Author's Note:
Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter of Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen, and it's finally time to conclude the Annihilation Arc! But first, let's answer some reviews!
Cbrandes17: Perhaps-though this reunion is probably going to be sullied by both Yang's amnesia and the fact that the entire area is swarming with evil monsters.
CRUDEN: Yang's entrance and ariel acrobatics were loosely inspired by Ahsoka Tano's deployment to Mandalore in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. You can see brief flashes of similarities between the two drops.
SuperSaiyanFever: Who needs rocket packs when you've got gauntlets with massive recoil and an aura that can apparently make you survive hitting the ground at terminal velocity? Death Battle's words on that last bit, not mine.
Blackmetalzane22: Beast Wars is easily in my top three favorite Transformers, so nice little callout there! I'm glad you like the suits-they were not easy to design, and I still have to design a few more for the characters that don't have them yet.
Brian H.H: I kind of see Jaune as the moral compass of the group for this story, so it made sense for him to be the one to question what they had to do. It also made since for him to express these feelings with Pyrrha, since she's been through something similar back on Sakaar.
Red Scorpion: Believe me, I was going back and forth between the RWBY Wiki and the first few episodes of Volume 5 (up until right before the RWBY v FNKI fight, which is when Ultron attacks in this story) to make sure I had Weiss have the advice she logically would have.
Guest: Not to worry-there's probably going to be a Thunder Thighs bit in the next story arc. Or at least I hope I can fit that joke in.
Thank you all for your continued support. Now, let's get back to the action.
The Negative Zone—November 2nd (Earth Time)
"We're getting close," Reed announced. "Sue?"
"On it." Susan raised her hands and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she, the Fantasti-Car, and the rest of its occupants became invisible as the vehicle entered a large asteroid field.
It didn't take them long to encounter some of Annihilus' soldiers. Several of them were flying in a patrol pattern, while others were standing on the floating rocks themselves. None of them took any notice of the invisible team that was flying past them.
"I'm picking up a large amount of energy," Ben announced. "Coming from behind that large asteroid up ahead."
"Let's go in for a closer look." Reed moved the Fantasti-Car forward, piloting up and around the massive rock in front of them. What he saw on the other side made his heart stop.
The largest swarm of the Annihilation Wave that he had ever seen was hovering around a massive portal. Hundreds of creatures were flying through at a time, accompanied by smaller ships. A beam of energy was shooting from the portal to a large machine—clearly the power source of what was generating the portal.
Above it all floated a large, purple and green armored monster with wings. He tapped a glowing staff in his palm, and his eyes glowed with unimaginable power and fury.
"Annihilus," Reed said aloud.
"And the machine that's keeping the portal open," Johnny added.
Reed brought a scope out and zoomed in. "Hm. Looks like this machine is emanating the same kind of energy as his Cosmic Control Rod." He thought about it for a moment. "Of course. Annihilus must have charged the machine with the Cosmic Control Rod. That way, he would not have to focus as hard on keeping the rift between worlds open. All he would have to do is keep the machine running, and he could continue his invasion indefinitely."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Johnny said. "But destroying the machine will close the portal?"
"Theoretically, yes," Reed confirmed. "It would take a minute or two before it closes for good, but destroying that machine should have the desired effect, which should allow me to activate this device to seal the tear behind us. However—"
Johnny grinned. "That's all I needed to hear."
"Johnny, wait—" Sue started. But Johnny was already jumping out of the Fantasti-Car.
"Flame on!" he bellowed, igniting his whole body on fire and rocketing towards the machine. Annihilus spun around at the sudden shout and movement. With a screech, he aimed his staff directly at Johnny. At once, a large chunk of the creatures that had been heading towards the portal swung around and flew directly at him.
"Kiss your portal goodbye, bug man!" Johnny flung a fireball directly at the machine. But, to his surprise, the fireball impacted a small energy field directly around it, leaving the machine itself unharmed.
