An Idiot, a Dragon, and Some Rock People. (PM to enter)

[Shulk]

Shulk didn't quite know why he wasn't the least bit surprised when he saw a girl who wielded a gigantic sniper rifle, it just seemed natural. The girl, Ruby, was about the most cheerful person he'd met since his arrival to the Omniverse. Suddenly, any thought of being cautious around this new stranger vanished instantly, she appeared to be a nice enough person...if a bit eccentric. Not that eccentric was bad, not at all. Shulk just wasn't used to someone who talked so fast is all.

Ruby's fascination with the Monado caught Shulk completely off guard; worse, it put him on his guard again. "I...I don't know if you should. I don't know anything about the Monado, it could be dangerous." Shulk explained, crossing his arms and glancing uncomfortably at the sword on his back. Unfortunately, Ruby didn't appear to have paid attention to him, which would have annoyed Shulk if he hadn't been busy staring at the girl's weapon with a mixture of shock and awe.

It's a sniper and a scythe?! Thought Shulk, who wondered if such a weapon was feasibly useful in battle but he didn't care right now because he was looking an actual sniper scythe! "How does it work? Did you build it yourself? Can I..." he tore his eyes off of the transforming weapon and looked at Ruby, "...see it?" He stopped and chuckled, feeling embarrassed. The Homs boy got the distinct impression that he looked incredibly silly gushing over a weapon like a child would a toy.

"I'm Shulk," he shook Ruby's hand, though it was more like she nearly crushed it. "You have a tough grip for someone so... er, petite?" Petite was the more polite term for 'small', he figured. "You'd probably need to be pretty strong to carry something that large though," the Homs mused, staring at the Crescent Rose again while wondering if he'd forgotten something...

"Rin!" Shulk exclaimed, "my friend over there. His name is Rin," Shulk turned and pointed at his companion, and he was reminded of their objective. "We... uh, Rin wants to meet a dragon." Shulk wasn't sure if he wanted to ask Ruby to come along, considering their chances of survival were practically non-existent.

[Rin Okumura]

See who it is? Didn't seem like something Rin would want to do, but Shulk was already making his way to the figure in the distance. The demon ran to catch up to his partner, but still stayed back so that he wouldn't be the first one to be seen. As they approached the girl, Rin glared at her with his hands in his pocket since he was still mad that he fell off of the golem's head. He really wanted to start a fight, but would wait to see how the conversation went before getting himself into anything.

The girl's obsession with Shulk's sword confused Rin, maybe even annoyed him a little, but what he did when she pulled her "Crescent Rose" out wasn't much different. "Whoa! What is that!" He yelled just as Shulk introduced him. His eyes lit up just as Ruby's had when she saw the Monado for the first and second time. The demon closely examined the sniper-scythe, even circling around the girl wielding it to get a 360 degree view of the weapon. He really had no problems with expressing how he felt about the scythe.

Any feeling of anger had disappeared from the demon's mind after seeing the sniper-scythe, and when he finally calmed down a bit, he remembered that Shulk had mentioned why they were where they were. "Oh yeah! That is why we're out here.." He had temporarily forgotten exactly why they were here after the fight with the golem, but now that he remembered, he figured he should explain.

"I decided to see for myself whether the dragon is actually evil or not after hearing about it, wanna join us?" He asked with a smile. Rin didn't know what Ruby's intentions were, nor did he care, it would just be nice to have some more company. And he could even get to see that sniper-scythe in action.. That would be even cooler.

"So where'd you get your weapon? All I have is this katana." He pulled Kurikara from it's sheath and wiggled it around a bit, after being engulfed in blue flames again of course. Even though his sword made him catch on fire, and even allowed him to control that fire (or so he thought), a sniper-scythe was WAY cooler. If it turned out that she acquired that weapon from the Omniverse, he may even pick one up himself..

[Ruby Rose]

PAGE 3

This boy, Shulk as he introduced himself later, seemed rather unsure of himself when he was saying even he didn't know much about the 'Monado' or whatever that crimson weapon was that I was gawking at like a child in a toy store. He seemed slightly left out, and, well... I felt kinda mean for just losing my head over the sword, so I turned my attention back to the wielder of the exotic sword, "You seem pretty strong yourself. I saw you down there before I... Y'know, overkilled the golem thingy," I gave a little chuckle at the end bit.

