Aw Man...
"That's quite the story, Sunset..."
Sunset rolled her eyes as she picked a dried-up clump of ectoplasm out of her hair. "Skye, trust me... a run-in with a ghost hotel isn't THAT far out of the norm for us, at this point..."
"Yeah, well, things have been getting pretty freaky around here, too... We found TAHITI. It was... well..." Skye glanced nervously from side to side. "I don't think I should talk about what we found on an unsecured line."
Sunset nodded. "I'll be looking forward to hearing about it next time we cross paths... Isis wrote up a full report for us, Coulson should be getting it soon. We don't want anybody else getting caught up in the Hotel California..." she shook her head. "Penn's still a little shaken over it all, considering he almost couldn't leave. We're lucky I had my memory powers, or there's no way we would have realized and gotten out in time..."
"Still, if these extradimensional portals can make an old song by The Eagles into a real and dangerous thing... who knows what else is out there? Stay safe, Sunset."
"You, too. I doubt the world of super-spies is any less dangerous!" Sunset winked at her. "See ya! Send the rest of the team our best wishes!"
"Will do!"
Sunset let out a deep breath as the video call came to an end. She pushed herself onto her feet and walked across the camp, her curiosity getting the better of her as she walked up behind Penn and peeked in on his own video call.
"I thought the trap card might keep her at bay for a few minutes, but I never thought about where it might send her... So there's been NO sign of her, period? None?
"I'm afraid not. That's why I decided it would be best to call you. It looks as though, with all of her plans in shambles here, she's decided to go after YOU." Professor Ozpin narrowed his eyes. "In the end, it would seem she got her wish to leave our own dimension courtesy of your little trap. Until you're certain you have a way to stop her for good, I would advise that you four never stop in one place for too long like you did here."
"Hi, Professor!" Sunset chimed in, making Penn jump slightly and nearly drop his phone.
"Hello Sunset. How have you been?" Ozpin gave her a warm, if somewhat tired, smile.
"Oh, you know, just trying to stay alive when literally anything could be around the next corner!" She shrugged nonchalantly. "How's Beacon?"
"Without our interdimensional visitors? Rather boring, I'm afraid." He smiled, pointing out the window behind him. "Repairs on Amity Arena are almost finished, which means the Vytal Festival can be held with minimum delay. Team RWBY has already signed up for the tournament."
Sunset chuckled. "Well, after that trial by fire, I'm sure they're leagues ahead of the other kingdoms!"
"Almost certainly... However, they HAVE expressed interest in exploring what lies on the other side of these portals that have been turning up across Remnant, and it's becoming more and more trying to stop them from setting off under their own initiative..." He gave them a less amused look. "A new age seems to be upon us, and I'm not certain that it won't add to the weight already on the shoulders of our huntsmen and huntresses..."
"Well, if Teams RWBY and JNPR are a good representation of the upcoming generation, I'm sure they'll handle it just fine." Penn smiled. "We're all part of a much larger world now. Isis has been working on mapping it out, I'll have her send you what she's found so far. It's not much in the grand scheme of things, but..."
"It would be better than we have at the moment." Ozpin nodded. "Thank you."
"Thanks for taking the time to call and warn us Salem's AWOL and on our tail. Keep an eye on the girls for us, Oz..." Penn gave a pained smile as he reached up, switching off the call.
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't trust Ozpin?"
"I trust him about as far as I could throw Sylvia..." Penn muttered. "But I don't think he'd lie about Salem not turning back up on his world."
Sunset felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. "So... you think she's coming after us?"
"Almost undoubtedly." Penn shivered as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "She has scrying spells, she can probably find out where we are any time she wants..."
The hairs on the back of Sunset's neck stood up as she visualized that pillar of malevolence watching them as they went about their daily routine. It was enough to make her want to pack up camp and drive through the night just to put more distance between them and her.