Johnny stopped in an instant. "Oh, you've got to be—" He was cut off as a blast from Annihilus sent him spinning back to the Fantasti-Car. He slammed into it, causing Sue to jerk slightly, breaking her concentration and dropping the invisibility field she had been generating, revealing the rest of the group's presence to the enemy.
"Nice going, flame brain," Ben grumbled.
"I was going to say that the machine was most likely protected by a shield," Reed finished. "Perhaps next time you should wait until I finish before rushing in to attack."
Johnny rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
The creatures were flying towards them now, screeching in triumphant victory. They had the team greatly outnumbered. They could easily beat them.
The Fantastic Four exchanged looks with one another. "Ready?" Reed asked.
Ben smacked a fist into his palm. "Yeah." He leaped off the vehicle, jumping fist first straight towards the incoming swarm. "It's clobberin' time!"
Central Park—November 2nd
Ruby landed on the ground in front of her sniper post and started running straight towards the northern end of the park, dodging around S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Annihilus creatures. None of them mattered now. All she could think about was reaching Yang.
A million thoughts were running through her head. How was Yang here? How did she get here? Where had she been in the past month? Was she okay?
Wham! Ruby was thrown off balance by a larger creature that slammed into her, sending her sprawling to the ground. It screeched in victory, marching towards her as she tried to get back on her feet.
Ruby's eyes narrowed as she converted Crescent Rose into its scythe form. "You're not getting in my way!" she yelled, dashing forward. As the creature swiped at her, she slid under its outstretched arm and sliced through it cleanly with her weapon. As it roared in pain, she got back to her feet and spun around, cutting its head clean off.
The creature fell to the ground. Ruby, twirling Crescent Rose around her, turned around in time to see another few creatures flying straight at her, pelting the area with laser blasts. One shot managed to nick her shoulder, nearly toppling her off her feet, her aura flickering as it took the brunt of the impact.
She slammed Crescent Rose's point into the ground and began shooting with the rifle portion of the weapon, blasting several more of them out of the sky as they came for her. The rest she sliced apart with her blade.
As another swarm swooped down towards her, a large, light blue Nevermore suddenly flew in from the other direction, smashing into all of them and tearing them apart. "Ruby!" Weiss yelled as she and Blake ran over to her.
Ruby spun her weapon slightly as they arrived. "What are you doing down here?" Weiss asked. "I thought you were in one of those sniper posts."
"I've got to get to the north end of the park," Ruby told her.
"The north end? That area's crawling with those things!"
Ruby looked her dead in the eye. "I saw Yang."
Weiss and Blake both froze. "Are you sure?" Blake asked.
Ruby nodded. "She fell from the sky and landed right in the middle of those things. I saw her gauntlets. It was her. She's here. She's alive."
"Well then," Weiss said, raising Myrtenaster. "Let's go get her."
"You guys don't have to come," Ruby warned.
"Yang's our friend too," Blake reminded her. "We're going to get her back. Together."
Ruby smiled and nodded. "All right. Let's move out, Team RWBY!"
"Say that again?" Jaune asked as he helped a trapped S.H.I.E.L.D. agent get free from the wreckage of his jeep.
"I saw Yang!" Ruby repeated herself. "We're going to go get her!"
"How is Yang here?!" Nora asked.
"We'll ask her that when we reach her," Weiss answered. "We're heading to where she landed."
"Be careful," Jaune told them.
"We will."
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called, pointing Miló up to the sky. He looked up to see a group of ten of the larger soldiers were dropping down towards them, landing a few feet in front of them.
One of the S.H.I.E.L.D. jeeps aimed its massive cannon at them and began to fire, but the lead one through a spear that impaled the gunner and sent him flying. The driver, panicking, tried to spin the jeep around, only to get blasted through the side of the head by another of the creatures.
"No!" Jaune moved forward, planting himself between the remaining agents that were trying to flee and the creatures. The lead one let out a screech and lunged at him. He raised his shield to block the monster's strike. If this had been months ago, he would've been pushed back. Not anymore. He had gotten training from the likes of Thor, Captain America, and Black Panther. He was stronger than the young man who forged his way into Beacon Academy. Now, he was a warrior.
