In Honor Of Monty Oum

His works have been an inspiration and a great help to me.

"Have you all reviewed the nessicary information on our new finding?"

A dark meeting room contained nothing but a circle of screens showing figures made of light. The first to speak had been the thickest one. That one's immage implied that he was a large, burly individual. He had a deep, serious voice aged by time and dripping with a sort of silent anger.

"Qui," Another one of the correspondents replied. This one looked to be dome-shaped, and spoke with a thick French accent. "This world... 'Remnant'. It ees... Very unique to say the least."

"I like it," a smaller figure, one that almost seemed to have devil horns, commented. "Those creatures... What are they called?" There was a small 'meow' from his speaker, and the figure nodded. "Oh yeah. Grimm. Those Grimm seem fun." He sounded like he had an impish grin on his face. "My favorite are the birdies. Are we bringing some here?"

"No," a voice similar to the big one's said. This one's immage was slimmer, and he sounded more... Cultured. "That would be of little use. From what the Kroloteans told us before we... No longer required their services, the Grimm are little more than constructs of malice, mindless animals that swarm in packs."

"Duh," the childish one said. "That's why they'd be such a blast!"

"Regardless," the cultured voice continued. "The local populace seems much more useful. They posses abilities on par with the Justice Leauge." The screen the figure belonged to was suddenly replaced by a series of images, showcasing different people, with stats and charts behind them.

"Speed, strength, magnetism, illusionary, self-duplication, telekinesis, invicibility... They would be useful additions to The Light indeed." A series of people, all verging widely in appearance and statistics appeared in quick succession as the voice listed off the various abilities.

"Yeah... But most of the ones we have on record are a bunch of goody-goodies," the childish voice sneered condescendingly. "The rest are either hard to get ahold of, or probably don't have a lot of interest in us."

"That is why their recruitment requires... Finesse. And with the loss of both STAR Labs and Starro-Tech, we no longer have an effective means of maintaining control. We need young ones, children, the ones who show strength and potential."

"Besides," a deeper, more aggressive sounding voice interrupted. This one had a sort of ovular head, and evoked the immage of a manta ray. "Child operatives have seemed to benefit our adversaries in the past."

"Very true," the cultured voice acknowlaged. "Our ally has provided us with the means of bypassing the Leauge's Zeta Sheild so we may bring these new potential operatives here."

"So, do we know who we're going to bring to the table?" The childish voice asked.

"As a matter of fact," the first voice responded. "We do." His screen displayed the images of two young girls, one tiny and clothed in black and red, with dark hair and large silver eyes. The other was tall, with a thick curtain of blond hair, lilac eyes, and a confident smirk on her face.

"Their names are Ruby Rose, and Yang Xaio Long." He introduced them. The pictures of the girls appeared on the other screens as the dossiers on the pair were downloaded to the other members of the meeting.

"And with the proper guidance, they will see The Light."

Remnant, Vale, 19:32

The engines of Yang Xaio Long's beloved motorcycle, the Bumblebee, roared loudly as it blazed through the streets of Vale. On top of it, the blond bruiser was grinning broadly, her helmet and sunglasses on her head. She floored the vehicle's accelerator, and she sped even faster down the road.

Suddenly a red streak raced past her, leaving behind a trail of rose petals as it outclassed the flashy motorcycle in terms of sheer velocity.

Yang simply shook her head and snickered good-naturedly as she watched her sister's form go by. "Always in such a rush..." She muttered, the smile not leaving her face.

She pursued the departing form of her sibling.

It was a month after the infamous Breach of Vale, and the city was pretty much back on its feet. The releitilvy small amount of casualties had been buried and were being mourner by their families. The buildings and businesses destroyed in the battle had been repaired, and the Grimm cleared out. Sure, the monsters were lurking closer to the borders than ever before, but they weren't gaining any more progress than that, so it wasn't a large concern.

Since then, it had been very quiet. With Roman Torchwick in custody and his little associates nowhere to be found in months, it seemed that his vast network of terrorists, proffesional criminals, and anarchists had fallen appart.

Team RWBY had spent their time since then studying, training, or hanging out with Team JNPR or Sun and Neptune, until a day earlier, they had gotten a letter from Taiyang, Yang and Ruby's father, telling them that he had arranged a private airship to take them home to Patch for a weekend.

