Chapter 2: Phantom Menace

Inspiration: Star Wars the Phantom Menace

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away . . .

"A galaxy? So are we talking about space?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Indeed, you'll be witnessing a universe where the galaxy is full of people and animals from different planets," Paradise explained.

"THAT IS SO COOL! Will there be space pirates? Will there be an ALIEN QUEEN?!" Nora shouted excitedly.

"Not here, maybe for another time."

"Aw," Nora moaned, Ren patting her back in consolation.

STAR WARS

EPISODE 1 THE PHANTOM MENACE

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to

outlaying star systems is in dispute.

Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the

greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of

Naboo.

While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of

events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights,

the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the

conflict...

The scene begins with Qrow Branwen walking down the street with a young girl with red hair beside him.

"Hey! That's Uncle Qrow!" Ruby exclaimed pointing at the screen.

"So Uncle Qrow's a Jedi knight in this universe? But what's Jedi anyway?"

"They're an ancient order of protectors who gifted with the ability to use the force, an energy connected to all living things. Think of it as the semblance in their world," Paradise explained cheerfully, "they're the heroes of this universe, however, not every Jedi is as heroic as you believe."

"What does that mean?" Jaune asked.

"I'll answer that later."

"I want to ask, but is that girl, Pyrrha?" Blake asked, pointing at the red haired girl.

"You'll be correct."

"Pyrrha! You're so cute when you were a kid!" Nora gushed.

"Gotta agree with Nora, you're just adorable!" Ruby squealed.

"Please, you're making me blush," Pyrrha mumbled.

As they walk along, Qrow notices something out of the corner of his eye. Without any hesitation, he ignites his lightsaber, emitting a glowing blue blade.

"OMG! WHAT KIND OF WEAPON IS THAT?! I NEED TO HAVE THAT!" Ruby shouted, jumping up and down in her seat.

"Whoa Rubes, calm down! You're going to break your seat at this rate!" Yang scolded as she held her down.

"That's called a Lightsaber, Ruby," Paradise answered her, "it's the primary weapon of the Jedi, it's powered with crystals to create the blade. It can cut through almost anything."

Qrow turns around and lunges at the unknown enemy and cuts them down. A hidden probe Grimm Droid fell to pieces, sparking and charred.

"Is that a new Grimm?" Weiss asked.

"But it broke apart like a robot and didn't fade away," Blake added.

"Blake's correct, in this universe, the Grimm you fight are now robotic droids that serve the Separatist army, the villains of this universe."

"A probe droid. It's not one I've seen before, we better get going. C'mon kid!" Qrow spoke as he and Pyrrha start running.

The two eventually reach an aircraft, as Qrow reaches it, he hears the distant humming of a speeder bike. He turns around to see a dark cloaked man charging at them.

"Kid, drop!" he shouts as the rider takes out a double bladed red lightsaber.

"Oh no, Pyrrha!" Jaune cried out worryingly. Pyrrha blushed at his concern for her.

"Duck!" Ruby shrieked.

Pyrrha quickly dropped to the ground, letting the bike speed over her, the cloaked figure jumps off his bike and swings his saber at Qrow who blocked it with his own.

Qrow and the cloaked figure clash blows with each other, neither giving their opponent any time for an opening.

"Hey kid, you better leave now!" Qrow shouted as he parried another incoming swipe for his head.

"Man, this guy's tough if he's able to keep up with Uncle Qrow," Yang said impressed.

"Yaaang, but that guy's trying to kill him!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Just enjoying the fight, Uncle Qrow will probably win anyway," the blonde sister said, crossing her arms.

At the Naboo aircraft, Ironwood and Jaune were working in the hallway while Ruby and an atlesian pilot were checking the hyperdrive in the cockpit. Pyrrha quickly enters the aircraft panting.

"Hey, Fearless Leader's here!" Nora cheered.

"Ruby as well," Ren added.

"So what's my role here?" Ruby asked.

"Similar to yours, this Ruby is Qrow's apprentice, or as it is called here, a padawan."

"That means I have one of those lightsabers too! I hope mine's red like Crescent Rose," Ruby sighed, imaging herself wielding a lightsaber.

"I'm sorry to say, but that won't be so good," Paradise said, "a red lightsaber is used by the Sith, who lead the Separatist army. Ruby groaned.