He pushed forward with his shield, which knocked his attacker back. Seeing it off balance, Jaune moved in, cutting through the creature's arms before stabbing him in the chest. Blood splattered around him as the creature slowly slumped to the ground.
Jaune flinched briefly, wiping the drops of alien blood from his face. Earlier, he had expressed his concerns to Pyrrha regarding killing creatures that were flesh and blood. Killing Grimm was one thing—at least they disintegrated when they died. But this was something completely different. The bodies would remain even after they died.
However, he tried to put this behind him. Whether their bodies faded away or not didn't matter. The Annihilation Wave was little more than a mindless horde bent on nothing more than complete destruction of everything in its path. And he was one of the only ones that stood in its way. If he had to kill these things to save the people of Earth, then he would.
Jaune kept moving forward, heading straight for the remaining nine larger soldiers. They began shooting at him, which he deflected with his shield as he got closer. As he ran, something large and metallic—which he quickly recognized as the destroyed jeep's cannon being flung by Pyrrha's Semblance—flew over his head, smashing into the first two creatures and giving him and opening to make his own attack, driving Crocea Mors straight into the chest of the nearest enemy.
Another enemy aimed its rifle at him while his back was turned, only to be kicked in the side by Pyrrha, who quickly followed up with a stab with Miló. "You've been practicing," she noted.
Jaune nodded, parrying a strike from an enemy with his sword before chopping its hand off. "I had some good teachers," he revealed. "But I never forgot what you taught me."
Pyrrha smiled warmly at his words. "I'm glad to hear that, Jaune." She threw Miló straight into the next enemy, impaling it through the head. Before the creature had even begun to collapse, she had wrenched the javelin free and had used it to stab another enemy.
Jaune watched her briefly. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed Pyrrha until that very moment. Having her by his side again, fighting against life threatening odds, was strangely calming.
Then his gaze narrowed at the swarm that was still flying straight at them. "Focus, Jaune," he told himself, leaping back into the fray. "They'll be plenty of time to think about this after the invasion is over."
The Negative Zone—November 2nd (Earth Time)
Ben gripped a smaller boulder and threw it directly at a swarm of enemies, knocking them all aside. As he did, Johnny flew over his shoulder, torching the closest creatures to him. "What's the plan here, Reed?!" he yelled.
"Once we destroy that machine, we need to get to that portal," Reed answered. "The device I made needs to be activated right at the event horizon to work. Once I activate it, we need to go through the portal back to Earth. It should close behind us upon the device's activation."
"And what if it doesn't work?" Johnny flew around another group of monsters, setting them all on fire before lobbing a few fireballs at a charging Annihilus, which didn't do anything other than ignore the warlord. He aimed his Cosmic Control Rod at him and fired a beam, which Johnny barely dodged in time.
"One of two things," Reed answered. "Either the invasion will continue and Earth will be wiped out…or the tear between realities will implode, and all life on both sides of the portal will cease to exist."
"Oh, is that all?" Ben grabbed a flying creature out of the air and used it as a club, bashing aside more enemies with each swing.
Reed paused briefly to stretch his arms out for a flurry of long-distance punches into one of Annihilus' soldiers. Next to him, Susan, flying on a force field disc, stretched her own arms out, creating force field bubbles around two more of the creatures and flinging them together. "How do we destroy that machine?" she asked.
"The force field protecting it is powerful," Reed said, stretching his body to avoid a volley of incoming laser blasts. "We need a massive amount of concentrated energy to break it."
"Like that?" Johnny pointed at Annihilus' Cosmic Control Rod.
"Yes—that would work nicely," Reed confirmed.
"Then let's get it from him." Ben smacked a fist into his palm and took a flying leap towards Annihilus. The warlord simply aimed his staff at him and fired a beam that sent the hero flying.
