Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hey AO3 gang! I'm back, and I hope you guys have all had a good holiday, however you may have celebrated it this year. This fic's actually a couple days late on here since I got busy on Christmas Eve, but hey, that's not gonna stop me from giving you guys a present! As you know, RWBY Chibi has been sorrowfully neglected by Rooster Teeth for a good two years now, and I simply thought that wouldn't do. So I thought; why not just make a Chibi fic of my own based around MY fanfiction? So you know what? I did! But before we get into things, I want you to know that this series is gonna be coming out every two weeks. I am still working on the MHA/Transformers fic AND Volume 2 of the main Ben 10/RWBY fic, after all, so I'm gonna be pretty busy over the next few months. However, I WILL be making an exception THIS week since this is essentially the launch of my new fic and I want it to be special. I'll be posting the second chapter on Saturday, so keep an eye out for it!

Now, many of these opening bits are gonna be heavily based around pop-culture references (not all, but some), so be prepared for some crazy stuff to be happening. But of course, every good series needs a pilot, right? So, why don't we cut the chit chat and get started? This is…

Ben 10 RWBY Chibi: A Series of Shenanigans

Chapter 1: A World Made of Bricks

Little Ruby Rose couldn't be any happier with her life if she tried! Over the past two years, she had been blessed with everything that she could ever ask for all in one spot! Her friends, her family, good food and great lessons from the best Huntsman Academy in Remnant; Beacon. And all without leaving the comfort of their own dorms! It was like a dream come true and she couldn't be more thrilled as she sat on her bed, reading a magazine while swinging her legs to and frow over the side, all while her little corgi, Zwei, slept on her lap.

Yep! Life was pretty great… aside from the fact that they HAD been literally sitting in the same place for a whole two years with NO word from the producers if their show was coming back. …And there was also the fact that the was kept feeling like they were closing in on her with each passing day… and that the camera crew was STILL here and kept following them around for NO GOOD REASON. Not to mention that they couldn't even LEAVE their dorms for the classes they were taking AND that their only way of knowing what was going on in the outside world was by the TV, and—

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Ruby screamed, resulting in Zwei being thrown from her lap and onto the bed. She tossed her six-month-old magazine away and jumped off from the bottom bunk, her eyes darting to the door. "I have to get out of here!" With that, Ruby zoomed out of the room with her Semblance, went right down the stairs, and made it to the front door right next to the kitchen. As came to a stop and opened the door, she noticed her friends, Blake and Weiss, inside of the kitchen, so she decided to make her intentions known; "Girls, I'll see ya later!"

There was a brief pause before Weiss answered her. "Uh… Ruby? Where do you think you're going?"

"I'M LEAVING AND I'M NEVER COMING BACK!" With a big smile on her face, Ruby turned back to the exit, only to be met with… a brick wall. "…Wha?" But then, her hands went to her cheeks and she let out a gasp. "AH! Oh, right, I forgot!" She put a big smile on her face and faced the camera that was no doubt following her, jerking her thumb toward the wall. "The world's turned into BRICKS! Bah-hahaha! Hahahaha-BWAH-AHAHAH!" Her laughter transitioned to crying as she fell to her knees, her over-sized head hitting the floor as she wept about her woes.

As the crying, Blake and Weiss stepped out of the kitchen, the black and white duo looking down at their friend in sympathy… at least in Blake's case. Weiss had a bit more apathy behind her gaze. "Ruby, we've been bricked in for two years now. How did you FORGET about this?"

"I WANTED TO HO-HO-HO-HOOOPE!" Ruby continued to bawl.

"Well, I'm afraid hope's not just suddenly gonna come breaking down that wall anytime soon." Blake replied, her cat ears lowering in sadness. Over the course of the past two years, she had gotten more comfortable with her bow off around others, so she decided to go without it permanently.

"Hey!" Everyone's heads perked up when they saw Yang entering into the room with a laptop in hand, giving everyone a confused face. "What's goin' on, girls?"

"Oh, Ruby's just having an existential crisis… again." Weiss deadpanned.

Ruby gave her a deadpan look right back. "Hey, this is only my THIRD one this week. Not as bad as last week's five."

Blake shook her head. "Not exactly all that GOOD either." The cat girl faced her partner again. "So, what're you doing, Yang?"

The Blonde Brawler sighed and began using the touch pad on the laptop. "I'm TRYING to reach my boyfriend on a Woosh call, but he's not picking up for some reason."

Ruby gasped and brightened up at that. It had been about a year since they had met their interdimensional heroic friends in that fateful, if accidental, Woosh call. But in that time, they had all gotten to know each other so well… especially Yang and a certain green-clad young man. "Ah! You're calling Ben? How's he doing? How're Gwen and Kevin doing?! And how about Rex—"

"I'm going to stop you right there, Ruby." Weiss interrupted. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't mention him again."

Blake rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, c'mon, Weiss. You can't be mad at him forever after that… little incident over that one Woosh call last month."

"LITTLE?!" Weiss reiterated. "He was in NOTHING but his underwear!"

Yang placed a hand on her hip. "Uh, YEAH, because he didn't know his webcam was on already. Geez, Weiss, I don't know what YOUR problem is." She gave the heiress a small smirk. "I mean, Ben is MY hottie, but Rex is a good-looking guy, too. I'd have thought you'd WANT to see someone like him in his underwear."

A profuse blush came to Weiss' face at that remark. "Th-That is FAR from the truth! Rex MIGHT be attractive, but he is SO uncouth! At least YOUR boyfriend has good manners. By the way, have you guys decided on WHEN you're going to meet in-person yet?"

"…No, not yet." Yang said with a disappointed sigh before glaring at the bricks. "I mean, we can't exactly GO anywhere when we're bricked in like this. I STILL can't believe that we've been stuck here for TWO YEARS."

Blake pursed her lips in annoyance and crossed her arms. "I still can't believe that the higher-ups cut our budget in order to make MORE super-serious stuff. I mean, I like mecha, but seriously, why are they so against having fun anymore?"

"Who knows?" Ruby shrugged. "Best probably NOT to poke the bear, though. Otherwise, we might not get out PERIOD—" BAM! All four Chibi girls snapped their eyes open and turned toward the door… only to see that the bricks were beginning to move. BAM! "Uh… what's going—" CRASH! "AAAAH!" The quartet screamed as the bricks were suddenly busted open, a cloud of dust kicking up.

When the dust cleared, it revealed something… rather peculiar. Two large fists in the doorway; one that was organic and had thick, tan skin, and another than was made of grey and orange metal. The metal arm pulled back and the owner of the organic hand strolled his way in… revealing himself to be a big, bipedal dinosaur. The four girls stared at the giant creature… which was really only four times their own height as he raised a hand and smiled at them. "'Sup?"

Blake, Wiess and Ruby all screamed and hugged each other in terror… but Yang was all smiles at who had just broken in. "GREEN BOY!"

The three other girls stopped at the familiar nickname. "Wait… is that—" Ruby was cut off when the large dinosaur suddenly let off a green flash… and transformed into a rather green-eyed brunet who, up until now, they had only seen on a computer screen. The other girls all gasped and cried out; "BEN!"

Ben Tennyson gave a salute and greeted the girls. "Hey ladies! How's it—GAH!" The hero was then abruptly cut off when his girlfriend practically tackled him to the floor, the Blonde Brawler squealing in excitement as she buried her head into Ben's chest. "Hah, Goldie Locks!" Ben pulled her into a hug and they gazed into each other's eyes. "So, we finally meet in person!"

"H-How?!" Yang exclaimed. "How did you—"

"Gwen cast a spell and brought us all here. Once we saw that the place had a brick wall around it, we decided to help break you guys out." Ben stood up, bringing Yang with him as he held her hands in his. "But man, it is great to FINALLY meet you in person, Goldie Locks. You have NO idea how nice it is to see your face NOT on a computer screen."

"Same here, Green Boy!" Yang hugged her boyfriend tightly, snuggling into him all the while. "And thanks for taking care of that damned brick wall! We've been going CRAZY in here… by the way, was that metal hand who I THINK it was—"

"¡HOLA, MIS AMIGOS!" At that moment, a certain spikey-haired Hispanic boy slid into the room on his knees, raising his metal arm high while holding up a pair of hand-horns with it. "Generator Rex and Ben 10 are IN LA CASA!"

Weiss facepalmed and uttered; "Oh no."

"Hey, Ice Princess!" Rex deactivated his Smack Hand and slid over to her, giving her a smirk. "How's it goin'? Haven't talked to ya since… uh."

The heiress sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Hello, Robo-dolt. Or should I call you Pervo-dolt after that incident?"

Rex's eyes snapped open and his face turned red, his eyes shifting back and forth in embarrassment. "Oh, you still remember that." He held up a single finger to her. "But hey, to be fair, I had NO idea that my cam was still on."

"And yet you decided to STRUT around in your underwear in front of it ANYWAY?!"

Ben quickly zipped in between the two before things could get heated. "Hey, hey, c'mon guys, let's all take it easy for a sec, huh?" He spread his arms out across the room. "What matters is that we're all in the same place now, so now, accidents like that can never happen again, right?"

"…Hah, yeah, I suppose you're right." Weiss sighed before quirking a brow at the hero. "By the way, you said that Gwen and Kevin were with you, too. Where are they anyway?"

Ben and Rex smirked to each other at her question. "Oh, you know, just taking out the bricks." Rex answered. "By the time their done, there won't be enough left for a Lego set…"

(Meanwhile, Upstairs…)

We find ourselves in the middle of one of the dorm room hallways in the upper floors of Beacon Academy, with no one insight and the air as still as can be. However, it didn't stay that way for long, for at the end of the hall, a strange anomaly suddenly rounded the corner and came rushing down the hall. It was… a cube-shaped bin on tiny yet powerful legs. You could almost hear the sound a scurrying flute with every step it took before it plonked itself down with a loud CLANG in front of the camera it was running toward. All of a sudden, a certain hyperactive redhead popped her head out of the big, making the top fly open as she exclaimed;

"HI, I'M COMPOST!"

(Literally 0.5 seconds later…)

Lie Ren was lying comfortably in his bed before, without warning, the door to his shared room with Team JNPR came bashing open, causing him to let out a yell and fall off the mattress. He looked to the door to see his best friend, Nora, still dressed in her compost bin. "REN! I'm starting to go STIR-CRAZY!" She flew out of the bin and grabbed the ninja by his collar. "IS THE WORLD STILL BRICKS?!"

Ren blinked a couple times before glancing out of the nearby window, seeing that it was still bricked off. "…Yep, the world's still bricks."

Nora's eyes snapped up to the bricks. She could almost hear their taunting laugher as she gazed at them, the guffaws echoing in her mind as her pupils shrunk to the size of peas. Her smile became quite the mad one as she began snickering, the small laughs slowly but surely turning into loud ones as fell to the floor in a heap. "Heheh… HEHEHE… AH-HAHAHA!" She went into the fetal position as her eyes began twitching, her body shaking as though she had the shivers.

Ren sighed and smacked his forehead. "Nora, PLEASE don't have another mental break down. You JUST got over the one you had last week."

All of a sudden, Nora sat back up straight, giving her friend a soft glare. "Well, what am I SUPPOSED to do, Ren?! There is literally NOTHING to do in the dorms! We've been stuck in here for two years, four months and ten days and we STILL have no idea if we're getting out or not!" She reached up and grabbed his collar again. "I think I have the right to PANIC, thank you very much!" However, just as she finished that sentence, a pair of giggles suddenly came from the hall, causing her expression to sour a bit. "Ugh, and then there's THOSE two."

At her words, the duo she was referring to came into the room, revealing them to be Jaune and Pyrrha. The two of them were smiling and holding hands, all while laughing at the stories they were no doubt telling one another. Ren couldn't help but sigh happily at them. "Hey, if there's one positive thing you can take away from being trapped here, Nora, it's that they FINALLY figured out their feelings for one another."

Nora rolled her eyes and nodded her head. "Yeah, but here's the thing; they haven't been able to go on a SINGLE date since then… and you know what that means…"

"I STILL can't believe that YOU were the Huntress!" Jaune exclaimed as he touched his girlfriend's face. "To think, my own GIRLFRIEND was my own arch enemy for a while!"

"I KNOW, right?" Pyrrha said with a bright smile. "And I still cannot believe that YOU…"

The Pink Dynamo let out another groan and fell onto her back in exasperation. "Ugh, they've gotten into a story loop! We're gonna be listening to the SAME flirting FOREVER if we don't—" BAM! "Huh?" Nora sat up again and Jaune and Pyrrha halted their conversation as all four members of Team JNPR set their eyes onto the window… only to see the bricks beginning to move. BAM! …BAM! …CRASH!

A cloud of dust was suddenly kicked up, and a glowing, feminine figure entered the room, though she didn't glow for long as her silhouette appeared in the cloud. "Hm, maybe I over did it with that last spell…"

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she recognized the girl's voice. "Wait a moment… GWEN?!"

At the sound of her name, yet another redheaded girl suddenly emerged from the dust cloud, wafting it away with quick waves of her hand has her eyes met all of theirs. "Hey guys!" Gwen greeted. "How're you guys do—ACK!" In the blink of an eye, Nora zipped up to Gwen and put her in a bone crushing hug. "ACK! N-Nora! W-What's—"

"GWEN! You've saved us from the bricks!" Nora shouted. "How can we ever thank you!?"

"W-Well… I could have my lungs back." Gwen stressed as her face turned blue. "That would be nice." All at once, Nora let Gwen go and the Anodite fell to the ground, gasping for air all the while. "Hah… thank you, Nora. That's much better."

Jaune and Pyrrha quickly helped Gwen up, the blonde knight asking the obvious question; "B-But Gwen, how'd you even GET here?! And what ARE you doing here, anyway?"

"Well, Ben just couldn't wait to meet Yang in person anymore, so I used a little spell to bring us here." Gwen explained. "Thankfully, with all the gifts that Ben and Yang send to each other, it was easy to get a handle on her life force and teleport us to Beacon." She raised a brow and jerked a thumb toward the window. "But man, when you guys said you were bricked in, you weren't kidding!"

"Nope, no exaggeration there." Ren affirmed. "So, where IS Ben—"

"HEY GUYS!" Ben suddenly shouted, the hero rising up out of the floor as Big Chill. This effectively managed to make all of Team JNPR jump out of their shoes, the quartet taking out their weapons and making the Necrofriggian's eyes widen. "Woah, woah, stay calm!" Big Chill let off a green flash and transformed back into Ben, the hero giving them all a smile. "It's just me!"

Jaune was the first to let his guard down. "Ben?! Holy crap, you scared the living day lights out of us!"

"Better than the DEAD day lights, am I right?!" All heads turned toward the room's entrance to see Yang slide in, the Blonde Brawler making finger guns as she sold her own joke. "Eh? Eeeeh?"

Ben let out a laugh as Rex and the rest of Team RWBY started filing into the room. "Ah-haha! Nice one, Goldie Locks! Just as punny as ever I see!"

"You know it Green Boy!" Yang pointed at the Omnitrix. "And you had better WATCH out for more!"

As the couple continued to laugh, the whole group deadpanned at the awful humor being sold to them, making Gwen give out a sigh. "And apparently THIS is now happening." She craned her head toward the other RWBY girls and gave them a wave. "Hey, ladies! How's it going?"

"Gwen!" Blake rushed forward and gave Gwen a (thankfully) gentle hug. "It's SO good to finally meet you in person! Oh! Did you bring the books you mentioned?!"

The Anodite gave her friend a wink. "Oh, you know it, Blake! Behold!" Gwen's hands began glowing and she spread her arms out summoning a whole motherlode of novels in the blink of an eye. "Ta-da!"

There had to be dozens of books there, and Blake's eyes immediately began glistening at the sight of them. "So… beautiful…"

Weiss couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I swear, she would MARRY books if she wasn't already going out with Sun."

"Wouldn't doubt it." Rex smirked. "Bet she cuddles with them while she sleeps."

"Hold on." Ruby interjected. "Gwen, if you're here… then where's Kevin?"

Gwen set all the books down to face Ruby, with Blake practically pouncing on the stack of novels to hug them. "Well, I decided to work on the west side of the brick wall while he worked on the east side." She pointed out the door with a determined face. "I bet if we head over to the other wing, we'll be able to meet up with him! C'mon, let's go!"

(Beacon Dorms, East Wing)

Sun Wukong was humming happily to himself as he marched down the hallway to his and Neptune's room, keeping his eyes closed all the while. However, at the sound of a ton of quickly approaching foot falls, he stood at the ready with his fists balled up. "Woah! Okay who's got the nerve to come charging up to me?!" He spun around to face his oncoming opponents… only to see his friends and his girlfriend instead. "Oh! Blake, it's just you!" He put his arm around her and gave her a smirk. "How's it goin', babe?"

Blake smiled to her boyfriend fondly. She remembered the night that she and Gwen had that Woosh call, the redhead convincing her to take the plunge on asking the monkey boy out. He might've been utterly dorky, but it was SO worth it. "Hmhm, it's going fine, Sun. And hey, look who we've got!"

Ben, Gwen and Rex all stepped up, giving Sun a collective wave. "Sun, my dude!" Ben greeted with a raised hand.

"Ben!" Sun brightened up and returned the high-five, all while giving Gwen and Rex the same treatment. "Gwen, Rex, what the HECK are you guys doin' here?! Wait, how DID you get in here? The place is bricked off!"

"Yeah, but we're breakin' the wall down!" Rex cheered. "We're bustin' you guys outta here, dude!"

At that moment, Sun's eyes widened in concern. "Oh… we might wanna warn Neptune about that. He… may not take it well." He received a slew of confused looks from the group before sighing and motioning for them to follow him. "C'mon, I'll show ya." The monkey boy lead them to his room and reached for the door, giving the group a warning look. "Fair warning; Neptune's kinda off his rocker…" With that, he opened the door, revealing Neptune facing the bricked off window. "Heeeeey, buddy!" Sun greeted his partner with an ear-to-ear smile. "You'll NEVER believe this! Ben and the gang are here! They're gonna get us out!"

However, Neptune didn't seem to notice as he kept his arms crossed, rocking back and forth on his feet. "Oh, don't worry, dude! I'm fine with the way things are! Eeyup!"

The teens glanced toward one another in confusion before Ruby spoke up. "Uh, Neptune, are you sure about tha—"

Without warning, Neptune spun around… and he was suddenly wearing a black tux with a matching top hat. "Didn't you hear?!" he spoke with a fauz-British accent. "The Bricks and I are getting MARRIED!" Sure enough, the bricks outside the window had a bridal veil taped to them, and the sight was enough to freak out everybody there.

"…Okay, that is just wrong." Nora uttered. "And coming from ME, that's saying something!"

Neptune didn't seem to take notice as he simply sat down on his bed, giving a content sigh. "Ah, these past two years have just been the GREATEST, haven't they? I mean, look at us!" He reached out toward his friends. "We've all become one big happy family…" He rounded back to his "future wife". "And I'm getting married to… a-a wall! How can this get ANY better, I ask you!?" BAM! Everyone's eyes widened and they all turned to the bricks in surprise. "Uh… honey?" Neptune asking in concern. "Are you alright—"

CRASH! At that very second, a teenager made of solid brick suddenly came careening through the wall, wrecking both it, AND the glass window effectively. The young man stood tall and proud as the brick he was made out of quickly shifted back to skin and bone, revealing himself to be a black-haired teenager with dark eyes and a mischievous smirk. "'Sup, nerds?!"

"KEVIN!" The whole group shouted at the same time… well, all except Neptune.