Thankfully, Shulk asked if I had built Crescent Rose myself, "You bet I did! Completely customized by yours truly!" I replied, flashing a bright grin. I couldn't help myself when he asked if he could take a look at Crescent Rose, and I put my best 'shy girl' act on, "W-well... I g-guess... Just be careful with her, okay?" I told him in the best shy voice I could muster, before giving him a wide grin and extending my own crimson weapon towards him. I watched him as he gently took her from my hands, and I managed to give him a good look over while he stood with his jaw dropping. After sizing him up, I realised that our colour schemes, for both our clothing and weaponry, weren't actually all that different! I tried in vain to stifle a giggle when I realised.

I giggled and blushed when Shulk told me I had a strong grip for 'someone so petite', "Y-yeah, I guess so," I replied after catching my breath, and he said that it must take a lot of strength to wield such a weapon, "Mmm... Not really, I mean, I did overdo it with Crescent Rose, but she's not really that heavy,"

Shulk seemed rather comical when he realised he forgot his raven-haired friend behind him, and introduced him as Rin. Once again, I extended my hand out, "Hey! My name's Ruby!" I introduced myself, but this guy didn't seem very happy... Until he saw Crescent Rose, and he did his best to get a good view of her. Yeah, not me, her. Shulk mentioned Rin wanted to go see a dragon, and that reminded me about something that the big rock guy said before I shot off. Rin asked if I wanted to come along, but instead of jumping for joy, I acted casually (as I had already been told about the dragon!), "Yeah, I heard from these weird rock guys that two idiots went to slay a dragon, but..." I made searching gesture, "I don't see any idiots around here," I replied with a wide grin, hoping they'd get my message.

I shot up into the air when Rin spoke again and asked where I got Crescent Rose, the subject of the topic folding up. I placed my weapon at the back of my waist and recomposed myself, clearing my throat, "As I just told Shulk, I made her myself. I did kind of go a little crazy in crafting her, but crazy's good! Right?" I told him, before turning to the path, "Well? Shall we go talk to the dear dragon?"

[Shulk]

Ruby was right, the Crescent Rose was shockingly light for something so large, and Shulk wanted to know how. He pored over every nook and cranny and made observations about the sniper/scythe with knowledge he didn't know he possessed. "Amazing...maybe the weapon is less complicated that it looks. You must have used as few parts as you possibly can, both to keep the weight of the weapon down and prevent any malfunctions. Or maybe the materials themselves are lighter than they look, just like the Monado," Shulk muttered to himself, before he handed back Ruby's weapon and made a mental note to remember everything he'd ascertained from Crescent Rose's design.

Shulk had to suppress the urge to chastise Rin again, and the Homs was relieved when the hothead's fascination with Crescent Rose distracted him from his annoyance. They had all started off on the right foot, so it was no surprise to Shulk when Ruby expressed an interest in joining the group. So the three set off up the mountain trail again. Thankfully, there didn't appear to be any more golems hiding underfoot, or they were just lucky enough to avoid stepping on one. In that instant, Shulk received another vision that was more terrible than his first one.

It was the same vision as before; Rin waking Volvagia and the dragon lunging straight for him. Yet in another area of the arena was Ruby and himself; Crescent Rose's bullets had no effect on the creature's flaming hide. With terrifying speed, Volvagia whipped his entire body, sending them both flying. The last seconds of the vision was the rapidly approaching lava. Then...nothing.

In the present, Shulk had a horrified expression. Another vision, this time Ruby was in it. Shulk had nearly dismissed the first premonition, but in the fight with the golem, subsequent ones had turned out to be true. There was no reason to believe this one wouldn't come true if he didn't do something, but what? I have to tell them. They might not believe me, but they'll die if I don't say anything, Shulk rationalized.

"Wait," Shulk said, he stopped walking and took a deep breath to steel himself for what he'd have to reveal. "We're all in terrible danger. Just now I had a... vision of sorts, I saw the dragon killing us as soon as we woke it up." He glanced at Rin, "The same thing happened when we fought the golem, it was as if I could see what it was going to do before it did it." He sighed, there was no way he wasn't looking barmy right now.

Shulk started pacing back and forth, evidently struggling to find the right words for his thoughts. "I know it must be hard to believe, but it's true. Admittedly I don't know how I can do it, but these visions haven't been wrong yet." He looked at Rin, then Ruby, and he braced himself for their responses. At best, they'd just say he was nervous, and at worse they'd call him crazy.

[Rin Okumura]

"Awwwww.." Rin expressed his sadness when Ruby said that she had made the Crescent Rose herself, since this meant that he wouldn't ever be able to get one. Unless he stole it of course, but he wouldn't do something like that. He happily followed the other two as they continued their climb up the deadly mountain.