"Worst part is... she's immortal, so she's never gonna stop." Penn chuckled to himself, as if something about the whole situation amused him. "When I was stuck in her prison... I kept thinking about this one episode of Doctor Who... He's stuck in a loop, living and dying over and over again. The only way out is through a wall of solid diamond or giving up the secret he's being interrogated for..." He looked up, ignoring Sunset's concern as he stared into the stars. "He started out that episode by saying that, when you're born, something else is born, something that starts coming for you and never stops. But it's slow, and you can outrun it... But not forever. One day you rest for too long, sleep too deep, and it catches you... and then your life ends." He shrugged, pushing himself up off the ground. "Guess now I've got a literal specter of death on my tail..."
Sunset's eyes widened. "Penn, that's not true! We can stop her! We did it before, we can do it again!"
Penn chuckled to himself again, and Sunset caught a glint of cunning in his eyes.
"That's the thing about when the figurative becomes literal... You can beat literal." For a moment, Sunset felt her fears lessen and her spirits rise at the sight of his smile, as frightened as his eyes looked behind it. "When the time comes... will you help me?"
Sunset rushed forward, wrapping her arms around him in the tightest hug she could muster.
"Of course I will... That's what friends do."
She felt him return the hug, felt that clinging, warm grip envelop her that made her feel so rooted in the moment. Once again, it felt like the rest of the world had been shut out and left only the two of them trying to comfort one another. Sunset couldn't stop the though from rising that this must be the feeling a teddy bear experienced in the grip of a scared child. She wondered if the reason he always hugged her so tight was because he was afraid she'd simply disappear, vanish back into wherever she had come from and leave him by himself again. She would be lying to say she'd never thought the same thing, that one day she might just wake up back at home and realize that none of this had been real, and she would lose the friends she had made along the way.
She wondered if the reason his hugs were so warm and tight was the same reason she looked at her photos of her friends every night before bed: to be sure they were still real. Still there.
And then it was over, and Sunset felt a rush of cold air as he released her again.
"Th-thanks... I needed that." He muttered.
"After hearing you talk about death like that? Me, too..." Sunset whispered. "Please, PLEASE, don't say things like that. Maybe it's funny where you come from, but to me... I can't stop thinking you're serious about it, and it REALLY scares me..."
Penn gave a melancholy sigh and nodded.
"I'll try. Sorry, guess I get a little morbid when I find out an immortal witch is hunting me down..." His eyebrows raised after a moment. "Ha... Witch hunt."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "When Salem finds us, we'll be ready..." She reached over, giving his hand a squeeze. "Remember how you promised me we'd find my friends and get home safe? Well, it's my turn. I promise- I swear- Salem is NEVER going to hurt you again.."
"You know... I believe you. I really do," he whispered. His eyes turned upwards, this time looking up at the stars with comfort in his eyes. "I wasn't going to say that. All that stuff about remembering the show, I mean. It just kind of came out. but it really goes to show, doesn't it? The power of a good story... People think it's just words on a page, speeches given by an actor, pictures and imagination that can only come to life with the magic of imagination, but that's not true."
Sunset's eyes widened as she caught sight of tears running down his cheeks as he closed his eyes, a shudder running through his body as he choked back a sob. She wanted to speak up, but the moment felt too tender to interrupt. She'd tried to broach the subject of what had happened to him multiple times with all the tact she could, but he always dodged around the subject or outright ignored her.
