GrimmFall

Accessing Earth Files:

Opening File: History of the Grimm

In the depths of space, a giant black mass of emptiness appeared and threatened to consume the entire universe. Luckily before that happened three powerful Gods arrived and attacked the mass of darkness. The Gods battled against the Darkness in a fierce battle that ended with the Gods destroying every single piece of the Great Evil, saving the universe from a terrible threat.

But not all of the Evil was destroyed.

During the battle a fragment broke off and drifted from the battle and vanished into the cosmos. After eons of drifting through space the fragment finally crashed landed into what would be known as Earth, crashing into what would be known as the island of Japan. The impact of the fragment caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, leaving behind a tar-like substance that grew and expanded as time passed. As life on Earth begins to evolve, many people and animals fall victim to the deadly pit.

By the time Japan's monarchy is established, the pool's invasion, along with the forests that have started to impale homes and buildings, had grown so out of control that the current Emperor decided he must destroy the threat at its core. After receiving an elixir of poison believed to be the key to putting an end to the tar pool once and for all, the Emperor, along with a unit of elite cavalry, rode into the forest toward the center where the heart of the pool lies. Before long, spikes start to erupt from the ground as if the forest has come alive, killing all of the Emperor's men, but he rode on.

Eventually, the Emperor reached the center of the forest. He took an arrow and laced it with the poison. After saying a prayer, he fired the arrow into the sky where it catches fire from the sun before landing directly in the center of the pit. At first the plan seems to have worked, as the spikes start to retreat back into the pool. However, it is soon revealed that the plan has backfired completely: instead of destroying the pool of blackness, the elixir gave it life.

From the black pool came what could only be described as monsters.

They came in many forms but all shared the darkness that formed their bodies along with white mask like skulls and red glowing eyes. These creatures, emerging from the black pool began attacking all humans in sight. The Emperor and his army fought to protect their homes from these monsters created by the very evil they sought to destroy but found their new foe to be too powerful, too numerous and as the horde fell upon the kingdom three monks came and showed the Emperor how to stop these monsters.

Forging a weapon from the purity of his soul and teaching him how to manifest his soul as a power in the form of an aura that gave him great strength and power that was needed to defeat these monsters the Emperor fought back against the monsters, pushing them back and rallying his armies, teaching many disciples how to unlock the power of their Auras. However the monsters continued to spread and evolve, spreading across the world and attacking many more kingdoms. The Emperor sent disciples chosen by him to distant lands, teaching many they had come across how to unlock their Auras that allowed them to protect many kingdoms, villages, and countries from the monsters that would become famous for defending against the beasts.

In some places they were welcomed as great warriors, magicians, and even divine beings but in other places they were treated with hate and fear for their powers, refusing to heed their warnings. Those reacted with hostility were soon quickly attacked by the monsters, villages, homes, and even kingdoms destroyed in a matter of days. The disciples saved as many as they could, driving back the monsters while risking their lives and many fighting the beasts. It was only after seeing these monsters did some repent their fear but others still held on to their grudges for whatever reasons they could find.

However the monsters continued to form from the black pool, their numbers growing too fast to be destroyed. The Emperor realized that in his quest to destroy the evil that had polluted his home he had unleashed a plague upon the world. Thus he ordered the Black Forest to be sealed by a great wall, protected by a small army of warriors that had had been trained to fight the beasts of darkness by the Emperor himself. This would not stop the monsters from spreading across the world but it would halt how fast they would expand.

Eventually the wall was built but the Emperor was fatally wounded in battle and in his last moments he passed his sword and power onto his son. The monsters would continue to grow and spread across the world, attacking anyone they would find. Taking up his father's sword, the Emperor's son would continue the battle against the monsters, traveling across the world, saving countless people and teaching those he deemed worthy of learning how to unlock their Auras and gain the powers they needed to vanquish that evil that had taken the life of his father and countless others. Eventually as more warriors were created something else was created that proved to be a key source of power against the monsters.

It was named Dust by a man named Monty Oum.

The Dust seemed to be formed around the time of the war against the monsters, possibly a product created by the rise of the monsters and though none knew where it came from it appeared to be a key source of energy that appeared in many places where battles against the dark monsters had been waged. The strange Dust was able to heighten speed, strength, and even Auras, seen by many as an advanced form of magic. Over time, many of the Disciples and their own students congregated to share in their knowledge and strength, creating a unified opposition to these monsters.

Knights, assassins, warlords, pirates, humble foot soldiers, healers and wise men from across the world created Orders formed for the specific purpose of combatting the other worldly horde. From among these groups, many began to study this enemy in search of a weakness. They came upon a pattern in many of the attacks against heavily defended settlements and fortresses that would have deterred attack from any ordinary foe. Places where these beasts gathered in force usually had undergone a sort of travesty, be it a plague or a war or a death which has instilled a sense of dread or loss in many.

Soon it was established that these beasts were drawn to the emotions of sentient begins, specifically emotions associated with anger or melancholy. This discovery gave rise to a name for the dark horde which ravaged the world wherever they went.

They became known as the Grimm Horde, and individually identified as Grimm.

It was at that point that the surviving kingdoms had started fortifying their borders to protect themselves from the Grimm, building great walls and heavily defended outposts and even daring to establish colonies across the seas. The most well-known attempt at colonizing outer lands was when Great Britain colonized a land that was populated by natives who were skilled at using the land to their advantage to fight and outwit the Grimm. The Britain colonists utilized their powers and newly crafted weapons crafted with Dust to help fight against the Grimm in many places but, upon seeing the skills of the natives, offered to show them how to unlock their Auras and the powerful properties of Dust. The natives accepted and in many ways seemed more powerful than the visitors to their lands as when they learned to unlock their Auras and mixed it with Dust it caused a great transformation.

The natives believed in respecting and communing with nature and as their Auras were unlocked they seemed to become closer to nature by taking on the forms of the animals that lived with them. It was beyond shocking to watch humans take on partial forms of animals, becoming faster and stronger to fight and even successfully drive back the Grimm Horde alongside the people who had come to their lands. A genuine bond seemed to have been forged between these cultures as they shared knowledge, power, and aided each other in battle. It was only after as more people arrived did the colonists decide to make a decision that would affect history.

They wished for independence.

The Britain Empire was understandably hesitant about allowing its colonies to become independent, losing much needed resources and personnel needed to fight against the Grimm. The colonists led by a man named George Washington and the natives came together and negotiated with the Empire, proposing an alliance between the colonies and the Empire showing the potential of the natives who were named Faunus for their animal traits, the name derived from Faunus who was the Roman God of forests, wild, and nature. Eventually the Empire agreed and thus the new country known as the United States of America was born with the country of Canada existing next to it in the northern most regions of the continent where Britain and America would maintain their alliance.

And back in Japan, the land where the Grimm had originated from the people continued to advance in fighting the Grimm and finding new ways to utilize Dust for not just weapons but also for economic growth, becoming one of the most prosperous countries on the planet followed by North America, Great Britain, France, China and Russia which was the largest of the countries but had the least interactions with the Grimm due to its cold temperature that for some reason the Grimm were either not able to live in or preferred to avoid, making Russia one of the more safer countries. Other countries fell behind in technology and army size but maintained a sizable fighting force of warriors trained in the use of Aura, eventually named Huntsmen and Huntresses that were trained for the sole purpose of fighting the Grimm.

And thus has been our history.

Xxx

In the depths of space a massive sleek silver colored ship sailed through the endless void between worlds. It was mostly empty, occupied by only one being who was machine instead of organic with drones designed to carry out menial tasks and an artificial intelligence that controlled the entire ship. They were TOM and SARA, hosts of a network called Toonami and caretakers of the ship known as the Absolution. Toonami was a programming block that broadcasted action packed shows, geared toward action animation.

The Absolution was a top-of-the-line nuclear-powered space vessel, possessing Hyperspace capabilities, fit for exploration of multiple universes and dimensions. However, after Moltar's purchase of the ship, the Absolution was primary used as a mobile broadcasting station for Toonami. The Absolution was capable of directly transmitting signals to the Ghost Planet and any other terrestrial location.

The ship also came with its own onboard A.I. (SARA) stored in the main onboard computer which could pilot the ship on its own. Moltar bought the huge intergalactic vessel he dubbed the Ghost Planet Spaceship Absolution. After witnessing the heroic acts of a sentient robot named TOM, Moltar recruited him to become the Toonami Operations Module, the pilot and maintenance droid of the Absolution. Afterwards the Absolution took over the broadcasting of the action-animation programming block known as Toonami.

However, TOM never truly understood the mysterious vessel nor the secrets it held. Nearly a year after he began his duties aboard the Absolution, TOM unlocked the A.I. unit known as SARA and an instant bond was made. TOM (Toonami Operations Module) is a sardonic, wisecracking robot who is the second and current host of Toonami. TOM enjoys throwing one-liners and, like Moltar before him, gives sage advice to viewers about moral issues like chasing dreams and standing up for what's right.

Frequently, he'll pass along video game reviews, people interviews, movie teasers, and other various commentary while SARA serves as all roles aboard the Absolution, including navigator, pilot, and captain. The first TOM hosted the show aboard the Absolution for over a year until when he was destroyed by a monster known only as The Intruder. SARA downloaded TOM 1's memory matrix into a new unit on the ship. The new TOM, dubbed TOM 2, saved the ship by separating the starboard engine, which was by then almost fully consumed by The Intruder, by setting charges and blowing apart the connecting section of the engine.

After bringing the Absolution to Startower for repairs, he continued to host the show for 3 years. SARA was stolen by a space pirate who made his way into the Absolution. TOM 2 went after him only to be killed during their encounter. Friendly robots found his remains in a scrap pile and repaired him into a new body, his most famous model, dubbed TOM 3. TOM 3 was eventually able to save Sara and continued to host the show on a new Absolution that was a battle cruiser to be better prepared for any more threats.

And TOM 3 had just stepped onto the bridge, seeing the history of Earth and addressed the readers. "Oh hello. Been reading up on Earth history in this reality huh? Well, we always strive to impress you with the never before thought of realities with big stories and this one will be a big one. You'll see a lot of familiar characters but they'll probably be a whole lot different than what you remember because you know, alternate realities and all that. So you have me, TOM, which you pretty much know that it means there's going to be a lot of action. Then there's SARA."

SARA's hologram appeared next to TOM. "Hello."

"And here on the Absolution we're going to bring you stories about your favorite characters never seen before. So get ready and if you are fans of that show where these Grimm monsters appear on that planet that's not Earth, you'll be sure to love this." TOM sat down on his chair. "So now that the introductions are done pop up a chair, get some popcorn and a soda and enjoy the story."