The blue-haired boy's jaw had dropped and his pupils shrunk in horror after witnessing his beautiful fiancé being wrecked from the outside. His hand shakily reached for one of her many broken bricks, which also happened to be the one with her wedding vail taped to it. "No… NO…" Neptune threw his head back and hollered to the heavens; "NNNOOOOOOO!" He then went into the fetal position and wept, holding the brick close to his chest.

Kevin glanced over to the crying Neptune and jerked a thumb toward him. "Uh… is he gonna be okay?"

Ruby gave her overdramatic friend a deadpan expression. "Eh, give him a little while. He'll get over it." She turned her attention back to the Alien Trio and Rex with a bright smile. "But this is GREAT! You guys are here and we're not bricked in anymore!"

The Osmosian gave her a thumbs up. "Yep! That wall's been wrecked to heck and back!" Kevin chose to ignore the loud whine that Neptune let out and moved on. "Now, who wants to help me bring in all the consoles and movies we brought with us, huh? You guys mentioned you wanted to see some Earth stuff, so we made sure to pack as much as we could in my car."

"Ooh! I do!" Jaune waved.

"And me as well!" Pyrrha jumped in. "I cannot wait to start playing this "Legend of Zelda" series you kept raving to me about, Gwen!"

Gwen gave her fellow redhead a big grin. "Hehe, yep! Should be fun!"

Ben, however, was tapping his chin in thought. "Wait a sec… aren't we missing someone?" Little did he know, though, there were two large, red circles appearing on the wall behind him, heating it up intensely. "I could've sworn that there were THREE redheads in this—" BLAM! "AH!" The hero, and a few others, let out a yelp as a pair of twin red heat rays suddenly shot out from the wall, creating a huge hole in it.

And through said hole stepped none other than Penny Polendina, the redheaded android wearing a big smile as she gave the group a wave. "Salutations, everyone!" She set her eyes upon Rex and the Alien Trio and gave them a nod. "And greetings to you, Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Rex! I detected your arrival ten-point-five seconds ago!"

"Oh, hey Penny!" Rex said while offering a fist bump. Penny initially tilted her head before getting the idea and bumping her fist with Rex's… and a VERY audible pop was heard, causing Rex to pull his hand back. "Gah-ha-ha!" Wincing through the pain while Weiss giggled behind him, he asked the robot-girl; "Hehe… how's it goin'?"

"Fairly well! I would like to thank you for taking down that brick wall." Penny bowed her head as Neptune continued to bawl. "Not even MY weapons could make a dent in it for some reason."

Gwen crossed her arms, clearly perplexed. "Yeah, for some reason, that wall had an enchantment on it that made it invulnerable to all form of human attack and weaponry, including yours. Fortunately, it didn't take aliens and EVOs into account. No clue who could've done that, but hey! At least you guys are free again!"

"And thank goodness for it!" Nora exclaimed as she put an arm around Gwen and Ben. "Now, here's what I'm thinking; this whole occasion calls… for a PANCAKE PARTY! Huh?! Who's with me?!"

Yang pumped a fist eagerly. "Heck yeah, I'm down for that! Let's go!" The whole group cheered their own agreement before heading downstairs, with Sun dragging the still-crying Neptune behind him. However, just as she was about to step out, Yang noticed that Ben still had a curious face about him. "Hey, Green Boy? Everything alright?"

"H-Huh? Oh, yeah, Goldie Locks, I'm good." Ben stepped up and hooked his arm with hers happily. "And you can bet that I'm super psyched to FINALLY be with you here in person… it's just that I can't help but feel that we're STILL forgetting something?"

The Blonde Brawler smiled back with a shrug. "Well, who knows? Maybe you'll remember it eventually. But for now, it's time for pancakes!"

"Hehe, yeah! Let's go!" With that, the couple stepped out of the room and closed the door behind them… unaware that a certain other individual was entering the room from the broken window.

She appeared to be a teenage girl in a black and grey stealth suit… and her skin and hair were the same color as her clothing for some reason. However, after taking a quick scan of the room, her skin shifted to a more tan complexion, with dark brown spots on her face, shoulders and legs. Her hair was also brown as well, her pony tail curling at its tip. A smirk came to the young girl's face as she reached up toward her ear. "Lady Khan… I'm FINALLY in! Soon, Blake will have to face her past, and her friends will know to FEAR the name of… ILIA AMITOLA! AH-HAHAHAHA—" SLAM! "ERK!"

Without warning, Nora slammed open the door once again, hitting Ilia in the face and smacking her into the wall behind it. The Pink Dynamo scanned her eyes around, only to come up with nothing. "Huh… I could've sworn that I heard something in here…" But then she gave a shrug and faced the camera on the far wall. "Ah well, TIME TO MAKE PANCAKES!"

With that, Nora closed the door, allowing Ilia to slowly fall to the ground with a SMACK. "…I hate this place already."

A/N: And there we go! The Chibi crew has been freed and the Chibified heroes have joined them! …But uh, oof, Chibi Ilia seems to be off to a rough start to her tenure. Here's hoping she can bounce back from that. Also, considering what this chapter was based around… can YOU guess the reference? I'll give you a hint; it's from a pretty popular video game reviewer who's got a thing for dragons and bandicoots. *wink* That being said, going forward, I'm gonna try to have a bit more continuity than the regular Chibi series did, so expect a lot of call backs to previous chapters in the future.

But speaking of the future… NEXT TIME! Man, it's only been a week and I already missed saying that. Anyway, we join our heroes as they begin shooting a new intro for the show… only for it to end up backfiring on them in the worst way. And then, a certain chameleon girl starts her spy mission… while really thinking hard about what she's doing.

I'll see you all next time, guys! Remember, the second chapter drops on Saturday, and from there, the fic will be updating every two weeks going forward. Stay safe out there, guys, and I'll see ya later!

A/N: Alright, onto chapter two now! One thing I forgot to mention though; often enough, some chapters will be separated into two parts depending on how long the bit is. Sometimes it'll be one long bit, other times, it'll be two. So here, we have a twofer! Also, I AM open for recommendations when it comes to Chibi bits, so if you have an idea, feel free to make a suggestion in the comments! Now, for those of you who are fans of professional wrestling and are familiar with a certain show on YouTube… this next bit might be right up your alley. So, let's get into it, shall we? This is…

Chapter 2, Part 1: An Elite Intro!

"Ooooh! I'm so excited!" Ruby said as she and her team took their places. "We haven't done this in so long, it's gonna be great!"

Weiss smiled fondly. "I WILL admit, I'm happy that we're gonna be doing this again. Seems like forever ago, right?"

"I KNOW!" Yang said eagerly. "This is gonna be so awesome!"

Blake rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, just so long as we're not sabotaged again…"

Ruby gave her friend a reassuring wave. "Aw, don't worry, Blake! Everything will be fine! It's a new beginning, after all! …OOH! Here it comes! Get ready girls!"

A moment after she said that, the familiar jingle started to play, with their signature large logo dropping down into the scene. The four girls appeared from behind it and did their thing, with Weiss flicking her hair while Ruby waved joyously. Blake propped her chin on her hand up top while Yang leaned on the side of the logo, all while all four girls shouted out; "RWBY CHIBI!"

"Ah, now THAT was satisfying." Ruby sighed.

"Woah, woah, woah, hold on a sec!" The members of Team RWBY all turned their heads around to see Rex and the Alien Trio walking up to them, with Kevin placing a hand on his hip with a smirk. "THAT'S your intro? Heh, wow, talk about blink-and-you'll-miss-it."

From her place atop the logo, Weiss crossed her arms and glared pointedly at him. "Well, that's kind of the point. You know, considering how quick and snappy our bits are on this show?"

"She has a good point, Kevin." Gwen supported, placing her hands together. "Besides, I think it's rather cute!"

"Aw, thanks, Gwen!" Blake said with a bow of her head.

Rex tapped his chin in contemplation. "Well, yeah, it's really cute, but considering that this is pretty much a new era for you guys, doncha wanna spice things up a bit?" He jerked his thumb between himself and the trio of alien fighters. "Plus, I mean, WE'RE part of the cast now, so maybe WE could be in the intro too?"

Yang and the other girls blinked at the point made by the EVO. "Huh, well, since you put it that way, I guess we could come up with something to incorporate you guys in…" Her eyes brightened up as she faced her boyfriend. "Ooh! Green Boy, you have any ideas?"

Ben's turn to speak finally came, and he wore a smile as he gazed upon the large "RWBY Chibi" logo. "Actually, I kinda do… but you'll have to follow me a bit on this one." He placed his hands in front of him and began describing what he was imaging. "I think I've got a way to have an awesome new intro WHILE parodying something at the same time. You guys like to do parodies around here, right?"

"Oh, heck yeah!" Ruby cheered. "So, what do you have for us, Ben?"

"Well… let me set the scene…"

(Fade to Intro)

From the perspective of a camera, we see a panning shot up to the Beacon dorms and move across the front of the building, all while the RWBY Chibi logo appears on the screen. In the background, we hear a beat being laid down while lyrics kick in over the drums;

BE, Chi-bi!

RW-BY Chibi!

BE, Chi-bi!

RW-BY Chibi!

As we pan across the front of the dorms, we see Ruby Rose sitting in a lawn chair, focused intently on a video game she's playing on a Nintendo Switch. However, once she sees the camera approaching her, she gives a big thumbs up as her credit appears under her;  'Starring Ruby Rose'  As we pan away from Ruby and move toward the large garage door, we hear a guitar kick in as the lyrics begin repeating, with each reiteration becoming more and more vigorous.

BE, Chi-bi!

RW-BY Chibi!

BE, Chi-bi!

RW-BY Chibi!

As we approach the garage, we see Gwen and Blake laughing together as they read a good book, only for them to stop the moment they notice the camera. They duo each give the camera man a warning glare, all while their credits appear under them;  'Gwen Tennyson and Blake Belladonna' .

Taking the hint, the camera moves away from them and instead goes into the garage, where it immediately finds Kevin polishing his car intensely. He pauses for a moment and gives the camera a big smile of his own…  'Kevin Levin'

We then move away from the Osmosian and enter the dorms proper, the camera speeding down a long hallway until it finds a certain heiress, cupping a hand to her ear. Weiss faces a camera and blows a kiss to it as her credit appears.  'Weiss Schnee' . Weiss gives the camera one last wink before it pans back around, this time with the theme reaching the point of new lyrics;

BE, Chi-bi!

RW-BY Chibi!

BE, Chi-bi!

RW-BY Chibi!

Chibified Party! We're Chibifiiiied!

With that, we finally make our way to the power couple; Ben Tennyson and Yang Xiao Long, bouncing back and forth on the balls of their feet as they get ready for a spar. They pump their fists to the camera as their credit appears;  'Created by Ben Tennyson and Yang Xiao Long'

Chibified Par-TAY! We're Chibifiiiied!

Before the intro can end, however, we cut to a certain EVO with his back faced to the camera. Rex spins around and opens up his jacket, revealing the words; "BOOK REX!" on his shirt as his own credit appears;  'Featuring Rex Salazar'

(Intro Fades out…)

We cut to the gang as they finish shooting the new intro, with Ben giving a sigh as he sits down with a bottle of water in his hands. "Nice shoot today, guys! I think we got some really good footage for that new intro!"

Yang sat down in her seat, also with a water bottle in her hand. "Yeah, took a good few takes, but we did it!"

"I actually think that went over rather well!" Weiss admitted.

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed "This new intro just might—"

"AHEM!" Everyone's eyes widened as they slowly trailed their gazes over to their right, only to see an annoyed Team JNPR and Team SN standing off to the sides with their arms crossed. Penny was standing there as well, though she seemed to be as chipper as always. Nora pumped her fists down to her sides and demanded; "Hey, just where exactly is OUR credit, huh?!"

Jaune raised a brow to the group of eight teens. "Yeah, I mean, WE'RE a big part of this show, too, ya know?"

Team RWBY, the Alien Trio and Rex all glanced at one another awkwardly before Ben decided to answer. "Er, well… ya see, guys, we're just starting the show back up again and we're working on a limited budget, so we figured that it'd be best for only… the MAIN stars to be featured in the intro? Hehe…" Ben let out a nervous laugh as that only seemed to make the two teams only more irritated. "B-But that doesn't mean you guys aren't any less important!"

"Y-Yeah! You're a big part of the show, after all." Blake added hastily.

"Aw, C'MON!" Nora shouted in disappointment. "Can't I even get a credit for handling the BOOM MIC?!"

The whole group blinked in confusion over that. "Uh, Nora?" Gwen spoke up. "We have staff for holding the boom mics. Besides, you're not even holding a boom mic. Which one are you talking about?"

However, a devious smirk came to Nora's face as she suddenly pulled out her grenade launcher, making everyone's eyes widen. "THIS ONE! NOW GIMME MY CREDIT!" Team RWBY, Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Rex all gave out panicked yells as Nora began chasing them around with Magnhild, threatening to let her explosives fly at any moment.

Sun glanced over to the others. "Think we should help them?"

"Nah, Nora will lose interest soon." Ren assured. "So, anyone wanna start planning more comedy bits?"

"Oh yes!" Pyrrha said as she and her group moved into the house. "That sounds quite lovely!"

Chapter 2, Part 2: A Chameleon's Perspective

Thankfully, Ren was right about Nora losing interest, and the group of eight found themselves lounging in one of the dorm's many hallways, trying to catch their breath. "Hah… hah… I can't… BELIEVE… that she chased us around for a while hour!" Kevin exclaimed, slumping down to the floor as his head fell into Gwen's lap.

"Yeah, what the heck is UP with that chica?" Rex asked as he put a hand to his head. "She is muy loco!"

Weiss nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's Nora for you. Always unpredictable. But hey, now that we're not being chased, what do we do now?"

Ben stood up and gave a knowing look to his girlfriend. "Well, I WAS hoping that I'd get a chance to take a look at your bike, babe. You've kept telling me how awesome it is, so I figure it's time I see it!"

"Ooh! Yeah, let's do that!" Yang cheered, standing up before hooking Ben's arm with hers. "I'll see ya later, guys!"

As the group waved, Rex slid over next to Weiss and gave her a nudge with his elbow. "So, Ice Princess, how about you and me take a walk around, huh? Think you could give me a grand tour of the place?"

Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes. "I suppose. Come on." Weiss stood up and glanced to Rex out of the corner of her eye. "Just so long as you don't suddenly strip down, we'll be good."

"I TOLD you, it was an ACCIDENT!" Rex shouted as he chased after her.

Kevin shrugged as he stood up and followed them. "Well, I think I'm gonna go work on my car. Later, gals!"

"Bye, Kevin!" Gwen waved cheerfully as she, Blake and Ruby were left by themselves. She shifted her eyes between the two girls with a knowing smirk. "So, ladies…" the Anodite narrowed her eyes. "Are you ready… for…" Gwen then pulled out two books from behind her back, presenting them to her friends. "Some reading?!"

Blake and Ruby gasped in amazement. "Oh, yes! I've been waiting for this!" the cat girl and Hooded Huntress grabbed the two books, the former reading off its title; "Ooh, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"?"

Ruby gasped in delight. "Ah! Sounds so mysterious… and definitely NOT filth!" She received an annoyed face from Blake for that remark. "Hehe, let's go and read!"

With that, the three headed off to Team RWBY's room… only for Blake to stop and take a quick glance around in suspicion. She put a hand to Gwen's shoulder and asked; "Uh, Gwen? Do you ever have the feeling that you're being watched?"

Gwen gave a shrug at that. "Well, sometimes. Then again, I often get that considering what I do for a living. Why do you ask?"

Blake's ears folded down as she backed up into her shared dorm room, pulling Gwen in with her. "Hmm… just a hunch. C'mon, let's start reading…" With that, the two girls entered the room and shut the door, unaware of the pair of legs that were standing behind one of the nearby window curtains.

However, once they were gone, the owner of said legs took in a deep breath, popping her head out to reveal herself as none other than Ilia. "Hah, that was too close!" A smirk appeared on her face as she stealthily made her way down the hall, doing multiple flips off the walls before arriving at her destination; a storage room at the end of the hall. She flicked on a small light and took out a recording device, pressing the small red button to begin her account. "Ilia's log, day one. I've FINALLY succeeded in infiltrating the Beacon dorms to spy on Blake and her friends." She said the last part with a bit of spite in her voice before going on. "I'm glad those heroes were able to take down those bricks, otherwise I may never have gotten in."

The chameleon girl moved over to a small swivel chair that she had swiped, propping her feet up on a nearby desk. "In any case, at the conclusion of my first espionage mission, I CAN confirm that Blake is "friends" with the Schnee heiress, and she is JUST as bad as I thought she'd be. She's vain, insulting, and completely rude, as I had expected." However, she pursed her lips as she set the recorder down, thinking over the interaction she had just seen a few minutes ago. "The rest of them, though… they all seem kinda nice. The blonde and her boyfriend are pretty cool, the absorbing guy is alright, the mechanical arm guy is… kind of odd, but still alright. And the redhead and hooded girl… dang it, how can they be so nice?!"

She stood up out of her chair and put her hands to her eyes. "They're humans, I'm a Faunus. A Faunus from the White Fang, no less! I shouldn't be… liking these guys, I'm supposed to HATE them!" Ilia walked over to a bunch of nearby pictures she had gathered, ones of Team JNPR, Penny and Team SN. "And even the others aren't all that bad!" She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "I… I guess Blake might have better tastes in friends than I initially—"

"Hi, Sun!" Ilia's eyes widened at the sound of Blake's muffed voice, the chameleon girl rushing over to the door to open it just a crack. There, right down the hall, she saw Blake and Sun facing one another, the monkey boy standing outside of Team RWBY's room. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Yeah, well, Neptune wanted to be left alone to mourn the bricks… again." Sun explained. "So I decided to come on over to see what you were doin'!" He leaned in and gave her a wink. "You don't mind, do ya?"

Blake giggled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Nope! Of course not! C'mon, we just got started reading a good book!"

With that, Blake ushered Sun into the room and closed the door once again… leaving Ilia literally red-eyed and green with envy. She slammed the door shut and began ranting to herself. "Oh… NOW I have a reason to hate someone other than Schnee!" Ilia stomped over and glared at the picture of Team SN she had taken, focusing in on the monkey boy. "Just you wait, Sun Wukong! I'm going to make you RUE the day that you ever stepped within one FOOT of Blake! And then, I'm going to—"

Ilia was cut off mid-rant when a sudden banging came from the wall. "Hey! SOME of us are trying to teach here!" came a feminine voice from the other side of the wall. "Take your megalomaniacal ranting somewhere else!"

"Glynda, what IS going on?" came yet another voice, this time a male. "Who in the world are you talking to?"

"I'm not sure, Professor Ozpin." the woman, Glynda, answered. "Whoever's living in the storage room. It sounds like they're concocting nefarious schemes."

"Wha—oh for goodness sakes!" Ozpin let out a slight grumble at the news. "Cinder Fall! I TOLD you that you were NOT welcome here anymore after the Kitten Killer 9000 incident! You've left me no choice! Glynda, activate the fumigation security system!"

About a moment later, a couple of vents in the room began to open up, letting loose a rather odd gas from them. Ilia glanced all around as the gas began to surround her, the chameleon girl letting out a small; "Uh oh."

We cut to Ben and Yang standing side by side, blonde with her hands in her pockets while keeping her head lowered. The hero turned his head to the camera and smiled as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Hey, did you like that chapter?" He then points down toward the end of the page. "Click on the tab below for more!"

Without warning, Yang suddenly got up close and personal to the camera, glaring into with her eyes glowing bright red. "And where do you think… you're going—" Her smiled returned as her eyes went back to their usual violet, continuing as if she hadn't just made a threat. "—before you check out our merchandise page at… um…" She took out her script and narrowed her eyes at the line she was supposed to say. "Insert website name here?"

"It's still a work in progress." Ben explained… all while failing to notice a certain Pink Dynamo running into frame from behind them.

