The Multiverse in a Nutshell

by Pennington Inkwell

Rite to Bear Arm

"Has anybody seen Penn?"

"Uh, not after he left the kitchen feeling sick last night. Should somebody check on him?"

That was the question that had set Ruby on a quest down into the underbelly of Beacon academy. Normally, she loved her school, she would never feel unsafe here... but the low lights and near-silence aside from her own echoing footsteps were enough to set her a little on edge.

Still, she wasn't going to let a case of the heebie-jeebies stop her now. Eventually, she found herself staring at the door in question, just a short distance down from a large hole in the wall hastily covered by a blue tarp. On the door was a barely-legible note that read

IF MUSIC IS ON
DO NOT ENTER

and, just as she might have guessed, the scream of an electric guitar was pouring out of the hole in the wall.

This generation!
With fire in our eyes!
Strong are the ties that bind us!
We don't need no alibis!

NOTHIN'S GONNA STAND IN OUR WAY!

Ruby stood there for a moment, arguing back and forth with herself until she finally thought of a clever solution.

The sign only said not to ENTER. It didn't say anything about taking a peek behind the curtain. As quietly as she could, Ruby tugged on the edge of the tarp until she had a clear view of the workshop.

"What."

One wall of the room was taken up by the biggest weapons forge she'd ever seen, the kind that was used for mass-producing weapons in times of war. She'd only seen those in history books when she she could bear studying for Professor Oobleck's class! It was firing at what looked like maximum capacity, too, with many places on the casing glowing red with the conducted heat from inside. There was nothing coming from the output of the forge, despite how busy it appeared to be.

That must be what's melting that special metal to close the portal...

As her gaze traveled across the room, her eyes only widened in surprise.

The room looked like a war zone. Craters and pock marks in the walls were everywhere, she was pretty sure she could see the scorch marks of some kind of explosion near the center of the room, and jagged bits of metal and car parts were never more than maybe six inches from another one. In the middle of the room, just past the explosion marks, a half-built car unlike anything she'd ever seen was up on metal stands, held nearly a foot off the floor for easy access underneath.

The car was... weird.

At first glance it looked like an ordinary-but-overengineered car... but when she looked more closely, she began to notice something.

The interior didn't line up with the exterior. Every section of the body was like looking through a window into a house: there was clearly more space on the inside than there should have been, and looking at it made her brain hurt. When her head started spinning, Ruby forced herself to look away. Thankfully, a distraction had presented itself...

That distraction came in the form of motion from above. With a rattling of metal chains and clicking of gears, what looked like a huge chunk of metal began to descend from the shadows. Her eyes widened as she realized it was an ENGINE, one that was more than half the size of the entire car!

"There's no way that'll fit!"

a voice crackled over the speakers, interrupting the music.

"That's what SHE said!" Penn's voice called back. As the engine continued to lower further and further, Ruby could see him straddled across the machine and pulling down on the chain that controlled its descent.

Ruby snickered, covering her mouth with her hand to avoid being discovered.

"No, seriously, it's too wide to get through the engine bay!"

"Let me worry about that! How's the driveshaft design going?" Penn waved off the concerns of whoever was on the other end of the phone call.

"That? We finished that AGES ago! It's gonna be a headache to build, but she'll be able to run all the motors you want on the same powertrain!"

"Great! And you stress-tested it to make sure it'll hold up when I boost it?" Penn had stopped lowering the engine about ten feet above the car and risen to his feet. With one hand, he was rotating some kind of handle. Whatever he was adjusting, it was rotating the whole engine, tilting it further and further back. He casually walked along the engine block until he was standing on top of the now-vertical engine, cutting its width almost in half.

"How am I supposed to TEST it when you have the engines over there?"

"Just have Isis run some simulations!" Penn rolled his eyes and hung off the chain with one hand to lean in the direction of the other voice.

"You don't think I have? But knowing YOU, you'll probably try dumping nitroglycerin into the gas tank as a fuel additive or using a wind elemental as a turbo booster or something! And there might be faults in the parts! Simulations can only do so much compared to physical stress testing!"

There was a long pause of silence between the two of them.

"You're thinking about doing those things right now, aren't you?"

"Noir, please! I'm not THAT stupid!" Penn scoffed. "Just send the schematics over from your workshop and I'll forge them here, if you say it'll work then I'll trust you!"

"I'm NOT saying it'll work. I'm saying it SHOULD work. Push it too hard and you still might wind up with driveshaft spaghetti."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. Now, can I have my music back? It's the big moment, the W-24 is going in!"

"Alright, ya drama queen. Have fun."

When I get high I get high on speed!
Top fuel funny car's a drug for me!
My heart! MY HEART!
Kickstart my hea-art!

With a grin, Penn made one last pull on the chain, seeming to set something in motion. Slowly, with him leaning to the sides and pulling on the chains to guide it, the huge engine descended into the engine bay... where it disappeared without a trace. There was no sag of extra weight on the wheels, no way to see it from the outside or spot it coming out of the underside of the car. It just... vanished into the car.

All of this happened with Penn riding atop it, furiously ripping on an air guitar as he, too, descended out of sight.

For a few seconds, Ruby waited to see some sign that he would come back out.

He didn't.

Well, I really only came down here to make sure he was okay, and he definitely LOOKS like he's having a good time... Ruby thought. Just as she was about to turn away, however, a familiar cacophony caught her attention.

CLANG! CHA-CHUNK! VRRRM!

Her eyes widened as she spun around to spot the weapons forge doors opening, allowing several parts and pieces to roll out on the conveyor belt and into a nearby box. She could tell just by looking at them that they were too large to be for weapons, so they had to be for the car. Still, they didn't look like anything she'd ever seen while Yang was working on her motorcycle... and that made her curious. As she stared and tried to figure out just what Penn was building, for the first time, she noticed something she hadn't before.

There was a thin cable running from the forge down to Penn's laptop, which was sitting on a nearby cart. It was completely unattended, and even at this distance she could make out the familiar sight of blueprints on the screen. Blueprints that were obviously made using the weapon-designing software of the forge.

In that second, all memory of the "Keep out" sign disappeared from Ruby's mind, replaced by an overwhelming, all-encompassing curiosity.

The next thing she knew, Ruby was standing in front of the computer. Her eyes widened as she took in the plans for Penn's new car. They were complex, finely-detailed, cramming enough hardware for at least three vehicles into the physics-defying space. She began to click through the tabs, highlighting different layers of the plan to show different systems.

-Fuel

-Engine (Gas)

-Engine (Electric)

-Engine (Turbine)

-Transmission

-Axles

-Wiring

-Suspension

-Frame

-Climate Control

-Turbo

-Extra Turbo

-Super Turbo

-Backup Turbo

-Turbine Airflow

-Afterburner

-Seats-to-Bed System

-Kitchen

-Watercraft

-Submersible

-Wings?

-Airtight Seal

-Deadlock

-Independent Air Supply

-Armor Plating

-The Big Guns

-Dimensional Transcendentalism Module

Somehow, that wasn't even half of them.

"Is he building a car or a tank?" Ruby whispered to herself, settling on the "Armor Plating" tab to start with, since it looked the closest to what she knew. It looked like he wanted to keep the car LOOKING like it originally had, trying to keep a low profile most of the time, but he was planning on adding retractable plates that could slide into place and improve the car's toughness and aerodynamics.

But it was wrong.

Even just looking at it for a few seconds, Ruby could see at least five places where the kind of transformation tech she used in Crescent Rose could improve the design. It was bulky, inefficient, and she could tell just by looking at it that the transformation would take several minutes when it COULD take just a few seconds. Penn was smart, and she had no doubt that Isis was helping him with the design, but...

"...it could be better."

"You think so?" asked a voice directly behind her.

"YEEEP!"

She spun around on her heel, ready to bolt at a moment's notice, but Penn was simply standing with his arms crossed, a smug smirk on his face as the song that was playing faded out to silence. Ruby instantly felt her face flush slightly as she realized she'd been caught in the act of spying. Penn, thankfully, didn't seem upset with her, simply leaning to look over her shoulder at what she'd been talking about.