Pyrrha shouted, "Branwen says to take off now!"

Ironwood furrowed his eyebrows, "And who are you?"

Jaune stepped in front of the captain, "She's a friend," he said in a kindly manner.

"I guess Jaune and Pyrrha are of different age," Ren pointed out.

"We can see that," Pyrrha said, slightly disappointed that she and Jaune would most likely not be interested in each other due to the age difference.

Paradise, who was able to read what Pyrrha was thinking stifled a laugh, "Pyrrha is currently 9 at this time, and Jaune is 14, it's just a 5 year difference."

"That's still a lot," Blake said.

"Believe me, some people won't care, my father tried to pair me up with men with power to strengthen the company," Weiss grumbled, "some of them were two times my age! Thank goodness Winter put a stop to it."

"Well, that's what older sisters are here for," Yang winked.

Ironwood quickly barged into the cockpit and barked at the pilot, "Qrow's in trouble, get the ship started!"

The pilot scratched his head, "But I don't see anything."

Ruby quickly spotted something over the horizon, a small cloud of dust, "Over there! Fly low!"

"I think it's appropriate to be worried when Ruby is more competent than the pilot," Weiss sweat dropped.

"Hey! That's mean!" Ruby pouted.

Qrow and the figure continue their clash of glowing green and red. Expertly dodging any incoming danger. Then the rumbling of the aircraft is heard. Qrow then disappeared.

"Whoa! Where'd he go?" Jaune said amazed.

The figure, Tyrian, knew what happened, Qrow was already at the ship's ramp. He does a front flip over to the ramp as well, but just barely. Qrow notices this and strikes with all his might at Tyrian, who blocks the attack, but is caught off-guard by Qrow kicking him in the stomach and off the ramp. Tyrian goes stumbling onto the desert floor as the ramp closes and the aircraft departs, leaving the Sith behind.

"Your Uncle's very skilled," Pyrrha complimented, "I wonder how good he is here."

"He's really good! Though, he should try not being drunk for a change like the Qrow there," Yang sighed.

"Yeah . . ." Ruby agreed.

The Naboo Aircraft leaves Tatoonie Planet and off into space.

"Wow, space looks AWESOME!" Nora exclaimed, "I wanna go there someday! Can I, Ren?"

"I don't think space travel is possible for us here," Ren shook his head. "With all the Grimm around, it'll be dangerous for any of them to attack an aircraft like the one on screen."

In the hallway, Ruby and Pyrrha rush in to find Qrow, dusty and sweaty, on the opposite wall of the entry. A black and white pilot droid is looking over him.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"That's a pilot droid, they're a useful companion for aircrafts, especially when flying solo. They can help repair the ship or drive it themselves," Paradise said, giggling at the adorable RWBY version of R2.

"But whose it supposed to be?" Blake asked.

The droid lets out an auto tuned bark at Qrow.

"You've got to be kidding," Blake groaned.

"ZWEI!" Ruby exclaimed. Just as she said so, said dog suddenly appeared on Blake's head.

"Arf!" the precious corgi barked as it bounced off the Faunus' head and into Weiss' arms.

"Aw come on, Zwei!" Ruby pouted but smirked at Weiss ruffling Zwei's head.

"Puppy!" Nora squealed as she rushed over to the heiress to cuddle the life out of the dog.

"I'm guessing that's your dog," Ren said.

"Yup, Zwei's our pet, we keep him in the dorm," Yang said.

"I thought we weren't allowed pets in the dorms," Pyrrha said.

"Dang it, Yang," Ruby mumbled.

"Don't worry, we'll keep your secret safe," Jaune said. "Can I pet him too?"

"Later," Weiss said hugging Zwei close.

"Are you OK?" Pyrrha asked.

"I think so," Qrow groaned, "that was a surprise I won't forget."

"So who was that?" Ruby asked, "what does he want?"

"He's well trained in the Jedi Arts, if I could guess, he's after the King.

"King?" Weiss asked.

"Most planets have a King or Queen to lead them. In this instance, Naboo is led by Jaune."

"Jaune's a king?!" everyone said shocked.

"But I'm 14," Jaune pointed out.

"But he's Jaune!" Weiss added.

"Ouch," Jaune mumbled, hurt.

