Chapter 6: Fateful Encounter

Mountain Glenn

The last day of their field trip had arrived. The moment the sun had risen over the bright landscape of Mountain Glenn, Team STRQ, HTHR, and all the other second-years were out of the hotel, intending to make every last bit of the day count.

"So, what should our first stop be?" shouted Tai over the crowd, peering sideways at his map. "There's a video game store over on the fifth block if you're interested, Birdy."

"I can get my games anywhere I want! What's important are the bars and clubs you can't find anywhere else in Vale! That's what I want to see!" responded Qrow.

"L-let's not get ahead of ourselves, please…" said Summer, recalling her last unpleasant experience in a nightclub. "Look, there's lots of interesting places around town, and…" Her voice was lost in the sound of the two boys bickering. "Perhaps we should let them calm down first," Raven suggested, and Summer agreed.

A conversation from nearby caught her attention. "Hello, General. No one told me you'd be here today," said Professor Forrester to a man in a military uniform, near the streetside. Summer recognized him as Argent Fox, head of the Atlesian military and Heather's father, whom she and Qrow had met last year. "What's someone as important as you doing this far away from Atlas?"

"I merely wished to see how well Mountain Glenn is doing," the general replied with a smile. "Atlas contributed quite significantly to the approval of this project, so it's only natural we show our support from time to time."

"Well isn't that kind of you? You've got some good timing though-why don't you say hi to the kids? I bet they'll be eager to meet General Fox himself!"

"Kids?" Argent turned his gaze to the students in front of the hotel, only just noticing their presence. "Ah...I see…" His face contorted into a concerned frown. "I-I wasn't aware that there was any expedition this time of year, Miss Forrester."

"Well, you know me," said the professor cheerfully. "I wanted to do the trip early this semester, so I managed to get Oz to give me a last-minute approval. Wasn't that nice of him?"

"Yes...I suppose it was," Argent muttered.

"He actually mentioned you might be in town, and that it'd nice for you to see your kid-and hey, I think that's her coming right now." Sure enough, Heather had broken away from her teammates, and was running straight towards General Argent. "Father!" she exclaimed happily, giving him a warm embrace. "It's really good to see you! How's Sister doing?"

Argent smiled, and patted his daughter on the back. "Hello, Heather. Aurora is doing just fine., though she's as busy as ever. It will still be a while before she comes home." Heather sighed in response. "I know, Father.." she murmured. "I wish she would send a letter at least...I haven't seen her in years!" Watching from where she stood, Summer felt a warm feeling running through her. The two of them really seemed like a perfect family. She herself couldn't even remember much about her parents or the time she'd spent with them.

She felt a tugging at her cape. "Hey. Earth to Summer," Qrow grumbled, dragging her back over to the team, where Tai was speaking. "Well, how about we all split up? Let's try to cover the whole city by lunchtime. What do you guys think?"

"I see no problem with that," agreed Raven. "Dividing ourselves up would allow us to cover the most ground. We can set a rendezvous point for when we are finished."

"Why do you have to make it sound like we're preparing for war?" asked Qrow.

"I guess it's settled then," said Summer, relieved that it hadn't devolved into an argument. "Just try not to get lost, everyone...and please don't go wandering into places you shouldn't be, Qrow," she added sternly. "Alright, alright," Qrow gave an exasperated shrug, glancing at Summer and his sister in turn. "Can't believe there's two of you now," he joked.

After a brief chat with Team HTHR, who were planning to visit the local Dustball arena despite Herman's complaints of it being "too physically active" for his liking, Summer and her team split up to explore the city of Mountain Glenn. Doing her best not to get lost, she eagerly made her way toward the city's museum. She wondered what fascinating artifacts of Remnant would be on display there-her curiosity was being piqued just thinking about it. If she tried explaining her fascination to the team, Qrow would probably laugh at her and ask, albeit without any malice, how she could have any interest in such boring old junk. Raven, she imagined, would be more approving. And Tai would smile at her and go off, cheerful as always, about how much he liked going to the museum, too…

Lost in thought, Summer made her way to the entrance, checking her pockets every few seconds to make sure her wallet was still there. Actually, wait-that doesn't work, she thought to herself while paying the entry fee, I'm pretty sure Tai said he finds museums boring, too. One of the only things he and Qrow agree on. Shaking her head angrily at her stupid imagination, she resolved to enjoy the rest of her morning the best she could.

For a relatively new settlement, Mountain Glenn certainly hadn't spared expenses on the museum. The place was absolutely gorgeous, with its floors crafted out of fine mahogany, walls decorated with a wide diversity of paintings from different eras of Remnant's past, and of course all of the many exhibits. In one room Summer could find the rotting husk of one of the first android models ever built in Vale, and in another ancient caveman drawings believed to have come from the days of mankind's first encounters with the Grimm. It truly felt to Summer that she was taking a tour through history.

