Chapter Text
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In geosynchronous orbit over Earth at the meridian of New York City (directly over a point twenty kilometres east of Muriba in the Caquetá Department in Columbia), Monday 22 August 2011, mid-morning…
"That was a load of fun."
Hearing that comment from her creator, the beautiful green-eyed gynoid with the dark rust red hair standing in the main office of Station Robert could only smile as she reached over to squeeze Isaac Thomas' shoulder. "You needed it," mused Mimir Shepard — her given name had been taken from a crossover fan fiction story read by her creator some time before his Gifting — as she sat herself at the edge of the desk while giving the blond, blue-eyed native of Queens a knowing look before she crossed her arms. "Ever since your Gifting, you've forced yourself to emotionally grow up well before your time. You needed the chance to be a normal teenager. Dealing with the Wondercolts gave you that chance, Isaac." The replica of the main character of Mass Effect in female form winked. "You're even more of a hermit than Tariko can be at times. That's not a healthy thing for any person, Terran or Yizibajohei."
Hearing that, the Wise Lone Sage, Raer'buo Erba ("Doctor Renaissance"), chuckled as he crossed his arms. Despite her being chronologically a few years old, Mimir had become both surrogate mother and elder sister figure to him. Atop her supervising the work of the androids and gynoids — addressed as a group as "replicants" — who kept Station Robert and Isaac's starships in proper shape, she often liaised with him when it came to dealing with various government officials on Earth and elsewhere. "Okay! Okay! I stand chastised!" he stated as he gave her a surrendering look, waving his hands. "I'll try to be a normal person as much as I can. I'll date around! I'll…!"
BEEP!
Both blinked, then Isaac tapped controls on his laptop to bring up whatever message had just been transmitted to Station Robert. A moment later, he blinked as he sat back in his chair. "Interesting…"
"What is it?" Mimir wondered.
"A message from Henry," the New Yorker replied. As Mimir's eyebrow arched on hearing the nickname applied to the central computer of the most famous starship in the Milky Way Galaxy, he added, "I've asked him to dip into all the Rover sensor logs to find places that I could explore to see if we could expand the pool of non-native Yizibajohei beyond what's been done on Earth so far, not to mention keep a weather eye out for inhabited worlds whose natives are slowly sliding towards their own version of the Dawn of Power." As she nodded, he took a moment to scan through the general precis passed from Sagussa, then he nodded. "Oh, yes…! This looks VERY interesting to me…"
She scanned the screen. "'Remnant'?"
"Odd name, isn't it?" he wondered before he did a scan of what was written there. "Class M planet orbiting a white K-type sun close to Delta Orionis; that's about thirteen hundred light-years from here. Originally seeded by the Anquietas from Terran stock five million years ago, inactive Stargate, so no contact yet from Stargate Command. Moon…" He blinked as he leaned back on seeing what happened to this world's lone satellite. "Ah! Looks like the Ori got involved with this planet. Someone got angry at someone…" Shaking his head, he started to scroll down the list. "Currently…"
His voice faded as one glaring detail came up. Mimir was quick to see that. "I think this has potential."
"Very high potential," Isaac affirmed with a nod before a scowl turned his lips as he recalled his past-selves' encounters with members of the race of would-be "gods" who — in their own way — were no better than the Old Ones that had been banished from Earth and Yiziba twenty-five millennia ago. "Selfish, egotistical nut jobs! Always, always, always NOT bothering to clean up after themselves…" He sat back in his chair, his eyes glittering with anticipation.
For any polymath hyper-genius from the World of the Forge, THIS was one heck of a find!
"Well, this will be quite the interesting research trip," he trilled.
Mimir smirked as she lifted herself from the desk. Despite her worrying about his getting a chance to be "normal", she knew what drove the Wise Lone Sage…even in this Terran-born incarnation. "I'll get the Normandy ready."
"Please do," Isaac declared…
****
The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei
Of Gifts And Semblances
by Dr. Tempo and Fred Herriot
Tsukurimashō! (2002), composed and arranged by Itō Masumi, lyrics by Itō Masumi and Nishikiori Hiroshi. Daybreak (1976), composed by Barry Manilow and Adrienne Anderson. Issho no Tabeyō (2002), composed and arranged by Murayama Tatsuya, lyrics by Okazaki Ritsuko. Lady Willpower (1968), written by Jerry Fuller. Hymn to Red October (1990), by Basil Poledouris.
C&C by Rose Ash.
Based on The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei, written by Fred Herriot.
Including characters and situations from Mahō Sensei Negima and Love Hina, created by Akamatsu Ken, The Seventh Carrier, written by Peter Albano; Azumanga Daiō, created by Azuma Kiyohiko; The Hunt for Red October and its sequels, written by Tom Clancy; My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, created by Hasbro and DHX Media; Black Lagoon, created by Hiroe Rei; Kantai Collection, created by Kadokawa Games; Sayonara Zetsubō-sensei, created by Kumeta Kōji; Star Wars, created by George Lucas; Worm, created by John C. McCrae; characters created by World Wrestling Entertainment and its predecessor organizations, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt; RWBY, created by Monty Oum; Sweet Valley High, created by Francine Pascal; Harry Potter, created by Joanna K. Rowling; Ryū ga Gotoku, created by Sega; The West Wing, created by Aaron Sorkin; Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Suzumiya Haruhi no Yū’utsu and its sequels, written by Tanigawa Nagaru; Sister Princess, created by Tenhiro Naoto and Kimino Sakurako; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon; and Stargate SG-1, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner.
Including references to characters and situations from Mass Effect, created by BioWare; Megaman, created by Capcom; Men In Black, created by Lowell Cunningham; Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, written by Hirasaka Yomi; Doctor Who, created by Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber and Donald Wilson; Fist of the North Star, created by Okamura Yoshiyuki and Hara Tetsuo; Venom and other stories of the Marvel Universe, created by Randy Schueller, Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck among others; and Highlander, created by Gregory Widen.
Also including characters and situations from Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year, written by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.