"Eat flames, creep!" Johnny sent a steady swath of fire directly at Annihilus, engulfing him in flames in a second. But he flew straight through the flames, pummeling Johnny clear through another asteroid.
Susan sprang into action, creating a force field bubble around Annihilus. He let out a screech and began pounding away at the shield. She struggled to contain him as he pounded harder and harder. Eventually, he used the Cosmic Control Rod and blasted right through the bubble, shattering it completely and sending Susan sprawling. Reed quickly caught her as she drifted back.
"You're going down, ugly!" Ben, jumping from a floating asteroid floating above them, slammed down on top of Annihilus, bringing them both to the larger asteroid a few feet away from the machine. He punched the villain in the head multiple times before trying to grab the Cosmic Control Rod from his hand. Annihilus let out a screech, pounding Ben in the face several times. He gritted his teeth and kept holding him down, the two trading blows repeatedly.
"Hold him down, Ben!" Reed ordered as the rest of the Fantastic Four closed in. But the words were barely out of his mouth when Annihilus managed to wrench his hand free and blast Ben aside with the Cosmic Control Rod.
Johnny began flying in a circle around the villain, creating a fire tornado around him, which Susan quickly contained with force fields to focus even more of the flames directly onto him. Annihilus screeched in fury, flapping his wings and blowing the fire away from him before launching forward, grabbing Johnny by the arm and throwing him into Susan.
Reed ran forward, rolling his body up into a coil and rolling straight into Annihilus, wrapping his body around him until he was completely covered. Annihilus struggled, trying to rip Reed off him. These attempts failed—at least until he used the Cosmic Control Rod to zap him off and send him flying.
"This isn't working!" Johnny yelled as he burned through a few more of Annihilus' minions.
"Keep at it!" Reed ordered. "We have to get that Cosmic Control Rod if we want any hope of destroying that portal! Earth quite literally depends on our success!"
Central Park—November 2nd
Nora smashed another one of the creatures into the ground. "Got another one!" she called. "That makes sixty-five for me!"
"Do you really need to keep track of how many of these things you kill?" Ren questioned as he shot down another one.
"Of course!"
"It's not like we're going to make killing a habit, Nora."
"Come on, Ren, wiping out these monsters isn't a big deal! Besides, Hawkeye keeps track of all the monsters and robots he kills."
"I don't think Hawkeye is the best role model," Ren warned.
Nora laughed at that, swinging Magnhild into another one of the creatures. She then ducked down, allowing Ren to slide over her and slice into another one of the creatures, cutting it apart.
The two of them then turned around to face another incoming swarm coming from the east. Supposedly, Yang had landed to the north, and Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were on their way to meet up with her. That left more of the pressure on them to keep the enemy occupied. Of course, that meant that they would have to fight off even more of the enemies. But Ren was determined to keep up the fight. He wasn't going to let anything happen to Earth. Or Nora.
Suddenly, a barrage of plasma fire rained down from the sky, blowing the entire swarm that had been descending on them to pieces. Ren jerked his head up to see what could only be described as a raccoon with a jetpack and a very large gun descending, hovering just above them.
"Hey! You two Earthlings seen our teammate anywhere?" the raccoon asked.
Ren stared up at him. "A…talking raccoon?"
The raccoon shook a tiny fist in his face. "I aint a raccoon! The name's Rocket!"
"Aww! He's adorable!" Before anyone could stop her, Nora wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him in a hug.
Rocket let out a hiss, breaking free. "Do I look like I want to be hugged, you flarcking Earthling!"
"We're not from Earth," Ren corrected. "We're from Remnant."
"Never heard of it." Rocket powered up his rifle and fired another barrage of plasma blasts at an incoming swarm. "Seriously—you seen our teammate anywhere? Blonde hair, gold gauntlets, always looking for a good fight?"
Ren and Nora exchanged a look. "That sounds like Yang," Nora said.
Rocket tilted his head. "How the flarck do you know her? She's only been a Guardian for a few weeks, and we aint been to Earth in a long time."
