King: To tell you how long this was on the backburner, it was originally the introduction chapter for Maria after her arrival. Give that a nice long think.

Knox: I kind of don't want to.

King: As I was saying, I didn't release it earlier because I wasn't happy with the setup I had for one of the teams. But, it felt appropriate to make it as is now. I don't want to keep you. So, I hope you all enjoy.

Inspiration: Gundam Build Divers

/\

One explanation later and Whitely had a look of contemplation. After a moment, he nodded "Alright then. Might as well." He took a seat slightly away from the groups, but not as far as to say he was avoiding anyone.

King clapped his hands together once with a smile, "Alright! If that's all our surprises for now, we can continue."

Weiss wanted to say something, but she didn't get the chance to just yet.

The scene opened to a cafe scene in a crowded mall of some kind. Sitting at the table and enjoying small treats and coffee were Yang, Blake, and Weiss. However, there were notable differences to be found. Blake didn't have a pair of cat ears, for one. She was just a normal human like the others. Weiss, meanwhile, had a more normal hair color for the world; being a light blonde rather than having white hair at age 17.

Yang chuckled, "Never figured Weiss as a blonde, but I guess it makes sense."

Knox nodded, "In a world where natural hair colors are limited, it seems the most likely."

Ruby was a little concerned now, however, "But where am I? I know things are different and I'm a couple years younger, but come on!"

King sighed, "Calm down. You're just late."

As if on cue, Ruby burst onto the scene and slid to a halt and into her chair. "I made it!" Ruby was fairly similar to her counterpart, including her hair tipped in red. However, the red tips seemed less natural, like it was dyed to look this way and rather recently.

Yang chuckled at her sister's antics, "Cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

Ruby sighed, "Sorry."

Blake turned to the youngest member of their squad, "Did you at least finish it?"

Ruby's mood instantly turned positive, "Yep!" She reached into her backpack and pulled out a box from inside. Opening the box, she placed a model/figure on the table. It resembled a suit of futuristic armor or a robot of some form.

Mercury raised an eyebrow, "What the heck is that thing?"

Gira tapped his foot on the ground, "It reminds me of a mecha from a book series I enjoyed as a child."

"Good eye." King nodded. "However, this is a little different. This is what's known as a Gundam model, or Gunpla. A plastic model often built by creators, fans, or collectors. In this world, they can also serve a secondary function that allows them to pilot their models in a virtual reality."

Gira instantly perked up. "R-really?" He remained stoic in his own way, but his eyes lit up at the implications.

Kali chuckled at how her husband reacted. Where she enjoyed more traditional/historical stories or fantasy, he always found his nose in science fiction and war drama stories. It was no wonder that Blake ended up being such a prolific reader when her parents had a library's worth of fiction.

King nodded, "Yep. And unlike the last time, this game works and isn't trying to kill people."

The model was a custom combination of parts that melded together well thanks to the paint and the parts used. The base unit was a Gundam Rose, the shoulder cape had been swapped out however; replaced by the mechanical cloak of the second Deathscythe. The paint followed normal gundam convention with the white legs and arms. However, it almost seemed like it wore a pair of bracers and boots, both being a dark red. The body piece matched the armor on the limbs. A note were the weapons on its back: a staff of some form and a large sniper rifle.

Ruby swung her hands around the model to draw the attention of her friends toward it, "Behold! My Gundam Crescent Rose!"

"Gundam?" Ozpin's eyebrow raised slightly. "Like the Gundam fight world?"

King nodded once, keeping a collected face, "Correct, but here they are fictional with models being rather popular to build."

Maria pointed toward the Gundam Crescent Rose, "I'm guessing that's not standard."

Knox nodded, "It's a custom model Ruby created using parts from various kits. Certain parts work well together and custom models are actually some of the best machines in the game. It means the person creating them cares about their machine. And in this game, the care you put into your model can affect your stats. The better it's built, the better it handles."

Ironwood found himself nodding, "That's actually rather brilliant in a way. It incentivises you to put real work into your mech instead of using mass production models."

Yang grinned and wrapped an arm over Ruby's shoulders, pulling her into a one armed hug, "I knew you'd find a way to make it work!"

Weiss and Blake, however, were scrutinizing the details of the model. In the game, they were a team and they couldn't afford something going wrong with a major event happening soon.