****
INTRODUCTION
This is a side story to The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei, with the teaser happening fifteen months prior to the start of Boy Meets Girl Meets Metahuman and the main body of this work beginning almost eight months prior to the start of that story, just prior to Before the Dream. In the continuity of the main story, the events depicted below occur in the period prior to events depicted in the first Urusei Yatsura movie, Only You. In the continuity of RWBY, the main element of the story begins during the events in "Destiny" (third volume, ninth episode). Doctor Renaissance (Isaac Thomas) and interpretations of characters from RWBY appearing here are my creations. Interpretations of characters from Azumanga Daiō, Urusei Yatsura and other series here are Fred's as depicted in the main story.
Writer's notes are contained at the end of the text of each chapter.
****
From the Journal of Isaac Thomas (Doctor Renaissance):
Ever since I arrived on Remnant, I have researched the history of this world as well as analyzed the various things that I had seen.
From what I can tell so far, the history of this planet is — past a few centuries ago — lacking in writings as to what exactly happened where and why. This is odd, making trying to learn more about the planet and its people difficult. I have been reading various local fables and fairy tales in hopes of extracting the facts within…but so far, there's nothing conclusive for me to develop any sort of cultural developmental theory to determine why things came to be the way they are on Remnant today.
As for the "why" I'm here, it is due to the abilities the natives of this world possess. They manifest something called "Aura", which — according to what I've learned — draws on the power of the soul to forge barriers against injury. Such barriers can be broken though under the right circumstances. Further, one must activate the ability to use it, and such isn't active 24/7/365.
The other paranormal occurrence among the natives is the concept of "Semblance". In effect, it's a special metahuman power unique to each person who awakens same, though I have heard of cases where members of a family share the same Semblance type. This means that this world could potentially experience a Dawn of Power-style evolution someday, which is what brought me here.
Terran/Yizibajohei-like humanoids aren't the only sentient natives to this planet, though. In addition, there are various types of therianthropes resident here who are grouped together under the "race" name "Faunus". In effect, such beings are humans with animal traits such as tails and ears positioned at the temples. For the most part, all Faunus suffer considerable social discrimination. It has evolved to the point where a group called the "White Fang" came into being to help the Faunus acquire equal rights. Said group initially employed peaceful means to press for their cause. However, since it's original leader Ghira Belladonna stepped down, the group has begun attacking other people.
There is also a substance called "Dust" used here, which comes in several types and seems to grant elemental powers to whatever they are ultimately employed with. It also serves as the main energy source for local technology. From what I've learned, levels of Dust on Remnant will only last a few decades at the most. Thus, one of the many projects I've commenced since coming here is the creation of synthetic Dust plus adopting local technology to different types of energy sources like mesonium.
Strangely enough, the employment of Dust has become vital in fighting creatures called "Grimm". Akin to Dementors in places like Her Majesty's Prison Azkaban in the North Sea, Grimm are empathic hunters attracted to negative emotions; they use this to track potential prey among all other types of living creatures on Remnant. Though they most often act like wild beasts, I have noticed recently that some groups of Grimm seem to behave as if something or someone is controlling them.
With all this in mind, I have gotten permission from Suzumiya Haruhi to use the dimensional viewer device to see potential future timelines for this world.
Hopefully, this will give me an idea as to what is going on here…
****
Aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship Normandy, in reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of the City of Vale, Gaysaw 44 Treichleam 2216, ninety minutes after lunch (Tōkyō time: Wednesday, 28 March 2012, ninety minutes after midnight; New York City time: Tuesday, 27 March 2012, a half-hour after lunch)…
"Why am I SO not surprised?"
"Would you like me to get the Doctor here so he can explain it to you, Isaac-kun?"
The Wise Lone Sage moaned, rubbing his forehead. "Ha-ha! Very funny, Haruhi-chan!" Isaac Thomas muttered as he rubbed his forehead. He HATED it when investigations into potential future timelines and alternate dimensions turned up the same potential future! "So…this is one fight scene that is totally unavoidable," he muttered, shaking his head.
"Everything seems to be leaning that way," the Mistress of Time and Space, R'buttuo (the "Weaver"), breathed out as she crossed her arms. "Problem here is that you'd have to go way back into local history to change events to prevent something like this. Too much crap has happened in too many places to hope to diverge it with one little act of mercy."
"And you wouldn't allow that too far after the scene."
Suzumiya Haruhi chuckled. "You know me so well!"
Shaking his head, Isaac then perked as the door to his private cabin opened to reveal his starship's chief gynoid with a tea service for him and his guest. "How soon can things be compiled about the full-planet sensor scan, Mimir?" he asked as Mimir Shepard placed the tray on the desk, then moved to hand cups over.
"Another day or so," the replica of the player character in Mass Effect promised as she glanced at the laptop in front of her creator. "I take it a rather large fight scene is on the horizon?" she wryly asked.
A tired sigh escaped the Wise Lone Sage. "Sadly so."
"Time frame?"
"A week," he affirmed before sipping his tea. "More than enough time to get ready to help these two…"
His finger landed on the screen, indicating the images of two young women…
****
Over the city of Vale, aboard the Amity Colosseum, Gaysaw 51 Treichleam, suppertime (Tōkyō time: Monday 2 April, just after dawn)…
"Impressive show of security, General."
Hearing that comment from the slender twenty-something fellow with the dark blond hair and the bright blue eyes behind protective goggles, the commander of the Atlas military looked over. Thanks to his experience in the field dealing with the Grimm, James Ironwood was quick to analyze this fellow's spiritual Aura potential; he didn't recognize him as an alumnus of any of the huntsmen academies he was familiar with. Still, there was an air of barely-contained violence cloaking this fellow in the voluminous hooded cape and the off-white jumpsuit with the gold belt and boots, one the experienced huntsman was quick to sense. "Where are you from, son?" the greying steel-haired warrior wondered as he broke away from his senior staff to stand close to the stranger, his hands resting on his holsters.
He found himself smirking on noting that the newcomer didn't feel cowed. Those eyes projected a mixture of youthful strength and calm calculation arising from years on the field. No matter who this fellow was, he was a fighter.
That, Ironwood could respect.
"From outside Vacuo, General. Isaac Thomas," the younger man said as he offered his gloved hand, which Ironwood took with his own cybernetic limb. Noting the stranger was willing to shake his mechanical hand showed a willingness to accept the general as a fellow warrior. "You won't recognize me from the roster of the Academy, sir. I'm self-trained and haven't triggered a Semblance. Learned the basics from my parents before they were killed in a storm."