"Well, you WOULD be the expert in transforming tech..." he mused. "Where's the room for improvement?"

"U-uh, I'm sorry-" Ruby stammered, but Penn simply waved her off with a grease-covered hand.

"I jumpscared you, I'd say we're even." He chuckled at himself. "Sorry for that, by the way."

"Uh... That's it? You're not mad?" Ruby took her hand off of Crescent Rose, where it had landed by sheer instinct.

Penn raised an eyebrow at her as he reached past her to take a rag off the cart and start wiping down his hands. "Should I be?"

"W-Well, the sign said not to come in if there's music playing, but I-" she was cut off by Penn holding up a hand for her to stop. He took a deep breath, then moved the hand up to his ear, as if listening for something.

"I don't hear any music. What do you need?"

"Oh... I don't- uh- I actually came down here to see what YOU were doing. You kind of left in a hurry last night."

That got a different look from Penn, one she could only describe as "melancholy." "That's really kind of you. I'm just fine, Little Red. Feeling much better now that I got some quality time with my lady." He pointed to the half-built car. "Ten out of ten, promise."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep!" He stepped around her, gingerly tapping on the laptop's keys to avoid getting it greasy. "You know, I actually DID want to ask for your input on this, so this worked out pretty nicely!"

"Me?" It was Ruby's turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"You made Crescent Rose, right?" Penn leaned away from the computer again, now back to the original screen that had all of the different systems visible. "You've got a crazy knack for engineering, Ruby, and there's not a lot of people I'd trust to see these plans, to begin with!"

This time, Ruby's face was flushing with embarrassment at the praise. "I'm not THAT special. There's smarter people you could ask. What about Isis?"

"Isis could design the whole thing, sure... but I want to be as hands-on as I can be with Sylvia! Maybe I could ask somebody here at Beacon with more experience, but I don't think I could trust them like I know I can trust you." He shrugged. "You've got the smarts AND the heart! You don't HAVE to help me, but I would like to ask you to, if you would."

Ruby blinked a few times as the sheer turnaround the conversation had taken truly dawned on her.

"This didn't go the way that I thought that it was going to."

Penn smirked again. "Well, what did you expect to happen when you sneak in here, waltz right up to my computer, and say my blueprints could be better? That I WOULDN'T listen to your advice?"

"Uh... I thought you'd be mad at me for sneaking in?"

"That's if I'm cooking. If I'm cooking, I know fully well what I want to make and how I want to make it." Penn took a few steps back, sitting himself on the front of the car. "I'm a decent mechanic, but I'm far from perfect at engineering compact systems and transforming designs!" He gestured towards her, bowing his head slightly. "You've got more experience than me in that. As we say in my world, 'In the matter of shoes, defer to the cobbler.'"

Ruby blinked as she tried to decipher the saying. "You mean... 'Always listen to people who know more than you?'"

"'Always defer to the expert when you're working in their field.'" Penn smiled. "But yeah, pretty much. It's the best way to learn things." His smile widened back into a smirk. "It's not like I have a semblance that just lets me magically know things, after all. That would just be silly."

The two of them snickered for a moment, and Ruby felt her curiosity beginning to rise again as she craned her neck slightly to see past him.

"So... can I see inside?"

Penn smiled a little wider. "First my blueprints, now my engines bay? What big eyes you have, Little Red..."

"What?"

"It's a reference to an old fairy tale from my world." He gave her a wink before kicking his feet up into the air. With a small grunt, he rolled back over the edge, dropping entirely out of sight. "Come on in, the oil's fine!"

For a second after he vanished, Ruby honestly expected to hear a splash.

"Sunset's right, it IS hard to tell when he's joking sometimes... " she muttered as a smile slowly crept up. "But that's kinda fun!" With a burst of speed, she dashed after him with her semblance and flew straight into the engine bay.

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"AJ, you're coming on too strong! You need to back it down a bit!"

"I- I CAN'T! Mah geode's goin' nuts! It- It's like it's overcharged! I gotta get it off!"

"Just a few more seconds! Hang in there! It's almost there, I can feel- AAUGH!"

"RAINBOW DASH!"

Just as the world began to fall to pieces around them, everything froze, leaving Sunset in a world suspended in time. She could see everything in vivid detail. The glowing cracks in reality that had snapped open beneath them, the titanic dragon that had manifested above the school, and the crackling surges of rainbow-colored magic that had enveloped her friends were all there and frozen in time. With only a thought, she sunk down out of the air to walk around the area, struck by the strangeness of how natural this detached-from-reality state she was in felt. It was like she was floating through water, muffling every sensation.

"Hey, Sunset? You okay?"

She turned around to find Missy floating just behind her, eyes wide with worry. But Missy wasn't supposed to be here, was she? She wasn't from CHS, she was from after...

That was when it clicked. She was dreaming. Of course she was dreaming, that was the only thing that made sense. With that new awareness, she was able to shake off the fog clouding her conscious mind enough to speak.

"Yeah... I'm okay." She glanced back up at the cocoons of colored energy that had encased her fellow Rainbooms. "I guess seeing Rainbow Dash brought these memories back to the front of my mind."

Missy glanced around, placing her hands on her hips and letting out a low whistle. "Wow... So this was ground zero, huh? Where it all happened?"

"Where it all went wrong, you mean?" Sunset corrected as she looked longingly back at CHS. Somehow, seeing the school even in her memory drove a deep pang of homesickness deep into her heart.

"Hey, don't start beating yourself up again. If the multiverse hadn't broken, we all never would have met!" Missy chimed, floating over to take hold of her hand and give it a squeeze. "Come on, don't get down on me!"

Sunset smiled and returned the gesture. "I know. I think I'm past the point of wishing it had never happened. Now I just want to get everyone home, you know?"

"Well, of course! That's the whole point of our quest!" Missy chuckled and floated out slightly in front of her, examining the school more closely. "Gotta admit, I think you might have been playing a little too much Yu-Gi-Oh, though..."

Sunset blinked, confused at the sudden swerve in the conversation.

"Why do you say that?"

Missy chuckled and pointed up at the dragon above the school. "Well, you're even seeing duel spirits in your dreams. now!"

Sunset blinked several times, then looked back up at the dragon. "That's... that's not a duel spirit. I think I was just hallucinating, but that was one of the last things I saw before I passed out."

Missy slowly turned around, and Sunset immediately knew she'd said something much more important than she realized. Her eyes were wide and all signs of color had drained from her face.

"Sunset... you're kidding, right? This is some kind of practical joke?"

"No?" Sunset felt a trickle of fear at Missy's sudden seriousness. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Missy floated down to the ground, eyes still wide as she turned back around to stare at the dragon, finally settling down to sit on the pavement.

"You've got to be kidding me... You're kidding... No way..." she kept repeating to herself, clearly in shock.

"What, what is it?" Sunset looked rapidly between Missy and the dragon, the implication of her reaction rapidly settling in. "Are you saying that dragon is some kind of duel spirit?"

"It's not just ANY duel spirit..." Missy mumbled. "That's a BIG one, Sunset. That's RAINBOW DRAGON. That's the ace monster of one of the most influential archetypes of the second series... And one of the most elusive and powerful duel spirits." She finally spread her wings and floated back up, though only just enough to keep the tips of her toes from scraping on the ground when she turned around. "I mean, that's like if I told you I saw Princess Celestia in my world the night before the Ghostrick Mansion burned to the ground! You'd have no idea what it means, but you'd KNOW they were related!" She gestured up to the dragon. "WELL, THAT'S HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW!"

Sunset looked at Missy, then back at the dragon again. "I... don't understand. Why would a spirit like that be at CHS? None of us played the game, or anything!"

"I don't know for sure, but... I think..." Missy shook her head in disbelief. "If Rainbow Dragon was there when the multiverse broke, there might be more to what happened than any of us know. A LOT more."

It was Sunset's turn to sit down out of shock. "You mean... it might not have been our fault?"

The two of them sat there while the dream wound down, each staring at the dragon that Sunset had previously thought was a hallucination.