Weiss fell back into her chair, satisfied that nothing looked like it would fall apart, "I'm impressed. I figured you'd deck that thing out in every weapon you could find."

Ruby huffed, annoyed, "I'm not that bad…"

Her team and friends found themselves snickering a bit, given that she very much was that bad at times.

Blake took a sip from her drink, finishing it before speaking, "Still, it is good that our team is finally ready for a real fight."

Yang released her sister and took out her phone, looking at the time. "Time to head in and get ready. Let's do this!"

The scene was then filled by a digital effect as if flowing through something as data formed around everything. After a moment, a light flashed and transitioned into the main game. Inside, the people joining find themselves in a central hub with various people in many different types of costumes. The camera moved around, showing off the variety of people before finding our main characters in the crowd.

Ruby's character avatar was dressed in a gothic dress similar to the counterpart in the theater. However, her hands were covered by gloves and her leggings seemed thicker. Her boots were also more future-esc rather than following the usual gothic convention.

Ruby was starry-eyed, "I get it! That's a combo of my outfit and a pilot's gear!"

King nodded, "Got it in one."

Weiss took on a proper military uniform from the Universal Century's Earth Federation. Said uniform was that of a UC 0079 Mobile Suit Ace dyed white. Her hair was also solid white and tied up by a snowflake-themed hair pin.

Yang turned to the heiress, "I always wondered, why do you have so much white, anyway? Is it your favorite color?"

Weiss shook her head. "My favorite color is blue."

Sun stifled a laugh and poked Neptune's side with his elbow.

Blake, meanwhile, chose to mix things up a bit more than the others. She chose an avatar with cat ears and a tail. Meanwhile, her attire was reminiscent of a black flight or stealth suit, designed to hug her body and offer full range of motion without the possibility of snagging on anything.

Ilia, who was still wearing a less covering version of a similar suit, thought back. Despite Blake having a similar skillset as an infiltrator, she couldn't remember Blake ever using a similar suit.

Yang, meanwhile, had chosen to go with a gold tube top, a pair of dark jeans, fingerless gloves, and boots. Everything about her said, 'Come here! I'm going to kick your ass!' Unlike her real world version, however, her avatar had her hair up in a braid to keep it in check.

Yang thought the style looked awesome, if flashy. Then again, it actually covered more than her current outfit, which used bike shorts instead of full jeans.

Yang stretched her digital body with a sigh, "It's good to be back!"

"We were here yesterday." Blake pointed out.

However, this also caused someone to recognize her voice in the crowd, "Blake?"

Ilia was at attention hearing her own voice from the screen again.

Blake spun around and was on the receiving end of a powerful tackle hug. Thankfully, she was able to keep her footing, "Ilia?!"

Yang looked toward the scene, confused, "Friend of yours?"

Blake nodded, "She's my friend from before I moved."

Ilia hopped back and the group could finally see what she looked like in earnest. She was dressed in a Zeon soldiers uniform. However, unlike many around them, she hadn't chosen an officer's variation of the uniform that came with a short cape. "How have you been Blake?"

"Okay," Blake was focused on something else, however. "I thought you said GBN wasn't for you."

"Yeah well… I got a reality check."

Ruby moved around Blake to address this new face, "Did you not like Gundam?"

Blake shook her head, "The opposite actually. She had the largest collection of Gunpla in the school.

Ilia glanced away shyly, "I really like building them…"

Ilia had never considered taking up a hobby given all the work she does with the Fang, not to mention all her emotional hang ups. Then again, she was going to start to fix that, so maybe she should find something to spend her time on. Something she can just enjoy for her own benefit.

Blake continued, "But, when I offered to show her around GBN, she said that she wasn't interested in, and I quote, 'another dumb game that tells the same old stories.'"

Ilia attempted to defend herself, "I didn't know it was a virtual reality where you can pilot your models! I didn't even know you got to play using your models! I thought it would be one of those cash-in games that just go over the stories from the shows!"

Yang raised an eyebrow, "Shows? Plural?"

King nodded, "The Gundam 'universe' is a multiverse. Various stories are told across multiple timelines and all with various mecha rules."

"Sounds confusing."

"It's not as bad as it seems. Most of the series are self contained anyway, even within the same timeline."

Ilia calmed down and decided to change the subject, "So, are you guys here for the event?"

Ruby grinned, "Yep! And we're going to kick butt!"

Ilia looked at the four for a moment, "Where's the other 2? It's an event for teams of 6."