That made Ironwood wince in sympathy. "My condolences, Mister Thomas." He had heard how bad it could be for some people in Vacuo trying to get into Shade Academy. Given the nomadic nature of many of that kingdom's inhabitants, the recruiting pool was small…and given that the younger fellow hadn't yet woken his Semblance, he wouldn't get into the school anyway. "A pity about not having a Semblance. Your Aura potential is amazingly strong." A chuckle escaped him as he patted Isaac's shoulder. "Oh, don't worry about it, son! You'll get it sooner or later…!"
Isaac blushed. "Th-thanks…"
Suddenly, the general perked. "Thomas? You wouldn't be a relation to the man who started Renaissance Industries here in Vale? The people developing technologies not powered by Dust?"
The younger man's eyes twinkled. "I know the people who are running the workshop, General. They must have mentioned my name to whoever passed on that tidbit to you…"
"He has no Semblance, General?"
Both turned as a smiling teenage girl with freckles came over to join them, hands politely crossed behind her back. And thank you, Penny! the younger man breathed out; he wasn't ready to reveal what he was ALSO doing on the planet to the public yet. "Unfortunately, Miss Polendina," he answered, making the gynoid's green eyes widen in surprise. He then nodded to a nearby video display board, which showed her portrait and name as one of the contestants. "A delight to meet you," he then said as he offered his hand, which she took. After he introduced himself, he added, "I have to confess, you're the most lifelike gynoid I've ever seen. I never knew Atlas' AI technology has progressed that far."
Penny Polendina awked as her cheeks reddened while Ironwood laughed. "You have a sharp eye, Mister Thomas!" the general asserted. "Very few people can sense the truth of someone like Penny!"
That made Penny fluster before she gazed intently at the newcomer. "You do have a very strong Aura potential, Isaac Thomas. It is a pity you have not awoken your Semblance. Were you formally trained?"
"He's from outside Vacuo, Penny," Ironwood explained.
She gave Isaac a sympathetic look. "Oh!" She thought about it for a moment before smiling. "It is such a pity, still. If you had woken your Semblance, you would be as strong as my friend Ruby; she is a student at the Beacon Academy."
"I've seen her and her team a few times since I came to town before the Festival," Isaac noted. "Miss Rose and her friends have great potential." He gazed on the general. "You were right to disqualify their team because of what Miss Xiǎo Lóng did, General. Still…" His eyes narrowed. "There's something that struck me very odd about that business."
Ironwood perked as his eyes narrowed while he recalled what Yáng Xiǎo Lóng said about what happened not an hour before. "How did you see it, Mister Thomas?" he asked. He knew that many from Vacuo often developed a special sixth sense when it came to dark situations. Such helped them survive through raids from the Grimm as much as it did when they confronted the many natural disasters that rocked the desert kingdom. "She claims she was attacked…"
"She WAS about to receive the kicking version of a sucker punch, General," Isaac calmly declared, which made Penny brighten. "The match was called in Miss Xiǎo Lóng's favour. She had her back turned to the man. There was no need to continue fighting, yet I clearly saw Mister Black was ready to press it. I even HEARD him say something like…" Here, his eyes narrowed as he looked towards the main arena. "…'There's not going to be a next time'. Or something like that." His eyebrow then arched. "By the way, I also noted that his legs are as artificial as your arm, General."
Ironwood blinked before he shook his head. "Only one witness…"
"I knew Ruby's sister would never do such a thing!" Penny instantly asserted.
"Perhaps. I'll contact people from Haven to get his story," the general mused. "Good eyes and ears, son," he then complemented Isaac, reaching over to squeeze the younger man's shoulder again. "We'll talk about this later."
With that, the experienced huntsman headed to the observation levels overlooking the area. Isaac watched him go, then glanced around to see the many Knight-200 combat androids that had been deployed with the Atlas contingent, weapons at port arms and they now in strategic positions to cover everything within visual range of the "Vacuan".
Before he could say anything else, though…
"…All right! It's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight…!"
Hearing the voice of Professor Bartholomew Oobleck, Isaac hummed before he glanced at the adopted native of Atlas. "I think your number's about to come up, Miss Polendina," the Wise Lone Sage mused.
Echoing through the air then was the sound of a roulette spinning. "I am ready no matter what will happen, Isaac Thomas," she declared before a curious look crossed her face. "What is a 'gynoid'?"
"It's a forgotten term for a female-form artificial person…"
Oobleck's fellow instructor Professor Peter Port then called out, "It looks like our first contender is…"
"'Gynoid'?" Penny spoke aloud before she nodded. "I like that term, Isaac Thomas."
"…Penny Polendina from Atlas…!"
That made her perk. "I must go now, Isaac Thomas. Will you observe my match?"
He winked at her. "I'll be watching, Penny."
"…and her opponent will be…"
Both the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei polymath and the Remnantian gynoid tensed.
"…Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!"
Penny blinked before nodding, then she marched into the arena. Isaac observed her head off, then he gazed at the palm of his right glove, smiling on seeing the small seed of ruby mesonium that he used to inject the gynoid's body with softly twinkling. He looked back to stare intently at the back of Penny's head as his eye triggered a scanning function in his goggles. The native of Queens then nodded on noting the soul transmitter crystal that would suck up Penny's very spiritual essence — her "aura potential" as such would be called on Remnant — was ready to do its work.
With that, Isaac headed to a nearby set of stairs to watch the bout.
All in the hands of the Doll House now…!
****
Twenty minutes later…
"Damn…!"
Isaac Thomas had fundamentally known how powerful Pyrrha Nikos could be.
But to see something like THAT…!
"No…!"
Glancing up to see the horror crossing the faces of Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck at the sight of Penny Polendina now in several pieces on the floor of the arena before a white-faced and horrified Pyrrha, the Wise Lone Sage then used his goggles to scan the downed gynoid's head to…
Yes!