Now she realized that it just might be the key to figuring out what went wrong.

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Weiss did NOT like bed rest.

For all the "spoiled girl" images people seemed to have of her, she was accustomed to working hard and working constantly, and being told to sit around all day and do nothing really ate away at her nerves.

Well, almost nothing. Her newly-assigned physical therapist was making sure that she spent at least a couple hours this morning doing basic exercises... that had been the most excruciating thing she'd ever done.

But once the pain and the soreness had worn off, she'd started to feel anxious again. She wanted to get up and get moving again, get back to training or back to working with her team... but for now, all that she could do was re-re-read her class notes... despite classes not currently being in session.

Yang had caught her up on most of what she'd missed while she was out. Apparently, there was now a permanent blizzard raging outside because Baalchion had started the process of terraforming Remnant, in spite of all their efforts to slow down his invasion. Sunset and her friends had come back, only to be nearly killed and left stranded by an ambush attack as soon as they arrived, putting them already on the back foot and trying to recover lost ground. In a display of utter gall, the monsters of Baalchion's army had come right up to Beacon's doorstep, as if completely unafraid of the huntsmen and huntresses inside. Most concerning to Weiss, however, was the thing that she hadn't talked much about at all.

Yang was... different. In a bad way. Weiss was stuck in bed all day by force. Yang was staying there by choice. She said that she was "watching over her," but no matter how many times Weiss told her she could go, Yang seemed to have no interest in rejoining the world. She just... sat. Sometimes she'd flip through her scroll, sometimes she'd just sit and stare into empty space or at her burned-up arm. Weiss could tell that it was her arm that bothered her the most, but it was more than skin-deep. Sometimes, when she was trying to sleep or just resting her eyes for a bit, Weiss could hear Yang muttering things.

"Shoulda been faster..."

"Why did I do that?"

"Stupid..."

"Where were they?"

Sometimes she would flex her charcoal-like hand in and out, sending ashy crumbs all over her bedsheets as the friction rubbed away the substance of her fingers. Once, she'd gotten up and thrown a punch at the wall, only for her hand to shatter into tiny pieces and leave her with only a blackened stub at her elbow. What worried Weiss the most, however, were the moments when Yang was completely still. Once in a while, she would completely freeze. Her eyes would become unfocused and her breathing would pick up in speed. That feeling seemed to swell in the room, and Weiss could see flickering and embers rising off of her hair, as if her semblance was trying to activate on its own.

Whatever had happened when she had fallen unconscious that let Yang end that fight, it had come at a cost, and not just a physical one. Deep down, Weiss cursed herself for not being strong enough to protect her teammates properly. She didn't feel like she deserved to try and comfort Yang after her pitiful performance.

After I passed out, I was just dead weight...

A firm rapping of knuckles against wood brought Weiss's mind back to the present. She and Yang exchanged a well-practiced glance, each nodding to the other to confirm that they were fine with the visitor.

"Come in!" Yang called.

Weiss nearly jumped out of the bed with excitement at the sight of the white-haired woman entering the room. Her hair was done up in a tight bun and she was dressed in a perfectly-kept military uniform. She held herself with with air of a woman in complete control, but Weiss knew her well enough to see the relief in her eyes, the tiny lines in her face of barely-restrained emotions. Those little signs alone conveyed more than most words ever could between them.

"Winter!" Weiss was glad that her voice was returning quickly, she would rather have buried herself under a mountain than let her sister hear the croaking that had initially been coming out of her mouth. She instantly caught the emotional outburst, remembering all the work that her older sister had put into teaching her proper decorum when she was "working." Weiss did her best to bow her head slightly. "You honor us with your presence..."

"Weiss... It is good to see your recovery moving quickly." Winter eyed the equipment with a critical look. "When I heard that a medical transport could not travel in these conditions, I had my doubts that an... improvised arrangement... would be of sufficient quality." Weiss's heart almost melted at Winter's concern. "But it seems that my doubts were proven wrong."

"Beacon Academy and my teammates were by my side every step of the way." Weiss gestured to where Yang was watching from.

"I was privileged enough to have access the the records regarding your battles at Evernight." Her eyes narrowed somewhat in what, to anyone else, would look like mild annoyance. "I cannot believe that Professor Ozpin would send students on reconnaissance missions. The sheer inadequacy of a headmaster who would make such a decision boggles the mind."

Yang pushed forward a bit. "Hey, watch what you say about the Professor! He knows what he's doing!"

"Does he?" Winter turned her icy gaze on Yang. "When facing an unknown enemy of indeterminate number and unforeseeable abilities, he sent teams of first year students to gather data, rather than an experienced team. No matter their former heroics, that strikes me as an act of folly."

Before Yang could give an angry retort, however, another voice spoke up from the doorway, cutting her off.

"It wasn't a matter of experience, of which Team RWBY has more than most first-years, but a matter of informational security." All eyes in the room turned to Penn, who was standing in the doorframe with a tray in each hand. Today's flowery shirt was sky-blue and white, and his cargo pants were covered in oil stains that showed he'd been working in the workshop before the sun was even up. He gave a polite nod to Winter before glancing over at Yang for the sign to enter. When he had permission he stepped in and walked to Weiss's bed, placing the first tray on her lap.

"Director Bakersfield."

"Specialist Schnee."

Penn and Winter both regarded one another with the cold detachment of professionalism, but the tension in the air was palpable.

"Teams RWBY and JNPR were the only ones who knew that Remnant was facing transdimensional threats after dealing directly with me and Sunset. I agree that putting them on the front lines was a stupid decision, but apparently information leaks like a sieve around Beacon, so I can understand keeping the circle of trust as tight as possible. Take into consideration that they were only ordered to survey the numbers of a minor expeditionary force and it makes more sense why the mission SEEMED low-risk."

He lifted the dome off of the tray, allowing a delicious-smelling plume of steam up into Weiss's face.

"We're trying to ease your body back into solid food, so today's breakfast is soft-scrambled eggs and a side of pears with an apple reduction sauce. Orange juice and mint tea on the side. Orange juice is to help with recovery and mint tea is a good remedy for counterentropic exposure. Make sure you drink all of both."

Weiss gave him a grateful nod. For some reason, after everyone's positive reception to the "French Toast" he'd made (which was almost exactly like Mantle Toast), he'd taken the encouragement to mean he could take over bringing meals to her and Yang. While normally, Weiss would have been somewhat offended at his quick presumption...

...the food was REALLY good, and he seemed incapable of making small portions.

"Low-risk or not, students should NOT have been on the front lines!" Winter countered, showing a surprising amount of emotion.

"I wholeheartedly agree." Penn rolled his eyes as he carried the second tray to Yang. "But it helps to understand both sides of an argument before casting judgement." He pulled the cover off of the tray, revealing a sizable pile of food. "And for Yang, two grande-sized breakfast burritos, loaded with all the works! Plus a side of bacon, hash browns, fresh fruit, a chocolate milkshake, and a bottle of the hottest hot sauce I could find!"

"Dude, you're the best, I was starving!" Yang grinned as she picked up the first of the burritos (which was almost the size of her forearm) and ripped the entire top off in a single bite.

"Hm. Enjoy having your metabolism that high while you can..." Winter mused.

"Actually, it's probably going to be like that for the rest of her life," Penn countered, taking a second to lean against the wall and admire his handiwork. "After what she did, I think she's gotten a direct tie back to the same entropic forces that empower Chiracians."

There was a long period of silence as everyone in the room stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. He held up his hand and pointed to it.

"I think, somehow, Yang's semblance let her channel such high amounts of raw kinetic energy that she became a channel for what Chiracians call the 'primal light.' It's just entropic energy with no mind or will of its own. The decaying and aging effects were confined to her arm, so she's not gonna turn into an old lady like Rainbow Dash, but she's pretty much going to be a caloric black hole from now on." He shrugged, as if the information was nothing special. "Honestly, the fact is that, to save her team, Yang pulled off something that Chiracian fire priests spend DECADES trying to achieve by sheer instinct. Those of the faith might just call it a miracle."