Weiss shook her head and waved off the concern, "We have two more, but the four of us logged in together."

Blake nodded, "We're meeting the other two at the event."

Nora laughed, "I bet that our Fearless Leader is one of the other two!"

Ren thought for a moment, "It would make a certain sense."

Qrow, however, disagreed, "I'll take the bet. But I'll say he's on that girl's team. What's the name again?"

"Ilia." She answered. At least he didn't say something about being a Faunas…

"Right. He's on her team."

A public announcement cut off the conversation, "Will all event participating pilots report to the staging area. Sortie begins in fifteen minutes."

Ruby nodded hearing this, "We should probably get moving. Don't want to be late."

Ilia conceded the point, needed to get back to her team as well. "Alright. I guess I'll see you all on the battlefield." Ilia spun around and ran off, waving back to the group.

The group of four made their way off to the event grounds, ready for a fight. A glow of light took over the screen before the scene changed to show a massive field.

Letters appeared reading, [Event Field 2-4B: The Vast Grasslands]

Soon, the newly created Gundam Crescent Rose appeared hovering forward using boosters from its cloak, separated and repositioned to look like black wings.

Ruby gasped at the idea of flying using her cape. She knew it wasn't possible, but it was still cool to think about.

The boosters shut down and Crescent Rose hit the ground again. The camera moved inside to show Ruby at a holographic pilot's seat. "Anything on scans?" Beside her, a series of screens popped up for each of her teammates.

Blake was the first to respond, "Nothing so far."

Weiss spoe next, "Keep your eyes open, though. Stealth systems can trick scanners."

The scene changed again to show Yang inside her mech, "Hey, we've got this. All we have to do is make top 50 and we get our prize." Their team was after a special item given to the top 50% of players, a blueprint for creating a high-efficiency beam whip that Blake's been after for a while.

"Oh!" Ruby smiled, "We're working together to help Blake. That explains why we were so anxious."

Blake couldn't help but smile. She knew if she ever asked her team for help, they'd be there in a heartbeat. It was nice to have friends like that.

The scene moved again to reveal three Gundams among the grass. One was a shorter, chibi-esc Gundam designed to resemble a classic Zaku-II in white with a snowflake-themed spike pattern on its rounded shoulder.

Nora gapsed, "On my gosh! That's so adorable!"

Yang snickered, "Weiss' mech maybe?"

The Zaku-II SD turned to its partners, "I can't help but think this is a trap." It was revealed that the pilot was not Weiss, but Winter.

Qrow burst out laughing as Winter's face turned an indignant red.

Another mech was shown to be a more proper Zaku model, also in white, with a pale ice blue shoulder shield, pauldron, and glowing eye. It's primary design was taken from the Seed Generation. "I have to agree with Winter." The pilot revealed himself as Whitely.

The younger brother couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. This was… odd to him. Winter and Weiss shared few interests with Whitely. Or rather, they had no time to find out if they did.

The last of the trio was revealed to be a classic era Zaku-II Command variation with a blue torso and lower legs while the rest was white. This was Weiss's model, modified for a heavy armor build. The camera moved inside to reveal Weiss as she looked around on the viewscreen in front of her. A beep and an arrow brought her attention to the skies as her eyes widened.

Off in the distance was a bright light as it rose up into the sky.

Winter groaned a little, "A missile. And from the looks of things, a large one."

After a moment on sight, Weiss spun to her siblings, "Whitely! Barrier!"

Whitely's mech boosted up in front of the three and took the shield from his shoulder. He slammed the bottom onto the ground and a generator activated to create a barrier field around the three.

The camera flew up toward the missile as Weiss' voice played over her radio system, "We have a ballistic missile in flight! I repeat! NUKE INCOMING!"

Blae instantly had a chill run up her spine in fear. After seeing the destructive power of the nuclear bomb, she knew it would be a nightmare scenario if it ever came up again.

"Hold on a sec!" Winter's voice added. "There's no alarm. Nukes always have an alarm warning in GBN! It's obviously nuclear, so why isn't there an alarm?"

Then, Whitely's voice played as the missile reached its highest point, "EMP!"

The missile burst and a wave of electromagnetic energy flew out in all directions. As it slammed into the ground, the energy destroyed all electronic devices in its wake. They saw a series of Gundam mechs plant into the ground, unable to move. Circuits fried, boards spark, and everything gets forced out of operation. It would force a reboot of the system, but older or less well kept machines were shut down entirely.