"I... I wanted to, at times..." he whispered. "I think I even tried to let go, just slip away into the dark and never wake up again a few times... I just wanted it to stop. But I'd think back to that story, to watching my childhood hero go through the same kind of torture I was... Living, dying, coming back and doing it all over again, seeming to never move forward and always winding up in the same dead end... I wasn't alone. Whatever happened to me, whatever I was going through, I wasn't the only one who felt that way, and even better... I knew how it ended, and that gave me hope." He drew in a long, pained breath. "THAT'S the magic, Sunset... For me, it's a magic above all others. If I had tried to go it alone in there, I would have died. It was impossible..." He gave her a quick glance, as if embarrassed. "Sorry, I used a bad word there, but... That's just it. Stories can inspire, strengthen... make the impossible possible, and give hope to the hopeless. Escape for the trapped... All of it, just by putting down words on a page in a certain order... Squiggles of ink on paper, vibrations in the air, a tale passed down and never taking a physical form, all of them seem like they would mean so little in the grand scheme of things. The universe would be affected so very little if all of them were wiped out, but... still, they can change worlds, inspire men to rewrite the stars, themselves..."
He finally seemed to snap out of his stupor, blinking away the philosophy. "S-sorry. I guess what I'm trying to say is that's why stories are so important to me, why I write... Letting myself believe in stories, get carried away in them, that's what kept me alive."
"HEY, GUYS!" Missy shouted, grabbing both of their attention. "I GOT ISIS TO DROP OFF SOME GIANT GOOGLY EYES!"
Sunset and Penn blinked as they looked at the car, which now had a pair of huge, cartoonish eyes on top of the headlights. Sunset covered her mouth, but a snort and a snicker still forced their way up and out her nose.
And just like that, the tender moment was gone as Penn rushed past her.
"Missy! Did you glue those on?"
"Uhhhhh..."
"MISSYYYYYYY!"
"Gottagobye!"
"And the chase is on..." Sunset sighed to herself with a smile. Still, she couldn't help but wonder at the glimpse she'd been given into Penn's soul. Her mind wandered back to what Missy had told her when they had been exploring his mind to retrieve him from the coma Salem had left him in.
"Well, he IS a storyteller, making worlds kind of comes naturally to him! Why do you think we all call him 'Penn?' Whether he's typing on a computer or writing by hand, he's always got a story on his mind!"
She cast a glance back to the camp, watching him chase Missy in circles around the campfire. Suddenly, his tendency to go by his nickname more often than his real name was making more and more sense to her. He really HAS embraced what he loves, deep down in his heart...
She thought back to CHS, seeing the similarities between him and the rest of her friends. She knew that, if he had been there with them, he would have fit in perfectly with the rest, with his future path already in mind. Seems like everybody knows what they want to do or be except me...
"Except he was delivering pizzas when you found him, remember?"
Sunset started slightly when she heard Missy's voice in her head. Looking over, she could see that Penn had finally caught her, looping one arm around her tiny waist to pull her in tight while his other hand occupied itself with driving his knuckles into her skull. It was a classic noogie, reserved for loving siblings and grade school bullies.
"Everybody's got their dream, but not everybody believes in it, Sunset... If you could do anything, and the money didn't matter, what would you do?"
Sunset blinked, surprised at Missy's question. It was a relatively common one she'd been asked in the months leading up to graduation, even Princess Twilight had asked her, but hearing it coming from the childish duel spirit seemed to have a more potent way of spurring her to thought.
"I think I know the answer..."
Sunset found herself hearing her own voice coming back to her. "I came here to stop people from getting hurt. Innocent people. People who don't deserve it... I made a mistake a while ago and it caused people to get hurt... some people even died because of what I did. I tried to fix it, make up for it as best I could, even risking my own life to stop the ripples. But... there's some things you just can't fix once they're broken. Even if it was an accident, I can't bear to let a disaster like that happen again."
"Not on my watch. Never again."
Sunset sighed, shaking her head. I don't think you can make a career out of stopping disasters in other worlds, Missy... What about when me and my friends fix all of this?
"Sorry to be a pessimist, but... who says this is fixable? Would you want everyone to have to go back where they came from if you did? Besides, OF COURSE you can make a career out of it! As long as you've got an AI who can steal money to fund you, a team you can rely on, and some reliable transportation!"
Sunset paused, taking a moment to ponder their current scenario. Was it really sustainable to keep going like this? As far as she had ever known, this was only a temporary setup, meant only to last until she had found her friends. But if they couldn't mend the barriers between worlds... would she want to keep doing this? Would Penn?