With that said TOM gave the all clear for the story's prologue to begin.

Xxx

"I never thought I'd finally get a break." A robed figure sighed as he sat down on a rock, seeing images of the world above in his mind. "Seventeen hundred years and I nearly broke my back in da first few hundred and I wasn't even at my thousandth year yet. Dang Grimm, crawling out of dat hole of theirs and disrupting the balance of nature along with the balance between physical and spiritual again…Now da mortals are finally learning on their own and it only took them this long. For once humans are actually trying to avoid war instead of seeking it, and it's still not making a dent in my quota."

It was needless to say that this robed figure hated the Grimm for all the suffering and death they have caused over the century. Just when he'd come to believe that his workload may have been cut down to size they came in and picked up the slack for humanity.

One problem exchanged for another, only the new one was rabid and incapable of reason or thinking 'oh gee maybe I should do anything except run head long into the heavily entrenched army pointing guns and spears at me'. Where a sentient threat would have at least been capable of self-preservation, the mindless Grimm Horde went out of its way to kill as many as possible whenever they encountered humans.

"And to think I once loved this job." The figure grumbled, "And to think those humans named da wretched things after me. It ain't my fault they showed up!" He shook his fist towards the sky. "Oh you know what you three did!"

ZAP!

A lightning bolt hit the ground near him, making him jump and scream like a little six-year old girl.

"AH!" The figure landed on his back. "Well it's true! You missed a piece and it caused this mess! And mortals aren't da only victims here! It was so bad I actually think I should have become a country rock-star like me dad wanted."

ZAP!

This time three lightning bolts hit him head on, knocking him across the field.

"AAAAHHHHH!" The figure hit the ground hard but shook it off, coughing as he stood up and shook his now smoking body. "You think lightning will hurt me? I am da Grim-"

ZAP!

The figure coughed, now coated from head to toe in a thick layer of soot. "….Reaper." He finished his proclamation. "Maybe my cousin should take over. I mean, even da Grim Reaper can have a vacation, right? …Right? Oh you are horrible!"

The clouds above shifted, forming a face that…stuck its tongue down at him with a tune playing in the background.

Wap, wap, waaaaaap.

"Really? We're adding insult to injury now?" Grim shook his head and trudged away. "To Hades with da lot of you, I have a job to do. Maybe I should get a few mortal friends, at least they wouldn't shoot lightning at me for kicks!"

The clouds were now reshaping into…a violin being played.

Someone needed to remind Grim just how any of the Pantheons had survived for all these millennia when their head deities were so childish.

Then again it was a step above what human mythology depicted some of them as.

"I now actually miss all the work I did at start of the Great War in Japan."

Xxx

Claire smiled happily smiled as she held her daughter in her arms while her husband Phillip slowly wheeled her chair out of the hospital. Their daughter looked beautiful but at the same time they noticed something…off about their newborn daughter.

She was not crying like a typical newborn and she wouldn't even smile as Claire held her so tenderly.

"What do we call her, dear?" Phillip asked.

Claire thought it over for a moment before deciding. "Mandy. Her name is Mandy."

Just as they reached the entrance an alarm sounded, alerting them and everyone of what might be coming. The perimeter defenses on the nearby border wall lit up, firing down at an unseen target while the guards posted there called out a warning to all.

"Grimm!"

Before those nearest to the wall could act upon this, a mass of large, ferocious beasts clambered over the wall, tearing into the defensive guns and knocking the guards from their posts. The leader of the pack snatched one man up in its jaws and shook him roughly before tossing him up into the air so that another two members of the pack could latch on and tear the pour soul in half.

"Phillip! We need to get to shelter!" Claire screamed, clutching their daughter close as her husband began to wheel his family away from the fighting as quickly as he could.

"It'll be okay, the nearest bunker isn't far!" Phillip responded to ease his wife's fears even as he looked over his shoulder and saw the perimeter garrison being torn limb from limb, allowing the horde to continue spilling through the breach they had made.

How had a pack gotten so close to the city without being detected well ahead of time? There were procedures for this, safe guards that Phillip had been drilled on ever since he was old enough to understand the dangers of the Grimm Horde. Packs that travelled close to populated areas were supposed to be spotted and eliminated well before there was any danger, either by aerial bombardment or by the deployment of Huntsmen for larger gatherings.

However, Phillip would never have the time to find out how these events had come to pass. The Grimm swarmed past and around him, encircling him and his family before he even got a hundred feet.

The Grimm penned them in, growling maniacally as they crept towards their terrified prey.

"Philip!" Claire screamed as her husband stood in front of her.

"Don't worry. Help will come!" Philip said but knew that by the time help did come it would be too late.

The Grimm wolves wasted no time, pouncing on the three humans, killing the parents quickly but they died screaming but as the pack leader pulled the baby out of her dead mother's arms the Grimm stared down at her, seeing no fear in her eyes.

The look in her eyes seemed to be the same as the Grimm.

When Huntsmen finally arrived they found two dead parents and the Grimm gone, having escaped with their child possibly as a midnight snack.

Xxx

In the bunker under the hospital a red haired woman was clutching her newly born son who seemed completely oblivious to the threat of the Grimm. "Is it safe yet?"

"Don't worry, dear. The Huntsmen will have taken of those Grimm by now." Her husband, a muscular man with a rather large pink nose said confidently. "How's the baby?"

"He hasn't made as much as a whimper since we got down here." The red-head said, glancing back down at her son. "Only someone really brave…or really stupid would do something like that."

"Don't worry, baby. Our son is brave and a genius!" The man said proudly, looking down at his son. "He could become a great Huntsman one day!"

"Harold…" His wife glared at him. "No way is our son becoming a Huntsman!"

"But Gladys-"

"NO!" His wife, Gladys shouted, scaring almost everyone in the bunker. "My little Billy will never become a Huntsman!"

Harold back off, now scared of his wife and quickly nodded. "Okay."

The baby named Billy just stared blankly up at his parents, finding the one with the big ugly nose a little funny while the woman holding him slightly scared him.

Xxx

Far away from the city the pack of wolf Grimm surrounded the human child they had taken who stared back at them, no showing any fear. The child did not cry when they killed her parents and ripped her from the arms of her dead mother and even now the baby refused to show fear.

The Grimm almost felt like they staring at one of their kin instead of their prey.

They were drawn to her for strange reasons and felt compelled to take her but not kill her. It was then and there they were compelled again to take her somewhere…to living among the rest of their kind.

And from then one the child known as Mandy would be raised in the darkness of humanity's greatest enemy.

Xxx

"We are so sorry, Mr. O'Reilly." A man dressed as a doctor said to a short man with red curly hair and black eyes, wearing a green suit and hat. "We tried as best as we could but you brother-in-law couldn't survive what had happened even if there had been a doctor nearby. Your sister remains in a coma and her condition is stable but we do not know if she'll wake up."

"And the baby?" The man looked at a crib where a baby with short red hair slept peacefully thankfully after everything that had happened.

"Fortunately a Huntsman saved him in time. I must note the size of his cranium leads me to suspect he will be a rather smart boy in the future." The doctor said, trying to help soothe the pain of losing family.

The short man smiled. "Just like his mother and grandfather."

He closed his eyes, mourning the loss of his sister and brother-in-law but knew he had to keep himself composed. His niece and nephew would need him to keep them safe.

"You are tiny thing, aren't ya?" The man looked down at the sleeping child. "But I bet you'll be taking apart calculators in a month or two, won't ya? Just like your grandfather, your mama, and me. Well, don't you worry because Uncle Reilly will be looking after ya and your big sister from now on. And maybe you'll both be geniuses and powerful Huntsmen and Huntress, saving people from the Grimm like your parents liked to do…Dexter."

The child opened his eyes, staring up at his uncle through his new glasses and smiled. "Uh…Uh….Uhl."

Reilly smiled as he picked up the baby. "Oh yeah, you definitely got your brains from your mom's, my beloved sister, side of the family. Let's go and say hello to big sister Dee-Dee and Grandpa O'Reilly. I know they'll love ya."

Xxx

Dr. Solomon Saturday looked over the ancient logs discovered by him, his team, and his wife Drew Saturday. The logs dating back thousands of years to possible time the Grimm first rose up against humanity and their attempt to wipe out humanity. As the first generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses were created it was discovered that though the Grimm sought out and killed humans they would ignore animals unless one entered their territory. Animals and Grimm seemed to avoid each other as Solomon had noticed with his colleagues over the years of studying them with only a few animals strong enough to actually fight against the Grimm.

These animals however, were not ordinary animals but possibly rarely discovered ones that hid themselves from the rest of the world or were mutants, born from rare genetic mutations or perhaps animals that had awakened their own Auras. Faunus were humans that attained animal traits by mixing their Auras with Dust and what they claimed to be spirits of nature so it was possible that early animals had been exposed to dust and undergone a rare mutation.

These animals were known as Cryptids, a rare species that had appeared in many places across history but remained hidden from both humanity and likely the Grimm.

And legends state that one beast, possibly a Cryptid was powerful enough that not even the Grimm were a match for it. The ancient writings named it Kur, a creature that had existed even before humanity was born and was so powerful that not even the Grimm could defeat it. However the writing then later spoke of a Grimm that appeared to battle Kur, powerful enough that it not only challenged Kur but almost destroyed it. Kur quickly gathered an army of Cryptids and fought back, waging a second war between Cryptids, Grimm, and even Humans.

The writings and drawings showed a serpent like creature with wings battling what looked a Western medieval dragon with Grimm-like features. The Grimm was defeated but not destroyed and sealed into a mountain. Not long after that Kur was then challenged and defeated by the warrior-king Gilgamesh and like the Grimm its body was buried deep inside a stone tomb and its spirit banished. The writing then described a stone that could lead to Kur and possibly how to re-awaken it, gaining the key to unlimited power and immortality.

"Up late again?"

Solomon Saturday looked over his shoulder and saw his wife, Drew, at the door with her arms crossed but a smile on her face. "I am just…Making sure we've deciphered everything right. If we are right about what they say maybe we can learn something from this stone, the Kur Stone on how to fully stop the Grimm or at least understand their true nature."

"What's to understand? They are monsters without souls who kill people who do have souls." Drew said, walking up to her husband. "Not a lot that requires understanding beyond that."