"Having read the debriefing about their foe, I would certainly agree with the assessment that they're lucky to be alive... in spite of Professor Ozpin's decision-making." Winter nodded.

Yang, who had stopped to stare at her arm again, gritted her teeth at that. She gripped her charred fist tight enough that the coal began to splinter and crack as she shook with barely-contained rage. Finally, her emotions seemed to reach a peak.

"GRAH!"

With a slam and the sharp clatter of coal flying in all directions, she slammed her hand against the nightstand, causing it to shatter all over the room. For their parts, Penn and Winter both did a good job at looking unperturbed by Yang's outburst. As they all stood in awkward silence for a few seconds, Yang's outburst seemed to peter out, and she sullenly used her remaining hand to pick up the burrito and resume her feeding frenzy.

Winter gave Weiss a questioning look, and Weiss felt a small flush of secondhand embarrassment at the fact that she couldn't explain her friend's violent behavior.

"Well, considering it looks like Weiss's wellness is well in hand, I'll be taking my leave."

"Don't let the door insubordinate you on the way out."

Winter turned to stare at him, and Penn returned her glare with a carefree grin.

"Professor Ozpin may attest to your trustworthiness, but I'm having a hard time believing that any organization lead by such a lackadaisical man could be capable of saving anyone."

"Well, in my experience, the military industrial complex grinds too many individual minds into homogeneous, order-following paste for me to care what they so-called 'think'." Penn countered, meeting her gaze without so much as a tremor in his tone.

Winter bristled at that, but seemed to choose to bite her tongue rather than escalate. With a huff, she stepped out the door, closing it with enough force for the sound to make Penn flinch. Once the sound of her heels had disappeared down the hallway, let out a sigh of relief and slumped back against the wall.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"Is your sister single, or is she in a committed relationship with that stick up her a-"

"PFFFFT!"

His last word was cut off by the sound of Yang spitting her drink halfway across the room.

"AHAHAHAHA-"

"How DARE you!"

"-HAHAHAHAHAHA-"

"My sister is a respected, high-ranking member of the Atlesian Special Operations-"

"HAHAHA- OHMYGOSH- HAHAHAH!"

"-and not only would she NEVER stoop to dating someone as- as lackadaisical as you-"

"OH, DUDE, I ALMOST CHOKED!"

"-but she does NOT have a 'stick up her rear!' She is a shining example to every soldier in Atlas!"

"Warn me next time you're gonna say something like that!"

Penn didn't seem to pay any mind to Weiss's reproach, focusing mostly on Yang's uproarious response to his words.

"Feeling a little better, Goldilocks?"

Yang wiped a tear from her eye with her good hand. "Y-yeah... a little."

"Good." Penn's smile faltered a bit. "I'm sorry for what I said about what happened being miraculous. I wasn't thinking."

Yang's smile also disappeared. "N-no, it's okay-"

"No, it wasn't." Penn's demeanor changed into a more serious look. one that managed to dry up any remaining levity.

"Look, no matter how fortunate it was that you girls survived, it's a really shoddy thing to sit here and tell you that you're lucky when one of you lost an arm and the other just came out of a coma." Penn's brow furrowed in frustration. "And I bet you've been hearing it a lot."

"Well, it's true..." Weiss mumbled. "We went up against an enemy we could barely comprehend and won."

"You ran headfirst into one of the worst things you possibly could have on a recon mission, and you did it because the commander you trusted decided that it was better to risk your safety with incomplete information than to risk exposing the invasion to others." Penn's eyes were locked on the far wall in a glare that looked like it could light tinder. Somewhere in the back of Weiss's mind, she wondered if he could somehow see Ozpin through the walls. "That's anything but lucky." He let out a long, hissing sigh before finally relaxing enough to stop glaring at the wall.

"Let's call a spade a spade, here. No matter how lucky you two got, this whole situation SUCKS, and you're within your rights to be upset." He reached down into his pocket and took out a small candy, which he proceeded to unwrap and pop into his mouth. "To quote a much-beloved musician where I come from... 'I don't need positive affirmations, I need to scream and bawl. The unrealistic expectations won't help with this at all.'"

Weiss and Yang both stared at him, trying to wrap their heads around what he was saying.

"It means it's okay to be mad or sad that this happened. Even if you avoided the worst, it was still BAD."

Both of them sat quietly for a few seconds, and Weiss couldn't help but recall her earlier thoughts.

"I... I'm mad. I'm mad at myself for being too weak to protect my teammates." Weiss finally murmured. "My semblance should be stronger, if I could just live up to my potential, I could have gone on the offensive! Instead, not three minutes into the fight and I was dead weight... Yang had to carry the whole team on her back because I couldn't be a good-"

"Are you kidding?"

Yang's disbelief was overwhelming. For the first time since Weiss had woken up, Yang jumped out of her bed stomped over. She slammed her remaining hand on the bed, ensuring that she had Weiss's full attention.

"You held the line! Even when you were unconscious, your glyphs kept us safe! Even after you were unconscious, somehow, you kept standing! Without you, all of us would have died! YOU were the one who did all of the protecting! All I did was get hurt for five minutes until I finally blew a gasket!" Yang threw her hand up into the air and turned away. "I mean, YOU had to pay the price for MY stupid idea! I was the one who wanted to stick around and fight that thing! If we'd just fallen back like you said, nobody would have gotten hurt!" Weiss could see tears falling from Yang's eyes, but she didn't seem to even notice, continuing on as if nothing had changed.

"I mean, I put all of you at risk for my stupid thrill-seeking! I'd never lost a fight before, so I thought I could just tackle ANYTHING and come up on top! You, Blake, my own sister! All of you could have died!" She spun around, pointing to the stump of her arm. "I mean, if ANYBODY deserved to lose a limb, it was ME! Stupid, cocky ME!"

Silence fell hard over the room. Weiss was horrified. Penn's mouth was pressed into a tight line.

"I... I..." Yang stepped back, eyes wide as if she was hearing her own words for the first time. She fell onto her bed, sitting on the edge and staring at the place where her arm used to be.

"I screwed up... and now part of me is gone. It's never coming back."

There was a long pause between the three of them. Yang laid back on her bed, starting to pull the covers back over herself.

"Yang..."

Penn was rubbing at his chin, brow furrowed in thought. "Not necessarily."

Weiss and Yang both did their best to sit up in a hurry. Both girls had their eyes glued on Penn instantly. He held his hands up in a show of surrender before they could begin hurling questions at him. "It's not going to get your flesh-and-bone arm back, but there's a way to make what you've got as good or better than your original." He reached into his pocket, rooting around as he stepped over towards Yang. "It's not going to be easy, either. You're going to have to learn a new skill and get VERY good at it."

As he came up alongside Yang's bed, now holding something out to her in his closed hand.

"It'll never work if you don't think you deserve your hand back, though."

For a second, Yang's expression seemed to falter. For the first time, Weiss saw doubt in Yang's eyes.

Penn seemed to see the same thing, sighing and beginning to pull his hand back again.

"Do it, Yang."

Yang turned to look at her, and Weiss gave her best confident smirk.

"Seeing you like this... it feels wrong. You're the least 'armless person I've ever known. You need to get back up, Yang... for all of us." Weiss shook her head. "The team isn't the same when you're down like this."

"But-"

"My memory might be a little... jumbled, but I remember that monster taking the first swing, and YOU jumped in to protect us. If it wasn't for you, Ruby would have gotten infected, instead, and she couldn't have burned that thing out like you did." Weiss took a deep breath. "And I swear, if you don't beat this, THAT'S going to be your fault and I will never forgive you for it!"

Yang continued to stare at her for a few seconds. Weiss doubted for a second that her words had gotten through to her friend... until Yang's eyes narrowed and the barest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She turned back to Penn and put her open hand under his closed one.

"I'll take it."

Penn smiled and opened his hand. A group of small, dull, silvery-colored objects dropped from his hand into hers. Yang lifted her palm up to her face, completely and utterly confused.

"They're... uh... little metal balls?"

