• Published 2nd Dec 2018
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The Multiverse in a Nutshell - Pennington Inkwell



What do you do when you accidentally break the multiverse and scatter your friends to the cosmic winds? Go on a ROAD TRIP, of course!

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End of the Beginning

"Well?"

Ozpin folded his hands in front of his face, keeping his expression neutral. "We still haven't been able to re-establish contact with the Integrated Superior Intelligence system or Team SIEG. For the moment, Remnant remains on its own."

"THIS is why I was opposed to allowing them access to our systems, in the first place!" Ironwood growled. "Our exploration into other worlds is still in its infancy, and putting all of our reliance on information into a single system was foolhardy!"

"Isis's map was more comprehensive than any alternative, with ratings of possible dangers and-"

"And now that she's gone, we're practically back to square one!" Ironwood pressed his hand to his forehead. "No, actually, we're even further back than that! She was tied into so many critical systems, many communications networks are STILL crippled, and security is at an all-time low! If we hadn't been covering up her involvement completely, her disappearance would have signaled a cascade of cyber attacks from hackers everywhere!"

"Hey! It's not Isis's fault!"

All eyes turned to Blake Belladonna and the rest of Team RWBY as they entered Ozpin's office. They were all showing varying degrees of wear from their recent spree of missions, but her exhaustion didn't seem to inhibit Blake's outburst. "The last thing she did was send out an SOS, and we still haven't done anything to help her!"

"Isis was completely confident in the fact that she was untouchable, and from what we know, with good reason!" Weiss folded her arms as she stepped up to accompany Blake. "If something was able to completely disable her, then we're talking about a threat that could be every bit as dangerous as the one we're facing right now, and Sunset and her friends are fighting it alone! The fact that we've done nothing to respond is absurd!"

"Girls, I understand that you consider this machine a friend of yours, but the fact remains that she has left us high and dry at our own time of crisis. You all should know this better than anyone." He reached into his pocket and withdrew his scroll. "Isis, what is happening to you?"

"Data unavailable. Please contact an administrator."

"What can we do to help?"

"Data unavailable. Please contact an administrator."

"Where is Team SIEG? We need their expertise."

"Data unavailable. Please contact an administrator."

"What are these dark monsters attacking our world?"

"Data unavailable. Please contact an administrator."

"That's enough, James. I believe you've made your point." Ozpin sighed. "May I also remind you, however, that you and all of Atlas owe Isis a debt of gratitude? Without her interference, the other three kingdoms may have declared war against you. On top of that, Sunset Shimmer and her friends both saved Amity Arena and dealt a devastating blow to Salem the likes of which we hadn't been able to in YEARS of efforts."

That seemed to put a dent into Ironwood's outrage, and he ended the demonstration with a gesture to his useless scroll before shoving it back into his pocket. "The past is past, Oz. The fact remains that, for the moment, we're crippled and in the dark."

"Not completely! We at least know what to call that portal they're coming through!" Ruby forced a smile to accompany the marginally good news in a feeble attempt to raise the mood of the room. "Before she ran off again, Sunset's friend called it a... a, uh... Balloon Gate?"

"Baalchion Gate." Weiss corrected. "Unfortunately, no matter where we search, we can't find any records of-"

"Keyword 'Baalchion' recognized. Please stand by."

All eyes turned to Ozpin's desk, where the holographic display had turned on of its own accord. The image it was displaying was a perfect black circle with a row of uniform jagged lines around the outside. There was something almost tribal-looking to the image, and it sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

"That's it..." Blake whispered. "That's what I saw in the caves!"

"A black sun?" Yang asked.

"It's obviously a black hole, the lines are supposed to be collapsing inwards." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"I dunno... they could be sunbeams," Ruby countered.

"Warning: The presence of a Baalchion Gate constitutes a potentially world-ending threat. Recommended courses of action include firebombing, electrical current bombardment, and nuclear fission. Unable to contact central memory bank for further information. Attempting to call an administrator via priority line..."

This was new. Ozpin must have tried a hundred times to ask for one of Isis's administrators, and a hundred times he'd been turned down under claims of security clearance. Now, Weiss had accidentally managed to get them a direct line with a single word. A word that could open doors that easily didn't bode well, especially when one of the proposed solutions was a nuclear bomb.

In a blink, the image changed from the black sun to a shot of some kind of laboratory. Mechanical pieces and devices of every kind were scattered across a dozen tabletops, and at first it looked like the only occupant was a large black cat sitting on top of one of them. After a few seconds of staring, the cat looked directly at the camera and tilted its head curiously.