"The argument on whether or not a spiritual soul is required for something to exist aside, the Grimm are not simply monsters. They attack humans but ignore animals unless provoked, indicating a pattern of selective behavior. That suggests they may perhaps feel a closer kinships with animals and see humans as an enemy." Solomon replied, looking back down at the ancient writings. "They are possibly manifestations of some sort intelligence, given that the earliest sightings of Grimm in recorded history originate from the crash site of a meteor in Japan, a meteor which wiped out the Dinosaurs. They are extremely long-lived, capable of living for perhaps thousands of years, immune to age and all forms of disease."

"Maybe they were formed from a virus." Drew suggested, still smirking.

"A virus?" Solomon raised an eyebrow.

"A virus infects and kills its hosts. Think of Earth as the host and Grimm as the virus." Drew said. "We're the white blood cells trying to kill the virus."

"If the Grimm were trying to infect Earth I think they would have done a better job when they first appeared. All we know for sure is that they see humans as something to hunt and kill. Perhaps they see us the threat to Earth." Solomon theorized.

"Tell that to all the people they killed." Drew drawled.

"I am not trying to justify their behavior, Drew. I am trying to look through their perspective." Solomon defended. "I know as well as you that the Grimm are the enemy of humanity, and to defeat an enemy you have to understand them beyond simply labelling them as soulless monsters and writing off their behavior as mindless savagery."

"Hm…" Drew smiled again. "Yeah and it's time to put the research away and get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of digging for this stone and the little guy doesn't want me getting in too much trouble."

Solomon smiled, placing a hand on her currently flat stomach but knew the new life inside would grow in the next few months. "I am in agreement with him."

Drew swatted Solomon on the shoulder. "Of course you are."

Solomon smiled, following his wife out of the room, stopping only to turn the lights out. The few next weeks the Saturday couple were at the excavation site where the Kur Stone was located and in the middle of the recovery the Kur Stone was stolen by a worker who turned out to be an enemy of the Saturdays and the Secret Scientists, Vincent Vladislav Argost who the host of the television series Weird World with an unnatural knowledge of Cryptids and had deep ties with many institutes dedicated on finding a defense against the Grimm. The Secret Scientists tracked Argost to his mansion. By the time they recovered the Stone, their team of fifty had been reduced to only seven.

To prevent the Stone from falling into the wrong hands again, it was split into three pieces by the Secret Scientists. The pieces were being kept by Doctors Henry Chiveyo, Miranda Grey and Doctor Saturday. A few months later Zac Saturday was born.

Xxx

"You failed to keep the Kur Stone."

Vincent Vladislav Argost better known as V.V. Argost heard the voice as he lounged on his chair, staring at the fire. "A temporary setback."

"A setback is a setback, temporary or otherwise."

Argost didn't look back to see the intruder standing in his private study. "Even if they split the stone in pieces they will keep each fragment close at hand. The secrets are too great to be destroyed by merely splitting it up or entrusting to some abandoned tomb to serve as a long term obstacle."

"A split stone with the secret of one of the most powerful beings in the world. Need I remind you that failure is not tolerated?"

"I will locate the stone and retrieve each fragment when the time is right. Need I remind you that the plan is still in motion?" Argost replied. "Do not worry. Kur will be ours."

"See to it but remember there is still a limit to our patience."

Argost knew his guest had left and stood up, staring into the fire. "Oh, do not worry. When Kur is found it will be a sight the entire world will never forget."

And no one would stand in his way.

Xxx

"Welcome to Pops!" A bald middle-aged man with a large gut announced as people crowded his diner, Pop's Moon Palace. "We got the best chilly in town and it's all ready to go! Any Huntsmen and Huntresses can kick up their feet after a long day of hunting!"

"Bit of a drama queen, isn't he?" A man whispered to his friend as they sat down at the counter. "Can you believe people say he used to be a Huntsman?"

"He used to be a Huntsman?" The friend asked, finding the idea of the so-called Pops once being a Huntsman. "You gotta be kidding."

"No joke."

"What kind of Huntsman quits and works at a diner?"

"The kind who never stops trying to bring joy to other people, that's who." A voice spoke behind them.

The two men looked up into a pair of a dark rimmed glasses worn by a woman wearing blue shoes, along with a purple jacket and pink pants.

"That man put his life on the line for everyone in this diner, including gossiping bums like you so mind your tongues and eat your food." The woman scolded harshly to the two idiots as she walked by them. "Idiots."

"Ah, ignore them, Bunny." Pops waved off what the two guys had said. "No need to get all wound up because of some little gossip."

Bunny Bravo scoffed slightly as she sat down. "This is what we put our lives on the line for. A bunch lazy hooligans."

Pops chuckled as he brought out several plates of food to the people that had ordered. Compared to the life of a Huntsman this was quiet and peaceful.

"So how is Johnny doing?" Pops asked, bring Bunny a bowl of salad.

"Oh, going around and playing Huntsman to try and impress the ladies again. I swear, he's sweet and all but thick as a coconut." Bunny said with a small chuckle at the antics of her son. "Good thing Carl's with him or who knows what trouble he'd get in."

Now Bunny loved her son and all but she was not blind to the fact that he might…Have a lower IQ compared to most other people.

Pops chuckled but stopped when he looked out the window. "Trouble, huh?"

"Yes. My boy is just a magnet for trouble." Bunny said, not looking up from her salad. "Is that surprising?"

"Nope, not at all." Pops replied, nodding for several seconds before suddenly pausing and taking a slow breath. "Now just everyone relax." Pops picked up a rolling pin as his smile fell away. "…Because we're all doomed!"

"Wha-"

CRASH!

Everyone screamed as large Grimm in the shape of bear crashed through the wall but none of their screams were louder than the two heard through smashed window, sounding like two little girls singing in an opera house.

"MAMA!"

"Johnny!" Bunny jumped to her feet, seeing her son on her floor with the Grimm leering down at him and Carl. "Get away from my boy!"

Bunny rushed forward, slipping on boxing gloves that sprouted spikes over the knuckles, and jumped into the air with a loud yell as she slammed her fist into the Grimm, knocking it out of the restaurant.

"Of course you realize this comes out of your deposit!" Pops said, walking through the hole in his diner.

"I know, I'll pay." Bunny said, cracking her fists.

"Not you. This place is already ensured for any Johnny-related destruction. I was talking to the Grimm." Pops held out his rolling pin that extended and changed into a rifle with various colored dust already loaded in it. "And by deposit I mean your hide!"

The Grimm roared and charged at Pops as he spun the ammo holster in his rifle that settled on red and Pops pulled the trigger, firing a shot that hit the Grimm in the face and exploded. The Grimm screeched as it staggered back and Bunny quickly attacked again by punching the monster in the torso. The Grimm screamed again, falling on its back and Pops spun his rifle in his hand as it changed shape again. The rifle folded back into itself, now becoming a hilt from which emerged a concentrated beam of light in the shape of a harpoon.

Pops then rushed forward, moving very fast and surprising many by how fast he moved and threw his harpoon straight at the Grimm's head, piercing its skull and brain, killing it instantly.

Pops walked forward and pulled his weapon out of the dead Grimm's head, changing it back into its rolling pin form. "And that boys is how you kill a Grimm."

Bunny's son, Johnny Bravo, a young man wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans and black shoes with a sunglasses over his eyes like his mother sat up, rubbing his head nervously. "Okay, I know how this looks. And let me just say it was all Carl's fault!"

"What?!" Carl, a young scrawny man with brown hair, regular glasses while wearing a blue T-shirt and darker blue pants. "I told you not go left down the river, not right!"

Bunny grabbed both Johnny and Carl by their ears, pulling them to their feet while ignoring their cries. "You are both responsible for the damage here and if Pops and I weren't so good at killing these beasts you'd have killed us and everyone in the diner! You two want to go on crazy adventures then you'd better learn how to act like Huntsmen!"

"Funny you'd say that, Bunny." Pops leaning the rolling pin on one shoulder, "As it so happens my diner is going to be closed for repairs for a while, leaving me with a lot of free time on my hands."

Xxx

A little boy was listening as his parents speak with the stranger who had come into their house.

"Mr. and Mrs. Mcgee there's no easy way for us to tell you. Your son, Matthew was involved in a major theft of Dust from a local store and he set fire to the place after he was done."

A woman was heard crying in the background while a man spoke up. "I knew he would go too far one day."

"We understand that he wanted to apply for Huntsman training but was denied by you." The officer spoke again.

"Yes. He was causing trouble, tormenting the other kids with horrible pranks. It finally reached the point that we had disowned him because nothing we did made him stop being what he is." Mr. Mcgee said, miserably. "He liked scamming people out of their money and we made sure he didn't buy any Dust that he could have used to seriously hurt someone, especially the kids. We caught him stealing a neighbor's chickens and he nearly hurt them before we stopped them. Lord help us if he ever did use any Dust in those horrible schemes."

"Do you have any idea where he would go?" The officer asked.

The wife tearfully shook her head. "N-No. He stopped trying to even lie to us long ago."

"We couldn't keep him here anymore, he was beating up his little brother and teaching him how to con people. We kicked him out and told him never to come back." Mr. Mcgee continued with a bit of anger in his voice. "We don't know where he is, officer and personally I don't care as long as he never shows himself around here again."

The officer seemingly decided that he was done. "If you have any ideas where he might turn up here's my card."

The officer left and Mr. Mcgee turned to his wife to comfort her.

"How could this happen to us? Where did we go wrong?" Mrs. Mcgee cried quietly.

"We did nothing wrong. Matthew…Sometimes parents do everything right or as close to everything right and it still doesn't work. He has more in common with the Grimm than he does with a human. It's wonder why they never showed up because of him." Mr. Mcgee said softly. "I can only hope that Eddy will be all right."

The boy heard everything from the top of the stairs and quickly retreated back to his room. Once inside he fell on his bed, remembering the last time he saw his brother…

"See ya later, pipsqueak."

And how relieved he was when he finally left.

He thought back to the stories his parents had told him about being a Huntsman, about being a hero who protected people from the Grimm. His brother had never cared about protecting people from the Grimm.

"Being a Huntsman means I can do whatever I want. Why put my life on the risk for people I don't care about and fight monsters? It's a dog eat dog world pipsqueak and people should only be thinking of looking out for number one: me."

The boy's hands curled up into fists. "I want…To be a Huntsman…And I'll better than you would ever be, bro."

It would not be easy for him from this day forward as most of the kids hated him because of his brother but he still managed to make two friends.

Ed, a lovable idiot who dreamed of becoming a Huntsman with his head up in the clouds.

And Edd, better known as Double D, a prodigy with a distaste for violence and had no dreams of being a Huntsman or anything that involved fighting but he was very good at inventing. He also wore a hat over his head all the time for reasons he had yet to divulge to his two new friends but after a while they both simply stopped caring.