That was a little strange, but the girls certainly weren't complaining. Ruby had been absolutely exstatic, and Yang wasn't far behind her in enthusiasm. They might even be able to take Zwei back to Beacon when they returned.

Yang eventually caught up with Ruby at the Air Docks.

The little redhead was bouncing on her feet in anxiousness. She had a pack stopped to her back, just above where her beloved Crescent Rose hung from her belt. She grinned as Yang parked her bike, where Blake would be by later to pick it up.

"Come on, come on, come on!" She babbled, though she was clearly out of breath as she did so. Yang was a bit surprised that Ruby had run all the way to the city ports from Beacon. She had never kept her Selmblence up for that long. Then again, little could stop Ruby when she was excited about something.

"Hey, slow down sis," Yang threw her arm over the smaller girl's shoulder, locking her into a one armed hug. "It's not like Dad's going anywhere. What's your rush?"

"That's the point," Ruby whined from under her sister's grip. "He could! He's a Huntsman, he could be called off on a job, or there could be a Grimm attack and he could get hurt, or he could get lost in the woods, or-"

"Seriously, Ruby," Yang said a bit more firmly. "Calm down. You sound like a negative version of Nora!" That made Ruby stop. They both loved Nora as a friend, but her blabbermouth exceeded and even baffled a person who had superspeed. Ruby didn't want to be a Nora.

"Doesn't it seem a bit strange, though?" Yang continued to muse. "He suddenly invited us over after all this time, out of the blue?"

"Maybe he just wants to see that we're ok," Ruby reasoned. "We've never been away from him this long, and he probably heard about the Breach. He probably just wants to see his girls still in one piece."

Yang nodded. It was pretty sound logic, only enforced by how protective and doting Taiyang could be as a parent. Whole he would do silly things sometimes, like send the family dog and a half ton of dog food in a little mail tube, the girls had once witnessed him cleave a King Taijitu in a dozen neat peices when it had threatened to try and swallow Yang when she was a child.

Yang simply smiled. Beacon was a great place, and her friends were super awesome to hang out with, nothing in Vale would ever truly replace the immense forests, clear skies, and endless rivers she and Ruby had grown up with.

"Ohhhhhh," Ruby squealed as she regained her energy somewhat. "It'll be soooo awesome to go home and see Dad and Zwei, and everyone from Signal again!" She exclaimed, wiggling under Yang's arm. "We can tell them all about how you smashed Torchwick's robot, or that time we decaptitated a Nevermore during initiation or..."

Ruby continued to ramble on and on as they made their way towards the airship that Taiyang had apparently arranged for them. She was still running her mouth off when Yang spotted their pilot.

Yang was almost instantly taken a bit aback by him.

Taiyang had never hired a personal pilot before, they were much too expensive. But if they had, Yang severely doubted that they would look like this guy.

He was tall and muscular. She could see that, even through the baggy uniform he wore. But what made Yang uneasy was the man's face. He had stark white hair, and like Weiss, it didn't look like it came from age. He had a string, square jaw covered in a layer of snow-colored facial hair. His right eye was covered by an eyepatch, leaving his bright blue left eye all that was visible in that regard.

The way he looked at them was... Unsettling. It reminded her of the way Ruby sometimes looked at a Grimm through Crescent Rose's scope. Predatory, a hunter about to pounce on unknowing prey and relishing the feeling. Like them, he was a hunter... But Yang was guessing that Grimm were pretty low on his priotity prey list.

Yeah, Taiyang would never have allowed someone like this anywhere near his precious little angels.

Silently, she tightened her arm around Ruby. He didn't have an active aura, as far as she could tell, and he was unarmed, but apparences could be deciving. Torchwick's little henchmen Neo had taught her that, one of the few things she learned from the fiasco of a fight on the exploding train.

Feeling Yang's grip tighten, Ruby fell silent, her motor mouth slowing to a stop as she made a confused noise and looked at her older sister. Yang flashed her a look, then glanced at the pilot. Instantly understanding, Ruby went from 'adorable ditzy geek' mode, to 'serious asskicking team leader' mode.

If this man was after them, they wanted to take care of it sooner rather than later. Past encounters had taught them that people out to get them being left to their own devices can come back to bite one squarely on the anus. If they had just caught Torchwick sooner... Well, to paraphrase Doctor Oobleck, 'lives could have been saved'.