The demon began becoming bored as the scenery became too familiar. There weren't even any golems to fight! The fight with that other golem was really fun too... Eventually, the boredom began being to much for him, so he just had to speak up and distract himself. "So uh-" Rin was cut off before he could get any further into the sentence, as Shulk began freaking out a little bit.

When he was told that they would all die after confronting Volvagia, Rin became a little worried as he completely believed his partner. "So, what?" The demon asked, "You think we should just turn back and say we gave up?" He knew that they had beaten the golem before, and if Shulk only saw what went wrong, but they still won, who's to say they won't against the dragon?

"If you were seeing those visions when we fought the golem, maybe you just see the worst case scenario? I saw we keep going an see how it goes!" Rin was excited to know that his partner could see the future. Even if it was the worst case scenario, they would know what to avoid to succeed during their mission.

"So if you're saying that you want to turn back, then I guess it's up to Ruby to decide." The demon said, pointing to the newest addition to their group. Rin would likely go with whatever the others decided to do, but he still wanted to see the dragon for himself before deciding what he should do to help the Gorons from the base of the mountain.

[Ruby Rose]

PAGE 4

Seriously, I feel like Rin was WAY more interested in Crescent Rose than he was in me. I felt extremely left out... But at least SHULK showed interest in me... Okay, rant over. Next interesting topic; Shulk aledgedly had a vision of some kind of the future, and said that we probably should have turned back. Rin, of course, exploded a little, his desire to meet the dragon pushing him further. It seemed he at least believed Shulk, though.

I strolled up to Shulk, "I believe you. People with special abilities isn't anything unusual, back where I'm from," I explained, "But if Rin wants to see this dragon for himself, I don't think we have the right to take that opportunity away from him, hey?" I put on a comforting grin. If what Shulk said was completely true, once we met the dragon we wouldn't want to stick around for very long. I took the lead again, but before I could take more than two steps, I turned back to the two males.

"How about I show you something cool?" I asked, and the two seemed rather dumbfounded, but at the same time anticipating, "Now you see me..." in the blink of an eye (and an explosion of rose petals for that matter), I had disappeared from sight.

"Now you don't," I finished behind Shulk and Rin, making them jump... Well, I hoped so. I strolled back between them up the path again and called over my shoulder, "Gonna come in handy if we need to get out of there quick, hey?" I gave them a cheeky smile.

[Shulk]

It was apparent that Shulk had been too hasty in predicting how Rin would have react to what he'd said about visions. Shulk couldn't feel very gracious as his companion was jumping to conclusions already. "I didn't say--" Shulk started, before Rin launched into a wild explanation...that was exactly what Shulk was going to say.

"That's what I thought too, I only see terrible things happening," Shulk explained, and he held up a finger to keep Rin from interrupting again. "I think that what I'm seeing...it isn't set in stone. We could change the future," saying those words made Shulk shiver somewhat. He had a feeling (another one, anyway) that he'd done this all before, and it didn't sound far fetched to assume he would be trying to change the future in the...well, future. At least for right now he had the help of some friends.

Annoyingly enough, Shulk didn't want to turn back like Rin was suggesting. Before the Homs could get a word off, however, Ruby had his attention. She was at ease, pretty used to danger from how calm she was acting -- Shulk secretly wished he shared her confidence. "There isn't any point in trying to talk him out of it," Shulk said, quiet enough as to avoid Rin's ire. "Thank you for believing me," he added with a smile.

If Ruby was appreciative, Shulk didn't get a chance to find out. The girl was too busy walking in front of him and Rin to demonstrate her ability to turn invisible in a shower of petals. "Woah," Shulk could only think to utter that, he looked around to try and spot Ruby amidst his surroundings, to no avail. He jumped when he heard her speak up from over his shoulder. Rather than be irritated, he spun around with an expression of pure amazement, "that's incredible, Ruby!"

Something seemed to deflate Shulk shortly after his exclamation. "How will that help all of us, though? Can you make Rin and I invisible too?" the boy asked, looking confused.

[Rin Okumura]

Rin watched as Ruby walked to Shulk and told him something, though he didn't catch WHAT was said. He was happy to see that Ruby wanted to continue climbing the mountain, at least that's what he assumed when she started walking ahead of him anyway. His level of excitement increased after the girl mentioned that she would show them something cool, and he watched closely to see what it was.