Together these three would become a team unto their own.

Xxx

The City of Townsville.

Once a peaceful city before it was infested with criminals that brought forth misery that attracted the Grimm. Gangs raiding stores for money, items, and Dust and were it not for the extra protection of the advanced walls, police drones, and airborne patrols the Grimm might have swarmed the city because of the negativity. Professor Utonium could only wonder how things had gone so wrong for this city for it to turn out like this. Huntsmen and Huntresses frequently stopped by the city to help out but Townsville had no official Huntsmen to protect it since the Grimm were a frequent threat in other places and Townsville's budget had been focused more on funding the best security for keeping the Grimm out of the city.

Too bad that it gave criminals a chance to expand their operations without fear of the Grimm coming to kill them. And Utonium believed the only way to ever actually bring some form of happiness back into this city was to try and create something of pure joy. That is why as he returned to his laboratory basement, ignoring his monkey assistant's constant breaking of everything he got his little paws on, he set about creating the perfect little girl with the first synthetic soul that would be able to generate its own Aura.

The first step was adding basic compounds of what made up a human body: water, carbon, ammonia, lime, phosphorous, salt, saltpeter, sulphur, fluorine, iron, silicon and fifteen other substances.

The next included the ingredients for shaping the soul of the perfect little girl: sugar, spice, and everything nice.

These were the main ingredients to aid in creating the personality of the synthetic soul along with small mixes of Dust to help shape the Aura and Semblance of the artificial soul he was creating. There had been many attempts to create an android that could manifest an Aura and Semblance but the idea of actually creating a soul was seen as impossible. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't Jojo, his monkey assistant slam into him from behind, causing him fall on a large vial containing a black chemical that spilled into the container of his ingredients. Utonium stepped back, watching in slight fear as he had no idea what would happen.

The newly added ingredient was known as Chemical X, an unstable and unknown chemical discovered close in proximity to areas inhabited by the Grimm that scientists had studied but had no idea what the reaction of testing it would result in.

The last Professor Utonium was a blast of light before he blacked out.

When he awoke things would never be the same.

"Hi! What's your name?" A girl's voice asked as he awoke.

Xxx

"Finally a place to retire and it was at me own pa's place." Eustace Bagge muttered as he looked at the farmhouse in front of him. "As good place as any I guess."

The place where he and his wife would spend the rest of their lives together. After a live time of living as a Huntsman, trying to live up to the expectations of his parents who never praised him for anything he did, even fighting against the Grimm and saving many people. To make matters worse his fool of a brother, who had been viewed as a golden child by the entire family, had gotten himself killed while fighting the Grimm due to his own arrogance and self-perceived invulnerability.

His brother, Horst Bagge, someone who got everything handed to him and he showed it off with no hesitation and no matter how much he claimed to be a great Huntsman it was obvious no matter good he was he still had one critical flew.

Horst was an idiot.

His parents were not much better with his mother having a business in wigs and wearing one herself because of her vanity along with his father being a con artist who, thankfully, was dead like his idiot brother. And to think his mother considered them both real men-and that was a direct quote from her too. Finally, having enough of that hateful woman who had brought him into this world, Eustace had gone his own way and bought his father's old farmhouse out in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas. It was empty, desolate, and best of all the Grimm wouldn't bother him and his wife out here since the population was low and what little Grimm that did live out here usually lived in the far mountains.

Muriel Bagge, a spirited and fierce woman born out of Scotland, had become the one good part of Eustace's life in the face of his own family's neglect and abuse. She was a Huntress who had met Eustace be coincidence during an attack by Grimm in which they had been the only ones close enough to respond. Eustace had exhausted every option available fighting off dozens of Grimm before she burst onto the scene and eliminated the rest as they closed in on him. A few weeks of recovery had allowed him to get to know her and become closer to her, and after that they had become an unbeatable duo who travelled together in the never ending battle against humanity's greatest enemy.

And now she was helping him to rebuild the barn, which had degraded in the years of neglect and disuse. Or rather she had been earlier, but had gone to the nearby town of Nowhere, which shared the name of the region, for more building material. Eustace was left to finish carefully cutting out several beams that would go towards supporting the barn once it was finished being constructed.

If there was one thing which Horst could never have over Eustace, it was that Eustace was a working man who had not allowed years of travelling as a Huntsman to dull his skill with a set of good tools or the two good hands given to him by God. While he was finishing up on cutting the latest beam down to size utilizing a collapsible set of tomahawks, his signature weapons as a Huntsman, Eustace heard a shriek of tires and looked back towards the nearby road to see the rickety but reliable truck the Bagges had bought only a week prior.

"Hn?" Eustace took off his hat and scratched at his balding scalp as the truck shrieked to a stop close to the house.

It wasn't like Muriel to drive recklessly, barring a Grimm attack. Concern drove Eustace to set aside his current task and rush towards the vehicle as the driver's side door creaked open and Muriel stepped out…cradling a little quivering form covered in pink fur and emitting a series of whimpering noises.

"Muriel!" He called out.

She turned towards him. "Oh Eustace…I'm afraid something terrible has happened," She said, gently stroking the puppy in her arms. "I was in town when I found this little one abandoned in an alley outside of the local veterinarian office. I inquired inside, and the poor dear showed me that the man in charge was conducting such a deplorable experiment on the animals there."

Immediately Eustace was reminded of such deplorable actions his mother's wig making company was prone to inflicting on animals who were made to unwillingly donate their fur. "What did he do?"

"It took some persuasion, but he told me everything." Muriel's brow furrowed in anger at the mere memory. "He was a complete mad man, Eustace! He had the insane idea of sending canines into space of all places as part of some ridiculous idea for making 'super dogs'."

Eustace never could be credited as a man with any knowledge of biology or evolution beyond the basic concepts, but even he found the very idea to be…beyond stupid.

A whole new level of stupid.

An 'inject someone with snake venom and see if they turn part snake' kind of stupid.

How did he know?

Because there had been many scientists who tried to mix human genetics with that of the Grimm. Every experiment had been a failure no matter how many steps or safety measures were put in place, and it had been universally outlawed over a century ago! And with that had come a million other laws against animal cruelty done 'in the name of science' or 'progress' or any of the usual justifications.

"Where is the no good little bastard?" Eustace growled.

"Safely incarcerated," Muriel answered, stepping up to the front door. "But…I'm afraid that the last dogs he launched into space were this poor puppy's parents."

Eustace's anger melted away, replaced by sympathy for the puppy that stared up at him with watering eyes. Slowly reaching out, Eustace gently rubbed the top of his head.

"I'm sorry little feller," Eustace murmured, "Muriel, I'll head back into town and see if I can find a few things for the little guy. I think the barn can wait."

"Agreed," Muriel nodded, carrying the puppy over to her favorite rocking chair where she eased herself down and set him on his lap. "There, there now dear…I don't know if we can ever find your parents, but until then you'll always have a home here with us…" She thought on her next words carefully before reaching a decision. "…Courage."

The puppy sniffed and looked up at her as Muriel gently dabbed at his tear streaked face, his mouth forming a little smile as he curled up in her lap and rubbed his head against her stomach. Eustace knelt next to them and gently rubbed the newly named Courage behind the ears.

"Courage." Eustace nodded, "I like it."

Xxx

A little girl ran through a dark alley, panting slightly as she under a street light, looking around carefully before crossing the street. She was carrying a smaller girl on her back who was hugging her tightly, hiding behind the red cap the older girl was wearing.

"Gotta move, gotta move." The girl whispered quietly as she ran down the block towards a large house and stopped at the gate. "There…You'll be safe there, girl. This family, they don't turn their backs to people in need."

She placed the girl on the ground but wrapped a blanket around her.

"I am sorry, Little Sis. I wish things were different but I can't protect you where I'm going. But this family will protect you because they're not like the others." The girl said, kneeling in front of the little girl who was only three or four years old.

"Cree…" The girl reached up with her little hand, touching the older girl's cheek. "Don't go."

The older girl took off her red cap, revealing red fluffy fox ears in her hair and put the cap on her little sister. "Be safe…Abby."

The gate opened and the girl named Cree sank into the shadows as two adults stepped out and saw the little girl.

"Oh, Monty!" One of them, a woman rushed over to the little girl and knelt down next to her. "A child out here in the cold? Who are you?"

The girl shook her head as the woman placed a hand on her forehead.

"Oh dear, this is terrible." The man looked around before kneeling down as well. "Do you know where your family is?"

The girl looked down at the ground and the woman quickly hugged her. "Oh dear. I am so sorry."

The girl teared up slightly, burying her face in the woman's shoulder. The woman rubbed the little girl's back as she started walking back towards the house.

"Jennifer?" Monty asked as he followed after his wife.

"We can't just turn her over to the authorities. She needs a warm bed to sleep instead of being asked stupid questions by strangers." The woman named Jennifer said sternly. "And we can thank God that a Grimm didn't come around and eat her."

Jennifer carried the little girl inside the house, silently thankful it was larger than the average house but no so big that it was a mansion with a maze inside.

She brought the girl to a guest bedroom, placing the girl on a nice comfy bed. "There now, much better than sleeping on the ground. How could anyone leave a child out in the cold dark night? Can I get you anything, dear?"

The girl shook her head softly.

Jennifer smiled. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Mother?"

The girl and Jennifer looked at the door and saw a boy standing there. He was around the same age as the girl with brown hair and staring at them with confused blue eyes.

"Nigel dear, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour?" Jennifer asked, walking towards the boy.

"I couldn't sleep. I heard you talking to someone." The little boy looked at the girl sitting on the bed. "Who is she?"

Jennifer beckoned her son to come over to the bed. "This is a lost girl who we have brought in because what is it we do when we see someone in trouble?"

"We help them." Nigel answered with a small smile and held out a hand. "Hello, I am Nigel Uno."

The girl stared at the boy and his hand and though she didn't reach out to shake it she actually spoke back. "A-Abby…My name is Abby Lincoln."

"Abby? Short for Abigail?" Jennifer asked with a smile. "I do believe that the word Abigail means 'Father's Joy'. Your parents must love you very much to give you such a cherished name."

The girl clutched the blanket around her slightly tighter. "Y-Yes…Daddy always says he loves me…He calls me his Little Abby."

"Do you know where we may find him?" Jennifer rubbed Abby's back soothingly.

Abby looked away as a tear fell. "No…"

Jennifer brought a hand to Abby's face, slowly rubbing the tear away. "I am so sorry, dear."

"Is she okay, Mother?" Nigel asked, wondering if he had said something wrong.