"Hey, Dad? Looks like you got a call."

"Impossible. The main power coupling's not finished, only the emergency systems are online."

"What are all those humans staring at us for, then?"

Ozpin cleared his throat and rose out of his seat to walk around in front of the screen. "My name is Professor Ozpin, and I represent-"

"How did you get this number?" What looked at first like one of Isis's drones jumped out from a pile of scrap and flew up to the camera, eyeing it angrily. On closer inspection, Ozpin could see that this was no robot, but a living, breathing dragon with blue and silver scales. "Humans aren't allowed in here!"

Ironwood took a turn to speak, stepping up beside Ozpin. "Our world is in danger, and-"

"And I've got my own problems! I have yet to hear a reason to continue this call!" The dragon rolled his eyes before turning away from the camera. "Bastet, figure out how they got past our firewalls!"

"Gimmie one good reason, I've got my own work to do!"

"Is Isis gonna be okay?" Ruby asked. Ozpin hadn't even heard them approach, but Team RWBY had joined them in standing closer to the screen. That seemed to be the first question to cause the dragon to pause, and he turned back around, eyes narrow with suspicion.

"Who asked that?"

Ruby raised her hand. "I did, sir. Isis is our friend, and we've been worried about her."

"You mean worried about what you're going to do when you can't USE her."

Blake shook her head. "No. She's a valuable member of our team, and she helped save our world once before. We owe her a lot, and when she sent out an SOS, we didn't know how to help her in return. We've been worried sick!"

Of course... Ozpin smiled and placed a hand on Ironwood's shoulder. Together, the two of them stepped back and let Team RWBY take the lead. As usual, Miss Rose's simpler soul proves to cut to the heart of things...

The dragon glared more closely at them, clearly still unwilling to trust them. "Isis was attacked by a reality-warping demon, but we've got it under control now. Her entire processor bank and the central power system were all knocked out completely. Once we fix all the hardware, I'll restore her to a previous version from before the attack. She should be fine, given time." All the members of Team RWBY sighed with relief and exchanged happy glances. "Is that what this was all about?"

"Not entirely." Weiss shook her head. "What's left of Isis on our systems put us on a priority call to you after we mentioned finding something called a 'Baalchion Gate.' We weren't trying to disturb your repairs, but we need more information about what we're facing. Can you help us?"

There was a long pause, and for a moment Ozpin wondered if the image had frozen. Finally, the dragon shook his head.

"I don't have the time to deal with that. There's a LOT going on over here, and the sooner I get Isis online, the better it'll be for everyone. Have any Chiracian agents approached you offering to help?"

"Well, we DID get saved by this one girl. She had lightning powers, super speed, and this blue geode like one that belongs to Sunset Shimmer. Does that count?" Yang scratched at her head.

"Yeah, and with that, this just officially went over my head..." The dragon mused for a moment, taking a second to nibble anxiously on the end of his tail. "Whatever you do, do NOT make any deals with her, and don't trust ANY dragons you see! Aside from that, the only thing that I can do for you is put you in touch with an expert."

"Uh, thank you, Mister Administrator!" Ruby smiled. "When Isis is back, please let her know how much we were all worried about her!"

"Yeah, whatever. Don't mention it. Seriously, DON'T. If this was any other kind of apocalypse, you'd be on your own! Bastet? Seriously, no sass this time... I need you to route their call. You know where."

"Fine... Just hang on a minute, humans."

The tension in the air wasn't lost on Ozpin when the screen switched to a black readout again. Once again, however, Team RWBY had managed to avert an issue through a heartfelt methodology. Still, he had a feeling that this "Baalchion Gate" and the dragon's ominous warning about making deals with others of its kind both heralded something much more sinister.

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"Man... I really thought Isis would be back by now..." Sunset mumbled into her glass. "Kinda puts a damper on things, huh?"

"Yeah, but at least the food's good!" Missy chimed in, raising a drumstick the size of her forearm into the air. "C'mon! You know if she were here, Isis would say something like 'It is not logical to be upset at my absence during a holiday centered around food, as I do not eat.'"

Sunset smirked. "Yeah... I guess you're right."

"I'm sure Noir and Bastet are working around the clock to get Isis back." Penn shrugged. "There's nothing we can do to speed it up, not even me. It's a healing process, and you can't rush that." He reached out to pour himself more of the sparkling cider. "In the end, we're going to get her back. Isis will be okay, and the rest of us are all still here and in one piece." He raised his glass. "That's something worth being thankful for, right?"

