Team RAMM

Chapter 01

"Come on, Yatsu, I got 30 Lien on you."

Ruby looked over at the leader of Team CFVY, then over at the huge man she spoke to, who himself was giving her a mildly meaningful look, though not a harsh one. Part of Ruby was shocked that Coco would be putting bets on what was a friendly sparing match, but then again, she wondered if the upper classman was just joking around.

As for Yatsuhashi, he returned his attention to his opponent. The big man looked almost casual, but Ruby could tell that he was ready to move in any direction, his stance being a bit deceptive. Ren, on the other hand, had taken a more 'traditional' unarmed stance, and seemed to be sizing up his opponent.

"Hey, Coco, I'll put 50 on Ren!" came Nora's voice from the other side of the circle, where she lounged in the early evening, and was quickly answered by Coco. As for Jaune and Pyrrha, they had matching facepalm reactions, though Ren didn't even seem to notice.

Ruby glanced over at the nearby buildings, and was surprised to see that they had more of an audience, with Oobleck and Port watching from one of the doorways. She was worried that they might stop the friendly sparring match that had sprung up on the lawn after dinner, but the two seemed to be enjoying the show. A moment later, Goodwitch joined them, looking disapprovingly at the gathering of students, but doing nothing more than make a comment to the two men.

Turning back to the combatants, Ruby was just in time to see Yatsuhashi step forward and take a swing at Ren, but that was only answered by Ren's almost casual dodge and grabbing the larger man's arm in order to execute a throw. That part was no surprise, but what caught everyone, including Ren, by surprise was that the big man had managed to grab Ren with his other arm, and as he came down on the ground, Ren was propelled further, almost sliding into where RWBY sat together on the grass. Ren quickly regained his feet, and gave his opponent a nod and half smile as they both drifted back towards the center of the circle.

A bright flash of light brought all concern about the match to a halt. Ruby, as with everyone else, looked off in the sky in the direction of the Emerald Forest, to see an expanding, fading, ring of light, and a smaller point of light falling from the sky from where it was. As the point of light disappeared at the horizon, a low rumbling boom finally reached them from the distance.

"Okay, play time is over." Goodwitch's voice came as the three professors came up to the students at a quick pace. "Since you have so much energy, you can come with us to investigate. This is a mission, you answer to your assigned Hunter as you would any other."

Ami shook her head as she struggled to rise from the flattened grass in the depression the impact had created. She tried to do a quick scan around, but her visor was flickering, then stopped displaying anything. She reached up and tapped the side of her tiara, to make it retract, but to her surprise it did nothing, still deployed, and in the sudden nighttime, the blue tint was doing more harm than good. After a moment, she resorted to pulling her tiara off entirely in order to see better.

A quick look around found they other girls were all there, Minako and Makoto looking around in the darkness, looking for any clue, and Rei kneeling beside Usagi, who lay on her back in the the center of the depression. She was still clad in the Serenity dress that she shifted into as they fell and she encased them in the protective bubble, her scepter held against her chest, but she did not move. "Rei? Is she?"

The raven haired girl look over at her, "She's breathing, but she's not moving." She told Ami, a bit of worry in her voice.

Ami was moving over to them when Makoto uttered a shocked profanity. She looked over at the tall teen, to see her staring up in the sky. "The Moon…"

Ami looked up at the sky, and was also shocked by what she saw. The Moon was broken, a large chuck ripped out it's side, rocks and debris all around it. For a moment, she just stared at it, in mild horror, but then shook her head. "That can't be the Moon. It's too big, and the patterns are all wrong."

"Whatever did that could also make it look wrong." Minako replied.

Rei replied before Ami could. "No, the stars are wrong. I would know if I saw a constellation like that." She said, pointing at a distinctive formation of stars, that was like nothing she had ever seen the sky either.

"He said 'exiled'…" Ami said, remembering the deep, booming voice they heard just before they found themselves high in the sky, freefalling. "He said that since fate protected us from being killed, he'd exile us. He must have sent us to another world."

"That's ridiculous!" Rei replied, though it didn't seem with full conviction.

"Is it?" Minako asked. "Considering some of the stuff we have seen and done?"

Ami heard a noise in the distance, but her attention to it was cut off by Makoto. "Guys, we ain't alone here."