"Whoa! What was that!" He said after the girl disappeared in a puff of rose petals. The fact that she disappeared was already cool enough to get him excited, so the fact that she reappeared soon after was even more amazing! The demon's face lit up as he saw another chance to obtain what the girl had/could do. "How do you do that! Could you teach me?" He asked as he got in close to Ruby in an attempt to convince her to teach him.

How cool would that be? Teleporting. He could already move at incredible speeds, or so he thought, but that's not like teleporting, not at all! "Did you see that Shulk!?" His partner obviously did, as he responded to the action as well, but it was just too cool for him to notice what anyone else did.

If they had someone who could TELEPORT, there's no way they could be beaten! Even if Volvagia did turn out to be hostile, they would just teleport away, avoiding whatever attack was thrown at them. They would be unstoppable! Maybe, anyway. Rin still had yet to see the move in combat, but still had no doubt that it would be effective, he just didn't know exactly how effective it could be. Yet.

"Guess it's my turn to show off.." He mumbled to himself, "Now what could I do to match something as cool as that was?" The demon went deep into thought as he thought about what he's done and what he may be able to do to show off, but even after a bit of thinking, he couldn't find something that would be cool and unnoticeable. It was almost like he was straining himself, as he began holding his head out of frustration before mumbling "Damnit" to admit defeat.

[Ruby Rose]

PAGE 5

"Oh, no, I'm not turning invisible or teleporting or anything," I replied with a tiny giggle when Shulk questioned the 'usefulness', as such of invisibility for a single person, "I'm just super-fast. You see, back in my world, everyone had something called an Aura, which is sort of like the soul, and they can bring it forth as a shield from danger. What was so special about these though, is that they gave people unique abilities, labelled as Semblances. Mine is super-speed, while my sister, Yang," 'Who unfortunately didn't arrive here with me,' I felt like saying as my guy wrenched faintly, "had the ability to go into a super cool berserk mode, especially if you picked her hair." I elaborated, making punching gestures before standing with one hand on my hip, "You don't touch the hair."

Maybe I spoke too much? I kinda felt embarrassed, as if I was annoying them. I probably should have just shut up... But my attention was brought back to the land of the living when Rin began an apparently fruitless search for something cool enough to match (or more like 'mach', haha!) my speed. I laughed out loud, the heartiest so had laughed yet, and brought my silver eyes up to his. "The flames have enough cool factor. You don't need anything else. I wish I could have flames like that." I complimented the raven-haired teen, before turning to Shulk, "And your sword and future-seeing-ability-thing combined are super cool. I'm just speedy, that's all." I flashed the two of them a grand grin.

I felt good; they didn't treat me like a child like so many others did before. I was always seen as too young to fight, too young to be a leader, and granted I probably still would be... If I was in my world, that is. I missed my world, and that 'Omni' guy would be the only person, or thing, that could get me back. That was my goal; I was going to find some way to reach Omni and get him to put me back where I belonged... But more questions came with returning. Would I tell them? If so, would they believe me? Would Team RWBY even still exist? Or would the world have been plunged into chaos? These questions boiled inside me, like a geyser on the verge of blasting its hot water into the sky.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts and jogged further up the path, looking back over my shoulder at the two males. "You guys coming or what?" I teased, "I guess I'm just going to slay the dragon myself!"

I really began to pump my legs when I noticed Rin begin to run. He had long legs! I wanted to keep the race fair... But to be frank I wanted to get there first...

[Shulk]

"Auras..." Shulk repeated what Ruby had told him, and he pondered what the girl had explained to him. Everyone in Ruby's world had some kind of special ability, and the Homs's mind was full of different ideas for what they could be. "If I ever meet your sister, I'll keep that in mind," Shulk added with a smile, any sister of Ruby could only be just as eccentric as her, he thought to himself. Shulk gave Ruby a sort of pitying look shortly afterwards, it couldn't have been easy to be separated from one's family. The look was quickly wiped off of his face moments later, for fear of dampening the girl's mood.

Thankfully, Rin was a good distraction with his complaints. Before Shulk could even utter a word, Ruby was on point to cheer him up and get the group fired up for the upcoming battle. Shulk had a hard time sharing their enthusiasm; he had no clue how the Monado or his visions worked, and a fear of suddenly losing those abilities started to grow within him. As useful as the visions were, he didn't feel comfortable relying on them until their exact nature was made clear. Shulk didn't voice these feelings of apprehension, however, as they would just serve to distract everyone else. With his companions, Shulk started running up the mountain towards their goal.