"Well, I'D stay by your side until the end of the road, partner! And I bet Penn would say the same!"
Sunset smiled, feeling a swell of pride and joy for the mischievous little angel that had come into her life. No matter the situation, Missy seemed to have a way of bringing everyone's spirits higher that rivaled Pinkie Pie. Unlike Pinkie's nonsensical antics, however, Missy seemed to have a way of never removing them from reality, bringing levity into the moment rather than pulling them out of it.
How'd you get so smart, Missy?
"Well, you've gotta be wise to wisecrack!"
Sunset watched as Penn carried Missy back to the car, forcing her to remove the googly eyes and handing her a damp rag to start scrubbing away the adhesive. She chuckled to herself, fingering at her phone in her pocket. She absentmindedly pulled it out, pulling up her texting application and typing out a quick message to Pinkie Pie.
"Gotta be wise to wisecrack!" Sounds like something you'd say, doesn't it?
She hadn't even fully realized what she was doing until she hit "send." She watched the little status below the message, hoping against all odds that it would deliver.
Pending...
Pending...
Pending...
She sighed and shoved it back into her pocket.
No use thinking about what I'm going to do after I find my friends until we actually FIND my friends... One step at a time, Sunset...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Okay, THAT is weird..." Penn muttered, his hand stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"You don't say?" Sunset replied.
"This is kinda freaking me out..." Missy muttered.
"No matching phenomena has been recorded by any other scouting drones. This portal is quite unique. I would like to examine it more closely with more delicate instruments."The four of them were all stood, staring at a glowing white... thing, in midair. Sunset wanted to call it a vortex, but it wasn't round. Nothing about it was round, it was a perfect square. The flows and eddies of light swirling inside all moved in perfectly straight lines and right angles, creating a kaleidoscopic effect that hurt Sunset's head to stare at for too long. What seemed to be concerning them all the most, however, was the fact that it seemed to be "leaking" into the rest of the world. Thin black lines were leeching outwards from the bottom, tracing more perfect squares into the ground. Small rocks and pebbles nearby had even begun to morph into cubes.
"Are you sure we should be standing this close to this thing?" Sunset asked, taking a cautionary step backwards.
"It does not appear to be emitting any harmful forms of radiation."Isis's drone hopped down from Sunset's shoulder, gliding down and landing inside the realm of influence.
"Isis! Be CAREFUL!" Missy bit at her nails nervously as she hid behind Sunset's back.
Several panels on the drone's back opened, revealing delicate-looking instruments that began to sweep back and forth through the air. The muzzle prodded curiously at the place where one of the lines had split the ground before scooping a small sample of the soil into its mouth. It seemed to ponder for a moment, as if considering the taste.
"Initial spectroscopy indicates no chemical change to the matter. However, the molecules have entered a highly organized state, similar to the molecular lattices found in crystals. A Kant Counter would prove highly useful to investigate this-this-this-this-"The robot began to twitch and jerk violently, similar to a seizure. Sunset felt Missy's grip on her tighten to a chokehold.
"ISIS!"
"I've got it!" Penn rushed forward, reaching for the twitching drone. He wrapped his hands around the barrel of the little dragon, holding it at arm's length as the tail flailed wildly back and forth.
Sunset didn't even have time to warn him when she saw the tip of the tail open up, driving a crackling electrode into his arm. His eyes flew wide as his entire body jolted and drew up tense, the only noise escaping his lips being a strained gurgle as he tipped backwards...
and fell straight into the vortex, disappearing inside.
"PENN!"
"PENN!"
Silence fell as Sunset and Missy both stared, wide-eyed, at the vortex that had just swallowed their friend.
In her pocket, Sunset felt her phone beginning to ring. She and Missy looked at each other, then at her pocket.
"ANSWER IT!" Missy screeched.