Ruby's arm shifted back a bit towards her scythe, not a noticeable amount, but a good ways so that it would be easier to draw if he attacked, while Yang readied Ember Celica for deployment if need be.

When they got close, the man smiled and nodded at them. "Ms. Xaio Long, Ms. Rose?" He questioned.

"That's us." Ruby chirped, sounding friendly, but not as enthusiastic as usual. Her broad grin had faded to a friendly smile, trying not to show that they suspected anything.

"My name is Mr. Wilson, ladies," he said calmly, his eye scanning both girls individually. "I'll be your pilot back to Patch today." He motioned for them to enter the airship docked behind him, and Yang gritted her teeth. Once inside, the man would probably try to attack if he really was after them.

Mr. Wilson glanced around. The docks has become relatively empty. Very few people were around. It was the time of eavning when most flights had already departed. "Before we leave..." He said as the sisters began to move cautiously for the airship. "An associate of mine would like me to give you a little gift..."

Ok, that was it. This guy was definitely after them.

In a flash, Ember Celica and Crescent Rose had expanded to their full forms in the huntresses-to-be's hands, but before they could move to defend themselves, Mr. Wilson had brought something out of his pocket.

It was a small, rectangular box with strange markings on the top. It beeped and made other computer sounds. Neither of them had a remote clue what it was, but could tell it was bad when he threw it at them.

Yang Xaio long was, first and foremost, a big sister. So when the thing began to glow brightly, Yang's first instinct was throw herself between the unknown object and Ruby, gathering her little sister in her arms. The light from the box got brighter and brighter, and a large vortex opened under them, sucking them in.

Yang clutched Ruby tightly as they began to fall into the vortex, a bright light shining all around them. As the opening they had fallen through began to close, she could hear Mr. Wilson call after them. "You should be honored, girls. It takes quite a bit of skill to be chosen by The Light."

With that, Ruby and Yang were trapped in a swirling vortex of light and space. There was a loud booming noise all around the, that made their eardrums throb, and they felt like they were being shot through a rail gun.

But this was not the end for the sisters, apparently, as an opening suddenly split open on the other side...

Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke, watched the two girls dissapear down the BoomTube.

Good thing he had been able to whip that handy-dandy instant portal. Shotgun Gauntlets and a Scythe-Sniper Rifle hybrid would have been... Complicated to deal with to say the least. He was good, but it seemed like this world was where physics and logic went to die in agony.

He retrieved the Fatherbox that Darkseid had leant the Light to aid in their plans, dusting the thing off with one hand. It beeped, seemingly irate about its treatment. Wilson just rolled his eye and shoved it back in his pocket. He was willing to put up with a lot for his employers, but being bitched to by a glorified GPS box wasn't one of them.

He reached into the airship, retrieving his sword from the floor of the airship. He regarded it with a sort of grim smile, examining it to make sure it was clean and sharpened, just like he had left it.

While it was true there weren't many witnesses to behold what had just occurred... But 'not many' didn't exactly mean 'none at all'. He looked behind him, at the shocked faces of the dock workers, the attendants, the scant amount of pedestrians. Despite Aura being a common occurance, as far as he could tell, these men and woman were nothing more than that... Simple, squishy men and women.

"I apologize," he said, giving the sword a lazy swing as he advanced. "However, The Light has a strict 'no-witnesses' policy." However, from the tone of his voice, it was evident he that the apology was worth less than nothing. He had been ordered to do leave no evidence of what had happened.

He also needed to explain why two of Beacon's most exceptional First Years weren't ever returning from their trip to visit Daddy.

From what he could tell, they had royally pissed off more than a few members of a terrorist organization. That would be useful for a cover story. He began musing the details in his head as he grabbed the nearest civilian by the neck as he tried to escape.

The man looked at him with terror in his eyes. Death stroke did nothing but raise one finger to his lips. "Shhhhhhh," he said quietly, and completely seriously, before raising his sword...

Blüdhaven, Gotham, 22:46

Ruby Rose was dizzy when she woke up.

There had been a bright white light at the end of the... Vortex... Boom-tunnel-thingy, and it seemed to have knocked both her and Yang out.