"I think I know how we should approach Volvagia," Shulk started once he caught up with Ruby and Rin, "he moves fast and likes to lunge; I think I saw him use fire as well. Ruby, see if you can use your speed to keep him focused on you since you could dodge his attacks more easily than us -- do not stop for a second." Shulk warned, before shifting his head to Rin, "as for you, Rin, try attacking him when you're sure he can't see you coming." The Homs paused, "I'll... try to do the same as Rin. If I get any visions, I'll warn you both," he said with significantly less confidence, considering he had no idea what he was capable of.

[Rin Okumura]

Rin was rather disappointed when he found out that Ruby was just moving quickly, that's exactly what he was just doing! Not even something you could just teach someone... He was, however, interested in hearing about how they got special powers from "her world." It would be like a real life super hero or something, which is what the possible son of satan could never be. Even though he was going to save the Gorons right now.. That didn't matter, maybe he was just bored and would realize he does this kind of stuff for fun when he regains his memories!

His ego was boosted a bit when Ruby said that she would want some flames like his, and it made him feel a bit better about his powers. Although, he still only knew how to throw the flames from his sword. He would need to remember some more about how to use them, then he can really show off his skills. Rin followed Ruby after she called to them from up the path a bit. It would be nice to finally get moving again, they seemed to have wasted a bit of time with their conversations. Not that it mattered though, they were going to see a dragon that was supposed to be sleeping.

He easily caught up with her as she jogged, and noticed that she had to try really hard to keep up with him now that he was there. What was her problem though, his legs were moving pretty slowly since he was just jogging himself.. Maybe she wanted a race?! "You wanna race then!?" Rin shouted with a smile on his face, he felt like some friendly competition would be fun to pass the time.

The demon began running as fast as he could now that he assumed there would be a competition, and he began gradually pulling ahead of Ruby. A smile was stuck on his face, "This'll be fun! Let's go Shulk!" he cheered his partner on, but only managed to hear some of what was said as he explained the plan. The only words he really caught were "Rin attack" and "I'll do the same," which would be bad if the plan wasn't explained again before they got there.

"Got it! Now let's gooooo!" He yelled again as he continued running at his top speed up the mountain. There was the occasional boulder or trench which blocked his path, but they were easily jumped. Rin began feeling like his speed was a bit unnatural for him, but if it was as fun as this, he wouldn't be complaining!

[Ruby Rose]

PAGE 6

"Yang's really cool." I replied, my cheeks lightly red, and my shoe twisting on the blackened rock. I'd always looked up to Yang; after all, she was my wicked cool older sister, "Ahe's really skilled and nice, and not to mention extremely attractive. Heaps of guys swoon for her as soon as they lay eyes on her." I continued, my voice trailing off. It was obvious who I was contrasting her to; myself. I doubted Shulk was going to dismiss the ashamed tone.

It was very quickly brought to my attention that Shulk possessed quite the tactical prowess. From the visions alone he was able to format a combat strategy, although there was the possibility we wouldn't require it. He asked me not to stop at all, and I threw a beaming smile in his direction, "You don't have to tell me twice!" I replied with a playful salute. According to the game plan the blond boy had set out, I was to distract the dragon while the males attacked. To be frank, I didn't like the idea of me not fighting in the slightest, but if it was beneficial to us, so be it. I made sure to keep up the chipper façade as Shulk finished up. He seemed somewhat... Uneasy about his abilities, and I placed a dainty hand upon his right shoulder.

"I'm putting my trust in those visions of yours, Captain." I assured him with a shameless tease stuck to the end, "And I trust that you can use them well, okay?" I was doing my best to raise the morale, and I projected my voice just far enough for Rin to catch the words too.

And DAMN Rin was fast! He caught up pretty quickly... When I was below maximum running speed. I couldn't help but put that little extra power into my run, edging in front of Rin. It was an infinite loop of getting ahead of each other, and I was giggling my head off, until-

"AAAAAHH!" I screamed as I fell straight into the rock. I kicked my toe on a protruding mini-stalactite (or was it stalagmite?) protruding from the path. I hit the ground hard, and felt my knee graze lightly. I turned over and sat on my rear, my bleeding knee showing prominently through the torn, scarlet stockings. I bit my lip as my eyes welled up from the pain slightly. Yay, the perks of being a delicate teen girl. I tenderly touched my knee around the area as Shulk approached, and soon realised the race was off.