"I am afraid our new friend may have been through some trouble so for now she'll be with us, Nigel dear." Jennifer answered, giving Abby a small hug. "Let's get you into some warm clothes now."

Abby sniffled and nodded. "O-okay ma'am."

A few minutes passed as Monty began to prepare a meal for Abby when Jennifer came back downstairs with a look of concern on her face. "Monty? Dear? Could you come upstairs please?"

Nigel looked up from the comic he was reading. "Is Abby okay mother?"

"Oh yes, yes!" Jennifer responded a little too quickly, "I just need to speak to your father very quickly. Please, Monty?"

"Right-o! Coming!" Monty chimed and followed his wife upstairs, dropping his relaxed facade as soon as they were out of Nigel's sight. "What's wrong?"

"I…well…" Jennifer reached the door to their bed room where she had taken Abby. "You'll see, just…please, she was rather upset when I first saw it."

She opened the door to show Abby curled up and sitting on the bed beneath a blanket, clutching her hat in her hands while her eyes were squeezed shut…

And a pair of furry red fox ears stuck out of the top of her head.

"A…Faunus?" Monty blinked. "Well…I suppose that it shouldn't be a surprise, Faunus' do come from this country after all." He walked over to the bed and saw Abby cringe in fear. "It's okay Abby. Were you afraid to show us this?"

Abby nodded quickly. "I'm sorry Mr. Uno!" She said quickly. "I-I just-"

Monty set his hands on her arms gently. "Shhh…it's alright, I know." He said softly, "I know. But you don't need to be afraid here, Abby."

"R…really?"

"I don't have any problems with Faunus, and last I checked Faunus are people too." Monty nodded, giving her a warm smile. "You don't need to hide who you are with us…in fact, I think whoever left you at our door might have known that to begin with."

Abby recalled her sister's final words to her.

Maybe Cree had been right…Maybe these humans were different from others.

"Thank you." Abby said, smiling a little now.

"You get some rest now." Monty patted Abby on the head. "We can talk more tomorrow if you want."

Abby nodded and lied down as Monty tucked her into the covers. Once she was properly tucked in Monty left the room but left a small light on in case she didn't want to be left alone in the dark.

He saw his wife outside the room, smiling at him. "You always have a way with kids."

Monty smiled back. "I learned from watching you." Monty then frowned. "To leave a child here, even a Faunus tells me that this girl might be in danger."

"Could it those radicals?" Jennifer asked as they walked away from the bedroom. "They might have been trying to influence this girl and many more like they have tried for decades."

"And whoever left her here must have wanted to protect her." Monty rubbed his chin. "Perhaps they didn't believe she'd be safe among any Faunus community. And if so then that means things are more serious then we have feared."

"Surely they would not resort to tearing this country down with civil conflict." Jennifer said, finding the very idea deplorable.

"It might not get that bad yet but if this girl was caught up in some sort of protest against these radicals…I am not sure her family has been as lucky as her." Monty said, closing his eyes as he mourned the possible deaths of this innocent child's family.

Jennifer looked almost ready to cry at what terror this little girl had to endure. Has this world not suffered enough?

"Are we in danger? We just moved here." Jennifer said, looking back at the bedroom.

"If there is anyone who would dare attack a child for being a Faunus then they definitely wouldn't be so brave as to attack the home of the Unos, at least not directly." Monty frowned. "And if these people think we'll turn this little girl away from us in her time of need they are mistaken."

The Unos do not turn their backs on those in need. Besides, being a Faunus is nothing compared to what the Uno family has gone through in the last century but that was a story for another time.

Jennifer smiled. "I suppose we should tell Nigel about Abby's little secret just so it doesn't come as a surprise tomorrow."

Not that their son would likely mind since he would now have a friend his age and just on the day after they have moved here from England.

Xxx

A little Japanese girl wearing a green sweater, black leggings, and black hair pulled into short pig tails watched through the window of the living room in the giant mansion she lived in up at the large airship flying over the city of Tokyo. The airship was the start of a new line of air based vehicles for better protection against the Grimm. And it was not like anyone would be surprised of her family funding its design. The Sanban family was head of one of the largest Dust producing companies in the world and thus they had more enough wealth from the Dust mining along with all the other divisions that were part of the company.

Their home country of Japan was the land where the Grimm first appeared and where the first Huntsman, an Emperor from before the rise of the Grimm, was born and from him came the first generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses that spread across the globe. And though the Grimm appeared in their land the section of Japan they had appeared from had sealed by a giant wall centuries ago to keep them out even though it had done very little to keep the Grimm from spreading across the world through whatever natural reproduction they possessed. At the very least the Wall kept the Grimm from overrunning Japan after all these centuries.

As the newest child she was the heiress to corporation and much was expected from her.

"Kuki."

The girl straightened herself quickly as she faced the person who spoke behind her. "Yes, Mother."

"Today your lessons will begin. As heiress of this family you will be expected to not only one day run this company but also become powerful enough to keep it." Her mother, Genki Sanban said as she placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "It's important you learn everything you need to know to protect yourself and your family from not just the Grimm but from anyone who would threaten us and our holdings."

It was cold, but true and also a necessary thing for Kuki to learn at a young age. The Sanbans had not made it to the top without making enemies either through intentional action or through outperforming the competition. Companies in Russia, free to conduct testing of weapons and harvest Dust without the constant threat of Grimm had once held a monopoly on Dust related technologies until the mid-20th century when the Sanban clan had begun to bring Japan's best and brightest, including a number of Huntsmen and Huntresses, under its direction. The result had been Japan leaping right back to the forefront of Anti Grimm warfare and Dust derived scientific breakthroughs, recovering from a decade's long period where they had fallen behind their Russian competitors.

"Yes, mother." Kuki nodded.

"The most obvious threat would be the Grimm, otherwise known as the Great Enemy of Humanity." Kuki's mother paced slowly, "Against them, your enemies may become your temporary allies of convenience, but you must never allow this to make you lower your guard. There have been periods in history where the Grimm have, in fact, been weaponized through unconventional methods. When one nation sought to destabilize its neighbor, it would arrange for hordes of Grimm to be discreetly herded towards that neighbor's border so that there would be a greater chance of a Horde forming from these scattered packs and assailing cities and trade routes. The Grimm will care not for the political ambitions of man, but they make an efficient tool of destruction because of their indiscriminate behavior."

Genki Sanban produced a remote from her jacket pocket and tapped one button. Blinds were drawn over the windows as the room dimmed, and a series of projection devices concealed within the floor and ceiling generated a three dimensional image of the Earth, with geographical borders highlighted between nations. Japan stood out as a blinking golden light against the rest.

"The second threat to our family exists overseas in our foreign holdings," Genki continued, "We have facilities throughout the Americas as well as Europe. It is in the former that we face a…underappreciated competitor in the field of combatting the Grimm. I refer to, of course…the Faunus."

Kuki tilted her head. "The animal people with the cute ears?" She asked.

Genki allowed herself to smile a bit. "Yes, sweety, the…animal people. They possess an affinity for the use of Aura that surpasses modern understanding of it despite the fact that it was European settlers who introduced the ability to unlock Aura to them. In a few short centuries they have surpassed us in every field except for Dust based technology. They claim that this is due to a connection their ancestors possessed with so called spirits of nature, leading to the development of the Faunus off shoot of humanity. However, officially the Faunus are merely recognized as a human off shoot and nothing more. They also are the source of a clear and present danger to our properties and employees."

The image of the Earth was replaced with images of what looked like buildings on fire, fighting in streets and news reports detailing attacks.

"While many nations were quick to grant equal rights and privileges to the Faunus due to the advantage they brought in quickly developing Aura and Semblance abilities, others are resistant to that and as a result this has led to the birth of an…extremist minority among the Faunus." Genki continued.

"Extremist…" Kuki sounded the word out.

"It means that they view violence as a means to their ends," Genki explained. "They see it as okay to hurt people and break things to get what they want. And then there is an even smaller group of violent extremists who not only support violence as a means, but partake in it. They primarily target countries where Faunus are viewed as sub-human, non-sentient or…in a few cases, as…delicacies. But they also target countries and groups they view as being complacent in this shameful treatment, and in their own misguided opinion we are contributing to the mistreatment of their people."

Kuki looked concerned at this news. "Are we?"

Genki immediately shook her head. "No. I won't deny that there are small incidents where certain employees have been discriminated against, but overall we have treated our Faunus employees fairly. But these violent Faunus think we are because we have certain…business associations with these countries out of necessity. They think that by attacking us they can convince us to break these connection, to stop doing business with countries they don't like. That, Kuki, is called terrorism."

"I heard that in class," Kuki nodded, "They said it's when someone tries to scare someone else by doing bad things so that they do what they want."

"Simplistic, but yes." Genki nodded, "There's no single term for terrorism, but generally it can be described as committing acts of violence in pursuit of an agenda. That is the case with this group that attacks our holdings referred to as the Satyra."

"Sat-eye-ruh…" Kuki sounded out the name.

"Yes, they are the dominant force among the disgruntled Faunus, mostly formed by Faunus in countries where they are not recognized as human." Genki explained, "While by no means exactly evil by definition they are, none the less, an enemy to us and when given the opportunity you will be expected to take action against them. I have had to deal with them in my time leading this family, and in that time they have killed many innocent workers and caused property damage costing us tens of millions."

Kuki swallowed, her eyes fixed on the images until her mother dismissed the projections and turned off the projectors.

"I know that a lot of this sounds frightening to you, sweety." Genki sighed, sitting next to her daughter on the sofa. "But I'm just trying to make sure that you're ready for the responsibilities that you will be expected to take on once you grow up."

Kuki nodded after her mother wrapped an arm around her. "I understand, mother."

"That's good, sweety. Because from now on I'll be showing you everything you need to know." Genki smiled softly.

And perhaps she would make a few new friends if things went off right in the next week in addition to the little sister she would have in about seven months.

Xxx

"This is it, everyone. The next generation in souring above the skies." Hoagie Gilligan said, standing at the bridge of the airship he had designed and personally helped build.

He was so proud of it and was especially proud to have his family on the bridge with him. His loving wife, Betty, along with his son, Hoagie Junior, who looked exactly like him as a child and his mother-in-law Lydia, who was a Huntress back in her day and very powerful one. Despite her old age Lydia still claimed she was the strongest in the family and Hoagie actually believed her. That woman was tough enough that once upon a time she had tried to see if he was man enough for her daughter by having a little spar with him.

Now Hoagie had a few skills in defending himself since no one is stupid enough to believe there is anywhere in the world eternally safe from the reach of the Grimm, even in cold countries, but when he and Grandma Lydia had their little 'spar' he ended up in the hospital with two black eyes, a broken nose that was swelling, aching ribs, and dozens of bruises.