She looked over where the tallest senshi indicated, and saw what at first seemed to be some red fireflies among the trees that surrounded the area they had landed in, but she soon realized that they were eyes, at least four sets, and more joining them.

"Ami, what do you see with your visor?" Minako asked?

"My visor quit working." Was all she could reply. She was about to say more, but she heard Usagi mutter something quietly from where she lay, then a warm feeling wave over her for a second, feeling like it came from their leader's direction.

Rei looked at her for a second, then pulled her arms up as if to draw an invisible bow, but this time no fiery construct came to life. The others moved to gather their powers too, but nothing answered.

Ami looked again to the treeline, and saw that one of their observers had stepped into the light of the moon. It was tall, a good head or more taller than Makoto even hunched over, and reminded Ami of the creatures in many a Western werewolf film. But this one was pitch black, save for a white and red mask like thing on its face, and more bonelike spikes jutting from it's back and arms. Sniffing in their direction, it took another step into the clearing, and was joined by a couple more, one giving a howl, which was answered in the distance.

Ami could see Makoto slowly pick up a branch that was by her feet, but she could not see anything within reach herself, and was worried that any sudden movement on her part might provoke them. She instead took up a defensive stance the best she could, though in the back of her mind, she noted the sound she heard earlier was getting slowly louder.

All consideration of that sound was pushed from her as the creatures lunged forward. Only one came at her, but at least three charged Makoto and her makeshift club, the fate of the other girls being out of sight. She managed to dodge aside from a stroke of the creature's claw, but it was quick to swing the other arm, and it managed to snag a bit of the bow at the front of her uniform, though she had thought it hit her herself, but something seemed to deflect the claws at the last moment, the wave of energy she felt earlier coming to mind.

A moment last she had dodged enough to get near a branch of her own, but at the cost of another attack nearly hitting her, and she could feel whatever protection she had faltering. Swinging with the branch, she spared a quick glance at the others, and could see them all being pressed strongly, and two of the creatures pawing at a cocoon of energy which had seemed to envelop where Usagi lay.

But that distraction cost her, and she felt the creature strike her back, the protective aura faltering, and claws draw across her back as she was knocked to the ground. She could tell that it wasn't serious, but it still hurt, and now the creature had straddled her prone form.

But before it could take advantage of it's victory, Ami was shocked to see it's head explode into a red and black mist. As it feel back away from her, she realized that the noise she had heard was now almost deafening, and was clearly the sound of some kind of jet engine. As light flooded the clearing, a pair of boots struck the ground on either side of her hips, belonging to a girl, looking to be near her own age, wearing some kind of skirted uniform, a red cape, and some kind of thing that she held like a large gun. But then the gun began to change, shift, lengthen, until it had seemed to unfold into a long scythe, something like a technological grim reaper might hold. She looked around, and other girls, wearing similar uniforms save the cloak, dropped to the ground nearby. One had long white hair in a ponytail, and wielded some kind of ornate sword. Another with black hair drew forth a black bladed sword, holding the sheath in her other hand. A blonde girl rounded them out, not wielding any obvious weapon, but golden bracelets on her wrists expanded to cover her entire forearms, and she took up a fighting stance.

Across the clearing, another group dropped from the circling aircraft. A girl pulled out something that unfolded into a massive hammer which she swung with frightful ease, knocking one of the creatures airborne. With her were a boy and a girl, each with a sword and shield, his resembling some kind of knight, her's something more like ancient Greece, and their party was rounded out with a vaguely Chinese looking boy would seemed to pull a pair of green pistols out of nowhere, odd blades attached to the front of them.

Then a third group dropped to the ground, as the first two began to battle the creatures in the clearing. One was a massive young man, looking vaguely Japanese, and wielding a sword nearly as tall as he. Another young man landed beside him, nasty looking blades attached to his forearms. They were joined by two girls, both with some kind of bags hanging off a shoulder, one with a black beret going with her uniform, the other wearing, of all things, a set of rabbit ears.

Finally three more landed, the sound of the aircraft pulling back with their arrival, each near one of the groups. Near the last to arrive was a short, stout man in a red uniform carrying a gun looking like something an American holiday card, but then she was shocked when he turned to hold it by the barrel and a pair of axeheads seemed to unfold from it. Near the other distant group, a tall, lanky man with wild green hair and unkempt cloths landed, a cylinder he held in one hand unfolding into something more like a metallic club.