Before Ren could explain, something else landed nearby: a tall creature that Ren could only describe as a walking tree. He stood tall and faced a swarm of ground enemies that were coming right at them. "I am GROOT!" the tree creature yelled, slamming its arms into the ground. Moments later, branches began shooting up from the ground, impaling every Annihilus minion there.
"What the heck is going on?!" Nora exclaimed. "Talking raccoons and talking trees?! Who are you people?"
"We're the Guardians of the Galaxy." A third person joined them, this one covered in some sort of black and white goop. "And we're here to help save the day. Now, where's our teammate?"
"She's not your teammate, she's ours," Nora insisted.
"Nora," Ren warned.
"Wait—you're saying that you're Yang's people?" The goop lowered around his face, revealing a young man with a crop of strawberry blonde hair.
"I should've known she was from Earth," Rocket grumbled.
"No—we're not from Earth. We're from Remnant," Ren repeated. "We've been looking for Yang for over a month now. She's been with you all this time?"
Before any of the Guardians could answer, a new swarm of the creatures swooped down, firing on all of them at once. "We'll be happy to answer all your questions after we deal with the Annihilation Wave," the young man told them, the goop covering his head again. "For now, let's kick some ass and take some names!"
"I am Groot!" the tree thing cheered in agreement.
Nora flashed a grin. "I like these guys!"
Ren, however, was troubled. Something that Rocket had said had caught his attention: the fact that he had never heard of Remnant before, despite Yang having been with them for weeks.
Why wouldn't Yang have mentioned Remnant?
The swarm was getting thicker as Ruby, Weiss, and Blake cut their way through towards the north end of the park. There were more enemies than ever before in this area, and all of them wanted the three of them dead.
None of that mattered to Ruby. All that mattered was getting to Yang. She wasn't going to lose her. Not again. Not after all the time they had spent apart. And especially not after everything she had been through on Earth so far.
Weiss summoned her Arma Gigas, which materialized next to her. At her command, it grew taller and taller until it was almost twice their size, allowing it to slice through more of the creatures with relative ease. "They just keep coming!" she yelled. "How long until the Fantastic Four closes that portal?!"
"They'd better do it soon!" Blake yelled back as she used her chain blades to grapple onto a flying enemy and throw him into another group, knocking them all over. "We can't hold out much longer!"
"We've got to hold out long enough to get to Yang!" Ruby told them.
"You go, Ruby!" Weiss told her. "You can reach her faster! We'll catch up!"
Ruby hesitated. "But—"
"We'll be fine!" Blake assured her. "Go find her!"
Ruby hesitated once more, but then nodded. Leaving her friends, she continued running, activating her goggles. "Phyllis, can you plot a path through this swarm?" she asked.
"Affirmative," Phyllis answered. A second later, a HUD appeared on the inside lenses of Ruby's goggles, showing the swarm in front of her and an arrow directing her through it. "Be advised that you may have to get creative when exiting your Semblance."
"I'll figure it out." Ruby leaped into the air, activating her Semblance and darting through the swarm in a flurry of petals on the path that had been laid out to her. She reappeared briefly, using one of the creatures as a springboard to propel herself forward and into her Semblance once again. At another angle, she dropped out of it, sliced through two more creatures with Crescent Rose, and then went back into it once more.
When she emerged from the other side, she heard the familiar sound of Ember Celica's retorts. Ruby cut through one of the last enemies in her way and skidded to a stop, her eyes widening as she took in the scene.
A single warrior wearing a blue outfit with red highlights was fighting off dozens of the creatures on her own. Her face was covered by a silver helmet with glowing yellow eyes, but with the special insignia on her chest and the gauntlets around her wrists, Ruby knew exactly who it was.
It was her. It really was Yang.
A larger creature was swooping down from behind, ready to strike her in the back. Quickly, Ruby rushed forward, firing Crescent Rose once into the ground to launch her up, and then completely bisected it. Yang turned around just as the two halves fell aside, with Ruby landing on the ground a second later.