"I think you'd be a great king for Naboo," Pyrrha consoled him.

"Who cares, Jaune's king of the castle!" Nora cheered.

"Will we follow us?" Pyrrha asked fearfully.

Qrow shook his head, "We're safe now since we're in hyperspace, but he probably will track us down.

"What will we do about that?" Pyrrha asked as Ruby stared at her as if she just said something stupid.

"We'll be patient, kid," Qrow sighed, "oh yeah, Pyrrha Nikos, meet Ruby Rose, she's my padawan."

Pyrrha looked at Ruby in amazement, "Wow! You're a Jedi too?"

Ruby looks at the girl with concern.

"What's other me's deal?" Ruby asked as the screen faded to black.

"Maybe someone's jealous," Yang teased.

"What? Me? No way," Ruby denied.

"Well, she was looking at Pyrrha strangely when Qrow and she were talking," Blake said, "she's probably worried that Qrow will focus on Pyrrha instead of her."

"I think your Uncles' thinking of taking Pyrrha in as another padawan," Jaune spoke up, "he's really protective of her and that would explain why he's taking her with him."

"Ooh, nice thinking, fearless leader!" Nora said, "No wonder you're King!"

"I don't think that's the reason but thanks," Jaune said sheepishly.

"So what's next?" Blake asked.

"We'll be watching something that might be a bit too much for you guys, will you guys be fine with that?" Paradise asked.

"May as well," Yang shrugged.

"Well, let's say sometimes, humanity can be the real monsters in this next one," Paradise said, "but first, let's invite 2 people." With a snap of her fingers, Qrow and Ozpin appeared.

"The hell?" Qrow stood up in shock as he looked around, he then spotted Ruby and Yang. "Kiddo? What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to watch different worlds!" Ruby said, "Paradise invited you and Professor Ozpin to watch with us!"

"Oz?" Qrow turned to see Ozpin holding his head as he recovered from the sudden teleportation.

"Just Ozpin is fine, Miss Rose," the headmaster of Beacon groaned. He places his empty mug of coffee down, he accidentally spilt it on himself thanks to the sudden change of location.

"Let me fix that, Professor," Paradise snapped her fingers as a new mug full of coffee appeared along with Ozpin's clothes being cleaned.

"Thank you, Miss Paradise was it?" he said, "Miss Rose said something about watching different worlds. Care to explain?"

"Read and you'll understand," Paradise handed him a scroll (a paper one).

"It's just a written version of what I told the kids on paper," she explained.

"So you got any booze?" Qrow asked.

"I do, but for your niece's sake, please don't. They just saw how badass you are when you aren't drunk all the time, don't make them feel disappointed."

"Hah, fine," he sighed. Suddenly, a soda can appeared in his hand.

"Just a substitute," she said.

"So you'll be showing different possibilities of us, am I correct?" Ozpin summarized.

"Yeah, don't worry about the others, time's technically stopped there now since I know people will notice you missing," Paradise reassured, "now that that's done, who wants snacks?"

"ME!" Nora and Ruby shouted.

While the students were busy with snacks, Paradise floated over to Ozpin, "I believe you have somethings to ask me in private?"

"Yes, so you know my past?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes, Ozma, though I really do prefer calling you Ozpin," Paradise said.

"Will you tell them?" Ozpin asked worried.

"It's not my place to tell them, it's up to you to do that. I'm not saying that you should keep hiding it though, I've seen many outcomes where your secrecy ruins you and causes others to distrust you at best, or switch sides to her as worst," she murmured as Ozpin visibly faltered.

"Take time to tell them, before someone else does, honesty may be dangerous at times but you should know who you can trust fully. Take Qrow, he's dedicated his life to you, seems reasonable to tell him."

"But then he'll know that all he did was for nothing," Ozpin sighed.

"Better than hiding it from him and have him find out himself. You know that Salem can easily convince anyone with your past and twist it to make you seem corrupt than you are. That's how she'll gain allies," she warned.

"I understand, I'm grateful you're even doing this for me," the headmaster said.

"Let's put that behind us for now, Salem will appear in some of them so be prepared for questions though," Paradise sighed, "I'll do my best to stall it a bit so it won't come too quick but other than that, let's go enjoy the next possibility.

Next time: Too Far Gone