"Lead fishing weights." Penn smirked. "It's as low of a starting point as I can give you." He pointed to her charcoal arm, which was already starting to regrow from her elbow. "When your hand comes back, don't try to hit things with it, it'll just shatter. Instead..." he reached down and curled her fingers around the weights. "I want you to imagine your arm, your hand, is a forge, a bed of red-hot coals, and your breathing is the bellows. Breathing in pulls air through the coals, priming them..." He pointed to her mouth, then began to travel his fingertip down her throat until it rested just above her collarbone. "Pull the air into the core of your body, just above and behind your stomach, under your heart, right at your diaphragm. Imagine this space at your core as a 'fire lung,' a special lung that gathers energy like your regular lungs gather carbon dioxide: to send it up and out."

Yang glanced down at his finger, then back up at Penn with a skeptical look. Penn sighed, obviously making an effort to look anywhere but down.

"Look, if I go any lower this is gonna get awkward. Just... visualize."

Yang rolled her eyes, closed them, and then took a deep breath. "Doesn't sound much different from my dad's training, actually..."

"Good. Now, while air sits in that fire lung, it grows hotter and hotter... The longer you hold it, the more that heat builds." He pulled his gesturing hand away, moving to gently press it at the small of her back. Weiss's eyes widened when he instantly ripped his hand away, shaking it as if he'd burned himself on her skin. "Great job," he mumbled around the pair of smoking fingers he was now sucking on. "Now, when you exhale, let that heat come up with the air, follow the current."

When Yang exhaled, Weiss almost cried out in surprise. A small jet of golden flames was slipping out from between her lips, as if someone had lit a plasma torch at the tip of her tongue.

"Good..." Penn's voice was calm, but his body language told a different story. He was hopping up and down in place, occasionally biting down on his knuckles to hold back other giddy noises. "Now, take another breath in again, prime the coals of your arm-forge, and let your fire lung fill again..."

Yang did as she was hold. Penn glanced around, snatching a metal spoon off of the tray he'd brought.

"Now, I'm going to touch your back..." He pressed the spoon to Yang's back, in the same spot he'd burned himself a few seconds ago. "Now, this should be just behind where you visualize your fire lung. This time, when you exhale, I want you to imagine it going up through your body... and then taking a detour. You're not blocking it, or obstructing the flow, you're letting it take a different route." He brought the spoon up her spine, then up into her shoulder. Slowly, he traced it back down her arm before stopping at the coal-covered stub. "This time, when you exhale, the heat is going to flow down through your shoulder instead of up into your throat, and you're going to guide it back out through your arm-forge, stoking the coals to heights unknown, until they're not just glowing, but blinding."

Yang exhaled again. Weiss watched as a shimmer traveled through Yang's aura, moving up from her abdomen into her chest. As she let out her breath, most of it came out of her mouth, once again shooting out a plume of flame that made Penn jump back. To her surprise, though, a small portion of the effect moved into Yang's shoulder and down through her arm. The black coals at her stump glowed red, as if freshly stoked, and Weiss could see a pair of blackened protrusions begin to grow out of the stump. They were hardly more than a pair of small nubs where the bones of her arm ought to be, but they'd grown in just a few seconds.

"O-Okay, you can open your eyes again, Yang." Penn stammered, taking a moment to check himself for any unknown fires. Weiss could see that he seemed not to be noticing a small flame at the top of his hat.

Yang opened her eyes, looking utterly disappointed in the exercise. "So... what was that supposed to do and why did you give me fishing weights?"

"Well, the more your practice that, the faster you'll be able to regrow your arm, for one." Penn pointed at his elbow so that Yang would see the progress she had made. "And for Chiracian battle priests who practice this technique, they'll end up with ALL of their limbs charred off. The way they compensate for it is by melting metal into their arms. When you can properly stoke your arm forge, you can melt just about ANY metal by just holding it and using that technique to raise its temperature. The molten metal will flow down into your arm and fill the cracks and crevices. The stronger the metal, the stronger your arm and the more energy you can channel." He pointed back to Yang's hand, which was still cradling the lead weights. "Consider those step one. Lead has a relatively low melting point compared to a lot of metals out there. When you can melt those until they completely disappear into your arm, let me know and I'll take you up to the next level." He crossed his arms and smiled, somehow still unaware that his hat was on fire.

"So... I can add metal to my arm?"

"That's the idea. Then it'll stop breaking and you can REALLY whale on your opponents!" He pounded his fist into his palm for emphasis. "Fire and red-hot steel in the same punch!"

Yang looked down at her stump as if seeing it for the first time, then tightened her flesh hand's grip on the lead weights.

"I'll get it mastered in no time."

"Don't rush to get back on your feet." Penn gave her a smile. "You've been through a lot, and, as harsh as you were being, I think you spotted some very real cracks in your mental foundations." He rapped his knuckles against the side of his skull to illustrate. "You won't be able to balance your energy until you can balance your heart with your head, and that can take a lifetime to figure out. Even I haven't got it down, and I've been trying to understand it since I dropped out of college." He smiled and reached up to his hat, sweeping it back and forth through the air before patting out the last of the flames with his hand. "Then again, you strike me as being pretty clever, so maybe you'll beat me to it!"

With the fire put out, he affixed the still-smoking hat back on his head and gave them each a nod.

"See ya for lunch, Weiss." He gave Yang a smirk and pointed to her as he walked backwards towards the door. "YOU, however, just proved you CAN get out of that bed, so you're gonna have to come get it yourself!" As he reached the threshold, he spun around on his heel and gave them a wave.

"I'm still just your chef, not your waiter!"

The door swung shut with a soft click. Yang and Weiss both sat in silence before Yang set down the small weights and used her free hand to pick back up her burrito to begin to tearing into it again.

"So THAT'S where Missy gets it..." Weiss mused.

"Getsh wha?" Yang mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"Those moments of wisdom beyond her age..." Weiss smiled and scooped up another spoonful of her eggs.

The time passed relatively quietly while they finished their breakfasts. Somehow, Yang managed to finish at least three times the amount of food in the same amount of time.

"So... how long were you going to let his hat burn before you told him his head was on fire?"

"I was just counting off how long it would take for him to notice!"

The two of them shared a chuckle for a few seconds.

"...do you think he's right? That I can come back stronger, even after everything that's happened?" Yang murmured, a hint of that painful doubt still creeping into her voice.

"I think that's your decision to make." Weiss took a sip of her tea. The mint gave a refreshing coolness to her mouth, but the moment it struck her stomach, she could feel warmth and strength begin to spread through her body. "Personally, I don't have a doubt that you can, Yang. You just have to choose to believe in yourself again. Not cockiness, but an honest understanding of what you're capable of."

"...thanks, Weiss."

Before the two of them could fall back into comfortable silence, the door to their room burst open, revealing a haggard-looking Sunset, still in her pajamas and clearly having just jumped out of bed.

"PENN?"

Weiss and Yang both had to stare at her for a second to process what she was asking.

"You, uh, just missed him."

"Is something wrong, Sunset?"

Missy's head poked up from over Sunset's shoulder, where she was clearly holding on for dear life. She put one hand to her head to steady herself.

"We found a clue about why the multiverse went kablooey... but we aren't sure what to make of it."

"Well, I think he was headed back to the kitchen, he mentioned lunch!" Yang pointed in the direction of the kitchen.

"Thanks!"

"Wait Sunset can we slow do-"

Missy's begging went unheeded as Sunset bolted down the hall again, yanking the little duel spirit along for the ride.

"HERE WE GO AGAIIIIIIIIN!" Missy's cry seemed to echo as it faded into the distance.

Weiss couldn't help but snicker a little once they were gone.

"Never a dull moment around here... it's good to see some things never change."

Now more than ever, she REALLY wanted to be done with her bed rest so that she could join back in the fun.

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"You alright there, partner?"

"I'm good." Penn sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"You sure? You dug a little deep on helping out Yang, there. That came from a personal place."

"Look, if I can stop one kid from learning the same lessons I did about burning out the hard way, then I'm happy with that."

"I'm proud of you, buddy."