"Ah, I get ya." Yang said before tossing the script away as the hyper redhead pulled out her hammer and made a massive jump toward them. "In any case, stay tuned for more! And thanks so much… for Being the Chibi—" WHAM! "AAAAH!"

The couple shouted in pain as Nora slammed her hammer into both of them, all while yelling; "GIVE ME MY CREDIT!" She proceeded to chase the two of them away, knocking over the camera at the same time.

A/N: And there you have it! The Chibi crew have a new intro (and a few mild concussions thanks to Nora), and Ilia has experienced some… difficulties acclimating to hiding out in Beacon's storage room. And believe it or not, her bit was also a reference to something. See if you can guess what it is in the comments, though I'll be VERY surprised if you can guess it. As for the intro, it's actually a reference to "Being the Elite" on YouTube, a vlog series created by professional wrestlers Matt and Nick Jackson. The idea of parodying one of their intros with the Chibi gang was actually presented to me by a friend of mine on here; TheBrodRoad. I found the idea really entertaining, so I thought; "Yeah, why not?" It definitely fits with the vibe that I wanna give this version of Chibi, plus, considering Ben and the gang are part of the show now, why WOULDN'T the intro be different? Also… it also gives me an excuse for Nora to be frustrated with the gang. Trust me, that's gonna come back later.

Alright, so starting today, Chibi's gonna be going every other week, so on January 9 th , come back here for the next chapter! Speaking of which… NEXT TIME! We've seen what our heroes are up to… but what about our bad guys? Let's see how Cinder and her crew have been getting on since the show got cancelled… as well as see just what their mistress has instore for them now that things are back up and running.

I'll see you all next time guys, and remember; come New Year's Day, we'll be starting a new adventure in the world of Transformers/My Hero Academia! So look out for that as well! But for now, stay safe, and I'll see you all real soon! Take care!

A/N: Hey there everybody! Welcome back to the first Ben 10 RWBY Chibi update of 2021, and this week, I've got a little something special for ya! This one's gonna be a single bit chapter with this one, because here, we're gonna be introduced (or RE-introduced if you think about it) to our villains! Now without further ado, this is…

Chapter 3: Nefarious New Faces

In the Land of Darkness, we see a large foreboding castle off in the distance, the dark sky crackling with lightning behind it to give it an accentuated air of menace. Inside of this immense structure, a certain group of five nefarious individuals… and a Beowulf… were having a six-way card game with one another, all of them intently focused on their respective hands. With how intense the air was around them, you would've mistaken this for a game of poker. But in reality, it was something FAR more serious.

Emerald glanced up from her hand, glancing over to a certain redheaded individual in a bowler hat. "…Got any threes?"

"Grrr…" Roman Torchwick sneered as he pulled a card from his deck and handed it to Emerald, who smiled in satisfaction. The criminal mastermind then set his eyes over to Mercury, a smirk of his own forming on his face. "Got any queens?"

Mercury let out a chortle at that. "Heh, go fish."

Roman pursed his lips in annoyance before reaching to the deck in the middle and pulling up a card… only for it to be the one he was looking for. "Haha! Joke's on you, bad boy! I, Roman Torchwick, get ANOTHER turn! Mwa-hahaha!"

The table groaned again as Roman took his second turn, though not everybody was entirely focused on the game. A certain raven-haired individual was practically glaring at her cards, so much so that she might have burned a hole right through them if she wanted. To say that Cinder Fall was annoyed by the current set of circumstances was an understatement. She had not performed ANY nefarious plans in what felt like a LIFETIME, and it was beginning to wear on her nerves. It didn't help that she had been secluded in her mistress' castle during that entire time, the evil witch having sited that it was due to "a change in plans". What that meant, Cinder didn't know, but she could practically feel the isolation taking a toll on her psyche.

The young woman's teeth grit down and her eye began to twitch as her hands began to heat up, threatening to set the cards on fire. Suddenly, Emerald called out; "Cinder? Cinder!"

Cinder's eyes snapped up. "H-Huh? What?!"

The whole table shrunk back at her demand, but Emerald still answered. "Um… it's your turn." She pointed to the Beowulf, who was looking expectantly at Cinder while holding up his cards.

If anything, though, this just made Cinder even MORE furious… but she didn't let it show. Instead, she put on a smile. "Oh, really? Well, then…" She tilted her head toward the Beowolf. "Got any Maidens?"

"Er, well, I'm actually supposed to ask that to you right now." The Beowolf, Marty, clarified."And even then, I don't think that's a—AGH!" Marty let out a yelp as his cards were suddenly burned in his hand, ignited by a snap of Cinder's fingers.

Cinder glared at the Beowolf, making him shrink back in fear. "Go fish." With a loud scream, Marty fled the scene, making the table groan.

"Great, NOW we need to get a new deck of cards!" Roman bemoaned while pointing his cane at Cinder. "Do you know how difficult it is to get SHIPPING out here in the wasteland? It could take a MONTH!"

Mercury eyed Emerald in curiosity. "So… does this mean the game's over?"

"Ugh, yes… and you know what that means." Emerald sighed, her eyes moving over to a certain pink and brown-haired girl. Said girl had five sets of four cards each sitting next to her, while everyone else had either two or three sets. "Neo wins… again."

Neo brightened up and lifted a sign that said; "YIPPEE!". With a cute smile, she leapt off her seat and began skipping around the table in victory, all while everyone else languished their loss.

"Seriously, Cinder, what IS your problem?" Mercury crossed his arms accusingly. "You've been on edge more than usual lately."

"My problem?" Cinder said with a deathly calm to her voice before her hands and eye lit on fire again. She jumped onto the table and got into Mercury's face. "My PROBLEM?! My problem is that we haven't been doing anything remotely nefarious! It feels like we've been playing the same game of "Go Fish" for two years!"

"Hey, that's not true." Emerald objected. "…Sometimes we play Old Maid."

Neo help up another sign that said; "Or Mahjong!"

"UUUUUGH!" Cinder threw her head back in frustration. "You imbeciles are INCORRIGIBLE!" However, her eyes then glanced over to Roman, pointing at him accusingly. "And YOU… I honestly kind of forget that you're here most of the time." She received a deadpan face from Roman for that. "Weren't you eaten by a Grimm or something?"

Roman smiled and gave a shrug. "Hehe, well, I had gotten so stir-crazy in here at one point that I DID think that for a little while. Took me a while before I realized that my blankets were NOT a Griffon's stomach."

Cinder rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Psh, whatever." Her demeanor changed on a dime when she suddenly grew frustrated again. "But back to the main point, I want to plan! I want to PLOT! I want to scheme! I want SOMEONE who understands what it means to be truly villainous!"

CRACK! Without warning, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed throughout the room, and in the blink of an eye, a new figure was standing right next to Cinder. She wore a black dress and her skin was as bleach white as her hair, which was done up in a frankly overly-complicated style with a large bun in the back and multiple offshoots to the side that had black wrappings around them. The whole group let out a surprised yelp at the sight of her before bowing instantly, the woman speaking as her red eyes bore into them. "Perhaps I could be of some assistance, young Cinder."

"L-Lady Salem!" Cinder exclaimed. "T-To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"That answer is quite simple, my pupil." Salem said as she reached behind her back. "You see, after a long, arduous two years, my ULIMATE evil plan has finally borne fruit! For behold!" She pulled out something from behind her back and another lightning bolt cracked outside, making everyone flinch again. However, once the group saw exactly WHAT Salem was holding up… they couldn't help but be confused.

"Um… Lady Salem… that's a Want Ad." Emerald pointed out.

Salem smiled sinisterly. "Indeed it is, Emerald, but it is not simply ANY Want Ad, but a Want Ad searching for the most nefarious villains throughout the dimensions!" She held the Want Ad in both hands and laughed to herself. "Haha! And after two years, I believe I have FINALLY found the type of people we need to put our plans into motion!"

Mercury blinked in surprise. "Wait, so you had us stuck here for two WHOLE years just so you could prepare and watch a WANT AD?"

"Oh, no. That was the creators' fault not mine." Salem explained. "Trust me, if I wanted you to continue your planning, I WOULD have, but ever since the show was cancelled, I was not allowed to let you all leave the castle."

There was a long pause after that… and with each passing moment, Cinder kept growing hotter and hotter until… "DAMMIT!" From the young woman, a huge pillar of fire erupted, one that shot directly out of the castle's roof. Once it had disappeared, Cinder was left huffing and puffing with rage, soot covering her from head to toe.

"Good to see that you've found an outlet for your rage, young Cinder." Salem commended.

Cinder shook off the soot and bowed her head. "Thank you, Lady Salem. But I must ask, if someone DID answer the Want Ad… then where are they?"

"Ah, yes! Allow me to introduce you…" Salem walked over to the nearest door… which, given her long dress, made her appear to be just gliding across the floor. She opened the door and, on the other side, stood six imposing silhouettes, three of them appearing to be normal sized while the other three were TWICE as tall as they were. Heck, FOUR of them didn't look like they were human at all! "Firstly, allow me to introduce you to…"

But then, the first figure stepped into the room; a young woman with pale skin, bright red hair, and dark lipstick. She was donned in red and black armor with a skull on her chest, as well as spikes sticking out in multiple spots throughout. She gave a big, toothy grin to the five minions and spread her arms out. "What is UP, my new partners in crime?!" She jerked a thumb to herself and gave them a wink. "You can call me Rojo. You could say that I'm the cool one of this new crew!"

Mercury and Emerald's eyes rose up in surprise. "Woah, she's pretty confident." Emerald commented before glancing over to her leader. "What do you thing Cin…der?" She was taken off guard when she saw Cinder simply… staring in Rojo in shock, almost if she didn't know how to feel about this new comer. It was very… odd to see Cinder like that.

Salem cleared her throat. "Ahem, yes, Rojo is quite capable of villainous acts. And she is one of the most loyal people here as I understand it."

Rojo gave Salem a wink. "Just so long as I get a cut of the cash and get to mess with do-gooders, Boss Lady, I'll follow you anywhere."

"Of course." Salem waved her hand toward the door as the next figure stepped in. "Nextly, we have…" However, the moment the figure stepped in… there was no one there. "Um… huh. Rojo, did you see where Subdora went—"

"AH! My hat!" Everyone snapped their heads toward Roman to see that his bowler hat was floating in midair, the criminal attempting to use his cane to get it back down. Neo joined him, using her umbrella to do the same. "Get back here! Lady Salem, I thought you said that Geists were not ALLOWED in the castle!"

Salem smirked at the sight. "Oh, I did. Come now, Subdora dear, no need to keep teasing poor Roman any longer."

Suddenly, the hat stopped moving, causing Roman and Neo to konk each other on the head with their weapons. "As you wish, Signora Salem." With that, the perpetrator appeared from thin air; a purple lizard woman dressed in a white outfit with a matching barrette, along with sunglasses that had three multicolored lenses.

Subdora put the bowler hat down… though she set it on Neo's head instead of Roman's. Neo instantly took notice and smiled, holding up a sign saying; "I still ROCK this hat!"

Roman deadpanned at that before taking the hat back and setting his glare over to the lizard lady. "And just who… or WHAT are you?!"

"THAT is Miss Subdora, Roman." Salem answered as the Merlinisapien took out a file, sprucing up her nails as she spoke. "She is an alien, and world-class thief from where she is from. As such, I am assigning her to you and Neo. She should be of great use on your heists."

Subdora smiled to her two new partners. "Sì! Non c'è bisogno di preoccuparsi, my friends." the alien girl gave a salute. "I shall not let you down!"

Roman crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the alien. "I am not too sure what you said in the first half of that sentence… but very well. If Lady Salem ordered it, then I shall allow it."

However, Neopolitan was surprisingly giving a pretty good glare at Subdora. The multi-colored girl pointed two fingers to her eyes and then pointed them at the Merlinisapien, all while holding up a sign saying; "I'm watching you…"

Right at that moment, though, more footsteps began entering the room… and these ones were MUCH heavier than either Rojo's or Subdora's. The whole group turned around to see… a short, green-skinned man with white hair and red goggles standing before them. The group were confused at first… but then they looked up. There, standing at about TWICE their height, were two large… monsters for lack of a better term. One was a large, armored rhino man with a cybernetic laser horn, while the other was a portly, yet strong-looking, warthog man dressed in black clothes with a purple jacket on. He also had a big, black mohawk and a purple-lensed visor over his eyes, along with a huge mace strapped to his back. Both of the monstrous let out snorts of intimidation, and Mercury let out a small squeak. "I, uh… I think I peed a little."

Salem smiled at that. "Ah, yes! My followers, you are looking at our newly hired muscle! I would like you to meet Doctor Animo and his mutant assistants; Farkas and Thaddeus."

"Greetings, fellow minions!" Animo addressed the followers of Salem, which immediately earned him a glare from the so-called "minions". "I anticipate working with you all in the future! Your minds may not be as great as mine, but I am sure that your grunt work is most apricated around here!"

Cinder's eyes began flaring up again. "Why you little—huh?" At the small nudge to her arm, she turned around… only to freeze up when she saw that it was Rojo again.

"Hey, don't let him get under your skin." Rojo said with a wink. "He's so stuck up that I'm pretty sure he's up someone's butt at this point."

"D-Duly noted." Cinder squeaked out, though in her mind, she was thinking; 'WHY AM I SO NERVOUS?!'

The rhino man raised a hand to the group. "Oh, and please, call me Exo-Skull. Or just "Skull" for short."

"An' you guys can call me "Hog"!" The warthog mutant added. "Though my FULL name's Thunderhog. So…" Hog began rubbing his hands together. "Where's the kitchen at?! We had a long airship ride here an' we're STARVIN'!"

"Ah, yes, of course." Salem waved her hand down the hall. "It is the third door on the left, you cannot miss—" WOOSH! Without hesitation, Hog and Skull practically shot out of the room, much to Salem and the others' shock. "…it. My word, they are fast for mutants their size."

Animo strode past her to follow his assistants. "They were mutated only a few short days ago, Lady Salem. They are growing boys. But worry not! I will make sure that they do not destroy your kitchen…" He was about to leave when the last figure began stomping his way into the room, making the doctor's pupils shrink. "Oh, well, it's been fun meeting you all, but I really must go!" ZOOM! And just like that, Animo was gone… leaving the group alone with the final imposing figure.

His heavy footfalls practically shook the room as he entered, causing those unprepared to nearly lose their balance. However, Salem had an… oddly captivated expression on her face as the large being entered. Almost as if his very presence was alluring to her. "Oh… and everyone, last but not least…" She made bedroom eyes at the monster of a man. "We have the good Doctor Viktor with us."

Everyone's jaws could only drop at the sight of Viktor. He was just a bit bigger than Hog and Skull, towering over everyone there. His body was very well built… including all of the parts that were stitched together. He wore heavy gauntlets and boots and kept his chest bare while wearing an open leather duster. Out of Viktor's back, two large electricity generators jutted out, the metal structures crackling with purple lightning. He had a head of black hair and one of his eyes was round, almost as if it were a monocle. He craned his head down to everyone and narrowed his one normal eye at them. "…Charmed."

"Heh, same to you, big fella." Roman chuckled nervously as he grabbed hold of both Neo and Subdora, the former girl shaking in fear. "W-Well, I would hate to chat and run, b-but I think Neo and I are going to show Subdora around!"

With that, he sped off while holding onto both ladies, though Subdora got in one last; "Ciao!" before leaving.

Viktor crossed his massive arms and glanced down to Salem. "Hm, some your followers seem to fear me."

However, Salem quickly waved that notion off. "Oh, come now, Viktor, I doubt that's the reason. They simply need to get to know you is all." She sent a VERY suggestive smirk to the Transylian. "After all, I intend to do so QUITE thoroughly." Salem muttered to herself.

"Hm? What was that?" Viktor asked.

"O-Oh, nothing!" Salem quickly answered as she began to usher Viktor out the door… by pushing on one of his large legs. As expected, she didn't exactly get very far with that. "I simply wish to show you my library is all! I think you'll enjoy it VERY much!"

Viktor smiled at that, which seemed quite off for a being such as him. "Ooh! I DO quite enjoy a good read, especially if it's macabre in nature!"

"Then come, come!" Salem urged, with Viktor finally taking a step of his own out the door. "I have plenty of macabre books in my collection that you'll like, I guarantee it!" With that, Salem and Viktor were out the door… only for Salem to poke her head in and wave her hand toward her remaining four followers. "Oh, and Cinder, be a dear and start making more nefarious plans. I would like to make up for this two-year hiatus post haste!"

Cinder quickly saluted. "Y-Yes, Lady Salem! Of course!" Once Salem had left them again and shut the door, Cinder sighed, both in content and in relief. "Hah, I certainly hope we CAN get used to seeing Viktor around here."

"I KNOW, right?!" Emerald exclaimed. "I mean, what WAS he, a zombie?! With… some kind of electric generator on his back?"

Mercury placed a hand on his chin. "Yeah, and for some reason, he didn't smell like rotting flesh. Weird."

"Yeah, Vik's a bit of an odd ball in the group, but he's pretty smart!" Rojo said with a thumbs up. "In fact, he's the one who responded to the Want Ad in the first place." She glanced around to the trio, who were either staring back at her awkwardly… or in Cinder's case, awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact. "So… what do you guys do for fun around here?"

Emerald placed a hand on her hip. "Well these days, we usually just play card games and stuff…" But then she brightened up. "But now that YOU guys are here, we can finally get back to doing evil stuff! Haha, this is the best day ever!"

"You bet it is!" Mercury said while giving his partner a fist bump. "I can't wait to get back to Beacon and start taking all of those losers down a peg! Cinder, what about you? …Cinder?" The assassin raised an eyebrow as Cinder kept her eyes away and her lips sealed, almost as if she were afraid to speak. "Hey, you alright? I'd thought you'd be the most excited for this."

Cinder swallowed and replied. "W-Well, I am, but—" The sound of metal boots hitting the ground signaled to her that Rojo had approached her. Cinder set her eyes nervously onto the bounty hunter… who was giving her a genuine smile.

"Hey." Rojo smirked. "Cinder, right?" She tilted her head a bit. "Or maybe a nickname is in order? Mind if I call ya Cindy?"

This actually managed to perturb Cinder a bit, enough for her to get her wits back. "Hmph, well, THAT is certainly quite demeaning." The young woman sighed and waved her hand to Rojo. "However, if you must insist, I suppose it is alright."

"Awesome! Lemme ask ya something;" Rojo set a hand onto Cinder's shoulder, causing her to flinch a bit. "Cindy, do ya like making evil plans?"

Cinder's eyebrows rose up in an instant. "Y-Yes! I-I do!"

Rojo's smile became more eager. "Do ya like to plot?"

A rare, bright smile came to Cinder's face. "Of course!"

"Do ya like to SCHEME?!" Rojo asked one last time, her grin becoming toothy and hungry.

Cinder couldn't hold back anymore. "YES!" Yes, yes, a thousand times, YES!"

"Fantastic!" Rojo pumped a fist while offering her free hand to Cinder. "So, how about we go do what the Boss Lady said and start cooking up some evil schemes, huh?!"

Cinder's eyes practically glistened at the offer. Over two years of not producing ANY nefarious plans… and now she was getting the chance to do so with someone who was clearly all about being evil. It was… very alluring to Cinder, so she knew that she couldn't refuse. As her signature evil grin came to her face, she stepped up to Rojo and placed a hand on her arm. "Rojo, I can say without a shadow of a doubt… that we are going to be great friends." This single sentence was enough to make Emerald and Mercury's jaws drop behind her.