Already, a metaphysical tunnel had formed, far beyond the ability of anyone in the stadium now to perceive, drawing in Penny's living spirit. Only Isaac could see into the endless tunnel that formed the core of a micro-dimension created by the first being nicknamed the "God Who Walks Among Men" two millennia before, the gynoid's living essence being drawn into a side cavern to be infused with a mannequin-like being, one of an ENDLESS number of such creations by the first Infinity to allow non-Gifted a new chance of life. As the chorus of horrified gasps from the crowd increased in volume — while the Vytal Festivals over the years had often resulted in considerable injuries, death was a VERY rare occurrence! — he slowly rose, keeping his head bowed low in a show of honest sympathy towards what just happened, then he headed for the stairs to get back to the main floor and a quiet place to teleport back aboard the Normandy…
"Penny…!"
Hearing the voice of the effective of Team RWBY as he got to the landing close to a service tunnel, the Wise Lone Sage paused, hands clenching into fists as he fought down the urge to hug the weeping Ruby Rose and inform her that her friend was ALIVE where it counted the most…and would enjoy a whole new life ahead of her.
But he couldn't.
He just couldn't!
The immediate futures that would branch from this very event were set in stone.
For Remnant to survive, the Beacon Academy had to fall…
The native of Queens was suddenly shaken out of his introspection by the sound of a door opening close to where Ruby was. A glance over revealed a smirking silver-haired fellow leaning out from a maintenance hatchway, gazing first at the fallen Penny, then at the shuddering Ruby. To her credit, she did tense on hearing Mercury Black approach…but the sheer shock of seeing a close friend now DEAD not metres ahead of her was just too much…
Isaac's blue eyes widened as Mercury then stared directly at him, his victorious grin turning into a scowl. Damn it! Did someone overhear what I told the general about this jackass?! the New Yorker wondered as he sensed the cybernetic mercenary tense, his own grey eyes narrowing as his fists clenched.
"Broadcast, what are you doing? Kill the feed!"
As silence fell while Oobleck listened to whoever was controlling the audio systems give his more than understandable report concerning losing control of said systems, the Wise Lone Sage allowed a savage grin — one he had learned to make from many a teacher in a certain Thai port city years ago — to cross his face as his left arm raise to allow him to point at Mercury. Noting the mercenary tense on seeing that accusatory stance, Isaac keyed a system in his suit that allowed his voice to be projected right into the native's ear without alerting the weeping Ruby as to this statement:
"Omae wa mō shindeiru…"
Isaac had always loved Fist of the North Star!
"What?! How is that possible?!" Oobleck bellowed in the background.
As Mercury's eyes went wide on hearing that strange language, Isaac lowered his arm and turned to walk up the stairs. He paused before moving off, sending the mercenary a parting look of contempt.
"You are already DEAD, Mister Black."
The coldness in the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei's voice nearly made Mercury soil himself before he ducked through the door he used when he followed Ruby from the maintenance area of the stadium to see the real result of his delaying attack on the leader of Team RWBY. Once he was gone, the Wise Lone Sage spared the crying huntress a sympathetic glance before moving to find another place so he could beam to the Normandy and prepare for what was coming.
"This is not a tragedy…"
Hearing the voice of the woman destined to kill the current incarnation of a great warrior that now lived as the headmaster of the Beacon Academy, Isaac tried not to smirk. Nice theatrics, Miss Fall…!
"This was not an accident…"
As the crowd around him gasped with understandable confusion and growing horror in response to the projection screens now displaying a two-tone red field embossed by a black insignia looking like a queen piece in Terran chess, the New Yorker made it to another tunnel. Ducking through a maintenance hatch, he tapped a control on his belt.
"This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety — your CHILDREN! — to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men…"
In a sparkle of energy, the "Vacuan" had disappeared…
****
Somewhere, sometime…
Where…am I…?
She remembered being literally ripped apart, all her systems failing.
How…do I still…function…?
She remembered the horrified look on her opponent's face.
Father…did you…save me…?
Something within her ached as the image of her first true friend flashed before her central mind, she on her knees in a corridor leading away from the main stage within the Amity Colosseum. The look of pain and anguish on Ruby Rose's face on seeing her cease to function after her duel with Pyrrha Nikos making her feel as if someone physically stabbed her right in her main power core, a fatal blow to an artificial person like her.
Ruby…I am so sorry…!
Then…
Wait…
What…?
What is happening to me…?
"Tsukurimashō! Tsukurimashō!"
Who is that…?
"Sate, sate, nani ga dekirukana?"
I…can understand that…
"Hai! Dekimashita!"
But…that is no language on Remnant…
"Ah! Chiyo-chan! She's waking up!"
That caused a pair of very organic green eyes to snap wide open!
"Oh, honestly, Ōsaka-san! You're probably scaring her! Don't be so loud!"
Little Chiyo…Miss Ōsaka…singing about making things…who…eh?!
A gargled breath escaped the just-woken Atlesian gynoid as her skin turned very white, making the heads of the two women standing in one of the countless alcoves in the Doll House turn before the older one moaned, she then slapping her forehead with her hand. "Oh, no! Not again!" she grumbled before walking over.
The younger of the pair turned white as she immediately sensed what her classmate was about to do.
"AH! ŌSAKA-SAN, DON'T…!"
A shocked croak then made Mihama Chiyo wince as she saw the now-immaterial fingers of her best friend Kasuga Ayumu probing INSIDE the skull of the just-woken Penny Polendina! "Ōsaka-san…!" the brightest student to grace a high school in Japan for generations then moaned as she slumped.
"Um…salutations!"
Hearing that made Chiyo look up, the surprise on her face obvious.
"I have never encountered anyone who can phase their body through solid matter," Penny stated, making Chiyo feel relief that she wasn't going to panic stations over being "examined" in this manner by Ayumu. Like she ALWAYS did in these situations! Chiyo wryly added. "How are you not disrupting the functions of my central processors…?" Penny's voice trailed off before she asked, "Do I have central processors? This is not my body, so how am I functioning?"
An amused chuckle escaped the woman now trying to probe the adopted Atlesian's head. "It's okay, Penny-chan!" Ayumu declared. "I have to do this EVERY time an android or gynoid comes to the Doll House to become a battle doll to be Gifted. No matter which planet you come from, it ALWAYS happens! Every time someone makes an android or gynoid, they ALWAYS put in a housekeeping computer!" A moan escaped her as she shook her head. "Why…?!"