"I AM!" Sunset shouted back, desperately grabbing at her phone.
"My apologies for the failure of-""Isis, Penn fell into the portal!" Sunset rushed out the important information as fast as possible.
"WHY WOULD YOU ZAP HIM?" Missy shouted, grabbing Sunset's phone out of her hands to yell as Isis as directly as she could. "HE WAS JUST TRYING TO HELP!"
"That unit suffered a compromise of the central processing unit. The same phenomenon that was reorganizing the molecules around it also began reorganizing the molecules of the quartz crystal that serves as the brain of the drone. It was suffering from the silicon equivalent of a seizure, I had no control. However, if Penn suffered a shock from the self-defense mechanism, it should wear off somewhere within the range of five to sixty minutes, depending on the severity of said shock. After that, provided that he has access to the portal from the other side, he should return.""So you're saying we could be waiting an HOUR for him to come back?"
"Unless one of you would like to cross the portal yourselves and retrieve him, yes."Sunset and Missy both looked apprehensively at the strange boundary between dimensions, then at each other.
"You want to give it five minutes?" Missy whispered.
Sunset narrowed her eyes. "Remember what happened last time the group split up?"
Missy pondered the question for a few seconds before getting a dejected look on her face. "Nuts, you're right..."
Sunset took a deep breath and turned back to the unsettling portal. "Just in, grab Penn, and back out. Ten seconds... Ready?"
"Mhmm..." Missy mumbled, gripping Sunset a little tighter.
"One... two... three!" Sunset rushed forward, closing her eyes as she made contact with the portal.
The last conscious sensation she had was a sense of tremendous pressure on her body, pushing and pulling it at all sides, and everything went dark.
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there's a 99.99% chance that this is a minecraft world
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Why are they so sure Salem is tracking them? Sure, the witch knows how to bear a grudge; but now she has access to the multiverse... shouldn't she focus on more important things? You know, like building her own interdimensional empire, paving her way to godhood, having tea parties with the likes of Palpatine, Uchiha Madara and Thanos, etc ...
10211040
Well, she genuinely might be, but since the story is from Sunsets perspective, Salem is so frightening that it really doesn't occur to her that she might have better things to do.
This will probably be the last big deal made over Salem until the next time she appears, which won't be for a while.
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That or Terraria (maybe even Cube World)
Edit: alright maybe not that lass one, I forgot that the last update ruined the game :(
Penn: “ making the impossible possible “
Foreshadowing in call me beep me if you wanna reach me intensifies?
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... ... ... *hastily writes down another universe for a crossover on the planning document
CREEPER,AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW MAN
i'm feel a little bit of Steven univers.
The fun, has been cubed.
I highly doubt this will be showing up, but are you familiar with the series Primeval? I bring it up because the portal in this chapter reminded me of that show's anomalies.
10211383
Can't say it rings any bells, I'm afraid!
If you do Final Fantasy universes, which ones would you use? I would love to see 4, 7, 9, 10, and 15 (would love to see how Sunset reacts to Ardyn).
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To be honest, I feel the same way about Final Fantasy as I do about One Piece or Kingdom Hearts:
Seems really cool, but I just missed the boat and now the amount of material I'd have to go through to catch up is overwhelming. Nothing wrong with them, in fact I'd like to be in on it, but I just don't have the time to commit if I want to do them justice.
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It's actually kind of easy to get the gist of what each Final Fantasy's story is about through RECAPitation videos like this:
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Kingdom Hearts is definitely a timesink, though thankfully with all the old games bundled together it's way easier to get into the series than it used to.
One Piece is the same problem, I'd recommend just reading the manga since the anime runs into some serious pacing issues as it goes along. But yeah 900+ chapters is a lot to get through. Just read in the bathroom and you'll catch up eventually.