"HAHA! Great! That's JUST what I wanted to hear, Cindy!" Rojo gathered up her new trio of friends and began ushering them out of the room. "Em, Merc, c'mon! We've got a whole bunch of plotting to do!" Finally, the rec room was vacant, leaving only the table full of cards left.

…That is until Marty the Beowolf popped back in. "So… does this mean no round two?"

A/N: And there you have it! Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, Neo and even ROMAN have all been brought back (along with Marty for good measure)! And wouldn't you know it? Chibi Salem makes her debut here as well… and of course, she's not alone! You really thought I'd make a Chibi fic and NOT bring over Chibi versions of the entire Ministry of Darkness from the main story? Well, you thought wrong! The only one NOT hear is Darkstar for obvious reasons… at least for now. And hey, it seems like THIS version of Cinder is hitting it off with Rojo a lot better than her non-Chibi counterpart did! Also, Subdora seems to have teamed up with Neo and Roman… can't wait to see how things go wrong with THAT! And hoo boy, it seems like history is repeating itself with Salem and Viktor as well. I can tell that things between them will be QUITE interesting…

Alright, so with the next chapter in a couple of weeks, I feel it's only fair to give you another preview to tide you guys over! So, NEXT TIME! Sun and Neptune try to get back into the swing of things by trying to reignite their junior detective spark… only to find that they've hit a bit of a creative roadblock. Perhaps Ben can suggest something new instead? Also, Nora has decided to open up her own business… only to be met with disastrous results. Thanks for reading, guys and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!

A/N: Hey AO3 Gang! Welcome back to Ben 10 RWBY Chibi! Now, as I've probably mentioned before, this Chibi series is gonna involve a LOT of parodies, and these next two bits are very clearly evidence of that. The first one is probably going to be pretty obvious what the boys in Team SN are going to be parodying here, but the bit with Nora might be a bit more obscure, so pay close attention. With all that said, here we go! This is…

Chapter 4, Part 1: Getting Grumpy

(Junior Detectives!)

Inside of the Junior Detective's base of operations… which was really just Team SN's room… Sun was pacing back and forth, an eager smile on his face as he giggled to himself. Now that they were free from those stupid bricks, they could FINALLY get back to the work that they enjoyed most; stopping bad guys with their detective work. "Hehehe, this has been a LONG time coming, Neptune old buddy!" Sun reached behind his back and pulled out his fake mustache, the monkey boy basking in its glow. "It's time… to get back on the case!" He put his mustache on and pumped a fist into the air, cheering in victory. "WOO-HOO! The Junior Detectives are ba—huh?"

The monkey boy cut himself off when he saw Neptune… doing nothing. The blue-haired boy was just sitting in the corner, facing the wall as his head drooped down slightly with a saddened sigh. "Uh, Neptune, you okay?" Sun asked before realizing what could be going on with his friend. "This… still isn't about the bricks, is it? Dude, it's been three days and—"

"Huh? Oh, nah, I'm WAY over that." Neptune waved off. "I realized pretty quickly that relationship wasn't gonna work out." The blue-haired boy stood up and rolled his eyes. "They were WAY too needy and honestly, it felt like they were suffocating me the more I thought about it."

Sun deadpanned at his friends. "…And they were a bunch of bricks."

Neptune crossed his arms. "Hey, do I judge YOU for the kind of people you like?"

"Okay, we're getting WAY off topic." Sun waved off before extending a hand to his friend. "If the bricks aren't what the problem is, then… what is, dude?"

Another sigh escaped Neptune's lips at that, his eyes moving down to the fake mustache that was also in his hand. "It's just… I feel like we've been away from the Junior Detective stuff for so long. Do you even HAVE any ideas on what we could do for it?"

"I… huh." Sun paused for a moment to stroke his fake mustache, a look of worry forming on his face. "I… I'm actually not sure!" His eyes widened in panic at that. "Oh shoot! We've been away from the bit for so long… and we didn't even come up with any ideas during the hiatus! And what's worse, there hasn't been ANY crime in that time for some reason!"

(Meanwhile, out in Vale)

Cinder was standing in front of a Dust Shop, inspecting her nails as Rojo, Mercury and Emerald were busy inside attempting to rob the place. Cinder glanced up to the camera and said; "We're working on it." before lighting her hand on fire and storming in herself.

(Back at Beacon)

Neptune slapped his forehead. "Well, that's just great! NOW what're we supposed to do? We gotta entertain the audience SOMEHOW!" Just then, a knock came at the door, making the two boys tilt their heads toward it. "…Please be a miracle." Neptune prayed before opening the door, revealing Ben, Yang and Blake standing on the other side. "Oh… hi guys."

Yang placed her hands on her hips at the disappointed tone. "Well, THAT'S not a good sign."

"Yeah, you're always a lot cheerier with your greetings." Blake added in her usual monotone before going up to Sun, concern written across her face as she grabbed his hand. "Sun, we heard you guys from the hall, is there something wrong?"

Sun lowered his head and took off his fake mustache, staring at it in disappointment. "Oh… we can't think of any ideas for our Junior Detective bits at the moment." He stroked the fake hair fondly. "And no matter how much I stroke it, not even my fake mustache is giving me any ideas at the moment."

"Hm, well, that IS a problem." Ben said as he placed a hand to his chin. "Have you considered maybe putting the Junior Detective stuff on the backburner for a while and… trying something new?"

Team SN let out simultaneous gasps at that, the duo pointing at Ben accusingly. "You shut your dirty mouth!" Neptune snapped. "We worked HARD to make this bit a thing and we are NOT about to give it up!"

"Hey, hey, I didn't say ANYTHING about giving it up." Ben assured. "I'm just saying that you could put it on hold for a while. And, maybe if you try something new, you could give yourselves something to work on until you can come UP with some new Junior Detective content! Spending too much time on one bit CAN lead to some burn out, after all." Ben glanced up and winked toward the ceiling. "And I think I know someone who knows a LOT about that."

(A/N: Hey, don't you bring ME into this, Tennyson!)

Ben merely chuckled and set his eyes onto Team SN again. "So, what do you say, guys? Wanna try something new?"

Sun and Neptune pondered over the offer before Blake set her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder again, giving him a smile. "Hey, I'd be happy to help you guys out with it if you want me to."

"You would?" Sun asked with a bright smile. "Haha, thanks, Blake! That means a lot."

"And count ME in, too!" Yang cheered with a pump of her fist. "If Green Boy's willing to help, then I'm all for it!"

Neptune let out a laugh at that. "Haha! Alright, I guess it's settled then!" He offered his best friend a fist bump. "Let's give the viewers something that'll knock their socks off, bro!"

"Ha! You KNOW it!" Sun returned the fist bump before putting a hand to his chin. "Hm… what that makes me wonder… what COULD we do for something new?"

Ben chuckled a little and closed his eyes, a knowing smirk coming to his face. "Hehe, well, I actually have an idea for THAT, too. You guys remember how my friends and I brought ALL of those video games from our world?" He received a slew of nods, to which he continued. "Well, video games are pretty freaking popular these days, and playing them online is even MORE popular. So, here's I'm thinking; …let's start a Let's Play channel!"

Sun and Neptune's eyes brightened up at the idea, as did Yang's as well. "Ah! That. Sounds. PERFECT!" Sun exclaimed, jabbing a thumb at himself proudly. "Don't know if I ever told ya, but I'm awesome at video games!"

Neptune rolled his eyes at that. "Psh, yeah, whenever you're not cheating at it, "TailFail01"." Sun wore a sheepish look as Neptune glared pointedly at him. "Don't think I've forgiven you yet ever since I figured THAT one out."

"H-Hey, c'mon, is it really cheating if I'm legitimately good at the game?" Sun defended himself.

"It is when you're LITERALLY watching me play!" Neptune thrust an accusing finger at Sun. "AND you were using your tail behind your back to do it!"

Before things could get too heated between the duo, Yang shoved them away from each other, giving them a serious face. "Alright, alright, let's not get into a fight now, boys. Even YOU guys gotta admit, Ben's on to something here." She gestured to both of them, her eyes darting between the two. "You guys both like video games, so here's your chance to make something out of it. Whaddya say?"

Sun and Neptune locked eyes, the latter sighing with a nod. "Yeah, she's got a point. I'm in."

"So am I!" Sun said happily, giving Neptune a hand shake. "Let's make the most outta this new gig, Neptune!"

"Awesome!" Yang said with a big smile while flexing her arm. "Because I'm getting in on this shindig, too!"

Team SN both looked at her in surprise. "Wait, really?"

Ben gave a salute as he stepped next to Yang. "Yep, and I'm on board, too! Besides, you guys will probably need to have someone to help work the equipment and stuff." He counted off on his fingers. "Plus, you'll need a sound guy AND an editor, so I'm willing to fill in ALL of those roles."

"Woah, woah, hold on." Blake stepped up, raising a hand to stop the hero. "Ben, that is WAY too much of a workload for you." She placed a hand over her chest. "As such, I will be the editor for this show."

Sun gasped and pulled Blake into another hug. "AH! Blake, you're the BEST! I didn't think you knew how to edit stuff!"

"Eh, I'm a fast learner." Blake shrugged as she pat Sun on the head. "And while I don't really know a lot about video games, I'm not about to leave you two dorks in the dust. You guys need all the help you can get with this…" She glanced over toward Yang and Ben with a smirk. "Besides, you guys need at least one level head on the team."

"Oh, ha-ha." Yang said with an eye-roll. "Very funny, Blake." She jabbed two thumbs toward herself in pride. "I've got more levelheadedness than I know what to DO with!"

"Yyyyeah, keep telling yourself that." Blake quipped back. "So, where are we gonna record all of this stuff anyway?"

Ben gave her a grin at that. "Oh! I planned for that, too! Follow me, I've got something to show ya in the basement…

(The Basement, a few minutes later)

Sun, Neptune, Yang and Blake couldn't help but drop their jaws at what was before them. Much to their surprise, the basement, which had once been a place that was cluttered with random junk from years long past, was now a pristine and cleaned out gaming room. There were TONS of consoles set up along the back wall, each one sitting on a large shelving system that had a big, central television at the center of it. There were two large chairs sitting in front of the television, along with a couple large couches set up around a big coffee table. All of the games for the consoles were set up along the far wall, also on a big shelving unit.

Needless to say, everyone was blown away. "Woah! Wh-What… how did this all get set up so fast?!" Blake uttered.

"Gwen, Kevin, Rex and I did it all yesterday!" Ben revealed, holding up the Omnitrix with a wink. "You'd be surprised how fast XLR8 can clean things up." He waved his arm toward the set up. "But this'll be the perfect place for us to shoot our show! And, if you'll take a look over here…" He lead the four over to the wall that was across from the game shelves… only for them to see that it wasn't JUST a wall…

"W-Wait, why is there a SOUND BOOTH down here?!" Sun asked.

"Dunno." Ben shrugged. "It was just buried beneath all the junk and stuff. Hasn't been used in years." He began knocking on the door firmly. "Honestly, I'm surprised that the door hinges are still—" WHAM! Just as he said that, the door fell into the room, proving his point wrong. "…Hehe, w-well, as you can see, this place came with all the bells and whistles! And we can easily convert this sound booth into an engineering room for editing and stuff."

Yang jumped up and punched the air. "Woo-hoo! This is AWESOME! We're REALLY starting to roll now! Let's get started!"

Neptune began counting off on his fingers. "Okay, so we know what we wanna do, we have the stuff we need to DO it, AND we've got people to help us out." He tapped his chin in thought. "Now all we need is a name for this Let's Play channel…"

Ben smirked and pulled out his phone. "Don't worry, boys! I planned for that, too! Follow me!" Ben ushered the duo into the sound booth, lifting the door back up as he did. Once the room was closed off, he pulled up the audio recorder on his phone, holding it up to Team SN. "Alright, now, the most important part of a show's identity is the intro, here's what I want you guys to say…" He whispered their lines to them, which managed to get Team SN to raise their brows.

"Wait, really?" Sun asked.

"THAT'S what you want us to be called?" Neptune pressed further.

Grinning confidently, Ben gave them a resolute nod. "Yep, that's it! Trust me, guys, this is gonna be great. You ready?"

Sun rubbed the back of his head. "Well, if you think this is gonna work, Ben, then yeah, I guess…" The monkey boy nodded to his blue-haired partner, with Neptune nodding back as Ben his the 'record' button on his phone, giving the two boys the go-ahead… while he hero started laying down a beat using noises from his mouth. With that, the duo lowered their voices and made them very growly, yelling into the mic while singing to the beat;

Sun: "Hey I'm Sun!"

Neptune: "And I'm NOT Sun!"

Both: "And we're The SN GRUMPS!"

Ben stopped beatboxing and stopped the recording, giving the boys an 'okay' sign with his hand. "Guys, I think this is the beginning of something AWESOME. …Now all we have to do is hope we don't get sued!"

"WHAT?!"

Chapter 4, Part 2: Nora Valkyrie: Businesswoman!

Promotional consideration paid for by the following;

We cut to a completely black background with absolutely nothing to be seen, only to be greeted by a sudden rush of pink and red as a certain hyperactive girl enters the friend. "Hiya there, parders!" Nora greeted with a southern accent for some reason. "I'm Nora Valkyrie from Beacon Academy, an' I've been attendin' this school for a good couple a' years or so… even though I'm supposedly still a first-year somehow! Ya may know me because I'm the one who walked a Death Stalker like a dog last semester!"

At that moment, an image of Nora with a giant Death Stalker on a leash popped up on screen, accompanied by a "BOING!" sound effect.

"Now, when Ren and I were travelin' on the roads across all o' Remnant, I became fond of two things;" Nora held up a finger as she listed those things off, with images of said things appearing behind her. "Pancakes… and HAMMERS!" The Pink Dynamo took out her own hammer for emphasis, planting it on the ground proudly. "So that's why I decided to open my OWN store!" Without warning, Nora suddenly slammed her hammer down onto the black backdrop, revealing Beacon Academy behind it along with a small, ramshackled wood building that looked ready to fall down at any minute.

"Behold; Nora Valkyrie's Pancakes and Hammers!" Nora's voice echoed as she presented the store, walking into it a moment later. "Sure, it's pretty rough-looking on the outside, but trust me, improvements ARE being made! And look!" She extended her arm out and grabbed a hold of a hammer, one that was remarkably shiny. "We paint all of our hammers solid GOLD!" An immense echo could be heard at the word "gold".

Nora zipped over to the kitchen, walking in without seemingly a care in the world. "And all of our pancakes offer only the best of organic and gluten free ingredients!" She moved closer to the camera and whispered; "And the best part? They're still oh-so tasty! All thanks to our master chef!" She pushed the camera around to reveal Ren standing over a hot oven not five feet away from her, urging her best friend to say something. "Ren! Say something to the nice people!"

Ren's eyes widened as he realized that he was on camera, the green ninja rushing over to grab it. "Someone, PLEASE send help!" He lifted a heavy steel chain that was attached to a giant steel ball… that also happened to be linked to Ren's leg. "She's got me chained up and she won't let me—"

"HA-HA! That's enough from you, Renny!" Nora pushed Ren away and pulled the camera back toward her, giving a big smile as she sent another wink into the lens. "So remember; when you're at Beacon Academy, stop by! And tell 'em that Aunty Nora sent ya!" She held up a platter full of pancakes and one of the solid gold hammers, smiling directly into the camera. "And this week, in celebration of our grand opening, if you by THREE gluten-free pancakes, you'll get four HAMMERS for FREE! Limited time only, some restrictions apply!"

Team RWBY, the Alien Trio, and Rex were still having some trouble processing what they had just watched. That had to be one of the WEIRDEST commercials that they had ever seen… and considering who made it, that wasn't hard to fathom. The aforementioned creator was standing off to the side, giving a bright, cheery smile as she gazed at them expectantly. "Sooo… what d'ya think?"

"I think some of my brain cells have been killed." Gwen muttered. "And I will never be able to get them back."

Kevin scratched his head. "Yeah, that was kinda… alright, no, it was REALLY weird."

"Oh, come ON!" Nora exclaimed in disappointment, giving the group a pout. "You guys promised me that I could have ANYTHING I wanted on this new show in exchange for me not getting my own credit, and THIS is what I wanna do!"

"And I don't blame you, Nora." Ruby assured. "It's just… well, pancakes are one thing, but… hammers too?"

Nora placed her hand on her hips and rolled her eyes. "Well, DUH! EVERYONE could use a hammer, silly!"

Rex gave a shrug. "Well, she's got a point there. Hammers ARE always useful." The EVO perked up as he glanced back to the screen. "Plus, that three-for-four deal sounds extremely good!"

"SEE?! Rex gets it!" Nora shouted victoriously.

"Much to my utter shock." Weiss added under her breath before shaking her head. "But even IF it's a good idea, you're not exactly providing the safest of work environments. That shack looks like it's about to fall at any moment!"

But Nora was quick to wave it off. "Oh relax, Jaune and Pyrrha are reinforcing it as we speak…"

(Meanwhile, outside)

Meanwhile, outside, said couple were having a rather… difficult time to say the least. "Oh, no-no-no-no-NO!" Pyrrha panicked as a wall began to fall away from her. "JAUNE! Watch out!"

"Huh—AAAAAH!" Jaune could only scream as a rickety wall of splintery wood fell onto him, collapsing an entire section of the roof on top of him in the process. "…I swear, if we survive this business, I'm gonna sue the PANTS off of Nora!"

"She doesn't WEAR pants, Jaune." Pyrrha deadpanned.

(Back in the dorms)

The whole team could see this happen through the nearby window, which Nora stepped in front of to try and keep her crumbling store hidden from view. "Uh-huh." Blake said at the redhead's failed attempt at reassurance. "And what about Ren? He didn't seem all that happy in the video."

Nora sighed at that. "Okay, YES, I did take the chain off of him eventually. But don't worry, his place in the kitchen is TOTALLY safe!"

(Back outside, AGAIN)

FWOOSH! "AH! The oven!" Ren hollered as the stove suddenly caught on fire. "The oven's on fire! And there's no proper ventilation in this place!" He began running away, waving his arms in fright. "Someone, get me out of here!"

(…And return to the dorms)

The others could see the flames begin to rise up from out the window, even WITH Nora standing in front of it. The Pink Dynamo sighed and lowered her head in shame. "Okay… my business is a complete disaster!" She fell to her hands and knees, screwing her eyes shut in shame as she began to cry. "I'm an UTTER FAILURE!"

After seeing the girl's anguish, Ben let out a sigh of his own stood up, giving the redhead a serious expression. "Hey, c'mon, Nora. Don't cry."

"Yeah, chin up!" Yang said as she helped Nora up and dry her tears. "All you really need is some extra help!"

"And we're gonna give it to ya!" Ben said while jerking a thumb to himself.

Nora stared at Ben incredulously as she sniffled; "You… you will?"

"YOU WILL?!" Nearly the entire group at the table exclaimed.

Ben gave them a pointed look. "Yes, we ALL will." He stated firmly before smiling at the girl again. "So, whaddya say, Nora? Wanna start Nora Valkyrie's Pancakes and Hammers off on the RIGHT foot? I mean, it's the least we can do for not giving you a credit after all."

Nora immediately brightened up and gave Ben and Yang the biggest hug she could muster. "Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, guys! This is the best day EVER!" She let the couple go, allowing them to breath again. "And hey! If all goes well with my FIRST business, maybe I can open my OTHER dream business!"

The whole group blinked at those words. "Uh… other dream business?" Yang repeated with trepidation.

"Eeyup!" Without warning, Nora had zipped off and returned in a split second… and she was now covered from head to toe in explosive armaments. "Welcome to Grenadier Nora's Grenade Emporium!" she shouted as she pulled a live grenade off of her bandelier. "Our prices are so low, we're GIVING them away!" Everyone screamed and ran when Nora threw the grenade, hoping against all hope that it DIDN'T blow any of them up.