Penny blinked. "Um…it is to ensure that I can function properly…AH!"
Ayumu's brown-grey eyes brightened before she pulled her hand out of the reborn gynoid's skull. "There we go!" the native of Wakayama called out before she reached over to help Penny slowly sit up. "Now that silly programming is working right for your new body, you can get up and have something to eat."
"Not TOO fast!" Chiyo advised as she came over to join her friend. "Are you alright, Penny-san?"
Gazing at the younger of the pair of strange women, Penny blinked as she took in all the details, a touch of surprise flooding her as she realized that even if she was a battle doll — whatever THAT was — she could still analyze things with the same level of speed and proficiency that she could as a gynoid. A girl having just passed into puberty, possessing expressive brown eyes behind the same type of protective goggles that Isaac Thomas had worn. She also had a very pleasant shade of tenné brown hair styled in two ponytails like teardrops behind her ears. She wore a form-fitting soft gold jumpsuit with bared arms and shoulders, that complete with brown belt and boots with fold-down outer flaps that rose almost to her knees, the belt lined with many pouches, some open and bearing quite small electronic devices of types which Penny was unfamiliar with. On her chest above her budding breasts was a sideways "C" in silver, three white lighting bolts emanating from the opening of the letter pointing to her throat and shoulders.
And…
Penny was now blushing. "You are very cute, Miss Chiyo."
As Chiyo flustered at that complement, Ayumu nodded as she crossed her arms, a touch of pride in her voice as she declared, "Yeah, everyone says that about Chiyo-chan! Good thing I turned her into a battle doll when she got Gifted. I mean, if I didn't do that, her brain would have BURNED OUT from…!"
"Ōsaka-san! Slow down! She doesn't understand a thing!" Chiyo snapped.
Penny blinked, then she gazed on the older of the pair. A rather plain face pierced by brown-grey eyes that seemed all-seeing yet also strangely vacant, that framed by brown hair that flowed to shaggy ends around her shoulders. She wore a grey battlesuit with white belt and boots of the same model that Chiyo wore, though her belt only had two pouches poised over the iliac crest of her pelvic bones. On her chest above her more pronounced cleavage — she seemed to be the same age that Penny had been constructed to emulate — was a white symbol looking like a sideways number "8".
A sideways "8"…
"The One Above the Gods…!"
That made the two Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei both blink in confusion…
****
An hour later, on the streets of Vale (Savannah time: Sunday 1 April, a half-hour after suppertime)…
"PLEASE tell me you're kidding me…"
The Wise Lone Sage shook his head.
Damn it! He KNEW he shouldn't have opened his mouth to James Ironwood earlier!
Still…!
"So, YOU'RE the one who founded Renaissance Industries, eh?!"
Isaac Thomas blinked as he gazed upon the small group of local therianthropes known as "Faunus" now standing about four metres ahead of him, all bearing visible insignia marking them as members of the group known as the "White Fang", all armed. "If I am, Mister Haddock?" the New Yorker calmly asked in turn.
He was NOT in the mood for this sort of confrontation scene!
A gargled breath made him focus on the fellow with the buzz-cut black hair and intricate tattoos on his exposed arms, said person now shuddering in disbelief and shock on noting that he had been called out by name. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't know who you are, Gray? May I call you Gray?" Isaac then taunted as he placed his hands on his hips. "So, what's the issue? My public relations staff made it clear from the start that Renaissance Industries wouldn't discriminate when it came to hiring and I wouldn't tolerate any discrimination by human staff on Faunus co-workers…"
"SHADDUP!" Gray Haddock, one of the field lieutenants to Adam Taurus who had been involved in a kidnapping attempt against Weiss Schnee some months ago, roared as he keyed on his weapon.
"HEY, GRAY! WAIT…!" his second-in-command, Ken Tukson, yelled as the other man charged.
He and the others watched as Isaac crouched, reaching behind the back of his body to snare something. Uncertainty now rocked their hearts as they thought about what the man they were targeting had just said. They had been directly ordered by their leader — now chasing down his old lover Blake Belladonna within the halls of the Beacon Academy — to find the man who set up Renaissance Industries and capture him so he could be interrogated by Cinder Fall to learn what his plans were concerning creating technology not powered by Dust. While they had known the new company made it a key policy point to make their works as prejudice-free as possible and had even contributed funds to a multi-kingdom charity supporting the Faunus living in Menagerie, the fact that the new start-up WAS pursuing a path that would ultimately give humanity as a whole total freedom from dependency on Dust was something that for some oddball reason set Adam Taurus right off. In fact, Ken's younger sister Tara now worked as a research assistant in Renaissance; it was through her that Adam's group found out about Isaac Thomas' very lofty goals for all of Remnant.
So…if he was really on their side…?
PSSSHHEW…!
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH…!"
Ken and his friends Scott Mata and Monica Khan looked over on hearing their leader screech…
…then their jaws dropped in stunned disbelief to see Gray now lying face-first on the street near their target's feet, his left arm a cauterized stump above the elbow, the severed limb having dropped off to one side. The cause of his injury: An ENERGY SWORD in Isaac's right hand, said weapon forging a blade a metre long, glowing a brilliant evergreen, the hilt about a third of the length of its business end, it silver metal with a small control pad and black rubber grips.
As the native of Menagerie howled from being literally "disarmed" like that, the Wise Lone Sage twirled his lightsabre — forged under the tutelage one of several people who ultimately benefited from Hirosaki Ryūji's visit to a galaxy far, far away in another dimension in the 1930s, Qui-Gon Jinn of Coruscant — around in a playful circle before the point of the weapon tore into the power box of Gray's chainsaw. "Oh, be quiet, you baby!" the New Yorker scolded as he stared in contempt at the fallen warrior. "Now you'll have scars to remind you that not all humans are weak and helpless…"
The sounds of mechanical limbs echoed from nearby.
"Oh, my…just in time," Isaac snidely chuckled as he gazed down an alley…
…as a platoon's worth of Knight-200s approached, weapons at the hip and aiming at the Wise Lone Sage, helmets and bodies glowing an ominous crimson. Gray looked over…before he shrieked as one bolt ripped into his forehead, killing him before Isaac's blade deflected the others! "HEY!" Scott snarled as he drew his own sword and charged.