She was still pressed tight against her sister, Aura-enhanced strength making the older girl's grip as hard as steel. Crescent Rose was trapped in a similar death grip in Ruby's compareitivlly tiny hands. Her bag full of ammo for both the scythe and Yang's gauntlets was pressing against her back, making her a bit uncomfortable.

What... What had just happened?

At most, she had expected Mr. Wilson to be an associate of Torchwick's, or a member of the White Fang, not an agent of... We're his employers seriously called 'The Light?' Because if so, they got points for irony, but got deducted some for being dramatic. Whatever else could be said for him, at least Roman was a blunt and to-the-point arch nemesis.

She shook her head. She could think about the jerks who had just shot her and her sister through a screwy hole in the fabric of space and time later. She was still in 'Leader Mode,' and her immediate concern was making sure her team was alright...

Except half her team wasn't here. Instead of RWBY, currently they were RY and WB, with Weiss and Blake still being at Beacon. Well... It could be worse. She could have been flung here with... Cardin or something. At least she had her dear sister by her side.

"Yang," she said loudly, wriggling in her sister's grasp. "Yaaaaang!" She tried again, making her voice a bit louder. That stirred the blond bruiser, who groaned loudly.

"Rubes?" She asked, lilac eyes drifting open drowsily. "What ha... Oh yeah." She shook her head, her grip on Ruby relaxing.

"Are you ok?" Ruby asked, concerned. Yang had taken the brunt of the impact for her. On the bright side, that meant that she would have a little bit more punching power if they came under attack any time soon, but Ruby was worried that she might have been severely hurt by the... Wormhole thingy.

"I'm fine, sis... A little sore... But fine. You?"

"I'm ok." The little redhead nodded.

Yang nodded, relaxing even further. "Good." She ruffled the younger gir's hear as she let go.

After releasing her sister, they both got up, looking around with confusion.

It was late at night, and they seemed to be in an urban area. It was dim and dark, with a very overcast sky overhead. There was a dog barking in the distance, and a few of the lights were on in the windows. But the condition of the city, the dirty quality of the streets, the gruesome gargoyles on the edges of the buildings, the way the area had clearly seen many fights of varying quality, all of that was making alarm bells go off in Ruby's head.

"Well... This place is creepy." Yang said, simply saying what needed to be said. The two instinctively edged closer to each other. The area was not unlike the one around Junior's bar, a place where both of them had been before, but this place gave off a sense of darkness... Of evil.

Suddenly they heard something coming from an alleyway. A large, stomping sound, like someone very big and very heavy was approaching.

"And that's even creepier..." Yang said as the girls readied their weapons as the sound got closer and closer. It didn't sound nearly as big as a Palidin, but bigger than an Ursa for sure.

Ruby strained to listen to a muttering that had started. "Solomon Grundy..." The voice said quietly, in an almost sing-song voice. It was gravely and tired, though, as if the speaker was on a biological autopilot and was repeating the words unconsciously.

The sisters glanced at each other, shuffling nervously.

"Born on a Monday..." It started to get progressively more aggressive as it continued to speak.

When it came into view, though, Ruby thought she might be sick.

It looked vaguely like a man, but it had deathly grey skin, half-rotted and gaunt. The creature was hulking, outsize get even the Ursa Juane had defended Cardin from. It was wearing the filthy, tattered remains of a dapper suit, torn to rags by seemingly time and bullets. It's face hung limp, teeth missing, with sickly yellow eyes and blood-red irises. Strands of white hair hung from its scalp.

It carried a stench unlike anything that Ruby had ever had the displeasure of smelling, and Grimm were by no means like scented candles. It made her cough a little in disgust, and even Yang grimaced in displeasure from its mere presence.

"Christened on a Tuesday..."

All-in-all, the thing seemed to be the unholy lovechild Team CFVY's hulking brute, Yatsuhashi, and a half-decayed corpse.

"Married on a Wensday!" Despite the fact that the roar should have sounded silly and inappropriate for the situation, the thing managed to make it sound intimidating by thowing its arms back and stomping on the ground, shattering the concrete beneath it.

Neither of them could sense an Aura, much less a soul, in this monster. When they searched for one, it was empty. This thing, this... Monster, whatever it was, had no soul or humanity.