After about two hours of exploring every inch of the place, she found herself glancing over some old fossils on the museum's top floor. According to the exhibit they belonged to some long-extinct avian species, that had likely died out around the time bird Grimm like Nevermores and Griffons began dominating the skies. As she glanced over the display, someone bumped into her. "Sorry, sorry," he muttered as he continued to walk past.

Instinctively, Summer reached for her pocket. Thankfully, her wallet was still there. "It's alright," she said lightly, turning to glance at him. Wait, is that…? She frowned. From behind, the young man reminded her strangely of… "Qrow? Is that you?" she asked in surprise, walking over to him. "What are you doing in a place like th-"

The young man turned around, and Summer panicked, because this person was definitely not Qrow. His lean face was indeed built similarly, but some things clearly gave away the difference. Firstly, this boy wore glasses, and underneath them his eyes were golden, not red. Also, after a quick glance, Summer could tell he was at least a year younger than her partner. The difference was rather obvious, in hindsight. "Oh. Sorry," she stammered in embarrassment, backing away. "I-I thought you were someone else."

"It's alright." The boy flashed her a peculiar grin. "You're just who I was looking for, so it works out."

The next thing Summer knew, there was a blinding pain somewhere on her face, and she was falling backward onto the floor, staggered. There were screams from the visitors around her as she struggled to sit up. Shocked, she put her hand to her stinging nose, where the boy's punch had made contact. "Wha-what was that for?" she gasped.

"Ahaha! You should have seen the look on your face!" The boy laughed, leaping back a step. Grinning excitedly at the crowd that was now staring at him in shock and disgust, he held out his hand. A black, smog-like void materialized out of thin air, and the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.

Summer got to her feet, drawing her bow slowly. "Who...are you?" she asked warily, glancing at him. Her battle instincts were starting to kick in-this person was clearly someone dangerous. "Look, I don't want to have to fight…"

"Just call me Rok," replied the boy, retrieving an enormous black scythe from the void. As the people around him screamed in terror, he swung the menacing weapon, which was now glowing with a bright purple gleam, with a grand flourish. "And please, I'd like it you didn't lie to me." Smirking, he leapt...but not at Summer.

"Huh?" For a moment, she was confused. She'd been preparing to avoid the incoming strike, but after a split second, she realized who his real target was. "No!" she yelled, running at him as he leapt towards the crowd of civilians. Clang! There was the sound of blades clashing as she made it just in time to block her enemy from killing an old woman. "Get out of here! All of you!" she yelled back at the people behind her. Desperately, all of them began to clear out of the room.

"Wow...you really are a little hero, aren't you?" Rok asked her scornfully. His scythe's glow changed to a darker shade of violet. Summer felt the weight on Phoenix Heart's blades increase; it was taking all her strength to not collapse. "Well, whatever. Like I said, you're the one I wanted anyway."

Summer leapt away as Rok's scythe slammed into the floor, generating a large shockwave in the ground. She swung her right blade at him, but he turned with surprising speed and blocked her strike. "Why?!" she yelled angrily. "And if that's the case, why would you just try to kill those other people?"

Rok just laughed. "C'mon, is a guy not allowed to have some fun in his life?" he chuckled. He swung his scythe again, forcing Summer to roll out of his way. His swing sent out a strong wind that shattered some exhibits that were in the line of fire. "Speaking of which, try not to die too fast, okay?" He held the weapon over his head as it glowed light purple again.

Gritting her teeth, Summer ducked behind a nearby pillar. She desperately loaded some ice Dust arrows into Phoenix Heart's bow forme as an explosion rang out over her head. Coughing as some debris fell over into her hair, she looked up, over what was left of her cover. Rok had his scythe planted on the ground, blade facing her. It had split at the edges, forming a thin cannon that was now freshly smoking. Summer ran as he fired a crescent purple beam from the weapon, impacting the wall behind her and shattering glass.

Here's my chance. Grumbling under his breath, Rok scrambled to cool his now overheated weapon. Summer pulled her bow back and fired an arrow at the motionless scythe, encasing the enormous blade in ice.

"Ah, dammit," Rok muttered as he tried to pull it out of its frozen prison. While he was distracted, Summer charged at him with her blades, going for a quick stab. He leapt onto the handle of his scythe, dodging the strike, before retaliating with a drop kick. Summer quickly blocked the hit as her opponent launched into a flurry of swift blows. She parried them as best as she could before going back onto the offensive, slicing at him repeatedly in an attempt to overwhelm him.