It was bad enough that Betty put her foot down and forbade her mother from ever sparing with her husband again. Lydia reluctantly conceded to her daughter's wishes but made a note that her son-in-law, while a wimp who didn't land a single a scratch on her, did hold up pretty well and had refused to back down when having his future mother in law's blessing was on the line. Betty was rather skilled herself, at least able to defend herself against Grimm or bandits, but she had decided to take a job in managing where she eventually met Hoagie, a humble engineer with a rather vast imagination when it came to creating the latest in airborne vehicles. And he had designed the newest airborne carrier prototype that was more advanced than any other in history and even utilized Dust as a power source without the drawback of producing any pollution that other less efficient models created.

The carrier would allow for safer transportation through the air for both civilians and Huntsmen and was a joint creation between the Fulbright Corporation that specialized in vehicle production, both ground and air based, and the Sanban Industries that provided the Dust to power the carrier. That is of course why the Gilligan family was here, on the new ship over Japan. The carrier was a joint creation and thus it was important for the lead engineer to present it to the Sanban clan and prove its worth and show them the benefit of a partnership. Mr. Fulbright had nominated Mr. Gilligan to represent him and his company since he was too busy in America to take a trip to Japan.

"This is so cool." His son, Hoagie Junior stared out the viewport of the bridge, seeing the sky, the land below, and the endless ocean that spread out beyond the horizon.

His father smiled and put a hand on his little boy's shoulder. "It is, son. From here there is nothing to block your view of the entire world."

"Drama queen." Grandma Lydia whispered loudly.

Betty groaned. "Mom!"

"What? He gets all high up here with his cloudy brain and making cheesy poetry." Lydia shrugged, not really seeing what her daughter was on about this time. "It's just a big boat floating in the air, waiting for something to poke a big hole in it."

Betty sighed and rubbed her head, not even bothering to try and talk some sense into her titanium-skulled mother. It was not surprising she was a skilled Huntress before she had a family. Not even the strongest Grimm could have beaten the humility into her before actually killing her. Betty was just worried her mother would be too tough with her son, the one she had now and the one on the way.

The last thing she needed was her mother trying to turn her sons into the next Huntsmen in the family.

Betty had no wish for any of her children to become Huntsmen and possibly get themselves killed or horribly maimed against the Grimm or God knows what else. It was a terrible life, always travelling and fighting against the Grimm with the chances of dying being extremely high. Betty was only too glad to see her first son inherit his father's love of flying machines. He would be a lot safer enjoying planes than fighting.

"So we'll be staying here?" Hoagie Junior asked, looking down at the land below.

"For a while, at least until I am done speaking with Mr. and Mrs. Sanban about our deals." His father answered. "It'll be a good place with lots of places to visit."

"Ha! Been here, done that." Lydia waved a hand. "The last thing I want to do is walk down memory lane."

"Mother…" Betty sighed.

"This is important, Lydia. With the Dust supplies from the Sanbans we could supply both America and Japan with the next generation of flight engineering." Hoagie said to his mother-in-law.

"Don't matter much when there's always a bigger and meaner Grimm hiding around the corner. You make things big then the Grimm will only make themselves bigger." Lydia drawled, not impressed by new carrier.

"We can only rely on Huntsmen who fight the Grimm up close so much while using only Auras, Semblances, and whatever inventive weapon they have in their hands. But if we advance our technology enough we can develop more efficient and widespread means to push the Grimm back." Hoagie said with absolute faith in his creation.

"Ha! We'll see." Lydia turned away from her son-in-law, not interested in debating with him.

Betty sighed at her mother's stubborn nature. Technology never impressed Lydia unless she was using it to modify her weapon.

"You'll see, Lydia. This is what we need to keep people safe." Hoagie said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.

Hoagie looked out the viewport, smiling happily with his father.

Xxx

"We are not animals!"

"We are not food!"

"We are not subs!"

"We are not slaves!"

"We are humans!"

"We are not animals!"

"We are not food!"

"We are not subs!"

"We are not slaves!"

"We are humans!"

A blond haired man sighed as he walked past the protestors on his way home that unfortunately was just a few blocks away.

He walked in and quickly closed the door. "Liza, I'm home."

"Sid, have you heard?" His wife, Liza Beatles asked as he walked into the living room.

"Heard what?" The man, Sid Beatles asked as he stepped in.

"Another ship carrying Dust was attacked. Sanban Industries are blaming Satyra for the attack." Liza pressed the mute button on the TV.

"Oh no." Sid rubbed his head. "Those maniacs won't stop until they bring all Faunus down with them."

"How can they do all this?" Liz wondered, watching the TV as it showed a sinking boat. "They have to realize this will not change anything for the better."

"They're not interested in changing things for the better. They are mad men and mad men only want one thing…To see the world burn." Sid turned off the TV. "It's a wonder the Grimm don't flock to Australia with all of this happening. Where's Wally?"

Liz sighed, rubbing her head but smiled a bit. "Possibly picking a fight with a few of the neighborhood kids again."

Sid slowly took a deep breath. "…of course." He said upon exhaling and passed one hand through his blonde hair…and the matching feline ears which stuck out while the long striped tail sticking out from the base of his spine flopped onto the floor.

The Beatles were an influential family among the Faunus community in Australia, but that had been before the rise of the Satyra. Now they were treated as collaborators by friends and neighbors who had gone over to join the increasingly violent movement. There were still peaceful demonstrations like the one which still rung in Sid's ears, but there had also been more bombings than ever in Australia's safe zones…

And before the turn of the decade there hadn't been any.

For their son Wallabee, or Wally it became difficult at school when parents of Satyra sympathizers encouraged their children to basically alienate or pick on the children of those who had not joined. Some of the children did so only out of fear or being punished, but others had taken up the cause as much as their parents had. And this had led to an increase in calls from the school when Wallace got into fights with these children, some of them actually being sent home for days to heal because of how thoroughly they'd been bruised and beaten.

Sid was ashamed to admit it, but part of him was at least proud of his son for standing up for himself to such an extent.

Other groups campaigning for Faunus rights in countries where they were not recognized condemned the actions of the Satyra, and Sid was right there with them along with Liz. Acts of violence served only to create a divide between Humans and Faunus right when they needed to work together more than ever. Australia was one of those that had not yet entirely warmed up to the concept of Faunus rights, but it was a far sight better than others such as North Korea, China and many middle eastern or African nations where the Grimm had forced the creation of brutal and militaristic societies which had developed a Human centric perspective.

Some saw the Faunus as abominations, little better than the Grimm.

Others saw them as mere animals and treated them as slaves or pets.

And to a few, there was no difference between Humans and Faunus at all…except for the price they fetched on slave markets.

Sid heard the door swing open and slam shut quickly, signaling the return of their son.

"Who was it this time, Wall?" Sid asked as his son stomped into the room. "Herald or Francis?"

"Francis." Wallabee Beatles sneered the name as he hung up his back pack and let his mother look over the latest collection of bruises he had gathered. "And Herald. Both at once."

Sid couldn't help but smile a bit as he saw the defiant flame in his son's eye. "That scared of you, huh?"

Wallabee smirked and pounded his fists together. "Them and their girlfriends." He replied, "Thought they'd try and jump me on the way home. But I kicked the crud out of 'em and sent 'em scurrying home!"

"Soooo when their parents call what should I expect them to complain about this time?" Sid asked, "A couple bruises? A black eye? One lost tooth? Two?"

Wallabee winked, "Four."

"In total?"

"Each." Wallabee replied.

"Wellll I guess they'll just need to get used to having soup for dinner from now on." Sid shrugged and rubbed his son's head. "How'd school go?"

"They said they're probably going to close down next month." Wallace replied as he sat up on a chair where his mother dabbed a cloth at a cut on her son's cheek. "They got more bomb threats today."

Sid sighed again. "Who was it this time?"

"I dunno, but if I find 'em I'll- ow!" Wallace cringed as his mother dabbed at another cut on his forehead.

"Never talk about violence when your mother is present." Liz said firmly, "Or at all, preferably. If it wasn't for the fact that I know those dreadful children were sent after you by their cowardly parents I'd have grounded you until you turned eighteen after the first fight."

"Aw c'mon mum, this builds character!" Wallace replied, "It'll be good practice for when I become a Huntsman!"

Ah yes, that particular dream.

Neither of the Beatles had been Huntsmen, taking instead to jobs that didn't have an exorbitant death rate. But their son had become determined to become a Huntsman one day and nothing could be done to dissuade him.

"Yes, dear." Liz sighed, and resumed cleaning her son up while sending a glance towards her husband.

Both of them knew that they wouldn't be able to stop Wallabee from becoming a Huntsman one day. They could only take care of him for so long before he'd head out on his own regardless of their wishes. And the idea of their son taking on Grimm and any manner of threat to humanity didn't appeal to them, but knowing Wallabee…trying to stop him would only motivate him to try harder for it in defiance of them.

So they didn't try to stop him.

That left only one alternative: encourage him, and make sure he became the best Huntsman he could be when the time finally came. If he changed his mind they would breathe a sigh of relief, but the way things looked now there was nothing else that would gain their son's interest.

Xxx

"Oh dear, this place looks like this place overrun by the Grimm." Simon Pertikov said, looking at the remains of the small village.

"It is horrible."

Simon looked behind and saw his wife, Betty with her weapon out in the shape of a large bow with an energy string instead of a regular made of pure solar energy but could be modified by Dust. The weapon could fire energy arrows without touching the string and could cut through solid objects like a knife through butter. Though Simon was mere collector his wife was a Huntress and he fell in love with her because of fierce but gentle heart. Betty became a Huntress because she wanted to protect the innocent from the Grimm, wanting to believe there was such a thing as a better world.

Though Simon worried for her at times he believed in her and had faith in her skills to protect herself. As for Simon he was more a scientist than a fighter but he kept vials of Dust with him loaded in a pistol that he knew how to use. He was a collector of rare items, studying history and even hoped to learn more what life was like before the arrival of the Grimm. He had originally come here to collect a rare crown that was said to be from a time before the Grimm that was attached to his belt.

"This city was recently built but it looks the Grimm had launched a surprise attack. I don't believe anyone managed to survive." Betty said, examining the tracks on the road they were on.

Simon stopped when he saw movement down the street and gasped when he saw it was a little girl all alone. "Oh my lord, Betty!"

Betty turned around and saw Simon running down the street and saw the little girl. "A survivor!"