The third landed close to her, a rather severe looking blonde woman in a black shirt and white shirt, and holding what appeared to be a riding crop. As the woman took a step closer to Ami, she seemed to take in the situation around them. "Ruby, secure the clearing and set up a landing zone over there! Coffee, Juniper, do a sweep of the area to push back any that might still be a threat. Port, coordinate them, Oobleck, stay here with me."

As the groups moved to follow her orders, Ami was taking in what she said, or more precisely how she understood it. The language sounded almost like English. But more curiously, while Ami was relatively fluent in that language, she understood the words far more perfectly and quickly than she had ever before.

Ami looked around found her companions drawing closer, none of them looking as if they had come out of the ordeal unscathed, though only Minako seemed to have any real injury, a set of claw marks down her left arm, but looking no worse than how the set on her own back felt. A quick glance over at Usagi revealed that whatever protective aura had guarded her earlier was now gone, and the green haired man knelt next to her holding some kind of device which he examined. "This one seems uninjured, Glynda, but seems to be unconcious." He called over.

Glynda looked over at Ami, "Are you responsible for this?" she asked, gesturing to the circular clearing around them.

"I'm not sure." She replied, truthfully. "We did not come here on our own, but I think something that U… Princess Serenity," she corrected herself, "something that she did to protect us."

"And you are?" She continued, and Ami noticed that she seemed to catch that hesistation about Usagi's idenity.

"I am Mercury, and these are Mars, Jupiter and Venus." She replied, noting that the other senshi seemed slightly puzzled, but appeared to accept the use of their senshi names. "We don't appear to be from here?"

Glynda seemed about to say something in reply to that, but a sudden noise cut her off. While she had been hearing the sounds of gunfire and small explosions since the people arrived, not surprising given some of the weapons she saw, this was the sound of a large, fast firing machine gun. To their left, leaves burst from trees struck by the long burst of bullets, but none got close to them. The woman scowled and pulled out a phonelike device. "Port! Please inform Ms Adel that while I appreciate the level of precision she is able to use that gun of hers, I would appreciate it if she didn't demonstrate it so close to us."

A hearty laugh came from the other end of the connection. "I will try to impress that upon her, Glynda."

"Well," the woman said, returning her attention to Ami, "you and the princess going to come with us for now." She informed them in a tone that brooked no argument. "At least until we all have a better idea of what's going on."

The girl who had directly saved Ami earlier approached, now. "Professor Goodwitch," she said, raising her voice over the sound of one of the aircraft vertically descending into the field at the far side from them, "everything looks clear for now, and they are ready to pick us up."

"Thank you Ruby. Now get a litter for the princess. We'll take them on ours." Pulling back out the phone. "Coffee, Juniper, we are about to start extraction. Make your way back and be ready to lift." A male and a female voice answered to her satisfaction.

When the dark haired girl returned with the folding stretcher, there was a brief argument about who would handle it and Usagi, but after a moment they relented and let the senshi load their leader onto it themselves, and carry it towards the craft. A few minutes later, they were secure on board, and it lifted up and towards its destination.

Ami took advantage of the situation to get a look around. The forest they lifted out of was thick, and rather large, but see could see a city in the distance, and the sea beyond. A few moments later, she could see that they were approaching some sort of facility ahead, its structures having a rather academic feel, with a large clocktower dominating it's silhouette.

"Ruby called you Professor." She said to the blonde woman. "Is this some kind of school?"

The woman gave her a bit of a look, but then nodded. "This is Beacon Academy, one of the foremost hunstmen schools of Remnant."

'Huntsmen', the word rolling through Ami's mind. That would explain why teens in school uniform style outfits were also packing weapons and able to deal with monsters so readily, though it frightened her a bit to think that they seemed to take creatures that took all the effort of the Senshi back home almost as a minor challenge.

Makoto had listened to the exchange from where she stood next to the blonde student. "Okay, so they let you have some freedom with your uniforms. I can understand the beret, and those cuffs, and even the cape, but what's with the girl wearing rabbit ears?"