Rok caught her blades with his hands, and for a few seconds the two of them stood there at a standstill. "Are you another one of Harriet's goons?" Summer asked him, teeth clenched.

"...'Goons'?" The boy stared at her dispassionately. "You sure have a high opinion of that little bitch, don't you?" With lightning-fast reflexes, Rok elbowed her in the face, causing her to lose her balance. Falling to her floor again, she looked up to see him holding his scythe over her head. Huh? Panicked, she looked at where it had been a moment ago, but there was nothing but a clump of ice. "How did you-"

Her words were cut off by the impact of Rok's scythe slamming right into her chest. Summer let out a scream of pain as the sheer force of the strike sent her crashing through the sturdy wooden floors. There were yells of confusion around her as she fell from the ceiling of the museum's third level, onto the floor. Security personnel were hurriedly guiding people to the staircase-it seemed they'd heard about the crazy guy with the scythe on the top floor.

Summer pulled herself back up and staggered away from her landing spot, clutching her chest in pain. "Sorry," she muttered instinctively as people bumped into her while running past. She wandered over to an exhibit containing some Dust artifacts, and glanced over the display. DO NOT REMOVE FROM EXHIBIT: Fragment of Typhoon Quartz-a prototype of modern wind Dust. Highly volatile. "Convenient," muttered Summer, feeling rather guilty as she smashed the glass with her sword. Ignoring the blaring sounds of the alarms, she reached in and grabbed the small chunk of pale green metal.

"Hahh!" Rok jumped down from the upper floor, scythe still in hand. Hurriedly, Summer tore off a piece of her cloak and used it to wrap the crystal around an explosive Dust arrow. Silently, she loaded it into her bow.

"You're still standing?" Rok grinned at her. "But I bet I took off plenty of your Aura with that hit, so I should be finishing you off soon." He raised his scythe as its glow changed from light to dark purple again.

In that moment, Summer drew her bow and fired her arrow at his weapon. The explosion's power, increased enormously by the Typhoon Quartz, sent the scythe flying backwards into the ground. Yelping, Rok was dragged along with it, before losing his grip on the weapon and flying straight out of the window. Summer leapt out after him, Phoenix Heart's blades pointed downward.

"Haaaahhhhhhhhhh!" she yelled, falling toward where he lay on the ground. Rok held up his hands to defend himself from the hit, cleanly blocking her blades with his fingers. The blast from the impact sent out a backwash of dust, and when it cleared, Summer saw that her swords had broken the boy's glasses, which lay in pieces across the ground. Her blades were less than a millimetre from Rok's eyes, which were shut tightly.

"Aha...ha…" he laughed weakly. "That's the best you can do?" He opened his eyes, and Summer realized that they had changed to a crimson red. She blinked in surprise...and suddenly she found herself on the ground again.

"Huh…?" She looked around her in confusion. The scenery had completely changed. It was definitely still Mountain Glenn, but the city was in ruins. Buildings were burning down around her, and hordes of Grimm were wandering around, growling. Over in the distance, the city's namesake mountain had been shattered into fragments, and across the sky, what appeared to be an enormous dragon was flying through the air, dropping corrosive black ooze wherever it went. Wh-where am I?! Summer thought, horrified by what she was seeing. Is this an illusion? She reached for Phoenix Heart, but it wasn't there. Looking to her side, she saw the weapon lying broken on the pavement. She then noticed that her arms were bleeding profusely.

Before she could react, she heard a blood-curdling screech from above. It was the dragon, and it was flying straight at her, mouth open. Summer tried to get to her feet, but she felt a great pain in her abdomen, and she collapsed again. She realized that the situation was hopeless, and could only watch in terror as the beast flew at her face, as its hideous jaw prepared to bite into her-

"That's enough, Rok!"

Summer opened her eyes. She was back in Mountain Glenn, and she was no longer bleeding. However, she soon realized her heart was beating so fast she feared it would burst out of her chest. Rok was right there in front of her, staring intently into her eyes with a look of sharp disdain. "Hmm. I might've expected a bit much," he muttered.

Looking behind her, Summer saw the source of the voice that had broken the illusion. It was General Argent Fox, glaring at Rok with wary disgust in his eyes. "I'd advise you to leave at once," he said quietly. "No one gave you any orders to harm the candidate."

"Well, you didn't," the young man sighed, and gave Summer a light push. Summer was still in shock, and nearly fell over yet again from the touch. The boy casually walked away a few steps before holding his hand out, summoning the black smog. "Wait a minute!" Summer called out to him. "Just who are you?! Why did you say you were looking for me?"