"Heck yeah!" Missy raised her glass to meet his, and Sunset followed suit.

"I'll drink to that!"

The three of them each let the glass gently clink against one another before taking a long drink. After each of them had finished off their toast, Sunset glanced around at the wide spread of food. There was mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, Hylian Shrooms, rolls, stuffing, steamed Hyrule Bass, and at the center of it all: a huge turkey. The enticing scents had traveled and wafted so far, it felt like none of them had been able to escape it for the last twenty-four hours, and by the time they were able to sit down to eat, Sunset had been ready to start gnawing on the walls out of sheer hunger. The mouth-watering feast had been worth the wait, however. "Geez, Penn... you really went all out, huh?"

"You give me a whole holiday dedicated to cooking, I'm going to use the whole holiday." Penn grinned as he ladled out another helping of stuffing onto his plate. "Cooking calms me."

Sunset and Missy both glanced at one another in an exchange dripping with skepticism.

"You threw a frying pan at Alucard."

"He wasn't invited into my kitchen." Penn was completely unapologetic as he took another bite out of one of the rolls.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "We're guests in a royal castle. It's not YOUR kitchen."

"If I'm cooking in it, it's MINE."

Sunset smirked and rolled her eyes. "We NEED to get you and Pinkie into a cook-off. The collateral damage will be TOTALLY worth it."

Penn only smirked as he sipped delicately from his glass. "I'm pretty proud of how the Hylian Shrooms turned out, considering I've never cooked with them, before!"

"It WAS really nice of Princess Zelda to lend us so many ingredients!" Missy added.

"Yeah, we really lucked out." Sunset smiled and raised her glass again. "To the founder of the feast, eh?"

Penn and Missy both exchanged knowing glances.

"Going by the looks she kept giving you when your back was turned, I don't think luck had anything to do with it..." Penn smirked as he raised his glass.

"SPECIFICALLY when your back was turned!" Missy added.

"W-what? What are you guys talking about?" Sunset stammered, feeling her face start to burn.

"Well, there WAS that time we were keeping watch for any flying monsters..." Penn trailed off. Missy snorted.

"Yeah, when Sunset's eyes went up, her eyes went down!"

"Would you guys cut it out?" Sunset speared a heavy forkful of green beans and shoved them into her mouth. "That didn't happen!"

"And you were totally into it, Sunset! There was that time in the baths..." Missy trailed off.

"Oh? I was stuck in the guys' one, do tell!"

"OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Sunset reached over and put her hand over Missy's mouth. Both of her friends collapsed into a fit of laughter as Sunset buried her face in her hands. "This is what I get for not holding YOUR ridiculous crushes over you, Penn!"

"Nobody's going to hold it against you for having a type, Sunset! It just so happens your type is 'cute eggheads who are also princesses!'"

"And that's absolutely adorkable!"

"Hey, boss! Got a call for ya!"

Sunset whispered a prayer of gratitude to the God of Distractions, whoever they were. "J-Just a sec, Bastet!"

"I thought we couldn't GET calls until Isis was back?" Missy scratched at her head.

"Emergency line. It's being routed straight through me, which means we literally had to put everything else on hold for this. Make it snappy!"

"Alright..." Penn held his phone up at arm's length before turning around so the camera could see everyone at the table. "We're good!"

The screen flickered for a few seconds before pulling up an image that made Sunset's heart leap: Team RWBY, along with Professor Ozpin and a man in a white military-looking suit standing behind them.

"Hey, girls!" Sunset waved enthusiastically. "Long time, no see!"

"Hey, Sunset!" Ruby waved back.

"Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but- Weiss started, only to be cut off by Yang.

"Woah, that's a LOT of food!"

"It's a holiday from my world. Celebrating bountiful harvests was a big part of why it started, so food's a big factor." Penn dismissed their concerns with a shake of his head. "If Noir sent you to us, it must be a real emergency. What's going on?"

"We need some information about something that's invading our world. We tried to ask Isis, but..." Ruby shook her head. "She's not responding to us."

"Yeah... sorry about that. I... kind of almost got overwritten by a demon, and since I was the one who wrote Isis's story, it used me to get to her. She'll be back soon."

"From my reckoning, you must be the infamous 'Penn.'" The man in the white suit spoke up for the first time, starting to push his way forward. "My name is General Ironwood. I'm sorry to interrupt your holiday, but we are facing a threat unlike any other our world has ever seen, and I'm told you're an expert."