"I got your back!" she yelled. There was no time for a long reunion, no matter how much she wanted it. All that she could do for right now was keep fighting by Yang's side until the Annihilation Wave had been defeated.
Yang seemed to understand that too, for all she did was give a curt nod before going back to fighting, unleashing twin missiles from her gauntlets that blew several more of the creatures apart. Ruby stood right beside her, ready to fight right alongside her sister for the first time in over a month.
Things were finally starting to look up.
The Negative Zone—November 2nd (Earth Time)
Annihilus grabbed Susan by the throat and lifted her up into the air. But he only had ahold of her for a few seconds before Ben grabbed him from behind. "You leave Suzie alone!" he bellowed, forcing him to let her go and throwing him into another asteroid.
As he flew by, Reed saw his chance and stretched his hand out, plucking the Cosmic Control Rod from Annihilus' grip as he flew by his head. "Got it!" he announced.
Annihilus let out a demented shriek of rage and flew at top speed directly at Reed. But he was cut off by Johnny smacking into him from one side and Ben throwing another large chunk of rock from the other side. Meanwhile, Reed quickly drove the battle damaged Fantasti-Car towards the machine, dodging several more of Annihilus' soldiers as they tried to shoot him down. Susan quickly joined him, throwing up small force fields to block incoming energy blasts where she could.
As they got close to the machine, Reed took aim with the Cosmic Control Rod and fired it. A massive beam of pure energy shot from it, piercing the force field in seconds and smashing through the machine. A second later, the entire machine exploded, sending shrapnel flying in all directions.
"The machine is down!" Reed called to Johnny and Ben. "Let's get out of here!" He turned the steering wheel on the Fantasti-Car and directed it straight towards the portal. He pressed some buttons and activated the turbo boosters, flying straight towards it at top speed.
As they passed by, both Johnny and Ben disengaged from fighting Annihilus and leaped into the Fantasti-Car. "Go, go, go, floor it!" Johnny yelled.
"Telling me to go faster will not make the Fantasti-Car go any faster!" Reed warned.
"Uh oh! Trouble behind us!" Ben jerked his thumb behind them, where Annihilus was giving chase, followed closely by his minions.
"Not for long." Reed tossed Ben the Cosmic Control Rod. "Take him down."
Ben grinned. "With pleasure!" He aimed the rod straight at Annihilus and fired, blasting him straight back into his army. "Don't mess with the ever lovin', blue-eyed Thing, yah bastard!"
"Let me see that thing!" Johnny made a grab for the Cosmic Control Rod. "I want to shoot it!"
"I got it under control, flame brain!" Ben moved the Cosmic Control Rod away from him.
"Come on, let me see it!" The two of them began to grapple for the weapon, only for a flying rock to knock it out of both their hands, sending it spiraling way.
"Great. Nice going, Torch!" Ben complained.
"Me?!" Johnny exclaimed. "Why you—"
"Boys!" Susan snapped. "Enough! We're getting out of here!"
They were approaching the portal as fast as they could. But Annihilus had recovered and was streaking right towards them, screeching in fury. "Reed?" Johnny asked nervously.
Reed pulled out the spherical device he had built and tossed it to Ben. "Throw it up into the air when I tell you to," he ordered. Ben nodded and drew his arm back, ready to throw on command.
"Reed?" Johnny asked again, seeing that Annihilus was getting closer.
Reed's eyes narrowed as they almost reached the portal. "Not yet…not yet…"
"Reed?!"
"Now, Ben!" Reed exclaimed the moment they hit the portal. Ben tossed the sphere straight up right before they crossed through. The last thing the Fantastic Four heard in the Negative Zone was Annihilus' screech of defeat.
Then, the next thing they knew, they were back over New York City, right in the middle of the Annihilation Wave. Reed spun the steering wheel, and the Fantasti-Car did a complete 180 degrees turn to face the portal just in time to see it being enveloped in a large ball of light so bright that they had to shield their eyes. When the light faded, they could see the portal shrinking, getting smaller and smaller until it had gone completely.