The child was crying as Simon ran up to her and knelt down beside her. The girl looked up at the older man in shock as he wiped away her tears. He spotted a wrecked toy store and rushed over to it, spotting a red teddy bear behind a broken window. Simon picked it up and walked back to the girl, holding it out to the girl.

The girl's face lit up as she grabbed the bear and cuddled her face against it.

"There you go." Simon said with a smile. "My name is Simon and this is my wife Betty. Who are you?"

The girl looked up at him, feeling somewhat reassured by the sincerity she saw in his expression, or at least enough that she gave him an honest answer. "Marceline."

"Hello, Marceline. That is a pretty name you have." Betty said with a friendly smile, as her weapon changed into a tome.

Marceline beamed. "Thank you."

"Is there anyone else here?" Simon asked.

Marceline's smile dissolved as quickly as it had formed. "N-No…Mommy told me to hide but she never came back." She sniffed.

"Oh, I am so sorry." Betty quickly wiped another tear from Marceline's cheek. "Would you like to come with us?"

Marceline stared at Betty. "Really?"

Betty smiled and nodded. "Absolutely. What kind of Huntress would I be if I left an adorable angel like you alone in the cold?"

Marceline gasped and stars seemingly formed in her eyes. "You're a Huntress?!"

Betty nodded. "Yes I am and I go around saving little angels like you from the mean old Grimm."

"Cool!" Marceline jumped into Betty's arms, causing the woman to stumble but she still laughed as she picked the little girl up. "You're like an action hero!"

"Yes, I guess I am." Betty said, straightening herself as she stood up with her husband. "Come on, let's show this little princess her new castle."

"I am not a princess! I am a queen!" Marceline said, trying to sound tough.

"Oh, forgive us your majesty." Simon quickly bowed to the two. "Please don't throw us in the dungeon."

"Of course if she does she won't get any dinner from us tonight." Betty teased as she tickled Marceline a bit, causing the little girl to laugh.

"O-Okay! You are forgiven!" Marceline laughed as the two left the destroyed village.

It was sad that another village was wiped out but at least one child survived and she had a new family to give her the love and care she needed.

Xxx

A pack of Grimm in the form of scorpions and snakes moved through the forest, on the lookout for anything that might be trespassing in their territory. Little did they know, they were being watched from above by a tall woman who was somehow floating on thin air. She had long pink curly air and wore a long white dress with a star shaped hole that showed her stomach. But instead of a belly button she had a round pink gem in the center of the star.

She stared down at the Grimm with a solemn look. "How does a beautiful planet spawn such hateful creatures?"

Five thousand years ago her people, an advanced and powerful race came to this world and began colonizing it under the orders of her Diamond who had just started following her sister Diamonds in their tracks. Even if they were aware of the population on this planet it didn't matter to them because there was no species in the universe powerful enough to take on the Gem race.

At least that was what they thought before they encountered the Grimm.

These creatures suddenly appeared and attacked the first Gem built cities and Kindergartens without warning and in large numbers, slaughtering Gems with terrifying ease. The monsters were not like organics, created by some sort of virus like substance that was poisonous to Gems and dissolved their light derived bodies, shattering their Gems by just infecting them. It was terrifying to encounter a race that could destroy Gems so easily and the Diamonds were quick to order that they be destroyed.

Homeworld sent its armies to fight the beasts but they proved to be resilient and seemed to increase in numbers for some strange reason and the Gems could not account for the devastating toxic affect the beasts had on their bodies. Then one day, one of Homeworld's leading generals, a Rose Quartz, was separated from her unit when the beasts attacked and was corned by a pack of them. She believed she would be shattered that day but instead she was saved by warriors that were actually native to the planet. She could only look on in surprise as the natives, Humans and beings who looked similar to the modern Faunus but with more severe animal traits, took down the beasts with surprising ease that a Gem, even a Quartz solider, would have found extremely difficult.

Once the beasts were defeated they turned to her. At first they thought she was like them, a Human or Faunus with special powers, a being analogous to what the modern world knew as a Huntress. She was clueless when she first interacted with them but did her best and when she reported back to her superiors about how the natives could fight against the monsters in ways Gems could not. Pink Diamond ordered her to learn more about them, sending her own personal Pearl to aid in learning more about the Humans, Faunus, and the beasts she learned where named the Grimm. The Rose Quartz and her Pearl traveled to human villages, finding more of the warriors called Huntsmen and Huntresses and slowly learned about them. The Humans and Faunus like beings used a power known as Aura which could only be utilized by beings with souls and when awakened they were capable of extraordinary feats, including a power called a Semblance that manifested differently in each Earthling.

They created advanced weapons, powered by a strange dust like substance that was high in value in modern Earthling communities to fight the Grimm in many places and had been at war with them for centuries. The more the Rose Quartz traveled to each community, learning more about the Earthlings and their never-ending battle against the Grimm the more she began to admire them. And it wasn't just the Earthlings, she was also seeing so many places across the planet that brought a form of beauty she had never before seen and it made her want to help the people of this world protect themselves from the Grimm.

And from her own people.

Slowly she started encouraging her own people to see more of this world, see it and its people through the way she has. She brought forth the knowledge of the Humans and the Faunus, how they had become so powerful and how they valued comradeship and unity against the Grimm. Slowly Gems began to listen to her and follow her but the Diamonds had ordered Humans and Faunus to be captured and used as cannon fodder against the Grimm while the Gems built up their armies on Earth again so they could take the planet and later exterminate the population, which the Diamonds considered to be a dangerous threat to their plans for that world. The Rose Quartz tried to convince the Diamonds that their decision was a wrong but the Diamonds decreed that all life on Earth was either a threat or an asset for the Gems to use and exploit.

The Quartz that had come to love Earth could not allow this to happen and thus rebelled against her own race.

She started by shattering Pink Diamond, the Diamond she had served and the one who had created her. With Pink Diamond's death the Rose Quartz rallied many Gems, Humans, and Faunus to her side and began to wage war against the remaining Diamonds. The Gem Homeworld found itself unable to hold the planet against the Gem Rebels, calling themselves the Crystal Gems, and the natives who fought with them. It was even worse as the war attracted the Grimm to many battle sites, causing massive losses on both sides. Homeworld could not create enough Gems to counter the Rebellion and even with the three remaining Diamonds themselves attempting to destroy the Crystals, the Earthlings presented themselves as perhaps the only formidable foes that Gems had ever encountered.

Their Auras and Semblances made them powerful enough to take on the strongest Amethyst and Jasper, enhancing their strength and even their weapons that were upgraded by a Bismuth that had joined the rebels and they were incredibly cunning. Even as White Diamond herself entered the battlefield to destroy Rose Quartz and her allies the leader of the Gem race found herself outmatched as Rose Quartz and her closest Earth allies led her into an ambush and forced her back into her gem when Rose pierced her form with her newly created sword. The victory over White Diamond was enough to terrify Blue and Yellow Diamonds into keeping their distance and send more of their warriors against the Earth army. If it had only been a small band or rebel Gems the war could have lasted thousands of years but with the help of the Earthlings and even the Grimm the Homeworld Gems were forced to flee as their armies fell over years of long battle.

After that, Rose had remained with the few surviving members of the Crystal Gems not tainted by a spell cast by the two remaining Diamonds. Driven by the bitter taste of defeat, they had launched an attack on Earth that corrupted most of Rose's remaining Gem allies, leaving only a few companions who had survived thanks to Rose's shield. Meanwhile the tribal hunter-gatherer societies of the Human and Faunus races returned to their communities to resume their previous lives, and as generations passed the knowledge of Aura and Semblances became lost to them until the Faunus themselves began to revert back into humans.

The original Faunus had been born through circumstances much similar to the second and current incarnation of the species: the interaction of Humans and spirits native to the planet representing the natural ecosystems resulting in physical mutations. Just like the Japanese Emperor who had been the first of a new generation of Huntsmen, there had been an individual in a long forgotten civilization who was gifted with the knowledge of Aura and had spread it to many against the first outbreak of Grimm, an outbreak which had only been brought to an end at a great cost, leading to the source of the Grimm Hordes remaining dormant for several millennia.

It had been that time spent without the threat of the Horde which had led to the decline in knowledge of Aura. To an outsider like Rose it was like observing the planet fighting back against an infection, creating cells specialized in combatting a disease, in this case the Huntsmen with their powers to combat the Grimm. Once the disease was defeated it only entered dormancy, fated to emerge again one day. That left her curious to know if the Grimm had emerged multiple times across the planet's history, and who or what had been present to combat them before humanity had developed enough to utilize Aura.

But there had been a new issue that had distracted her from her curiosity fueled adventures…

The current cycle was taking too long to end.

When the Gems had arrived on Earth the Grimm had only emerged several years prior and had been ravaging the primitive tribes spread across the world at the time. It had taken decades of fighting to force them back until one day the black pool ceased to produce new Grimm and the existing packs slowly dwindled.

All wrapped up in less than one century, and yet this one had lasted since the era of Feudal Japan. Something was different this time, something was sustaining the Grimm despite the fact that the wall surrounding their source should have spelt the doom of the Horde. Instead they continued to flourish and multiply, growing stronger despite being cut off from what should have been the one source of reinforcements available to them.

That was why Rose was observing these wild Grimm now, to understand the Enemy of Humanity and help protect the world from this newer, more dangerous incarnation of the Horde from ancient times.

"What sick mind would create such monsters that even the Diamonds themselves feared?" Rose Quartz wondered as she looked down at them from above.

Xxx

A young man stood on a lit stage on a beach, playing his guitar with the music enhanced by the loud speakers on the stage that would ensure his music was heard across the beach. He had long hair that flowed past his waist, a black sleeveless shirt with a star on it, and jeans with light blue sandals.

Some... say I have no direction,
that I'm a light-speed distraction,
but that's a knee-jerk reaction.
Still... this is the final frontier.

Everything is so clear.
To my destiny I steer.
This life in the stars is all I've ever known.
Stars and stardust in infinite space is my only home.

But the moment that I hit the stage,
thousands of voices are calling my name.
And I know in my heart it's been worth it all of the while.
And as my albums fly off of the shelves

Handing out autographed pics of myself.
This life I chose isn't easy but sure is one heck of a ride.
At the moment that I hit the stage,
I hear the universe calling my name,

And I know deep down in my heart I have nothing to fear.
And as the solar wind blows through my hair,
knowing I have so much more left to share.
A wandering spirit who's tearing its way through the cold atmosphere.

I'll fly like a comet.
Soar like a comet.
Crash like a comet.
I'm just a comet.