Rok didn't answer her question. "Let me tell you something interesting, Lady Summer," he said without looking back at her. "My Semblance isn't about creating illusions or anything fancy like that. Whatever you just saw right now? That was a vision...of a possible future. And from what I can tell, you didn't really like what you saw, did you?"

"Future…?" Summer muttered, shaking a little as she recalled what she'd seen. "I saw...the city in ruins...Grimm everywhere…"

"Wow. That's scary stuff, alright," said Rok. He looked back at her with his usual smirk. "If you saw something like that...it just means you're not strong enough to survive whatever's coming next. Hell, a few more seconds and you would've just died from fear. Personally, I hoped you'd be a bit less pathetic." Bowing, he stepped backwards into the void, scythe in hand.

"Wait... " Summer said again.

"Bye-bye for now!" Rok said mockingly. "Fenrir's gonna be sad that I didn't get to meet Qrow and Raven, but whatever. Speaking of which, and when you see them, tell them that Father sends his regards, won't you?" As he said that, the portal began to envelop him.

As Summer was taking in what had happened, she heard someone else calling her name. To her surprise, it was Raven. "Summer! I-" the young Huntress paused mid sentence, staring at Rok as he vanished. "Ah…" she gasped. "You-you're…"

"Raven? What are you doing here?" Summer asked, as the mysterious boy disappeared completely. Her friend glanced back at her, a strange look in her eyes. Before she could open her mouth, Argent Fox cut in.

"Miss Rose," he said briskly. "You and your friends must leave this place. At once. Please, if you value your safety, gather all the students and teachers and get out of Mountain Glenn as soon as you can." Despite the composure in his voice, the general's face was contorted in fear.

"Our...our bus doesn't come until the afternoon…" said Summer, confused by his insistence.

Argent shook his head. "No, you don't understand. I...just listen. It isn't safe here, and...it would be best if all of you left before...before…"

"Before...what?" Summer asked.

As if in reply, a loud rumble ran through the streets, as if an earthquake was occurring. Immediately afterward, sirens could be heard wailing throughout the city at ear-shattering pitch. "What's happening?" Summer yelled anxiously.

"A breach..." muttered Raven under her breath. "An invasion. The Grimm are coming, aren't they?"

Argent nodded wordlessly, and began walking toward the direction of the noise. "They appeared out of nowhere and started attacking," he said to himself, quietly and methodically. He turned back to Summer and Raven. "I will help defend the city. You all need to evacuate as soon as possible. Please, make sure my daughter makes it out fine." With that, the general ran off.

The moment he was gone, Raven grabbed Summer by the shoulders and glared at her. "Who was that?" she asked, an intense look in her eyes. "Wha-?" Summer gasped.

"The boy! The one who went into the portal! Did he say who he was?"

"Ummm...he said his name was 'Rok'," Summer stammered, unsure why her friend seemed so agitated-it was very unlike Raven. "He seemed to know you and Qrow though...and said that his father sends his regards...or something. C-come to think of it, he kind of looks like Qrow, too..."

"That's…" Raven seemed like she wanted to say something else, but gave up. There was another loud rumble. The sirens were still wailing, and now growls could be heard in the distance.

"We...need to find everyone else," Summer muttered. Raven nodded in agreement, and the two of them ran off towards the rendezvous point.

Merlot Industries, Main Building

Within the confines of his laboratory, surrounded by his bizarre, wonderful machines, Dr. Merlot gleefully observed the fruits of his work. All around him, black bubbling ooze was running through mechanical tubes to designated spots all around Mountain Glenn. On the display ahead of him, he saw the ooze harden, morph, and grow into hideous black creatures-the Grimm. Hordes of Beowolves, Ursas, and Deathstalkers were being birthed by the second. Growling, all of them began to run towards the city.

"Magnificent," Merlot whispered in awe. "Even with just a fraction of the Yin's power...how fascinating! So this is what the relics are capable of!"

In the corner, a large Beowolf was strung up in a strange device that encased its entire body. It was growling, struggling to end its own life, but was unable to move. "Shhh…" Merlot walked over to the beast, injecting a syringe of strange fluid into its head. "Don't move, my precious. I promise I'll make you perfect," the doctor murmured. "You see there, on the screen? Your brothers are coming to join you...and soon, you'll all be beautiful together!"

A voice rang out from the speaker on the ceiling. "Doctor," said Argent solemnly. "The breach has started. Everything is going according to plan. We'll have the city in lockdown by midnight."

"That is excellent news, General!" replied Merlot, wandering back over to the monitors. He glanced fondly at the footage of the Grimm taking their first steps in this world, overcome by the urge to maim and destroy…

"The time has finally come!" Doctor Merlot laughed. "Now, let the experiment begin!"

Happy New Year's, Everyone!

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