"It worked," Susan said aloud.
"Yeah, baby!" Ben pumped a fist in the air in triumph.
"We got 'em!" Johnny cheered.
"Not quite," Reed warned. "The remnants of the Annihilation Wave that are on Earth must be dealt with."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Johnny swung himself out of the Fantasti-Car again. "Flame on!" Once again, he was engulfed in flames as he flew off to join the battle.
Ben shook his head slightly. "Yeah…flame on, kid."
The flash of light brought Ruby's attention to the sky. She looked up just in time to see the portal begin to close. As it did, the storm clouds that had accompanied the portal began to fade away, clearing the sky of any foul weather.
"They did it," she breathed. The Fantastic Four must've closed the portal within the Negative Zone. Now, all that was left to do was finish off the remains of the Annihilation Wave.
The enemy must have realized that they had lost, for many of them were starting to turn around and flee. Ruby did her best to shoot down as many as she could, Yang right by her side doing the same. A few more tried to attack the two, but they were quickly dealt with. With one final slash with Crescent Rose, Ruby cut down the last of the creatures.
Panting, she finally turned around to face Yang. Her sister was quickly scanning the area, seeing if there were any more enemies to fight. "Yang…" she said quietly, slowly clipping Crescent Rose to her back.
She turned around. "Yeah?"
For a moment, the two stared at each other. Then, emotion overtook Ruby, and she ran at her, quickly wrapping her arms around her and pulling her in for a hug. "You're alive!" she cried. "You're here?! How? Where have you been?"
Yang looked down at her. "Do…I know you?" she asked.
A flicker of worry crossed over Ruby's face. But before she could say anything, a voice called out, "Yang!" Weiss and Blake had arrived, rushing towards them.
Yang turned around. "Yeah?" she asked. "Can I help you?"
Weiss and Blake skidded to a stop. "Yang…it's us," Weiss said after a moment. "Are you okay?"
Yang tilted her helmeted head. "Am I supposed to know you?"
"Yang…" Ruby raised her goggles. "It's me. It's Ruby. And Weiss and Blake."
Upon seeing her face, Yang took a few steps back. "It's you…" she said. "The girl with the silver eyes."
The feeling of worry was growing bigger inside Ruby. "Yang—what's wrong?" she asked.
Yang took a step forward. "I just have one thing to ask," she said. She tapped the side of her helmet, which unfolded and revealed her face. She was looking distraught and perhaps even a little worried herself as she pointed straight at her face.
"Who the hell am I?!"
The invasion is over, and Team RWBY is finally together again. But with Yang not remembering who she is (besides her name) or anything about her past, including her friends, it's a reunion that rings a hollow. We'll see how Ruby and the others get to pick up the pieces next chapter.
The Annihilus fight was fun to write. As Reed had mentioned before, they didn't need to beat the villain-all they had to do was hold him off long enough to get the job done. And while there was a hitch in the plan with having to destroy a machine that was helping to stabilize the portal and keep it open indefinitely, the Fantastic Four know how to get the job done. A few of the combat moves I used may have even been inspired by combat moves from the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game series. If you ever get the chance to play those games, I highly recommend the first two in the series-they are amazing.
Throughout writing this chapter, I went back and forth on wanting to include a more centralized character for the RWBY characters to fight. Unfortunately, the only really other significant figure in the Negative Zone that I could find was Blastaar, and, after reviewing his powers and abilities, I decided that even he was probably a little too much for them to handle. A shame for sure, but there will be plenty of other supervillains for them to fight going forward.
Next chapter kind of deals with the aftermath of all this, but will also kick off the next arc. And trust me-this is an arc you don't want to miss. Filled with surprises, threats, and several appearances from character you probably didn't expect to see! I'm really excited for this, especially since this fic is about to turn one year old, and I feel like this arc is perfect for that moment.
But anywho, that's all from me. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, signing off.