A/N (Please Read): And there you have it! The SN boys have started their own gaming channel courtesy of Ben (here's hoping they DON'T get sued), and Nora's started her own business featuring the two things she loves most! Pancakes and Hammers! Like I said, that second bit that's being parodied will probably fly over a lot of people's heads, but once I saw the original work, I was like; "Oh, with a few tweaks, this could fit Nora to a T". Also, if you guys know what the reference is at the very end, you are into some pretty quality internet comedy, and I appreciate you for it!

Alright, so before we go, I want to actually address something. For all of the ideas that I've come up with so far (and all of the bits that YOU'VE suggested, which I AM taking into account), I actually DON'T have any ideas for any Junior Detective bits. So, if anyone wants to actually suggest some in the comments or in my PM's, you're of course free to do so! I'm welcoming all ideas after all, so don't be a stranger!

With all that said… NEXT TIME! Yang and Ruby take Ben over to their house on Patch to meet their dad… to surprisingly good results. But of course, that's only ONE parent… so what happens when Ben meets the OTHER? And then, Cinder, Rojo, Emerald and Mercury try to get back into the swing of villainy by attacking Team RWBY, the Alien Trio, and Rex… only for Rojo to discover something about this place that's quite vexing to her. Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!

A/N: Greetings AO#! Welcome back to Ben 10 RWBY Chibi... and this is gonna be another case of a double upload because I forgot to do so a couple weeks ago. Man, my memory sucks. That said, not exactly much to say before this chapter other than a certain someone is going to be making their debut in the first part of this chapter. So, how about we just jump into it, shall we? This is…

Chapter 5, Part 1: Meeting the Folks

We find ourselves at the Xiao Long Residence on the island of Patch, where Ruby and Yang have taken a bit of an excursion to see their father, Taiyang. It had been a VERY long time since they had seen their dad, so they decided to pay him a visit so that he wouldn't be worried about them. Needless to say, the greeting they got was… to be expected. "RUBY! YANG!" Tai shouted as he pulled his girls into a soul-crushing hug. "Oh my gosh, you're here! And NOT on the other side of a brick wall! Haha, it's a miracle!"

"Heh… hey dad." Ruby greeted, her words choking out.

"It's good to see you too." Yang said with a small grimace as her and her sister's faces began turning blue. "But could ya… maybe… let us breathe?"

"Oh, hah, right. Sorry." Tai apologized. "I guess I'm not the only one who's getting all… choked up!"

Having regained her breath, Yang pointed double finger guns at her father. "Eyy, he's still got it!"

Ruby, however, couldn't help but lower her head. "Oh gosh, here we go with the dad jokes."

Tai extended a hand to his girls. "But I gotta ask, how DID you guys get out from that brick wall? Not even our best weapons could break it down!"

A bashful look suddenly came to Yang's face. "Hehe, well… that's where he comes in, dad." She called out the door; "You can come in now!" At her call, a rather nervous young man clad in a green jacket came walking into the room, his eyes meeting Tai's as he visibly began shaking.

"U-Uh… hi." Ben said with a wave. "You must be Yang's dad. N-Nice to meet you." Ben said with a wave.

Tai blinked at his new guest in confusion. "Uh… likewise?" The man glanced toward his daughters and asked; "Girls, who is this young man?"

"Heh, yeah, about that… he's the boy I told you about, dad." Yang rubbed the back of her head before setting a hand on Ben's shoulder, hoping to calm his nerves. "This is Ben Tennyson… he's my boyfriend. And he's also the one responsible for getting Ruby, me and the others out from that brick wall."

The moment she had said the word "boyfriend", though, Yang saw her father's eyes immediately narrow at Ben, making the young hero lock up with fright. Tai stepped up to Ben until their faces were a good inch a part from one another, the older man boring a hole into Ben's soul with his gaze. "So… you're the kid that my little girl spoke so highly of, huh?"

"Uh… hehe, I suppose so." Ben uttered fearfully.

"And you're the one who got her and her friends out from behind those bricks, huh?"

"W-Well, it was me and my friends, so I can't take ALL the credit." Ben clarified. "B-But yes, that was me."

If possible, Tai's eyes narrowed even more, making a chill run through not just Ben's entire being, but Yang and Ruby's as well. "That… is… FANTASTIC!" Without warning, Tai's entire face lit up in happiness and, to everyone's surprise, he gave Ben a MASSIVE hug, almost crushing his ribs in the process. "HAHA, young man, I can't thank you ENOUGH for getting my girls out of there! Our best people tried for years to get them out, and for you and your friends to do so in a single DAY?! Haha, I can't possibly be more thankful!"

Tai finally let Ben go, allowing him to breathe once again. However, it was then that something finally hit Ben; "W-W-Wait, so… does that mean you approve of Yang and I going out?"

The blond man set a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Ben, being there for my Sunny Little Dragon when she needed it most… that makes you a-okay in my book!"

"DAD!" Yang covered her eyes in embarrassment as Ruby snickered a bit. "I TOLD you not to call me that in front of other people! And that especially means my boyfriend!"

"Wait…Sunny Little Dragon?" Ben reiterated.

Yang couldn't help but grimace toward her boyfriend, getting up right into his face. "Okay, I'm drawing that line right now." Her eyes briefly flashed red. "If you start calling me that, I'm gonna have to put you in the dog house early. Are we clear?"

Ben straightened his back and gave her a salute. "Yes ma'am!"

Yang brightened up immediately and gave Ben a kiss on the cheek. "Good, glad we understand each other."

Ruby let out a sigh as she slumped against a wall. "Well, I'm certainly glad that all of THAT went without a big hitch! I was certain that dad would probably kill Ben when he found out about all of that."

"Haha, don't be silly, Ruby!" Tai laughed with a wave of his hand. "Ben's a good kid, so I'm sure we'll have no trouble…" He glanced off to the side in thought. "Now, if anyone were to start dating YOU, then that'd be different."

"Oh… joy." Ruby deadpanned before clearing her throat. "Well, now that we've got all of that out of the way, how about we get lunch started? I don't know about you, but I'm STARVING!"

"Same here." Yang and Ben said at the same time, the two smiling at each other before putting their arms around each other's shoulders. "Ah! We're so in sync!" the Blonde Brawler squeed.

Tai couldn't help but chortle at that. "Hehe, okay, yeah, I'm kinda hungry, too." He gave a knowing smirk to his youngest daughter as he jerked his thumb toward the green and yellow couple. "Ruby, you wanna help me in the kitchen while Yang gives Ben a tour of the house? I'm sure that the two love birds would LOVE some more alone time."

Ruby let out a small snicker at the idea. "I agree one-thousand percent, dad! Sounds like the perfect plan!" She sent a wink to her sister and Ben as she and her dad zipped toward the kitchen. "Lunch should be ready soon, guys! We'll call ya when it's ready!"

With that, Ben and Yang were left alone, the latter shaking her head at her family's antics. "Hehe, gonna take a lot more than THAT to embarrass me, guys."

"…You mean like how your dad said the nickname that shall not be used?" Ben asked.

"…No comment." Yang took a deep breath and smiled to her boyfriend. "So, where do ya wanna go first?"

"I dunno, upstairs, I guess?" Ben shrugged. "I mean, you've got a pretty big house, so I'm guessing the grand tour's gonna take a while." He glanced his eyes around the whole place. "I mean, seriously, you could probably fit… I dunno, twenty people or more in this place?"

Yang folded her arms and laughed. "Haha, yeah. My dad and uncle initially built it for them and their team, but… things didn't exactly work out." But she quickly waved that off. "But hey, what matters NOW is showing you around, so… oh gosh." Yang's face turned beat red as she zipped over to the stairs. "I-I just remembered something that I need to take care of in my room! Be right back!"

Ben stepped over to the stairs as Yang ran away, the hero calling after his girlfriend. "Yang, wait, what're you—" SLAM! At the sound of a shutting door, Ben hummed to himself a bit, crossing his arms in thought. "Hm, wonder what she needed to do…"

"Probably throw all of her embarrassing things into a drawer."

"AAAH!" Ben let out a yell as a voice suddenly spoke behind him, causing him to jump and spin around. There, standing directly behind him was… a woman that looked almost like an older version of Yang… but with black hair. The woman's eyes were a vibrant crimson and her combat dress had similar shades of red all throughout, with its primary color being black. She was sheathing a blood red sword on her hip while a portal began to disappear behind her, the vortex shrinking until it was gone. She gave Ben a rather stoic look, almost as if she were unimpressed by him. "Uh… hello?" Ben greeted.

The woman nodded her head to him. "Hello. You must be wondering who I am."

Ben glanced around in bafflement. "Among many OTHER things, but yes, that IS the biggest question."

A smirk came to the woman's face. "Then I will make this short; I am Raven Branwen… Yang's mother."

Ben's eyes widened in shock. "W-Wait, YOU'RE Yang's mo—" At that second, Raven smacked her hand over Ben's mouth, making him shut up.

"SSH!" Raven hushed. "I'm not supposed to be here, so stay silent!"

"Okay." Ben muffled with a nod before Raven took her hand off of his face. The hero winced as he rubbed the sore spot across his mouth. "Gah, man, you know, I don't think the face smack was necessary."

"Oh please, you're fine." Raven rolled her eyes. "Given your occupation, I'm sure you've had boo-boos FAR worse than that."

"…I can kinda see why she didn't like to mention you now."

Raven furrowed her brows at that. "Hm, yes, she never WAS a fan of my… harsher teachings. Survival of the fittest, I say. But enough of the small talk…" She brought out her sword and pointed it straight at Ben's nose, making him take a step back. "Now you listen here, young man, my daughter and I may have our differences… but I still love her very much. And if you so much as do ANYTHING to break her heart, I will make sure that YOU are broken. Do I make myself clear?"

This had been one of the strangest days of Ben's life, that's for sure. 'Man, it's like a complete role reversal! The dad's okay with me, but Yang's mom is the one threatening my wellbeing!' Ben swallowed hard and nodded quickly. "Y-Yes ma'am! Understood!"

"Good. And just so you know…" the dark-haired woman drew deathly close to Ben's face and whispered; "I was never here." Raven then spun around and slashed open another portal, giving Ben a cheery, yet unsettling smile in the process. "Now, you two kids have fun, okay? Bye-bye for now!" With that, Raven jumped through the portal, the vortex disappearing a moment later.

Ben was left wide-eyed and slack-jawed in the middle of the living room, just in time for Yang to come back down the stairs. "Hey, Green Boy… something wrong?" the Blonde Brawler tilted her head a bit. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Oh… you could say that." Ben uttered, his form unmoving.

"Hm, well, I'm ready for that tour now, so c'mon!" Yang lead Ben up the stairs, taking him by the hand to help him along. "And can I just say… I'm SO glad that you're getting along with my family? I'm really glad that there's no pressure on us or anything!"

"Hehe, yeah…" Ben laughed awkwardly as he passed by a window… only to see a small raven glaring pointedly at him. The bird used its wing to point at her eyes and then to Ben before flying off, making the hero pale in fright. "…No pressure at all."

Chapter 5, Part 2: Villainous Antics… DENIED!

We find our favorite Chibified crew out on the front lawn of Beacon Academy, and all of them were having a blast with the picnic they had set up! Ben and Yang were sitting together on the picnic blanket as they watched Zwei chasing Ruby around, the girl teasing the little dog with a stick. Rex, Weiss and Kevin were playing a game of cards on a large card table that they had brought out, and Gwen and Blake were reading together in two lounge chairs. Overall, things were looking pretty good… at least on the surface level.

However, behind one of the many large pillars that were lined up across Beacon's grounds, a certain quartet were standing together, all four of them spying on the group. Rojo snickered as she pulled her binoculars down, facing Cinder, Mercury and Emerald eagerly. "Hehehe, so, you guys ready to get the jump on those goody-goods?"

"Oh YES!" Cinder exclaimed. "I have been waiting for this day for two years and it's about time they got what's coming to them!" She placed a hand on Rojo's arm. "I know that your plan will be quite nefarious, Rojo."

"Uh, yeah, I was wondering about that part." Emerald pulled her binoculars down and quirked a brow at Rojo. "Just what IS the big plan, anyway?"

Mercury smirked as he faced them as well. "Please tell me it involves kicking something!"

"Oh-ho-ho, it involves a LOT more than just kicking, my dear Mercury." Rojo eagerly rubbed her hands together as she eyed Tennyson once again. "Initially, I was gonna have us sack these idiots and make off with whatever we could get. But now that I know Tennyson's involved… this has become pretty personal."

Cinder's eyebrows rose up, her eyes moving over to the brunet next to Yang. "Him? The boy in the green jacket?"

A smile came to Emerald's face and she made bedroom eyes at Ben. "Wow, how can you have a problem with him? He's pretty cute?"

"Pfft, please, he's not HALF as cute as me." Mercury scoffed, muttering under his breath.

"Trust me guys, getting back at Tennyson for all of the dumb stuff he put me through in the past is gonna be SO satisfying." Rojo's smirk became quite dastardly. "And if we're lucky, we can stop him from pulling the same things with YOU guys in the future."

The trio couldn't help but blink at that. "Um… alright?" Cinder said in confusion. "So, what's the plan?"

"Simple… CHAAAAARGE!" With a loud battle cry, Rojo suddenly pulled out a large laser rifle with a big mouth painted along its barrel, complete with serrated teeth. The bounty hunter charged out, with the nefarious trio letting out a gasp as they followed her. Rojo hopped out from behind the pillar, pointed her weapon to the group and shouted; "TENNYSON!"

Both Gwen and Ben's heads snapped up and they shouted; "What?!"

Rojo deadpanned at that and smacked her face. "Ugh, BEN! Jeez Gwen, can't ya just accept your fate as only the SECOND most-important member of your family?"

"ROJO!" Ben shouted, shocking everyone and getting their attention as he stood up. "How DARE you say that to my cousin!"

"Yeah, NOT cool!" Kevin said as he too stood up, absorbing the wooden table in the process. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up here!" However, it was then that he noticed Cinder, Emerald and Mercury standing behind Rojo, causing him to tilt his head. "Uh… who're your friends?"

"And why is one of 'em smokin' HOT?!" Rex said as his eyes locked firmly onto Cinder… only to get his head smacked by Weiss for that. "Ouch! Jeez, I mean it as a compliment!"

Weiss, however, simply glared at him. "Oh, don't you DARE compliment the enemy!" The heiress then set her gaze onto Cinder, her eyes narrowing even more. "Cinder Fall, what ARE you and your cronies doing back here?"

"Yeah! Ozpin expelled you for all your nefarious plans!" Ruby added.

Blake rolled her eyes and groaned. "And here I thought we'd be DONE with your after the two-year hiatus."

Cinder gave an evil chortle, placing a hand on her hip. "Well, you may want to rethink that, ladies." She gestured toward her new teammate. "Because with Rojo here, our plans will be even MORE nefarious than before!"

Yang rolled her eyes and stood up, preparing for whatever confrontation they were going to have. "Well, so much for a peaceful day, I guess."

"Yeah, kinda sucks." Gwen agreed as her eyes flashed pink. "But on the bright side, I can get back at Rojo for calling me number two." She furrowed her brows at the villains as her hands began to light up as well. "You'd better prepare yourselves, because you're gonna wish you never came here!"

"HA! Yeah right." Mercury scoffed. "We're gonna make YOU wish you never came to Beacon in the first—"

"HOLD UP!" Ben shouted, his eyes laser focused on Mercury as he pointed at him. "How the HECK do you have my voice?!"

Mercury blinked in shock. They did sound quite similar… but he wasn't about to let the hero have this. "Hah, as IF! It's you who has MY voice, loser!"

"Uh, yeah, NO." Ben denied. "The guy who's voicing us started voicing ME in 2008. I've been around WAY longer than you have, dude."

"Don't MAKE me come over there!" Mercury threatened, though he could start to feel his head begin to throb. "O-Or is it ME who's coming over to me?"

"Gah, now you're just making me MORE confused!" Ben held his head in pain. He could practically feel the guy on the other end of the mic start to get a headache. "O-Or is it US who're getting confused?"

Fortunately, Emerald was the one to bring things back around. "Can we FOCUS?! Sheesh, we came were to pull off an evil plan, so that's what we're gonna do!" However, she then paused and whispered to Rojo; "Um… speaking of, where do we go from here?"

Rojo let her teeth show in her smirk as she eyed her laser rifle. "Where do ya think, Em?" She cocked the weapon and it began to light up, much to almost everyone's shock. Only Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Rex kept their nerves about them, preparing for Rojo's attack. "Say goodnight, twerps! BAH-HAHAHA!" She pulled the trigger and… nothing. Rojo blinked in shock as the laser rifle powered down, glancing at it in confusion. "Uh, okay, let's try that AGAIN!" She did the same thing… and got the same result. "Okay, what the heck is going on?!"

"Don't you know the rules?!" Ruby shouted, getting the other-worlder's attention. "Nothing bad EVER happens here! It's RWBY Chibi, remember? Firearms don't work if you're aiming it at someone!"

"Wait, seriously?" Rojo took aim at Beacon's water fountain and pulled the trigger, with a powerful laser blasting out of the barrel instantaneously. The fountain was effectively blown up, leaving it gushing water while multiple students began to scream about what happened. "Huh, well that sucks!" Rojo crossed her arms and pouted. "How am I supposed to get my revenge on you if I can't blast you to bits?!"

"Well, punching and kicking still works." Yang shrugged. "And I guess melee weapons can too. Just no blasting."

Cinder rubbed the back of her head. "Yes, I probably should've warned you about that."

"Ya think?" Rojo uttered in disappointment. "Great, NOW what do we do?"

"Well… we could always just ruin their day…" Cinder suggested, eyeing the card table, lounge chairs, the picnic and the stick that Ruby was holding. Her hand lit up with flame as a smirk came to her face. "I say we burn all of the objects they hold dear and be done with it. Then perhaps we can cause a bit of mayhem in town for good measure."

Rojo blinked before her smirk returned, pounding a fist into her hand. "Oh, I'm liking what you're sayin', Cindy! Let's do it!"

However, Ben jumped forward and swiped his hand at them. "Not on MY watch! …Hehe, get it? Watch—"

"WE GET IT!" Everyone exclaimed.

"…I thought it was clever." Yang said with a supportive grin to her boyfriend.

Ben sent her a grateful smile back. "Thanks, babe!" His hand went to the Omnitrix and its core popped up, the young man shouting; "It's hero time!" before slamming his hand down onto it. In a bright flash of light, a certain large, bipedal lizard took Ben's place, rearing his head back as he shouted; "HUMUNGOUSAUR!"

Rojo sneered in contempt while Cinder, Emerald and Mercury's jaws all dropped. "…Oh, we are in so much trouble." Emerald uttered.

"Ya got that right." Humungousaur said before whipping his tail around, slamming it directly into all four villains. And just like that, they were sent sailing into the sky, disappearing with a small ding! Humungousaur dusted off his hands with pride before turning around. "And that takes care of—oh." But the moment he faces his friends, he saw that his tail had knocked over the card table, lounge chairs, AND ruined the picnic all in one go… and none of his friends looked too happy about it. "Hehe, oops. My bad."

A/N: And there you have it! Ben has met Tai and has quickly gotten on his good side… while also having met the Chibi debuting Raven as well. I think it's safe to say that Ben's learned that sometimes, it ISN'T the girl's father who you should be most intimidated by. Raven's definitely got her eye on Ben now… And in addition, Rojo's learned pretty quickly that you can't do as much harm as she wants in the land of the Chibi. After all, as Nora so eloquently put it; nothing bad EVER happens. So, how WILL Rojo, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury go forward from here? Well, knowing them, they'll probably find a way.