(You guys can chat and see who wants to be the nice guy to help Ruby out ;) )

[Rin Okumura]

"Of course!" The demon shouted back when Ruby said she trusted them, at least that's what he heard. It seemed that just after they talked to him again, the girl realized that he had started a race, and caught up quickly. Rin responded by speeding up as well, and just ended up putting himself into a loop. Ruby was laughing, and he didn't blame her. Competition was just as fun as he thought it would be, but just as he started getting into it, the girl that would occasionally pass him suddenly disappeared. The first thing he thought to do was look back to see what was wrong, and he found that she was near crying with a scrape on her knee.

He quickly ran back, and soon after he arrived, he was inspecting her knee. This situation brought another memory back to light. This time, it was one of his younger self and some other little boy. The other boy was patching up his knee, which he seemed to have scraped. The demon seemed rather happy about the fact he had been patched up. Rin figured that if he had to be patched up by someone else, it would explain why he had no idea what to do with his partner's knee...

Rin stared at the wound for a while, giving Shulk enough time to catch up to them, and was on the verge of becoming frustrated again. "Screw it!" He eventually said as he ripped off a piece of his shirt. Tying the piece of his shirt around Ruby's knee, he then stood up and gave the girl a thumbs up and a smile. The demon extended his hand to offer assistance for standing up, and whether it was accepted or not, he'd say, "Good job! I had fun, but I guess we'll have to walk now.."

After helping Ruby, Rin would turn to Shulk. "How close do you think we are to the top?" The demon pointed to the black clouds of ash that remained overhead, blocking the view of the mountain's peak. He was also beginning to become a bit winded from all of the running they'd been doing, even though he could run fast, his endurance was still a bit lacking.

[Shulk]

Ruby's expressed trust in Shulk didn't completely eliminate his apprehension, but it helped steady his nerves and instill in the Homs some confidence. "I won't let you or Rin down," Shulk said assuredly. "I wish I could remember why these visions come to me." He added, and he picked up the pace to hide his annoyed expression. Shulk didn't have much information to form a plausible theory with. He had no idea if his ability was natural in his own world or a gift from an outside influence; the Monado would be a likely choice if he went with the second possibility. It was a strange sword, no doubt about it, and for a while Shulk's thoughts trailed off to what the Monado was capable of...

Perhaps Shulk's mind wandered a little too much, given Ruby's tumble far ahead of him. Shulk didn't bother to ponder how she got ahead of him and instead started to approach her. "Are you okay?" Shulk asked, and he felt like an idiot as soon as the words left his lips. Her knee was banged up, she was okay, but not "okay" from the looks of it.

Fortunately for him, Rin went right to work to help her. When asked about the closeness of their goal, Shulk shrugged. "I have no idea," he looked out at a landscape that appeared vast, and he realized that the heat was worse than it was an hour ago. "We're pretty high up though, there has to be an entrance somewhere." Shulk tried to sound sure of that, he failed.

[Ruby Rose]

Sorry about controlling your characters a little without permission. I just wanted to use it for the diary-writing scene to add a bit of depth

PAGE 7

Rin was sooooooo nice! He tore a piece of his shirt off (probably rather unnecessary) and used it to bandage up my knee, before helping me up. I held onto the boy's arm and let him assist me. The scrape was worse than it looked, and it wasn't just the flesh; the joint felt like it'd been smacked by a brick! It was very gentlemanly of Rin to help me out.

Before long, Rin brought up a much-needed question; how close were we? Shulk mentioned that we seemed to be rather high, and I nodded in agreement. "I guess we'll just have to keep going if we want to figure that out!" I replied, still energetic. I managed to refrain from jumping to accent the point; that would have hurt my knee. I nodded to Rin to keep going, the boy still supporting me while I limped up the mountain.

The air began to grow thinner, and not to mention hotter. Our breathing became slightly more sharp as we traversed the path, dodging cracks and ducking around giant boulders. It was quickly becoming harder and harder to tackle the colossal spike of rock, and eventually I piped up.

"Hey... Guys... Mind if... We take... A breather?" I asked, huffing and puffing. Rin seemed to agree and set me down on a small stone pedestal nearby, and I pulled out my diary, beginning to write this entry in it...

* * *

Rin's eyes watched Ruby's pen fly across the small pages of her red and black diary with curiosity, while he crouched down beside her to catch his breath himself. Shulk looked over the edge of the mountain, his mouth gaping at the altitude they had arrived at.

"What's that for?" Rin asked, making an attempt at starting a conversation. Ruby clicked her pen and placed it on the lined page she had written half-way on, before turning her eyes to the demon.