Penn smiled and let his hand slip down into his pocket. With a flick and a twirl, a pen was in his hands. A flash later and the pen was disassembled, leaving only the ink-filled cartridge in his hand. He lifted the small plastic piece to his lips and bit into it.

It tasted so good. Pen ink tended to be watered down, but he'd found a brand with the good stuff a few days before they arrived. It always seemed to be exactly the flavor he was craving at the moment. Today, it was sweet, but also spicy, like a spiced syrup. He could feel the temptation to greedily suck it all down threaten to overwhelm him. He was already letting the taste spread over his tongue, it would be so easy to just-

Nuh-uh-uh... didn't say the magic word! he chided, trying to direct his thoughts towards Bendy.

In an act of willpower, he snatched the cartridge from his own mouth and tipped the contents into his hand. He watched the black liquid pool in the center of his palm, rippling and rocking back and forth with each small motion he made. After a moment, he gathered up a bit of saliva in his mouth and spit a few drops of his own body's ink to add to the mass that was already there. The two types of ink were separated for a moment, but they only took a moment to blend and coalesce into a single mass.

Perhaps more importantly, however, he could feel it there.

It was an... odd sensation. But he could sense the ink. He could feel its presence, its location, its state of matter... and its potential, all like it was an extension of his own flesh. It was something he'd been experiencing for a while. He'd noticed it a couple weeks after they'd beaten Bendy into his subconscious, that he could feel the ink Isis was giving him to drink before he ever saw it, but he'd never had much chance to experiment with it in private... until now.

He tried to concentrate in the same way that he'd instructed Yang. He took a deep breath, then imagined a force gathering in his stomach. When he exhaled, he let it flow up, over to his shoulder, through his arm, and finally into his hand.

Bloop!

With a wet splashing sound, the ink welled up into a bubble, rapidly inflating and popping. Penn felt a moment of panic as he realized that ink was going to splatter everywhere, including on one of his favorite shirts.

"Oh, CRA- huh?"

Just as his body had tensed with worry, the ink bubble had frozen mid-pop. The ink itself still had the sheen and the ripples of a liquid, but it was hanging in the position of the splatter just before the drops were about to separate from the main mass.

He lifted his hand closer to his face, examining the moment that seemed to be frozen in time. As he let go of the tension in his body, however, the ink receded back into a puddle in his palm.

"I think it's responding to you!"

"Me, too..." Penn grinned as his excitement began to build. "This is really cool."

Using his other hand, he reached down into the puddle and pinched the ink as best he could. It didn't feel like he had anything between his fingertips, but when he pulled it up, a trickle of ink rose up along with it. When he let go, that trickle stayed in place, simply swaying back and forth in the wind. Penn had a toothy grin a mile wide as he tipped one of his fingertips back into the puddle and dabbed it at the top, leaving a black circle stuck to the top. With a smile, he started dabbing his finger over and over along the edges of the circle until he'd gone all the way around the circumference.

It wasn't any simpler than a finger painting, but he was now holding an inky flower in the palm of his hand.

"Hmm... lemmie try something..." he mumbled to no one in particular. He placed his "drawing" finger on his tongue and sucked off all the ink (sooo tasty), then placed his now-clean fingertip in the center of the flower. After a few seconds of rubbing, the black color began to fade, wiping away until only a pale sepia color remained in the center along with a few lingering black smudges.

"Huh... neat."

As he watched, the black smudges grew smaller and smaller, concentrating until they were two pie-cut eyes and a pencil-thin smile.

"Howdy!"

"WAUGH!"

Penn clapped his hands back together, pulverizing the fake Flowey and instantly reducing it back to a puddle of lifeless back liquid.

Penn, for his part, was shocked beyond belief.

Was my subconscious puppeteering that, or did I just create LIFE?

"Whatever it was, don't do it again!"

I'm NOT going to!

With the attempt at ink-o-mancy now completely thwarted, Penn downed the now-inactive ink in a single gulp, letting the soothing flavor calm his nerves.

"Well, it's not a bad start, but I can tell just by looking at you that your potential is MUCH greater."

"HNGASHGHRGHUK!"

Penn nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Salem's voice, his terror carrying him almost a full foot into the air before he hit the ground running in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, after a few seconds of not going anywhere, he realized that Salem had him by the back of his shirt collar and was holding him in place.

"That was an interesting sound. I thought we agreed to speak like adults?"

Realizing that running was fruitless, Penn let himself slow to a stop and yanked the back of his shirt free of her grip.

"Stop sneaking up on me!"

Looking at her smug smirk, Penn KNEW she'd crept up behind him on purpose again.

"You need to get used to my presence, Penn, otherwise our little 'Save the world' mission will never succeed."

Penn felt his face flush with anger at her using his nickname again, but he couldn't decide if it was better or worse than just letting her casually throw his real name around.

"Well, Sally, have you ever thought about trying a more gradual transition than to give me a heart attack every five minutes?"

For a split second, the look of annoyance on her face plunged him into worry that he'd overstepped. In contrast to his fears, however, he wasn't thrown against a wall, gripped by the throat, or hurled into a deep, dark cell to be tortured at her leisure. Instead, she reached down and pulled his hand up to eye level, carefully examining his palm for any lingering remains.

"You have a gift not dissimilar to my relationship with the grimm." She stated. "But you have no training, no control. Without those things, your power will control YOU, rather than the other way around." She turned her gaze back to meet his, and Penn could spy a flash of red that sent shivers down his spine. Sure, she looked like an ordinary young woman now, but he could never forget the monster that was hiding just beyond that skin-deep illusion.

"I'll manage..." he mumbled, pulling back on his hand. To his surprise, Salem's grip on him was like steel, trapping his hand in her grip. With one hand, she held her palm just above his, hovering the two only a few inches apart. His eyes widened as he felt a tickle on his palm. Beads of black liquid began to rise out of his skin, pooling back together into another puddle of ink. Before he could even question what was happening, the puddle rose up and took shape on its own, transforming into the familiar shape of a beowolf. The tiny grimm had a sepia-colored mask and claws, but other than being slightly off-color, it looked like an otherwise perfect recreation.

Penn was so confounded as he watched the little grim pace up and down the length of his hand, he forgot his fear for a moment.

"How..."

"I told you before, we are not so different. Less so now than ever before." Salem finally released her grip on his hand, and the miniature grimm collapsed back into a puddle. "I will teach you."

Penn watched the drawn-out ink sink back into his skin before his brain caught up to Salem's words. "Doesn't sound like you're giving me much of a choice."

"If you refuse, you'll be consumed by it, without doubt." Salem let his snide comment pass unopposed. "As your ally, however temporary, I would be remiss not to help you."

"I've been through the 'consumed by it' stage..." Penn mumbled. "Not fun."

Salem nodded, then turned to leave. "Meet me in my room at nine o'clock. Do NOT be late. We don't have much time, so be prepared, this will be intense."

As Salem disappeared around the corner, Penn felt a swell of nervous anticipation. On one hand, he might actually have POWERS, something that could help him fight on the same level as Sunset and Missy!

"On the other hand, you're going to have to be locked alone in a room with our arch-nemesis in the middle of the night to be 'taught' how to use them. Probably in a brutal fashion. You sure you want to do this?"

Penn looked down at his hand, the hand from which inky life had spontaneously sprung two times in as many minutes.

"I don't think I have a choice. If I reject what I can do, then I'm handicapping myself, and I refuse to be dead weight for the girls."

"You're NOT dead weight, you're the brains!"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't good enough brains to keep us from getting banjaxed, was I?" he mumbled.

"That wasn't your fault! Somebody leaked that we were coming!"

"Either way, I could have done better. Been a better teammate." He placed the remains of the ink cartridge in his mouth. "If I have to go through Salem to make that happen, then I'll do it."

"...if you say so. I'll be with you every step of the way, Aibou... Oh, by the way, Missy incoming."

"Wha-"

"PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

With only the whining sound of his name as a warning, a small body slammed into Penn from behind, nearly knocking him off of his feet. Piano-key wings assured him that it was Missy who had gotten the drop on him, this time.