Penny couldn't help but be a little afraid. As much as she subscribed to what Ruby had said, that Penny was a 'real girl' despite being artificially created, but the fact was she was still a robotic being. She didn't know what an Electro-Magnetic Pulse would do to her. Would her aura protect her? Would she be forced to reboot? Or, perhaps, would it fry every wire and circuit in her body beyond repair. She'd, honestly, rather not find out.

Thanks to Whitely's barrier, the trio were able to stay standing. As Whitely was about to lower his shield, Weiss placed her hand on his shoulder, "Hold on. Keep up the shield. I don't think we're done here."

Whitely called back to her, "What do you mean?"

"That was too powerful for most players. We're dealing with a high level team. And if that's the case, we have another wave." It was a basic tactic, but not one most players thought of. Step one, EMP. Step two, barrage. And with the power behind the EMP, the barrage is likely to be just as strong. And if she was right…

It was going to be big.

Jaune tapped his chair, "EMP, barrage… If I had to guess, Nora is the one behind it."

Nora perked up and looked back toward the screen, waiting to see if he was right.

The camera showed a Gundam in bulky armor in pink with white arms and upper legs (as is custom for Gundam units). On its back was a pair of massive, wing like pods. In the center area between them, it showed the last of a trail of a missile fired. The Gundam Valkyrie stood on an elevated stone, leaning over slightly for range finding. Inside, Nora giggled watching the enemy count decrease slightly.

Nora gapsed, "How did you know it was me?!"

Jaune scratched his cheek a bit, "I just know you pretty well, I guess."

"Aw~!" Nora wanted to jump a seat and get closer, but they were in a theater, so that would be rude.

Nora let out a dramatic laugh, "Time for part two!" She snapped her controls forward and the camera returned to the outside. The pods released a bit of steam along their lengths and opened to either side. Within was a series of rockets, ready to turn the grasslands into scorched earth. As each flew off into the sky, they would burst into smaller rockets that began to descend toward the ground.

Ruby's turn for an amazed gasp, "Cluster bombs?!"

Each impact ripped apart anything in the area. Some of the better pilots were able to avoid the worst of it, but most of the less experienced players or those with less-than-well-taken-care-of units were reduced in moments. When all was said and done, the 100 teams participated in this field were reduced to 10.

Weiss paused a moment before putting it all into words. "Ninety teams… of six each… all taken out in an instant."

"I think it might be more than that." Whitely spoke for the first time after arriving. "Think about it. There are ten teams left. It's likely, many of the members of those teams were knocked out, but their team is still in the event."

Beneath the barrier, the Zaku trio were okay, but clearly shaken.

Weiss got onto the radio again, "Report!"

"All good here." Blake answered.

Yang followed soon after, "Ruby and I are all good here."

Weiss let out a relieved breath. Her team was all in one piece. But she couldn't be truly relieved yet. That was Nora. That was obviously Gundam Valkyrie. Which means that Jupiter Squadron is in the match.

"Jupiter?! Why isn't it JNPR?!" Nora didn't take it well. After all, she was the N that made it Juniper.

King chuckled a bit, "Well, Jupiter, in this universe, is the name of a planet. Also, the king of the gods in the Roman pantheon."

Roman perked up, "The what now?"

"Not you. There's a location called Rome. Things pertaining to Rome are called Roman."

Roman snapped his fingers in defeat, a little disappointed he wasn't associated as some kind of god or something.

"Jupiter is the lord of the skies, god of lightning, creator of storms, and king of the gods. I'd say it's rather apt that it's called Jupiter Squad given all that, don't you think?"

Nora did not have a complaint anymore.

The camera moved to show Ruby's Crescent Rose Gundam alongside another unit. This unit was a Nobel Gundam base with a gold and brown color scheme and less of a magical girl style and more of a brawler paint job.

Yang whistled,, impressed by what was obviously her own mech. "That looks freaking awesome!"

As the two flew along the ground, the camera moved nearby to show a shadowy figure standing atop of a rock formation. It raised its hand upward before jumping down and delivering a punch into the ground. A massive crack split across the grasslands and cut between the two sisters in flight.

Yang jumped in surprise, "Holy crap!"

As did many of the audience.

With this event field taking place in a gravity-standard environment, Gundam units can't fly for very long or have very good handling in flight. This forced Ruby to jump boost backward to avoid losing height.

