Chapter 1

"Quiet." Blake said. "There's someone else out here." She motioned the others toward the source of the sound. It was just after sunset and already the forest was dark, only illuminated by moonlight and the last fading rays of the sun. Team RWBY had been heading back to their camp – it would provide some security in the otherwise dangerous night – but this was something that could not wait. They crept through the brush to the edge of a clearing. A few yards away, eight unknown individuals were making quite a racket. Did they not know how dangerous it was out here?

"What are they doing here?" Weiss asked rhetorically. "They look totally oblivious to the danger."

"Maybe they're lost." Ruby suggested. "We should help them."

"What if they're hostile?" Blake cautioned. "We're out here to look into reports of people disappearing, they could be the culprits."

"They're just kids." Yang said. "They can't be any older than us. I seriously doubt they're responsible. They're probably just lost."

"I'm going to help them." Ruby said. She stood up and walked toward the strange group. Just as she began to cross the field, something amazing happened.

"Where the hell are we?!" Yosuke's shouting woke Yu up with a start. He was not sure how long he had been unconscious or why. He sat up and looked around. They certainly were not in Inaba anymore; where exactly, he could not say.

"Calm down." Yu said. "Margaret wouldn't send us anywhere too dangerous." The others were just beginning to stir. Losing consciousness must have been a side-effect of entering this place, wherever it was. Margaret had told him that another world needed his help, and he was not going to go into battle without his friends. They had met Margaret as planned, entered a TV, and here they were. "Is everyone alright?" They indicated they were with a series of nods and thumbs ups.

"I don't think we're in the TV world." Naoto said. "I can see fine without the glasses."

"It doesn't smell like the TV world either." Teddie added.

"Look at the moon!" Yosuke was still not calm. Still, the sight was enough to inspire some concern. The shattered face of the moon was like nothing Yu had ever seen.

"Maybe we're on another planet." Chie said. Everyone turned their attention to her. "You know I just say the first thing that pops into my head. You don't have to look at me like I'm stupid."

"Actually, you might be right." Naoto said. "What if Margaret really meant it when she said it was another world. It would explain things."

"So we're not in the TV?" Kanji asked. He was really slow on the uptake.

"Can we use our Personas here?" Yukiko asked with a hint of concern in her voice. "I don't think we'd be much help without them after all." They had come armed as they would if they were going into the TV world, but they relied heavily on their Personas.

"There's only one way to find out." Yu said with his characteristic calm. "Izanagi!" His Persona manifested behind him, as if he had been in the TV world. He let it fade.

"That's a relief." Rise added. "I should scan the area."

"Hey, who's that?" Kanji pointed to a girl standing just across the field. She looked terribly surprised, maybe even afraid.

"I don't think she's ever seen a Persona before." Naoto said. "She must be a local. We should see if she can help us."

"We should try to calm her down too." Yukiko said. "Seeing Yu's Persona must have been quite a shock."

That was different. Ruby had seen many crazy things, but this stopped her in her tracks. The boy with grey hair shouted something and then a figure appeared behind him. It had to be at least fifteen feet tall, was dressed a bit like the boy, had a robotic-looking head and carried a giant sword. Then it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. With power like that, maybe this group was responsible for the disappearances.

Now they had seen her. They were walking towards her. She was not sure whether to fight or run. Ruby swung Crescent Rose off of her back and took up a combat stance. "Ruby!" Yang shouted, rushing up from behind her with Blake and Weiss. Weapons drawn they took positions at her side.

That seemed to deter the group. They took a collective step back. Finally, one of them spoke. "Whoa, hold on." The boy with brown hair stammered. "We don't want to fight you, we're here to help." Now this was confusing.

"Who are you?" Blake shouted. "What was that?" Team RWBY remained poised for a fight.

"I'm Yosuke." The brown haired boy said. "I guess the that you're talking about was a Persona." That did not clear anything up. "Uh, little help guys."

"Please calm down." The blue haired androgynous one said. "We were told that our help was needed, so we came here to see what we could do."

"Help with what?" Ruby asked. "Who said?" It was all terribly confusing.

"We actually don't know." The black haired girl said sheepishly. "A friend of ours just told us our help was needed. We don't even know where we are exactly."

So they were lost. Ruby lowered Crescent Rose but the others kept their weapons up. "You're just outside the kingdom of Vale." She was met by blank stares. "You know it's dangerous to be in the forest at night don't you. The Grimm are even more aggressive than usual after dark." More blank stares. "Where are you from?"

"Inaba." The intimidating looking boy said. "Uh, in Japan."

Ruby had never heard of Inaba or Japan. "I'm not familiar."

"I think this is a big misunderstanding caused by our collective ignorance." The blue haired one said. "Maybe we should try explaining our relative situations."

"You said it was dangerous." The black haired girl said. "Is there a safe place we can go to and talk this over?"

"Our camp is pretty safe." Ruby said. She turned to the others. "We should at least hear them out. Let's take them to our camp."

"I don't know about this." Blake said. "It could be a trick."

"Uh, guys." Yang pointed to the tree line. Dozens of red eyes shined in the darkness. "We have company."