In any case, NEXT TIME! While hanging out at Yang's place, Ben decided to share something personal with Yang; a talent of his that he finds somewhat embarrassing. But will Yang think of it in a different light… and perhaps find a good use for it as well? And then, the Beacon dorms are suddenly set upon by a HUGE swath of unwelcomed guests… who seem to be armed with cameras and looking for Ben. Indeed, it's the heroes' worst fear come to life; the paparazzi are making a raid. Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!

A/N: Hey AO3 gang! Ben 10 RWBY Chibi's back and… it's late. Apologies for the late upload, but I let the time get away from me on this one. I'm really sorry and believe me, this won't be happening again. In anycase, this time, we've got something a little different for ya! As established in a previous chapter, the SN boys have started their own Let's Play channel, so today, we're gonna see how that turns out. But then, we're gonna catch up with how a certain chameleon girl is doing with her sinister plans. So, without further ado, this is…

Chapter 7, Part 1: SN Grumps Play Mario 64!

(Hey I'm Sun!)

(And I'm NOT Sun!)

(AND WE'RE THE SN GRUMPS)

After the short intro, we cut to the recording studio in Beacon's Basement, with Sun and Neptune sitting on the couch. The two weren't really paying attention to anything in particular, with Sun reclining on one side while Neptune was cleaning his goggles on the other. However, their eyes widened when they saw the bright red light on the camera had been on for a good few seconds… and they were doing nothing. "W-Wait, are we recording?!" Sun exclaimed.

"Ugh, CUT!" Ben shouted from the engineering room.

(BEEP!)

After a quick cut, Sun and Neptune practically jumped up from the couches and got right up close to the camera, each grinning from ear to ear. "Hey there, internet peeps! Welcome to SN Grumps!" He placed a hand on his chest. "It's the show were I—name's Sun, by the way—and my buddy…"

"Heya! Name's Neptune!" the blue-haired boy waved.

"…Are gonna be playing video games while just chillin' and talking about stuff." Sun finished. "Be it about the game itself or just stuff in our lives in general. Sure, Let's Play channels aren't exactly a NEW concept, but we just thought this'd be a fun idea, so here we are!" The monkey boy reached down and pulled up the cartridge of the game they were playing. "And today we have… Super Mario 64 for… the Nintendo 64. …Kinda redundant, don't ya think?"

Neptune let out a chuckle as he poked the cartridge. "Hehe, yeah, I mean, why name it "Super Mario 64" if it's not the sixty-fourth game in the franchise, am I right?"

Just then, Ben's voice came from the engineering room again. "Uh, Neptune, that joke's already been made."

This just made Neptune give Ben a deadpan look through the room's glass window. "Hey, I'm trying my best here, dude. I've never played this game before."

Sun simply shrugged. "Well, why don't we actually pop the game in and check it out?" With that, the blonde popped the cartridge into the N64 and booted it up, only to be instantly greeted with the Super Mario 64 logo and an Italian accented voice that said;

"It's-a me, Mario!"

"Woah, off to a flying start already!" Sun smiled as he and Neptune sat down on the couch. "I like this guy's enthusiasm—WOAH!" Without warning, Mario's head suddenly appeared on the screen and greeted them with a; "Hello!" while floating in the air. "Oh… ooooh… this is terrifying." Sun muttered.

"THIS is what kids were greeted with when they booted this up back in 1996?!" Neptune asked as he watched Mario's head move and look around. "How has no one been traumatized by this disembodied head?"

"Oh, you think THAT'S bad?" Ben spoke up again with a smirk. "Try using the analogue stick and buttons to interact with his face."

With a worried expression, Sun did as Ben instructed, using the analogue stick to move the cursor and the A button to click on Mario's cheek… resulting in him dragging the polygonal construct like he had just grabbed it. "Oh—OH GEEZ!" Sun gaped as he let go of the A button, resulting in the cheek bouncing back like rubber. "Oh now THIS is truly horrific."

"Ben, what the heck, man?!" Neptune asked in shock.

"Oh, it gets better." Ben assured. "Hold down the R button while you're moving parts around…"

Sun did as Ben suggested, pulling the right side of Mario's mustache up over his right eye while holding the R button. And much to his shock, the mustache stayed up. He did the other side as well, making it appear that Mario was wearing sunglasses. "Oh… okay, yeah, I-I've had enough nightmares for one day, let's just get to the game." This made Ben crack up inside the engineering room as Sun pressed the start button, beginning the game.

After creating a new game and watching the intro being played, Sun and Neptune watched as Mario jumped out right out of the pipe that had suddenly sprung from the earth, taking them aback. "Woah! Haha! He just… man, he just shot right out of there." Neptune commented.

"So, are there just random pipes that pop out of the ground where Mario lives?" Sun asked as he began moving Mario. "Is that just how he gets around? Because if it is, then I can't imagine it's the BEST way for him to do his morning commute."

"Hehe, yeah, especially if he goes into the wrong pipe." Neptune added. "One wrong move and he's in someone's septic tank!" The duo burst out laughing at that as Mario stepped up to the draw bridge of Peach's castle, with a Lakitu giving them the details of how to move the camera. "Wait… camera movement's set to the C buttons?"

Sun tried it out and suddenly, the camera jerked to the left, making the monkey boy wince. "Ooh… yeah, that's not very intuitive compared to today's controls for 3D games."

Ben spoke up from engineering again. "Hey, it was one of THE first 3D platformers." Ben asserted. "Things would only go up from here when it comes to those. And besides…" His smirk came back. "I think thing's will be a whole lot more fun this way. A fiddly camera should make for some pretty funny moments…"

Sun deadpanned at that. "Why do I get the feeling we're gonna be in for some hax?" After entering the castle, getting a threatening message from Bowser about no body being home, and talking to the Toad who revealed that Princess Peach had been kidnapped, Sun and Neptune made their way to the first world; Bob-omb Battlefield. As he controlled Mario and made him jump around the battlefield while getting a hang of the controls, Sun began to realize something; "Man… Mario's enemies are weird."

"I know right?" Neptune agreed. "I mean, if I were fighting sentient shrooms and bombs, I'd be starting to question my sanity."

"Heh, says the guy who tried to marry a brick wall."

"Oh cut that out—AAAH!" Neptune suddenly screamed when a huge, round enemy with sharp teeth and beady eyes suddenly popped onto the screen, the monster attached to a wooden post by a chain. "What the HECK is that monstrosity?!"

"That'd be a Chain Chomp." Ben answered. "Look out, because it can—" ARF ARF! But it was too late. The Chain Chomp thrust itself toward Mario and took a huge chunk of the Plumber's health, making Sun and Neptune scream in terror. "…Yeah, it can do that."

"AAAH! Okay, get me the HECK away from that thing!" Sun said as he made Mario go along on his happy way. Once they were FAR away from the Chain Chomp, Sun began making Mario scale the huge mountain, though he had to admit… scaling the path proved to be a lot harder than it looked. One wrong jump, and Mario was sent sliding back down on a slippery mountain slope… and Sun did NOT like that one bit. "Gah!" "Dang it!" "FRAG!" "I am a TRAVESTY, dude!"

"Hahaha!" Neptune was practically cracking up at the fourth miss-jump. "Oh lord, this episode is NOT gonna be ten minutes, Ben!"

The hero was in a similar state as well. "Hehe, yeah, I might have to edit a few of those."

Sun, however, pointed to Ben in ire. "I KNEW it! I call HAX!" However, on his fifth try, Sun finally made it to the top. It helped that he had found the secret warp spot completely by accident. "Haha, okay, I take my hax back!" With that, he stepped up onto the mountain top and greeted the Big Bob-omb, the huge enemy stroking his mustache. "Ooh, okay, this guy is a bomb of culture!"

"Heck yeah, takes a real man to stroke a mustache THAT awesome!" Neptune agreed as the battle began. "But I gotta say, the fact that his name is technically "Bob" is hilarious. It's like; "Hi! I'm Bob! …What right do you have to enter my domain?"." The two partners chuckled over that as the Big Bob-omb stomped over to them, with Sun moving Mario around him. "So uh, Ben? How DO we beat this guy?"

Ben smacked his forehead in realization. "Oh, right. You have to get behind him, pick him up and throw him."

Sun took a long pause before eyeing Ben through the window. "Really? That's it? Huh, and here I thought it was hard!" After a couple of tosses, Sun easily beat the king bomb, making him explode into several polygons afterward. "Woah… for an easy boss, he kinda has a brutal death."

Neptune nodded at that. "Yeah, no kidding. But hey, at least you got a star!"

"Hey yeah, you're right!" Sun made Mario pick up the star that had ejected from the Big Bob-bomb, the plumber giving the peace sign as he shouted; "Here we go!" Sun and Neptune gave each other a thumbs up. "Haha, alright, that's star number one!"

"Eeyup!" Ben said with an evil smirk. "…And there's only one hundred and nineteen to go…"

Sun and Neptune both paled at that, the duo glancing toward each other before screaming in unison; "AAAAAAAHHH!"

Chapter 7, Part 2: A Pie for Three

Ilia couldn't help but cackle to herself as she put the finishing touches to her latest plan. Sure, the mousetraps hadn't panned out the way she had hoped, but now she knew for a FACT that this plan was totally fool proof! And it was utterly simple, too! "I seriously can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!" Ilia said to herself before letting out her best evil laugh. "Mwah-hahaha!"

The chameleon girl pulled out her recording device and began doing her log again. "Ilia's log; day ten. After over a week of observing these stupid heroes, I've finally found out their pattern for going too and from class!" She glanced off to the side with her eyes narrowed. "I considered intercepting Blake first, but…" The spots on her cheeks involuntarily turned pink. "That's proven to be harder than I thought." Her confidence returned in a second, as did her evil grin. "But since I know where SUN is going at this time of day, HE'LL be easy pickings! And I owe it all to my ingenious plan!"

Ilia set her eyes upon said plan; a trap that she had set up in the hall around the nearby corner. "And it's utterly perfect! Once Sun comes down this hall and makes a turn, he'll trip the wire I set up and…" She carefully stepped over the tripwire and slid up to the trap itself; a large catapult-like armature set up on the wall with a huge white clove on its end. "He'll run right into this baby! And since he's a monkey boy…" She reached behind her and pulled out a big banana cream pie. "I whipped up THIS up earlier today. Let's see how he likes his… JUST DESSERTS! BAH-HAHAHA!" She steadily placed the hand in the glove and stepped back over the tripwire, rounding the corner once again. "Hehehe, now all I have to do is—"

"HI!"

"AGH!" Ilia let out a yell before spinning around, her skin shifting to a bright yellow while her hair and spots became red. She heard a couple more screams as she spun, signaling that there wasn't just one but TWO people behind her. Once she saw the two girls, though, she relaxed slightly. Because there, standing a few feet away from her, were Ruby Rose and Penny Polendina. Even though Ilia despised her for simply associating with Blake, she knew Ruby she to be a pretty nice girl. As for Penny, Ilia hadn't seen MUCH of her, but she seemed quite nice as well… not that she would ever admit that out loud. What she did do was back away slowly. "W-What are you two doing here?!"

Ruby and Penny, both still very shocked over what happened, glanced toward each other cautiously before the former answered. "W-We… we were just going to the kitchen to make a snack." the Hooded Huntress said innocently. "I'm sorry that we scared you!"

"Indeed, I too apologize for frightening you so." Penny concurred with a smile before tilting her head. "By the way, who ARE you?" She scanned the girl's face and began running it through her systems. "Hm, I do not see you in Beacon's student database. Are you new, perhaps?"

"Uhh… yeah!" Ilia quickly put on a fake smile, shifting her skin back to normal. "Y-Yes, I'm new here."

However, Ruby gasped and her eyes began to shimmer at the sight of the neat trick that Ilia had done. "OOOH! You can change color?! That's so cool!" She gave Ilia an ear-to-ear smile as she rushed up to shake her hand. "Hi! My name's Ruby, it's SO nice to meet a new student! What's your name?"

Ilia swallowed nervously. "U-Um… Ilia."

Ruby placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh. My. GOSH! That is such a pretty name!"

"Listen, I—" But then, Ilia blinked in surprise. "W-Wait, it is?"

"Indeed so!" Penny concurred. "You DO share it with a butterfly, after all!" The android proceeded to shake Ilia's hand as well… a bit too enthusiastically, though, as she began shaking the chameleon girl all around. "Salutations, Ilia! My name is Penny Polendina! I am required to inform you that I am an android!"

"S-S-S-So n-n-nice t-t-to m-meet you!" Ilia said as Penny slowed her arm down to a halt, only for the chameleon girl to shake her head. "W-Wait, hold on… you're a robot?"

"Hehe, yeah." Ruby chuckled. "We tried to keep that a secret for a while, but it didn't work out all that well."

Penny gave a resolute nod. "Indeed, after the incident at the Vytal Festival, I—"

Without warning, Nora suddenly rushed into frame and put a finger to Penny's lips. "Up-up-up! NEVER HAPPENED!" She leaned in close to Penny with a warning face. "…EVER." After a couple seconds, a cheery look came to Nora's features and she skipped away, leaving Ruby exasperated and Ilia completely confused.

"Uh, is she always like that?" Ilia asked.

"You have no idea." Ruby deadpanned before her smile came back. "So, when did you get to Beacon?"

Ilia winced at that question. "Oh, you know… about ten days ago? I came in when those brick walls fell. They were preventing new students from coming to the school, I think."

Ruby let out a scoff at that. "Pfft, rotten bricks. I'm glad they're gone." The Hooded Huntress tilted her head toward Ilia. "Well, I'm guessing you haven't really gotten a hang of the place, have ya? I really haven't seen you around SINCE then! You want a tour of the place?"

"Er, that's fine, Ruby." Ilia assured. "I've been around the whole place a few times, so I'm good."

Penny then added her two cents. "Oh! Then perhaps you would like to accompany us to the kitchen? We were going to make some delectable desserts!" Both girls rubbed their tummies, smiling brightly at the thought of sweets. "Oh please, come! You would enjoy it, I'm quite sure."

Ilia was… utterly floored. "You… you two want to hang out… with me?" She received a pair of nods from the two. "But… but I'm a Faunus. Why would you want to hang out with me?"

Ruby, however, hadn't skipped a beat. "Ilia, are you kidding? One of my best FRIENDS is a Faunus! And I have a lot MORE friends who're Faunus, too!" She jerked her thumb toward Penny. "Besides, as someone who's best friends with a robot girl, I get along with just about everyone!"

"Correct!" Penny nodded. "It matters not WHO you are on the outside, but rather, who you are on the inside. And no, I do not mean that literally."

Ilia could feel herself begin to tear up a little. These two… WEREN'T judging her for being a Faunus? 'Is… everyone here like this? Was I wrong all along?' Ilia could feel her lips quiver as she wiped her eyes of the tears beginning to fall. "O-Okay, sure! That… that sounds like fun."

"Woo-hoo! Alright!" Ruby cheered as Penny did the same, the two beginning to skip down the hall and around the corner. "C'mon! The kitchen's right down this hall!"

The chameleon girls' eyes snapped open when she saw them going down that hall… the same one that she had set up the trap made for Sun. She let out a gasp and screamed; "NO!", her legs carrying her as fast as they could. She zipped out in front of the duo, and tripped her own wire, resulting in her trap being sprung and the pie flinging directly into her face. Ruby and Penny stopped in shock as they watched Ilia stand still for a moment before slowly falling down onto her back, the girl letting out a groan of pain.

"AH! ILIA!" Ruby cried out as she and Penny zipped up to their new friend's side. "Are you okay?!"

Penny picked the pie tin up off of Ilia's face, revealing the girl now covered in banana cream. "Ugh… I've been better." Ilia groaned.

The redheaded android furrowed her brow at the large armature. "Who would set up such a dreadful trap in this hallway?"

"Ugh, I'll bet it was Cardin again." Ruby grumbled. "I'll be sure to have a talk with HIM later…" It was then that she noticed Ilia sitting up… and that the banana cream was slowly dripping down the girl's cheeks. Her eyes then went to the pie, which still had most of the cream inside of it. "Hmm… but you know… waste not, what not!" With that, Ruby took a handful of pie from the tin and put it in her mouth, her eyes lighting up with stars. "AH! So GOOD!"

"Really?" Penny asked before doing the same, her eyes beginning to glow with energy the moment the cream hit her tongue. "OOH! You are correct, Ruby! This pie is QUITE delicious!"

Ruby touched her cheek as she took another handful of pie. "Mmm! Whoever made this is a DARN good cook!"

As much as Ilia was feeling utterly guilty for what she had done… she also couldn't help but feel utterly touched by Ruby and Penny's words. 'They… they like my cooking?' Her lips began to tremble and her eyes began to fill up with tears of joy as she gazed down to her hands in contemplation. 'Am I… doing the right thing?'

A/N: And there you have it! Sun and Neptune have taken their first steps toward internet fame while Ilia has been introduced to two people who may just make her change her mind about wanting to take vengeance on the whole team. But will it be enough, or will it take something a bit more to push her over that edge? Well, only time will tell…

But until then, NEXT TIME! We head back to the Land of Darkness for something… completely different. It's time for a new bit called; Ministry Book Club! Let's see how the more serious villains like to enjoy their downtime. But then, we circle back to Vale to witness the return of none other than Uncle Qrow! However, the drunken Huntsman seems to have already gotten rather irritated by the presence of so many loud and obnoxious teenagers. So, what does a man in his late forties do when he's got a bunch of happy juice and nothing to lose? Why become a hermit of course! Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!

A/N: Good day, everyone! Ben 10 RWBY Chibi returns, and indeed, it's with an increased rating! Why you ask? Well… you'll see at the end of this chapter. But for right now, why don't we dive right on into the first bit of this chapter and see just how the bigger bads spend their time at the castle, shall we? This is…

Chapter 8, Part 1: Ministry Book Club!

Salem couldn't help but smile to herself (a genuine one instead of a nefarious one, which was also a rarity) as she made her way down to the library, a small novel secured in her hand. It had been well over a week since Viktor and the others had arrived at her castle, and she had to admit, the was morbidly smitten with the large Transylian man. There was simply something about him that sent her black heart a-flutter, and she couldn't be happier that he did. It definitely helped keep her mind off of her ex-lover, whom she still had a MAJOR grudge against. The very thought of Ozpin cropping back up in her mind made her want to strangle the nearest warm body in rage, but that anger had been tempered since Viktor had arrived.

"Ah, I feel truly at peace for the first time in millennia."Salem said to herself as she hugged her book close to her chest."If I wasn't so focused on taking over the world, I would consider retiring at this point. But still, those plans are not to be concerned with now. After all, it's time for book club!"

The moment that Viktor had seen her library, he had been utterly floored by the wide selection that Salem had to offer. Heck, she had even collected a few tomes from Earth… though that admittedly was mostly to garner Viktor's attention. In truth, she hadn't gotten the opportunity to read the books, but fortunately, Viktor had made a suggestion…

"You know, the younger villains around here may have their "hang out" times." Viktor said using air quotes. "But I believe us around the older set should have something as well! Miss Salem, what say we create a sort-of gathering where we discuss novels that we read to entertain us while we aren't scheming evil plans?"

"…You mean a book club?" Salem said with widened eyes.

Viktor raised a finger up toward the sky. "Indeed! What do you say?"

With the thought of spending even MORE time with Viktor entering her mind (even if there WOULD be other people present), Salem smiled and shouted; "YES!" Seeing that Viktor was taken back by the answer, Salem cleared her throat and composed herself. "Ahem, I mean yes… yes, that would be a very good idea."