"SCOTT, WAIT!" Monica howled as the ovine therianthrope deflected several shots before he got clipped by another android in the left knee, sending him face-first into the street. "SCOTT!" the young niece of the White Fang's current leader shrieked as she lunged over to save him, forcing both Ken and Isaac to move to shield her.
The lightsabre and the broadsword expertly welded by the mustelid therianthrope whose older brother fled the White Fang and hid in Vale a year before — only to be tracked down and killed for his "treason" by Mercury Black and his friend Emerald Sustrai some months ago — flashed to deflect bolts away as Monica dragged the grunting Scott clear of the field of fire. Several Knight-200s were decapitated by well-reflected shots, they collapsing to the ground even as their brothers pressed the attack. Just as Isaac was about to crouch down before charging at the remainder of the rogue machines, a buzzing sound echoed in his ears. "Damn it, Albert! Not now!" the Wise Lone Sage snapped.
"I take it I'm interrupting a fight scene, Isaac?!" a cackling man's voice echoed over the scene.
"Yeah, you are!" the New Yorker quipped as the remaining section of Knight-200s ceased fire to charge him. "Looks like Mister Black didn't care for my calling him out in front of General Ironwood like that!"
"He didn't!" Ken warned.
"Ah! I assume that's young Mister Tukson?!" "Doctor" Albert Wily demanded from aboard Isaac's personal spheroid-shaped shuttlecraft which was now in low orbit over Vale.
That made the broadsword warrior awk, which was the cue for Isaac to leap up to rebound off the side wall of the alley above the androids' heads with practised grace before he spiralled down, his lightsabre spinning with him to decapitate four of the androids in one sweep. As the other Knight-200s tried to bear on him, Ken grunted before he charged, his sword high in the air. Isaac back-flipped clear, allowing the other man to chop the remaining three machines down. Isaac quickly got back to his feet, lightsabre at the ready as he gazed intently upon the late Phillip Tukson's brother.
The two faced off for a moment…
…then both jolted on hearing someone scream in fright.
"Grimm…!" Isaac and Ken moaned…
****
High in the skies over Vale…
"Young Miss Rose is on the airship that Mister Torchwick and Miss Neopolitan just commandeered, Albert. She's making a good show," Thomas Light warned as he gazed over his shoulder at his fellow replicant. "The wyvern whose presence was projected to be in the area is now approaching the Academy."
"Good, good," his "rival" noted before tapping a control to reopen the link between himself and his creator. "Isaac, we're detecting a considerable host of Grimm now converging on your current position. Do you need some Robot Masters down there to assist yourself and Mister Tukson's friends?"
"Negative, Albert! We can handle this down here!" Isaac Thomas replied from the surface many kilometres below, the echoing hum of the New Yorker's lightsabre echoing in the background. "Mister Mata's ambulatory! Turns out Miss Khan has a healing Aura capability! Pass it on to Miss Tukson that I'll get her boyfriend back to her!"
Albert's grey eyes twinkled as he gazed at a blushing Tara Tukson, now seated by the communications station of the highly advanced scout craft as she watched the "elderly human" scientists continue their work. While having not learned the truth of her new employer and his senior scientists, the young and impressionable native of the backwoods of Vale was coming to realize that there was a LOT more going on with Renaissance Industries than she first suspected when she was hired on as Albert Wily's chief assistant months before. Still, she was loyal to the older "man", even going so far as to have something of a crush on him…though Albert was too much a gentleman to respond to her acts of flirting. And he didn't care concerning the issue about the accepted view within the Four Kingdoms concerning the "proper" place of people like herself. Even more so, neither Albert nor Thomas hadn't cared a whit about her own brother's membership in one of the more radical wings of the White Fang. "She overheard you, Isaac!"
"Tara?!" Scott Mata gasped through Isaac's communications link.
"I'm here, Scott!" Tara called back.
"You're not being held hostage, are you?!"
That made her snarl. "Don't be a rock head, you lump! Professor Wily's been a perfect…eh?!"
Albert and Thomas spun around as a warning beacon echoed from the board in front of Tara, then the latter got out of his chair to head over and see who was now coming into sensor range. After a moment, the eldest male replicant built by the Wise Lone Sage shook his head. "We have a problem, Isaac."
"What is it, Thomas?"
"ISAAC! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, YOU BASTARD?!"
Tara squealed on hearing that booming voice while her "elderly" co-worker moaned. "Miss Black just teleported into Vale, Isaac," Thomas warned in a deadpan voice.
Albert visibly winced. "Oh, dear…"
****
Back in Vale…
Oh, hell! It's going to be one of THOSE days, is it…?!
A bone-chilling hiss of fright escaped Monica Khan as she stared in wide-eyed horror upon the cloaked woman in black-and-gunmetal grey who just appeared a couple metres behind a large troop of Grimm — a mixture of beowolves, nevermores and ursas, Isaac Thomas noted as he readied his lightsabre; there were three dozen in all — who chanced on the scene of the surviving White Fang warriors sent to capture the Wise Lone Sage confronting the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei polymath. As the grunting Scott Mata and the tensing Ken Tukson gazed on their friend while her feline ears flattened against her skull and her fur bristled, the just-arrived human engine of destruction now living in southeast Georgia glared intently at her fellow American, the scowl on her face twisting her quite stellar looks quite noticeably.
"Margo…" Isaac moaned. "If you wouldn't mind, this is MY fight scene…!"
"Shut the hell up, you stupid egghead!" Margo Black snarled as she moved to advance on him, acting as if the ghoulish beings blocking her way were mere motes of dust.
Then again, given she was the Archangel of Mortality herself, the Grimm WERE motes of dust…
…as one snarling ursa quickly learned.