Ami noticed that the black-haired student gave Makoto a sharp look for a moment at that, but remained silent. But it was the green haired professor who answered. "On the contrary, young lady, Ms Scarlatina's ears are no affection, but part of her. Velvet is a faunus, manifesting the characteristics of a rabbit in her case."

Ami looked back at the dark haired girl, noting the black bow she wore. She wondered if anybody else had seen her reaction to Makoto's question, and wondered if the bow concealed anything beneath.

Then something hit her. "'Scarlatina?' Her name is Velvet Scarlatina?" she asked, something coming to mind. "I'm sorry, but when I was studying advanced English, we had to read a story called The Velveteen Rabbit, which was about a doll belonging to a boy with scarlet fever. And now there is a girl who is part rabbit, but has a name like story."

"The faunus are not part animal." The black haired girl said. "They only have some animal characteristics."

Before Ami could respond to that, the green haired professor replied to her own statement. "Fascinating. We must definitely discuss this." He said, the pace of his speech being quite rapid. "If what you have said is true and that you are not from Remnant, and given how you seemed to unfamiliar with the Grimm, then it could be an interesting topic to discuss if there are echoes of some sort between both places." Ami was glad that whatever Lunar Magic that Usagi had subconsciously projected had given them mastery of the local language, for even with her own skill with English, even she would have had some difficulty keeping up with his rapid speech.

Rei looked up from where she was kneeling by Usagi's stretcher. "What were those things?"

"Those, my girl, were Creatures of Grimm, Beowolves to be precise. They are not a natural part of the biosphere, it seems, but are instead a manifestation of the darker emotions of the world. Beowolves themselves are the weakest of the kind, but it was still impressive how well you were able to defend yourself against the, despite having no weapons, something that seems to surprising given that you say that you are the companions to what you say is a princess, and seems to be wearing something that could be seen as a uniform, but you seem to be unarmed."

Ami felt uncomfortable at this moment, especially given how both professors present were looking at them rather intently. But before she could formulate an answer, she could feel the direction of the craft shifting, and could see the jets swivel down as they began to land.

"We'll discuss that after all four of you are given a medical check for your injuries," Glynda said, gesturing to the bandage on Ami's back. "But, do not worry for your princess. Our first priority is her, and your, health and safety. Then we can discuss how you came to be here."

A moment later, they were on the ground, a team of medics arriving to help everyone out and towards the clinic a short trot away. But, Ami's attention was not towards the one directing her, but towards a white haired man in a green suit holding a cane and seemingly casually drinking from a coffee cup that was almost casually watching the proceedings.

The first rays of dawn's light were starting to touch the sky when the blue shod foot touched the ground with an almost dainty ease. A moment later, the woman in a blue dress holding a staff and a glowing red orb surveyed the impact area that she had descended into, taking in the surroundings. After a moment or two, she took a few steps and gently prodded something on the ground with the foot of her staff. It was not hard to recognize the tiara with it's blue gem and visor. "So, it appears that they did survive their arrival, just as I told Master that they might."

She looked around again, taking in the brightening sky. "Good, that gives me plenty of reason to stay here. No interference with my plans from Master's other little girls, and a world that won't be ready for my power."

She looked at the orb for a moment, and smiled. "First, I must find a place to keep you, my pretty, and then… Oh, what is this?"

She had, as soon as she arrived, had brought up a detection aura, and now it told her something was near. Turning, she looked at the treeline, and saw three creatures staring at her from there. "Why, hello my pretties." She said, casually, the grip on her staff tightening just slightly. "Now what are you?"

As if to answer, the first one, then the other two sprung forward, headed her way. Perhaps they wondered why she did not flee, or even act scared. Instead she smiled, lifted the staff, then brought it slamming to the dirt. Tendrils of dark blue lightning erupted from the ornate jewel capping it, arcing out to the three creatures, stopping them in their tracks. For a moment, they howled and thrashed, but fell silent as their red eyes and the red markings on their 'masks' shifted to a brilliant blue hue.

Once the energies faded, she strode up to her new servants. "Hmmmm… How delightfully souless, let a lot of power within you… And a hunger… A hunger for despair… Fear… Anger… Oh yes, I do believe that I might be able to help you feed well. But first, let us find a few more of your friends. I do need more to serve, and conquer this world."

A moment later, she, and her new escorts began striding away from the impact area. Saphirus rather liked how this was starting.