Yang spun around, her mech taking a boxer's stance. "And just who are you?"

The camera followed along the ground before reaching a Master Gundam base with its head piece redesigned with a long ponytail rather than the usual pair of straight horns. The black was replaced with green and red had been painted a shade of dark pink. With its work done, it stood upright again before crossing its arms over its chest. The Gundam Master Lotus, piloted by Lie Ren.

Nora giggled a little, "Yeah,, that seems like Ren's style."

Ren nodded in agreement with his oldest friend.

Yang grit her teeth, "Master Lotus…"

"Correct!" Ren called out to her. "It's rare to find opponents utilizing a G-Gundam series unit. I hope you can give me a fight worthy of our units' origin!"

Nora snickered, "That is very unlike Ren though."

Ren shrugged, used to seeing them all act differently.

Ruby growled a little and took the sniper rifle from her back, ready to end the fight before it began. One pull of the trigger fired a beam bolt off and over the air with the power of an artillery rifle. But Ren simply moved his head to the side and allowed the bolt to pass by and into the rock behind him.

Ruby didn't take that well.

"You have to admit though," Yang grinned, "that was badass."

She didn't take that well either.

Ren huffed, "You are not my opponent, Rose-type." He raised his hand and pointed toward Yang. "You are my opponent." After a moment, Ren's scan of his opponent completed and he smirked. "You added parts from the Burning Gundam. Good. Then why don't we cut loose and enjoy ourselves?"

Yang raised an eyebrow, expecting an attack.

"How am I to address you?"

"Yang." Yang remained apprehensive.

"Right then. Now! Answer me Yang!" The wings on his back shot up and boosted him toward her.

"I've got to admit," Yang leaned back in her chair, "It's weird to hear Ren talk so much, much less so… loudly."

Yang's mind was running at a mile a minute, trying to figure out what he was up to. It was too straightforward. But then, she remembered. A G-Gundam series was meant to be straightforward. This wasn't a battle with a tactical unit. This was a Master Gundam variant with few changes. Then there was the way he was talking. It almost reminded her of Master Asia from the series. That's when it all clicked in her head. She grinned from ear to ear and boosted her mech ahead at full speed to intercept him.

Harriet raised an eyebrow, What the heck is about to happen? What did she realize?

As they reached one another, they both realized an arm back and slammed their fists together before jumping back.

As this happened, Ren shouted, "The School of the Undefeated of the East!" He jumped forward to kick toward Yang.

Yang spun on a heel and matched his attack with a mirror of his own movement, "The Winds of the King!"

The two traded mirrored blows as they continued.

"Zenshin!"

"Keiretsu!"

Then they both called out, "Tempa kyouran!" They slammed their fists together again as they stood in low stances with opposing arms back and set in a martial arts like stance. "Look to the East! It is burning Red!" The spirit between them ignited the air around them and created a red burst of energy surrounding them.

Everyone was just speechless. What had they just witnessed? Some thought it was kind of cool in a way. Others… not so much.

Within his mech, Ren grinned, "It's even rarer to find someone with the G-Gundam series who can actually respond when I call to them."

Yang had a similar grin on her face, "I admit, it took a second. But it was hard to miss a call out from my favorite Gundam series."

"Then let's get to it then." The two bumped fists again before jumping apart again. The camera moved away to show as they started to go off in a display of insane martial arts style fighting. It was an advantage of the G-Gundam series in game that they allowed for increased reaction skills and these insane feats at the exchange of lacking shields and rage options.

"An interesting balance." Port thought out loud, "On the one hand, you are physically capable, but also more vulnerable should you be struck."

As this happened, Ruby was lining up another shot. Yang might get mad at her for interrupting a G-Gundam style fight, but Juniper Squadron wasn't the kind of team you fight without every advantage you could get. Unfortunately, it was never that easy. An alarm on her console helped her boost away from a set of small rockets slamming down where she had just occupied. Ruby landed on her feet, exchanging her rifle for the staff on her back. With the press of a button, it sparked to life and a green beam of energy expanded from the top of the staff to create a scythe blade.

Ruby was practically drooling. "OH MY GOSH! Light scythe!"

"It's actually called a Beam Scythe." King corrected. "Not every energy weapon is a lightsaber."

"STILL AWESOME!"