"It's a diary I'm using to keep track of my travels here." She replied, smiling softly. "Finding
Omni and getting answers is my main priority, and I think that if I keep track of things, I can look back and find clues. Eventually I'll find something that will click, and I'll be on my way." She finished, and Rin looked awestruck, but also slightly disappointed; he didn't want Ruby to just up and leave, it seemed. "But I may as well have fun while doing it hey?" She added, and Rin expression changed back to awestruck.

"Judging by how high we are, we have to be close. The question is, is there an entrance, or do we just waltz up to the top...?" Shulk soliloquised, before turning to the other two. It was then that he noticed the diary the two were leaning over. "Hey, what's that?" He asked, and Ruby and Rin's faces fell in disappointment.

[Rin Okumura]

The increase in temperature didn't faze the demon, and he was unaware that it was a problem for his traveling companions as he helped the wounded girl on their trek up the mountain. Rin only noticed the fact that the black cloud of smoke was growing closer and closer as they walked up, and eventually Ruby asked for a quick break. "Why not? A break wouldn't hurt." He said in response as he placed her down on a nearby pedestal.

After setting her down, Rin looked at the land they had traveled. The group was now so high up, that you could see the entrance to the verse and it's surroundings from where they were standing. It even seemed that there was some grassy landscape off in another direction, with what looked like a... Castle!? This excited Rin, it was somehow nostalgic to him, but then he remembered that he had a wounded teammate to keep an eye on.

He went back to Ruby and crouched down beside her, noticing that she had some sort of notebook that she was writing in. "What's that for?" He asked out of curiosity, though the movement of her pen on the paper was distracting enough to prevent him from really hearing the answer. The fact that she said something was understood, what she said was not. Her explanation that followed after interested him though, he hadn't a clue who "Omni" was, but she seemed set on doing this. "Let's do it together!" He shouted.

The demon didn't understand why he wanted to help Ruby find answers, maybe her determination inspired him to help out, but when she said that she wanted to leave, he became a little disappointed. Maybe it was just that he didn't really understand the situation they were in, it wasn't like he had his memories and could feel homesick. He really only knew the two people he had met since entering the Omniverse, and he wasn't ready to just abandon them. As he thought about how little he knew, a question came to mind. "By the way, who is Omni?" Not paying attention to most of the opening speech was probably a problem, especially since a lot of information was given in that couple of minutes he should've been paying attention. But hopefully, he'd get some answers now.

After he asked his question, Shulk spoke up as well. He was curious about the notebook as well, but instead of getting an answer, he got two disappointed looks. Rin was disappointed because he always thought that Shulk would've been the one paying more attention to... Anything really. The demon noticed that Ruby was also giving the boy a look, but he doubted it was for the same reason. "A diary, right?" He answered, still pretty unsure about the answer himself.

[Shulk]

Shulk wasn't feeling like he needed to take a break, but he could tell Rin and Ruby were in need of a breather after their little "race." The trio stopped at a patch of path with a suitable amount of rocks to rest on, but Shulk walked to the path's edge to observe the the landscape. They'd managed to get incredibly high up, so high that the Homs boy could see a few clouds on their level. He turned his attention to the path, there wasn't any kind of entrance in sight still. Shulk had to wonder how much longer they would need to climb.

With his "scouting" done, Shulk approached Rin and Ruby, who were talking about...something he hadn't paid attention to. He noticed Ruby's book and, after he inquired about it, he got two weird looks. "Did I...say something wrong?" Shulk asked, he looked confused. Thankfully, Rin clarified things, and Shulk was a little too eager to change the subject now. "We should keep moving," he said, before starting up the path again, this time at a well-paced walk.

[Ruby Rose]

PAGE 8

My eyes sparkled with delight at Rin's enthusiasm. He wanted to help me, even though I had yet to even explain why I wanted to gather clues so badly. At that moment, I found something within the flame-wielding teen to look up to, to want by my side every step of the way up the stairway to Omni. At that moment, I knew I could trust him; his eyes were honest with his determination when I looked into them. At that moment...

"By the way, who is Omni?" He had asked. Oh. My. Goodness. He was all gung-ho about helping me, and he didn't know who Omni was? I swear, for a moment I lost all trust in him... Until I tried explaining. "Well, Omni's... He's..." The words couldn't form on my tongue. I knew who Omni was, I remember what happened like it happened yesterday! Well... Two days ago... I think... But that's beside the point! I knew exactly what I was attempting to say, but some invisible force was doing its damnedest to hinder me. "Weird... I can't explain... But I remember seeing him when I first arrived..." I pondered, a scowl crossing my features. That was another mystery to add to the already colossal list.