"Woah! What is it, what's wrong?" Penn could feel a shot of adrenaline being injected straight into his veins at the thought that some danger had breached Beacon's walls. Seeing Sunset running to catch up still in her pajamas and with her hair everywhere didn't help to assuage his fears.

"We... found... something!" Sunset gasped for air as she slowed to a stop in front of him.

"The explosion might not have been all their fault!" Missy added.

Penn's already tense nerves grew more nervous. "There was an explosion? Where? Who's hur-"

"The... first one!" Sunset gasped, finally straightening up and getting her breathing under control. "The one at CHS."

"The one that blew up the Multiverse!" Missy added. "We got a clue about what really happened!"

As the realization of what they were saying sunk in, Penn felt the immediate worry fade, replaced by deep intrigue. He carefully pried Missy off of his back and pushed her into Sunset's arms, all while looking her straight in the eyes.

The truth was, Sunset's story had bothered him since the beginning. Something about the idea of two sets of Elements of Harmony, in the hands of their rightful wielders, managing to turn ONE little wormhole into a full-blown multiversal crisis, just felt like a point from Point A to Point Omega, and he'd been pondering on it since the day he'd met Sunset... to little avail. There just wasn't enough information to put a picture together...

So he stared Sunset straight in the eyes, trying to get every possible speck of information she could give him, conscious or not.

"Start at the beginning, and when you get to the end, stop."

Sunset nodded. "Okay, so I was lucid dreaming the memory of the day of the explosion..."

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Meanwhile, sitting above the trio, just on the other side of the ceiling tiles, was a little dragon that had been listening to BOTH exchanges VERY intently.

As she listened to Sunset recounting her tale, with every aspect of what opened the doors of the multiverse in sharp detail, Aurelia began to pray.

Lord Chirac, whose light shines eternal, let your humble servant be your eyes and ears today...

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"...I'm sorry, but I really have NO idea what that could mean."

Sunset and Missy both visibly deflated at Penn's words.

"But... it has to mean SOMETHING, right?" Missy half-begged.

"Oh, absolutely! I just have no idea WHAT!" Penn sighed as his brow furrowed. "The only way to figure out what was going on would be to ask Rainbow Dragon, itself. That card is an enigma at the BEST of times, outright impossible to find at the worst." He rubbed at his chin as he fell deeper into thought. "It's possible that the Crystal Beasts' chosen duelist is out there somewhere in the multiverse, if we could find Jesse Anderson we might be able to ask HIM, but depending on where he is on his own timeline, he might not even HAVE Rainbow Dragon's card! The best thing to do would be to try to track down the card spirit and ask directly..."

"Well, do you have that card?" Sunset asked. "You have a ton of powerful cards, right?"

"It's not that simple..." Missy murmured. "He might have the card, but it's not necessarily THE card..."

Both of them turned to look at the young duel spirit, who gave a sad sigh.

"Look... I haven't been home much since I started traveling with you guys, but Alucard keeps me up to date with current events, and there's been a... split among duel spirits. When the multiverse opened up, well, all the worlds where Yu-Gi-Oh is just a game started making connections back to us! Suddenly, there were a lot more cards than spirits." She sighed. "And a small percentage of those cards, the ones that really had a piece of their duelist's heart and soul in them... started becoming their own spirits. They weren't quite the same as the originals, though... most were weaker, some were stronger, some had slight differences in their powers and abilities. Either way, though, since people tend to love ace monsters and those with significance in the show the most, suddenly there were a LOT of powerful duel spirits running around that only existed in people's heads just a few months ago!"

Missy sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately, I think that's how Joshua got Ra on his side, how Salem got Uru to listen to her, and... unfortunately, why trying to just summon Rainbow Dragon wouldn't work. We'd just be creating what most duel spirits have been calling a 'reprint' spirit. We'd either need to find the real, original card from its home dimension, or need to go looking for where it's hiding in the Duel Spirit Realm." She took a second to physically put air quotes around the word "reprint." "If you ask me, a spirit's a spirit, but I don't make the rules... unfortunately."

Sunset tilted her head in confusion for a second. Just as she opened her mouth to ask a follow-up question, Missy interrupted her.

"No, I'm not a reprint, I'm an OG duel spirit."

Sunset closed her mouth again.

After several seconds of the group sitting in silence, Penn shook his head and sighed.

"Rainbow Dragon being there when the portal blew IS important information, but we can't really act on it until we find a way to get the whole crew able to move between our world and the duel spirits' realm freely. As much as I hate to say it, we're probably going to have to stick a pin in this one for later."

"I'll ask the Ghostricks to keep an ear to the ground about the Ace of the Crystal Beasts, but... like Penn said, it's an enigma at best." Missy sighed. "I'd be lucky to hear a rumor of a rumor."

Sunset looked thoroughly disappointed. "Well... Thanks, anyway. As much as I want to know why this all happened, I guess it's not as important as the fact that it did and we're here now."

"Agreed."

"Yeah! Whatever the reason, we're all together!" Missy cheered, taking the opportunity to wrap one arm around each of their necks and pull them into a tight hug. "Now come on, it's almost lunchtime!"

Missy's cheer seemed to be contagious, and bittersweet smiles appeared on both Penn and Sunset's faces. After a few seconds of embrace, Sunset finally pulled away to gesture at herself.

"Lunchtime? I'm still in my pajamas! I should at least go get changed!"

"Well, then it can be brunch!" Missy giggled.

Together, the trio began to wander in the general direction of the dorm's kitchen. As they walked, however, a plan was beginning to take form in one of their minds.

It wouldn't be fun, but it might get us some answers...

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In Radian, Chirac opened his eyes. It wasn't often that he devoted such a large amount of his attention to a single scout's report, but this information had been most... enlightening.

"Duel spirits... A realm of game-playing elementals that, it seems, are tied to the destruction of the dimensional walls... fascinating."

With a thought akin to moving his tail, Chirac sent a wave of command through his scouts, a new directive to keep in the back of their minds as they worked to spread across the multiverse:

Find the home of the duel spirits. Find the one called Rainbow Dragon.

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"Well, there he goes again..."

Sunset sighed as the kitchen door clicked shut behind her and Missy, immediately followed by the setting of the lock. The two of them stood there for a few seconds, surprised at the swiftness with which they'd managed to get shuffled out of the room by their best friend.

"You don't think he's gonna be in there until nightfall again, right?" Missy wondered.

"Definitely not. I mean, it's only half past noon!" Sunset scoffed. "What would he do for all... that... time?"

Sunset's faulty reasoning ground to a halt as visions of their thanksgiving feast danced in their heads.

"He wouldn't... right?"

"Depends on his mood." Missy leaned back and glanced thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Cooking is his happy place, and we've been through the wringer, lately." She gave Sunset a sideways glance. "Plus, we both have to admit that his impulse control's been getting worse since Bendy got inside him."

Sunset grimaced at that. Missy was telling the truth, as unpleasant as it may have been. When something important was on the line, Penn had always proven that he would make the smartest choice, but that self-control seemed to come more and more at the cost of becoming less restrained in his day-to-day life. It was never anything hurtful, of course... but it added up. A few extra sweets here, a few maniacal laughs there, a little disproportionate payback for a prank once in a while... He was taking the things he enjoyed just a little farther and farther, as if testing the boundaries of what he could get away with.

"The devil on his shoulder's a little louder than it's been in the past." Missy sighed. "That being said, it's a good thing that, for him, 'cutting loose' means cooking and working on his car, and not something more harmful."

Sunset nodded. "Still, do you think we should talk to him? I don't think he's even aware of it."

Missy pondered the question for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"If we're going to win this war with Baalchion, we'll need that manic energy of his. Once this is all over, maybe then it'll be worth bringing up."

"I don't like letting my friend deteriorate just because it's useful." Sunset narrowed her eyes.

"He's not deteriorating. He's just been letting a little more slack into his own leash!" Missy argued. "I think it's healthier than constantly keeping himself wound up tight as a spring, don't you?"

"...I guess you're right."