The opponent before her was a tall mech with a heavy armor type. In particular, a Heavyarms. It followed the Custom variant from the Endless Waltz with a chocolate brown color theme with cream colored accenting.

Coco raised an eyebrow behind her sunglasses. "Well well well. What have we here?"

Within, the camera revealed Coco as the pilot of this Heavyarms. "Why don't you let them have their fun. You and I can fight for a while." She held up her twin gatling gun up and unloaded toward Ruby.

Ruby snapped her cloak back together in front of her, revealing it doubled as a shield. It was restrictive, but it kept her safe for now.

Coco marched forward, keeping up the fire. As she approached, she held her other hand to the side and an army knife snapped forward, ready to attack once she got close. As she did, she found Ruby's cloak blocking her. Meanwhile, she blocked the beam scythe thanks to her guns' shield with a beam resistant coating.

With the two locked again, the camera moved away to another part of the battlefield. It showed as a Gundam unit in black and greys flew across the ground silently, using a particle-based system rather than a thrust based system.

"Blake." Her team and Ilia all spoke at once. It was pretty easy to figure that out.

Blake and her Gundam Shroud moved silently over the grasslands. Suddenly, something rang on her alarm and she stopped. She dropped to a knee and a projection shield surrounded her to hide her as a rock in the field.

"That actually kind of cool though." Yang admitted without a second of hesitation.

In the distance, she saw a Rick Dom fly over the grass only to be shredded apart by beams that seemed to appear from nowhere. A zoom window appeared on her screen to show a funnel-shaped device flying across the air. Blake silently cursed to herself. "Funnels. I'll need to be careful." She heard something approach and figured it best to keep quiet.

A mobile suit flew over the grass, landing among the defeated. It was a red and bronze Qubeley unit. The funnels returned to their home within the 'wings' of the unit as it looked around.

Blake would curse out loud seeing that. She knew who was within that unit. Pyrrha.

Pyrrha perked up suddenly, remembering what was happening.

Pyrrha turned around as she looked for something. "Hmm… I wonder if someone is hiding nearby."

Blake held her breath, hoping she was just being paranoid.

"Like say… there!" Pyrrha spun around and funnels shot out as a makeshift firing squad. Each beam impacted against Blake's shield, causing it to shatter.

"Woah!" Nora gapsed, "That was so cool! How did she know she was there?!"

Blake boosted away, trying to gain distance, only to find another enemy bosting toward her. This one was a Gundam GP02 Physalis unit. It seemed unchanged, like a perfect replica of the original. "Sorry Blake!" It was revealed to be Ilia as the pilot. "But I know you were always a ninja fan!"

Blake dodged the incoming fire from an anti-ship cannon and a flurry of beams from the funnels. Of course it would be Ilia. The Suit looks like it was ripped straight out of the show. Her unit was designed to be more acrobatic, i.e. good maneuverability at the cost of armor, so she was able to minimize the number of hits to her armor.

Blake had a certain appreciation for the fighting style. It was very 'armor doesn't matter if they can't hit you.'

Ilia had an appreciation at the fact that her alternate self seemed to have a talent for this.

Blake dipped another blast and pulled a submachine gun from her waist and fired a series of bullets toward the two. Bullets were rare when beams existed, but it made it more likely that bullet coating isn't as prevalent when compared to beam coating. But the GP02 came equipped with a massive shield to block anything that came its way. Ilia's GP02 started to use its boosters to charge toward Blake with shield up, intent to bash the ninja-inspired Gundam unit with a shield as large as it is. Blake boosted to the side using her particle engine, but Pyrrha's Qubeley fired another salvo of beams. One of these beams impacted the Shroud's leg and caused Blake to lose balance in the air. She boosted away to avoid another attack, intent on escaping the fight for now.

Pyrrha and Ilia were about to pursue before a communication window appeared on their screens to show Jaune, "Hold back for now."

"There he is," Nora giggled, still enjoying her little game of where's Jaune.

Pyrrha glanced toward the screen, "Is Nora done reloading?"

"Not yet. I can't place it, but I get the feeling there's more to this even than a hundred team brawl. It seems too simple for something the devs have been hyping up for a month."

"What do you think?" Ilia asked. Having only joined the team recently, she wasn't used to Jaune's analytical mode.

"I think we're about to find out."

A loud tone rang out over the entire battlefield. Then, a raid alarm started to sound for all units still active.