When Shulk changed the subject after embarrassing himself, I jumped up... before instantly keeling over, clutching my knee tenderly, repeating, 'Ow, ow, ow,' under my breath. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to get over-excited. I turned my gaze to Rin. "Thanks for helping me along back there, Rin. I really appreciate it." I thanked him softly, a small grin beaming at him from my lips. I took point and continued to lead our band of... exotic individuals onward and upwards!

In due time, the silence was killing me, and I turned lightly, wary not to damage my knee further. "I reckon we should have a name! Like, a cool group name!" I called to the males, thinking about my own world. "Back where I'm from, at our academy, we had teams of four that used the first letter of each member's name to form an abbreviated form of a colour." I elaborated, before placing my hands in front of me and counting the digits on my left. "For example, team RWBY. the team I led," I noted brashly, "was made up of yours truly, Ruby, as well as Weiss," Acid stung my tone slightly when I mentioned her, but I almost ended up laughing, too, "Blake and Yang! We could be... I don't know..." I went through the abbreviations in my mind. RRS isn't anything, RSR also isn't good... If we had someone with a 'D', we could be RSRD, or Rose Red... And SRR can't do much either...

"Well, maybe when we add a fourth to the group, we could think of something then, haha!" I began chuckling loudly while I spun back around and continued up the rocky path, nearing our destination.

[Rin Okumura]

Rin could practically see Ruby's face drop after he asked who Omni was, but after she got all tounge tied trying to explain who he was, he felt better about himself. "Guess you don't know who is is either..." He said with a smirk on his face after she finished trying to explain. She also mentioned that she saw Omni when she first arrived, did she mean this volcanic hell hole or everywhere? If she meant everywhere, then maybe that weird floating face he saw was Omni. Maybe he'll just find out later, but for now, Shulk wanted to keep moving.

The girl thanked Rin for helping her before, which embarrassed him a little, but he managed to get a "No problem!" out before he embarrassed himself anymore than he was already. While Ruby lead the way up the mountain, the demon stayed back with Shulk so that they could talk a little. "You've been pretty quiet." He said. There wasn't much else he would say however, just wanted to point out that he had been quiet.

Ruby's suggestion that they should have a team name excited Rin. He'd never had a team name before! At least he didn't think so, it seemed new and exciting so he assumed that he hadn't. She explained that she had one back in her world, RWBY she called it. "Why can't we just have that one?" He mumbled, just as she began explaining why that was the team name. Teams named after colors? Even he was smart enough to tell that Ruby, Rin, and Shulk wouldn't make any kind of color he knew of.

Even Ruby couldn't come up with anything, but she did suggest waiting for a fourth. If they ever got a fourth that is. "Maybe, what do you think shulk? Can you come up with anything using our names?" After asking Shulk for his opinion, the demon tried thinking about it himself. Obviously he couldn't think of any colors, but he did go on to think about names that didn't include their own names. Most of these he thought would be awesome, but he also knew that the others wouldn't like the sound of them.

Now that they were able to keep walking up the mountain, they were making good progress. The ceiling of ash that hid the peak was slowly getting to be closer and closer very minute, along with the temperature rising even more than it already had been. Even Rin, who hadn't noticed the heat as much as the others, was beginning to dislike it. If he could make something like a frying pan with that Omnillium stuff, maybe he could make some lighter clothing too? The stuff he was wearing certainly wasn't good for this kind of weather.

[Shulk]

Shulk shrugged, he'd only been silent because he was thinking over the vision of their encounter with Volvagia. Preventing a gruesome demise at the the claws of the dragon had quickly become an object of obsession for the Homs. Still, he was leaving his friends out of the loop because of it. "Sorry," Shulk admitted meekly. He didn't have much else to say about that; so he just kept walking.

An unknown amount of time had passed during their walk, and Shulk had all but tuned out their conversation. That's why when Rin called him out by name, the boy jumped a little and faced the other boy. "What? Oh, I don't know." Shulk muttered, he did a bad job of hiding how little a team name interested him.

Then, just like that, the group turned a corner and found themselves against a wall of rock with a cavernous opening right in the middle. A harsh red glow emanated from the entrance, giving the impression that something very, very threatening lurked inside. "There's our entrance, are you both ready?" Shulk asked Ruby and Rin while trying to sound at least kind of confident. It was clear that actually arriving at their destination was unnerving him.

They were that much closer to potentially fulfilling his disastrous vision.