attention so the being pulls out the embedded spear and delivers the finishing blow. With the deer dead, the being grabs the deer and flings it over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes but before she leaves, the being narrows her eyes and looks over the area. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she leaves with her catch.

Ruby remained motionless while covering her mouth and controlling her breathing as she waits behind the tree for several minutes, thinking about what she just saw, 'Ok…that was something I've never thought I'd see. Just what is she? Is she even a Faunus? I…is she friendly?'

After a while, Ruby pokes her head out and searches for that strange person but doesn't see her and the deer. Ruby steps away from the tree and slowly heads towards the spot where the being and deer were and Ruby sees the large footprint. Her eyes widen a little as she sees these footprints are the same ones from before when she was determining what kind of Grimm had walked through. She can't help but gulp and mutter under her breath, "Hopefully, she was the only one here."

Ruby stands back up and decides to follow the earlier tracks in hopes of avoiding the being she saw so she heads west. As she walks, Ruby can't help but think about the being she saw, 'That person is so strange, so different, and...very primal given she was wearing only an animal hide outfit and armed with a simple wooden spear with no metal attachments or clever designs. Although her claws looked pretty sharp and thick and probably has some strength that could match Yang's. She didn't seem to move fast probably due to her large size so she most likely relies on ambushes. And what of that spherical part of her body? What is that for? I-hm!?'

Ruby realizes that she seems to have left the outrageous hilly area and now stands in an open area with a very large sloped hill in the middle. She thinks to herself, 'I bet could get a better view of the area if I go up there.'

Ruby walks up the large hill and gains a better view of the surrounding area but what she sees has left her dumbfounded as she sees that the mountain that she was heading for wasn't really a mountain but simply a long, large rocky foundation. To the northwest, she spots another single rocky foundation that kind of looks like a simple spiral. Towards the east and down south a little, she spots a patch of desert with a strange squat pyramid structure. From the west that swing down to the south seemed to be that super hilly area and beyond them was water. Ruby then notices a slight color difference as from the northern side that curves to the east is a flat, lush green area with a sparse forest while the hilly sides is mostly brown as if the vegetation is dry and in need of rain.

"Am I on some kind of undiscovered island or…!"

Ruby suddenly spots the strange draconic woman from before with the deer heading towards the pyramid structure and wonders, 'Is that her home? Has to be as I don't see any other buildings or places to rest in. At least I know where NOT to go. Now should I go to those rocky foundations or should I head towards that spiral rock formation…hmmm, let's go spiral first. That one seems easier to climb.'

Ruby starts heading to her new destination and as she walks, she spots more deer peacefully grazing until they spot her and bolts off. The green land is more enjoyable than when she first started walking but there was a hill or two along the way. After an hour and a half of peaceful walking, Ruby reaches the edge of a vague tree line and as she approaches, she sees the large spiral rock standing slightly off center of a sandy pit next to the ocean or sea.

"Huh," Ruby is all she can say at the scene before her but quickly resumes her walk however as she gets closer to the rock, she spots movement at the very top ledge so she quickly stops. Ruby focus her vision on the ledge until she spots a similar but different person slowly standing up from what she guessed was that she was lying down. This new person starts doing stretches that mimic a cat then lets out a very loud yawn which sounds like a lame roar and then she starts turning thankfully away from Ruby. Ruby notices that this person has a more feline physique like a Sabyr but all scaly with a yellow, brown, and black mesh of colors. Ruby slowly backs away and back towards the tree line, hoping that she won't see her but a strong gust of wind blows behind her and towards the feline person. Ruby sees her sniffing the air and starts turning its head towards her so Ruby quickens her pace but before she gets to the tree line she hears a sound-piercing shriek of a roar.

Ruby quickly looks at the top of the rock and sees the Sabyr person is gone but soon spots her scaling down the rock surface with frightening speed and armed with a spear. Ruby high tails it out of the area and into the trees and once inside, for extra measure, Ruby activates her semblance and rockets further inland in a zigzag pattern. She finally stops and hides behind a tree as she keeps a sharp lookout for the person who saw her. She could hear her roaring and it sounded like she was getting closer but soon she hears other roars coming from all around her, 'Oh no, that person is letting the others know I'm here.'

Ruby listens closely to the roars and hears three distinct roars and the one that spotted her started to sound distant, Ruby could only exhale in slight relief. She looks around and spots something blue just past some thick bushes so she heads over there. Once she gets past the bushes, she sees that she is near a sandy shoreline, 'Am I on an island? This can't be Menagerie so where is here?'

Rustling*

Ruby lets out a sharp gasp and quickly hides behind a tree while a single frightful thought pops into her head, 'Did they find me already?'

Ruby peers around the tree and sees a bush shaking, Ruby waits with dread and a single bead of sweat running down the side of her face then she sees something poking through. Ruby holds her breath but quickly lets it go as a deer's head pokes out then the rest of its body through the bush, eating some grass. Ruby leans back against the tree and mumbles, "I hope the others are ok, but did they wash up here, or are they somewhere else? I should try heading south and see what is over there, hopefully, I'll run across someone I know."

Ruby walks away from the tree and starts heading down the island while being very aware of her surroundings because now they are aware of her and have started hunting for her.

Happy New Year, reader!