Without breaking stride, the Vermont-born adopted New Yorker known on Yiziba as Litronie Erba ("Doctor Death") snared the attacking bear-like being by the snout, her tactile necrosis going to work to render the Grimm ashes in the blink of an eye! As Monica shrieked in understandable fear and Ken and Scott boggled in shock at the fact that some human could actually TOUCH a Grimm without being affected…to say anything of DESTROYING the tough creatures with said touch! — noting the reaction from the niece of the White Fang's leader, Isaac recalled that many Faunus gained various extrasensory abilities of their animal templates when they evolved into such during puberty — the other Grimm howled in terror on realizing a far more DANGEROUS apex predator had come onto the scene.
By then, it was too late for a half-dozen of the creatures. They had stumbled into touching range for the orphaned elder daughter of a Persian Gulf War veteran, one tossed into the New York state adoption system by her father's greedy second wife because Margo was said to be supposedly "too crazy".
The results of which were…predictable.
"What the FUCK is the matter with you, Thomas?!" the assassin to two American presidents and the woman who killed the leader of al-Qā'idah months ago in Operation: Neptune Spear demanded as she side-kicked a nevermore in the leg before grasping it by a clawed wing to render it ashes. "What's this shit I heard from Suzumiya about you pulling some act of DEATH CHEATING, huh?! You'd think I'd let that happen, buster?! You got another fucking think coming!"
Isaac tried not to groan. Trying to deal with the likes of Elizabeth Wakefield's brown-haired, grey-eyed near-lookalike when she was in THIS sort of mood was like trying to stop either Molly Hecht or Takino Tomo when they were on a rampage in the Battlezone! Gee! Thanks you so very much, Margo! he snidely mused to himself. Blare everything out when Mercury Black is FILMING this shit for all on Remnant to see…!
"It's jammed, Isaac."
The New Yorker perked before he sighed. "Thank you, Thomas!" he grunted, earning him a curious look from Ken while Scott was trying to calm the quaking Monica; no doubt, the aura of pure death that the just-arrived Vermonter-turned-New Yorker projected from her body was overwhelming the felinoid therianthrope's fight-or-flight urges.
Of course, the Grimm had gone into panic mode after so many had fallen to this deathly being who seemed WORSE than the dark arch-mage who was the only true friend to the creatures destined to be the enemy of all life on this world. Naturally, several of them move to escape by taking flight…
"Hey! Margo-chan! Calm down, okay?!"
Hearing that airy voice with its Ōsaka-ben accent, Isaac felt the urge to simply break down and cry.
Did I do something wrong in a previous life to deserve THIS…?!
Wild shrieks of agony then made everyone look up…
…before they all gaped on seeing the nevermores that had tried to fly clear of Margo instantly EXPLODE into nothingness on hitting a glowing silvery shield that had been cloaked far over their heads. As the ash-like remains of such creatures began to cascade to the ground, a smiling woman in grey-and-white came up to join the third of Yiziba's top quadrumvirate of reality warpers. "Haruhi-chan TOLD you that it's got to happen THIS way, okay?!" Kasuga Ayumu said as she held up a finger, seeming looming over the other American who had come to Vale this evening. "The only way everyone on Remnant's going to be happy in the end is for Ruby-chan to discover her special Gift…!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Um…Margo-chan, are you okay?"
Isaac blinked in confusion on seeing a visibly-calmer Margo now gazing at the palm of her left hand, that now covered in the greyish-black ash-like substance that was all that remained of the body of any Grimm after it was destroyed; the remains of one of the nevermores Ayumu effectively wiped out of existence a moment before had showered directly onto the Archangel of Mortality. As the three Faunus warriors visibly relaxed on sensing the far more positive aura projected by the current incarnation of the Goddess Who Walks Among Men, Nodim ("Infinity"), the incensed look that had marred Margo's looks when she teleported to Remnant from Earth visibly melted into bewilderment, touched with a faint echo of recognition. Noting that, the Wise Lone Sage deactivated his lightsabre before walking over, keying his goggles' scanners to analyze the fragments in his fellow American's hand. "What is it, Margo?"
"I've seen this somewhere before," the Vermonter-turned-New Yorker and adopted Georgian said as Ken came over, his own curiosity at this sudden twist of events making him stow his broadsword while Scott helped Monica back to her feet, warmly hugging her in reassurance as they followed their companion over. "Back on Earth…"
"'Earth'?!" Ken automatically asked.
"Oh, yeah!" Ayumu cheerfully answered. "You see, Isaac-kun, Margo-chan and I aren't from Remnant! We're from a planet named Earth; it's about thirteen hundred light-years that way!" She pointed off to the west at around sea level.
"You're all ALIENS?!" Tara Tukson screeched from aboard Isaac's scout ship far overhead.
"Oh, relax, Tara-chan! We're not all mean monsters like these stinky Grimm and those dorky Goa'uld, you know!" Ayumu declared as Ken, Scott and Monica gaped in awe at the three Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei in their midst. "Isaac-kun's an explorer! He wanted to check out what's the reason you're putting up to these stinky Grimm in the first place, not to mention wanting to help folks like you live better lives since so many normal humans here are oh so DUMB…!"
"Okay! Okay, Ayumu-chan, they get it!" Isaac scolded, shaking his head.
"I gotta go."
Both Isaac and Ayumu gazed in shock at Margo. "Why, Margo-chan?" the latter asked.
"This is some type of Earth magic I ran into once before," the Archangel of Mortality warned. "I can't recall exactly where I encountered it. Maybe the eggheads at MARPA can give me an answer…"
"Who do you know there?" Isaac immediately asked.
She gazed at him, not surprised that the hyper-genius polymath from the Queens part of New York had friends in the Magical Advanced Projects Research Agency, whose headquarters was close to where the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was in western Massachusetts. "Pete Candlewick. Why?"
He nodded. "I was going to recommend Don Fischer," he noted before a smile crossed his face. "Good head on his shoulders; 'no-maj-born' as they'd say it back home. Tell Peter to contact me when he finds out what that stuff is. If something from back home's the root cause of the issues with the Grimm, these people need our help more than ever."
"Yeah, yeah." Margo then turned to leave before she paused. "Oh, you three…"
The Faunus warriors then tensed as the reborn master assassin-turned-ultimate dark cosmic meta glared at them with a look that promised an eternity of PAIN if they defied her. "Not a fucking word until Isaac says otherwise, okay? You idiots blab, I kill you ONE CELL at a time! Capiche?!" she coldly demanded.