As she approached the library door, Salem couldn't help but sigh as that memory replayed in her head. "I really should be much more even-tempered around him." She said to herself. "I doubt he's one for exuberance on that level." The witch took a deep breath and reached for the door handle. "Alright, here we go." She walked into the room… and there he was. She had to admit, even just being a few feet away from him made her hesitant to move forward. 'For the gods' sake, Salem! You are over THREE THOUSAND years old! Stop acting like a nervous high school girl!' She cleared her throat, getting Viktor's attention. "Ahem, Viktor! I have arrived."

Viktor perked up and smiled as he took his eyes off his own book, closing it as he smiled to her. "Ah, Miss Salem, good to see you here! The others are waiting for us in the reading corner."

"Excellent. Then let's get started, shall we?" With that, the duo went to the back of the room, where Doctor Animo and two others were waiting for them. The first one had short, greying black hair and a bushy mustache, dressed in a fancy blue coat as he sipped tea from a small cup he was holding. The other was a large, burly man in a olive green coat with long, brown hair and a short beard. These were Doctor Arthur Watts and Hazel Rainart respectively. "Ah, welcome, everyone! So glad you could join us for our first annual book club!"

Watts looked up from his spot of tea and cheered the cup toward Salem. "Oh, it was no trouble at all, Lady Salem! Honestly, I was wondering when we could do something that involved a bit of class around here."

Hazel merely scoffed at that. "Hmph, you would." He picked up his own book and gave Viktor and Salem a nod. "So, how should we start this?"

"Well, when it comes to book club, we usually start by describing what our respective novels were about before discussing what we liked about them so much." Animo piped up. "But before that, we need to decide who goes first…" He extended a hand over to Salem and Viktor. "And since this was all their idea, I suggest that either of those two go first!"

"Very well then, Doctor." Viktor agreed before nodding toward Salem. "If that is the case, then I relinquish that privilege to you, Lady Salem." Salem's eyes widened in shock. "M-Me? You want ME to go first, Viktor?"

"Of course! You ARE the one who allowed this, after all." Viktor waved his hand toward Salem as he sat down in a nearby chair that could just barely support his weight. "Please, do go on."

Salem once again composed herself as she held up her novel. "Very well, then. To start things off, I decided to read through Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein"."

Viktor and Animo brightened up at that. "Ah, yes! An excellent choice!" the Transylian supported.

"Indeed! It has to be one of my favorites." Animo concurred.

"And it has quickly become one of mine as well." Salem nodded. "For it is about a young scientist who strives to cheat death by bringing the deceased back from the grave. However, in his strive to achieve this, he brings to life a Creature made of mismatching body parts, which he fears the moment it begins to move." An evil smile began to curl its way to her lips. "But by abandoning the Creature, it begins to learn on its own, and its hatred for its creator begins to grow with each passing day. So much so that it begins killing those closest to him until he gets what he wants; a mate to live with. However, when Viktor backs out of that promise… let's just say that things don't go so well for him."

"Oh my, that IS quite the tale." Watts admired. "I may have to read that one myself!"

Salem gave her cohort a nod. "You really should, Arthur, it is quite the tale that tells it's narrative from many different perspectives, which I find quite interesting." Her evil grin increased. "It is also quite satisfying to witness the irony of Doctor Frankenstein calling the Creature "evil", when in reality, he is just as horrible of a person, if not MORE so, as his creation is. And while I WAS hoping that the doctor would get SOME sort of final comeuppance from the creature, the conclusion of the story was still a very fitting end."

"I see." Hazel nodded. "It sounds very interesting."

"Indeed so." Salem then waved her arm to Viktor. "Alright Viktor, now why don't you treat us to YOUR story?"

Viktor cleared his throat and stood up. "Very well, then." He held up the little black book in his massive hand. "I took it upon myself to read a short story from Edgar Allen Poe, a poet who specialized in the macabre and gothic ways of writing in the early nineteenth century. In this particular story; "The Masque of the Red Death", a plague of the same name is making its way through a small country, where a prince is trying to avoid it by hiding in his abbey."

Watts furrowed his brows contemplatively. "Why in the world does this sound oddly familiar?" But he quickly waved the notion off. "Ah never mind. So, I suppose it's the tale of how this prince goes mad while sequestered in his own home?"

"Oh, far from it." Viktor denied. "In fact, to avoid the madness, he hosts a sizeable party with other wealthy people so that THEY can avoid the plague as well."

Salem wore a deadpan face. "That… sounds like the exact opposite of what you would want to do in that situation."

"Indeed." An evil smile came to Viktor's face. "And he soon finds that out very quickly when a mysterious figure arrives dressed as a victim of the plague. From there… things go south rather fast. Miss Salem, if you were disappointed by Doctor Frankenstein not receiving his due comeuppance, then I believe that you will enjoy this tale…"

The witch curled her lips up into a nefarious grin and rubbed her hands together. "Oh, well if that's truly the case, then I should get my hands on some of Poe's work…" She craned her head out toward the others, giving them a nod. "Alright, now that Viktor and I have discussed our respective stories, who would like to go next?"

Hazel quickly raised his hand. "I would, Lady Salem. There is something about the book I read that I would like to get off my chest…"

"Very well, Hazel, you have the floor." Salem granted.

"Thank you." With that, Hazel stood up and Viktor sat back down, the former taking out his own book. "The novel that I decided to read what "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide" by Robert Louis Stevenson."

Animo let out a laugh and applauded the choice. "Ah-ha! Excellent choice, Hazel! A classic tale of—"

"QUIET!" Hazel suddenly snapped, taking everyone by surprise. "I said it was MY time to speak!"

"Uh… ahem, very well. Continue."

"Thank you." Hazel said before moving on. "Anyway, it's about a doctor who's fighting between the good and evil sides of himself, so he makes a potion to separate the two halves into two different people. Jekyll is the good half, while Mr. Hyde is the evil half. But that wasn't initially said at the beginning of the story, instead saved as a twist during a confessional letter that Jekyll leaves after his death."

Watts shot right up out of his chair. "WHAT?!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock. "Hazel, why… why would you just spoil something like that?!"

Salem also stood up, furrowing her brows in confusion. "Yes, Hazel, please explain."

Hazel bowed his hands and clenched them into fists, which were visibly shaking at this point. "I-I apologize, but… I HAD to tell you that otherwise I wouldn't be able to get this out." Hazel began to clench his teeth as the rest of him began to shake, his voice becoming filled with utter rage. "I… I couldn't finish the book! Whenever I continued reading, the doctor's dual personalities could only remind me… remind me of…" And like that, Hazel broke, his eyes becoming blood shot as his uncontrollable rage began to boil over. He threw his coat away and ripped off his shirt, bellowing to the heavens; "OOZPIIIIIN!" before letting out a roar and crashing through the nearby wall, charging out into the desolate wasteland to blow off some steam.

As the four remaining evil-doers watched him leave in shock, Watts glanced toward the rest of the group awkwardly. "So… does anyone want to hear what I thought about "Dracula"?"

Chapter 8, Part 2: A Qrow in the Woods!

We find ourselves on a handheld camera inside of the Xiao Long family home, with the camera's owner, Qrow Branwen, adjusting the focus so that he can be clearly seen. "Hey, this thing on?" However, when he got the lens focused, he grinned as he saw himself on the camera's screen. "Ah, good, things are workin'. Great! So, uh… hey there, internet people. Name's Qrow. Though, uh, you may already know me from when this show used to be airing. Debuted in Season 2, after all." He gave the camera a wink before walking over to his room, opening the door to reveal a fully packed backpack and sports back.

"Okay, so yer probably wonderin' why I'm here in the first place, right? Well, last week, I realized that, since Yang got that new boyfriend of hers, I haven't been able to get ANY dang peace around here. They've been comin' around here every other day and it's been nothin' but noise, noise, noise." Qrow pulled the camera away from himself, revealing his ensemble. "So, I put on my best set of clothes…" He then winked to the camera. "Sorry, ladies, no speedo today." He reached into his closet and pulled out Harbinger. "I've got my essential survival item right here, plus a few odds and ends in the pack…" He picked up the two packs, with the sports back having multiple bottles clattering around in it. "And now, I'm headin' out!"

With that, Qrow headed downstairs with the camera still in hand and opened the front door… only to have Zwei run past him. After frantically getting Zwei back into the house, he sighed to himself as he quickly made it to his destination… the tree line at the very edge of Tai's front yard. "Alright, guys, this is it. In my attempt to finally get some peace and quiet around here…" He looked into the camera and pulled out a bottle of fun juice. "Imma get drunk and live in the woods."

(Cue a multi-shot montage of Qrow entering the woods, drinking his happy juice, climbing and falling off trees, throwing sticks, disguising himself with leaves, painting his face with mud and balancing on logs for no particular reason)

Qrow sighed to himself as he found himself with his camera again, walking along a forest path with intense trepidation. "Hah, alright guys, welcome to… THE WILDERNESS! A Huntsman's true habitat! Luckily, there don't seem to be any Grimm out today, so we're probably good."

Little did he know though that there WERE two Grimm out and about, and they were staring at him from behind a tree. "Uh, Marty? Why's that guy talking to a camera?" one Beowolf asked.

"Ah, just ignore him, Mike." Marty assured to his friend. "He's probably just crazy."

Qrow began moving his camera around to take in all the foliage around him. "As you can see there's trees, rocks and dirt all around, but most importantly…" He swung the camera around to face him again. "It's QUIET. No teenagers laughing loudly, no video games blasting through the walls, nothin'! And that's the best about this, because I can't bug the kids and the KIDS can't bug ME!"

The drunken huntsman extended his arm out to the woods. "And honestly, I've never felt more free in my life right now. I can do ANYTHING I want. If I wanna go to sleep when I want, I can DO that, if I wanna SHOUT anything I want, I can do that, too!" Qrow through his head back and shouted; "I'M INSECURE BECAUSE I'M AFRAID I WON'T LIVE UP TO THE EXPECTATIONS OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!" Once he did that, he signed and ran a hand through his hair. "Ah, felt good to say that, finally." He took a swig of the fun stuff for good measure.

A few minutes later, we find Qrow lightly breathing while hiding behind a tree, the drunken Huntsman putting a finger to his lips. "Shhh… guys, I dunno if you can see it, but…" He pointed over his shoulder. "Right behind me, there's a little woodland rabbit. Now, I've been out here for like… I dunno, but it's been a while, so I'm really hungry. Heck, I could eat an entire Nuckelavee if I wanted to. So…" He pulled out his sword and smirked to the camera. "With Harbinger in hand, I'm gonna catch me a bunny and make rabbit stew out of it. So I'm gonna take you guys along for the ride, you ready? Okay… three, two, one… GO!"

Qrow let out a loud battle cry and charged forward, but surprisingly… the rabbit screamed as well. "AAAAH! What is the meaning of this?!" As it happened, the "rabbit" turned out to be Velvet Scarlatina, the girl having gone out on a nature hike with the rest of her team, only to have gotten separated. Now, however, the only thing she was concerned about was preserving her life against the crazy drunkard who thought she was his dinner. "Get away from me!"

"Get back here, little bun-bun!"

(Meanwhile, back at the Xiao Long house…)

"Ah-ha-ha-ha! You can't run forever!" Qrow hollered on the screen as Velvet let out another scream.

This… had been a rough watch for Ben and Team RWBY. It had fallen to them this week to edit this episode, and in terms of bits, these two HAD to take the cake in terms of sheer strangeness. Admittedly, the book club one was pretty good. But as Ruby and Yang watched their uncle slowly lose his sanity, they realized that this bit had gone WAY overboard.

"Wow… this is just sad." Yang commented.

"Yeeeah…" Ben spun around in the swivel chair he was sitting in, facing away from the laptop. "I think it's safe to say that we can't use this bit."

Weiss tilted her head at that. "Wait, isn't it already in the chapter?"

Blake glanced out the window. "Yeah, in fact, I think this is being broadcasted live from Qrow's camera."

Ben deadpanned at that. "Oh yeah… that's right."

"Well, it wasn't a total loss!" Ruby smiled. "I mean, we got a break week, so there's that!"

"Yeah, very true…" Ben trailed off when he saw something out the window, something that made his eyes nearly bug out of his head. "…But on the other hand."

The hero opened the window, just in time for Velvet to come jumping in and pull her ears over her eyes. "You guys have to hide me! I thought getting chased was bad enough, but THIS?!" She pointed out the window. "This is FAR worse!"

Everyone set their gazes out the window just in time to see Qrow, who had now discarded his shirt and pants to reveal his speedo. What's more, he had somehow gotten a jar of peanut butter and slathered it all over his face as he ran across the back yard. "I'M KING OF THE SQUIRRELS!"

Ben and Team RWBY all needed brain bleach after that.

A/N: Two references for the price of one for that last bit! Indeed, the fact that Qrow got drunk and went to live in the woods is the exact reason why the rating on this story went up. Don't wanna take too many chances with him, even if I didn't make it all that explicit. But hey, I still think this bit turned out pretty well. Of course, that very last part at the end was a Markiplier reference, but the REST of the bit is actually yet another reference to the YouTube show "Being the Elite" specifically, episode 203. Special shoutout to "Hangman" Adam Page for his creative way of dealing with being in quarantine earlier last year! Also, seems like Salem my have taken up a new hobby with her associates. …Let's just hope that Hazel doesn't end up losing his mind every time they have a book club meeting.

In any case, NEXT TIME! We're actually going to be having one LONGER bit as we see a certain chameleon girl sitting at the crossroads of what is probably the biggest decision of her life; does she stop seeking vengeance and turn over a new leaf, or does she continue to try and pull pranks on Sun? Well, she had better figure that out fast… because a certain Fall Maiden is tired of Ilia stealing HER schtick with all these schemes. Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!

A/N (IMPORTANT, Please Read): Good morning everyone! It's another Saturday, and you all know what that means! It's Chibi time again! …And honestly, after what happened last week with the Volume 8 finale, I think we all NEED a bit of Chibi in our lives. There's actually a little jab at the Volume in this chapter… and I don't think you'll have much trouble finding out what it is.

But, in any case, this one is rather special as it caps off the first "arc" of the story, and it's rather special in that regard. That being said, I posted a special notice in by Transformers/My Hero Academia crossover yesterday that I've got a special surprise planned for Easter tomorrow that I think that you're all going to really enjoy, so look forward to that. With that said, let's get to the chapter, shall we? This is…

Chapter 9: Redeeming Qualities

We open up in Beacon's courtyard… with a brand-new building having been built on the front lawn. It appeared to be a very retro diner, one whose exterior was painted white and built to be very curvy with plenty of colorful LED tube lights moving around it. And, right up in front above the door, there was a large sign done up in red LED lettering that said; "AUNTY NORA'S PANCAKES AND HAMMERS", with an illustration of a stack of pancakes next to it. But, rather than having a fork and knife, there was a large hammer sticking up right in the middle of the massive stack.

The camera suddenly zooms out from the sign and we're met with the beaming face of the owner of said restaurant, the hyperactive redhead grinning as she exclaimed; "Aunty Nora's is FINALLY open for business! WEEEEE!" Nora zoomed into the diner and the camera quickly followed after her, getting a load of the inside of the place.

The inside was just as retro as the outside, complete with black and white checkerboard tiles on the floor, big booths that had red leather seats, and a breakfast bar that had red swivel stools placed all along it. However, there was also a rather spacious part of the diner that had a large set of displays in the middle of the floor… and they were all stocked with solid gold (painted) hammers.

Nora slid into frame and wore a rather proud grin. "So, whaddya think? Did we clean this place up or what?!"

"I'm gonna go with the former." Nora let out a gasp as she heard the bell for the front entrance ring, signaling the arrival of her first costumers. In came Ben, Yang, Neptune, Gwen, Kevin, Rex, and Weiss, the seven of them all moving their eyes around the restaurant in awe. "I gotta admit, Nora, you guys did some awesome work on rebuilding this place!" Ben praised.

"Yeah, a far cry from the disaster zone you had before." Weiss commented as she gazed into one of the table's reflective surfaces. "This place is so pristine, I think I can eat right off the tables." The whole group stared at her in shock, the heiress only now realizing what just came out of her mouth. "Uh, er, not that I WOULD of course. I do have standards, after all."

Nevertheless, Nora smiled in gratitude. "Aw, thanks, guys! That means a lot!"

Yang moved over to the hammer section and began glancing over the different types they had on display. "So, I'm guessing that you literally only sell pancakes and hammers here?"

"Psh, NO silly." Nora waved off. "We're a breakfast diner, we gotta sell more than JUST pancakes and hammers otherwise we won't stay in business for long." She began listing what they had on her fingers. "We've got bacon, sausage, hash browns, home fries, French toast, all kinds of egg products, pretty much the whole shebang!" All of a sudden, Nora narrowed her eyes. "But I warn you; if I see ONE waffle in this restaurant, I am going to SUE somebody!"

Everyone backed off and Neptune raised his hands. "Hehe… message received." He glanced back over to the hammers and tilted his head. "So, what kinda hammers do you got?"

"Oh, all SORTS of awesome hammers!" Nora said as she began picking up the gold-painted tools one by one to show them off. "We got your ball peins, your classic claw hammers, bricklayer hammers, lathe hammers, and oh! Here's my personal favorite!" Nora reached around and pulled a long-handled hammer out from behind one of the displays, giving a satisfied sound as she held it in both hands. "The SLEDGE HAMMER!" She lifted it up in the air and shouted; "Time to play the GAME!"

"…Uh, what "Game"?" Gwen asked.

It was then that Kevin smacked his forehead. "Gah! Dammit! Now I lost!"

"Ugh, us too." Ben and Rex said in stereo.

Yang placed her hand on her hip. "So… what would you say is the most expensive hammer in the store, Nora?"

"Oh! The only one that isn't for sale!" Nora dropped the sledge hammer and pointed toward the back. "Heh, I mean, the sledge hammer is cool and all, but if you wanna see a REAL awesome hammer, I'm gonna have to get BIIIIIG BERTHA!" In the blink of an eye, Nora zipped to the back… and then the ground started to shake. About a second later, the gang's eyes widened and they saw the Pink Dynamo… come riding out on a gold-painted jack-hammer like it was a pogo stick. "S-S-S-See?! T-T-Told y-you i-it w-w-was A-A-AWESOME!"

The whole gang had to cover their ears at all of the noise "Big Bertha" was making, with Ben calling out; "NORA, STOP! You're gonna destroy your own store before it even opens!"

Nora came to a halt and blinked in realization. "Oh, yeah, you're right! Sorry 'bout that!" With an effortless toss, Nora threw Big Bertha back to where she came from, and not a second later, the rest of Team JNPR came rushing out from the kitchen. Jaune and Ren were both in chef's uniforms while Pyrrha was in a waitress outfit.

"Okay, who busted out Big Bertha?!" Jaune exclaimed.

"Yes, I thought she was for display only." Pyrrha commented.

Nora gave her friends a wave. "Ah, don't worry, guys! Just giving the gang a little demonstration." She then raised a finger up into the air. "But let's not waste anymore time! We've got a buncha hungry customers to satisfy!" With that, Nora spun around in place and, in no time, she was in a waitress's outfit that matched Pyrrha's.

Gwen and the others couldn't help but be surprised. "Wow, Nora. Didn't think you were a waitress, too."

"The owner wears many hats, my dear Gwen." Nora said before she and Pyrrha pulled out pens and papers. "Now, feel free to take a seat and we'll happily take your orders! Renny! Rev up those friers, because we've got hungry bellies!"

"Aye-aye!" Ren saluted before he grabbed a hold of Jaune and pulled him back to the kitchen, the blond knight letting out a; "YIPE!"

With that, the group sat down at the breakfast bar and began chatting over their drinks, which Nora had gotten to them in record time. "So, did you hear from Blake, Sun, Ruby or Penny?" Rex asked as he sipped his chocolate milk. "I thought they were supposed to meet us here."