To them it was no better than a Grimm. And judging by its red-stained hands and clothes, it didn't act much differently than one either.

The two sisters gave each other a sideways glance at each other, before raising their weapons and preparing to annihilate the abomination of nature before them.

"Grundy? I thought he was dead!"

"Meow!"

"Oh, you know what I meant, stupid cat!"

"Non, non, monsieur Klarion. Mallah and myself have been keeping Mr. Grundy in our custody so that we may unlock the secrets of his... Condition. However, he has failed to yeild new information, and has outlived his usefulness."

"He outlived his lifespan too..."

"That is beside the point."

"I believe Mr. Grundy will make an excellent first challenge for these girls. He is powerful in his own right, but not irriplaceable. Should he defeat them, then it will prove that they are not worth the effort. I shall arrange a team from the Leauge of Shadows to pick them up if they emerge victorious. Besides, our Partners have requested a controlled test for them, to see the standard of Remnant's young warriors before they consider moving in on that planet."

"Shame though... Grundy was cool while he lasted... Oh well. All good things must come to an end."

Mount Justice, Rhode Island, 22:50

Superboy was having a very, very bad day.

Meg'ann had been toting him about through the air all day telekeneitclaly, while he'd been dressed in his predecessor's costume. Honestly, he wondered how Superman could stand to show his face in public wearing this thing... Especially the cape. They had to cover for Martian Manhunter and the superhero Boy Scout.

Having to spend the day with one's ex was draining. Very, very draining. Thankfully, though, that tedious mission had been cut short when the Martian girl had been called off on a mission to Bialya.

When he arrived back at the cave, it was relitivly deserted, most of the Team being home, on other missions. The only two in the common area were Nightwing, who had just ended a call with Meg'ann's team and looking very, very exasperated, and Beast Boy, who was lounging on the couch with apparently nothing better to do with his time then to play Halo 3... Then again, it wasn't like Superboy had anything better to do either.

"Hey Connor," Nightwing said, apparently going relaxing for the time being as he waited for Alpha Team to report in.

Superboy just nodded at his oldest friend's greeting, going to join Beast Boy on the couch.

The weeks since most of the major Justice Leauge members had departed Earth were... Trying, to use an understatement. They had to cover up the fact that the world's most iconic heroes were gone, for the time being. Being given the duty of being a phony Superman pissed him off, even if he realized it was completely nessicary.

That, and ever since they had departed, the state of the world was becoming progressively worse and worse. The Light had become bolder in its attacks, kids were going missing left and right across the world, and with less heroes to manage the country, it wasn't very likely things would get any better any time soon.

Wordlessly, Superboy sat beside Beast Boy and was about to reach for a controller when Nightwing's computer started blaring against. The senior officer of the Team looked exasperated, but returned to the terminal as he started to get a message through it. Superboy looked at his half-Martain friend, but the kid just shrugged.

When the message ended, Nightwing sighed heavily. "Come on you two," he looked at the pair on the couch. "Solomon Grundy's been sighted in Blüdhaven. Everyone else is busy or asleep, so that mean's we're going on a little impromptu mission."

"Sweet," Beast Boy said enthusiastically, while Superbiy just sighed and shook his head at the brief amount of time he had gotten to rest, before his eyes widened in surprise

"Wait, did you say Solomon Grundy? I thought he was dead!"

"Um..."

"You know what I meant."

[Music: Red Like Roses Part 2, full version with buildup]

Yang was the first to to attack. Charging forwards with a berserker and reducing Amber Celica to attack. She reared back an gauntleted fist and threw a punch that sent the monster stumbling backwards.

He was denser than she thought though, and the blow didn't have nearly as much force as it needed to completely offset the monster. The shotguns in her gauntlets cocked once more, and she rushed forwards again, ducking under one of the monster's swings.

It raised an arm to take a smash at her again, but the blow was stopped when a round from Crescent Rose drove straight through this hand. There was no blood, surprisingly, and it didn't cry out in pain. However, the force of the impact halted its attack and allowed Yang to slam her fists into its abdomen.

BAM! Two powerful blasts from Yang's gauntlet's blasted straight into its midsection, sending the thing hurtling backwards further down the street.