Ruby jumped at the sudden sound, "What's going on?"

On all of the internal screens, a popup window appeared with the server's mascot, a round orb referred to as a Haro unit.

Ruby lit up seeing the little robot, "It's so cute~!"

Yang rolled her eyes, but felt like it was oddly charming.

It spun around and seemed to celebrate something before it spoke, "And there are only five teams remaining on the Grasslands battlefield! And that's not all!" Another window appears to show a mass of Dark Army units marching. "The Dark Army is approaching! All active units have become targets of the encroaching Army! Do you all have what it takes to survive the coming Darkness? Or will you all be wiped out! The Army arrives in fifteen minutes!" The window closed to show a countdown timer reading [0:14:58] and counting down.

"Seems Mr. Arc was correct after all." Port nodded, impressed in a sense.

The scene changed to show Ren and Yang had punched each other's Gundams on the 'cheek,' holding this position since the message came in.

As it ended, Ren had a small grin, "I guess we'll have to settle this later."

Yang had a grin of her own, "I guess we will."

Both units backed off and boosted away to join their teams.

Ruby and Coco's match had a similar state before they flew off.

The Schnee siblings joined Ruby and Yang ust before Blake arrived. Blake turned to Weiss, who was the lead Ace of their squadron, "So what's the plan?"

Weiss was instantly eyes on the scene. It was actually nice to be considered as a possible leader for once. It was always about Ruby as their leader and she was never even considered. She didn't need to be the leader of team RWBY or anything, but it was nice to be considered sometimes.

Weiss growled a bit before pulling up a map. A red arrow showed the Army's approach from the northern region. "There's a chokepoint up North. A valley before you enter the grasslands. If we want to beat an Army this large, it has to be there."

"It might also help to get whoever fired that salvo before to help." Whitely offered. He was new to the game when compared to his sisters. He had intended to see what was so special about it and move on, but he was pulled into the game and ultimately started to use it as a way to spend time with Winter and Weiss, who didn't interact with him very much beforehand.

Weiss and Winter actually started to feel a little bad now. It was true that Whitely was, as they stated now, antagonistic, but this screen and its alternate realities got them thinking. Did we avoid him because he seems to hate us? If so, why? And if not, did we drive him away by avoiding him, leading to what they've become?

Winter agreed, but there was something important to bring up, "There's no guarantee she will. Nora is a member of Jupiter Squadron. And if their commander doesn't want to help us, she won't even give up the time of the day."

"For now," Weiss interrupted, "let's get to the chokepoint. We can handle the specifics there."

The group agreed and flew off toward the North. The area was a ridgeline with rigid tops, ensuring there was no going over without flight. The group landed off to the side to save and charge energy for the fight. The Dark Army was still six minutes out. Then, after a moment, they found something approaching from the Southeast on their scanners. Turning, they found the Valkyrie slowly making its way to the scene with her team nearby. As Ren landed, he glanced toward the group, "Seems we had the same thought process."

With another moment, a new unit started to fly in. It looked like a knight with gleaming silver and gold armor. It was a modified Knight Gundam Full Armor Mode. It landed and stood to look toward the group. "Two teams would make this easier." It was revealed that this unit was piloted by Jaune.

Coco chuckled, "Of course his mech thing is a knight. Very Jaune."

Jaune's unit was referred to as Paladin Gundam Type-Arcadius. Jaune marched into form with his squad. "Nora, what's the ETA on a salvo?"

Nora looked over to her screen, "Sixty seconds and I get the missiles. The big guy will be down for another hour."

"That's fine. Ilia, prep your launcher."

The GP02 had an attachment over its shoulder move around toward the front. Ilia snapped her launcher onto the compatible frame and lock shut.

Jaune turned to the squad opposite his own. "As for the rest, let's discuss."

The scene faded out to the countdown, accelerating time before it hit [0:00:00].

"Here we go." Sun said with a grin. "Time for a Dark Army slaughter."

The scene changed to show the Army approach the valley. As the mass production units started to file into the valley, one of them was suddenly sniped through its head. And the head behind it. And the head behind that. Back with the group, Ruby had fired a shot and allowed a cooldown of her weapon before firing again. This is what Crescent Rose was built for. It got the Army to pause long enough for Ilia to level her weapon toward the valley's end. Suddenly, a strange symbol appeared on the screens inside the units. It showed a yellow circle with a black trefoil as it spun.