Final Fantasy is the easiest to get into because outside of Direct sequels (such as X-2 or XIII-2) you can pretty much just pick any of the games and start playing since they are all stand-alone stories. I'd recommend one of the old re-releases mainly 7, 8, 9, 10(Cheats are PC Only) since they include cheats that help speed things up if you're only interested in the story and don't wanna get stuck grinding or going deep into the combat system. The Final Fantasy games are actually on sale right now on both PS4 and PC.
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Well, if you consider entering the final fantasy universe, calinjc’s idea of watching recaps is probably the best, and in my humble opinion I will recommend you to watch the recap series made by the channel: ClementJ64, called: “Clement remembers Final Fantasy”... at least until final fantasy VI, after that, he stars to not go into that much detail regarding the story of the games, although to be fair with him, the amount of content introduced on VII and onwards make is difficult to cover everything on detailed with out making a 3 to 4 hour video, I mean, the videos are already long, but that’s what the X2 speed on YouTube exist (or X1.25, 1.5 and 1.75 speeds if X2 is to fast for you).
But yeah, if you want to get a good idea of the FF games, at least the 2D ones, this is the best place to go.
Now, if you are interested in visiting any of thous worlds on the fic, I will definitely recommend visiting Final Fantasy VI, because, as much as I will love to see the gang visit the world of IX or any other, for what I have read so far ;), the fic is starting to get into a more darker and depression territory (although keeping the silliness too), and FFVI will help with that, I will not go into detail, but FFVI is consider to be the most depressing game of the entire franchise, something that is hard to desangre, considering how dark some of the elements and events of what can be considered as the final arch of the game can be, but the game also has a good level of silliness to help keep things balanced... also the more medieval seating of the game will serve to balance the more futuristic setting of portal and RWBY (although lord of the rings can help with that too, but I doubt you will be willing to go into such a complex universe)
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Yeah, that's the one. Only known Anchor in the Loops to have never been killed.
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Not to mention on the Switch as well.
Minecraft Story Mode?
Minecraft? Fun.
There is at least one world where she could make a career of stopping disasters. I don't know if you ever plan on having the team stop there, but the world of My Hero Academia could definitely use them.
Especially if they can help take care of All For One and Shigaraki's plans the same way they handled Salem. Isis alone, and the Magic of Friendship, could be enough to turn the tables for the better.
Plus... Sunset's "Element of Empathy" traits remind me of Izuku and his unstoppable heroic nature. I think he could definitely benefit from being her friend, and the two of them in some ways are kindred spirits.
His world could benefit from the Magic of Friendship (since teamwork largely seems to be lacking on the hero's side, a factor which the villains seem to be excelling in), and I think he could help the team too. Maybe not with powers, but with his intellect perhaps.
Ok, maybe it might not be as beneficial for the them as it is for MHA's world, unless... unless Izuku joins the team.
That would be cool, and I personally believe in-character for him (if AFO & Shigaraki are taken of already). Isis being there could easily mitigate villainy and other issues by uniting everyone, so Izuku would be free to join them and save other worlds.
Just an idea, I hope that's ok. It's your story, and it's great either way. Thanks for writing! This was a great chapter, and a fantastic arc as a whole! Looking forward to the Minecraft adventure!
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Hey, I encourage folks to give their ideas, it's definitely okay! I love knowing what people want to see in this story!
BNHA is DEFINITELY on the list. Like most requests, I can only encourage patience. I've been toying with the idea of doing an arc that occurs before the events of the series, meaning Izuku might not be a factor, but nothing's set in stone. By the time we get there, the Rainbooms will probably have enough power and experience to set up as a hero agency of their own.
And while I normally don't try to give away too many details because I don't like limiting myself for the future, I'm afraid I probably should say that most of the non-Rainboom additions to the team have already been made. Characters may reappear from time to time, but there's only one more regular team member who has yet to be properly introduced: Missy's big sis.
Thanks for reading, and keep enjoying the story! If you're really set on seeing Izuku join the crew, I do take commissions, or there's always the DIY option! Multiverse's setting is an open one!