The blond bruiser fell back a little, trying to coordinate with her only team... Or teammate in this case. It had been quite a while since it had only been Yang and Ruby fighting. It was a bit offsetting, but neither of them were complaining. It felt just like when they were Signal students, taking down Beowolves together.

"Got a plan?" Yang looked at her sister.

"Do I ever not?"

"Weiss is rubbing off on you."

"Shut up." Yang just shook her head and grinned, rushing the thing. "Go for the head!" Ruby called after her. "It looks like the least durable part!"

"On it!"

Ruby provided cover fire, the sniper shots roaring through the air, rounds going right through its torso and abdomen. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to require any of the internal organs Ruby had just punctured. However, the force of the shots did keep it off balance so that Yang got close.

The blond bruiser used its arm as a boost as she vaulted high into the air, bringing both her fists down for a heavy two-handed smash on its head. Before it could recover, she was hanging onto one of the disgusting strange of hair on its head, and began delivering a series of punches to its face, similar to how she had brought down the Nevermore during initiation.

She continued for a few seconds while it tried to get her off, the blasts from her gauntlets prevented it from gaining enough coordination to do anything, so it was stuck with her beating its face in.

"Move!" As soon as Yang heard the shout, she vaulted off its face, and she was just in time to see a streak of red approaching.

In flash Ruby had joined her, her sythe spinning about like a wheel of death as she made multiple deep gashes to its chest, before using the recoil from its sniper function to evacuate before it could get a good hit in.

However, the recoil caused a shockwave that knocked Yang off her feet. The brawler was thrown a few feet into the air, but was caught and returned safely to the ground by her sister. After sharing a look to let each other know that they were ok, they nodded, and resumed their attack pattern.

This time it was Ruby getting in close, while Yang used Ember Celica's ranged function to land blows from afar. Ruby slashed it multiple times with Crescent Rose's blade, using her Semblence to dodge it's heavy-handed strikes. Finally, with a loud cry, she made a deep cut on its ankle, while an explosion from Yang detonated in its face.

The thing fell to one knee, groaning. It didn't seem to feel any pain, but the wounds the girls had inflicted were still taking a toll on its functionality. Seeing an opening Ruby called to Yang. "Dragonshot!"

With a grin on her face, Yang's gauntlets cocked once more, before she threw another blast from her left arm. It flew right into the monster's face as Ruby took a point blank shot at its lower back from behind. The opposing forces made the monster fly into the air, spinning top-over-bottom, before it landed face down in the street with a loud thud.

Ruby was panting a little. She usually didn't need to use her Semblance that much in a fight, but this thing was as tough as a Nevermore and a Deathstalker combined, and she didn't want to find out if that was an accurate comparison to its strength as well. The thing, while not dead, seemed to thouroughly out for the count.

[Music end]

The younger sister stumbled a bit. Between her overeager sprint to the docs, falling through a bang-tunnel-thingy, and this, she had burned up a lot of her energy.

Luckily, Yang was there to catch her before she could end up in a similar position to their opponent. "Nice job, sis," she congratulated warmly, a smile on her face. "As always."

Ruby grinned, steadying herself with the shaft of Crescent Rose. She looked down at the monster, then back at Yang. "What do we do with it?"

"I don't know. It's not human... But it's not a Grimm either. Plus, if a dozen sniper shots and two dozen shotgun blasts don't put it down, I don't think we can kill it."

"Yeah..." Ruby nodded. "We need to move it out of here before it can hurt anyone... And before anyone realizes we did that..." She nodded over at the damage the fight had caused to the area, before head lolled back in exaustion, and suddenly her eyes went from tiered to completely shocked.

Yang noticed the look and raised an eyebrow. "Ruby? What's wrong?"

"Um... The moon..." Ruby pointed up with one hand.

Yang looked up too, and her face took on a similar expression to Ruby's.

Remnant's moon had always been inexplicably in a perpetual state of destruction, shards from it frozen in mid flight from the original body. However, now that the clouds had moved from the sky, Yang could see that the moon that now hung above them was quite a bit smaller, and more importantly, completely whole.

That could only mean one thing.

They were not on Remnant anymore.

That's all that is for now, guys. But I want to thank you all for reading, and please leave a review, follow, and fave. Each one helps keep the story alive just a little bit, and can really make my day sometimes. Also, please go answer the poll on my profile regarding the potential Ruby AU I am considering writing.