Sunset watched Penn's expression darken slightly. After several tight-lipped seconds, he finally spoke again. "Girls, what's going on?"

He just... ignored the general? Sunset noted.

"There's these monsters showing up- not Grimm- that have started showing up where Salem's castle used to be. They're like Centinels, but they live in these giant nests with lots of ice inside!" Ruby started to explain. At this point, Yang took over.

"And the things don't stay dead, no matter how hard we smash 'em!"

Weiss nodded. "They seem to be coming from something called a 'Baalchion Gate.' It's a portal that looks like a black hole."

"Even just saying the words was enough to make what's left of Isis send out an emergency call. She said that it was a threat to our whole world." Blake shook her head. "We REALLY need your help and... Hey, uh, I think there's some kind of interference? The picture's shaking."

Penn didn't say a word as he set the phone down on the table with a trembling hand.

"Uh, Penn? You okay?" Missy asked.

He didn't respond, his expression pale and emotionless as he pushed his chair away from the table and rose to his feet. He started to walk away from the table, only to almost instantly drop to the ground face-first.

"PENN!" Missy and Sunset both jumped up and rushed to him, beginning to inspect him. Thankfully, there wasn't any sign of injury, and his breathing was normal.

"What happened? What's going on? We can't see anything!"

Once she was sure he wasn't in any danger, Sunset stood up and grabbed his phone, re-orienting the camera. "It's okay, he just fainted... Haven't seen THAT in a while."

"Is he going to be okay?" Ruby asked.

"It seems our situation is worse than we thought," Ozpin murmured.

"He'll be fine, this isn't the first time this has happened." Sunset sighed. "I'll talk to him once he wakes up, but we'll turn around and head back your way as soon as we can, okay?"

"Oh, Sunset! There's one more thing!" Blake called. "When we were fighting our way out of one of the nests, we were saved by this girl! She was wearing a geode like yours!"

Sunset felt like her heart had stopped, and she grabbed the phone with both hands to try and hide the shake that was rapidly starting to take hold as overwhelming excitement mingled with disbelief. "Who was it? What did she look like? Did she have anyone else with her? Is she safe? Where is she now?"

"Does 'long white hair, lightning powers, and super speed' sound familiar?" Weiss asked.

"Her geode was like yours, but it was blue!" Yang added.

Sunset blinked, forcing herself to sit back on the floor. "Super speed and a blue geode is definitely Rainbow Dash. But her hair isn't white, it's, well, rainbow! And last time I saw her, she didn't have lightning powers!"

"Well, the last time she saw you, you probably didn't have an angel for a partner and a laser sword. Seems about fair." Weiss commented offhandedly.

"She ran off again after she saved us, but she's definitely here to help fight these things!" Ruby chirped. "I'm sure we'll run into her again if we keep trying to stop this invasion!"

"We'll be counting on you all to arrive soon." Ozpin gave her a grateful nod. "Please hurry, and try to call us back when Penn has recovered. Any information you can give us would be invaluable at this juncture."

Sunset nodded, though she only barely registered what Ozpin had said. Her mind was still reeling from the news that one of her friends had been spotted.

"See you soon, Sunset!" Ruby cheered.

"Tell Penn to put the pedal to the metal, would you? We don't have forever!" Weiss folded her arms with a smile. "We're going to need ALL our teammates!"

"We've missed you. A lot." Blake rubbed at her arm, and Sunset could see her cat ears twitching under her bow. "So hurry."

"Hope you've learned some new tricks out there!" Yang pounded her hands together with a grin. "'Cause the fight's gonna be tougher than ever!"

"Thank you for your help. We'll be waiting for more correspondence soon." The general gave a formal nod, and the feed cut out.

Sunset finally let the phone drop completely and fell backwards, ending up laying on her back on the floor.

"I... don't believe it."

"WE GOT ONE!" Missy screamed at the top of her lungs, taking to the air and beginning to fly in elated circles. "WE GOT ONE WE GOT ONE WE GOT ONE! WOOO HOOOO!"

Sunset reached up to her geode, wrapping her hand around it and feeling it pulse softly. "I'll admit... I was starting to wonder if they were really out there... But they ARE. My friends really are out there!" She slowly turned her head to look at her unconscious friend. She hadn't seen Penn faint like that in months, and they'd gone up against some incredibly frightening situations in that time.

"But... what kind of trouble has Dash gotten herself into?"

Author's Note:

ZeldaSet is my new ship. It started as a joke but now I like it unironically. Help.

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