Ken, Scott and Monica all rapidly nodded their heads. "Yes, ma'am…!"
Then in a flash of energy, the Archangel of Mortality was on her way back to Earth. Isaac blinked before he groaned, his shoulders slumping. "Oh, relax, Isaac-kun!" Ayumu said as she patted his shoulder. "Chiyo-chan will call you about our new friend! Don't worry about our other new friends…!"
Being reminded of what ELSE he had to do, Isaac then jolted. "Oh, shit! I forgot…!"
"Relax!" the Goddess Who Walks Among Men assured him. "I took care of it! Seriously, people like you and Chiyo-chan and Elizabeth-chan and Tánja-chan just over-complicate things all the time!"
With that, Ayumu teleported away as Ken and his friends all stared in bewilderment at Isaac…
****
…while unseen by either the New Yorker or his new local friends, a scarred yet still living Atlesian warrior was gazing on the scene from several buildings away through a pair of field binoculars. After a moment, said devices were lowered away from General James Ironwood's now very wide eyes.
"The One Above the Gods…!" the leader of Atlas' military croaked out.
He then tensed on hearing familiar shouts from nearby, then he turned to race off.
No matter what the mystery concerning Isaac Thomas was, Ironwood had friends in Vale needing help.
He'd confront that young man about the One Above the Gods when he got a chance…
To Be Continued…!
****
WRITER'S NOTES
As noted in the introduction, the main part of this story commences several months before the start of the main story. The basic plot is mine, though Fred has gone through it and added onto it to better ensure no issues with continuity.
The adventures that Isaac Thomas (Doctor Renaissance) was involved in while he was in California as noted in the teaser in prior to the start of this story will be covered in Friendship is Yizibajohei. As noted in The Deadliest Woman Alive, Isaac spent time in the pirate city of Roanapur (from Black Lagoon) immediately after he was Gifted.
Please refer to Fred's writer's notes in Boy Meets Girl Meets Metahuman to understand the basic galactic situation surrounding Earth in the universe of this story.
The Senior Year character note: Henry is the name given to the controlling computer of the Gatherer, which first appeared in "Lum's Lesson". The Rovers are autonomous probes deployed by the Sagussans to scout various locations within the Milky Way Galaxy which might interest them; they were first shown in "My Darlings United".
The term Reliquisynchronous indicates something in the equivalent of geosynchronous orbit over Remnant. That word is based on the Latin verb relinquō ("I leave behind").
Considering that it doesn't make sense to me that Remnant would follow a Terran-type form of dating system (as note what's seen about people's birthdays on the RWBY Wikia pages), I decided to make a "local" calendar for the third world of Oum. Based on both Cambodian and Vietnamese terms (in respect to Monty Oum's ancestry), I have the years count from 204 BCE on Earth; people from Vietnam will know this is the start of the Nam Việt Kingdom from whose name we get the modern term for that nation. The year would be divided into six "super-months" corresponding to the six stellar constellations as seen from Remnant introduced during the series' 18th Anniversary via a star chart-imprinted T-shirt. The months would have Cambodian-based names for animals approximating the Grimm used to name the constellations; respectively, they are (with length of month): Chiahseh ("horseman") (59 days/60 leap year days), Phichet ("centipede") (61 days), Khila ("tiger") (61 days), Neak ("dragon") (62 days), Pisa ("serpent") (61 days) and Treichleam ("shark") (61 days). Remnant’s New Years Day falls on 1 Chiahseh, naturally.
Days of the week would be borrowed from Cambodian terms as follows: Sunday (Gayatit), Monday (Gaycan); Tuesday (Gayangkie), Wednesday (Gayput), Thursday (Gayprohas), Friday (Gaysok), Saturday (Gaysaw).
With Vale City as the "central meridian" of the planet per the map of Remnant, midnight on the first day of Chiahseh would fall on the same time as midnight falls on Earth in the Atlantic Standard Time zone in North America (UTC-4:00); this is based on the Cambodian New Year (Cūl Chnāṃ Thmī), which falls on that date. Note that since this is the 2216th year since the second rise of humanity on Remnant, I used the Terran 2216 CE calendar to determine where days fall, hence it being the equivalent of Saturday in the first post-title panel scene.
Translation of the first verses of Tsukurimashō, theme song to Mihama Chiyo in Azumanga Daiō:
Tsukurimashō! Tsukurimashō! (Let's make something! Let's make something!)
Sate, sate, nani ga dekirukana? (Now then, what can we make?)
Hai! Dekimashita! (Yes! We did it!)
RWBY minor character notes: Gray Haddock is the name of the voice actor who portrayed the White Fang lieutenant who first appeared in "Painting the Town…" (second season, fourth episode). Gray's allies that go after Isaac Thomas near the end of this chapter are Fred's creation, though all based on characters who have appeared in RWBY. Ken Tukson's brother Phillip Tukson (first name created by Fred) appeared in "Best Day Ever" (second season, first episode); his sister Tara Tukson is Fred's own creation. Scott Mata is based on the character with the same family name who appeared in "Necessary Sacrifice" (fifth season, fifth episode). Monica Khan is based on the current leader of the White Fang, Sienna Khan, who was first mentioned in "The Next Step" (fourth season, first episode) and finally appeared in "Dread in the Air" (fifth season, second episode).
Hirosaki Ryūji is mentioned in various parts of the main story. A veteran of the Wars of Liberation (Fred's title to the magical wars that rocked Earth concurrent to the Second World War), he is also maternal grandfather to Hirosaki Chikage of Sister Princess (Fred's favourite dating simulation game series). The concept of the "magical quest" that Ryūji underwent in the 1930s is first looked at in Fred's story Harry Potter and the Icemaidens.
The Magical Advanced Projects Research Agency (MARPA), the magical research/development arm of the United States Department of Magic (known to most Harry Potter fans by the term Magical Congress of the United States of America [MACUSA]), was first mentioned in Regina Magia's omake Magic In Miami: The Sunshine Troupe Assembles. The researchers mentioned by Isaac Thomas and Margo Black here, Peter Candlewick and Donald Fischer, first appeared in Part 15 of the first draft of The End of The Circus (Fanfiction story ID 12315177).