The sound of a single pair of hands clapping echoed across the empty beach. Greg Universe decided that one person clapping was better than none at all. He saw the person clapping a little far away and was slightly happier that it was a woman.

"Thanks for coming everybody, I'm Mr. Universe. If you like what you just heard go check out our merch table!" He pointed to merchandise table. "My manager Marty can hook you up with CDs, and t-shirts - Oh, wait, he's not there... I guess I'm going over there now..."

The woman walked over to the merchandise table and picks up a CD. "Space Train to the Cosmos..."

"Yeah!" Greg started singing. "One way ticket and I'm ready to ri-ide!"

The woman laughed. "How will you get back?"

"Back?"

"Back to Earth?"

Greg sat back. "I'm NEVER coming back."

"Oh! That's awful!" The woman giggled. "This is your home."

She picked up Greg's CD in her hand.

"Uhh... you want that? You can have it..." Greg offered.

"Hm?

"Oh, and it comes with a free t-shirt!" He pulled out a small t-shirt. "You'll probably need a bigger one... I've got an extra extra large in my van! Stay right there!"

Greg ran over to his van and opened the back door, not expecting two people to jump out. The woman had knee-length, light-blond hair that seemed to spike around her face and at the top of her head. She wore light magenta/pale pink eyeshadow, white boots, and high-waist blue-gray jeans with wear and tear at the knees. She also wore a dark leather jacket with spikes on the shoulders, which appears to have a belt hanging off of it.

Her shirt was pale blue.

The man looked to be middle-aged, with short, platinum/gray/silver hair styled with spikes. He also had slate gray eyes and spiked teeth and wore a dark purple jacket over a navy blue hoodie over an indigo shirt. He also wore greenish-grey pants, black socks, and light brown leather shoes.

Greg did not recognize the woman but he recognized the man, his manager Marty. "Star child! Meet Vidalia."

"Nice van." The woman popped bubblegum in her mouth, not looking really impressed. "Really livin' the high life."

"So, how was the show?" Marty asked.

"It was great! One person showed up! Oh! I have to give her this free... t-shirt..." Greg turned to give Rose the shirt, but she isn't there anymore.

"Greg! You can't give stuff away for free! What about my 75 percent? 75 percent of nothing is nothing. Are YOU worth nothing?" Marty scolded.

"No..." Greg admitted.

"That's right. I'm going to make us both rich." Marty leaned forward to say into Greg's ear. "And as far as these saltwater saps know, we already are." He backed away and puts his arm around Vidalia. "So let's live it up before we hit the road, alright? Next stop, Empire City!"

With that said, Marty and Vidalia walked away.

"Y'know, I'll catch up with you..."

Greg walked down the boardwalk, approaching a gate at the beach with a sign that says 'KEEP OFF BEACH'. Below was a sign that read 'Please' in neat cursive.

Greg looks past the gate. "Maybe she's over there?"

"Hoo!"

Greg looked up an owl that was sitting on the fence. The owl was slightly strange, having purple feathers with a gem on its check. In another reality that might have seemed strange but in a world where Humans have powers to fight monsters created from pure darkness and can have animal traits a purple feather owl was by far the most unsurprising thing to come cross.

"Ah, - just some giant mysterious lady with enormous pink hair. You haven't seen anyone like that around, have ya?" Greg answered jokingly to the owl.

What he did not expect was an answer. "Sure have, pal!"

Greg gaped. "W-where...? Are you a Faunus?"

The owl chuckled as it turned around. "Well, uh... If I told you any more I'd have to KILL YOU!" The owl flew off towards the giant statue of a six armed weapon. "Hoo, hoo, hoahahaha!"

Greg tried to catch up and climbed the fence. "Hey! WAIT! Hold on a sec-Whoa, oomph!"

Greg fell over the top of the fence, landing on the other side. He got up and ran after the owl, up towards the temple entrance where a young woman was standing with the owl perched on her arm. She was slender, thin build, ivory skin, sky-blue eyes, a pointed nose and thin lips. What stood out as the what looked like a gemstone embedded in her head.

"This long-haired human was talking to me over by the fence!" The owl said excitedly.

"It spoke to you?" The girl asked.

"He was asking about Rose." The owl turned her head 180 degrees, spotting Greg at the entrance. "Look, there he is!"

"Yo."

The owl flew off towards Greg, hitting the girl's face. "Ugh, Amethyst, wait!"

The owl glowed suddenly and morphed into young purple skinned toddler with pale lavender hair and a dark indigo gemstone on her chest.

"It's YOU! I've never seen this one around here before... Aww... I really like your hair!" The owl-turned-little girl crawled around Greg and lifted up his shirt, before the thin woman picked her up.

Greg blushed and pulled his shirt back down.

"Amethyst! Leave him be! You don't know where he's been!" She looked at Greg. "I'm very sorry about this... umm... you."

The child named Amethyst struggled to touch him. Not too far from them there was a flash of light on a pad and from it appeared a dark skinned woman with black hair in a cube-shaped afro and over her eyes a pair of orange tinted shades. She wore a black and crimson body suit, holding two pink bubbles in her hands.

"Woah..." Greg gaped.

The woman looked at Greg. "Pearl, Amethyst, you're with a human."

"He followed me over the fence!" The child named Amethyst said happily.

"What should we do?" The woman named Pearl asked.

"State your purpose." The dark skinned woman said, looking directly at Greg.

Greg fidgeted nervously. "Uhh... I was kinda looking for the mysterious pink lady. Kinda really tall... lots of big curly hair?"

"See, he's talking about Ro— mmphhh." Pearl put her hand over Amethyst's mouth to muffle her.

Pearl looked to Garnet. "I don't know how to make him go away."

"I'll just throw him back over the fence." The woman moved to grab Grey but he jumped back and pulled out his guitar that had been strapped to his back.

"Whoa! There will be no throwing over the fence." Greg said, holding his guitar in front of him.

The woman moved to grab him but Grey played a note and a burst of ice shot from the tip of his guitar, creating an ice wall between him and the woman.

"WHOA!" Amethyst shouted.

"That's no musical instrument! Only a weapon powered by the Earth element Dust could create something like that! He must be a Huntsman!" Pearl exclaimed, not sure how to react to being in the presence of the same type of Earth warrior that fought against the armies of Homeworld centuries ago.

She knew the Grimm were still around but she had not seen any real Huntsmen since the end of the Rebellion. That was in part due to the Crystal Gems cutting themselves off from the rest of the world, only hunting corrupted Gems that thankfully did not move to attack humans and remained clear of the Grimm for the most part.

"Not really. I'm more of a musician but I trained to be a Huntsman before I went on the road." Greg admitted.

Being on the road, traveling from city to city meant there was always a chance of a Grimm attack so you'd either afford special protection or train to be a Huntsmen and since Greg couldn't afford special protection he took training into becoming a Huntsman but dropped out before officially registering as one.

"Greg, what's taking you so long?" An impatient voice asked.

Greg and the three woman turned around to see Vidalia at the entrance, staring at them.

"Vidalia?" Greg asked.

Vidalia raised an eyebrow when she saw the ice wall created by Greg's guitar. "Wow, Greg. Marty didn't say you were a Huntsman."

"I'm not." Greg instinctively said, leaving himself open as the dark skinned woman tried again to grab him.

Only for Vidalia to hold out a glow stick that released an orb of light that shot towards the dark skinned woman who blocked with her gauntlets but skidded back by the force of the blow. Vidalia then grabbed Greg and pulled him out of the woman's reach.

"Picking a fight with the women who hide out in this cave and hold the beach to themselves? Didn't think you had it in you, Greg." Vidalia said as he rubbed his eyes.

"I didn't come here looking for a fight." Greg protested.

Vidalia rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"We'll have to subdue them before we remove them from the temple." Pearl said to the dark skinned woman.

"Okay whoa whoa whoa now! Hold up!" Greg attempted to diffuse the situation. "Look, I just came here to give this Rose lady a free t-shirt for attending my concert!"

"I'll of course not tell Marty about the 'f' word being used." Vidalia muttered, crossing her arms.

"I turned around to grab one for her and when I looked back she was gone!" Greg continued, "I didn't come here to fight anyone! Seriously!"

"Right…" Pearl drawled, "You just walked past the sign that says 'keep out' to give someone a shirt."

"Uh…" Greg scratched his head. "Well I guess it sounds kinda dumb that way…"

Vidalia elbowed him in the ribs. "Must be some lady, Greg." She said with a suggestive grin.

"Wait!" Everyone turns to see the woman that Greg had met, hurrying out of the temple.

"Mr. Universe?" The woman asked.

"You know this human?" Pearl questioned.

"He was playing a concert on the beach, and I couldn't help myself." Rose explained.

Greg smiled. "No one can ignore the Universe. Oh!" He held out the t-shirt. "I brought you this. It's the free t-shirt that came with the free CD!"

Rose accepted the shirt. "Why, thank you!"

The other strange women crowded around Rose to look.

"His gimmick is space!" Rose whispered to them.

Pearl chuckled.

"Hey, play something, music man!" Amethyst called out.

Garnet summoned her gauntlets. "Better make it good."

"Ah, man, I'm working on this awesome new set, it's gonna kill at my next show! Next show..." Greg stopped realizing how late it is. "... Aw jeez, what time is it?"

"N... ight... time?" Pearl slowly answered.

"Yeah, Marty's probably looking for me. We're supposed to hit the road-" Greg stopped when Vidalia swatted him across the head.

"Don't bother. I left the guy knocked out when he tried to steal my Dust." Vidalia said, twirling her light stick.

"Whoo!" Amethyst said, walking up to Vidalia. "So cool! A Huntress!"

Vidalia smirked. "Not an official one but I can handle anything that comes my way. So Greg, you better start singing something."

"Uh…Okay, let me just set everything up. I'll be right back." Greg said, rushing out of the temple and back to his van. "Back in five!"

"See ya music man!" Amethyst waved after Greg.

Rose looked at the shirt with a smile while Pearl scowled and muttered somewhat jealously. "I can sing!"

Rose smiles as Garnet began to laugh and Amethyst joined her.

Peal blushed and put her hands on her hips. "What?"

Vidalia remained silent, watching with an interested smirk. 'About time something interested start happening.'

Xxx

"Well that's the end of the start of this new story. "So many characters with different starts then you remember but will they be the same at their cores? Keep reading and find out next time and if you got any ideas for what powers these guys or any characters out there you want to make an appearance submit your idea we'll find out how things go from there. Remember, when one or two universes fuses it leads to all sort of changes but change can either be good or bad depending on the kind of person you are." TOM said at the end of the prologue. "Keep reading and we'll see what happens in the future. See ya next time."