"What's that?" Ruby's head tilted in thought.

Penny looked over the symbol and tapped her cheek in thought, "It seems rather similar to contamination warning symbols. It reminds me of high yield Dust canister warnings."

"That's because it is a warning symbol." King explained. "Specifically for radiation."

"So why is it prompted by her launcher?" Ironwood asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Radiation is a common outcome with use of nuclear devices."

Everything was silent at first. Then, Blake asked, "Nuclear?"

Ilia fired her weapon toward the Army. As it soared over the advanced units, it reached multiple legions back before exploding in a blue bulb of destruction. The impact caused a mushroom cloud as the shockwave rushed over the land. Dark Army units were sent flying, being close to the blast radius, but the squads were still too close to avoid the wave. Ilia leveled her shield to block the incoming wave. Ruby's cloak snapped shut for the same effect.

Blake felt a chill remembering the Nukes from her experience with them.

As the blast effect ended, the Army in the valley righted themselves only to find a pair of fists tearing through their heads. Yang and Ren ran through the Dark Army with little effort. G-Gundam units were physically strong and great against Dark Army units. Coco had also joined the front lines, mowing down numerous units with her gatling gun. When her weapon fell low on ammo, she leveled it to the side, popping open a container on its leg to reveal new energy packs for her weapon. As a Dark Army unit got close during reload, however, the chest piece of her unit popped open to reveal two more gatling guns, unloading to destroy the attacker.

Nora saw that and bust up laughing.

Coco just shrugged. If it worked it worked.

Weiss, Winter, and Whitely glide across the ground as a trio of various Zaku. Weiss fired a machine gun while Winter used a heat ax to slice up anything that got close. Whitely acted as a shield support unit to keep attacks off his sisters and occasionally fired a beam rifle to kill another Dark Army unit.

Whitely clutched his hand a bit tighter, something that was noticed by Weiss. What she didn't know, was why.

As Ren kicked the head of a Dark Army unit off, Yang open-palmed striked the head into another hard enough to dent the new unit's head in. They both land and rear back their fists. Shouting out in unison, they cry, "Sekiha Tenkyoken!" They both punched forward and created massive waves of energy to tear into the Army.

Yang was starry eyed seeing this, "That sounds so awesome! Does it mean anything?"

Knox nodded with a smirk, "It means Earth-shaking, heaven-piercing punch."

Yang would admit to drooling a little at the idea.

The scene moved to Nora as lowered her stance, firing another salvo of cluster bombs toward the rear line of the Dark Army. Meanwhile, Blake moved like a shadow and ripped larger units up before sneaking away. It was easy to escape the sight of the smaller guards with Pyrrha's funnels flying around to harass the Dark Army around them. Finally, Jaune's Paladin Gundam was shown in combat. It, of course, had a sword and shield. He tore through units with little difficulty. The Knight Gundam variants were short range, heavily armored, and energy efficient. The lack of range was a problem, but against basic AI units like the Dark Army, he had little issue. With the blade raised, he slammed the steel down to unleash a wave of pressure to rip a few units apart with one slash. To their credit, the two teams worked well enough together to decimate the Army of AI with no clear command and no way to use their numbers to their advantage in the valley.

"Smart move." Winter was a little impressed. She'd also seen the Arc in the audience had a similar mind for strategy. It was interesting in a way. She would admit, she was interested to see where he goes in the future.

The Dark Army units were forced into retreat. But a second wave would be on the horizon. Jaune looked out over the scene, not intending to let them have the chance. "Nora! Bring down the hammer!"

Nora grinned inside her Valkyrie unit and set in a code. The armor on her unit's back fell off and rearranged to resemble something more like a cannon than a missile salvo. The unit sapped off the rest of armor, revealing the internal unit referred to as Valkyrie Core. The armor was set in a new combination as the cannon Mjolnir, energy charging into the core. With a moment, it fired a massive beam of energy into the Army and erupted as a lightning bolt.

Nora almost passed out from how cool it was. She wanted to be able to do something like that. She wanted to shoot lightning!

The bolt caused a fade out to white. Lettering appeared reading, [Congratulations! Grasslands Battlefield defeated the Dark Army!].

"That was freaking awesome!" Yang practically jumped to her feet with how much she enjoyed that.

Knox felt something vibrate at his side, pulling out a scroll of sorts and grinning once he saw the notification. [Party Time!]