"Yeah, so did I." Weiss nodded before leaning on the counter top. "But if I were to guess, Blake and Sun are probably cuddling somewhere while Ruby and Penny are… doing whatever it is they do."

Rex gave her a deadpan expression. "Wow, you need to get out more, Ice Princess."

"I get out plenty." Weiss assured. "I just have no time for shenanigans."

"Uh, the previous three seasons of your show would beg to differ." Kevin pointed out.

However, at that moment, the bell to the front door rang, and everyone craned their heads around to see who was coming in. As it happened, it was Ruby and Penny, the latter giving her usual greeting right off the bat; "Salutations, everyone! Isn't it a wonderful day?" The entire room suddenly had all eyes on her, staring at her with a stunned expression. It was almost as if some sort of bad memory had been cropped up in their minds, and Penny wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. "…Um, is there something the matter?"

"No, just… I felt an odd chill go through me just now." Ben said, eliciting nods from everyone else. "I can't really place it, but it happened right when I saw you, Penny."

Yang rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, that was WEIRD. Kinda felt like the same feeling we had when we saw Pyrrha again after—" The blonde stopped herself, realizing what was probably going on, before smacking her head against the table and downing her strawberry milk to break that train of thought. "AHAHAHA! Uh… let's shift gears here, huh? So, what've you girls been up to? And have you seen Blake and Sun on the way here?"

Ruby gave her sister a big grin. "Oh! Well, no, we haven't seen those two yet. But what we've been doing is showing a new friend around Beacon!"

"Indeed, she is an exchange student from Menagerie!" Penny added. "Such an exotic and wonderous place! Oh, I wish I could go there as well!"

"Menagerie, huh?" Gwen asked. "Where's that?"

Weiss furrowed her brow a bit in confusion. "It's… an island continent in the southern hemisphere of Remnant… and the homeland of the Faunus." She placed a finger on her chin, thinking about what she just heard. "But… that doesn't make any sense."

Rex tilted his head. "Why not, Ice Princess?"

"Because Menagerie doesn't have a Huntsman Academy like Vale, Vacuo, Atlas or Mistral do. In fact, Menagerie is mostly desert, too." Weiss crossed her arms and glanced around suspiciously. "Something doesn't seem right… Ruby, who is this girl and where is she?"

"Oh, her name's Ilia!" Ruby smiled before turning around. "And she's right… here?" The Hooded Huntress' face fell when she didn't see her new friend behind her, with Penny doing the same. "W-Wait… where's Ilia?"

"I do not know." Penny contemplated. "I could have sworn she was right behind us just a second ago."

There was a long pause through the whole diner before Neptune piped up. "Well… that can't be good."

Meanwhile, around the back of the diner, a certain chameleon girl was huddled up in the fetal position, a look of terror on her face as her entire body had become stark white in fear. She, Ruby and Penny had been conversing with a couple weeks now, and in all that time, she had insisted that they keep her a secret from the others for a while… but they also made it clear that they couldn't keep her secret for long. They'd have to break the news SOME day… and they decided that day was today, which was also the grand opening on Nora's new diner.

"C'mon, Ilia, it'll be fun!" Ilia recalled Ruby saying. "You'll get to meet all SORTS of nice people! Like Ben, my sister, Yang, my best friends, Weiss and Blake…"

Ilia screwed her eyes shut after recalling that memory, as it was exactly what she was afraid of. How could she face Blake NOW of all times? After attempting to set traps for her and Sun at every turn, how could she just face her with a guilty conscience? She would HAVE to admit what she'd been doing, and she was certain that Blake would probably be mad with her about it. And the thought of Blake mad… it almost made her start to cry.

"Darn it! I wish I hadn't gotten all revenge happy in the FIRST place!" Ilia lamented, smacking her hand to her forehead. "Blake… I'm sorry. If I hadn't been so mad and just went about this whole thing in a better way… maybe I'd have more friends."

"Oh, how stinkingly touching."

Ilia's eyes snapped open and she snapped her head around to the new voice. "W-Wha—AH!" She jumped up about five feet in the air when she saw four people standing all around her, surrounding her so that she had no where to run. There was a silver-haired boy, a green-haired girl, a girl with long black hair, and redheaded woman who was a bit older than the other three, though they were all staring at her with various nefarious grins on their faces. "Wh-Who… who are YOU?!"

"Oh, you know, just your friendly neighborhood Good Samaritans." Emerald said nonchalantly.

"…R-Really?"

"HAHA! Heh… no, we're totally evil." Mercury chortled. "Kinda like how you were up until a couple weeks ago."

Cinder crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Ilia. "Indeed, and I must say… up until then, I had just the teeniest amount of respect for you. I was even considering asking you to join our group…" A disgusted sneer came to her face. "But oh no, you let the Silver-Eyed woobie and her electronic cinnamon roll of a best friend GET to you. Soften you up until you were one of them."

Ilia shrunk back a bit, trying in vein to hide herself. "W-What?"

"I'll put it plain and simply, deary…" Cinder snapped herself forward, her eyes pressed up to Ilia's. "You're STEALING my SCHTICK! I am the one who comes up with nefarious schemes around these parts, and now that you're turning good, you've become an utter DISGRACE to the villain community." She lit her hand on fire while Emerald and Rojo pulled out their respective blades, with Mercury taking a combat stance. "You'll have to be disposed of immediately, not just because you're a disappointment, but because you're infringing on MY gimmick."

Rojo gave a shrug as she readied her sword. "Sorry, kid, nothing personal. But whatever Cindy says goes and I usually like whatever she has us do, so… yeah."

"S-Stay back!" Ilia said before pulling out her Lightning Lash. "I-I'm armed and danger—AGH!" At that moment, Mercury came up and kicked the weapon out of her hands, the impact causing Ilia to stumble onto her rear.

Mercury shook his head and wagged his finger at her. "Tsk-tsk-tsk, now, now, we can't be having that, now can we?"

"Oh-ho-ho, this should be fun!" Emerald said with her sickles drawn. "C'mon, let's—" BOOM! "AGH!" All of a sudden, a large billow of smoke exploded right at the five's feet, causing them all to start coughing and hacking, Ilia included.

"Gah! HACK-HACK! W-What was—" But then, the smoke began to clear, and Ilia let out a gasp at what she saw. There, standing in front of her with their weapons drawn, were Blake and Sun. The couple were glaring at the group of villains while in defensive positions, ready for any kind of attacks.

"Cinder! What in the HECK are you doing here?!" Blake shouted

Sun spun Ruyi Jingu Bang around in his hands, a smirk on his face. "Didn't Ben teach you a lesson the LAST time you were here?"

Mercury let out a growl and cracked his knuckles. "If it weren't obvious from the time we were at this stupid school, we're kinda bad when it comes to learning lessons."

This only made Sun's grin increase. "Ah, so you ADMIT that you're stupid!"

"W-What?! NO!" Mercury bellowed. "That is NOT what I—"

"No, he's got a point, Sun." Blake agreed. "After all, they're all trying the same thing AGAIN by sneaking onto campus. They're not stupid, they're insane."

Cinder squinted at Blake as her hands began to burn hotter and hotter. "…Alright, now THAT I will not argue with." She pointed behind Blake and Sun. "But if you want to know why we're here, why don't you ask your little friend back there?"

"W-Wait, what?" Blake couldn't help but be confused by that statement. From where she and Sun where, it looked like Cinder and her crew were just picking on an ordinary student. But when she turned around… Blake found that to be FAR from the case. Her jaw went slack as she saw a familiar, pony-tailed girl sitting on the ground behind them, cowering in fear as their eyes met for the first time in a LONG while. "I… Ilia?" The chameleon girl let out a whimper before quickly scrambling to her feet, grabbing her Lightning Lash as she tried to run away. "I-ILIA! WAIT!"

But it was too late. Rojo jumped over and got in Ilia's way, batting her back with a swipe of her arm. "HA! Did you really think we'd let you escape, girly? We're gonna have a LOT of fun with you three, I can guarantee—AaAaAaAhHh!" All of a sudden, Ilia… poked Rojo with the tip of her Lightning Lash, causing the bounty hunter to give out a scream as she convulsed with electricity. By the time she was done, her entire body was blackened and covered in soot, leading her to fall flat on her back. "I—HACK-HACK! I thought you said we couldn't use live ammo here!"

Emerald pursed her lips in thought. "Well… electricity isn't TECHNICALLY ammo, I think. Heck, it wouldn't be the FIRST time any of us have been zapped."

Rojo lifted an arm and pointed straight up. "Okay, HAX! I call hax!"

Ilia moved her eyes around to make sure she was in the clear before darting away… only to come face to face with Cinder once again. "Ah-ah-ah! We wouldn't want you to be leaving so soon. After all…" She created a mallet out of solid obsidian, waisting no time in smacking the Lightning Lash out of Ilia's hand again. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to file my copyright strike on you… emphasis on STRIKE!" Cinder lifted her large mallet over her head and was about to bring it down onto Ilia, with Blake and Sun already coming to her aid. But then…

"HEY!"

"Oh, what NOW?!" Cinder did an about face… and was met by a rather peeved Nora snarling right back at her. "Uh… hello?"

"Yeah, hi, don't know if you know this, buuuuut…" All of a sudden, Nora pulled out Magnhild and slammed it on the ground, wearing a face of unbridled fury. "I'M the Hammer-Girl around HERE, missy! And YOU are messing around on MY property! So, if you don't mind…" In the blink of an eye, Nora swung her hammer and screamed; "BUZZ OFF!"

Emerald and Mercury could only watch in utter disbelief as Cinder careened directly up into the sky, the young Maiden screaming as she flew up into the clouds. They saw her land a few miles away, a small puff of dust pluming up into the air upon impact with the ground. The duo glanced over to Nora, the redhead letting out ragged breaths as she glared at them. "Sooooo… I'm guessing we should go…" Emerald uttered.

"Ya THINK?!" Nora shouted, causing Emerald and Mercury to frantically grab Rojo and run off to where Cinder landed, their legs going as fast as they would allow. "Hmph, good riddance!"

Just then, from around the corner, another voice piped up; "ILIA!" The whole group turned to see Ruby, Penny and everyone else come running around the corner of the restaurant, the girls in the lead looking at Ilia in concern. "THERE you are!" Ruby exclaimed. "We were wondering where you went off to!"

"Are you unharmed?" Penny asked.

Ilia shrunk back a bit, visibly shaking now that everyone was there. "I… I-I…"

"Wait." Everyone's attention went to Blake, who pointed at Ilia in confusion. "Ilia, you know my friends?"

Ruby's eyes widened at that. "Hold on, Blake, YOU know ILIA?!"

Penny followed up with; "Ilia, you're acquainted with Blake?!"

"Man, what a big coincidence." Sun commented with a smile.

Blake gave him a deadpan look. "I don't know about that, hon." She stepped over to Ilia, who was still on the ground, and lowered herself down, meeting the chameleon girl's eyes. "Ilia… how long have you been in Vale? Heck, why didn't you tell me you were in Vale? I would've set up a time for a get together!"

Ilia's eyes were now the size of dinner plates, she was so shocked. "W-Wait… what?"

"I mean, yeah, we haven't seen each other in such a long time!" Blake nodded. "I'd love us to have a whole DAY to catch up if that's possible." She rubbed the back of her head. "I know that the way I left wasn't exactly the best way to leave… but I've been wanting to make up for it. Ilia, you've been my best friend for so many years now, I can barely keep track. And I don't want to LOSE that friendship by any means." Her ears lowered and a sad expression came to her face. "I know that you probably won't forgive me for the way I left, but… I'm willing to go through anything if it means we can still be friends." She smiled kindly and extended her hand. "So… what do you say?"

Ilia was in utter disbelief at what she just heard. It had to be the most genuine apology she had ever heard, and it was coming from her former… no her DEFINITE best friend. Tears began pooling in her eyes and her lower lip began to quiver… before she completely broke down. "BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAAAAAH!" In an instant, Ilia had jumped up, only to collapse into Blake's arms, bawling her eyes out all the while.

"Woah, woah, Ilia, i-it's okay!" Blake said as she tried to console the girl. "Everything's okay, really."

"N-N-No, it's NOT!" Ilia cried, her face contorting in sadness. "I'm an AWFUL friend for what I tried to do to you guys! I'm completely AWFUL!"

Everyone there glanced around in confusion before Ben piped up. "Uh… and what would that BE exactly?"

"I… I… I kept t-trying to… to do bad things to you guys!" Ilia wept. "It's why Cinder and her crew attacked me in the first place. B-Because she said SHE'S the only one a-allowed to do that."

"Really?" Yang asked. "I mean, we haven't really noticed anything out of the ordinary. Heck, Cinder's crew have done more hurtful things to us recently, I think."

Ilia sniffled, trying to keep it together as well as she could. "Th-That… that's because everything I planned kept failing! I was the one who planted the mousetraps in the school hallway!"

Everyone's eyes widened at the admittance… only for everyone to smile a second later. "Ilia, that's awesome!" Ruby said. "That means YOU were the one who stopped the stampede!"

"Yeah, I can't thank you enough for that!" Ben added. "Those fans were starting to get on my nerves."

"M-Maybe… but…" Ilia's gaze moved over to Penny and Ruby, fearing the worst at what she was about to say. "Ruby… Penny… I was the one who set up the pie in the hallway, not Cardin." This made the duo's brows raise up in shock. "You see, it was meant for Sun…"

"Hold up, what?" Sun uttered.

"But when you came across me in the halls and were about to trigger it… I couldn't let it hit you." Ilia finished. "Not after you both were so kind to me…" Once again, her lips began to quiver and she hid her face in her hands, continuing to cry. "I'm so sorry! I can never forgive myself for all the bad stuff I almost did to all of you!" She mustered whatever courage she had left and set her gaze up to Blake. "And it all stemmed from my bitterness… to you. You're right… I DID take you leaving really hard… but what hurt the most was seeing you with all these new friends! I just… I felt like I had been replaced, like I had been forgotten about!" She managed to calm herself down enough to mutter; "But… y-you didn't forget."

"Of course, I couldn't forget, Ilia." Blake said, slowly putting a hand to Ilia's shoulder. "I could NEVER forget my best friend. But… I couldn't go back to the White Fang."

Ilia sighed and lowered her head. "I know… and I can kind of see why, now." A small smile came to her face as she hugged her arms around herself. "This place… it has so many kind people. I can see why you came here."

"You're right… and you'd be welcome here, too, Ilia." Ruby's statement made Ilia snap her head back around to her, seeing the smile on the Hooded Huntress' face. "The fact that you took that pie for Penny and I… it shows that there IS good in you. Something that I could tell from the moment we met."

Penny nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed! And we would be more than happy to have YOU as our friend as well!" She and Ruby extended their hands. "If you would have us."

Ilia was stunned, unsure of what to make of this. "I… I-I don't understand! A-Aren't you guys the least bit mad at me?!"

Sun gave a shrug. "Nah, not really. Your plans did more to help us than to hurt us, and it's obvious that you feel bad about doing it! No harm done." He sent her a wink. "And I forgive you for the pie thing, even if it never happened."

"Ilia." The chameleon girl turned her head to see Blake, still smiling at her. "Whether you knew it or not, you've made some great friends here." She waved her hand toward the rest of the team, who all waved back to Ilia. "And I'm sure if you got to know everyone here, you'd have a lot MORE friends, too. So, what do you say? You wanna stay here at Beacon with us from now on?"

After meeting everyone's eyes, seeing the sincerity in all of them, Ilia once again began to cry, only this time, they were tears of joy. "Y-Y-YEEEEEESS!" She leapt into Blake's arms again and the cat girl was quick to reciprocate, holding her friend close and patting her back for support. "Thank you so, so, SO much, Blake! I can't believe how silly I was for doing all of this… I promise to be the best friend that I can be. No more jealousy, no more plans, nothing!" She turned her head around and nodded to Ruby and Penny. "And girls… I'd love to be your friend."

"YAY!" The duo rushed over and joined in on the hug, making Blake cringe a little at how many people were now a part of this. But still, she knew it was all worth it. Ruby and Penny snuggled themselves into Ilia's cheeks, the silver-eyed girl letting out a squee. "EEEEEE! We're going to have so much FUN! You'll see, Ilia!"

"Indeed! Let us have ALL of the fun together!" Penny added.

Ilia gave out a laugh as her spots changed to a light pink color in embarrassment. "Hehe… I'd like that."

"Oooooh, I think I know what this means!" Nora exclaimed.

"Oh please, no." Blake murmured.

"GROUP HUG!" All at once, Nora, Sun, Ben, Yang, and everyone else all huddled in close, enveloping them all in a big group hug, much to Blake's chagrin.

Blake sighed and shrugged a little. "Ah well, it's a happy moment. And as far as I'm concerned, nothing could possibly ruin—"

"AAAAAAAH!" Everyone's eyes popped open when they heard a rather familiar scream, their gazes all darting over to see none other than Velvet sprinting past them. She skid to a stop and pointed behind her. "Please, will one of you get this BUGGER of my TAIL?!" Velvet let out another scream and scrammed like her life depended on it… only for another voice to sound off.

"WOO-HOOOO!" Everyone turned their head around again to see Qrow… who was still in his speedo. The man was covered in green and brown "camouflage" paint and he was donned in foliage from head to toe, carrying a wooden spear as he chased after Velvet. "You can't get away from me forever, WOODLAND RABBIT! I WILL have you on my stump of a dinner table! AH-HAHAHA!"

As Qrow chased after Velvet, everyone couldn't help but stare in astonishment at the scene, leading Ilia to ask; "Um… what was that?"

Yang sighed as she pulled herself and Ben out of the group hug. "Something for US to stop. C'mon, hon, let's go get my crazy uncle."

"Aw, do we HAVE to?!" Ben whined. "I've already had enough nightmares after LAST time!" Yang raised a single brow at him, causing him to sigh in defeat. "Alright, but I won't like it."

"Trust me, neither will I." Yang agreed before waving to her other friends. "You guys go on back into the diner, okay? We'll catch up!"

Nora popped out of the group hug and gave a thumbs up. "You got it, Yang! C'mon everyone! Complimentary pancakes AND hammers all on me!"

The group gave a cheer as they moved back into the restaurant, with Blake and Ilia tagging along behind the group as they went in. The cat girl held the door open for her best friend and gave her a wink. "So, think you'll like it here, even with all of the insanity going on around us?"

Ilia smiled and set her sights onto Ruby and Penny, who were both ushering her to follow them into the restaurant. For the first time in forever, she felt… happy. And if being here was what made that happen, then she had absolutely no problem with that. "…Yeah. Yeah, I think I will."

A/N: And there you have it! Ilia is now a part of the group and no longer plotting for the heroes' downfall. Of course, you guys probably saw this coming, but hey, I wanted a fun way to give Ilia a bit of a villainous role before bringing her to the good side, so I hope you enjoyed her little story arc. That said, I can definitely say that NONE of the teens enjoyed Uncle Qrow's continuing drunken misadventure. The man's gonna poke an eye out if he's not careful. And indeed, Nora's Pancakes and Hammers is now open for business! Think of this place as another little hub for things to happen around the campus, only here, we'll have some food AND tool-related mishaps! Because let's face it, when it comes to Nora, there has to be SOMETHING that goes completely bonkers.

Like I said at the top of the chapter, I've got a special surprise for you guys come tomorrow, so be sure to tune in for that… and with that also said, the surprise is gonna result in this fic taking a bit of a hiatus as I shift focus to that. But it shouldn't be THAT long of a hiatus, and when I return to the land of Chibi, we'll have a couple of debuts on our hands… namely involving a certain blond genius and the remaining three-fourths of Velvet's friends! Until then, I hope to see all you guys tomorrow! Thanks for reading and as always, stay safe out there!