"Besides, we're SUPPOSED to be relaxing while we wait for his portal-closing weapons to be finished!" Missy added, floating up to lean in on Sunset's shoulder. "So RELAX! Maybe Penn's got the right idea, to begin with!"

Sunset raised an eyebrow and turned to look her partner in the eyes. "That's a funny thing for the angel on my shoulder to say."

Missy smirked right back at her. "Well, I AM an Angel of Mischief!"

The two of them took a moment to snicker together as someone else stepped around the corner.

"Oh, hey, Blake!"

Blake greeted them with a smile, only giving a small wave until she was closer.

Yeah, that's Blake for you. Always calm and cool on the surface.

"Hey, Sunset. How's it going?"

"Not bad..." Sunset decided to keep her earlier disappointment to herself. There was no point in sharing that dead end with Blake and bringing down the mood. "How about you?"

"Just got back from visiting Weiss and Yang. They had an...interesting story to tell."

Weiss and Yang? What-

"They said you were acting strange. I wanted to see if something was wrong."

Oh.

"Nono, I'm fine!" Sunset did her best to chuckle without sounding nervous. "I just had an urgent question for Penn about getting me and Rainbow Dash home, but it doesn't matter now."

Blake nodded, but Sunset noticed her bow press itself back slightly.

That's right... she has cat ears under there. If they're pressed back like that, is she upset? Sunset tried to remember what she could about cat mannerisms from working alongside Fluttershy.

"Well, if you're not busy right now, do you want to come see something?"

Sunset glanced at Missy, who simply shrugged in response.

"Sure."

For just a split second, Blake's eyes lingered on Missy. Missy simply tilted her head.

"Yeah, I'll tag along, too! I love surprises!"

Blake smiled and turned to leave, beckoning to them over her shoulder.

"This way, come on."

Comments

[dannny43]

Is there a list of the crossovers and when they happen?

[Raistlin]

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Neo's semblance had evolved to the point of adding sounds to her illusions, and replaced Blake in order to set a trap for Penn. Am I getting paranoid?

[Pennington Inkwell]

11562942
I posted a tentative list a while ago here

It's old and heavily censored for spoilers, but that list hasn't really changed very much since then. A few things have just been shuffled around.

[Pennington Inkwell]

11562943
As my dad used to say: "It's not paranoia if they're out to get you."

[dannny43]

11562958
Wow, a lot of crossovers and not a single one interests me except for the dead space bit. When does that happen in the story?

[Pennington Inkwell]

11562964
You're looking right at the timeline, bud

[dannny43]

11562974
Yeah and there's barely any indicators of where exactly each chapter takes place in the timeline, I have no idea where you within said timeline either.

[Pennington Inkwell]

11562984
That's the only timeline I've got. This story is a project I work on in my spare time, so I like to keep my plans flexible. The crew probably won't be spaceborne until after Applejack joins, if not later than that.

I don't have a calendar for the story, the actual passage of time for them is less important than key events like finding each of the Rainbooms, so that's how I generally measure the "timeline"

Right now, they've almost picked up Rainbow Dash, the first Rainboom to join after Sunset. AJ will probably be 3rd or 4th.

[dannny43]

11562989
So... the dead space crossover hasn't even happened yet, is that what you're saying? Because if so, all you had to say was that.

[Boltstrike58]

"I don't know for sure, but... I think..." Missy shook her head in disbelief. "If Rainbow Dragon was there when the multiverse broke, there might be more to what happened than any of us know. A LOT more."

It was Sunset's turn to sit down out of shock. "You mean... it might not have been our fault?"

Saw that one coming.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"Is your sister single, or is she in a committed relationship with that stick up her a-"

Would Penn and Qrow get along?

With a thought akin to moving his tail, Chirac sent a wave of command through his scouts, a new directive to keep in the back of their minds as they worked to spread across the multiverse:

Find the home of the duel spirits. Find the one called Rainbow Dragon.

Uh-oh.

[alfonso_rd_33]

11562964
It will happen when it happens...

And Dead Space? Seriously? Reprint Halo/Gears of War?

Man you must be a hoot in lan parties...

[alfonso_rd_33]

11562943
Wait, that was Neo? I must be slipping on my shape shifter detection skill...

[dannny43]

11563070

Reprint Halo/Gears of War?

Exactly why I like it yes

[Auram Potentia]

i just went though the list and i saw glory hammer. i hope it's that band on youtube i watch.

[Raistlin]

11563075

Just speculation. But when having an enemy with mastery over illusions and a personal vendetta (Torchwick's demise), and one acquaintance is suddenly acting weird and wants a moment alone with your friend....

thumbs.gfycat.com/AdmiredInsubstantialBobolink-size_restricted.gif

[Bluebottle27]

I couldn't help myself.

[ANerdWithASwitch]

11562958
Oooh, happy to see Splatoon's on there! Though, I'm sure my pfp makes that obvious as to why lmao.
(Though, I'm not entirely sure how the formatting of your list meant if the original plan was for Splatoon or BatIM, or if the Splatoon series still has a shot at showing up. I do think that, given Penn's newfound powers over ink, it could definitely be interesting)

[Pennington Inkwell]

11563542
Right now Splatoon is planned as one of the last stops for the crew to make! It's listed alongside BATIM because I plan on there being some interactions between the two that will make things real interesting.

[Raistlin]

11563563

I can only imagine what Bendy could do in Splatoon world. After all, is his power what Penn is borrowing.

[Stet709]

Kinda funny, reading the bit about Winter questioning why a first year team is on such a dangerous mission reminds me of another MLP/RWBY crossover I just caught up to binge reading, SAPR, particularly where the titular team has their own mission in Mountain Glenn and they get the similar questions. Same idea, it's all about confidential info and Intel and who you can trust.

And with that end bit I'm still convinced Blake has a crush on Sunset, even if they're from different universes.

[ANerdWithASwitch]

11563584
Interestingly, if it came to combat, the things from the Splatoon universe that'd fare best against Bendy would probably be the Salmonids, since their slime isn't ink--it just has ink-like properties--and (Splatoon 3 spoilers) Mr. Grizz, assuming they show up before his defeat. Fuzzy ooze isn't ink either.

[Pennington Inkwell]

11563709
SAPR is on my reading list for once I'm done with this arc!
I want to read it, but I don't want to risk lifting any ideas from it for my own story, even unconsciously.

[J3sterking]

That sad moment when you suddenly realize that there isn't another chapter yet.
Still loving this story, actually! The stuff with Chirac and Baalchion is great, and i can't wait to see how it progresses with RD, esp as we know she has rainbow hair in the future.
I did see several comments mentioning SAPR, and i decided to give it a look, but that 3.4 mil word count has me somewhat intimidated.
Otherwise, i don't think that blake was a shape shifter of any sort there, esp as we hear missy concocting a plan of some sort. Bendy still has me greatly concerned, and i don't like the idea of them just leaving him up there to do his thing, especially with how outright demonic he's been. Either he needs to be reformed(or set on that path) or just fuul exorcised and gotten rid of.

[MariusIoannesP]

I feel like you're handling the whole thing with Yang loosing her arm a lot better than the show did itself. And here Penn is giving Yang the means of basically creating her robot arm herself using her access to Chiracian magic.

It was pretty cool seeing Winter Schnee show up. This second RWBY arc could use some more RWBY characters.

In the last RWBY arc, the only member of Team RWBY we got to see Penn interact with was Blake. Here, we see him interact with Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, covering the rest of them. I especially enjoyed Weiss and Yang's simultaneous but starkly different reactions to Penn's comment about Winter That was some vintage Volume 1 outrage on Weiss's part

At this point, it would probably behoove me to reread some of the earlier chapters. I for one cannot remember if it was mentioned at that point that Sunset saw a dragon when the portal exploded.

I wonder if the Chiracians will manage to find the Duel Spirit Realm. I imagine it won't bode well if they do. Would they try to form an alliance with the Rainbow Dragon because they're all dragons?

And there's Blake come to see Sunset. I wonder if what she has to show Sunset has to do with Blake being in love with her BLAKESET FOREVER!

As always, I look forward for the next installment whenever that may be. Keep up the great work!